A bit of a day.

Chris as Jacquie says barley makes nice risotto, I tend to chuck it in with rice or any soup or casserole in making.

Jaccs I'm sure Beano definitely would not approve of wellies!

Wendy I do do try but Beano is not keen on having his photo taken and tends to turn his back on me.

I fell out of bed at about 1a.m. to be more accurate I was shoved out of bed. I'm mentioning no names but looking pointedly in Beano's direction! Somehow I managed to strain my big toe, I got back into bed but couldn't get to sleep as my toe was too painful. I took paracetamol and watched tv until the pain subsided and I dropped off. I needed to watch something boring and undemanding so settled on Couples Therapy. I don't know how effective the therapy was but the poor bloody therapist seemed to have aged 10 years in three months.

I awoke for the second time about 9 ish, my toe was sore but bearable so I dressed and walked Beano. When I got home I cooked a meal for Steve and then went to the post office.

I find any outing quite difficult now, lack of practice I assume, I'm happy enough to walk the 20 minutes to the bus stop and to catch the bus and when I got off I made straight for the post office. It was when I came out I had problems, I was struggling with my balance so I stood against a wall until I was steady. I don't feel scared, just wobbly and bloody cross because I'm wobbly. I'm sure people think I'm drunk when I stagger around.

DD1 messaged me to tell me that another of her children has tested positive for covid. The school and social services are giving her contradictory instructions on what she should do.

DD2 messaged me to tell me that she had finally received her deposit back from the house she rented whilst her new build was being completed. It's taken forever as the landlady argued about everything and wanted to keep the entire deposit.

Tuesday

 I often add barley to soup, Chris.

Debby I won't have candles on the boat, I'm such a clutz I'd  knock them over.

Marty I will buy a hot water bottle, I've just not got round to it yet.

I'm still continuing my decluttering, I emptied one of the huge underbed drawers yesterday and another bag of fabric left the boat.

Steve set his alarm to get up at 9:30 only to get a phone call to say that the delivery was delayed and wouldn't arrive until just after 12. It didn't matter, it's not like we had anything else to do but Steve would have stayed in bed if he'd known.

I took half a cucumber and two tomatoes round to my neighbour, she gave me a packet of biscuits she was given, I'll pass them on to one of my daughters. This afternoon my neighbour and I walked to the nearest lock. I think Beano would rather have stayed home as it was raining!

Comments

Lyssa I find meal planning extremely boring now I'm cooking for Steve he's fussy almost to the point  of obsession. But I've been cooking since I lived alone in a bedsit  at 16 so it's second nature.

I always cook from scratch and I don't like junk food, Steve loves junk food so he treats himself if he goes into town for anything.

Jaccs, I'm not vegetarian but I do eat a lot of vegetables whereas Steve won't. My diet is old-fashioned and basic, stuff that I'd call food, food from nature. Steve prefers food products, stuff that is highly processed and comes from a lab or factory.

I do have a freezer but it's small, when I lived in a house I kept milk and bread in the fridge so I didn't run out. I can't do this now and as it's 3 mile walk to the shop I try very hard not to run out.

Ellen life on a boat is difficult when it's wet because of the mud everywhere but I prefer it to being surrounded by concrete.

Cathy socks and gloves yes, in fact I wear two pairs of gloves, one ordinary and one fingerless but I can't wear hats often I have a lot of very thick hair which gets sweaty.

Next weeks meal plan

 Today we had roast turkey, I defrosted half a ham joint to go with it. So lunches next week will be turkey or ham sandwiches or HM soup for me.

I'm also making:-

Hunters chicken with chips.

Burgers on Tuesday as that's the day the shopping is arriving with fresh rolls.

Smoked haddock.

Beef casserole  LO from last week.

Chicken wings and ribs.

Dirty rice.

Next week's roast is beef.

I don't eat chips or burgers or the ribs and chicken wings. I shall eat salad or home made soup and maybe a jacket potato.

I've filled another bag of craft stuff for the grandchildren but there's still a lot to do.

I got very little done today, I slept badly for the last two nights and I'm tired, I can't get warm enough to sleep and I'm too tired to get warm, an early night tonight I hope.

Food

 Lyssa I will try peppermint oil on the back of the boat.

Beano is very reluctant to let me near his feet, I may try a microfiber towel next.

I see a lot of bloggers are  posting about cutting back on their food bills.

Obviously not having a car has saved us some money but it also means I can't shop around and hunt for bargains but I still try to be careful.

Last weeks meal plan was as follows-:

Sunday, roast pork, I cut the joint in half, froze half and sliced the rest thinly. The half I didn't freeze served Sunday lunch with yorkies, stuffing and roast pots, parsnip, sprouts and peas. It also made sandwiches for lunch for 3 days. Cheese or egg sandwiches on the other days. I can't eat pork so I had the roast without it.

Monday, Lamb chops one tiny one each with a sausage, boiled spuds with carrots, sprouts and peas.

Tuesday, Fish pie with carrots and peas

Wednesday, Burgers inna bun with salad because the shopping was delivered and the buns were fresh. I don't eat burgers so I had salad in a bun.

Thursday, Beef casserole, I added lots of extras and froze half.

Friday, Chicken pieces. I went to DD2 for a cuppa so didn't eat these.

Saturday, Liver and onions with mash, sprouts and carrots. There will be enough for two meals so I will freeze half.

Sunday, I have a small turkey breast that I will cook for a roast dinner.

Very plain food but it's what Steve will eat.

I shall put a loaf on to prove tonight, I've been using up two part baked baguettes that Steve wouldn't eat because they were sourdough.

The next food delivery will be on Tuesday, I still have carrots, onions, cucumber, salad leaves and sprouts in the fridge.

Webbed feet

 I was very excited this morning as it wasn't raining when I got up but it's due to rain again tomorrow. Beano has sore feet as they are constantly wet, I've tried balm but he licks it off and I've tried doggie shoes and he tears them off. There is nowhere dry to walk him and he will soon have webbed feet I'm sure.

The marina is still struggling with rats, over the weekend many people visited their boats and left food around which made the situation worse.

The stove was sluggish yesterday, it went out overnight and it's always difficult re-light. It picked up eventually and I cooked a beef casserole on the top. It was a huge casserole, we ate half yesterday and froze half for another  day.

Today I did another wash load, little and often as it's difficult to get stuff dry.

Weaver asked on her blog whether people consider themselves a town dweller or country dweller. I was born just outside a small Lincolnshire town, I moved from there to London and then to Bristol. After that I moved to the outskirts of a small town. Despite this I consider myself a country dweller for preference.

Horrified

I was horrified and sickened to read this morning the Tony Blair has received a knighthood.