10 readers in less than 10 hours!

My first blog post was made at 8.16am.

It's now 5.09pm and it's already had 10 readers!

Thank you to each and every reader but especially my 2 regular readers!

Review of my lunch

Just finished eating the spaghetti and meat-less meatballs with a generous couple of sprinkle sessions with the new cheese sprinkler.

Me and the hubby agreed that we'll have to have it again!

The meat balls tasted of meat to start with then after a couple of chews the soya flavour started to come through.

I have to admit 2 things - first is that I was sceptical  about the size of the pot of parmesan cheese... surely it would need at least 2 of them to fill the sprinkler, wouldn't it?  Secondly it took until my second session with the sprinkler to work out that you need to move the lid of it backwards and forwards, using both hands instead of shaking it with one.

The amount of cheese in the pot was deceptively large... it looked like it would only just fill the bottom of the sprinkler, but when Steve put it in, it came about three quarters of the way up with just enough space left at the top to let the cheese sprinkler at the top to come out of the holes - perfect size!  If you look at the image on the Amazon site that I've linked to up at the top of this post, you'll be able to see how far 120g comes up to!

Definitely worth the money and the cheese will last a long time in the fridge, judging by how much cheese we eat each week!  lol

A wise couple of investments by me I reckon!

For lunch today, I'm having...

On the menu today is spaghetti and meat-less meatballs!

First time trying the meat-less meatballs, so it'll be interesting to see what they taste like!

Me socks and undies have just been delivered

I certainly won't be loosing any of the socks in the wash and apparently I should "keep the zebra print pants for Sunday best!"  lol

Just taken me supplements and...

They are keeping me awake and giving me more energy already!

I take Iron because I'm vegetarian, Calcium because I'm allergic to dairy and a multivitamin for a general all-rounder.

I really should take them every morning because their effect only takes a few minutes to be noticeable!

I swear by them, I just wish I didn't have brain damage so that I could feel like this every day, instead of feeling like I'm wading through treacle all day!

-5 today!

Definitely Winter weather!

Gonna give it a couple of hours before I take the pup out for her walk to hopefully get it to heat up a bit.

-4 out there right now!

Just taken the pup for her morning walk and it's so cold out there!

I'm hot again now that I'm home though!  lol

Had 28 readers of the pasta bol post too

If I get 50 readers of that one I'll be a happy bunny  :-)

Got back from having our hair cut

Had our hair cut this morning and got 2 bags of Mitzi food so we are both a lot lighter on our heads and Mitzi's got a couple of months of food too, so we prolly won't need hair cutting or Mitzi food until 2017 now!  Yay!

Between us, we produced enough hair for several garden bird nests to keep them warm during the winter!  lol

My hair grows longer and thicker faster during Winter - I thought that was just me though, but apparently the hair cutter said she finds that with other clients too... what about you?  Does your hair get thicker and longer, faster during Winter too?

Recycling

Starting on 16th January we'll be able to recycle corugated cardboard, mixed plastics and textiles... that means that pretty much our only rubbish will be Steve's dressings and Mitzi's poo if we get into the habit of using the blue bag and clear bag!

It'll prolly take us a few weeks to get into the habit of using the extra bags, but we will have very little going into the landfil next year... we already struggle to fill our 2 wheelie bins every fortnight so I reckon we can do without the small bin starting next year if we're only getting rid of Steve's dressings and Mitzi's poo every week!

I love recycling stuff 'cos it can be put to use again instead of filling up landfills!

That's Yule bought for this year

Just need to get the things delivered then wrapped up so that I can give C and H their gifts next time I see them and arrange for my mum and D's gifts to be delivered to them!

Steve's gift is already here, just not wrapped up so I'll go on a bit of a wrapathon when everything has been delivered!

Just checked Amazon and my mum's gift is being delivered straight to her, so only need to arrange for D's gift to be sent to her after I've wrapped it up.

Means that I don't need to worry about spending anything else now (other than the delivery of D's gift) until I get the SCBWI membership for D at the start of 2017, ready for her birthday and Yule next year!

Yay!

I've decided what to get everyone for Yule this year

I'm going to spend the rest of today finding gifts for me mum, C, H and D and make note of the URLs ready for my next pay day when I'll get the gifts sent straight to them then I'll get D a SCBWI membership in the middle of next year ready for her 2017 birthday and Yule gifts and renew it for her every year from then on.

Had pasta bol for lunch today

Yummy scrummy in my tummy!

Steve is almost able to wear...

... the watch I got him for his birthday last year.

It's still tight on him but he can do the strap up and move his wrist now!

Keep on going Steve... you're almost there now!  You've dropped a clothes size, your face is slowly shrinking and seemingly so are your wrists!  If we both keep eating healthily and only having take aways as a treat we'll both keep loosing weight and be a healthy size again.

It's not easy, but small dietary changes make all the difference!  We both have proof of that now!

WTG us!

About bleedin' time!

Just worked out how to get both Twitter accounts to show up on a single webpage... still haven't got a clue how to do it in Tweetdeck, but as long as I've got them one way or the other somehow, I'm happy for now!

132 and 109... thank you all so much!

What a way to start Black Friday... both posts being over 100 readers now - thank you to each and every one of you!

If I get another 3 readers of "Blimey Charlie" overnight...

I'm so totally stunned by the number of readers of those two posts and the "Blimey Charlie" post is at 97 readers right now, so it's looking pretty likely that that one will go over 100 reads too... thank you all so so much!

If you want to thank you by name, just reply to this with your name and which post you read and I'll start up a thank you thread especially for those readers!

12 pairs of socks and 10 knickers

Just had a bath and me lunch.

The question about how many pairs of knickers I've got came up.  Again.

I swear the washing machine eats my underwear because it now seems that I've got 2 knickers and 1 pair of socks now!

So, I've just ordered myself 12 pairs of socks and 10 knickers for just over £16 at Amazon.

I'm thinking they won't be good quality because of how cheap they are and the knickers are the next size down too but they will do until the New Year when I'll have £100 a month to myself and can get some better quality undies as well as saving up for Namehog stuff and gifts etc... just gotta make it until mid January then I'll make a conscious to save up that £100 every month and not spend it on things I don't need.

I've got over the worst of it now, just gotta be prepared for me mum's birthday and our anniversary in June, 2 birthday's in October and Yule in December.

Put the washing on and I can almost guarantee that I won't have both socks and my other knickers when the programme finishes!  lol

110 for one and 87 for the other... thank you to you all!

Does anyone wanna help me celebrate with a glittery J2O?  :-D

Thank you, all of you, for reading those 2 posts so many times!  I really do appreciate it!

91 and 68 now!

It's 10.45am and I've had 91 readers of one post and 68 of the other now... I haven't got a clue who they all are, but I'm really grateful to each and every one of them!

If I get up to 100 and 75 I'll be celebrating with a glittery J2O!

Steve's new phone has just arrived

The pup wanted to inspect it and from the size of the box it's the same size as my very first phone, just thinner!  lol

Thank you so much, to...

I'm still shocked and stunned by how many people have read two of my posts... I haven't got a clue who any of you are, but I've had 73 people reading 'Impressive speed' and 50 reading 'Blimey Charlie'.  I really appreciate you all and hope you will continue to read my blog!

My review of Carphone Warehouse

The hubby saw an ad for the phone he wants on the Carphone Warehouse ad last night.

He's just finished talking to them on the phone and other than a one-off charge of £9.99 he didn't pay a penny extra and his new phone will be here tomorrow!

He changed over to a Galaxy S7 and the sales person said he wanted an iPhone 7 and he's like, "nope, the Galaxy S7" and everything went well from then on.

He's just got to move his photo's off his current phone now and it might take up to 24 hours for the number to change between phones, but I think I've turned Steve towards Android phones instead of Windows phones now!  lol



The Carphone Warehouse gets 5 out of 5 stars for me and I reckon Steve would agree too!

My bank balance is now...

£212 which will cover today's and next weeks groceries then I'm paid again in 2 weeks time and I'll have my second pay day the day after.

2 week's today I'll be able to carry on with the grocery shopping.  2 weeks and a day I'll be able to cover my bills coming out on the 15th and instead of moving the money over like I did today, I'll get Yule gifts instead and go back to moving over the hundred in the New Year.

My secondary bank account is looking pretty healthy and I reckon I've beaten my spending addiction too so I is a happy bunny right now!

OMG!

In less than 24 hours, I've had 45 readers of my Impressive speed blog post and 21 readers of the first post I made yesterday!

Thank you so so much, every single one of you!

Think I've worked out where the 25 extra readers came from

I put up a review that I copied and pasted from the blog post I'd written and said I'd taken it straight off my blog, but that was the Amazon post I made, not the one about the headphone foam ear pads which is what the popular blog post was about so I'm still lost!  lol

Blimey Charlie!

The blog post I made yesterday has been viewed 26 times in just over 24 hours!

That's the most views I've ever had!

Thank you to those 26 people and please keep on reading!

Impressive speed!

I ordered some replacement foam to go on the ear bits of my headphones on eBay Thursday morning and they've just been delivered!  I wasn't expecting them until the middle of next week at the earliest so less than 48 hours later is impressive speed by anyone's standards!  Especially as it was sent by second class post too!

Assuming they don't fall off immediately, they'll be getting a 5 star review from me!

My review of the mobile phone company, 3

In four words: don't go with them.

Steve hasn't used the number for literally years but has been paying for it the whole time.

He cancelled his account last month and they said there was a final £30 charge for cancelling which Steve paid and was told that was it... no more payments, the account was closed.

3 have just been on the landline phone again, asking for another £30 because of the 30 day cooling off period.

So Steve's paid an extra £60 on top of the contract he'd been paying and not using the number for years and years.

He hadn't even used the number for so long that he doesn't know what the phone number on the account was!

If you've got an account with 3 and you're happy with it, that's fine... just expect to pay through the nose for cancelling the contract with them!

Children in Need last night

I went to bed at 10pm when it changed over to BBC2 and they'd already raised over £29.5million in 2.5 hours so they were doing really well already!

Watching the rest of it now, but I hope I texted my twenty quid donation to the right number!  lol

They were aiming for £50million by the end of it and they were already over half way there after 2.5 hours!  lol

Just watched the first ever Grand Tour from Amazon

I've never been into cars.

Ever.

I occasionally glanced at the celeb bits on Top Gear or chuckled at things that weren't about cars but that's the closest I've ever been to watching a car show.

When Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May (had to check the name with the hubby, that's how uninterested I am in car shows) left Top Gear I was like "so what?" and shrugged my shoulders every time it was mentioned either by Steve or on the telly.  I really didn't give two hoots about it.

The Grand Tour thing was good though... took the best bits out of Top Gear and made it even better!  I even watched the bits about cars that I used to skip over on Top Gear.

I still don't reckon I'm "into cars" but if each show is like the first one, Amazon have found themselves a new viewer!  I won't stay up late especially to watch it, but I'll watch it after Masterchef and The Bill re-runs each week.

I haven't got a clue how many millions of pounds Amazon have paid for the programme and I really don't care either, but the humour and craziness and stuff is definitely still worth watching!

Just checked me bank balance

Just checked me bank balance online and I've got £186 in there because my Audible monthly fee thing came out yesterday and I'm being paid again on Monday so the shopping for the next two weeks is sorted, so let's forget about the pay day and grocery shopping and just say that I've got £186 to play with between now and the middle of December.

£50 into my secondary account and £25 into each of my savings accounts means that I've got £86 left over to spend on Yule gifts.

We've already agreed that we'll pay for gifts for our own families and friends.  My brother hasn't got me a gift since I moved to Gloucester, so I'm only getting gifts for me mum, Steve, C,H, D, and K this year.

Steve's almost sorted, just going to get him a little something extra that he doesn't know about.

C, H and K will be something from their Amazon wishlists so that just leaves me with D.  She's trying out SCBWI right now, so if she decides that she wants to become a full member, that's what I'll get for her but I'll find out about that in the next few weeks.

So, if my calculations are right, I'll have £186 to play with every month after the groceries and bills have all been paid.

Put the £100 into my other accounts and I'm still left with £86 to play with every month.  There are two months left until Yule, so 2X£86=£172 which is more than enough for gifts for Steve, my mum, C,H,D and K... just gotta find those gifts now!  lol

Coffee really is a waker-uppererer!

Just had a mug of coffee without sweeteners for the second time ever and it didn't taste as bitter as the first time and it's noticeably woken me up too!

CIN is on tonight so hopefully that'll encourage me to not go to bed at 6pm for the first time since the start of NaNo!

Think I've dropped another clothes size around my waist!

Steve put a white bag of rubbish in the hallway that I took out to the wheelie bin as soon as I saw it.

Thought nothing of it.

Until I went to open the front door.

My trousers started slipping down.

I reached up to open the door and take the rubbish out but my trousers started slipping down again.

I pulled them up and put the bag in the bin.

Had to pull my trousers up again when I closed the front door.

So, I reckon I've pretty much gone down to size 12 around my waist now!

If I have, I've only got one more clothes size to drop until I'm back to the right size for my height and it's all been done without a diet, just changing my portion sizes and a tiny bit of exercise every morning, when I've been walking the pup!

I came out of hospital in 2003 at size 28.  It's now almost 2017 and I'm less than half my size!  Yay!

Mitzi likes cats, but cats don't like Mitzi

When we went out for Mitzi's walk this morning, a cat dived under a car.

Mitzi wanted to make friends with the cat, but the cat was having none of it!

I also walked her an extra third this morning.  We usually do three lengths of the street, but today we did four... Mitzi wanted to do five, but there's no way my knees would have let me!

The new bin has just been delivered

After our likkle bin disappearing yesterday morning, Steve phoned for a replacement that's just been delivered!

Impressive speed by the council!

Someone's stolen our little bin!

The bin men came today, emptied our bin and put it back.

All good so far.

About 10 or 15 minutes later, the builders at the end of the road moved the bins into the street so that a lorry could go down to deliver supplies.

After the lorry had gone, a builder put all the bins back, except our little tiny one for Steve's dressings!

*big sigh*

Mitzi loves our neighbour!

Just got back from taking the pup for her walk and our neighbour came around the corner at the top of the road.

Her little tail was wagging really hard and hitting the bin... anyone would think that she lived with him, not us!  The neighbour said hello to her and stroked her, while Mitzi lapped it up!

Bless 'er!

Money, money, money!

Just checked me bank balance and after the shopping comes tomorrow I'll have £314 in there.

Bills come out on Tuesday which will leave me with £197 which means I can put £50 in my secondary account and £25 in each of my savings accounts as well as having enough left over to get Yule gifts!

I really can do it this week and I'm paid again next Monday (not tomorrow, the week after) that I can use for the shopping and Yule gifts and stuff like that!

I'm so proud of myself right now!  I've definitely beaten the spending addiction now!  Yaay!

Tried something new for lunch today

Spotted a ripped box with a 'sweet potato roast' in it while I was getting something out of the big freezer for our lunch yesterday.

Steve cooked it for my lunch today and it was so yummy!

We'll definitely be getting it again, but it's definitely a share it thing rather than an "eat on it's own with nothing else on the plate" thing!  lol

Decided last night, to...

I decided last night to walk the pup up and down the street four times instead of our usual three.

Just about remembered this morning and while it's not a huge difference, it is the start of both of us losing even more weight.

The pup came in and is now on the arm of Steve's chair going "what the frig was that about??" bless her furry little paws.

I also worked out this morning that I'll have £50 to spare so I'm gonna put £30 into my secondary account and £10 in each of my savings accounts.

Then I'll use the money in my secondary account for Yule gifts for my mum, C and H 'cos I've already got Steve's gift.

Then, starting in the New Year, I'll put £100 a month into my secondary account that I'll use for Namehog stuff, gifts and clothes throughout the year and hopefully still be able to pay for the shopping every Monday too.

I hope I've come out the other side of my spending addiction now!  Yay!

Also, last night I took my pills at about 5.30pm and was awake by 6.30 this morning, and I've already written more this morning than I usually do until lunchtime, so it's not the blood sugar alone, my creativity comes from it being dark outside!

Cauliflower cheese grills and lattice potato's for lunch today

Just to finish up the 2 grills that were left over from yesterday and a whole packet of lattices for lunch today.  I'm going to have sweet potato roast for lunch tomorrow 'cos the box has come apart and don't want to risk it getting frostbite or whatever it's called.

Going to get some frozen veg with the shopping too, just to make them even healthier lunches.

Steve has one take-away a week now, on a Monday after the shopping has been and gone and I can't remember when I last had a take away!  I definitely prefer home cooked food to junk food!

So tired!

Good day today but I'm wiped out now so I'm going to bed... nite nite!

Just found out my SILIL is going to be...

Just found out that Jacki is going to be in the same position as me and Steve come 2nd December.

It's a hard road to travel, but we can both do it and support each other through it as we both know what it's like to be in-laws!

Maybe Jacki could get Andrew to be creative at home and Steve could come up with a website to showcase each piece to future employers or something like that?

Internet problems yesterday

My internet connection kept dropping out yesterday so couldn't post anything... sorry!

Marie came over to help with the shopping today

The shopping has just come and Marie is helping to put the shopping away today even though she's got a cold and has worked from home today.

Thank you Marie!

Pasta 'n' sauce with a sprinkling of cheese today

Just finished me lunch of pasta and sauce with grated cheese and it was yummy, scrummy, in my tummy.

Steve said that if we go back to having it regularly, we'll have to invest in a pot of grated parmesan to go with it like we used to have.

Steve is also noticeably losing weight now too... the sides and front of his belly are dipped in now instead of being pushed out.

I'm loosing weight too so it won't be long before we're the size we both want to be!  Cutting out the daily junk food is already showing us rewards!

Yep, definitely blood sugar affecting my Muse!

Just had a single Pop Tart for breakfast and I've written more since eating it than I did between coming back with the pup and eating it!

I also took my supplements which have woken me up, so I've got everything going in my direction to write another four chapters today!

Yay!

Just got back from walking the pup again

We did five and a third lengths of the street and she met our neighbour on the other side who made a real fuss of the pup and the pup loved every second of it... she was called cute and was stroked and was talked to and she couldn't get enough of it bless her!

My non-scientific mind says that...

I've written 2.5 chapters since having lunch so I reckon it's the sugar my body needs more than anything.

I'm going to try having something for breakfast tomorrow before I start writing to see if it really is my blood sugar affecting my muse...

Especially now that I've got to the semi-fantasy bit of the novel!

Blood sugar

I reckon my difficulty with writing in the morning is because of needing some kind of sugar spike to get my muse working away... I bet you anything you like I'll achieve more now that I've had me lunch than I have done all morning!

All I've done this morning is walked the pup and written 1,997 words.

What will I achieve this afternoon?

Veggie chili and rice for lunch today - yummy!

Celebrating writing 2k words in 4 hours by having veggie chili and rice for lunch today!  Yummy!

Potato latices and veggie ravioli for lunch

We're really getting into this "cooked lunch" thing every day now.

Steve is noticibly loosing weight from just not having take aways at every opportunity and I'm feeling healthier for not having take aways every day too.

Steve's already dropped a clothes size and I'm well on my way to dropping a clothes size too.  Neither of us are exercising more than we did a couple of months back, it's all from cutting out the take aways!

We've got a full freezer that gets re-filled every Monday, a full fridge that gets re-filled every week too and a small freezer on top of the fridge that still has my dairy free ice cream in it that I ordered in August but still haven't eaten!  lol

Going by the temperature on Mitzi's walk this morning...

When I took the pup out for her walk this morning, it was so cold that it was almost snowing temperature!

One day closer to Summer and nice warm temperatures again though... we're closer to it today than we were yesterday and all that!

Had cheesy mushrooms for lunch

The stuffed mushrooms I ordered with this weeks shopping was substituted with a box of 4 fresh mushrooms.

Steve doesn't like mushrooms so I had all 4 meself with grated cheese and they were yummy.

I'm going to order stuffed mushrooms and stuffed peppers with next weeks shopping again, but other than grated cheese and garlic paste, what else can I stuff mushrooms with please?

Yummy scrummy in my tummy

Just had me tea.  Potato slices and mediterranian veg all done from the fridge, onto a baking sheet, into the oven for 25 minutes, onto a plate and into my tummy.  Yummy!

Already achieved more than I was expecting today, so...

I'm going to read my emails, have tea and go to bed ready for checking my email and setting off the email back-up going tomorrow morning.