Moving on

liselle

Or mushroom omelette sounds good!

Cherryfudge

A very boring day! I'm sure actual lockdown was more interesting, but perhaps that was down to dreading the news, so I won't swap.

DH is on the mend but I'm still avoiding him! Unfortunately it's aggravated his underlying condition - or it may be just Covid and how it happens to be affecting him. He's going to try to speak to the specialist tomorrow. He's rung his work, as he's due back tomorrow, and has got all the equipment out to work from home. However, for some reason the work computer won't let him log on so tomorrow will be a sick day and, if he gets a negative test, he can go in on Thursday and see if it can be fixed. I don't understand all the ins and outs of it. I do know I'll be glad to get back to normal!

I did a bit of clearing in D's old room today, as I'd dumped a lot of packaging in there when swapping the Christmas decorations to their new boxes. It's sorted and the recyclables have gone to their bags, the carrier bags are folded for future use and the bin bags that weren't wrecked are put aside for use. Then I moved his big chair to where those were, which makes the rest of the room easier to use. It's still got too much stuff in, but I keep chipping away at it.

Laundry happened rather late in the day, which was a shame as it was sunny. Even the brief time on the line seemed to dry it a bit, but I put the towels in the dryer rather than have a damp house. We've had the heating on all the time, so the rest should be dry tomorrow.

I went into town for a bit of shopping, then later went back again as I really needed exercise and had a voucher to spend. It was one of those 'spin of surprises' promotion prizes from L1dl - £10 off my shopping! Well, there was nothing really needed but I wasn't going to waste it, so I've bought store cupboard stuff. I also checked the Mr T vouchers, which usually get left as I don't want to spend as much as they want me to spend. However, there was one for extra loyalty points if I bought £2 worth of herbs and spices, so I got nutmegs and parsley, both of which I'll use. I was left with the feeling, though, that it wasn't all that much of a bargain as I could have gone to the eco shop where herbs are very cheap and fresh, and it would have cost me less. I also got some small bottles of wine for cooking, as there was an offer. Must remember: any that doesn't get used, gets frozen! (Or given to DH to drink. I'm not a wine drinker).

Dinner was salmon (reduced price yesterday with a couple of days still left on it) with pasta and sauce, and some vegetables stirred in.

Expenditure:
Housekeeping £20.95 (that'll teach me to buy wine!)

milann

Hope Dh gets better soon and doesn’t share with you.

redofromstart

Hope your DH gets better soon and that you avoid it.

i was really pleased to get the £10 L voucher at the weekend too and stocked up on nuts rather than waste it. 

Cherryfudge

Thank you @milann and @redofromstart, he tested negative today and is looking forward to being back at work tomorrow!

And there's more good news: the pay I expected to get has come into the bank, instead of what my payslip seemed to show. I think the massive tax deduction I saw on the payslip must have meant a reclaim of overpayment in some way, but the totals don't look as though that's what happened. I also discovered my query about it had gone to what appears to be an unanswered email, but DH helped me find the correct one and I found the way to recall the erroneous one. I'm waiting to hear from them about this before I ask for an itemisation of the holiday pay they sent through but didn't explain. I've also sent in January's timesheets - February pay will be the smallest yet, but hopefully after that it will pick up.

I've heard today of two more people with serious medical things happening, this is such a hard time for some people. On the positive side, last weekend's hospitalisation is over and the person is back home and doing well.

I went to my fortnightly church group this evening and we had a very productive planning session. It was good to be out and socialising, and we've planned a couple of social events as well as our regular meetings.

Well, I'm loving being back to normal, though tomorrow daytime might be on the quiet side with DH going to work. I will be working tomorrow evening and two session son Friday, if you count the church cleaning. I'll ache by the weekend! I need to sort out a couple of late meals for myself: DH made chicken and chorizo pasta for dinner today and has some left over for tomorrow but I might go for eggs and mushrooms again.

I know DH must have bought some groceries today, but all I've spent has been £5.16 for some photos off my 'free' app. I generally forget I've got it but the DGDs are very photogenic and I love having a photo in the 'proper' size, as well as phone sized. A sent some of baby F this evening and DH completely fell for one, which reminded me I could get these printed, with a larger copy for him.

Cherryfudge

Hopefully a normal and productive day today! This morning is sunny and I'm making the most of it by getting the laundry done. The next week or so is forecast to be mild but grey.

I've promised DH some more marmalade and I have a tin of the pre-prepared goo to make it, so that's on the list.

There are also a few financial things:

• pay credit card (this may be tomorrow as the bank doesn't like too much to be transferred at once and there's the YBS to do too)
• transfer money for YBS regular saver 
• bring my finances notebook up to date - possibly even the spreadsheet too.

Looking ahead in the diary, pancakes will be at my friend's (tradition for our Tuesday group) so I will try to arrange lunchtime pancakes with DH. Then the very next day is Valentines, but also my Wednesday group. I offered to host, forgetting DH's Wednesday group takes half term off! So poor DH will be at home while I'm with my group, and it won't be Valentines-ish, not that we do a huge amount with it normally.

In fact, that week (half term) is going to be busy as I've said I'll help with holiday club every morning and I have the option to work on the Monday, Thursday and Friday evenings. I'm also on the cleaning rota for church but the holiday club is on (same place and time) so I need to remind colleagues we will have to plan ahead for that. I'm wondering about only working a couple of days that week, partly so I'll actually see DH!

Cherryfudge

I'm making myself sit down because I've been busy for hours and I really need some energy left for work! Two loads of bedding are washed and on the line along with sundry clothes that fitted into the second load and some handwashing. The only item left in the laundry is a hand wash jumper but I'm leaving it till later as I'm going to need all the drying space I can get before I go to work. Our bedding will go in the dryer at about 3: hoping that leaves me enough time to finish it off and make the bed by about 4.30. The rest can hang around the house and dry itself.

The marmalade is made and potted up - it almost makes itself, so don't picture any labour-intensive peel chopping. I used a tin of prepared oranges. It makes five and a half jars (I use less sugar than the tin suggests) which should last even DH a few weeks, and saves the varied jams in the emergency cupboard for cake filling (in theory).

While I was out in the garden, I picked up lots of twigs blown here, there and everywhere in recent storms. Some had even gone right over the roof into the other side of the garden. It's one of those jobs that's hard to finish as the twigs blend in so you think you're done, then you see more. I also saw some tulips coming through, which is great. These were a gift from my sister in law last year: they come bare rooted and in flower so you fill a vase with them and plant out later. I didn't think they'd survived, but they were just being cautious. The other garden jobs were to empty the compost bucket into the compost bins and water the bins, and as I did so I finally pulled some willow wands out of the watering can. These were salvaged from my sister's garden where there's a very vigorous willow. I left them in water back in September, intending to try to make something with them, and pf course never got round to it. Now about ten of them are growing roots!

I also braved washing down the back door, which had been bird-bombed. Looks better now.

No financial stuff tackled yet. Lunch was half the remaining humous with carrot and celery sticks, and a caramel wafer. Nothing like a balanced diet, but I'm hungry again now and toying with the idea of porridge before work, though I'll have to limit it because I need to lose weight.

Cherryfudge

Aching! I earned that £35 tonight. I did the same run I was taught last week, and got more of it done though I couldn't be as thorough as I would like. I did about seven and a half thousand steps in the three hours. I'm enjoying it, but it's definitely going to need all the Epsom salts I can throw at it until my muscles get toned up.

I've just seen the my Fitbit says I've burned over 2,400 Kcal, which is amazing for me - it's often well under 1900.

At home I got lots done but I'm glad I had the computer time after lunch. Very little financial stuff has happened, though I cancelled Pr!me and got a 15p refund. I'm quite pleased with myself for going straight home after work and not visiting a supermarket.

I'm very pleased to have got a lot done today (there were more things that got forgotten: skin care and cleaning bins for a start!). DH seems okay with being back at work after Covid, but it's tired him. His colleague has it now, but from the timing it seems someone else may have brought it into the office.

Cherryfudge

This morning I did a couple of hours at the church and I'm now getting ready for this evening's cleaning stint - though I feel more like going to sleep, so I'll get everything ready then set my alarm for half an hour.

I managed to resist the shops on the way home, though I was quite tempted to call in and get a fizzy drink and a snack to keep me going later. Friday is half an hour earlier and lunch is still too close for me to want anything else to eat yet. Beside, it might counteract the fraction of a pound I lost in January! I can fill a water bottle while I'm there and I'll take a biscuit to boost me mid-shift: there's not time for more.

I'm reading the book on atomic habits and trying to remind myself that my actions build my habits and they all add up.

I've transferred money to YBS this morning so that's one financial thing sorted out. Another is an email that confirms the odd number on my payslip was a tax refund (wish they're said that to begin with), and she's added some helpful details like who to contact to continue paying into my pension (which I thought would go through automatically). I still need to sort out cc payments and transfer money for those, and work out whether I moved too much over last month.

milann

Life is sounding very busy for you. Hope the Epsom salts stop any aches.