Moving on

Sun_Addict

Oh no to the power cut 😞 I hope it’s back on now. Boo to the sore throat resurfacing, hope it eases soon. 

Cherryfudge

Thanks @redofromstart, it came back on around 7 this evening. By that time I was at work and DH had thought to text A and H about borrowing their house for the evening (we have a key and they are away). So after work we went back there for tuna pasta, and now our place has heat and light again and nothing seems to have spoiled or broken (though I will throw out the rest of the ice cream).

We went out to C0sta after the library, so we've had another lot of hot drinks as I realised DH was definitely not doing well with only two drinks in a day! He said he'd have water at home but that could just mean half a glass as opposed to a teapot of Earl Grey.

Anyway, that's behind us now. I've had a quick look at log stores and spotted a small one that would probably fit alongside our water butt where there is currently a small stack of (very wet) logs. We can also stack some under the trees at the back but something orderly near the house makes sense.

Expenditure:
Entertainment approx. £10.10 (assorted coffee & tea)
Housekeeping £13.42 (also got the voucher for a free bakery item from Lidl which I'll spend soon).

Cherryfudge

Woke up an hour ago, going to try going back to bed in a minute.

Meanwhile I spotted this post on wood storage and I'm bookmarking it for consideration. The storage I found online is the right idea but do I want to invest the time and money it would take to upgrade the finish?

@Sun_Addict, sorry, I somehow missed your post above. The throat seems to be a background permanent feature at the moment, I'm not sure why, but it's no longer the angry red thing it was.

Incidentally, my phone was on 92% battery yesterday evening and by 5am it was 25%. That can't be right? I usually turn it off overnight so I don't know what overnight power consumption would normally be. The battery was replaced earlier this year and still works to over 90% capacity. I had been thinking to replace the phone at the end of this year as it's getting older (iphone 7) and although it thinks it's fully updated, the BBC app has recently started asking for an update it won't accept. Previous experience says this may be the beginning of a trend. Much as I love the phone, the built in obsolescence is a truly despicable thing.

WelshmansDaughter

could the sore throat be acid reflux related? 

I’m still of that stage in life that finds power cuts romantic 🤷 enforced electronics break 

Cherryfudge

WelshmansDaughter said:

could the sore throat be acid reflux related? 

I’m still of that stage in life that finds power cuts romantic 🤷 enforced electronics break 

I do get acid reflux and I don't doubt that's part of it but last week's was different - more like a strep throat but with no fever.

Lol, yes, I think there's a certain romance to the quiet world without the constant background buzz of electronics and the slower pace and actually spending time with people and going out to do things (so long as there's free wi-fi and somewhere to charge my phone ). Yep, definitely some plus side to that! I can just remember the power cuts during the miners' strike: I think that's why one of the things I inherited from my parents' house was an ancient box of household candles. They got used to living without a constant source of electricity for quite a while.

WelshmansDaughter

I remember seeing a youtube of someone’s holiday tiny house where they had no electricity at all. Used it for complete downtime 

Cherryfudge

I've spent all afternoon on that rota - but it's done up to the end of the year. Barring requests for changes, of course. To be fair, the second week of November onwards was easy, it was the bits where I was dancing round other people's rotas in the near future that was the problem. Lesson learned: draw it up early and deal with changes as and when necessary.

We went to the car boot sale this morning: from a very crisp early morning it turned into a glorious day with clear skies, dazzling light and real warmth in the sun. There's a picture here which doesn't give much idea of how lovely it was. DH bought some old coins (£6.50) and bags of apples (£1 total). I bought a sieve (50p, to replace a shop bought one bought a few months ago which promptly went rusty), a book for DGD to read when she's a bit older (20p) and a book of Moroccan recipes for me (50p). Then I found a glass storage container with a wooden lid which I'm hoping will get used as much as the other lidded glass boxes I already have (£1).

Lunch was fish from the freezer, peas, cous cous and home grown tomatoes (delish).

This afternoon, DH has been volunteering at the charity shop and I got some laundry done while the weather holds.

ETA link to photo, not that it's wildly exciting.

Cherryfudge

Today felt productive. DH and I were taking it in turns to say he needed a haircut as the 'mad professor' look isn't becoming. I think it took eight minutes from start to finish with me still in my pyjamas and him about to go out. Now that I know how long it took, it might help me get down to it sooner in future.

The service was really interesting, though as it's a week since DH's tachycardic episode, that was in the back on my mind. However, he has been fine today.

I pulled out another two freezer drawers and inventoried them while seeing what we had in. It was going to be liver and bacon to boost our haemoglobin, but the supermarkets had run out of liver last night. Instead, we finished up a pack of sausages with the bacon, a fried melee of onion, cherry tomatoes and left over red pepper, the remains of a box of instant mash and some braised red cabbage from the freezer. It wasn't absolutely wow, but good enough. I've also thrown out the rest of the semi-melted ice cream. Nice to have a bit of freezer space. I also had the last of the sour cherries in overnight oats for tea.

In the afternoon DH went for a walk and I decided I really ought to do something in the garden. I've weeded a tub of honeysuckle and a 'swamp rose' (so my app tells me) that I got from Mum's. The whole thing was a bit wild when I got it and continues that way so some ongoing TLC is in order. Then I moved to the other side of the house and spent about an hour pruning the damson tree. I think it's supposed to be in February and July, but it was so messy and inaccessible that I thought I'd tidy it up before the frosts come. It's always been a puzzle how to tackle something so dense (official advice is a goblet shape) but somehow this time It worked. I got all the inward-facing branches and twigs but to do that I trimmed back the long outward-facing stragglers, and ended up doing a sort of instinctive weed-out of odd twiggy bits and generally reduced the canopy. I am pleased with the result: I wonder if I could ever repeat it?

After tea we had another thing on at church so now we're just chilling. Heating is on. I'm tired and I think a bath and bed are in order.

WelshmansDaughter

Has DH tried any stress reduction techniques when he experiences these episodes? If he does and they don't work, a sign that it may be something else?

Cherryfudge

He has linked it with stress, @WelshmansDaughter, but to me it doesn't seem a very strong link. The first episode came when he had a hot bath - but he always has the bath really hot, so why would it set him off the once? Another time was when he ran a short distance - but he walks and cycles miles so while a (very short) run isn't normal, I was surprised it triggered anything. Sometimes there's general stress in the background, I agree: the longest episode was while he was at work a week ago and it went on all morning. Work is mentally taxing but physically inactive. I really don't know and until they come up with more recommendations, it's hard to know where to take it. His research says it may be B12 deficiency, but he isn't vegetarian, though he doesn't eat much meat.

He's seeing the consultant in a week or so, which I'm hoping will come up with something useful.

Meanwhile he's at work today and it's looking as though my work doesn't need me till Wednesday, so I need a list.

DH has a birthday next weekend. He's followed our usual practice and bought things he really wants, which I then hide and bring out at the birthday! (We share our money so it all comes out of the same pot). We are going out for the day with J and L then as many as possible are coming back to ours for pizza. So there are birthday prep things to do:

• get wrapping paper and choose/wrap which things to give him
• go round room by room and make the house ready - my major stressor over having anyone round
• plan a cake and food for the birthday evening

Then there are the turn-of-the-month things to do:

• Move money ready to go to regular saver
• go into current account and make sure all is ready for whatever needs to go out tomorrow
• see if there are any photos to get for 'free' (pay postage) off the app

And other things that really ought to be done:

• Finish assembling the summer clothes that are to go in the loft
• Get winter clothes out
• sort out the papers for the toddler sessions which are still all over the table
• prep next Sunday's session
• prep tomorrow's Tuesday group which is here, so I need to do food too
• See if there's anything needing to be done for the Wednesday job
• Give serious thought about the application for the admin job, which I've been putting off. Is it right for me? Would I be taking on too much? What would be decreased if I were doing that job? (I would have more income, less time. It would mean having to work in the mornings! Leisure time and house/garden would have to move over to accommodate it).

And the every-day stuff:

• wash my hair
• hoover
• clean the bathroom
• get some shopping
• update the spreadsheet
• order log store and new bedding.

That should be more than enough but it's a list for the week, not the day. And it's Monday, grey and forecast to rain, so I'd better have something to keep me focussed. Oh, and I went to get the kintsugi kit I was given for Christmas but I can't find it, so I'll keep a look out. I have a favourite mug that I want to put together as the handle gave way after ten years or so of daily use. I'll have to use it with great care but it would be nice to have it back rather than sitting there gathering dust.