Cherry takes the reins

VelvetFreak

Yay for a buyer!! Fingers crossed xx 

Honeysucklelou2

That’s good news about the house. Hoping the conveyancing is stress free.

Cherryfudge

Thank you .

It's been a busy day, between DH starting his new job, me going to work and stuff in the wider family. Actually my work was fairly uneventful and DH's was almost totally so. He's collected the technical equipment he needs for working from home and spent £25 (which he may be able to reclaim) for a gadget that means he doesn't need huge cables trailing across much of the house and risking our necks. However his new line manager has completely failed to show! He rang the person who interviewed him and was told the manager was on the phone and would call him later, but the call never came. Is this a Covid thing or are people avoiding us?! A joiner, a roofer, a tree surgeon, a milkman and now a manager have all failed to come through on their promises!

We'll see what tomorrow brings.

As for tomorrow (by which I mean later today), it's DS2's 25th birthday so I'm hoping we can Zoom once he finishes his shift.

I'm thankful for good news from a friend, good news in our family, a small request from a colleague and yet more free apples from the community tree.

Cherryfudge

DH's computer, which had its lid closed so was at least sleeping, decided to start singing opera at 3.45 this morning, so I had a broken night's sleep! Sprinting downstairs and feeling angry doesn't help get back into restful mode so in the end I went downstairs, made toast and coffee and finished my book. Then I went back to bed and didn't wake up till a quarter to 12!

DH had his home office all set up in DS2's old room but even with the fancy gadget for bypassing the trailing cables, he couldn't get the electronics onto the internet so it's all had to move into the dining room where they share the same circuit as the wifi and apparently that makes it all all right. He also had his first work phone call in months - but it turned out to be for his previous role!

I'm looking for useful things to do with the remains of the day: a quick trip to the eco shop I think, which will fill up a few jars and help local business as well as partly assuaging my guilt at only going once since March, and I've counted 76 dead batteries to go to recycling next time one of us goes to a battery-selling place (this comes of DH having hearing aids so while it's a huge number, most of the batteries are tiny). There are towels in the washer and another load sorted ready to go in, and we're Zooming DS2 later.

Cherryfudge

I did some grocery and minor Christmas shopping this afternoon, combining them with gentle exercise but my fitness app went bananas and shows a couple of very odd loops in my walk that I didn't do. One takes a huge diagonal through a number of buildings - maybe it thinks I've literally been going 'as the crow flies'?

I got some of my usual coffee cheaply, and hot chocolate for a gift at less than full price too, but DH's oranges are really expensive. I also noticed a difference between shelf and till prices on the coffee, so I'll check that if I manage to go back tomorrow. I couldn't carry any more today and saw a couple of items that would be nice for gifts.

The whole family had a video call with DS2 before tea and a virtual tour of his new house. Later there was the final of GBBO and a texted chat with the friends I usually video call - we are resuming the video next week but one of them has had a busy few days. 

Spending:
Housekeeping £12.09
Gifts £3.49

This evening I'm thankful for a family video call to celebrate DS2's birthday, and him having a nice bubble with his housemate and a friend to celebrate in person.

Cherryfudge

Some more spending today - housekeeping and gifts again. I've also decluttered another 60 'paper decisions' from a bag I fetched back from the old house.

DH had a worried morning as he was told there would be an online meeting for his new job and waited all morning for the invitation, only to receive a lunchtime message to say he hadn't attended. He emailed the manager to say he'd been there but had heard nothing: it transpired IT had given him his old extension number but she had been told a different one so must have assumed he wasn't logged in. Anyway I think it's all sorted now.

I checked the price of the coffee but they've redone the shelf so I've no way of proving yesterday's price (I suspect I just missed the end of an offer). It's still £4 instead of £7 though, so I'm not too worried.

I was 'good' and resisted a lit Christmas wreath - very pretty but I have rescued so many of my childhood Christmas memories in the form of tattered plastic Christmas decorations that I can't justify it to myself. I did succumb to a pretty little wooden birdhouse decoration though. Looking through the stocking fillers I've bought so far, people are getting mostly edibles which is okay in that they don't create clutter/waste but I need to vary the theme a bit. Some little scented candles have also gone in and there's usually shower gel too. They can probably predict exactly what will be in their stockings year after year!

Spending:
Housekeeping £22.00
Household £7.99
Medical £2.99
Gifts £15.99

Today I'm thankful for a sunny day and DH getting on okay with his new job.

Onebrokelady

Good news on the house offer, I will keep my fingers crossed it goes through ok 🤞🤞

Cherryfudge

Some online spending yesterday - three gifts which arrived this morning. How's that for service?! I'll fill in prices another time. DH and I went for a short run for the first time in a few days but other than that it's been work yesterday and today, or quiet pottering at home.

We heard the other day that DH's niece has had an offer accepted on a house, then today we heard the same for J and L. It's in another town - a cheaper area than here which will help them, and also is nearer his work and further from hers which for various reasons is how it needs to be.

We will be in Tier two as of 2nd December. The old house is in Tier three so while we are allowed to go there, we would have to keep our distance from others. We've been okay doing that previously. Christmas mixing dates - of which I'm duly wary as any sort of mixing is going to mean more risk - exclude the date we'd planned a family Christmas, so we are going to have to rethink. It's looking like dropping off presents and zooming but that's okay by me. I'd rather as many of us as possible were around for future Christmases.

Now I must get to bed! Things I'm thankful for: J and L finding a nice house and garden in their price bracket, the first fall in the 'R' rate since August, good weather to run in and a recent increase in pace (and tiredness ).

Sun_Addict

Certainly online shopping service has upped its game since Covid, one bonus I suppose. Good news on the house front in both instances there. We will only be mixing with DS’s household this Christmas but it will be mixing as in pre-Covid times as the GKs will want a hug and rightly so.

Cherryfudge

Shopping the other day was £24.37, and more today was £99.93, though £20 of that is on behalf of J so I'll get it back, and mine includes two coats for DH to try so I intend for one to be returned.

I have to confess to an illegal visit today - but we kept our distance, ventilated the house and she wore a mask while getting her Christmas decorations out of our loft. Nice to see her though.

I had a load of things on my to-do list today but got thrown off my stride because I decided to clean the fish tank first and one of the fish got caught in the syphon. It must only have been in there a moment (I thought it was too big to get in and all the times I've syphoned the tank previously it's kept its distance) but alas it was dead or almost so. So we just have one fish now. I know the other came to a quick end but I still feel bad about it.

Anyway I still need to complete returns forms for items that arrived a few days ago. That's one of the things I dislike about online shopping. However, I've paid my credit card up to date (just in time for today's payment to put it out of date again). DH has very usefully started removing thick paint off a door frame in the kitchen and been to the new supermarket that opened a couple of days ago. It's only five minutes' walk away but I've been avoiding it as I was sure it would be packed. J and L have both tried it and loved it and DH is happy because he got some of his favourite chocolate.

It's been incredibly November-ish. By three it was getting a bit gloomy, and the sun had set by ten to four. The good side of this is that in only a few weeks the days will be getting longer again. It will be at least as long again before I can run up the hill and hope to watch the hares, but that was definitely a highlight of early spring this year. In spite of all the fear there were lots of nice things: lovely weather, clear air, wildlife, and not feeling the pressure to work on the old house. 

Today's things for which I'm thankful:
Getting a couple of my jobs done, Dh making a start on the paint removal, our loft-visitor (albeit at a distance), watching the wild birds in the garden - one is at last using the drinking bottle I put out for them.