The Final Furlong

savingholmes

Congrats on your retirement. I am glad your students and family helped you celebrate. Great news that your IBS symptoms have reduced/gone. Well done on the 10,000 steps too. A great level of fitness. Have a great summer!

Dottles1

Thanks Savingholmes, I'm hoping that August brings some sunny days so I can sit in the garden with my book.  I will have to manage my income carefully but I'm confidant that I can do it.  I have been spending more on groceries since lock down as I was ordering online monthly via click and collect at Asd@ which  is not my usual shop and I would normally not get everything in one place.  Now that I am not marking every hour of the day I have time to cook and meal plan on a more regular basis.  So, as I get my final pay this Friday, I have planned the weeks meals with what I have in and just bought a few fresh bits to add in.  I think it's time to go back to weekly meal planning and shopping to keep a better grip on my budgets.
Last night I made a cottage pie with Quorn and veg and a sweet potato topping, it was delicious with peas and there was enough for this evening too.  I have take a hm veg chilli out of the freezer for tomorrow evening which I'll have with rice and I will make a chickpea and spinach curry which should stretch to a couple of portions for the freezer too.
It was DS's birthday today so I went round for a cuppa and to give him his present this morning.  He and DIL are off work this week to spend some time with GD4 while she's on school holiday.  Hopefully we may all have a trip out somewhere if the weather permits.
It is still quite windy here with showers but I did get out to dead head the border in the back garden and planted some purple sprouting broccoli that was looking a bit sad into larger pots, hopefully they will survive and flourish.  It's forecast more wind tomorrow but no rain so I may get some washing dry with a little luck.
N weight lost this week so I need to get back on it and shift some for next week.  The meal planning should help with that.
Well, enough ramblings for one day, I'm off to make a cuppa.
Have a good evening all
Dottles x

beanielou

Enjoy your fist full week of freedom 

Dottles1

Thanks Beanie I will and I am.
Another good day today.  I have tackled the mountain of stuff that I took out of the office when I cleared it for decorating.  It has been sitting on my bedroom floor for weeks so decided that it had to go.  So 2 bags for the chazza, a couple of books to return to a friend tomorrow, some bits for the bin/recycling and re homing of the rest.  I put the cupboard I've been hanging onto and storing in the garage onto FB and has lots of interest.  Someone is coming round to collect it this evening and I have 8 people waiting just in case she doesn't show.  I have a lawn mower to take to GS's at the weekend and a dining table to put onto FB then the garage should be a bit less cluttered.  I also made a trip to the local food bank as I've been collecting items in the boot of the car until there is  a bagful.
 A colleague from work came for a visit and brought me a ceanothus (?) shrub which I adore, it has little bright blue flowers all over it in the spring and attracts the birds and bees.  I just need to find a place for it now which will prompt me into digging the new bed I've been planning.  We have agreed to keep in touch and meet up at hers in August. 
I'm still picking lettuce regularly and the courgettes are now looking good although one plant has black fly but I may have just caught it in time.  The cucumbers and tomatoes look healthy but no signs of fruit yet but I am already on with planning for next spring so that I can shuffle things around during the autumn/winter period.  
Tomorrow I am meeting friend P for a coffee and visiting friend D in the afternoon if she is up to it.  She suffers from chronic fatigue and often has to cancel at short notice so fingers crossed.  
I've ha a letter to say that the first pension lump sum will be deposited into my account on Monday so I will be paying of the remaining debts asap.  Hear comes debt free me !!
See you tomorrow.
Have a good evening all.
Dottles x

beanielou

Good news on the lump sum   

savingholmes

Glad your veg is healthy - my tomatoes are fine but my cucumber seemed to get eaten / die. I planted radishes and left them in too long but they create beautiful white flowers that are quite tall so very happy with those. I harvested potatoes, broccoli and cualiflower yesterday - I was really pleased. 

Seasidegal58

I'm jealous reading about all these lovely veg gardens!  I just have some herbs on the kitchen windowsill of my flat. 

Good news on the decluttering - it must be nice to have time to do these chores now rather than trying to fit everything around work. 

Dottles1

Thanks beanie, hopefully by the end of August I will have settled into my new financial routine, I have one pension that I have converted to a different account and so will need to manually transfer the lump sum ad set up a monthly payment.  I will look at that next week.
It sounds as though you are doing well with your veg patch Savingholmes, plenty to be getting on with there and doesn't it taste so much better?
Seasidegal, if you are managing to grow herbs on your windowsill you are doing well, saving yourself money as well as the pleasure of growing and eating your own.  I need to revamp my herb patch (an old Belfast sink) but need to read up on which ones will thrive together.  It is definitely better to have the time for decluttering now that I don't have the constant thought of all the marking that still needs to be done at the back of my mind.  I have also fund myself "shopping from home" (Foxglove's term) by reusing items that I have stored rather than getting rid of them straight away.  So far I have 2 white floating shelves taken down from the office which will now become picture shelves in my bedroom, a birthday card with a beautiful William Morris print that I have put in an old frame I found in a box from when I moved house.  I then found a postcard with a rather nice Liberty print which I have done the same with and now both pictures grace the windowsill in the conservatory.  It feels so good to get further use out of items that you thought were redundant and to use them to breathe new life into a room.  I really hate waste.
So it's August!!  How quickly has the new month come round?  I am hoping for some sunny weather so that I can spend some days sitting in the garden reading my book, rather like a holiday at home.  Last night we had some rain and lightening but it didn't really amount to much.  We did however, have some colourful skies. 
After 2 weeks holiday, the private work begins again next week if a little slowly so I will start to work out how my new daily structure will be.  I do need to get into some sort of routine but I think it will evolve as I go along
Jobs or today include:  cut front lawn and tackle the wild patch at the side, plant the Hosta and Jerusalem sage given to me by friend P into the front border, walk Tilly, set the quiz for Sunday evening as it's my turn this week and make the chickpea and spinach curry that I keep putting off.  Oh and I need to go down to DGS's house to spray the gecko and tree frog tanks and talk to the budgies as they are going away for the night with friends (DGS and partner, not the animals)
Other that that my day is my own and the sun is shining so I think I'll start with taking Tilly out.
Enjoy your weekend all, I hope the sun shines on you at least some of the time.
Dottles x

Dottles1

Good morning all.
I awoke yesterday to find the lump sum from my first pension in my bank account spent yesterday morning doing admin tasks including requesting the lump sum from the second one which should hit my bank in about a week.  I intend to pay off all remaining debt this week but am waiting for this month's payments to clear so that I have an accurate figure of what is left owing on each.  It is quite nice to see the balance of the account just for a couple of days then I need to set about deciding where best to put the remainder to accrue some interest.
The afternoon was spent in the garden, watering and cutting both the front lawn and the wild side bit.  I have some late sown calendulas coming through now which should bring a bit of cheery colour to the border by the house and the courgette plants are now flowering profusely so I'm looking forward to a good harvest there soon.  Tilly has taken to snoozing among the cucumber plants which is a bit strange as they are in a pot.  Oddly enough she doesn't seem to damage them, just curl around them.  Not sure what is going on there, perhaps she thinks she is a cat.
In the evening I took DS, DIL & GD4 out to eat under the government scheme.  Most eating places in our village are taking part but in the main are booked up until September.  It is good to be able to help out local businesses but also for it to be affordable and the food was delicious.  It is quite strange getting used to the new rules but establishments have managed to provide the required spacing between tables without it looking too sparse.
After the gardening and walking too and from the restaurant I suffered with pain in my hips (I suffer with arthritis),  mostly I have it under control but this was worse than I've had for a while so will need to make sure that I pace myself today.  I try to adjust my diet to manage it and find that if I restrict carbs it tends to improve somewhat and as I have been less vigilant over the past 2 weeks with birthday and retirement celebrations (read cake and wine for that), I have gone off piste a bit.  On the bright side, after 2 weeks of my weight staying the same I lost another 3 lbs making 15 in total.  Woo Hoo !!  I am aiming for 1 -2 lbs per week and to eat more healthily overall.  That should make a difference by Christmas and should contribute to the reduction in pain if I have less weight to haul around.
I had planned to visit DD 2 at the weekend and help her with some garden work.  She also lives alone and has been keeping to the social distancing rules so we reckon we would both be pretty safe. However, as she lives in Manchester and so I cant go into her house, we are going to meet half way and go for a socially distanced walk and coffee.  I really want to see her as she has been going through a very difficult time lately and I feel very far away even though it is only a couple of hours away.  It will take everything I have to not hug her when I see her.
On the to do list for today I have tax return info to sort, a couple of business phone calls to make, emails to send and a DBS application to complete.  I also need to go to the local retail park to pick up some hand sanitiser so will think of anything else I need as I try to limit my visits to shops and have rejoined the NSD challenge for August as this helps enormously.  
First things first, coffee and Tilly to walk if I can drag her out of bed.
Have a good day and I'll speak soon
Dottles x

Chrystal

All sounding good.  Lovely that you were able to enjoy a family meal. X