Monday 18 March 2024

Our weekly meal plan! 18th - 24th March. #MealPlanningMonday

Our weekly meal plan

Last weeks meal plan went well. We almost ate everything but changed things on Saturday and instead of having home made pizza we had home made Chinese takeaway with sweet and sour chicken balls, chicken chow mein, salt and pepper chips, spring rolls and prawn toast.

This week we are back on the Gousto boxes this week and for the next few weeks, I already have the meals picked and booked. I have realised that if you have a few weeks break Gousto will try and tempt you back with money off their boxes. In our break we we got a £5 off voucher and 25% off two boxes. Next week we're even treating ourselves to one of the premium meals which cost something like £1.50 extra per portion and we're not spending any more than we usually do. 

We are getting our new cooker installed today, the gas man is coming to do the boiler check and thought we'd kill two birds with one stone and get him to install the cooker too. Thankfully Stu is here to deal with him because as lovely as the boiler man is, he's very chatty and I don't like doing small talk. I just hope everything goes OK as this house is ridiculous and I have a feeling that the cupboards were built around the old cooker. When we got the new broadband installed we noticed they build a wall over the carpet so with this house nothing would surprise me. lol Fingers crossed the new cooker fits.

On the menu this week we have:

Monday - Stu is cooking, hopefully something in our new cooker. I am thinking something out of the freezer. Either cottage pie or lasagne.
Tuesday - Gousto meal - One Pot Pork & Beef Cheeseburger Macaroni, the girls are very excited about this meal.
Wednesday - Gousto meal - Tomato & Pulled Chicken Thigh Potato Topped Pie.
Thursday - Gousto meal - Crispy Chicken Katsu Curry Burritos.
Friday - Gousto meal - Sesame Beef Burger With Pickled Slaw And Chips.
Saturday - Pizza. We will eat it this week.
Sunday - Sunday lunch out! A roast dinner with all of the trimmings.

What are you eating this week?

Sunday 17 March 2024

Week 11 of #Project365 10th - 16th March. A photo every day for a year!

This past week has been a good one. I spent Mother's day being spoilt, spent way too much time playing a computer game, got some jobs done around the house and got a new cooker delivered.

We don't have much planned for the rest of the weekend although the grass needs cutting. Next door has cut theirs out the front which makes ours look extra long but of course the weather forecast says it's going to be raining for most of the day, I really should have done it yesterday. I guess it will be a job for me during the week, I hate cutting the grass!

Now for a photo every day!

My girls walking in the rain
Supermarket Simulator and Pease Pudding
Choc dip and Windows update
Taylor Swift and new cooker

70/365 - 10th March
Mother's Day and I had the loveliest day, the girls spoilt me rotten. I did test how much they loved me when I said we were still going out for lunch despite the rain. They didn't grumble (much) and we did have a nice time. They didn't realise how good the Sunday lunches were from our favourite cafe but have said it was just a one off, they will still be staying in bed on a Sunday in future. lol

71/365 - 11th March
The Supermarket Simulator game which has took up far too much time of my week. It's very addictive but so simple.

72/365 - 12th March
We were brought some Pease Pudding back from the North East from one of Stu's work friends. It felt like such a treat and I even bought some fancy ham to go with it in sandwiches.

73/365 - 13th March
A couple of weeks ago I had a Nutella chocolate dip thing and wasn't that impressed and was craving a proper Choc Dip. I saw them in the corner shop and had to get myself one. They are as good as I remember.

74/365 - 14th March
My latest Window's update was stuck on this screen for about 15 minutes. I thought it wasn't working and was just about to start panicking but it did it's thing and started running through the percentage of how much was done. The only new thing on it is some AI thing which I probably won't use.

75/365 - 15th March
I finally watched the Taylor Swift Eras tour movie, it arrived on Disney+ on Friday. The girls made me watch it and it is rather good, she is such an amazing performer and I knew more songs than I thought I did. I sort of now understand why they love her so much.

76/365 - 16th March
Our new cooker was delivered. It was supposed to come between 7am and 7pm but I got a text waking me up at 6:37 saying I had to ring the driver, it turns out he was outside. I was not happy as he made out that I was the problem, I had my alarm set for 6:45am, he was early and I let him know that.

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Saturday 16 March 2024

This week my Word of the Week is: Spent! #WotW

This week my Word of the Week is:

Spent

We have had a good week. I did think that I didn't have that much to write about but here I am again with all of these words. hehehe I spent most of yesterday trying to come up with a word to cover my week and finally I came up with spent as it covers a lot of things.

I spent Sunday with my family for Mother's Day, we had lunch out and went to see my dad. I go most Friday's to help him out with any computer things he needs but sometimes he needs Stu's expertise help as I am rubbish with Excel spreadsheets. I spent the rest of Sunday being very lazy and had my girls running about after me, I really milked it being Mother's Day. hehehe

Monday was spent felt feeling pretty sorry for myself. I felt like I was getting a cold. I woke up snotty, with a fuzzy head, aching and feeling just not right. I am totally blaming Stu, he has had a cold and was snoring Sunday night which kept waking me up. By Monday evening I felt much better and seemed to have shook whatever it was off. 

Most of my week has been spent indoors as the weather hasn't been that great, yes it's been warmer than it has been but it's been so wet! I had planned on going out in the garden on Thursday afternoon but then the rain came. I will get out there eventually. I remember a few years ago during the first lockdown of Covid it was like summer already at this time of year. I want that weather again!

I am sure I have mentioned our cooker here on my blog. Late last year the oven door became loose and eventually fella off. I fixed it once and Stu fixed it properly. It wasn't perfect but it still worked. Just after Christmas I cleaned the cooker top and since then one of the back rings hasn't worked, the grill knob is temperamental and finally the knob for the oven gave up working. I thought I had turned it off when I cooked the potato wedges on Tuesday but Stu went in the kitchen at about 9pm and realised the oven was still on. The knob was turning but not turning it off. He used pliers to turn it off and we decided enough was enough, we needed a new cooker so spent the money and it's been delivered today and it arrived just before 7am. An early morning was no what I was planning. Where we bought it from wanted over £100 to install it but we are actually having the boiler serviced next week, it's annual check up so the boiler man is going to install the gas cooker and is billing the landlord. When we moved in here the cooker came as part of the house so by rights it's the landlords responsibility but we thought it would be easier to buy the cooker we wanted and the landlord pay the cost of installation, everyone is happy with this arrangement. Phew! We're getting what we want and the landlord is saving a bit of money. 

Yesterday I spent my afternoon watching the Taylor Swift concert that was new to Disney+. Becky went to the cinema 3 times to see it and Ellie twice so they really love it and made me watch it too. She really is an amazing performer and I actually knew more songs than I thought of hers.

How has your week been? I hope you have had a good one!

Word of the Week linky

Friday 15 March 2024

What I have loved this week! Week 11. #FridayFavourites

Hello, it's Friday again so it's time to link up with Erika and Andrea and share some of my favourites from the week. Some weeks I have to really think about my favourites but this past week I had so many things to mention that some things haven't been mentioned at all.

What I have loved this week

Money off Gousto!
We get Gousto boxes, where they send you everything you need for the recipes that you pick and we have a break from them for a few weeks. There was method in my madness because I know if you have a break they send money off vouchers to entice you back. hehehe I got £5 off one box and then 25% off another two which really makes a difference. We have some fantastic meals coming up over the next few weeks.

Lunch out with my family.
Most weeks my fella and I go out for lunch on a Sunday, the girls would much rather laze in bed but with it being Mother's Day last Sunday I said to the girls they were coming out with us. The weather was awful and wet and they joked that this goes to prove how much they love me as they wouldn't go out in the rain for anyone. hehehe We had a lovely roast dinner and had planned on going to the pub after but we were keen to get home and to get warm after being out in the rain.

My girls and I

The Oscars.
I don't remember ever staying up and watching The Oscars. Like the Superbowl it has either started earlier or there is some time difference change. I only watched a handful of awards given out, Billie Eilish sing and John Cena with no clothes on but I really enjoyed it and caught up with the rest of the highlights the morning after. After hearing so much about Oppenheimer I feel like I need to watch it when it comes onto the movie channels next month.

Kate Middleton.
Not really a favourite but some of the videos and tweets that I've seen about the situation have been interesting. There has been so much drama surrounding the Royal Family and the Mother's Day photo that Kate Middleton released. I did think so what that she edited the photo of her and her children, most of us who put photos online edit them in some way even if it's just to brighten them up but then I fell down the rabbit hole of watching TikToks about how Kate's face is actually from a magazine cover from 2016 and the kids images were taken from an event they went to and the colour of the clothing has just been changed. It really has got me wondering about where she is. The theories out their are wild, I just hope that she is OK.

Pease Pudding.

Pease Pudding

Pease Pudding is something from the North East of England. It is a side dish traditionally served with ham. I lived in the North East for most of my life and it was normal to have a ham and Pease pudding sandwich. We moved 150 miles further south a few years ago and Pease Pudding is not a thing here, you can buy it in a tin but it really isn't the same as the fresh stuff. If we visit the North East we always buy some and over the years my friend from the North East has actually sent us some in the post so whenever someone says they are visiting up North we joke and ask them to get us some and one of my fellas work friends did just that! I was so happy. It's just a shame it was just one tub, it's all gone now. Hmmf.

Mother's Day gifts!
I was so spoilt on Sunday, as well as the meal out the girls bought me gifts. Becky got me a rose plant with a cute pot, they both got me a gorgeous necklace with the word mam, that's what they call me, it's from our days in the North East and my birthstone on and Ellie got me chocolates and a keyring. I felt very lucky.

Rose plant and necklace

Warmer weather.
There has been days over the past week where I could have gone out without wearing a coat but I couldn't as it has been very wet. If it hasn't been chucking it down it's been that really fine rain, like mist. Hmmf. It has made me happy that spring is on it's way and then we have summer! It is awkward at this time of year when I don't have a huge selection of coats. I either stay dry and sweat or be at the right temperature and get wet. As I writing this it's 15c which seems really warm for this time of year, it's almost summer weather. lol

Supermarket Simulator.
Becky, my eldest has been playing Supermarket Simulator for the last week or so, she saw people playing it on TikTok and it's her type of game. You run your own supermarket stock the shelves, set prices, use the check out, take payments and hire staff. Of course I took notice as it sounded my type of game too. Becky was so keen for me to play it she bought it for me as an extra Mother's Day gift and it's addictive! I have restarted it about 6 times learning from my mistakes of expanding too fast and buying things I didn't need. It's a fun game to pass the time.

What have you loved over the last week?

Friday Favourites linky