Moving on

Cherryfudge

It was a lovely day, though it took me a while to get myself sorted out enough to go out. On one level I would have liked to have stayed at home and worked on the garden, but as it was, I got lots of garden inspiration at the place we went to.

We took the hobby car and got a wave off a fellow classic enthusiast and a chat with a woman who'd owned an earlier version of ours. It's so nice, the camaraderie of enthusiasts, and although I have not a clue about cars, I still feel the warmth of it.

I was also glad I bought myself a baseball cap recently, as it keeps the sun off my eyes and gives some protection from the wind while bowling along with a self-created 50 mph gale around us!

We had our picnic, picked up our new annual tickets, had a mooch round the gardens then went to the café for a brew, and to our surprise ran into a couple we know but who live at a distance from both where we met and where we live. We ended up at the same table and had a long chat: she and DH had a lot in common through similar careers, and he and I are colleagues from the Wednesday job. However I ended up talking to her and it turns out she has a family member in another part of the country in need of the sort of skills I used to use at work (scarcely available there) and also the two places she mentioned relatives living are both places where my sister has lived. It's a small world at times.
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We eventually went our separate ways and DH and I had a further look at the garden, then spent £5 on some wallflowers and yellow foxglove plants to go in the border next to the new path. We had a look at our favourite shops in the town - sadly the gallery DH loved is gone - but we called in at the small supermarket for vastly overpriced snacks, then went to the deli for DH's favourite steak pie.

The steak pie was dinner for DH and I had pizza, then we set off for our separate evening groups. I've had to top up my phone data (£3).

One other thing - I had a phone call from the church office to say they have a possible temporary solution for the lack of cleaning team. This is so unlikely that you couldn't make it up, but there's a group of people they can use over a few days to work on deep cleaning. My mission is to list the things for them to clean! Obvious areas are carpet cleaning, wash down walls, clean outsides of windows... that sort of thing. I think, given the numbers and time involved, that we might be able to get them repainting one or two areas as well.

Expenditure:
Parking £6.50
Entertainment £22.65
Hobbies £4.99 (a picture frame for a painting DH has)
Housekeeping £12.23
Garden £5 (cash)
Phone £3

Watty1

Solution for cleaning sounds very positive.

Cherryfudge

Watty1 said:

Solution for cleaning sounds very positive.

It really could be. At a rough guess we are talking about more or less 100 hours of work over three days, and I don't think there's that much to be done. The ongoing cleaning will remain stretched but a deep clean should show results for some time. Painting and decorating - there's a team for that who have already done some areas but more remains to be done but it's a complex building and I think some areas won't have been done since it was bought, about 25 years ago.

This morning I have pulled myself off the Toddlers' Group rota but I want to make good use of the time. At 2.30 J is coming to collect me to babysit, possibly overnight, depending what time they get home. I may go straight from there to babysit the middle grand daughter, so I need to think about what to take with me to last just over 24 hours.

Apart from that, there's gardening, and I didn't feed or water the houseplants last weekend so I really need to do them. Going away, even overnight, always makes me do the jobs I've been putting off!

No finances have been done recently, but I think a bit of background for the course would be good, before I forget the stuff we covered on Tuesday. Oh, and WhatsApp my Tuesday group. I should have done that the other day and completely forgot, and I'm the one who can't meet next week so at least I owe them an explanation.

Cherryfudge

I am so tired tonight! Both lots of babysitting went well: two calm children, one of whom knows us well and the other is too little to know we aren't her usual people.

J and L treated us to fish and chips (their local chippie has rightly won awards) and had a great evening out. Meanwhile we sat watching telly and both I and the baby fell asleep then had to get awake enough to get to bed.

We set the alarm for seven and went back to our hometown in time for DH's work and my next babysitting. I kept my laptop with me but hardly used it, but then had that and my overnight bag to carry home. It's a 40 minute walk and it's been in the mid-twenties (Yorkshire has declared a drought) so I was weary when I got in - had a shower, had food and coffee, sat down till it was time for work.

DH cooked salmon for me after work, which was helpful.

I've decided the 'cold' is hay fever so I've had a tablet for it - I'm usually more tired a few hours later, so it will definitely be early bed tonight.

rtandon27

@Cherryfudge - pollen is really bad this year!  I've added a ben-y-drill (knock-off) everyday for the past week and a bit.  OH has been coughing around sunrise & sunset each day for the same amount of time.  He swears that hayfever is cyclical and is only bad once every 7 years.  TBH I can't remember having it since I lived across the pond 20 years ago!

40 minutes of loaded walk?!  You must have hit your cardio load for the day & earned every minute of rest.

Cherryfudge

I've heard the seven year theory too, @rtandon27, and it's seven years since I last had a bad attack of hay fever. Mind you my son in law gets it every year and DH gets it most years, so your husband and I must be in some interesting sub-category!

Today I met up with the new recruit for the cleaning team and we did our best with the church though I'd not realised the building was being used for an away-day, which obviously limited what we could achieve! She seems clued up and hard working so I'm optimistic that she will be a good fit for the job.

DH has bought tarmac and filled in a pothole on our road (private road so the Council won't be doing it). There are more to go but the one near our house was quite deep so it will save our suspension somewhat.

DH came to meet me afterwards as we'd had a message from J and L about going out with them in the afternoon. They have an annual pass for a castle that we'd not been to and which was doing a Father's Day offer. Their pass gives them a day pass for guests once a year but when they went to cash it in, the computer wasn't playing ball and the lady said they could use it but it won't be taken off their account so they can use it again. So effectively it was a freebie! We bought drinks, which came to about a tenner as they get a discount in the café. Then the weather suddenly changed and we got caught in a shower walking the short distance to the entrance, but it changed again and stayed lovely after that. The place itself was well presented and very interesting and DH found a number of works of art and started asking the (very nice) staff about those. I think one of them was new as she had to look some things up and told him he'd given her new information. (I've often thought he should be a guide in somewhere like that: in fact just pre-pandemic he got such a job, but of course it all fell through as everywhere shut). Anyway, we liked it a lot, and the gardens and attached deer park were at their best. We had the dog with us but she was on the lead and not allowed anywhere near the animals, which she seemed to think was a misunderstanding on our part, but as they weren't squirrels, she didn't insist.

Before we left we were given Father's Day presents from J and L (it was explained mine was a late Mother's Day gift): some Grandparent mugs from a well known company chosen with designs that echo our hobbies.

This evening we had a dhal recipe that I'd found on social media - nice but if I make it again I will cut the amount of salt. Then I was falling asleep but got myself awake again and we went to the shops for various groceries. I succumbed to the 'middle of L1dl' and bought myself a sunhat and some croc-style shoes (£8.98) as well as various things we'd run out of or which we'll use and were on offer. I also see my favourite Cappuccinos are sneaking back into the shops but what looks like a 25p price drop and a label that says 'new' is skirting round the fact there are now 7 not 8 in a pack. The same manufacturer do a nice hot chocolate which I've stopped buying since they changed the ingredients for cheaper ones earlier in the year while the price to the customer is going up. Anyway I bought different brands of each though I think I will go back to the cappuccinos when the unsweetened ones become available again. Real shrinkflation, though.

We then had a message from D and E to say they are having a BBQ tomorrow and inviting E's parents, and would we like to come. Despite them having been together a few years, we've never met her parents so it could be an important day! We've accepted.

Oh, and the hay fever is thankfully much less today.

Expenditure:
Tarmac £8.99
Entertaining £10.35
Clothing £8.98
Housekeeping £29.27

rtandon27

What a lovely & full family weekend you'll be having!  Very MSE when the computer says know & it's in your favour.

Cherryfudge

It has indeed been a lovely family weekend - proper wore me out.  

DH and I decided to do online church this morning as we needed some downtime, then we set off to D and E's and met her parents. They turned out to be easy to get on with and we had a barbecue together. Turns out E's dad works with a friend of ours, which considering they live at quite a distance from us, is a real 'small world' coincidence. We also got homegrown salad from their garden as part of the meal, and homegrown raspberries from D and E's garden. Our raspberries haven't come to anything this year so I'm inspired to rescue any I find and try again.

I felt a bit off-colour today, headachey and muzzy, and when we got home I slept for a couple of hours. Out like a light so perhaps that's what I needed. Nothing spent (except me).

Cherryfudge

Of course if I sleep from six to eight in the evening, I will be awake at eleven, so it's time to lay out the week ahead:

Monday - text thanks to D and E. Text my sister. Pay Amelia. Go through client stuff for Wednesday. Work in the evening.
Tuesday - babysit during the day. Meal in the evening to feed back on the course.
Wednesday - Wednesday job in the morning. Send out reminders for Sunday. Work in the evening.
Thursday - Prepare for course mentoring. Work in the evening.
Friday -  2pm meet course mentor. Work in the evening.
Saturday - nothing planned.
Sunday - Help with children's activity am.

Watty1

What a lovely family weekend