Cherry takes the reins

Cherryfudge

I woke up to a nice bit of money-saving: DH was already up and had mended the oven door!

In the morning we made it to the car boot sale: DH didn't buy anything but I spent ages wandering round and came home with a load of bargains and probably a smug look. Total spend was £7.50, which I think is just under what we spent on fish and chips when we got home. I talked DH into tinned mushy peas as it saves a bit of cash and another piece of single use plastic.

My palmiers aren't brilliant but DH is set on taking them to work instead of bought pastries which is gratifying.

The post arrived as we were eating: DH has bought another piece of art, £100+ but it's rather nice and he's happy with it. He's spent the evening framing it after testing the paper with a UV light (older paper doesn't look blue).

The other thing in the post was a little photo book of DGD, beautifully set out with everything in date order. I texted A to ask if he'd sent it as he's photo king, but he hadn't. We puzzled a bit and asked the other children, H, H's parents, DH's sister... we were running out of people when I worked out it was my sister who'd sent it. She had said something was coming but it had slipped my mind.

The weather warmed up this afternoon (I have reverted to polo necked sweater etc.) and I went into garden mode. I've potted on a couple of houseplants, some geranium cuttings, a couple of broken-off spider plants, snippets of mint and marjoram and a celery that's growing roots. There's a mini herb garden forming under the bench by the kitchen door. Sadly the tomatoes I planted don't seem to have taken, and something's eaten a lot of the pepper seeds before they got a chance to sprout.

I went on to complete the front hedge and did a bit of sweeping up and collecting leaf mould from under it, where it had washed under the car. That's gone to enrich the garden. Other than that I'm fighting some ivy that's sneaking up on the house and into next door's garden.

I've spent most of the evening reading diaries and getting inspired to be more frugal, but tomorrow won't be free as we're going to watch J and L in the marathon and are meeting a group for a meal afterwards. We'll take a packed lunch and umbrellas, and I'll try to take a flask or something in case it's cold standing around (forecast is 17C but drizzly).

Spending:
Clothing £4.50
Book £2
Garden (terracotta pot) £1
Diesel £37 (prices have fallen again! It was £1.46 a litre today, 10p less than a couple of weeks ago!)
Housekeeping ? Fish and chips (£7.50?) plus groceries.

in_need_of_direction

Hope you enjoy your day

Cherryfudge

We've had a great day: it turned out warm and sunny so all my layering up turned into layering down and the sun screen and sun glasses came out.

We got to Otley in good time: I'm glad we didn't try to get to Leeds as we had a mile or so to walk from the end of the car parking to the cheer point, then stood in the sun trying to read phone screens to work out where we were relative to the runners we knew. We had a good view of racers coming up the road but they pass in a flash so we only saw them very briefly - running strongly and looking happy as they waved to us. They told us later it was far harder than the Yorkshire marathon as there were so many hills, and they saw a couple of casualties. There were around 10,000 runners - that's a lot of people! We briefly saw Rob Burrows in an adapted chair being pushed by his friend and hitting a cracking pace. It's to be hoped the marathon has been a significant fundraiser for motor neurone disease. J was running for a local charity too so hopefully there will be benefits there, too.

J, L and one of L's brothers stuck together throughout and finished together. We didn't see it but followed on the app.

The finish was in Leeds and it took ages for them to drive out again. Meanwhile DH and I had a walk in the nearby countryside, went for a drink (yes we brought a picnic and a flask, the tea and coffee were extras, £5.20), bought a couple of things in a gift shop then had a look round the town once the race had gone through. We went in the parish church, which was lovely: very still and the stained glass was vivid, but there were lots of displays too. (Donation £3). Outside were some heart breaking grave stones, an incredibly twisted ancient willow tree and the last of the pink cherry blossom.

(DS2 has just come in and is debating whether to stay over!)

We also found a charity shop that was still open so I came out with trainers, a picture frame and a book. (£6.98).

We made our way to the meet-up place but due to the crush in Leeds, arrived well ahead of everything else and had a quiet hour reading in the car park before the runners and friends and family turned up. There were ten in all, and lots of story swapping as well as a good meal. Our share was £57.10 plus whatever DH paid for his drink, so it's been quite an expensive day but worth it.

Also £3 for more phone data - I need to check I'm on the best contract as I always end up adding more.

WelshmansDaughter

There was an article about Rob burrows' friend in the weekend papers. How interesting that you were there to see them

Cherryfudge

Good morning week!

Not entirely sure what's going on with the calendar: I don't have any official stuff to attend till Thursday, which is my final session of anxiety counselling then my keep in touch with work call - I think. She may decide to make it earlier as we didn't have one last week. Re: the anxiety, I'm now getting it regarding whether to return to work or find another job or just stay on sick leave - which I guess is the default and is still helpful as far as I can tell. I'm now half way through the time I'm allowed on full pay, but that means I still have another three months before pay drops by half, so the 'pressure' is from me, plus perceived pressure when I had the opportunity to go for the gardening/handyperson job. So I have no business getting anxious, and if I do, I need to go back to my grounding activities and the notes I've made from counselling.

My friend had to call off coffee this afternoon and my Tuesday meet-up is also off this week as neither of the others can make it. Tuesday is still grand daughter day (yay!) but at the moment that's the lot. I might just treat myself to a day out somewhere. We'll see.

There are plenty of cleaning and tidying jobs to do: DS2 is working through stuff in his old room as I type, DH is about to hoover and I've just put a second load in the washer, having also packed up a small bag of bits to donate.

I need to make some lemon drizzle cakes and plan some meals, I've just texted another friend about going for a coffee, and it would be nice to see another person from work too if she can fit me in.

Today's grounding activity will be a bit more in the garden, then if it rains, some baking.

Sun_Addict

Sounds like you had a great day out yesterday. Someone at work had to retire early because he was diagnosed with motor neurone, it’s a terrible disease 🙁

Cherryfudge

One of DH's colleagues had it too. Hopefully the fund raising will get them closer to a better prognosis.

Cherryfudge

So much for DS2 leaving 'very early': he got stuck into clearing his room and it was gone eight tonight when he went. It was nice to have his company but mostly I left him to get on with it. Two bags of rubbish have gone, along with a table that he's donated to the shop where DH volunteers. He shifted some the furniture around, cleared space in the built in wardrobe so a chest of drawers could go inside and has taken back a load of stuff including the massive stack of jackets that had swamped his office chair.

He didn't eat all day, though as ever he got through a few cans of pop, so in the afternoon when I made lemon muffins, I took him some. Not a balanced diet but he wouldn't accept offers of other food.

Other than the baking, DS and I had a long catch up chat, and I spent some time battling the weeds in the lawn. I only got about a square metre cleared so there's a long way to go. I have no objection to weeds in limited quantities and this particular one looks like a broad-leaved grass, but it's gone from being a bit to a lot. The other side of the house has rampant ground elder - eek! I mowed the grass which makes the spread of the ground elder less evident but it will be difficult to get rid of. DS came out at the sound of the mower, which is manual, and asked why I was mowing the grass 'like an Amish person'. I've also weeded a planter and found a shoot of asparagus.

A couple of loads of washing have been completed, but DS found lots of bedding packed away in his room. He's kept some and given the rest to me to dispose of. There were a surprising number of pillows, an unwanted duvet and sheets and a duvet cover from student days. I've not looked at them yet as I needed to clear what I was already doing. He even found two bags of his brother's stuff - A moved out something like 14 years ago!

So it's been an impressive effort, though there's more to do at some point. Most of the 'junk' in there is now stuff I brought back from clearing my parents' house.

I've done over 7,000 steps just around the house and garden, but I've also spent some money as we are down to one lightening cable to charge both our phones. £7.64 I think, and I got free postage by signing up for Pr!me. That saved me a fiver, but it only counts if I remember to cancel it within the month. I seem to remember that even if I cancelled it right now, I'd still get the benefits for a month, but I'm not sure if that still applies.

Dinner was sausages from the freezer, with a sort of cooked down hash of onions, red pepper and tomato, and some boiled potatoes. Quite tasty.

Well, I've been sleeping lightly recently so I need to get to bed soon and try to catch up.

Cherryfudge

One of the things DS tried to clear out of his room was the emergency stash of dry and tinned goods that's my backup larder. I obediently took some things down to the kitchen, but haven't told him a lot have made their way back already!

It's quite handy to have an overview, though, so now I know just what's in there, everything's in date and it's all neatly set out. I also know that the top shelves in the kitchen could harbour a colony of vampire bats for all I know, so I'll try to sort those out this week sometime. I did the containers cupboard yesterday - everything fits in, just.

And oh, the irony: DS found a Christmas present he'd not given me. Just this week I finished a container of posh coffee and was rejoicing that there was some space where it had been. People give me beautiful coffees faster than I can drink them. Guess what DS gave me?  

I'm going to try to eat from stores as much as possible this week to get a better control of what I've got in stock. The lemon muffins and dinner yesterday were progress in this area, especially as DS helped eat the muffins!

The other ongoing project has to be the garden. Well okay... it could be decluttering and repainting the house, or finishing my knitting, but I want to be able to get out of the front door without fighting off the jungle. Everything is growing at top speed! The lawns are temporarily under control, but I didn't manage to do any edges at the back and weeding is ongoing.

Today I have two lots of DS's bedding on the line: once it's clean I can look at donating some that he doesn't want. He's set aside the 'keepers' so this is up to me.

Cherryfudge

I got a few bits of housework done this morning before looking after DGD. Nothing exciting. I met DH with her in town then took over as he had an appointment. Actually he made it back to A and H's before I did, as DGD and I wandered along searching likely shops for courgette plants. I've been reading @nannygladys' s diary and am inspired by the vast amount of courgettes she grew last year!

Long story short, the grown plants aren't cheap and the seeds aren't either, but I found a garden centre with a discount corner so I came away with a fennel, a bronze fennel and a garlic chive plant, for £1.50 total. DH pointed out we don't like fennel, but I said it's very pretty to grow.

We took DGD for a walk to another garden centre later in the day and bought her first high bouncing ball, which she managed to hold onto for a long time was we walked round. I thought it might end up lost but no, she seemed to like it. I've just noticed the garden centre receipt has it down as 'plants and shrubs' but it's no matter.

I've done some grocery shopping too, including the twilight run to L!dl, where I got two packs of fresh fish for £2 each, and various other stuff. I'd bought a litre of milk earlier in the day discounted to 60p so that's in the Instant Pot overnight, turning into yogurt. I bought pastries too which saddened DH as I've just hit my maximum ever weight and he worries (rightly) that it might affect my health. I've been quite active today though - 13,000 steps. Dinner was fish fingers, which I've not had for ages.

I remembered they sell seeds at L!dl and these are cheaper than most other shops, so I bought courgette seeds (and snapdragons as there was 50p off if you bought two packets). The poor woman on the till was crying because her bracelet had come off in the store and it was a gift from her boyfriend: she's searched but its gone. I commiserated but there wasn't anything I could do to help.

I'm meeting two friends for coffee in the morning, so I'd best get to bed soon.

Spending:
Gift £1.50
Garden £3.50
Housekeeping £15.52