Spending update

All this economising means that I am baking a little more so since the girls in the garden are not yet in full production, I had to buy some eggs today - and I also managed to find a couple of loaves of bread at very reduced prices. Today's shopping basket at Tesco:
Wholemeal loaf 19p
Malted brown loaf 15p
Cinammon bun for YFG 89p
Value eggs 2.98 (Yes, I have some guilt over this, but I am being very kind to my chickens, so I can't have it both ways - and 30 eggs for this price makes a big difference to the budget!)
So that lot came to £4.21, and then I bought a big bag each of carrots and parsnips on the way home from the stall at the roadside, at £1 a bag, so another £2 to add to the total.

So £6.21 spent and thus a remaining balance of £80.76.

And how has the menu plan been progressing? Quite well, really! The YFG was out for tea on Thursday, so the remaining three of us all had chicken curry, meaning that there was none left for me to have as leftovers on Friday. I had cold corned beef instead, with potatoes and veggies, so that was OK. Today, the Toad in the Hole has been eagerly awaited and all eaten, and we have a chicken out of the freezer for tomorrow. I'll have a root around in the freezers and start to think about next week's plan tomorrow.

Other happenings this week have included our neighbour's mum, J, returning to Cyprus after an extended holiday here since the beginning of December. We will miss her, as I am sure that they will, and we hope that she gets safely home tonight.

Dad has been having various tests at the doctor's since his return home, and to add to his problems, the starter motor on his car died this morning, so he is not happy! I bought some vegetables for him at the stall today, so I may have to take them over to him later in the week.

The chickens are rather muddy again - frosty weather has its merits as it freezes the ground and makes life easier for them. Heavy rain has made the hen run rather muddy and I fear that tomorrow's forecast downpours will not help matters. I'm really hoping for a drier month in March!!

The preacher booked to come to take our service in the morning has been taken ill so the steward spoke to me last night and asked me to take the service. At short notice, I have prepared a service in the last hour and a half, and I am hoping that it will run OK. The YFG has declared that the last one I took was "boring" so I hope that this one is more interesting for her. Perhaps I work better under pressure!

We are all working hard at gymnastics to prepare the children for the competition they are entering on 14 March. We are taking about 28 or 29 children this year, so we are pressed for time for practising; to that end, we had an extra hour at gym today, so we were training until 2pm, and we will do that for the next two Saturdays. It doesn't sound like much, but an hour makes all the difference to how much we get done in the session.

Off to bed now - goodnight all!