Cherry takes the reins

Sun_Addict

I don’t know what to say about the traybake. It may be just different perceptions of taste. I eat some fish but am mainly vegetarian leaning more towards vegan as I don’t eat eggs, milk or butter/margarine. I don’t think there’s a word to describe my dietary preferences 🤣

Cherryfudge

It would be worth my trying it again, this time as an oven bake, and getting fresh mustard!

I'm an omnivore but was vegetarian and could be again. I stopped because it was so complicated catering for multiple different tastes and tolerances when the children were at home. Now it's DH and me, and he's much more willing to try new things than he used to be, though he's had to give up anything with lactose in.

Cherryfudge

I never got round to recording what I spent yesterday:

E-book £1.19
Housekeeping £7.23
Refund (clothing) £11

I was very achy last night after the hoovering and carting watering cans, and got swollen glands which are a lot better today (possible hay fever?) Ibuprofen and Epsom salts were applied, which helped. DH was sleeping very lightly and restlessly so I struggled to sleep for a while. We can't work out why he's not sleeping as there are lined curtains, blackout blinds and cardboard in the window! It could be the new drugs he's been prescribed, but it's not listed as a side effect.

This morning we went to the car boot sale and met up with J and L and their dog. It was a good morning. J didn't buy anything but the others saw things that were too good to miss and ended up borrowing from me (DH then got money out of the till so I'm amply paid back from him, and I need to give L the bank details so he can send the money back.

Dinner today was fish from the freezer and the rest of the pesto pasta I made yesterday, and I'll finish the sausage tray bake for tea in a few minutes.

The sun has gone in but my long peppers, which I'd given up on, sprouted yesterday. No tomatoes in sight and the courgettes remain underground but they aren't due yet.

Today's spending so far (all car boot):
Clothing £1.50
Household £2
Gifts 80p
I also remembered to cancel my Pr1me membership while it's still free. I still get the benefits till the middle of June.

Cherryfudge

Another £6.50 just spent. I found gift cards that I'd completely forgotten and realised they need a place they are all together and I can easily grab them if I'm going shopping. I'm so sick of finding they've gone out of date. 

The £6.50 is for a card holder similar to the one I have for loyalty cards, but another colour. 24 slots is a lot, but quite a few of those will be filled, and then I need a plan to use the vouchers while they're relevant.

Cherryfudge

And... another spend. £9.95 for insoles. The slippers I bought so cheaply don't have good arch support though they are otherwise the bees knees for winter, with a thick waterproof sole that I can wear to put the washing out or take out the recycling without bothering to change footwear. They are also light coloured so the carpets won't get grey marks.

I don't think they cost anything for fashion on the ration coupons but I'll check. They come out of medical spends as they're for the benefit of my feet so perhaps I don't need to worry about that.

Cherryfudge

I've had one of those evenings where my energy decided to come back and see what's doing. As the loft had cooled down, I went to look for more of my summer clothes and found loads. Some I suddenly realised won't get worn again, at least not by me, so I've brought a big heap of stuff down. If I magically go back to a size 10, I'll treat myself to something newer.

Then a bit of magic - tucked under the eves, I spotted the bookcase I made at school! For ages I've been wondering why I let DH chuck it out, and it was just flat-packed all the time. I managed to find both sides and a shelf, but there's no reason they'd be there without the rest so I've put them where I can get to them, and swept up a rather worrying amount of crumbled plaster from the underside of the tiles. I think I need to look up how to repair that. Applying for this job has given me a new outlook on DIY!

I'm now really dusty myself so I will have a bath and wash my hair before bed.

Cherryfudge

It's been a very quiet day today: I woke at 6 and failed to get back to sleep so I got up at half past and put the washing machine and dishwasher on while the electricity is cheaper. Then I watched church online and made soup for lunch, before succumbing to dozing off this afternoon. I feel much more rested, but I hope I've not scuppered my sleep tonight.

DH has finished his sponsored 30,000 steps for May so he went out for a bike ride then mowed the grass, and since then we've gone through the calendar trying to make sure everything's on there so we can plan a few things.

L has been busy gardening at theirs and offered us some logs to dry as they're in a smoke free zone and we aren't. Gladly accepted. J went to a sourdough class and has promised to share the results too!

Nothing spent. I'm not sure quite what the plans are for the bank holiday tomorrow but I might make another rhubarb and ginger cake, and I know we need to do some grocery shopping.

Cherryfudge

Happy yet-another-bank-holiday! There are so many this month that the weather is confused and we have hot sun.  

I can't really make up my mind what to do today: DH would quite like to go out but says he'll go for a bike ride if I don't find something I'd like to do. He isn't needed at his volunteering today so we have the time but I just can't think of anything particular that appeals.

We are seeing some of the family: J and L are around at lunchtime-ish and I've offered J first dibs on the bag of clothes I'm donating. Only one of us can wear a size 10 now and it's not me. We might see A and H too as the others are visiting them and there is a sun hat to pass to them for the baby.

So I guess I need to aim to get a few things done this morning after a fantastically lazy weekend. I say lazy, but I was just so tired, and I don't think my back's recovered from all the manual work on Friday.

I have banana bread and rhubarb & ginger cake to make to save things going to waste and DH being 'forced' to buy supermarket pastries. The pruning on the damson needs to be completed: it looks peculiar half done. I have some houseplants that need root pruning and new compost, and the veg seeds and recently bought herbs need to be potted on.

Financially there are a few tidying-ups to be done. Dh has been muttering about reviewing his finances, which is such a rare occurrence that it's made me sit up and take notice. I still owe sponsorship money to J and L for the marathon, and I've said I'll put a note in the church notices so others can join in if they wish (one of the charities she was running for is one a lot of people are involved with). There's also a charity called Kiva which is where I'd like to send a bit of the money I inherited, but I got part way through their T&Cs and was too tired to finish. If it's not to join the long list of 'wonderful ifs' (as an internet friend used to call craft projects), I need to be active about it.

There are a couple of huge financial things that I've put off forever - extra pension contributions and better rates of savings. There always seems to be something in the way that needs sorting, the latest being getting locked out of my payslips but that's sorted so I don't have that excuse. I seem to be quite good at controlling smaller amounts of money but am massively overwhelmed by larger ones.

I'm sure more stuff will come to mind. Update later.

Cherryfudge

So far I have side tracked myself into putting in a load of laundry and cleaning the bathroom, but I've sent off the email about J's fundraiser, which is one frog successfully despatched to Kingdom come.

Cherryfudge

So we have a clean bathroom (though I still have to have an onslaught on the cupboards and shelves) and dry laundry that still needs to put away. I washed a woollen blanket too - perfect day for drying.

J and L arrived in time for lunch (baked potatoes with tuna and salad out in the sunshine) and we put the world to rights. J also tried on some of the things I've 'outgrown' and selected some: a smart dress I wore twenty or so years ago, and a couple of pairs of high rise jeans. It's nice to see them going to a good home and apparently I've saved her some expense - and it's a consolation for the fact I don't fit into them any more, because they look so good on her! And current too, it's funny how fashions come around.

We all went out to walk the dog, who is now with us while they go to dinner with A and H.

DH has bought a few groceries and we have a loaf of sourdough bread that J made in a class yesterday.

I will see how energy levels are this evening but I really need to get that baking done. Tomorrow is grand daughter day and the day after I'm meeting a friend for coffee and in the afternoon I have a phone appointment, then Thursday is keep in touch day with work and Friday I'm doing the church hoovering again. I texted my Tuesday group the other day to see if anyone wanted to meet for coffee but haven't heard back so far so I may not nudge. I don't know how I came to have something every day, and I still have the PIP form to face, and the reasonable adaptations form to review and send off, after which I'm not sure how long I need to wait to hear back.