Cherry takes the reins

Cherryfudge

Today has been expensive: phone repairs came to £105.00, which is about half of what I originally paid for it! However its lovely to have it 100% again.

The chap in the shop asked me who had repaired it before and I told him this was its first repair: I bought it new nearly a year ago. I'm not sure he believed me as he showed me a protective plate is missing from the inside. I'm not absolutely sure but it sounds as though that may have made it more vulnerable to the injury it received.

Anyway I'm relieved despite the cost as I rely on it and don't finish my contract till the beginning of December so I'd have still owed a little bit on it if it had been beyond mending.

We were also supposed to have work done on some trees but the fellow didn't turn up. He thought he'd texted us to change the date but neither of us got a text. Anyway he now says tomorrow - meanwhile I discovered the calendar thinks I'm working in the morning and my diary says I'm not. I texted the shift lead who will let me know when he's seen the rota...

Oh, and the milk wasn't delivered but I did a grocery shop - including some bargains - and tried another new recipe (Szechuan chicken with orange) which was quite nice but if I ever make it again I'll play around with the recipe and give more substance to the sauce - oh, and work out the quantities to make half next time, as halving it as I'm going along lead to double the orange it was meant to have.

DH has been making phone calls: his latest blood tests have come up with something but we don't know what. He is being tested every week at present till they can sort out what's going on, though the specialist the other week doesn't have any concerns about how he's presenting. DH also heard he hasn't got the latest job he applied for but it was because they had a very strong candidate. They've asked if they can keep his details as he was someone they'll consider if they have another post.

I dutifully sat through the PM's broadcast but I was tired and like so many official speeches it seemed confusing. (they lost me at 'stay alert'), so I didn't take much in. We are in a 'medium' risk area at present but as that's the lowest, i.e. no low risk areas, I'm okay with that. DH's aunty is in Liverpool so she's back in lockdown. He rang her but she seems chipper enough: as she says it's still plenty of time till Christmas.

We've not heard how today's viewings of the house went. I think there were four but as two were at the same time, perhaps someone pulled out.

I think that's all for today... I hope tomorrow is still a day off but I'm going to bed soon just in case I need to be there.

Spending
Phone (repairs - new battery, screen and screen protector) £105.00
Housekeeping £11.36
Toiletries £1.00
Medical £1.99

Today I'm grateful for a working phone and being able to afford to get it done (there are advantages to not going on holiday!), some nice veg bargains and trying a new food for tea.

Sun_Addict

Sorry to hear DH didn’t get the job but sounds like he made a good impression. I’m sure it won’t be too long before he gets offered something. It’s not the best time to be job hunting. I hope they get to the bottom of the blood tests and he gets sorted out soon. 

Glad your phone is fixed, although expensive it would’ve cost a lot more to get a new one.

I love trying new recipes. 

Cherryfudge

Do you know, SA... you're so right! DD has just spent more on a phone plus insurance for it than I earn in a month! I'm grateful mine was repairable and I haven't had to think about replacing it.

Thanks for the good wishes for DH too.

Tuesday was extremely rainy. The tree surgeon didn't come, but while it would have been nice if he'd told us, I can understand it might not have been a good idea to be wielding power tools in the wet and on a potentially slippery surface. Dh and I decided the rain had stopped so we went for a walk but it was just round the block as the rain started again. Not much exercise has happened.

I didn't go to work: that's happening tomorrow now. I mean today - I'm so late tonight! I've been up reading... I didn't have my meet-up with my friends, either: both have too much work, one way of another. I did, however, finish pulling out what I jokingly refer to as our 'wine cellar' - the space under the bottom shelf of the larder. The bottles were filthy! :0 They've been washed down and various photos sent to the offspring, who are probably the owners of at least some. However, no one's claimed any so some will be binned (mulled wine opened probably two years ago... no thanks!) and others will be appropriated.  

That was in order to find the brandy for the Christmas cake fruit which is now soaking, and there's enough brandy left to start feeding it once it's baked. I've also decluttered a bit: 40 paper decisions I think it was. I found a Father's Day card DS1 made for DH many years ago, so I've sent DS1 a photo. His wife thought it was hilarious. I also found a reasonable but not expert amateur cartoon and stood puzzling over if for a minute before discovering I'd drawn it myself. I don't draw much nowadays: more innate talent than hours practicing doesn't make for a good artist. It brought back memories, though (which is probably why I didn't get much done).

So nothing spent by me today, though Dh got some groceries.

And I'm thankful for a healthy dinner, memories revived and a god book to enjoy.

Honeysucklelou2

Love the description of the view of the Dales at dusk - beautiful!

Cherryfudge

Thanks HSL
Today started with a slight hassle after a night without enough sleep but it's got better since. The hassles was when I couldn't get into my work emails for the link to the webinar I was supposed to be on but once I finally got to the top of the phone queue to IT and the chap on the other end reset a couple of passwords for me, I got on the course. I fully expected to give my apologies and be told I'd have to rebook but they'd started late and the tutor was fine with me just joining in. It was quite a helpful course, too (AKA a course I'd done before and therefore understood but which still had a couple of new elements).

I rushed lunch and went into work so I've put in a few hours and had the week's Covid test. Results in a few days. We have permission to collect apples from the tree in the grounds so I went home with about 8 beautiful rosy ones and a handful of hazelnuts.

The big news is a good offer for the house! There is another viewing on Friday so we won't decide whether to accept till then (which also gives the other people who've viewed some time to decide they suddenly want it after all ). Of course having an offer isn't the same as actually selling and I fully expect to be offered less once the surveyor has been round, but it's a big step forward. I can see my goal of selling it by the fourth anniversary of Mum's death is almost within reach. That somehow felt like an appropriate time. I've celebrated the step forward by decluttering another 63 pieces of paper.

Spending
I've ordered some photos to send to friends and family: £2.71 from the gifts budget.

Tonight I'm thankful for the offer on the house and for all the good times I had there. We've moved a lot of the 'soul' of it out now and I know I'm no longer happy when I'm there, so it's time to let someone else enjoy it.

Cherryfudge

A better sleep last night and 99p spent on another ebook which has been a good way to unwind today. Another 52 'paper decisions' made and into recycling or the fire depending which is more appropriate. Also £5.99 for a photobook (not sure if this was a good idea or not but it was a special offer and I only had about half an hour to compile some memories of the house for it. If it works out well there's an app for it and I might do another for a gift for my sister).

I had a 30 minute run at lunchtime which was moderately hard work but I can feel the benefit now. At work I finished cleaning the kitchen cupboards and found a garlic press, battery, serving spoon and a lot of plastic lids down inside the back of the them. We really need a new kitchen but I am impressed that our new manager has already ordered some kitchen items that we suggested yesterday.

DS2 is in one of the areas that coming under greater restrictions from this weekend, which is a bit tough though if it helps keep them safe then I'm all for it. We are still relatively low risk here.

We heard that there's another (lower) offer on the house, and I understand a couple more people are looking around on Friday, but I don't think we'll get a better offer than yesterday's.

This evening I'm thankful for being able to source the photos for the book at short notice, for some interesting reading to help me unwind and for a little progress made on decluttering.

Honeysucklelou2

That’s good news about offers coming in for the house 🙂.

Cherryfudge

We are supposed to be going to remove more stuff from the house tomorrow but that area is going to Tier 3. As far as I can make out, we're okay to go okay so long as we don't mix with anyone, but we can still eat out (I know... non sequitur).

 We had a team briefing this morning at work: I missed half of it due to technical issues (the security for remote access is so high it keeps throwing spanners in the works) but what it boils down to is that because we can't accommodate so many clients (basically halving numbers), we may be going to have to work elsewhere. This is what I was doing earlier in the year, and while it was an interesting experience and I met some lovely people, it was tiring getting there and back and would certainly be a struggle in winter. We have one staff vacancy that won't be filled for now, which will ease things a bit, and rotas will have to become more fluid.

I've got rid of another 20 pieces of paper this morning, need to press on.

I'm really missing some friends from here by the way - hope to see you again when you're ready. 

Sun_Addict

Great news about the offers on the house, sounds like it's popular with would-be buyers, you might end up with a bidding war over it. The photo book of the house sounds lovely and what a good idea to duplicate it for your sister. This tiers business is getting daft and confusing.

Onebrokelady

Cherryfudge said:

I checked the warranty on the phone and accidental damage is definitely not covered, so as I'd paid for it by CC I tried the CC site despite feeling that won't cover damage done by me. However the site is down for maintenance till Monday. The other 'hope' is that the house insurance will cover it but that can wait till tomorrow. It's managing to charge a bit but it took two hours to add eight percent which isn't sustainable.

I have the day off on Monday so I think I'll be hunting out a phone repair (or several as it has a nasty crack under the screen protector and if it's mendable I might as well get everything done at once). Why do I have the feeling this could be expensive? Just when I'd looked at heaps of shifts that need cover at work and picked up only one, on the grounds that I prefer to be at home. Perhaps I need to get my 'takes all shifts' mojo back if I want a decent phone.

And while on the subject of dying technology, having got our replacement laptop recently, DH had to replace our Firestick today as it finally became unusable. We don't have any subscription channels but we use the Firestick a lot so it's very value-for-money, but why do things break at the same time?

Work definitely has a strange feel to it at the moment. It was my last shift with another colleague today: work has had a long time with certain 'issues' in addition to the massive universal upheaval that 2020 has been, and it's starting to tell. So many have been off sick, and in a year there's been something like a twenty percent changeover of staff. This will really kick in just as we are supposed to be getting back to normal. On the other hand, it was great to see our relief staff, who are some of the best, while we had our flu jabs done.

So today I'm thankful for getting a room finished and the goldfish cleaned out at work (!), for freebie food, and that I can still use my phone for emergencies and have enough in the bank to replace it if I have to (though I'd rather not).

Have you thought about buying a reconditioned phone if yours is going to cost too much to repair, my phone is on its last legs so I'm going to bite the bullet and buy a reconditioned one when I get paid. My iPad was bought from my local Game shop and it's been brilliant