Scrimping and saving, ranting and raving. Past retirement age.
A phone call from DD2 y'day morning, it's Reading Festival weekend here, she had taken her four children to the Festival every day but on the last day, her youngest Jojo was wiped out by the late nights and ask if she could stay with Nana and Steve.
We were delighted to have her come over, she was very quiet for the first hour but after a dinner of roast beef, roast potatoes, goodies and get she perked up no end.
It was so lovely to spend time with her she is an absolute joy.
I've had my air fryer for a week but only got some baking parchment y'day.
Yesterday I cooked some Cajun chicken in it, it was very successful.
Today is Friday, Steve has chicken and ribs on Friday, without fail!
They are pre cooked so only need heating up, the air fryer worked perfectly but Steve complained because I heated up the chicken first whereas he wanted the ribs first
All in all I'm very pleased with the air fryer so far, I have a gammon joint cooking in it at the moment.
I'm gradually recovering, Steve is finding it difficult.
He is convinced he was well enough to continue boat life, I was there, he wasn't!
He was finding life difficult and relied on me a lot, mainly for things I couldn't do, which gave him and excuse to moan.
We had four visitors yesterday,
Chris who bought over two boxes that he's had in his car since we left the marina.
Rivers who arrived with some baking parchment that Jennie had purchased for me, this meant I could start using my air fryer.
Steve's friend Bob who had a job to do in Wokingham, he dropped by for coffee.
Jennie, who had dropped Rivers off at Reading Festival and was giving us a lift to the marina to sign some paperwork.
All in all a busy day as most days we see no-one.
This morning Steve has gone into town on the bus, allegedly it's to get me some Vit C tablets, actually it's to go to the pub and have lunch.
I'm going to vacuum the floor as I've been managing with a brush since we moved here.
I'm going to cook a gammon joint in my air fryer and try and decide what to make with the apples I've collected.
I also need to work out a meal plan, Steve is becoming more and more limited on what he will eat and I'm determined to improve my diet.
I've tried to persuade him to join something but unfortunately he deems everyone else an idiot, so he refuses to join anything!
I'm still feeling wiped out but I am improving slowly.
Steve still wants to move somewhere different!
Nowhere in particular, just somewhere different.
When I decided I'd had enough of living in the boat I gave him the option of staying, he chose not to!
Yes, money will be tight when we move but money has been tight before.
I'm entitled to claim more benefit which I will do once we've moved.
I will go back to shopping at Aldi and Lidl once we're settled too.
I really hope we can make a go of it.
The flat is just new to us Sue, it's in a listed building though out part isn't listed.
Steve has now decided he wants to buy a different flat, probably just because!
Or maybe we should rent a flat instead!
I'm sticking to my guns, I've spent a year longer than I should have living on a boat, trying to explain that was no longer coping.
I need some quality of life, some company and regular contact with my family.
The boat has been sold and tomorrow it will set off up the Thames to its new home.
We eventually reached an amicable agreement with the new owner and they have paid for the boat so they can set off tomorrow.
The surveyor caused a few problems as he claimed a few items were broken whereas they were simply turned off as the boat was moored up.
However everything was eventually sorted and the new owner paid their money and took possession.
All we have to do now is wait for our new flat to be ready.
