Debt Reset....

CRANKY40

I've meal planned for things that I mostly already have in the fridge or freezer so they can be swapped round if need be. I just need to buy some pizza for the teens and LAP and a few other things like cat fud, biscuits, fresh fruit and veg etc (and tonic for my gin which is non negotiable).  LAP will be lunching here Monday,Tuesday and Saturday but no evening meals. His day centre is closed due to low staffing levels so I have him here two afternoons instead of three evenings. I've also just been downstairs and made spicy butternut squash soup with the butternut squash that has sat in the fridge giving me the evil eye since christmas. That's a double joy of more space in the fridge plus healthy lunches for next week. 

There were four of us for lunch and three for dinner yesterday. Today (as far as I can make out) there are three of us for lunch and two for dinner. 

Blackcats

Laughed at the butternut squash giving you the evil eye.  I always feel very virtuous putting a butternut squash into the shopping basket and then it languishes at home while I work up the energy and the courage to take a knife to it.

WinterWarrior

I need to learn to meal plan. My last butternut squash committed suicide in the veg basket. I have a swede now that’s thinking of going the same way if I don’t get my act together. I need to research the microwave singing swede thingummy. 

CRANKY40

Good evening all, 

I've worked 2 1/2 hours extra today. Every little helps right? I've also spent less that the weekly budget doing the main grocery shop, paid £18.05 extra off my debt and made dinner from the freezer stash. I've filled the car with petrol for the week. If only every week was this good. 

Three of us for lunch and afternoon snacks but only two of us for dinner. Best friend and I started some seed planting ready for spring yesterday. It's a little early but some of them are experiments anyway so if they grow I will be surprised. we also sat and watched the squirrels for a little while which is hilarious free entertainment. 

@Blackcats I tried a different approach this time. I bought a santoku knife a while back as I have arthritis and I thought it may make chopping veg easier. It does. I also cut the b/nut into circles by chopping down it's length instead of slicing it in half and then I scraped the middle from each circle. It was also easier to peel each circle because I could keep hold of it better. 

Take care all of you 😊

Sun_Addict

I cut the top and bottom off butternut squash, then slice it down the middle lengthways, scoop out the seeds then cut the halves into manageable portions. Took me ages to perfect the knack though. 

Good news about the extra hours, it all adds up.

CRANKY40

Good morning all, 

NSD here today. I don't have time to go spending, lol. I'm making blackberry and apple crumbles for the freezer with blackberries that were given to me by a friend who has an allotment. The apples have come via best friend who had them given to him because they were past the date on the packet. Seriously......they're apples..... He's a good lad though and bagged them because he knew I'd be able to make something with them. 

I'm working extra hours with my LAP this afternoon. We had a lovely afternoon yesterday so I'm hoping for the same today. I scrounged some fruit pastilles for him when we collected some plant stuff from best friend and as he's not normally allowed sweets he was delighted. His routine has been massively disrupted due to his day centre closing so I'm making it up to him with pizza for lunch. He's over 6ft tall and has as Max Boyce once said "legs like two sticks of celery sticking out of a carrier bag" so a bigger than usual lunch won't hurt. 

Right, coffee is finished, time to start peeling apples.....

Take care all of you 😊

WinterWarrior

Ooh crumble and pizza 😋
have a lovely day. 

EssexHebridean

Crumble and pizza definitely sounds like a nice food sort of day! I also heartily approve of tonic being a non-negotiable item - quite right too, it's up there with cheese in my world - if there is none in the fridge, there's something wrong with the world! 

I do similar to SA with butternut squashes - I usually cut across the way just at the start of the "bulge" - then scoop out the seeds from the lower section - the top is useable as it is once it's been peeled (although I know you can use them unpeeled if roasting in particular. If I was planning on topping or stuffing though I'd go across - the same as SA says. It's a veg I love - we use it just roasted, sometimes roasted and topped with something like chilli or bolognese sauce, in risottos, curries....you name it really! Delicious! 

CRANKY40

Good evening all, 

Yesterday was a busy day. Dentist first thing to have a filling replaced but as I always make him laugh and as it was a quick job with clean margins and no drilling he only charged me for a check up. After that I came home then took the HT for a hair cut. He paid for that himself. I made lunch for the HT then went to see best friend who made my lunch. 

I took best friend to a nearby shopping centre as he wanted a new coat for gardening. £25 later in Sports D't (a shop that he wouldn't have thought to look in) job was done and we headed back to his for coffee.  I'd just reached home afterwards when the lady from the DwP called about the HT's PIP. I queried some of the assessment regarding his maths ability. Once I explained to the lady that he hadn't actually taken a GCSE maths exam due to covid and that his results were based on teacher assessment and work that he had done with the teacher present the lady said that they would change his assessment from "being able to plan a journey and follow a timetable" to not being able to. He can't even follow his college timetable. I deliver him there in the mornings then he follows his friends from lesson to lesson, exactly the same as he did in school.

As usual the discussion about exactly what the HT can't do upset me but I called to best friend today to talk it out instead of letting it get to me. I also called on best friend's neighbour as she is elderly and he hadn't seen her for a while. Turns out she'd been in hospital with a broken hip. The house was freezing cold and I could smell damp and she kept saying what a thrill it was that she had a visitor. Her son lives abroad...... I've said I'll call in again and take her shopping if she needs me to.

NSD today by the way. 

Take care all of you   

Sun_Addict

The PIP discussions/assessments are always upsetting. For me it was the realisation that Mr SA is never going to improve. 

You are an angel keeping an eye on the elderly neighbour. What a lovely thing to do and thank goodness BF noticed he hadn’t seen her 👏