Dusty's Frugal Fortnights

Sayschezza

Poor you. Think if it was me I would stuff some cotton wool up my nose. Lol.

dustydigger

Well,the smell is receding,praise the Lord. I certainly wouldnt want to walk through those fields for exercise for a while.:eek::rotfl:Not much fun in this hot weather keeping all the doors and windows shut either:mad:
Healthwise I'm not too well. Its been an horrendousweek with Mr Dusty,endless complications with his new bank account,he's on to his third card in a month.the machine keep eating his card. He had me writing a letter of compaint so I had a lovely time pleasing him and his rants against the bank,while making his complaints coherent and comprehensible for a stranger to understand. We quarreled about every clause throughout,it took 90 minutes.Then he wouldnt send it email,had me write it out longhand to deliver in person. Fortunately there was a very kind and suitably grovelling lady at the bank to deal with him,but unfortunately when he got home he got a text saying they were cancelling his card,come to the bank with ID. Back to town,20 minute bus ride and 10 mins walk to the bank,more rants in progress.They apologised once more,it was a case of left hand not knowing what the right hand was doing.
Add problems yet again with being charged for supposedly free international calls,yet a bill this month for £38 on top of his contract,plus the frustration on the court caseand he is not a happy camper,and I bear the brunt. I have come out in hives,all across my thighs,stomach and chest,the itch is driving me crazy. Then my vision is a bit blurred,my ear itching,and the roof of my mouth really tender.Talk about stress affecting thyroid victims inordinately, I am dropping to bits.:rotfl:

dustydigger

Was very happy when by chance I found a thread for book readers on the Money Savers Arms board. I dont go there normally. Its rather a quiet little thread,but I love talking about books anytime. Of course I shouldnt do it,yet ANOTHER time eating thread to follow.:D
The thread is called Lost in a Good Book?What are you reading?
I find locating threads or members a bit confusing or difficult unless I subscribe to them.I had hoped some of the people following my diary would pop in and discuss what they are reading sometimes,but it hasnt happened,so I had to add a new thread.
Hope some of you will join me there.
Was wondering if I should add my Alphabet Challenge on there,might be a bit much:rotfl::rotfl:

dustydigger

Will do a bit shopping this afternoon.The outside drain is overflowing again,I need some caustic soda to clear it.I also need pop into the library to renew a book and look for a book I need for a challenge,then its the butcher's for some lamb leg steaks. I got some last week and they were delicious,mouth-wateringly tender,simply casseroled with onions then topped with a mix of tomatoes,onions,and mushrooms. A triumph if I say it myself! :)Mr D had gone off lamb for a while,but brisket and silverside take so much cooking,and never seem very tasty to me anyway,so I am trying to coax him back to eating more lamb.
One thing which is pleasing him on the food front is the Maris Piper potatoes. For several months,probably because it was end of season,they werent the best quality,but now they are back to normal. One less thing for Mr Dusty to moan about and blame me for.:T
Also need to pop in to Ald! for peanut butter,(I only snaffled 2 blue topped jars last week,it was a sea of orange tops:mad:),plus their excellent greek yoghurt and a couple of their chicken tikka pasties,which for a wonder Mr D enjoys,a quick supper meal once a week as a break for me from the cooking.Then pop into Her*n's for my favourite sweetener and some Aunt Bessie's carrot and turnip mash for me.Only £1 there,£1.50 at Asd@:mad: All that takes about an hour,I count it as one of my exercise sessions for the week:D:D

Sayschezza

I think you deserve a medal.

beanielou

I dont know how you do it.
I really dont.

dustydigger

Wow,I have had a very expensive afternoon. I think I need a long line of the blue icons:eek::eek::eek::eek::rotfl:


+Spent £12 in Her*n's on frozen veg and rice.
+Then £15 in the butcher. £12 of that was for the 8 lamb leg steaks,which I separated into 2 bags. I'll get 3 meals from each pack so not too bad.Also 4sausagesthats 2 meals for him,and some tongue.
+ £8 in Home Bargains for Stardrops,caustic soda,shampoo,bonjela and savlon.:eek:
+£13 in Ald! for yoghurt,pasties,tinned mackerel,tuna and salmon. And didnt even get the peanut butter I originally went in for,just a sea of orange lidded crunchy p&b.:mad: I will get very grumpy if I have to pay 40p a jar extra at other shops because of Ald!'s weird storage system.
Everything unpacked and put away,am off now to add the 4 books I got from the library to my TBR lists on LibraryThing,including a new Judith Cutler,Terry Pratchett's Unseen Academicals,and Just William. Got to be 56 years at least since I read that! I needed a ''J'' title for one of my usual challenges,and was feeling nostalgic!
I will prepare the plantain,and make fish stew to go with it,then I am just going to chill out and read the rest of the night:j:j



Ouch,almost £50. But we are stocked up for most stuff for a while. But I am always amazed when I see MSE families claiming to feed father and mother and 2 kids for £40 a week. Of course Mr D and I eat entirely different meals much of the time which doesnt help!:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Onebrokelady

Hope you are feeling better:),I love to read so will have a look at the thread you mentioned

Ps I think you deserve a medal too,reading yours and Mr Dustys antics is reminding me why I am single:rotfl:

dustydigger

Onebrokelady wrote: »

Hope you are feeling better:)

Ps I think you deserve a medal too,reading yours and Mr Dustys antics is reminding me why I am single:rotfl:

Good job Mr Dusty is oblivious to the fact that his peculiarities are being broadcast to the nation!:rotfl:
Sorry not to have been around much this last week,and particularly the last 4 days. I have been really under the weather. Infections in both ears,so sound is muted. I have been watching the TV with subtitles. Couldnt watch some of the IPlayer stuff that had no subtitles,since I couldnt follow properly. I have hives all over me,thankfully dying down nownot so much itching,but its been maddening!:mad:
Worst of all I have a mouthful of mouth ulcers,and my teeth hurt,and eating is difficult. Living mostly on porridge and yoghurt,darent even try to eat hard stuff like fruit:(
Only good thing is the feet arent hurting at the moment(though of course I havent been up and about much) and the arthritic fingers have uncurled and stopped hurting. Big bonus!!:T


On the mental side,not so good. I am off now to hoover then mop the kitchen floor and prepare the dinner.Then I will come back to share with you a rather frightening experience.

dustydigger

I have been rather depressed lately,too lethargic even to come online.But something happened on Wednesday that disturbed me badly.
My hairdresser was due at 1.30,and as usual I made sure the sittingroom and kitchen diner were up to scratch.Mr Dusty came back from the town at about 12.20,and showed me what he had bought etc. The hoover was lying on the floor ready to use,and I was busy in the kitchen,so he decided to go up upstairs,change,and get on with his pools in peace and quiet. I went back to cooking and tidying. Then I hoovered,and made my dinner.( I alwayssit looking out on the main road and I see the buses slowing down to stop at the bus stop a few doors down.I usually see Mr D as he is getting up to get off the bus.) So I sit there,all prepared for the hairdresser,reading a book and eating. I took my plate back to the sink,washed it and put it away,as she would need the sink to wash my hair. Coming back to the sittingroom I heard a noise upstairs.I went to the bottom of the stairs and called up to Mr Dusty,asking when had he come back,I hadnt heard him arrive. A very puzzled face peeped around the top landing. He came rushing down the stairs and explained he had come back 40 minutes ago,and had been waiting for me to call him for dinner,and that we had spoken to each other in the kitchen. It took a while for it to dawn on me and indeed I keep remembering and piecing bits together for several hours. What on earth happened that I completely blocked it out? Was I so focused on the food I was cooking,then on making things shipshape for the hairdresser that I somehow blocked him out? Normally I would make some joke about understanding why I blocked him out,but I was so shocked and distressed about it its difficult to raise a smile.
I am trying to rationalize it,saying that I was overwhelmed with all the illnesses and stress piled up,that I find it hard to multitask easily these days,so that I focus on something to the extent of ignoring everything else,but its rather feeble.
I have two choices.One its the start of memory loss as a precursor of a pretty dire illness that frankly terrifies me. The other is that it is part of this thyroid thing. I keep seeing among the symptoms mental confusion or brain fog. which isnt very explanatory. Until further notice I am going to go with that .
Should I go to the doc? Well,I didnt get any help or encouragement when I said I had been wondering why I suddenly stopped losing weight but then had found than one major symptom of thyroidism was metabolic slowdown. He flatly contradicted me,saying that was extremely unlikely,so I shut up. Trying to explain my fears about deleting a whole conversation from my brain would likely get short shrift.

So I am going with the stress and thyroid issues so I can cope with it.
Got to eat very well(I have been stress eating carbs like crazy,bingeing and stuffing my face uncontrollably in reaction to my fears,and have put on 4 lb this last week alone. Not very cheering at all),get more exercise instead of stupid lethargy and staring listlessly out of the window.
Vitamin B12 deficiency can apparently trigger brain fog. Two years ago I had pernicious anaemia,and had to have iron infusions.,but for some reason the surgery recently took me off my strong vit B tablets.I am off tomorrow to buy my own supply,not much good really,but every little helps.


I started this post ages ago,then Mr Dusty wanted my help,and all sorts of things intervened,so I am finishing this much later.