April Amigos Accounting Achievements and Adaptability

[Wolfcub]

New Fred for old friends and new

Em when ds was a baby and had to give a sample they gave us a sort of adhesive bag that we stick over his er...particulars to collect urine. I'm not sure if there is anything similar for girls, I imagine it's more difficult. Before they gave us the bag we had been watching him with his nappy off and trying to catch wees in a jar but we could never be quite quick enough. That was a difficult day!

I got flour in Lidl today. Plain and SR. I feel like I've found the holy grail

Snuggly that was absolutely fantastic! Well done!

Yeah snug. Who needs a lotto win when you got flour

£18 Sainsbury's for run out of stuff

We had the sticky nappy bag thing as well surprised they didn't give you one. I think the only option is to plonk her in a washing up bowl to play and keep her occupied until she wees

snuggly I am in awe of your flour procurement skills. I tried to get some wholemeal today … couldn't even find the shelf where it should have been. I bought naan instead. I miss home made chapatti.

I had a bit of a head wobble day today - don't know why just did. I emailed my boss at half 2 and was told to go and do something to make me feel happier. If I am still feeling meh I have been told to access our well being centre. My employer is being really awesome at the moment.

It is raining - I never thought I would be so glad to see rain. The garden is so much happier - seeds germinating, soil settling, plants perking up. I think I may wake up to a jungle tomorrow.

It helps so much to have a supportive employer unescorted, take care & be kind to yourself. Glad of the rain here too as the lawn was going brown.
Sorry to hear about your dad love, sending you hugs and
Well done on the flour snuggly, I'm ok at the moment as I've built up a bag of each in reserve.
Thanks for all your lovely comments about the quilting. I'm not particularly talented, but have learned the basics and can follow designs and love playing with colour. life I've got a good book that I've got 2 different editions of. I'm happy to post one of them to you.
One more day at work and then I have 5 days off which I feel like I really need.

North enjoy your time off. I had a lovely time on my week off over Easter. It was so relaxing not being able to do anything - guilt free lying about.

Got it!!!!!

Spoke to a friend who’s a paediatric nurse in Southampton. She said to put cotton wool in dds nappy and wait. Then squeeze it out of the cotton wool.

The dr did suggest a bag. But they said this was a last resort.

Phew. Anyway. Have to take sample back tomorrow. It’s in the fridge.

That would be lovely North. What do you want for it? Thank you
My Sainsbury's had whole meal flour strong today don't lose hope just yet.

Hurrah for the pee pee tip.

That is a good trick em

Waves at wolf just because.

life I have stopped specifying what type of flour on the shopping list... the first item now is "flour - any" I have some T55, plain and granary but out of any other high gluten flour. I have resorted to warm water and combining T55 with plain to get a "bread flour" and to feed the starter ( I am going to freeze part of it to keep it going). I have just had a thought - I can slow the bulk rise by reducing the yeast amount and bunging it in the freezer. That will give the flavour...… hmmm I may be experimenting tomorrow. I will report back in a couple days....

Well done em! That can’t have been fun to acquire but it’s a great tip.

I have the mega urge to spend money today.

I too managed to get flour in Lidl yesterday but only self raising, also got bicarbonate of soda as the one I was using is out of date.
Love sorry about your dad. Definitely encourage your mum to arrange some help whilst things are still at the manageable stage.

Yellow that’s terrible the press picked up on your thread. They really are scraping the bloody barrel and cause so much distress for people.

I’ve been feeling a bit meh today. I try not to think too far in advance as I can’t cope with thinking this is here for a long time. I can usually manage to stay reasonably upbeat, but today I think the minute silence for all the key workers who have died just brought it home how it could be me or any of my colleagues. It’s a very sobering thought.

Nicola Sturgeon hasn’t helped by suggesting it might be beneficial to wear a mask or scarf in enclosed spaces. I haven’t been doing this and now I feel like if she’s saying it then I probably should but I really don’t want to. Masks are horrible and they really act like an emotional barrier too. I keep smiling at people in work forgetting that they can’t see my mouth 😨

Sorry yellow I had missed your post. It's easy to get lulled into a false sense of security on MN I think and then to let your guard down. What a horrible experience.

I agree re masks born, but I think they'll be a permanent fixture in life to some extent, even when this is over

Quick sign in.

Dd2s MRI went ok, she was a bit scared, but they were really good with her.
Got her a chocolate bar as a treat afterwards.

Spends today
£2.00 on said chocolate bar.
£10.78 waitrose on a few bits for the store cupboard.

Love your beautiful quilts North. I’ve never finished a quilt, just smaller pieces, but my shopping finger is hovering over some lovely fabric to make a Christmas quilt to huddle under the sofa with this winter. I am sooooo tempted. I’d do something very simple, perhaps like the attached, but with different colours (more ice blues and greys, a touch of red). I’ve found a fab set of toning fabric patterns that would be luverly. It’s quite an expensive business though! And while I’m confident about the piercing of the top, I am less so about quilting and binding, especially of a large piece.

Also, do quilts ‘soften’ over time? The ones I’ve encountered haven’t been very cuddly because they didn’t drape much, but I guess that may be because they were new. And the thickness of the wadding must make a big difference too.

Small spend on fabric, £20, on something I was specifically looking for, which led to the other lovely fabric lust.

Dinner was a delicious and frugal lentil coconut curry with leftover Mumsnet roast chicken from Sunday. And two portions left for the freezer. Also made apple and blackberry muffins. Diet sabotage, AGAIN!

Otherwise a tricky day juggling work and kids. Sorry, I can’t really remember what I’ve read, just so tired! Will catch up more tomorrow.

Just realised I hadn’t refreshed before posting and had missed the whole evening’s chat! I’ll do better tomorrow

I had to wear a mask for the first time yesterday born I didn’t like it one bit. Felt absolutely suffocating. I’ve made the choice not to wear one out and about and only if I have to (it like yesterday when I took Dd to hospital).

People are suggesting that “they” will make it compulsory here soon to wear masks and gloves in the shops. But I don’t see that happening.

Have to take pee sample back to hospital today. So will do that first thing.

Dd is up and in our bed. She feels warm but cooler than yesterday. She’s farting like a trooper while having her bottle. 😂

Nsd today.

Our Aldi had SR and Plain and Sainsbury's randomly had stocks. I'm happy to grab you some and post it. I will price up postage

Got up at four o’clock on my neighbour’s say so to book a Waitrose delivery slot for my Mum. Were there any? No. Will keep trying and take iPad into work later. It is probably different for different areas though.
Used the time I was waiting to make four big portions of meatballs in a tomato, leek and mushroom sauce. Am looking forward to having some later with rice.
DP has had his hours cut to four as a week. It’s worrying. I must cut what I’m spending.

Four days

Right at the beginning of lockdown we had an a&e trip with dd and I agree em, the face masks were stifling. Must be so hard to wear one for 12+ hours.

Duchess that's so frustrating about the delivery slots! We randomly got a Tesco click and collect when dh looked on Saturday afternoon. There were lots of slots for Monday and Tuesday. Weird as there haven't been any for weeks.

love sorry to hear about your dad slipping away more, my nan has dementia too. Sometimes I visit her and she'll make conversation other times she just sits there and listens but I'm fortunate that I haven't seen how confused she gets with a kidney infection or similar. She's 94, I hope that she remains safe from COVID as I'd hate to lose her to it.

yellow that's horrid that the press picked up on that here, I hate thinking that there are people reading our little friendly corner of the internet

I got good news yesterday contracts for purchase of my house are with my solicitor so it doesn't seem that there's any delay due to COVID. I'll need to overlap renting by about a week in order to get some beds and appliances delivered and installed. Rent due on Friday so I think I'll just pay it and get deposit refunded afterwards. Landlady said I could use deposit as last months rent but I don't know if I should do this for May or not. Maybe I'll ask her and pay the extra weeks for June if necessary.

I spent €6.15 on topup shop yesterday and am doing full grocery shop today, in hindsight I probably should have gone on Mon eve.

Reading your stories about flour shortages has made me share this story about bf's mother. So she is elderly and doesn't cook or bake much. A few weeks ago I brought scones over and she must have enjoyed them and it inspired her to buy ingredients. He came home from work yesterday and knew she was off form, she had attempted to make scones and they were a disaster. She was upset about it. He suggested she give away the flour and not to worry about he'd buy scones whenever they needed them. But I'm wondering would she like me to show her when this passes so she'll have the sense of achievement. I won't bring it up unless she does because I don't want to embarrass her.

Checked cubic capacity of landlady's freezer vs one I intend to buy and delighted to see mine is double, I worried that I would be stuck and not have freezer space which would mean changing the way I shop. Phew!

Bf brought a trailer of timber before the lockdown happened, I had brought turf from last house too, I now have 3 bags of turf and half trailer of timber so I'm delighted not to have to move turf again, it'll be used in rental house before we move.

em glad you got the pee, never had to get sample from dd and had bag thing for ds.

duchess sorry to hear about your dh's hours, do you have a budget to see where you can make cuts or are there standing orders/direct debits eg subscriptions etc you can cut?

A czech official was on prime time with a kind of snood scarf last night, our boss gave us all company branded ones at beginning of lockdown, it's fine for a scarf for me but as they're one size fits all its too loose on my face to use it. We're still no wiser as to what kind of lift there will be to restrictions next Tues in Ireland.

In gardening news ds & dd's seedlings are starting to appear in their mini greenhouse from aldi, they're delighted.

I will keep checking, Madden, or try another shop. Mum is helped by her neighbours but doesn’t want to put them out too much, which I understand.
I have a bit of a buffer of food and other things as I have a Brexit stash, Happier, but am resolved to spend as little as possible from now on. Apart from usual outgoings, there isn’t much we immediately need.
I have made a list of inexpensive but nourishing meals to prepare. I went back over previous threads in credit crunch and found a blog called Skintdad who has a list of tasty recipes. I’m collecting also meals that people used to have when times were hard. In my own family it was bacon hotpot. My Scots colleague remembers being given vegetable soup and cloutie and custard to follow. I’m not sure I’m equal to preparing a cloutie but I’ve tasted hers and it was very good.