Here we go again

I've lost count of the number of these type of posts I've made.  I feel like history is on a loop.  On my better days I think of it as more of a spiral.  There's an element of 'not again' but slightly higher up the level of competence.

I am feeling a lot better for sleeping on a bed, although bear is still not convinced.  I carefully treated all the black mold I could find, cleared a space and DH put up the bed.  Of course, when I lie down and look up I can see where the paper on the ceiling had shrunk away from a beam co-incidentally right above my bed and where black mold had started to creep in.  I have not been impressed but I have been full of cold since.

Today I was moving things around and I looked at it again and then just grabbed a corner and pulled.  I expected a small piece to come off and I was already starting to feel silly but the entire stretch of ceiling paper came off in my hands, with only a small corner left hanging behind some junk.  I was left with a piece around 12 foot by six foot and a lot of dust.

I looked at the piece of ceiling paper.  I thought about the narrow stairs going down, especially the nasty corner.  Then I dragged it across the steps and tried to push it out of DH's bedroom window.   I don't know what possessed me, and I have no idea how I managed to not fall out with a humungous piece of thin card shoved through a very small window but I looked out afterwards and one of bear's friends in the street was looking up at the window with a really stunned expression.  It was the 'she really is a mad woman and I have no idea what to expect next' expression which I've seen before and I daresay I will see again.  The end result is that when I go to sleep tonight I will be looking up at bits of polystyrene (thin insulation on a roll), dust and the bits of black mold that survived.  It still sounds better than the sofa.

Black mold continues to be a problem.  The room I am in hasn't had the window shut since May and I've had the dehumidifier on constant.  I suppose it will take time, I suspect the roof has been bad for a lot longer than I realised.

Then the delivery from the book people came.  I had been dreading this, as I bought at a time of emotional stress again.  In absolute terms I haven't spent a lot of money, and I am confident I will get my money's worth out of the Reader's Digest 'Meals for less than £2.50 per person' though I think unless prices stop rising it will be a bit optimistic.  Also beans on toast is inexpensive.  I am looking forward to cracking open the book on 5 minute bread.  I just wish I had realised before I pressed 'order' that all the halogen cookbooks will not really help that much as the chip cooker that I haven't yet got to grips with isn't actually a halogen cooker.  And it really wouldn't help if I got a halogen cooker from ebay as we have no room.

The fryer does actually use halogen thingies, so I suppose I can have a go.  Time to be creative.  I will share if anything good comes out of the other books.

(no, I haven't looked at Amazon, and no I haven't looked at halogen cookers, and I think that £22 for a halogen oven just because I bought some books is ridiculous, even if it could be economical and is advertised as self cleaning)

Details here