Monday, 19-01-26

Hello, everyone!  How're you doing?  I love Mondays - I know in reality it's just the next day but, for me, there's a sense of cutting off, leaving behind and moving on into new things.  
Not that there's much to cut off really, it's same old most of the time - and that's not a whinge, I love  most of my 'same olds' very much, it's just a feeling.

Yesterday was busy in a gentle, homey sort of day.  Lots of kitchen stuff.

I made three sourdough loaves in the end, two to to take to Lindsey for her and her friend and then I remembered that Diane is here today and I always make a sourdough loaf for here, not because she asks for it or expects it, but because she likes sourdough and she's a good friend.
I had to do a bit of experimenting as I didn't have any more active leaven so I mixed some more and got it bubbling using Nellies 'prove' function before putting together my own loaf recipe.  Thankfully, it worked which I was relieved about.

I sorted out a pack of cooking bacon.  Quality varies with these packs but in the one I got more than half was a thick wodge of gammon ham which I can boil or bake (or both) at some point plus two small gammon slices and some bits which went into the ravioli filling (see below) - and not a lot of fat to cut off.  Most of it is in the freezer now.

Then I set to making some filled ravioli from scratch.  I'm on a bit of a mission to find the most wholemeal-y home made pasta, the problem being that the more wholemeal used, the less pliable the dough is.  50/50 with a bit of psyllium husk powder seems to work fine so that's a good starting point!

And, finally, I cooked a batch of savoury mince in the slow cooker, using stuff from the freezer.  Four portions are now in the freezer and one portion for this evening or tomorrow.

The dining table is now clear, I have a very tidy and organised corner cupboard and a bag of stuff for the charity shop.

And I dusted and swept.
What I didn't do and need to do is tidy my work table - it is covered with paper!!

It was a very satisfying sort of day!

Today I have Circuits first thing and a bit later Diane is over for lunch and a chat.  Between those two, I hope I can get some order into my work table (with the computer, etc) so that even if it's not 100% done, at least it looks better.  If I can get that done, I will be a happy bunny!

Oh, and I have piles of washing - not quite so interesting but necessary!

Better get going.  Happy Monday, everyone, stay safe and well.  xx

Sunday, 18-01-26

Good morning again, everyone.  How are you all?

So sorry about yesterday.  I was a bit rushed in the morning; it was my own fault for having a very lazy sort of start to the day and then I just got stuck into things.  Out of sight, out of mind, as the saying goes.

Going back to Friday - what a lovely day it was!  I went to Slimming World and weighed in at half a pound off.  Not much but, given the sort of week it had been, I was relieved.  There was a great buzz with returning members including target members who wanted to pick up their new book and there's several people who were mums of children I taught in year one.  It's so nice to catch up with them - how their children are doing and so on.  That's one of the nicest things about living close to the school - you see lots of familiar faces and old friends.

I got the bus into town and met Alex outside the Giggling Squid.  We had a very delicious lunch.  We started with prawn crackers and a dip, moved on to some crunchy chilli chickpeas (so good - I want the recipe!) and then a Bangkok bites sharing platter plus some wonderful chunks of belly pork done in a very sticky sauce.  All this was sharing platter stuff as you can from the photo of the Bangkok bites, taken from their site.

I finished off with some lychee yogurt ice cream which was amazing!

Here's the link to their site:
https://www.gigglingsquid.com/restaurant/chelmsford/

And to some info from the founders/owners:
https://www.gigglingsquid.com/news/20-questions-with-cofounders/

. . . just in case you are interested.  Well worth a visit if you have one near you.  

Thanks, Alex, for a lovely time out with you.

When I got home, I just chilled and got on with my crochet.  The maple leaf blanket is coming along nicely; I've nearly finished sixteen squares and have four more to go.

Yesterday (Saturday), I had a slow start before driving down to Tower Gardens to meet the others for our walk.  We had two 'new' people, S and P, who were two of my parents quite a while ago now and when we stopped for coffee, up rolled J, their 'child' with his wife and children to say hello.  Wasn't that lovely?  
The sun was shining and it was the perfect way to start off the new year's walks.

Later on I finished my shopping list and popped over to Sainsbury's where, you were right, Viv, they had loads of different kinds of flours so now I know.  I also found the maple syrup I like best that Morrisons hasn't had in for weeks.

And that was yesterday!

If Friday was my personal reset day and yesterday was a chill out day, today is house reset day.  I need to get all that stuff away in the corner cupboard again and one of my walking friends told me of a local charity shop where you don't have to make an appointment to donate things so I can take all the stuff I have sorted out tomorrow, maybe.
It is a Kay-day on Tuesday but I have a friend over tomorrow for lunch so I must do a quick dust and sweep over the bottom half of the house too.

I need to draw up a rough plan of the week's meals.  Usually I do that before shopping but I'm very much using what I already have so it wasn't necessary.

And, finally, I have a double batch of sourdough that has slowly risen overnight and looks very healthy so I need to finish that off today, one for Lindsey and one for her friend who might be interested in me making her a loaf once a week too.

I'm rather looking forward to getting everything sorted and in order again.  I know where everything is going now, it just needs to be done and dusted, so to speak.  It should be a very satisfying day!

All the best, everyone.  Have a great day, packed with good stuff.  Take care, stay warm and see you tomorrow.  xx

Saturday, 17-01-26

 Running late and put for a walk fairly soon, will post properly later.  :-) 

Later:
Ooops, sorry, the day just got away with me.   I'm calling today a washout and will be back properly tomorrow morning.  Hoping you have had the best day.  xx

Friday, 16-01-26

Morning, everyone.  It is warm and I have enjoyed a bath followed by a shower to wash my hair.  Yes, both, just this once.  It was absolute bliss.  And I have warm fingers.  The smallest pleasures are the most important.

Now I have to get used to new controls.  Matt went through it all with me so fingers crossed.

The weather was dreadful yesterday so I cancelled the demo which was a real shame because it was one I wanted to go to.  Matt did need to discuss a few things so perhaps it was just as well.

I went over to Chris' for our coffee and chat and warmed up there first thing.  That was really lovely.

Today I have Slimming World and then I am meeting Alex in town.  He's treating his old Nan to lunch at the Giggling Squid.  It will be lovely, won't it?

And I'm in a bit of a rush so need to send and go.  Have a lovely Friday and stay warm and dry.  xx

Thursday, 15-01-26

Morning all!  Happy Thursday to you.   We have a bit of a dire weather forecast here today starting with rain and then moving on to torrential rain.  Yuck!
On a brighter note, how can we be pretty much half way through January already?  Where has the time gone?  January is supposed to drag, we all know that.  😉

Yesterday morning, I said it didn't feel too cold in the house and it truly didn't; it was cold but not THAT cold.  However, when I drew back the curtains, there was a really heavy frost.  It stayed cold all morning with the most glorious sunshine which was very cheering!  Frost makes everything look so very pretty, don't you think?

Anyway - Matt turned up and work commenced.  Just before nine, I set out to take the bus into town to drop off my glasses so the lenses could be changed.  I was so glad that my precious pair were fine - I remember they said then that there was hardly any change but I decided to get new ones anyway.  Yesterday, I was very glad I made that decision.
I trawled around the town a bit but nowhere could I find the 'health food' stuff I was looking for - buckwheat flour, spelt flour and psyllium husks (I use the flours in my normal cooking and there's a reason for the psyllium, I've never bought it before and have no idea . . .).
So, sadly, when I got home it was off to Amazon and they will be delivered today.
It wasn't until later that I remembered I might have been able to get the flours in Lathcoats.  Darn it!!!

Yesterday was a bit hokey cokey - apart from going into town in the morning to drop off my glasses, I went round to Lindsey's at midday for my personal training session.  It was still quite hard but I can feel my stamina coming back a bit and we had a good old chat at the same time.
And then I went back into town late afternoon to collect my glasses.  I'm so grateful for a good bus service and my golden oldies bus pass.  It may take longer that using the car but it is a whole lot more frugal and, to be honest, easier, especially in rush hour.

The change of lens has been great.  Everything is clear again and I'm not blinking and rubbing my eyes in an effort to clear my vision.  Such a relief.

It is possible that today will be the last day of all the plumbing work.  Matt said it would take four days.  I discovered this morning that I have water out of the 'hot' taps again although it's not hot, of course, as the boiler isn't on and one of my bath taps is dripping so that needs sorting pronto because it wasn't.  I'll mention it to Matt when he arrives.

It's Thursday so I am over to Chris' for coffee and chat.  That will be really nice. 
Then I am booked to go into town yet again for a Thermomix cookery demo but I'm not sure about that.  There's a bit of a walk from the bus to the demo place and the forecast is for heavy rain so I will just see how it goes and cancel if it's really bad.  I have no wish to come home dripping wet to a cold house.  I'll have to ask Matt what the chances are . . .

Then, this evening is the weekly online chat which I'm very much looking forward to.  So quite a busy sort of day in a way but, also, not busy because it's fun stuff.
That's all so I will stop waffling and get mu second coffee started.  Have a lovely day, whatever the weather your way.  See you tomorrow.

Update at 11:00 - we have warm radiators!  Three cheers!!

Wednesday, 14-01-26

Hello again, everyone!  How are you today?  It doesn't feel so cold this morning and I have no idea what the weather is doing yet.  Yesterday it was absolutely miserable.  Rain, rain, rain all day and I felt cold and low, probably because I slept really badly over Monday night.  Doesn't help, does it

It wasn't a bad day apart from the weather.  Chris and I drove down to Groove, did some fitness fun stuff and drove back again.

By the time we got home, Matt had taken over the kitchen and I wish I had taken a photos.  Oh, my!

By the end of the day, the old boiler was out, the new one was in and it all looks a bit - steampunky? - in that corner.

I was so tired that I took myself and a fan heater upstairs and had a snooze in the bedroom.  That helped!

Matt's corner.  I see no point in the poor chap loading everything into his van and then unloading it again the next day.  He sorts everything out so it's all stuff he will need the next day.  Ditto with the carpet protection.  He would have cleared that but I said don't bother.  Waste of time really.

(and it gives me a reason not to hoover the carpet!!)

All the stuff from the kitchen cupboards that needed emptying is on the living room table and each time I go by I take a look and am, gradually getting rid of stuff that initially I decided to keep.  Having it out there for days really makes a difference.

It's proper unsettling, having a mess, but helpful too, in a way.
What I do find more difficult is having someone else around all day.  I am so very used to solo living and having my safe space to myself most of the time, and have been for decades.
Not a grumble or a whinge, just saying!  😊

Today I am out a fair bit which Matt said is just as well! (not quite in those words though) as he will be working in the kitchen, on the landing and in the attic.  I have to take the bus into town to drop off my glasses so the lenses can be changes and will be wearing my old glasses through the day.  I have a few things I need to do in town too.

Lindsey kindly changed my personal training time to twelve so I will be out to that.  

And, finally, I will be bussing back into town to pick up my glasses so I will, I hope, have proper clear vision again.   Thank goodness for bus passes!!

Fingers crossed for better weather.

Time to get moving.  I have plenty of time before Matt gets here which is good.  

Have a good day, everyone.  Stay warm and dry and see you tomorrow.  xx

Tuesday, 13-01-26

Good morning, everyone!  How are you all?  It's not that cold again this morning although I have to admit it was hard getting out of my cosy, warm bed!

Yesterday went pretty well with just one hiccup.

Matt rolled up bang on eight o'clock, unloaded everything, told me I could go out and about as much as I wanted and set to while I drove off the circuits.

Matt is a very tidy worker - this was as bad as it got in terms of big stuff although there's a bit of a mess around the now defunct boiler (still on the wall in the kitchen) and the landing was a bit of a no-go for much of the day.

For me, the worst thing was having no water - just just two flushes-worth, one upstairs and one down - so I whizzed off to Morrisons to get some bottled water (not for the loos, I hasten to add)!
However, by early afternoon Matt had the water on again so I now have a fair bit of bottled water to use up.  Not to worry, I'm sure it will come in useful at some point!

The hiccup was some very dodgy pipework/non existent welding under the landing floorboard that dated right back to when the house was built.  So Matt had the carpet and boards up, sorted out the dodgy stuff (I think I was lucky there!), replaced everything and you would never know he'd done anything at all except that I think he also sorted out a certain 'springiness' in the boards and they now feel nice and firm to walk over.

That's put him back a few hours but I'm so glad he was able to sort it.  And it was simple, unlike a recent job, Matt was telling me, when he found unsuspected asbestos and the job had to be halted while it was checked and properly dealt with, adding considerably to the cost of the work.
Thank goodness it wasn't complicated like that!

He's left me with some alternative heating.  I have the oil filled radiator on right now and it's certainly making a difference but yesterday evening I didn't need any heating, triple layered as I was with double socks and an electric fleece over my knees, just like an oldie (no rude comments, thank you!!).

The worst thing now is no hot water.  I am not a fan of top to toe sink washing but at least it's only for a few days.

I've just remembered - I had a bit of a panic yesterday.  On Sunday I had the garden room and garage unlocked as I was putting all the festive stuff away and yesterday morning I couldn't find the keys (which are on the same ring).  I hunted high and low and was getting a bit worried.  I have spares but that's not the point really.  

Thankfully, I found them eventually - I had put them on a dining chair and then pushed the chair under the table.  That'll teach me to put them away properly where they should go, won't it?

Today starts with Groove although whether we walk there and back depends on the weather.  Then it is another day of doing not very much - it's hard when key areas are in use and there's certainly no point in dusting, etc, at the moment.  I had to empty a few cupboards in the kitchen (for pipe access) so I can go through the contents and deal with anything I haven't used recently and as for what I had under the sink - words fail me!  I can certainly get rid of some of that, for sure.

So it is all go for today and now I need to boil a kettle and have a nice warm wash at the sink (better than nothing!!) and get dressed ready for Groove.
Have a lovely day, everyone - see you tomorrow when, fingers crossed, I will be nearer to having hot water!  xx