Warm at last

 Ellen, we are due snow at some point but I'm not sure when.

Thank you Chloe's Nan, I keep adding bits to  it when I find something interesting, I keep all my spell making items in a cupboard in the bathroom.

Lynda, I'm old-school, today I've added an egg cup of bleach, sometimes I add washing soda but not both together.

Lyssa, yes they do and boiling the tea towels will use less power than a hot wash which seems to take hours.

It's been grey and raw here all day, even Beano only wanted short walks before returning to the boat. I slept badly last night because I was cold, the duvet had made a spirits attempt to cling to the floor so my only covering was a cotton sheet, eventually I put my dressing gown on and warmed up. Maybe I need a onesie but at my age I might not be able to get out of  it  in time when I need the toilet.

We had lamb on Sunday, it was much bigger piece than we ordered but it was price matched. It was a half leg so I boned it to make it easier to carve. It made Sunday's dinner, sandwiches for lunch today and tomorrow and I made a casserole for tea tonight. I had no onions so used dried, the last very sad carrot, some spinach and a couple of potatoes, it was tasty and filling.

I have half a punnet of aged mushrooms in the fridge, I shall slice them, soften them and serve them in warmed cream cheese tomorrow with whatever I can find in the freezer, probably a chicken breast.

Monday

 I'm not going to bore everyone with constant mileage counts from my walks, now I've worked out the distances I shall just make sure I do between 5 and 10 km a day.

Back to the exciting things, today I'm getting my biggest casserole dish out today and boiling  my teatowels, I shall also do a washing load.

It's grey, overcast and cold today, I've boosted the stove but not turned the heating on yet, Steve may decide to put it on when he gets up.

We were due an engine service today but it's been moved until the first week in February, as long as it's done before March it will be ok.

We are not tidy people.

 Ang, on her blog Tracing Rainbows has posted about her collection of Willow Tree figurines. They are so pretty.

I  don't have any shelves on the boat apart from the four around the TV, this is what Steve keeps on two of them.

The only other flat surface is the top of the storage units that fit under the gunwhales, this is where Steve keeps stuff he feels is important.

 He also has piles of clutter on the breakfast bar.

I have my last few books on my side and a very small terrarium.

This is my altar it is on the surface on the other side. I have

 another item currently waiting to be collected from my daughter's I'll post a pic when I collect it.

From the left, a goblet, a led candle, a Scorpio stone, a bag of crystals, a Green Man, and of hag stones that I've collected, a piece of wood, another candle and a threaded needle

Cold

Still in the minus here and this is what Beano did when we got in from our first walk. I've no idea how far we walked as I forgot to take my phone.

Bbarna, Lyssa unfortunately vinegar doesn't touch the scale in this area.

Ang and Pollie, I'll try your suggestions.

Kate, I've not tried Linda McCartney sausage rolls, I'm not a fan of sausage rolls, I do like a good quality pasty occasionally.

DD2 took me shopping  today, she shops at Sainsbury's, Steve has set up our deliveries with Tesco. I was able to stock up on lager which Tesco haven't had in stock for 2 weeks. I also bought garlic sausage and lard neither of which the local Tesco stocks. I prefer lard for roast potatoes and for making Melting Moments.

I've decided I'm bored with my winter tops, I've been wearing them since before I retired. So I'm going to put them away in the wardrobe for a couple of years and ring the changes.

Steve spent the morning in a bad mood he didn't want to wear his hearing aids so he moaned and bitched because he couldn't hear what I was saying!

Thursday

The tap is not really clean there is still a lot of scale on it. I can't get a toothbrush or bottle brush in the gap. Unfortunately the net from Lakeland is out of stock Col but I will keep a look out for one. 

I like vegetables and have a small repertoire of vegetarian dishes but I'd never eat the fake meat dishes, fake bacon or fake sausage. I think it's too akin to the crap Steve eats.

Minus 5 this morning, I put the heating on and got back into bed until the boat warmed up.  Parts of the marina were frozen today the ice wasn't thick but it was enough to confuse the swans.

Beano and I managed 9.37 km today. We started off in one direction but the sheep all came running to the fence hoping for food so Beano changed direction and we walked beside an empty field instead.

I struggled to stay warm during the day because Beano needs to go out, so no sooner am I warm that I'm back out in the cold again.

Shopping

Is anyone trying Veganuary?

I'm not, it sounds to me like I'm being asked to eat a vagina!

Yesterday was very cold, the heating was on twice for an hour each time. Steve came on one of the walks with Beano and managed 5k.

We had liver and bacon for tea, it was made last week and frozen.

Today we had a food shop delivered, there were a few things missing so I've asked DD2 to take me on Friday, I'll stock up on a few items that Tesco don't stock whilst I'm there.

Lyssa, Beano says thank you for the scritches.

JanF, fortunately we get very few.

Deborah, maddening isn't it.

This morning I decided to clean the bath room, I'm usually very careful about which cleaning products I buy but limescale is a huge problem here so I bought some strong descaler as it's a problem on the boat.

This is the third time I've tried to use it, it's the sort you spray on and leave. On the previous occasions I've used it Steve has noticed, rushed in and insisted on scrubbing it off and then  claims it's useless. This time he was distracted so I was able to leave it for the required 5 mins, spray again and leave it again and when I sprayed it off the scale had gone. This scale problem is made worse by the type of tap we have, it's very fiddly to clean and I can't get a scrubby between the mirror and the tap.

Monday

Rambler, he drives me round the bend too.

Jaccs, Steve doesn't get up any speed carving the joint, it's done very slowly.

Margaret I have a few rude teeshirts but the font on them is so ornate on them very few people realise what they say.

I read a comment on FB from someone celebrating her 20th wedding anniversary, she said " I have loved my husband for more than 20 years and there isn't a single day  of those 20 years that I haven't wanted to brain him and bury him under the patio.

I understand what she means. Every morning when Steve finally gets up, he walks into the living room and my heart lifts at the sight of him. I smile and say good morning,  he walks to the  clothes airer and starts to rearrange the washing I've just hung up. I immediately want to push him overboard!

I'm sure some people have perfect relationships with never a cross word. I don't!

it was a very frosty morning today, I put the heating on for an hour first thing then after walking Beano we took the boat across to a pump out, we emptied the rubbish and recycling and purchased 2 bags of coal, they will last us a week probably.

I paid our boat licence after lunch, it should be paid by automatic renewal but I've made alterations to it so I had to cancel it a and start again. Not long after the payment had gone through I received a phone call. It was a recorded message saying " This is the internet fraud department from your bank, your recent payment of £600 to Western Union has been stopped. Press 1 to speak to an advisor about this"

Needless to say I didn't press anything, I hung up.

I was told this morning that one of the nearby boaters died recently, he'd been unwell for the five years we've known him. I'm not sure what was wrong with him but I do know that the medication he was on was making him almost as unwell as his illness.