Dusty's Frugal Fortnights Return!

bertiebalooga

Re the Sage Multioven. You're right in that it only has one shelf and this took some getting used to for me. I can fit meat and roasties in, I just use smaller dishes and plan more carefully what's going to go in. Whilst the meat is resting, I cook veg or pudding. 

I also make casseroles. It has two slow cooker settings. The high setting gets to about 150 degrees as far as I can work out. I use that for lean cuts of meat, cook for about 3 hours. For tougher stuff I use the lower setting and cook for longer. 

It's actually a Breville oven and if you search you can find a video review from an American couple who use it in their camper van whilst they're touring the States. It's a fun watch regardless of whether you get one

dustydigger

@bertiebalooga thanks for the info sounds interesting.

dustydigger

Hello people,just a quick visit because I am in too much pain to sit at the computer for long.got a letter from that nice consultant explaining more about the CAT scan finding. There is serious deterioration in the facet joints of T10 and T11 vertebrae due to my  serious arthritis expanding bone so pushing into the spinal chord space.These bones are around the middle of the back,but the excruciating pain is down in the lower back. Go figure

Today I woke up feeling not too bad,and came backwards down the stairs OK,but then moved the wrong way and have suffered badly the whole morning.Making dinner was no joke. Dont care what the surgery thinks,I am going on the ibuprofen to mitigate things,at least a little.Oddly enough apart from the back,only my eye is a bit dodgy. Yesterday it was swollen and partly closed,and weeping all the time. Reading was impossible, as though that eye has very blurred vision,it still works with the other eye for focus.When it cant work well,good luck with the reading,even when increasing the font size..Much less swelling today,not leaking anymore,but I am having a lot of visual op art,as I call it.,zig zags, circles of light flashing in my eyes.Some call it migraine aura,I think,though I dont have migraine. They always frighten me,I think I am on the verge of another stroke,so I am sticking to watching TV,seeing mobile light patterns on the book page is so not nice! Apart from back and eye,the rest of me is pleasantly ticking along without much trouble,so thats great.I have a blood test on Monday,here's hoping the spike of 103 had gone down a bit,but I have been stressed from the back pain,and have eaten whatever came to hand,mainly bread! EEK. Good luck on the blood test - that is if I can even get to the surgery. At the moment I am yelping with pain every 10 seconds,so a bus trip and 10 min walk dont look too promising. We'll see.

Expecting family later today. DS2 is 46 today.Impossible,where have the years gone?

OK,end of typing. Hope I can come back later.

dreaming

Sorry you're not feeling so good Dusty. - hope the ibuprofen works. Normally I would be loving the heatwave but since my MG diagnosis I have learned that it can exacerbate a lot of the symptoms and I have definitely noticed that in the last few days. I sent a pretty nonsensical email to a friend earlier in the week due to my vision getting worse in the heat but luckily she knows about my condition and got the gist of it. I did manage to hobble round to the local Tesco Express for some salad stuff as my DD and DGS (from my late DS) are visiting tomorrow. DGS is a twin but the other one has found a holiday job and can't make it. They are going to be 16 at the end of the month and are both such lovely and loving boys. When they were born their mother was very ill and had to be moved to a hospital some distance away, so I had the privilege of helping DS care for them until their Mum came home but they are now strapping young men who moved a heavy sofa for me last year as if it were cardboard. As you say, where do the years go?

beanielou

So sorry that you are in so much pain dusty & boo to the letter.

dustydigger

Morning all! Marginal improvement after a poor night,only one hourly snatches of sleep.Definitely lower on the pain scale today,severe but bearable,but yesterday was horrific,certainly an 8 on the pain scale,in my misery would have liked to term it a 9,but thats just the mental misery wanting to whinge! Yesterday couldnt walk or stand,was yelling involuntarily,today its bad,but more in the normal ranges I am used to. But am definitely having inflammation,swollen and full of fluid. My normal way of measuring that  is how tight my wedding ring is. On a good day I can managed to wriggle it over my arthritic joint,but its at a bad level today,digging in to the flesh,no way could I remove it.

Just done my Asd@ shopping list. First list came to over £74,so ruthlessly cut it down,(cut out all crisps,icecream and biscuits for the littl'uns,which made me feel guilty) .Mand still couldnt reduce it below £61.99. Mind you several items had gone up.Magarine has gone up from £1.35 to £1.90 latelybut ,today it is £2.35. I got a larger size of asd@ own brand version of weetabix,48 biscuits which was a lot cheaper than the major brand but did bring the bill up over the £60 mark. And I didnt even buy any sort of meat!Must confess I was looking longingly at the Famous Grouse,reduced from £20 to £18 for a litre,and only the fact that my bill was over £61,and I know that with the state of my health alcohol is not good prevented me from buying it!

Ouch back is really hurting after sitting still so long doing the shopping list and this post,so must end. Off to the kitchen to do the potatoes,already have some fish stew ready,so easy meal. Mr D was a bit unhappy when I warned him well in advance that he is having soup and sandwiches for supper. If I just give him it without warning if I am not well enough to cook he really gets aggrieved,so I tell him in advance so he can get used to it. 

beanielou

Hope things improve soon.

MrsCD

Dusty, would Mr d help in the kitchen at all? Do you have a little step stool to put one foot on when you're prepping meals? It helps my back when it's hurting, to put one foot higher for a while then the other.

dustydigger

@MrsCD. Hmm,sounds interesting!

Actually today I am much better,pain down to probably a 6,back got a little tense when cooking,but it what I class as normal range. Got a couple of decent chunks of sleep last night,4 hours and 1 hour,much better than the night before.

Am off now to lie down. have been enjoying world athletics,but now its the marathon,which is about as exciting as watching paint dry. And soon there will be yet another football match. Its been on every single day all week,I had hoped they would take a day off on Sunday,but nope! Yapping before,the game,and yapping afterwards takes up well over 2 hours of my life

dustydigger

Hi people,a new week,hopefully better than last week. Much less pain now,good old ibuprofen and exercises

I have been on the phone 20 mins just to tell the surgery I will not be going for my blood test today,rebooked for 29th. No way was I going to go by bus,and then walking to surgery,especially in this heat.And getting into a taxi or car is problematic even when no back pain,because of knee issues.Bending and twisting to get in is always a bit of a problem but with back pain?

 It was 23 C at 8 am here in one of the cooler regions,and by the sea,hate to think what it will be like at 2 pm. EEK.We had lovely rain at various times which lowered the temp a little,but still nearly burned my head off just going to the bin!

I have never been one for sunbathing anyway. When I went to USA in 2019 it was 38C/99F and I hid indoors all week,never even got a suntan!

So what have I been doing the last week,apart from screeching with pain? Not a lot.Some reading,some on my phone because couldnt sit at the computer. I do use a laptop,but it is blurred if it is actually on my knee,and it is uncomfortable bending over it there,so I use a trolley,laptop on upper shelf,paper,books and miscellanea on the lower shelf.Laptop is at chest height,at the best angle for the arthritic hands to type,resting hands on the computer.But this week I couldnt do much sitting.

Anyhoo,managed to do some reading in short segments,and completed some books I had in progress for ages. Some fluffy urban fantasy about vampires and demons and the like,no literary merit but light mindless fun. Also completed a Darcy Coates ghost story,The House Next Door. Very enjoyable for the first 200 pages,but then it went a bit silly and over the top. But it suited my mental state right now.

No housework done,and probably very little this week. Mr Dusty is doing all the washing up and going to the shop for milk and bread etc,I am using up food already cooked and put in freezer. Fish again today! Its Mr Ds favourite meal,but I'm sure he is growing gills at the moment. We did get chinese on Friday when the pain was greatest,and I eked it out to three meals,so not too much work really.

Well,thats it for now,very dull and boring and no frugal living at all really. No decluttering either.We've had not a single charity bag for a couple of weeks,and there I have a large pile of clothes I want to donate. Normally we get at least 2 bags a week come in the letterbox. When I need them,not a single bag in 2 weeks. Typical of my luck isnt it?

Well off to the sauna........sorry,I meant kitchen. Our livingroom faces north,never gets sunlight in so it is coolish,but the kitchen gets all the sunshine anyway,but since the sealants on my oven are leaking,when the ovens on its really really hot.Phew!