Cherry takes the reins

Cherryfudge

I did my stint of church cleaning this morning then revisited the charity shops I went to yesterday and bought two of the three ornaments I'd resisted. I decided I didn't want the third one as much. I also somehow managed to get a couple more items of haberdashery.

This afternoon I had my GP appointment and am off for a week: good to hand the stress over to work and say it's their problem now! (That's not how I put it to them. ). I can ring the GP for a sick note if I need longer.

After last night's gale force winds and rain (which I slept through), today has been nice and mild - no coat needed when I went out this afternoon!

On a not-so-nice note - the old house (sold a year and a half ago) has come back to bite us with a revised utilities bill for over £1.300! There is money in the estate so in a way that's not the concern, and I remember there was a time when the meter seemed to have rolled over and restarted and during which I didn't get any meter readings (pandemic, I think), but I thought that had all been sorted out. Parking that one till I have a clear head, hopefully tomorrow.

Spending
Gift (card) £1.75
Hobbies £9.24
Housekeeping £2.00

Cherryfudge

I feel so much better not having to be in work tomorrow! However, I need to sort out a few ideas for how to use this coming week. The mental health nurse told me to do something beneficial! As a matter of fact I don't remember her exact words but the impression was things for me, constructive, enjoyable. I suppose for my peace of mind I need to get a few unwelcome things done too.

Ideas for not-enjoyable things to put behind me:
The revised bill (DH and I are going to look at it tomorrow)
Text a colleague who is off sick - not a problem in itself but I need to find the right thing to say.
Open a better bank account.
Tackle the backing for DGD's blanket which has been otherwise-finished for ages.
Move cash from the inheritance account to a savings account
Contact the counsellor

Ideas for nice things to look forward to:
Plant some bulbs (at last!)
knitting
log and dispose of some receipts
make spicy parsnip soup
do some baking
make marmalade
Make a donation for Turkey/Syria
Put bias binding in damaged neckline so that shirt can go away again
Put a cover on my new book so it can survive in a suitcase
Pancakes with my friends on Tuesday
Weekend with family next week
Dog-sitting this weekend
Babysitting on Tuesday

I have been in contact with a few colleagues (officially and unofficially) to say I'm off. The more people hear from me personally, the less there will be gossip, though at the end of the day does it matter? I felt bad that a younger colleague will probably have to shift lead tomorrow but she's very competent and I think she will probably benefit from the experience. I've texted her to say I think she's got what it takes, which seemed to have the desired effect!

Sun_Addict

What a nuisance with the belated utility bill. It took them a long time to sort it out!

Good to have some time away from work, I need to do the same, not had any time off since Christmas apart from weekends. 

I’ll look for the slug repellent in the greenhouse this weekend and let you know what it’s called. 

badmemory

I am afraid if something is in my house that shouldn't be I can be cruel.  So indoors I use salt as from my experience slugs do not go away.  Outside is their territory & I would never touch them.  I even keep the odd spider around although the webs can be a bit of a pain sometimes.

Cherryfudge

We found there's a gap under the skirting which we're gradually covering (part of a larger job). That's where slugs got in, so hopefully the repairs will deter them.

Spiders love our house - I used to be very scared of them but since having kids I not only learned to cope but I can briefly handle them. So unwanted ones get chucked out (unless the weather would kill them, in which case I revert to a practice from when my daughter was small and scared, and name them till they get fed up and go away, which always happens).

Having some high ceilings, I think the spiders imagine I don't notice them there but every autumn I go round with a feather duster to gather and remove the latest cluster (I had to look that up and apparently it's the collective term for spiders).

badmemory

As far as we could tell ours were coming in through the outlet for the washing machine.  I blocked that access from outside & they stopped.  I then had some work done & didn't notice that the block had been moved & slugs back in.  Blockage now back in place with a brick on top that is impossible not to notice.  Ants were coming in via the meter cupboard so I now have a reminder set up to redo that cupboard with ant powder as we don't use spray because of the wires, just in case. 

Sun_Addict

This is the slug repellent 

Cherryfudge

@badmemory, thankfully we don't have ants. They were a constant problem in my Mum's kitchen.

@Sun_Addict thank you!

DH and I had a look through the revised utility bills and they cover exactly a year, which makes me wonder if there are more to come. We decided we need to ring up and find that out on Monday, which gives me time to look up what we paid and when. For once I'm glad I've not thrown stuff out.

DH has also painted the area where he's been doing repairs, now that it's papered. It's not 100% perfect but the damp is no longer coming through. At some point the whole hall/stairs/landing needs to be re-done.

We saw J and L as we're looking after their dog for a couple of nights. Unfortunately I seem to have twinged a muscle under my left shoulder blade, probably when I was carrying a lot of shopping, so I am limited in how much I can play with her.  I'm generally feeling a bit under par - breathless, tired but it's improved over the day.

We decided to have a wander round another town this afternoon and I found a 1948 cookery book and a nice shoulder bag. I don't think DH bought anything but groceries. 

Spending:
Housekeeping - some, but I didn't do it. Chips £2.80, eaten with things from the freezer.
Clothing (bag) £6
Book £2

Cherryfudge

A very quiet day today: I've done less than 3.400 steps! Church was online again, I got a bit worried about lunch as reflux is back with a vengeance but had rye crackers with tuna mayo and that seems to have been okay.

We went to watch part 2 of the film series at church (freebie and we're enjoying it) (a series called The Chosen) then back home to take a lot of photos of a magnificent sunset.

Dinner was as planned: another chicken chasseur, and I made a large one so there are two or three portions in the fridge. It's a favourite with both of us at the moment. I cut my carbs to half a smallish baked potato but still got a feeling I was overeating. Not so much as yesterday, though. I'm not sure what's up but perhaps it's stress. I don't feel it most of the time but have anxious moments. I was a lot better when I woke up this morning and the muscle had rested: I could take deep breaths without a problem. It's come back a bit over the day but not much.

The dog decided she needed to curl up on the sofa with us while we watched Pottery Throw Down: she's very sweet. We had a walk last thing and the wind is getting up for another attack tonight. I will miss her when she goes home tomorrow.

Cherryfudge

I've been awake from 6: most unusual for me! It was windy though so perhaps that woke me.

I've had a look where I thought the old paperwork for the revised utilities bill would be but I can't see it. I know it was a thick file and I'm as sure as I can be that I haven't thrown it out. I can get some data from bank statements if necessary but not the meter readings. Where on earth did I put those? I thought it was all sorted when we had a phone call with them about the time the house was sold. The question is probably around meter readings because the meter must have rolled over at some point, but surely all you do there is add up from the last reading pre-turnover to the counting capacity of the meter, then add the new meter reading from zero to wherever it's got to? I would have thought this had been done at the time.

The dog has had a short walk with DH then found a very old tennis ball with moss on it in our garden! She thinks it's fantastic, but somehow I don't think she's going to be allowed to take it home.

I'm trying to do constructive things today and obviously if I can sort the utilities bill it will be a significant item off my mind. Laundry is in progress, and some cooking, cleaning and tidying are looking expectantly at me. Clutter never usually bothers me but at the moment it does so that's a good cue to decrease it.