Milann's life keeps getting in the way.......

milann

I did a sleeve ( very nearly finished) yesterday watching Downton, so I just have one sleeve and one front to do then sew together……only taken me 13 months so far……and I chased around everywhere because I had to have the wool that week 😂😂
Just going for my shower at the gym. I’ll be glad when we get hot water again. My renewal for the gym is up…..I was debating not renewing but I’ve actually enjoyed it this week….and i reckon I can go and keep warm there instead of using home electricity over winter. It works out £6.70 a week, so I’m going to renew I think. I get a free month if I do it this week. 

milann

The boiler engineer didn’t arrive yesterday- he’d had transport problems. He came this afternoon and spent best part of an hour here trying to determine the problem. He eventually decided it was the computer board and went off to investigate prices. Virtually  £400 for the part and £100 labour so he recommended a new boiler, as it’s 16 years old, but he doesn’t do boiler installation so we need to find somebody else. It was 5pm by the time he got back to us on a bank holiday weekend so I don’t think we’ll be having any hot water until at least Tuesday. I’m guessing it’ll be best part of 2 grand 🙄 I’m so pleased we are debt free. At least a newer boiler should be more energy efficient.
The energy prices are just frightening. 

No plans as such over the weekend….just see what transpires. 

milann

Forgot to say I had a letter from the tax man yesterday 😀 the sort of letter I like £140 owing to me. The webpage on which you made the claim was very easy to navigate - even for a technophobe like me 😀😀 Just need to wait 5 working days for it to reach my bank account now 😁😁 I quite like letters like that.

Sunshine_girl2

Yay for the refund , better in your bank account than HMRCs . Have a good weekend. 

badmemory

Good to know that the boiler engineer had no axe to grind while recommending a new boiler.

milann

That’s what we said Badmemory. I think we’d already come to the conclusion it wasn’t going to be an easy fix, but was worth a shot at trying to get it repaired again. He charged us £30 for his time today…..which I didn’t think was too bad. We’ve used this guy several times before. I’ve left Dh scrolling through boiler fact and figures 😏…..we could be a while before normal services resume.
I agree the £140 is better in my bank than the tax office’s SSG 😁👍
I had a lovely time last night listening to Dh and a group of people playing ukulele in a localish pub. I wasn’t going to go but I sat with some people I’ve met a couple of time before and had a lovely unexpected time 👍 
Dh made a bbq this afternoon then put jacket spuds on to use the heat up for tea. They were delicious. I haven’t coked a jacket potato for ages as I haven’t wanted to put the oven on. This I’d definitely the way to go with jacket spuds 👍

milann

Phoned a couple of boiler people - they’re having the weekend off…..which I really don’t blame them. Will probably have to leave things until Tuesday…..but we’re away at dds from Thursday.

WinterWarrior

Apparently jacket potatoes can be done in a slow cooker or air fried! I haven’t tried either method , but I plan to. They aren’t very healthy though as I feel cheated if they aren’t oozing with butter and a ton of cheese 😅

milann

WW I have tried jackets in the slow cooker. I put one in before I went swimming a few weeks ago. It was soft by the time I came back an hour or so later….I finished it off in my Actifry to try and crisp the skin. It was ok, the rotating paddle broke the skin a bit, but not as good as one done in the oven with really crispy skin. But it’s not viable to put the oven on for a jacket potato at dinner time anymore.
Woohoo we’re having  a new boiler fitted tomorrow. I went on a local FB page asking for recommendations- several were highlighted but one fella actually messaged me and came out at 6pm Saturday. He had a boiler installation company van and was wearing uniform - seems very genuine and was a nice guy. He got back yesterday with a quote which wasn’t as much as we’d expected. He’s coming around at 10 ish tomorrow morning. We paid some cash up front so I’m at that that anxious stage now hoping he actually is as genuine as he seemed and does turn up.  We checked the company out and it does exist…..it’s awful that there are so many fraudsters out there that we (I) think like this.
We had a lovely day at a Welsh town with a couple of Ormes yesterday. We’d taken a picnic and ate it at the top of one of said Ormes, had a mooch around the visitor centre and looked over the fantastic views through binoculars. We drove back into the town passing some impressive looking mountain goats which became stars during lockdown as they’d ventured off the mountain side into the town below. We pottered and sat a fair amount of time chatting and people watching on the promenade. I haven’t seen it as busy there for years. We had tea in Wspoons. The disadvantage there is a lot of the restaurants are in Victorian building and not particularly wheelchair friendly for my ds. Then had a wander along the pier once it began to go dark. Twas very pretty seeing everywhere lit up. Oh and we saw the red arrows from a distance - we didn’t realise they were performing in a town just along the coast. We saw the heart shaped trails and they flew in the arrowhead shape above the hills nearby. We thought we’d just seen the end of the show but according to a report we’d read this morning- they’d had to cut the display short due to a bird strike 😳
A chilled day today as we didn’t arrive home until 11 last night.

milann

I’ve totted up August Spends and come in £405 including my incidental cash. £15 left from the cash that’ll go in the Christmas pot. I’ve got £150 in there now and also 9 out of the 12 £10 notes I need for the great nieces and nephews….I am actually thinking of not sending them any cash at all this year…. but it’s my late brother and sister’s grandchildren - I like to keep the family ties open, they don’t live close by although sometimes I wonder why I bother as it’s a bit one sided for most of them…..would it be fair to give just the 4 children  I see and not the rest of them…..decisions - decisions.
I don’t think I’ll have finished the cardigans for the gdds before Thursday….the black cardigan now only needs 1 front side doing but my arm has been aching and I have to keep stopping. 

I have only been around to Mr Ms around the corner today as I was so tired after yesterday. I got some bargains though….Warbys thins, bagels, and oat cakes for 30p each 😀