Resourcefulness: The budgeter's friend

foxgloves

@Honeysucklelou2 & @Makingabobor2 - Hope you managed to get some time outside in the garden.

Hello Diary Readers,

Well, I was off to fetch my secateurs, hand fork & trug as soon as I'd finished my coffee this morning. I didn't get as much done around the front courtyard as I'd hoped because I had the additional job of litter-picking lots of little shreds of old roof insulation foam & associated detritus as I went along. I got the whole of one narrow border done. Once I'd cut back down some over-enthusiastic clumps of geranium macrorrhizum, I could see the mini-daffs in bud. We have definitely lost some bulbs in this border - some mini-daffs & all the muscari. As Bad Sidney & Naughty Nutkin only ever visit our back garden, I assume that the missing bulbs have simply rotted in the endless rain. I shall plant some more in September. It's not a problem as the perennials in that border will soon fill out & I have plenty of things I can divide up & bring through from the back garden. Also plenty of seeds to sow. Did a bit of pyracantha pruning & then a good sweep. Noticed that there are quite a lot of flakes of what look like old bright blue paint scattered around - they can only be roof-related, but I've no idea where they've come from as we have nothing painted that colour. So that was today's mystery.

Other stuff - prepped some tasks for a greenhouse session tomorrow, did 3 surveys, sorted out my credit card bill (no nasty surprises - only £10-89 to pay which is budgeted for & will be paid before the due-date. I haven't paid a single penny of interest on my CC for several years & that is how it's going to stay) & I shall shortly be choosing next week's meals from our February master meal plan.

Made a few little pancakes for lunch - just made up a small quantity of batter as Mr F doesn't like pancakes, the mad fool, but they are one thing where I'd feel I'd missed out on a Spring ritual if I didn't make any. Soot came in to see if Shrove Tuesday meant extra lunch for cats, but it didn't. Ash decided to eat his breakfast over about 4 sittings this morning, as he often does, so every time Soot heard the bowl being uncovered, he thought it was lunchtime. I read recently about something (a nerve, I think?) which acts as a gut/brain axis/connection. Whatever it is, I think Soot has about 14 extra ones as he is absolutely hard wired to investigate absolutely ANYTHING which sounds as though it might somehow be connected to extra food. I told him to get some self-respect this morning, when he came trotting in because he'd heard first some coffee beans, then a jar of vitamin capsules! It was lovely to see him outside enjoying some sunshine though. He ran the whole length of our garden stepping stones like a show jumper, despite him turning 13 this year. Anyway, enough yakk from me. Very much hoping tomorrow's post will be reporting progress in the greenhouse.

F x

themadvix

Soot and my Ginger Cat are two of a kind - GC also thinks the sound of the vitamins bottle is the sound of cat food - even though nothing he gets ever sounds like that. Your stories always sound so familiar! What are they like?!

liselle

I had a cat once who only ate (dried food) in the middle of the night.Very unnerving at that time, as it sounded exactly like someone trying to get a key in the lock…!

Twolabsandacat

I wonderif you are thinking of the vagus nerve FG? - an absolutely amazing thing, in my opinion lol!

Sun_Addict

I don't like pancakes either 😆I used to make them when DS and DD were young but I could never make them fast enough especially when Mr SA joined the pancake queue.

I didn't realise Soot was 13. My older cat is 16 and still races around and has mad half hours. She's a bit like him too in that she's food mad and even steals the dog's food.

Makingabobor2

Yes I got outside and decided to make up some home made weedkiller to do the front garden. But then spent a while clearing up somebody's very nasty dog poo from right outside the front gate! Very unimpressed with that.

amber03

Not a lover of pancakes here either. Was due to make a mini egg cheesecake with GK’s yesterday but left it as I realised they would be having pancakes when they get home. Going to make it tomorrow when the gang arrive. Mind you didn’t realise how expensive it was going to cost me to make the cheesecake. Cost me nearly £10 for the ingredients and that was cheaper than it should have been as I refused to buy the 5 bags of mini eggs got 2 instead as they were £1.60 each, will just add some of those caramel biscuits which I have already got on the top of it. Was going to make some crunchie fudge with them as well at the weekend, again it’s going to cost but when you tell them we are going to make them you don’t want to let them down. Oh well at least we hopefully will enjoy eating them. Will taste better than shop bought I hope.

foxgloves

Oh yes, I agree with all your cat comments. Nocturnal biscuit-crunching must have been very creepy until you realised what it was @liselle. My first cat could hold out with refusing his meat all day. Then, as soon as the last of us went up to bed, we'd be on about the 5th stair & we'd hear him eating it because a) There was absolutely nothing wrong with it & b) He was clever enough to know that there wouldn't be anyone in the kitchen until the morning!

@Sun_Addict - Yes, Soot was 7 when we adopted him, & Ash was 2, so they are 13 & 8 respectively this year. I think learning to be an outdoor cat (Soot had never once set a single paw outside in his previous life) has given him a new lease of life tbh.

@Twolabsandacat - Yes, I was indeed thinking of the vagus nerve. Thanks for the reminder!

@Makingabobor2 - Oh how annoying! I have absolutely zero tolerance for any dog owner allowing their dog to deliver a horrible pile outside our house without cleaning it up properly. I have to say I am also less than impressed with all the leg-cocking which goes on up the corners of our front courtyard wall/fence, either, as I do plant the area all year round so have to make sure I have gloves on for weeding. Next time I am out there gardening & an owner pauses to allow their hound to direct a stream of pee onto the perimeters of our property, where is it obvious I am maintaining those borders, I shall be piping up with an acerbic comment. "Foxgloves, sarcasm is the lowest form of wit", a long-ago maths teacher once told me following a highly witty (in my eyes!) leery comment to a fellow classmate. Never agreed with it then, don't agree with it now!

@amber03 - I read your post to Mr F as he has a real thing about ridiculous mini-egg price inflation. When I said £1.60 per small bag, he commented that he'd just seen some in the supermarket for £2….& titchy bags too! I am wondering if anyone has tried the Emminess speckled mini eggs yet? Are they a nice substitute? I liked the other cheaper supermarket mini-eggs but they weren't quite as nice, I didn't think. Defo better than no mini-eggs though!

F

foxgloves

And now for today's very dull post. I got virtually nothing done yesterday as awoke with a headache which lasted all day, despite paracetamol. I thought I had maybe slept with my neck in a crick, but by dinner time, I thought I might be getting a cold & by bedtime, I knew I'd damn well got one. Oh, so bah to that! I have deferred my planned greenhouse session again as I absolutely promised Mr F as he set off for work that I would have a restful day so as to get rid of the lergy asap. I have stuck to this. My only budget-helping efforts are as follows:

*Everything ready to go in the slow cooker this afternoon for sausage hot-pot.

*Dough proving for a nice crusty loaf.

*Sorted out tomorrow's packed lunch & breakfast.

*Tiny bit of admin. The last grocery shopping of February's budget cycle has now been done & unless we suddenly think of something we forgot to put on the list over the weekend, we look to be coming in with an underspend of £34-65. Surely it's got to be the change to monthly meal plans as we are still shopping at the same places.

*Printed out this year's renewed car insurance docs & filed them.

*Did 5 surveys.

*Checked propagator seedlings. Aubs & peppers still not showing but both types of chillies are making nice little seedlings. Pinged my sis to see if she'd like her usual tray of tomato plants from me. She does.

Apart from baking the bread when it's ready, I intend to spend the rest of today cossetting myself as I can feel myself wilting. I don't have a sore throat, tight chest or any of my more usual cold symptoms, just buckets of snot, a very muggy head, general achiness & lack of energy. I am, however, in the middle of 3 TV series, a novel, an audiobook & a pair of socks so I shall have plenty to entertain me. Thankfully our medicine box was well stocked plus tissue supplies, so I have sufficient otc stuff to keep me going.

Best wishes,

The Lergyfied One xx

Blackcats

I hope your resting day helps you get rid of your lurgy pdq.

I read your post and thought to myself that we are having a parallel universe day. I woke up with a thick head and aching neck and shoulders and diddly squat energy levels, and ….. we have Mary B's sausage hotpot on the meal planner for supper. I'd just handed over the recipe sheet to MrBC before I started reading your update.

I'm watching some recorded episodes of the inspector of hotels and might do some knitting if I can be bothered to measure my current progress. I'm hoping I need to do a few more of the straightforward rows before I have to do any shaping as I'm not feeling very ambitious today.