Moving on

Watty1

it really is sounding a lovely holiday.

Cherryfudge

We have had a really nice time, thanks @Watty1. Mind you, I've learned the hard way not to have tiramisu in the evening. The coffee in it kept me awake till gone 2, and poor sleep after that. I caught up a bit on the journey home.

DH went to another art gallery this morning while I got up slowly! We packed up our stuff and left the place respectable, than had a dinner meal before leaving. The journey was supposed to take 4 hours 20 minutes, but we stopped for a couple of breaks so we got home after seven. We were MSE and took sandwiches and drinks for tea.

It's nice to be back. I immediately checked on the newly planted plants and fallen greengages (I picked up 96, which at a guess is around 500g). Pleased to say it's all fine. We had a walk down to L1dl for groceries (£12.73) and to stretch our legs.

That's about it: I've spent a bit of travel time sorting out items for tomorrow's team meeting and sending texts, but I'm not finished so I'll have a further look through now.

Cherryfudge

I've been oh-so-tired today, but I didn't get much sleep as I'd just dropped off for an afternoon nap when the national test alarm went off, followed immediately by what sounded like drumming but which DH said was thunder.

The lunchtime meeting seemed to go okay and I've written up the notes and sent them out, remembering something I'd meant to include after doing so. Never mind, there's enough to be getting on with.

Another bowl of greengages gathered, very little done in the way of exercise, no shopping and the only gardening was noticing that about fifteen tomato plants have sprouted in the pots of leeks! This is in addition to a couple of small potato plants. Obviously the compost hadn't rotted down completely. It's a shame they are just getting going at this point in the year and I've never succeeded in overwintering a tomato plant yet.

The older lady from down the road has given us more tomatoes and a bag of large baking apples: DH is delighted, and I'm quite pleased too: I might appropriate one to make mincemeat.

MS failure: I had to throw out three floaty eggs and a good-sized block of Wensleydale (cheese not location). Sadly it was beyond use, and what a waste. I buy it for DH's aunty who comes to stay, but she only has a reasonable amount and didn't want to take any home. She used to live in that area so she adores the cheese, but I can't eat up what's left and DH can't tolerate dairy, so this isn't the first time it's gone to waste. I suppose I could have frozen it had I had space at the time, but I didn't. I'm not sure how to avoid the same situation happening again. I'm going to have to throw out a melon from the back of the fridge, too - my fault for buying it before I'd finished the previous one and again, what a waste.

Cherryfudge

Another sunny day, with big clouds and a chance of a shower but basically a good day to get out in the garden.

I have the day to myself! There are a few self-care bits and pieces to make a start on (my hair needs a trim, the summery-est of summer clothes need checking over preparatory to swapping to autumn clothes, etc.) 

I had a text reminder to make an appointment for a flu vaccination but both the suggested days are days I already have stuff happening all day. I might see if I can find an early appointment before one event.

I want to get back to planning the week, so here we go:

Monday - work this evening. Daytime - contact manager of Wednesday job, do self-care, gardening, shops.

Tuesday - DH's day off, no childcare and no other plans. Waiting to hear if any of my friends is available for a catch-up.

Wednesday - not sure what's happening re the Wednesday job as both the people I expected to meet with are unavailable. Work in the evening. Coursework?

Thursday - DH's day off, no definite plans. Work in the evening.

Friday - work in the evening. Coursework?

Saturday - DH is helping with an event so probably no car boot sale.

Sunday - preschoolers' session at church, me to lead.

This leaves me time to play catch-up with my course work, which I've not touched during August despite best intentions, as that time got taken up with practicalities. So doing the job took precedence over learning about the job... It's meant I've put some things into practice but not consolidated other things.

Cherryfudge

I got today's list done, with the exception of gardening, though I suppose you could call tidying up a houseplant and putting in the fresh air for a while, 'gardening'.

As it's been cooler, I decided I have no excuse but to get back to running. I stopped during August as it was too hot, so I've restarted C25K at the beginning of week 4. That worked okay but I was tired afterwards, and it set me back for doing other things for the afternoon. In fact I didn't leave enough time to cook tea before going to work. DH had to carry on where I left off when he got in from work.

I then had a text from DH - before he'd got far with the cooking - to say our eldest has put his back out and DH had, on the advice of NHS 111, taken him to A&E. They are still there about six hours later: A has painkillers but the waiting time has gone from 3 to 5 hours so it may be a while yet.

I finished making the curry and had my share, and DH has bought something locally to the hospital. It's not our nearest one but actually the one where our newest grandchild was born, and very near J and L.

I've offered H to go and stay with the girls if she wants to be able to go to A, but at present we are still expecting him home later tonight, so I'll go to bed soon. I've changed the settings on my phone so any of the relevant people can ring me, but I'll have to put an alarm on anyway, as I'm now on standby to take care of one of the girls as the other has a routine appointment at nine. That means leaving here at 8 if DH isn't back, though he said he will drive back no matter when.

Expenditure:
Housekeeping £13.67

Oddly, when I check my credit card to pay it up to date, all Friday's payments are still pending. That's handy in that I won't be charged for any, but all weekend and Monday as well seems a bit long.

Watty1

Hope the wait at AandE did not go over the 5 hours but I suspect it might have done.  Sadly they are so overstretched.

rtandon27

Must be something in the stars, I had two friends hanging out in A&E for half-the-night yesterday!  Both with kiddos - one with a high fever the other with an injury!

The injury is being seen as a badge of honour as it was byproduct of ice-hockey!  Canadians Eh?

Cherryfudge

Watty1 said:

Hope the wait at AandE did not go over the 5 hours but I suspect it might have done.  Sadly they are so overstretched.

I think it was seven and a half including time spent on tests and waiting time while painkillers took effect, however they were very thorough and we are satisfied it's a muscular problem which, while horribly painful, should heal over about six weeks. DH arrived home a bit before 4 in the morning and we had to be out again at a quarter to nine to look after the older grandchild.

rtandon27 said:

Must be something in the stars, I had two friends hanging out in A&E for half-the-night yesterday!  Both with kiddos - one with a high fever the other with an injury!

The injury is being seen as a badge of honour as it was byproduct of ice-hockey!  Canadians Eh?

I hope they're both feeling better today. Injuries caused by ice hockey sound much more dramatic than an ordinary mishap, having overtones of derring-do and tough battles fought, so I suppose the child might be better playing it for what it's worth rather than developing a worry about their next encounter!

Over the day, A has improved a lot: he's still on pain relief but he can hobble around for a while and is trying to stay mobile. The little one's appointment turned out to take longer than I'd allowed for so in the end we took her to the supermarket for groceries (they didn't have much in as they'd been away a week) then down to the swings. We also bought lunch for ourselves and some fancy coffees for me (it's pumpkin spice latte season again). It's been a warm sunny day (again), and nice being out in the garden at theirs in bare feet. I also picked up a load of rosehips as the Council hedge cutters had strewn them about. I'm thinking rose hip syrup, not that I've ever made it before.

There was a bit of excitement at the playground as an air ambulance came down in the park nearby. I had Flight Radar on and the journey time was only about a minute, but there are normally ambulances only minutes away as well so this was something unusual. I think the crew headed to the nearby arcade. It's not nice that someone needed it and some of the children were scared, but other were fascinated and it was a learning experience.

We had good news from the little one's long appointment: allergies are abating and she can be kept on a tolerance regime of having the erstwhile allergens a couple of times a week. I'm really interested to see how treatment for allergies has developed: when I was growing up it seemed to be assumed that an allergy was necessarily permanent, but now I'm seeing some people overcoming them or, conversely, developing an anaphylactic response as adults to something they were safe with until that point. I'm really glad the little one has got to the point where she's much safer.

We called in at the supermarket on the way home for pizzas for my friends but decided they could share our chickpea tikka rather than buy something we might then have to use up - then one of them texted to say she had been unable to swap her shift, so we've rescheduled for two weeks' time. I'm rather relieved as the housework hasn't been done and we are both tired! However, it's been a long time since the group met. It's good to see the others both making an effort to make it happen again!

Expenditure:
Housekeeping £21.37

Credit card is now paid up to date and interest avoided!

Sun_Addict

Phew just caught up with you and what an eventful time you’ve had just lately. I’m glad you had such a lovely time away. We used to go to Stratford a lot, it’s a lovely place. What a long wait for A in A&E especially with a back injury, that must’ve been uncomfortable for him. I’m glad he’s feeling a bit better now. Good news about the little one’s allergy progress. 

Cherryfudge

Thank you @Sun_Addict.

This evening I've sent off a message to the person who manages the Wednesday job, and the result has been a suggestion that I take a sort of sideways step in my role. It might work for me, though I'm not 100% sure. Then afterwards I volunteered for a small additional task with the cleaning team but that was easy because (if they don't already have someone for it) it's something I do anyway and will give me a day a week where I need to be out of the house during the day, and interacting with other people.