Cherry takes the reins

Cherryfudge

It's been too cold and windy to do much on the garden today but at least the twigs are reduced a bit. The middle four or five hours of the day was gloomy and the wind was strong so it felt more like autumn. However I got a couple of jumpers hand washed and dried on the liine then curled up on the sofa with a blanket and dozed! I can't have slept as well as I'd thought last night.

While I was snooozing, DH had another go (the third) at changing gas and electricity provider. We have to wait for some paperwork but this one exactly halves what we will pay, and nothing timed out on us! I know we have some  £470 owing from the current one as well so our usage must have changed drastically somehow. We had three of the younger generation with us for a while but the reading take this period into account so it isn't that. Strangely, J and L's electricity bill rose inexplicably a few months ago and they've gone through everything they can think of without finding why it's more than doubled.

Dinner tonight was lentil and chorizo soup with a spare portion for the freezer. I find it's substantial enough without bread but DH wanted carbs so he had a baked potato with his to save bread. Strange times. However I think he will have to go to the shops tomorrow: I'm making a list. I even started reading a recipe book today, something I've had no appetite for recently. I think that's linked partly to initial fight or flight mode, and partly because the challenge now is cooking with what you've got and being adaptable, instead of finding new and wonderful culinary experiences. I watched Jamie 0liver making risotto, chocolate cake and tomato sauce while I did the ironing, and enjoyed it. It was my sort of cooking as I'm always making do with what's in the fridge! I see Jack Monroe is to do similar alongside Matt Tebbutt and I've been a fan of Jack's ever since reading that Telegraph article while visiting my Mum. So I'm looking forward to that too.

I also see there's a shortage of eggs so I'm rather stuck there. I think I have enough for this coming week and I'm sure I can have a look at some vegan recipes if I run out, but it makes me feel a bit insecure.   honestly I can go weeks without using even one so this is silly and I'm obviously overthinking it. They are only in shortage because everyone's decided to bake, it's not as if hens are on strike.

I have done my mending jobs: two pairs of socks and a tee shirt that had long sleeves and now has just-below-the elbow-sleeves that will allow me to wash my hands thoroughly while at work. Sleeves are always too long on me so I'm pleased with this innovation. One of the jumpers I washed was rescued from DH who was throwing it out: it's not had much wear but is damaged. However it's a most gorgeous lightweight wool so I want to turn it into something wearable if I can only decide what.

I contacted DS2 to ask for his address - I can see he's read it but he hasn't replied. Maybe he was miffed at my suggestion of 'The Floor, The Squat, X town' but he made the joke first.

I rang A for a chat - this is revolutionary for both of us as we aren't phone chatting people but it was good to hear him. He's working from home while H is a keyworker so he doesn't see much of anyone, but apparently J and L rang him while on their exercise walk the other day and they were near his house so they had a shouted chat from the road. I bet that went down well with the neighbours.  

Tomorrow I need to remember to make a cake so DH can have his lunchtime fix of something sweet! It will be another lemon curd cake I think. I'll take overnight oats as a work meal and I have a stash of juice cartons and some chocolate biscuits for work too. DH has loads to choose from in the freezer so I hope he picks something from there and makes room for mince.

Spending/moneysaving/decluttering round up: nothing spent, extra soup in the freezer, socks rescued from an untimely end, garden wheelie bin now less full of dead bramble, fuchsia prunings from Mum's old house rescued from bag of damp newspaper and still showing signs of growth so perhaps some can be planted out this summer. DH has mown the grass and sorted the Utilities provider so he deserves a place in the list too. The dining table needs clearing but not tonight...

My thankfulnesses:  being mostly able to keep up with Joe Wicks this morning, a doze in the sunshine this afternoon, the prospect of much smaller utilities bills, a chat with A this evening and that fact Dh is looking healthier and more relaxed already now that job is gone. Oh, and the winds didn't uproot the tall trees that we can't yet get the tree surgeon to!

in_need_of_direction

Glad to hear I’m not the only relying on email read receipts as DS’s proof of life

Seasidegal58

Your gratitude list a few posts ago was wonderful Cherry .  🌈🌈🌈
And it's good to read that your DH is so much better since he gave up the job. 😊

VelvetFreak

I am so happy that your DH is looking happier xx
Glad you have been able to chat to everyone on the phone.

Cherryfudge

Thank you everyone.  

Great news last night - I have the weekend off! Our workplace is closed briefly until we change purpose on Monday. It's all been cleaned and decluttered in readiness and a trolley of PPE place centrally. We have no idea how busy we'll be (potentially very much so, but not necessarily). I hope we will get some stability of clients as well as some who will be there for just a few hours. For social distancing it's going to be a nightmare, but at least the weather is warming up so we should be all right to ventilate as much as possible.

I had a few hours of leave left from last year so I'm using that up and won't owe as much time to work as I would otherwise.

So far today I've made a cake, and am on the second load of laundry. J and L have set a family quiz that we can all have a go at on our exercise walks based on local knowledge. It looks as though I will need to team up with DH as I haven't got much of a clue about the questions I've looked at!

I'm doing a bit more cleaning in DS2's room in case either DH or (more likely) I have to self isolate. Previously I have tackled the bin bag of recycling and the other of rubbish, and cleaned the floor - today I found a pizza box with cutlery still in, though thankfully no pizza. I can't decide if that room is going to spawn the next superbug or repel it.

DS2 has been in touch - he seems well though he hasn't specifically said so, and has actually sent an address.

Sun_Addict

Glad DS has been in touch. Laughing at the pizza box complete with cutlery, brings back memories 🤣😱

Seasidegal58

Enjoy your weekend off Cherry. You deserve it. 

Cherryfudge

Seasidegal58 said:

Enjoy your weekend off Cherry. You deserve it. 

Thank you - it's been a bit of a treat!

I haven't done any more running or Joe W!cks exercises over the weekend, partly to give myself recovery time and partly because I think there are more likely to be people around. I have a theory that people working from home are somehow adhering faithfully to office hours but I may be deluding myself. Instead of these I've had twilight walks up the to farmland just outside town, so I'm not entirely couch-potatoing. DH went for a cycle yesterday as his piece of exercise but got a puncture then discovered all the glue in our (3!) puncture repair kits has dried out. Thankfully next door has a very keen cyclist so after a request by text glue was supplied and DH is mobile again. Meanwhile the kitchen junk drawer got thoroughly cleaned out looking for the glue, and of course not everything fits back in.

We had online church again this morning (it's becoming a nice routine) and our family Z00m meeting after lunch. Good to see them all.  H reports she has been on the corona ward in her professional capacity and despite it being a huge hospital, it was the calmest place around. The main adventure for her was getting a mask stuck in her hair so a bit of hair had to be cut. I told her she would have the distinction of being the only one to get a hair cut in the next three months. A and L have both grown beards, DS2 has the longest fringe I've seen in a while. He has four days left of isolation unless they hear his housemate didn't have the virus after all.

I've done some baking (lemon curd cake yesterday and scones today) but I still need to find a way to use up a surplus of buttermilk. DH got the shopping yesterday though the supermarket queue was inexplicably long, especially in the morning. It's easier at the greengrocer's though, as I may have mentioned last week, not being able to chose our own veg has lead to great variety in size! Today's main meal was roast chicken with roasties, carrot and swede mash, cabbage and leek so I feel well nourished. The rice pudding afterwards was a treat.  

DS2 is successfully stalking from a distance: he told us someone down the road is poorly with corona virus. That's the closest to home that I know of, though there are reports that a former colleague of mine as well as one of DH's are in hospital and that a client I've worked with recently has been very ill. However I have seen elsewhere that while the client has been unwell, it was just a cold - it's so hard to verify these things so I wonder whether some stories are growing in the telling. That's not at all to belittle the real illness that's going on but it's easy to exaggerate for the sake of effect.

I didn't manage the garden at all yesterday but today was nice: it's so dry and breezy and today's the warmest so far this year. I wanted to stay in away from germs but instead I've planted some potatoes and onions and pulled out more ivy.

My online course on finance has timed out on me, but I had been rather bogged down in it yesterday, entirely failing to understand ratios and gearing. Sigh. I did write them a note to say I thought the concepts needed more explanation. Now I have one course on the go and another that I put my name down for but never started and which I doubt I'll have time for before it times out.

For a money diary this is a bit of a non-event.  

Tonight I'm thankful for beautiful sunsets and wildlife: I'm so blessed living where I do though the sunsets aren't as amazing as the Liverpool Bay ones that I grew up with. This weekend I've seen bats and hares as well as all sorts of birdlife. I'm also very thankful for technology that enables me to see familiar faces though I can't be with the people in person.

Honeysucklelou2

How wonderful to see a hare...only ever seen one once and I was surprised by its size.

in_need_of_direction

Don’t think I’d recognise a hare if I saw one