That's the wild bird's water bowl cleaned and refilled

There's a bowl of water out in our back yard that goes green after a couple of weeks so I go out, clean it and re-fill it when I notice.  The birds do seem to be drinking from the bowl 'cos it hasn't been hot enough for those couple of centimetres of water to disappear in a couple of weeks, so maybe they come to quench their thirst after they've eaten the seed?  I haven't seen any wild birds in our yard for weeks on end but the combination of the water and slowly shrinking seed in the feeder is all I need to know that they are definitely being used, they are just too shy to stay when us noisy humans are moving around!  

 

I think I'll need to re-fill the seed soon 'cos while there's still plenty left in it for the birds to eat, I don't wanna miss the opportunity while it's not peeing it down or bitterly cold or snowing and I can just about reach it down at full stretch without having to risk my safety on uneven ground on a step ladder again.  

 

Might empty out the fat balls and replace those at the same time then they have got fresh food rather than manky stuff that has been out there in all weathers without being changed.  Need to make sure that we've got replacements already bought and ready to go in first though 😂

A weekend job, methinks.

Afternoon pill taken, tomatoes watered...

...Steve's on the verge of falling asleep but I'm wide awake and ready to meet this afternoon head-on thanks mainly to this morning's B12 dose.

According to my pill organiser, I've taken each pill at the appropriate time this week which is a rare occurance, 'cos I usually miss my afternoon pill at least once 😁  There's still two days to go before I re-fill it, so I'm not counting my chickens before they've hatched just in case 😉

I've decided how to increase my calorie count without getting bloated this afternoon - a serving of sultanas❗  Healthy, light and hopefully quite a few calories, which is exactly what I want❗

What shall I do with my afternoon❓  Studying or surveys❓

Lunch photo for 3rd September 2021

We finally had it!  We finally had our curry!  Steve used half of the bag of Quorn pieces and half the jar of sauce, so we'll hopefully have another curry in the next few days so that the jar of sauce doesn't 'go off' and get wasted!

For such a small jar, it seemed to produce oneheckuva lot of sauce!

It may not look like my normal plateful and I was just nicely full after I'd finished it off, then polished off Steve's leftovers because he was "stuffed" too lol

According to FitBit, I've still got 579 calories left to eat today too, so I've had a pretty healthy and very filling couple of meals today 👍  I doubt I'll eat anything else today otherwise I'll get bloated which I don't want.

News on 3rd September 2021

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3rd September 2021

Friendship cafe reopens for families living with dementia

Corkman 'sucked into Facebook friendship' with woman faces money-laundering sentence

‘Real-life Masha and the Bear’ amaze with their unlikely friendship

 

Today's breakfast photo

Granola and orange juice today.  I finished off the first bag of granola, so if Steve wants it again tomorrow then he'll have to open the new bag first.

He took the last full loaf of bread out of the freezer three days ago, in the full knowlege that we'd be getting the milk and granola off his mum the next day so he's basically wasted 1.5 loaves of bread which I really couldn't afford to waste... he doesn't think about that though.  We've got two half loaves in the freezer, which is just about enough for his breakfast for three days, assuming I don't have any again and I can guarantee that he won't feel like cooking next week, so there will be a few days that I don't get to eat anything at all.  Again.

Breakfast sorted, tomatoes watered...

...the extra watering at lunchtime for the last 2 days has definitely helped the top leaves of the tomato plants to recover and almost get back to how they should be looking, so I reckon the 3 waterings a day is gonna be a permanent thing for the rest of the life of the plants.

 

Steve's just put his legs up, so he'll be asleep soon but I can make a start on the news before he starts snoring again.

That's my morning pills taken and I decided to...

...use the B12 spray to wake me up and keep me going through the day.  It started working within seconds of the first spray and everything is in HD now, I'm no longer knackered and I'm ready to meet the day head-on now... I should use it more often!  😄

Mornin' all

How are you all doing this morning?

 

My body obviously needed more sleep than I thought 'cos it was the best part of half an hour later than normal before I woke up this morning!  My caring duties started at 5.52am instead of 5.32am this morning.  I've set the virus scan going and I'm gonna take my morning pills now, while I wait for my carer to wake up so that I can make breakfast for him.  Gotta remember to water the tomatoes while he's eating too.  Time for my pills first, while he's asleep though.

Just about to head to bed, but...

...all I've eaten all day is the granola this morning, 2 bars of chocolate for lunch and 10 biscuits this afternoon.  Steve's promised yet again that we'll have the curry tomorrow instead, but I'll believe it when I see it in front of me.

 

I've watered the tomatoes for the third time today and they do definitely seem to need that extra water 'cos the crispy-dry leaves at the top of them are starting to gradually recover again now, after only two days, so I'll try and remember to water them three times a day from now on, until they are completely harvested of all the yummy tomatoes.

 

Just over 12 hours of care again today, so I'm already at 45 hours of care with three days still to go, and I've received under 5 hours of care from my carer.

 

I'm gonna head to bed now, but I'll be back again, as always, in the morning.

 

Book Review: "Shifting to Freedom" by Marlene Cheng

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of 5

If you've read any of my other recent book reviews, you will already know that every book I read starts out with the full 5 stars and that I'm always hopeful that I'll finish reading with 'em all firmly in place too.  This book ain't no different to those.

I have high hopes to start with 'cos, at the time of writing this review, this book has three 5 star reviews, so I shall remain hopeful that it meets my expectations to be awarded the full five too.

Oh boy, the first 4% is reviews and praise and adverts for other books - I can understand the copyright and dedication being at the start, but surely the reviews should go at the end??

The first chapter was good and maybe it's 'cos my Kindle is so old, but the first letter of each chapter (and the introduction) is a lot farther down than it should be and is cutting off part of the third line of each chapter, which is annoying and is making the first star wobbly already.

Other than those first letters making the first three lines of each chapter very confusing, so at 8% it's still the full 5 stars... just not as stable as they could have been so far.

The first 5 chapters have been great and I'm really enjoying the book so far... I'm wondering how soon the multiple/'alter' personalities will start putting in an appearance though... I hope it's soon 'cos I don't want it to be rushed in the last half or less of the book.  I'm remaining open-minded and hopeful for the time being though.

Maybe it's just that I'm more into the book now, but chapters 6-9 have seemed to be considerably shorter than the first five... almost as if all three chapters could have almost fit into a chapter and a half of the first five.  That could just be me though lol  I think I prefer the shorter chapters too... straight to the point and no fillers that the first few chapters felt like they sometimes had.

Bullseye!  I just needed to be more patient lol  I've just been introduced to her first "alter" and it sounds like this identity is already comforting her, which is awesome!

Oh yes, the author is really into their stride with their book now.  They've found the right length of chapter, describe everything just perfectly which makes me want to keep on reading.  Such a good book now and I'm so glad I was pre-approved by the publisher to get it on Net Galley... a definite must-read now that we've got past all the back-story at the beginning.  That fourth star is still wobbly, but purely because of the first letter in each chapter (and the introduction) now... if it carries on like this (which I'm really hoping it will) it'll be another 5 star review for this book.

I'm loving this book now... just a touch worried that I'll either have nightmares tonight or won't be able to sleep at all, after those descriptions of the injury!

I'm now at 25% so it seems as good a place as any to stop reading until tomorrow... I'm guessing that the characters "alters" will start appearing more and more now and I can't wait to meet them when I pick up my Kindle again tomorrow!

I don't know where the last hour has gone, but I've somehow managed to read up to 34% now and I'm still really enjoying the book.  The first letter thing is still annoying me, but that's the only thing so far today, so still at the full 5 stars, even though the fifth star is wobbly after the start of the book yesterday.

Ooh!  That was a bit weird... the text at the start of chapter 33 goes onto a second page with just a hint of a divider between the title and the start of the chapter!

Wowsers!  Chapter 38 sees me in floods of grief for the family... amazingly powerful and so well-written!

Wowsers again!  I wasn't expecting *that* to happen at all!  I won't ruin it for you and tell you what "that" is, but it really is unexpected!

Just finished reading it and I'm stunned at the sheer brilliance of it.  It's a must-read by everyone and I wasn't expecting all the twists and turns in the last quarter or so of the book.  

It's a well-deserved 5 stars from me and if it hadn't been for that first letter in every chapter, it would have been a firm instead of wobbly five stars.