A Little Worried

We have just had a new heat exchanger put in the boiler. I wasn't surprised it was needed. I think the boiler is around eleven years old. The new part will hopefully add a few years onto its lifespan. And there was the new sump and brake discs for my car. And I got a new halogen cooker as it was starting to get very iffy on the heating. The microwave isn't cooking as hot as its rating these days, either. I think we got it when father was living here, so that's a good seven years ago. It probably needs replacing, but I think I will wait until Aldi has something on sale. 

The rice cooker isn't doing so well. It's a Tefal Multicooker thingy. I cooked rice in it yesterday, washed up the inner bowl, and now the bowl won't fit back in properly. Darn it to heck. I don't know if it got sort of squashed on the draining rack, but I've never squashed steel things before. The question is now - what do I do? I suppose I can see if I can get it to fit, but I don't want to be too heavy handed on something powered by electric. I looked on Tefal's website, but the product is quite old and they didn't have replacement parts on it. As I cannot cook rice well, and love my rice cooker, if I can't get the pot back into the cooker, I'm going to have to get something to replace it.

The six month period that included getting the current boiler installed all those years ago was a little like this. I don't know if it's on earlier posts of that time, on this blog or another, but it was horrific. It was a new gear box for DH's car, new tv, new printer, new boiler, new washer-dryer, etc etc etc. It was an horrific time. I'm a little worried that we are going back to that. 

I am just going to have to be disciplined enough and watch the pennies with total attention. I can't go spending like I did today. I spent just over £20 on top of whatever the Make and Mend Latch Hook Kit that I fell for in Aldi. I've always fancied a go at rug making, so I picked the kit up yesterday. Today I picked up backing fabric to make a cushion and some PVA glue to spread over the back because I don't trust my knots.  

I had a go last night and found it very soothing. I'll have another go tonight.

I went out to try and find some of the rat repellant. The peppermint oil is doing okay, but the stuff from Amazon that broke was amazing. There was a garden centre next to the uniform shop we visited Tuesday which I knew had weird slug pellet stuff, so I thought I would try there, but there was nothing. Fortunately there was a haberdashery and craft shop opposite, which is where I got the backing fabric, cotton and glue. I also tried at a garden centre on the way home. They also had nothing. There was poison, but I am a little reluctant. I've seen falcons and herons around and there are rumours of a fox. There are definitely cats. Even if I was happy about poisoning the rats (not entirely sure), I am not really ready to add poison to the food chain if I can help it. Of course, I didn't get any gardening done today. 

I also got a delivery today. It wasn't too bad for substitutions, so I was happy. These are strange times for shopping. I couldnt find any mention of the rug kit on Aldi's website when I looked to check the price, and I wonder if it was old stock that had been dragged out to fill a gap. 

I am now utterly exhausted, so I think I will sit and see how the latch hook stuff goes.

Hugs and good health to all.