Moving on

Cherryfudge

I walked half the way to look after the girls, rather than not have any exercise at all. The reason for stopping half way was to call at the supermarket, DH then collected me and we spent the next few hours babysitting. It was good to see the other grandparents again. They live at a distance but are not averse to plenty of travel so they do come here quite often.

DGD1 has discovered the terrible twos. I think she's worked out how to get her own way over certain things like not going out, but she can't use the same ruse twice on grandparents! Probably not on parents, either. DGD1 is gorgeous but gets upset every time someone leaves the room - doesn't seem to matter who. We had a nice time with them, though.

Dinner was mackerel with jacket potatoes and peas, and we watched Bake Off afterwards - very relaxing! I also enjoyed having a bath in the super-cleaned bath: I discovered there were traces of limescale on the actual bath so I descaled it. Usually I do taps and tiles. I grew up in a limescale-free area so I'd not wised up to slow deposits beneath the water line, but it's gone squeaky clean now.  

Expenditure:
Housekeeping approx. £14.50

ladybird1106

Glad you had a good time with your family.
love 🐞

Cherryfudge

Thanks 🐞.

This morning has been sunny and the overnight chill wore off so now I'm airing the house while I type. It's too easy to have fuggy air and it's beautiful out so I'm pretending it's warmer than it is, and letting that air in.

I stopped at the market on the way to work this morning: two punnets of raspberries, four large Conference pears and a bag of what look like Coxes apples but it's anyone's guess. £4 in total which is a lot cheaper than the supermarkets.

Work was quiet so with permission I got ahead with some cleaning that I now won't have to do on Friday. I also had a text to say a phone I'd enquired about was back on the market, so I've snapped it up. The seller is a relative by marriage and few people I know have bought through her, so she comes recommended. However, it's at a distance so we've agreed A and H can collect when they are in that area in three weeks' time, and I will send payment with them. It's a better and newer phone than I'd looked at online, so more expensive but should last another year, all other things being equal. It's still a good price for the model, too, and will come with case and charger.

Cherryfudge

Thursday was reasonably full without being exhausting. I remembered to throw some laundry in the machine first thing so it was drying while I was out helping with the toddler club.  I didn't get to play with the children much this time, but I did chat to some parents which is important too. Afterwards was a bit of a saunter home via a few shops to find gold paint (couldn't, will look online instead) and I bought some more plain drinking glasses in a charity shop, very similar to some I bought the other week, then a couple of LED decorations that I'd like to combine with a flower arrangement once we do the decorations.

I couldn't decide what to do with the afternoon so I decided on 'something rather than nothing' and ended up making the spare room bed, bringing the washing in to put on the airer and planting some narcissi that I bought to give as gifts with a nice ribbon or something round the pots. There was a beautiful orange sunset just before I set off for work, and a cold night. When I got back I brought in the last of the tomato plants as there are still fruit to be picked. I think we will have frost and it's the frost moon tonight, in a clear sky. It always makes me think of my friend who died at this time a few years ago but thankfully once I got home I got engrossed in writing a rota for the pre-school group which has taken my mind off sad things.

Expenditure:
Household £4.04
Housekeeping £? (can't find the receipt, but under £10).

I've asked DH to throw out a voucher that I found down the back of some furniture recently. It was several years out of date and I hate the thought that someone spent money on me and I've not used it. It seems wrong to waste their money but all I can do about that now is learn from it and find things to spend vouchers on - and remember I have them in the first place.

Cherryfudge

After completing the rota last night, DH had to wake me this morning and even so, I was a bit late for cleaning at church. However a new couple has offered to help and I'd already done some jobs the other day, so it didn't really matter - though I then had a couple of conversations so I was late back.

Fridays are falling into a new pattern: DH makes tuna pasta for lunch and we go for a coffee afterwards. Today we chose the High Street C0sta and I had a black Forest Gateau hot chocolate, so I know we're getting towards Christmas. Two flavoured seasonal things in two weeks. I had to hurry off afterwards to get to work, but DH kindly took my spare library card to renew my books and narrowly avoided a fine.

I had a lovely voice mail from the mum of one of the pre-schoolers, which was so nice I played it twice and have asked if I can share it with the team. They need to know they're seen as doing a good job! I also had a colleague thank me for my input on something, so I'm happy because of that too.

This evening I worked for three hours and, it being Friday, the shift was half an hour early. I finished up the butterbean stew for tea, followed by a custard slice and a decaff cappuccino - that's what I call a satisfying meal!

This evening I'm preparing the craft activity for Sunday, but I need to give some thought to how I do the actual session. I also remembered to take some fish out of the freezer to have tomorrow.

I can see I have a few things looming that I really need to sort out: making the Christmas Cake is one. I need to check when my Futurelearn subscription runs out and cancel, unless I suddenly justify renewing to myself. At least I found I have till January for the proofreading course. D has a birthday a week on Sunday and no one knows what to get him... I am thinking I might get him garden centre tokens for plants for the pond he's making. All he's said he wants is his youth back! (He's not yet 30). Then the Christmas shopping day with J is almost upon me and we've not finalised plans. We did have a photo of her 20-week scan today though - exciting! And talking of shopping, I need to work out when to get money out of savings for the phone and the Christmas shopping. And then there's also a worthwhile discount to be had on an online shop if I order by the 20th, and a decision to make on spending Clubcard points. Oh, and I could do with having a look at the new account the YBS has made for me on completing the Regular Saver.

ETA: also send off for the Age Concern booklets to fill in about what bank accounts etc we have. Hopefully they will be well out of date and need to be replaced before anyone needs them, but it's useful to have this sort of info accessible.

Expenditure:
Entertainment - not sure - about £8?

Cherryfudge

This morning J launched the family Secret Santa and I'm pleased with who I've drawn. After a comment from D the limit was raised from £35 to £50 which in a way I guess is fair enough and we can afford it, but he's also earning and with no dependents. You could say the same of me, though I'm earning less but have savings and no regular property costs.

It still makes me smile thinking of opening family presents last year: tiny N, just two years old, got the job of carrying presents from the tree to the respective people. She seemed to decide E was the best person to have them, so E ended up with a disproportionate pile regardless of what the labels said.

Today I need to complete prep for the children's activity tomorrow. I've just been looking up how to calculate radius from circumference so I can adapt a pattern to make cardboard trumpets for the children to decorate. I don't think I've needed that formula since I was at school, so I'm not sure why they expect people to clutter their heads with it. Mind you, in those days Google wasn't even on the horizon so it was a case of asking Dad (who admittedly needed to know stuff like that for work) or Looking It Up In A Book. It also raises the question of why is π so magical? Why not 0.38 or 99.7 or something?

So there's the activity to plot, and the dining room table needs a tidy, and I really could do something with yesterday's list... I want to wash my hair, do some laundry and put the Christmas cake ingredients to soak in brandy and apple juice (how MS am I?). Outside is lovely and sunny so the other thing I could do is plant the bulbs I bought a few weeks ago. I know next week will be cold but if I put them in pots and raise them off the ground I hope they will cope.

badmemory

circ=2 pi r     

So your radius is the circumference divided by 6.28.

Guess who still has GCE maths papers from back when she took it over 60 years ago.  I do them from time to time just for fun.

Cherryfudge

Thanks! I'm afraid I'd used an online calculator... good to be able to do it 'from your head'. I kept English papers because the story suggestions gave me ideas which is much more my idea of fun.  

My maths is at the level where your explanation is a few steps from what I would have come up with given days to puzzle it out. It's a good job some of us have these skills!

Anyway, the necessary radius is 2.0213cm, so I have the basis for the semi circles needed to fit round loo roll innards! 

Am still puzzling as to why π exists...

This morning's list is somewhat depleted, which is great as it was starting to agitate me. (That's a good reason for writing it down: it saves brain overload).

Hair wash and laundry are done, dinner eaten (fish and chips but only the chips were from the shop), DH has gone to his volunteering (charity shops seem to struggle for Saturday cover if anyone needs an activity).

I'm going to make a shopping list, trying to utilise some of the coupons sent by various supermarkets, while not buying stuff we won't use.

Cherryfudge

A few more things achieved, though not the shopping list. I'm not sure why that's being put off.

It's nearly dark now but while it was light I got the washing partly dried and it's now on the airer. There's a small load of hand washing in the machine to spin, including masks that had been hanging by the kitchen noticeboard till they 'went invisible'. We never use them any more but I'm reluctant to get rid of them as you never know. This is despite a lot of out of date disposable ones upstairs. My experience tells me they only reduce exposure, as they aren't sealed, but sometimes that's what's needed. These will be going in bag marked 'masks' that came from Primarni back in the day, and they can go on the shelf with the disposables.

I also trimmed back a couple of houseplants (the geranium went from 33" to 24" and got a good watering) and put the trimmings in the compost apart from collecting a jar full of cuttings. At this time of year I doubt they will root but it seems such a shame to bin them all.

Our nearby compost bin is almost full so in a moment of action I went to the one in the overgrown lane at the back and rocked it till it left its contents (think sandcastle, on a larger scale) and I was able to relocate it where we'll remember to use it. I was surprised that the old contents seem to have rotted down enough to form a structure so one day I might put some of it on the garden but in general it's not been tended. I also found the missing door for it (tipped behind it) so it's up and functioning again.

The fruit for the Christmas cake is weighed and sloshed with brandy. I bought the bottle in 2021 and will finish it this year. It only gets used for Christmas cake.

Clearing the table hasn't been completed but last week's knitting stuff is put away, as are some books.

ETA £32.99 spent  as D published his birthday list.

Cherryfudge

The list was a bit of a non-event as there weren't many things we have regularly in the special offers so we only got a few bits while at the supermarket. Then there was a problem with the tills so staff had to put through everything under £1, then DH paid and we went out, only to be followed by a member of staff to say the till hadn't read the card and could we go back and pay again! That was all sorted and a receipt obtained. I have difficulty getting my card from the same bank to work on those tills but it's been such a regular problem for me that I always put it in the machine and type in the number. I don't think it's happened to DH before but I know he swiped it because I saw him.

This evening I've done lots for the kids tomorrow. I realised the session will be longer than usual but that's okay because I also realised the story features a desert and they won't know what that is, so we can make a nomadic tent (sheet and chairs with dolls and play food underneath), get the sand tray out and use building blocks for the bit of the story where the walls fall down. I can't expect youngsters to concentrate all session so a bit of passive learning is called for and I had a lot of fun thinking it up.

I don't remember what the shopping came to - about £4.70 I think, and DH bought a bit for the hobby car which was £6.99. Chips are usually £2.50.