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

Jellytotts

We have cats so heated blankets and claws don’t mix.  We have a mix of crochet blankets and a king size duvet that I cut in half.  Found a great contrasting duvet cover for my living room and cut it in half to make covers for the 2 bits of duvet, both drape over the back of the sofa during the day and can get snuggled into in the afternoon/evening as required.

EssexHebridean

Lovely stash of heated blanket info and suggestions there - thanks all!

I think the other reason I am hesitant is that I'm wondering if I actually would use a heated one, or whether I'd find it TOO warm. We're expecting another improvement in the heat retention in the flat this year anyway as we will have the improved hallway floor in place by then, and of course the bare brick in the internal porch area has now been plastered as well... I do have a glorious red fleecey throw which I might try using first and see how I get on.  And of course there is the one I was crocheting panels for until life got a bit mad and busy as well - even just the act of doing the panels gives me an extra warm layer when they reach the right size!  Foxgloves also reminded me that I could use a microwaveable wheat filled bag in the evenings if a pop of extra warmth was needed too - they often get used in the bed on colder nights. I think I may hang on to my pennies and see how I do using the things we already have first - it doesn't get more MSE than that, does it! And THIS is why I love this place - it really does help you to stop, think and make sensible decisions doesn't it! 

MrEH has been paid - and I am assured that I will be too, later. MrEH is also topping his Oyster card up today - although to his credit he DID ring and ask whether it would be better for him to use his bank card as contactless tonight and leave the top-up until  next week, see, he IS well trained! The decision was that no, he may as well just go ahead and do it - the surplus is still sitting in the account at the moment so it will just knock £50 off that which is fine - and accounting it into June rather than July means less spending in that area next month too, which works well. 

I think I will have a money day tomorrow - I can get the relevant shuffles done then, shift money to where it needs to go, and generally revisit everything to make sure we're all on track. Best of all I can do it with my trusty notebook by my side too so actually noting anything that needs doing/changing/remembering! 

Food tonight is going to be jackets with beans and cheese - using the last of the previous veg box tatties and one of the ones we got while camping. Might see what I can find to perk up the beans as well - there is a good chance this might involve a couple of pieces of black pudding each from the freezer - we'll see! 

I need a freezer review as well - I'll be taking a tub of curry out for tomorrow, and the final (I think) tub of soup for lunch on saturday. The lamb breast rings will likely come out for Sunday - I may well marinade those ahead of cooking them too for a bit of extra flavour - potentially with indian spicing... There is a tub of greek yogurt in there somewhere too so I might make garlic flatbreads (thanks Foxgloves!) to go with tomorrow night's indian fakeaway. That would require some shopping to be done first mind as the flour situation is currently a bit dire...  Once that lot is out though I should have spare space to see what is actually in there and start to plan meals from it accordingly. 

Everything is just about in hand at the moment I think but still all spare time is being take up with the  beer festival stuff and as a result I'm feeling a bit like that swan again - relatively calm on the surface but it's all going on underneath! 

savingholmes

Puts a new spin on the phrase swanning around 

Cheery_Daff

I'm late to the party, but I confess I am a MASSIVE fan of a hot water bottle, and still have one every night, even at this time of year. Always have one with me on the sofa of an evening, and there's always a blanket on the back of the sofa. Our heating rarely gets turned up past 18, and usually stays at 16, and it only ever gets up to proper temperature in the living room, not elsewhere, and Mr Cheery is usually far warmer than me, so I'm definitely a big fan of things that heat ME rather than the room, and hot water bottle has always been my favourite.

I did have an electric blanket once, not sure why, maybe when I was lodging and there was one in the house? But I didn't want to combine with hot water bottle for fear of electrocution 😮 so it didn't last long, although it was very nice to get into bed of an evening! 😂

MrsPorridge

I'm the same Cheery Daff - I love my hottie and often have one on the sofa in the evening - placed in the small of my back.

milann

Interesting discussion about the blankets. I’d looked at a heated cushion for when I’m in the back of ds car in winter. The front seats are heated but I’m always freezing in the back on our 5 1/2 hour journey at Christmas to see dd. I figure I can use it indoors too if I get a battery powered one…I’m still thinking about it 😏

EssexHebridean

Hello all! Haha SH I think swanning around usually gives an image of something rather calmer than I’m feeling! 😂

Cheery, Mrs P, I don’t believe I even possess a traditional hot water bottle now - although as I mentioned I do have a couple of those microwaveable wheat filled bags which are rather good. I’m in awe of people who can have their heating turned super low too - it’s not for us though - partly because they learned a LOT about insulation after building our 1956-build flat, and unfortunately one of the things they learned was that actually putting some in place was a good idea! We get awful damp problems if we let the temperature drop below about 19°C - and it becomes a constant battle to defeat that. 

Milann that sounds like a good idea about the blanket for the car! I’m often chilly in MrEH’s car as well as he likes a much colder temperature than I do as a rule, and the rule is that the driver needs to be comfy so…

Gym for me this morning - and a quick spin round to Al’s on the way back to get some oddments of shopping - mainly because I wanted to get a bag of flour and I was blowed if I was paying T’s price for it! (The chances of them having the cheap range in stock being pretty slim!) I also grabbed a couple more tins of chick peas - and one of black beans - a pack of the oatcakes we like, some tomatoes, a coriander plant and some other bits and pieces - £5.85 to declare for the grocery challenge with some more to get tomorrow.  This afternoon has mostly been random bits of tidying - mostly in the kitchen - interspersed with plenty of stuff for the voluntary role. 

Made the sweet potato and spinach dhal recipe someone posted somewhere on here a while ago as part of tea - well, I say that, but it was the rough basis of the recipe but with adjustments to account for the fact that we had no sweet potato and no spinach! 😂 I subbed butternut squash for the sweet potato and it worked perfectly - made a lovely big pan full and went beautifully with the curry I’d defrosted, rice and a garlic flatbread each. Ironically enough the curry DID have sweet potato in it!  There are two more portions of dhal for the freezer - just small tubs which will work well as part of an Indian meal - and also a small portion of rice which will come in handy at some stage. 

MrEH made rolls this morning and will be putting the breadmaker on again overnight with a loaf. The dishwasher and WM will also be on overnight tonight so our electricity monitor will no doubt look interesting in the morning! 

Pay landed for us both yesterday and the money shuffle did get done this morning although nothing much else as yet as once again my ambition around what I wanted to get done was outstripped by the time available to do it all. I could do with getting the notebook out and checking a few things on the financial front - and MrEH is meant to be confirming the end date on his Credit card’s 0% period too - it must be coming close to expiring I reckon.

lucielle

The Dahl sounds really good. I fell in love with it after going on holiday to Sri Lanka
L

Cheery_Daff

We have similar issues in the car - I usually have my hot water bottle in there too 😂😂

I'd generally have the heating a bit higher... but Mr Cheery runs rather warmer than me and it's easier to heat me up with a hot water bottle than it is to try and cool him down if the heating turned up 😂

Our house is a ridiculous hodge podge of extensions as well - the main two up, two down original farmhouse (the new kitchen and bedroom above, which is generally pretty  cold but ok, although the bedroom had an extra layer of insulation on the cold wall and is now quite warm), a 1970s extension (the living room, bathroom etc) which is generally much warmer than everywhere else, and a later extension (my study, current bedroom) which is always bloody freezing, and really quite damp, especially downstairs - hence why I usually have an electric heater going in there, and use the dehumidifier quite a bit. Doesn't help that there's a well in the cellar and that side of the house is surrounded by trees and outbuildings.

We and two different plumbers have rebalanced the radiators as much as possible, and things did improve when the builders replaced the pipes to the study, but the whole thing is in a weird horseshoe shape, and I don't think will ever heat evenly.

Sorry, waffling about our ridiculous heating 😂 Suffice to say I'd happily have the heating a bit higher, but the living room would probably turn into a furnace while the rest of the house didn't get any warmer anyway,and Mr Cheery would likely spend every evening sitting in the garden to cool down, so a hot water bottle seems like the sensible answer 😂

milann

Cherry your house sounds intriguing.
I’m not good with hot spices but have recently discovered I quite like mild deal 😁