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

beanielou

Are you going to sell your dishcloths

EssexHebridean

Morning Friday frugal folks - and a Friday ahead of a long weekend for most of us too - wayhey! 😂

Goodness Beanie the thought hadn’t even crossed my mind - I might make some as gifts though as they seem like a nice thing to give to people!  And Cheery - I will - it’s working up pretty quickly which is rewarding! I’m planning on decorating it with some of the crocheted flowers I’ve made previously, I think! 

Made a productive start this morning so far - FINALLY a negative test so hurrah for that. A few small surveys done on OnePoll, and attempted two on Ipsos but screened out of both. Been for a walk - slightly longer again today. Also done some financial wrangling already - MrEH has been paid, the transfer of funds from savings have landed, so all good there. The savings have been transferred as needed, a tidy to the VSP from both the joint account AND mine, the standing order set up to feed the new Reg Saver, MrEH reminded that he needs to set his up as well, and I have also set up transfers from the new eSaver “feeder” account to the joint account for June, July and August. That’s the furthest in advance I can do that so I’ll need to remember in a few months time to do some more. Oh and the CC is now looking all correct so that’s a relief! 

I’ve just had breakfast - toast today for us both using the crusts from last weekend’s loaf from the freezer, and a slice each of the fruit loaf that was made in the bread machine overnight. Once that’s settled properly I’m going to get my car out of the garage and head to the gym I think - I’ve got my plan ready for reduces weights, reps AND duration overall but will very much be playing it by ear. Today anything that doesn’t feel “easy” will be a red flag. I’d usually walk or cycle there too but in the interests of keeping it gentle it’ll be the car today. 

Need to get out the Rick Stein’s India book to remind myself of the recipe for the korma sauce for later - I may have to make some subs but that’s fine, I do have fresh coconut ready in the freezer though - we got a bargain priced one with the veg box a while ago so chunked it up and froze. That’ll be fully veggie as I’m going with butternut squash and chickpea - and we’ll have it with basmati rice and a garlic flatbread each (thank you Foxgloves!) I also want to bake later - possibly muffins and maybe a batch of Twinks as well. 

That seems like a reasonable sort of day! Right, my Garmin has just told me to “get up and move!” - the cheeky thing - so I should probably take note! 

foxgloves

Those flatbreads are so useful @EssexHebridean. Mr F likes them for packed lunches too.
F

savingholmes

Looking forward to some photos of said dish cloths.

Glad you are still managing your walks and getting quicker and that you finally have a negative result for covid.

In case you see this before my diary - phone deals are on MSE - I quoted one and got it.

EssexHebridean

The most recent dishcloth:

The colours are brighter than they look there - really quite vivid! The hat is coming along nicely now too - this was last night but I’ve done as much again through the day today - it’s quite a stretchy, loose yarn though and is worked in the back loop so it’s a whole heap easier worked on in daylight than evenings! 

Gym visit went well - although I admit I started out feeling “grrr” about having to reduce weights, reps etc, by the time I got half way through I was starting to realise that yes, it was a good idea! A good workout, definitely “enough” but hopefully not too much! Lovely shower and hair wash afterwards too using their power, not ours - it occurs to me to wonder whether there will start being a market for home installations of the sort of timer mechanisms you get on showers in gyms, swimming pools etc. It’s definitely a good way of limiting water use and it’s more practical than keep turning the shower on and off manually. 

This afternoon I’ve baked chocolate muffins, and a batch of Twinks (with flaked almonds in them for a bit of a change) so we’re well served for treats for the long weekend! I confess though we did decide to make the curry tomorrow instead, and opted for a cheeky sneaky Chinese takeaway for tonight. (Having discovered that they have increased their prices by 20% since we last got one it may well be that it’ll be the last one for a good long time, too, but it was tasty!) The reason was that we decided to do a decent chunk of work on the voluntary role after MrEH finished work, and it was after 7pm by the time we finished spreadsheet wrangling. Good progress though! 

My Mum was delighted to report that her council tax rebate arrived today - and the council have now announced that they’ve done the lot so ours should be with us early next week hopefully. I’ll keep an eye for it and transfer it straight to the buffer account when it lands. 

beanielou

Love the dishcloth 
Never thought would say such a thing!

savingholmes

Lovely pattern.

Love a Chinese takeaway too.

Have a great weekend

EssexHebridean

Thanks both - beanie, I confess I never thought “making dishcloths” would be something I’d do, but although they undoubtedly work out pricier than bought ones, I love that they give me some reasonably priced chilled entertainment AND a useful product at the end! 

Interesting reading on Cheery’s diary about the evaluation of screen time. I mentioned there this is something I did during one of the later lockdowns - starting to decide what had a positive impact on my life and what less so. Twitter is a great example - too much time scrolling on there tends to get me quite cross - so much misinformation, so much party-political moralising.. (my own view on this is that which box you place your tick in - within reason - has NO bearing on how good a person you are, your behaviour towards others does, and so many of those accusing others of being bad people based on how they perceive that they vote do so in a way that indicates precisely who the really unpleasant person in the exchange is! For avoidance of doubt, I am non party-political myself - and do not invite party political comment on my diary - your (and my) personal politics are just that, personal!) The worst bit of Twitter for me is the fact that there is no meaningful way to report misinformation either - something Instagram has addressed - so Twitter time has been reduced, mostly by largely staying within my own notifications. When I do browse more widely I really stop to consider what to engage with now and ask myself “is it truly worth it” before I reply to something. I try not to go down too many “rabbit holes” on there as that is where I used to lose a lot of time. It’s too easy to get into pointless arguments with complete strangers - and to what end? FB I use very little these days beyond keeping an eye on a couple of groups I’m involved with - including one large one where I’m an Admin. I’m on there almost daily, but for very little time, post very little, and rarely venture outside the groups. Instagram I love. I have a circle of real-life friends on there who I use it to keep in touch with, and a wider circle of less close friends that it is a great way of keeping in touch with. I love that it is “photo based” so you get less drama-llamas there than on Twitter or FB, and it as a platform provides a good route for reporting any misinformation that is seen. The feed there aside from sponsored or promoted content is also just folk you actually choose to engage with - rather than Twitter insisting on showing you things that others have interacted with as well.  WhatsApp I use exactly as I do iMessage - purely as a means of communicating and staying in tough with friends, and groups of friends. I don’t really view it as “social media” to be honest, although I know technically it falls under that heading. Strava I use purely for activity tracking and monitoring of my own fitness levels - I do have a few friends I interact with on there but it doesn’t take any significant amount of my time, and is a really useful tool. Then there is MSE. When Lockdown 1 first hit I was pretty active on here, and initially continued with that, however once I was furloughed I was spending less of my time on a computer, and I found after a short while that trying to combine the stress of actually dealing with the day to day stuff of the pandemic (at the time this included things like difficulties in shopping because of idiots panic buying) AND trying to help the large influx of folk who’d arrived in a state of real desperation after seeing income drop, etc, was significantly impacting my mental health, and as a result I took the decision to step away completely for a while. At that same time I stepped completely away from another forum I had previously been an active member of too - for different reasons that was having the same effect. I always knew ai’d find my way back here eventually as it was never directly “toxic” - just that at that point it needed more headspace than I had available. The other forum however I’ve not returned to at all. Other things I use screens for are YouTube - mostly yoga videos and the “Hidden London Hangouts” video podcast series from the London Transport Museum team which are ace and MrEH and I both watch, during lockdown I was watching stuff on Am@zon Pr1me Video while I was doing photo stuff on my laptop and that worked well, if I watch stuff on there now though it’s usually cast to the TV. Other than that it’s usually banking stuff, surveys etc, checking the weather…routine stuff like that. 

Banking checked and all good, and I’ve been through a great long list of OnePoll surveys and been screened out of all bar two! 🙄😆 

Today will be spendy - but planned spendy. We’re heading to the outlet village in a bit - I’ve got some bits on my clothes list that I need to replace - notably a thin fleece and a zipped hoody - the zips have failed on both and while they’re still JUST useable, they won’t remain that way for long. I also need additional short sleeved tops for summer as I cleared out a load of end-of-life ones last year. I’ll have a look at walking shoes but will only buy if they are spot-on, and may also look at running shoes as my less cushioned ones are now well past optimal mileage. Ideal for gym work, less so for road based running. We also need to replace a couple of pillows so will be having a look for those. We plan to come home for lunch to avoid a spend there, and will head out again this afternoon for shopping - I need to finalise a meal plan and shopping list ready. We’ve got a couple of £10 vouchers for Sainsbugs that MrEH earned by doing ONS surveys about Covid, and a £6 off when you spend £40 voucher from Sainsbugs themselves, so my list will include sufficient stocking up stuff to use all those as it’s free money! 

WannabeFree

Morning, glad you finally got a negative test. Make sure you don't over do it though. 

Loving the dishcloth. 

Screentime here is quite limited, we don't have a TV - I don't really have/use social media except a few I look at on insta (you included ) The smalls despite not being teen and preteen also don't have social media etc. I feel like we are a minority and it won't be long until they want access to SM. I stepped back from here after quite a few took things from here into the real world and I was a bit worried I was over sharing. It definitely gave me more hours in the day to get other things done. 

Hope you have a lovely weekend x

milann

Pleased you’ve got a negative at last. How long were you testing positive- feels like a long time. 

I use WhatsApp as a means of sharing family photos. I keep up with distant family on FB and do play a few games - otherwise this is my only other social media outlet. Annnd I spend too much time on here. Sometimes it’s just habit as if I’m away I don’t even pick the iPad up….I don’t have it on my phone in a bit to keep my time restricted. I think t’internet can be very useful but can also be a devil in disguise 😳