Cherry takes the reins

Cherryfudge

When I got up, it was snowing! Miniscule flakes drifting gently down from a blue sky... later on there was darker sky and much bigger flakes.

I left the heating on about 16 degrees, but didn't need more due to layers of leggings and pyjamas, and later a hot water bottle. Very snug.

I spent the morning doing training for work, so the computer security and a safeguarding one are out of the way. In the morning I'll need to send off my timesheet together with a spreadsheet of when I worked, which is a bit different from my previous job, but then I was on a rota, whereas now I'm relief.

After lunch (another quinoa concoction with curried yogurt, raisins and apricots - a real 'use up the cupboard' invention, and very filling), I started on setting up the new computer which I didn't actually complete, due to other things going on, till just after midnight. I narrowly avoided signing up for a free month of Microsoft 365, which would then have cost me £80, except I've already got 15 months' worth for about £40. Just as well I thought twice.

I had an early tea of overnight oats as I'm yogurt and banana-rich.

This evening I had a couple of hours of work: it was all fairly straightforward as three of the class were away so half my work wasn't there, and someone brought mince pies. Walking back afterwards took extra care as there was a lot of ice, but I called in at the supermarket and got two trays of Mediterranean veg for 50p each which I'll cook tomorrow. Once they're cooked we can have some straight away and freeze some, which will be two treats for £1.

Expenditure:
Housekeeping £1

Cherryfudge

Oops - slept till 9.30 this morning due to a couple of late nights, and consequently didn't get to church till gone eleven. At least there's been some thaw so it wasn't too difficult to walk. When the hoovering was done I fitted in some shopping, mostly so I could make soup to take with us tomorrow (DD and I have our Christmas shopping day) but also for some bits for stockings (I think I've already mentioned I do relief work for Father Christmas, he gets run off his feet this time of year, poor fellow).

I also got a refund from church for a doll I bought for the pre-schoolers.

Great excitement at six o'clock as AuroraWatch had a red alert so we dashed outside - got a few photos of fog!

Dinner was half of the rest of the curry so Ill freeze the remainder.

Tasks for this evening include a trip to L!dl for their evening discounts so we can have pastries for tomorrow, making soup, sending off my timesheet and catching up on banking. DH is going to a choir practice.

WelshmansDaughter

Finally caught up. I got a black Friday deal on skillshare. Have I used it yet? Nope. Although I did bookmark a few classes to take.

Cherryfudge

Busy old day. It was slightly less cold so here's been some thaw.

I got the shopping, made soup and have assembled the rest of the picnic. That took most of the evening so I haven't done any in-depth sort out of finances and what I've found doesn't entirely make sense but there's no way I can sort it out till Monday. My side of finances are okay, but work has paid in £84.80 more than was stated on my payslip, which I checked a couple of days ago. I went back into my payslip only to find a blank. The only thing I can find against my name is a record of the two previous jobs I've had with that employer - nothing about my current one, which was showing the other day. My guess is, either there's site maintenance going on or somebody has made a mistake as I've been copied into an email to my previous manager stating that I hadn't left as she'd said but have started a new job with the same company. So it's possible that mistake didn't get cancelled out despite being noted, or that someone else has made a new mistake.

Anyway, the main bills are all paid and I've now paid off the main part of my credit card bill, ie. the laptop and some cash towards tomorrow's trip. I've still to pay the study subscription and a couple of small amounts but I don't need to do that just yet.

The evening's shopping was more than I planned, by the way. I new I needed ingredients for the soup, and I also had vouchers to use; they are cleverly doing an 'Advent calendar' of offers so I got our Christmas stollen, meringues and some pies with a discount, as well as stocking up on tinned beans, pasta and bakery goods.

The bread and a pastry each for DD and me tomorrow is £1.94, and I spent £7.03 on ingredients that I didn't already have in - and only used a bit of each, so perhaps 50p actually spent today, plus a lot of sweet potatoes, a  stock cube, onions garlic... I'm pretty sure it was cost effective!

Expenditure:
Housekeeping £31.06
Gifts 12.24
Refund £7

Cherryfudge

WelshmansDaughter said:

Finally caught up. I got a black Friday deal on skillshare. Have I used it yet? Nope. Although I did bookmark a few classes to take.

I haven't tried Skillshare - another for me to look up! I seem to have committed myself to quite a bit already. I had an email through recommending I take the pre-course for digital skills but not the introductory one. I need to get on and book this as it starts soon.

Cherryfudge

DD and I had lovely day in Leeds and even managed a bit of Christmas shopping between talking and eating! It's been bitterly cold, both she and DH had frozen windscreen wipers and we were driving through fog much of the way there, but the roads and traffic were good, we kept safe and to DD' credit she got us straight to the car park and straight out again later, though for some reason we had a passenger airbag turned off and weren't able to get it working again (the buttons were all missing off the control panel - I've no idea what happened there!)

So what did we get up to, and where did the money go? I'm still just about in budget but clearly what I'd budgeted isn't going to be enough overall for Christmas despite having a few items already.

In between wandering round shops, we first went for pumpkin lattes and sat talking for ages before going on for cinnamon buns to 'put us on' till a late lunch. DD paid for the lattes and I paid for the buns. We didn't have a main meal till late afternoon, and split the bill (£20 for some very tasty Italian food). She later bought me a cappuccino and I bought hot chestnuts to share as per tradition (£3 spend for me).

I went into Body Shop to check an old voucher but sadly it's expired. I've tried quite hard to spend vouchers today and haven't succeeded with any!

I've bought stocking fillers for DH, DS2 and DS2's girlfriend, and chatting with DD gave me ideas for things for other people. Also a Christmas card for DH (£3). I've also bought unplanned outfits for the grand daughters but I will save the receipt in case things aren't suitable. For me, I've got a blur 'fur' tippet for all of £2 - a frippery but it's a lovely colour and should keep the draughts out!

The soup for the picnic stayed hot all day but we didn't feel like eating when we left Leeds around 8pm so we took a flask each for supper!

Expenditure:
Entertainment (Cinnamon buns, main meal, chestnuts) £26
Gifts £66
Clothing £2
Parking (my share of travel) £6 
Housekeeping £2.90 (DH's food but I'm missing a receipt there)
DH's hobby - £120 but that was buying to research and sell on so we may yet see that back.

Final figures yet to be worked out but I'd allowed £100 and I've come in very close so far - but maybe more as I may have forgotten something.

MS: resisted an e-book for 99p and a top for £10. Took note of some things DD was looking at with a view to future gifts. Having the soup waiting for us meant we didn't have a bigger meal earlier as we knew there was more to come. Had some chocolate in my bag to sustain me at weak moments! We took breaks so we didn't get worn out.

Cherryfudge

Another foggy day, though the snow is dripping slowly away. Nothing spent.

DH stayed at home with me to watch the service on YouTube, and we had chicken and chorizo pies for dinner (not home made this time, there was an offer at the supermarket, but there was only a fraction of the filling compared to when DH makes pies!

In the afternoon I went out with A, H and the girls to a memorial service, while DH decided to have a short walk to get some exercise. It turned into a full length walk and he came back with beautiful photos of the woods in the snow. He lit the logburner this evening, so the house is toasty, but then had a hot bath and ended up with his heart rate speeded up so I'm currently looking up NHS 111 to see if we can find any information.

Cherryfudge

I waded through the online triage and DH checked his pulse which was 160 - okay if running but not when resting, so I rang 111 for him and he went to the local hospital to be checked over. He's back already: they think it's atrial fibrillation and he's to go back after breakfast.

I've ventilated the house in case it's carbon monoxide, and I'm currently waiting for the emergency person to come and (hopefully) give us the okay.

He did have a serious heart problem caused by a virus many years ago, so I wonder if that might lead to an underlying tendency to problems. However, I've checked the BHF website and DH is already doing the things they recommend to optimise health, so that's several steps in the right direction.

The man has just arrived to check the gas and log burner, so hopefully I can get to bed soon!

2.35 edit - no carbon monoxide found so we just have to leave the gas boiler and log burner off till they've been checked by the relevant experts. Glad it's no longer quite so cold outside and Dh is going to be out much of tomorrow so he can be somewhere warm!

WelshmansDaughter

Fingers crossed everything is ok. Hugs

Cherryfudge

WelshmansDaughter said:

Fingers crossed everything is ok. Hugs

Thank you.  

DH is having various tests but so far they haven't found any abnormalities. He thinks it's anaemia but I suppose they will be testing for that and sundry other things.

It doesn't look as if the boiler checks can be done till tomorrow, though the log burner service will probably be today. Meanwhile although the thermostat says 14 degrees, it's not too bad as I'm all MSE-style layered up with my feet on a hot water bottle and a blanket on my knees! And I get up and move around and make hot drinks as well.

Dh has called off his shift at the shop this afternoon as they won't have finished with him at the hospital. I'm going to take him some lunch - it's only down the road so not a big deal.

I still have my timesheet to send in and check on the status of my payslip that mysteriously vanished the other night. It occurred to me that the extra £80 could have been the pay rise coming through (I'm out of the loop but it's usually late in the year), in which case the payslips could have been withdrawn to be amended and I just happened to hit the wrong moment to check it.