Moving on

rtandon27

@Cherryfudge...

Which they?
...the guests, the builders or the spiders? 🤣🤣🤣

Cherryfudge

rtandon27 said:

@Cherryfudge...

Which they?
...the guests, the builders or the spiders? 🤣🤣🤣

All three! Relaxed evening now: DH cooked salmon for tea and took our guests out in the hobby car. The builders have packed up till Tuesday. They think they will be finished by Thursday but I reckon it could be Friday: the cement is in for the foundations of the sides of the main path but there's been no progress on the soakaway. Rain is forecast overnight: there is a drainage channel and the hole for the soakaway, so we might get a live demonstration of it in action. The spiders are cross with me for moving them on.

I've just spent £40 plus P&P for a couple of gift tee shirts for DH and DBiL: I was very tempted to one for myself but I've put it on my Wishlistr so perhaps some kind person will buy it for me. It might even get snapped up as I can never think of much beyond gift vouchers and out of print books.

Now it's time to run a bath and think about sleep. I need it!

rtandon27

Hope you had a good sleep! 😴 

Cherryfudge

I did thanks! And we had the first rain since March, gentle but thorough, overnight. This morning the soakaway was half full of water and it's stayed so all day. I don't know if it's because it's reached a water table or what. I mean, twelve hours and the water has gone down just a couple of inches or so.

I was up fairly early and got some stuff done before others got up. Not a huge amount but better than launching into the day when everyone else was up and time pressure was happening.

We spent the morning with J, L and baby A, who was first alert and looking at everything and then sound asleep on me.   Precious. She's come along such a long way in the past couple of weeks. It was good for our friends to see J in her own house and to talk shop with her - they've known her since she was born and are now in related work fields.

We then went on to a stately home for lunch and a look round. To be honest I didn't get a lot from it, perhaps because I was a bit concerned that our friends weren't either, but never mind. We followed that up with a wander in the town and along the river for a short way before coming home, where we witnessed wills for our friends. We had a buffet tea and settled to watch 'Anne with an 'e' ' on N*tflix, which is really very good. All of us were glued to it for the rest of the the evening and now the others have gone to bed and I will follow in short order. 

Expenditure - not sure of it all
Entertainment - entry to the stately home £40 (lasts 13 months)
Entertainment - lunch - Not yet showing on my statement
Gifts - about £6.
Housekeeping £23.10

Watty1

Just catching up. I have a drawer full of bras that I don't wear because they don't really fit.  What is the bra bank?

Cherryfudge

Watty1 said:

Just catching up. I have a drawer full of bras that I don't wear because they don't really fit.  What is the bra bank?

Bra Recycling - Against Breast Cancer

  

Cherryfudge

Another full day! It rained again last night and today has been nice but quite windy and we took coats when we went out to the coast.

It was really busy - and there were so many dogs! They seemed happy enough, unlike the poor canines who get hoiked around car boot sales. One of the friends staying with us is a real dog lover and dogs just go to her so she made a few new friends. However, I'm really concerned as she seems terribly unfit. She struggled to do the steps (and there are lots), possibly because she has back problems. I don't remember seeing her finding it as hard as this, so I ended up making excuses not to do things or to have a sit down - the men didn't seem to realise how hard it was for her but if I took a break, she always joined me.

This means I have had unplanned ice cream, sitting in a sunny corner with a wonderful view. Tough life.  

It's also made me realise how much more healthy I am compared to a few weeks ago.

I've lost track of who paid for what but we had a lunch meal while out and that and the ice creams are probably all we bought today.

We went home via a hillside walk (again, one of our guests stayed in the car) then stopped with H and A and the children for a brief visit. I made a Spanish chickpea and spinach stew to help counteract the meals out in terms of health and cost, and we had lemon meringue pie for dessert then watched more of 'Anne with an 'e'' but after episode one it seems to depart quite drastically from the book. 

I've also realised I've double booked something so juggling is happening for a couple of weeks' time. Instead of toddler group on Thursday with an evening meeting and cleaning on Friday, the cleaning has been moved to Wednesday when DH is able to help, Thursday will be Toddler group then I get the train to J and L's. J has offered to collect me from the station as it's about a 40 minute walk. I am looking after baby A overnight and DH will join me when he finishes work. This means I miss a meeting but I will just have to catch up as best I can. We leave there early on Friday as DH has to be at work (another town) and I've promised to babysit baby F while her Mum has to cover something for her work. I will love having the little ones and I prioritise them over other commitments but it brings it home that there's not enough wiggle room. It does, however, look as though I should be able to do paid work on Friday though the voluntary work has shifted to Wednesday.

And a funny thing: I knew I was running low on cumin and seemed to remember the same about smoked paprika so I bought more of each yesterday. I was right in that I had nearly empty jars of each... but when I checked I found several three unopened jars of smoked paprika. I've marked the lid of one so I don't end up with three open. The good news there is that I've started a file on my phone with photos of favourite recipes so I can do a mental checklist of things to buy if we need to cook after a day out, and also I can make familiar food if self-catering while away and that at least meant I wasn't short of ingredients today.

Watty1

thank you for the bra link, will pack mine up and send off.  Will also plan to get an appointment to be properly fitted.  A mass of bras that do not fit is pointless, a couple that fit well is all that I need really plus a sports bra for riding the horses when we do fast stuff and jumping.

Cherryfudge

A good fit is a game changer, @Watty1!

A quiet day today. Our friends left after breakfast, anxious to get back to their cats who are both unwell. They are the most gorgeous cats but getting on now and both have very recently developed health problems so it's very understandable.

I did some washing and DH spent a while up a ladder to replace a gutter that had dislodged. We have rain again and it all seems to be working properly. While he was doing that, I was trying to sort out my diary for the rest of term - it was a long job and very complicated, but I've added everything to my phone now as well as the kitchen calendar and my handbag diary. I've sorted out some tangles but discovered another: I'd pencilled in a short visit to my sister's place before they move back, but I'd done it so faintly that I've now booked something else in that slot. If we're to fit in one last visit I need to see if anyone will swap a shift with me.

The new person on the church cleaning team has very obligingly agreed to meet with me one Saturday, and if that all goes to plan, it may let DH and me off spending half a day earlier in the week, cleaning.

I slept most of the afternoon, so I hope I sleep tonight. I've checked my emails and it seems I'm still needed tomorrow for teaching, unless I get a text first thing. If the chap is still sick, he may not have been able to inform anyone over the bank holiday. Following that we have the grand daughters to look after, and I'm (paid) cleaning in the evening. I thought I'd better grab opportunities to get paid work as there are certain days when I'm not available.

DH tells me I have to choose our next holiday as he's chosen others, but to be honest I'd rather be at home. Then I had an inspiration as I've always liked the thought of going to Carcassonne, so I've started to research that. And I would prefer a winter holiday, partly because I like to be around for the garden in spring and summer, and partly to break up the long stretch after Christmas with some milder days.

Nothing spent today.

Cherryfudge

Phew. I'm tired after today.

First thing was the class, except I got there to find it wasn't on. A few texts revealed it was half term and adult classes weren't meeting either, but it had slipped the tutor's mind when she last spoke to me as we were concerned with something else. Anyway, that gave me a couple of hours to play with, though some of it was gone by the time I had it sorted out.

I popped into L!dl and got the free nectarines off the spinning thing they are currently running, plus other groceries, then dropped those off at home where the men were just getting going on the little walls that will form the edge of the new path. They only worked half the day as the rain started, but at least there's progress.

Next stop was the library to meet DH and the children, then back to theirs for lunch. DH went to the phone shop on the way but sadly they can't repair his phone so he's now using one that D handed him - it's about 6 years old but was near top of the range when bought and probably has some life left in it. It's a real shame about the photos on the old phone as they weren't backed up but A and I are urging DH to reclaim it just in case - and also to protect his data, even if at present no one can get into it. We have to find an App1e shop to try to get some more off it, but there's none round here.

We had our usual good afternoon with the children, though indoors, and sadly a bit of a bust-up between three year old N and me, as I wouldn't let her use her sister's highchair. I won as I'm bigger, and we made friends again soon enough, but the smaller one gets upset if her chair gets used and really N is too big for it but feels displaced, I think. I took extra care to let her know she's loved. We did have a great deal of hilarity with photos of her and DH showing off a painting gallery they'd just made and sending the photos to their parents. I also hugely enjoyed an episode of Bluey, which is priceless and I don't know how any of us previous generations were successfully raised without it.

I worked from 6 to 8 then came home to try to sort out some kind of package for tomorrow's client. I'm very thankful to have a few things to go on, but it's tricky. There's also a new referral come in, but I think I'm just going to have to say I can't deal with any more for now. My weeks are so chock-a-block that I'm not getting time to prepare for things. However, one of my lovely team has swapped a Sunday with me so we can use the time to go up to Scotland for a few days at the end of next month. Oh, and I've spent a bit of time trying to sort out the tatters of the cleaning team, which isn't my job but it's no one's job really. DH has declined to lead it and I respect that but most of it doesn't need leading, the needs are for more volunteers and for someone to co-ordinate the rota and ordering. I could do those but not with the amount of other stuff I've taken on.

Expenditure: Housekeeping £5.75.
Not spent £160 on phone repairs as it couldn't be repaired.