NST February A FOREST ADVENTURE

Calling14

Apologies still having problems logging in at home.

Update

Friday NSD
Went to give blood, failure, iron levels annoyingly low. However I still got club biscuit. Actually 2 with my tea and nurse put another in my bag for later. Await blood test results before I can book another appointment.
Explains tiredness levels felt this week. Ate so much liver this weekend hope that helps.

Saturday NSD
Coast walk 13k , lifeboats, shipwrecks, boyfriend in a happy mood, gorgeous picnic he made, followed by Coffee cake treat in fab cafe.

Sunday
Walk around NT garden 13k total day. Got the co op meal deal on way home, the ice cream is fabulous and found cheap light bulbs there been looking for. Small spend.

Today
Will be a NSD 13 and hopefully next 2 days will be as well.:D

Happy Monday folks and hope the beast from the east stays away.

apple_muncher

Sending you some very gentle hugs mothernerd. Take care.

abundant1972

Evening everyone!

Apologies again for my absence this last week. I think I've been going through some kind of internal crisis/transformation and coming out the other side... It's a good crisis (well I am mid-life) and hopefully will be a positive change. Nothing major - just changing old habits and trying to make new ones.

Been exercising 4 times/week and cooking everyday for myself which is the first time ever I've gone out and bought ingredients and done it from scratch. I know it's probably something most of you have done most of your lives - it's a big thing for me though. Work is going well and I am having more and more good days!

Thanks Mothernerd for all your daily inspirations. laughed at the ghost one! Seriously - they've been very thought provoking and helpful to me.

Today = NSD number 13

I'm not going to reach my target... I haven't quite got my head around how much to buy for this new cooking lark... plus I am limited to one shelf in the fridge and a 1/2 salad box, and 1 freezer shelf... so I am finding I need to buy little and often which hampers my NSDs... I need to get into meal planning.

Anyway - whilst February has been a spendy month for me... next payday will be better though still £200 down on my old wage... from end April I'll be back on track.

Have a good evening all x

apple_muncher

Today I am grateful for my hat scarf and gloves combo, for being able to watch most of the snow being blown around from inside, for the buses actually having their heating on, for a good day at work, for dd getting on with her homework with fewer protests than of late, for a text from my niece, for dh getting up ever-so-quietly at 5.45 this morning, for being able to trot along a bit which meant that I caught an earlier bus and was home 25 mins early.

f0xh0les

abundant1972 wrote: »

Been exercising 4 times/week and cooking everyday for myself which is the first time ever I've gone out and bought ingredients and done it from scratch. I know it's probably something most of you have done most of your lives - it's a big thing for me though. Work is going well and I am having more and more good days!
I'm not going to reach my target... I haven't quite got my head around how much to buy for this new cooking lark... plus I am limited to one shelf in the fridge and a 1/2 salad box, and 1 freezer shelf... so I am finding I need to buy little and often which hampers my NSDs... I need to get into meal planning.

The whole cooking from scratch thing is to be applauded:T:T:T
So there you go. You know exactly what you are eating, Might that in part explain the increase in good days? The initial outlay is more expensive, but soon you will have your store cupboard essentials (all those herbs and spices) and after that you are laughing. Cooking slightly too much makes for interesting packed lunches and you can always freeze some in reused takeaway tubs. They dont take up much space and also help with portion control.
13 NSDs is still probably better than anyone else in your office. :rotfl:

f0xh0les

NSD 18 sorted!!

£22 left in the budget so I can't be sad about that.

Re-mortgage sorted

Crazy lunchtime snowstorm

Sausage stew for supper, all from stores. Kids all ate 3 helpings. 4 of their 5 a day I should probably just accept if I only ever made pies, pasties and stews they would be happy. I however would die of boredom.

Snuggled in my pjs keeping warm.

The kids must have asked 15 times since I picked them up, if school will be
closed tomorrow.:snow_grin

mothernerd

We had snow. It started shortly after I got to mum's and kept doing little flurries until mid-afternoon. Fortunately none of it stayed. Had done shopping (+ remembered the bits I bought last week and unpacked onto the kitchen table) for mum and took all the birthday cards I bought last week so spent some time writing those - 3 to take back with me, 2 to post and one for DS1.

I can still embroider. I have to keep my arms tucked in at my sides and only use my hands and forearm. I need to use a shorter thread, I've slowed down and think I will tire quickly and have a lot more rest breaks, but I can do it (very fine count fabric as well).

The other thing that has been bothering me is chopping onions so have tried that since I came home and it's doable. Again arms tucked in and it's a bit difficult - will have to try learning to do it left handed if possible. I know you can buy frozen chopped onions (Beloved buys them) but I just think it's so lazy - it will be the last resort if other methods fail.

Mum had a power cut late on (tea time - just going dark). When it came back the watch people phoned up - mum has a thing round her neck to press if she needs help when she is alone. Mum was sitting complaining about other people's lights coming back on. The only thing i could think of was that the fuse box had tripped. It's above the boiler so had to climb the step stool, could barely see by then but managed to flick the right switch. Then got down quickly to disarm the house alarm (had already found the code and tried to find the panic button mentioned in the manual). Order restored.

Today I am grateful for being able to continue embroidering (will be very selective about future projects), for being able to chop onions (batch cooking back on the agenda in preparation for next month) and for hedgehogs - Supervet mended four with identical leg injuries, all but the tiny one survived. The other 2 females and a male were released into a large private garden to start building hedgehog populations again.

DancingDragons

Mothernerd, DH uses the blender to "whizz" onions to a diced/choppyness, perhaps that will work for you?

Reporting another NSD.
I've had emails, letters and texts from the schools warning us about the weather "they might need to close the school". Not sure why they felt that was needed, the I realised that "big" amounts of snow is rare these days.
There's a whole lot of growling from this Beast From The East - but all we've seen is a fluffy flurry. Seen more gritters than we have from the Amber snow - its early yet though.
I've enjoyed going back to basics, cooking decent meals -avoiding even the pasatta and cooking up the tomatoes. It takes some long term planning though. IT would help LOADS if DH didn't eat all the helpings.

Please stay warm and safe folks.

Siebrie

Mothernerd, my Mum uses an onion chopper, which is a small manual device. It has a sort of bottomless cup in which you put the onion and a lid with a knob that you press down several times. Every time you press, you push knives (hidden in the lid) through the onion.

mothernerd

Thank you for all the hugs (gratefully received) and for the onion suggestions. I was wondering if a mixer would do the job - Beloved has one. I gave mine to DS2 as Billy Blender did most things and I was faster mixing cakes manually than using a mixer (that's probably changed now - we will adjust, I just need retuning). Siebrie we had one of those when I was a child - one of those K-Tel things that was advertised on tv (way before shopping channels). In the years when we went to car boot sales nearly every stall would have one.

Beloved also has a grater - an electric one with different gauges of 'grate' and I wondered if that had a suitable attachment. Will ponder further - at least I can chop what I have in the house and see how far I get.