Moving on

Cherryfudge

It's been a busy day today, having stayed up till gone two to prepare my 'homework' for today. I think that was worth doing but at the suggestion of my mentor I'm going to try to set aside time twice a week. And I didn't even tell her what time I was up till!  

This morning I did some cleaning at home followed by cleaning at the church. A couple of times I got side tracked but a colleague kindly did some of my tasks for me while I sorted out some other stuff. I actually left at the time I'd intended and that got me home with just enough time to do some last minute tidying and eat a very hurried bowl of cereal. And the session with my mentor was useful: she has mentored this course before so I'm gaining from that as well as her insights. I still think it's a lot more work than I realised, though! Hence the time set aside.

Work was another two and a half hours, and the building had been quiet so there was less to do - just as well as all the dashing around had given me a headache. On the way home I got a few more groceries including double cream: I've finally put the inner compartment of the ice cream maker in the freezer and I'm hoping to make my first batch of ginger ice cream tomorrow.

Expenditure:
Housekeeping £4.70

Cherryfudge

Sleep was a bit interrupted last night, as my body decided about four and a half hours was normal and woke me up for a short time, then I got back to sleep till going on for nine. So in theory I'm rested and in practise have dark circles under my eyes. Also, with the pressure to be presentable for yesterday's visitor now off, I don't have much urge to clean! I've been making ginger ice cream (first use of the ice cream maker I bought last summer), but that lead to some eggs whites, spare single cream and an egg where the yolk broke into the white. The single cream is taking ages to to make into butter, but I thought that was better than whipping and freezing it, which just passes the 'what to do with it?' issue further down the line. I think I might give up on the idea of meringues as we have plenty in the cupboard already, so I'm going to defrost the last of an overripe batch of bananas and see if I can cobble together some sort of banana bread using that and the eggs. I could eat it hot with butter, but tonight we plan to use our other restaurant voucher.

My two eldest have been conferring about what bits of tomorrow to come to. DD being very pregnant, she is getting tired and also, the girls have been in contact with chicken pox so she doesn't want to be exposed to it. All mine have had it, but I can understand her being wary. They've solved it by way of one set coming to the walled garden with us for lunch and the others coming home to us for pizzas.

I've now to rework plans for food, but only in terms of not buying as much tonight.

Cherryfudge

The butter refused to come into being, not only because it was single cream but also possibly because I put the salt in too early. Every time I've made butter I've wondered if it would work but this is the first time it's defeated me, but not permanently as I suddenly had an inspiration and turned the whipped cream, eggs and some flour into a stack of pancakes which can go in the freezer against a quick meal at some point. The first will be practically a meal in itself as the mixture had not been watered down at that point and was super-thick.

DH arrived home but just before he did, I heard a scuffle in the mouse trap. The cheek of it, with me only a few feet away and in broad daylight! However, DH has now driven the mouse out to the countryside and when he gets back, we will go out.

I've also thrown out about 10 packet mixes and jellies that had been waiting to be used. The oldest was 2016, and I suspect it won't have got any more desirable for being nine years old. The container went into recycling. A little more space gained.

Cherryfudge

Our meal was nice but considering it was an Italian place, I had fish and chips and DH had steak pie! He's limited to things without dairy and I fancied having decent chips. Theirs are nice hand cut chunky ones, but overall the portions are such that I didn't quite finish a main course and it would have been pudding for the sake of it, which I've learned is not the secret of happiness for me. Once again our voucher paid most of it so the bill came to £11.20. Now I really fancy a nice strong coffee, but even if I made a decaff, it wouldn't like me. Still, in my head I can be in some Italian restaurant on a warm evening in Florence and imagine I have my coffee completely without side effects. Imagination is a wonderful thing!

We then shopped for the meal tomorrow and I'm fairly sure we have too much but after a bit of fridge and freezer Tetris, everything that needs refrigeration is packed away. We got soft drinks but they are in the car where there's more space! And talking of space ~I've thrown out a large, empty box, having had one of those moments of clarity where I realised it wasn't the right shape for me to make food storage out of it.

I'm going to run a bath and afterwards will see how my energy goes but I might chip away at that rota, which is proving tricky.

Expenditure:
Entertainment £11.20
Housekeeping £34.77

Cherryfudge

We had a really nice day yesterday. As we had to be at our meet-up for one, we 'did online church' and a bit of dashing round with last-minute tidying.

The drive over there is lovely and it didn't quite rain. We even had some sun this side of Sutton Bank (DH wants to drive the hobby car up Sutton Bank, he assures me it's the perfect vehicle for this and he should know, but I'm still not enthusing!), but most of the day we had dramatic, moody, grey skyscapes.

Those who were around on the first part of the day met up at the favourite cafe where I had the most colourful frittata.



We had only planned on a light lunch as we had plenty of food at home, but all the people with good intentions crumbled at the sight of scones, Bakewell tarts and Brownies, and the rest of us just went for an actual meal. It was a bit of a breakthrough for DH, as he's always said he doesn't like ham, but actually had a ham sandwich and said it was delicious. We then wandered round the gardens (using our annual passes that we bought a year ago. A and H have used theirs in the interim, as have we, so we've all saved money there). It was a bit sad to see the chickens and ducks cooped up indoors as it's a bird flu zone.

Being a Sunday afternoon and not so warm, we didn't do the usual wander round the town, though the weather paid us dividends as there was easy parking and nothing was crowded. After the gardens, we said goodbye to A, H and the girls and the rest of us went back to our house where we were later joined by J and L and the dog. D and E gave me early Mother's Day flowers and a late birthday gift (a voucher, chocolate and a candle) and I got the food ready. The dog was very happy to eat carrot peel! So we had a good evening. It had become colder so we had the log burner on and lots of lively conversation.

J and L's baby could be born any time and she's now on maternity leave so we hope to see her in the week.

It took me a while to slow down after everyone had gone but I had a good night's sleep and this morning is quite sunny so I'm going to put the washing machine on and clean out the plates cupboard before all the dishes go back.

Expenditure (yesterday):
Entertainment probably about £30 but I think it went on DH's credit card.
Car Parking - not sure.

KeepOnKnitting

Has he tested the hobby vehicle rigorously? You don't want to be stuck on Sutton Bank. Have they updated the sign with the number of caravans that got stuck recently? I used to live in Kilburn, and I would drive Sutton Bank or White Horse Bank (Low Town Bank), but I always refused The Unsuitable (High Town Bank) in anything less than a proper 4 wheel drive, and then never in winter.

That fritatta looks so good. I've just had dinner and I still have food envy!

Cherryfudge

Well, he's driven it a few hundred miles, but not on that sort of gradient! However, he knows Sutton Bank really well as he drove it several times a week over a few years when he worked on the coast and usually gives a commentary if people slow down when they see it coming! And I have confidence in his abilities there because we've yet to experience any problems, though he's had to help out other drivers. As to the hobby car, it's of an age where it has to be actively driven, if you see what I mean. It doesn't do any thinking for you. It's also got a low centre of gravity, which he says would help. He's also had it MOTed though it doesn't legally need one, so it runs as it should. But you are right, that road isn't to be taken lightly. I'm not sure how many caravans have come to grief recently but you can bet there have been some. So have a lot of pheasants on the moor road at the top!

And the frittata was super.  

Cherryfudge

It's been an interesting day: two loads of laundry washed and mostly dried, then we had the 'salad soup' for lunch and to my surprise it worked well. We also finished off the remaining bits of pizza and sweet potatoes, and I had one of my pancakes for tea and some of the pasta after work..

In the afternoon I had my TIA clinic appointment in the big hospital, which was all very efficient and not an undue amount of waiting around. They gave me an MRI and were able to confirm it wasn't a TIA but probably some working out of the virus - so I'm thankful for that. However, the images show some cholesterol damage, which is a bit alarming as I've been on statins at least 15 years. I need to pay more attention to my diet and get back to running, and the consultant has swapped me to another type of statin.

Work this evening was three hours.

I also commented to DH that none of his recent purchases is showing on the banking app. It turns out he had assumed the new bank card he's been sent was for the current account but it's actually for one he manages on behalf of various people who have a share in his Dad's flat. And that was what he's accidentally been drawing on! So now he's working out how much he spent and sending it over from the current account. Things were easier years ago when the bank had a choice of card faces so customers could chose different ones for different accounts. Anyway, at least we know and it can be put right.

Cherryfudge

I seem to have had far to many things I needed to do or be present for in the last couple of weeks and am definitely feeling the 'I need a break' factor. At present it looks like me just sitting here when I should be nearly ready to go out. Some real demand avoidance going on.

Most of tomorrow is a day off though.  

rtandon27

Rest is so very important!  Glad to hear you will have a break tomorrow.