Tales from The Shire

doingitanyway

All sounding excellent in The Shires

Fortune_Smiles

Karmacat wrote: »

You've had an amazing week, Fortune! And what a lovely friend in DC

Starting to enjoy things now Karma.

doingitanyway wrote: »

All sounding excellent in The Shires

Getting there slowly but surely.

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

It's been a good few days.

Our guests were undemanding and great company. They came bearing gifts so we are now better off to the tune of a garden planter, fruit cake, crackers and beer :rotfl:

We went out for supper with them and discovered a fabulous, friendly pub serving excellent food. We'll definitely be going back. Not the cheapest but excellent service and quality produce. Fun money is a little depleted now though.

The market town WI got in contact to let me know about their next meeting and I've discovered a writing group although it's a bit of a drive away. Also plucked up the courage to book a new hairdresser :eek: So things are gradually dropping into place.

Today has been spent mainly trying to sort out Mr F's tax code :mad: We can either pay back the refund we received in error in one lump or pay more tax over the next eight months to clear the overpayment. We've decided to pay it back over the next few months as that's what they've already put in place. If we do anything to change the tax code now it may not get through in time for Mr F's next pay day and then we'll be back to square one trying to sort out the right repayment amount.

I've been trying to contact our removals company (without any luck) as a high value item is missing. No luck yet though so I chased them up again today.

I need to decide what to spend the house improvement budget on this month. We have a list as long as your arm but do I use the budget to get several smaller things so that it feels like we're making progress or save the money for a few months to get the bigger ticket items? We must get some security items as a priority as they are a requirement of our house insurance. And Mr F could really do with a wheelbarrow. Not sure there'll be anything left after that :rotfl:

I certainly won't be investing in any more fake wasps nest. I've tried them inside and out now and the wasps are giving them a stiff ignoring :rotfl:

Can't believe it's Hump Day already tomorrow. The time is going so quickly. It'll be time for the next guest soon :rotfl: Mr F is off to Head Office so it will be an early start. Good job really as I have a loooong to do list.

Take care all

Fortune x

brizzledfw

Blimey you're busy with guests...not sure I could cope with that!! But you sound like you're having fun..despite the HMRC co7king up. So good to hear you're still thrilled at your move....am slightly envious but maybe it's a plan for Brizzle and OH during the next decade....(goes off to muse )

Greying_Pilgrim

Fortune_Smiles wrote: »

And Mr F could really do with a wheelbarrow. Not sure there'll be anything left after that :rotfl:

Wheelbarrows are disproportionately expensive for what they are! Especially the heavier duty/builders ones. I'm not surpirsed it'll strain the budget

Nice to hear that you are having a great time - with and without guests. brizzle is right, you & MrF are an inspiration

Greying X

Karmacat

HMRC *and* the removal men c0cking up? Ouch! I feel for you, Fortune, hope it all works out.

Fortune_Smiles

brizzledfw wrote: »

Blimey you're busy with guests...not sure I could cope with that!! But you sound like you're having fun..despite the HMRC co7king up. So good to hear you're still thrilled at your move....am slightly envious but maybe it's a plan for Brizzle and OH during the next decade....(goes off to muse )

There are some things we're not so thrilled with Brizzle - we have more traffic noise than we'd like for example. The good things far outweigh the bad so far though and I am a glass half full kinda person A work colleague called me Pollyanna once and they didn't mean it as a compliment :rotfl:

Greying_Pilgrim wrote: »

Wheelbarrows are disproportionately expensive for what they are! Especially the heavier duty/builders ones. I'm not surpirsed it'll strain the budget

Nice to hear that you are having a great time - with and without guests. brizzle is right, you & MrF are an inspiration

Greying X

Thank you Greying. I'd quite like it if The Shire stayed the least populated county in England though so don't want to inspire everyone to move here :rotfl: Our most recent guests were holidaying at a camp site nearby and had met one couple from Hampshire and two from Surrey who had come up to house hunt :eek:

Karmacat wrote: »

HMRC *and* the removal men c0cking up? Ouch! I feel for you, Fortune, hope it all works out.

Nothing we can't cope with Karma - first world problems and all that. Might be a bit tighter than we anticipated until next year that's all.

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

I decided to start tackling the vegetable patch yesterday and, despite being a garden novice in most things, think I may now be the next Charlie Dimmock :rotfl:

I started with the raspberries as had read that now was the right time to prune them. I discovered that we have summer fruiting raspberries and that they fruit on the canes grown in the previous year. To prune them you have to cut out this year's fruiting canes... once you've eaten all the raspberries of course :rotfl: I was a bit worried about this but it was very evident which cane was which. So the raspberries at least are looking tidy now although it took me 3 1/2 hours to prune and weed them :eek:

It's going to take a lot of work to keep this area up but at least I won't need to buy gym membership :rotfl: If it dries up a bit today I plan to weed the shallots as they are still growing and are in danger of suffocating :eek:

I made a little friend whilst in the garden. A little field mouse ran only the fence towards me and stopped to have a good look at me Mr F made lots of friends as he mowed our lawn area and discovered it was full of very large frogs :rotfl:

I would have benefited from a wheelbarrow and a hoe yesterday so that's the decision made on where our home improvement budget goes this month. I've ordered the items we need for improving our home security too.

Last night's supper was Chorizo and Broad Bean Risotto made with beans from the garden

I didn't sleep much last night because of the rain. We had thunder and lightning and very heavy rainfall and, because I'm not used to the house yet, I was worried about leaks. Our bedroom is in the roof space so the rain feels very loud from up there. Everywhere seems dry this morning though so I think the house is going to look after us as far as rain is concerned Fingers crossed.

Can't believe it's Thursday already. Have a good one.

Fortune x

beanielou

Jeans success GP
Big big thanks.
So so chuffed.

:j :j :j :T :T

Fortune_Smiles

Another busy day today. This house will certainly keep us fit.

I took advantage of a sunny window to get all the bed sheets washed and dry and then toddled off to the veg patch. The shallots were next in line for some attention and, when I had a proper look, I discovered they were ready to be dug up. So we now have about 40 shallots drying out in the kitchen :rotfl: I pulled up the weeds in their bed and raked it over so it's ready to have some muck dug in and be planted up with something else... if it's not too late in the year?

I also pulled up the weeds in the herb area and cleared a space for some supermarket pot chives which I'll plant up once I've used their tops up.

Mr F and I managed a bit of damson picking in the hedgerows this afternoon before the rain came in. I have 2 kilos washed and ready for freezing and making into gin :j

We had the leftover Chorizo & Broad Bean Risotto for lunch and Orange, Carrot & Mint Soup for supper followed by Cheat's Clafoutis to use up the cherries my DC gifted. I am feeling rather full now :rotfl:

Mr F received the quote for refurbishing our outbuilding. It's at the high end of what we expected but doable if we make a few compromises. To that end we have decided to focus all our MS efforts towards the refurb. For starters, I have put my contact lens subscription on hold for the next six months as I have loads to use up. That might pay for... oh a brick perhaps :rotfl:

Friday tomorrow peeps :j

Fortune x