22 Foxhole East

f0xh0les

I missed a call from the dentist office yesterday, so rang back this afternoon where they promptly changed every single appointment that they had given me the day before. Plus mine as well.  Bizarre.

The blackbird baby died, the idiot kept leaping out of the  nest, and then it died - It might have had a bite wound somewhere under its feathers.  Poor little chap.  We defended it from the four-legged-furry-faced-baby-killers, and so did the very handsome fox (at 4am!! ) We scared the cat away again at 7.15.   Put  birdface back in its nest at 8am, the parents were great and were feeding it every 2 minutes, then it keeled out of the nest again and is currently being a corpse.   Ooops.  We did all we could.

What do I have to look forward to? Well, it is the weekend, erm.......  and it is:  5 days til the promotion panel sits, 7 days til payday, 8 days til August and that will bring another set of numbers for you. When hopefully I should have a mortgage that starts with a £90k number.

I updated  the calendar with the new school term dates, and dentist appointments, and I think I just need to concentrate on having stuff done before  the end of the year and having a nice end-of-year-mas ( too early? whatever! ). 

f0xh0les

I went off for a romantic 2.5k run with dh this morning.  He was totally fine, bouncing around like a daft spaniel chatting his lovely head off while I sweated and wheezed around.  He strapped up his shoulder and took it easy, I did not.  So exercise was all over by 9.20, he is 12 stone, and his next aim is 11.8 which is his end goal.  I am back at 12.6 again. So,   two laundry loads on the line, another box sorted,  naked burgers and salad for lunch (400cal - ish) breakfast  was 200cal and supper tonight is a filog,  A filo pastry log, stuffed with a forgotten punnet of mushrooms  from the fridge, and some spinach from the freezer, and lots of lovely caramelised onions.

So I will finish my book today, enjoy the football, try and tidy one more box, and feed everyone and  do an inventory and menu plan for the week, and finalize my small shopping list.  Still have £75 in the budget with no inclination to spend it all.  YS shopping tomorrow night after volunteering.  DH has expressed a desire to make a hand raised pork(less) pie - so some sausages should disappear into that.   Very low on nuts and seeds though, will have to buy some more this week.

Right, need to get up and do something or I am going to fall asleep on't sofa.

thriftyish

Your tea sounds lovely, do you serve with veg or on its own? We don't eat much pastry but the kids like it so it might have to try adding more next month.

I am trying to focus on where I want us to be at the end of this year too, it definitely gives me more focus as it feels a bit like groundhog day at the moment otherwise. I've been reading through your diary (instead of painting ) and love the sound of the YHA, I didn't realise they did family rooms, do you get your own bathroom? What are the setups like?

I've all my fingers and toes crossed for promotion day, hope all goes well 

f0xh0les

Hey @thriftyish  I serve with salad for me and dh and with salad and roasted potato chunks for the kids, as the oven was on anyway and if you cut them into cubes it takes the same amount of time to cook as the log, so a two-fer.  The calorie count on the filo is nothing compared to shortcrust or puff, andis often ys in our Mr T's shopping emporium - as are their  big bags of spinach, all of which goes straight into the freezer, so it is perfectly normal for our evening meal to cost around £1 for the 6 of us.

The YHA do family rooms for up to 6 people - they are either 3 sets of bunk beds, or a double with a single above, and 2 sets of bunk beds.  When they say ensuite they usually  mean they have a sink in them, but the loos and showers are about 2 doors away, I have never had to queue to use a shower or a loo, they have lots.  At the minute you are allocated your own toilet and shower so you don't have to share during the pandemic, but they have closed their self catering kitchens to guests, which is annoying as it puts the overall cost of a holiday up horrendously if you have to eat out all the time.  It is great for a beach holiday though, you can often pick up a 6 bed room for less than £40 a night. 

So sorry your kids did not like the carrot and courgette fritters! I felt so bad for suggesting them, but my kids love them, ok so they eat their own bodyweight in garlic yoghurt / mango chutney / tomato ketchup with them, and god help me if I forget to put cumin seeds in, but they are a total crowd pleaser in my house.  Oops.  The photo looked great though. 

Today I went to Herr Al Dee, did a couple of hours volunteering, swung past Herr Lee-dl  on  the way home and made lunch.  Just having a cup of tea and a relax before heading out again at 5 via Herr Ron, to volunteer, and then ys hunting at the C00p and Mr T's ys shopping emporium.  Bizarrely DH has requested I buy him marmite.  This is a  once every 2 year occurance and it weirds me out every time.   It is all daft things on my list this week. Like flaked almonds and custard powder and corn for popping,  Just things that we have used up in meals, and they all seem to have finished at the same time.  I hope the ys bargains are good tonight, the traffic today is practically non-existent.  It has rained on and off (mostly on) all day and there is a marked decline in people being out and about.  I suppose it shows that there is a lot of non essential travel going on. So more 75%  off ys bargains for me!

I am back on my postal survey, so 12 free 1st class stamps winging their way to step-gran so  she does not have to buy any,  spreading the savings. She will be delighted.

Herr Leedl is doing its Spanish week, and I was hugely excited to see some things labelled as vegan, so I overspent by £5, by just getting overexcited. Anyway, the kids are munching chocolate covered puff pastry biscuits happily like they are the best thing ever (for 'best' read 'new' - there is nothing 'all that' about spanish chocolate, it is very 1970s  cake couverture). 

My diet plan of buying mini wraps at half the calories  of a pitta backfired as the kids chose them over the pittas and just ate twice as many. Grrrrr.    2 days til the promotion panel meets,4 days til payday - £50 still in the budget.

f0xh0les

Just offset the Spanish biscuits and breadsticks and snacks by a p/a survey covering more than the amount spent.

f0xh0les

Just cashed out nearly £9 from p/a and left the other couple of quid pending in there. So I am officially Spain neutral.

Hazelnutty

Ooh I love the filog idea (major mushroom fan here!) and thanks for the tip on Spanish week. Our trip to Herr Lee-dl is coming up on Wednesday evening so will definitely check out.

thriftyish

My children are awkward, and I think its partly our fault! I had hyperemesis and was quite poorly through my pregnancies, so meals were cut back to basics because DH did most of the cooking, and they didn't explore a wide enough range of foods when they were little. Then I pandered to them for too long and cooked just the stuff they liked - they have to try things a few times before they will even consider it now. My extra spend was partly mango chutney for the bhajis, it was worth it though. If I offer them with ketchup I reckon at least two of the four will be sold!

I will keep an eye out for sales at the YHA, we stayed quite near the one in Treyarnon Bay in Cornwall, and it couldn't be closer to the beach! I don't think that one has six beds, but it sounds like a fab way to explore the UK - (apres Pandemic) Mine do the same with the mini wraps, it's both amazing and impressive how fast they vanish.

thriftyish

Forgot to say, thanks so much for the info. About the YHA and the filog/sides. I love the idea of roasted potato chunks, would never have thought to make, but all these four love roasted potatoes and they take so long to cook!

kerri_gt

did i miss the courgette and carrot fritters? Sound yummy.