First Cold of The Winter

Apologies, as always, for my absence. I know I'm an extremely bad blogger but, if anyone's still reading, here's a catch up on what's been happening in my neck of the woods.

DD2 and her new hubby moved across the country to Gloucestershire a couple of weeks ago. As she lived around the corner and was my regular coffee shop companion I am missing her tons, but probably saving money as we took it in turns to pay when we went out. Before she moved we celebrated her 30th birthday with a family meal at a country pub and then back here for cake.

Hopefully we'll be driving across to visit them next week as it's half term and DH has the whole week off. The trip is dependent on 2 things, one is me being free of the rotten cold I currently have, and the second is our little car actually making it there and back. The car was fine going from Dover to South Wales and back around this time last year when MIL was in hospital before she passed away, but it's been extremely temperamental lately and we've lost faith in its reliability somewhat.

But, in the hope that all goes smoothly, we have invested in a brand new sat nav which cost us virtually nothing as we had £40 in 'Love to Shop' vouchers left over from our abortive swap to Sky about 18 months ago, and DH had a £35 giftcard presented to him when he left his last school. I added £14.99 in cash and we got a half price Gamin sat nav from Argos at  the weekend.

In other news, DD3 has finally had a proper contrast MRI scan done on her hip and thigh. Previously her doctor had ignored the physio's recommendations and sent her for an ordinary MRI which showed no damage to the joint and, without the contrast of the injected dye, it didn't show any damage to the muscles which has been her issue all along. This mistake has cost 3 months of delays and pain for DD, and goodness knows how much wasted money for the NHS. The contrast MRI was on Monday and we are now waiting for the results with the hope that something is found that can be repaired. She's putting off planning for the wedding until she knows whether she will need an operation, when it will be done and how long the recovery period should be. She really doesn't want to be limping down the aisle relying on a crutch as she has to at the moment.

Talking of hips/thighs and limping...I have seen a local chiropractor a couple of times lately and her pulling and pushing and massaging has made a big difference to the pain in my hip. According to her, not only did I have that slight curvature of the spine diagnosed by my doctor, but my pelvis was all misaligned which was causing the muscles to compensate, which in turn was trapping the sciatic nerve, which is why the pain was in my thigh and hip when the damage was in my lower back. Of course, I have had to pay for this treatment when the doc only offered physio at some magical future date when things got too painful for me to cope with. But it has been well worth finding the money as I have very little pain now and can walk a lot more easily. I only have to see her about 3 more times and then leave it to determine if the results are permanent or will at least last for some time with maybe the occasional top up appointment.

DH had an interview yesterday for a permanent post at the school where he's been supply teaching for the past few weeks, and this afternoon he heard that he'd got the job. He'll still be employed as a supply teracher for a few more months until his contract with the agency expires but after than he'll become a permanent staff member which means he'll get paid during the holidays and for sick days, and will also pay into a pension fund again. It will be nice to have a guarenteed income again and not to have to worry whether he'll have work at the start of each term.

Dinner tonight was a lovely pasta dish cooked by DS2. Both the boys have started showing an interest in cooking lately and I am happy to encourage them. For dessert I made some lemon loaf cakes topped with a crunchy lemon syrup. Instead of making one large cake I baked the mix in a set of 4 small tins I bought for £2 in a charity shop.

Baking the mixture in smaller tins means they cooked faster saving on gas, and as I also baked a meat pie at the same time I made the most of having the oven on.

After running the freezer right down over the past month and a half I did a big stock up of frozen foods last week. I had a £12 off a £60 shop code for Tesco and £2.50 off £25 shop for Farm Foods. The freezer is now overflowing, and I've also started storing stuff for Christmas. I'm also well stocked up on cat litter, loo rolls, toothpaste and deodorant amongst other things so should only need to buy odd bits and pieces for the next couple of months. 

That's all I can think of for now and, as my head is pounding and my sore throat killing me, I'm off to bed for an early night in the hope I'll be feeling better in the morning.

Good night everyone and thanks for reading, love Helen xx