Breaking Through, Travelling On

Goldiegirl

I'm a firm believer in using up paper.


We have a number of A4 sized lined note paper which we are using up for notes and lists.


I have no idea where all this notepaper came from, and, even though I have a tendency to write lots of notes and lists, the paper should last for several years!


Do you know, I've never heard of a chimney balloon before - you learn so much by hanging around on this thread !

Karmacat

Rested laurels and me are :happylove :rotfl:

I find it difficult to use up paper these days, cos I do so much on the computer, but this was perfect, scribbling regularly, and then later on bit by bit, when a notion occurred to me.

Chimney balloons! I hadn't either, Goldie, until a few years ago, but I aim to please The previous people here had a multi fuel stove, so I know there's no baffle or anything, and its distinctly cooler in the living room than in the kitchen, I'm sure thats part of it. I'll see what its like tonight. Another source of draft can be my heavy wooden loft hatch - the wind literally blew it off its seating last month :eek: I went upstairs around midnight and there was a six inch gap :eek: Nothing seems to have crawled down while it was open so that okay

The accounts have gone brilliantly. Last year, I talked to the Revenue for about an hour, figuring out how to declare the French apartment, its extremely illogical but its what I was advised to do, and I've done it (with a bit of backtracking here and there ) and it works! It's taken about 5% of the time I spent on it last year :j Not quite finished yet, but I'll do that tomorrow.

Right now, its snack, dishwasher on (partly to sterilise some jars) then do the berry savoury jelly thing. I've been trying to find one with vinegar as well as sugar, but I can't so sugar it is. I might even open the post later on :rotfl:

Karmacat

Very pleased at the result of the jelly! Its definitely sweet - a pint of liquid (blackberries, blackcurrants and a few cherries) which I did last Saturday and put 500g sugar and a dash of lemon juice (a.k.a. vinegar) plus half a bottle of Certo, and I have 2.5 pots of jam. Chuffed. I even did the wrinkle test.

Karmacat

Huh! So much for the wrinkle test. It wrinkled .... but did it set? It did not :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:It's all sat in the fridge overnight, and in spite of it being in glass jars, I think the two full ones should go into the freezer. I guess I can use the stuff over breakfast porridge, as coulis when I bake my quick-bake "brownie" mix, and I'll experiment with what it was meant for, a sweet and sour savoury dish. Huh!

Today's plotting is a continuation of yesterday's: the tax declaration, tidying for the weekend (especially after the berry sauce fiasco!), and gardening and pruning. That's about it Part of me would like to pop into the local town centre for a few bits and bobs, but I won't have the energy to do that *and* garden, and the garden comes first. It won't always be that way I just need to get it under control.

Hope everyone has a good day.

Karmacat

Spent the remainder of the morning on the tax declaration. Net interest figure was easy. Dividends! I have two sets of shares I've never coped with getting proper information on, so I've never got them into an ISA, and I struggle with the declaration every year, simply because I don't know how to do it.

Ta-da! I've registered for online banking for both. One seems easy, and will give the information I need when an access code turns up in the post. The other has outdated FAQ instructions compared to what the website actually is - how can these people claim to run national companies!!! I've registered and let them know (once again, I made a complaint last year too) how inadequate their systems are we'll see. Otherwise, I'll have to just do it anyway.

Tax return says its only 55% complete, but there's only these two little figures to fill in, and then its on to the French declaration :j I might put in pretend figures for now and see whether it churns out some final figures




ETA - ug, bad news. Once again, the French income has been at least double counted, maybe triple counted. More fiddling about in my future

Karmacat

:dance::dance::dance:

I sussed where I'd made the computer programme double-count the French income :j

I feel like breaking out some champagne, if I had any, 90% completed

It's telling me I've made a loss in income tax terms, possibly because the tax relief takes me below the personal allowance ... but they're offering online chat these days, instead of a horrible wait for the phone :j so I'll sort that next week.

Happy days :rotfl:

beanielou

Passes the champagne :j :j

Karmacat

Thanks beanie! **slurps champagne**

Just picking up the bits and bobs of daily thingummies right now: posted two birthday cards, checked my insurance renewal, sawn off the forsythia limb that was leaning on a fence and pushing it over, pulled apart the drying teabags and thrown them onto the garden, swept the bedroom floor and put the rubbish out, that sort of thing

Feeling terribly virtuous about it all though heaven knows it's not often that I'm this caught up on myself

beanielou

But you are caught up so that is great :j :j

Karmacat

That's true! There's still lots to do, but things do feel quite a bit more under control.

Offline for a snack now - I never stop :beer: