Cherry takes the reins

in_need_of_direction

Despite being a confirmed sugar junkie, I never eat bought for Christmas goodies in advance. It’s possibly my one dietary discipline and probably goes back to my upbringing. There were 7 children so goodies were procured from Halloween but never opened until Christmas 

Cherryfudge

Seasidegal58 said:

 I did download the Katy books a while ago though and re-read those. 

I've just downloaded them too - fantastic value at 49p!

Re Quality Street, my auntie worked for the company and was given a free tin at Christmas which on at least one occasion came to us. Apparently they were allowed to eat as many of the chocolates as they wanted so of course they soon grew sick of them. A savvy move by the company, I think! I remember the lady concerned as petite and always slim.

I do like them - soft centres especially - but my absolute favourites are coffee creams and I haven't seen those in a tin of chocs for many years.

@in_need_of_direction, I imagine with seven of you, chocolates were precious. I agree on keeping them for Christmas, they aren't special otherwise.

Cherryfudge

I finished the back of the grey jumper today and realised I had done it on the wrong sized needles! It looks all right, I wonder how far out it is from the measurements at the front?! If it's a bit tight I'll probably go for knitting a narrow insert up the side seams, I don't think that would be very visible.

Got a few groceries and another e-book (the 'Katy' series by Susan Coolidge). Work wasn't too bad and I've actually picked up another shift as they were short on Monday. I did assess it first: a big stretch to staff it with two but me making three should make it quite good.

Spending:
e-book 49p
Housekeeping £16.58
Coffee and cake out yesterday £9.00 (for both of us).

Tonight I'm thankful for an uneventful shift and for progress on that jumper - a seriously long-lasting project!

Cherryfudge

Missed a couple of days on here as I've been at work plus doing the sleeps there. Spent ages the other days sorting a medication problem but I think we got there, and had a shift with a team leader yesterday which is currently unusual. I got an update on the 'Christmas situation' that showed things are going on behind the scenes, on 'our side' if not on both sides. A senior manager is away a few days so we may not hear more till they return.

Oh, that sleep in bed at work is so comfortable! Probably not supportive enough in the long term but I do like it.

I did some grocery shopping yesterday (£7) and bought a diary - only spent £1 on that as I had £1 in points on my shop card that needed using. Having the diary is nice - I always like new stationery, and it also means I have a place to plan out next year's leave. As it's looking as though I won't be allowed to take any leave over Christmas, I'll just have to splurge on taking it after. Looking at when colleagues have booked, an easy win was a week towards the end of March, leaving me three weeks to think about between now and then - unlikely to be this side of Christmas as staffing is so short. I'm not sure management have realised that even when the new starters have actually started, some existing staff have such a backlog of leave that there may be problems with staffing because each shift will require an experienced person to advise newer ones. I've also heard that for the first time ever, the parallel children's service is using agency staff. There are some very good staff out there but they won't know the children... and I've just had a text from work to ask if I can swap tomorrow's late for an early, which will mean fewer hours worked over the day (the day had been an hour's meeting in the building in the morning, half an hour's meeting online in the afternoon and a late shift, so three hours leading into the morning meeting then the online meeting isn't too bad apart from the early start. I've already offered to do the early on Tuesday!)

Onebrokelady

My favourites are also coffee creams. People at work used to collect them up and bring them in for me because no one liked them, I haven't seen any for ages 😟 I did see an advert today for Lakeland's and they have marzipan with a Cherry soaked in Kirsch on the top and then covered in chocolate so guess where I'm going nest time I'm in town 😍😍😀

Seasidegal58

The Lakeland chocs sound yum!😋. I love marzipan!

Sun_Addict

I have a story about marzipan. As a child and teenager I loved it. Everyone used to save it for me from wedding/Christmas cakes. My mum once sent me to the shop to buy a pack of it one Christmas and I ate the whole lot on the way home, had to go back and get another one 🤣 Probably felt a bit 🤢 I don’t like it now though, must’ve overdone it 🤣

Cherryfudge

You're making me gain weight just reading!

Actually, I have a couple of sweet recipe books - all sort of flavoured chocolate creams as well as fudge, toffee, marzipan fruits etc. A few of those would make nice Christmas presents and the creams are really easy to make.

I was on the early shift at work today and again tomorrow: they were originally days off but I offered to cover. Work was okay, not too tiring but mornings don't suit me so I admit to dozing off on the sofa earlier. It will be the same again tomorrow!

Nothing spent today.

Things I'm thankful for: being on the last sleeve of that jumper I've been working on so long, useful conversations at work, milder weather again and starry sky tonight.

badmemory

So far I have read up to Feb this year & noticed you were wondering about taxi.  Taxi from Blackpool?  If so I am afraid you will not hear from her again as she died.

Cherryfudge

Ahhhh... no work tomorrow! Today's was quite interesting with a training session on anaphylaxis. We were given background information on spotting likely triggers but it was mostly on the types of adrenalin 'pen' and how to use them. A bit different from our usual things and I hope we never need to know it, but it's better to be safe than sorry.

I went back to bed and slept for an hour or so when I got home: earlies have this effect on me! That set me up for the rest of the day, though. DH made salmon, new potatoes and roast veg using stuff we had in, so we're well fed.

I had a walk over to my friend's this evening but it turns out she's coming down with something so my other friend and I cut the evening short and let her get to bed. I hope it's not Covid, of course, but it could be. Then I came home via the supermarket for bread and peanut butter and ended up spending £9.67, including various marked-down fruit and veg which are now in the freezer.

The things I'm thankful for this evening (a bit of a mixture): the smell of the autumn leaves in the garden, another mild day and night, good training and interesting trainer, fresh pineapple, sleep in the afternoon, having the confidence to cut short the visit this evening.