Moving on

Sun_Addict

How scary for the family that little F was so poorly. I hope she’s doing better today and will be back home soon. 

Cherryfudge

Thanks @Sun_Addict, she seems to be doing fine in the daytime then take a step back at night. Last night she was on oxygen again. We might be looking after her sister so Dad can take a turn at the hospital and perhaps Mum can get some rest. I know it can take weeks to get completely better, apparently some children on the ward have been there some time, but it's not necessarily so.

It's wet again here but I've put laundry in regardless. We need things to wear! I suppose I should tidy the spare room so at least putting the airing rack up won't turn a mess into chaos. Other than that, I've washed my hair (at last!) - didn't do it yesterday as I was out in the rain, then busy. That means I don't have it to do when I'm tired or early in the morning, which is quite often the way.

I'm leading the children's session tomorrow and I want to make a new wooden spoon puppet for the story, which I also need to rewrite: last year's version was too complicated and I got a lot of blank expressions as the children couldn't follow it.

I also need to send some messages to my poor mentor - apologies for the wrong sort of jam, for a start! (I thought I gave her some I'd made and frozen but it turned out to be a jar of the stones that I'd sieved out! Freezing those, unlabelled... definitely not one of my better moves! Then I've to update her and several others on F's progress, and ask about the assignment she's given me - turns out the printout from the main course doesn't give any instructions.

Well, the washer has nearly finished so I'd better go and do jobs. Lunch will be salmon from the freezer with sauce from stores and chips from the chippy.

Cherryfudge

We spent most of the day looking after N while her Dad took over the hospital shift and Mum came home - absolutely exhausted - to grab a couple of hours of sleep. Meanwhile the rain was steady, heavy and constant. On the way home we changed our plans and got fish, chips and mushies after a visit to the supermarket where I found the metal straws I needed, marked down from £4 to £1.25. I may also have come home with discounted Eccles Cakes and white chocolate chip cookies.

I've sent a few messages to update people, but after tea and Repair Shop, settled to making three puppets for tomorrow. There are four needed for the story but the one I made last year - actually the first of my character puppets I think, as opposed to multi-functional dolls - is still in circulation.

I'm fairly happy with how these have turned out and for the first time I don't have the story written out. I know it quite well: it's the story of Ruth, which is actually quite complicated so I've been practising it without getting embroiled in the names of all the people who died before the action really happens. As far as a bunch of pre-schoolers are concerned, this is about a kind lady who stayed with her friend and helped her, then met Mr Right and they all lived happily ever after. I think I'd best not accidentally call him Mr Right, either.

The morning's washing is nearly dry, including some bits of hand washing. Other housework is lacking but then, we've not been in enough to mess it up.

Expenditure:
Housekeeping £30.33 (minus the straws)

Cherryfudge

For those who remember the recent bill I had from Utilita, here's a very similar story. Same company, twice the bill, due to 'a computer rounding error', which is probably what happened in my case I suppose.

Widow, 79, chased over 2p debt to energy company

Cherryfudge

And all of a sudden it's Sunday evening again. Time to plan for next week, after last week's disruptions.
 
The great news is that DGD is discharged from hospital and happily back home. I hope they all get some rest and normality now. Normality can be so precious.

This morning's group went nicely: not large numbers but I think I got the story across better than last time. Note to self: even if you simplify it, kids under five can't draw make a picture of their family without help! I think they enjoyed it, though. Meanwhile I've brought all today's puppets home because they now all need a hair stylist, a wash or clothes repairs! That teaches me to test how good my gluing skills are,

DH helped me move a load of this term's resources into the storage cupboard elsewhere in the building after the service but I think I need to go back in at some point and have a sort out.

Dinner was the salmon with pasta and sauce that we moved up from yesterday, then I saw I had a message that my parcel had been handed to me, which it hadn't. A bit of informed investigation (thankfully the day has been clear blue skies so it wasn't miserable to go out of doors) and I found it on a door step in the next street. The house was empty so it certainly hadn't been given to anyone. I can understand them getting the wrong address as the streets are a bit unusual, but there's not a lot of come-back when the courier says they've handed it to someone. This was a top-up of an order I made about a month ago and where the delivery date has varied as far as next May (!): it wasn't urgent but I left a review to say what I thought of the whole thing (along the lines of 'if you want coconut milk, I recommend you grow your own as it's far quicker than this service'). If I get a separate email asking me to rate the courier, I will be factual but not sarcastic!

After that it occurred to me that I'd not reviewed other things I'd bought so I spent a while on that (not sarcastic this time) then had an idea for a gift for someone so that's to do tomorrow.

We were supposed to book our boiler service by today but the company website times out each time I try to do this and the phone goes through to a recorded message. Previous experience tells me this is about par for the course so we are going to book with the local guys and hope that still means the warranty is valid. Will get paperwork from them so I don't see why not.

DH has fixed a lamp that caused a lot of searching when the bulb failed earlier in the year. Turns out the old bulb is no longer made. The modern replacement wouldn't stay lit and I'd decided the contact point was corroded. It's taken us about six months to get round to repairing it but it's lovely to have good light in the dining room again.

Other than those things, I've tidied up the file for my coursework in a very MSE way. The file was one that church was chucking out, the dividers were rejects from work! I'm a bit shameless about reusing: truly one man's trash is another (woman's) treasure. And while on the subject of second hand, whoever wrote the algo rhythms for V1nted is a genius. I have so many thing favourited, then I was idly browsing, having decided that it's time to change the autumn colours in the lounge, when all of a sudden the perfect throw appeared before. I'm going to see if it's there in the morning. Same goes for a lovely lampshade (I haven't even searched for lampshades).

The plan for this week:
Monday - meeting in the evening. Not sure about daytime: if I am developing a cold, as a I suspect, maybe not much.
Tuesday - childcare.
Wednesday - day out with DD, meeting in the evening.
Thursday - work, afternoon and evening.
Friday - work in the evening.
Saturday - nothing planned.
Sunday - church.

ladybird1106

Glad little one is finally home. Your coconut story made me chuckle..
love 🐞

WelshmansDaughter

Great that dgd has escaped hospital 😀

Cherryfudge

Thank you, I hear she still has the cough but is so much better than she was. We'll see her tomorrow.

Today I've had a cold, but not too bad. It's been rainy, though we escaped the worst of it, and it wasn't cold either so I've been busy at home. One load of laundry got done and the bigger pieces in it were tumble dried, then I sent off an order for various gifts and my eye drops. I've taken advantage of a half price Pr1me subscription which I must remember to cancel in February.

I cleaned part of the fridge, which I reckon is better than not cleaning it at all. Mostly I've been cooking: a pumpkin and chickpea spicy soup which is a new recipe and will be a keeper, then a spiced bread pudding in an old 2 pt Denby pie dish - what a delight to bring an old dish back to life! - and dinner was another vat of chick pea tikka masala. All this means we have food for a few days!

I've also chopped more citrus peels. These are going in the freezer till I've enough for Miser's Marmalade.

By tea time I was ready to sit down, so we watched Celebrity Race Around the World while we ate, after which I went to a business meeting at church as an observer (part of my course). To be honest I didn't really understand a lot of it, but I got a chance to plug the area I'm involved in and invite them all along.

Gifts £40.76
Medical £31.99
Pr1me subscription £4.49 (half price).

ladybird1106

Ooo could I have your recipe for the pumpkin and chickpea soup please?
love 🐞

Cherryfudge

ladybird1106 said:

Ooo could I have your recipe for the pumpkin and chickpea soup please?
love 🐞

Here you go, Ladybird - I just used pumpkin instead of butternut squash.

Curried Chickpea Butternut Soup | Pick Up Limes