EH - Essex > Hebrides...the next step of the adventure?

MistyMountainTop

I'm so glad you had a nice time! I couldn't stand living with that kind of wind, you are a far braver soul than I! I remember someone telling me about growing up there and finding your washing on the other side of the island being a common occurrence...

Will you go again next Xmas? Is that what you are already planning for or is it a different holiday?

Reading your diary always inspires me, you really do seem to have it all together. I am becoming more organised and forward-thinking with each passing day but you are so far ahead of me, it's almost embarrassing!

EssexHebridean

Scott Yep - the first couple of days it was 40/50mph with gusts to 60mph and above. The Island further down recorded a gust of well over 70mph on Boxing day morning I think it was. Calmed down a bit after that but was still mostly 35 gusting 45 or thereabouts.

Misty I'm not sure you ever quite get used to it - but when the wind drops the silence and peace is just incredible. Yes, errant washing is a fairly common thing - even socks frequently get pegged on with 2 pegs just in case, and 3 or 4 on other items is standard. Wheely bins can most commonly be found tied to fence posts and with large rocks on their lids! :rotfl: Pippi's phrase is "rocks in pockets weather" . We're looking at heading back to the same place for next Christmas as things stand - the location was just perfect and the cottage was so beautiful! :T Before that though we're back for a fortnight in May - staying on North Uist which is our more usual haunt.

I fear I'm nowhere near as together as you think, but thank you anyway! Happy to think I can inspire anyone!

Ticking along here - update:

Surveys:
OnePoll £30.30 (Cash-out £40)
PC [STRIKE]£6[/STRIKE] Claimed to Paypal
Populus Live £6.00 (Cash-out £50)
Opinion Outpost 15 points [STRIKE]95 points (5 more for £5 cash-out)[/STRIKE] £5 claimed to PayPal
Power of opinions (Cashes out to vouchers)
Prolific Academic

TCB: 10p payable, £10.57 pending

As soon as the money hits my paypal account I'll pull it out to the bank and transfer to the card. Looking forward to starting to make an impact now!

Signed up to the free postcode lottery yesterday - highly unlikely to win anything but then again you never know, my Mum had a decent win on it a while back!
Also signed up to Prolific Academic which someone recommended.

Need to give some thought to using up the carrots and parsnips in the fridge, and also have a glut of onions so might investigate the french onion soup that Cheery mentioned. :T Tonight is beef stir fry though - using a rather tasty looking lump of beef that was the offcut from the steak we brought from our Benbecula butcher to bring back with us. He trimmed the end off the rump, cut our steaks, then once he'd weighed and priced them, threw the end on for us as well - lovely chap!

beanielou

Do you do Lucky Phone?
Worth it if you dont.

EssexHebridean

beanielou wrote: »

Do you do Lucky Phone?
Worth it if you dont.

Not heard of them? Ta Beanie - will investigate!

Cheery_Daff

I signed up to prolific academic the other week - you have to keep checking it apparently as they only email a random selection of people to avoid the same folks who are around on email all day answering all the surveys... I've not actually had one yet! :rotfl:

Hmm, you've reminded me I also signed up for postcode lottery but I rarely check - I could have won all sorts and missed it! :eek:

Gosh, everyone seems to have been inspired by the soup thing :rotfl:

Scott_Weiland_2

I would avoid lucky phone a waste of time imo

beanielou

Scott_Weiland wrote: »

I would avoid lucky phone a waste of time imo

Not for me.
20 quid last year.

EssexHebridean

:rotfl::rotfl: Cheery for goodness sake don't put your postcode in to check it on the Postcode lottery then - you'd be gutted if it turns out you'd won and missed it! Good reminder on Prolific Academic login too - just checked but nothing for me at the moment, apparently.

Beanie / Scott Funny how what works for one person doesn't for another eh. I've decided that one's not for me - in part because I don't want another one that I need to remember to check daily. Also because I definitely ain't giving my phone number out to ANYONE! :rotfl:

I'm thinking I need some aims/ideas/plans for this year then. In no particular order:

- Continue with "eat less/Move more" - keep up with step tracking but keep it realistic
- Give conscious thought to the amount of sugar that's in my food choices
- come up with a plan that will properly tackle the arthritic pain from my hip
- Get the kitchen sorted!
- Kitchen window and door - contact man for a quote.
- Get the hallway sorted!
- Check whether Dave has a contact who can do the gloss paintwork for us on the windowsills in front room, bedroom and spare room.
- Sort my flight over London in the Dragon Rapide
- Aim to clear as much as possible off the 0% card via surveys etc.
- consciousness of thought. Thinking before speaking/typing. Being nice without turning into fluffy and overly PC. (As if!)
- Handwriting. Slow down and aim to improve.

Think there will be more to add to that. I might take a leaf out of Smolly's book and paste it into the first thread so I know where to find it.

Need to check paypal to see if that money has landed yet, and withdraw to my bank if so.

Just had my bill alert through from EE - this month's bill is a grand total of -14p! :rotfl: - so I need to remember to account for the amount that *would* have been payable when I pay across to the CC. Wish they'd hurry up and tell me when my statement/payment date for that is!

EssexHebridean

Money HAS landed - I've transferred £10 of it to the card as I think working in round amounts might be easier - at least at first.

Looking at the account, I have a sneaky feeling it's not going to ask me for minimum payments which is a bit odd...at the moment it's telling me I have a £0 payment due on the 16th...so unless it's just that this month is too close to the date of opening the account... Oh well, no big deal if so,. I just need to decide what I'm paying across as a "regular" payment and then go from there.

I will want to look into setting a straight bank transfer for it though - paying by card is an awful faff!

EssexHebridean

Aaaaand there went another £25 to the card! The stray £1 that was in PayPal, plus £24 that I would have paid for the phone bill this month in normal circumstances. :T I;ve also set up the bank transfer for future payments now - MILES easier than paying on the card and of course it goes through quicker, too.

Also ticked off another couple of jobs tonight - ordered the rubber door seal strip that my car needs - the old one has perished and needs replaced, and also reserved two tyres at our local independant place - I debated about going for mid range rather than budget as I am doing rather more miles now, but as I can get the budgets for £37 each fitted, and the cheapest mid range is £80 each, I've stuck with the budgets for this time. Hopefully I;ll get an email relatively early tomorrow confirming I can go and get them fitted.