Hair and cauliflower cheese!

 Dreary morning but it's supposed to clear up this afternoon.....I hope so because....I'm having my hair cut this afternoon.  After reading Happy Hooker's comment about nearly scalping herself with the trimmer, I've bottled out, I just don't think I could do it myself properly.  And I don't trust husband - he'll probably scalp me.  Or slice my ears off 😂

So my lovely hairdresser neighbour/friend has agreed to cut my hair.  We won't be using her little home salon, we'll be in her garden....hence hoping the weather improves, although she does have a big garden parasol thing.  We'll both be wearing masks and gowns, she'll just be cutting my hair, not blow drying it, and I won't stay for coffee or a chat.  So thank you for the suggestion, Mrs LH.

Cheryl from the US asked about cauliflower cheese (fancy you never hearing of it before, we have it regularly).  I've frozen it both cooked and uncooked (just assembled), it works both ways.  I would just say if you've frozen it cooked, when you come to reheat it, put some foil over the top if you put it in the oven, so it doesn't burn.  Or you could heat it up in the microwave.  We sometimes have it as a main meal rather than a side dish....in that case, I use broccoli as well as cauli, and add diced bacon or sliced sausage and onion (which I quickly fry off first), and some cooked pasta mixed in with it too, so it becomes a sort of cauli mac n cheese with extras.  I also add mushrooms, peas, diced peppers, or any other veg that needs using up.  Let's face it, anything tastes good with a cheese sauce over the top.  I sometimes sprinkle the top with a mixture of breadcrumbs, herbs or smoked paprika and grated cheese before putting in the oven.  Or croutons rather than breadcrumbs - they give a nice textural crunch.  Experiment, using what you've got - I do it all the time.

Oh good....the sun's just come out 😁

40 years....where does the time go

 Thank you for your kind comments, Mothering Sunday is a difficult day for those of us without our Mums - and for those who couldn't see their Mums or indeed their children this year, due to the pandemic.  But each day now is a day nearer to when we can see all our loved ones again, and have a cuddle!

Today is our 40th anniversary - that is, the anniversary of the day husband and I first met and he asked me out 40 years ago.  Funnily enough, I actually turned him down that day.  We met on a bus - he was the driver, it was a Sunday and the bus was virtually empty, so we got chatting....I did actually like him, he was cheeky and made me laugh and I've always been attracted to men who make me laugh.  He asked me out for a drink with him after he'd finished his shift, but I said No because I didn't want to seem too eager (pays to keep them keen 😉) so I told him to try asking me again the next time he saw me.  Which turned out to be 2 days later....he asked again and I said Yes that time.  We dated for a year, then moved in together, and finally got married 14 or 15 months after that.

Seeing as we can't go out for a meal, we talked about what to have as a special meal cooked by me.  We decided on duck, we both like duck but, for some reason, hardly ever have it.  So I'm roasting a whole duck and making a marmalade and orange glaze to finish it off.  We'll have it with baby potatoes roasted whole with rosemary and sea salt, cauli cheese (which I made and froze previously) and buttered Savoy cabbage.  Lemon cheesecake for pud - bought, I'm not spending hours in the kitchen!  I'll probably do a stirfry with some of the duck tomorrow, and freeze the rest.

I miss you Mum

 It's the second Mother's Day without you, Mum, but somehow it matters more today than last year.  I'd give anything to be able to talk to you one last time, you were so wise and always knew what to say to make me feel better.  And I really need that today.  I miss you so much Mum 💜

Hair!

 One thing I forgot to mention in my previous post....haircuts!  Or rather, the lack of.

I have very fine, flyaway, fairly straight hair, which needs to be kept short as it won't hold a style - any hint of dampness in the air, or if it's allowed to grow a bit, and it goes limp.  Pre-Covid, I had it trimmed about every 6 weeks - as I've mentioned before, my lovely neighbour and friend H is a hairdresser, she lives 2 doors away and has a small purpose-built salon attached to the side of her house.  Obviously, haircuts aren't allowed right now and weren't for the better part of last year, so I've hardly had it cut at all for a year.  It's just hanging limp and straight, no body, almost down to my shoulders and no hint of any recognisable style, it's awful.  And having the central heating on quite a lot in recent weeks means my hair is full of static electricity.....sometimes I look like I've been playing with that thing we used to have in science lessons at school - do you remember?  It was like a big shiny metal dome thing on a stand, you put your hand on it and it made your hair all stand up on end.  

It's got to the stage where I really hate my hair right now and am desperate to have it cut....I have hacked my fringe a few times, and got husband to trim a bit off the length at the back 3 or 4 weeks ago.  But all the layers have grown out and it's just got too much length all over - I like it short and spiky normally.  

So I am seriously considering letting husband loose on it....well, not without supervision or direction, he's not going to be allowed to do what he likes!!  (I dread to think what he'd do to it if left to his own devices).  He's got an electric beard/hair trimmer with lots of attachments, he normally does his own hair with a No. 2 comb attachment.  I had a look in the bag and he's got lots of these combs, the biggest being a No. 8.....I'm thinking I might let him use that one on my hair, all over.  How bad can it be? (don't answer that!!).  Anyway, my hair grows fairly quickly, and with lockdown I won't actually have to leave the house for a couple of weeks if it's that bad.....😵😜😲😂

(my hairdresser will have a fit!)

Nearly a year

 So it's been nearly a year that we've all been under the Covid restrictions, how has it affected you?

1.  For me, and for most of us I suspect, the biggest thing has been not being able to see friends and family.  February 2020 was when I last saw my sister and younger brother, January 2020 when I saw my nieces, nephews and cousins at Mum's funeral.  Elder brother I saw once during the brief relaxation of rules late last summer.  Friends who live nearby I've only seen a handful of times, and then mostly at a distance.  Of course we keep in contact via phones and internet, but it's not the same, as we all know.

2.  Hugs!!  I'm a very huggy person, and OMG do I miss it.  I think when restrictions are lifted and we can have physical contact with our loved ones again, I won't let go for hours 😂

3.  I miss being able to just go for an unplanned, spontaneous day out on a nice day.  On the couple of occasions in recent weeks when we simply had to get out of the house and went to the beach, or the nature reserve, it seemed everyone else had the same idea and so they were too busy for my liking.

4.  Garden centres....I love them and really miss going.  I know they're open for business, but our nearest one is 15 miles away, so it's not really allowed.  And coffee shops, we did like going for coffee and cake when we were out.

5.  Food shopping, I hate it with a passion now.  I've mostly given up with home deliveries, it's the missed off items, or unsuitable substitutions, or poor quality of fresh veg & fruit chosen I don't like.  I have no objection to wearing a mask in the shop, but some people just don't adhere to social distancing and reach over you to grab things off shelves, or get too close in the queue....I feel constantly on edge and can't wait to get out.

6.  Everything seems to be about Covid, it's like it's taken over everyone's lives (I suppose it has) and sometimes it feels like there's no other topic of conversation, or news.  I know things aren't going to go back to what was normal pre-Covid, but a more 'normal' way of life with more freedom can't come soon enough, as far as I'm concerned.  I've felt like a caged animal sometimes and it's affected my mental health a lot.  

We are extremely fortunate that we haven't had Covid ourselves (I didn't fancy our chances of survival much if we did get it, with our underlying health conditions).....several of our family members have had it, mostly not too seriously, except for my cousin's husband and my husband's brother in law who were both quite ill but luckily recovered.  I am glad my mother died just before Covid started, she wouldn't have survived in any case if she did get it, but as she was very poorly indeed in hospital for the last few weeks of her life, she wouldn't have been able to have any visitors due to Covid restrictions and she would have absolutely hated that.

Each day now I wake up (I'm thankful that I do wake up!) and think well it's one day closer to being able to start seeing people and doing things again....to get back on track.  

Gardening this year

 Thank you for all the lovely comments yesterday.  As we've decided we'll not be moving from here for a couple of years yet, it's been nice doing a major declutter and change around of furniture and rooms - long overdue anyway.  I'm very happy with how it's going....as bad weather is forecast for the next couple of days, that'll give us plenty of opportunity to finish the remaining rooms and chuck all the unwanted stuff in the now decluttered garage.  And getting a skip next week will enable us to finally get rid of everything we've thrown out, and that's the house sorted.  Garden next.

Tania asked about us growing stuff to help with the budget - we always do grow fruit and veg, have done for years.  How it normally works is this....

At the start of the new year, we sit down and work out what we want to grow, go through what seeds we have and make a note of what extra we need.  We draw up a plan of which veg is going in what raised bed (it's all raised beds), having regard for crop rotation.  And then husband totally ignores the plan and just grows whatever he wants, wherever there's a space 😒😠.  It's not a case of him deliberately being contrary....he's just the most disorganised person on the planet.  To be fair, he is dyslexic, which I am quite sure contributes to his disorganisation, as does some of his heart medication.  He also grows far too much of everything, enough to feed half our hamlet!  We do swap produce with neighbours, but he still grows much too much - he can't keep up with the looking after, watering and weeding, and I get too inundated with mountains of produce to prep, freeze and preserve later in the season.  And we simply haven't got enough capacity to store it all!

So this year we are definitely growing less, I'll make sure of that - only enough for our actual needs.  And I will have to be more involved in the veg garden, to ensure it all stays on plan - up till now, he's been in charge of the back garden (all fruit and veg), whilst I do the front garden....flowers, and where we sit out.  Fingers crossed it works!

Getting on with things

 It's been a very busy couple of weeks.  Husband has finally cleared most of the junk out of the garage, so it's now nearly empty, whatever junk is left will be going in a skip.  We've decided we're not going to the tip anymore - it's a lot busier now than pre-Covid for a start.  And having been a few times in the past week, it seems every time we go we get held in a queue just sitting and waiting for 30 mins or so at a time, whilst lorries load up with stuff to take away (white goods, or big oil drums a couple of times last week).  Or the on site big digger thing is being used to squash down the rubbish in the skips to make more room, and whilst all that's taking place the staff close the gate to the public (elf n safety).  It all takes so much time!  Husband found a skip company offering a reasonable charge for a smallish skip, we were going to have it from the middle of this week but the weather forecast is so bad we'll leave it till next week.  At least we can now store the rest of whatever we chuck out in the garage until then.

The bedrooms are now sorted and decluttered, more or less, as is the lounge and dining room.  The utility room, kitchen equipment cupboards and my craft room are left to do, along with the poly tunnel which is falling apart - well, the cover is - and has just become another big shed for husband, being full of more of his accumulated old bits of wood and metal, and broken tools.  He's such a hoarder, and an untidy one at that....makes me look like housewife of the year 😂😂

And we've finally traded in our big gas guzzler 4x4 for a nice little car...well, it's a bit of a Tardis, looks small on the outside but surprisingly roomy inside.  The point is, it's a lot more economical in terms of tax, insurance and fuel, which is what we wanted now our circumstances have changed.  Pity, we liked the 4x4, it was a nice car and very comfortable, but needs must, we couldn't really afford to run it anymore.