Moving on

Crazycatlady2

Well done on the job x

Sun_Addict

Fantastic news about the job, well done 👏🥳

On the subject of cauliflowers, Mr T’s were minuscule this morning and 99p. Quite a few customers were complaining. Needless to say I didn’t bother. 

Seasidegal58

I'm so pleased to read about your job offer Cherry!  Great news!  😀👍

liselle

As above Cherry! Many congratulations 

Cherryfudge

Thanks everyone.

I got a really rubbish night's sleep last night for some reason - my mind just wouldn't switch off. I gave up about 3 and went down for a snack, a fresh hot water bottle and some computer time, and finally got back to sleep about a quarter to five, when I know various of you were nearly ready for morning! Still... DH woke me at ten, so I did get  reasonable sleep in the end.

We are supposed to be getting the boiler chap in again today, though we've yet to hear from him. I didn't expect him earlier as he's visiting his sister in this area and if that were me, I'd tack work on at the end of the visit. It's meant one of us staying in all day, though. I did church online and very woozily! DH kindly made lunch (sausages from the freezer, and he had tomatoes and potatoes while I had cous cous and some of the veggy stew from the other day.

It's been beautifully sunny, though cold, and Dh hurried his usual walk so I could go out too. I only walked around the estates near here but I decided to look for signs of spring and there are loads of things in flower: hellebores, heather, various flowering shrubs that I don't know the names of, pansies, primroses and primulas, a solitary daisy, snowdrops that aren't quite open yet and daffodil shoots several inches tall. And more bird song. I can recommend a (sunny) walk to lift the spirits!

I think things are too quiet at the moment, hence the need to lift spirits. I was chatting to a friend via WhatsApp last night and realised she's in a similar boat: can't go to work at present as she's recovering from an op, and I suspect she doesn't get sick pay. It will be good for both of us once we're back in the swing of things.

Other than that, I've done some tidying and collected a couple of broken bits of plants to grow (I have various rescued bits of greenery sprouting roots in pots: cornus, sage, fuchsia and something unidentified, plus a couple of attractive ivies that I'm hoping to grow, inspired by how effective it was in flower arrangements. They're mostly from bits found broken off in the road: I was obviously a Womble in a previous life. One of the ivies and the cornus are from the overgrowth in the back lane, and euonymous is from next door's that grows through the fence.

Seasidegal58

I hope the boiler man turned up!  Still looking for signs of spring round here. I walked through the local park earlier in the week but nothing seemed to be out yet. ☹️

Cherryfudge

Alas, no boiler man. We aren't surprised but if things follow the usual pattern, the company will ring tomorrow to check on him so the story will be told. We haven't yet given written feedback and won't until all the snagging is done (there's still a slow leak under the filter, possibly because I'm not strong enough to tighten the cap fully) and a smell of damp wood in that room.

Other than that, Duolingo kindly gave me three free days of their 'Super' version, which is always quite nice and generally seems to happen when I'm either busy or have a sore throat, so I can't make best use of it. I'm on day 1044, which is a bit of a random number so I don't know why I got it today.

I've sorted through a load of old receipts and put them in my book, recycling the originals. They haven't all made it onto the spreadsheet yet and I've not even set up this year's version, but at least progress has been made. I need to revise categories a bit this time around so I need to find a template somewhere. I have a list of categories from ages ago which I did on a short OU course, so I will compare that with what I can find on this website.

Oh, and I've offered to host our Tuesday group this week. The lady whose turn it was has a funeral to attend at a distance (actually L's grandfather: my friend knew the family long before I did). I need to do a bit of planning so I don't spend too much as the host provides a pizza tea. I've discovered L!dl does a pack of two cheese pizzas very reasonably, so I usually put a meat topping on one and a veggie topping on the other and it costs a lot less than buying them ready-assembled. Then there's some salad to go with it, so I need to make sure I don't go overboard on that. Then some biscuits to have with coffees afterwards... before you know it costs go up, but I think I'll make a batch of biscuits as I have ingredients in and I've still not used my new baking trays. I'm not sure I'll save a lot of cash that way but there will be extras for snacks and it can be done with some of the ingredients I want to use up.  

Cherryfudge

Another sunny day, though very cold! And another mouse, a  bit of a whopper. He filled the trap, so how he'd managed to turn round in it is a bit of a mystery, but the poor thing had a back paw caught in a ventilation slit. Thankfully DH managed to nudge it out then took him out to the fields. He never takes them as far as I do so we may be back to mouse-catching in a a few days.

DH has also braved the icy loft for stray boxes of Christmas stuff so I have those to put into the new storage boxes, hopefully making future access simpler and avoid leaving the ones wanted where we can't find them. This year I need to keep chipping away at the excesses, including those in the attic. Today I made another bag's worth of progress, so DH has taken a coat that's now too small, two chunky but not used recipe books and a couple of unwanted Christmas decorations to donate.

I'm trying to plan a new spreadsheet to track our finances but Martin's budget planner would need a fair amount of amendment, though the detailed categories give food for thought. However, a spreadsheet no longer needs to include 'video rental' and our household doesn't pay for mortgage, rental, smokes or a nursery (no wonder we get by on less money).

Next two things to do: put laundry out to benefit from fresh air (the cold should help dehydrate it and the sun helps disinfect) and find the budget categories I had on a course, which are much simpler than Martin's.

Cherryfudge

Mid-afternoon update ('cos I'm trying to avoid getting up and going into the cold for ingredients for tonight's tea).

DH has been measuring up for a new bookcase to fill the space where the large fish tank used to be. D (DS2) now has the tank so we have a gap. We've found the ideal shelves which will do almost floor to ceiling, but now have to find a slot to go and collect rather, than pay £40 delivery. I did find almost the right thing on Marketplace locally but it's not as tall as we need.

In the meantime I have donated a couple of cookery books, a couple more Christmas decorations and a coat that's now too small, so the house has a bag's worth more space.

D turned up at rather short notice, not that this is a problem. The poor thing has had an emergency filling so was in the area and has borrowed a dehumidifier and taken E's spare scented candle to her (it was a Secret Santa gift via DH but when opened, the glass container was shattered. The seller replaced it and just asked for photos of the original. So now the broken glass has been binned, she gets a second candle as a refill).

Most of the Christmas boxes are stacked ready to go in the loft.

A Government survey came through the door so I've completed that as it offers a £10 shopping voucher. There's room for respondents per household so I'll encourage DH to do it too.

Seasidegal58

I received a survey recently. It was actually from Rishi!🤣. Enclosed was a questionnaire on my views in NHS, economy etc. it reminded me a bit of the sort of survey I fill out on the Opinium website. Perhaps they got my details from there. None of my local friends appear to have had one yet. 🤷‍♀️