Get a grip woman!

Suffolk_lass

haha, I have the bottom of the cooker housing cabinet done now. I might put up a picture. Two drawers (improvised) and then a cupboard with four wire drawers in!

Suffolk_lass

Well the first test match has finished with an unlikely win over India away so for three days normality needs to resume. I have been neglecting my book club reading, painting, garden planning and general financial admin and it shows. I really need to do a clothing audit and shift some stuff out. I won't be doing that today (story of my life) as there are more enjoyable things to catch up on.

Karmacat

At least you neglected all that stuff because there was something really good going on that you wanted to focus on!  I like that  

Suffolk_lass

Yes, but you should see my desk  🤫🤫

peb

Two more days until the second test.....

Suffolk_lass

...and counting. I've got a lot of stuff to do in the interim. I might skip the first session and pick up the highlights at lunch bit this time. 04.00 is a bit of a killer!

Suffolk_lass

Right then. DH has requested 25% of his (defined contribution) pension pot. This is not the first 25% - we took the tax free lump sum to pay a big lump off the mortgage.

This is 25% of the remaining lump and planned drawdown that was going to pay for flights and other travel to far flung lovely places where one or other of us has not been before.

We might spend it on my outbuilding instead now. The floor is badly cracked and one wall is no longer stable. With it being block and render, I really don't want it to fall in on the contents! I have asked DH to draw up plans...

Karmacat

When all of my finance admin is done, I'm going to have to start looking at pension money.  It's not a huge amount, but I've got no awareness at all of what the rules are.  Thank you for the reminder!

greent

Ahhh - it's a shame to use it on something so practical, rather than lovely travel - but I guess it's a good thing to be able to have the funds for the rebuild- and there's currently no immediate hope of travel to far flung places, anyway. 

Have you given yourself a date to get the kitchen painting done by? Not that we do that - or stick to it on the rare occasion we do plan a date for something!   

Suffolk_lass

greent said:

Ahhh - it's a shame to use it on something so practical, rather than lovely travel - but I guess it's a good thing to be able to have the funds for the rebuild- and there's currently no immediate hope of travel to far flung places, anyway. 

Have you given yourself a date to get the kitchen painting done by? Not that we do that - or stick to it on the rare occasion we do plan a date for something!   

Ah @greent - I completely underestimated it when I started but my plan now is to get the remaining small doors done by the end of March and then there are four 800mm wide drawer fronts and four larder cupboard doors that I want to paint outdoors when the weather is a little warmer - I have been pinching two of the three counter-tops at a time and each requires filling (the handle holes), sanding, undercoat and two, mostly three top coats on all sides - so 8 coats of paint per door or drawer front plus prep. 

When I designed the kitchen I went for double opening smaller doors rather than big wide doors where I could, hence twice as many as one might expect in a relatively small kitchen. I have completed 16 out of the 22 I can do indoors so far. Originally we were going to get them all sprayed but DH said he preferred a hand-painted look for a country kitchen so here I am.

I am also looking forward to the outbuilding rebuild and DH has loaded some new 3D modelling software and is working his way through the tutorials. Having been a CAD designer in a previous life he is quick to do this because he understands all the spacial stuff - his industrial design days are long gone but he still dabbles in redesigning kitchens (when I offer his services) and specialises in en-suite bathrooms in relatively small rooms, oh, and a garden kitchen most recently for a space in France - all for friends (and all free). Anyway, I have discussed it with him but the conceptual drawings are needed to ensure nothing is lost in translation (!) between client (me) and designer (him). It sounds rather formal but our experience of working with each other is that he now asks and checks with me before each step, which does minimise instances like the mirrored bathroom cabinet at a very safe height for excluding children (if I stand on tip-toes I can see my eyes, my Mum can only see the ceiling) - he is tall 1.97m you see.