This Week - W/E 15th July 2023

This week began with our trip to the Car Boot Sale on Sunday. I always love a good car boot sale and as I'm now on a very limited budget, it is a good way to pick up things that I need and don't in some cases. It made for a nice morning out anyway.

Monday, was the usual weekly shop day. After walking the dog in the morning and then having some lunch I headed off. I always listen to an audio book in the car when I drive anywhere and today I came to the end of one I've been listening to for a while. I don't use the car so much now I'm not working, so it takes longer to finish each audio book, but this one was a good one. I enjoyed it and liked the characters in it.

When I got home from the shopping, LB informed me that she'd been offered the job she had been interviewed for the previous week.  This was such a relief, as it means she will earn enough this summer to pay off her student overdraft. Had I been working, I might have been able to help her out with it, but as I'm not, I don't really have the spare cash to help much, so knowing she can earn the money herself now is great news.

As LB is now going to be working for most of the rest of her summer holidays, we decided to plan a short get away.  We can only manage a few days between her leaving her current job and starting the new one, but we have now booked a place for a couple of nights that is by the coast in Norfolk, which will be a nice break.

We may get a chance to have a longer break when the job ends, but I need to get my passport renewed if we want to go anywhere outside of the UK.

Tuesday, I was back at my usual class at the gym. I enjoyed it and kept my steps high by walking there and back. I stopped off in my local charity shop on the way home and bought a couple of books. One was another weight watchers recipe book, but I didn't realise until I got home that it didn't give calories, as it was a no count recipe book, but the recipes are good all the same.

The other book I bought was a fiction book and I started reading it on the way home and then I read a bit more when I got home. It's quite funny and I'm enjoying it so far.

I then fell asleep for a couple of hours as I'd not slept well the night before.  A recurring theme, I know, but luckily I can do so now I'm not working.

Wednesday, was my day to go to Soca Aerobics.  I enjoyed the class and on my way home the church across the road was giving away free celeriac from a box outside, so I picked one up. I'm all for free food. I got a free sourdough loaf from them a couple of weeks ago, although it was a little stale. It still got eaten though.

When I got in, I decided to use the celeriac straight away and cooked up a veggie cottage pie with celeriac mash topping for supper. All I then had to do later, was to put it in the oven for 20 or 30 minutes and cook some veggies and supper was done. 

Whilst in the mood for cooking, I decided to try out one of the Weight Watchers recipes from the book I bought from the car boot sale, namely the one for Yorkshire curd tarts. I often buy these when I go back to Yorkshire, so it was exciting to try to make some myself, as I'd bought some ingredients when I'd done the weekly shop. They are quite low in calories for a pastry, at 130 calories each. They are made with cottage cheese, egg, lemon rind, demerera sugar, nutmeg and sultanas. Here's a picture:

They don't taste exactly like bought ones, but they were tasty enough and were an interesting experiment.

With the remaining puff pastry, I made a chorizo puff pastry tart for lunch, which was very tasty and made a change. I had this with a side salad.

Later, I busied myself doing some laundry, rearranging a dentist appointment so that we could go away and then did some sewing. Nothing much is really happening on the job hunting front for me at the moment, so I'm trying to enjoy my time at home, especially now LB is home for the summer.

On Thursday, I was up and off to a Pilates class. I hadn't been for a few weeks on account of my back, but felt happy to venture back, thinking it was the last class until September. Turns out that there is another class next week, which was good news, as there is another Soca Aerobics and gym session too, which is a bonus. I will definitely miss all of these classes when they stop for the summer. I'll have to find other exercise alternatives.

After the class, I ventured into our local high street and dropped into Primark. I was looking for a long t-shirt to wear to the gym, but ended up buying a phone holder that I can wear at the gym and some resistance bands to use at home or take to Pilates. They came in a two pack for £3.50. OH immediately snaffled one when I got home and I kept the other one. I did also buy a small cross body bag for £7 that should be nice to wear when I don't need to carry a lot of stuff. Not strictly necessary, but I liked it. I bought LB a pair of trousers, but they weren't what she wanted, so they'll be going back.

I spent another afternoon sewing on Thursday. My new big quilt project is coming along nicely.  I'm trying to stay out of the kitchen at the moment, as it leads to me wanting to graze and snack like I always used to do. Disappearing off to the sewing room seems to help avoid this.

On Friday, I had booked a session at the gym. I took the dog out beforehand, but it started raining so we didn't get a super long walk. I ended up walking to the gym again, as it was still raining when I left and I could at least use an umbrella as opposed to getting wet if I cycled. I enjoyed the gym session, I'm starting to get into a routine when I go now and it works well for me.

LB and I rang the Student Loan Company today, as her maintenance loan for next year has been reduced by quite a significant amount. Turns out OH earned more the year the calculations were based on, so the assessment was correct. As a consequence, we will have to supplement her loan this year and what with our fixed rate mortgage ending and the interest rate increasing, it's going to be an expensive year, but it has to be done. At least it's a little less debt that she'll owe.

On Saturday, I didn't go to the gym session in the morning, as four consequetive trips to the gym was enough for one week. OH took the dog out in the morning, so I decided to do spend a couple of hours pruning and tidying up in the garden. Everything grows so well in the summer and the garden resembles a jungle at times. I managed to tame it a little bit. 

I uncovered a lovely frog in the process, who had been hiding out in the undergrowth. I made sure to put him back there when I was finished, out of sight of the dog.  He's probably pretty happy in there with lots of slugs and snails to eat. He was a beauty, but I didn't get chance to take a photo. I always feel priviledged knowing that they choose to hang out in our garden.

Later, I did some more work on my new quilt, had a nap, read a little and then we headed to the allotment to harvest anything that needed it. Whilst there, OH got a call from LB to say some masked cyclist had tried to steal her phone at the bus stop at the top of our street.  Fortunately, she had a tight grip on it and he didn't get it, but she was a bit shaken up. This is the second time this has happened to her at this bus stop.

Anyway, OH drove her to work and I walked the dog before heading home for supper.  The rest of the evening I spent tidying up the kitchen, pickling beetroot and washing veg that we'd harvested and so ends another week.