Some people

Really get on my tits!

I mentioned in an online conversation that I'd had a glass of orange juice with my breakfast.

Someone immediately leapt in to the conversation to tell me I should be eating a whole orange and not be drinking juice. She followed this with a long and involved explanation of why she was correct and I was stupid for drinking orange juice.

I immediately left the conversation, I'm not at my best in the morning and really couldn't be bothered to get into an argument especially with someone who was so far up her own arris.

Yes, I'm sure a fresh orange would be better than juice but since

A) the local shop didn't have any oranges.

B) the nearest shop that sells oranges is about 3 miles away.

C) there is no bus to this shop.

D) I don't drive.

E) mind your own fecking business, I didn't ask for advice so butt out and stop ramming your perfect life down my throat. 

And breathe!

Lunch club.

Someone commented on my previous post that it could be Steve using my bank card. It isnt, he doesn't have the skills to clone my card and he wouldn't spend money in Costa coffee, especially one that is miles away from where he lives.

I went to the pensioners lunch club today as it's on the last Friday of the month, we had beef casserole with cabbage and mashed potato, followed by lime mousse. I do love food that I haven't had to cook. I shan't eat again today, I will make plenty of cups of tea though. I took a pretty bottle of hand cream as a raffle prize and won a packet of chocolate digestive that I gave to my daughter for her children. There were lots of people there who spoke to me as I'm becoming  a familiar face in the village, I'm beginning to fit in.

I went to the village shop today I bought 3 bananas, a bottle of bleach and some tea bags, just under £5 and  that's my weekly shop for this week.

Oh bugger!

 I've had a sudden influx of bank debits all from Costa Coffee. There isn't a Costa in the village where I live and I don't buy coffee when I'm out ever. I've managed to stop all of them bar one so far. But it does mean I need to close the account asap.

This is easier said than done as, although I could catch a bus into town and go to the bank I then can't hear anything that is said to me as the bank has a very noisy heating/cooling system that rattles, wheezes and bangs continuously. 

My bank cards been stopped, I have some cash probably enough to last me this week. I also have another account so I will transfer everything to my new account and take it from there.

Beano.

Beano is fine and seems fully recovered, Unfortunately he is a bit of a scavenger when I'm walking him. If he finds a scrap of discarded chicken or any other tasty morsel he sometime snaffles it and swallows it before I can retrieve what ever it is he's found. He then sometimes pays the price and has an upset tummy.

My garden has been mown, there is a local lady who does a few of the gardens where I live and she has now done mine. One neighbour offered to do my garden but I was reluctant to encourage him. He has a habit of coming over whenever I'm in the garden. He rarely speaks, he just stand beside me. I have a horrible feeling he's hoping I'm going to cook him a meal!  Another neighbour suggested a lady gardner and I went with her. I'm more comfortable dealing with women. Both front and back gardens now look more respectable.

I was given another chest of drawers this morning and I've been offered a TV unit, not that I watch live TV but the unit might look nice in my living room. I've also been given a DVD player so next time I visit a charity shop I will look for some interesting DVD's. 

Visitors.

My oldest son visited today with his wife, we met in the local pub and enjoyed a roast dinner, My son had beef, my daughter in law had lamb and I had chicken. A very enjoyable meal and it was lovely to spend time with them. They came back home with me so they could see my bungalow and how comfortable I am. Like my daughter, they too said how much better I looka now I'm living alone.

Beano has had an upset tummy but I took his favourite blanket to the pub with me and he mainly slept while we ate. He had lots of fuss and cuddles with my son and daughter in law, and seems to be feeling better now.

Homemade soup.

I often make soup, it's quick and easy and cheap. I also always keep a couple of tins of soup in the cupboard, usually Baxters which is around £2 a tin.

When I regularly cooked a Sunday roast I'd make soup with the leftovers, my kids used to refer to it as stoup, half way between soup and stew.

In the interests of economy I've made a pan of soup this morning, enough to last 2 or 3 days. It was the first recipe I learned on a vegetarian cookery course I went on about 45 years ago and I still make it.

I have no idea how much it costs to make but it is cheap, a packet of broth mix is £2 for 500 grams, I use a very small handful. I soaked the broth mix overnight and changed the water twice. 

I used one potato, one carrot both approximately the same size, one onion slightly smaller, all these were chopped into smallish dice. You can add herbs or spices to your taste, I usually add pepper and curry powder. Bring to the boil then turn down to a simmer until everything is cooked through.

I brought mine to the boil whilst I was making my morning porridge and then turned the ring off. When I went back to the pan after breakfast everything was cooked, once it's cooled I'll transfer it to plastic boxes and store it in the fridge.

I need to top up my savings.

I think I've spent what I need to now to have a comfortable standard of living, I started with just a bed my son gave me and a few boxes of belongings.

I've purchased 2nd hand furniture and some new bedding and curtains, a fridge freezer, blinds, a whirly washing line and a selection of mops and brushes etc. The bungalow has two built in cupboards in the bedroom but neither of them had hanging rails, fortunately my daughter had a large wardrobe that was no longer needed so she gave it to me. She also gave me a small TV and a mini oven that sits on the work surface. A friend has given me a DVD player.

 A friend of Cass's brought round a chest of drawers and my other daughter finally managed to collect the last box of stuff and my standard lamp from Steve, unfortunately it came with six boxes of crap that he insisted were mine. I'm hoping to contact an ex work colleague who does regular boot sales to see if she wants the stuff I don't want.

I'm now hoping to start saving money again, I'm still going to go out to the Autumn group and the pensioners lunch but I'm hoping that if there are no more large items to purchase I should be able to save some money. I want to be prepared as I think there could be problems on the horizon with Steve.

I've managed to stock up my kitchen cupboards and I buy Beano's food online, so I'm now only shopping every two or three weeks, apart from bananas and fortunately the local shop sells them in three's