Cherry takes the reins

Cherryfudge

Honeysucklelou2 said:

Very impressed by the downloading of C210K. I hadn’t realised there was progression from the 5k app! Only on week 2 here ( of the 5k app) but amazing how quickly you can see progress. I didn’t think I’d manage the extended running time but it was ok🙂.

This is I think the third time I've done C25K! However I would really love to be able run 10K - I did it just once.:) I hit a barrier around 6k and really struggled to get beyond that till one day the run was going well and I just went on to 8K, then shortly after, on to 10. Then I ducked out of running as the weather was bad, then I broke my arm... so here I am again, and it's been a bit easier this time around.
C25K has its difficult moments but seems to ease up with something a bit lighter immediately afterwards and it seems your body learns from those extended runs and has more resources ready next time around.

Cherryfudge

Wednesday turned out not to be quite what I expected. DH and I decided to go for a walk, which turned into an eight mile meander! We explored as far as a hamlet we'd never visited before where we bumped into a couple we know through church, who gave us directions for a circular route. I took a load of photos and we saw various people we know, out doing their exercise. Then I had a text asking if I could do the sleep in at work, which I negotiated so that I followed it with a morning not an afternoon shift.

My feet were suffering from all the running and walking so I had a day off from exercise today but we went out to clap for the NHS, keyworkers and everyone who deserves it. Our street isn't very clappy so we went to the junction with the main road where there was a bit of a party atmosphere. The evening was still warm and the flowers in the gardens are lovely. I did get a few midge bites - they don't know about social distancing - but I also did a short video clip to send to DS2 to thank him for being NHS.  

Wednesday tea was pizza as we took so long about our walk. Today I tried a new recipe for lentil and butterbean casserole which is definitely a keeper although I missed out all the herbs in the original version. I might try it with curry in some time but it's real comfort food even without spices. There are two extra portions in the freezer.

There isn't much to report about money. I've paid off the CC. I'm working tomorrow afternoon so I can claim Bank Holiday rates for the VE Day 75th celebrations. That and the extra sleep in payment are likely to be my only extras on May's pay, but at present we aren't spending a lot - though I think we might need to start a shoe leather budget.

No gardening done recently and almost no decluttering.

Tonight I'm thankful for super walking territory on my doorstep and the health to enjoy it. Also for a fairly straightforward shift at work and not having to go to work elsewhere. And lentil and butterbean casserole, of course.

Honeysucklelou2

Lentil and butter bean casserole sounds delicious...

Cherryfudge

The lentil and butterbean casserole idea came from someone's post on a FB group but the original had all sorts of herbs and spices and some of the herb quantities were rather large so in the end I missed them all out.   It's diced, sautéed onion and carrot(s) cooked for 15-20 minutes in olive oil with the lid on, 2 cloves of chopped garlic, a chopped tomato, tomato puree (I think I used about 2 tbsp but I was emptying out a tube so I didn't measure), a medium potato (diced), a cup of red lentils (rinsed), a tin of drained butterbeans, a vegetable stock cube and about 3 cups of water, all cooked together till the lentils are soft, so at least 25 minutes. And keep it stirred! Serve with rice - I always use brown rice and it went well. I didn't add any other seasoning as it wasn't a low salt stock cube. I imagine you could ring the changes with butternut squash or sweet potato, and I think curry powder would work well. That lot made four portions.

I also learned I can use a rolling pin to get the tomato puree out of a tube that someone had apparently wrung out.

For some reason I slept quite late again this morning and didn't achieve a huge amount before work, though DH had set up a Z00m meeting with my sister and niece, and our children which was nice. They (sister and niece) live near the equator so we had a virtual tour of their garden with ginger, avocado, passion  fruit and other interesting things growing. DS2 missed the call but was in touch later.

Work had a few too many staff… that meant there wasn't much to do. I didn't want to be in on all the 'risk' conversations so I got permission to go and mow the lawn, and I spun that out to about an hour and a half of lawn-related tasks, which has actually paid off in terms of making the garden look neater. When I went back in, everyone was watching VE Day commemorations so I checked my emails and did some online training: I was for once pleased to discover I had a few refreshers due on old training, so I spent most of the evening on a couple of these. I've also identified two more courses I can do when there is a computer available and I'm not needed for clients. I did try to give my colleagues the heads up about some resilience training that's available through work but no one seems to have picked up on it. Not only is it a useful way to 'look busy', but people need whatever can help them through these tough times. I did a short course in workplace resilience last year and found it helpful. I guess I might also have a look at the mental health resources file as our mental health champion has left and it would be good to raise the profile of the material there.

None of us was brave enough to go out and sing 'We'll meet again' (and I don't know all the words) but I did get a free tea as the morning shift had set out a VE Day-style buffet.

DH has paid the window cleaner so that's a fiver spent. We also seem to have lost the clementines he bought last week and the milk he bought the other day which isn't very MS. I think I might find them in the car boot if I dare look, but it's been warm here for the last couple of days so I think we will have to go shopping for more.

Tonight I'm thankful for the Z00m call, a warm sunny day, a free meal, and a timely reminder that tough times eventually pass.

Sun_Addict

I’m a couple of weeks behind you on the C25K. I was a bit shocked when yesterday I had to do 20 minutes non stop but I did it. I used to do 5k regularly until I broke my leg in December. I don’t think I want to progress to 10k. Once I’m back to work properly I’ll be walking 10k at least, some of it uphill. I’ll probably just run on the days I work from home.

That stew sounds delicious 😋 

Cherryfudge

Sun_Addict said:

I’m a couple of weeks behind you on the C25K. I was a bit shocked when yesterday I had to do 20 minutes non stop but I did it. I used to do 5k regularly until I broke my leg in December. I don’t think I want to progress to 10k. Once I’m back to work properly I’ll be walking 10k at least, some of it uphill. I’ll probably just run on the days I work from home.

That stew sounds delicious 😋 

I do find running addictive! I live in a hilly area so if I go out of town to run, the gradients are inevitable (and a good excuse for lack of speed). I've only done 10k once but I'd love to do it again. DD is a serious runner and celebrated VE day with a half marathon, but she does it for the joy of it.

Cherryfudge

I learned the hard way not to go running on a warm lunchtime. I only managed 3K, some of which was walking, but by the time I got home I was overheated and a bit dehydrated and had to walk around cooling off and sipping water because I felt it was that or keel over. Silly me. I had woken at seven and thought it would be nice to go for an early run, but fell asleep again.

I did get myself properly cooled off and we had our usual Saturday fish and chips (oven chips nowadays not chip shop chips so we have probably saved a few pounds). I decided I need to loose some weight but during work I gave in to a small piece of chocolate cake and I've just had two squares of choc at home and chocolate spread on toast. I think I need a Plan instead.

DH has been to the greengrocer's but I don't know what the damage was.

Workwise, we only have one resident but this person has improved markedly over the last few days and will probably leave on Monday. After that we may or may not have other people coming. I'm off from Monday to Thursday, and if there's no one in on Friday, I may be asked to work elsewhere. This may be part of a slippery slope to making us a 'one size fits all' service: in fact the change has already officially been made but our particular service has managed to hold on to its specialism by being heavily booked. I can see this could mean a reduction in costs to the authorities, but those are the same authorities who have demanded detailed training and qualifications in our specialism, followed last year by some rather clumsily-placed training in another area. Anyway I decided to use some of my time today to try to find training online that might help with the projected wider client group - it's clear from watching colleagues who have worked with different client groups before that there are things to look out for that I'm not at all aware of. I've made a bit of progress and have a certificate from an short course to prove it - which is also an indication that we are being expected to adapt and provide a service we aren't trained in.

Rant over for now.

Tonight I'm thankful for beautiful weather, a peaceful shift, sitting out in the work garden to eat my tea with just birdsong to listen to, and our current 'patient' making such a good recovery.

Honeysucklelou2

Thank you for the recipe.  That could be a useful dinner to cook and freeze for Wednesdays when I only cook for myself.

in_need_of_direction

Our service user numbers are continuing to fall and I’m running out of stuff to keep people busy.  Unfortunately I’ve nowhere to redeploy staff and people don’t want time off during lockdown. I’m not sure what to do with them

Cherryfudge

My post from yesterday has disappeared! Sorry INOD, I wrote to say we are scarce on service users too and they are looking to redeploy people to other services. I'm spending as much time as I can on the work garden or doing online training to justify being there but higher management has other ideas. That would be fair enough but we aren't actually needed in the other services so we think it only increases the risk of cross infection.

I discussed this with DH today and he reminded me that we hadn't been given a skills assessment which most employees had immediately post lockdown. It's a very large employer and I suppose they did right in planning to use those with care skills on the possible influx from hospitals, but it didn't happen and now here we are, all un-assessed. I'm intending to email management to ask if we could have the assessment and they might be able to find alternative, lower risk, more useful employment for some of us. Having read about how children's skills in written communication may deteriorate during the lockdown, I might suggest we could be made available for online listening to reading, if nothing more complicated. It would also help to structure the children's day and take pressure off parents. Of course there are a thousand and one other possibilities as people come into care work from all sorts of background (I once worked with an excellent support worker who had been a property millionaire but was much happier working with people) so there are many skills to offer.
 

DH went for the greengrocery shopping yesterday (£5.56) then for a walk but because the wind was so strong he took his hearing aids out (they roar in the wind) and lost one. Today we retraced his steps and found it on the High Street! We are both happy with that as it saves inconvenience and, although he has a spare, the spare would have had to have been recalibrated to his current prescription. Replacements are around £70 which is a day's pay for me so it's definitely been an  MS miracle to find it.

I was also very happy with the big shop today as DH managed to get three boxes of my cappuccinos (my 'one weakness') at discount and also (wait for it)…. flour! It seems Mr T is now bagging their own as it was in a brown paper bag with see-through window and a deli sticker on to warn us it contains wheat and maybe other allergens. I don't think we've been able to buy flour in six or more weeks. I feel just like one of those war time housewives when something came off rations, though of course they had it harder for much longer so maybe I'm exaggerating. DH also got me a 2 in 1 shampoo for £1 so I suppose that goes on the toiletries budget and the housekeeping is £44.30.

Yesterday was online church in the morning and a family Z00m before work - nice that everybody could make it this time around. DS2 is back on the ward tomorrow and DS1 is a bit despondent as he has been temporarily placed in a different job which entails working evenings and weekends. This is happening to a lot of managers in our sector (we work for the same employee) and it's not nice for them but it isn't permanent and I'm sure he's up to the job.

It's been really cold for two days - heating on as opposed to 20 degrees or so out of doors. I haven't been for a run and only spent a few minutes in the garden.

Today we watched another church service as DH is involved with Christian Aid week. This year of course they won't be putting envelopes through doors but gifts can be given online - DH  put this across on the video. 

I'm not sure what's up but I again lost part of this as I was posting so I will sign off in minute. Meanwhile I'm thankful for finding the hearing aid and for DH getting an online doctor's appointment resulting in a prescription.