Cherry takes the reins

Cherryfudge

This is the recipe, Wannabe. I made it as little butterfly cakes and added a teaspoon of instant coffee to the buttercream. I did think it would be ideal to use Bailey's instead of milk in the buttercream but we hadn't any.

Not exactly food value but if you eat after midnight the calories don't count.

Actually I think you could make it as butterfly cakes for littlies and use jam instead of buttercream... I think a black forest gateau flavour would be fun too.

Cherryfudge

Nothing spent yesterday.

Today there are various bits of shopping needed.

We have had a talk with the building society and decided to keep the mortgage on the variable rate which sounds scary and silly but if we fix it I won't be able to continue the scale of overpayments I'd achieved in the last 15 months. I also had a chat with DH about putting as much of the mortgage as I can on my 0% interest CC and he agrees it would be a good idea. It will save us about £450 a year which doesn't sound massive in mortgage terms but it's nearly 2 week's wages for me and of course that £450ish will then be available to pay back the CC faster than normal.

ETA: I checked and they can't fix the rate on just one part of the mortgage. That's why the whole lot is to stay on the standard variable rate! However if I keep up my track record that will save us more than it costs us. Next step is to find if there's a financial penalty for transferring the cash from my CC.

I am still a bit quivery about putting that much debt on the card! I must be reading MSE too much.

Other than that, it's my weekend off and I need to take another look at kitchen stocks and make some decisions about using up more long term stuff. Last summer I did a massive list on here that always seem to feature a million onions, but it moved so slowly I think I'll desist from repeating it right now. Onions do at least get eaten. It's more the pulses and random sauces that hang around.

I also NEED to get back to healthy eating. All that sugar has undone quite a lot of last year's good work: I'm now back to what I weighed at the time of the wedding so weight loss from July onwards has been reversed. It will be good to get back to running properly as this is what helped most. I hate the bitter cold we've had recently and the extreme grey days - will be so glad when spring shows up! Talking of which a whole patch of daffodils hasn't sprouted this year. Maybe I'll have to replace them. Looking for daffodils and googling photos of fruit trees in bloom is a sure sign of winter blues. So I need to be proactive: get out and get running, Cherry!

redofromstart

It is shiny bright outside here (although still cold) and i can see hellebore and primroses from the window which makes me feel that spring is just round the corner.

I meant to come back and say I made your gingerbread syrup, and DS1 loves it. He made a layered dessert for a school project and used it for the base layer to soak through sponge. Much appreciated.

parsniphead

Spring is my favourite time of year. So hopeful and positive. I'm with you and can't wait to see the back of winter.

Cherryfudge

Is it just me or does this year seem darker than usual? I think it's the coldest we've had for a while, and the previous very cold winters were at least sunny. I'm hoping the run today will top up my daylight levels: it certainly felt good (though I will ache in a couple of days).

First trip to B + M for quite a while this afternoon and DH was favourably impressed with the prices so perhaps I'll get a lift there again. We also went to the supermarket and so far we're within the week's housekeeping budget: I have £4.91 left of the £40 I took out.

Spends:
Housekeeping £22.38
Toiletries £2.29
Gifts £1.49
Pets £1.99
Household £3.49
MS stuff:
Running - so now I'm not so inclined to nibble. Funny how that works out. I think it's the endorphins.
Casserole tomorrow not a roast - will sneak in a few finisher uppers to supplement the meat and make kitchen space.
Managed to get washing part-dry on the line, saving tumble drying.

HairyHandofDartmoor

It does seem dark and cold this year. We've had rain most of the day .

I agree that when you exercise you don't get so hungry, it must be the feel good endorphins .

Honeysucklelou2

Not too long to Spring...I saw the first iris in bloom this week...the vivid blue was so welcome, as were the snowdrops.

Well done for even thinking about a run at this time of year!

parsniphead

The cold but sunny days have been few and far between this winter. I do like all seasons but it's been so damp and miserable.

Cherryfudge

I would love irises and snowdrops! Nothing here so far: but hopefully in a few weeks...

I went back to the supermarket yesterday evening! This was supposed to be for apples and curry powder. I got the curry powder, all the cheap apples were gone but I got some good yellow-stickered items instead.

Extra spends 13/1/18:
Housekeeping £3.77
MS stuff 13/1/18:
Made soup, now in freezer
Rescued a lot of sprouting potatoes, cleaned them up and left them in cold water to make mash today.

NSD today (14th)
MS stuff today:
Finally got my library app working on my kindle and got an ebook out. Saving of £4.99 as I wanted to buy it. Apparently you can get magazines out as well so I might have a browse. I can only have my library book out for a week instead of the actual books which are for three weeks. I wonder if they think we read more quickly on a tablet?

WannabeFree

Doing well Cherry, I agree with the weather. Counting down to spring x