Yummy simple dinner for tonight, and sister's firepit plans

 Husband fancied burgers in rolls with spicy wedges for tonight, I didn't, not even the Linda McCartney mozzarella burgers I like.  I fancied something plain and simple and homemade - so I've just made mac n cheese, with a homemade really cheesy sauce.  Actually, it's not macaroni, it's orecchiette, as that's what I've got, a nice Italian made pasta rather than the mass-produced cheap stuff.  The sauce I made with mature Cheddar and Parmesan for a good strong taste, I added chopped chives and black pepper to it.  I've just tasted a spoonful of the pasta and sauce and it's gorgeous, no doubt it'll taste even better later on.  Got some cheesy garlic bread to have with it.  I ought to have a side salad too, for the fibre, but have gone off the idea of salads at the moment, after the horrid D&V episode the other day.  I've got plenty of fresh fruit in so might make up a fruit salad for afters.

It's a day of short sharp showers and sunshine breaks, cold wind again too.  I did washing this morning but only put a few things on the line that's just outside the back door, in view of the showers, the rest is on the clothes airer, it was in the car port but I've just brought it inside, it wasn't drying out there.  I didn't want to be traipsing inside and out again with armfuls of washing every 5 minutes.  The forecast is much the same for the next few days, possibly being better for next weekend - I do hope so.  My sister said she'd like for her, her friend and me to sit in their holiday cottage garden around the firepit there in the evenings, drinking wine and toasting marshmallows!  Nice idea, but it'll be a cup of hot chocolate and possibly toasted crumpets for me, I don't drink alcohol nor eat marshmallows 😂

Sis is really getting excited, she's messaging me every day with a countdown and suggestions for things they'd like to do.  Like me, she's a carer looking after her disabled husband, although he's housebound so worse off than my husband.  But again like me, sis rarely gets a break or holiday, so it'll be a lovely carefree few days for both of us.  Their adult kids and a couple of good friends will be looking after her husband (and dog) whilst sis is down here.

Husband's youngest sister, 17 years younger than him, in fact the same age as his son, says she's really looking forward to seeing him again, she worked out it's around 11 or 12 years since we saw her last.  She'll notice a big difference in him, I'm sure.  As will we see a difference in her - apparently she now has severe arthritis and walks with 2 sticks, we're all getting older and more infirm.  I'm just thankful we've reached our ages and still have all (most) of our faculties.

The dreaded self service till experience

 So it could have been the salad that caused my food poisoning....thanks for that, Happy Introvert, it hadn't even occurred to me.  Now I know.  Thinking on it, husband has twice had an upset stomach after eating bagged salads in the past year or so, I wasn't even aware it was a thing.

We went and did a tiny top up shop this morning.....as I only had a basketful, we went through the self service tills.  Husband is a nightmare with these tills - I reminded him to place our shopping bag on the bagging shelf properly.  But, as has been the case before, he left the bag hanging off the edge of the shelf by a couple of inches, so the scanner wouldn't work - first mistake.  Once he'd pushed the bag back, the scanner still wouldn't work - I glanced sideways to find that husband was leaning on the edge of the scanner - mistake no. 2.  Once I could start scanning (when he'd lifted his arm off), he was very slow putting the scanned items in the bag, resulting in the infernal machine announcing "Please place your items in the bagging area" three times in a row 😒.  Don't you just hate being told off by a machine?!  And then, to add insult to injury, I'd bought 2 packs of paracetamol, which meant the blasted light was flashing red and a message on the screen told us we needed to wait for someone to come and verify our ages - husband said, very loudly "Do I look like I'm 14?!".  No, I thought but didn't say, but you're acting like it 😂😒  Hence why I much prefer husband to wait in the car whilst I do the shopping by myself - he insisted on coming into the shop as he wanted to look at something.

It's gone very cold and blowy here again today - in fact it must have been pretty cold overnight as our heating came on in the early hours.  I hope the weather's ok for when our visitors arrive in a week's time.  I'm pretty much all prepared foodwise, just got to go out next Thursday to get some fresh bits for the buffet lunch. 

Husband's side of the family want to go on a steam train trip on one of the weekend days, we won't go with them as we've been on it before a few times and sister isn't that keen on going, so husband, my sis and her friend will do something else.  In any case, although it's a very picturesque journey partly along the coast then travelling inland through very rural areas, being an old heritage railway the carriages are old and decidedly uncomfortable, I had terrible backache for several days after the last time we went on the train.  It is nice watching the steam trains go through the stations though, and I love the sound of them, we can hear them from our bungalow. 

Well that was a waste of a beautiful day

 Yesterday morning I think I had a case of food poisoning.  It started off with a very crampy stomach ache whilst I was writing the blog post, I initially didn't think much of it as that's a regular occurrence for me, a result of the Metformin I take for diabetes, it's known for causing stomach upsets.  However, it very rapidly developed into diarrhoea and projectile vomiting (sorry, TMI I know).  All I can say is I'm glad our toilet and wash basin are right next to each other, as I needed both at the same time 😳.  For the next couple of hours I more or less lived in the bathroom, then once the D&V stopped I was overcome with tiredness and slept in my recliner armchair for 2 hours, highly unusual for me during the day.  When I woke up I felt so much better, the whole episode had lasted around 5 or 6 hours.  But it meant our picnic in the park had gone out the window, on the nicest weather day this year, what a waste of a beautiful day.

I can't remember the last time I was sick.... husband was fine so I can only assume it was something I ate, we had different meals for dinner Tuesday evening.  Husband had gammon, egg and chips for his dinner, I had fishcakes and salad, perhaps it was the fishcakes?  Although I was feeling better by late afternoon, I thought it was prudent not to eat much for dinner yesterday (obviously I'd had no lunch), so I just had a little scrambled egg and a few beans.  Husband had sausages with his bigger portion of eggs and beans.  I feel ok this morning.

It's not picnic weather today, the temperature has dropped and it's cloudy with the possibility of some showers.  Never mind, there'll be another nice sunny day soon.  I've got the rest of the cheap Easter veg to deal with today, think I'll make a pot of spicy carrot and parsnip soup and another tray of roasted roots.  I'll save a couple of carrots for a cake to make tomorrow - carrot, date and walnut.... except it'll be pecans not walnuts, as that's what I have in.  The cake will be frozen for our visitors.

Lovely day yesterday, even nicer today

 It was a lovely day yesterday, both weather wise and job wise.  I got washing on the line first thing, it dried easily in the bright sunshine with a moderate breeze blowing.  Husband did some jobs in the garden - erecting the supporting cane structure for the climbing French beans we'll be putting in.  He also planted the courgette plantlets - I thought it was a bit early for them to go out, but he covered them up with fleece and insists they'll be fine (I hope so).  He sowed some more carrot seeds and some dried peas - I've read lots of times that people sow ordinary dried peas for cooking bought from the supermarket, they use them as pea shoots for salads, picking them when young....sounds good so we thought we'd give it a go.  We soaked them overnight first, as recommended.  He watered and weeded as necessary, then sat in the garden enjoying the sunshine in the afternoon.

I made 2 cottage pies - I don't have a dish large enough for a big 8-person one (nor a big enough oven, come to that, seeing as I've only got my Ninja multi cooker, another air fryer and a microwave).  So I made 2, 4-serving ones.....there was enough of the meat mixture left for another couple of meals for husband - it all went in the freezer.  I also made a raspberry and blueberry sponge-topped pudding, it'll do us for 3 days worth of puds.  I don't put sugar in the fruit, and cut down the sugar in the sponge mix by 1/3 to 1/2, I've reduced the sugar in baked goods for a few years now, it makes little difference to the taste and husband has never even noticed.  We shouldn't really be eating sweet or carby things anyway, due to diabetes, but at our ages I don't feel like denying ourselves simple pleasures once in a while.

My cleaner didn't come on Monday, due to it being a bank holiday, so I did a couple of the jobs that she normally does.  She did offer to squeeze me in yesterday instead, but I said it was fine, I'd manage.  I didn't want her having to rush through her other jobs and have a longer working day to accommodate me.  It was very kind of her to offer though, she is so thoughtful and caring.  I sat out in the garden with husband for an hour in the afternoon, it was lovely if a bit breezy.

Today though there's almost no breeze, bright blue sky and very warm already, it's going to be a gorgeous day.  We've decided to take a picnic and go to the park in town, people have been saying on our local FB page that the flower beds and blossom trees are looking wonderful right now.  Dogs aren't allowed so we can't take Betty (we wouldn't anyway as there are dozens of squirrels in that park, which she'd be wanting to chase).  It's usually very quiet in there as the park, although being in the centre of town, is hidden behind the shops so most tourists don't realise it's there.  It's very much a local secret.  It's busier in the summer holidays, there's a bandstand and lots of events take place in the park, which are publicised on posters and on FB so more people get to hear about it.

Early morning surprise

 Happy Easter to those who celebrate it with families, happy Sunday if you don't.

We woke up to a surprise first thing this morning, when husband let Betty out into the garden.  I always go out there with her, as she sometimes feels the need to start digging in the flowerbeds, which obviously I don't want her to do......husband, however, just stands in the doorway, mostly oblivious to what she's doing.  This morning, however, she started whining and scrabbling about behind his plastic tool store, obviously after something.  He thought a mouse, but it turned out to be a hedgehog, Betty was batting it with her paw (it had rolled into a ball)....it's the first time we've seen a hedgehog in this garden.  Husband immediately started shouting at Betty to "leave it alone and come here!" - of which she took no notice.  Betty is very single-minded and stubborn when she's up to something, and husband's response is always to shout at her.  I've explained to him numerous times that shouting will have the opposite effect - it just excites her and raises her adrenaline even more, and she's hardly going to come to him when he's shouting at her - who would?!  He got a piece of wood and was trying to block her from getting to the hedgehog, I got a treat (the best way to get her to stop doing something is to distract her with something else) and said to her, quietly but firmly "Betty.  Come.  Here" - which she did, so I quickly got her inside.  It helped that it had just started raining (a short sharp shower) and she really doesn't like being out in the rain.  Since then, of course, she keeps wanting to go in the garden....to play with her new toy!....but we haven't let her as yet, husband has taken her for a walk around the estate.  I'm happy we have a hedgehog here (it's escaped to safety somewhere now, thank goodness) and hopefully Betty will forget about it within a couple of days....meanwhile, we'll have to keep a closer eye on her in the garden.

Aren't these gorgeous, I do love bluebells....I think they're the Spanish ones though, not British, which is a pity but they were here already when we moved in.  They're still very pretty regardless of origin, although the Spanish ones apparently are more vigorous and can overpower native British ones.  Over the years they've become very crowded and lots are now coming up blind, so once they've finished flowering and are dying back I shall cut all the leaves back and dig up lots of the bulbs to thin them out.  I'll ask around to see if any neighbours want any.

I'm still processing the cut-price veggies, still have loads of them, particularly carrots.  I made a big panful of potato and carrot mash yesterday and froze it, today I'll do a trayful of honey and ginger roasted carrots and then freeze.  I think I'll do a carrot, date and walnut traybake cake as well, again to freeze for when the next visitors arrive.  Had a video call with sister yesterday, she's getting really excited, her friend who's driving is not now working the night before they come, so they'll be able to leave to come down here around 8 am, which is good, it means they'll get here for lunch.  Husband's siblings are also planning to get down around the same time.  I'm well organised for food provision, thankfully - I have to be organised in advance, for the sake of my sanity.

Love my garden

 It's a dull drizzly day so no gardening or washing today, at least it's not cold although it's quite windy, as usual.  Mixed weather forecast over the weekend, with Monday being a bright sunny day by the looks of things, so we might go to the boot sale, they hold it on bank holiday Mondays as well as the normal Saturdays.

The first thing I do when I get out of bed in the mornings is pull back the curtains and have a look at the garden, I have a lovely view over our back garden, husband has a nice view of the front garden where the bright yellow wallflowers are now in bloom.  Lots of the perennial shrubs and flowers I planted last year and the year before are now bursting into life, growing strongly and will soon fill out and bloom all summer.  We now have 6 trees along our border fence - 3 Ceanothus, different varieties, 2 blue and 1 white.  A green acer we already had in another part of the garden, now moved to a large pot beside the fence, it looks happy so doesn't seem to have minded being moved.  A tall bushy tree that will have pretty white clematis-type flowers, I can't remember what it's called.  And now a Magnolia Susan (my birth name....well, Susan, not Magnolia!), gorgeous deep pinky purple flowers, I bought it yesterday.  My lovely Mum bought one for me about 20 years ago, we had it in our front garden up in the Midlands, we couldn't bring it with us when we moved down here to Somerset as it had grown too big to dig up, I was very sad about that so am happy to have another one, it'll remind me of my Mum.  So once all these trees start to grow upwards and fill out more, which they're already starting to do, we'll have a lot more privacy.  

The veg raised beds are coming along nicely too, as I said the other day we already have shallot sets growing well in one raised bed, spuds in several old compost bags (we always grow them in bags, they do pretty well), carrot seeds sown in another raised bed.  We have little yellow and green courgette plantlets and tomato seedlings under cover in the car port, waiting to go out when the danger of frost is past.  Husband will be sowing climbing French beans into another raised bed early next month, and we'll buy some mini cucumber plants then as well.  The strawberry plants are coming to life, and the blackcurrant bush we were given by our neighbour last year is growing strongly, I love blackcurrants so am hopeful of fruit this year.

I'm beginning to really love our garden, it's going to look so good (and be so productive food-wise) this summer.  It's come a long way from the sea of gravel and very neglected roses and a few shrubs when we moved in.  I'm also so glad we got rid of the 3 horrible half dead leylandii trees that were in the middle of the garden, they weren't very tall but were very wide and took up loads of space and were so ugly, that was one of the first jobs we did in the garden.

The garden was obviously loved at one time by the previous tenant, but she eventually became too unwell to take care of it and her partner did nothing, he had no interest in the garden according to our neighbours.

Food aversions

 Chris from Always Smiling blog has put on a post about offal today, wondering if people will start eating more of it as prices shoot up.  Chris mentioned brains and tripe - neither or which I'd ever eaten, they just didn't appeal to me, I was far too squeamish for that.

I used to eat all kinds of meat, although the only offal I had was liver and kidneys.  Before I became (mostly) vegetarian, I had been struggling for a few months with eating beef and offal....I just wasn't enjoying the flavour or texture anymore, it tasted too strong to me, my tastes seemed to be changing as I was getting older.  I wasn't keen on lamb either, for similar reasons, although lamb always used to be my favourite meat.

One day we were invited to our friends for dinner, we'd been there for meals numerous times and they were good hosts.  On this occasion they served up beef stew - we'd had it there several times before.  I didn't know before we went that it would be beef stew, and at this point I hadn't actually mentioned to anyone, not even my husband, that I was going off the taste of some meats, beef in particular.  I didn't really give it much thought actually, just thought maybe it was a phase I was going through.  Whilst eating the stew however, I noticed some chunks of something which didn't look or taste like beef - I thought perhaps it was kidney, but something about it didn't suggest kidney to me.  So I asked what it was - and was told it was heart.  I was immediately horrified - I had never (knowingly) eaten heart before, it just wasn't something we ever ate at home when I was a child and I'd certainly never bought or cooked it.  I didn't make a big issue of it, just left the lumps of heart on the side of my plate - I think husband ate them.  I don't know if they'd put heart in their stews before, most likely they had, I just hadn't noticed, it was only because I was developing this dislike of beef and other strong tasting meats that I'd noticed it on this occasion.  Well, that was the beginning of my turning to vegetarianism - not that I've ever told them but it was that heart that put me off of most meats.  

As I've said before, I do occasionally eat a little chicken, I use chicken, or sometimes pork, mince in dishes like cottage pie or lasagne.  I occasionally, perhaps once every 3 or 4 weeks, eat a couple of sausages.  Bacon I do really like the smell of and sometimes think I fancy a bacon sandwich on a weekend morning....each time I have one though, straight away I realise I didn't really enjoy that and won't have it again for several weeks.  I sometimes make a pasta bake, quiche or risotto with a little chopped bacon in, but it's very much as a flavouring and not the main part of the meal.

Nowadays, I wouldn't touch any kind of offal with a barge pole - Betty loves liver (so does husband) so I do sometimes buy it for them.....husband cooks it and I have to leave the kitchen, as I really can't stand the smell of it anymore, it makes me want to heave.  Is there any food any of you readers dislike intensely now, after perhaps eating it quite happily years ago?  Annabeth, maybe my celery aversion is in my genes, never thought of that, I've always, always hated it and can't ever imagine wanting to eat it.

Today I'm making bread and a sticky ginger cake - one of husband's favourites, he especially likes it warm with icecream, cream or custard.

Like being in a horror movie!

 Thanks for the comments, seems we all have frustrating stories of bureaucracy!

When we left Bridgwater yesterday afternoon (husband had a tooth out and I did a bit of shopping), it was a lovely bright sunshiny day, pretty warm at 18 deg according to the car thermometer.  About 5 miles along the road, however, the temperature quickly dropped to 11 deg and we drove into fog.  Not even misty, but real proper fog!!  It was really odd, one minute it was a lovely almost summer-like day, the next we were suddenly in November.  Quite eerie actually, almost like we were all of a sudden and very unexpectedly in a horror movie!  A few more miles down the road and the temperature started climbing back up, the fog disappeared and it was back to being sunny, albeit with a bit of cloud.  Very strange, never seen anything like it.

I bought several packs of the cheap Easter veggies and am prepping and freezing a lot of them today - well, while they're this cheap it'd be rude not to!  First off I'm chopping and sauteing onions, carrots and parsnips - a kind of soffritto if you will, but using parsnips instead of celery.  I have always loathed both the taste and smell of celery - I used to not like lots of vegetables, peas and good old spuds being the exception, but over the years have grown to love most of them (just as well seeing as I'm now almost a vegetarian....well, flexitarian as someone said).  Celery is the one exception though, I just cannot bear it for whatever reason.  Even cooked into a stew or something that someone else has made, I always pick the bits of celery out and either leave them on the side of the plate or give them to husband.  He assures me that you can barely taste it when cooked, but I'm not chancing it! 😂  I'll use some of the sauteed veggies in a quiche today, some for tomorrow in a pasta dish, the rest will be frozen.  I'll do a big tray of roasted veggies at the weekend, enough for several meals.  I like roasted roots as a Sunday dinner with some stuffing and a Yorkie and gravy, or cold with mayo and a sprinkle of cheese as a salad for lunch.

A dull cloudy day today but sunshine tomorrow, so another garden day then.  Husband has started sowing some veg seeds outside in the raised beds, he's already planted shallot sets and put all the chitted potatoes in bags of compost yesterday.  

Bureaucracy - is everyone an idiot?!

 So, yesterday's bureaucratic problems which annoyed and frustrated me so much.....I'm not going into details as - well - this is the internet and anybody could read what I write!  So apologies, but I'll be explaining without going into fine detail.  

I had to ring a Government department yesterday to correct an error which THEY had made.  When you first ring, you have to listen to umpteen options and press umpteen buttons, which I duly did.  Then it's that horrible tinny 'musak' whilst you're in the queue - you don't get told what number you are in the queue and therefore have no idea how long you'll be waiting, just a recorded voice every 30 seconds or so saying "we know you are waiting, an agent will be with you as soon as possible" blah blah.  Rather surprisingly, it wasn't that long, only about 12 or 13 minutes before a real person came on the line.  However, the bloke (a British man with a perfectly understandable accent) said I'd come through to the wrong department - he was distinctly unhelpful actually, especially considering it was the Helpline!  He said I'd pressed the wrong option and needed the option for Change of Circumstances.  I explained it wasn't a change of circumstance at all, but a mistake on their part and there was no option which covered that.  He abruptly said regardless of that, I needed to speak to the changed circumstances department.  I asked if he could transfer me - No he couldn't, he said even more abruptly, I'd have to ring again.  Harrumphh!  

So I rang again, the same number, had to go through all the options/buttons again to get to the Change of Circumstances option.  This time I only had to wait around 10 minutes before it was answered, by what sounded like a very young lady with a pleasant but very strong Irish accent, she also spoke very softly and quietly and I kept having to ask her to speak up.  I explained the problem, which it was fairly obvious she didn't understand and kept putting me on hold whilst she "got further assistance from a colleague".  Eventually, she said the best thing would be to go through a series of questions, which I reluctantly agreed to.  Well, some of those questions were eyebrow-raising - e.g. do I have an appointed person or someone with POA who can answer on my behalf?  (What?!  No!).  And does my husband agree to me making this call?!  Which really irritated the hell out of me as the query did not relate to him at all!  So I told her in no uncertain terms that it was nothing to do with my husband, and in any case I'm his carer, he is not mine, and I do not have any physical or mental conditions which require me to have someone care for me or speak on my behalf!!  Once again she said she would have to put me on hold "just for a minute or two".  5 more minutes of the awful 'musak'.....and then the call was disconnected!!

I could have screamed in frustration.  Those two calls, which were completely fruitless, took over an hour and totally wasted my time.

So today I've decided I'm not ringing again and will write to them instead (there's no option for emailing).  However, that's not without problems - my letter writing app (Libre Office) is apparently out of date and I'm having to download and install an up to date version - I hardly ever write letters nowadays.  And then of course I'll have to print it out, and can never remember how the printer works as I hardly ever use it!  Although I vaguely recall that the last time I did, it was actually easier than I thought, so hopefully it'll be the same this time.

I think I'd have had 20 cigarettes and a bottle of gin yesterday - if I still smoked and drank, which I haven't done for years! 😂😒  I have to laugh, or else I'd scream!  

Aaarrrgggghh!

 It's one of those days where I want to run around screaming, tearing my hair out and throwing things against the walls.  And for once it's not down to husband (well, not all of it) - it's more to do with bureaucracy.  I shall say no more 🤯

Lovely flowers to come, plus lots of noise

 It was the first car boot sale of the year at Blue Anchor yesterday, as it was sunny and not raining we went.  Well, it may well have been sunny but was blimmin freezing, because of the strong bitterly cold wind.  We were well wrapped up, including woolly hats and gloves, but were glad to get back home in the warm and have a hot drink.  One thing that strikes me - if the powers that be do ever manage to inflict a cashless society on us, it'll most likely mean the death of boot sales, local fairs and the like - ordinary people just wanting to get rid of some of their stuff following a garage or cupboard clear out don't generally have card machines!

It was half the field full of sellers, but absolutely heaving with buyers, despite the freezing wind.  After 15 mins I was fed up with tripping over dogs (I'm sure dogs don't enjoy crowds of people, I know Betty would hate it) and people walking into me, I'm certainly big enough to be seen! 🙄.  And I didn't even buy anything, nothing took my fancy apart from a couple of nice garden pots, both of which turned out to have cracks in them so I didn't buy them.  Husband didn't get anything either.  Never mind, hopefully the weather might be a bit better next weekend.

I was looking at the garden from my bedroom window this morning.  Lots of the daffodils and hyacinths have finished flowering now, a few narcissi left to flower, tulips, several different varieties, are now beginning to bloom with some just in bud.  The bluebells are also just approaching flowering too:-

(apologies for the terrible photo, with the reflection of the net curtain on the glass).  The canes are around the bluebell bed to stop Betty jumping on there and digging, she's developed a habit of digging in my flowerbeds.  Once they've finished flowering I'm going to dig a load up - they need thinning out, they're far too crowded and quite a lot are coming up blind.  When the relatives come down again in less than 3 weeks now, the bluebells and the loads of aquilegia that have self seeded everywhere should be in bloom, along with tulips, so the garden should be nice and colourful.  I love colourful flowers and want loads of them in the garden this year.....most of the flowerbeds are full of perennial flowering plants now but I have loads of pots waiting to be filled.  I like carnations/pinks, dahlias, osteospermums - all those plants with daisy-like flowers in lots of different colours, although I particularly like all shades of purple, pink and blue.

Thank you for all your recent comments....I had to laugh at Rambler's tongue-in-cheek comment about the builders' loud radio drowning out the sound of hammering and swearing - I don't know what would be worse 😂😂.  Whilst I'm not looking forward to all the noise, I know there's nothing we can do about it so am trying to be accepting of the situation, somewhat reluctantly but I can't let it take over my life.  It won't go on forever (just most of the summer! 😂😒) so there will be an end in sight.  I expect even Betty will get used to the noise eventually, and the fact that there'll be strange men the other side of our fence who she'll think are potential invaders we need to be protected from, so she'll probably make as much noise as them barking at them! 😉

Garden almost finished, and husband causing more problems

 Can't believe it's nearly the end of March, and the clocks go forward tomorrow night so we lose an hour's sleep.  At least our car's clock will be right for the next 6 months!  (neither of us knows how to change the time so it's wrong for 6 months of the year 😂).  It's back to being drizzly with a strong bitter wind so feels very chilly, unlike last weekend, we've got our heating on.

I was looking out over the garden whilst washing up yesterday and felt contented, the garden is more or less just how I want it now, nothing major left to do, we can just enjoy it with only minimal maintenance and regular pruning, planting etc from now on.  Well, I say enjoy it.....when the builders start on converting the old barn in next door's garden to a 2-storey holiday let (starting towards the end of next month), it'll be very noisy throughout this summer, it's only about 16-20 feet away from our fence.  Oh well, nothing we can do about that.  Hopefully, the trees we've planted along our fence will soon start to fill out and grow upwards a bit.

3 weeks today until the next bunch of relatives arrive.  They're all coming here for lunch and dinner on the first day, it'll be a cold buffet lunch then cottage pie and veg for dinner, followed by slow cooker rice pudding.  Saturday and Sunday the others are taking it in turns to provide the food, which will be nice.  In the next week or two I'll make the cottage pie and freeze it, along with a couple of traybake cakes, also to be frozen.

Yesterday our next door neighbour told me that he's noticed my husband is being rude to him more and more often lately, he said he's unsure whether husband is joking or serious.  I said unfortunately it's probably a bit of both, I did explain that husband's general behaviour is deteriorating due to his cognitive decline.  Neighbour said no worries, he understands and doesn't take it to heart.....which is just as well, the last thing I want is to fall out with our lovely neighbours.  I had a chat with husband and said he needs to try not to be insulting, he nodded but realistically I doubt he'll remember in the long term.

I'm having to change my menu plan a bit, husband's got yet another very loose and painful tooth (he's had 3 or 4 the same in the last few months which he's had to have out, he'll have no teeth left at this rate).  He had a routine appointment for Thursday of next week, but has managed to bring it forward 2 days, which was the earliest appointment they had.  So it's got to be soft foods until next Tuesday, which isn't really a problem, just needs a bit of rearranging of the menus.  He says he's going to discuss dentures when he goes next week - he had them before but didn't get on with them so never wore them.

All good, and not spending

 Husband's clumsiness had abated yesterday to the usual amount, and my hips were back to the normal level of bearable pain, we'd both caught up on sleep and were feeling ok - well, relatively speaking.  Even Betty had settled down and stopped jumping up at the window looking for our departed guests.  So yesterday was a good day.

I've spent quite a bit of extra money over the last couple of weeks, so want to rein it in and concentrate on building up my savings accounts again.  So I did a complete fridge, freezer, cupboards and underbed larder boxes inventory, plus the box out in the carport where I keep my veggies.  I found some chocolate mini rolls, nuts and crisps in one of the underbed boxes that hadn't got used last weekend, so these will be saved for the next lot of visitors.  

I worked out menus for lunches and dinners for us using what we already have, I got to 14 lunches and 21 dinners, which almost takes us up to when the next visitors arrive.  On the days where I've not accounted for lunches we'll have cheese or eggs, crackers and fruit.  I'll only have to buy some fresh fruit and veg towards the end of next week.  I have more than enough food for Betty, both homemade frozen and the wet sachet commercial ones she likes.  I've also planned for one homemade cake per week, and possibly one loaf of bread, we've got a couple of loaves in the freezer.  So spending will (should) be minimal for the next 3 weeks.

An accident prone day

 I dare say tiredness and aches & pains were affecting husband too yesterday, as he had a terrible day, especially with clumsiness.  He dropped things in the kitchen 4 or 5 times, stumbled and almost kicked Betty, making her bolt from the room in fright.  Knocked the large bottle of shower gel off the shelf in the shower, it made an almighty great bang so I rushed to the door to ask if he was alright, as it sounded like he'd fallen over in there.  And all this before 8.30 am.  In the supermarket doing our top up shop, he stepped backwards twice knocking into 2 staff members pushing loaded stock trolleys - he's got no spatial awareness at all.  He dropped a pack of spreadable butter, denting it and cracking the lid.  Then when we got outside, he stumbled again and would have fallen off the kerb if I hadn't grabbed hold of his arm.  Some days he's more accident-prone than others, yesterday was obviously one of them.

And then he suggested that we invite my brother and SiL to come and spend the weekend with us too next month, along with all the other 6 relatives who are coming then.  I said "What?!  NO!".  They'd have to bring their dog, for a start, who Betty wouldn't want in the house as she (Betty) is very territorial.  I really don't think husband has any idea at all of how much additional work and organisation it is for me when we have visitors, he clearly thinks all the food and drink, extra crockery etc, extra chairs and so on appear as if by magic.  And it's not as if he helps with it all, he doesn't....unless I ask him to do specific things, and then I have all the grumbling to put up with.

Oh, and I'd wanted to have a word with our housing officer yesterday, about a small maintenance matter - husband saw her outside and blithely told her everything was fine with us and she didn't need to come inside.  Only he didn't ask me first if I needed to speak to her (I'd already told him I wanted to talk to her but he'd obviously forgotten, as usual) and didn't tell me he'd seen her and sent her away until about an hour later, by which time she'd gone.  Mind you, I have told our housing officer before that if husband says anything to her, she should check it out with me rather than taking anything he says as gospel - she must have forgotten too!  So I had to ring and leave a message on her phone.

See, these are the sorts of things that other people (relatives and friends) don't see, because they're not around for long enough, they only see husband for a small snapshot in time.  Whereas I have the dubious pleasure of coping with it all day every day.  😒

Ah well, it was a nice day again yesterday, my washing dried on the line so it all smelt lovely and fresh and I even had a little snooze in the afternoon....for about 10 minutes until husband woke me shouting a question at me from the lounge.

Happy but knackered

 Having visitors is lovely, we really enjoyed it, but it doesn't half wear me out!  I feel wiped out, despite sleeping very well last night, and my hips are still protesting after all the walking we did.  And in under 4 weeks we do it all again (minus the tree cutting) - only next time it's for an extra day and with 6 visitors instead of 2.  I'll need a spa break in a very rural quiet place afterwards 😂.  Fortunately my cleaner comes today so I have minimal housework to do, just the kitchen (which I do myself) needing a quick clean.  We've got a very small top up shop to go and do in a minute, I've already put a wash load on the line (lovely weather again).  A bit of banking to do and veggies to prep for dinner and that's me done for the day.

Fabulous weekend

 It's been such a great weekend, we've really loved having husband's bro and SiL down here and really appreciate them coming all this way, 180 odd miles each way.....that's a lot of fuel with prices going up every day.  Yesterday we did a lot of walking - all down the main high street in Minehead, right along the promenade to the Butlins end, then back through the steam train station (they don't start running till next week) and back up the high street to have a look at their holiday apartment, which was right at the top of town.  Very nice it was too.  After lunch we took them to Blue Anchor bay to see where they're staying when they come back down next month - fuel prices permitting!  Another walk all along the prom there, with a coffee stop at our favourite cafe there on the way back.  Then home to feed Betty and take her out, before getting fish and chips from the best chippie in town and heading back to the seafront to eat them.  Very persistent seagulls there, I think if we'd had the car windows open any wider they'd have been leaning in nicking our chips!

Today we took them to Doniford Farm Park for an early gorgeous carvery roast lunch (I got turkey and beef and shared it all out with the other three, plenty of delicious veggies for me).  A walk around the farm after lunch looking at the animals, before bro and SiL set off on their long drive home.

We've all caught the sun a little bit (yes it was that warm - not too hot, just very sunny and pleasant), I think we all feel relaxed and happy to have caught up with all the family news.  We're all aching like mad though, after the tree felling and cutting up the branches, and all that walking we've done - my hips are really protesting.  I don't do enough walking, hence why they're so sore, not used to it.  I know I should do more - and will try to from now on - but the knowledge that my hips will be very painful puts me off.  Little and often should help though, I really must try.

But no more walking today!  It's just resting for the remainder of the day.

Tree down and a fab day

 I'm waking up even earlier nowadays now it's getting light much earlier.  Which is fine, I enjoy my peaceful hour drinking coffee and reading the paper and blogs before husband gets up and the TV goes on.

Husband's brother and sil had a good journey down and arrived before noon yesterday.  After lunch and a lot of catching up, the guys set to with cutting down the tree, SiL and I cut it into smaller bits and filled 2 dumpy bags.  One tip trip yesterday, another one to go this morning.  So horrible yucca down, patio swept and garden furniture back, and all without any mishaps or arguments!  The in-laws were a fantastic help, we couldn't have done it without them and I'm so grateful.

So now we have a whole day of relaxation, bro and SiL would like to do some sightseeing so we'll be showing them around.  They particularly want to see the sea and walk along the prom, living in the Midlands as they do, they don't often see the sea!  And they love the idea of having fish and chips by the sea tonight, albeit probably eaten in the car as the temperature will have dropped by then, but at least we'll be parked overlooking the sea.

SiL told me last night they've both noticed a big difference and decline in husband's cognitive state, so I'm glad - in a way - that others can now see what I see and live with every day.

It's great that the weather is so nice while they're here this weekend.

Lovely

 The rockery is finished and I'm so pleased with it:-

And completed without any arguments!  Well, not serious ones anyway 😉.  The photo doesn't do it justice, my phone camera is fairly basic and I'm no photographer anyway....but you get the idea.  It'll be great when all the plants settle in and start to spread.  You can't really see from the photo, I've put a lavender plant in each corner.  The middle of the bed is higher than the sides, again not really visible from the photo.  Come the autumn, I'll put some small spring bulbs in.

Oh, and next door's fence is finished, it looks quite good, albeit not as high as we'd have liked.  The next thing will be them starting on the barn conversion, which is planned for the end of April apparently.

I'm up early this morning - earlier than usual, that is, I'm always up early.  I've got fruit scones to make, husband's brother and SiL do love a cream tea.  I want to get the chicken mayo and stuffing sandwiches made, wrapped and put in the fridge (I cooked the chicken and stuffing yesterday) so they're ready for when they arrive.  Husband spoke to his brother last night and he said they're still planning to be here by lunchtime, traffic permitting.  Forecast is for another lovely sunny day, tomorrow and Sunday also, albeit not quite as warm as the past couple of days.  Hasn't it been glorious?  So nice to see blue skies and sunshine, instead of perpetual rain.  Even the wind has dropped.

Neither of us slept well last night, we didn't half ache after all that shovelling of compost and grit and lifting all those heavy stones into place, bending over to plant everything and then spreading all the gravel along the sides.  Worth it though for the end result.

My way

 The fence that next door is putting up is actually not as high as he said it would be....I would say it's only about 5 feet.  Never mind, once our new trees start growing both upwards and bushing out, they'll provide plenty of screening, they're already bursting into life with buds and leaves.  It'll be nice not to have all my washing on show to everyone who walks past his garden!  They also had a radio blasting out loudly all day yesterday, which was a bit annoying.  Still, at least it was set to the same Greatest Hits radio station I listen to!  They did half of the fence yesterday, hopefully they'll be finishing it today.

We didn't get the rockery completed yesterday either.  I know exactly how I want it constructed and have explained it to husband several times already.  But yesterday afternoon he was in one of his contrary argumentative moods and was contradicting and questioning my every decision.  I'm standing firm on this, it's being constructed my way, to my design, I'm not having him browbeat me into changing things.  We'll be finishing it today, let's hope without any arguments.

I'm feeling quite stressed at the moment, lots to do and lots on my mind.  Husband's brother and SiL arrive tomorrow lunchtime - well, that's the plan, but they can be a bit erratic at times.  I'm doing a cold sandwich lunch so it won't matter if they're later than planned.  I love my SiL, out of all husband's huge family she's the one I've always got on really well with, she's funny, caring and kind.  However, she can talk the hind legs off a donkey, she can even out-talk husband's very garrulous siblings and that's saying something.  Her OH, husband's younger brother, is quiet (well, in comparison to husband and the rest of their siblings) and dignified with a very dry sense of humour, he's the perfect foil for his wife.  

Husband was complaining last night about my booked appointment with the GP, he doesn't like the fact that I'm going on my own and wants to accompany me.  I'm standing firm on that as well, having him in with me would be a nightmare, he won't stop talking and will be disputing everything I say, when I can get a word in.  

Right, off outside to continue with the rockery.

Appointment booked, and what a lovely day

 Lovely day today, sunny and warm, we're working in the garden most of the day.  We've stopped for lunch and so I can make up a bean salad to have for dinner later, I've also just made a small fruit cake.

Well, I've gone ahead and booked an appointment to see the GP and voice my concerns about husband's deteriorating and changing behaviour.  It's a long way off yet, nearly 4 weeks, but that's ok, it'll give me time to formulate what I want to say and write it down if necessary.

I was thinking back to when we first went to the memory clinic 4 or 5 years ago, I remember the consultant psychologist saying it was possible they might arrange for husband to have a practical driving assessment by a specialist instructor from the DVLA, if they had concerns about his driving following all the tests they were giving him.  It turned out that they had no current concerns at that time, although pointed out that it could change at any time.  They said that the DVLA instructor might clear him for driving - or not! - or might say he could carry on with a limited licence of perhaps 6 or 12 months duration, at the end of each period he would have to have another assessment.  I reminded husband of this and said I thought it was quite possible that he'd be referred for this assessment by the memory clinic this time around.  He was actually quite happy about that - I think he's under the impression that he will pass the assessment with flying colours, he's in denial about the state of his driving at the moment.  

He asked yesterday if I still wanted him to go and have more memory tests, I said yes and confirmed that I've made the appointment to see the GP, he's reluctant but accepting of the situation.  His behaviour has been pretty reasonable the last few days, which is nice.

The private neighbour is today erecting his new fence, with his brother's help.  All seems well, they even said they're making it just under 6ft high and asked if that was ok with us!  Which it is.....I wonder what they'd have done if we said actually no, 7 or 8 ft would be better 😂 (and yes I know local planning laws say fences should be a maximum of 2 metres/6ft 6).  I'm happy about it, anyway.

A surprisingly pleasant day

 Yesterday was a very pleasant day, with no arguments, sneering or verbal aggression, something of a rarity nowadays.  Husband was having one of his clumsy days though, he kept dropping or knocking things over, at one point he accidentally kicked Betty's water bowl (which he'd just filled up), drenching the kitchen floor.  Well, at least it got washed.

I've decided I will go to the GP, to voice my concerns and ask for husband to be referred back to the memory clinic.  No point in ringing for an appointment today, it's impossible to get through on Mondays.  A while back the surgery was trumpeting about we can now make appointments online - yes, but only for bloods or smear tests with the nurse, it transpires!  For same day or routine appointments with the GP, we still have to ring and wait in the queue.  As husband agreed to go for further testing, albeit somewhat reluctantly, I'll hold him to that.

Overcast today with a few light showers forecast, but from tomorrow the weather looks great for the rest of the week, how lovely.  Hopefully that means we can get the rockery completed, and husband and his brother should be able to get the yucca cut down.  We may even have time to take bro and SiL out somewhere on Saturday.

Thank you everyone for your concern, suggestions and support, it means a lot.

An uneasy truce

 Husband and I did a lot of talking yesterday, it wasn't easy and there were lots of tears (me) and walking out (him - at one point mid conversation he just got up and walked out into the garden, slamming the kitchen door behind him).  I deliberately didn't make any accusations or "you make me feel" type statements, I'm not dense and have read lots of coping articles on the carers forum I belong to.  But husband gets on the defensive very easily, which means he goes into attack mode, being verbally aggressive and bluntly disputing anything I say.  Once we'd both had time to calm down, I said I wanted to go and see our GP, to let him know I am finding it very difficult to cope and I'd like husband to be tested for dementia.  That stopped husband in his tracks, he initially flatly refused to "go through all that brain testing malarkey again" and insisted he doesn't have dementia.  So another break.  After a while he very reluctantly said that he would go for testing again, if I really wanted him to.  Right now I'm in two minds about it.....part of me thinks "what would be the benefit of it, would it make any difference?"  and another part thinks well at least we'd know, and some forms of dementia, not all, can be helped - not cured, but possibly slowed down, or at least some of the symptoms treated.  

We've got an uneasy truce going.....calling it a truce kind of implies that it's been a battle.  Well, I suppose over the past few months it has felt like I've been battling with him most days - a battle I really don't want to get into but he drags me into, sometimes it feels like he's deliberately provoking me with his constant sneers, backchat, flat out refusal to do things I ask and general rudeness.  Most times I try not to react, but every time it happens it tears another layer of skin off me.  Well, that's what it feels like.

One of the things I explained to husband is that I'm trying to make our home and garden - especially the garden - future-proof, so it's more easily manageable for us from now on, I reminded him that we're both rapidly getting older and both have health conditions which are not going to improve.  I also reminded him that I do numerous things for him that he is unable to do for himself - things for which I rarely get thanks or even an acknowledgement.  He's now agreed to help me with the new rockery construction - which I'm doing to get rid of the small lawn so there'll be no mowing, and because a rockery needs little or no maintenance.  The weather has been crap again lately so nothing has been done to progress it...however, today it's blue sky and bright sunshine, although still very cold at the moment.  It's forecast to warm up by lunchtime, so we'll both get on with it this afternoon.  A new garden bench I'd ordered the other day arrived before 8.00 this morning, I was in the shower but thankfully husband was up, albeit in his dressing gown.  We're just about to nip into town to buy some outdoor seat cushions.

Crisis

 We had a crisis yesterday, I'm not going into details but it's the closest I've come to walking out.  I know he can't help his cognitive decline, but when you're sneered at, talked down to and called insulting names, it's hard - very hard - to cope with.  The fact that he's relatively ok when talking to others, however, leads me to believe that he is at least partially aware of what he says and does inside our home when it's just us two.  He is sometimes - well, more than sometimes - tactless when chatting with other people, but rarely is he downright rude or scathing.  Only to me.  

He's just taken himself off to get the free shoppers bus to Bridgwater, so he'll be out for around 5 hours.  He hasn't apologised - almost never does - but I think he's aware that he overstepped the boundaries yesterday and needs to give me some space.

I've disabled comments.  I know you all mean well, but sometimes it really doesn't help.  Unless you've lived with this, believe me, you cannot really know what it's like.  I just need some time to reset and take care of myself, to get my reserves of strength back up.

How to save on food, and husband's obsessions/compulsions

 No doubt with this new war going on, we're going to see lots of prices going up, not just fuel.  The fuel thing won't affect us too much as we don't really go out that often, we have no gas here in our village and no oil fired heating, just electricity - and since we have solar panels our electricity is quite reasonable.  I just hope the car fuel going up doesn't stop our relatives coming to visit - the distance is around 180 miles each way, which will cost a lot with the mark up on fuel.  I'm trying to avoid watching the news (difficult when husband has the TV on all the time and watches the news several times a day), I do read papers online but try to skim over the war headlines....it is a bit worrying when the media (possibly hyping things up) keep on about WW3.

I was thinking about the kinds of things we like to eat, and how I could possibly cut down a bit on the cost of food, the prices of which seem to shoot up every time we go shopping.  It's easier for me, because I hardly eat any meat and like simple foods, husband does like to have a lot of meat.  For lunches e.g., he likes meat sandwiches, chicken or beefburgers in a roll, or something substantial on toast, whereas I prefer lighter things like soup, dips such as hummus or tzatziki with flatbread or sourdough and crudites.  Or a couple of boiled eggs with soldiers.  Well, I could make burgers for husband, using any kind of mince (chicken and pork being the cheapest) and padding the mince out with fillers like stuffing mix, breadcrumbs (which will make the burgers lighter anyway) and grated apple.  Or I could make pasties with various fillings, he'd like those.  For myself, I could easily make hummus, tzatziki or salsa dips and the flatbreads - quick and easy, much cheaper and taste better than readymade, and no UPFs.  So I actually have no excuse not to make them - it's not like I don't have the time!  I must start doing all that.

Husband is going through one of his obsessive/compulsive periods.....fiddling with electric things and knobs and switches.  I have a DAB digital radio in the kitchen, it's a little bit temperamental at times and is sometimes affected by adverse weather - it's a bit crackly on days where there's high winds and lots of rain, it doesn't last though and soon goes back to normal.  However, on one bad weather day last week and whilst I was out of the room, husband decided to 'adjust' the tuning on my radio.  I don't know what he did to it (twisting or fiddling with knobs at random I suspect), but the sound disappeared altogether and since then I've not been able to get any signal/radio station on it at all.  Bloody man!  He claims it wasn't his fault and denied knowing what he'd done.  I asked him this morning to see if he could get it going again....luckily he did, although has no idea how.  Anyway, it's now back on my favourite Greatest Hits station and I've asked him to please leave it alone, DO NOT touch it!  He's also been playing around with the TV controls as well lately, frequently going into the menu and adjusting the picture, colour and sound - beats me why, I can never tell any difference when he's done something to it.  And he's been fiddling with the shower controls a lot lately, adjusting the flow and temperature - and even the height of the shower head.  Why?!?!  He's the same height as me, he hasn't grown or shrunk significantly over the past couple of weeks!  And he's got a habit of interfering with the controls when I'm cooking, especially the electric hob plate - when I've got a saucepan on a fast rolling boil, because I want something to cook quickly or to reduce the liquid and thicken it, he waits till my back is turned or I've popped out of the kitchen and then he'll turn the heat down, or even turn it off!!  Without consulting me, and usually doesn't even tell me he's done it.  He's like a naughty child, just can't resist touching or fiddling with things, irritates the hell out of me.

Our roof's been mended and the guys have been back to take down the scaffolding, so all good.  I had a phone call from our landlords this morning, asking if there are any other outstanding repairs or things needing looked at - I guess they're trying to get everything at least scheduled if not done by the end of this financial year.  Nothing needs doing, as it happens, it's nice that they're taking good care of our home though.

Families - you can choose your friends....as the saying goes

 It's back to being rainy, misty, dark and dreary again, so no garden work, how frustrating.  I have one lot of washing waiting, plus there'll be bed linen and towels tomorrow, but at least tomorrow's weather looks a bit better so I should be able to get it out on the line.  I'm feeling like a caged animal, fed up with being cooped up indoors.  I've done most of the sorting out so not a lot left to do.  And I've read all my library books, so have had to resort to re-reading a couple off my shelves, I must go  to the library tomorrow.  Husband's got a nurse appointment tomorrow afternoon, so we'll combine that with the library visit to save fuel.

We've eaten lots out of the freezer this past week and it's now half empty, so will do a frozen restock shopping list today.  I'll empty the rest of the freezer stuff into my big cool box tomorrow and defrost the freezer, a job to do whilst Hayley my cleaner is here, so I can keep out of her way.

I've been reflecting on the difference between families.  My family are, and always have been, very close - although we're not close geographically, we have WhatsApp text or video chat contact several times a week.  Husband's family, on the other hand, aren't very close at all, he's one of 10 siblings although the two eldest are deceased, leaving husband as the eldest now.  When his parents were alive the family were closer, his father in particular was a great one for organising family get togethers.....unfortunately, when he died around 40 years ago that very quickly went to pot and husband's family have been fractured and largely distant ever since.  Husband is quite close to his second youngest brother and his wife, they're the ones who are coming down in just less than a fortnight and will be here helping to cut down the yucky yucca.  Even so, contact between them can be quite sporadic, with several weeks going by with no contact.  This same brother and SiL are also coming down next month, bringing two of husband's sisters with them, they're all staying in a holiday cottage in Blue Anchor, a few minutes drive from us.  And my sister and her best friend are also coming the same time, staying 5 minutes walk from us.

Now, when my sister and friend come down, as they have done several times over the years since we've lived down here in Somerset, they like to spend all their time with us, which is lovely, we really enjoy their company.  I'd kind of assumed that husband's relatives would do the same.....after all, he hasn't seen his 2 sisters for a long time....one of them he's not seen for over 10 years, the other probably 5 years.  Well, yesterday it transpired that they're actually coming down for a holiday rather than to see us - they've apparently been making some plans for things to do without including us.  Husband isn't very bothered, he just shrugged - I can't say I'm all that bothered either, just a bit surprised, I'd have thought that his sisters might have wanted to spend more time with him, given that they know of his health conditions and it's probably unlikely that they'll be seeing him again anytime soon.  One of husband's other sisters did come down last year for the specific purpose of seeing him, as she said she was conscious that we're all getting old and she wanted to 'touch base' with him before it was too late.  I was pleased about that.

Really, I shouldn't have been surprised - it's just how husband's family are(is?) and I guess I was looking at things from the point of view of my close family, rather than their fractured one.  The positive aspect is that it means we'll have more time to spend with my sister and friend, and I won't have to be planning for things to do with all of us, as visit plans always seem to fall to me regardless of whose family or friends it is visiting.

I'm making a fish pie today, rather than a traditional Sunday roast - we've got several random single fish fillets and chunks in the freezer that could do with being used up.

Nerve-jangling

 It's another stressful day today.... well, not stressful so much as nerve-jangling.  The roofers have been here since 9.15, mending the roof - taking off some of the tiles and battens and removing the broken cement flashing and replacing everything.  Whilst I'm pleased to have it all being done, it's just so incredibly noisy!  Betty's in a state of high anxiety as well, the noise and all these strange men around outside our windows and stamping about on the roof is putting her on red alert, in full on 'guard the house and my people' mode.  We went out to the garden centre this morning, taking Betty with us, just to have a break from the din for an hour or so.  Half a dozen little alpine plants for the new rockery came home with me, along with another pack of shallot sets.  The guys seem to be packing stuff away in their van now, so hopefully they're nearly finished, although I can hear one of them still up on the roof banging something.

It's dull, a bit drizzly and not particularly warm today, so not gardening weather.... although husband is out there doing another bit of edging, he's almost finished, I've just taken him out a cuppa.

I made a veg soup and cheese scones for lunch today, fish and chips (out of the freezer) for dinner tonight.

It's going to be one of those days....

 I'm finding it hard to avoid stresses which are being heaped on me by other people at the moment.  The new little rockery I want to construct is causing problems - I've got it all planned out, we have all the necessary materials already, even some of the plants.  In theory it shouldn't be a problem - but husband is making it one.  I've told him how it's going to be done, it's all quite straightforward actually (I don't do difficult or elaborate!), I'm not expecting him to do all the work, I shall be doing the bulk of it myself, in fact.  I've told him all this numerous times, we've stood outside together with me showing him and describing how I want it done.  But of course he keeps forgetting and saying what he's going to do.....which is not at all how I've described it to him, in fact his ideas couldn't be further from mine.  So I have to keep repeating how I want it done.  And we've not even started yet!

The other stress is the ongoing fence saga - the neighbour next door has now started erecting his fence, it's going to take him a while as he works full time so can only do it in his spare time.  Yesterday he measured out and put in all the posts, cementing them in place.  On his side of the boundary fence, on his own land, right where it should be, and he's not made any attempt to rip up our fence.  So I'm guessing he's had a letter from our Landlords to say he is not to destroy or remove any property (fencing) which belongs to them.  So far, so good - I'm happy.  However, our next door neighbours (our fellow tenants) are not - his new fence is too close to their (landlord owned) fence, according to them.  They already had words with the neighbour about this yesterday morning, resulting in a bit of argument and him pointing out he can do what he wants on his own land - which is right.  So my neighbours then started having a moan about it to me, trying to get me to agree with them.....I flatly refused and said I'm now totally disconnected from it all as it's not a problem as far as I'm concerned - he's not removing our fence and is putting up his own new fence on his own land.  End of story.  I also pointed out that the Landlord's Asset Management surveyor who came last week, specifically told all of us not to engage with the neighbour and leave it all in his capable hands - he simply said to let him know if the neighbour does attempt to rip up any of our fencing and he would deal with it himself straight away.  So I've taken him at his word, I believe he'll do what he says and said our neighbours should too.  But they're still not happy and keep going on and on about land grabbing - the very small bit of land in the far corner behind their fence that the private neighbour has annexed for himself, sometime last year.  This bit of land, barely a foot by 18 inches, was, as I said, behind the neighbours' fence and they didn't do anything with it anyway, so I really don't see why they're persistently moaning about it.  I am not going to engage in any more discussion with them about it.  

Husband has come in from the garden clutching his back and complaining he's pulled a muscle or something - attempting to move a large heavy daffodil filled pot on his own!  I've told him and told him he's not to try moving heavy things by himself, he's only got to ask me and I'll help him.  He's also got a sack truck thing so could have used that!  But he's as stubborn as a mule, he absolutely will not ask for my help with anything.  Fool.

A desert island is looking very attractive this morning......

A good day

 It's been a lovely sunny and warm day.  Husband has been in the garden renewing more edging on the gravel beds, I've kept an eye on him and made sure he's had plenty of breaks.  He's now dozing in his armchair, I think he's earned it.  This morning I prepped the dinner things and made a chocolate and raisin cake.  Then into my bedroom to make a start on sorting the big double cupboard, I've emptied 2 of the boxes, one of surplus bits of craft stuff which I no longer use, and another of random odds and ends that I obviously just threw in a box when finishing up packing at the old house.  Things like old instruction manuals for equipment we no longer have, a load of pens, extension lead, a TV remote control, some drinks coasters, some random keys for who knows what, a couple of vases (one broken!).  So two more boxes gone to the tip, along with the unwanted old baking trays etc I sorted out yesterday.  Space is now appearing in the big cupboard, although there are still a couple of boxes to go.  Oh, and I looked through the picture frames to see if any were suitable for framing Mum's paintings - unfortunately not, either wrong sizes or not in good enough condition, so they've gone to the tip too.  I expect I'll be able to get some frames from the boot sale when it starts up next month.  

I shall carry on with sorting the cupboard tomorrow and hopefully get it finished, husband should be able to finish edging the gravel beds tomorrow.  The next garden job to do after that will be to take up the turf on Betty's lawn - which she's never laid on and only wees on it, leaving dead brown patches - and start constructing the new rockery.  I think we have everything we need to do the basic construction, plenty of edging stones and rocks, plus a couple of bags of compost, grit to mix in with it and some small pebbles to fill in around the plants.  I've got a few plants already, none of which I've had to buy, they're all surplus ones from around the garden, a couple of which just appeared out of nowhere last year, either seeds dropped by birds or maybe in the compost of other plants I'd bought last year.  There are lots of daffodils and narcissi, hyacinths and grape hyacinths in bloom in the garden now, it's looking lovely.  Plenty of tulips coming up, and tons of bluebells - they'll all be flowering next month.  I do love Spring, it's my favourite time of year.

I've made a sort of Champ/Colcannon type thing for dinner - mashed potato with shredded Savoy cabbage and finely sliced shallots, both of which I steam fried in butter and oil before mixing in with the mash.  I added chives and sage and plenty of black pepper and salt and have sprinkled grated cheese over the top, to brown in the Ninja.  I'll have that on its own with some sliced tomatoes, husband is having a couple of chicken thighs with his.

Poor Betty, and sorting out started

 Scaffolders arrived at 8.15 this morning, we were up, husband was dressed but I wasn't.  We weren't expecting them until Thursday!  They're putting the scaffolding up around the gable end of the bungalow, roofers coming later this week to do a few minor roof repairs following some damage sustained during one of last year's storms.  Betty is already in a heightened state of adrenaline and anxiety, she really doesn't like loud metallic noises, and is spooked by the men in yellow reflective jackets making loads of noise right outside our windows.  How dare strangers invade her garden and threaten her people!  Oh, and the ghetto blaster blaring out doesn't help either.....why do workmen always have to have great big noisy radios?  Which then means they have to shout to each other to be heard above the noise.  Oh well, never mind, I expect they'll be gone soon.  I'm just grateful we have caring and efficient landlords who are on top of everything and get necessary works done.

My virus thingy is just a head cold, more or less, although I now have neuralgia all down the left side of my face, which is quite painful.  At least it doesn't stop me doing anything, I can get on with things as normal.  I've made pastry this morning and frozen it, for a pie I'll be making at the weekend.

We sorted out the small built in cupboard in my room yesterday.  On the shelf at the top was a plastic box full of kitchen equipment, baking tins, pyrex dishes etc, which has sat there since we moved in.  When I looked through it, there were just two things I wanted to keep - a cake cooling rack (I wondered what had happened to that!) and a nice earthenware country style baking dish that I picked up for pennies from a car boot sale a few years ago.  All the rest of the stuff - old metal baking trays, some rusting, and old stained pyrex dishes, we've put in the car boot to take to the tip.  There was also a boxful of framed pictures and photos - loads of pictures, I'd forgotten we had so many in the previous house.....not many framed photos.  We're keeping the photos, obviously, I'll find somewhere to display them, but most of the pictures will be going - some to a charity shop, others which are very faded to the tip.  I'll probably take some of the pictures out and keep the frames, if there are suitable sized ones that will take some of my lovely Mum's artwork.  Some of you may remember that we didn't discover these paintings that Mum did until after she died and we were clearing her room....we knew that she dabbled in watercolours and drawings years ago, but had no idea she'd taken it up again in the year or so before she died.  Ideally, I'd like to frame one each for us siblings.

The scaffolders are having a break - all the framework is up, they just need to put all the boards in place now, so I should think they'll be gone before lunchtime.

One nerve left.....

 Daily life with husband has been very difficult lately....I've got one nerve left and he's on it!  I do sometimes wonder how I will cope if/when he gets worse....but the bottom line is I will cope, because I have no choice.  I think when his brother and SiL come down in a couple of weeks, I'll get SiL to take me out for a coffee whilst his bro stays here with him.  That'll give me a bit of a break.

Awful situation now in the Middle East, terrible waste of lives again.  We're so fortunate to live here with relatively little trouble.  I can't do anything about what's going on, so will be avoiding news programmes.  We went out this morning to fill the car up with fuel, as no doubt fuel prices will be skyrocketing shortly - as we don't use the car much nowadays, a full tank will last us well over a month.

Whilst husband was in the shop paying for the fuel, he bought us a packet of crisps each - rare treat.  Well, I say treat.....Walkers Cheese & Onion used to be my favourite crisps, we hardly ever buy or eat them nowadays.  And....I didn't enjoy them at all, after so long not eating many UPF foods now, they tasted very oily and excessively salty, yuck!  I won't be having them again anytime soon - if ever.

We're eating down the freezer now, I shall need space in it for stocking up with things ready for when all the relatives come, and before that it needs defrosting.  So I've planned meals for every day this week out of the freezer.....today it's a chicken risotto for husband and the Mujadara - the spicy lentils, onions and rice that I made a couple of weeks ago - for me.  Home made chicken burgers, fish pie, salmon pasta bake, a sausage & egg pie, and bubble & squeak to use up lots of frozen leftover veggies are all on the menu for this week too.

Sunny spells but with a cold wind today and tomorrow, so I'm making a start on sorting out my bedroom cupboards.  Wednesday and Thursday look better, more sunshine and less wind so hopefully in the garden working then.

Simple food and spring cleaning (well, sorting stuff out)

 Well I haven't got anything nasty, it's just a sort of cold virus thing I think.  My neck glands are sore, I've got a mild sore throat and blocked nose, head full of cotton wool and have a dull headache.  I also feel like I've been run over by a steamroller and have no energy.  Never mind, it could be so much worse.  Husband is being quite solicitous for a change, keeps offering to make me hot drinks.  I've got nothing pressing to do, necessary housework done, husband has offered to do the veggies for dinner later.  I think he's feeling a bit guilty and being extra nice to make up for it - he was exceptionally rude to me the other day, I pulled him up on it (normally I just ignore it and take myself off into my room), prompting him to be even nastier.  So I completely blanked him for the rest of the day - whilst I do know it's brought on by his cognitive decline, some things I need to let him know I just won't put up with.

Yesterday I wasn't feeling like eating much, and definitely not cooking.  Husband cooked his own dinner - a stirfry with chicken and sweet chilli sauce, he had a ham sandwich for lunch I think.  I had a small glass of fruit juice for breakfast, a bowl of tomato soup and half a cheese sandwich for lunch.  For dinner I made myself a couple of rounds of toast topped with hummus and some cucumber sticks on the side.  It was a very simple day's food and I thoroughly enjoyed it.....it was a bit light on fibre though, I could have added some carrot sticks to the toast/hummus and had a piece of fruit after both lunch and tea, but I really wasn't that hungry.  Simple meals like that suit me down to the ground nowadays - husband wouldn't like it, he likes big full plate meals with meat, potatoes in some form and loads of veg.  He'd happily have a full English breakfast every day if he could - well, he can if he wants but knows he'd have to cook it himself and it's not really a good idea to have it every day.  

The weather looks set to be pretty good this coming week, sunny spells most days and not much in the way of showers, with reasonably warmish temperatures and not a lot of wind - that'll make a change.  So good gardening weather, hopefully.  I also want to sort out the big built-in double wardrobe/cupboard in my bedroom, it's got a couple of boxes of craft stuff in the bottom which I've not used since we moved here.  There are also boxes of pictures and photo albums on the top shelf.....not even unpacked or looked through since we've been here.  And in the other, smaller, cupboard in my room there's a boxful of kitchen stuff - once again, not opened or used since we moved in so I think it's time the stuff went to a charity shop.  I'm not a hoarder, I don't collect stuff just for the sake of it, it's just that I haven't got round to sorting it all out.

Muddy footprints - again. Grrrr!

 I think I might be coming down with something, unfortunately - I've been excessively tired the past couple of days, feeling achy, a couple of mouth ulcers, what feels like the beginnings of a sore throat for the past 2 evenings (it only seems to appear, or I'm only aware of it, in the evening).  Motivation seems to have gone out the window too, I really don't feel like doing anything.  So I'm dosing myself up with Vit C and echinacea and having lots of hot drinks, including honey and lemon.

Off to a bad start this morning....husband came back from his short walk with Betty and promptly trod mud all through the house 😡.  He does this quite often, he always claims he wipes his feet on the doormat but clearly doesn't!  I've asked him numerous times to take his shoes off at the door....but of course he never remembers.  He does clean the mud up himself, as he should.  He sometimes tries to blame it on Betty, bit difficult to believe when the mud prints are shoe shaped 😒

I really must get a menu plan done today, not having done one recently (despite saying I must, and then forgetting), every day I'm having to trawl through the freezer, fridge and cupboards around lunchtime, wondering what I'm going to make for the evening meal.  I know what we're having tonight, when pulling the larder surplus store box out from under my bed this morning, to get out some of my long life oat milk, I found a pack of spinach and feta tortellini which is a week out of date.  I'm sure it'll be fine, it's vacuum packed.  I'll make a tomato and veg sauce to go with it, and I think there's some garlic bread in the freezer.

It's 3 weeks today that husband's bro and SiL arrive, by themselves, for the weekend.  They're hoping to arrive by lunchtime I think, so husband and bro can make a start on cutting the yukky yucca down in the afternoon.  So I'll need to provide lunch and dinner on that day.  It'll be a buffet lunch and I might make a quiche to have with chips or wedges and salad for dinner.  I expect they'll be here all day on the Saturday too, finishing off cutting up the tree and taking the dumpy bag to the tip, so lunch and dinner to provide that day too.  Although we might have a fish & chips takeout, save me cooking dinner again.  Sunday they want to take us out for lunch before they go home, that'll be nice, it's quite a while since we had a meal out.

Mixture of sunny intervals and showers today.  I might persuade husband to take us to Blue Anchor for a walk along the prom and a coffee in the coffee shop later, he's been vegetating in his armchair or in front of the computer (he even nods off sitting upright there) too much lately.

Feeling the cold, another sign of ageing

 Thank you for all the lovely comments, yes we're looking forward to our girlie sleepovers!  Brenda, you asked about us eating out.....a couple of the relatives have quite limited incomes which don't run to meals out in restaurants, and both of them refuse to hear of the rest of us paying for them, even though none of us would mind at all.  So we'll be eating all our meals in, that way people can pitch in with their own foodie contributions and nobody will feel awkward.  And it's fun anyway.

Husband's brother, who is 8 years younger than him and in better health (he's a builder by trade, although recently retired now) has said he's happy to help husband cut down that blimmin horrible yucca tree in our garden when they come down next month.  We had asked a team of tree fellers who were cutting down trees in a garden locally to come and give us a quote for removal of it, they said they would.  Only they didn't turn up.....why say you'll do something if you have no intention of doing it?  I've asked another couple of local gardeners, both of whom advertise tree felling as one of their jobs, but both said they're far too busy.  A neighbour who wants some gardening done said they've had no luck in finding a gardener either, they all claim to be booked up for months ahead.

I felt freezing cold this morning when I got up, I often feel the cold nowadays.  It's 11 deg outside according to the thermometer, but feels so much colder, probably because there's a strong wind....again.  We've had the heating turned up to 21 deg and I've only just begun to feel warm, so have turned the heating down now.  Fortunately, I rarely feel cold in bed, having a big chunky dog pressed up against my side is like having my own big furry hot water bottle.

The new neighbour was telling us yesterday that although she's mostly unpacked and is settling in quite nicely, there are a few frustrations.  She currently has no TV, internet or landline phone, the company she's having are dragging their feet with an appointment.  Also, her mobile doesn't work, no signal (we have the same problem, although my phone does work in the back garden, she has the same mobile provider as us).  And yet she says she had full mobile signal in her previous home in a rural area, so is surprised not to get signal here.  She's going to change to a different provider, she says she can't live without her mobile.

I'm feeling a bit under the weather, beginnings of a sore throat and aching joints....perhaps feeling cold is part of it too.  Having done my jobs for the day, apart from a menu plan for the next week or so, I think I'll curl up with a good book this afternoon.

Oh, I had a routine nurse appointment yesterday, during the course of which she said I need to book in for an ECG.  I asked why, she said it's routine with diabetic patients.  "Oh really?" said I, I've been diabetic for about 12 years and have never been offered an ECG before!  🤔

It's all coming together

 After discussions with the families who are coming to visit, we've all come up with plans for meals that will suit everybody.  They are all coming down for 3 nights, so we've decided between us that we'll take it in turns to cook the evening meal, one day each, to be hosted in our respective homes - each of their two holiday homes are big enough to host all 8 of us at once.  We will all provide buffet or picnic type foods for lunches, we'll liaise about the details nearer the time.  Breakfasts we'll all eat by ourselves....people all get up at different times and not all of us eat breakfast anyway.  So that's all the meals sorted.

The other exciting thing is that, as sister and friend's holiday cottage is literally just 5 mins walk from us and is 3 bedroomed, I will go and sleep there every night.  Husband (and Betty) will be such a short distance away and at the end of a phone, so I'll be able to easily nip home in the event of a problem.  Which I'm sure there won't be.  So it'll give me a little break and I'll have plenty of time to catch up with sis and friend.  We've known sister's best friend for about 25 years, she's just like one of the family, an honorary sister, so the 3 of us will have loads of fun and laughs each night!  We're so looking forward to it.

I've already planned what I'm going to cook....cottage pie, will make and freeze it in advance, so just some green veggies to prep on the day.  I'll also do a rice pudding in the slow cooker.  For picnics, or buffets indoors if the weather's not good, I'll make a load of sandwiches and freeze them.....plain filled sandwiches, e.g. cooked meats or cheese with no salad fillings, freeze well, I've done it before.   

It's all a bit early yet of course, but I do like to be organised, I feel less stressed when I'm organised and know exactly what I'm doing.

Just hoping the weather will be fine so we can go out and about.  The big car boot sale at Blue Anchor starts up again next month, we're all boot sale fans so that'll be one good thing.

Nice sunshine today, although a bit windy - it often seems to be windy here.  So washing on the line and gardening being done.

Lovely surprise, and some aarrgghh moments

 Yesterday I had a lovely surprise - sister WhatsApped me to say she and her best friend were hoping to come down to see us, at the same time as husband's 2 sisters, brother and sister in law are coming in April.  It all hinges on sis's friend, who is the car driver as my sis doesn't drive, being able to get the time off work. **  Sis has provisionally booked a cottage just 5 mins walk from us, husband's relatives are staying in an Airbnb place at Blue Anchor bay, a few minutes drive away.  I should add that both my sis and friend and husband's relatives all know each other well, they all live close to one another up in the Midlands.  It'll be so nice to see them all, catch up and enjoy meals together here....if somewhat noisy and crowded!  Betty will be beside herself with excitement.

I'll suggest we all muck in with foods for buffet type meals, which I know they'll all be happy to do.  The thought of me having to cook meals for that amount of people brings me out in a cold sweat nowadays, although I'd have thought nothing of it years ago.

I'm doing a lot of tongue biting the past few days, husband is driving me nuts.  Yesterday I'd put washing on the line, husband took it upon himself to bring it all in after just 2 hours....he thinks he's being helpful but he's really not.  It wasn't yet dry, waistbands, collars and cuffs were all still wet, I had to put it all on the airer and in the airing cupboard to dry off.  I could have put it back out on the line, I suppose, it was just easier to do it indoors.  If only he'd ask me or even say what he intends to do first - but he never does....and I do mean never.  It's not the first time he's got washing in off the line without asking me first, he's done it several times.  Why he thought it would be dry after just 2 hours I don't know, he didn't even consider the time I expect.  And he seems incapable of telling whether something is dry or not by feeling it.  The day before, he'd wanted to order something on the Argos website, some kind of exercise equipment, a set of hand weights or something.  He rarely uses that website so didn't seem to know how to actually buy the item for click and collect, I showed him what buttons to press.  And then had to show him again a couple of times - I asked if he wanted me to do it but he insisted he was fine, he could do it.  But then somehow he ended up adding some other (unwanted) things to his virtual basket - when he came to checkout, the total said £145.99 instead of the £30-odd he was expecting to pay!  So I had to sort that out for him - it would have been so much quicker if he'd have let me do it in the first place.

Speaking of the washing, I have 2 washing bins in the bathroom - one for dark stuff, the other for lights, to make it quick and easy for me to sort a wash load out.  Husband always puts the wrong colours of his stuff in the wrong bins - don't ask me why, he's not colourblind🤷.  I often think it's a bit pointless me having the 2 separate washing bins, since I nearly always have to sort through the washing anyway.  

He also somehow managed to delete his Disney+ subscription off the TV, again not the first time he's done that, so muggins here has to put it back on for him each time.  Just think, if I didn't have to do all these things for husband, I'd be bored stiff with nothing to do!!!  Aaaarrrgggghh!

** Sis has just messaged me to say her friend has booked the time off work (she works nights and has just finished her shift), so it's all systems go!

A bit chaotic

 Yesterday the new neighbour moved into her bungalow, she'd been popping to and fro all last week, bringing boxes, bags and small items in her car.  We assumed she'd have a removals van to move the rest of her stuff, most people do.  But no......yesterday afternoon a horse box (well she did live in a rural area) pulled by a very large 4x4 arrived, along with a flotilla of 6 cars, plus the neighbour's car, all containing furniture and boxes.  They all arrived at once into our little cul de sac, it was all very chaotic and blocked the road up, I did go out and tell one of the helpers they could park on our drive, to ease the congestion a bit.  For a couple of hours it was mayhem out there, with cars having to move backwards and forwards to allow other residents and delivery vehicles in.  Nobody minded though, we're a small friendly community, it was a one-off and everyone knows there'll be a bit of disruption when someone moves in.  As all this was happening right in front of our large picture window in our lounge, we had ringside seats, so to speak.  Husband and I were surprised at the sheer amount of furniture and boxes going in (she's moved from a small 1 bed rural bungalow into another small 1 bed bungalow here), husband said "That place must be a TARDIS inside!".  They all departed after 2 or 3 hours though, apart from a couple of people who were obviously helping the new neighbour unpack and get settled, and the normal peace was restored.  I hope she'll be happy here once she's settled down and got everything to her liking, moving home is so stressful and I'm glad it's highly unlikely we'll ever have to move again.

It's supposed to be sunny, warm and dry today, although at the moment it's grey and dismal following a bit of early rain.  We really want to get stuck in to some garden jobs today, and I've got washing to go out on the line.  I woke up with a raging headache this morning, it had been another restless night following a pretty stressful week so I was half expecting a migraine.  Thankfully it's not, just a pressure headache and is wearing off now.

I need to do a freezer audit and menu plan, I'll save that for tomorrow when the cleaner's here, I always like to have something to do in the kitchen or outside to keep out of her way.  The weather for this coming week looks pretty good (whispering it so as not to jinx anything 😉😁), so hopefully we can get more outside jobs done.  I'd like to make a start on the new rockery, for one thing.

A week and a half ago I applied for a refund of our council tax, apparently we've overpaid by a couple of hundred pounds and I don't see why the council should have the benefit of our money earning interest for them.  How we've come to overpay I really don't know, we only paid the amount they asked for!  I've just looked on the council website and apparently refunds can take up to 28 days to come through....isn't it funny how we're expected to pay things instantly, yet refunds always take ages 😒

Nothing doing

 Although it's warmer today, I'm still feeling chilly - probably because there's a strong cold wind again.  A bit of sunshine coming and going but now it's clouding over again and more rain forecast.  Have to keep telling myself it is actually still wintertime, so can't expect good weather just yet.  Spring starts next month though, hooray!

Went out early (to beat the crowds and tourist traffic) to do a small fresh top up shop.  Whilst in there I thought I really can't be bothered cooking anything tonight, so bought a pizza....halloumi, sweet roast peppers and hot honey, sounds nice.  We'll have it with salad.

Husband decided he doesn't want a roast tomorrow.....fine by me.  He wants pork (he's got the remains of a roast pork joint in the freezer) with stir fry veggies, noodles and sweet chilli sauce, he said he'll cook it himself.  Even better, although I'll have to wipe down the kitchen surfaces and appliances after he's finished stir frying everything at a blisteringly high heat, splashing juices everywhere.  Him doing his own dinner leaves me free to have what I want - so I shall be having very cheesy cauli cheese and crisp roast potatoes, yum.

Nothing much going on today and I'm feeling a bit knackered after a run of low sleep nights, so I'm just relaxing and reading in my room this afternoon, husband will be watching the rugby and doing lots of shouting at the TV.

Tomorrow looks like being a much nicer day, spells of sunshine, no rain and less wind, so hopefully it'll be a garden day, washing on the line and more jobs done in the garden.

Boring post, sorry, nothing to report 😂.  (I've noticed I certainly get lots more page views when I'm annoyed or frustrated and venting my feelings!  Human nature I suppose! 😁).

About time too! Problem sorted, and some wartime cooking

 So that arrogant entitled nasty piece of work and waste of space has been arrested - and released, oh well.  All I will say is it's about bloody time.  I just feel so much compassion for the King - however irritated and angry he must feel, the man is still his brother, he must be so conflicted.

Anyway, moving on.....

Yesterday I was stood outside for an hour with my next door neighbours and the surveyor from our Landlords, discussing the fence issue.  It was blimmin freezing!  Even though Kath and I had jackets and scarves on, we were both shivering with cold....the men didn't seem to be affected much, hardier than us weak females I guess!  I don't know what the temperature actually was, must have been around 0 deg - I know that's not really cold like it is in some countries where some of my readers live....Canada eg....but for us southern English softies it felt like we were in the Arctic.  Once back indoors it took half an hour sitting with a fleece blanket on my lap and my hands wrapped round a hot mug of coffee before I started to warm up.

So, the surveyor.....he went in the neighbours' garden (they were out at the time and there's no gate there anyway, just an open driveway), had a good look round and took loads of photos.  He then came back round to us and looked at both our fences from our gardens, asked lots of questions and listened carefully to us.  My neighbours had lots of photos they'd taken themselves over the past few months, the surveyor was interested to see them and actually took them away with him.  He agreed that the neighbour is in the wrong and has no right to damage or remove property that doesn't belong to him, which he already has done.  The surveyor said he and the legal team are now on the case and they will write to the neighbour, telling him to immediately cease removing our Landlord's property (the fences) and to reinstate the part of the fencing he has already removed.  The surveyor told us not to worry ourselves any further about it and not to get involved or engage with the neighbour, just leave it in their capable hands and they will deal with it all.  He's given me his personal work email address and said to get in touch straight away if the neighbour tries anything else, he said he'll deal with it immediately.  So that's it, I've removed it from the basketful of worries in my mind, it's no longer my problem.  I didn't really want to get involved in the first place, it was my next door neighbours who were more involved and kept pushing for me to become involved too.  At that time though, it didn't really have any impact on us.....until it did and I could no longer ignore it.  Anyway, job done.

This week I've cooked a couple of wartime-type meals, we enjoyed both.  The first was a bacon and onion rolypoly thing.....I made some suet pastry, rolled it out thickly to a small rectangle and topped it with a small amount of chopped smoked bacon and some sliced onions and a leek, all of which I'd gently fried first.  I rolled it up like a Swiss roll, cut it into slices and baked in the Ninja.  We had it with green veg and some parsley sauce.  I think I overbaked the slices by a couple of minutes, the pastry was a bit crunchy....I expect the roll would have been steamed during the war years which would have made the pastry nice and soft.  Next time I'll put the slices in a dish with a lid (I have an enamel lidded baking tin), the lid should help it to steam and stay softer.

The other thing we had yesterday, it's called Mudajara, it's a Middle Eastern dish that would have been eaten by European and American troops stationed in the Middle East during the war.  It's basically rice and brown lentils cooked in stock or water, and a pile of thinly sliced onions fried with warm spices and added to the rice/lentils.  The recipe said white rice and brown lentils - I used brown basmati rice and puy lentils, as that's what I had - I never use white rice anyway.  The recipe calls for the onions to be fried until crisp - I just gently cooked them in olive oil and butter till soft, I didn't fancy them crisp.  I used cumin, chilli powder and powdered ginger, I found the dish also needed a good sprinkling of salt.  I had it as is, husband had a couple of roast chicken thighs with his.  It would be nice with frozen peas added next time I think, and maybe even some sultanas or chopped dried apricots.

As I said before, the trouble with a lot of these wartime recipes is that they're quite carby, which doesn't really suit my guts, joints or diabetes.  I suppose the answer is just not to eat them too often, maybe just once or twice a week.

Thankfully, it's much warmer today, although showers again along with brief bits of sun.  Next week is forecast to be warmer still - and a bit drier, yay!  We'll get the garden work done soon....hopefully.