I'm limping towards the end of the month in just a couple of hours, and hoping to get to bed earlier tonight as the week has caught up with me....I'm thinking of a photo post tomorrow with a bit of a gallery of the stuff we have been doing this month, as well as a more usual financial round up. We've taken pictures of all the puzzles the FH has been doing, and there's my knitting now as well - the scarf is nearly finished, thank goodness!
I think that today is the last day of winter officially, but I believe folk are saying that we are in for a chilly start to spring over the next few days at least. I am glad that we have got through November, December, January and February without any really hard frosts and snowy days, and if that was winter, it was an exceptionally mild one. But oh my, has it been wet! We all know just how wet and windy it has been, and I wouldn't wish that on anyone again, but seems like that might have been a precursor of things to come in the future. I don't know what kind of a summer we can hope for, but I am actually just quite pleased that the days are lengthening on and we aren't in the dark at 4pm any longer.
I'm so chuffed to welcome new readers to the blog, and new followers too! I hope you find something interesting here, and a very warm welcome indeed to anyone who has hopped over here from Elaine's blog at Mortgage Free in Three.
Friday, 28 February 2014
Thursday, 27 February 2014
Fen news
I am shattered! After two meetings back to back last night, I took the FH and went to UJ's house and we collapsed into bed at 11.30pm, only for him to spend several hours tossing and turning, suffering with pains in his feet and just generally not getting comfortable. It was 3.30am before we were able to get to sleep properly, and then we were up again at 6.45am to get to the hospital by 8.15am.........we sat in the waiting room and all he kept muttering was that he wanted to go home!
The hospital news is that the fluid is building up again so the diuretics have been changed and hopefully the new one will get the water shifting. We are back again there in July, but have carte blanche as always to call them with any concerns in the meantime - and I always do - they are incredibly patient and helpful whenever I ring and I have nothing but admiration for the clinic staff who help us out.
Once we got out from the clinic at 11am though, I thought that the FH was going to collapse in exhaustion before I could get him to the car - he slumped against someone else's car on the way to ours and I was worried, but I managed to get him in and buckled up for the journey home. Arriving home, he went straight to bed, where he has been ever since. He had a good long sleep this afternoon and is feeling more normal again this evening, thank goodness. A couple of long days have just worn him out completely and it is going to take him another couple to get back to where he was earlier in the week.
Tonight the EFG and I have been for our first SW weigh-in, and it was OK. The EFG lost a pound and I divested myself of four somehow - I was quite chuffed but didn't get too excited about it. I am so proud of the EFG for achieving a loss this week, and of how well she has stuck to the plan. I am hoping that as she loses more weight, the insulin-intolerance that the consultant says is affecting her will reduce and she will be able to lose more. Even 10% of her body weight will be a huge achievement so that is what she is shooting for at the moment. I could see that the time spent at the group discussing everyone's losses and gains was quite boring for her, but one lady shared that she has lost 5 stone in the time she has been coming to the group and so that certainly inspired me!
In other news, these two teenagers of mine are costing me a small fortune! The EFG needs a cheque tonight to pay for two re-sits of modules she is going to do again in the summer exams, I have just paid out £75 for the YFG to start doing the Duke of Edinburgh Award, and now she says she needs new trainers and all the kit list for the DoE. Along with the expenses of the Aberdeen trip in this next budget period, we are all going to be losing weight because we'll be on rations, I reckon! There is only so much money in the pot and when extra expenses come along like this, other areas have to be cut back, as is only sensible. None of these things are extravagant and unnecessary - I really think that the DoE will suit the YFG immensely and with her being of such a practical mindset, I believe that it will be money well spent to enable her to gain an qualification for her CV which reflects her personality aptly. Conversations today about her future career have ranged between the army and the police on the one hand to being a midwife on the other hand, so you can see that she will definitely be Doing Something.
Night night - thanks for visiting and I hope to get back to more regular blogging next week. Take care xx
The hospital news is that the fluid is building up again so the diuretics have been changed and hopefully the new one will get the water shifting. We are back again there in July, but have carte blanche as always to call them with any concerns in the meantime - and I always do - they are incredibly patient and helpful whenever I ring and I have nothing but admiration for the clinic staff who help us out.
Once we got out from the clinic at 11am though, I thought that the FH was going to collapse in exhaustion before I could get him to the car - he slumped against someone else's car on the way to ours and I was worried, but I managed to get him in and buckled up for the journey home. Arriving home, he went straight to bed, where he has been ever since. He had a good long sleep this afternoon and is feeling more normal again this evening, thank goodness. A couple of long days have just worn him out completely and it is going to take him another couple to get back to where he was earlier in the week.
Tonight the EFG and I have been for our first SW weigh-in, and it was OK. The EFG lost a pound and I divested myself of four somehow - I was quite chuffed but didn't get too excited about it. I am so proud of the EFG for achieving a loss this week, and of how well she has stuck to the plan. I am hoping that as she loses more weight, the insulin-intolerance that the consultant says is affecting her will reduce and she will be able to lose more. Even 10% of her body weight will be a huge achievement so that is what she is shooting for at the moment. I could see that the time spent at the group discussing everyone's losses and gains was quite boring for her, but one lady shared that she has lost 5 stone in the time she has been coming to the group and so that certainly inspired me!
In other news, these two teenagers of mine are costing me a small fortune! The EFG needs a cheque tonight to pay for two re-sits of modules she is going to do again in the summer exams, I have just paid out £75 for the YFG to start doing the Duke of Edinburgh Award, and now she says she needs new trainers and all the kit list for the DoE. Along with the expenses of the Aberdeen trip in this next budget period, we are all going to be losing weight because we'll be on rations, I reckon! There is only so much money in the pot and when extra expenses come along like this, other areas have to be cut back, as is only sensible. None of these things are extravagant and unnecessary - I really think that the DoE will suit the YFG immensely and with her being of such a practical mindset, I believe that it will be money well spent to enable her to gain an qualification for her CV which reflects her personality aptly. Conversations today about her future career have ranged between the army and the police on the one hand to being a midwife on the other hand, so you can see that she will definitely be Doing Something.
Night night - thanks for visiting and I hope to get back to more regular blogging next week. Take care xx
Wednesday, 26 February 2014
It's Aldi voucher week again
True! Get the Mirror [or the Record in Scotland] tomorrow and get your voucher entitling you to £5 off when you spend £40, and the vouchers are valid for a week until Thursday 6th March, so might even be worth getting two if you have a family to buy for and can spend £40 each week. Hope that helps, friends xx
Catching up
There seems to have been a lot going on in blogland whilst I have been away - it hasn't been easy to get the chance to read all your blogs whilst my internet access is restricted, so I have just had a quick pop around just a few of them now that I can get onto the YFG's computer as she has gone to school. I've left a few comments here and there too :)
My computer guru rang up last night to say that my computer was working absolutely fine - he just turned it on and away it went. Why, oh why, then, was it as dead as a dodo when I tried to turn it on? It did this before Christmas and made me look foolish and seems to be playing games again now. I can fetch it back from him later this morning.....let's see how long it lasts this time.
We had a long budget meeting at school yesterday morning and examined the accounts as usual - it is always a long meeting, so I shouldn't complain about that, but the FH was getting peckish for his lunch by the time I got home. He had had a visitor as well so he had had to come downstairs to let his friend in and make a cup of tea to have with him. He has the lunch club today, so I hope he doesn't tire himself out because we have a trip to Papworth tomorrow, so we are going to UJ's house tonight, after I have been to a Governors' meeting and a Preachers' meeting! We won't get to UJ's house until past 10, I should think, but it will be worth it in the morning not to have to leave here at 7am!
There was a small spend at the supermarket last night when the EFG and I came out of gymnastics, because the other place didn't have any fromage frais on Saturday so she wanted to look for some in Sainsbury's, and we got lucky! We also bought some more baking potatoes [they are a good staple on this eating plan] and fruit - lots of fruit!
I'm off now to do some tidying up and ironing so that I can leave the place tidy for UJ and the girls tonight. I may get back to have another trip round some of the blogs I missed this morning, if I get a chance for a cup of tea later, otherwise, I shall see you all tomorrow. I am hoping to be able to report some successful weight loss after we weigh-in tomorrow evening........
PS A very warm welcome to the new followers - good to see you and hope you find something interesting to read. Leave us a comment now and again :)
My computer guru rang up last night to say that my computer was working absolutely fine - he just turned it on and away it went. Why, oh why, then, was it as dead as a dodo when I tried to turn it on? It did this before Christmas and made me look foolish and seems to be playing games again now. I can fetch it back from him later this morning.....let's see how long it lasts this time.
We had a long budget meeting at school yesterday morning and examined the accounts as usual - it is always a long meeting, so I shouldn't complain about that, but the FH was getting peckish for his lunch by the time I got home. He had had a visitor as well so he had had to come downstairs to let his friend in and make a cup of tea to have with him. He has the lunch club today, so I hope he doesn't tire himself out because we have a trip to Papworth tomorrow, so we are going to UJ's house tonight, after I have been to a Governors' meeting and a Preachers' meeting! We won't get to UJ's house until past 10, I should think, but it will be worth it in the morning not to have to leave here at 7am!
There was a small spend at the supermarket last night when the EFG and I came out of gymnastics, because the other place didn't have any fromage frais on Saturday so she wanted to look for some in Sainsbury's, and we got lucky! We also bought some more baking potatoes [they are a good staple on this eating plan] and fruit - lots of fruit!
I'm off now to do some tidying up and ironing so that I can leave the place tidy for UJ and the girls tonight. I may get back to have another trip round some of the blogs I missed this morning, if I get a chance for a cup of tea later, otherwise, I shall see you all tomorrow. I am hoping to be able to report some successful weight loss after we weigh-in tomorrow evening........
PS A very warm welcome to the new followers - good to see you and hope you find something interesting to read. Leave us a comment now and again :)
Monday, 24 February 2014
The saga goes on
The computer came home today, working well, and lasted all of three hours before it died again.....so it is going back to the repair chap in the morning. Not good.
It has been weird today with the girls going back to school again after having had them at home for a week. Quiet and peaceful, but strangely a bit lonely as the FH has been in bed all day resting his feet and doing a jigsaw of Paddington Station that he borrowed from chapel yesterday. It's another Ravensburger one and very well made. The picture is quite finely detailed and he is finding it quite a challenge - but it keeps him occupied and awake!
I have got all the documents ready to submit for the first two sections of Faith & Worship, and I am taking them to my tutor's house next week to check through it all with her and then it is going in the post to Methodist HQ for assessment.....nerve-wracking much, as the girls would say! Still, I am very chuffed to have got it this far, and just hope that it all passes muster. I hope that the next 7 units just don't take me three years to get done - I need to rev this up a little whilst the FH is in reasonable health, as it was last year's illnesses which slowed me down. I shall put the flags out when this goes in the post next week as it will represent a considerable milestone for me.
Frugality this week is being focused on staying out of the shops and keeping my pennies in my purse. I have put the lunch money for the FH on Wednesday, the Slimming club money and the piano lesson money all in little envelopes so I know that I have the cash set aside for each of those things. The girls are making their lunches for school and the FH and I are staying at home as much as we can this week - he has an appointment at Papworth for a check up on Thursday and I have some meetings to go to but thankfully I shall avoid temptation because none of them are anywhere near a shop. I have been mulling over having a supermarket delivery once a fortnight, as some of the shops have good offers on delivery passes at the moment. One of my neighbours has a regular Thursday 5pm delivery from that supermarket, and I wouldn't feel as bad about having a delivery if I ordered one at the same time, but I am not sure that I want it from them, so that defeats that object! I hate to see the vans coming on to the estate two or three times a day some days and just wish that the shops would find a way of letting us know when someone else in our postcode area is having a delivery so that we could contribute to saving some petrol usage - for the environment's sake, not the shop profits, by the way!
Anyway, time I was thinking about tidying stuff away and heading to bed as I have an early start in the morning. Cheerio!
It has been weird today with the girls going back to school again after having had them at home for a week. Quiet and peaceful, but strangely a bit lonely as the FH has been in bed all day resting his feet and doing a jigsaw of Paddington Station that he borrowed from chapel yesterday. It's another Ravensburger one and very well made. The picture is quite finely detailed and he is finding it quite a challenge - but it keeps him occupied and awake!
I have got all the documents ready to submit for the first two sections of Faith & Worship, and I am taking them to my tutor's house next week to check through it all with her and then it is going in the post to Methodist HQ for assessment.....nerve-wracking much, as the girls would say! Still, I am very chuffed to have got it this far, and just hope that it all passes muster. I hope that the next 7 units just don't take me three years to get done - I need to rev this up a little whilst the FH is in reasonable health, as it was last year's illnesses which slowed me down. I shall put the flags out when this goes in the post next week as it will represent a considerable milestone for me.
Frugality this week is being focused on staying out of the shops and keeping my pennies in my purse. I have put the lunch money for the FH on Wednesday, the Slimming club money and the piano lesson money all in little envelopes so I know that I have the cash set aside for each of those things. The girls are making their lunches for school and the FH and I are staying at home as much as we can this week - he has an appointment at Papworth for a check up on Thursday and I have some meetings to go to but thankfully I shall avoid temptation because none of them are anywhere near a shop. I have been mulling over having a supermarket delivery once a fortnight, as some of the shops have good offers on delivery passes at the moment. One of my neighbours has a regular Thursday 5pm delivery from that supermarket, and I wouldn't feel as bad about having a delivery if I ordered one at the same time, but I am not sure that I want it from them, so that defeats that object! I hate to see the vans coming on to the estate two or three times a day some days and just wish that the shops would find a way of letting us know when someone else in our postcode area is having a delivery so that we could contribute to saving some petrol usage - for the environment's sake, not the shop profits, by the way!
Anyway, time I was thinking about tidying stuff away and heading to bed as I have an early start in the morning. Cheerio!
Sunday, 23 February 2014
Weariness
It's the computer issues that are making me weary tonight - begging the girls for "turns" on their computers, not being able to submit my Shop&Scan data this week, the incessant passwords for multiple accounts that have to be signed in and out when you are using someone else's computer, and the whole heap of hassle. And there is also the wonder of whether the chap will actually be able to fix the flipping thing........and if he can't? Don't really want to go there just yet....it might get expensive.
Today has been lovely in many ways - we had a new-to-us preacher at the chapel this morning, an Australian lady who is very keen on gadgets and technology! She'd be stuck in a power cut. It was a good service though. This afternoon I have finished the ironing heap and got it all moved up towards the ironing pile, and cooked a very scrummy tea - salmon in parcels with lemon juice and veg for me, and with "lightest" Philadephia on the veg for the others. The EFG also made a mousse from Cadbury's Highlights hot chocolate sachets and Quark. I didn't get one of those, but it was a lovely tea. I have also done some exercise with her as well - Davina again.
Tonight I have had an evening in front of the tv with the knitting, and enjoyed watching Countryfile, Call the Midwife and then a film with Tom Berenger [haven't seen him in anything for years] called Sniper 3, and then I have just caught up with this week's episode of Line of Duty. That represents most of my week's tv!!
Back soon - have a good week xxx Battery is dying so got to publish quickly and go!
Today has been lovely in many ways - we had a new-to-us preacher at the chapel this morning, an Australian lady who is very keen on gadgets and technology! She'd be stuck in a power cut. It was a good service though. This afternoon I have finished the ironing heap and got it all moved up towards the ironing pile, and cooked a very scrummy tea - salmon in parcels with lemon juice and veg for me, and with "lightest" Philadephia on the veg for the others. The EFG also made a mousse from Cadbury's Highlights hot chocolate sachets and Quark. I didn't get one of those, but it was a lovely tea. I have also done some exercise with her as well - Davina again.
Tonight I have had an evening in front of the tv with the knitting, and enjoyed watching Countryfile, Call the Midwife and then a film with Tom Berenger [haven't seen him in anything for years] called Sniper 3, and then I have just caught up with this week's episode of Line of Duty. That represents most of my week's tv!!
Back soon - have a good week xxx Battery is dying so got to publish quickly and go!
Saturday, 22 February 2014
Saturday
Quick post as my time on the YFG's computer is running out - she wants to do something on it herself soon! I have been nosying around your blogs quickly, checking my bank, my emails and FB contacts, and it is shocking how quickly 20 minutes can pass as you faddle around on the computer....I have definitely got more knitting done this week!
So today....long lie in until 9am, sitting in the sun enjoying a cup of tea this morning, making some leek and potato soup for my lunch, food shopping this afternoon, tea before 6pm as the EFG is babysitting tonight, and a HUGE heap of ironing to attack tonight whilst the YFG and I watch a film as I think the FH is off to bed soon with a jigsaw - he came shopping with us this afternoon and he needs to get his feet up now.
No time for photos today, either, but the jigsaws are still in a nice heap so I shall get to them soon.
I hope you are all having a good weekend, but I have read on MSE that there is some more nasty weather coming in from the Atlantic tonight and tomorrow, so please stay safe if your area is affected. See you tomorrow xx
So today....long lie in until 9am, sitting in the sun enjoying a cup of tea this morning, making some leek and potato soup for my lunch, food shopping this afternoon, tea before 6pm as the EFG is babysitting tonight, and a HUGE heap of ironing to attack tonight whilst the YFG and I watch a film as I think the FH is off to bed soon with a jigsaw - he came shopping with us this afternoon and he needs to get his feet up now.
No time for photos today, either, but the jigsaws are still in a nice heap so I shall get to them soon.
I hope you are all having a good weekend, but I have read on MSE that there is some more nasty weather coming in from the Atlantic tonight and tomorrow, so please stay safe if your area is affected. See you tomorrow xx
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