Moving on

Cherryfudge

A few bitty jobs are out of the way. I've cleaned the bathroom, potted up two lavender plants left over from last year (in MS home made compost, in MS pots from the plant pot recycling at the garden centre), done various bits of handwashing (which got nearly dry on the line: the day got more spring-like as it went on), ironed a few pieces and took the soft plastics and batteries to be recycled.

I had a few minutes so I finally bought a couple of items for my niece's Christmas stocking, 2025! I still don't know when we are going to meet them but both her parents have a few gifts and I don't want her to miss out.

DH and I met in the supermarket - he is happy with the new equipment at work, which is a relief as he was getting stressed about it. We decided on tuna pasta for tea.

I've also bought a couple of gifts on V1nted: a bag for my BiL and some braces for the grand daughters so they can wear those loved-but-still-slightly-too-big items.

Housekeeping £14.01

Gifts £14.84

Cherryfudge

Two lovely sunny days: yesterday morning all the grandchildren were together, with the oldest trying to entertain the baby. It's lovely seeing how a four year old chooses things she feels are likely to be good toys for a baby: she puts real thought into it. In the afternoon we just had the older ones and a play tent went up in the garden. By tea time it was getting a bit less warm and I persuaded them to come indoors.

DH collected a different prescription as the medication he's been having doesn't seem strong enough, and we saved our energy by getting fish and chips rather than cooking in the evening.

Today was warm as well as sunny and DH had the day off. He's started the new medication and is looking much better. It's a strong steroid and has an effect quickly, but over a few weeks the dose will be tailed off. I spent an hour and a half weeding the front garden: only about five pots are clear of weeds and there are many to go, but some time was spent pouring boiling water on the tiny weeds that are showing in the block paving, and picking up birch twigs thrown down by recent high winds.

We went shopping for kiln dried sand (£7.90), which the internet says is what goes into the paving. I will wait to apply it till I'm sure it's all dry. I've renewed the garden centre membership (£15, an increase of 20%) so that I won't lose th loyalty points I've built up. We aren't madly keen on the hot drinks we get there, which come as a freebie with membership, but that's counterbalanced by having a bit of 'date time'. Last year I also got a good discount on garden tools through the membership. On the way out I picked up half a dozen free plant pots from the recycling bin, but there weren't any coffee grounds available. Then we got a couple of bags of compost at L1dl as well as some groceries. I had a 'free vegetable' coupon and we debated what to get. We won't get through a bag of potatoes so in the end we chose a pack of peppers.

DH then went for a walk and I fell asleep!

Dinner today has been toad in the hole so we could use up baked beans from the fridge, then we each had our church groups.

ladybird1106

Glad Mr cherryfudge is responding to the meds.
love 🐞

Watty1

Glad there is a response to the meds for Mr Cherryfudge. You might not be so keen on the drinks with the membership but it does sound on balance as if it is a good thing, you have an incentive to go out and just sit down and "be" for a while.

Sort of made me think a bit about my situation. I have no real incentive to go out anywhere. I will ponder on that for a bit.

rtandon27

@Cherryfudge - sometimes having an old familiar 'date' venue is just what you need as a couple to enjoy some time together! I'm glad the two of you do mediocre coffees together as a date habit.

Last Sunday OH & I visited the Canadian food truck for poutine & wings - only his second time out since treatment started mid-November - the food is good but not great, but the memories and conversation it sparked is priceless!

in_need_of_direction

whoever came up with poutine is a weird yet amazing thinker. you wouldn't dream of putting those components together until you've tried it

Cherryfudge

I had to look poutine up and I can't say it's a mixture I would have voluntarily come up with - but it must work or it wouldn't be popular. Living where I do, a real favourite is parmo (chicken in a thick cheese sauce) but a favourite from years back when I lived in the south west was lardy cake. Two amazing regional tastes that never seemed to exist outside their localities.

Today was mostly work, though as usual I had a bit of time between the bus arriving and needing to go to the class so I bought a sandwich (yes, I had one light meal with me but needed two) and browsed the charity shops. I found a net laundry bag for 50p (had been going to buy one for £1), a tin of artist's crayons (£2) and a pair of mugs for £5.95. These mugs match a large bowl I bought in our Dorset days, from a pottery down there, so it was a surprise to find them this far north. I'd been on the lookout for something to match the bowl, but the rabbit design on the bowl seems hard to come by. There are other animals that seem to come up more often - but one of the mugs is a rabbit so I'm happy with that.

Of course, this means I am spending some of what I earn, making the trip less financially rewarding, but carrying two meals is a lot of weight so I'm trying to find a happy medium.

I had three hours' work this evening and I'm quite tired now. DH is using up annual leave so he has another day off tomorrow but it's a fairly full day for me.

redofromstart

I love Lardy Cake, I had grandparents in the south west and it's such a nostalgic thing for me. I haven't had or made it for years but your reminder made me smile.

rtandon27

oooo - i just g00gled lardy cake - reminds me of something I used to have as a child from a Caribbean bakery back across the pond! They also did something called hardo/lardo bread - which was really delicious as well.

Cherryfudge

I am gaining weight just remembering lardy cake! Superb invention.

Friday was quite busy: DH went out to browse an auction in the morning but didn't buy anything, and since then has been trying to get the right stuff to fix a kitchen cupboard door, finishing up with going to a talk this evening.

It was chilly and misty till lunchtime but spring was determined and reappeared in the afternoon. Time I washed my winter coat and put it away. 😊Actually I'm not far off needing to replace it: it's lasted me quite a few years but is losing thickness and getting a bit sad around the edges if you look closely.

I spent a while trying to catch up with tidying up - not there yet - then did my church cleaning stint. I'd forgotten the catering trainees were in for the day: the cooking smelled delicious and they invited me to stay for lunch but I'd said I'd eat at home, so I turned them down (and by the time I'd finished I only had time to reheat some dhal and eat in a hurry before going out again, so my intention of lunch with DH never happened). He gave me a lift to work so I had a few minutes spare which was a good opportunity to make a small start on this year's battle of the ground elder. It's coming up with a vengeance and the grass is too wet to mow so I might have to go over it with shears in an effort to retard the growth.

Work this evening was another three hours: I happened on a former colleague of DH's, only to find she is about to leave for another organisation. We chatted a bit - I had to excuse myself to go and work. People don't always realise other people's work has time constraints, and I'm not very good at cutting conversations short. Nevertheless, it was nice to have caught up with her.

A few small purchases: the laundry bag bought for 50p yesterday turns out to be too big so I replaced it with a smaller one for £1. More wild bird food, some crisps for when DH gets cramp and needs salt, and a y/s pack of beautifully red peppers. Even reduced, they were around £1.30. That's over 40p each - so expensive! I don't know if that's the season or the cost of getting them across Europe, or both. I will be MS and ensure they are either fully used up while fresh or chop and freeze them