Moving on

KeepOnKnitting

Mmm sweet potato fries. Yum.

I hope you are under-estimating your washing machine's capacity to keep on trucking on. Mine was second hand (dad's friend gave it to me when his wife decided they needed a new one) in late 2012. It's a big 7kg capacity, so I don't have to run it that often with only me and sometimes a lodger in the house. It has had the odd period of making funny noises, but so far (touch wood) is still doing what it needs to.

Cherryfudge

Part of me thinks it will continue for years yet, @KeepOnKnitting, by which time all the neighbours will have been driven away by what's apparently a jumbo jet taking off.  

Today is cold - about 7 degrees when I went out this morning, though nice and sunny most of the time (with the odd shower thrown in). I did manage to get a couple of jumpers washed and on the line to dry, taking advantage of the blustery weather.

I was late for the debt advice centre so I was hanging around for a while waiting for sessions to finish and wondering whether there were any people willing to let me sit in on their time so I could get more of an idea. I even wondered if I should go home as I'm feeling a bit headachey/off balance. That changed all of a sudden as I was invited in to meet someone who may want support with budgeting. I can't get to the session next week but as things stand, it's possible I will start helping this person in a couple of weeks. I don't really have a plan yet, though I will contact the centre manager as soon as I have a starter plan mapped out, to see if I'm on the right lines. Goodness, everyone on the DFW board does this sort of thing all the time, don't we? It just feels like a big responsibility when it's me and someone I've just met for a few minutes.

Afterwards I went on to investigate the price of my cappuccinos at B& M, but they didn't have what I was looking for. Across the road at Sainsbugs, I found not only the cappuccinos on offer but also the white hot chocolate that was expensive the other week. It's now £2.50, down from £4.50 so I have some (BB July of next year, too). Of course I've bought some - a case of stocking up while they're at that price.

Now I'd better go and get ready for work.

peb

So pleased about the hot chocolate.  I was going to mention some at Lidl 

Cherryfudge

peb said:

So pleased about the hot chocolate.  I was going to mention some at Lidl 

Thank you! I'm finishing up the old one now that it's come to my attention. I used to drink lots of it so I might get another while the offer's on. No wonder it was cheaper in my memory; I remember telling my friend I'd seen it on offer.

Work was quiet tonight: I've done the same area of the building for a couple of weeks now and there's only so much to do so I'm looking round for extra things. Tonight was cleaning out a kitchen cupboard that housed nothing but grime and a defunct water heater. It's not really part of my job to clean out cupboards but someone was teaching online in a nearby room and I didn't want to make a noise hoovering (not that it needed it).

I've noticed that other cleaning job has been readvertised so I might ring up and ask whether it's term time only and whether holidays have to be taken to fit in with school holidays. I can see the pay rate is higher so I'm hopeful that will apply to my post too!

Today's expenditure:
Housekeeping £13.57

KeepOnKnitting

Fingers crossed for both a new job and a pay rise.

Laura_Elsewhere

Re the hot chocolate... worth experimenting a little but a friend makes her own hot chocolate with no nasty ultra-processed additives AND at a fraction of the price- she grates her preferred bar of chocolate, stirs in a bit of cornflour and keeps it in a jar in the fridge she says it's very easy to flavour it too- dark chocolate, grated and cornfloured, and put it in a wide-mouth jar with some orange peel and a chilli flake or two, shake frequently, and then remove the flavourings and use as usual. 

And as for your ground elder problem.... save money and EAT IT!  

Obviously, make sure it is definitely ground elder, but I spotted these recently and immediately thought of you... 

I look forward to hearing how you enjhoyed the soup https://www.eatweeds.co.uk/ground-elder-soup-recipe

https://www.eatweeds.co.uk/ground-elder-aegopodium-podagraria?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR1mMzkoh5fdN2t3OjHBOSPnD5EdTk2aeQiFC9UwiZPoHj4SzHKXxDBUTxE_aem_AcS1q5ScxoKVKpZow44m9CRT2xLPPKZy4hw2PWC1BUvcJYQhCfoS-enGa2DH4w5DIVU751sX1ZPWkYs4uUDS0BPJ#Ground_Elder_Recipes

https://gallowaywildfoods.com/ground-elder-identification-distribution-edibility/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR3WtMRsALTPD3vq3_yj0cn6eIyf5Ci8Q_CaB9bAeJCIL0g0yrUY6fnu6SE_aem_AcTI7HKtaG_B8ix5LxHp40OqEgJ_7bWQIdRLCwv8cZ4D5ZNCtxmdroxbqd1Il4k6c0ZcB7pxRY5zFr1Q4QUmEQ17

Cherryfudge

I made pesto with some ground elder last year, @Laura_Elsewhere! The thing is, it's growing faster than I can eat. I wouldn't mind trying some in place of spinach sometime, as it's always nice to grow your own (until it makes a bid for world domination, that is). It's the sort of thing that I could happily grow in a pot so I could eat a bit - it was originally introduced as a spring vegetable, I think. The pot would definitely have to be on a saucer to stop those roots, though.

I have a feeling my sister makes her own hot choc... the orange and chilli sounds like something I might make as a gift actually. Or maybe ginger... 

Oh dear I had better go and make dinner and not fall down culinary rabbit holes just yet.

P.S. Dinner is now cooking and there are some interesting things on those websites, thanks! I think the mistake I made last year was to make too much pesto with it, and there's only me likely to eat it so I ended up throwing some out as it went off. This year's pesto experiment is with parsley and walnut, and what I tried was tasty. The rest of that is in the freezer.

KeepOnKnitting

Those recipes sound amazing! Now I almost want some ground elder of my own. (I don't really, mare's tail is bad enough.)

Cherryfudge

Another chilly, wet day! I think I need an emergency re-think of what to wear for Saturday (big family 'do'): summer clothes are not going to work.

Today I've been to the funeral of a relative of someone I know, not someone I knew personally but I wanted to support my friend. It was all very traditional and elegant, so I was glad I'd gone for black with a scarf that my friend made for me. I did meet a couple of people I knew, which made it a little easier.

Like Saturday, it was also one of those times when I try on various things I don't usually put together and surprise myself. Under the black coat and over the black trousers and polo neck (and hidden away) I had a vivid red merino cardigan that I bought back in the autumn from a charity shop, purely for the quality of the wool and loathing the style. Today it actually went very nicely, fitted beautifully and kept me warm, so I may have to abandon ideas of re-donating it or pulling it to pieces. Later in the day I fetched a few more summer things out of the loft and suddenly came across the Christmas jumper I lost several years ago! That's come down to go in the Christmas drawer and be worn again.

This afternoon was an onslaught on the remaining courses for work, so those are all finished and certificates sent to management. Meanwhile the rain rained, I ate too much to help me concentrate and I had my feet on a hot water bottle as well as the heating on. I remembered to put a claim in for three hours.

No shopping done today, though I thought about ordering more coat covers as I had to give the black coat a good brushing despite it being behind everything else on the coat hooks so theoretically covered up.

I used sausages from the freezer to make Toad in the Hole for dinner and seem to have lost my touch with Yorkshire Pudding. Mind you, I was winging it and didn't measure anything so a nice hot oven and oil and the addition of pepper and a dash of water all came to nothing.

Tomorrow is DH's turn on the cleaning rota and I don't think I have anything booked as work don't need me for a couple of days. The aforementioned clothes need to be sorted out, though, and thought given to what to take with us for a few days (hotel then self catering to make the longish drive into a holiday).

Cherryfudge

Nothing booked to go to or do today but of course it's Getting Ready For Going To The Event Then On To Wales day. Thankfully most of the clothing I need is routine stuff: jeans and jumpers, trainers, duvet coat... the only 'dressing up' is this meal with the family.

I got my sunglasses out - just in case! Sometimes I need them in the car. I also need to pack D's sunglasses that he left here on his last visit, and a photo for Aunty.

As usual, I have a list of things I want to cook before we go away - yogurt, marmalade and hopefully something vegan for tonight, though I might have to rethink that. Staying at a hotel tomorrow means I can't take frozen food with us, but we take things that it's silly to buy fresh when we only need a bit - things for hot drinks, cereal, oil, salt (though that's usually provided at self catering) etc., so I have those to go through, too.

So there's a great big list to cross off as I go through the day. Things that don't get done, don't get done. And yes, it includes things that could wait till we get back.  

Wash winter coat (in the machine right now, with extra detergent and stain remover as it's been a while but I'm also trying not to wash it too often)
Pack sunglasses, sun cream (yeah, right!)
Pack D's sunglasses, photo for Aunty - DONE
Turn short dated milk into yogurt
Make marmalade
Start a notebook of thoughts about budgeting as a resource for clients - DONE
Sort out fridge
Set aside food to take with us
Reactivate my Coop card as that's the nearest shop where we're going
Go to shops for another cheaper hot choc (just the one!) and more cappuccinos if still on offer.
Feed and water houseplants
Wrap A's birthday present and choose a card
Plant up those random cuttings that are rooting in the kitchen
Do a few items of hand washing laundry
Choose a craft to take with me to do in the car
Do Duolingo and Bible reading
Mend DH's jumper to take with us
Charge toothbrushes and Kindle
Clean my white trainers

There are bound to be more as the day goes on.