Crazy Cat Lady Chapter 4 - The Aftermath

janb5

I like filtered milk and find it lasts longer too.  Also freezes well.

dawnybabes

One of my friends freezes it in ice cube trays then just lobs one in a cup of tea / coffee 

crazy_cat_lady

Why have I never thought of freezing milk in ice cube trays for my tea? What an amazing idea - thank you.
Yesterday was a lost cause as far as productivity was concerned. I woke up with a migraine and spent much of the day lying about dozing over, and waiting for my tablets to work. Never mind - it was a beautiful day outside and I enjoyed a couple of hours in the garden (sunbathing not gardening). It means I have more work to do this morning but that's fine - I feel reasonably motivated although I am about to go out and tackle Mr S in a few minutes so I'll see how I feel once I recover from that.
I had ordered a click and collect slot which I was chuffed with, to pick up tonight, but as ever they are on with completely ridiculous subs again. You all know by now that my kids are awkward beyond belief with food and they have a core stock of convenience food to fall back on when they refuse to eat my offerings (more often than not). Anyway, today's chicken goujons have been replaced by sticky BBQ chicken steaks (ha! I would pay Mr S to get ds to eat those), none of dd's disgusting tinned leek and potato soup, which they have replaced with tomato (?!?) and the best one yet - hot dogs replaced with chopped pork. I don't know who comes up with these ideas - trouble is that they only want 1 person per household shopping at the minute and my kids are big enough to leave at home. But then when they don't have what my kids want I don't know what to sub it with myself - I've worked with teenagers for many years and there's no point trying to make a decision on their behalf. Anyway, before either of them wake up and notice, I'm going to try and get to a different Mr S and see if I can get some of the missing stuff. Otherwise I'm just going to ring and cancel the whole order. I didn't get the option to reject my subs last time because of social distancing and I definitely don't want to be stuck with 2 tins of chopped pork. They make me think of 1988.
Actually. I'm going to go and do that now - and I'll check in here when I get back. If I have the laptop out I'll continue working afterwards. It's a win on all sides unless I can't get any of the horrible food my kids want.

PurpleFairy26

Cat you should be able to select which items you don’t want subbed. Therefore if they are out of stock, ok you don’t get them, but you do get everything else and you don’t have to pay for substitutions that you don’t want or won’t get eaten. I do this for a few things on our order and other things I allow to be substituted where I know it won’t be too much of an issue like bananas ultimately if they don’t have another pack size they will just show as OOS. But it stops bizarre ones. HTH. 

crazy_cat_lady

I had taken out a few subs that were just no go - but I genuinely thought that they would replace one brand of hot dogs with another, and realise that golden chicken needs to be golden chicken. Never mind... I've been out for a bit this morning at least. I should have taken it as a sign though that today is not going to go as planned... I am not very sure whether to laugh or cry at the moment.
I got to the alternative Mr S and didn't have to queue which was brilliant, and I managed to get the chicken and hot dogs as needed - however the disgusting leek and potato soup must only be disgusting to me because that was the only soup they were sold out of. I know in the real world that I could just make leek and potato soup as I have both leeks and potatoes but why would my kids eat my cooking when they can eat processed cack? So I have left the rest of the order to collect later and will just flat out refuse all subs. Sometimes they get it right but this time it's very, very wrong.
Decided on the way home to pop to the butchers for sausages and stir fry chicken - was nice to see bestie's hubby - I haven't seen her in 10 weeks now mind you. Got home and saw that the recycling bin had been emptied but the extra box of recycling I'd left out was still there. Took it back in and rang the council to find out what's what. Apparently they don't take extra recycling. That's news to me for the first time in 16 years. I always have an extra box of recycling and it always gets taken away. So I asked what my options are. Could I have a second or bigger bin? No - not in a household of 3. Could I get a bulk collection? Earliest date 24 June. Her suggestion - put it in the non recycle bin. My response - that is also always full of cat litter. So my options are suck it up, pay someone non council to come and take it myself, or clear my own rubbish. I've managed to get a tip permit for Saturday evening so I am going to have my first ever experience of going to a sodding rubbish dump to clear my own recycling. DD doesn't know yet but I'm going to make her come with me, which she will be disgusted with, but I have something I hope to fit in the car that I was going to book a bulk collection for - might as well take it if I can.
Got home to an email from the Head saying that the very, very earliest he will be able to open the school is going to be 15 June (thank God for common sense). He's also decided to close fully for half term next week so the place can be deep cleaned and some preparation work done. So I'm knocked back to the week after next before I'm in work again. Not that I'm complaining. Still no word from dd's school, but I got a letter from ds school yesterday. We had a good discussion and have decided that he's not going to go back. We're lucky in the position that we are that he doesn't have to go, and we're not in an unbearable, unmanageable home situation. DD doesn't want to go unless she can be in a bubble with her bestie - fair enough.
So a very up and down kind of morning so far - best get on and do some work. I have a mental health training course this afternoon, which is quite apt at the moment and particularly today. Hope I get some new strategies...

PurpleFairy26

You’ve been very busy. I would suggest MR S won’t let you refuse the substitutions you will have to take them but can then go on to your account and get a refund/ voucher 

DawnW

Just a thought CCL, but wrt your extra recycling, do your local supermarkets not have recycling skips for paper, cardboard, plastic, glass, textiles, cans etc? Both the local Mr S and W*itrose here do, and it would seem a lot less hassle just to take it there and recycle it, than it would trying to negotiate the tip at the moment?

foxgloves

Hi CCL,
I think re supermarket substitutes......I think it probably depends very much on who is picking your shopping order off the shelves. I think the substitutions could be very different if made by somebody who cooks everything from scratch compared say, with a young person still living at home who doesn't run a household or cook. I would be good at substituting a whole range of things, because I'm a keen cook & love baking, but I would be less intuitive about what to sub for children's food items, as I have never bought them.....for instance, I wouldn't know what 'golden chicken' even was if you hadn't told me a couple of months ago when I asked! 
Re leek & potato soup. I don't buy tinned soup, so I can't comment on whether that variety is a good one or not. I used to eat it now & again, but then I started making my own & when I next bought a tinned one for my lunch, I found I couldn't get it down! The texture was so slimy compared to home made that (& you know my views on food waste!) I actually scraped it down the sink! Leek & potato soup is so very easy to make. If your daughter tried making her own, you could just freeze it in portions & she'd have 'instant soup' ready for when she fancied it. It's one of my favourite soups. It is really easy plus cheap, filling & freezes well. I was just thinking that this would get rid of the issue of being sent the 'wrong brand' or bizarrely in your case, an entirely different soup!
Re recycling......all local authorities are a bit different in their rules, but our council definitely doesn't take any recycling which is put out at the side of the bin, only what will fit in it. The only exception to this is large cardboard boxes, which they will take as long as we have folded them down flat & stacked them at the side of the bin. Our county tips have just re-opened this week & the queues have apparently been huge.......one tip in the city centre had a 4-hour queue & unfortunately many of the people in it didn't realise that because of the anticipated level of business post-lockdown, they were supposed to have registered to book a visit, so those who had just turned up with their rubbish queued, then were turned away. Our local tip is only allowing one person per car because of their Covid measures. A second person can accompany somebody who is disabled, but that's all. We have quite a bit of stuff to get rid of but have decided to leave it for a few more weeks to avoid ridiculous queues.
I hate queues at the best of times!
F x

Baileys_Babe

Our local authority will only take recycling if it in the correct coloured bin with the lid fully closed, but each household can have as many recycling bins as they require.

We make an effort to compact our recycling, flatten boxes, crushing tins, cans and bottles. Would this help at all?

trix-a-belle

could you ask a neighbour if you could put your overflow recycling in theirs if they have some spare space