Cherry takes the reins

Sun_Addict

I always keep a packet of sauce flour in stock and add a spoonful to anything that needs thickening. It’s great for making a quick white sauce for lasagne as it doesn’t go lumpy if you’re not constantly stirring it.

🤣🤣 to the hedgehog. 

Cherryfudge

Sun_Addict said:

I always keep a packet of sauce flour in stock and add a spoonful to anything that needs thickening. It’s great for making a quick white sauce for lasagne as it doesn’t go lumpy if you’re not constantly stirring it.

Do you know, I bought some the week before last and never thought of it!  

Cherryfudge

Two lots of grocery shopping this morning as I forgot DH's cereal before work then had to run an errand while at work and had permission to get some of my own things at the same time. Of course instead of one box of cereal I got three because he's poorly and I want to treat him ( ).

Dinner today was smoked mackerel with new potatoes and lots of veg. Three smoked mackerel are now £2.81 - I look back nostalgically to the days when the children were small and mackerel was a cheap meal at under £1! There is a saving to be had, though: we tend to have half the pack each but we could freeze one and thus get a free meal after every two purchases. I know it's not recommended to freeze mackerel, presumably because of the high fat content, but I've tried it and it was perfectly edible. I might have to convert DH though!

DH is much better today but is still isolating till Friday so he will be WFH tomorrow and I will move out of the dining room where his office is.

DS2 had some sad news for us: a friend of his has died in a traffic accident. I remember both DD and I lost people we knew this way in our teens. This man was in his twenties which is so tragic. I had heard of the accident as a colleague's husband works for Highways and had been called to the scene, but I didn't know who was involved.

Today's spending:
Housekeeping: £10.43

Things to be thankful for: it's cooler in the supermarket! DH watering my plants. the sound of birds settling down for the night through the open window: a bit of a rustle, a shuffle, silence.

Cherryfudge

We had rain today! Not an absolute deluge but steady for a couple of hours in the morning. That was funny as well as welcome because the weather forecast stubbornly kept telling me we had a 5% chance of rain till about lunchtime, when it had nearly finished and went up to about 19%.

I admit to a lazy morning: DH is feeling better and was working so I had the lounge. I'm still getting negative Covid tests but contacted my friends and we decided not to meet this evening as one of them someone coming to stay who is having an operation soon and my friend didn't want to compromise that happening. We are planning to meet next week, but the weather forecast for Sunday/Monday is scary: I've never seen the like:

Amber warning of extreme heat

Areas affected: East Midlands | East of England | London & South East England | North East England | North West England | South West England | Wales | West Midlands | Yorkshire & Humber

Starts: 00:00 BST on Sun 17 July

Ends: 23:59 BST on Mon 18 July

Exceptionally high temperatures are possible during Sunday and Monday and could lead to widespread impacts on people and infrastructure - Population-wide adverse health effects are likely to be experienced, not limited to those most vulnerable to extreme heat, leading to potential serious illness or danger to life. Government advice is that 999 services should be used in emergencies only; seek advice from 111 if you need non-emergency health advice. - Substantial changes in working practices and daily routines likely to be required - Significantly more people are likely to visit coastal areas, lakes and rivers leading to increased risk of water safety incidents - Delays on roads and road closures are possible, along with delays and cancellations to rail and air travel, with potential for significant welfare issues for those who experience even moderate delays

Issued at: 13:59 BST on Mon 11 July

Well, you could have looked that up, I know. It's more for the record and I know things can change. It could still be too hot on Tuesday to do much but we'll see.

I spent ages playing on my phone which isn't very constructive, but when the weather cleared later I went to the shops for some items DH was running low on and we are now well stocked with tins. Later I went for an evening raid on L!dl to get pastries, marmalade, onions and potatoes and ended up with those plus cheap salmon and a veg box. So I've spent quite a bit but it's all things I can use and actually money saving: the veg box was about 25p more than the bag of potatoes I originally chose and it was all things we like as well as three types of potatoes not just one.

DH found a few more raspberries in the garden but there aren't so many now. I've not had any more strawberries either but I'm new to growing them so to get any was a bonus.

Cherryfudge

Another quiet day: I stayed in apart from watering the garden. The weather's nice: not too hot with a cool breeze. I think we have it easier than most parts.

DH has been working and all I seem to have done is laundry and some admin stuff: starting to sort through five years of records to check which rail fares and petrol I never got round to claiming when visiting the old house, and untangling my annual leave. Things I booked under the old rota are still largely applicable under the new one but going from a three week rotation to two weeks is inevitably going to mess things up somewhere along the line.

I finished an excerpt of a book on my Kindle and am debating buying it. It's £10 but I've got vouchers... I checked the library and second hand on the big river company but can't find a better price. Might stick it on a wish list.

I also spent ages sending photos from the wedding - so much easier than in the days when you had to get them printed! I've only got immediate family ones still to do.

Things I'm thankful for these last couple of days: rain yesterday, and bargain salmon and fruit and veg box. The fun of going through pictures and being sent others: good memories.

Cherryfudge

I had an early shift today: never my best thing and when I got there I realised the person I'd expected to work with had been moved to the afternoon and it was me plus two agency staff. However good the agency staff are, they don't really know the clients yet which makes for a heavy shift. I ended up staying on an hour afterwards too because I felt bad about not having done all the paperwork. The afternoon shift had loads of staff but also a full house of people staying. One more day then I have five days off!

I fell asleep when I got home which was probably a good thing. We found a couple of frozen meals for dinner, which created freezer space which I've since filled. I did a late evening trip to T3sco and L!dl: in the former I got a kilo of parsnips for 20p (forgot to get a receipt) as well as the things we actually needed. Then in the latter I got 4 breaded chicken fillets for £1.81 and some more 30%-off pastries. I was rather tempted by quite a lot of £1.50 veg boxes but I really didn't need any of the stuff. It was right at the end of the day so I hope they go to a good home somewhere and don't just get thrown out.

I think we are going to be dog-sitting this weekend: J and L are going to a wedding and their original plans for the dog fell through. DH is officially allowed to mix again tomorrow and reckons the Covid has left him today but is taking a test tomorrow because I'm uneasy that he can mix after less than a week while I took (I think) nine days only a few months ago.

I also had a screenshot of DS2's local weather forecast for Tuesday when H and I are supposed to be meeting him for lunch. 38 degrees! I think that's too hot to take the baby out - suppose for some reason the air con in the car failed? On the other hand, why should it fail? The car is fairly new so things aren't likely to wear out or anything. I will see how things shape up nearer the time.

Spending:
Housekeeping £6+ and £3.17.


Tonight I'm thankful that today hasn't been too hot and that DH is better.

Cherryfudge

Church cleaning this morning: I arrived late and had various conversations with people so I'm grateful to the person who got there very early and did the lion's share of the work. I did make him a cup of tea. One of the people I got talking to is very elderly and it turns out he was in the RAF in Egypt working on post-war bomb disposal. This was interesting as my Dad did the same job during the war, so I asked a few questions and apparently it was a case of finding where caches had been buried in the war, taking lorry loads into the desert, sounding a warning siren at noon each day then blowing up the latest haul. He said the military had no idea how much they had, and that the bombs were big things not grenade sized. It was one of those opportunities for me to ask the questions I hadn't known to ask my Dad.

I've managed to buy nothing but an e-book today. (99p)

The shift today was a lot better. For a start I didn't have to lead it! We were rather overstaffed with people who are learning the job but that was okay because I didn't have to take charge so I relaxed and communicated better.

DS1 is here in theory but he's actually out with his mates in memory of their friend who lost his life very recently, then tomorrow he's off to visit another friend. I was intending to go out with DH but he's still testing positive even though he feels okay. I just don't want to take risks.

And I'm thankful for a better day at work, more rain this morning and a breeze to keep the air fresh.

Sun_Addict

It’s not rained here for ages. All the grass in the local parks and gardens is brown. No breeze either just hot, hot ,hot ☀️ 

So sad about DS’s friend, nice that they are honouring his memory. Taken far too soon 😢

Cherryfudge

£Sun_Addict said:

It’s not rained here for ages. All the grass in the local parks and gardens is brown. No breeze either just hot, hot ,hot ☀️ 

So sad about DS’s friend, nice that they are honouring his memory. Taken far too soon 😢

Far too soon. DS is out visiting another friend today but back tonight.

I think we have the best of the weather: low twenties in the house with windows and doors open and I have to admit to a beautiful breeze. The edges of the grass are dried up and the middles are patchy but generally things are green and pleasant. I'm seriously not looking forward to the hottest days but they will pass.

DH's tests are still positive, but the second line is getting fainter. I'll be glad when I don't have to think about avoiding him and disinfecting things he's touched! He's allowed out so has been to a car boot sale (spent about £5) but I wasn't happy about being in the car with him so I stayed at home. We have J and L's dog till tomorrow and we're enjoying looking after her. She has already saved us from the man in the high vis jacket (who was minding his own business going into his back gate) and made DH's day by wagging her tail when he came in. 

We spent more on chips today, about a tenner as DS2 was with us, having come in at 2 am and been up about 8 for the Parkrun.

We've invited J and L for lunch when they come to collect their dog, so I bought three pizzas, some salad and ingredients for Eton Mess, apart from already having meringues. I had to play Fridge Tetris to get everything in.

Other than that I've done very little: it's surprisingly tiring being the well person in the house with a Covid-infected person! I slept on the sofa which turns out not to be as warm as the old one so I didn't sleep too well. Then I have to pack up bedding and I'm keeping toiletries in a bag and taking them to the bathroom (where I wipe down surfaces before I can use it). It's quite possible no-one ever caught Covid off an eyebrow pencil that was in a shared area, but toothbrushes are more likely to carry germs, aren't they? And then there are shared things in the kitchen to wipe before I can have breakfast... Anyway, I'm trying not to take chances, but I'll be glad to be back to normal.

The day's progress has been finishing going through old diaries for items to reclaim from Mum's estate. I've also found train tickets which I'd thrown into a bag and had been kind to my future self by labelling some bundles to say I've reclaimed those fares. There's still a list of other places to check: calendars, this diary and bank statements as well as the paper diary I started a few visits into the project. Between these I'm hoping I can find all the checks and balances! I will probably get a good idea long before I get through everything. What I did find, and don't understand my having missed years ago, was several books of stamps. I had one or two books to use for estate business and these are nearly finished, then suddenly there are all these others, labelled with my Mum's name and tucked into a purse that I used for her money, along with receipts. Another year and a half and I think I'm entitled to throw out all estate receipts - phew.

Of course it would have been much better if I'd kept on top of things systematically, but it was enough trouble getting myself there and getting jobs done. When I got home I just ditched things till next time.

Today's spending:
Housekeeping 

Cherryfudge

No sure what happened there, the formatting went haywire and remained haywire when I posted the comment and came back in. Where was I?
Housekeeping £22.50.

Plus a couple I forgot yesterday: a pack of teaspoons for work (£1) which I'll count as a donation, and a packet of Ibuprofen (49p).

Things I'm thankful for today - avoiding the extreme heat so far, avoiding Covid this time around, having DS2 at home for a couple of nights.