Travelling On

rtandon27

How lovely that you have quince KC! My plant did not produce a single fruit this year! Both our apple tree and cherry tree fed the birds but we have had raspberries all summer and the plant is still fruiting!

Karmacat

It is, isn't it!  It was here when I bought the place, and I thought it had gone when my builder dug it up to put a fence post in the right place.  But its gradually come back, and fruited madly this year.  I haven't weighed them yet (or brought them in to clean them) so they're sitting on the path outside the back door right now, but there's certainly enough to do their thing.  I'm not going to do the "marmalade" - but I *am* going to use all the skin and whatnot - recipe from simply recipes, I don't need to strain it all, which I did before, this is just simmer (with various bits and bobs added) use a masher or a whizzer, finish it off in the oven.

Once again, I haven't done as much as I wanted, got sidetracked with reading online, but hey ho.  Masterchef Professionals is on soon  

Karmacat

Good grief, where do the days go?  I've done a tiny little YG survey, won a bit on the baby HW, finished off October's money shuffle (not before time!!!).  Also had a hygienist appointment, to check everything had settled down, as she told me - I have one very dodgy area so she wants to see me in 3 months time 🙄

I've also learned about imported cars, and why they're a bad idea for noobs like me.  And had a driving lesson - the driving is more or less normal now, though still slower than a lot of people around me.  Reversing into a parking space continues to be a nightmare, especially as the instructor wanted me to park *next* to a car.  Poor car owner, I said 🙄  And indeed, he had to use his instructor level brake - I got paralysed by the reverse cameras, just watched them, and completely forgot to watch out of the window 🙄 

Quite a bit of decluttering going on this week: dirt 🤣, paper folders I used for work, books that have almost been torn in two, lots of packaging.  I plan to start shredding the client files, but its occurred to me that my ex-partner might want some of them as we shared some clients, so I'll start with people that I'm sure he never saw.

Also quite a bit of online research going on for a present for a 2 year old tiny human.  Even by that age, they're so individual!  Couple of nice puzzles like this one Orchard Toys Rescue Squad Jigsaw Puzzles, 16 Pieces (johnlewis.com) though its a shame there's no bin lorry, she loves the bin lorry 🤣

badmemory

The problem with foreign cars is getting the parts.  It is all very well if you have 2 but there have been people on here complaining that their car has been waiting for parts for months.

earthgirl2

Oh two year old is such a lovely age. My boys would play with anything at that age! Hope you have a good time. 

Karmacat

badmemory said:

The problem with foreign cars is getting the parts.  It is all very well if you have 2 but there have been people on here complaining that their car has been waiting for parts for months.

Thanks badmemory - that's come up, yes, and the paperwork being incomplete too - no wonder they're cheap!  Good to know that I'm on the same page as people here.

Karmacat

earthgirl2 said:

Oh two year old is such a lovely age. My boys would play with anything at that age! Hope you have a good time. 

So true!  She's very, very verbal, so my sister's trying to round her out as much as possible - some lightweight plastic bricks I bought, and they're currently decorating cookies that have been bought in, and making impressions in HM playdough with freezer clips 😅❤ I have some little tiny star shapes for petits-fours, so I'll be sending those along anyway.  I suppose 2 year olds are like cats, they play with the cardboard boxes, not the thing itself 🌞

LadyWithAPlan

Karmacat said:

Thank you both 🌞 and yes, the day was a real antidote to what's been going on.  The widower has decided to take his kids for a holiday to the Maldives, which is where he had his honeymoon, so we'll speak to my brother after that, he needs his head in the game for a bit longer on his son's behalf.  Bless WhatsApp and their 3 way free calling facility!

LWAP, I confess I haven't activated the facial mask yet - but I will, after my dental appointment tomorrow.  I'm invited to the 2nd birthday of my sister's granddaughter - the other grandparents are going to be there too, and frankly my sister wants to put on a good show.  They're rich.  Very rich, as in multimillionaires.  I'm not going to stress my sister out even more by not co-operating in this, so its all speed ahead.

Hope you looked suitably youthful after the mask! Quince marmalade sounds lovely

Karmacat

Thanks LWAP - I haven't done it enough to make a difference yet, but its not for another 3 weeks or so, so I've got time.  Looking after teeth and facial skin are part of the "self care" priorities, so I'm just off to look for my quarterly list  

Karmacat

The last quarter of the year!  UPDATE, for before Christmas.

1. Operation Clear Cat Hair, I'm going to pretend this is done, I found a few stragglers yesterday, but that's all.

2. Inquest and funeral: brother updated us on how the funeral went - Coroner announces whether or not there's an inquest on 9th November, then we'll see, and take brother's advice.  

3. Learning to drive - weekly lessons going well, though the reversing into a parking space is a complete mess 🙄 Following on from which:

4. Deciding which car to drive.  Just the Autotrader app at the moment, I've learned that imports are a no-no.

5. Accessories to driving: no change, I'll buy what's needed when I've got a car.

6. Craft work.  Finish remaining curtain, work on recycleable fabric gift tags.  Sadly, no change here either.  Maybe over the weekend - the news of a family member flying to the Maldives for a holiday has certainly made me sit up 🌞

7. Growing things.  Get the garden ready.  There's a few small trees that look like silver birch that party wall neighbour and I both thought belonged to them.  But they're growing in my soil - and the son of the house can't finish the new fence until they're down, because of the way they kink over the boundary.  I want them to finish that fence!  So I'm prepared to sacrifice those trunks.  I can do that this weekend.

8. Genealogy biographies.  Carry on having a play, which I *have* been, though not this week.

9. Self care.  A wide one, this!  As per immediately previous post, teeth and skin need looking after, with electronics.   The main other thing is getting rid of client files safely.  I threw out two printed psychology books, both already practically torn in two.  Client files deprived of their cardboard folders, which have been recycled (last night!).  Realised how easy the shredding will be, compared to accounting information, its all sheets of A4, very easy rather than faffing with receipts of various sizes of paper.

10.  FINANCES.  Since the last update, not much - finished the money shuffle finally.  If I buy a car soon, unless I get a free offer of 0% finance, I'll have to take some money out of premium bonds.  Which is fine - I wonder about taking some tax-free money from a pension?  Lots more work needed on that.