Cherry takes the reins

Cherryfudge

The meal with H and A was nice but they were only here about an hour - but A has mitred another piece of skirting board for us, another step to completing the lounge.DS2 didn't get in till much later. He braved the chicken and really liked it which is encouraging as he's wary of new foods. I made a crumble to a Mr T recipe which was quite nice but the topping almost entirely disappeared in dark berry juice... I believe in crumble with significant topping myself!

No train tickets booked: I started looking them up and felt anxious so I've told myself I can just buy them on the day: it will cost about a fiver more but means I can stop in the city for some shopping. I haven't done that for some time and as I mentioned, there are a couple of things I'd like to look for.

Spending:
Housekeeping £1.00
Garden £19.98 (voucher)
MS:
Planted two of my fuchsia cuttings which had rooted over the last month. I don't know what colour these are (the later ones are all red) so that's to look forward to.
Added a tin of chickpeas to dinner - cheaper than chicken and more to my taste.
Decluttering:
A good decluttering day - started with my total for the year at 677 items and finished at 718 - everything from a wheelie bin of garden rubbish to three twisted paper clips!

My mood is still a bit off: maybe I'm tired, maybe it's the cough, maybe it's going away, or all these. I will try to remember to get cod liver oil tomorrow. I need to take it quite often and it does help me feel better.

Things I'm thankful for today: being able to stand up in church and let people know how far I've come since the accident a year ago.

Honeysucklelou2

Hope the cough goes quickly.

How lovely that you were able to give that testimony at church- encourages everyone

Cherryfudge

Honeysucklelou2 wrote: »

Hope the cough goes quickly.

How lovely that you were able to give that testimony at church- encourages everyone

Thanks, Honeysucklelou. There was a lady just in front of me who broke both arms not so long ago so we tend to compare notes... I hope she and someone else who had a bad break earlier in the year can see themselves in my experience and be encouraged.

Well, I've had a long day at work today but very enjoyable despite me not usually liking to do mornings. The normal workload was light and I had the garden to do. I have learned to take sun screen and sunglasses and am definitely getting freckles. I feel energetic, as if I've had a good workout, which I suppose I have: 12,000 steps and lots of bending, pushing and pulling! After work I went to buy a trug to help carry the tools round but there was none to be found at my end of town so I suppose that saved a few pounds. I couldn't find saddle soap either: I'm intending to polish up some leather bags from Mum's.

I've done a bit of grocery shopping to see me through the next trip to the house. I'll buy milk locally but otherwise food shopping there is expensive. I think I'll treat myself to coffee en route, and I'm only staying two nights as I have to be at work on Thursday, so I can carry groceries. I have a few items in mind to pack bring back, but I'll have more space in my luggage for them once the food is eaten. I decided I 'need' the 1950s china that was a wedding present to my parents: no idea where it will go but if it's carefully packed I can leave it boxed up for a bit.

Talking of clutter (!), I'm assembling photos that seem to be scattered all over the place in odd corners. A couple of years ago we brought back a hamper of stray photos which I've added to since and more are still emerging. Tonight I've sorted through some loose ones - a complete mishmash ranging from the 1930s to the 1990s which are now categorised. Most of the hamper remains untouched!

I think I need a good night's sleep if I can get it, as that sets me right for time away.
Spending:
Housekeeping £15.27 plus £10.95 milk bill.
Medical £6.05
MS:
An extra hour at work to add to next month's pay packet.
Didn't manage to get any shopping apart from groceries.
Decluttering:
Not really, just tidying.

My thankfulness list today: old photos of people who've been gone many years but are still remembered. A tiny lavender plant rescued from a crack in the paving. A sunny day with patches of cloud and a very windy - and the chance to be out in it.

Onebrokelady

Hi Cherry,I hope your cough goes away soon, there's lots of viruses going round at the moment and people who don't normally suffer seem to be getting hay fever this year

I'm with you on the crumble topping,the main point of a crumble is the topping so far as I'm concerned:rotfl:

Ahhh saddle soap......I love the smell of this,it brings back so many memories 😊

Cherryfudge

I got home at lunchtime yesterday, full of a cold but managed my shift okay. The time at the old house was somewhat productive: amazingly though all I can give as evidence is a clear floor in a room my sister had been working on, and 3 drawers cleared in a dressing table. Oh, and neatening the road-facing bit of the garden so there aren't going to be issues with things growing over the pavement. The neighbours have clipped the hedge at the side so I don't need to worry about borrowing hedge trimmers and carting them half the way across the country.

I also had a stroke of inspiration and am going to get a strimmer so the lady who fights the garden for me can make more headway against the summer overgrowth. A patch of nettles the like of which hasn't been seen in years is growing... bless her, she texted me yesterday and said save the expense, I can pull the weeds up. I only pay her for three hours a week and she can't do a third of an acre on that. At least the strimmer will free a bit of her time to do the weeds that won't be strim-able.

The fare over there was far too much - over £70. I don't feel justified in claiming all that from the estate so I'll look up what the fare would have been had I booked my usual split tickets and not gone shopping en route. I got to Primarni and got the things I wanted apart from work shoes, and there weren't any sweatshirts that I liked but I didn't really need either so no worries. I can have the space instead. I bought coffee on the way there and back, only bought milk at the village shop, got very rained on walking up from the train, had an NSD on Wednesday and was generally under the weather... feeling a bit better today.

Not so good news on my extra gardening work: a senior manager says I can no longer claim extra time for it (not entirely unexpected and my existing claims have been honoured). There are also conditions on the contracted time which aren't very realistic. I've emailed politely back to say what I've already done to fulfil those conditions but also why they can't be a precondition of all the time spent. There are issues with safety for one thing. Quite reasonable to ask me to make an effort in that direction but not possible to make it happen more than a small percentage of the time. I think it's one of those instances where management ideals are out of touch with how things actually are.
I've also told them that advertising the job (i.e. the hours I've been working extra) is a possibility. I suspect that it was originally set up as some sort of supported job, but the elderly gentleman who retired earlier in the year didn't seem to get any support, and I wouldn't need it. If that's the case, I doubt there is extra funding going to be made available so it might just go to the employer's general gardening team and we could expect the usual illogical decisions (like cutting the grass on a rainy day). There is also a local charity organisation that might take it on. We'll see. I won't be deprived of gardening as my own is more than enough to keep me occupied!

Today I'm catching up on the washing and hope to pop to the shops before work. I've been up since 7.30 but only got one load in the machine so far and haven't finished unpacking... sneaked a couple of books onto the shelf, some pegs into the peg bag and couple more teaspoons into the drawer. I brought back cuttings of a couple of lovely roses and a pelargonium, plus three lilies of the valley, so I need to find homes for those. I also spotted an iris at the house, which is in entirely the wrong spot and very like the one I couldn't find the other week at the Walled Garden shop. Once it's finished flowering I have it earmarked for a sunny patch here. It deserves it after surviving where it is.


4/6/19
Spending:
Fares £71.80 (to reclaim in part)
Coffee £2.60
City map (books?) £2.95
Clothing (sandals, tee shirt and handbag organiser) £11.50
Charger cable £4.00
Housekeeping £1.95
5/6/19
NSD
6.6.19
Spending:
Coffee (housekeeping) £3.00

I'm glad I now know I can go through the ticket barriers when I change trains. I could do it on my previous route but trains have been rerouted. It means I can go to the shops or for a coffee and not have to pay another fare!

MS:
Some pegs and teaspoons for free! might as well use them as give them to charity in a few months' time. I mean, do charity shops take pegs? Possibly...
Not at all money-saving on the fares or the coffees, though the coffees meant I could carry the rest of my food so maybe a little saved. Wednesday's NSD was a step in the right direction.
Decluttering:
Nothing big but 50 small items!

I'm thankful for safe journeys, kindly staff and rose cuttings.

Honeysucklelou2

Schools use lots of pegs, if you have a surplus!! Hanging up key words or number lines take a surprising amount!

Sun_Addict

Sounds like you've made fab progress on the decluttering front

Hope you feel better soon, nothing worse than a summer cold xx

HairyHandofDartmoor

I'm glad you had a productive time at your mum's old house Cherry. It must sound like a never ending task sometimes.

I hope you get over your cough soon.

Cherryfudge

Thank you everyone! I'm feeling a lot better, thanks to a heavy shift at work that didn't give me time to dwell on my sniffles. Honestly, I feel much better.

A bit of grocery shopping today and decluttered a few containers to the eco shop. I think that's about it.

Spending:
Housekeeping £15.75
MS:
10th coin to savings 5p
Extra half hour at work
Decluttering:
3 containers to eco shop and 1 coffee cup back to Costalot.

Tonight I'm thankful for us all getting through a tough shift and supportive colleagues.

Cherryfudge

Woke up with a headache and can't work out if it's because I slept well or slept badly. Hey ho. And it's a good job I looked on the calendar as I'd forgotten I'm working tonight, so I'm just off to the shops then back to work. I think I'll get something quick to eat but fortifying as tonight's shift won't be a lot quieter than last night's and we didn't get to eat till about 8.30... back to carrying a trusty muesli bar in my pocket as well as having a meal in the fridge.

Which reminds me I left a smoothie in the work fridge the other day which could be the answer to not having time for coffee.