Its days are numbered ...

newgirly

Hi Dawn, I have just caught up your whole diary. You are doing really well and I love the receipes, it gets hard to think of good meal ideas sometimes.

I have let reading other's diaries slide a bit lately, but will definatly subscribe to yours, the new house sounds lovely I love vintage style too!

DawnW

Bleurrgh, just got in from work :eek:

Will be even later tomorrow

Anyway, I am now collapsed with a glass of wine, and am definitely looking forward to the long BH weekend :T

Came back to an empty house. OH is rumoured to have gone fishing.... hmmmm toast for supper then, cos I sure ain't starting cooking now

Hope everyone has had a nice day - mine was ok, just too much of it :rotfl:

DawnW

A bit of a slow start this morning, but as I am unlikely to be back from work before 10 this evening, I think that is fair enough!

Working these hours is a bit frustrating, as it leaves no time and energy for home things. Still, just today to get through, then back to normal. I might even enquire about a flexi-day. We are rumoured to have a flexi time system, and it works for some people, though I have only once ever been able to use it (one of my daughters had to go to hospital, so it would have been difficult to say no). Wear the old ones out first as they say :rotfl:

Well, I keep reading in the paper about the heatwave coming to an end, but it looks to be another hot day today - bright sun, blue sky etc

Right, better get on - payday tomorrow

house_help

Hi Dawn, thought i would pop in to your diary.

How many chickens do you have? We are thinking of getting some but unsure how many would be enough for them to live happily.

There are only two of us in the house so we wouldn't be able to cope with too many eggs so where thinking perhaps 2 chickens but not sure if they should live in bigger groups. Also what housing do they have?

DawnW

Hi House Help, we have 3 chickens. The key thing is not to have just one - we have had 2 before, and they were quite happy, till one died If that happens, you simply have to get another one. We have had bigger groups in the past, but they didn't seem any happier than they are when kept in smaller groups (if that makes sense).

Housing - hmm, we have had all sorts, having kept birds for so many years. Currently we have an Omlet cube, which we have had for about 4 years. It was expensive (my birthday and Christmas present that year), but is still like new, easy to clean and will go on for ever. It has a built in run, and is fox proof. Previously we have had wooden houses that OH has made, a small garden shed that we converted (added nestboxes, a perch and a pophole - a little chicken sized door - that was a pretty cost effective solution). All were ok, but I like the Cube best. You see them on ebay now, and that would be a cheaper option. There are also the smaller, cheaper Eglus made by the same company, but unless you can let the birds have more freedom than we can, in our small garden, I would find them too cramped.

It all depends on how much space you can give them. If you have lots of space you could consider ducks, which have great personalities and also lay eggs. They are a bit messy though - they don't need a pond, but do need enough water to be able to have a bath/ submerge their heads to clean their beaks properly (buckets, washing up bowls, an old sink, baby bath or paddling pool are all things we have used in the past) and the water needs to be cleaned out often.

As for food, they have layers pellets available all the time, a handful of mixed corn in the afternoons, and they like things like scraps of bread and vegetable waste from the kitchen or garden such as outside cabbage or lettuce leaves and past-it apples or tomatoes.

DawnW

Morning all :j
Payday :j:j
Just as well, as I didn't get home till 10.30 last night, and failed in my quest for flexi time :mad:, despite having such a system, so off back to work in a minute. Needless to say I will be leaving at the earliest possible minute today!

Made a £250 overpayment

Shepherds pie this evening - a bit unseasonal, but I have a load of spring cabbages that need eating, and keep trying to think of things that go with cabbage

Tasty though!

misscousinitt

Hi Dawn

Great OP!

Hope work calms down for you soon, sounds like you could do with chilling out for a couple of days.

MCI

DawnW

Haven't got round to posting for a few days

I rely on it a bit to keep me motivated.

Still, I have:
Been paid
Mortgage regular payment and all the other direct debits have gone out :eek:

Bank account transfer to FD is supposed to happen on 13 June. I will need to make sure my bank details are changed so my next salary goes into that account.

Time to start to think seriously about doing the self assessment tax thingies. I will start with mine as it is very simple - I have one PAYE job, a (very) few pounds in savings interest outside of ISAs, and that is it. I still have to do SA as we used to rent out our house. OH's more complicated, with 2 PAYE jobs and some self employed work during this one tax year :eek: I am not envisaging huge tax bills or anything like that, just the sheer hassle of doing it The one form for everybody system makes it so complicated for ordinary people who don't have offshore accounts, tax avoidance schemes (?) etc. I don't even know what half the things they talk about are

Anyway, shouldn't moan.

My cold seems to have come back, and I am seriously looking forward to chilling out over the long weekend. Going to spend some time at my older DD's, as she is having a summer party / camping sleepover. Needless to say I have bagged a bed in her flat! Also have gardening and housework to do, but even the housework is fun up to a point because you have to be at home to do it

Seeing the direct debits go out is scary, not because I can't afford to pay them currently, but thinking how hard it would be to manage if I lost my job :eek: Just to live, things like council tax and water, utilities etc come to quite a lot, and we live quite modestly, in a terraced house. Even once I have paid off the mortgage, these things will still need to be paid :eek:

Right, really must stop moaning and get ready for work now. Going in a bit later as I have a late teleconference scheduled :mad: Don't you just love people who choose to do that last thing on a Friday

house_help

Thanks for the notes on the chickens. Have ordered a omet brochure to browse through. We do have fair bit of space but would prefer chickens to start rather than ducks. We where thinking of 2 or 3 so either way its sound like that will be ok.

We have 2 house rabbits already and they have a reasonable size run outside to put them out for some grass when the weather is good - I think we may be able to use this as the outside run for the chickens and buy a seperate house for them to go inside when the need to. Hmm lots to think about.

Congrats on your latest OP. You will soon be celebrating under £20k to go

Radish72

Didn't spot you are close to becoming a teenager again (mortgage in the 19's)

I always cancel tele-conference that are late on a Friday