Saturday, 31-01-26

Morning.  And here we are at the end of January and it's another dull old start to the day.  The forecast is pretty good, however, so fingers crossed.

As I mentioned in comments yesterday, poor old Alex has gone down with another stonking cold so didn't come.  He and Beth seems to have been tossing the same virus to and fro between each other all month.  As soon as one feels better, the other goes down.
The good news is that Beth is feeling brighter now (for now, anyway).

So yesterday's class didn't happen which means that next week's is all planned and ready.  That's good!

When I am doing my meal planning for the week before I do my weekly shop, sometimes my brain just goes blank.  Then, I go into my Readly app and look at the recipe links I have saved in there.  This time I came up with things like smoky beans on toast, tuna quesadillas and black bean and carrot burger - now next week's plans look rather good!  :-)

Today or tomorrow I have to:

read the meter
check the boiler pressure (Matt told me to do it once a month and showed me what to do if the pressure falls to a certain level)
sharpen my knives

I've already done the finance round up so that's good.

And today I plan to:

do my weekly shop

start Lindsey's sourdough loaf

have a go at some sourdough pasta - if it works, I plan to use what's left over of the Christmas not-sausage roll filling to make some ravioli for Beth

do some washing and the ironing

make some rice pudding in the slow cooker

make some sweet potato falafel (must find a recipe)

and carry on with the border to the blanket.

All self-imposed busy-ness which takes the pressure off and makes it fun.

How about you?

Happy Saturday, everyone.  See you tomorrow.  xx

Friday, 30-01-26

Morning, everyone!  It's Friday already, the last Friday in January, and I have no idea what the weather is going to do.  I bet it will be dull and dismal; though, like yesterday!    To be honest, a little snow fall that lasts would brighten thing up tremendously but I can't see that happening!  😊

I did a few bits and bobs yesterday.  One was getting the end of month finances sorted as there shouldn't be any more payments to make for January.
So I did that and was able to move a tidy sum over to savings, which is nice.
I like February and March as there's no rates and water to pay so that will all boost the savings.

As always, coffee and chat with Chris was lovely and the time passed in a flash.
A little while later, Val arrived and we chatted, crafted, ate home made wrap based pizza (very SW friendly!) and generally had a good time.

Then I continued to work on the blanket border.  In the end I kept the spike stitch but used a smaller hook and that's worked out just fine.  It's looking good and, as I have it all draped over my knees, it keeps me beautifully warm too.

An online chat in the evening finished the day off nicely.

It's Friday so it's Slimming World and then Alex should be over for our cookery session.  Today he is making Beth's favourite savoury bean crumble and taking it home for their dinner tonight.  As with all the best recipes, I already have everything needed so no need to buy anything special.

And that is that.  Life is plodding on nicely and, while it feels a bit busy at times, it really isn't, it's almost all self chosen stuff and that's fine.  It's been a nice, gentle five days and that does my soul good amidst all the worries of Real Life.
Have a lovely Friday, be happy, stay warm and comfortable and I'll see you tomorrow.  xx

Thursday, 29-01-26

Morning, everyone!  How can it be so very close to a new month right now.  Only last week it was New Year's Day, surely???  

One good thing is that the last of the payment have gone out for this month so I can round up the January finance ahead of time: one thing I don't have to do at the weekend now.  If I go food shopping, I will count it as the first for February!

I got a shock when I walked out of the house to go to Lindsey's at seven yesterday morning.  The temperature dropped overnight and there was a thin sheet of ice over my car, something I had not expected.  I was five minutes late in the end because it took ages to clear properly.
PT was great though - I think I rather like doing it early morning; it started the day off well.

Another thing that was great was the governors' monitoring afternoon.  We had feedback from staff about SEND, maths, English, phonics and early years and we went out during lunchtime to watch OPAL in action.  Very, very impressive.

Then we split into four groups for quadrant meetings (the rest of the curriculum is split into four areas, called quadrants).  I was allocated the mental and physical wellbeing quadrant, essentially PE and PSHE.  Not areas of particular interest before the meeting but it really aroused my interest.  Very informative.  

The other governor I was with will write the report and send it to me for my additions.

It was very intense and I was glad for an hour's rest with a cuppa before being picked up for the meal.

And that was also lovely - goodness, how we talked!  Beth is not that well, couldn't come, so we have arranged another date for the beginning of March.  I'm really looking forward to that.

On to today and it's much easier.  It's the usual Chris and coffee time, over hers today, and then Val is here for lunch.  In the evening there's an online chat.  I'll be all talked out by the end of the day, won't I?

Have a lovely day, all, stay safe and warm and see you tomorrow.   Bye.  xx

Wednesday, 28-01-26

Morning.  

I'm having an early start today.  I couldn't make personal training this afternoon so Lindsey fitted me in at 7:15.  That is am, not pm.  So I will be out of the house at seven.

The reason I can't do this afternoon is that from midday onward the whole governing body will be at school for a collective monitoring visit.  This is instead of an evening meeting.  There's various things to go to and it runs on into staff meeting so is less disruptive (and expensive) for the school staff and budget.  It will be interesting to see how it goes.

Then this evening I'm out for a meal with Beth, Linda and Julia to make up for the meal I missed before Christmas because I was unwell.

All go today and I need to get moving if I'm out of the house on time so I will keep this really short.  Have a good day, everyone.  xx

Tuesday, 27-01-26

Morning, all.  After a colder than expected day yesterday (not far off freezing at times, according to my car!), it's now chucking it down and is predicted to do so all day.  Rather yuck but infinitely better than they are getting the other side of the Atlantic right now.  That's really not good and I do hope anyone reading this is safe and able to keep warm and fed.

After looking up some videos, I have decided to - and started - doing a spike stitch border.  As Catriona said, it will go very nicely with the Maple leaf style.  
Having said that, I now don't like the rows of dc I did round before deciding so I am going to frog what I have done and start again.  Annoying but I should have thought more sensibly.

Today starts with Groove and, for once, there's no decision to be made as to whether we walk there or drive.  There's no way we want to walk in the pouring rain.

Then Kay comes (fingers crossed) and I will work upstairs (yesterday was crochet over housework, every time!) and then the rest of the day is my own.  I will need early bed tonight as tomorrow is an early start so if this doesn't appear until a bit later, that's why.

I managed to remember to take a few snowdrop photos.  The light wasn't great but usually the white doesn't photo well so I'm pleased with them in my own simple way!

It'll be daffodils soon, won't it?  When we went on our walk two Saturdays ago, they were already out in Tower Gardens.  Beautiful.

Better get going.  Wishing you all a warm, safe and happy day, wherever you are.

Bye!  xx  

Monday, 26-01-26

Morning, everyone.   Monday rolls round again and a new week starts.  According to BBC weather, it's going to be very cloudy but no rain is expected.  We will see.

Very little happened yesterday.  I finished off Lindsey's sourdough loaf; the whole process really does take so much longer when it is colder.  In warm, summer months, it takes pretty much a day from mixing the dough to having a completed loaf but at the moment it's taking the whole weekend.  Most of that is fermenting/proving, of course; it's a case of 'go with the dough'.

I worked hard on the blanket and now there is just one more square to join before I think about the border.  I might do another spike stitch border if I can sort out how to do those corners without making them too large.  I'll do a bit of looking things up.

Glancing through my diary, there's not much on except for Wednesday which is pretty full.  It looks like a dull and dreary week ahead so maybe that is just as well.  Snuggling down warmly is lovely when the rain falls.

The only thing in the diary today is circuits first thing.  It's housework day but tomorrow should (fingers crossed) be a Kay-day so I can focus on upstairs and, hopefully, get some order into a fairly chaotic situation - all behind closed doors, of course!  I also need to give my paperwork a good sort out.  I swear it reproduces when my back is turned.  And as it is coming towards the end of the month and pretty much all my payments are out, I can do the monthly totals and move any leftover money into short term savings.

And that's about it really.  Very dull, very ordinary, very little to write about really.  How about you?  xx

Sunday, 25-01-26

Good morning, everyone.  It's damp and dull here today again after a lovely, sunny day yesterday when the temperature was up to around 10C.  I took some photos of my snowdrops for today's post and then accidentally deleted them.  Doh!!!

It was a very leisurely start to yesterday.  Once downstairs was nice and tidy and the tea/coffee tray was ready, I did some crochet until Beth, Dave and K arrived and the business of the meeting started.  Short story is that investments, etc, have done very well, K is pleased and we carry on pretty much the same.   In the wider scheme of things, I don't have much invested but, to me, it is a lot and it's a security and a comfort - thanks, Mum and Dad.
 She's going to do some number crunching and let me know various options for accessing some of my money to minimise tax liability.  I know I could have whatever I want right away but they are long term savings so that is not the point!  :-)
I should hear back from her Monday or Tuesday.

Once K and Dave had gone, Beth and I sorted out a few more things both financial and other before she asked if  would like to go out for lunch, her treat.  You bet I would!

So off we went to a local pub and had a delicious lunch.  I had roasted sweet potato and hummus sandwich and could only eat half so I brought the other half home and had it for dinner, toasted.

Like this.

It was a very satisfactory and satisfying day all round.

Today is an at-home day.  I have a little list of things I would like to get done/sorted, a sourdough loaf to finish off and some meal to plan, including Thursday lunch when Val is over.

And crochet, of course.  There's always crochet!  What would life be without crochet?   :-)

I do hope your Sunday will be as pleasant as I expect mine to be.  If you are Scottish, Happy Burns Night to you and may your haggis be tasty!  (sorry, I don't know any authentic sayings)  Have wonderful celebrations.

By, all.  See you tomorrow.