NST September 2022 Picture yourself on a boat on a canal

greent

Thankful that it's the weekend  -and there's an extra day to it, also thankful the hospital phoned me up and confirmed my scan on Monday is still happening, for warm days and line dried washing, for getting lots of food shopping done today (DH and I visited 4 shops), for going out for a meal tonight with just OH, for DD therefore 'babysitting' DS3 , for seeing ducks and swans on our walk, for squirrels in the garden, for an unexpected flebay sale of a very bulky item, for DH's tax rebate hitting the bank account  

f0xh0les

I did not make a soup, but  I did make a curry, well, by 'making a curry' I mean a ys 33p jar of MamaWaga's blended curry paste and half a litre of ys Alpr0 coconut  milk (it is coconut flavoured rice milk and it is much lower fat).  Even with the ys frozen BNS and chickless pieces it was less than £1.50 and it fed 3 of us (both teenagers had huge first and second helpings)  and I have one portion left.   Veg stir fried rice for the smaller two with odds and sods from the fridge and freezer.

I have spent the day moving furniture around the place, as is traditional when DH goes away for a weekend.  Easter and Autumn are my furniture moving triggers: and so the living room is cleaned and tidied, two mirrors have been put up and are no longer propped on things (I do love my drill)

I am going to test my heating tonight - just for half an hour, to make sure it still works after having been turned off since April. I test it for half an hour every 8 weeks or so.  That and I am sat in a T shirt and have just realised for the first time in months, it is a tad chilly in here. 

weenancyinAmerica

@Shrewbie - just be sure you remember you are leaving driving on the left side for driving on the right side. Take it slowly at first. 

lcc86

Wow @Shrewbie I can't believe how cheap your travel is compared to ours! In my old job a peak ticket to work was a shade under £24 a day and £14 off peak! A day! Luckily I've cut that cost in half now but still nothing like yours. When I was in Berlin earlier this year I recall travel being super cheap too.

Fell asleep on the sofa at about 9pm last night! Woke up at 6.30, early but refreshed. Spent the day at a horse show in Oxford with some friends, was great fun. Weather was spot on, nice breeze but dry and sunny. I did spend a bit on food, bought a sandwich with me but was still hungry! It was an early start in my defence haha. I steered clear of the entire shopping village which is also a success! My back is very sore from all the walking despite me bringing my camping chair. 

Bath had, sitting in my PJ's watching TV with OH. Another early start tomorrow to go riding with a friend.

f0xh0les

Fear not gentle turtles, the heating came on, I lasted 10 minutes before turning it off - we have one non-heating radiator but the pin sticks in that one,  so will know to bash it about a bit when we put the heating on properly.   It is not cold enough for it yet.

Thrifty_Taylor

Sorry I've been AWOL been a rollercoaster few days.
Friday started with a phonecall from lady making appointments re: transplant tests. She gave me dates for the first week in Oct, which tie in with when me & Mum were heading to Aberdeen for the weekend to see my brother & his family. Just had to convince mum to travel down by boat herself on the Fri night (though DS1 will be on the boat in a different area, so he can take her to the pier & help her get on/off). A good day at work, shopping done afterwards & put away. Was halfway through a film with my crochet, when DH calmly announced that he needed to go to A&E as his dialysis arm was swollen & painful. Thankfully I'd only had 1/4 of my glass of schnapps, so was ok to drive him! Dr thought his vein had been nicked during dialysis that morning, & he'd had a small bleed under the skin. Went home again, stayed up to watch the rest of the film, his idea!

Saturday I was like a zombie, went back to bed @11, but couldn't sleep - brain too active. Trimmed a bush down the side of the drive, then sat sewing all afternoon. Had messaged my auntie to see how my cousin was, it didn't sound good, so worrying lots about him. The thought came to me, that if we got the train to Durham after our days in Aberdeen, my brother can drive his family home & meet us, then take us down to Notts. He agreed & another cousin is going to let us stay for a couple of nights. Still working out the return trip, as a long way for my brother to drive us back up to Aberdeen, so have suggested he takes us back to Durham, we sleep in his living room & train back up the rest. As long as we're back to catch the boat, we'll be ok! Had drank a large energy drink during the day (DS3 didn't like it), so then had a job getting to sleep. Tried for a while, then read a chapter of my book & managed to nod off afterwards. Of course my brain woke up again at the normal time this morning, so hoping today is more calm.

Grateful for family pulling together, cosy jumpers, sleep when it finally comes!

grandmanerd

Back later - laptop is jumpy (wants to press all the buttons - throwing up features and flashing over buttons). It's very keen on reporting you all intead of thanking you so will let it have a little rest.

DrCarrie

Morning all, 

NSD yesterday - I took myself out for the day to Margate, full throttle frugality, no souvenir, pot of cockles, no piece of battered fish, coffee, or a pint. Super proud of myself, and I had a lovely day with lots of light and air, a clear wide horizon, and the Turner contemporary art gallery. And a pack up.

Grateful for golden sand, my own determination in another layer of frugality, wide skies, art, and train rides. 

grandmanerd

Sunday 18th September 2022

The week is yours. Own it.

Fifteen foods that cleanse the liver
Carrots          Green Tea           Broccoli          Apple           Cabbage           Rocket          Walnut           Lemon
Beetroot         Spinach               Avocado        Garlic           Turmeric           Cauliflower    Grapefruit

Today 
We'll stay here, close to Salford Quays, today and tomorrow (we're nearly in Manchester and we've nearly half a month to go). Incidently I watched a 'Great Canal Journeys' programme yesterday featuring Sheila Hancock and Gyles Brandreth (who was fortunately less annoying than usual). The series was on the Leeds and Liverpool canal and I watched the episode that slightly overlapped with our journey. They started at Dover Lock (the Inn to be precise), travelled through the Wigan Flashes (after calling out a man because they couldn't start their barge) to Wigan Pier, met Orwell's adopted son and Gyles went up against a champion pie eater. After that they went to Parbold and onto Scarisbrick Hall (they both pronounced it Scares-brick) and then to Heswall and Liverpool. So carrying on past Wigan Pier whereas we rested there and then came back to travel down the Leigh Branch. Well worth a watch (although they only had fleeting visits to places which deserve a whole programme).

Heritage Week
We've reached the end of heritage week but there are still a few places opening. Mostly churches today - The Church of the Holy Name on Oxford Road looks spectacular. However the Museum of Transport in Boyle Street Manchester is open (the building was one of the first bus garages in Manchester and today they are running bus tours on some of the old buses, which sounds like fun. 

However there are a number of events close to where I live. St John's School, Mosley Common is celebrating it's bicentenary with the original Georgian building still used as part of the school. Chowbent Unitarian Chapel in Atherton (about 3-4 miles from me) is open (201 years old, lots of dark wood) and there are two town events in Tyldesley (again about 4 miles the road branches off at Howe Bridge) - a trail to find the sources of the images in the large mural at the gable end of Elliott street. These were noted by pupils for a local high school - taken from features in the town's architecture and there's a trail of felt hearts with uplifting messages all down the high street (Elliot Street) made by locals in the run up to heritage Week at the Complete Kindness Cafe.  

End quotes (and a bit more)
Kids, Don't Play With Fireworks! Let the adults who've been drinking all day set them off.

I found a new celebration day (do not read if you're of a delicate disposition) No coffee and toast crumbs in the laptop please. It's a sarcastic response to Valentine's day and is held on the 14th March. It's called Steak and BJ day, was made up by men in the US but has been adopted in parts of Europe, Australia and New Zealand. 

If you're not embarrassing your children, you're obviously not enjoying yourself enough.

BadBookkeeper

Sorry for not posting yesterday, here’s my update:

Simplify - Camping equipment stored away so everything looks more orderly.

Essential spends - Bought new jeans which were essential and a new top that wasn’t.  NSD still 8/15.

Planning & Preperation - Nothing here today 

Think about spends - Had an unplanned spend but I’ll be glad of a new jumper over the autumn winter as have hoodies but nothing smart. 

Eat to nourish - Ate from home instead of usual takeaway

Mindfulness - Nothing done here really. 

Be kind - Cleaned the house.  Friday night was tiring as DS was up most of the night coughing.  I should have been kinder to myself but cleaning the house felt more important and I’m glad I did it.

Exercise - Achieved my step count

Report daily - Didn’t yesterday so will post again later.