And now we go again...

EssexHebridean

Well yesterday evening ended up being mostly about food - watering it, picking it, making it, eating it, and prepping more of it! 

All veggies that need feeding got fed, and I believe MrEH watered everything else before he went to bed last night.
Tea was salad - using up the last of the "mini cosberg" lettuces from the Lil's £1.50 box, a handful of home grown toms supplementing shop bought ones, half a home grown cucumber and various others odds and ends. The last two home made scotch eggs were the stars of the show.  
More beans were picked - although they may be slowing down a bit now - certainly the yellow ones anyway. that said, I wouldn't entirely put it past them to flower again yet! 
I did several big batches of bean prep and blanching/open freezing. MrEH lined out one of the drawers in freezer 2 with greaseproof and I just threw the cooled beans in there then transferred to bags once they were mostly frozen which was a faff-free way of dealing with it. 
Also made up a big vat of savoury mince mixture for bases of cottage pies - using very little mince but plenty of red lentils and mushrooms! Also used up a couple of courgettes and - needless so say - some more beans! That got a good simmer before being divided out into dishes ready for topping with mash tonight - two portions will feed us this evening, and the remainder will be frozen. I'm hoping that mash-making this evening will see off a good number of the potatoes we have kicking about - both white and sweet.

I did manage to get a bit of sitting/TV time as well as all of the above - MrEH was out at rugby training and returned home full of the news that their long-planned social team are finally going to be playing their first match next month, which is very exciting and might even see me out and about with the camera again as lots of those playing are the "old boys" he played with years back. 

I need to update my signature as we're all done on mortgage OPs for this month now I think - it's been a good one and was bolstered still further by an insurance payment from a policy that pays out on hospital stays - although we'd have sooner not have had cause to claim, the £250 it's now paid us is definitely welcome!  I also need to compare with the figure we were hoping for at the end of year two as well - as Monday will indeed be two years since we moved in! 

lucielle

Gosh time flies, that’s gone very quickly!
L

foxgloves

Excellent work. Love the mini guttering.
F

Cheery_Daff

Two years since you moved in?? 😮 that's gone quick! 

Also love the wood shed 😃 well done 😃

EssexHebridean

The two years have flown by - I'd not disagree, a lot to do with feeling like we belonged there from the first day, I think! 

I am delighted to confirm that not only is the log store itself watertight, but the guttering is working like a dream and we've already salvaged several buckets worth of water back into the water butt for future use! (And bearing in mind the current weather state, have switched for a bigger bucket!) 

After a relatively organised week so far, we had a PITA situation on the food front last night when we discovered that the cottage pies (batch cooked and frozen last week) hadn't defrosted in spite of having sat in the fridge all day. Rather than trying to defrost those fully before then heating through, I went for the "emergency fry-up" option, as we had all the ingredients, they would be simply to defrost, AND it allowed for the last 3 eggs in the box that needed using, too. It does at least make for a simply tea tonight, so that's a win. 

We were down in Devon for the weekend and that meant a personal spends impact, indeed, I had to subsidise mine from my personal fun account but that's fine, it's what it's there for! We did come back via a M's for shopping, and were able to take advantage of several offers there, and that has lead to another decent offer (£5.50 off when spending £35) for this week, so we'll be doing another M's shop this week, too. Best wins on last weekend's shop were various yellow stickered items including a huge tub of tuna sweetcorn pasta from the salad bar for 63p - some of that, with some other odds and ends (also YS'd) fed us on the drive home, and a similarly well priced although slightly smaller tub of tomato and basil couscous dealt with the following night's tea. The tuna pasta also did both our lunches on Monday as well, so that was an absolute bargain.

MrEH is out at rugby on Friday evening - although I believe watching rather than playing - and we've got a meeting to do with our voluntary role on Saturday in Birmingham, so will be heading up and doing an overnight stay (in Coventry, which worked out more economically as for some reason accommodation in Brum this weekend was extortionate). I plan to utilise my tea on Friday to use up various random bits from the freezer, so I'll need to have a dig through tomorrow morning and see what I want to get out for use. I'm planning tomorrow as a fairly relaxed day too -  after being away last weekend, back late Sunday evening, stuff going on this week and off to Ludlow net weekend for a camping trip with pals - I need to find my down-time where I can. 

Seasidegal58

Two years!  Wow that has gone quick!  I remember when you first moved in.....

beanielou

Can't believe that's 2 years!

Makingabobor2

2 years? Wow...where has the time gone?.

EssexHebridean

It’s crazy isn’t it - just feels like we’ve always been here, although the mortgage says otherwise of course! 

Well today currently has NO plans, although when I mentioned this to MrEH he immediately starting listing out things that I “Could” do - or indeed in one case that I “needed” to do - the cheek! Anyway, thankfully I do NOT need to do anything, although there are a few odds and ends I’d like to achieve. 

Garden:

- a quick tidy round 
- once things have properly dried out, see if there are any bits to harvest
- maybe (if dry enough) sand then paint another couple of sections of office or shed wall. 

- transfer water from the full buckets over to the water butt - assuming it’s not already full, that is! 
- clear the radishes that never swelled out of that bed and see what else might be able to go in there. Carrots, perhaps? 
- maybe make some paper bricks

House:
- clean the bathroom
- get rid of various cobwebs around the place
- Get Jaws round the living room and front room carpets 
- get bits into the loft from the spare room (that will have to be done when MrEH finishes work)
- bits from the kitchen island to the shed - jars, pots to be repurposed in the garden, that sort of thing.
Me:
- a couple of hours of photo processing this afternoon - I want to get more Airtattoo stuff sorted out
- some time with my book
- have a think whether there are local Heritage Open Days bits we might want to do

MSE stuff:
- Finances are all ship-shape and the CCs are cleared down
- some discussion has happened around savings following several notifications (not unexpected) of dropping rates. MrEH may open an easy access cash ISA for his personal savings pot, in which case we probably need a better note somewhere of which of us has put what into ISAs this year to help keep track.
- my tea tonight has been sorted via a tasty selection of leftovers from the freezer: small portions of cooked rice and couscous, lemon pesto chickpeas, and a single lamb burger which I’ll probably cut into chunks and cook that way, possibly with some oddments of veg. 
- looks like we may be on for some very cheap electricity over the weekend - so I’ll set the washing machine up on a delay to make the most of it
- free drying when we get back on Sunday as the weather forecast is good
- free exercise has been had this morning with our usual Friday morning walk 

foxgloves

I absolutely love leftovers! The fridge is always a more exciting place when filled with various little pots & bowls of tasty bits & pieces.