Damn noisy cats!

Tuesday 31st October 2023

There's two cats running round this house right now who have no idea of how close they are to DEATH!  3am they started and they haven't stopped since, I'm shattered now because normal people don't wake at 3am and get up but I couldn't go back to sleep so got up at 4ish.  The hour change hasn't helped at all as it, ah well, thankfully I went to bed early so it's all good really. 

I had to go to Cannock yesterday so I popped to Asda for a few bits I needed and I finally got my ham and pineapple pizza and I wasn't disappointed.  Initially I'd looked in the cooler section and Hawaiian pizza isn't so popular but Pizza Express wanted £6 for one, they can jog on, I'm wasn't paying that, then I noticed the ones that the ladies make up and it said 'meal deal' I thought ooo what is this.  Turns out I could have two medium pizzas and a 1.5l bottle of pop for £6, bargain in comparison.  I have to say it was bang on and Aryn had the meat feast one and we both enjoyed.  Yes mine was about 850 calories but it really did hit the spot and fill me up for a very long time, so much so we didn't have the Gousto meal later.

I also picked up some items for this weeks huddle chat, we're all feeling the pinch with the cost of living right now and Christmas is on its way, energy bills are still high and well I hate food shopping lately and I never thought I'd say that.  A can of Heinz soup yesterday was £1.70 in Asda, that's ludicrous, yes they were on offer 5 for £5 but still, £1.70 for a can of soup, what's going on.  I noticed lots of things, Toffifees that are something I buy at Christmas have been £1 for as long as I can remember, £1.70 yesterday, the cost of our Christmas food shop is gonna double easily. 

I bought some home branded and cheap stuff, this entire pile of food was only £11.69

Now I'm not saying all of it will taste amazing but it's worth trying!  Pasta is covered in sauce, it'll be fine, oats are oats and that's breakfast for a week.  Those hot dog sausages, we've always eaten in our house they were always Alfie's treat when he was alive and they were cheaper than dog treats (sad that).  The noodles are sound if you add a bit of soy sauce.  I've had the curry sauce before and I don't mind it at all.  Now the stewing steak was 30p cheaper than the next one up which is the one I normally have, I'm going to open both this week and compare them.  I add oxo and fried onions to mine anyway so I think it'll be okay and it's 30p cheaper, you save 30p on every item in your basket and you buy 30 things that's £9.   It all helps, look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves they say.  

I checked the own branded stuff in a few shops online, they're all the same, spaghetti is 28p for 500g in all of them.  You can make a cheap, easy meal with that.  Tin of tomatoes or use a can of soup as the sauce (not Heinz of course lol) few frozen veggies and there's a plate of food.  All meals don't need meat! 

Now if you're reading this thinking I'm okay, I'm not that skint, then why not take that tenner to the supermarket and buy these products for the food bank, it could feed a family for a week!  We're always collecting in our huddles for the food bank, you can always drop it off with us.

I'm just sick of paying silly prices for stuff, if I can find a cheaper alternative I will, I have other things to spend my money on.  

I saw a post the other day saying, if someone buys you a Christmas present that cost £10-20 be grateful and remember than most people took 2 hours to earn that money!  The national living wage is £10.42 hour, I've just googled it!  

Hark at me, I'm on one this morning ain't I!  

And as for those cats, they're both lying asleep on the sofa now, grrr.

I wanted to watch Mamma Mia yesterday afternoon and all the different app and channels and I couldn't get it without paying for it so I watched gogglebox because I just wanted easy watching stuff.  I wanted to relax and not think yesterday so once I'd done all the things that had to be done, that's exactly what I did.  

Here's to a great day, lots of huddles to keep me busy, I really wished I hadn't had a Gousto box this week as I feel like I have to have those meals and I don't really fancy them.  I can freeze the meats if I really don't want any later. 

I'm off for another cuppa, I don't usually have breakfast on a Tuesday as it's weigh day but I might just have some and take the difference on the scales, then I can have breakfast every week now it's colder.  How ridiculous is that, I mean how heavy is eggs on toast gonna be, yeah I'll take the gain, I've woken up hungry and I want scrambled eggs. 

Also it's not just about losing weight anymore it's about having a better relationship with food, helping my body be in less pain by moving it more and getting it stronger. 

My cuppas waiting to be made, have a great day.

Mwah, luv ya 

Love me xx

I need a pizza!

Monday 30th October 2023

I am not a fan of the clocks changing at all, it'll take me days if not longer to readjust!  Absolutely shattered at silly o'clock last night then wide awake at 4am this morning. I could happily sit and read my book all day today but the grown up in me is saying you need to go to the gym but  who will win!   

We've had a quiet weekend, I baked banana bread (Easy banana cake recipe - BBC Food) yesterday to use up some overripe bananas, we had a gousto for tea which got mixed reviews, I liked the gravy, they liked the meatballs.  

Swedish Meatballs, Mash & Green Beans | Gousto

We had Chinese takeaway Saturday night but for a change we didn't go mad and order half the shop, I had ribs and a small egg fried rice, only ate half of it so yeah you guessed it, I ate the other half for breakfast Sunday!  I found a recipe once for egg fried rice that was excellent, I need to find it again, just had a look and it's not showing up, but it was a youtube video I'm sure. 

I am craving a ham and pineapple pizza still, I will definitely be having one this week at some point but I have 3 Gousto's to use by Wednesday according to the use by dates, it's my last box for a while as the offer ended and I want some 'normal' food if I'm honest, egg and chips, gammon and mash, fish finger sandwiches, that kid of food, a stew and a roast dinner mmmmmmmmm.

Oh, I am now officially the biggest wuss in the world, a true scardy cat, I don't like Halloween or scary stuff at all.  He put a film of yesterday, NUN or the nun and I was jumping out my skin, felt like I was gonna have a heart attack, we never watched the end thankfully, he felt sorry for me I reckon but nope I don't like that scary stuff at all.

I've got a meeting to plan and more washing for the machine, the never ending laundry basket lol, there's washing up in the kitchen and the new toilet seat I bought for upstairs is still waiting to be put on so I'll do that this morning as no one else has.

Coco is lying snuggled up to me suggesting I don't go anywhere just have a snuggle day with my cats.

Let's get stuff done, I might be wide awake in an hour!  Just realised it's 8 weeks till Christmas!

Mwah, luv ya 

Love me x

A fab Friday

Saturday 28th October 2023

I didn't post a blog yesterday because I started typing and had barely anything to say, well here you can see...

Friday 27th October 2023

A busy but enjoyable day yesterday, not much to report from this end as the day was mostly centred around huddles. 

Even my eating wasn't worthy of noting, I nipped into Sainsbury's and bought a cooked chicken, something I won't do again as they have completely lost any flavour they once had and they're the size of a pigeon!  

I made a sandwich from it and that was my lunch, breakfast had been a slice of that bread pudding and for dinner we cooked the belly draft Aryn had wanted, he had his with noodles and spinach, I just said at ate a few pieces on a plate on its own, I just wasn't hungry.  I did enjoy a packet of cheese and onion crisps though later, the first packet of crisps I've had in weeks, they were delicious! 

It's now Saturday and I can type a little more as I've had another day or living :) the start of the day was normal Friday stuff yesterday, then I cleaned the bathroom upstairs and the toilet seat broke (AFTER I CLEANED IT!) so I went to buy another one.  I'd also had the same old conversation with Aryn about his bedroom being a mess so I thought sod this, I'm going shopping.  I'd seen a post on Facebook showing the work a FB friend had done on their house and it was gorgeous, I fell in love with the wall colour and one thing led to another and I started thinking about curtains and paint colour for the house in Ireland, so I went in search of them.  

I finally found a pair I liked that weren't ridiculously expensive and good quality - thank you to The Range, then I came home with my loo seat and curtains and the boy is just sitting down with a big plate of food.  "Have you tidied your room?", "Not yet", another conversation was had, I'll leave that one to your imagination, no raised voices though, go me!  

Whilst out, I'd thought I wished I'd had my book in my bag because I would've found a coffee shop and sat and enjoyed a read, but now I was fed up of being a grown up and I'm not a massive coffee fan, I really wanted a pint of lager.  Aha, a solution, take my book over the pub and do both and I did, it was half one in the afternoon and I'm sat in the pub with a pint.  Turns out a pint is cheaper than a coffee in a cafe and to be honest I felt more relaxed in there than I did in those coffee shops last week where I sat thinking how long can I sit here with my book before I should leave.  Plus I can't drink one coffee after another, I don't have that problem with lager :) 

Two hours later himself called saying 'where are you?'.  He came and joined me and we had a great night, an unexpected one and we actually didn't leave the pub till half ten ish, I never play out for that long!  

I'm sat eating a sausage sandwich because I woke up starving as I'd barely ate anything yesterday, oh and it tastes so good - all hail the actifry, 6 minutes and they're done, no standing watching them, no trying to get them brown all round!  Delicous...

That was my day, so much easier to walk away from the chaos than to let it work me up, oh and he's done his room, he tells me he has anyway.  I will check later, he hoovered so that good (he gets paid for that btw, he's not an angel).

Walking round the shops yesterday really bought home how close Christmas is, there's stuff everywhere!  57 days to be precise, that's a bit scary isn't it, especially as I haven't even thought about it and have no idea what I'm buying them.

Ah, I ain't gonna think about that this morning, I'm going to finish my mug of tea and go to the huddle and have a giggle, that's much more enjoyable.

I can't see us doing much else today but you never know, we shall see, I reckon he'll still be in bed when I get back from work.

Whatever you're up too, have a great day.

Mwah, luv ya 

Love me xx

Been cooking moms kind of food...

Thursday 26th October 2023

I've slept till the alarm this morning so a little blurry eyed and tired still.  It's almost as if the kitchen knew because I put my water in my mug and then realised there was 2 teabags in the cup a I poured the water in it, so I've made two cups of tea, I'm sure I can drink both, especially as they taste good!  :)

After our huddle yesterday morning, I drove straight to the gym and did an hour on the recumbent bike, passed the time listening to Britney's book and playing solitaire on the screen of the bike, it does make time go quicker.  I've not been able to do an hour of cardio of any kind for a very, long time. 

Came straight home, was going to have a coffee and read in the cafe but it was much too loud for me to concentrate.  Instead I had a mess about with some cooking, made some bread pudding, now I remember my mom using cold tea not milk in her recipe in my head and I did find different recipes a couple of really old ones using tea, it would've been cheaper back then wouldn't it!  The lovely Liz made me some a few weeks back using the BBC recipe which uses milk and it was delicious so yeah, it makes sense to use the good stuff, but curiosity got the better of me so I had a go with the other version, tweaked the recipe a little, my tweaks in red) and had to cook it for a lot longer than it said on the one recipe and it worked really well, just how I remember it.  

Tea and Bread pudding.

1 pints of cold tea

8 slices of bread (I added an extra on because the mixture was so wet, thin it could've took another, I used wholemeal bread because that's what I had, use about 400g I reckon)

8 oz dried mixed fruit (I only used sultanas, I'm not a mixed fruit fan)

4 oz soft brown sugar

1 beaten egg

1 1/2 tsp mixed spice 

Cooking Instructions

Step 1

Make up 1 pint of tea and let cool. Break up the bread into small pieces in a large mixing bowl. Pour over the tea, mix well and allow to stand for 10 minutes.  (I added my sultanas here and left them to soak up the remaining tea)  

Step 2

Add the mixed fruit, sugar, beaten egg, mixed spice and mix well. If it looks very wet at this stage you can add in a bit of sifted flour, however the overall consistency should be slightly more loose than a standard cake mix.

Step 3

Grease a tin / pyrex dish with butter (I lined mine with baking parchment) and pour in the pudding mixture. Bake on 175 for 35 mins (I cooked it for a hour or more!). Allow to cool before tipping onto a serving dish. Cut into slices.  

I've just took this photo, not my best work of photography but it's very juicy so yeah I'd add another slice of bread, I'd use the 400g next time, because I like mine a little more SOLID in texture.   It makes about 16 pieces at 130 calories a piece using the ingredients I used and 10 slices (400g) bread.  I know there's sugar in it but to be able to get sultanas and brown bread in my boy is worth that sugar addition!  With custard on, nom nom, a bit like christmas pudding but not as dense. 

Anyway, I'm all washed and sitting in my new towelling dressing gown, I treated myself, I've wanted one since Aryn came to live with us so I can get out of the shower and not rush to get dressed, I don't like to get dressed straight away because for one, I don't dry myself properly!  Now I don't have to, this beast of a robe is huge, I bought the biggest and it's not showing anything :) plus it's gonna keep me warm, it's like wearing a giant towel with arms - I bloomin love it. 

Back to yesterday, my lovely mate Anita bought me a packet of grey peas on Tuesday and I had a pack of gammon rounds in the fridge that needed using so yesterday I made me a pot of grey peas and bacon and they were bloomin delicious.  Such an easy meal with two ingredients, yeah usually I'd use bacon bits with a bit more fat on but this worked, I did add some salt as the gammon wasn't as salty as it usually is, but nom nom, I enjoyed it.  

Proper bonfire night food this is, just one of the meals my mom could successfully make - she wasn't renowned for her cooking skills, she hated being in the kitchen.  She actually never cooked again after my dad died, I remember her saying, 'that's me done in the kitchen', it was a blessing when she got bad with her Alzheimer's and Dementia because I didn't have to worry about her having an accident in the kitchen. 

Let's get this day started shall we, not sure what's on the menu today, but the bellydraft Aryn defrosted didn't get cooked, I spoke too soon, he couldn't eat much yesterday, he was having stomach pains :( 

I need to go get dressed and get ready for work or I'll be rocking up in my dressing gown with wet hair! 

Oh I finally washed the sofa covers, all clean and nice again now, see it all gets done in the end and if it doesn't, it's not important. 

Mwah, luv ya 

Love me xx

Another Wednesday lands!

Wednesday 25th October 2023

Well I wasn't hungry last night but I cooked the Gousto for Aryn and it was weird, not one I'd ever want again, I only had a tiny bit but couldn't eat it, this was Aryns plate and even he said nah it's odd!  I realised aferwards I'd forgot to put the spinach in but that wouldn't have improved the taste. Persian-Style Tahdig With Sumac Chicken | Gousto I'm not sure if it was the saffron or maybe the sumac that made it taste odd, it was missing a sachet of turmeric as that wasn't in the pack but otherwise it was cooked how it said it should be.  Not one we'd have again!

The rest of my day was good, I treated myself to having my nails done at Facebook Glamazon, I've had browns this time, I need to make my mind up before I get there because there's too much choice.  I went in thinking shellac Aura dark green or a pink and came out with brown lol.  I just can't make my mind up when I'm in there and because I've bitten my nails, so badly, for so many years, I'm like a kid in a sweet shop.

I still never got to my book, but I'm gonna go to the gym today and have half hour in the cafe I think and read there, Aryn's off school so I can't get that quiet time at home so easy, actually I can but it would be later in the day when I start to get tired so can't concentrate.  Ooo I'm going to be doing the recumbent bike which doesn't involve using the arms/hands - would it be weird to read my book whilst doing that lol!? 

I've got two audio books on the go too so it's easy to listen to them in the gym, I've almost finished Love Untold by Ruth Jones, easy read and I've started The Woman in Me by Britney Spears, curiosity got the better of me with that one, it was mentioned on Good Morning Britain yesterday and I have credits on my audible so thought, why not.

The lovely Anita bought me some grey peas so I've put them on to soak and I've got some gammon steaks I'm gonna cut up and use with them, they have quite a bit of fat on so they should be perfect.  I'm looking forward to eating them :) 

Ah I do love food, we have a Gousto meal left but its a curry and after our overload of curry last week, I'm not feeling the love so I might use the chicken for something else.  There's a bottle of nando peri peri marinade in the kitchen, could do that.  The other option is to freeze it as I know we've defrosted bellydraft for Aryn to make it with noodles today.  He's not well but his appetite is okay thankfully! 

 I enjoyed the huddles as always and there are three of them on a Tuesday to enjoy, got another this morning then an afternoon to do gym and house stuff.  

Oh I've finally got the sofa throws in the washing machine this morning, I think I need to dig out a couple of throws to cuddle up in as himself was cold at the weekend, I've just got to remember where they are, in a suitcase I think.

Boy wonder just woke up so I'll get off and check on him, here's to a great day folks. 

Mwah, luv ya

Love me xx  

Tuesday let's have ya!

Tuesday 24th October 2023

Uneventful day yesterday, poorly lad still off school, so I didn't go far.  I did have me a walk round West Park instead of going to the gym, bit of outdoors fresh air after spending the entire weekend in the house.  I managed 30 minutes before my leg was really not happy!  

I then nipped to the shops for a few things as I wanted to make rock cakes and chocolate brownies which I did when I got home, that passed an hour or so, thankfully I can make and not eat them, I had a little taste but I didn't crave more.

I had my appointment at the doctors, I didn't get to see the doctor, saw the practice nurse but that was okay, she did my blood pressure which was great apparently, usually it's a little high when I have it done.  Then she weighed me and I'd lost weight since the last time I'd been so other than the bleeding which apparently can last the first year - damn, everything was good.

Got back and cooked dinner, I really wasn't in the mood or that hungry, so I had mine with mash as I've been fancying mash for a few days.  The sticky chilli pork stir fry was a little sweet for me but Aryn demolished his plate!

  

I was in bed early, asleep by 8 and slept lovely till 5 this morning, a really good nights sleep, no surprise after being up so early.

Looking forward to seeing our Happy Owls at the huddles today, I'm lucky to enjoy the job I do.  I really wanted to sit and enjoy some me time with my book yesterday but I didn't get to do that as I didn't have the house to myself!  If he's still not well enough to go to school today, I might go hide in a coffee shop at lunchtime lol or I could hide in my room I guess - but that's naughty.  It's only because I want to finish my book and I have to really concentrate to read at the minute, mostly because I haven't read a paper book in a while, it's not the same as listening to one.

 I can't give you any more from yesterday because it was a quiet one and then there's the stuff I can't talk about because it's not my story to tell.  I wished I could get others to keep a journal, to process their thoughts on paper - not to share it with the world, that's not necessary, but to help them work out what's going on in our heads because being stuck in our head is a very, dangerous place to be sometimes.  Our subconscious is a very, powerful thing and it can fool us!  It's so important to question your thoughts, to try and process them because they're not always correct!

Time to get my ass into gear, no housework today, I did it all yesterday, well actually I've just realised I didn't, the sofa covers still need washing but that's not difficult, I just have to have the tumble dryer empty to dry them! Too much damn washing constantly in the basket :) 

Let's have a healthy day, doing our best.

Mwah, luv ya 

Love me xx

A quiet weekend

Monday 23rd October 2023

I've had a lovely, lazy weekend, after my long day Friday, I wanted to chill out and relax, especially with the weather being so yuck. 

Saturday morning huddle was great, lots of laughter and success as always, a wonderful end to our working week.  I got home and himself suggested we go to the cafe for breakfast, I wasn't gonna disagree, I was all over that idea and you will be impressed to know I ordered poached eggs on toast rather than a full breakfast and it was delicious, it did bring back my acid though, I need to get my hands on some more lansoprazole style (Proton pump inhibitor) tablets although when you read about the side effects and links to dementia that has been found, it makes me not want to take them!  I only take them if I get it really bad, I need to start keeping a food diary to help identify if there is anything specific causing it or if it is a build up of overdoing it?! 

We are struggling to find stuff to watch on tele because we've watched so much!  We did enjoy Hidden Assets on BBC iplayer yesterday, we've watched it before but had forgotten what happened, we need to second series now as it's out in Ireland.

The highlight of our food this weekend was this plate of deliciousness, I really, really enjoyed this and we all agreed we'd have it again.  Fried carrots are a new one on me but damn they worked!  All the ingredients are easily bought in most supermarkets, maybe not Aldi but Sainbury's definitely have it. 

Here's the recipe card; 

It was so good, I want to buy a large piece of belly draft and make that part of the recipe again, it would be lush with yorkshire puddings and mash mmmm, frozen peas and green beans for Aryn.  Oh I could eat that now!  No wonder I get heartburn!

I want to sit and read my book today but I have lots to do, the washing pile never ends does it, changing the beds this morning, then washing the covers on sofa which I should've done last week and didn't!  I'm gonna nip to the gym too at some point, plus I have a doctors appointment this afternoon, a 3 month check up from using the HRT patches.  I do feel better being on them, the only down side is bleeding when I had stopped for over 2 years, it's not just monthly either, hopefully that will stop and it's just a thing that happens at first. 

Anyway, I will have me an hour or two reading my book at some point, cuddle up on the sofa and enjoy or maybe in the cafe at the gym with a posh coffee! 

But first to plan this weeks huddle chat, last weeks went down well I think, we talked overeating and binge eating, something a little lighter I think this week.

What to eat today, we have 3 Gousto to choose from, I'll let Aryn pick.  I've got a couple of slices of bacon left from yesterday's breakfast so might have brie and bacon sandwich in a bit, a treat of a breakfast under 500 calories though. 

Here's to a cosy day mostly indoors away from the grim weather! 

Mwah, luv ya 

Love me  

Cars, coffee shops and curry

Saturday 21st October 2023

I turned a day of running an errand into something I really enjoyed and I think needed yesterday.  I had to go to Leamington Spa to have something done to his car which turned out to take about 5 hours!  The drive there that was 51 miles and it should've taken just over an hour each way but took 2.5 hours each way.  The drive down was horrid, I left at 6.40 and obviously it was still dark, the rain was horrendous making the roads treacherous, surface water all over the motorway, thankfully because it was busy most of the time it was 40mph, because given the chance they will drive at silly speeds which would've been crazy in that weather.  The drive back was better as in weather wise but the traffic was crazy. 

The time in-between though was good, my plan had been to sit in their waiting room and listen to my book I thought it was gonna be 2-3hours, but he more or less told me straight away the chap doing it had been optimistic with his time suggestion.  

I decided to walk into town took just over half hour but I was happy I could do it without being in extreme pain, yeah I was in pain by the time I got there but nothing like I've had some days in the last year or so.  Anyway, I realised if I started listening to my book, my phone was likely to drain the battery and I couldn't risk that, it's an old phone now and the battery sucks.  

Instead I looked up book shops and found a Waterstones where I treated myself to a couple of books and then went to a coffee shop, which only sold coffee and cake so I had a coffee and read the first chapter.  Now the question is how long is it okay to sit in a coffee shop having bought a coffee?  

Anyway, I realised I was hungry and I hadn't eaten so I searched where to eat breakfast in Leamington spa and ended up at Cinda's kitchen and it didn't disappoint, I just wished I'd been hungry enough to have one of their cakes as well as the breakfast!  They looked amazing those Portuguese pastries, but I settled on Eggs Royale and the poached eggs were perfect!  I actually wished I'd just had poached eggs on toast so I could enjoy the eggs without the sauce, it was still very tasty and I sat and read some more.  Again the question is how long is it okay to sit in a cafe having bought food and a drink?  See this isn't something I've ever really done in the past, but I really enjoyed losing myself in my book, I would've stopped the people on the next table talking if I could :) but I understand that's not the rules of a cafe! 

  

It was raining consistently so I decided to walk back to the garage, walking through the pretty park and  along the river, that would've been nicer on a dry day but I'm not made of sugar, I won't melt.  Having said that, having wet feet all day was not fun, I was so glad to take my socks off when I got home.  In future, I'll keep spare socks and shoes in the car in future!

  

 

Well I got home at 5pm and walked in bursting for the loo but once I'd been and I walked into the kitchen I was so happy, Aryn had not just washed up, he'd cleaned the kitchen, it looked great, he'd hoovered too and tidied up a bit, bless that boy, I'd jokingly suggested it as I left but I was overwhelmed that he'd done it because I was shattered.  

Dinner was courtesy of Dave, he'd made Elle and I a mix of curries - amazing!  He has a Misty Ricardo book, I have a Kindle one similar, (1) MistyRicardo - YouTube that's his YouTube channel, you won't get anything taste more like the real deal of a restaurant than this, himself bought a bag of chips and we all sat and ate together. 

    

I've had a crap nights sleep, woke up around midnight with the worst heartburn and indigestion, remembering I hadn't taken my medication so came down to take that, but then I couldn't take any indigestion remedies for two hours after taking my meds so propped myself up on pillows and hoped for the best!

Wide awake at 4am, at least the indigestions gone this morning, so let's get this day started. 

Mwah, luv ya 

Love me 

Me a diva - nah! NOT MUCH!

Friday 20th October 2023 

Well I started my day like a dramatic diva yesterday!  When I'm tired, hungry and have things on my mind, I have a tendency towards overreacting!  Well I couldn't decide on breakfast, then thought I'll use up two of the eggs before they go off and have them on toast but as I was cooking them I couldn't find my one of these - 

Now having looked for a photo this morning, I've found out they're called slotted turners!  I was calling it the spatula yesterday, now I'm even more confused because I didn't know it was called a turner!  Anyway, I never did find it but whilst looking one of my eggs had already broken on the way into the pan but now they had both gone hard - I don't like hard yolks and I couldn't get them out of the pan anyway because they'd now stuck to the bottom of the pan so they ended up in the bin!  I ended up with cold toast topped with cheese triangles.  Can you feel the tension and anger in that paragraph lol. 

That was the start of a stressful morning, but thanks to Elle, she covered lunchtime and I got to come home to see Aryn who wasn't well.  I then had to sort out some other mess but we got there in the end and I breathed and calmed down.

We tried the new McDonalds burgers, Philly stack - I wasn't that impressed, way to much cheese - who knew that was possible but it took the taste of everything else away.  Apparently the BBQ chicken one is nice but has a lot of sauce on it. 

The cats woke me at 4.44am - thanks for that ay, but I've got to drive to Leamington Spa this morning anyway so at least I don't have to rush to get ready.

The bestest thing about yesterday other than the huddles which are always a breath of fresh air was having a bag of curries delivered by Dave, we shall enjoy them tonight as a 'takeaway', I've fetched poppadoms and naan bread so it'll be as good if not better than the real thing.  

I've put the diva back in her drawer, I'm gonna have a calm day today, enjoy listening to my audiobook whilst driving down the motorway, make the most of that time. 

Oh and I never found the turner, I've bought another one from Asda!

Hope you have a great Friday, 

Mwah, luv ya 

Love me xx

Ready for the day...

Thursday 19th October 2023 

Sleep caught up on 9 hours in bed, that'll do, I may not have slept completely through but I don't have my Fitbit to tell me, I'm beginning to think I don't need it, you know if you feel refreshed when you wake up don't you!  You don't need a gadget to tell you so... It's nice not wearing a watch to bed too, although I do miss being able to check what the time is easily.

After our huddle yesterday, I fit in an hour at the gym, 45 minutes on the recumbent bike, I only stopped because my bum was hurting ;) 

Breakfast was scrambled eggs on toast, really nice but gave me a bit of indigestion all morning, I should make me some porridge today, I just wanted to use some eggs and bread, is it the spread that causes it or the bread or all of it. 

Dinner was the Gousto meal, it was nice, I liked the way it had told me to mix the juices from the meat into the mayonnaise and drizzle over the skewers, that worked well.  Honey, soy sauce and sesame seeds was the marinade so those juices were tasty.

They have the entire house but Coco thought it a good idea to wake Minnie up and lie on her! 

I fancied some cheese so I did me a little plate with some garlic and herb bruschetta I'd picked up in Aldi and a bit of onion chutney.

Well I was disappointed, what has always been my favourite blue, St Agur tasted a bit too strong for me, are my taste buds changing?  The brie didn't have much taste at all, the onion chutney was delicious though and those crispy things are dangerous, too easy to eat.

Other than a bit of tele and some washing, that was my day!  Today will be full of huddles, not sure what's on the menu today, will ask Aryn what he fancies, although he always says, 'I don't know'.  Whatever we have is going to be easy and quick to cook, filling too because this cold, wet weather makes you want tasty, filling food.  

All this talk of food is making me hungry, my cuppa don't taste great this morning, I'll try again, maybe the milk is on the turn, nothing worse that your first of the day not hitting the spot!  

On that note, I'm off, here's to a good day, 

Mwah, luv u

Love me x

A little bit tired...

Wednesday 18th October 2023

Wide awake at 4am, I didn't go to bed till 9 either so I'm a little bit eye tired this morning now, I'm good though, just had me a mug of tea, watching SKY news and thankful for my life compared to what's going on in the world.  

The huddle chat yesterday went well, we talked binge eating / over eating and there were lots of nods in the room.  I believe we all do it to a certain degree but not enough for it to be damaging to our health, but that conversation is for the huddles. 

Back to my world, I finished off my Irish barmbrack (tea loaf), a recipe I found online (and yes there are lots of different versions but this was the one I did and I was over the moon with how it came out.  

   

Here's the recipe; 

The perfect traditional Irish barmbrack

Serves eight – 310 calories per slice, 2486 total 

Makes one 900g loaf

225g plain flour

2 tsps of baking powder

375g packet of fruit mix

250ml cold tea

50ml of whiskey

125g light brown sugar

1 large egg

1/2 tsp of mixed spice

A ring to place inside

1. Place the fruit mix in a bowl and pour over the whiskey and cold tea. Allow to soak up the liquid overnight.

2. Preheat the oven to 170C/340°/Gas Mark 3, and grease and line a 900g loaf tin. Combine the flour, baking powder, sugar and mixed spice in a mixing bowl. Make a well and break in the egg, and using a wooden spoon mix the egg with the dry ingredients. Add a little bit of the liquid the fruit mix is sitting in and mix it through. You may not need all the liquid – you are looking for a wet dough. Then stir through the fruit mix until everything is thoroughly combined.

3. Add in the ring – and any of the other traditional symbols of a pea, a piece of cloth, a matchstick and a coin – and stir through. Spoon the wet dough into the lined loaf tin and place in the oven on the middle shelf and bake for one hour. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly before removing from the loaf tin and placing on wire rack.

4. Cover in cling wrap and tin foil and allow to sit for one to two days before cutting into it. Serve in slices spread with a little butter and nice cuppa!

Now I didn't have a large egg so I used two of the smallest ones from my medium box :) I also didn't have enough liquid from the fruit mix so added another dash of whisky and I had to cook it for an extra 10-15 minutes until it was cooked, I checked with a skewer until it came out clear and as the top had browned after the hour, I topped it with foil for the remaining time.  I was chuffed with the result, we ate a slice each then I wrapped the rest up, I didn't put the traditional ring or other symbol either.  I only used sultanas too as I didn't have mixed dried fruit. 

I'd also watched this lady's video (1) TRADITIONAL IRISH BARMBRACK RECIPE| IRISH TEA BREAD| BÁIRÍN BREAC - YouTube first and she gave me an idea of what the mixture should look like and the tip about the foil.  

For dinner, I was lucky enough to enjoy chicken tikka masala made by Dave, he bought me a tub to the huddle and I have to say it was amazing!  

     

I had it with these chips from Iceland, they're my new favourite frozen chips, really good!

The recipe for Dave's curry is one of Misty Ricardo's (1) MistyRicardo - YouTube his recipes are amazing but they do involve a lot of ingredients and some patience. 

That was pretty much my day, today will be similar but I'll be cooking my own dinner, I need to do the last of my Gousto meals, honey sesame chicken skewers with rice and they do look tasty.

I'm like a domestic goddess ain't I! :) 

Yeah, I'll shut up and get on with my day, 

Mwah, luv ya

Love me

little and often...

Tuesday 17th October 2023

My pain defined my day yesterday, I wanted to get stuff done but I didn't want to make my pain any worse than it already was, lower backs a bitch at the minute and my knee feels like someones taken a sledgehammer too it, but hey I'm breathing.   I got some house work done by doing a bit, sitting for a bit, then I decided I could do a little at the gym, in case it was not doing stuff that was making it worse, trying to find a balance, it hurts anyway so....  I did 10km (32 minutes) on the Recumbent bike as that doesn't hurt when I'm sitting on that, plus I was going with Aryn later so didn't want to do too much, but thought breaking it down might help.

Foodwise had mushrooms on toast for breakfast, made the mistake of buying these in my shop delivery, there is 490 calories in that packet! I didn't eat the packet but I picked at them, won't buy again, even if they are only £1. They're not that nice either to be honest, they're just easy to eat.

Our main meal was tasty though, another Gousto, brothy fragrant chicken thigh and spinach noodle soup, very warming, lovely broth flavour just the right amount of chilli warmth.  I could've eaten it without the noodles and with some more veggies in it like babycorns and carrots.  

We did go to the gym and I did another 1km on the rowing machine to warm up then did some exercises on the weight machines whilst Aryn did his thing.

We then went to Sainsbury's to get him some food that he would take to school, he's been skipping lunch, hopefully this will hit the spot.  I wanted mixed spice to finish a tea loaf I wanted to try and make today and they hadn't got any so I'll have to try and get some at lunchtime after the huddles as I've got a bowl full of sultanas soaking in cold tea and whisky!  I'm guessing they'd sold out because everyone's making Christmas cakes maybe?

We watched a couple of episodes of the walking dead, then I had a chat on phone with himself before having me my Monday night,7pm early night which is needed after getting up at 4.45am, slept like a baby, only waking to turn over to ease my pain before waking at 5.30 refreshed if a little stiff. 

Ooo I've just realised I only have one Gousto meal left to cook which is Honey Sesame chicken skewers with rice, so I think I'll keep that till tomorrow and we might have something simple tonight like egg and chips with baked beans or peas, I just fancy some real comfort food, it's dropped proper cold now hasn't it, we're officially in the dark, cold season.

We're talking binge eating / overeating in our huddles this week, what can be a truly serious subject that I spent some time putting together yesterday, it's deciding if it's just a very, bad habit or a serious problem - if you think yours is out of countrol this website will help advise you. The UK's Eating Disorder Charity - Beat (beateatingdisorders.org.uk)

That's too serious for 6am, so I'm going to go have my shower and get ready for my day, I'm going to nip and do another half hour at lunchtime on that bike, little and often I'm thinking.

Here's to a great day, 

Mwah, luv ya 

Love me xx

It's a cold one this morning...

Monday 16th October

I've had a lovely weekend, after my grumps on Friday, I came home from work Saturday morning and he'd bought me flowers, how lovely was that, it shows he appreciates me and understood my behaviour.  I bloody love my life, I find myself smiling randomly as I acknowledge to myself how happy I am.   

After a cracking morning at the huddle, lots of laughter and success, we went to the pub Saturday lunchtime, I've finally found my drink for when out I think, vodka and soda water, I just need to have singles not doubles!  It didn't give me heartburn, it tasted like I was drinking water as I had it in a big glass, I just had too many so at least if they were singles, I will drink less!  I love lunchtime drinking as opposed to going out on a night though, we were home and in bed early - perfect!

Sunday we both woke up at 6 but he managed to go back to sleep for a few hours where I got up at 7 and cleared the kitchen.  We had McDonalds for breakfast and it's probably the first time I've really enjoyed their breakfast, it was hot and freshly cooked and I had it with a hot chocolate - oh my days delicious, just too many damn calories, 724 calories total!  

We chilled in front of tele and I made a Gousto for dinner on the afternoon which was really tasty, the boys gave it 8/10 and himself said, 'I'd eat that again'.  I really liked the pitta nacho's would definitely make them again and try different flavourings, garlic would be nice with the oregano.  I've put the recipe below in screenshots and if you fancy trying Gousto with the offer, here's the link, I always have 4 meals for 4 people as it works out cheaper per meal and I can also freeze any leftovers - there weren't any yesterday! www.gousto.co.uk/raf/?promo_code=BEVER43868435&utm_source=weblink

 

   

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Later they were hungry again so I cooked another Gousto meal, Tandoori burgers but I didn't do the chips that should've gone with it, that one I wouldn't want again, the tandoori marinade wasn't to my taste at all.  I did like the cucumber raita though, will remember that for next time I make a curry.

Yeah our weekends revolve around, food, drink and rest, maybe that's why I struggle to lose weight!

Hey ho, here's to trying my best again, at least we eat good food I guess :) 

I might go and have a swim today, Aryn wants to go to the gym later so I don't really want to do two workouts!  

I'm gonna wash the covers on the sofa today, I had to sort the tumble dryer out yesterday, I didn't know I had to clear the condenser unit and it was a bit blocked ;) I've never had a condenser tumble dryer before so I hadn't read the instructions.

Let's get this day started, another cuppa first though I think and a bit of breakfast, for a change, I've woke up hungry - it's the weather, full on frost out there this morning, 3 degrees - brrr. 

Mwah, luv ya

Love me xx