Put away your purse & become debt-averse

Humdinger1

@foxgloves your mere existence is an achievement!  Always look forward to reading your thread

crazy_cat_lady

Hope you're fighting fit today foxgloves. 

foxgloves

Oh my goodness, Humdinger1, I wouldn't go that far!
Thanks CCL - Yes, a bit improved, I think.
F x

foxgloves

Greetings Snowdrops,
I do feel a bit more improved in the 'innards' departments today. Defo not 100%, but the terrible cramping has calmed right down. Now I kind of feel as though I've been kicked in the tummy by a cart horse.....I suppose it's the after effects. I expect I shall soon be back to normal - hope so.
OK, well a much more productive day, that's for sure. I did my usual Monday morning budget updates & moved funds around as necessary. I've baked bread rolls & done rubber pork duties (not nearly as exotic as it sounds, ladies!)  - The roasting joint we got from our local butcher did a roast dinner last night, & has now been divvied up to provide sufficient for hot pork cobs with apple sauce tonight, a stir-fry tomorrow, a stew & I've also frozen some slices. I finally got the batch of hot lemon chilli jam I'd intended making last week done - it's basically a Nigella recipe but with my home grown hot lemon chillies subbed in for her red ones & also yellow peppers. So 7 little jars of that bottled, labelled & ready to go in the pantry & one bag less in the freezer.
Two peppers in the fridge doing nothing, so sliced & froze them before they could start thinking about a slow manky walk to the bin. Other assorted stuff: 2 loads of laundry, which should mean no further laundry this week, did a couple of surveys, read meters & uploaded readings & ordered new bed linen. 
Yes....that last task put pay to the no-spend day, but we are both sick of lumpy old pillows & I am getting low on decent sheets, so a clear-out of those will be imminent. I am usually pretty thrifty with sheets - I've done my Nan's old 'sides to middle' thing for years, but there comes a time when you just need to replace things. I do like proper cotton bedding too, so poly cotton is a big 'no' for me, which means paying a little bit more. Never mind. Not much of a vice is it....cotton sheets, lol! Have also done a couple of surveys - am up to over £14 again on Prolific & I don't check in every day, even though I intended to do so this year. 
Well, I must go & get tomorrow's packed lunch made & also I promised Mr F I'd make him a portion of chunky coleslaw - not that I'm going to be eating any of it....far too potentially fibrous a choice for my battered innards at the moment!
All I fancy tonight is lighting the stove, TV & knitting, so that is what I will do.
Take care m'dears,
F x

Onebrokelady

foxgloves said:

Aww, sad about your hellebores, OBL, as I know you are fond of them. Where have they broken? Is it just the flowering stems smashed off in the storm? If so, I'd cut those off plus anything obviously broken & then wait & see what happens. They may have a 2nd flowering later. If the entire plants are smashed, I think I'd trim them right back & hope that a good root system will bring them back next year. You know, I think I lose more plants to winter deluges now than I ever have to snow & ice.
Hope they can be salvaged, anyway. 
F x

I think it's pretty much the whole plant, all the stems are broken just below the flowers, they had loads of buds too but they are all broken as well 😢 I'm sure  if I cut them back they will recover for next year ,they are really established and I just let them get on with it normally, my mum cuts hers back after they flower because  she thinks they look messy but I normally let mine die back naturally and they have just got bigger and bigger each year, they've been there for 8 years in June 😊. I think it was a combination of rain, wind then severe frost that finished them off 

Onebrokelady

Forgot to say I am glad to see you are feeling a little better today x

Baileys_Babe

You have been very busy @foxgloves for a woman who is supposed to be recovering. Wishing you a full recovery very soon.

foxgloves

Thanks OBL & BaileysBabe - I do have a headache this morning due to having slept in a silly position, but I no longer seem to have that sore 'kicked in the tummy by a shire horse' feeling, so I am hoping for a good day. The sunrise is just fabulous - rows & ribbons of pink across the sky, threaded through with a cord of the brightest blue. I am taking this as a sign for a positive gardening day. Coffee & toast first, then my seed box is coming out.
F x

foxgloves

Oh well, so much for my fabulous gardening day!! This morning was largely given over to a massive tantrum, during which time I almost sent someone a snotty text, but thankfully deleted it, then had to pop indoors & just check properly that I had. Grrr! Shall I start at the beginning? I put some bread dough to prove then sorted out all the seeds I intended to sow today, wrote the labels, put on my coat & wellies, donned my gardening gloves & headed down to the shed to fetch seed trays, pots, cloches, etc. And that, dear readers, was the end of my plans! I couldn't open the shed padlock. It was stuck fast. I trotted back to fetch the WD40 but even FIVE goes with that failed to budge it. I wiggled it every way possible, I pleaded with it, swore at it & clumped it with a brick. Nothing! I was so mad.....all those plans, finally feeling well & a dry sunny day!!! Then my phone pinged & it was the workmen (shed saga round 2) who did the new shed roof last year which has failed & is letting in loads of water. He had told me he would be re-doing it today or tomorrow but now can't come until next week. It was a very apologetic message & I understand that we all have personal circumstances that sometimes get in the way of life. Well, I typed out a reply instantly saying that it had damn well better be fixed next week because basically they might as well have re-roofed it using f*****g hobnobs, because they'd be about as waterproof!!! I was just about to click 'send' when I thought, hang on, calm down, these people have worked for you before & there haven't been issues, so I went indoors & made a cup of coffee. I decided do do a bit of damage limitation on my gardening plans......I knew we had a couple of empty spread tubs in the kitchen, so I pierced the bases of those & used them to sow my aubergines & peppers. I also found a stray pot in the greenhouse so used that to sow some winter lettuce. I decided to make a start on clearing one of my big borders so that the bulbs show through better - I could only do the front really, as my only available tools were secateurs, hand fork & a trug, all my other tools in the damn shed. I must have made at elast some difference as I ended up with 3 trugfuls for the garden bin. I also chopped back the black elder, but it will need Mr F & his trusty pruning saw as well as my efforts. Throughout the morning, I returned to the stuck padlock 5 or 6 times to check whether the WD40 had seeped in to the workings & shifted it, but no, absolutely stuck fast. Mr F (who managed to phone me about something when I was in full drama queen tantrum) says he will go down & have a look at it when he gets in, before the light goes. Mr F is a bit of a brick outhouse & I think he may do one key wiggle & it will snap. Although I can't really have a go at him for that, having already clumped it with a brick.
I think I will go & sweep up all the mud on the kitchen floor now & chop the veg for tonight's rubber pork stir-fry & noodles. How I have avoided self-medication through the noble art of chocolate consumption today I do not know. The more I told myself that this is really a very small hassle in the scheme of things, the crosser I got with it, myself & the universe!!
Hope there have been some better Tuesdays out there among you all,
F x

welshspendthrift

Hi Foxgloves I think you have done remarkably well to stay away from chocolate today 👏 the roof reply made me laugh .. f******* g hobnobs . Well done on not sending! I’m not sure I would have been as kind. You certainly persevered with seed planting, I am hoping to do some at the weekend with 3year old DGD but only if weather allows outside planting as could not cope with compost everywhere inside 😳. Hope your padlock releases or Mr F manages to unlock it x