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

trix-a-belle

Sorry to hear of your friends news. I know from experience Endocrinologists mostly tend to like diabetes and little else these days which often isn't helpful. I hope you see a good one with more rounded interests. If they have done any initial bloods for the appointment get a copy or ask for the specific result figures

joedenise

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82160823#Comment_82160823

That sounds very general! When I saw an endocrinologist a few years ago diabetes wasn't even mentioned. After going through my medical history and treatment I had been having prior to seeing him he gave me tablets which I had to take just once a day and his parting comment was "you won't be on these for long as they cost £10 each". I had an operation to sort out my problem less than 2 weeks later!

Suffolk_lass

They will know her thyroid is not stable from her blood tests but unless they have contacted the GP surgery, they won't know the half of it. Anyway, we aren't supposed to discuss or advise on medical matters, so I'm stopping there. Needless to say I checked who the Consultant Endocrinologist is there, and what they specialise in. It's complicated.

Back to today. My trustee colleague got to the mystery keysafe combination (I was right, it started with a 4nnn, after the mis-set person had spun the wheels having not checked if it was set properly. So that is all resolved now.

Mr Sl has gone out with the dog and his dog buddy who is coming to stay again in December; gone early as rain is forecast. It's very grey, it won't be long now. I'm checking my notes for tonight's talk I'm on here, messing about instead of checking my notes for the short talk I'm going later this evening. Doh!

Did I mention making Quince and Apple sauce? It could have been jam if I had boiled it longer but I CBA so it is in sealed jam jars, ready to use. Very tangy. Ideal with pork or game, strong cheese or as a fruit base for a crumble. Just 2 lemons and a random sprinkle of sugar added to free quinces and apples. Sharp and citrusy!

Right, in a tomato dilemma. Several frozen bags ready to process but no real room in the larder for another tray of jars. That said, there is now no room in the freezer for anything else either! We need to eat more meals with tomatoes in - I've just got some mince out to defrost, to that end. It's Baked potatoes with chicken salad later though. No Aga yet so the potatoes will be nuked then grill-baked

foxgloves

I'm on an FB tomato grower's group & a couple of them have been making tomato powder. It seems to involve dehydrating them thoroughly then grinding them in a spice grinder to produce a pinky red powder which is stored in jars & used to enrich various dishes. I'm not sure I could be bothered with that level of faff in practice, though it's the sort of thing that often appeals to me in theory. I quite like the idea of dehydrating a range of various home grown veg then dehydrating & grinding to make vegetable stock powder. I won't be doing it any time soon though as don't have a dehydrator & no plans to buy one, though I look at them occasionally. Our pantry is getting very full & the shelf I emptied when I rationalised some of the shelves is now filling up with festive baking ingredients. This year's tomato efforts have included bottling a long row of jars, tomato soup, lentil & tomato soup, chutney, Carluccio's pasta sauce, tomato ketchup, smoky chipotle black bean chilli & gigantes plakis slow cooker batch cooks & also just using a 'tin's worth' of peeled zizzed up fresh ones when we've been making various meals. I shall be doing that on Saturday when I do a batch of bolognese sauce in the slow cooker. We didn't have as many tomatoes as some years because of the heatwaves but we have still had a good harvest & with all the jars I've bottled, won't need to buy any tinned ones for quite a while.

My friend has a quince tree in her garden & once brought us some home made quince jelly. Mr F can't cope with sour things so he didn't like it, but I thought it was lovely with meat & cheese. It was such a cheery colour.

Suffolk_lass

Right, updated my signature and browsed other diaries. My proving bread will be making an escape bid shortly so a few quick notes:

Today I will:

• Move geraniums, tidy and trim, maybe repot a few in the greenhouse
• Cut some dead stuff down
• move a few bits if it stops raining
• compost remaining outdoor squashes
• decide whether to try and overwinter chillies (here's a good link) Heather Cutmore (RHS)
• persuade Mr Sl to plant bulbs when I am away next week
• Study prep for next week
• Go to my B-i-L's commemoration at S-i-L 50 miles from here
• drop off spare pressure stockings and honey to my friend's en-route
• ask the pub hosting us tomorrow for Brunch to increase us to 9 /10

Suffolk_lass

Gosh, everything on that list was done before I came up here to my Mum's on Monday, staying here, mostly as company for her until Sunday. So none of my stuff at home is getting done, and precious little effective study, either. I need to buckle down. Or I will fail this one (14th November)

Today's task however, involves my Mum's freezer though! It is stuffed to the gunnels and she can't easily access the lower drawers. So I anticipate an inventory and reorganisation for her. She may never need to buy meat again in my view. At 97 that is no exaggeration!

I have screwed into place a wide door strip to reduce a trip hazard carpet edge, taken her to a lunch with her pals and taken her shopping (so many sweets!) - she still eats well if less than once, but understandably, she is bored and can't be bothered sometimes to cook for herself. I am cooking this week. She commented last night that her toilet function has improved (with all the vegetables!)

I made soup yesterday, but used the last of my home grown courgettes and Tromboncino, brought up with me. She still has veg I bought when I was up here a fortnight ago after our week on Arran, so that is on my list to use up next. Not lots but I hate waste. My sister usually does her shopping and I think she is still a shopaholic teenager in attitude. She just buys so much stuff! We did a quick compare in how we shop and she seems driven by the shopping apps she uses (I am not sure how many but at least four) - anyway, to illustrate, the Morries loyalty points were over a hundred and twenty pounds. I think she is driven by their points boosters rather than shopping a list and checking for offers within that plan. I know my own tendency is to always buy spares, when things are on offer, but these are store cupboard offers, not fresh things! Or butter. I do have four or five packs in the freezer!

The thing about being away is that I can take a moment to reflect on my own habits. I now need to live and shop from home after a summer of growing things. One more shop when I get home, for winter squashes and a couple of bits like cat litter will see me having shopped four times this month! I shall keep it as low as I can but tweak to satisfy one or two boosters myself!!

Watty1

oh i had not thought about freezing butter. What a good idea. We often run out which prompts a visit to the expensive shop locally.

Suffolk_lass

Back after a LONG drive home - a detour where only the beginning was signed took me 40 miles and 45 minutes off route, joining the motorway 4 junctions north of where I was heading. Then the Penrith roadworks had accumulated a 2 mile motorway tailback extending to two lanes so I drove past and came off the M6 south of Tebay, expecting to cross the valleys and moorland of the Yorkshire Dales, but apparently it was better to rejoin the A66 further along - about 60 miles added to the journey that is already well over 400 miles. With the price of Diesel just under £2 a litre, you can imagine how happy I am about that!!

Up in the night with an itch on my shoulder that felt like a pin was being stuck in me, I took a big dose antihistamine and got back to sleep after an hour pottering downstairs. Late start this morning and a long list before I go away again in two days time with the "bee girls!"

I've got underwear to collect from MnS and a quick shop to top up the boosters I might do today, which does include one pack of butter, for the freezer! Other than that, I have charity work to do and bee study, washing and a bit of gardening - I predict a two day list

Have a good one everyone xx

foxgloves

Very much NOT the kind of detour you want when fuel is so expensive. I'd have been mad too.

beanielou

That sounds a nightmare journey.