This morning I went to the shore. I like to sit in my car and do my Bible reading whilst watching the waves. I like to have a brisk walk along the shore too as it's cooler there! The monster workout on my calf muscles is hard work though!

After that I went to the local college to enrol in an evening class in IT. It can only help with the job hunt.

It doesn't start until november so that's good.

Last night I saw a friend online on Facebook, now she added me, although we haven't had any contact for a couple of years. It was all a bit of a muddle but we just drifted apart. However I got the distinct impression last night that she is (I can't think of the correct word, not angry, maybe annoyed) with me for some reason. It was a really stilted 'conversation'. She isn't the most gregarious of people, but even so this was odd. I don't like to think of her having a reason to be annoyed with me, but I cannot think of anything!

I would really loathe to think that there is some hurt I have caused her albeit unwittingly.

Anyway later on I phoned my dear old Ma and found that she is without milk I was going to go there today but decided to go last night, it was quite nice to nip out at 10.30 at night the roads were clear! Sam was gutted as the chocky bar i bought him ended up in the bag we gave Grandma, I don't think he would have minded quite so much if Grandma could have eaten it herself! She's going to give it to my little neice Kasey instead!

Now I'm not a confrontational person, but I wonder if I should ask her what is wrong?

I'm Baaack!

Phew it's been a while hasn't it?

What's happened?

Well I went to Edinburgh in March and had a great time with Jennie and Dyzzy, I came home and on my return to work discovered that martin McColls were pulling out of the Post office and we had three months notice.

Then the nightmare got worse, I was already incredibly stressed and it got worse as it went on.

The new owner of the Post Office was not my sort of person and made it very clear that I wasn't his = more stress,

Staff left and because of the situation we had noone to replace them = more stress,

Staff decided not to do overtime = more stress

I was at the point of doing a runner, I couldn;t see the wood for the trees and then i made the decision to leave.

I have never felt so free in my life!

I have now been unemployed since 20th June and although i'm looking for work nothing much has come up. I'm ok for money, not brilliant and I know I must find a job soon. However i think it might have to be part time.

Anyway apart from all that at some point in the year i went back to church. I went back to the first church I ever went to (which is the other side of Town) and it was like coming home.

I have never felt so welcomed and comfortable in a church before!

It helps that my best mate goes there too, but I didn't actually tell her I was coming I just turned up!

What I've also found is that I'm happier now than I've ever been, not that Wow that was a good day sort of happy that disintergrates when things go wrong, but that 'I can be happy even when everything is rubbish' I suppose I mean inner joy.

I don't like to go on about my faith because people always remember the times when things weren't so great and those time when I wasn't so great, and use that as ammunition that Christians are fakes.

Well i'm a real Christian, I fail, I flounder, I make mistakes, I say stuff I shouldn't, I do stuff I shouldn't, sometimes I'm a crap human being, let alone a crap Christian.

But we're all like that. It's other people who call us hypocrites because we fail their expectations.

So I'm not perfect, I don't pretend to be, I know I never will be, But I am happy in my faith.

Last week i was looking up courses I could do to learn more about serving God through the church, Preaching, leading worship, pastoral care etc and found a course I really wanted to do, but the cost was prohibitive.

Then this morning our Pastor Paul asked me if I'd like to go on the course! The very one I had looked at! I was stunned and so was he when I said I'd love to, he was expecting to have to persuade me!

Now I believe that is God's doing, neither of us had mentioned courses apart from Paul jokingly saying I should become a Pastor! I love how the big guy works sometimes!

So come September 19th I'm in training! Part of the course is keeping a journal and I thought I'd like to share some of it with you too!

Long Time

I haven't updated as often as i wanted to. Life keeps getting in my way!

I've booked a flight to Edinburgh on my Birthday and am very excited about that, I'm staying at Jennies flat and the delectable Lyzzy is coming too!! YAY!

I'm seeing Jo every fortnight and that is a bright spark in my life.

Some updates, I failed in making my lunch every day, but I am making it more than buying, so that's an improvement!

I lost weight in January yet have put on in february, so a failure there too! In my defence I've been more than a little bit depressed, but will have to rise above it. Work is really getting me down, I can barely drag myself there lately, hopefully i will snap out of this!

1. 1.       Be positive without moaning for a whole day (0/1)
   
2. 2.       Go fishing (0/1)
   
3. 3.       Go on an adult only picnic with Paul (0/1)
   
4. 4.       Have a weekend away with Paul (0/1)
   
5. 5.       Have a weekend away alone (0/1)
   
6. 6.       Go to Galway (0/1)
   
7. 7.       Hire a car (0/1)
   
8. 8.       Eat breakfast for a month (0/1)
   
9. 9.       Eat vegetarian for a week (0/1)
   
10. 10.   Buy a chest freezer (0/1)
    
11. 11.   Fill the chest freezer with homemade meals (0/1)
    
12. 12.   Batch cook enough meals for a month (0/1)
    
13. 13.   Batch cook eight cakes (0/1)
    
14. 14.   Have a family picture taken (0/1)
    
15. 15.   Pay the toll for the car behind me on the bridge (0/1)
    
16. 16.   Make and fill a birthday book with cards (0/1)
    
17. 17.   Drive somewhere I’ve never been alone (0/1)
    
18. 18.   Get rid of my fear of rabbits (0/1)
    
19. 19.   Learn to swim (0/1)
    
20. 20.   Read the news every day for a month (0/1)
    
21. 21.   Dye my hair a much lighter colour (0/1)
    
22. 22.   Take my iron tablets every day for a month (0/1)
    
23. 23.   Eat fruit four times a week (0/143)
    
24. 24.   Get new glasses (0/1)
    
25. 25.   Have a whole month without spending money on anything but essentials (0/1)
    
26. 26.   Use the bbq at least twice in the summer (0/4)
    
27. 27.   Make a recipe box (0/1)
    
28. 28.   Repaint the living room (0/1)
    
29. 29.   Repaint the kitchen (0/1)
    
30. 30.   Repaint my bedroom (0/1)
    
31. 31.   Remodel downstairs cloakroom (0/1)
    
32. 32.   Garden for half an hour once a week (0/143)
    
33. 33.   Go to a choral concert (0/1)
    
34. 34.   Choose a church to go to (0/1)
    
35. 35.   Go back to church (0/1)
    
36. 36.   Read five biographies (0/5)
    
37. 37.   Take more photographs (0/1)
    
38. 38.   Visit  a local village (0/1)
    
39. 39.   Go to a Farmers market (0/1)
    
40. 40.   Make a new friend (0/1)
    
41. 41.   Make an item of jewellery every month for a year (0/12)
    
42. 42.   Visit my mum once a week (0/143)
    
43. 43.   Use my sewing machine for cards (0/1)
    
44. 44.   Use my sewing machine to make a handbag (0/1)
    
45. 45.   Sew an apron (0/1)
    
46. 46.   Decorate pillowcases for Christmas stockings (0/4)
    
47. 47.   Make at least one Christmas present (0/1)
    
48. 48.   Go to Edinburgh (0/1)
    
49. 49.   Go to the cinema (0/1)
    
50. 50.   Read 4 works of Shakespeare (0/4)
    
51. 51.   Blog weekly (0/143)
    
52. 52.   XXX monthly (0/143)
    
53. 53.   Go strawberry picking (0/1)
    
54. 54.   Go down one dress size (0/1)
    
55. 55.   Go down two dress sizes (0/1)
    
56. 56.   Go down three dress sizes (0/1)
    
57. 57.   Go down four dress sizes (0/1)
    
58. 58.   Go down five sizes (0/1)
    
59. 59.   Go down six sizes (0/1)
    
60. 60.   Book  another cruise (0/1)
    
61. 61.   Join a craft club (0/1)
    
62. 62.   Exercise every week (0/143)
    
63. 63.   Give up crisps for a month (0/1)
    
64. 64.   Have a pedicure (0/10)
    
65. 65.   Learn to spot 10 wild birds (0/10)
    
66. 66.   Go to bed before 11pm
    
67. 67.   Send five non essentials texts per week (0/143)
    
68. 68.   Plant hanging baskets
    
69. 69.   Give myself a manicure once a week  (2/143)
    
70. 70.   Give myself a facial once a week  (1/143)
    
71. 71.   Plan a week’s  menu and stick to it (0/1)
    
72. 72.   Book a smear test  (1/1)
    
73. 73.   Have a smear test (0/1)
    
74. 74.   Go to see my ENT
    
75. 75.   Make four cards a month
    
76. 76.   Sing daily
    
77. 77.   Visit  Peter and family once a month
    
78. 78.   See a dentist
    
79. 79.   Get eyes checked
    
80. 80.   Take something to the tip when I get petrol (0/33)
    
81. 81.   Keep the work diary up to date weekly  (2/143)
    
82. 82.   Clean the car inside monthly (0/33)
    
83. 83.   Clean the car outside monthly (0/33)
    
84. 84.   Join the Gym  (0/1)
    
85. 85.   Do the GP referral  16 sessions  (0/16)
    
86. 86.   Tidy desk every Sunday afternoon (0/143)
    
87. 87.   Get clothes ready for work night before one week (0/143)
    
88. 88.   Read one bible verse per day at lunchtime (0/1001)
    
89. 89.   Do not swear for one week (habit breaker)  (0/1)
    
90. 90.   Eat a yogurt daily (4/1001)
    
91. 91.   Laugh daily (9/1001)
    
92. 92.   Send  a random letter (0/1)
    
93. 93.   Enter a competition (0/1)
    
94. 94.   Do a Master life daily plan and stick to it (0/1)
    
95. 95.   Take off make up every night (9/1001)
    
96. 96.   Play pitch and putt with Sam (0/1)
    
97. 97.   Take Sam, Kane and Kyle swimming (0/1)
    
98. 98.   Try roasted chestnuts (0/1)
    
99. 99.   Recycle one item for every item bought
    
100. 100.  Carry  re-usable shopping bags
     
101. 101.     Read  4 biographies
     

 

Discoveries

I've done well on my taking lunch to work regime and it's made me a bit more creative in the kitchen.

For instance I love BLT's but I hate that soggy bread from the tomatoes, so I wondered what would happen if i toasted the bread.

Well i would have preferred Malted brown bread but only had white. I lightly toasted it waited till cool and made my BLT as usual.

The next day the bread wasn't soggy at all but it was chewy, which sounds horrible but is really nice and different! It was a hit with Sam too the fussiest sandwich eater on the planet! It's fab with Chicken Lettuce and Tomato (CLT) too, and we're having that tomorrow. perfect too if your bread is 'less than best' as it's perfectly disguised!

I lost 6lb this week which is probably 4lb of water so a good loss of 2lb is fine with me.

Dort had some bad news. Because her Epilepsy tablets have failed to work as well as they did and some of her absences have come back she has to have a brain scan and another 24hr EEG.

it means that she cannot learn to drive for at least two years and any chance she had of joining the Navy is now gone.

It's so sad for her, but I'm hoping she will discover something else instead.

And finally;

I  made a totally random discovery whilst putting away some Christmas Wrapping paper.

I keep the bottom drawer in my bedroom for Christmas wrap and cards, anyway as I pulled it out the entire drawer came out and the top roll fell out and into the space below the drawer...and it's a perfect place to store it, after all I only need it once a year and it will keep dust free under there! So now the original drawer houses Birthday wrap and cards! Cool huh? 

I'm going to be looking for other random storage places from now on. It's called thinking outside the drawer!

Cars and Craft and Daft me!

---

Mum mentioned on the phone last night she needed to load her Gas card and that she would ask Karl if he popped in.
As I knew I would be about early today, and I know Karl's knack of not being there when you need him, I told her to leave it on her stairs and that I would swing by after dropping Sam and Dort off.

That part went ok, I get to her house and she's left a note asking for a couple of other bits (neither of which i can get at the local shop grrrr), so off I trot to Sainsburys, and then into work to get the Gas.
I had to buy a few bits for the lunch I was cooking at my friends, I went back to the car, opened the boot and started to sort the shopping into Mum's mine and stuff for lunch. Finished and shut the boot.....only I'd locked the bloody keys in the sodding boot!

So Paul came out and we sat in his freezing car (too mean to keep it running), till the AA man arrived about two and a half hours later!
The wonderful AA man got me in and I set off to my friends' house.
I'd phoned in the mean time and her husband had started cooking for them three (her Mum) and that would I be ok with a sarnie. I said of course I would! I'd forgotten to bring my Tranexamic Acid tablets with me so was feeling a bit faint by the time I left.
She also managed to offload onto me half of a kit she'd bought from Create and Craft, because she said it was so awful she couldn't keep it all! I'm gonna make mum cards with them I bet she'd love them!
But it wasn't quite what I expected of the day, though it turned out ok in the end!!!!

Oh the joy of being back to work....NOT!

I cricked my neck again over the holiday so have been in alot of pain and been taking an awful lot of painkillers. It's gradually easing off now thank goodness.

So the first three days and I've been a good girl and made sarnies every day, saving pennies!

Monday was leftover beef with mustard

Tuesday Roast chicken with lettuce

and today was Ham and cheese.

Tonight we had Spag Bol for tea as it was part of a batch cook i did weeks ago it was on the table in 15 mins which is lovely after a long day at work. I'll share the basic recipe here although the original was Antony Worral Thompsons I have adapted it slightly.

1 kg Beef mince                                                                                 (£4)

500g carrots grated                                                                          (35p)

2 large onions chopped                                                                     (60p)

4 cloves garlic (or a HUGE squeeze of the puree stuff)               (25p)

1 tube of Tomato Puree                                                                     (25p)

4 Bay leaves                                                                                         (20p)

1 tsp Herbs de Provence                                                                    (20p)

2 cans plum tomatoes (chopped in the can with a pair of kitchen scissors) (60p)

1 Bottle Red Wine (I use cheap plonk, Lambrusco)                                       (£1.80)

That's £7.65 which I then divide by four, making that £1.91! 

You can add smoked bacon at the beginning and celery for extra flavour, but I don't bother personally.

                                                                                                              

Brown the mince (in batches if necessary) drain of fat. Whilst mince is draining fry the onion and garlic until soft, add the carrots and mince and stir well. add the tube of tomato puree and the wine (it will seem very watery at this stage but don't be alarmed).

Add the Bay leaves and herbs de provence and bring to the boil. Turn the heat down low, ver low and simmer with the lid on for 2 hours. If the mixture is still watery turn up to a rapid boil and reduce. This is the basic mince, it has a smooth texture and flavour, the mince is tender and simply tastes better than when it is cooked quickly. Divide the mixture into freezable containers and freeze. defrost overnight in the fridge.

The basic mince can be used as is,but I find it lacks a bit of body so for Bolognese I add

1 small jar of shop sauce (I know this seems like a cheat but the depth of flavour you've already given it will make this exceptional), and lots of Mushrooms, and chopped peppers if liked simmer for as long as the pasta takes to cook et voila!

For Chilli, add a tin of Chilli Beans and paprika, and chilli powder to taste, My kids also like sweetcorn with theirs. Serve with Jacket Potatoes and a tomato and spring onion salad.

Beef cheddar: add some beef stock, or cheat and use gravy granules, and a handful of strong grated cheddar, serve with cabbage and mash.

Cottage Pie; add frozen diced veg and beef gravy top with Mash and bake in the oven (Or really cheat and simply heat the mince mix in a pan, mash the spuds and flash them under the grill in the saucepan to give it that crunchy topping),

Lasagne, again add a small jar of shop sauce, and some spinach, either frozen or canned (well squeezed) or simply stir the fresh leaves uncooked into the mince mix and then layer in a lasagne as usual.

I've included prices which that are true today at Tesco. Even when you add the extra ingredients it still works out cheaper than Jamie Olivers £5 meals!!! Ok so you're serving less meat than previously and the carrots are a filler, but it cheaper on your pocket and better for you!