I have a (very mild) cough. It feels very scratchy. I may have inhaled too much dust yesterday. Who would have thought that sorting through boxes that haven't been touched for twenty years would stir up dust? I also feel achy and poorly but I'm less convinced about that. It may just be a reaction to too much dust.
I haven't been out today but I've managed to keep us all warm and fed, and I'll take that as a win. We had a 'house meeting' when we talked about who was doing what and when and I jotted down a rough meal plan. I suspect that's what has caused the cough, much more than any dust. Any time I try and meal plan I usually trip over some sort of crisis.
I'm using the 'Country Wisdom & Folklore Diary 2018' and I can't remember who recommended it, but thank you, whoever you are! It is awesome. We all had a little rummage in it and I'll be sharing the info as we keep having the meetings. It helps a lot to keep me somewhat on track.
One of the things I learned today was that bear's school will be having fund raising events to pay for the storm damage of the last few weeks. There has been quite a few thousand pounds of damage, apparently, and I know that their budget has been squeezed. I checked his book bag and there isn't a letter yet about fund raising. There was, however, his lunch money that he should have handed in last Wednesday. I've a good mind to ring the office and grass him up.
I've also managed some writing. The most recent installment of 'At the Sign of the White Hart' is here. The link to the story so far is here. I've had a trawl through various accounts. For those interested, the story of Steve Adderson before he joined the White Hart is here. There is also a bonus White Hart story which I had on my Always Another Chapter account but I've also posted it on the White Hart account here. The next installment is due by 15 January, and I already have some ideas for that and the one after it. Thank you for all your kind words. I can't tell you how much it means to me.
Sunday, 7 January 2018
Saturday, 6 January 2018
Another Good Day
I didn't get out of the house. However DH and I cleared out the corner cupboard. The corner cupboard has been a problem since we moved in. It's a magnificent, floor-to-ceiling, built in cupboard that looks like this
However the layout of the room has meant that there has always been a piece of furniture pushed against it, usually a sofa. Things have been pushed in there and forgotten for years. We used to keep things like salt and pepper in there when father was here because we didn't go downstairs to the dining room to eat (stairs!) but instead ate on trays in the living room. When father collapsed we forgot about all that. Father was the only one to add salt to his food. There was also a lot of drink left in there and forgotten.
We pulled everything out. I had decided that we use the bottom cupboard for storing the Christmas decorations as we would then only have to move the sofa twice a year. It didn't have that much in apart from a few photo frames.
In the corner of the study we have a genuine sea chest. It was my great-great aunt's and smells of cedar. It's in the corner and usually blocked by bear on the computer and all the rubbish and clutter on top. We emptied that as well.
We found so much that we had completely forgotten. We found a stash of candles that we had totally overlooked and will keep us going well into next autumn. We found a half drunk bottle of port which was last opened before father went into hospital in 2014. We found some very dubious pickled onions. We threw out a lot of, well, naff raff stuff. Just bits and pieces that would be hard to sell in a charity shop but had no use to us. We threw out a huge stack of old reporter's notebooks that all had about half a dozen pages left. We never used them, bear had plenty of supplies, we knew no-one who would appreciate some very elderly, slightly foxed notebooks that were extremely inexpensive when bought and were now down to their last few sheets. We threw out some elderly tea lights that had gone a peculiar colour. We threw out some chargers for phones we no longer had. We put some old candle sticks to go to the charity shop after I'd scraped the dust off them - they were wrapped in newspaper from 1996. They hadn't seen the light of day for over twenty years.
Some things we put back. I had artificial flowers in my wedding bouquet and we found those. They are stashed. We saved quite a few pictures bear did in nursery. Some things will be put in the display cabinet or we will find uses for them elsewhere. I found this.
I bought in in a charity shop at least twenty years ago. I've always really liked it but never found a place for it. I made a conscious choice that I would find a place for it.
The result is that the car is so full of rubbish for the tip that we can't fit another scrap in and we feel a lot better for it. I have a bag of stuff that needs to go to the charity shop which means a reason for me to leave the house. The sea chest is empty and in the corner with a throw and a printer on and the cupboard in the living room now holds all the wrapping paper (down to @ 20 rolls), greetings cards, gift tags, candles, spare batteries and a lot of assorted envelopes.
On top of that, we've had some very healthy meals, bear and his pal not only devoured biscuits but also an assortment of fruit and the butternut and sweet potato soup was amazing. I made the rolls again, and they were very welcome. I consider it a good day.
However the layout of the room has meant that there has always been a piece of furniture pushed against it, usually a sofa. Things have been pushed in there and forgotten for years. We used to keep things like salt and pepper in there when father was here because we didn't go downstairs to the dining room to eat (stairs!) but instead ate on trays in the living room. When father collapsed we forgot about all that. Father was the only one to add salt to his food. There was also a lot of drink left in there and forgotten.
We pulled everything out. I had decided that we use the bottom cupboard for storing the Christmas decorations as we would then only have to move the sofa twice a year. It didn't have that much in apart from a few photo frames.
In the corner of the study we have a genuine sea chest. It was my great-great aunt's and smells of cedar. It's in the corner and usually blocked by bear on the computer and all the rubbish and clutter on top. We emptied that as well.
We found so much that we had completely forgotten. We found a stash of candles that we had totally overlooked and will keep us going well into next autumn. We found a half drunk bottle of port which was last opened before father went into hospital in 2014. We found some very dubious pickled onions. We threw out a lot of, well, naff raff stuff. Just bits and pieces that would be hard to sell in a charity shop but had no use to us. We threw out a huge stack of old reporter's notebooks that all had about half a dozen pages left. We never used them, bear had plenty of supplies, we knew no-one who would appreciate some very elderly, slightly foxed notebooks that were extremely inexpensive when bought and were now down to their last few sheets. We threw out some elderly tea lights that had gone a peculiar colour. We threw out some chargers for phones we no longer had. We put some old candle sticks to go to the charity shop after I'd scraped the dust off them - they were wrapped in newspaper from 1996. They hadn't seen the light of day for over twenty years.
Some things we put back. I had artificial flowers in my wedding bouquet and we found those. They are stashed. We saved quite a few pictures bear did in nursery. Some things will be put in the display cabinet or we will find uses for them elsewhere. I found this.
I bought in in a charity shop at least twenty years ago. I've always really liked it but never found a place for it. I made a conscious choice that I would find a place for it.
The result is that the car is so full of rubbish for the tip that we can't fit another scrap in and we feel a lot better for it. I have a bag of stuff that needs to go to the charity shop which means a reason for me to leave the house. The sea chest is empty and in the corner with a throw and a printer on and the cupboard in the living room now holds all the wrapping paper (down to @ 20 rolls), greetings cards, gift tags, candles, spare batteries and a lot of assorted envelopes.
On top of that, we've had some very healthy meals, bear and his pal not only devoured biscuits but also an assortment of fruit and the butternut and sweet potato soup was amazing. I made the rolls again, and they were very welcome. I consider it a good day.
Friday, 5 January 2018
Not Perfect
I've had one of those days. I didn't get much sleep last night and I felt particularly naff raff. I didn't manage to get out, either, but I will tomorrow.
Bless - re the rolls, I've answered your comment but I thought I'd put it in here as well. I didn't add any salt at all to the rolls as I don't use much salt in cooking anyway, and they were not too bad. I did find the dough stickier than I expected and I cooked them for a little longer than advised but they were abolutely delicious and DH would like a double portion cooked next time. I found them really quick to make, even including the time looking for the measuring spoons.
We are not doing low carb I can't tell you how relieved I am. DH had been given advice by his work colleagues. His work colleagues are actually very lovely, and I'm sure that the low carb diet has worked really well for a lot of people, but I think the tipping point was realising that we would have to cut back on lentil soup. We did some research and the plan isn't recommended by governments in the UK, USA, Australia or Canada and a lot of reputable sources didn't recommend it for children. Instead, the current plan is to change our eating habits. We are going to have less processed stuff (which is a blow to me, as it's easy), lots more veggies, cut back on snacks and generally keep an eye on what we actually put in our bodies. We are looking at more homemade soups and less tinned ones, more lean chicken and very lean mince and less lamb and pork, that sort of thing. Bear will still have full access to goodies, of course, but those goodies will include more fruit and less chocolate. I have suggested that every Sunday we have more of a 'treat' meal so this Sunday it will be sweet chilli chicken, bought ready prepared from Tesco, with roast potatoes and a heap of veggies followed by apple and mincemeat crumble. On the other hand, tomorrow we will have butternut and sweet potato soup for dinner (I got the idea from this pre-prepared pack but I have butternut squash and sweet potatoes already, although unprepared, and I'll bung in a handful of lentils and some cumin, garlic and tumeric), with those rolls, but snacks/desserts will be fruit or raw veggies. It's a plan that will adapt as I use up the ready prepared stuff in the freezer and build up recipes.
Fluffy - I am planning on publishing an installment of At the Sign of the White Hart every Monday. I hope you enjoy a weekly fix. Thank you, and everyone else who has commented, for your amazing encouragement. I can't tell you how much it means to me. I have got around half way through the next installment and I'm confident it will be ready on time but I've been too tired to concentrate or do much at all today. Instead I've done a little knitting and I've started working on a decent table that tracks the characters in the stuff I've written.
So far I've self published The Forgotten Village, Digging up the Past, Dinner at Dark and Cats in the Bible. Forgive the links, please, but it's sort of expected of a self published author. All the books apart from Cats in the Bible have the same background and many recurring characters. This background and cast of characters also crosses over into the tales of Steve Adderson which can be found intermixed with other work on my other blog, Always Another Chapter, where I mainly publish fiction and At the Sign of the White Hart. It's a real nuisance when you want to bring in another character and you can't remember what their eye colour is or how they take their tea. I need to sort it out.
Bless - re the rolls, I've answered your comment but I thought I'd put it in here as well. I didn't add any salt at all to the rolls as I don't use much salt in cooking anyway, and they were not too bad. I did find the dough stickier than I expected and I cooked them for a little longer than advised but they were abolutely delicious and DH would like a double portion cooked next time. I found them really quick to make, even including the time looking for the measuring spoons.
We are not doing low carb I can't tell you how relieved I am. DH had been given advice by his work colleagues. His work colleagues are actually very lovely, and I'm sure that the low carb diet has worked really well for a lot of people, but I think the tipping point was realising that we would have to cut back on lentil soup. We did some research and the plan isn't recommended by governments in the UK, USA, Australia or Canada and a lot of reputable sources didn't recommend it for children. Instead, the current plan is to change our eating habits. We are going to have less processed stuff (which is a blow to me, as it's easy), lots more veggies, cut back on snacks and generally keep an eye on what we actually put in our bodies. We are looking at more homemade soups and less tinned ones, more lean chicken and very lean mince and less lamb and pork, that sort of thing. Bear will still have full access to goodies, of course, but those goodies will include more fruit and less chocolate. I have suggested that every Sunday we have more of a 'treat' meal so this Sunday it will be sweet chilli chicken, bought ready prepared from Tesco, with roast potatoes and a heap of veggies followed by apple and mincemeat crumble. On the other hand, tomorrow we will have butternut and sweet potato soup for dinner (I got the idea from this pre-prepared pack but I have butternut squash and sweet potatoes already, although unprepared, and I'll bung in a handful of lentils and some cumin, garlic and tumeric), with those rolls, but snacks/desserts will be fruit or raw veggies. It's a plan that will adapt as I use up the ready prepared stuff in the freezer and build up recipes.
Fluffy - I am planning on publishing an installment of At the Sign of the White Hart every Monday. I hope you enjoy a weekly fix. Thank you, and everyone else who has commented, for your amazing encouragement. I can't tell you how much it means to me. I have got around half way through the next installment and I'm confident it will be ready on time but I've been too tired to concentrate or do much at all today. Instead I've done a little knitting and I've started working on a decent table that tracks the characters in the stuff I've written.
So far I've self published The Forgotten Village, Digging up the Past, Dinner at Dark and Cats in the Bible. Forgive the links, please, but it's sort of expected of a self published author. All the books apart from Cats in the Bible have the same background and many recurring characters. This background and cast of characters also crosses over into the tales of Steve Adderson which can be found intermixed with other work on my other blog, Always Another Chapter, where I mainly publish fiction and At the Sign of the White Hart. It's a real nuisance when you want to bring in another character and you can't remember what their eye colour is or how they take their tea. I need to sort it out.
Thursday, 4 January 2018
A Surprise
I went out again today. I only went a little way to the local Nisa, but I went out. It's been very wet and windy here and I got soaked, but I didn't mind as it was only a quick trip.
One of the things that I picked up were some bell peppers. Bear and his pal devoured a stack of strips of raw pepper so I'll have to keep working on that. I also made some fast rolls for dinner. The recipe is here, but basically it's just flour, milk and mayonnaise. They came out beautifully, even with gluten free flour. I would recommend them, especially in an emergency.
It's a shame, really, because DH came home and said he's decided to go 'low carb'. That means that the very pleasant rolls will be shelved, as will lentil soups and the hummus I was planning to top bear up with when he got home from school. It also means that the rice cooker that means we finally get great rice is no good, and that I guess that the stock of gluten free pasta will be split between donations and my lunches. I've no idea where to start. I think I'm going to have to spend some time rattling around the internet. I'm not sure whether it's suitable for bear (though cutting down on his crisps and biscuits won't hurt) and I don't know if I can face it.
Btw, yesterday I asked about a river being measured in height or depth. I think Sue in Suffolk's reply was the most succinct - it's depth if you're in it and height if you're not. I'll take it. The local beck is around half the height that the government considers a flood risk, but I think I'll keep an eye out.
One of the things that I picked up were some bell peppers. Bear and his pal devoured a stack of strips of raw pepper so I'll have to keep working on that. I also made some fast rolls for dinner. The recipe is here, but basically it's just flour, milk and mayonnaise. They came out beautifully, even with gluten free flour. I would recommend them, especially in an emergency.
It's a shame, really, because DH came home and said he's decided to go 'low carb'. That means that the very pleasant rolls will be shelved, as will lentil soups and the hummus I was planning to top bear up with when he got home from school. It also means that the rice cooker that means we finally get great rice is no good, and that I guess that the stock of gluten free pasta will be split between donations and my lunches. I've no idea where to start. I think I'm going to have to spend some time rattling around the internet. I'm not sure whether it's suitable for bear (though cutting down on his crisps and biscuits won't hurt) and I don't know if I can face it.
Btw, yesterday I asked about a river being measured in height or depth. I think Sue in Suffolk's reply was the most succinct - it's depth if you're in it and height if you're not. I'll take it. The local beck is around half the height that the government considers a flood risk, but I think I'll keep an eye out.
Did it Again
I did it again - I went into Leeds. This time I went in without bear. This is not necessarily less expensive, but it does lower the chances of me spending.
First things first, I survived the boiler service. The man turned up at @ 9.30 and he seemed very disappointed that he couldn't condemn my gas cooker. To be honest, he wasn't the only one. It's older than bear. Mind you, it's not as old as the one I used in the shared house when I first met DH, back in the 1980s. I found a picture of the same oven in a 1930s cook book except some of the little twiddly bits they had instead of dials had broken off and you had to use pliers to turn the gas for the oven on.
I took a while to recover from the boiler service (the man had Views), but then I dashed into Leeds and picked up some fabric. Yes, I know, I have several tons of fabric already but I wanted something like absorbent cotton without lint. Bear has really taken to the calligraphy fountain pens and seems to be permanently elbow deep in ink. I can't tell you what the bathroom sink looks like since he started cleaning his pens out. He has been dabbing his pen on swathes of tissues. I have decided that for the sake of the environment I'm going to cut this very nice, lint free cotton into rough squares or rectangles with pinking shears, stitch a few layers together with a few random stitches and he can use that as his pen wiper. I plan to do it tomorrow because if I don't then I'll have another job stuck on the end of the list and I want it finished. This way I can cut down on the tissues being used and I daresay the fabric will pay for itself in a month. The cotton is already washed and dried. I'll just put an iron over it, cut it with pinking shears (I hope I can find them!) and put a few stitches in the centre to catch a few layers together. I can stash a few of these in a basket in a drawer in his desk and just bung them in a wash as and when needed.
Here's an interesting question. I found a link to the government site which monitors the water levels on the local beck. I'm quite impressed as it is just a small stream but I suppose if it floods it does cause a lot of disruption on a very busy road. I thought I would share, but would I say that the site showed the height of the water, or would I talk about the depth of the water? I discussed this with DH and we agreed that it would be height as the water was rising higher, but I'm still open to suggestions. It's currently about half the height it would be if there was a risk of flood, but it's still quite full.
First things first, I survived the boiler service. The man turned up at @ 9.30 and he seemed very disappointed that he couldn't condemn my gas cooker. To be honest, he wasn't the only one. It's older than bear. Mind you, it's not as old as the one I used in the shared house when I first met DH, back in the 1980s. I found a picture of the same oven in a 1930s cook book except some of the little twiddly bits they had instead of dials had broken off and you had to use pliers to turn the gas for the oven on.
I took a while to recover from the boiler service (the man had Views), but then I dashed into Leeds and picked up some fabric. Yes, I know, I have several tons of fabric already but I wanted something like absorbent cotton without lint. Bear has really taken to the calligraphy fountain pens and seems to be permanently elbow deep in ink. I can't tell you what the bathroom sink looks like since he started cleaning his pens out. He has been dabbing his pen on swathes of tissues. I have decided that for the sake of the environment I'm going to cut this very nice, lint free cotton into rough squares or rectangles with pinking shears, stitch a few layers together with a few random stitches and he can use that as his pen wiper. I plan to do it tomorrow because if I don't then I'll have another job stuck on the end of the list and I want it finished. This way I can cut down on the tissues being used and I daresay the fabric will pay for itself in a month. The cotton is already washed and dried. I'll just put an iron over it, cut it with pinking shears (I hope I can find them!) and put a few stitches in the centre to catch a few layers together. I can stash a few of these in a basket in a drawer in his desk and just bung them in a wash as and when needed.
Here's an interesting question. I found a link to the government site which monitors the water levels on the local beck. I'm quite impressed as it is just a small stream but I suppose if it floods it does cause a lot of disruption on a very busy road. I thought I would share, but would I say that the site showed the height of the water, or would I talk about the depth of the water? I discussed this with DH and we agreed that it would be height as the water was rising higher, but I'm still open to suggestions. It's currently about half the height it would be if there was a risk of flood, but it's still quite full.
Tuesday, 2 January 2018
New Year, New Shoes
Bear needed new shoes. He didn't need them because he had outgrown them but because he wore them out. As today was a training day, we took the opportunity to go in and get them.
In the past we have always gone to Clarks, all through bear's life. Clarks have the reputation of being wonderful for kids shoes, properly fitted, well made and generally the store all caring parents would go to for their children's best outcome. Bear got his first shoes from there. I have also had some of the toughest arguments to protect bear's interests in there. It's been so hard trying to get them to listen to bear when they are telling me that he has plenty of room and bear is clearly uncomfortable. They haven't even lasted that well. Today we went to Clinkards.
Clinkards is scarily expensive, though bear's shoes cost about the same as they would have in Clarks, and seem very traditional. I got the impression that you wouldn't get six inch heels but you could get a nice pair of hush puppies. And when we mentioned the fitting to the assistant, they were fine. They were lovely. They couldn't do enough to help bear choose. He actually came away with two pair which were painfully expensive but they seem very good quality, were leather and one pair was definitely dress shoes. They weren't quite winkle pickers but were definitely sharp. I thought it interesting that bear suddenly had an opinion on his shoes more than, 'It fits, it'll do!'. I'm going to encourage it, within reason, as if he is interested in looking good it will no doubt help me a great deal through the teenage years.
We had a quick trip to the supermarket where we picked up a few bits, then got soaked through on the way to the bus stop and home. The beck is really high at the moment. Then I spent the rest of the afternoon trying to get through to Scottish Power. I will have to spend a lot of tonight trying to get the kitchen in some sort of order as it is still in a heap. It was on the list! It's just now a little higher. They come tomorrow and hopefully we'll get decent hot water after that!
In the past we have always gone to Clarks, all through bear's life. Clarks have the reputation of being wonderful for kids shoes, properly fitted, well made and generally the store all caring parents would go to for their children's best outcome. Bear got his first shoes from there. I have also had some of the toughest arguments to protect bear's interests in there. It's been so hard trying to get them to listen to bear when they are telling me that he has plenty of room and bear is clearly uncomfortable. They haven't even lasted that well. Today we went to Clinkards.
Clinkards is scarily expensive, though bear's shoes cost about the same as they would have in Clarks, and seem very traditional. I got the impression that you wouldn't get six inch heels but you could get a nice pair of hush puppies. And when we mentioned the fitting to the assistant, they were fine. They were lovely. They couldn't do enough to help bear choose. He actually came away with two pair which were painfully expensive but they seem very good quality, were leather and one pair was definitely dress shoes. They weren't quite winkle pickers but were definitely sharp. I thought it interesting that bear suddenly had an opinion on his shoes more than, 'It fits, it'll do!'. I'm going to encourage it, within reason, as if he is interested in looking good it will no doubt help me a great deal through the teenage years.
We had a quick trip to the supermarket where we picked up a few bits, then got soaked through on the way to the bus stop and home. The beck is really high at the moment. Then I spent the rest of the afternoon trying to get through to Scottish Power. I will have to spend a lot of tonight trying to get the kitchen in some sort of order as it is still in a heap. It was on the list! It's just now a little higher. They come tomorrow and hopefully we'll get decent hot water after that!
Monday, 1 January 2018
Day One
It feels like Day One in a new chapter. I'm not saying I've been marvellous today, but I've been better. I've been out of the house to visit my brother who lives around half an hour away in the car. We had an amazing time, with lots of good food, presents were exchanged (bear was spoiled!) and we had some lovely doggy cuddles.
I've started clearing out my various email accounts, some of which are very clogged, and I've checked in on my Facebook pages. I've signed up to a Future Learn course, fingers crossed. I have a record of starting but failing to finish these courses and I want to try and get somewhere this time. Future Learn is a site where you can sign up to free courses in all sorts of things. The courses are offered by places like the Open University and are entry level with no accreditation, but they're the real deal from proper departments. I've eyed up a course on maths puzzles to keep up with bear but I decided against it as I didn't want to have to ask bear to explain it all to me, and I considered some of the business courses as I really ought to treat the writing I do as a business. I've also listened to positive music.
Most importantly, I've actually done some writing. If you are interested in Tales from the White Hart, the latest installment is here. As this is the first installment since August, to my shame, you may like to read the story from the beginning, here. The story so far comes in at @ 35,000 words. When it gets to @ 60,000 words and a good place to stop then I'll publish it as a free ebook before starting on the next installment.
Today has been a good day.
I've started clearing out my various email accounts, some of which are very clogged, and I've checked in on my Facebook pages. I've signed up to a Future Learn course, fingers crossed. I have a record of starting but failing to finish these courses and I want to try and get somewhere this time. Future Learn is a site where you can sign up to free courses in all sorts of things. The courses are offered by places like the Open University and are entry level with no accreditation, but they're the real deal from proper departments. I've eyed up a course on maths puzzles to keep up with bear but I decided against it as I didn't want to have to ask bear to explain it all to me, and I considered some of the business courses as I really ought to treat the writing I do as a business. I've also listened to positive music.
Most importantly, I've actually done some writing. If you are interested in Tales from the White Hart, the latest installment is here. As this is the first installment since August, to my shame, you may like to read the story from the beginning, here. The story so far comes in at @ 35,000 words. When it gets to @ 60,000 words and a good place to stop then I'll publish it as a free ebook before starting on the next installment.
Today has been a good day.
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