Always learning

I've had a revelation today, and I am sure some of you will chuckle to yourselves and wonder why I didn't already know the first one!

The YFG's school changed her PE uniform last September so that instead of a plain white polycotton polo shirt and some shorts, they now have a posh "skort" and a polyester top. Unfortunately, the top is not the most ideal thing for wearing when you are perspiring heavily, doing sport, and it has begun to be a bit whiffy!  I washed it this morning and when I went to hang it up in the verandah, it wasn't very pleasant at all.  I had to come and google how to get sweaty smells out of gym gear, and sure enough, good old vinegar was the top recommendation.

I know all about using vinegar as a softener in the washing machine, but since I actually prefer rough towels, I have never bothered particularly with worrying about softening my laundry, so I hadn't tried it.  I rewashed the top by hand and then popped it in the washer on a quick rinse cycle, with half a cup of vinegar in the fabric conditioner dispenser drawer and it worked!  Came out as fresh as a daisy - I shall definitely be doing that again.

And my second lesson of the day?  I found a fab song on Youtube for my service in the morning, but needed to be able to download the video on to the laptop in order to use it, because we don't have any internet access at the chapel.  A quick visit to my tech friend up the road, and a lesson on keepvid and I am sorted.  I shall be able to use it to download gymnastics videos as well to teach the kids at gym.  Very pleased with that lesson!

We've had a foul thunderstorm here this afternoon where the heavens opened and the rain came down in torrents, along with hailstones.  There was a carpet of ice on the lawn when I walked back from the computer guy's house, and I got wet feet because I had gone out in my dry weather walking boots - they have cracks in the soles but they are so comfortable that I refuse to part with them.  Part of my Hawkshead haul, I have been wearing them daily now for about three years, so they don't owe me a penny - they were the FH's and I had a blue pair: I wore mine out and he never wore his, so I took them over about three years back and never let him have them again!

I popped in to Lidl this morning and used the voucher. I spent just over the £30 and stocked up on some things we needed alongside a couple of items to make the amount up to £30 which we will use in the months ahead.  Lidl dry cat biscuits, which the cat loves, were reduced from 99p/kg to 89p/kg so I bought three boxes of those!  There were some good bargains alongside Lidl's usual good prices. We should be set for the week now.  Glad to read that some of you were able to make good use of the voucher, and I spread the word amongst some real life friends too - times are getting tough for some of them and they were pleased to hear about the voucher.  I think I am getting a reputation here as the one who knows about vouchers!  Not a bad thing.