Moving on

Cherryfudge

Laura_Elsewhere said:

 my top tip is to mix together butter and honey in equal measures (or butter and sugar if you don't have honey), and just put it in a little dish with a teaspoon or even a tiny saltspoon, and just keep on letting a little lump of it melt at the back of your tongue

Thanks Laura - I'm about to try it! The throat has eased a bit but it's still an issue...

Cherryfudge

I've done absolutely masses of washing this morning so there's no room to hang another load out. DH texted to say the car is lovely and he's bought it, so I hope he's now happily trundling up the A1 enjoying the sunshine.

I had mushrooms on toast for lunch and as usual there's enough to have the same another day. They don't take up much space once they're cooked.

I'm quite tempted to go for a rest but I'll put it off till I've got the shopping and maybe put another loaf in the bread maker. I'm trying hard to think what went in the last one I made: rye flour, oil from a jar of peppers, sundried tomatoes and something cheesy, but I don't know what. There is cheddar in the fridge though, so possibly I'll add some of that.

Cherryfudge

DH arrived safely back just inside the twelve hours from leaving: one very sporty shiny little car came with him! I know nothing about cars but it looks good and he's very happy with how it's running though as he said, it's an older car so you have to drive it. When I thought about that, I think he means you have to do the thinking for it as not everything is automated. Well, it's tucked up in the garage now: I hope it's not of a nervous disposition as there were some large spider skeletons in there.

I got nearly all the washing dried and some local shopping done, but nearly turned back half way because the dry air was agony in my throat if I tried to swallow. However, I wasn't out for long and had a rest when I got back. Fitbit says I had three hours last night, and refused to give me a graph (presumably it didn't recognise me as the person who's been exercising and sleeping healthily all summer), but I made up an hour and feel a lot better for it.

We've finished the sausage pasta dish for dinner and I did what little ironing there was. Now I'm looking for a new duvet set so we don't have to waste electricity on the dryer every week. There are some lovely sets out there but Patrick Stewart is doing me a favour here as I'm still reading 'Less' and realising that buying bedding with a very seasonal theme is not wrong, but clever marketing. Those polar bears are very cute but I may not be so keen next August.

Sun_Addict

Welcome home. Hope your sore throat feels better soon. We have seasonal bedding but it’s only brought out in the relevant season. 

Floss

I did giggle at the thought of an arachnophobic sports car! 😂

Cherryfudge

Sun_Addict said:

Welcome home. Hope your sore throat feels better soon. We have seasonal bedding but it’s only brought out in the relevant season. 

I admit I already have The Christmas Pyjamas and apart from storage space I might well get special Christmas bedding - there are some lovely ones about.

The throat is very gradually improving thanks. 

I'm staying home this morning. DH has gone to church but I'm livestreaming: not wanting to spread any germs or try to sing or talk.

Cherryfudge

It became a rather eventful day. DH turned up while I was watching the livestream and said he was getting the racing heartbeat again so was headed into A&E to see if they could get a reading. We are near the hospital and thankfully it was quiet so he was seen very soon and triaged for an immediate readout. And they got one! These unusual heart beats can be very hard to pin down as they can right themselves before a monitor can be used, so having actual readings is valuable and moves the patient along the line towards a diagnosis. The good news is they say it's not atrial fibrillation, as the heart rate is steady, just incredibly fast. Then there are a variety of things to work through to try to find what it actually is. This is the third time he's had this happen, all within the last year.

Anyway, he grabbed his phone on the way through but I realised he could do with lunch and a charger and a book, so I went in to see him, by which time the heart rate had slowed but wasn't yet back to normal. I told him he looked like a fraud as he appears perfectly well, but of course we want to know what's going on and if they can do anything to sort it out. They let him out mid afternoon, having taken bloods, and he's been fine since, which is exactly what happened the other times.

We had a restful afternoon (I wonder if the event was set off by stress? He's had a lot of driving, a meeting this evening and is making pension decisions which has to be timed right to optimise the money) and then DH went out to his meeting. All I've been doing is putting numbers into my finances diary and transferring them to the spreadsheet. I did manage to solve a couple of things that I'd got stuck on before: a payment to an app which I got refunded and a mysterious £12 spend which this diary showed me was someone's birthday present.

How do people record spending when they are aboard? I've just put the amount we spent on Euros and treated it as a lump sum, with any leftovers just staying on the app/in the wallet for next time, but there might be a better way (that doesn't involve rates of exchange or anything complicated).

Cherryfudge

Guess who ended up in the spare bed! The swollen throat is making me snore. I am sleeping better though.

It seems to have been raining overnight and is forecast to continue all day, but I went ahead and did some laundry anyway (early, so most of it was on cheaper electricity). It will have to be on the airer for a couple of days but at least it's done. I'll put the dehumidifier on next to it.

Dh has gone to work and I'm putting off going out in the rain but I said I'd cover someone's cleaning shift at the church. It could also be an opportunity to chat with the admin lady and see what her job entails before I get application details. I also need to plan something for dinner, prep for tomorrow's study and the Wednesday job and possibly continue plodding through spreadsheet entries, but I have two days to do it.

Cherryfudge

I braved the rain: wellies, lightweight trousers, a waterproof and an umbrella, with trainers and spare trousers in a bag - then it wasn't wet enough to need to change the trousers.

I did three hours' cleaning, which seemed to be fairly flat out apart from a couple of conversations, and in the end the admin lady ran an errand then came back to lock up so I could finish. I have a feeling I absent-mindedly did some areas that aren't on the Monday list, but it's all got to be done and it might make the end of the week easier.

I had a good opportunity to chat to the admin lady about the post and it sounds as though it's within my scope. She said it's been a really nice place to work but her husband's just retired so she wants to spend time with him and try some new ventures. She has emailed me the paperwork (I'm not long back, so I've not looked yet).

At one point I thought I was going to be asked if I'd like to help out with something else but it turned out the person was just asking if it was all right to add me to a WhatsApp group to do with the garden that's being made, so I've said yes to it, and explained that I'm more keen than knowledgeable!

Meanwhile I heard that my friend has to work on Tuesday evening, so we've moved tomorrow's meeting to next week. That cuts down the things I have to do, and my shopping list too, which is just as well as Sains had some nice things on discount, but they were enough to carry home without adding food for three.

On the way home from the shop, I realised I'd not actually bought anything for tea tonight, but I remembered there was a stray piece of chicken in the freezer so I'll do chicken and chorizo pasta. It's not a lot of chicken so I will bulk it out with veg and more pasta, and try to counterbalance my 4.30pm lunch of a big bowl of ice cream! I know it's not the healthiest but it goes down easily... and it does need to be used up.  

Cherryfudge

The pasta was too big to eat in one meal so we will be having part 2 tomorrow or the day after. I've been too tired to get much done this evening, but I did have an attack of coughing brought on by a crumb of paracetamol catching in my throat. It was a bit worrying at the time as I couldn't tell if I'd breathed it in, bit I seem to be somehow better for it now.

Tomorrow DH has a day off and I no longer need to prepare for an evening meeting, but I still want to go through notes as I potentially have two clients at the Wednesday job and they are quite different. I'll see if I feel better though and if not, ask if they can wait till the following week. No point in pushing myself too hard.