Sunday morning

After a pretty busy morning and a fairly lazy afternoon (apart from the ironing), I managed to stay up until nine and, would you believe, slept more or less solidly until six this morning.  Virtually unheard of, that is.  I'm very obviously on the high road to recovery again, croaky voice to the contrary notwithstanding.  I suppose the glasses of rose I had through the evening must have helped somewhat, but not for that long, surely.

I did intend to go shopping early but didn't really get going fast enough.  I wasn't doing nothing, dear me, no, I did most of the Saturday tasks good and early, but didn't get dressed.  So the bedding was changed, the bedroom cleaned and dusted, the bathroom and the downstairs loo cleaned and shined, the kitchen wiped over, etc.  I put a loaf on to bake (half and half wholemeal and granary, which makes an absolutely delicious loaf) and the white washing went into the machine.  By the time I was dressed it was just too close to George arriving so I waited until he got here, gave him his instructions and paid him, then set off for Sainsbury's. 

While there, I saw that they had some likely looking small gammon hams (or parts thereof) on special so I got one, as it would be cheaper to boil that up for my sandwich fillings for the coming week than to buy sliced cooked meat.  When I got home and sorted everything out, I realised that it was, of course, vacuum packed, so I just slid it straight into my slow cooker still in its wrapping, where it has been slowly cooking ever since.  It's out now and cooling but if it has not completely cooked (it should have) I will just revac it and pop it back in again!  The lamb leg steaks are also vacooking in there for DG and me for dinner today.

I managed to half do one of my challenges for the weekend - the table is now all folded up and ready to go out.  It's amazing how much bigger it looks over that side of the room without the clutter.

As for today - I'm hoping to get out to Argos this morning to get a silver loo seat.  Yes, I know it sounds blingy but it isn't.  When I had my bathroom redone in the 90s, I went for a grey suite (can't get them now) which I liked then and still do now, although I know that colours are so last century for most.  Inevitably, the loo seat broke after a while and I couldn't get a replacement, so went for silver, which looks lovely.  A matte silver, more like a slightly shiny grey, than anything sparkly.  I've had a lot of hassle with that loo seat and have put up with it, fiddling with the screws now and again and trying to get it fitting properly, but I have decided that enough is enough and I'm getting a new one.  So onto Google I went to discover that the one I got (from B&Q) has heavily critical reviews covering the problems I have had as well as other issues.  So I'm not getting another one from them.  Fortunately, Argos seems to have a silver one too which has better reviews, including that it is easy to fit, so I guess I will go for that!  I can't afford much so whatever I get will be pretty basic.

Unfortunately, Argos is on the same site as places like Comet, Computer World and - wait for it - Hobbycraft (yay), so I may be gone some time, friends!   How sad . . .  :0)

Edited to add:  Re. the ham:  it was cooked.  Deliciously, lusciously, tenderly cooked.  A little stock had come out, very intense flavoured stock, but I let it cook in the bag and some was re-absorbed.  And it didn't shrink much in cooking.  The little stock I have left can be the basis for a green pea soup, I think - just a single portion.
I think I am always going to cook hams like this now, assuming they fit into the slow cooker.  My lunch sarnies are going to be absolutely delicious this week!  AND I saved money.