Moving on

Cherryfudge

The little shopping trip is done and the glasses are strong again. I bought a few cereal bars and stopped myself getting more. I'm not going to need much and will probably end up eating some on the way back from Manchester next week. One little bit of inspiration has been to hunt out disposable cutlery so we have more choice over lunches. A wooden knife to put jam on croissants or a spoon to eat yogurt or a fork for a ready made pasta bowl - all makes life easier and none of them will put airport security in a flap. (I generally get picked on by security, probably because I look too innocent to be true. I also have a metal plate in one arm, but it doesn't seem to set off scanners).

The washing's nearly dry, it's been the perfect day for it. Now to sort out dinner.

Cherryfudge

Dinner was a completely new curry, as in, someone else's recipe that I've not tried before, adapted freely to incorporate things that needed to be eaten. The result was Corned beef curry - simple curry recipe using a tin of corned beef (savingstuff.co.uk) but with added carrots, sweet potato, parsley, coriander, celery, ginger and turmeric. It sort of worked though DH isn't keen on sweet potatoes so perhaps if I make it again, it could have new potatoes in.

I've set out an assortment of the random bits and pieces that I feel will save us from all sorts of foreign emergencies, such as sticking plasters and sandwich bags, sellotape and sachets of hot chocolate. Now I feel more at peace! Most of those are things I could have done with on some previous trip somewhere. I suspect the hot chocs will come home again but it's a caffeine-free bedtime drink should I need one (and yes, I scoured the photos of the hotel to check there are kettles in the bedrooms). I've also looked up supermarkets and only found a Carrefour nearby, but experience says there will be a handy local shop because there always is - follow the money.

I can't remember if I've said, but I've mown the grass for the second time in two days, only this time the blades are set better and the result is as good as it's ever been, if you don't look too closely.

The latest ironing is un-ironed and the mending is un-mended, but they will wait.

I did lots of Duolingo this evening and reached the end of a section on wedding vocabulary, which seems to focus on grandfathers looking elegant, with the occasional intervention of elegant grandmothers, flowers and rings. I was hoping for something more relevant to a Roman city break next, but it seems to be talking about college.

Today's expenditure:
Complicated. Full price was £12.05, but clubcard promotions brought it down to £9.85, then I used a voucher for £4.50 that was going to go out of date and the end result was £5.35. I'm confused but I think that divides up as 
Medical £4 - paid by voucher so 'free'.
Housekeeping £5.85 less 50p 'free' due to the voucher so actually £5.35.

They don't make receipts as straightforward as they could.

Sun_Addict

It's only natural to feel anxious just before a holiday. You spend weeks looking forward to it then suddenly it's imminent and you go into pre-holiday panic mode. I'm a nightmare the day before and that feeling lasts until we actually board the plane. 

Cherryfudge

Thanks @Sun_Addict, it's reassuring to know it's not just me! I do know that I need to work on these anxieties, though, it's no good having them limiting my - and other peoples' - enjoyment.

Today so far DH has got some euros in cash and found it's cheapest to load up our travel cards in the branch, so we'll do that later today. He's also looked at booking a couple of things and discovered for us at this point, it will be cheaper to queue - of course we should probably have booked ages ago, but we didn't, so that's that.

My list of possible 'things for me' today is to make lemon curd, pot up some plants and put out-of-season clothes in the loft.

Cherryfudge

Unexpectedly, I've done quite a bit of this morning's list. The lemon curd didn't set brilliantly but it's made, and dinner was salmon, baked potatoes and sauce followed by a rice pud that used up the almond milk and some white rice. There's enough pudding for another day and I've finished the hummus for lunch, meaning I'm winning some fridge battles.

Not all the plants are in their new pots, but several are. The main ones that need attention now are the peppers I planted early in the year and which are getting too big for their tiny pots. The second sewing of coriander didn't grow, any more than the first one did. Keep trying. At least there are a number of houseplants and rooted cuttings of various things that now look as they should.

I got some old toys out of the loft while I was up there. They will be cleaned up and made available to their owners or the granddaughters if there are no takers. I entirely failed to find my floppy hat, so I gave up on the loft and looked in the bedroom where I found an unworn floppy hat that I'd forgotten. It's blue, which will go with my holiday clothes. I'm wondering about attaching a ribbon so I can have it hanging down my back and not have to hold it. There's still a great big list of small sewing jobs (and a few bits of ironing) but none is urgent. While I was looking I came across a cross stitch I started just after we got married (a gift from DH) and which has been waiting for me to correct a mistake ever since. It's one stitch out, and I can't find where! I think perhaps I just need to do what I can with the rest, and keep standing back to check it still makes sense.

DH spent a lot of time waiting for the queue at the Post Office to go down. There was only one member of staff which isn't adequate for town this size. Eventually he got his travel card topped up. We've decided we will top mine up as and when needed, via the app, rather overdo the holiday spending. There are a couple of hundred euros still on there from last year so I'll see how it goes. I did have a walk down to L!dl to see if they had pudding rice (they didn't) but I came back with several things they currently have at good prices., including one of those flower pot presses where you put damp paper round the mould to make a degradable pot. I've wanted one for ages and they were reduced to 99p.

It's been too wet to do much with the garden, but it was gentle, dithery, fairly unobtrusive rain with a restless, mild breeze. In fact, lovely weather. We could have doors and windows open and wander out without getting more than a few drops on us, much of the time. I'm happy with the garden, despite the fact so much of it is out of control, because the intensive work on the lawns makes it all look intentional, and everything is growing so lushly, and there's an abundance of wonderful bird song - I'm reminded of the poem with the line 'us... who wonder... why men depart to seek the happy isles'. It seems such a waste to be going away when I could be here! However, we don't have a great line in Roman buildings or Renaissance paintings, so I have to travel to get those.

Expenditure:
Garden 99p
Housekeeping 5.64

Cherryfudge

I've just found the missing hat (in a bag in my room - straw hats are a difficult thing to store, aren't they?), but the blue one wins the day and will come with me. I've also found a few bits to bin or recycle: a few plastic bags and some paper. Lots of bits and bobs have, I'm afraid, been shoved in a carrier bag that already had stuff in, and DH swapped the split bag for life that's they'd been in for a freebie replacement, but the aim isn't to acquire more bags but to sort through stashed stuff and either dispose or put in the right place. I think I have my work cut out.

Tomorrow, however, isn't supposed to be about that. I want to pot up those pepper seedlings and do some of the finances.  I've not said I'd help at the debt advice centre, and I'm working (cleaning) in the evening. Lunch will be from the freezer, I think: there are sausages to eat up, if I can find them, with sweet potato fries. DH has a work meal in the evening. I've made overnight oats for my other meal tomorrow.

Cherryfudge

It's another damp day today so the washing will have to wait. Also quite a long day as DH is out while I'm in, so I will try to set myself some goals. Already so far I've found and sorted out a small bag of papers - 20 have gone in recycling if you count three from last night. There were also some receipts from Mum's estate - most of those will be expiring this year if I've counted rightly, and a bunch of her photos which were nice to look through and are now in a hamper with others for sorting as and when.

For some reason there was a packet of cornflower seeds - years out of date (2017) - in amongst them so I've just scattered those on the garden and thrown the packet. They're in foil so there's always a vague chance something might sprout, but it's going to be slim. Nice surprise if any come up!

I changed my plan for my dinner. Now I'm going to use up the sausages with swede and carrot mash. I sorted out a freezer drawer last night and it's tempting to do more but this will create a bit of space and I need to do the inventory-type approach when we have time to have an onslaught on eating up.

Cherryfudge

I must have spent two or three hours gardening this afternoon: not just the ground elder but an assortment of other things have been reduced and the green bin is filling up. I didn't get as far as repotting the peppers, and I've not done most of the pile of mending that came with sorting out DH's jumpers, but I've sewn the strap back on an evening bag so that can go back into circulation - not that I ever need an evening bag! It's quite boho, though, so could be worn on other occasions.

I've kept away from the shops and DH's work 'do' was at Spoons, so he's not spent a lot. Work was fine, nothing much to report there.

WelshmansDaughter

My mother gets checked at airports as do I. I think we look like we won’t kick up a fuss. 

Cherryfudge

WelshmansDaughter said:

My mother gets checked at airports as do I. I think we look like we won’t kick up a fuss. 

I expect I look as though I won't kick up a fuss, too, but I have to bite my tongue. Not sure if that's a terrier reaction (small but fierce), a learned reaction (very much my mother's daughter and she would stand up for herself till armies quaked in their boots) or simply the ADHD aspect of my brain. Probably all three!