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

Karmacat

Hello teapot!  Glad to hear that you're getting by okay - sorry the weather wasn't so great for your holiday days - I've been having the opposite problem here with the blistering sun, I hide in my living room with the blinds half shut for nearly the whole afternoon, it's been horrendous.  It changed over the weekend though, so its much nicer, much easier to sleep.

Your gardening sounds great - I have lots of kale and chard seedlings, but I planted them too late and they're terribly leggy.  I'm going to keep them going as much as I can, and we'll see.

I'm so glad you've seen the tiny humans!  They're a joy, whatever else is going on.

teapot2

Karmacat said:

Hello teapot!  Glad to hear that you're getting by okay - sorry the weather wasn't so great for your holiday days - I've been having the opposite problem here with the blistering sun, I hide in my living room with the blinds half shut for nearly the whole afternoon, it's been horrendous.  It changed over the weekend though, so its much nicer, much easier to sleep.

Your gardening sounds great - I have lots of kale and chard seedlings, but I planted them too late and they're terribly leggy.  I'm going to keep them going as much as I can, and we'll see.

I'm so glad you've seen the tiny humans!  They're a joy, whatever else is going on.

KARMA, you're back  sorry not been on the forum for a week or so, so missed this - welcome back xx

teapot2

A birthday has occurred since my last post, wasn't looking forward to a lockdown birthday and also was working all day.  Saw sister for a few minutes when she popped by with a pressie of some v nice earrings otherwise on my own.  I finished work around 6.30pm then had online chats with 3 friends, by the time that was done I was too tired and hungry to cook so opened a tin of beans lol.
Tiny humans plus their mum came round the following day as I wasn't working from 2pm.  As we are in a bubble they were able to come in the house.  Adults sat indoors with the patio doors open while the THs played in the garden and trailed mud in and out.  Just as well I'm not house proud, have got laminate floors and had largely tiny human proofed the furniture    That said it was lovely to be able to hug them again and also get a big hug with their mum - confirmed for me how much I value tactile contact after 3.5 months without!  
Not much news on the money front - all invoices for June paid already so should be able to put a bit more towards my EF.  I'll have a look at when my CCs are due over the weekend and make a list of payment dates.  I have my eye on clearing another  % card over the next couple of months.  That would leave me with two % cards still to clear, albeit they are the ones with the most spending on them I'll be pleased to have cleared 2 cards and paid off what had built up on my 'pay it off in full card' [embarrassed emoji for not doing that].
Went up the street this morning and tried out wearing a mask in the shops as we'll need face coverings from next week.  I found it tricky as my glasses steamed up all the time so couldn't see what I was trying to buy or where I was going.  I know we will have to get used to them but not sure how I'd cope with wearing one for up to 3 hours a day when commuting in the future if I ever go back to f2f work.  I bought 3 inexpensive material masks when I was out, will try them as the one I had was disposable and I hope the non plastic ones might be less 'steamy' and also they are reusable after washing.  Also got some bakery sourdough bread which is yummy and one loaf has gone in the freezer.  
The weather is quite grey and chilly today with intermittent showers.  I've had a fairly lazy day so far but want to pop out and pick rhubarb to make jam over the weekend, I bought some sugar for that when I was out as forgot to add it to my online shop earlier in the week.

beanielou

Belated happy lockdown birthday 

Karmacat

Happy belated lockdown birthday, from me too!  So glad you got to hug the THs pretty soon afterwards.  Good luck with the rhubarb jam - my rhubarb has started growing again, so I have another crop too.  Hmmm.

Fortune_Smiles

Happy belated birthday Teapot.  I've had a birthday in lockdown too and it's a strange affair.  Unique and unlikely to ever occur again though so special in its own way.

Fortune x

longhill

I haven't tried it yet but at the hosptial
the other day a nurse told me if you rub a tiny amount of washing up liquid on your glasses let it dry them polish them it stops them fogging up 

teapot2

longhill said:

I haven't tried it yet but at the hosptial
the other day a nurse told me if you rub a tiny amount of washing up liquid on your glasses let it dry them polish them it stops them fogging up 

Oh thank you not heard of that longhill but will have to try otherwise who knows what I might end up buying by mistake! 

beanielou

Another tip I have seen shared is to rub hard soap on to your glasses & then clean it off.
Not tried it yet!

teapot2

Had a lazy morning but then got myself motivated and made the rhubarb and strawberry jam.  The recipe which I made last year as well involves cutting up the fruit and steeping it overnight with the sugar and lemon juice so just needed boiling up today and it made 9 jars.  Theres a lot of sugar in it but I don't eat loads of jam, in fact I'm on the last jar of last year's stash and thats with giving a few jars away.  Fingers crossed it will set in the jars, kept a wee bit back on a saucer to try on a rice cake and that had set nicely.
My rhubarb patch is looking very sparse at the moment having been raided so when it flourishes again I've got plans to make rhubarb and onion relish and to try a rhubarb and polenta cake   Mind you its no bad thing its a bit sparser as I discovered the cat from 2 doors down was hiding under a large leaf and attempting to ambush birds on next door's feeders over the wall.  I was admiring the diligence of a female blackbird gathering worms and slugs on the grass the other day when the cat suddenly launched herself from amongst the rhubarb and gave me and the bird a fright - luckily the cat wasn't fast enough  
Forgot to say yesterday that I got £40 in JL vouchers which will come in handy, thats for taking out a CC and buying my new laptop on it.  Mind you I guess its not a good idea to hold on to vouchers at the moment the way retailing is going so better have a think.
Last night as I mentioned on KC's diary, I looked on the GovUk website to double check I'm due to get my state pension next year, it feels a bit more within reach now that I've had another birthday though I'm by no means wishing my life away but it might mean I don't have to work quite as much.  I used my log-in details and was able to get all the info about amount and number of years of NI contributions.  I'll be entitled to the full 'new' state pension and have 44 years of full NI contributions.  There are 4 years I didn't pay the full amount in the 90s but that was when I was at Uni [I was a VERY mature student]. 
No work tomorrow though will have a bit of work admin to do.  Hopefully it won't be so wet and windy - it really doesn't feel like summer at the moment and its quite chilly tonight.  I'd like to do a bit in the garden weather permitting and also venture to the bank to pay in a cheque, think theres a box I can drop that in rather than seeing a cashier.  I put rather a lot of garlic in the butter bean dip I made tonight so probably just as well I'll be wearing a mask