2014 - New Rules to Live By

Pennydropped

I highly overestimated the amount of free time I would have over the last two weeks. For some reason, I felt that with school starting and ds1 in school, I would get loads of things done around doing ds2's HE.

Oh how wrong I was! The list of appointments and repairs and deliveries went through the roof. I've had people out to look at electrics and give quotes on some repairs, someone out to look at the fireplace (twice as they came back with a supervisor to look at it further), medical appointments, dental appointments, appliance deliveries, book deliveries (HE), and various errands that I had do.

So here I am, two weeks later, and I still haven't managed to paint my dining room chairs. I am, however, the pleased owner of a new cooker and condenser dryer. Thank goodness! This also means I can get rid of my microwave. It's like a big block of metal just sitting on my counter, as I only use it for one thing - porridge packets. So next week I am going to look into where I can donate it as it's in perfectly good condition and has rarely been used. At least that way someone else can make use of it, and I will have more counter space again! I really only held onto it because of the problems with the cooker - it was my backup until my new one arrived.

I've finally decided on the carpet stair treads that I want. Rectangular shaped that go over the edge of the stair, and light tan in colour. Neutral, so I don't need to worry about changing them out if I change colour schemes in future. Easier to replace than full carpeting, less expensive, and I can install them myself. I am now considering whether to get an off cut carpet for the upstairs landing area and cut and fit it myself, or use carpet tiles. I've also considered using the wood vinyl planking that I used in the downstairs hallway. It's really nice - my only concern would be if I can actually fasten them to the floor boards securely and evenly? I think that might be a problem. Carpet hide a lot of flaws in that respect.

The fireplace in the dining room is still quite the subject of speculation. The more I think about it, the more I wonder if there's a point in getting another electric "wood burner" look heater to go in there. After all, there IS a radiator in the room - it's not a cold room, and if it gets cold, I can turn the radiator up further. It was more about the look to be honest. But with all the HE'ing, I have found that storage in the dining room is at a premium and I need more storage for books and games and educational items. I don't want to clutter up the room more - it's looking so much bigger now that it's had some of the clutter removed. I'm considering putting either shelving or a bookcase in the fireplace itself. It's plastered, so it's not like it would look awkward. I want to be able to put books on the shelves, so it must be sturdy. I've measured the interior of the fireplace and I'm going to look around to see if I can find anything that is a good fit.

You see? Just when you think I've made up my mind about something, I change it. This is why I make sure to give myself plenty of time to think about DIY changes I am going to make - by the time I get to finishing it, I have changed my mind a number of times, so at least I know I have considered a number of options before the final decision. :rotfl:

We won't discuss the bannister. It's still not done. :mad:

Pennydropped

Fireplace situation sorted. Two small white bookcases that fit with just a bit of room to spare on each side and enough room on the top to be an additional shelf have been ordered to be delivered. I can't safely carry two flat packed bookcases while I have the dcs along with me, so delivery seemed the safest option. The other cabinet in the fireplace currently is emptied and ready to be picked up by a friend who is going to be painting it and using it in her house. Why, you may ask, am I not keeping this cabinet and using it myself? A couple reasons. First, it has very shallow drawers, and I need open shelving for books and educational kit. Secondly, it sticks out from the fireplace quite a bit and doesn't "fit" the space at all - it's only in the fireplace at present because I had nowhere else to put it! I refuse to sell the cabinet to her, as she has helped me out so much lately that the least I can do is offer it to her. I'd feel guilty taking money for it - it's just an old wooden cabinet, nothing special. But she likes it, and I don't, so that works well for both of us! :cool: The bookcases were just over £30 in total, so I'm comfortable with that, and already white so I don't have to paint them! :j

Next week is tentatively reserved for painting the dining room chairs and recovering the seats. The dcs have been complaining the seats are cold, so I'm looking through my material and contemplating sewing some seat cushions to put on them. Still debating whether or not we need them. They're certainly not the most "cozy" chairs, but they are dining room chairs, which in my opinion have never been "sink down onto them in comfort" chairs anyway. They're more "sit up and eat your meal, then go sit in the living room" chairs.

We've completed the "Great Fire of London" in HE finally. Next is Kings and Queens, so this weekend I need to print what we need to get that started. Lesson plan is already drawn up, but I just have to finish the extra things that go with it.

I've been slacking somewhat on the baking lately. To be fair, I've been very limited what I can eat due to health reasons, and it's a bit like torture baking cakes and biscuits and only being able to have liquids for days on end. But I'm moving slowly back into more "normal" food, even if it is still limited somewhat, so back to baking we go. :cool: It'll be nice to give the new cooker and workout. :rotfl:

I notice that dc1 has brought home a paper for school pictures to buy. I can't believe how expensive these pictures are! And does anyone really actually USE all those pictures in the "best value" pack?? Half of them are black and white!! I think I'll be getting the £15 online image download and doing my own prints as I want them to send to family members. I expect that's cheaper in the long run, as I won't need many.

Off to go finish my "to do" list for the weekend. It's already quite long as it is!! :eek:

Pennydropped

Bookcases assembled and put in the dining room fireplace. Brilliant! Perfect for storage for home ed supplies and books, and opens up the cupboard shelves for other storage, which declutters the main part of the room nicely.

Dining room chairs painted. I've not recovered the seats yet, as I'm still debating what pattern/colour to use. I like the red, but one of the main reason I'm keeping all the accents red and the main things white is because I want to keep the options open of changing the colour scheme in the dining room in the future, and red chair seats will be slightly more fussy to redo at that point and costly as I would need to buy different material.

All electrical work done, and shower finally installed! Cost almost £100 more for all the work than planned, unfortunately. Not the fault of the electrician though - as usual things are just not always quite the way they should be after the last person who lived here "DIY'd" things in a way that means I am constantly finding things that need to be "fixed." These things happen, I guess - surely at some point once I've replaced everything I'll have the equivalent of a new home. :rotfl:

Poundland stock up today, so we're now up again on rechargeable batteries (we use them a LOT). I also replaced some baking pans for the kitchen - my old ones are reaching the point of unusable.

Off to get a few more things done while I can. Busy busy. :cool:

Pennydropped

Well, aren't I feeling a bit foolish? I was rather disappointed at the extra cost of the electrician, but didn't complain. I paid part of the bill (the amount I had put aside) and emailed him saying I would have to pay the rest in a few days as I hadn't planned on the extra expense. He emailed back saying that I had paid in full - as the work was done over two different days, a week apart, he'd simply amended the first bill to add the additional work he'd done. There weren't two separate bills - it was one amended bill, so it was actually only about £20 more than originally planned, not £100. :T What a relief! I'm embarrassed as I obviously didn't read the bill as closely as I should have, but happy that it's sorted and I'm not out that extra £80.

I'm still thrilled with the purchases of the cordless vacuum and the cordless grass trimmer. Such convenience and both so easy to use! Saved me money overall, and definitely saves on time and my back, as there is less lugging things around!

I only caved and put the heating on for one day that was particularly cold (and then only on the timer, so it was just on for an hour in the afternoon and an hour in the evening). It's not been on again since then, and I'm hoping we can go for awhile longer without using it. I seem to feel the cold much quicker than the dcs do, and the beds all have very warm duvets on them, so at the moment I am wearing jumpers as needed. :cool:

Now that the dining room chairs are painted, and my friend has picked up the old wooden cabinet, my dining room is looking even better!! Much more roomy and slowly getting more organised as I try to weed out things to get rid of. I have to admit that I am not great with selling things on ebay, or freecycling, or using local selling pages. My older dc gets very stressed over strangers coming to the house, so it's difficult to use those routes to get rid of things. Once I've decided I want something out of the house, I tend to want it out RIGHT NOW! Otherwise I'm worried I'll slide back into complacency and just leave it where it is, rather than go through the hassle of getting rid of it. :rotfl: Right now I'm planning on getting rid of the microwave (I never use it and it's taking up space) and an old child's bicycle (it's too small for the child now), so I'm going to have to figure out the best way to get rid, as I don't want to just bin them when someone else can use them. I may have to put it on a local selling page and stipulate that it needs to be picked up during certain hours when my older child is not home, to alleviate his distress.

Pennydropped

I have given myself a good talking to, as I've been quite slack lately with the meal planning. My cupboards and freezer are very full, but I've not been utilising everything as best I can. I've just completed a freezer inventory (and now have frozen hands!), and taken stock of the contents of the cupboard. Definitely loads of meals can be made. There's really no good reason for me to be buying any meat for the next two weeks at least (more like month!).

I found a pork roast and boneless pork steaks from September 2014 that I bought at the butcher shop and immediately put in the freezer. I assume that after a year in the freezer, they should still be okay? Everything else is more recent. :rotfl:

Pennydropped

I am officially one wisdom tooth lighter now. I'll admit it wasn't really something to grin about at the time, as it had to be taken out by an oral surgeon, and my face is still somewhat swollen almost a week later. An inlay came out of the tooth in front of it, so once the swelling and tenderness goes down, I have to go back to my regular dentist and have that repaired. Ds1 lost a tooth the other day and received his due from the tooth fairy. It's just all about teeth here right now!

I've started the YNAB app and am still working on marrying it up to my bank account properly, but getting closer. It's an interesting programme, but I'm still not completely used to it yet. The free trial covers me for a few more weeks, so I have time to decide how I like it before making the decision to purchase it or not.

Paperwork has been the name of the game lately though. I'm about one third of the way through a huge pile. I wanted to work more on it tonight, but my eyes are practically crossed from working on it while also getting home ed stuff done today. I think it will be a relaxing night with some television and then sleep. Hopefully I will get this paperwork done by the end of the week, so I can get to work on the dining room flooring. That's the plan, anyway. (Yes, I'm still ignoring the bannister - I think it's my nemesis!:rotfl:)

Pennydropped

I am ecstatic. I have just done my first home top up of my gas and electric meters. So incredibly easy and no more trips once a week to the shop to get it done, which will make a huge difference during the winter and during school breaks. It also means if money is short, I can top up just a little, then top up more later in the week without going to the shop twice. :j

I know many will talk about how electric and gas on meter are more expensive (are they anymore??). I imagine for many that getting quarterly bills for gas and electric works very well. For me, however, it doesn't. No matter how well I planned things or organised my budget, I always seemed to be caught out on the quarterly bill and ended up struggling to pay it. The bills at mid or end of winter were the worst!

I love having my gas and electric on meter. I have a built in cushion on the meter of about 2 weeks minimum (closer to 3 actually) so that if I have a short week financially due to some unexpected expense, there is no concern about running out. And it has to be pretty drastic for me to miss it. I have found it makes me much more aware of how much electricity and gas I am using, and then there's the added plus of having no bills for it showing up in my post. It's paid and that's that. I can budget for it easily and know that I must live within my means. No running the heater so the house is balmy and tropical. :rotfl: The heater is on a timer, which can be adjusted as the weather gets colder. I go through the house turning off lights in empty rooms and switching things off that don't need to be on. I'm much more aware that it costs money, but I'm not stressed about it. So it's a comfortable fit as far as I'm concerned.

Yes, it could be a hassle going to the shop regularly to top up the meters, but now that's a thing of the past. I can do it from the comfort of my home whenever I want. I'll still do it regularly, likely still once a week, as I write down the amount so I can monitor my usage. But oh the freedom of topping up at home! :T Huge happy day for me! (yes, little things make me happy :rotfl:)

Pennydropped

I'm still working my way through the paperwork. I've managed to get more done, just in time to have even more dropped on me. Honestly, does it EVER get done?? I'll be pressing on with it this afternoon, as I just want to finish it all and have maybe a day or two with no paperwork to do! :cool:

Next on my "to do" list is painting by the stairs and the section of the entryway by the coat rack. It's got to be done, and done before winter. I cannot decorate my hallway nicely for Christmas with dingy looking paint on one side. Thankfully, I have the paint already, so it's just a matter of getting it done. This has been bumped up a place on my list as I already have all the equipment and supplies to do it, so it's rather a no-brainer, isn't it? No expense, just some time involved. So that is planned for this week.

The first part of my "replace the dining room flooring" project is ripping out the flooring in my dining room that is presently there. I can actually do this again with no expense involved. The tiles, however, are heavy, and I cannot overload my household rubbish bin with them. I'll need to put them in the boot of my car and haul them to the tip - making a few trips throughout the week so the car's not overloaded. I couldn't believe how heavy they were last time from removing them in the hallway (same tiles). Once the old tiles are removed, then I will purchase the flooring and get to work on it, provided there is not much prep work needed. The hallway was in good order when I removed the tiles, so I'm hoping the dining room will be the same.

I've tabled (ha!) the idea of painting the bottom half/supports of the dining room table for now. It's not a high priority job and isn't a hugely "noticeable" thing, so it can wait. I'm still toying with whether or not to redo the tabletop before Christmas or not. I'm a little worried that if I redo it and don't like how it turns out then I'm stuck with it over the holidays. I may put this on January's list, but as of right now, it's firmly on the "Still debating" list. :rotfl:

One purchase that I've brought closer is new cooking pans for the kitchen. My old pans are dreadful, and the lids have "stuff" inside the handle fastening. Normally, I'd just unscrew it, clean it out, and put it all back together. In fact, I've done that numerous times over the years. But the screws are stripped. They're impossible to get undone, and the inside of that fastening is just manky - lucky me, I can see it. Gross. :eek: Just the thought of that stuff leaking into the food I'm cooking turns my stomach. So new pans and covers it is. To be honest, it's well overdue anyway. I'll buy something reasonably priced that will suit my needs. Nothing fancy needed.

My next organisational project is a "spin-off" of my irritation with my pans in the kitchen. While looking for something to try to push those wretched screws open on the lids, I browsed one of the kitchen drawers, which brought home how incredibly messy and disorganised it was. So that's on my list. Thankfully I can slowly work on it whenever I'm in the kitchen cooking. A bit here, a bit there. Goal - have it all cleaned up and organised by Tuesday evening. Then move on to the drawer with the cutlery in it, as it could do with a tidy up.

Thank goodness for lists. :rotfl:

Pennydropped

A bit of Halloween fun this morning, by way of face painting with a free sample face paint kit that I got a few weeks ago. My dc2 is happily sporting a Halloween themed jack-o-lantern face now. Dc1 doesn't like things on his face, so no paint for him, but he enjoyed watching the whole process with dc2's transformation. :cool:

And it was short lived fun too, as he just came to me stating his skin was itchy and he wanted it wiped off. So I've done that. The paint is supposed to be fine for sensitive skin, but apparently it still irritates dc2's skin. I guess that's the shortest foray into face paint ever. At least the paint was free and we're not out any money. And we got a fantastic picture of it, so he's happy.

One unofficial letter done, one official letter done, and another dent in the paperwork this morning. Now a longer official letter to do today, and there is beginning to be light at the end of the paperwork tunnel. If I can get about half of the remaining paperwork done this evening, then I will start the painting tomorrow and finish the other half of the paperwork tomorrow evening. It's too difficult to get this particular paperwork done while the dcs are awake as one can read and reads over my shoulder (it's sensitive information) and they both need pretty close supervision. I am so so SO looking forward to having this paperwork all done.

Today will be some time with the dcs, some time cleaning, some time prepping the wall for painting, and a little bit of time going over the household account and double checking Christmas lists, possibly ordering a few things to be put aside ahead of time.

But for now, a coffee and 15 minutes to browse a few sites. :cool:

Pennydropped

I'm still hoping to get some painting done today, but it will have to be later in the day. I'm currently waiting for a repair person to come fix the broken lock on the kitchen door, and then we need to pop down to the chemist to pick up medications that have finally come in.

I'm making a short list of quick household tasks that need to be done while I'm waiting, as I detest starting a task like painting and having to stop mid-task when someone comes to the house. It makes it especially challenging when the dcs are running about, as the last thing I want is them running riot with paint and painting equipment out!! I'll be working through the short list this week whenever I get some time available when the dcs are playing happily (as that's rather sporadic and doesn't last long :rotfl:).

Now for an interesting tidbit of information. Hobbycraft has some free knitting patterns on their website. :cool: How did I not know this? Why did no one tell me?? There are a few patterns that I quite like, and I can work on them in the evenings (after the paperwork is done obviously! ) after the dcs are in bed. I like the Christmas stocking patterns and the pattern for the "knit your own bunting." I wonder if I could make some Christmas bunting by knitting it? You'd think triangles would knit up pretty quickly, right? Must check my wool stash and see what colours I have.

An errand day will need to be done soon. Broken glasses to be fixed (hello Specsavers, we meet again!), post to be posted, misdirected post to be posted as "return to sender," midweek top up to pick up (bananas, milk, and bread, please), and a brief foray into Poundland to see if they have put out their Christmas books yet (we always pick a few new ones up each year to read together in the run up to Christmas).

Jacket potatoes are looking to be the likely candidate for tea tonight. And yes, that means I have been slacking slightly in the "mealplanning" department. I must get moving on that again. I think the mountain of paperwork I've been wading through has put me off sitting down to write out meals. :rotfl: Hopefully that will improve by this weekend, as I'm slowly completing the paperwork. :j