Keeping up appearances.......

PinotGrigio41

Hey Mrs Happy,

Floating around the diaries this evening after a period of absence again and I have just dropped by for a long overdue catch up and things seem pretty tough for you. I'm sorry.

Can you believe that its four years ago that we both had LBM, I'm sure yours was around the same time as mine . Look how amazingly you have done . You will get sorted again I'm sure of it and December is a rubbish month for sorting finances.

Sorry to hear that Miss Happy has a broken heart but hopefully a few Xmas parties will help it to heal. We had similar recently, DD2 had her 15 year old heart broken for the first time, lord knows what she will be like in years to come if this was anything to go by !! :eek:

Take Care of yourself
Mrs PG xx

HappyNow

Joey - thank you as always for your wise words, much appreciated. Loving your parents 55 year old tree, makes ours look like a newbie . My parents got rid of our childhood tree years ago, but the decorations are still kept in an ancient brown leather suitcase which is religiously brought out of the loft each December. I think it's a family heirloom now!
Dolphin! - There you are! I'd been wondering where you'd gone. Lovely to see you posting again and I hope everything is going well for you . How's the weight doing? Wrong time of year to ask I suppose, just too much cake about
Honey - yes things have been a bit tough, but nothing to complain about on the scale of things and I finish work on Monday so the holiday spirit is well and truly here! The horses are in at night and out during the day, so the baling out only has to be done around her once daily, last thing at night. She's used to it now and we're even having a few dry days at last. I'm loving Simons Cat, brilliant at the end! Two of ours are too old to bother with climbing the tree even if it was real - I doubt Ralph can even see it! Our youngest has been up it a couple of times but he seems to have lost interest now. Phew!
Smallholdingsister - thanks for calling by with the good wishes . I must catch up on your diary, I've not been around much recently. We STILL haven't paid the water test bill - it's shared with a neighbour so we are considering appealing or complaining or whatever. I daresay they've got all the legalities sown up, but it's a total waste of money. They didn't tell us anything we didn't already know and didn't tell us beforehand that there would be a charge - or even that they were coming to test it! They just turned up and tested from an outside tap, not even the house.
Pinot - yes, four years!! Where did they go?? Your signature is looking great, well done. I will have to catch up with your diary too. Sorry to hear about DD2s broken heart. Boys eh! Luckily, Little Miss H has sworn she's having nothing to do with boys/men (she's 22 now :eek:) for a long, long time. Let's see how long that lasts

HappyNow

The financial hell continues .

Our tenants have reported slates blown off the roof, a leak from the bath, and the hot bath tap only giving cold water. We've had to ask tradesmen to get on with it and in view of the closeness to Christmas we need them to do it quickly. We know them and they will price fairly, but to say I could do without it is an understatement! The plumber will do the annual gas check at the same time which will cut down on call-out fees, but still.......

I have updated my signature. The unsecured debt reduced by just £40 this month . Oh well, it's still a reduction - could have been worse (and might be next month, when the rental house repair bills arrive!).

Christmas shopping is almost done, and I have only gone over budget by £50, which is better than it sounds as the budget was tight. Just the food to buy and I allowed an extra £50 in the grocery budget because we are 'doing' Christmas day for the family. Mr H won a 1.5 litre bottle of Prosecco in his works raffle, so that's the fizz covered.

Now I have to do the cleaning :(. I turned the hot water on yesterday for the first time in weeks so I need to crack on to avoid wasting it. Grrr.

So a day of cleaning ahead, one day left at work, and then

IT'S CHRISTMAS!

Honey_Bear

HappyNow wrote: »

The financial hell continues .

Our tenants have reported slates blown off the roof, a leak from the bath, and the hot bath tap only giving cold water. We've had to ask tradesmen to get on with it and in view of the closeness to Christmas we need them to do it quickly. We know them and they will price fairly, but to say I could do without it is an understatement! The plumber will do the annual gas check at the same time which will cut down on call-out fees, but still.......

Rats! Quite literally - it never rains but it pours. You're just not having any luck of the good sort at the moment, are you?

I have updated my signature. The unsecured debt reduced by just £40 this month . Oh well, it's still a reduction - could have been worse (and might be next month, when the rental house repair bills arrive!).

Yes, it will be, but it's reducing so you're ahead of the game. Plus which, those lovely months of February and March are just around the corner when the council tax isn't due if you're anything like us and although I know you'll have calculated that into your budget, it will make paying the unexpected and unplanned bills slightly less difficult to meet. For most of us they're bonus months but I'd guess you don't pay water rates so it's only half the saving for you, but it's something.

Christmas shopping is almost done, and I have only gone over budget by £50, which is better than it sounds as the budget was tight. Just the food to buy and I allowed an extra £50 in the grocery budget because we are 'doing' Christmas day for the family. Mr H won a 1.5 litre bottle of Prosecco in his works raffle, so that's the fizz covered.

I hope you're not going to work yourself to a frazzle doing Christmas, but it sounds as though it's going to be a lot of fun. Bonus with the fizz!

Now I have to do the cleaning :(. I turned the hot water on yesterday for the first time in weeks so I need to crack on to avoid wasting it. Grrr.

How are those kitchen dressers coming on? The last time we heard about them was mid-summer, so I imagine if you finished them they'll need doing again now!

So a day of cleaning ahead, one day left at work, and then

IT'S CHRISTMAS!

What a co-incidence - it's Chrismtas here too! Yay!

Honey_Bear

• No computer after 9.00 pm and light out by 11.30 pm; I'm sticking to this rather better now and it's becoming second nature.
• Five fruit and veg a day. Made myself a new recipe bean burger yesterday that just happened to use up some leftover leeks and was very quick. Defo make them again, and I've got five little patties left in the fridge too. Do leeks and onions count as two different veg? Five overall, anyway. Just as well, as I didn't have mushy peas with my fish and chips. Bad Honey Bear.
  
• Electric toothbrush once a day at least. A bit more of this wouldn't be a bad idea.
• Finish writing Christmas cards, do the rest of Christmas shopping and OH's birthday stuff by 15 December. Done.
  
• Clear the filing tray and get the in tray down to a quarter of an inch by the end of the [STRIKE]month[/STRIKE] year. Shouldn't be beyond my capabilities now that I've done most of the filing and pruned the In Tray by filing most of that with a note of what needs doing ... eventually. Kept up with the filing but the Intray is getting dusty it's so undisturbed. I hope there's nothing urgent in there.

smallholdingsister

That's a result on the prosecco.
I am wondering if we should get Ponyplops in at night and give the grass/mud a rest.

Dolphin1

HappyNow wrote: »

Dolphin! - There you are! I'd been wondering where you'd gone. Lovely to see you posting again and I hope everything is going well for you . How's the weight doing? Wrong time of year to ask I suppose, just too much cake about

Thanks for asking about the weight loss, I am well overdue an update...

Last update on 26/08/15 (I think)...
My weight loss - 1st 4lbs
OH's weight loss - 1st 3lbs

Today on 19/12/15...
My weight loss - 1st 3lbs
OH's weight loss - 1st 1lbs

So in the last 4 months, that's a gain of 1lb for me and 2lbs for OH although I suspect it's from the last few weeks really because we have been a little bit naughty. I have had copious amounts of butter lately and OH seems to have developed a craving for biscuits although he is trying to keep it in check.

The plan is to do minimal damage over Christmas/New Year and then get back to being strict again in January. That's the current plan anyway .

HappyNow

Honey_Bear wrote: »

• Five fruit and veg a day. Made myself a new recipe bean burger yesterday that just happened to use up some leftover leeks and was very quick. Defo make them again, and I've got five little patties left in the fridge too. Do leeks and onions count as two different veg? Five overall, anyway. Just as well, as I didn't have mushy peas with my fish and chips. Bad Honey Bear. Oh I'm sure they count as separate ones - they're spelled completely differently. My 5 a day has dropped off a bit recently, it's deffo one of my new year resolutions (so that's it covered til 4th Jan )
• Electric toothbrush once a day at least. A bit more of this wouldn't be a bad idea. Mr H has got one coming for Christmas from the kids. He doesn't know yet.
• Finish writing Christmas cards, do the rest of Christmas shopping and OH's birthday stuff by 15 December. Done. Me too (except from your OH's birthday)
  
• Clear the filing tray and get the in tray down to a quarter of an inch by the end of the [STRIKE]month[/STRIKE] year. Shouldn't be beyond my capabilities now that I've done most of the filing and pruned the In Tray by filing most of that with a note of what needs doing ... eventually. Kept up with the filing but the Intray is getting dusty it's so undisturbed. I hope there's nothing urgent in there. Meh - nothing can't wait until after Christmas at this stage in the game.

smallholdingsister wrote: »

That's a result on the prosecco. I know! The challenge now is hiding it from myself for the next three days. I know exactly where it is!
I am wondering if we should get Ponyplops in at night and give the grass/mud a rest. We just sacrifice our best-drained field and they go in there every day in winter, trashing it. It always recovers in spring. Ours have to come in every night because if they're left out, Mr Fatty noshes all Miss Skinny's grub while she stands by and lets him!

Dolphin1 wrote: »

Thanks for asking about the weight loss, I am well overdue an update...

Last update on 26/08/15 (I think)...
My weight loss - 1st 4lbs
OH's weight loss - 1st 3lbs

Today on 19/12/15...
My weight loss - 1st 3lbs
OH's weight loss - 1st 1lbs

So in the last 4 months, that's a gain of 1lb for me and 2lbs for OH although I suspect it's from the last few weeks really because we have been a little bit naughty. I have had copious amounts of butter lately and OH seems to have developed a craving for biscuits although he is trying to keep it in check.

The plan is to do minimal damage over Christmas/New Year and then get back to being strict again in January. That's the current plan anyway .
Sounds like you have it under control, and as you've kept it off (mainly) for four months your current weight is now your 'normal'.
People with a gambling habit can apparently press a button and self-exclude from entering gambling websites. The first supermarket to introduce self-exclusion from butter and biscuits will be on a winner! You could programme your Tesco clubcard to not let you through the checkout if you try to buy cake! Hmm, might develop that.......

My two front tyres are illegal. It is having new ones today. £160. Yay.

Dolphin1

Hey Mrs HappyNow et al

Just popping on to wish you all a Merry Christmas & Happy New Year. Hope you all have a lovely relaxing time!

Dolphin1

Honey_Bear

And from me too, Mrs Happy! I meant to post today, but ran out of time. I hope you and all the other Happys have a wonderful Christmas.