Moving on

Cherryfudge

Thanks @Sun_Addict and @time2change_2, lots of things to think about there. I wonder if a day-to-day spending diary on a spreadsheet would work with an undated set of entries at the top to cover the things that go out regularly but vary according to when in the week the month start? Then a separate spreadsheet to save me getting lost, in which income and spending totals balance against each other?

Once again, it won't be tonight as I need sleep and I have to be up in the morning.

Today was childcare: DH took them to the library in the morning and it then rained so DS1 gave us all a lift back to their house. We had a quiet afternoon in but the girls made a tea party and I introduced the idea of a scavenger hunt locally once the rain dried up. One of the objects to look for was a bit of blue sky but such is the British climate that between the morning's rain and lunchtime's some-breaks-in-the-cloud, by mid afternoon we had clear blue sky, so that was an easy win. I did cheat a bit finding a cat as I spotted a vet's vehicle with a logo comprised of various domestic animals. DGD1 then did me my own scavenger hunt: two of her initials, a line and something with sequins on.  

DGD1 is nearly over the chicken pox now and DGD2 hasn't had a single spot (yet).

I have once again fallen for the charms of V1nted and bought a dress (£6.14) and a pastry cutter (£4.57). Nothing bought from the shops.

Cherryfudge

Today has been a bit of a mixed bag so far but once I've had lunch and am fully awake it may turn wholly round to positive.

I didn't get to sleep till quite late, but that's par for the course when I have to be up for something. I think that's an ADHD thing: I don't have to like it or decide to do it, it just happens and is partly to do with my brain being keyed up about having to get up and do stuff before my body clock is ready. At least I can generally do things later in the day!

Then I woke up at 5.30 with reflux despite medication before bed and couldn't get back to sleep till about half an hour before the alarm. As a result, I've felt rather woozy/balance not 100%. While I was awake I went to get a drink and found we'd caught a mouse.

This morning I went out to my doctor's appointment (nothing serious) only to find that for some reason I've put it on today's date when it's actually next month! I remember writing it on the calendar while speaking to the doctor's receptionist and again I'm blaming ADHD and poor working memory because it's there in the right place, but also on today! Yes, they sent me a text, no, I didn't check it because it was already on the calendar, aren't I organised?! I suppose at some point I walked past the calendar, saw nothing in the space, forgot (or didn't think) about having written it down already and decided to pop it in while I remembered.

It got me up and out and exercised, so not totally a loss.

I've put two of DH's shirts through the wash after an overnight soak in stain remover. One has just a small mark on a cuff which I think I can deal with and the other had faint pink on the yoke. I tried the last traces with a thin paintbrush loaded with bleach but the bleach seeped into the stripes so it's Officially Ruined. Yesterday I mended the tag on DGD1's onesie (she smiled at me, which made it worth it) and attempted to replace batteries in some musical toddler books but have had to order more batteries as the last of the old lot were a bit manky. I also had a bit of a computer crisis - accidentally clicked on some infected site while looking up pottery stamps and N0rton and Mc4fee started sending me loads of warnings. Now the thing is, I don't think I have either of those programmes though I probably had the free versions for a year. I was suspicious that a virus was mimicking them to get me to click some link. I have various other things running so I attempted to get into one that I trusted and couldn't. I ended up shutting it down and calling support in the form of DH. Eventually he closed down a residual trace of Mc4fee and all seems to be back to normal but now I feel I ought to check what security I have, even if it means subscribing to something.

So it's been two days of mending, with varied success.

I'm still having to log into everything as the computer problem led to me cleaning cookies. 

When I got home this morning I collected the mouse and trap and went looking for a place to release it, settling on an established hedge in a snicket near some long gardens. Not too close to a house but plenty of shelter and food sources. I wasn't happy about releasing it in icy weather but this was my best solution. I've found five mousetraps that we've bought over the years then packed away when not needed and forgotten. They are all now soaking in bleach and will be put in a bag in the shed, hanging up so nothing gets put on top of them. Incidentally, I put out two traps last night: the one baited with peanuts was untouched. The one with a cake wrapper caught the mouse! I finished the cakes for breakfast! (In a hurry and wanted rid). I've saved other wrappers and will bait another trap tonight. It's the first time I can remember a trapped mouse eating the entire bait, so there must be something to it.  

I'm thinking of doing swede and lentil curry for tea, to use up a Christmas swede and give DH some of the anti inflammatory spices.

Cherryfudge

Good news that I almost missed - DS2 has passed his latest qualification.  

Sun_Addict

Cherryfudge said:

Good news that I almost missed - DS2 has passed his latest qualification.  

Well done to DS2 🎉

Watty1

oh congratulations to DS2  

rtandon27

That's lovely news!

Cherryfudge

Thanks everyone - proud of him.  

This afternoon seemed to be about cooking and chasing up a parcel - long story shortish, I'd lost track of ordering when I had several of the same item favourited on V1nted. I needed to do a bit of research about which was best and hadn't realised but I ordered twice! When the first one came, I was happy with it and thought there must be some mistake when I had a notification to pick up apparently the same item elsewhere. The notification persisted, so eventually I thought I'd better try to sort it out, then I couldn't get the app to work on the locker. After various attempts to get sense out of the company (the machine wouldn't accept the postcode) the helpful vendor told me to find the email and use the QR code, and of course I'd forgotten that, and it worked straight away and I wrote her a glowing review for helpfulness. Technology is definitely getting the better of me.

I've also ordered a shirt from V1nted to replace DH's one that was damaged (£10.34) and some more stocking filler socks (£5.09). I needed a few groceries for the curry (£3.74). It was freezing out this afternoon and I was glad to get back in. I've noticed the Christmas vegetables that have been kept in the shed are a lot better than the indoor ones, I think the cold and not having to contend with dry air is good for them. I added another pack of shallots to them today but the swedes are now down to half a one.

I tweaked the curry recipe with less cinnamon, more cumin and a teaspoon of actual curry powder. That suits us better - which is as well as there is enough left to feed us twice over.

While I was searching for an email, I realised quite a bit had build up in the spam box, not all of which should have been there. Among them I found a note from the son of my former Sunday School teacher. I'd not heard from her for a while and knew she had been ill, but her son just said his Dad had had a card from me and wanted to give me his number to call him. I think this means that lovely lady is gone, so I'm feeling sad. I don't think I can ring tomorrow as most of the day is busy and DH has a day off too.

I'm paying for last night's lack of sleep so I will sign off for now.

weenancyinAmerica

Cherryfudge - I am getting those warnings popping up on my computer also.  I am beginning to think it is spammers trying to getting my financial information. little do they know there isn't any money for them to get. It happened about five times today. Usually when I was looking at information on the news. So I just skipped started skipping that. Too depressing anyway.

Honeysucklelou2

Well done to your DS2🥳.

Love a scavenger hunt…they go down well at Job 1!

Cherryfudge

weenancyinAmerica said:

Cherryfudge - I am getting those warnings popping up on my computer also.  I am beginning to think it is spammers trying to getting my financial information. little do they know there isn't any money for them to get. It happened about five times today. Usually when I was looking at information on the news. So I just skipped started skipping that. Too depressing anyway.

During the pandemic, I started looking at the weather when I needed a news fix. Doesn't matter if I can see it out of the window and it's not what it says online, it still clicks that 'news' button. Perhaps run some clean-up program - plenty of free, reputable ones around - just to be sure. I have a feeling there are suggestions somewhere on this site.

Undoubtedly there are algorithms stalking us, so I decline cookies as much as I can.

Honeysucklelou2 said:

Well done to your DS2🥳.

Love a scavenger hunt…they go down well at Job 1!

Thank you. I enjoyed putting the hunt together and I'm sure we will do it again.