Life is a minestrone as the song says - my new diary

beanielou

3 hours!!  Wow,

teapot2

beanielou said:

3 hours!!  Wow,

I know, now that I've been working from home since March last year can't quite believe I spent all that time waiting on a bus or being on a bus.  No wonder I was always so tired, used to have 12 or 13 hour days sometimes with all the hanging about.  Only 1 bus an hour in the evening made it worse if I was working late.  There are trains from here which are much quicker though not frequent but most are long distance intercity ones and I struggled to get on and off them while I was trying to regain my mobility after surgery.  One of platform at the Waverly has a really big gap between the train and platform edge which means jumping off the train step which I still couldn't do!  I definitely don't want to go back to doing all that again 4 or 5 days a week.

teapot2

Managed to get my walk to the harbour finally after it was rained off earlier in the week, did a bit of people watching and treated myself to a wee tub of ice cream with bits of tablet through it .  Walked down after I'd had my annual MOT with the nurse - apparently thats a thing now at my age lol.  

Had more Ugov surveys, think thats up to 5 in a week now.  I've missed out on a few Prolific ones which seem to go almost instantly but did snag one for £7 yesterday which has paid up already so am a few pence short of £30 on there.

I'd sent in energy meter readings earlier in the week and got the bill on Friday, am back in credit - just, by £1.50 but after going into debit by £50 after the very prolonged cold spell we had I'm pleased with that.  I did overpay £30 on top of my DD to get the amount down a bit.

I picked a load of rhubarb yesterday and got some wonky strawbs with my online shop to make jam with them both.  The strawbs ended up being free as the delivery guy refunded them because they were dated the day of the delivery and already getting soft so couldn't be sold elsewhere.  Was chuffed with that, both rhubarb and strawbs have been sitting overnight in sugar and lemon juice so am going to get some jars out from my stash and make the jam next.  

There is still lots of rhubarb left in the garden so I'll make so more chutney next as that is yummy.  Would also like to pickle some beetroot as just using up the last of last year's effort.

teapot2

I worked on Monday this week and due to a bit of shuffling managed to have the rest of the week off which has been a welcome break.  The weather has been really hot here so I've tried not to be out too much in the middle of the day.  Have met up with a couple of friends at different times this week which has been lovely, was meant to meet a third friend yesterday but they were pinged by T&T so are having to isolate though they keep testing negative.  Been lovely to have some social connection that isn't online though I do appreciate that way to be in touch and work as well.

Its taken me several days to cut the edges of the grass as I kept having to stop due to me wilting in the heat, finally finished it this morning while that edge was still in the shade.  The weeds are doing well in the weather so I've been trying to get on top of them but its a battle I'm mostly losing.  

Finance-wise its a quiet time mid month, I should be able to pay off another chunk off my 0% cc later in the month and put a bit into savings.  I claimed £10 for a survey I did and have converted that to a Sainbo voucher which I can use with my online shop.  I've had quite a few Prolific surveys so am on £45+ there when all are paid up.  Had another couple of Ugov surveys as well so a 900 points to go there.  Not sure whats happened to my 1poll claim as it should have been paid by now so have chased them up and waiting to hear back.

I've taken some fish out of the freezer so that will do tea but its too hot to eat until quite late in the evening - might make some sort of stew with it that I can have cold, something with onions, herbs, courgette and peppers perhaps?

My back is a bit sore and stiff this morning, maybe from all the bending in the garden so might do some yoga later to try and stretch it out otherwise I think the heat calls for a gentle day.

teapot2

Back to work this week, the weather has been a bit cooler up here this week but still been hot for sleeping so have been quite tired.

I chased up 1poll and apparently my payment didn't go through for some reason so have sorted that out and hopefully it will be paid soon.  I had a good week on Prolific and am up to just under £75 when all surveys are paid, I've been lucky and have had several high paying surveys, a couple that paid a decent bonus and another 2 that are/have been repeated.  I've transferred £500 to PBs today and should be on track to pay £200 off my %0 CC by the end of the month.

After my health MOT I was contacted by the surgery to say something has shown up on one of the tests and it needs to be repeated next week.  Am trying not to worry too much about that as it could either be nothing or bad news with no middle ground.  Really hoping for the former obviously 🤞🏼.

Yoga session completed this morning and some work admin done, I'm going to meet family later for an activity for the tiny humans and I've made a curry for us all and will go back to theirs after to have that for tea.

smetf

Fingers crossed all well with repeated test tests next week, hope it's nothing.

Reading your posts makes me think I need to get back out in the garden - cooler here today so might have a little blast in between watching the Olympics!

greent

Fingers crossed about the tests x

teapot2

smetf said:

Fingers crossed all well with repeated test tests next week, hope it's nothing.

Reading your posts makes me think I need to get back out in the garden - cooler here today so might have a little blast in between watching the Olympics!

greent said:

Fingers crossed about the tests x

Thanks for dropping by @smetf fingers and toes crossed here for the test result, am hoping to get out in the garden today but so far am being lazy and lounging about!

Thanks @greent all will hopefully be ok.

teapot2

Had a good afternoon with family yesterday, the soft play we went to was v spacious with lots of precautions in place.  We went back to theirs after to have tea which I'd cooked.  The plan was to eat outside but the breeze got up so we decamped inside.  Walked home after and caught up with Escape to the Chateau and now have under stair storage envy  😀.

I have been trying to eat differently and more healthily over the last couple of months and have managed to lose 16lbs so far which I'm chuffed with.  Plenty more to go but its a positive start.

Feeling lazy today and done very little so far, need to give myself a shake and have a look at my 'to be done' list and cross off a few things today mixed with a bit of chilling time too

Karmacat

From me too, best of luck for the repetition of the test - it really does turn out to be something very minor.  I "progressed" as far as a cancer clinic one time, where they emphasised to me that, even on irregular scans, only 1 in 25 turned out to be cancerous.  I was one of the 1 in 24, luckily for me, so no further problems.  Hope yours turns out to be something similar too.

ETA - 16 lbs loss in a few months!  Well done!  That's seriously impressive.