NST April 2020: Fools we are not!

Kerry_Woman

Was a spend day.  Donation to a charity.  TV mag for next week.  Ordered a couple of things from 2 separate ethical/eco-friendly websites as I was running low on the items I usually use.  Paid council tax at post office - I do not count this as a general spend as it is a bill.
Grateful for: local post office being open, walk to/from flat/post office, watching free stream of a play this evening, hearing people clapping for NHS nearby when I clapped at 8pm, being able to find websites to be able to order things that I needed.

misstara

NSD 2/20 today . Grateful for managing a run/walk, seeing seals while out, not getting caught out in a hail shower, coffee and surviving a tough going shift at work.

facethemusic

Thursday- NSD 2, I don't think I'm going to pick a target- will just see where I end up this month! I promise I didn't "panic buy" or "hoard" pasta- but we have bucketloads of the stuff- DD won't eat potatoes and has pasta numerous times a week, so we have about 7 or 8 different shapes as open packets and new bags of the most commonly requested shapes, but that's normal pasta levels in this house! 
Gratitudes - PE with the body coach ensuring some high level exercise, phone calls with friends, free events online expanding my cultural activities from my own sofa, feedback from DDs teacher reassuring me I'm on the right track with my attempts at home schooling, daffodils! 

f0xh0les

Apple! Apple! ..... BBK said the 'C' word, BBK said the 'C' word!

greent

Missed posting last night but we had family dinner together, then a long game of cards and then guess the intro played with sp0t1fy - didnt leave the kitchen for around 3.5 hours!! (Dining room currently set up as school room !!!!!! laundry sorting  area!!)

Small spend by DH - but people are still having birthdays - very grateful to online card companies!

Grateful for: birdsong, a dry day for the laundry, social media and what5app to keep in touch with friends and family - such silly conversations! 

mothernerd

Sorry for yesterday's lapse into self-pity, back in full on efficiency mode today (will be needed). Think I haven't been getting enough sleep - I have slept with the curtains and window open and love watching the morning sky as it changes but think I may need an extra hour or two real sleep after I've had pills etc. Need a bit more routine and balance - there's been so much to do (and still is) but I think I need to divide it up, so I'm not spending too much time on one task and getting bogged down. Think I need to make time for that daily walk, do a small amount of cleaning, paperwork and other domestic stuff but add dancing, pampering and uninterrupted reading and gardening time (actually planting and tending things rather than building and moving heavy stuff). Drink more water - filter jug does a litre at a time but as I drink about 6 litres a day I need to get my stock up - kept pouring filtered water into empty 2l bottles refilling the jug but bareley kept up with what I was drinking.

I like the idea that pasta is in short supply. I see it as progress. In the 1970's (people have mentioned strikes but I think the main thing was that the Oil producing nations decided not to let consumer countries set the price of oil, without petrol/diesel the lorries couldn't deliver. Shops and SM held much higher stocks in store then but when they ran out). I remember a huge furore over potatoes and bread and suggesting that people could eat pasta or rice drew looks of wild incomprehension) neither made an appearance in our house until the mid-eighties and I probably introduced my mother to them. The idea of having any meal without an accompanying plate of bread and marg was unthinkable (for many then it was still to compensate for the paucity of the actual meal - we always had food but the only time I can remember there being extra was C*r*s*m*s and Easter (we also got a bottle of Vimto cordial then - only got it to take away the taste of nasty medicine otherwise).

Just remembered the exception - Vesta meals (made by Batchelors but initial market testing found that the name was too strongly associated with tinned peas so the more 'exotic' Vesta was dreamed up). There were only two we used. The rice one (probably called beef chow mein) came in a packet and you put it in a frying pan and added water. It was mainly an oxo cube taste with a bit of something extra (spices - ooh!), rice and strange little cubes of chewy 'beef' and some little coloured specks which might have been peppers. Actual whole peppers didn't appear in our town until much later (probably available in cities and towns with more cosmopolitan tastes) and I remember our French teacher trying to describe an aubergine to a class full of 11 yos - apparently they occasionally had them in Lennons. I didn't see them until I was in my twenties.

Normal levels of pasta vary enormously. I bought 3 x 3kg bags on our last SM order (weeks ago) and then noticed that most of it had gone (they had emptied my separate jar, I even took out the 'easter' pasta - was in the lake district last year and brought them a pack back from the Lakeland store that had bunnies and Easter eggs shapes in) so added a few 500g bags to the Iceland online order (still before there was any scarcity). I used to order 3kg bags in tens because curry with pasta was DS3's meal of choice ( I made the curry, portioned it and froze it - he would be awake during the night, take one out and cook his pasta). Normally buy 500g bags these days but probably 10 or 20 until they start moaning about having none (alternatively 'when are you doing a big order'). When I came to go through the shelves to divide the food (things they won't eat came here, so did my herbs/ spices/ sauces, left the rest) I found a 3kg bag and two 500g packs (penne rather than fusilli) tucked into the cube shelves on the floor (mainly cans of paint but rows of tins tucked into any spaces). Light bulbs all need changing under there so it was quite dark. So they have enough for 2 or 3 weeks and will have to forage for it after that (go and pick the spaghetti trees - it's the right time of year).

Siebrie

Mothernerd, how many hours per day/week are you your mother's carer? Maybe you should discuss your hours with her and tape them to a wall in full sight, so that it's clear when you are working and when you aren't. I have a feeling you are doing too much for too long. Your Mum should put off asking you to write cards, make a shopping list, etc until you are working again; she can make her own lists, organise her own thoughts before making requests.

I'm not meaning to intrude on how you and your Mum live your lives, just worried for you.

apple_muncher

f0xh0les said:

Apple! Apple! ..... BBK said the 'C' word, BBK said the 'C' word!

Nooooooo! The elves ...!!!

Sorry BBK but we have to put you on the naughty chaise longue for a bit, to think about what you said... It's quite comfy there, has a well padded seat and lots of food to eat and books to read. The only problem is that is does tend to get rather crowded, so we'll need to keep our distance and get more chaises longues...

abbi_aurelia

Still on 1 NSD, hoping today will make it 2. Nothing much to report, still working from home. Grateful for nursery, for the large TBR folder on my K!ndle and for work brightening the day with a game of bingo

Siebrie

That chaise longue area sounds very appealing; can I just go there, please? [removed: rant about current homelife, which is actually nothing to complain about. We have 2 fulltime incomes, can wfh, have enough food in the house, are healthy, no-one we know is sick.]

Grateful for: see above