Moving on

Watty1

Love love love the colour of that meal!

Cherryfudge

Purple... very purple! 

It was worth the extra effort to deep clean the bedding as it's all dried thanks to the warm weather, and is lovely and fresh. I even washed the pillows, though mine is one of those with diced up wool that I can unzip into a bag while I wash the outer layer, so the wool doesn't get wet.

Half an hour in the garden and the neglect of the last week has largely been reversed. DH has mown the grass and I watered the tubs over the last few days but no weeding had happened and the ground elder and sticky weed were growing apace. I've rescued the base tray of our old swingball (the rest went to the tip) as a useful reservoir for small plants and the garlic plants are in there, getting tall and needing bigger pots soon. The first of the aquilegia is out: I planted those seeds years and years ago and they keeping coming back. And the Yellow Cheerfulness are still flowering! The warmth hasn't dried them up. And what's more, the Pheasant's Eye Narcissi have buds! They aren't as out of synch as the Christmas Cacti, one of which has a few flowers even now, and I can't blame them for being late as I planted them in December, and deeper than the other daffs, but at this rate they will bloom in May. At least I get to enjoy them, and they should lay down some stores for next spring.

I've cleaned some windows and mirrors and our bedroom windowsill, which was a bit of a dumping ground, but then I was running low on energy so I had to save the rest for work. I've kept out of the shops, too.

Cherryfudge

We've had a lovely day with family: J, L and baby A came this morning and we all sat out in the garden to enjoy the warmth and sun, though of course that meant keeping the baby in the shade. The dog came too: she's very good and always seems to like being at ours. Poor J had an emergency dental visit but it turned out the pain was easily sorted with a bit of dental know-how. Something to do with flossing where a molar is at an awkward angle but it seems to be sorted now. We had an early lunch out in the garden and I was glad I'd spent the time yesterday decreasing the ground elder! It's not gone by any means but there are definite cropped patches which sort of show off the three colours of bluebells near the house and make it look more deliberate.  

We had to leave after lunch as we had the girls to look after in the afternoon. J had warned us a main road through town was closed and it remained so for some hours. It turned out there had been a fire in a building not far from the town centre. No injuries that I know of and DH saw the building later and said the damage is mostly at the back.

We caught up with the girls' other grandparents at the house before they set off back home after staying a few days. Poor N looked really sad when they were going and burst into tears. She's just old enough to realise she won't see them for a while, though they are always on Facetime. She told me she doesn't like it when they go.

She did cheer up in a little while and both girls piled in to see a couple of videos I'd taken of Grandad playing trains with N. We made the most of the weather by playing in the garden. 'Grandad' had told me little F has been walking more if she has hands to hold so I took the opportunity to take her hands and encourage her to toddle on the grass and her look of delight was a joy to behold when she suddenly gained speed and found herself running! She also let her sister take her hand and lead her, which was very sweet. Later on she didn't want to try again: I have a feeling she's decided it's tricky, but now she's started she will soon be confident.

I had just time once we got home to grab a bite to eat and get changed, then I put in a couple of hours at work.

This evening DH has also had a dental emergency - a crown came off. We'll try to get him an emergency appointment before we go away.

I've just messaged someone who, I've been told, is looking for a church team to join. The teams I'm on really need people. Of course what I've suggested may not work for this person but if I don't ask, I won't get. Meanwhile I have my Wednesday job tomorrow and as usual am a bit nervous. There are so many no-shows (nature of the work) that I don't get practice at my role, and I'm not sure I'm the best person for it, or rather, that it's the right job for me. I have the right people skills but I have yet to have the chance to see a case right through.

I've not spent anything but DH bought lunch things for when J and L were here. He managed all sorts of discounts and still made a good meal. £15.64, which includes quite a few things that will carry forward for our lunches over a few days.

Cherryfudge

An interesting morning so I'm taking an after-lunch break and dumping some info here rather than risk forgetting.

The morning session at the Wednesday job wasn't as expected. I'd been offloading to DH and he suggested I look for some sign that I should continue: 'putting out a fleece', if you're familiar with the term. I was a little dubious as I wanted to know it was right to stop, especially as life is a bit crowded and my clients rarely show up and I'm not sure how helpful my skills are. As soon as I went in, I saw one of my clients was there. I'm not sure my conversation was a huge help but I did make a couple of suggestions that she's going to try and she's arranged to meet me in a month. Meanwhile I have notes to sift through and try to edge forwards.

We have a new volunteer, so I got chatting and I've shown her round the site where we have the Sunday morning children's sessions. I don't know if she's a future volunteer but I think she might just be. The person I contacted yesterday isn't: I got a 'no thanks' straight back. Then one of the cleaning team told me they are leaving, so that makes the rota even more 'interesting'! It's a bit of a roller coaster nowadays. That's not my problem so I must try not to take it on board.

I had a couple of errands on the way home: small hand cream to take when we go away, a card for a couple whose 50th anniversary we are celebrating tonight and a glasses adjustment. I'm still getting slightly off balance, almost always in the morning, and I thought at least I need to make sure my glasses aren't contributing.

Well, the day is half gone but DH needs work shirts and if I put the washer on now, they will be dry in time for when he needs them. He got his emergency dental appointment, thankfully, so the crown is back in place. Then I have time to myself (in theory) and I need to spend some of it in the garden. It would be great to get beyond the ground elder battle and actually sow seeds.

Cherryfudge

There were so many things that I thought I'd forget something, and I did. I had a call from my TA relief job to offer me a few hours next month. I think it may be something I can do despite complaining that I'm too busy, as it's mostly in the same slot when DH takes the grandchildren to their group and is only six hours over three weeks. It would be good to keep my hand in.

I've now got both lots of washing on the line, spent 20 minutes battling the ground elder and planted 60 rhubarb seeds. I'm not expecting the all to come up as they are last year's, but that's still likely to be quite a lot for free (they were a free packet with garden centre membership). I allowed for 60 as that's what the packet said there were, but there are probably another 20 in there. I've no idea what you do with twenty last-year's rhubarbs seeds!

DH's adventures continue - the crown came out again almost at once and he's been told it's not a crown but a real tooth with a root filling. I think he will get a crown put in. He can no longer tale 'free' time off work for medical appointments so he needs to make up the time he took today, and will need to use more time next month while he gets the work done. That's around the time our path is due to be re-laid and just before we have friends to stay. His tachycardia started up, possibly due to the stress but very disappointing for him as he'd hoped that reducing his tea intake had got rid of it. However, at least it's settled faster than other recent episodes. Then he learned he'd made some mistakes at work, which is always unsettling though he has a good record so it's not something he has to deal with often.

He's gone out to pick up some bits to take to the meal tonight - a 50th anniversary and I know the couple so I'm going too. He will also collect my prescription  ready for while we're away - though the surgery still hasn't updated my record to include the change the hospital wanted.

Cherryfudge

A lovely evening: the anniversary couple treated the group to a Chinese feast which was very tasty, and it was good to see everyone again. There have been a few changes to the group since I was part of it but I know everyone and most they are much as I remembered them. I ended up chatting with someone I knew slightly but we'd both been part of yet another group at different times - and she's the ex of a former colleague's husband. That's a small town for you except it's not so small nowadays.

DH and I walked back and the evening was idyllic: the tiniest bit of day was left in the sky despite it being gone ten o'clock, and of course there was the April birdsong. And the washing had dried.  

Watty1

What a lovely evening.  Reading about the walk back made me smile

Cherryfudge

It really was lovely. I'm glad I went.

Today has been tiring, but also hot and sunny. All the floaty dresses were out and about (we are going to feel it when the temperature finally goes down but in the meantime, I'm enjoying it).

I helped with the toddler group this morning and got some pain au chocolat while I was there. For once I didn't have any errands for any of my roles, so I left in good time and did an entirely unnecessary trip to As da in case they had any good discounts (salmon for tomorrow). They also had packs of eight bedding plants at 3 for £5, and what's more, they were even keeping them watered! I got busy lizzies, violas and lobelia and have planted up one of the two wall baskets with some of them. I hope to get the other planted tomorrow or on Saturday. I used some coco fibre hanging basket liners that I bought in an end of season sale a few years ago: I'm hoping it's too late in the season for the blackbirds to decimate them for nests but the liners were slowly disintegrating in the shed so at least they are being used. I also popped in a couple of spider plants off the outsize one I have.

About forty minutes or so was spent on weeding, mostly the infamous ground elder. I even got some roots out. It's alarming that a patch I cleared yesterday already had new leaves, but I think in one area it's dying back a bit, and where it's growing through things like clumps of geranium, the intentional plants are definitely slowing it down.

Dinner tonight was sausages, with mushrooms and cherry tomatoes. I'm trying hard to eat up fresh food before we go away but I had a couple of pints of milk going out of date so I turned it into yogurt and now have enough yogurt for about two weeks!

I had two and a half hours at work this evening, and a text from the manager of the Wednesday job to say there is a contact at the DWP who would like to meet me about my role. I'm torn multiple ways on this one: don't want to let the job down, not sure I'm up for liaising with the big boys, thinking it's not different from other cases and maybe I can help, feeling 'Oh no, I really need a break not more things!' I will see how the dust settles overnight.

Talking of overnight, tomorrow I'm on the cleaning rota again. The Iranian couple have offered to help and their help would be very welcome, if they are able to come.

Right now, I need some rest.

Expenditure:
Garden £5
Housekeeping £3.58

Cherryfudge

Another tiring day, aided and abetted by hay fever meds. I'll see if I can do without them tomorrow.

Unfortunately, after a rather broken night's sleep (I was rehearsing what I'd say to the volunteer helpers, given the language differences, when DH suddenly leapt awake with cramp and after that of course I was awake for a while), the volunteers didn't turn up. That left me to make a start on the cleaning jobs myself until DH finished his stint at the shop. By the time he arrived, I'd been there over an hour but had only done bins and refills - they take time! He helped despite my criticising his floor mopping technique and we eventually got home for lunch quite late. We had salmon and watched Race Around the World but I was really tired. I went to bed for a bit of a rest and was woken by DH at five past four. I still managed to leave for work at 10 past!

DH has mown the small lawn, and we've both paid off our credit cards. I went on work emails and replied to the teacher I will be assisting for the rest of the month, then logged off and when I went to log back in, found I'd reset my password (which I knew about as I'd just done it) and no way is it allowing me to log in with what I thought was the right password. This logs me out of my timesheets and I can't contact the IT people for a reset till I'm back off holiday. Sigh.

I still have a list of necessary admin to complete before we go.

Cherryfudge

Oh dear, I wrote a whole entry and managed to delete it. I've managed without the hay fever meds. It's been a lot cooler and quite windy, neither of which will reduce the pollen much but it did help me stay indoors.

In the morning we went to the car boot sale, which was quite successful. DH spent £15 and came away with an amplifier, a Victorian photo and a 1970s watch. I spent £2.50 for two tee shirts, a waist slip and a tomato plant. One of the tee shirts is a bit small; so it's going in the 'donate' pile.

I also had another late morning dizzy spell. Why they happen at that time, I'm not sure. Perhaps it's length of time from breakfast or medication, but it seems to be a feature since the virus. I've been a bit off-balance since, but realised I've not had much to drink so it could be that.

We went to the supermarket on the way home for weekend food and had fish and baked potatoes for lunch. I've had a preliminary sort out of the fridge and blanched a swede, after which I ran out of freezer space. The rest of the almond milk is going into a rice pudding for tomorrow, A and H are taking the remaining milk and I've polished off a tub of yogurt. Unfortunately that leave two lots of yogurt that I can't take with us and A and H can't use but it's new so perhaps it will be okay when we get back. There are also carrots from Easter! Those can just sit there in the cold and dark and hibernate a bit... I hope.

DH did the rest of the mowing and tackled more ground elder. He's also put down some tarpaulin to try to delay growth in the areas we've cleared. Meanwhile I've got a couple of loads of laundry down and he has ironed things. I hope I remember to get my trainers out of the airing cupboard in the morning but they didn't dry very well outside. Most of my other things were admin: I've completed and posted the minutes of last week's meeting, contacted various people about various things, paid my friend who bought flowers from a group of us for a sick friend, sorted out some of my packing (the rest will be okay in the morning: I can pack quite quickly though longer-term readers may remember that doesn't necessarily mean I take everything with me), watered all the plants except the pots at the front of the house, sent a required update to the course mentor and renewed my free insurance via the Union. I also made myself sit down for rests, which I suspect is what I really need.

Expenditure:
Housekeeping £19.97 (how much?!)
Clothing £1.50
Hobbies £15 (DH's)
Garden £1
Gift 99p
Car £22.06