Cherry takes the reins

Cherryfudge

Not much news today: the morning was hectic as I was on two rotas and church started early to accommodate us joining the Remembrance Day gathering in town. I was late to help with the pre-schoolers because of the traffic restrictions, then after the town service I was supposed to be helping with tea and coffee, but didn't really know what I was doing. I've done it before but I'm not familiar with all the equipment and there were a gazillion people all queuing up! So all in all I could have done better, but with practice it will get easier.

Chicken chasseur for lunch: I started prep but my senses must have been a bit fried by over-stimulation because I managed to cut a finger as well as an onion, so had to call on DH to be chef. It was a good dinner, but I could tell I needed a quiet afternoon, which I had. DH wrapped up warm and had a long walk while I played on the computer.

I've cleared a bookshelf over the last couple of days: no ordinary bookshelf as it's the lowest (wide) shelf of a big bookcase that DFiL made us years ago. Between handy placement and size, it was full of over-sized books, and in front of them an entire two shelves' worth of books that wouldn't go anywhere else! Everything's been pulled out and the shelf polished before some books went back and the rest are just stacked on the floor. It looks nice now - if you don't look at the floor, but if you don't look at the floor, you will probably fall over something.

Cherryfudge

I've redeemed the day a little with some sewing: the lining of a pocket on DH's coat and a couple of my tee shirts are now done and dusted. I also remembered to send off for a renewal of my sick note, though there are only days to go before the end of that job. Neither DH nor I could find the place on the website to request it so I've had to book an appointment, which seems wasteful but I couldn't see an option. I might try to ring tomorrow, but I don't like to,as their lines will be full of people who've been sick a few days.

Expenditure today:
Donation £1.20 (milk for church - looks as though we got through 6 pints this morning!)

Cherryfudge

I rang the surgery and got through! The receptionist talked me through requesting the sick note and it's easy - but the same link had taken me to an out of hours screen over the weekend, so I suggested to her that they check availability and review it, as sick notes are something that could be left to be attended to when the surgery reopens. Anyway, the doctor's appointment should be cancelled now and can go to someone who needs it.

The sound of the rain (storm Debi) woke me just before six, but it's just showery now and beautifully sunny between times, and I got back to sleep okay.

DH has started to sand down the area where he's dry lined in the dining room. He's very pleased with the mended pocket on his warm coat but apparently there's one needed to be sewn in his smart coat too! He will insist on carrying round bunches of keys. And then I spotted the start of a hole in one of his jumpers...

I'm on day three of the omega 3 capsules and I think there's a bit of improvement in the dry eyes. 

I rang to query the receipt from the optician as it reads to me as though I've been charged for the eye test as well as he extra check, but apparently I haven't. Her explanation makes sense but I can't get the same info off the receipt so I need to check the cc statement, it's not showing on there yet.

I also need to check Black Friday deals as I'm aiming to replace my laptop and possibly also my phone, which is getting a bit jittery. I spoke to the phone shop who have given some advice, and will probably get a reconditioned one through him eventually, but it may be worth shelling out on something newer as I did when I bought my current one. He says the model I have is no longer updating - that's sad as it was definitely the beginning of the end for functionality with a past phone. On the other hand the model he was recommending a few months ago would now have a more limited life and what he's recommended this time around is nearer £800.  

Good news in that I've just had a call to offer a couple of hours a week of relief work over the next few weeks. It sounds like an easy way in as well: helping with a small class of people. It's exciting when I thought I might not get anything till January.

I'm still clueless about whether to go for the two options of other jobs that are currently presenting themselves, but before I wade into that I need to check finances.

Cherryfudge

I really ground to a halt this afternoon! The storm was swirling around outside with trees tossing and shedding leaves, plenty of rain: not cold but generally inclement.

The most practical thing achieved was mending a small hole in one of DH's tee shirts (you must think we live in holey tee shirts!) and taking a look at the smart coat where the lining was coming to bits. It's in a real state, and might be beyond me to mend it. Most of the lining is fine but the sleeve lining is wrecked.

Quite a lot of books have gone back on the shelf. I've only found one to pass on, and that's because it's duplicated. However, there are a few that people have lent me so they are set aside to go back. There must be some sort of magic in recipe books because I can look at one and wonder why on earth I bought it, but as soon as I start to flick through, there's some recipe I'd like to try. For instance one on Greek cooking, bought because I liked the look of a savoury dish which wasn't all that interesting when cooked, has now shown me a walnut and brandy cake that sounds really interesting. A book on bean cookery turns out to be an early Rose Elliot: I made a lentil and mushroom soup for tea from it because I've had enough chicken for now (one chicken made two roast dinners, four portions of chicken and vegetable pie, two portions of chicken chasseur, cold cuts for DH's dinner tonight and enough bits to make a generous pie (which have been frozen). Amazingly, the chicken was reduced to £3.25 so I'm very happy about how cheap those meals have been.

There are probably a couple more portions of the lentil and mushroom soup but it's what I think of as 'early veggie'. That's probably unkind, but the recipe dates back to 1979 and herbs and spices hadn't really made it to the white English table apart from HP sauce and Vesta meals - I lie: mustard and horseradish sauce as well.

I've found a Martha Stewart version which adds thyme and soy sauce so I might try adding those.

No shopping today though DH is on the look out to replace his favourite shirt.

Keedie

I've been catching up on the last couple of weeks worth of your diary and I love how you write. I can clearly imagine everything, especially regarding your grandchild's birth (congratulations to you and your family by the way). It's so good to see things progressing on the work front and I admire the resolve you have when it comes to creating a routine for yourself. I'm going to try and work on having a list of things to do that are realistic for me. I find that the day slips by and I feel like I've not achieved anything and it bothers me, and then I'm unmotivated for the next day.

Cherryfudge

Aw thank you Keedie! That's so nice to hear. You've hit on an eventful time to start reading, it isn't always so interesting!

It's been another quiet day though at least not as windy as yesterday. The morning was pretty wet but it dried up. We went over to A ad H's for about an hour and a half: DGD1 seems to be getting over her cold at last and is eating more, but she feels to me to have lost weight. Little sister and Mum are doing well. It was lovely spending time with them. J and L went over at the weekend and apparently L cooked a big lasagne and a chicken dinner for them, and stocked the freezer with frozen veg and a couple of desserts. I have such a nice son in law!

DH has done more of the dry lining in the dining room, plus various bits of shopping and his usual Tuesday stint on the library computers doing family history (he gets free access to paid-for resources this way). The shop where he volunteers was shut yesterday but he went in today as they were pricing something for him, and he also managed to fit in a walk, though he was drenched when he got home. All I managed in the afternoon was facing up to drafting an email about annual leave from the old job, but I've found the manager is on leave herself this week so I didn't have to push myself to finish it. The hardest part was opening my private email to find the conversation so far, so I could forward it to my work email, as it's easier to work on the laptop not the phone. Once that was done I started a Word document so I can assemble my thoughts and research till I'm happy with them.

We got shopping on the way home from A and H's (£15) and had salmon for dinner in the interests of not living exclusively off chicken dinners. Oh - the soup yesterday really benefitted from thyme and soy sauce, with a  generous handful of cheese melted on top. What is it with cheese, that it lifts soup to another dimension?

This evening my group didn't meet as one of us is still recovering from surgery. DH and I watched 'Bake-off' instead, and I ended up emailing to say it sounded like a script from a Carry On film, there was so much innuendo. I did point out some positives as well: I think this series has really focussed on baking, rather than cake decorating, and I like Alison very much as a presenter. So that was my gripe of the day - but if I don't tell them, they won't know, and they say one piece of written feedback represents lots of unwritten customer views. If this comment leads to lots of people emailing to say they like it just as it is, I will just have to accept that!

Cherryfudge

A nice quiet day today! I woke up to a nice warm house as DH had put the heating on for me before going to work, and there's been a bit of sunshine.

I noticed some while ago that my weight is no longer creeping up. This morning, for the second time in a few weeks, it's crept down. I'm not dieting but I think I may have lost some muscle !!!!!!: the last couple of days in particular have been low step counts and in general I'm doing less - so perhaps I need to apply for that cleaning job, if only to get my activity levels up! I wonder if it's still open? Must check. It would fit well with other things I want to do: the only disadvantage is that it's mornings. which aren't my strength but that's probably the only thing against it. I don't mind that its cleaning, I'm not bad at it and I know the cleaner at my old place of work was skilled and knowledgeable and had to be able to cope with all sorts of settings. The spec says there are practical tasks as part of the interview, so that bit puzzles me: I suspect it's about correct dilutions of cleaning products. Other advantages could be a very unchallenging workplace as this particular building has limited public use. I feel I've benefitted from most of this year being much more peaceful than normal!

There's also the small matter of income! It would be about half what I was earning, so roughly what I've had the last couple of months, which isn't going to be enough without rebalancing the finances. For instance DH would have to pay either utilities of Council Tax, I think. We've already swapped the housekeeping round to come off his pay.

So what's to be done today? A list on here to make me answerable:
Clean the bathroom ceiling which is getting mould. I will leave that till nearer when DH gets home as a possibly perilous job needing another adult in the house.
Go down to the market once the current drizzle stops (this counts as exercise too).
Clear the middle shelf of the coffee cupboard - not sure what lurks at the back.
Make marmalade: I have the stuff in and the empty jars are cluttering up the counter.
Feed the Christmas cake
Investigate if that job is still open, or if there's anything else suitable.
Text my friend about coffee on Saturday.
Text another friend to see how she's doing post-surgery and if her dogs need walking today or tomorrow.
Plan dinner.
Do other grocery shopping.
Do some more of the A/L appeal.
Find another piece of mending while I'm on a roll.

There may be others but that's a good motivator: a list of mostly-unchallenging easy wins.

I'll update as the day goes on.

Cherryfudge

I got (productively) side tracked:

The closing date for the job has passed but it looks as though I could still send an application. Tempted.

The last of the lentil and mushroom soup has been eaten, and it was lovely. I'm not about to make more, as there's yogurt to be used up for my lunches.

Marmalade has been made and the jars are cooling. That made me remember there is bread flour overdue to be used up, so out came the bread maker and, after a bit of a cleaning session as it's been unused for ages, there's a loaf of rye bread churning away. Just about everything in it is out of date but smelled all right! I think I need to give some thought to flour storage. I have lots of big, sealable containers for various flours but I rarely eat bread now and DH doesn't get through much, which is why the bread flour was sitting there doing nothing. The container labelled 'wholemeal SR' has sadly been empty for some time as I just can't get that particular flour any more. We do bake cakes and pastry sometimes but not even weekly now. I could easily use the containers for cereal or other dry goods.

It feels like end of an era time, but the era has ended anyway, and could be restarted if necessary.

The rain has set in, so I've abandoned ideas of going to the market or offering dog walking today. There's still a shopping list but I need to try to work out if I can cope with things that are already in the house.

Now I'm going to text my friend about coffee on Saturday.

badmemory

Do you actually need self raising as plain flour can be converted, I can't remember what the amounts are now but you add baking powder.  When Nigella Lawson went to America she didn't like their self raising so she worked out the conversion.  I don't use quite as much as she does but I have converted all my recipes & they work alright.

Cherryfudge

I think that's the way to go, thanks @badmemory. I've plenty of BP so not a problem and I won't need as much storage.

Meanwhile, I've cleaned an tidied two shelves of the coffee cupboard and found six unopened packets of ground coffee given me over a few years by the same people. They smell delicious but I still have an opened one to finish so I've offered some to J and L, who are coffee drinkers, and they were happy to accept - win/win for all of us. Of course not everything fits back in the cupboard but what does, is tidy. 

The rye bread came out a really funny shape and the consistency of a soft(ish) centred brick. The slices look like maps of a near-submerged archipelago but it smells good so we are having some with lentil and chorizo soup for tea. There's a lot of the flour left but I need yeast now. What was left in stores was BBE 2021 so I threw the lot in and achieved a slight rise, but a new batch is obviously needed.

It was going dark when I decided I had to get outside the house rather than have a third day of around 3,000 steps. I bumped into a former colleague at the supermarket and had a chat, and I've bought some quite heavy tins and a big bag of onions which are £1.49 for 2 kilos, so worth lugging home.

It's been nice rediscovering some flavoured teas in the cupboard of delights, so I have one of those to look forward to later.