Moving on

Cherryfudge

Oddly, soon after writing about not being tired, I had to go for a siesta! I don't know if I really slept, but near enough, then had to make myself get up and go to the shops for some ingredients.

J and L and the dog arrived at about six and we all had a lovely evening. Dinner was a Moroccan-style casserole, a new batch of the one I made at the end of last week combined with the remains of the last one, so we are down to about one portion now. Yes, a really nice evening, which became an interesting discussion on Aunty. In the end they stayed for hot chocolate and didn't set off home till about ten.

Expenditure:
Housekeeping/entertaining £15.41

Cherryfudge

Diary entry purely to motivate myself to do something useful (so please feel free to skip).

Last night I found a poor drowned spider in the bath so I fished it out and left it on tissue... and this morning it has gone, thus confirming my suspicion that they don't drown all that easily. However, that meant I changed my plan of having a bath last night and had a shower this morning instead, but I'm still not 'battle ready' even though it's gone lunchtime.

The washing machine cycle is nearly complete so the bedding will go on the line and take up all the space. There's more laundry to do but the forecast for tomorrow is promising so it can wait.

I intend to capitalise on the 'guest-ready' state of the house and make a little bit more progress somehow. First will probably be remaking the guest bed.

Getting ready for our next excursion:

1. Plan my wardrobe because I know that as it gets nearer the time that will weigh on me and I will end up taking more than I need.
2. I've ordered my tablets and they are a bit bulky nowadays so I'll save the pockets of the current lot, flatten them to pack and just take one strip of each set. It's only a few days so that will save bulk.
3. Toiletries - again, search out travel sized containers (much as I love buying them new, it's a waste of money when I have lots of small containers.
4. Entertainment: check my phone provider still covers me abroad without extras. Find the travel adaptors, enough charging cables etc. take something to do if I can't get online. Anything else?

DH has been breaking up more of the garden path and I'm avoiding a further encounter with the ground elder: three days with minimal attention and it's delurking in a big way. I could in theory tackle more of the fern but it's physically daunting so potting up a few smaller plants might be preferable. There are quite a few to save.

DH and I have finished the cake gifted by our weekend guests and I've had the chick peas, but the fridge needs a bit of a sort out.

I've also got my Tuesday meeting tonight, and I'm leading so I need to do the prep - but I'm not hosting. It's not warm yet (since when did 14 degrees become 'not warm'?) but the sun is starting to break through so I will soon come out of hibernation

Cherryfudge

The washing got washed and there was room on the line so I've separately hand washed a dress I bought the other week, which turned out to be a good idea as the colour runs. I also did a load of jeans.

Passing the time of day with a neighbour, chatting about plans for our respective gardens, it turns out he needs rubble to go under a patio, and we have rubble to dispose of, so the deal is done! DH was delighted as it means our path can progress faster.

Some shopping has been done: groceries, a heat mask for my eyes and some summer trousers I took a fancy to in a charity shop. I haven't tried them on yet.

I had a nice meal and study time with my friends this evening. We're all off on holidays soon so won't see each other for a few weeks.

Expenditure:
Housekeeping £10.41
Medical (eye mask) £8.99
Clothing £2.99

Laura_Elsewhere

That sounds like a really pleasant day, cherryfudge! 

Cherryfudge

Laura_Elsewhere said:

That sounds like a really pleasant day, cherryfudge! 

One of those pleasant days of being at home and doing home stuff. Always welcome here.  

Cherryfudge

Today has been a bit odd: sometimes I wake up and it's as though the right side of my head is still not fully awake. I can see fine but it feels as though it's having trouble focussing. It stayed like that all day, making this morning's volunteering a bit of a guessing game. I did spend a bit of time with a client going through some expenditure, and managed to report back to the manager, but I can't say I shone. I've borrowed some explanatory guidelines and a colleague has offered to lend me some notes to help me get on track. I've also asked to do the course that was suggested for me which will enable me to take forward the budgeting guidance side of things as, with a structure in place, it will be easier.

I wandered back via the shops and found the trousers I'd resisted yesterday, so they and yesterday's pair are both waiting to be tried on. I also got cash out for the first time in ages as a market stall was selling Conference pears at 6 for £1 and I wasn't going to pass that opportunity by. There was also a trip to L!dl to look for soda, which they don't seem to stock at the moment. I compensated for lack of it by getting ice creams and milk. However, I completely forgot I'd said I'd get a 90th birthday card for DH's other auntie, so he had to dash to get it after work.

When I got home, I had lunch, put the washing machine on, heated up the eye mask and fell asleep.

I was up in time to put the washing on the line (the cloud didn't fully burn off and it's been breezy so the expected warmth didn't really materialise but it will still dry), and make tea (chicken and chorizo pasta). I've cried off tonight's group, though, as I think a rest would be more appropriate.

Expenditure:
Clothing £6.99
Housekeeping £4.84
Medical £ 24.79 (eye drops - cheapest I could find about six month's supply, and then 10% off so at least they are MS).

Cherryfudge

The quiet evening yesterday did the trick, as I half suspected it would, and all my head seems to be present today. I also found I responded to the mental space and quiet, in that I got the first of two heaps of ironing done, then went back to the course I was doing in January and completed it. Then I started another...

This morning I tried on the two pairs of trousers bought in the last couple of days and the dress I bought while away and I'm happy with all of them though the dress straps need to be shortened and so do the trousers.

It looks like being a lovely day so I will do a couple of items of laundry and I really must continue The Battle of the Ground Elder, as it's been neglected most of the week and despite the grass being mown twice, I can see a lot more of it. I'm also going to text H to see if she'd like a babysitter for an hour or so while she packs for their holidays.

Cherryfudge

I think I managed not to spend anything today despite wandering into a shop or two. I seem to be getting better at this.

Some housework is done, mostly laundry and the spare room bed, then after lunch I went to look after the grand daughters while H packed for their holiday, so between that and work I've clocked up 20,000 steps. It's really nice to have some time with them as we don't have the regular weekly slot of caring for them while H is on maternity leave. N decided to do my hair - she's only two and a half so she couldn't work out how to make it stay up.  

The lovely weather meant I was in a tee shirt, sun glasses and sun cream. Yippee!

I also wore cropped trousers to go to work, and several offices had their windows open, so there was a pleasant breeze. It's so different from working the same hours in winter when it's after dark and the heating's on!

Food-wise, DH got his own tea as I was working and I've finished off a casserole and some ham slices, then remembered I still had banana muffins. I had to throw one out but the rest will be eaten by tomorrow.

In MS terms, apart from not buying things, I've given DH a hair cut. The clippers I bought a few months ago aren't as good as the old ones so I may end up buying some sort of gadget to give a better finish.

Cherryfudge

The exercise yesterday wore me out: I must have been asleep soon after eleven, and consequently woke about three, though I then slept through till eight. So today I have had plenty of energy for everything, though the pre-holiday inability to get myself to do anything seems to be kicking in. I didn't get to church cleaning till late morning. I spent longer than usual, too, as there's a wedding tomorrow and I wanted it to look as nice as possible. I've also been lent course notes for a version of the debt advice course that's a lot more recent than the one I took.

After that I watered the tubs of plants out the front of the church, dropped batteries, pans and old makeup containers off for recycling and got home for 'lunch' about three. (Porridge - it's easy and fills me up nicely). I'd said I'd try to deliver a bunch of coriander to my friend (surplus to requirements) and managed to fit that in on the way to work.

So all in all, quite a few things got done and I'm at nearly 19,000 steps so I've burnt off a few calories. This is necessary, as my weight's crept up a couple of pounds. I decided this morning that my clothes would look better if they were a bit more relaxed! So that's something to aim for, amongst many things. I also took a look round the (messy) bedroom and shut the curtains in case the window cleaner came round. Definitely a job to tackle, even if I don't know what to do with things.

I've not spent anything - I think putting the items for recycling has somehow ticked the 'want to go in a shop' box. Dinner was tuna pasta - our Friday routine is currently for DH to cook and we can eat together as I finish work early. It's a 'from stores' meal, talking of which, I need to have another look through some cupboards and work out what needs to be eaten up.

Cherryfudge

Resolutions to have another early night got nowhere as I got red alerts from AuroraWatch (an app) and was hanging out of windows trying to get photos. Even here in town, once the street lights go out at midnight, and with a very beautiful reddish new moon low in the sky northwards, I could see vague traces of colour. I took a lot of photos and was going to delete the ones that looked black when I got up this morning, but when I woke up, I looked at them with dark-adjusted eyes and I had so many colours! I must remember to keep them and look at them in the dark.  

Friends up in Swaledale, where there are dark skies, sent amazing pictures of the lights to our Wednesday group, in the hope some of us could share the experience. That worked out well, as the couple who live near A and H got the message and took a great photo of a pink plume rising above the houses.

Here, we have idyllic weather. Suncream and sunglasses, definitely. I've stayed away from car boot sales, though DH went to Thirsk, which finally reopened last week. He spent £3 on a painting. Later we will go into town to get him some sunglasses and get my ordinary glasses repaired (I managed to squash them the other day and now the arms keep falling off).

I have far too many bitty things waiting to be done: I've made another start on the ground elder, which has mostly had a week to grow and I can't pretend it's anything but a problem. However, the further flung leaves are very small, so perhaps I'm making life harder for it. There's still an ironing pile, though a bit smaller. I've set aside a dress I don't want, and a couple of fancy jars for donation. There's also a tee shirt to go, but first I'm repairing a seam split. Talking of repairing, there's that dress and pair of trousers needing to be taken up.

I've finished the coriander and thrown some yucky bits in the compost. The rest helped use half a bag of carrots and made my lunch of - guess what? - carrot and coriander soup. There's also some left for tomorrow. I blitzed in a remnant of red pepper left from yesterday - works well. I also discovered I still have a big chunk of sweet potato and more carrots than I thought so those need something doing.

Other than the GE, I need to feed plants and set things up so they don't wilt if it's hot while we're away.

Clothes: other than the mending, altering and donating, I need to find more to donate, pack up things that will be too warm for a while and put away the rest in drawers. Then I need my floppy hat from the loft.

I'll ask DH to do the donating as he still pays taxes and I don't. In fact, we need to see about whether I should pay the missing NI contributions from the last few months (my record says I have enough for a state pension, but will a gap make any difference? I need to enquire further) and donate some of my tax allowance to DH. Oh, and see about telling charities I've donated to that I'm not gift aiding.

See, so many things?

And on the financial front, I am so behind on record keeping, and I also have a cheque to pay in next week from my accidental overpayment to YBS.

At least not spending anything today so far is simplifying matters.