Moving on

Cherryfudge

Thanks @EssexHebridean . Yes, I need to attack the kitchen today and make a vague food plan but it's a bit tricky when I'm working early evenings. I tend to eat well at lunch and have something light later, while DH takes a packed lunch to work and has a dinner meal at night. That makes three to five days a week when we have to cater for ourselves, but it lets us earn our money! I'm not sure I could cope with spreading the spending over two axes: it's a bit hard to keep up with just spending and averaging it out over the month, but I can see it works for some people. To be honest I don't have a set budget amount but the fridge, freezer and cupboards let me know when I need to do some rethinking, and there's still money in the account due to the back-pay DH received last summer! Those two bigger spends last month mean the stores are full and only fresh things need to be bought but last night's shared meal with my friends, in addition to having things to finish already in the fridge, has thrown things out.

I noticed a sign in T3sco to say there aren't so many bananas available due to 'supply', so I'm putting that down to shipping having difficulty getting through. I've not bought any as it would only be habitual. I used to get through one most days in my overnight oats for work, but now that I'm eating at home, there are too many other things to try and I have to be realistic and not buy or make any more yogurt for a while. I have about 750ml of yogurt in the fridge right now which I have no plans for. Where is that 'Eek' emoji when I need it?

Following on from last night's tiredness, I'm muzzy-headed and a bit headachy today. It feels rather like eye strain, possibly due to having had my glasses adjusted twice in a few days. Outside is grey and damp, though not raining, so I'm onto a second load of laundry in the machine and the first is hanging up around the house. I've also got handwashing under way, by which I mean it's soaking in the kitchen sink and I'm in the dining room, typing. There was a sudden gleam of sun a few minutes ago so I'm holding out for feeling more awake once the day lightens up. I'm working from five.

Breakfast was some cold pizza from yesterday, and the remaining slices have gone in the freezer. I think my body is missing its usual granola, but this seemed a way to start on the food problem. I am also going to give in to a strong coffee as straying hydrated isn't clearing the symptoms.

Back later to report what I achieved.  

EssexHebridean

Argh that's good info about the bananas as MrEH has one for his breakfast each weekday. I might need to make some muffins or something for him to take instead, then. 

Spare yogurt always means flatbreads, to me! (Although thinking about it, it would also work with the muffins!) 

Cherryfudge

I have made a start and once I got a bit of impetus, managed lunch, laundry and hoovering. Part way through I put the oven on to make a French yogurt cake and completely forgot it because I thought of doing the hoovering, so that was a bit of a waste. However, I made a bowl of salad which has diminished the fridge contents a bit though I forgot the actual salad leaves. The coleslaw and beetroot are finished, and so is some celery I chopped for dips last night, though there's still most of a head of it (does celery have a head?) in a jar of water, ready to grow roots. (There's one from last autumn outside in a pot, and the other day I planted one that rooted in water recently - I haven't looked up how to care for them so they are mostly leaves, but that's okay for now as I don't need much at a time).

I remembered there was espresso in the cupboard busy doing nothing, so I made some to add to a packet cappuccino and it helped me wake up a bit.

The big vacuum cleaner is still on loan to J and L so I used the small one then cleaned it out as it doesn't hold much. I also did the filter, which clogs up easily, so that's all in place for next time (being kind to my future self, or possibly DH).

I've also had a small insight into how I function. Sometimes when I can't settle to something, it helps to ask myself if there's a way in which I'm not physically comfortable. As far as I can tell, I don't have any issues with proprioception, so I'd not really looked at body awareness, but I've found that even if my head is buzzing and feeling threatened with too many things to do, if I can isolate one physical thing I can improve and do that, the rest settles down quite a lot. It's as if the physical things (heat, cold, head ache, toilet, eye strain, hungry, nauseous etc.) are trying so hard to get my attention and being told 'not now, I'm aware of your need but I really need to sort out these other things' that they stop me doing other things. So the ADHD aspect quietens down once the physical needs are put right.

I'm not sure how significant or otherwise this is, but it's interesting to see ADHD responses linked to physical stimuli and the knowledge is a tool I can use to cope with it.

Yogurt cake, here I come.

Cherryfudge

That was... interesting. I decided to use the open carton of yogurt, and the original recipe measures things in 4oz yogurt cartons. Well, this was a 500ml carton, nearly half full so I had the bright idea of marking the outside at the level of the yogurt then using multiples of this to make the recipe and accepting it would make a bigger cake.

One measure of yogurt, check.
One measure of oil, check.
Two measures of sugar, three measures of flour... 
 
By this time the bowl was definitely on the full side, then I began to channel Mrs Beeton:

...eight eggs.
2 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp salt.

I got out a second loaf tin. I looked at the fairy cake tins and went for muffin tins instead. I pulled out the baking tins stored lower in the oven to make space. I gave up on trying to spoon gloop out of this mighty bowlful and poured carefully for the loaf tins (it worked). Then I really didn't want to face more than two 1lb loaves of yogurt cake, so I looked around for flavouring and the lemons came to my rescue. The zest and juice of a lemon and about half a bag of frozen blueberries, and you have a dozen fat muffins.

There was  still a bit of batter left, so I made a very small cake too.

I will now admit that DH is very unlikely to eat any of it, so I may have to find other homes for some, but hot out of the oven, it's absolutely delicious, just a bit overwhelming.

badmemory

Aldi had loads of bananas yesterday & some of them quite green.

redofromstart

I picked up bananas in the co op yesterday (85p/6) so I suspect not quite hit the shops yet.

Sun_Addict

Eight eggs - that’s a lot of eggs 🙀

Cherryfudge

Bananas: L!dl seemed to have quite a few this evening. Cakes/eggs - I bought more eggs after work so I can make more lemon curd. DH kindly took one of the yogurt cakes to his meeting this evening and only a bit came back, then DS2 came over with my birthday present and card and those for Mother's Day too, so he's taken some back with him. It was lovely to see him and have a catch up. His health has improved somewhat but isn't right yet. Another blood test is due soon to try to establish the best dose of medication. It turns out we don't have exactly the same condition as his is more extreme than mine, but in both cases it's treatable though not curable. He is worried about long term damage but I hope not as there's already indications he has improved from where he was.

Expenditure:
Housekeeping £3.78.

Cherryfudge

I am having one of those mornings where nothing is getting done. To be honest I could have done with more sleep last night but it was worth being up late to talk to DS2, then I had a long bath and read my book to slow down. I tried to talk him into staying so he didn't have to drive back while he was tired, but he went home anyway. I suppose I can see the sense in that as, like me, he's not a morning person and would probably have still been in bed had he been here.

No real plans for today apart from a need to put my latest shifts on the timesheet before I forget them. I'll post back to say what else I get done.

Possibles: laundry, ironing, check banking/cc to make sure payments went through okay and maybe pay off the rest. Investigate neglected work training and book the few hours of leave I've accrued.

Cherryfudge

There's not enough in the laundry basket to warrant putting on a load and today is very grey, though dry, which as you know from my frequent complaints, makes it hard to do things. Looking forward to getting out to work!

The ironing is done and a tiny bit of effort towards the next Tuesday studies. I've paid off what I thought I owed on the CC, but the lag in payments (and possibly my maths) has led to confusion so another £90.86 has crept in that I have left in place to let my head clear. I can see a couple of payments have gone through  since I did the sums, but each is less than £10. Then today another payment is pending, but that's not showing up as owing yet, so I don't know where the other £80 went. I can't see any payments I don't recognise and am having to assume I've added it up wrongly somewhere. It's not in DH's finances as he doesn't have that card.

Thinking of returning to a barter system, but I'm not sure I could handle the complexities of that, either. The good news is that Cc have sent me a reminder text this time around, which I didn't get last month.

I should be able to get through today without spending but I have two free cakes on my L1dl app, one of which runs out tomorrow.