Cherry takes the reins

Cherryfudge

Sun_Addict said:

Well done on trying out some of your language skills 👏

It was a bit daunting but succeeding is very motivating!

Cherryfudge

I realised yesterday evening that I had no milk, so I braved the weather (cold, but the rain had stopped) and had a little shopping trip that ended up with some good food bargains. L!dl had a pack of salmon on a third off which is now mostly in the freezer though we had some for lunch with the roast veg that I stashed before our holiday. It was worthy of a restaurant meal and a bit of a continuation of the holiday in a way. I also bought cherry tomatoes but the shop was out of medium-sized containers of milk so I popped across to T3sco where they had oodles of cherry tomatoes for 25p a punnet! So we now have four punnets of tomatoes, though I will probably pass one to H and A on Tuesday.

Mr T had other things marked down too, so I got asparagus and avocados, chillies and a thyme plant at discount. The plant is sitting outside toughening up.

All in all a very successful haul but it aggravated a sniffle I've had for the last few days and I ended up having a hot bath, early night, ibuprofen and Olbas oil. Today is much better but I'm staying in rather than set it off again. I haven't really got much done apart from online church, signing up to help clear up after an event next month and watching the Boat Race, but I think I needed a quiet day or two. Oh, and we watched a celebrity Bakeoff so I might give some thought to doing some 'proper' cooking. (I fished a couple of Swiss rolls out of the emergency store on the grounds of rotating stock, and we are agreed they are uninspiring).

Cherryfudge

Oh dear, I've just noticed I have a £5 off a £30 spend voucher to be used in the next 3 days! I think I still have a lot of what I bought the last time this happened.

Some initial thoughts: I also have a voucher towards tuna and we get through plenty of that so that's a reasonable spend. Cereal of course, but DH's not mine as I have plenty from last time! Also plenty of crackers. I could do with cheese, but not £30 worth. Lots of crackers from last time, but I remember they were out of the pesto I use so perhaps this week it will be in stock. That keeps well and is not too space-consuming!.

We don't eat much meat and there is chicken and fish in the freezer, though a whole chicken might be a sensible buy. I'm fine for things to drink, though the odd tub of hot chocolate will always be useful. Some pasta is always welcome, and fresh veg though I've just bought quite a lot. Tins of tomatoes are good... and it's nearly time to get Easter eggs, but not too many.

I don't think I've virtually spent the lot yet, and it has to be stuff we can use and that we have space for.

Sun_Addict

I've got the £5 off voucher too. Apparently some people have had a £10 off one! Do you need anything garden related as they have a few offers in the middle aisle at the moment? 

Cherryfudge

I must have a good look at the middle aisle as I want to do more with the garden, @Sun_Addict. When we were away I kept admiring balcony gardens - people without ground space seem to do so well as gardeners! I was thinking about setting up some pots either side of the door so that might be a starting point. I'd better hurry up while they have some left!

WelshmansDaughter

They had a nice raised bed thing in lidl here. 

Cherryfudge

WelshmansDaughter said:

They had a nice raised bed thing in lidl here. 

I've not seen that - I wonder if it's the same in England? I'm off to look at the app.

Cherryfudge

I had a look at the Middle of L!dl and there are some possibilites... especially I liaise with DH so we have the car to carry compost.

My cold is getting better (I've tested and it's not Covid, though there seems to be a lot of that about) and I loved being out in the sun on the way to the shops. It really feels like spring, with lots of flowers appearing in people's gardens and the birds singing. Not much bought: a few food items, sewing thread to match a jumper of DH's and some toiletries.

Dh was out doing some last-minute babysitting for A and H, then at work in the afternoon, and I filled in the stress assessment sent to me by work. It wasn't as anxiety-inducing as I expected but did reduce me to tears over colleagues with whom I no longer work for various reasons. You go through a lot with people and then they're gone. However, I expected before I started this process that it would bring things to the surface, and it's probably best that it's put into words and fed back to management. They can't change the past but they can take it into account in how they move forward.

Other than that, DH has bought a software package that we used to be able to get via a subsidy from work: now it's £79 a year. Eek. But we will use it a fair amount and it means we aren't tied to my unreliable laptop for certain functions. I've also found some of the documents that I thought I'd lost. They're on my Google drive. I wonder if I actually need any of them?! 

Spending:
Software £79
Housekeeping £5.51
Clothing (sewing thread) £2.15
Toiletries £4.58

Cherryfudge

Granddaughter day, so we had coffee in town (I used a voucher and also gained enough loyalty points to cover the cost of the next one). I hadn't organised lunch to take with me so shopped on the way, then later we stopped at L1dl and took advantage of the £5 off £30 spend. Compost, baked beans, tuna, sardines, tinned fruit, chocolate, a pie, pesto, potatoes, crackers, spaghetti, cereal.

It was pizza and study night with my friends this evening - and admittedly, my holiday photos. We can't meet for a few weeks as one of us has lots of things booked, but we've planned a coffee in a couple of week's time to keep in touch.

Spending:
Coffee/tea/biscuits - used gift voucher
Housekeeping £27.73 + ? (Sains and greengrocer)
Garden £2.49

Cherryfudge

My first post-holiday day with DH at work and most of the day to myself and of course, I need to come on here to talk things through with myself and make a list.

Stuff to get done - in general terms, sort the entire house and garden, compose a birthday message for DD (her husband is getting together a portfolio for her to open), get some exercise and send in my timesheet.

Specifically:
It's not really likely to rain till teatime so the plan is to do the first C25K again - it's over a week since I did it, due to our holiday, and I'm so unfit I want to take it gently.

I've taken chicken out of the freezer so I will find a recipe when I get home.

There's some ironing and putting away to be done after lunch.

I need to find my notes for this evening - I've done not an iota of prep but having the notes is better than nothing (and I'm not leading the study as far as I remember, but I've just volunteered to steer the discussion if no one else is expecting to).

The timesheet really needs to be done - part of the reason I'm off sick is that I had a very intense week back in February, and the last I can do is make sure I get paid for the extra hours. The danger is that I will wander into my work emails - keep me away! I do need to review the stress assessment before sending it in, but I've asked DH for feedback and he would like a bit more time.

At some point I need to do a bit of work on a load of screenshots from Duolingo - there are so many things I've not really understood. Who invented a language where there are so many ways to say 'of' or 'the'?

I suppose some sort of cleaning and tidying would be helpful too... we'll see how far I get! All I've done today is the kitchen worktop and the area by my computer, but that's improved the bits I see most.