Good Morning Mumsnet! What's everyone up to today?

[lucysmam]

I'm just waiting for the kettle to boil to make myself a coffee - I've been up ages thanks to the dickheads kittens climbing various things & being rowdy in my bedroom 🙄

Dd1 asked me to wake her when I got up so she could get some more college work done but I think she's gone back to sleep 🤷‍♀️ I'll nip and check in a minute.

We don't really have much planned for today. It's the last weekend we're all off so I suggested we go out for dinner/tea. Dd1 was the only one who answered & suggested somewhere. Dd2 requested a stop off to buy pens so I'm guessing she wants to go out too.

In the meantime, I started clearing out under the bed yesterday, so I'll finish that, upload a couple of things on Vinted, and request my prescription.

What about all of you?🙂

Sending you love and strength. I know the feeling all too well x

@Pumpkittenspice

Thank you for your kindness ☺️

Walked dog 🐕
Made lunch
Took DD to work
Shopping
Repotted plants
Fed dog 🐕
That’s all so far.

Ooooooh, I am late to the party today! I hope you've all had a lovely day.

I was surprised by an early morning text from the builder saying he was on his way to start the next job in my house. That got me out of bed, quick!

After getting some washing on and tidying up, he arrived. Anyway, much excitement, it turns out my little cottage has a cellar! It's all filled in, but that sent me down a rabbit hole which involved digging out (pardon the pun) lots of old paperwork. I also discovered that 200 metres away is an 'infilled' graveyard that was closed/filled in/whatever the term is, in 1863. I've managed to date my place back to 1829 so far.

Anyway, that's my news. I've had the best ever week, so I'm on a bit of a high. I shall try and calm down for tomorrow 😊

@OldTinHat Your cottage sounds really interesting! How wonderful to live in a place with a bit of history (says she who lives in a new build!).

Good evening @lucysmam . I looked for you this morning but I was obviously too early, and haven't been back on mumsnet since then.

This morning we went out blackberry picking for half an hour, which is about as long as I can manage nowadays. We also got some elderberries. When we got home I prepared a load of cooking apples we have been given. I thought I would try bottling some this time... Well that was a TOTAL disaster! I also stripped the elderberries off their stalks and put them and the blackberries into the freezer.

I went for a nap after lunch - badly needed, then when I got up I prepared some more apples and put them on to cook, with the apples I tried to bottle this morning and which were such a failure. They are all cooked now and most will be put in the freezer when they are properly cold. Some of them went into the apple crumble we have just eaten with custard. It was delicious!

We have yet more apples to deal with tomorrow. I will definitely put some of the cooked apples in jars, as I am rapidly running out of freezer space. I will be making hedgerow jelly in October probably, when we can't pick any more blackberries, but in the meantime I need space in the freezer to store what I've picked. With any luck we will have enough hedgerow jelly for the whole of the year, and enough cooked apple to last through the winter.

Yesterday I booked us a short break at Butlins for 9th September. It's basically cheap accommodation and food for 4 nights - it works out at £55 a night for both of us, just an hour and a half away from home and next to the beach. We don't bother with the entertainment, we just like being by the beach for a few days and I couldn't find anything cheaper! Neither of us is particularly well, so it's going to be nice to have a few days away without any cooking to do. It will be a break from apple cooking too!

What did you get?!! I LOVE an autumn hall! I’m on maternity at the moment and my bank might as well be closed🤦‍♀️ but I’ll manage to get a fivers decoration out of somewhere! I’ve got too much already 🙈

@OldTinHat how interesting! Can the cellar space be unfilled?

@DilemmaDelilah I was up stupidly early with my pair of mountaineers 🙄 I just didn't get to posting til later on.

I remember once my dad brought me 4 bag for lifes of apples and pears from my sister's trees - there were apples being prepped for days & enough to give two friends plenty too 🤣

Where have you booked? I enjoyed our seaside breaks this year 😊 no cooking, or washing up, beyond a handful of mugs!

Sending unmumsnetty hugs your way @anareen. Glad your cry helped a bit 💐

@lucysmam we're going to Minehead. We live in an area with lots of lovely beaches but have to drive to them all, so it's going to be really nice just to be able to walk onto the beach. Mind you the beds are so horrendously uncomfortable that I always take a little foam mattress to put on top of the bed, but I am used to that!