EH - Essex > Hebrides...the next step of the adventure?

savingholmes

I do admire how much you fit in EH - you are definitely busy. Hope you find a nice jacket.

EssexHebridean

Thanks for popping by SH and greenbee!  It was distinctly cold here again this morning - car said 2 degrees when I left home and my watch is telling me it's only 3 here now at the office - no wonder my fingers felt like they needed thawing out when I got to the office! I definitely need a set of warmer gloves for the bike. 

Today's Update:
Prolific: £19.47 paid/£1.63 pending (That odd £1.63 is an older study which I suspect will go to the wire and then get autoapproved - need to pick up a small one or two today that pay quickly!)
OnePoll: 790
NSD's: 16/18
Electricity overnight: £1.75 (EEK! That was two NSH's, water from pretty much cold, DW & WM mind you...)

Sorted the bike kickstand out easily enough when we got home last night - thankfully I have gained quite a lot of odds and ends of tools from grandfathers via my Dad so generally speaking I don't have too many issues with laying hands on things like Allan Keys - the set I used last night probably date back to the 1930's, I'd guess! Always feels lovely to be able to use tools that I know various relatives would have used, too. I also did the clean round the flat of all the mirrors, and remembered to do the TV screen as well, so that's a "small thing" done. Also managed to get the second batch of rugby photos sorted out and posted online - just the final few to look at this evening now. 

last night's dinner was delicious - as planned I made a double batch of three-root mash so half went to the freezer. That used up the final chunk of swede too, as well as the last of the older potatoes and a couple of parsnips from the veg box. I also trialed a spoonful of marmite in the gravy with the liver which worked well to add a really nice depth of flavour - I'm told I need to do that again! 

Today then - office, of course, I'm planning to tackle another couple of drawers full of old files from the basement shortly, just having another cuppa to fortify myself for that though! I'll go and collect the car at lunchtime so I can head straight home tonight without too much faffing about, food will take a little bit of prep this evening but I might get MrEH to chop onions ready for me to get going on cooking when I get in. Chilli & rice is on the plan for tonight, and I discovered that I do in fact have some kidney beans in the cupboard so no inventiveness needed there!  Only other plan for tonight really is to get the last of the rugby shots processed and uploaded. I might also try to get some backups run from the laptop too as then I can clear down some memory cards. 

savingholmes

I like the idea of using old tools. That's lovely. 

Well done on all your 'one things' - they are certainly adding up in your house. 

EssexHebridean

Do you know they really are. I have a habit of getting overwhelmed by the stuff that needs doing, particularly when doing it eats into my limited time on workday evenings, and as a result I end up doing nothing - this method of taking one job at a tie sort of breaks it down into more manageable chunks. 

I am very glad to now be home and have a long weekend ahead of me. I’ll get the last of the rugby photos sorted in a bit. I’m off on Monday as well as we’re at the Good Food Show on Sunday, so we’ll put off the food shopping until then I think. 

savingholmes

Enjoy your food show. I don't cope well in crowds but that kind of event always looks interesting.

EssexHebridean

I’m very much not a fan of crowds either SH - this is the reason we go on the Sunday (last day, tends to be far quieter) and over the years we’ve mastered the art of avoiding the busier areas until they’ve quietened down a bit. Also we now know all the little corners of the MSE I can retreat to when the noise and bustle all gets a bit much! 

EssexHebridean

Yay - just cashed a little over £20 out of Prolific and transferred to the 0% card which is now sub-£200! Delighted with that - my target for the month was to get below £230 so that’s a real win. I’ve paid over £110 against it in the last month with just £40 of that being the regular payment. 

Also just opened another eSaver account ready to take the extra money we’re planning to set aside against the higher energy bills. I’ve just done meter readings, and  we are already using fractionally more each month than the DD that is going out, so I want to make sure we have money set aside ready to top the account up when needed rather than risk UW wanting to massively increase the DD amount. 

Banking checked and all fine, porridge has been eaten for breakfast and I plan to get a couple of small jobs done then probably head to the gym a bit earlier than normal. I was full of good intentions about cycling there and back but now it’s cold and wet so I’ll take the car I think! 😂 Having said that I’ve just checked and I still don’t have a useable pass which is annoying - no idea if an email to Hussle will get acted on that fast. Sigh. 

Right - time to crack on. Hussle email first, then get the birds fed while I wait on a  reply. 

Cheery_Daff

Ooh, well done on the prolific cash out! You're motoring through with them!

savingholmes

Well done on getting to sub £200

EssexHebridean

Thanks SH and Cheery! 

Made it to the gym as planned - very impressed with the speed of response by Hussle to my email this morning, but less impressed that the gym STILL had problems with the pass when I arrived - although not substantial ones. Also less than impressed that in spite of having two payment methods showing on my account because neither have been used for  2 months as I've used Apple Pay (which they apparently don’t/can’t store) they now want me to add another one. As I don’t HAVE another one, that makes my decision to cancel when this pass ends all the easier. Anyway I was delighted to manage 30 minutes run/walk on the treadmill this morning with no problems with the poorly foot - I’m hoping to be back to some form of outside running this side of Christmas now, even if only short distances! This is important to me because I really want to be able to run on the beach when we’re in the Hebrides - it’s one of my favourite ways to start the day up there and I’ve been quite upset to think I might not be able to! 

This afternoon’s main task has been tackling the biggest of my “one things” - namely removing everything from our cabinet with glass shelves and doors, cleaning all the shelves (and dusting the contents) and doors and returning everything to the now sparkly shelves. Found two bits to go to the charity shop too. Also reminded myself how much I love my collection of “Pocket Dragons” and also my oddments of Caithness crystal. 😁 And now my only other plan for today is to get dinner cooked, which feels rather lovely! 

Ooh - I’ve also just realised, as long as I don’t spend any money this side of midnight I’ve hit my NSD target for the month! 18/18 done! Good thing too because tomorrow’s going to be moderately spendy, and a Sunday definitely will…Monday will involve a Toby Carvery breakfast and some food shopping…. 😁