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Bricks Not Books
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And I'm in! :j :dance:
Yesterday was very tiring as I drove myself and OH up and down the county. OH was fabulous as always, painted the skirting boards (very very carefully so he didn't drip paint on the new carpet), waited for Argos to deliver the mattress, and put together an IKEA bedside table we got last week. I made him cups of tea, went food shopping and assembled an IKEA lamp to go on the bedside table XD Oh, and I got out my duvet and bedsheets and made up the bed. Then drove him back to his parent's place as he's staying there this week, he's on late shift which isn't the best time to start a new commute.
Also gives me a bit of time to settle in. Came back here last night and had a lovely shower in the new bathroom while my pizza cooked, and then ate it in bed in my PJs. Relaxing heaven.
Had to cover the windows in newspaper and some packaging paper as we still don't have any curtains, MIL is going to make them for us. OH thought I might be able to sleep without them, but I wanted a lie-in and didn't want to get woken up by the sunrise so I covered the windows. Didn't work brilliantly as I was still up at 7:40, but that might have happened with curtains anyway. First night in a new place is always a bit weird, I woke up two or three times during the night, especially when the heating clicked on at 5am as the noise of the boiler coming to life made me jump :eek: Good thing OH wasn't with me as he'd have found it quite funny.
Today I'm just pottering around, alternating between watching Youtube videos in bed and doing stuff around the house. Just did a batch of meatballs in tomato sauce, which will go in the freezer once they've cooled down, and will do a big batch of bolognese next. I've missed cooking my own meals so much that it's lovely to be able to make these things again. If I had more energy I'd bake some cookies too, but I'm also missing a cooling rack and some more baking trays, so that will have to wait.
Washing machine has also been delivered this morning but I'm waiting for OH to call me back to let me know if FIL can come round and remove the oven door, otherwise the washing machine won't fit in place :mad: Poor chaps from Currys were very apologetic, got it all set up and plumbed in for me, but it's slightly larger than the machine it's replacing, and while it will fit in the space (they measure it for me), it won't fit at the moment because the handle of the oven door is sticking out so it can't quite squeeze in. Very annoying but nevermind, it's currently sitting in the middle of the kitchen floor so I can use the oven and do the washing up, but it's frustrating but can be worked around. I've said I'm happy for FIL to come round early this week if he can make it, they don't need to drive over today. If they can't make it then I might phone my brother and see if he can come round, checked with Mum and he's not working today so he might be able to get here.
Dinner tonight is steak baguette! Nice and easy. Tomorrow will be southern fried chicken goujons in the other baguette, and then I'll be testing the meatballs on Tuesday!
In OP news my AA breakdown cashback was finally confirmed, so I've requested at payout - £50.11! Also got £21.55 coming from Prolific so that'll be a lovely big OP this month. Must remember to put in my expenses claim next week, took them three and a half weeks to process the last one!"You won't bloom until you're planted" - Graffiti spotted in Newcastle.
Always try to be nice, but never fail to be kind - Doctor Who
Total overpayments in 2021 - £901.28!1 -
Hooray hooray. How satisfying. There is no place like home.
Once the oven door is ok you will be fine. Well done on your overpayment.Aiming for a minimal spend 20220 -
How wonderful to be home at last.
Congratulations!
Fortune xMortgage: 100% paid Emergency Fund: 100%
A Better View 🌄 'Being on the edge isn't as safe, but the view is better' - Ricky Gervais0 -
Planning and working towards a good OP when you've just moved is fab!Jan 2025 - part 1 - £23,757 part 2 - £22,988 Total - £46,745 34 months to go!0
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Congratulations on moving, have fun settling in.0
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Congratulations on being in!! Very impressed you're planning to OP from the very start!
Hope you get the washing machine sorted and enjoy finding home for things while you unpack!0 -
Congratulations at getting in! x0
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Thanks everyone! It's lovely to be sleeping in a bed after nearly 18 months on a sofa XD
Commute to work is now very long, leave the house at 6:40 to be in the office at 8:30, because Cambridge city centre is a nightmare to get in to during rush hour. I can park outside my office on Mondays and Thursdays, have to park at the P&R and get the bus the rest of the week. To give an idea of how much time that adds - yesterday I left the office and got straight in the car at 5, got through the front door at 6:30. Today I left the office at 4:45 and didn't get home until 7. A good chunk of that was waiting for the damned bus to show up. And the council wonder why people insist on driving :mad:
Anyway, knew tonight would be a tough one so I got one of my meatball meals out of the freezer to defrost. OMG it was delicious, the tomato sauce came out amazing (just a tin of chopped tomatoes, a carton of passata, and some fresh basil) and the meatballs were Ikea ones so very tasty. While that was heating up and I was waiting for the pasta I also cooked up some chicken to go in tortillas for tomorrow's dinner, so all I need to do tomorrow is heat up the tortillas when I get home. Thursday night will be sausage sandwiches with baked beans, and Friday is supposed to be pork and chorizo casserole but I don't have all the bits for it, so I might have a taste test of the bolognese I did at the weekend, or see if I can find anything YS in M&S.
In-laws are coming round on Thursday to try and sort out the washing machine, and MIL has bought some blinds for the bedroom so the newspaper should be down by the end of the week :j At least I've probably given the neighbours something to talk about! :rotfl:"You won't bloom until you're planted" - Graffiti spotted in Newcastle.
Always try to be nice, but never fail to be kind - Doctor Who
Total overpayments in 2021 - £901.28!0 -
Glad you are settling in petal.
I am sorry that the travelling time is not so good but maybe that will change a bit over time. Can you do something nice on the bus to make the time pass better for you? Read, write letters, cards, diary, plan for rest of week, do emails? I don't know if that is poss but people do them on trains.
You have kind In Laws. Still laughing at the newspapers. I hope you are not using a tabloid. That will really freak the neighbours out.
Yum to the meatballs. Well done you on cooking. Money saved and you had a great meal too. Have a good evening.Aiming for a minimal spend 20220 -
I spent a lot of money on diesel last week :eek: Need to nail that on the head. Not going to happen after this weekend though, drove over to see the wedding venue this morning, and tomorrow I've got an hour's drive to have lunch with the in-laws and then bring OH home with me with all his stuff :j That's right, he's officially joining me tomorrow!
Last week saw my meal plans go out the window as Monday was the only day I got home before 7pm :mad: Got delayed by other things on Thursday, and the other days I was stuck thanks to waiting for the bus. I'll get used to it I'm sure, it's just very frustrating waiting, knowing I have a long journey home.
Today has been a very busy day. Went to Mr W and Mr T after seeing the wedding venue, overspent a bit :mad: Did including laundry tabs for the washing machine though, and another roll of bin bags, and some batteries, and loo roll. I'm going to make lunches for OH during the week (or at least, attempt to :rotfl:) so that also included getting extra bits for him. In terms of food I'm coming within budget for food, it's the additional (but necessary) things that are pushing me over. I might amend our budget slightly to have a separate pot for household goods.
This afternoon I switched on the washing machine and let it do a hot empty run first, to clean out the gunk in it. Was nervously running in to the kitchen to check nothing was leaking, but it went fine :T Couldn't get a clothes airer in Tesco though (thought there'd be one as it's quite a large Tesco, but unfortunately not) so I only did a half load in the end and it's all drying on radiators and the airing cupboard as we speak. The heating is timed to come on anyway, and scattering it around various rooms in the house will hopefully reduce the risk of damp. I've also run the hoover round, and walked down to the library to sign up for a card and get our bags for recycling. Our town doesn't have any wheelie bins (no one has anywhere to keep them!) so it's bags all the way, and one box for glass that the library don't have, so I have to find a week day when I can get to the town council's office and get it from them. That may take a while, but at least I can now recycle paper and plastic.
Dinner tonight is bolognese from the freezer, over some spaghetti. Next week's meal plan may also go out the window a little bit, I need to identify the most "difficult" item on it and assign that to Monday since I should have more evening time to cook then. No idea what we'll have for dinner tomorrow night as we're having lunch with OH's parents and chances are we'll still be quite full in the evening. Might just have some cheese on toast. I do need to batch cook some chili though so hopefully we don't get home too late and I can do that tomorrow evening for the freezer.
In OP news my £50 from Quidco has arrived. Also had to buy some special envelopes for work, £30!! But the receipt went straight in to my drawer for my expenses next month, so that'll help April's OP by quite a bit!
I'm going to sort out the chest of drawers this evening so OH has somewhere to keep his clothes, and then I'm going to curl up under the duvet and watch stuff on Youtube.
Have a lovely weekend everyone! :beer:"You won't bloom until you're planted" - Graffiti spotted in Newcastle.
Always try to be nice, but never fail to be kind - Doctor Who
Total overpayments in 2021 - £901.28!0
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