Crazy Cat Lady Chapter 5 - Trying to recover from the pandemic

Drawingaline

Hi CCL

Just read this diary through and really enjoyed it (ok, not the health/weight/financial issues, but the way you write!)

I totally get your hatred for cooking. I love baking and would make cakes all the time if I could get away with eating them all and not expanding, but cooking, I loath cooking. So many people just don't get it. Many people dislike cooking, but I hate it. I do it because I absolutely have to, but I cut as many corners as we can afford to, and our food bill is way more than it needs to be if I could cook like some people on here. (Honeysucklelou is amazing!) I also dislike gardening, I feel I already know you 😂

Anyway will be following your journey and cheering you on.

sudonum-mum

Please never apologise for posting how you are feeling, some of your posts were negative but a lot were also positive so try not to beat yourself up about them.

Glad you managed to get a lot done yesterday, got to love a day of motivation.

If your B12 is low did your doctor mention B12 injections?
Multivitamins are good but injections work quicker - my next door neighbour has injections every 3 months.

dawnybabes

When you get to the clinic ask about saxenda - (aka skinny jab) in some places you can get it on the NHS, it suppresses your appetite so you eat much much less.  I know some people on it and they’ve had amazing results.  They buy it from Boots (or other pharmacies) but it’s expensive but apparently been approved for NhS use but still not widely used out there. 

Happy new year !

and ditto to ask about the B jabs ……

Porridgecat

hi there, I've lurked on the last few of your diaries as well as several others and am now trying to post more and lurk less. I'm also a crazy cat lady although luckily Mr Porridge is a crazy cat engineer. We're down to three at the moment but have had seven before, Ali moggies and all ex strays. When we bought our house the previous owners had cat pens in the back garden for the cats protection and we're sure that there's still a sign out there somewhere in cat language telling strays and abandoned cats where we are. 

LittleMissDetermined

In terms of cooking, have you tried ‘The batch lady’? A few hours cooking on a weekend can see you through the entire week… I love my slow cooker and I quite often fill the freezer with batch cooking. Maybe getting DD involved in prep will encourage enjoyment of the eating of it. 

I hope you’ve managed to have a good rest over the Christmas break. It sounds like you needed it xx 

Take care, and remember to be kind to yourself 
LMD x

crazy_cat_lady

Afternoon all
Didn't get on yesterday because I got started on a project and then got so focussed that it was almost midnight before I even realised I was still working. It's a blanket made of squares - about 200 of them. I started it in 2017 and then bunged it in the loft because I got sick of it. Anyway, I dug it out when I put the Christmas stuff away and am now determined that I'm going to get it finished. I only have about 30 squares left, and the border and its sort of 3/4 sewn together as well. So I thought that would be a quick-ish job but it really isn't. I did 14 squares last night and then this morning sewed all the ends in and put them into the blanket but it feels like a lot of work for very little reward. But I'm nothing if not determined, and then I get a bit too focussed on stuff and forget everything else, which is what happened last night.
I wasn't feeling so good yesterday, or today as I did on Sunday - but the hormone fairy seems to be approaching. And I made myself get up at half six this morning even though I'd only been in bed for 6 hours - otherwise I'll never drag my butt out of bed in the morning for work. Plus I had to get ds up and off to school this morning. I assume his LFT was all ok because they haven't sent him home - so he's one day down already.
No spends yesterday, and none planned for today. I pottered around and made a curry with the last of the leftover beef, and stuck the rest of the turkey in the freezer until I can think of something to do with it. There are a good few meals in the freezer now - which is good as the fridge is looking a little bare and we're 3 days from shopping day. I have some leftover gammon that I need to sort and use so will do something with that when I'm finished on here. Was thinking I might make ham and pease pudding soup but I have no yellow split peas - maybe lentils would do a similar thing. 
I have done a load of washing and the usual tidying up, and today I have to empty the cupboard with the boiler in it because it's being serviced tomorrow (money already put to one side, and what I consider to be an essential spend). Other than that it's a case of just relaxing and trying not to fret too much about work tomorrow.
Thanks for mentioning saxenda dawnybabes - I've never heard of it but will research and see what it's all about. Doctor never mentioned B12 injections - just a repeat blood test in a few weeks.
And hello to drawingaline and porridgecat - welcome to my ramblings. Always nice to see more people here - I need all of the support I can get.
LMD - I will check out the batch lady - thank you.
Oh, and sudonum-mum - thanks for the tip on the Fakeb00k page. I am already inspired by it.

DawnW

@crazy_cat_lady you can make ham soup with lentils, though it won't be the same as pease pudding soup (not come across that tbh). But you can round up / chop up any bendy veg / odd veg bits from the freezer / tinned veg (any will do, but must include an onion, and a  potato is good as it tends to thicken the soup a bit), soften in a little oil, add lentils, you can add a little pearl barley too, if you have it, but no worries if not, and a tin of tomatoes, some herbs if you have them, any kind, dried are fine, enough water or stock to cover generously (a stock cube is fine if you have one, but no worries if not), cook till  veg are tender, you can add some pasta too, if you have any - the broken bits at the bottom of the packet are fine. Add more water if needed. Add chopped or shredded cooked ham at the end, and just heat through, as it is already cooked. If you are feeling posh you can call it minestrone, or do what I do and refer to it as fridge bottom soup. If you serve it with cheese on toast it makes a main meal

Jellytotts

I love the idea of granny square blankets until it comes to the ends and sewing the blasted things together.   Shame, because the squares crochet up so quickly!

I did follow a few American crockpot/slowcooker accounts on Instagram for a while, they just used to spend the day portioning out and prepping/chopping all the ingredients and bunging in a bag for the freezer....then one bag full went in to the pot frozen and 8 hours later you'd have a lovely meal.   As I'm home most days I didn't need that sort of organisation but it really does work todo one complete prep day to produce a weeks worth of meals and I use parts of it now.  If I'm chopping up a cauli or broccoli then I'll do the entire thing and portion up and store in water in pots in the fridge, easy to drain and Chuck in the steamer.  Same with spuds, if I'm going to make mash, I'll make an entire bag of potatoes into mash (I don't peel them, we like it rustic), then they get portioned into Pyrex dishes, covered and bunged in the fridge...any not eaten by the end of the week go in the freezer.  They take 20 mins in the oven to heat through from chilled, 30 mins from frozen (stir half way through).   These building blocks of meals help a lot on the can't be arsed days, the in late days and the not feeling great days.   

badmemory

I'm a lot lazier.  Buy cauli & break into large florets.  Put in sealable bags, suck the air out & fridge until needed.  Stick in microwave for 3-4 mins & perfectly steamed cauli.  The cauli lasts so much longer than waiting until you are using it for a meal.  I wouldn't dare store mine in the fridge in water because I would be sure to land up spilling it all over either on the way in or the way out.  Arthritic fingers have a lot to answer for!

I want / need a bigger fridge & a bigger freezer!  Well I want a new kitchen but can't face having people in.

crazy_cat_lady

You have some amazing ideas for food here people - and you make it sound all so quick and easy as well. I am aiming for Sunday to be prep day but think I feel brave enough to set some soup away tomorrow. I love fridge bottom soup - especially as I have a really sorry looking leek that I've been wondering what to do with. It's not going to happen tonight because I'm just so tired after first day back. 
Thank you so much for the ideas
So today was the first day back for me - all remote learning due to lateral flow testing. I much prefer the face to face teaching though - it's nice to have the interaction with the kids in front of you - even if it is through a mask. And I'm still much better around other people than I am on my own, at least for a few hours a day. I do appreciate my time on my own - not all day every day though. Hard work getting up and going out at 7am though when you've gotten used to sitting in front of the telly with a cuppa for a few hours before you do anything. Unfortunately the battery on dd's car is as dead as a dead thing. I have asked my dad if he will come over at the weekend with battery charger and jump leads to see if we can get it going. And then I MUST take it out more often than I do. I'm going to confess to preferring the comfort of my own car which is 15 years younger than hers - especially when the weather is as cold as it is today and I do a 30 mile round trip to work and back. Just crossing everything that it's not going to need a new battery when my budget is as tight as it currently is. It needs its MOT and service next month as well so I'm madly trying to get the money together for that. Yes it's dd's car but she earns £25 a week in her part time job and uses it for her driving lesson - when she has passed her test then that's where her money will go. I'm lucky she's not wanting to be out drinking and partying with her friends at her age. I think learning to drive is a really sensible thing to do.
Was lovely to see everyone at work again but to be really honest - most of us are already looking really run down and stressed and it's only day 1. Suppose it's a symptom of how it is to be a teacher at the moment, and our poor Head looks like he hasn't slept in weeks. The DFE are as useless as the rest of the government and there are more mumblings about cancelling exams (which will actually finish me off financially if it happens) which is awful.
Anyway - was lucky enough to get out pretty much on time today so I came almost straight home, via the petrol station and Arseda for drinks for school, which I'd completely forgotten about buying. Boiler has been serviced and all looking good which is a relief. 
And even better than that it's Wednesday already, which means I only have two more days until the weekend. I had leftover ham and coleslaw for dinner, quick shower, catch up on here and some more granny crochet sewing (won't make this mistake again). Filled in my spend diary and all looking tight but ok.