Next steps; grip-relaxing bimbling, and avoiding the temptations

rtandon27

Ooooo SL - a new-ish diary! - so lovely that you are posting again! - have duly subscribed xxx

Suffolk_lass

Sorry to be so silent, and welcome to both of you @trix-a-belle and @rtandon27.

Food
Here, I can actually see some space in my fridge! We ate and then chucked the remains of the NY curry last night. Our dog got the last two bits of beef (he loves it, curry, I mean). Also the Chinese noodle dish has gone. Again, our mish-mash-meal last night included this, and one of the bought naan breads. DH has binned the other (better than us just eating it for the sake of using it up as not particularly nice). Much as I hate food waste, I want to have a waist and life is too short to eat just for the sake of it!

I reorganised my freezer indoors, moving meat to one shelf, veg to another, pre-cooked beans, pulses and rice in the small one at the bottom, with frozen butter, and that left several things in the top including crumpets (Mr Sl has a plan for these) two courgette loaves in plastic Kelly's ice cream boxes (they are the perfect size for a 1lb loaf!) and a small loaf of sourdough in another, and I froze the soft cheeses I bought for Christmas, along with three nice hard cheeses. You can see why there is a bit of room in the fridge now! I also froze the remaining batch of pastry (there are only so many mince pies a household can eat) and this leaves me with one unopened jar of homemade mincemeat in the store-cupboard and an open one with remnants in that I will add to some apple and make into a crumble, when DS is coming. He loves crumble!

It is clear we can manage without shopping for quite some time, so we will.

I have three chicken thighs out to cook. I might just do them for today, either in a casserole or simply oven-cooked with veg.

I opened the pack of smoked salmon for lunchtime sandwiches with cucumber in HM sourdough.  I had defrosted the SS when our other friends dropped out on the day they were coming - I do understand why, she is due to have a medical procedure and cannot afford to catch the nasty cold that someone else had. It was the right decision as I now have a sore throat and congestion, that I caught from the infected person! Deep joy!

I also used up the bread that was not homemade and both ends of the sourdough loaf (I sliced the rest) and I made a bread pudding. That is in the fridge! I have almost run out of dried mixed fruit and peel so have added these to my long-term shopping list. The only other thing on that is light bulbs - we used three over Christmas and that was all the spares.

Bees and other stuff
Assuming the snow/rain clears, we are due at someone's to treat their bees today. It will need both of us as I want to film it for another person to see how easy it is.

I need to organise next weekend's brunch at the cafe (they want us to order ahead now, so another layer of complexity) and I need to prepare for the next study group, which is on Tuesday evening. The primary contact on the Zoom account has asked me to take it over as he is off to Spain for 7 weeks.

I have read book 3 of the Inspector Ramsay books (it was own choice over Christmas) for our bookclub. It was a straightforward and lazy choice having just completed book 2 in November ! That meeting is on Thursday. 

I have a medical scan coming up (on Saturday) followed by the winter party for Mr Sl's bike club that evening and we need to make sausage rolls for this.

I have a replacement dirt trapper runner coming (used Christmas money for this) and have two lampshades and two bedside lights to collect tomorrow from JL, and a number of vouchers I could use if tempted.

I need to give some money to the fellow beekeeper for the kit I sold of hers and disabuse her explain that the state of the kit meant much was beyond economic repair and was burned, and her bees were too bad tempered to sell. I hope she is not expecting a financial bonanza. To be honest, the amount of work we put in means she is lucky to be receiving anything. If we charged back our time she would owe us!

In other money news, we each won £50 on PB and I hope to sell some more honey this month. So far, I have tidied £96.91 as payments for various things that have left the accounts, just by rounding down to the next £10. I will continue with this through the month. RHS subscription and 100 club subscriptions (for a local charitable trust) have been paid over and above the normal things like Council Tax and Electricity.

Right, the snow is clearing and the Christmas decorations need to come down as it is 12th night!

trix-a-belle

gosh we didn't get any snow up here last night, just wetness

Suffolk_lass

Snow has all gone here and no more is forecast. When we went to the house of my former mentee beekeeper, we drove through many places where the run-off from the fields had breached the banks of the drainage ditches and was running across the roads. At least 4 new rivers on the roads. Fortunately, taking it slowly in my (11yo) four wheel drive car we felt safe and secure. We treated her bees with an oxalic acid sublimation and were back home by dark. Our dog did not get a walk, but as he was clamped to the front of the aga for most of the day, he really didn't mind! Mr Sl said on Saturday the fields were extremely slithery and he almost fell several times. The dog is a miniature and loathes being cold and wet (my friend calls him "Heat-seeker"). I have reduced his food by another gram or two to try and get that theft-weight off him. He is due an annual check up with vaccinations. I would like him to be under 5.5kg if possible. We don't need any extra strain on his back from being overweight.

Speaking of which, it is the day to go back to healthier eating. Protein the size of a pack of playing cards, half a plate of vegetables, no more than 1 meal of starchy carbs like potatoes, porridge, rice or pasta. Nothing extreme, just a gently reset after the Christmas excesses. To that end, Mr Sl can snack on nuts instead of chocolates and on reflection, I will bin the last of the selection box that was gifted (and has, of course, been mostly eaten!) - I shall have yoghurt with nuts and seeds for breakfast, and start opening some of the jars of preserved fruit from the garden to go with it. For the first day or few I will add a teaspoon of oat bran (which will help bring down the LDL cholesterol) and possibly a few oats. Alcohol is done now until my friend who was babysitting her grandchild for New Year, comes to stay on 22nd.

In the meantime I need to seriously study. I had great plans to get ahead over Christmas and I just haven't.

I am thinking of postponing the scan on Saturday, because the hospital is brim-full of sick people. I have a chest infection and I don't need anything else on top of that. I went to bed at 6pm on Friday and again last night, both times because I felt shivery and out of sorts. I could have a mild dose of something horrible but as I am vaccinated it is not affecting me more seriously, and I don't want to make anything worse at the hospital.

Still sitting at £7.50 spent on groceries for January (milkman), and no plans to shop this week. Bank accounts have both been tidied this morning (well only one, as no spend from the other).

Our Plusnet account finishes this month with the move to fast fibre to the premises and this will result in a slight reduction in monthly payments, along with the removal of our landline. I put something in the local Parish Magazine as these are the greatest users of the number.

Lots of other time-driven admin to do today, including collection of a couple of replacement lampshades bought in the JL sale. You know that moment when you realise how the old ones look completely awful (seams coming unstuck, discoloured, been dropped etc.) - it had to be done! I have some JL vouchers so I might have a mooch while I am there but we don't NEED anything. There is an attached Waitflower so I could refresh some salad, but again, without having done a meal-plan yet, do I actually need to? I think I know both the answer, and what will happen if I take them.

Have a good day, keep the faith and stick to the frugal plans!

rtandon27

@Suffolk_lass - I completely understand what happens when one shops for things without a meal plan!  Both freezer and fridge were stuffed to the gills prior to Xmas and given that we were both less than optimal over the holidays, and didn't have a proper meal plan in place, we are now discovering that our slightly sad veg needs to be used up - yesterday was about 1/4 pound of organic carrots in a beef stew & today about 1/2 pound of organic beets in a tart.  We unfortunately had to get rid of what was left of a savoy cabbage as it was turning into a science experiment! 

Suffolk_lass

I resisted the urge to shop at Waitflower and collected only the two new bedside lamps (one for Mr SL, one for the spare room) and the two lampshades (for the same guest room and the landing) - where both the old ones were failing and disintegrating. The main reason for ignoring the temptation was because I parked in a click and collect bay and it suggests a maximum of 15 minutes, so a quick look in the JL part, resisted the new glasses temptation (told myself they do not need to all match!) and came home.

I am fighting a nasty viral cold and cough thing that I caught from one of the friends who was here for New Year, and both yesterday and today I was up by just before/after 04.00 as I felt, once awake and coughing, that I was both drowning when I lay down, and waking Mr Sl, who has a magazine deadline to hit and is up into the early hours every night at the moment. After (maybe) 2 hours sleep he did not need to listen to me. I'm hoping I am beating it - I am cancelling gardener, my participation in bookclub, and my booked haircut so I can wrap up warm and stay indoors for the rest of this week. I have to be a bit careful, my chest infections go to pleurisy and pneumonia if I don't cosset myself and listen to my body.

A bit of work we had had booked for most of 2024 was undertaken by our carpenter yesterday - he's the son of our recently retired builder and I asked the builder to remind him and hey presto! There's nothing like a kick up the Rs by your dad, is there!? 

Anyway, for improved security, we want to hang a barn door over one side of the cartlodge and build a wooden framed out wall for the second opening. The problem was a brick pillar at the bottom of the middle post, which stuck out on all four sides and made hanging or sliding a door, impossible. Anyway, it turned out to be a nick of time job. When the carpenter put up acrow props and removed the bricks, it turned out the post was in the middle of the pillar, not on top of it, and had rotted through to the extent we could see the roof was under pressure and beginning to sag. So that was done. We suspect the two front corner posts may need similar treatment but are not critical (yet) as there are wooden walls on a low brick wall running back from them. DH was tapping him up to do the next bit but the carpenter said he knows nothing about barn doors or how to hang them. I might phrase it differently and persuade him to build the wall and door, even if he doesn't hang them, or I might check out FBMP for any we could reuse.

In other things, I went back to bed for a couple of hours late afternoon and evening so did not speak to my Mum, but Mr Sl had a quick chat with her (we did not know whether she had been out, or seen anyone else to speak to anyone, hence a "video call" as she refers to them). As it happened, her eighty something young friend drove her to their chosen venue and they linked arms to ensure no falls to meet their other pals for coffee. That is excellent news as Monday I was the only person she spoke to. She knows better than to risk going out and while she wants the company, she knows staying cosy and safe is more important.

Our village oil syndicate wants to know if we need any. We have five marks on the indicator gauge and I think we could just about take 500L. The price is looking to be about 4ppl less than my last order in June. The tank holds 1200l. In June I waited four weeks after the last indicator had begun flashing, and they managed 1100L so t seems the indicator drops as soon as you enter the next tenth of a tank, IYSWIM. So 5 marks (half way) actually does not mean I have 600L left, it means up to 720L. Reflecting, I think we would be better to wait until April/May but he never orders then, preferring to wait until September (when I think the price increases again!). I might leave it and wait.

Oh yes, and one of the cafe's I have been talking to about honey wants to sell jars and take their margin, so we need to deliver some to them. (Not me, not today!).

For food, I have just had porridge; made with water and salt, and with oat bran and a dash of milk with a tiny drizzle of honey. Filling and delicious. I have minced beef out of the freezer for this evening; (portioned from a bigger pack) and I will make this up into a ragu and it will go for four-six portions I think. Two stuffed peppers and a pasta bake, maybe lasagne with a mixture of pasta and leek sheets, I think. It is 250g approx. Not quite rubber chicken but close!

Have a good day 

foxgloves

Well done on resisting Waitbl00m temptation. Parking in that 15 min 'click & collect' bay was doubly useful if it saved you from spendiness.
Hope your lergy disappears soon. So many nasty lergies around atm. I feel long overdue for catching something. First time I've ever spent Christmas in London & not come back with a lergy, & on one occasion, flu. Trying not to feel smug as some herbert's bound to huff on me while I'm in town or somewhere & down I'll go like a snotty nine-pin!
Good to have further interest in your honey too. 
F

Suffolk_lass

Thanks @foxgloves, I'm sure we neither of us suffer like we used to when we went to work. I used to hand out those small packs of tissues on the train if I saw any use their hand without (Urgh!) as one instinctively knew it was going to be spread around inside the train (either consciously or unconsciously) - the worst being someone wiping their nose contents on the seat. On this occasion I got mine from a friend who had returned from visiting their vectors grandchildren for Christmas, loaded up with the latest mucus based viruses.  

I'm at that stage where I am sleeping (to bed at 7.30 last night) but once I wake, the irritation shifts, then I need the bathroom, then it shifts again and if I lay down, I fill up and begin coughing and choking. So up I get (06.00 this morning. I have had three of these instances since I retired, and this one is fighting to hurt my lungs. I may go def-con 2 with the meds if it doesn't dissipate today. That is the doubling of one asthma inhaler and begin using the reactive one. After that I have a rescue pack that the doctor prescribes on call off (unused since retiring, except to get in-date meds) and the nuclear one is to go and sit in an A&E (or urgent care centre) corridor for a day or 3 on oxygen, nebulisers and steroids to fend off pneumonia. Deep joy. 

I need to send back the menu picks for Saturday's brunch - without me it is 8 so they still need our picks. That will go today, and to protect others, I need to step back and miss this one. DH can deliver the honey and I will send the invoice electronically.

Other than that; no spending (except the carpenter was here for a second day), perhaps better described as no shopping day. I am looking at barn door tracks and the carpenter's dad is coming back today to build a small low stretch of bricks (probably 2-4 high) so the walled in side of the cartlodge wooden wall is not resting on the ground and rotting. My gardener used to be a farm manager so I am going to ask him about getting the right track and door for the other (open) side. All of it needs painting too and I have the wood treatment paint (black). 

We did indeed have the ragu stuffed peppers (topped with some remnants of grated cheese), with salad for an early supper (as Mr Sl had an online committee meeting at 7.00) - it did mean I could fill a hot-water-bottle with almost boiling water and get to bed, once I was 2 hours after eating. I made a pasta-only lasagne that is in the fridge, ready to cook tonight, whether I want any or not. There is plenty for two portions each. Another jar of my home bottled blitzed homegrown tomatoes was used up, along with half a bag of chopped peppers (a mix of some grown and some bought, I think - anyway they were used and not wasted!). Not many ragu sauces have the celery and carrot I added but it is all secret veg and part of the fridge sauce I added frozen veg to. A bargain and apart from a dash of Worcestershire sauce and one of tabasco, and an oxo cube, all raw ingredients, so minimal ultra processed content.

Another minimal day for me today, and time for another coffee (btw, so pleased to see that a coffee first thing reputedly reduces the risk of heart attack by 17%). I have three, please can I add them up? (no of course not!).

Have a good day everyone. Keep those purses shut!

Suffolk_lass

I am maintaining a closed purse today as still too asthmatic to venture out into the cold. Mr Sl has taken the honey that the cafe have asked to sell, and will meet up with our bee pals without me. I am disappointed to miss it but nobody is indispensable and I need to stay in and see off the asthma the virus has caused.

I did indeed go to state of readiness level two (def-con 2). I double the preventive inhaler  to two doses, morning and night, and I have used my reactive inhaler for the last day. Then, completely by coincidence, the Doctor rang to discuss my asthma. I have never had this review when actually suffering an episode before. I confirmed the approach I take and she said that was all good, but nuanced the reactive inhaler use. She said I can use it every minute for up to an hour (instead of going to the hospital), if I need to use a nebuliser - as I am on a powder inhaler the home nebuliser others use with salbutamol can't be used. It might mean I need to nuance my def-con categories but as the USA don't divulge theirs, I might take a similar approach (what is she wittering on about, I hear you thinking).

Anyway, timely and helpful, we are so fortunate that our GP practice is proactive and focussing on preventive intervention while everyone is so under pressure. I think it is a luxury afforded to them because they are taking part in the final stage training of new GPs and 4th year med students from Cambridge. The new GPs are all qualified doctors and they are keen and thorough. I am so thankful.

So today I am baking bread and rolls, and we will be having cauliflower and broccoli cheese (maybe with some macaroni), for supper, and soup and fresh bread for me for lunch (Mr Sl may not as he is having a large full English breakfast, err, right now!). I've just had some porridge so it will be a late lunch.

Towels are in, running off the solar panels, on a 90c wash that will clean the machine of soap scum at the same time as washing the towels!

Right, I need to knock back the dough for the second prove!

KajiKita

That’s so good of the GP and amazing timing! 😊👏 Really hope your lungs start to recover soon 🤞

Amazed by you being able to run a 90 degree wash off solar panels! Fantastic 😊👏

Stay warm x

KK