Cherry takes the reins

Cherryfudge

Sun_Addict said:

You’re good at finding treasures at car boots and charity shops. I’ve never been to a car boot and all I seem to find in charity shops are books. 

Fantastic news about the pay rise and back pay 💰 When we got our rise and back pay at work the HR site crashed with so many people wanting to view their payslip 😆

LOL, it's one way to get staff actively involved with company updates!

Cherryfudge

We started the day by doing Covid tests as DH suddenly developed a bad throat last night. All negative so far, though we let J and L know (they were okay about it) and Dh stayed home from church. As I'd managed to get myself on two rotas, it was just as well my health was fine. The tiny children's session, which had been very busy last week, was quiet this time. I'll try to go back on a more representative morning. The coffees after the service were very busy, as cake and sweets had been given to mark some celebrations.

This meant DH was left to do all the prep for the meal, despite feeling under the weather, but he managed it well and we had a lovely time with J, L and the dog. They had been partying last night and L has a lot of driving for his new job, so he had a snooze while the rest of us went on a walk. I must admit I was yawning by the time we got home.

DH, who is slowly reducing his possessions in the hope of not leaving a massive job to the children, has given J an old autograph book from his mother's mother's mother. We heard the stories attached to it, but there are gaps as she was quite secretive. We know she spent time in the US as a young woman, and that her sisters suffered from ill health, but there are many things it would be nice to know which we can't find out.

J and L left before tea, and DH had a rest while I made inroads into the kitchen. He's a good cook but a none-starter on tidying as he goes along. Eventually there was some sort of order, and the dishwasher was running. The big chicken we bought yesterday has served four of us (plus scraps for the dog) and I've got enough off it to make a chicken and chorizo pasta and a chicken, gammon and veg pie. There is salmon for tomorrow's dinner before work, and DH has fishcakes for later in the week when I'm at work. I must remember to make up some curry to take in for evening meals later in the week.

Oh, and DH made a huge apple crumble. We all had some, L came back for more and there's enough for more during the week.

A, H and the baby arrived back from holiday this evening, so we picked them up from the station. The baby was very sweet, holding out for my hand, but she seems to be teething and is quiet and not eating properly. They must be exhausted as they've been travelling all day, so I hope she lets them sleep tonight and H can get her back to normal tomorrow (A is straight back to work).

Spending:
Housekeeping £2.74

Things to be thankful for tonight: managing to turn up to both things I'd committed to! Several days of good health - the dizziness has been almost gone for about four days which is mystifying but I'm not complaining. Time with family, especially safe journey home for holiday makers.

Cherryfudge

I've managed to stay away from the shops today. DH bravely went for a bike ride, though it looked too windy for comfort. I got two lots of laundry through the machine and nearly dry on the line and took three bags of summer clothes to the loft, bringing down five of winter clothes. I'm impressed with just how much I own - time to pare them down a bit, though this is definitely not my strength. I packed a dozen pairs of summer-weight shoes in a box and threw out three more, plus a pair of boots that are beyond mending.

I don't know what my problem is: why do I find it so hard to see what can go? For instance, those battered sandals have been out all summer and haven't been used once because I would choose something else rather than wear them. Why did it take me months to see this? I also found three decent articles of clothing that realistically I'm not going to wear again, so those have been donated. It's a tiny dint in the clothes avalanche, but a dint it is.

There are a couple of repair-type things pending: I somehow got paint down the back of a fleece recently, which will probably make no practical difference as I only wear it round the house. However, I've made an improvement with sharp scissors and might be able to get it better still. The other thing is potentially more costly: the bedroom window isn't shutting properly anymore. There's been a bit of an issue before, but it seems to have worsened. The catch shuts, but the hinge side has a gap. I cleaned it all out a while ago, which I thought had fixed but it's still clean and the problem is back. Not sure what more we can do for it.

Work was quiet, nothing to report there, apart from going to send in my timesheet and finding I've not done July's yet! That one will time out soon so I pushed through and completed it. August's and September's shouldn't take long as there's no need to pick up shifts nowadays: new staff seem to fill every nook and cranny! Nice when I want time at home but less overtime.

Things to be thankful for today: safe trips up to the attic (apart from cracking my skull on a doorframe while negotiating the loft ladder), working out that I can keep the house warmer and the fridge-freezer cooler by having the larder window open and the larder door shut, lots of nice snuggly winter stuff to look through tomorrow.

Cherryfudge

Fleecy pyjamas are back! I slept soundly last night, and in fact as it was a day off I kept them on all morning. I got even more laundry done as it was drying weather, even pulling the stuffing out of the pillows to wash the outer bit. (We have the sort of pillows that are designed to do this). Mine is wool and had got rather compressed despite being plumped up but I later spent time pulling the innards apart again and now it's huge).

Despite nice weather, I didn't really venture out till mid-afternoon. Armed with a jumper from the stash, I spent a couple of hours gardening. I've filled a box and part of a wheelie bin with bits to go to the recycling centre, and there will be more if the weather holds tomorrow. However, by later afternoon an ominous cloud (the sort of dark grey that has yellow undertones) loomed up so everything got put away and I went in to enjoy a nice chicken pie as homemade by DH.

After tea we watched a program about money saving tips. No, despite being a follower of this site for years, I didn't know them all. Interesting.

I've spent a bit of time doing business-type things: checking the bank account, ordering medication and trying to pay off my credit card ahead of time, though in this case the service was down so I need to remember it later. I was also unsuccessful in trying to manage my contact lens order. It's likely they are limiting the amount of times I can put off having new lenses - which I rarely wear - while still enjoying the benefits of the scheme. Finally, I've made some changes to our loo roll order, including moving the delivery date as we have plenty in stock, and attempted to modify the laundry detergent order, where it seems it's impossible to cancel one item permanently. Still waiting to hear back from the company on that one.

We had a photo from A and H of a very spotty baby: it seems the poor mite may have hand, foot and mouth disease. She is apparently not too bothered by it apart from not sleeping: a later photo showed her discovering how to climb the stairs!

My friends came round this evening for an hour or so but were both worn out so we cut it short. At this time of year there's nearly always someone on holiday so we don't get together much.

And I'm thankful for the baby coping with her illness, time spent in the sunshine and a very, very comfy bed to look forawrd to.

Cherryfudge

Today I'm shocked that a mid-week top-up grocery shop mostly for the two of us came to around £30. There was a small donation to the food bank and ditto to the emergency cupboard (DH says I should be one of these American preppers), and some fruit for the Christmas cake so it wasn't only our usual stuff but still...

I didn't buy as much from the market as last week, as I still have the cereals and some bits and bobs. This week I bought ten wrapped biscuits for work snacks, two tins of bean salad for the emergency cupboard, a box of chocolate-covered mini cakes and a box of chocolate mallows - all £1 each.

The thermostat is set to 16C for now. We'll see how long we manage with that: the bath is now back in daily use as DH needs the heat to get to sleep so our good resolutions don't necessarily last. Most of the day I've managed without the heating as it was nice out, and around 13C, so I wore three layers of tops and had a heated pad to keep me warm when sitting. That was fine. Later I went shopping then did half an hour in the garden before the rain got the better of me.

This evening a friend of ours had invited us to a film on climate change which turned out to be informative, and though I got a bit lost in some parts of the discussion that followed, the people were nice and it's been food for thought.

I've bought a couple of small gifts for family members today and some embroidery thread to mend a jumper that's too fine for a woolly mend. I also succumbed to some plants for the garden which was probably a mistake as I don't have a plan for them.

Spending:
Gifts £1.75 + £2.50
Garden £4.75
Clothing £1.15
Housekeeping £28
Household (socket covers now DGD is mobile) £4 + matches £1
Medication £5.05

Tonight's things to be thankful for are restful days off, DGD staying lively despite being poorly (can't be all that ill) and sunshine to brighten this morning.

Cherryfudge

Nothing spent today. Not much done at all, really, apart from going to work!

I washed all the tote bags, as they were getting grimy - I'm sure every last one has shrunk despite being on a 30 wash. That's one way to try to get me to spend less: have smaller bags!

H has asked me to crochet a small pumpkin (for the baby, I assume), which gives me an excuse to buy a ball of a gorgeous orange cheap yarn that I've been resisting. I've been avoiding all three of my yarn projects so something new and fairly quick will be nice.

Things to be thankful for: I've been asked to do a permanent swap of a shift at work which puts me back where I used to be and lets me off an early rising. DH has got the grandfather clock working again though for some reason it's only striking once each hour. In my parents' house the sound was absorbed nicely but here its piercing, so perhaps that's for the better. I love hearing that tick and knowing it's gone through two centuries. It gives one a feeling of things being survivable. Another sunny day and we've avoided putting the heating on. After work, the house felt colder but not problematically so. Also the cheap wrapped biscuits I bought on the market turned out to be really nice: spiced ginger.

Sun_Addict

I’m glad the baby is ok despite the hand foot and mouth, where did she pick it up from, it’s usually a school thing? 

I remember my grandparents having a grandfather clock and whenever I stayed with them as a child I loved how the sound was so reassuring. 

I like the sound of spiced ginger biscuits. Ginger is one of my favourite flavours 😋

Cherryfudge

They had just had two weeks' holiday and some long-haul flights, @Sun_Addict, so she had a few thousand miles to pick up her infection! Parents still aren't getting the sleep, but she's doing okay.

I didn't wake this morning till 9.35, and as I'd intended to go out at 10, the next few hours were spent playing catch up. My colleague on the cleaning team is still away so I had to put in what time I could, and DH will complete the job tomorrow while I'm at work. I took my first tablet, got dressed, timer went off, so I took my second one and was on my way with a cereal bar in my bag. I ate that with a coffee on my break at eleven instead of a proper breakfast, but it was okay. I'm still getting the hang of these medication timings but overall, I think it's good apart from an hour of not eating early in the morning, then forgetting to take asprin which I'm supposed to have at breakfast time.

I didn't finish till about one, but popped hurriedly into shops on the way home, getting orange yarn to crochet a pumpkin, and some edibles. So much for saving the cost of a ready meal by good preparation. I planned it and didn't forget it but there were leftovers to eat up, so the curry never got made. I suppose the jar is still there for next time, and today I had a very tasty biriani. I also got a really nice loaf for free with my L!dl reward for £50 spent.

Work was supposed to be quite quiet but was one of those shifts where I felt I felt I was pushed just to make things work. It didn't help that the laundry was full of racks of things that refused to dry completely, and the tumble dryer won't heat up anymore.

I'm on an early shift tomorrow so I need sleep tonight.

Spending:
Gift (yarn for pumpkin) £2.37
Housekeeping £2.89

Things to be thankful for: DH's team winning at the quiz tonight, rain (because it will take a while to catch up after the drought), chocolate brownie and (free) new bread.

Cherryfudge

A very weird night last night. After work I noticed the goldfish was gulping at the surface a bit, so I cleaned his filter at about midnight as well as getting things ready for an early shift. Then I couldn't sleep! I rested quite well, didn't really feel too hot or too cold, just a bit thirsty. Eventually I gave in and got up, had a sandwich and a drink and went back to bed sometime after 4, by which time I finally felt sleep-worthy.

I reset my alarm, so I had just time to get ready for work and take my medication, then ate breakfast during a lull at work. Not ideal but better than even less sleep. I reckon I had about two and a half hours, which is bad enough, though my F!tbit says 40 minutes. I'm fairly sure that's wrong: perhaps I was restless, but I was also asleep.

Work, thankfully, was okay apart from really sad news about someone who used to use the service, had a sudden illness recently and is now gone. It's quite a shock, though we had been kept informed of his health and had sent a collection of get well cards..

I spent quite a lot of the shift trying to get the washing dry as the dryer is still broken. Home and back to bed for an hour or so has done me good, and we had chips this evening.

Personally, I've not spent anything. DH bought some treats for the quiz yesterday, so he brought home juice and crisps which we are demolishing. Today he bought the chips and a book which I think came from the car boot sale. He's also painted more of the kitchen cupboards and taken the garden waste to green recycling.

Things to be thankful for: the life of the person who's now gone and having a little part in it. Warm sunshine so we had tee shirt weather even though it's October. Being okay to work when I should have been too tired. Another chocolate brownie.

Cherryfudge

Sunday morning seems like a long time ago! Dh and I went to 'actual' church rather than me joining in online. It was very full today! I mean yesterday. Afterwards I chatted to a few people then it was home for lunch and a bit of computer time before work.

Work was a long shift: my friend who was on last night had had a phone call overnight to say her mum had died suddenly, so someone had come in early to cover and let her go home. The way things worked out, that left us with two staff and only one client in the afternoon, but - long story short - I didn't get home till eleven and tomorrow I'm covering the morning shift.

Nothing spent. Things to be thankful for: thought-provoking service in the morning, another stove top Sunday lunch (Southern Fried chicken with fried onions - good discovery), more apples from a neighbour, extra hours at work.