greent's mfw journey

greent

Suffolk_lass said:

I love your posts greent - always full of news and positivity. Have you considered planting a courgette in the garden at your Nan's house? it would give you an additional crop or the new owner a bit of a treat when they move in. I love the idea of lifting some of the bulbs.

DH did not give me a chance to lift those in our front garden in the bed that has been invaded by ground elder. He sprayed everything a couple of days ago. It was piddling first thing today but lots had already gone brown. I was hoping to retrieve 4 or 5 things before he sprayed.

We had a Village run to the F&C shop that was open last Friday - about 14 households with one person going to collect all the bags and everyone paying them. Then three of us ran round our patch so all deliveries were made while it was still hot!

What a fab idea, S-L! We've left a large stone planter in the garden (currently empty) as it was too heavy to shift - have listed it on sale details so I don't get accused of leaving random things! I can fill that and plant something in there - but can also plant a couple of courgettes in the greenhouse which is also being left - will be (hopefully) a nice surprise for the new owners and a wee thank you for their patience with the sale! (was expected to complete the week after my Nan died!) 

We had a chippy tea (as it's known here!) for dinner tonight - you can't believe how excited we were!!! I phoned the order in (and paid by card over the phone) and DH went to collect it - they were just putting it together and there were no other customers. Staff were in full PPE and there were Perspex screens up at the counter. Was much appreciated  

greent

Karmacat said:

I agree with SL, greent, bucketloads of news and positivity - sorry for your DS2, though, thats never nice for them.  Also agree about the then-unknown positivity of your nan having died before the pandemic, sad though that is in itself   having had a proper funeral and sendoff makes a memory thats more positive than the surrounds.  My dad was in a care home for 8 months before he died, and I still remember that 6 members of care staff came to his funeral in their own time, including one who'd left the home and was working elsewhere.

Hope your garden's still enjoying the rain, mine certainly is!

Yes - some staff from the care home came to my Nan's funeral and the wake after, which was lovely. We sent them back with cake and also took chocolates in after she died - they were fab  

Yes - the garden has had a thorough drenching today (rain hasn't let up at all) - although as the ground was so hard I suspect a lot has just run straight down the cracks! However, we have more rain over the next few days, so it should get a 'proper' soaking

greent

shangaijimmy said:

greent said:

Off to wake DS2 up for 'school'! 

I've got the opposite here. We've been keeping same bedtime routines and so on, but DS1 is up dressed and downstairs for 7.30am every morning. I'm taking that as evidence that I'm not working him hard enough!!!!

Oh, DS3 is the same (well, not dressed) but awake somewhere between 6.30-7.30 at the latest. However, he is only 10 (11 next month) DS2, however, is 14 and well and truly into teenager-dom..... (and DS1 is 20 and a uni student and therefore goes to bed around 2/3am and emerges from his room around 10/11am!)

greent

Deleted_User said:

Greent, do you have any advice on completing tax returns? I need to do one (hardly anything to go on there), but don’t have a clue where to start xx

Hi asb - have you registered on g0v.uk site to complete it? It's reasonably easy to do - it pretty much walks you through it and you can save and go back to areas later if you don't have the full info straight off. Have a look here: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-revenue-customs/contact/self-assessment   HMRC are also really helpful with what you might think is a 'stupid' or basic query - they'd much rather speak about something and you get it right than you not ask, get it wrong and they have to come back to you... I can try and answer questions if you've got something general but the thought of them is probably scarier than actually doing them - working through is fairly logical - you'll need P60, P11D , details of any dividends and interest, property income and expenses, details of amounts personally paid to pension (from take home, not salary sacrifice), any foreign income, details of self employment, capital gains etc - you add the appropriate sections (eg: self employment, property etc) to the basic return and off you go. Most boxes have an 'I(nfo)' drop down and there are HMRC notes to help you as well, where you can look up info about (eg) box no 48 in the property section. If you can't complete it all at one go, don't worry - save and continue at a later date. You also get to check it over and the calculation before you submit - and then 72 hours after submission to easily correct any mistakes

greent

brizzlegirl said:

Just saw the post about ground elder SL...not now it’s been sprayed but if it comes again try it as a salad. If I remember correctly the Romans introduced it as a salad crop.... thinking about reducing the grocery bills and all that! We are eating a lot of sorrel at the moment. Nice to add to the more traditional salad leaves and to just pick as needed from the garden. 

Impressed by the 7:30am start. No chance here!! 

Oooh - I didn't know that about ground elder I would pick some of the dandelion leaves to go in mixed salad but the guinea pig really likes them and I keep a couple of large plants for her (I try and pick off the flower heads before they go to seed)


Today seemed to zoom by - after eventually getting the smaller 2 started with school work (DS2 was working on English - and poetry at that - not his fave subject - however, he had a private tutor help him, in the guise of big sis (seeing as her degree is Eng) - she's very good - she doesn't give him the answers but draws it out of him (painfully - like pulling teeth!!) - he can do it, just doesn't like it....) I finished my tax return (misremembered my tax bill - sadly it's just under £650) Will do DH's over the next week - assuming his P60 arrives (I know I can take his last payslip, but prefer the real P60 ) - he'll also have a bill, which I think will be lower than mine - but I guess we'll end up with c £1k owing between us. I also talked my aunt through some probate things for my Nan, contacted the estate agent about the sale, baked a rather scrummy loaf, cooked lunch for everyone, helped DS3 tidy/ sort things in his room, cleaned the kitchen (except floor - need to vacuum and mop tomorrow) and did the ironing (to catch up tv - current watch is Chicago PD ) and then it was suddenly 6pm! - I didn't even really achieve that much, it felt like. However, after our (way too exciting!!) dinner courtesy of the local chipshop the 6 of us then had a game of Cluedo - nice ending to the day before the last bit of reading time before bed for the younger ones  

And on that subject - I think it's time for me to head there - our bedroom is in the loft with velux windows, so the heavy rain in the night rather disturbed my sleep.....
x

South_coast

I hear you on the noisy rain - I used to live in a loft conversion. Add in the rattling tiles on windy nights and the seagulls nesting on the flat roof (and then sliding noisily down the pitched bit when they lost their footing) and I can't say I miss it much! 

newgirly

Morning greent, glad things are ok for you at the moment despite the craziness of these times 🙂

teapot2

Ooh used to love the ocassional chippy tea, our local ones have recently reopened and one is offering delivery but haven't indulged so far.  Also hear you re the Velux windows, my bedroom has those and while I really like them the rain and wind noise is a downside.

greent

South_coast said:

I hear you on the noisy rain - I used to live in a loft conversion. Add in the rattling tiles on windy nights and the seagulls nesting on the flat roof (and then sliding noisily down the pitched bit when they lost their footing) and I can't say I miss it much! 

I find the birds missing their footing and slipping down quite funny - I quite like listening to them do that Thankfully our tiles don't rattle! - nor do we have a flat roof for any nests

Another wet day here - although not heavy rain like yesterday - more of a constant heavy drizzle - the sort where you'd get rather wet without really noticing if you were out in it. It's quite chilly in the house as a result - but am resisting putting the heating on! DH has some heating on in the office - but that is fiercely cold (known as the ice house) and has independent heating to the rest of the house - one of our plans is to have the family room and office (both are in the converted integral double garage) overhauled - we're not convinced the floor was done properly and we'd like to reconfigure the lighting in the rooms and add heating from the main boiler to the office (maybe - depends if the boiler could take another radiator... we already have 19 in the house and the panel heater in there is very efficient) I do have a heated airer in use in the hallway though - it has washing on but also does warm up the surrounding area a bit

It's a soup kinda-day for lunch - yesterday's loaf is gorgeous, if I say so myself

shangaijimmy

We too have velux windows in our bedroom, and I'm firmly in the camp that enjoys the sound of the rain and the wind!