Cherry takes the reins

Cherryfudge

Today was chilly and showery and I stayed in all day. I didn't make good use of most of it, to be honest. I sat in the lounge playing on my phone most of the time till DH finished work, then moaned that I was bored. We did think of going for a walk but I let him go on his own (he came back with a painting from a charity shop) and I gathered up all the multitudinous fresh(ish) vegetables from various corners of the cupboards and fridge and set too, to make soup.

I've used the leaves and stalk of a cauliflower, about half a bag of carrots, an onion, some celery, the salvaged okay bits of a sad swede, some parsley and I forget what else, but there was quite a lot of soup when I was done (and it was nice). I also baked some chilled pre-prepared croissants and cinnamon swirls and made up a Moroccan flatbread kit that needed getting round to.

There are four portions of soup left, and most of the baking ready for this weekend, and I've frozen some parsnips and coriander, but don't have room to freeze any more. That leaves me with lots of ready-cut parsley in a pot of water, some sweet potatoes (for lunches, served with a yogurt and blue cheese sauce), a baking potato, a cauliflower, a butternut squash, a pumpkin (amazing how long they last!), a bunch of beetroot, carrots, onions, some celery, quite a lot of sweet peppers... I'm rather glad I didn't go out as any further shopping would have been a mistake.

The man has been to service the boiler so we'll get a bill eventually but it's good to know it's satisfactory.

Tomorrow may well be more cooking so I can use up some limes in a drizzle cake while DH works.

Spending:
e-book £2.09

Tonight I'm grateful for healthy food and the opportunity to be inventive with it, being able to have the heating on, being able to recycle plastics (our black bin doesn't fill up so much nowadays) and for the sunny spells in between showers... and the showers too I guess. We've not had much rain recently. Oh, and my new e-book (Kindle daily deal), 'How bad are bananas?' which looks quite interesting and is apparently entertaining too.

Cherryfudge

A squally old day today, though I think it looked colder than it actually was. The washing is on the airer and upstairs doorframes as there were so many showers.

I didn't get any baking done but have shampooed all the downstairs carpets and got some groceries. The Wifi wasn't working in Mr T so I couldn't get loyalty points on my app. I realised before I left the shop that it also meant I'd paid £1 more for something. It wasn't an essential so I went straight back for a refund! I also picked up some bits at Mr L, but resisted the £1.50 fruit and veg boxes as there was nothing I could really use. I noticed their tins of chopped tomatoes were more expensive but am hoping that's just because they had run out of the cheapest type.

My knitting's gone wrong! I sent a photo to friends who knit but no one has really solved it for me so my next job will be to knit a swatch with the pattern the way I think it should have been written, just to check. I think that's less bother than pulling several rows back.

Spending:
Housekeeping £9.46
Medical £3.38

Tonight I'm thankful for spotting I could have paid less and getting a refund, clean carpets, seeing A, H and the baby tomorrow.

Cherryfudge

We had a nice time yesterday: the baby has reached that six week stage where they seem to be awake and crying a lot but I did get to hold her and also to give her (parents) a couple of little outfits I'd bought. Far too large for now - will she really be so big when she's a year old?! But they were too cute not to buy, and getting the equivalent when she's that size will be more expensive because these were end of season sales and when she needs them may well be earlier in the season.

It was bitter outside again but there was a break in the weather so DH and I went for a walk. About half a mile out the sun disappeared and the sleet came back so it was a short walk!

I paid the credit card up to date but today the bill for the boiler service has come in (£90) so I need to sort that out.

The swollen glands in my throat that have been coming and going over the last few weeks were bad yesterday but a lot less noticeable today. DH has something that's making him wheezy but goodness knows what - we're both testing negative despite a lot of positives among people we know. I'm still getting tired easily too, but I'm sleeping better than usual. It will probably resolve itself and we'll never have a name for it.

Today I found what I hope is a little waste-not-want-not trick. I can't think why it didn't occur to me before as I have a tendency to drop powder compacts and the resulting crumbs are a nuisance to use. I'd not had a lot of use out of this one but the lid was broken as well as the powder so I've decanted it into a small pot. As I use a brush rather than a powder puff the two work well together. I'll see how it goes but hopefully gets rid of the nuisance factor, as well as not wasting resources.

Oh, and last week's soup is now down to one in the freezer. Dinner yesterday was tuna pasta despite guests - this is what happens when we don't hear back till late and there's no roast for just the two of us!  

Still heard nothing from the job application so I'm looking again.

Cherryfudge

I haven't spent anything at the shops today but the £90 is winging its way to the boiler man and DH went to the greengrocer (about £5 he said) and later to the supermarket for dinner things.

I made soup to save H having to cook and a lime drizzle cake which has made use of the limes and a pack of butter that had hidden at the back of the fridge. Nothing much else to report apart from total lack of exercise and an improvement in the sore throat.

Tonight I'm thankful for a crocus coming out in our garden and cake for tea.

Honeysucklelou2

Lime drizzle cake sounds an interesting alternative to the usual lemon...will have to try that!

Cherryfudge

Honeysucklelou2 said:

Lime drizzle cake sounds an interesting alternative to the usual lemon...will have to try that!

It worked quite well, I'd make it again.

Some money saved the other day when I gave DH a hair cut! Over the years this must have saved a fortune!

Today I did an extra hour and three quarters at work which I will probably add to my pay claim as I'm not sure I'll be able to organise taking the time back. I was hoping to negotiate tomorrow off as there's been a mix up over my day off/annual leave, but I'm needed so Friday becomes my day off and I will have to find a time to take the leave later.

I've spent £1 on biscuits to share with my friends this evening - we actually met up for the first time since before Christmas! - but earlier in the day DH kindly did some shopping so I could try out a new recipe (T@na R@msey's black eyed bean chilli & guacamole). I'm quite pleased with how it turned out and there's loads left for another day or two. I was really surprised when DH not only tried some of my guacamole but went back for two helpings of his own! It's quite funny really as neither of us likes avocado but evidently that can be overcome.

I don't know what DH spent but in addition to the groceries he's got a new set of switches for the kitchen which took him three or four hours to fit as the wires were very short and hard to reach. It looks nice now it's done.

I'm on early shift tomorrow so I'll pack up shortly.

Things I'm thankful for this evening: meeting with my friends again after a couple of months of other things happening, successful new veggie dish which will save shopping and cooking another day, mild weather so I could walk with my coat open.

Cherryfudge

Day two of the the black bean chilli, and there are still two portions to go in the freezer! It's really filling. I did shop for more coriander and another avocado plus milk and fruit for DH. I bought what I could from Mr L and just a couple of items from Mr T. My loyalty card still wasn't working and why should I give them money when their app won't let me sign in?! It made me very aware how much I shop for wants not needs, because I decided against a couple of things simply because I would have had to have paid full price. They can wait a bit longer.

The app is working again now, it eventually decided to let me in after some effort on home broadband. I think I might get another plastic version to avoid further problems as it's the second time I've had this issue.

Work... busy but quiet if you know what I mean. My colleague and I spent half the morning running round trying to get things ship shape, but by the time afternoon staff came in there were still a couple of jobs outstanding.

Other than this it's been a nice sunny day and quite mild till it went dark. Before work I sent a couple of texts, one to a former colleague (had a lovely reply later) and one to the man who fitted our log burner. He fitted us in later in the morning, serviced the log burner and swept the chimney so it's now useable. He also gave Dh a hand with the tricky kitchen switch that DH has been struggling to fit, and its now working. DH rounded his payment up as a thank you!

The CO detector bleeping has cost us quite a bit - new CO detector (£20), early service for the gas boiler (£80) and overdue service/chimney sweep for the log burner plus tip for help with electrics (£100). It's good to know everything is safe for another year though.

This evening DH took the food items round to A and H and I lounged around making mistakes in my French practice. Some days just aren't French days. This was one of them.

Spending:
Housekeeping £3.47
Household £100.00
Gifts £5.00 + £2.99

This evening I'm thankful for safe appliances, help with the electrics, prompt response when needed and a nice message from a friend. Oh, and sunshine and a mild day, of course!

Cherryfudge

I don't think I spent anything yesterday. I ended up staying on at work to sort something out so there's another hour and a half to claim for.

A further hitch with the kitchen electrics: the washer and dishwasher switches, which functioned two days ago, weren't working yesterday! DH managed to get the washing machine going so today's project will be to find out what's happened to the dishwasher.

Today is a day off. Originally annual leave but that got missed off the rota when it got rejigged so I have another day to book some time before the end of March. I'm only in for a few days in March anyway!

I was helping with the church cleaning again this morning and restocked a few groceries and toiletries on the way home. The lit-up beading around the edge of a display case in one shop was flashing on and off, It was exactly where I wanted to search for a product. After a few minutes trying to read the labels and shield my eyes I asked an assistant if it could be turned off, but it couldn't. She was pleasant and asked if she could help me but by then I needed to clear my head, so I declined and ended up wandering down the shopping street waiting for my head to clear. I'm still wondering why the display couldn't be turned off as, in additional to the potential to bring on seizures in some people, it's actually lost them a sale now and it can't be nice for the shop staff.

I've decided to treat myself to a book I borrowed from the library and liked. The library needs more copies as it's almost always out! 

Spending:
Housekeeping £14.63
Toiletries £6.50
e-book £3.99

Things to be thankful for today: reading matter!

badmemory

The trouble is that their health & safety instructions would have been not to touch anything to do with the electrics.  I used to work in a very small offshoot office of a co & if they had known what we did when things stopped working properly we would have had H & S down on us like a ton of bricks. 

Sun_Addict

I’ve had an off day today with my Spanish, some days I fly through it, today wasn’t one of those days 😆

Money well spent on peace of mind for the carbon monoxide issue. 

My DD has issues with flashing lights, she has epilepsy and photo-sensitive migraines so anything like that sets them off.