In week 2 of 2021, Epson collected and repaired my printer, I did a lot of Genealogy research and made some soup.
Friday, January 8th.
After my shower this morning, I weighed myself to see how the diet was going. I hoped it was going & not piling on. The figures from my weigh-in are 17 stone 9 lb, a BMI of 28.6 & a BMR of 2252 Kcal. A loss of 3 lbs in my first week so I am pleased.
Today I spent time in the kitchen making soup with the chickens I cooked yesterday. I made a chicken & mushroom soup that I have not tried before. The soup turned out nice but the ingredients make it more expensive to make than any other soup I have made & I won't bother to make it again. I did make enough to put one in my stomach & three more in the freezer.
The rest of the day was spent doing genealogy research & watching films on Amazon prime.
Saturday, January 9th.
I woke early this morning & was washed & dressed quickly as I have a delivery arriving from Amazon, two objects that my life currently can not do without, a hand warmer & a new kettle. People who know me well will know that even in warmer weather my hands get very cold so the electronic hand warmer I have ordered would help with this. Most people also know how much I love my tea & as my kettle broke two days ago I had to make an order from Amazon to get a new one.
I spent the morning cleaning up the data in parts of my family tree & waiting for my Amazon delivery, it finally arrived at about 3:30 pm. Tea was consumed in large quantities & I settled down to watch football on the television. Arsenal played Newcastle in the third round of the FA Cup & it wasn't the best game I have seen but it didn't matter as Arsenal won 2 - 0 after extra time to go through to the next round.
Sunday, January 10th.
The day did not start well as I found out that one of my Aunties had died in a UK hospital from COVID overnight.
My friend Jo has helped me translate & fill in a document that I need to take to the local Town Hall as I have received a bill for a car I sold about 14 years ago. It was sold to my then neighbour, here in Los Alcázares, but he died a few years later & I do not know what happened to the car after he died.
This afternoon I make Chicken & vegetable soup, it is very good, I have some straight away & put another six very large portions in the freezer.
Monday, January 11th.
This morning I go to make an appointment for my regular blood test. This is to control how much Sintrom I have to take to stop my blood from clotting. I am lucky that they do it straight away & I don't have to wait at all. Afterwards, I walk to the Pharmacy to get some more pills whilst I am out. I then walk for a bit longer before returning home for a pot of tea.
When the local shop that frames artwork & photos opens, I go back out to collect a photo & a piece of Chinese leaf art that I bought in Chongqing in China. I now have a pile of framed photos & art ready to hang in my apartment when I can borrow a drill.
When I return home I try to print off the document that I have to take to the town hall. Unfortunately, my printer does not work & after spending time searching online for Epson support they give me an email address to contact someone else to pick it up for a repair. The printer was bought in November 2020 & has printed less than 10 pages, it breaking down so quickly is not a good omen, luckily I got an extended warranty to go with it. I email the repair company, cross my fingers & hope for a quick reply.
Tuesday, January 12th.
I went for a walk this morning & ended up stopping off at A Time 4 a change & buying a coffee table & a reading lamp which will be delivered later today.
When I get home I have an email telling me that my printer will be collected tomorrow & taken for repair. The only problem is that I have to print off copies of paperwork for the collection people to take with them, oh the irony. I call a few friends to see if they will print the documents for me & my friend Keith can do it & supply me with a cup of tea & good conversation as a bonus. Unfortunately on my way to Keith's, I realise that the battery on my mobility scooter does not have enough charge to get there, let alone get me home as well. Luckily I see a sign in a small Spanish shop I am close to that does copying inside. I ask them if they can print my documents off & they do it on the spot & all it costs me for the 4 printouts is 40 cents. I jump back on the mobility scooter & just get home as the battery finally dies.
For lunch I have some of the soup I made yesterday then I wait for my delivery to arrive. My table & lamp arrives on time & they take measurements to give me a price on a new headboard that they can make from recycled pallets for me. They are very helpful & put my new furniture exactly where I want it. They had a display of some of the things they make from pallets in the Los Alcázares shop & they looked really good.
I have never liked liver, probably due to the smell of when my dad used to cook it, or should I say overcook it, the smell & texture made me gag. I did see a pot of chicken livers on sale for €1.50 a few days ago though & purchased it thinking I would try it & if I didn't like it I wouldn't have spent much & could throw it away. I cooked it for my tea tonight as it is supposed to be good for my diet. I cooked it with bacon, mushrooms, onion & cream. It was lovely & there was enough liver left for me to have it again tomorrow.
Wednesday, January 13th.
I am up early today as my printer is being picked up & taken away for repair. They say it will be picked up between 10 am & 2 pm but I pack it all up early in case they arrive early.
The printer was picked up at midday & I spend the whole day working on my family tree.
Thursday, January 14th.
I woke up really early today at around 4:30 am & as I was unable to sleep I got up to start working on my family tree again. At 11 am my stomach was demanding I had a break so I quickly whipped up some bacon, fried mushrooms, fried tomatoes & scrambled egg to go with a pot of chai tea. After my break for food, I get back to the family tree whilst listening for today's deliveries.
Today my delivery didn't arrive until about 6:30 pm. I was a bit annoyed waiting in all day for a delivery driver that refused to ring the doorbell & phoned me from outside to make me go outside to pick it up. Anyway, it arrived & I am really pleased with my new beach chairs & mini table. I just need the sun to warm me up enough to go sit on the beach with my kindle, hopefully in the next few days.
To end off what was a remarkably ordinary week I watch Arsenal struggle to get a 0 - 0 draw with Crystal Palace on the television, its a terrible game & I am surprised I stay awake through to the end.