Covid
I'm a little delayed this time as I'm sitting on the sofa feeling sorry for myself.
Went to book group on Thursday to discuss the book below. Then in the evening, developed a razor blade throat and started to feel unwell during the night.
Thought I'd got a cold and sent out a WhatsApp note apologising for potentially infecting people during Thursday afternoon
But by Saturday, I was feeling too unwell for a cold, so tested, and yes, a strong positive result. Damn
Sent out another WhatsApp apology.
The choir I'm in has a really nice concert coming up on Saturday and I'm hoping I'll be a) well enough and b) no longer infectious so I can take part
Time will tell. I've got zero energy and have spent all day sitting or sleeping on the sofa, so I'm just impatiently waiting for it to pass.
I've been vaccinated, so I might have it less severely than I otherwise might have
Book group
I went off to book group this week on a day when we had quite a lot of snow - eeeek! I don't do snow and I was panicking all morning thinking I was going to have to ring up the two people I was giving a lift too to say I wasn't going!
But luckily, it had stopped, and mostly gone, by the time I had to leave to get there at 2pm.
This month we read Boy Swallows Universe, a gritty coming of age novel very loosely based on the authors life, many things in it happened to him. It was gripping, near the end I stayed reading in bed until 2am as I couldn't put it down!
We're not meeting in December, and in January, we'll be meeting at a local cafe to have lunch. We will have circulated beforehand 3 books each that we would like to read and at the lunch, we'll choose one from each person for reading in 2025.
So I now have the delightful task of choosing 3 novels for us all.
On a side note, I've identified a new place in our house for a substantial bookcase - woohoo!
Agatha at the u3a
Had a great talk at the u3a this week, a very accomplished speaker telling us about the life of Agatha Christie. He spoke fluently for 45 minutes and obviously had a lot more he could talk about. She had such an interesting life and, as the speaker pointed out, every public reference to her always shows her as an older woman, like in the picture above!
Our new speaker selector is doing a great job!
Two Christmas week meal plans
A Vegetarian Meal Plan for the whole of Christmas Week
If you are on a tight budget, Christmas food can be very difficult, causing stress, and maybe even debt too. No need to get into debt, when with a bit of extra planning, you can enjoy a delicious festive meal, without spending a fortune. If you don’t know where to start, or would like a few ideas, have a look at this detailed, 2 person, 7 day Christmas dinner menu for the entire Christmas week.
Lots of lovely seasonal flavours!
A Christmas Meal Plan for the whole of Christmas Week
I have tried to put in as many festive flavours as I could in this weeks plan for the entire Christmas week, using seasonal spices, cranberry sauce, stuffing, sage and mince pies.
If you use this plan near Christmas, many basic vegetables are savagely reduced, so you can save even more on the plan.
Black Friday and all that
This is my annual call to you to spend mindfully in this very consumer based season.
I can’t tell you how tired I am of hearing the words ‘Black Friday’! To me it says ‘buy something, buy something, buy something ……. Please, buy something, anything, please’. I have had endless emails all saying it’s Black Friday, spend some money with us.
It hardly needs to be said, but I’ll say it anyway. A bargain is not a bargain unless you will use it/need it. The siren song of the marketeers is a masterful thing, creating strong desires and powerful ‘needs’. Advertising agencies are paid astronomical amounts for their wiles because it works. We all like to think we are immune to advertising messages, me included, but, sadly, we’re not.
I published an ebook for meal plan 1 in August 2021 and am delighted that many people have thought it was worth getting. I repriced it again in June 2022 and it was still holding on, even in these scary times. Now we are in September and prices have shifted again and I've managed to get my head around WooCommerce so I can feature it on the blog and you can find it here.
I was busy recooking, photographing and updating the recipes for Meal Plan 2 and putting them into an ebook as well. The meal plan was first written in 2013 and still prices up, which is fabulous and that is finally complete. The book is done now too, prices seem to be stable enough to do it.
I've finally completed the e-book from the Stretch A Chicken To Last A Week series. Took me absolutely ages to finish it off!
Do come and say hello on the Fantastically Frugal Food Facebook group, or the Sensational Slimming Sustenance group. I'd love to see you. Lots of useful tips, recipes and ideas. The over 17,000 membership are brilliant, brimming with talent.
And don't forget Thrifty Lesley, where there are 800+ recipes of fantastically frugal food and many weekly meal plans. And Cheap Family Recipes where you can find all kinds of delicious things that don't cost much, with two family monthly meal plans.
I've also got a few YouTube videos up, not many yet, but I'm planning to do more. I've done a couple more, need to edit them now. So much to do, so little time!
With all best wishes, until next time
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