EH - Keeping on track. (AKA focus Woman! FOCUS!)

EssexHebridean

Well the curry was delicious BUT if making it again I'd grind all the spices up first as we did have to blitz the sauce in the blender to get rid of all the little coriander seeds that were still floating around. Must note that against the recipe - it also needed an extra hour's cooking, although I'm guessing had we done it with lamb instead it would have been fine with the two hours.

Need to plan meals for the week - I'm out on Thursday evening - Pizza Express with the girls, but PE have helpfully emailed through a "2 courses for £9.95" special offer this morning so that will be getting used. So, food:
Tonight: Spaghetti & meatballs
Tomorrow: Liver & bacon with mash
Weds: Mushroom risotto
Thurs: MrEH - omelette
Fri: Burgers I think.

The meatballs and sauce once made will stretch to another meal for one of us so I'll probably give MrEH the option of having that on Thursday instead - in which case it'll save me freezing it.

Friday ended up less spendy than I expected as lovely friend not only bought me coffee when I first got there but also insisted on buying my lunch. Bless her! So essentially ended up being breakfast at Waterloo on the way out (just Pret porridge and tea) then the taxi back to the station (£5) and a cuppa for the train on the way back to London. The rest of the weekend also ended up nicely frugal - the weather on Saturday meant we went and got the shopping sorted first thing then MrEH went and played rugby and I tucked myself up indoors and had a lovely pottery sort of day. Yesterday I woke up nice and early which can sometimes be a pain at weekends but on this occasion I was wonderfully wide awake so a bit more general pottering, then MrEH went out to the nice bakery as soon as they opened and got bread and we did bacon & egg butties for brunch, then drove out to one of the RSPB reserves on the Essex coast - glorious day for walking but VERY cold! And I didn't even TAKE my purse as I knew there was nothing there to spend on!

Still dabbling about with Flylady (And yes Cheery, STILL blaming you!) and so far, so good. It doesn't suit me to try to do the full thing, but the oddments like cleaning the sink, S&S in the bathroom etc does work well for me, and even silly stuff like getting the dishes to the dishwasher (and so out of sight!) makes a different just to the way I feel about the place, I suppose. I'm also trying to adopt a habit of doing things when I notice them needing doing, rather than thinking "I must do XXX" and that too makes a difference.

Happy week all!

Cheery_Daff

Hey, don't go blaming me - it was Pippi who dragged me in in the first place! :rotfl:

Pippilongstocking

Cheery_Daff wrote: »

Hey, don't go blaming me - it was Pippi who dragged me in in the first place! :rotfl:

whistles.

Nice to see you aboot on there too lovely.

I like to dabble in fly lady. its the idea that I'm doing it almost asleep that's helping me keep on top of things but I've still to go full-feral-fly-lady.

and so what if I mopped hte floor when it was half swept - it was at least mopped.

Goodluck with the cereal sounds lush.

As does your meal plan. I'll start walking :rotfl:

EssexHebridean

Cheery_Daff wrote: »

Hey, don't go blaming me - it was Pippi who dragged me in in the first place! :rotfl:

Yes well THAT doesn't surprise me in the least - she's a bad influence that Mrs McStripes! :rotfl:

Pippilongstocking wrote: »

whistles.

Nice to see you aboot on there too lovely.

I like to dabble in fly lady. its the idea that I'm doing it almost asleep that's helping me keep on top of things but I've still to go full-feral-fly-lady.

and so what if I mopped hte floor when it was half swept - it was at least mopped.

Goodluck with the cereal sounds lush.

As does your meal plan. I'll start walking :rotfl:

I'll save you a burger! Yep that's exactly it about the just staying on top of things - that's where I'm starting from, anyway, and yes it does make a difference - it's nice to come in and feel the place is tidy and looks cosy - just need to train MrEH about putting papers to one side when he's done with them now...wish me luck there! :eek:

Cereal clicks done bar one that doesn't want to work this morning - I'll try that again later.

Jobs for tonight:
- Washing up the pans (was too late by the time MrEH got in from rugby training and ate his food last night)
- 15 minute declutter in the bedroom
- spray and wipe the sink
- empty washing machine
- set dishwasher to run
- transfer bills from front room to spare room desk.
- gently remind MrEH that rugby kit bags do NOT live in the middle of the front room.

Planned spendiness:
Thursday - Pizza Express with the girls - voucher will help there and what's in my purse will pay for it anyway.
Friday - going to collect my other two pairs of outstanding glasses but they are bought and paid for already.
Saturday/Sunday Birmingham - meeting up with a crowd of pals for beers on Saturday night, and the Good Food Show at the NEC on Sunday. Money for the GFS is already saved and set aside though, I just need to pull it out of my account.
Monday - Christmas shopping. Will spend on our cashback credit card and then transfer the money over from the Christmas savings account to cover.

Replaced the batteries in the electricity monitor too so that's working again...it's coming together slowly!

All looking fair to middling there, then...!

EssexHebridean

Meh. Grumpy grumpy GRUMPY. The traffic was vile again, every idiot on the road put themself right in front of me at one point or another, and it's piddling down with rain. I'm not a cheerful bunny this morning I'm afraid - although I am fully aware that hormones are to blame for a lot of it.

So - meal plan is going to....well, plan. Or it was until this morning when I couldn't find the frozen chicken stock in the freezer ready for the risotto tonight. That'll have to come out when we get home now - fingers crossed it will defrost slowly in a pan over a low heat and then be ready for when the onion, mushroom and rice is ready for it for the risotto! Mr EH is indeed having the rest of the meatballs and tomato sauce tomorrow night, which saves me freezing it, and also saves the eggs for another time. Last night's mash used up a chunk of a large swede along with the final few potatoes, and the last courgette went into the sauce on Monday along with half a tub of soft cheese that was several days over its date but still smelled and tasted fine.

Flylady essentially went by the board last night as I got home feeling generally as meh as I've started today. Dishes got done though, and washing machine emptied and the dishwasher went on so that will need emptied tonight. Might be a MrEH job while I'm stirring risotto... Need to check whether my hint about "when he takes his kit bags through to the spare room" was acted on too...

Cheery_Daff

Oh dear EH, hope your day is a little better than before! Some days you just have to face the front and get to the end of...

Stirring risotto is a VERY important job

EssexHebridean

Cheerier already thank you lovely! And agreed - we wouldn't want to risk it sticking, would we now...

EssexHebridean

I'm a naughty MSE'er.... Apparently it's nearly a year since I last submitted electricity meter readings..... :eek: Thankfully not all bad though. Currently showing £139 in credit .

Now, considering I have a monthly reminder on my phone to read the meter, and I have indeed been keeping up with the actual reading of it quite well, it's just the submitting the readings that's been an issue, I really need to give myself a shake, don't I! I'm not going to do anything about reducing the DD as things stand I don't think, as a) I suspect Flow Energy will do it for me in due course and b) winter is very definitely here, and our use is a LOT higher from now until March as the storage heaters chomp through electric for fun...

*edit* The account has updated already - now £186 in credit.... ! :rotfl:

EssexHebridean

Sooooo......Spendy spendy SPENDY weekend! Food show money is saved through the year though, so the £200 we took out for that was sitting there waiting for us! :T We set £20 aside for an Indian meal on Sunday night (well we WERE in Birmingham!) and spent some of what was left over on Christmas presents when we were shopping yesterday, too. Got some LOVELY food bits - nice to plan a specific budget for treats like that!

Christmas shopping yesterday went reasonably - we've managed to mostly sort out the Niece & Nephews I think, plus MrEH's Brothers and their other halves. I got into the office today to a box from Amazon with some bits I'd ordered for MrEH plus MiL's Rick Stein book. Ordering the lot together meant free postage so very MSE there. (As was the fact that I got 3 CD's & 2 DVD's for him for £19.73 :T)

Most of the Christmas stuff went on the cashback credit card, and we came back with £16 of the Food Show money which will be set aside to spend on any other christmas odds and ends I should think.

Need to think about meals for this week:
- tonight is going to be cheesy pasta bake with bacon.
- Weds: Mushroom & bacon risotto (Yes, went down well last week!)
- Thurs: Fry up!
Friday we're out in the evening so that's sorted.

Cheery_Daff

ooh, good saving and spending there, well done! :j :j I do like a specific savings pot