What small DFW things will you do this week 26/10

DawnW

Afteernoon all

Raining here too, and so dark, had the light on since lunchtime

Managed a few outside bits before the rain came:

Walked dog first thing

Helped OH tidy the wood stores / make space as we have a load of wood being delivered on Saturday morning. Filled up the log basket and kindling bucket at the same time.

Cut some lettuce for lunchtime sandwiches.

Other than that.... not much! Ought to do some housework but struggling to get motivated. It isn't too bad though, and I have done some dusting. Also ought to list some items on ebay. One item sold today.

Made a fruit cake and have a chocolate cake in the oven, as the tin was empty.

Dinner will be pesto pasta, veggie meal tonight as we have had meat 2 days running. Pesto is home made from my summer basil plantation, though frozen now, sadly. Summer seems ages ago!

Haven't spent anything, so that is moneysaving I suppose!

1LuckyLady

Morning all and sorry for my absence recently,  half term and we're in lockdown in Wales (and the weather is awful) so I've been feeling a bit low.  I was still awake at 1.45am but then was woken just after 2am by ds1 who was feeling poorly and since then I've not been able to get back to sleep (oh and I've got heartburn!)
So far this week we've
eaten from stores and postponed mr t click and collect by two days
we've had the kids cooking more,  between them this week they've made a date cake,  a chicken/potato curry, butternut squash, coconut milk and chilli soup, cottage pie, leek and potato soup and lots of porridge
banking all checked and spreadsheet updated
ordered myself some leggings after a recommendation,  went through a cashback site and dh's works perks site for discounted gift card. Really pleased with them and relieved they fit as I've lost 3st since I last bought any clothes (other then new sports bra) so it was a bit of a guessing game over which size to order!
shared bath water
only run the dishwasher or washing machine if a full load 
kept heating off as much as possible and certainly not put on before extra layers of clothing put on!
Take care all.

ditty1234

Hi how is everybody? My journal entry this morning very much reflected a guilty moment of being away, spending money, and now having to rein in all spending to do basics. So put money aside for big bills, put money on cash card, and will stick with only using that for spending this month. I'm a specialist at adding special columns on budget sheets - and it just dosen't work that way!
Today I shall go on a run, change ds phone plan, have some work meetings, cook early dinner and give ds a lift to work. Clean house and have a lovely cup of chai tea.

DawnW

Morning all

Sorry you are feeling low 1LL, this weather is enough to get anyone down, without all the covid stuff

Ditty, don't feel guilty, you have seen your family, and your Mum has been in hospital recently, hasn't she? Some things are important enough to warrant a bit of belt tightening for a few weeks.

Anyway, dog walk done, dishwasher on empty with DW cleaner stuff, and breakfast eaten. I should think so too, given it is a quarter to ten!

Today's plans include housework, which I have been putting off

Sort through fridge and use up stuff - I know that there are leftover veg and chicken stock that could become soup for lunch, and some mushrooms that need dealing with (possibly risotto tomorrow with rest of chicken stock).

I have 2 ebay sales to wrap and post, and really ought to motivate myself to list more things.

I am going to leave it there - if I manage to get motivated to do more, I will be back later to update!

ditty1234

Hi Dawn, yes exactly and as my friend say - if you can go, go, her slightly estranged brother died the day before! It was great to see my mom, and she is def doing better :-).
So have spent most of the day on a lovely run - and money. I have even set up my first payment plan in my self managed DMP, am quite proud of that. 
I also managed to get ds a £10 15G phone plan from the seventh! I think he likes me better now!Time for a quick tidy and some to get some work work done!

carrielovesfanta

Morning folks

@1LuckyLady - big hugs. I hope you feel a bit brighter
@DawnW - this weather is pretty miserable isn't it? I got your letter thank you
@ditty1234 - I'm glad your mum is on the up

It's pretty windy here - the leaves are coming off the trees at a pace! Although it's not as rainy as they forecast (but still pretty wet). It's a celebratory weekend this weekend as it's OH's birthday and the anniversary of our meeting (14 years!). As we're not going out, I have bought the bits to make a big bbq feast, although OH has not been let in on the details. I have also bought the stuff to make espresso martinis (his fave cocktail) which will def be a suprise for him. 
We couldn't go pumpkin picking this year unfortunately due to high demand - all the pumpkins were sold! Luckily my m-i-l's neighbour gifted us some larger ones from his allotment. We carved them yesterday. I did a Hocus Pocus one and OH did Mars Attacks.

Today will be a bit of cooking and I'm not sure what else! Will try to get ahead on the cooking so I'm not in the kitchen for hours. I might do some knitting but my elbow has been a bit sore (it happens when I knit and crochet a lot). Think I will pootle up to the allotment, just to check on things too.  

Water bill is just in - staying the same which is good and apparently we use about 60litres a day less than comparable households. We'd use a lot less if OH didn't take recreational baths most days but he doesn't ask for much bless him. Can't really deny him a bath. He's normally in there for 2 hours so he gets his money's worth. 

Right, I need to get dressed and do a bit more cooking.

Have a good one all

clf x

DawnW

Afternoon all

Looks like we are all going to be locked down again soon   Makes sense, we are a small country (or collection of countries) and it is such an arbitrary distinction made atm between places that might be only a few minutes drive apart. Feel sorry for businesses, including mine. What strange times we are living in.

Managed a dog walk before it started raining this morning

Made cream of mushroom soup to use up some almost past it mushrooms

Also made an apple, quince and raspberry crumble

Icyland delivery arrived at lunch time, annoyingly with some items missing / not available

Had some logs delivered, now moved to log store and stacked. Will need another load though, as these are nowhere near dry enough for the wood stove. OH got these from one of his ex students rather than our usual supplier (also an ex student incidentally). They will be ok next year, but it is a bit of a pain having to store them for a year after paying full price for them, as we don't have a vast amount of storage space. Anyway, trotting up and down the garden path with armfuls of logs on top of earlier dog walk added up to a decent amount of exercise for an old 'un.

Pegged a load of washing on the line briefly, then had to get it in when it started raining again   Never mind, it will dry on the airer overnight.

Daughter of an old friend who now lives abroad rang to ask if we wanted to buy some of the organic grass reared beef that she and her husband raise on their farm. Agreed, as it is lovely, we had some last year and the year before, and it is nice to be able to help out a local small business belonging to someone I have known since she was 3    This will require serious tetris skills though, to get it in to my already bulging freezers (mostly contain home grown fruit and veg)    Not sure yet when it will arrive.

Dinner will be a chicken thing that my brother brought round with his washing the other day. A posh brand pre-cooked thing in a box, which I would never buy, but as it was free, (bro bought it for pennies from the staff shop at his work)  we will eat it!

DayDreamerandGeneralWaster

Hi all
How annoying about the logs @DawnW
@carrielovesfanta we couldn't get a pumpkin either but this year none of are are too fussed. It feels quite hard to balance trying to do normal stuff and keeping the little things going when everything in the world seems to be going so wrong, with no end in sight 🙄 but l think l will buck out of it!

We went out to do a Halloween trail that is free but we didn't complete it because of the weather. We were soaked despite wearing appropriate clothing.
DH found some saucepans in the garage. As we could use some new ones l managed to clean them sufficiently with baking soda and vinegar boiled. Feeling pleased to put that off.

Having a lazy afternoon. Bliss! 

DawnW

DayDreamerandGeneralWaster said:

 It feels quite hard to balance trying to do normal stuff and keeping the little things going when everything in the world seems to be going so wrong, with no end in sight 🙄

Absolutely agree, it is very hard, but I find it helps my MH to control the things that I can have influence over. It is all we can do.

1LuckyLady

Thanks all,  feeling a bit brighter today after a much better nights sleep.  
@carrielovesfanta I hope you have a lovely anniversary! 
@DawnW Are you still selling your stock online?  Very strange times indeed. 
@DayDreamerandGeneralWaster Great going with the "new" pans! 
@ditty1234 Glad to hear that your mum is on the mend. 

In the way of small things...
Made a chicken and chickpea curry with ds2 this morning (it was quite firey! but he wouldn't have any yogurt added in, bless him - what they say about getting kids involved in cooking really is true - if I'd made it that firey on my own he'd not have managed it I'm sure!)
Out for a walk in between showers with dh. 
Facetime chat for more then an hour with my dh & my folks,  it was lovely to set the world to rights for a bit. 
Lunch was easy peasy pizza (aka crusts of bread out of the freezer,  topped with tomato puree and grated cheese. 
Shared bath water
Stewed some apples that kept getting left with some berries we picked a back in September,  topped with creme fraiche and the last of my homemade lemon curd. 

Take care all.