Get a grip woman!

KajiKita

Another vote here for Tamanu balm. T’is not cheap (no Tr0pic stuff is!) but the balm is one of my staples and lasts for aaaages 😊

KK

Suffolk_lass

No I haven't tried that - after years of hydrocortisone cream and steroid treatment the diet sorted it in five days the first time. I hope it will again by next weekend but if not, I shall go for it. Thanks both for the recommendation.

I really must stop looking on Vinted - I am trying to get an idea of what prices I could get for some of my stuff. I have two under-bed storage boxes of smart shoes I never wear, and several smart work bags I don't anticipate using again. Including the BNWT Radley bag my Mum & Sis bought me when I retired (why???)

Suffolk_lass

Good day to you all!

A quick check of the bank accounts this morning and I have just enough in the bills account for this month, but not enough for the start of next month. The JLCC is due this week and will hammer the residual total. Next month, in line with my low-spend intent, the "only" thing on the CC is the soon-to-be reimbursed cost of the oven and TD for DS's house. I bought them from the local euronics store for three reasons. 1. Local premises, employing local people, 2. They were superb over fridge-freezer purchase and return that long-term readers may recall, and 3. The price was less than £30 more than the cheapest on-line or in local sales. They installed the oven and took away both old devices. The young men had been limping along with a clanking TD off its bearings, that had had a hard life because one former resident worked in a scrap yard and they admitted to him washing and drying some of his pocket contents, on more than one occasion. The oven was there when we bought the place and was beyond the point where anyone would clean it. Even me.

DH set off in yesterday's late morning snow to help a beekeeping friend by treating his bees for phoretic mites. I was due to stay home and wait in this afternoon for the aga service engineer but he arrived about half past 11 and we have a clean bill of health. £144 for the call out and we have peace of mind. Worth every penny. Sadly, the problem we had might recur, and I will speak to our electrician, in due course, about the possibility of changing the fused switch and using crimped ferrules to reduce the resistance in the connectors. I can't remember if the wire to the socket is twisted copper or solid core (the ferrules are a solution only for twisted copper strand wires), but using an MK (British made) metal switched box has been recommended by aga where this has happened elsewhere.

DH returned from the bees with three of the four items I asked him to look for, plus a lovely bouquet of flowers (because he loves me). They are beautiful and the spontaneous gesture is much appreciated, as I finally binned most of my Christmas flowers yesterday. By the way, my hack for these is to use a level teaspoon of granulated sugar, a quarter sterilising tablet and discard the plant food. The mix keeps the water clear and elongates the freshness of the flowers. I replace after a week, snipping another 2-3cm off the stems. My flowers (mostly roses) were delivered on 21st December. I will put the £8 cost in my Treats budget heading. The other items were carrots 35p, but only 500g, milk, £1.60 for 2 pints of organic, and a red pepper 55p. I mentioned that Morries carrots were 55p (wonky) or 60p (premium) for a kilo. Sad person that I am, I checked the other things this morning; the peppers are the same price (but 2 for £1 in Morries) and the milk was 5p cheaper than OB (Morries don't do Yeov in cardboard cartons). 

Anyway, it keeps me out of the SM and even if more expensive, it will be cheaper if I don't go. I am a devil for off-list pick-ups so avoiding going is the best way to remedy that trait.

Another beekeeper to help out today and we should check ours have plenty to eat, if it is warmer than yesterday's -2c perceived temperature.

Suffolk_lass

Hooray, I did the bottle bank run while DH walked the dog, managing three crates without anybody else joining me or commenting "that must have been a good party!" or any similar (especially when it is just the accumulated jars and bottles...), then I pottered off to the food bank where the lady on the counter thanked me profusely for delivering 72 toilet rolls and a bag of nice-to-have freebie toiletries and other nice things (they were shut when I tried the week before the week before Christmas). Then, joy of joys, I found a single bag of seville oranges lurking in Sainsbugs, (that store is mahoosive and located near the food bank), so using my nectar card this year's batch cost 50p!

Best of all, I have finally caught up with @foxgloves diary, which I have been too far behind on for at least a month, so have not commented. I believe I have worked out which village from the clues too, but that is a whole other matter!

foxgloves

Awww, you deserve a medal for getting through all my drivel, @Suffolk_lass. I am trying shorter posts, so that should help.
F x

Suffolk_lass

foxgloves said:

Awww, you deserve a medal for getting through all my drivel, @Suffolk_lass. I am trying shorter posts, so that should help.
F x

Definitely don't shorten on my account, @foxgloves. I thoroughly enjoyed catching up and all the chatter and conjecture about where you live and the state of the floods, how we are saving pennies and the difference it makes. I love it. I do wonder what others in my village think if I ever stray into the conversational territory of bargains and saving. Very much an affluent area. Since getting out of debt it is sort of a hobby with benefits now. One I have no intention of changing!

Here, our gardener is in the process of installing some very low level railings under hedges so our dog is further discouraged from visiting next door (or running into the road). Our winter installed gates and these panels should make it possible for us to let him off the lead in the garden. While I am perfectly happy to look after the veg garden and some shrubs, other things have definitely got away from me since becoming a beekeeper and getting a dog. So we are fortunate to be able to afford to have help for the big jobs like too high tree pruning, and recovering some of the beds and updating them.

Suffolk_lass

Marmalade is made, in two batches; one jelly, the other with fine shreds after DH admitted he likes this best, then jelly, and lastly the thick cut I normally make  - err, how long have we been together? - 35 years!! First time he has said anything!

Bread made for him (I have reduced mine), and soup made with the last bag of courgettes from the toolshed freezer. Two shelves in there are nearly empty. I could transfer some more from the produce freezer. This would be  sensible as even when it snows (as is forecast next week) or piddles with rain, this little shed and freezer are accessible. Alternatively I could move tomatoes there, ready for the great tomato cook down, as we approach the end of the mahoosive stores I laid down after the hot summer of '22 (54 jars, from memory).

In terms of bought in stuff DH picked up three bits of veg and some milk this week and I am determined to run down my stores before shopping again. 

I shall need onions, as the homegrown have been used or pickled, more carrots, garlic and things like butter and yogurt but I'm hopeful that this month will fall below £180. I will just keep delaying and making do for the time-being.

Today I plan to clear up a bit in my greenhouse, get some cash out to pay said gardener, maybe get my tyres looked at (I do hope it is leaky valves on my front tyres and not punctures) - both slowly lose air all the time, it seems, and hopefully read my bookclub book for a while and even socialise a bit this evening. I shall do a bit of studying too, if it's too cold in the greenhouse but I hope to at least get all the cardboard boxes that had the railings in, into the recycling bin. They are blocking the entrance to the greenhouse a bit at the moment.

Have a good day, whatever you do!

Watty1

You always sound so productive in a rural country way.  I love reading your daily doings!

Baileys_Babe

My favourite marmalade is thick cut.

After being with OH for 25+ years I discovered he does not like cucumber, why was this not mentioned earlier in our relationship 🤷

foxgloves

I am looking forward to getting my annual marmalade made. I hand-cut the peel as finely as possible.....ooooh, just remembered will have nice newish sharp knife for that job this year..... but I expect peel-moaners would still consider it quite chunky. I've been stashing decent marmalade-sized jars away in the 'dog-kennel' bit of the kitchen dresser behind Great Great Aunt May's old salting crock, so they will only need fetching out & sterilizing.
I love seasonal activities. They provide the rhythm to my year.
F