Moving on

rtandon27

Take it easy - hope you had a good night's sleep and are feeling more rested today!

Fortune_Smiles

Grandchildren are wonderful... but exhausting 😂  My DiL would love us to move closer so that we could help out more with childcare but I'm not sure we'd survive it!

Fortune x

Cherryfudge

rtandon27 said:

Take it easy - hope you had a good night's sleep and are feeling more rested today!

Thank you! Still waking up  but today won't be quite as warm so I hope to push on and get more jam made. There's a lovely children's book by Margaret Mahy called 'Jam' in which the very-productive plum tree gives rise to so much jam that the household is overwhelmed. Though the illustrations you see everyone getting rounder and rounder, though that's never mentioned in the text. I feel we are going the same way!

I've a couple of people in mind for gage donations, so I need to organise that, too. One of them is in the group I was with last night and knows a lot about home brewing, which I've never tried as we don't have much space - but following our conversation, I very much want to try making mead.

Fortune_Smiles said:

Grandchildren are wonderful... but exhausting 😂  My DiL would love us to move closer so that we could help out more with childcare but I'm not sure we'd survive it!

Fortune x

The best reason to move closer, IMO, would be because you wanted to see more of them! We offered, so we had looked at the cost to us before letting ourselves in for it, and were clear about what was on offer (one day a week), though because I'm more available during the day, there have been times when I've done extra to look after a sick child. I'm glad of the opportunity to spend the time, but I recognise there's a cost in time and energy. Interestingly, I've read that time spent with grandchildren is beneficial for grandparents, which would be my experience (tiredness but healthy tiredness, due to healthy physical activity, stimulation, being needed, cuddles with the children etc.).

Today DH has the day off and is on the phone to his sister, who is recovering from an op. I have some housework things to do, and I want to sort out some things for the children's group over the autumn - and make jam. There are plants to water and food to sort out too.

Spending over the last couple of days:
Housekeeping 34.11
Gifts/postage 51.43 (£20.89 due to be refunded)
Gifts bought on behalf of DS of which some will be returned and some he will pay back £83.45

PS. remembered to cancel my Pr1me membership before they start to charge me at full rate!

Fortune_Smiles

Fortune_Smiles said:

Grandchildren are wonderful... but exhausting 😂  My DiL would love us to move closer so that we could help out more with childcare but I'm not sure we'd survive it!

Fortune x

The best reason to move closer, IMO, would be because you wanted to see more of them! We offered, so we had looked at the cost to us before letting ourselves in for it, and were clear about what was on offer (one day a week), though because I'm more available during the day, there have been times when I've done extra to look after a sick child. I'm glad of the opportunity to spend the time, but I recognise there's a cost in time and energy. Interestingly, I've read that time spent with grandchildren is beneficial for grandparents, which would be my experience (tiredness but healthy tiredness, due to healthy physical activity, stimulation, being needed, cuddles with the children etc.).

One day-ish a week would be perfect Cherry but I think DiL has full time in mind 😲

rtandon27

Ouch @Fortune_Smiles - definitely set your boundaries early - children often forget that their parents have lives too!

@Cherryfudge - when you talk about the children's group, it makes me think of an lovely older couple at our Church, they don't have grandbabes of their own yet, so actively volunteer to look after the pre-schoolers during service - they love every minute of it & all the cuddles that go with it!  Listening to them tell Old Testament stories is fun on it's own, they are born story-tellers, though sometimes I think they make some of it up as they go along!

Cherryfudge

Fortune_Smiles said: One day-ish a week would be perfect Cherry but I think DiL has full time in mind 😲

Eek! That's a big ask!

rtandon27 said:

when you talk about the children's group, it makes me think of an lovely older couple at our Church, they don't have grandbabes of their own yet, so actively volunteer to look after the pre-schoolers during service - they love every minute of it & all the cuddles that go with it!  Listening to them tell Old Testament stories is fun on it's own, they are born story-tellers, though sometimes I think they make some of it up as they go along!

The older helpers in our group are brilliant. They are so calm and lovely with the children, and quite happy to hold tinies or read stories - and they have probably seen and heard everything before so they aren't easily fazed. 

Well, it somehow became a very busy day, mostly around trying to do various garden jobs. I picked up 1500g of greengages that had fallen on the lawn overnight (and 71 more individual ones this evening - they are very small so the later ones just filled a 1 litre jug). I've given some to the friend I was talking to yesterday and stewed a small amount of damaged ones, but they are still coming in faster than I can process them.

Partly because I couldn't face yet another lot of processing greengages, I decided it was finally time to plant up a punnet of tiny leeklets that I bought ages ago. They were surviving but not growing in their tray. As I'm reluctant to plant into the soil until I have enough space that I'm sure is clear of ground elder, I've put them in large pots with a mixture of rescued soil from the cleared area, and home made compost. It was quite hard work digging out the compost but it needed to be done. I've only got 6 plants in! Some turned out to be two to a module, so tomorrow I hope to do some more pots for the rest. I'm still finding tiny bits of plastic in the soil and compost, but today I found something much more interesting: part of a tiny clay pipe. I found another bit of it close by some months ago. I wonder who smoked it as they followed the plough up the field that used to be here? And how long ago? A quick look on the internet gives me hope it could be pre-nineteenth century as it seems early ones were smaller and plainer as this one is.

DH made dinner (tuna pasta), then we went out for our weekly coffees. This time we went to a café a few miles out of town and shared a millionaire's shortbread as well. We got so engrossed in talking and looking at the gift shop that I was nearly late for work and DH had to give me a lift. Three hours tonight.

We had a message from A to ask if we might be able to help with child care in the second week of Christmas, but actually I think it won't be needed as Christmas closure will work in our favour.

We're also talking to J about possibly helping her buy her next car - she would pay us back but she would rather not have a commercial loan. It think we probably will do this as it makes sense for her changing needs and we can afford it - and have helped the others on occasion.

Expenditure:
Gift £1.99
Entertainment £10.60
Housekeeping £3.83

Cherryfudge

It's morning again. Another hot, sunny day by the looks of it. I've not yet done the greengage trawl but it occurred to me that I can stall for time by simply stewing a batch of them (washed, sorted, weighed and counted) so they are more compact. If I have a note of how much is in a batch, I'll know how much sugar to add to make jam, or (in the unlikely event of enough freezer space) I could freeze them. There is a difference between 'weighed' and 'counted' by the way - I have a million tiny stones to find after they are cooked and when I made jam the other day I found 172 out of 173, which isn't bad going!

I have the new offers in for L1dl and Sa1ns so I might go to the shops, but there's nothing I urgently need. I could do with sugar - L1dl hasn't had any for a while - but I have some in store. My Lidl offers include tinned chickpeas which I get a lot but I don't want to be carrying them on the same day as sugar. Ditto bleach, but I've had that offer before so I think it may be a regular. Also hiking poles... not while I'm carrying shopping, thanks. I will be not too far from BeeandEm this afternoon and I think their sugar is cheapest, so rather than use up stores perhaps by another. I also decided to look in a couple of charity shops as they almost always have storage containers and jam has to go somewhere! If I get nice ones and have emptied them by Christmas I can always fill them with biscuits or something as gifts. (Says she, who never has time near Christmas).

I've yet to look at the stuff for Autumn term and the sooner I do that, the sooner it will start to percolate through my brain. I may need to revise the date of the the team meeting as we're away, and I want to see if I can take out one of the autumn sessions to make room for another in the spring - these kids will know their Old Testament better than their new one unless someone adds more weeks to the year, so something OT has to go to make room.

I need to check where we are up to with the laundry, and over lunchtime I will be doing church cleaning. I might take a packed lunch down so I can work through. Then there's paid work from 4.30.

Enjoy the sunshine everyone.

Cherryfudge

A physically tiring day: I got another punnet of greengages out of the garden, and did some laundry before grabbing an early lunch and going off to do the cleaning. Tomorrow there's quite a lot of clothing to put away but we intend to go to the car boot sale in the morning.

I ducked into a couple of charity shops and came out with one glass jar, though another shop had some very large ones at a good price: I'm wondering about getting them for my sister as she could probably use them. Of course, they may have gone by tomorrow. I also got some of the food offers as mentioned earlier, and on the way to work I saw someone putting out a box of apples for people to take, and thanked her. On impulse I offered her some greengages, so a few more have a home, provided I remember to take them.

Expenditure:
Household (the jar, though it may later become part of a gift) £1.95
Housekeeping £17.90

Cherryfudge

I was exhausted last night after 20,000 steps in the heat and, as sometimes happens, slept so deeply that I was snoring and DH gave up and went to the spare bed! However, he's had advice from a pharmacist friend to take the temporary medication at a different time so that his sleep is less affected. Aqueous cream is helping the blisters with which he's also afflicted.

I'm now onto my second hair wash with aqueous cream and have just started a new conditioner for 'the lengths', which has oils and is promoted as a longer term help for very dry hair. Between them, I may find a solution for the dryness. The aqueous cream is a game changer so thanks to @Sun_Addict, @badmemory and @Watty1 for all the help on this. I have now the E45 shampoo as well, but am going to see how I settle with what I've already started before I try it.

We did the car boot trawl again this morning and were very happy with what we found. It's a bit cooler and overcast, so it was pleasant going round. DH bought a box of jigsaws for the middle grand daughter, but nothing else (£3). I got a 'Princess' purse with a bracelet in for the oldest grand daughter (10p) and a books on crafts for children which is partly to entertain mine and partly for ideas for the Sunday group (50p).

For myself, I bought an as-new Next dress (£4) - very comfy though I'm not sure about the frill. Two tools for the garden at 50p each - old, battered and solid, which is better than new and liable to bend. One is a very narrow bulb trowel (useful for tiny digging) and the other is a sort of claw which, for those who've followed the saga of the missing weeding tool, is proving perfect for getting ground elder roots out of gravel. Yes, I played with this new toy as soon as I got in. 

Als for me (but possibly not a keeper) was a book on wheat-free cooking (50p?), a set of jam-sized Kilner jars (£3) and an individual square storage jar (£1).

A good haul, as Ron Weasley would put it.

Dinner was pollock in breadcrumbs (L1dl, 4 pieces for £2.99, and would have again: good with lemon), with chip shop chips, peas and tomatoes. Another frothy coffee to round things off though I need to be careful as I had ham sandwiches for tea last night and almost straight away got a rough throat. (Triggers seem to be wheat, chocolate and coffee). Perhaps I need to see about an allergy test rather than keep trying to get away with things? If it's a gluten problem rather than wheat, perhaps that's why I get tired?

All that, and we still have a trip to the optician so DH can help me decide on glasses, then he is meeting with his midweek church group for coffee and I am coming home to resist the lure of the ground elder claw until I've at least picked up today's greengage fall and taken some to the generous lady with the apple tree!

Cherryfudge

There aren't enough hours in the day! We went to the optician and I changed my mind again about what frames I want but am happy with the two for one offer I settled on, though it will cost more as I'm having both sets of lenses thinned, so only the second frame is free. At least I could pay on my credit card so I get a few Clubcard points for spending out! I've gone for two sets of distance lenses but there's the option to have one changed to varifocals if I change my mind within 100 days. I will see if I miss the varifocal function but often I don't need glasses for close work anymore.

We have washed and weighed out greengages and four lots of 500g have gone to various people today. I've also contacted my lovely former neighbour and will be taking some to her, and we will see if the lady down the road, who always has apples and tomatoes for us, would like some too.

We had our chip shop chips and I got some shopping - found discounted gammon steaks so I've changed our planned meal for tomorrow.

DH enjoyed his coffee with friends and I picked up another 500g of fallen greengages! I've also cleaned the lawn where some as-yet-uncaught animal has been doing its business. Yuck. What can I use to deter it, I wonder? Then I had a fun session of grubbing out more ground elder roots. Considering what a small area I've done, I found a massive amount of roots, but it's difficult when they are close against the house.

Expenditure:
Clothing £4
Gifts £3.10
Household £4
Books £1.50
Garden £1
Housekeeping £15.32
Entertainment £3.35
(The big one) Medical (glasses) £310