Moving on

Sun_Addict

Welcome home. Always nice to sleep in your own bed. Sounds like you had a great time. 

WelshmansDaughter

Sounds like a great time was had.
Weather wasn’t too bad where I am in Scotland, just very wet after days of sunshine. Chilly today

Cherryfudge

It's been a full day today, and I'm ready to sleep. DH had the day off and we babysat our granddaughters while their Mum had her hair done. Tonight they are driving to a wedding.

The girls were lovely: we took them for a walk (highlights were watching dogs running after balls in the park and discovering a huge furry caterpillar which N stared at hard, then kept a look out for more. The rest of the time was at their house, and N talked us into watching 'Bluey' (A new to me episode. That programme is so funny and so full of astute observations and ideas). Little F just sat on my knee most of the time. As long as she can watch what's going on and find her fingers to suck, she's generally very content.

I had to go a bit early as I'd moved my cleaning duties at church to the afternoon and needed to fit it in before the paid cleaning job. The person I was rotaed with has been unwell (operation pending) so I was glad when DH turned up and helped too, which saved the other person doing too much. In fact DH has made the day work: driving me to things, taking on caring for the girls when I had to go, cutting the grass and making dinner, and finally cleaning the dishwasher and washing the dishes. Thanks to him driving, I had time for a sit down and a snack before going to work, where I mopped a lot of corridors (slightly hampered by staff staying to finish things before the bank holiday - I told one of them I was going to mop the floor as soon as she left so she wouldn't be able to get back in). 

I've avoided spending today but DH has got a few things. We've also agreed to forego the chip shop chips tomorrow as I felt so bloated last time we had them. I'm going to get some salmon out of the freezer instead. I also feel like doing some more cooking: a week without it is long enough and it would be nice to restock a bit on some baking.

Cherryfudge

Still feeling weird (off balance, aching around the sinuses, not sure my eyes are always working together!) but it's improved as the day progressed.

Lots of laundry done and nearly dry.

It's been reasonable weather so we went to the car boot sale this morning and I found some interesting things. I bought embroidered jeans (£2) though they turned out to be very tight! If the weight loss progresses, I should be able to get into them but I'm thinking I might donate them. Then there was a small backpack by Gandys (also £2) which seems to be really well designed. I like the ethos of the company (I read the story of the founders: 'Tsunami kids' on Kindle some time ago) so I was very pleased to find something with their name on, and even more so when I found how much they are to buy new! The drawback is it's quite heavy (after a week of carrying an ultra-light small backpack, which could easily be slashed if a pickpocket had their eye on it, this one is built like a fortress, only slightly lighter).

I then found a Fatface top (£2.30) which I know I will get wear from, and lastly some bits for a vintage soda syphon. I inherited such a syphon from my parents and never got round to Ebaying it, so I'll see if it still works.

DH didn't get anything at the car boot but later found a book for a couple of pounds in a charity shop.

We decided to forego our fish and chips today and had the healthy option of salmon and cous cous with peas, which is also easier to digest.

I'm doing the children's session tomorrow at church so I've been assembling stuff for that this afternoon. That led to an expedition to buy bits for the craft activity, followed by a supermarket trip where I tried to maximise my loyalty points using promotional offers. I think the supermarket won, though, as the discounts meant I had to go back and buy unnecessary chocolate in order to spend enough to get the extra points. So far I've been good and only had half a bar of the chocolate, but I don't need it or the calories. However, it looks as though I've got the loyalty points, which come to less than the extra spend on chocolate. Next time... buy another box of tea: it's light and will keep.

Expenditure:
Donation £1.45
Housekeeping £22.28
Clothing £6.50
Hobbies (DH's book) £2

WelshmansDaughter

You remind me that I must try and find a local car boot. I keep thinking I’d like to try one

Cherryfudge

I'm feeling much better today: one brief dizzy spell in the morning, no headache, sinuses are better: all seems to be headed in the right direction thankfully.

It's been showery and apart from taking the little ones' group this morning, I've stayed in. We had eleven children, which is a lot for this group but a few parents stayed to support their children. I was slightly thrown because when it got to story time, as they nearly all sat there and listened! This proves they are growing up.  

DH was helping with coffees afterwards and did a quick dash to the supermarket for lots of milk for the grown ups and squash for the little ones, but other than that (which I count as a donation as we don't claim it back), we've not spent anything.

I was looking forward to a few days off till I realised I have a couple of clients at the debt advice centre on Wednesday (if they come). I've been reading some of my colleague's course notes and I'm booked in for a budgeting course in July but for the time being I will have to play it by ear.

Our main meal was mackerel with cous cous and veg. and I hit what DH calls the 'two thirty slump' and fell asleep for a couple of hours. Since then I've been looking through emails and trying to catch up on things. We had a proper thunderstorm too: real thunder and real lightening with rain and a bit of a breeze. So often we get the promise of them and very little happens. It's a bit on the chilly side but the green of the garden is almost glowing.

Cherryfudge

Happy bank holiday Monday! We decided against the car boot sale today: we went a couple of days ago and it would be spending for spending's sake, which is not what we need when the house is more than full enough already.

There are ominous clouds again today, so I'm not sure how much will get done in the garden but DH has a few DIY jobs in mind, including gluing the chair I'm currently using, which was meant to be a dining chair but seems to be having an identity crisis and turning into a rocking chair. The idea is to solidify the joints before it disintegrates. He's working this afternoon so I will have no excuse but to make inroads into the desk clutter, finances, learning and whatever else needs to be done. I see there are adverts out for a couple of roles to do with admin for the election so I will look into that: we know a couple who used to do the admin side of it, and I think once I was trained (if I get that far), it's something that could generate about £190 whenever an election comes round.

Health-wise, I'm back to feeling my eyes aren't working together and slightly not right in balance, either. No headache, thankfully, just a bit weird. I had something similar before and the doctor thought it was viral so I will try waiting it out.

We are also experimenting with DH's diet: he has a chronic condition that seems to be made worse with certain foods and lactose is a prime suspect. Years ago he switched to goats' milk, which has a lower lactose content than cows' milk, but he commented that when we were abroad, the symptoms eased completely, and he wondered whether it was the water. That got me thinking that on holiday, he'd not had access to goats' milk, so we're trying plant 'milk' instead. Yesterday was almond milk, which we're going to finish in rice pudding as he found the taste was too distinctive on cereal. Today he's trying soya milk. Oat milk isn't worth trying as he can't tolerate oats, so it's going to be either soya or rice milk... we'll see how it goes. It would be great to find a lifestyle change that smooths things over, as he's now right at the end of the possible medications and the one that works best for him carries a raised risk of cancer in the long term.

So I'm off to make rice pudding and contemplate some sort of meal plan. I was going to do lentil and chorizo soup but I need to look through the freezer too and make wider plans, especially as we won't both be at home for main meals later in the week.

Floss

@Cherryfudge it may be worth perseverance with almond milk as I believe the flavour can vary with brand. Its also something you can make at home:
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/almond-milk

Cherryfudge

Thanks @Floss, that's all looking fairly straightforward and I like the idea of making our own, whichever type he settles for. I really liked the almond milk we used is a rice pudding recently, and which I think may have been a sweetened one.

Cherryfudge

DH got thwarted in his DIY: he bought some hooks to put up but then couldn't find the drill. Much searching later, it turned out I'd put stuff on top of it in the overcrowded box room that used to be DD's bedroom. Yet another prompt for me to declutter.

Today I'm not making any grand attempts: I've found or invented a new concept of micro-curating. In other words, when the totality is overwhelming, just do a small thing with proper care. That feeds the parts of me that wants order, and to take things at a snail's pace. However, looking at the damage said gastropods have effected on some plants, I think snail's pace is underrated.

My balance still feels dodgy, and I'm not quite sure of my brain power, so I will glide on in a stately manner and remember I can make progress at my own rate and it's still progress. First task is to log a few receipts so they stop cluttering the table round the computer.

Expenditure so far today:
Housekeeping £3.27
Household £4.50