Tales from The Shire

Fortune_Smiles

beanielou wrote: »

SAd to day the garage does not sound great

Good news on the weight loss.

They are usually ok Beanie but the car is still under warranty and I think the warranty company would only pay out on repair rather than replacement this time.

VintageHistorian wrote: »

Is there no other garage you can go to FS? Maybe ask on a local Facebook group if anyone can recommend one?

There is a specialist garage for my car locally VH so I shall take the car there once the warranty expires.

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

It has been a variable sort of week with ups and downs:

Downs:

• Mr F dropped my iron and broke it beyond repair so I had to buy a replacement
• I ordered some preserving jars. Mr F opened the parcel and disposed of all the wrapping so I can't send them back even though they aren't quite right for what I need
• the garage will replace one brake shield under warranty because it is beyond repair but not the other as it can be repaired (even though it's only a matter of time before it fails) so we are going to have to pay for that one
  I didn't win the lottery this week.

Ups:

• the original buyer of the vacuum turned up so that offsets the cost of the barn freezer
• FDawg and I went for a walk with friends on Wednesday and discovered a fabulous little cafe where you can get tea and cake for £2. Plus all their profits on tea and cake go to charity
• we picked blackberries and damsons :j yesterday
• the garden at the front of the house is looking tidy and we've made a start on the garden at the back
• I've lost another 1lb this week (I'm aiming for 1lb each week so I'm on target).

It's pouring down this morning. FDawg is due his walk in about 15 minutes so I'm hoping the rain will ease off by then. I'm going to a friend's book launch this afternoon and it's WI this evening so fingers crossed it brightens up.

Mr F left for a work trip this morning. He's been home, pretty much, for the last two weeks so I felt like I was sending him back to school :rotfl: The autumn is definitely with us now. The hedgerows are full of fruit and I keep finding butterflies in the house. They have come in to find somewhere to hibernate and are secreting themselves amid the beams. I will have to try and find them all and put them outside. Otherwise they will wake up when the heating goes on. Which might be soon at this rate

Happy Monday all

Fortune x

Cheery_Daff

Urgh, what a series of minor financial downs! Some cheery ups though :j :j I MUST go and pick some blackberries else it's going to be too late :eek: No damsons on my little tree (which I only planted this year so I'm not surprised) - hopeful for next year though!

Fingers crossed it stops raining for your walk...

teapot2

Heavy rain here too which is a shame after a very sunny weekend. I was hoping to go out and do more brambling but if the rain eases off I still might be able to.

Fortune_Smiles

Cheery_Daff wrote: »

Urgh, what a series of minor financial downs! Some cheery ups though :j :j I MUST go and pick some blackberries else it's going to be too late :eek: No damsons on my little tree (which I only planted this year so I'm not surprised) - hopeful for next year though!

Fingers crossed it stops raining for your walk...

teapot2 wrote: »

Heavy rain here too which is a shame after a very sunny weekend. I was hoping to go out and do more brambling but if the rain eases off I still might be able to.

It seems a good year for blackberries - I've a few bags in the freezer already. We had lots of damsons too, which makes up for last year when we lost the lot to plum moth :eek:

Happy foraging

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

As it's now officially autumn whichever way you measure it, I thought I'd have a seasonal review of progress:

HEALTH :j

• I've lost 8lbs in the last 5 weeks :j Very happy with progress although I've still a way to go until I hit my target weight. My goal is to wear my wedding dress (fuschia pink evening gown) to a ball we have tickets to in December. I tried on the dress yesterday and I can get it on :j Although it will be a better fit if I lose a few more pounds. My sugar intake has reduced significantly as a result of the diet
• the yoga term has started so I'm going to classes again
• I also won a competition for a women's health retreat so a friend and I are booked to attend in a couple of weeks time.

WEALTH :money:

• we had our last booked guests in the Annex this weekend and I'm not expecting any further bookings until next year. We have blocked out October to get some decorating done and are not really a winter destination. I've taken the opportunity to put our prices up. We started with a low rate to encourage bookings and reviews but now we are up to speed we can come into line with the local market rates
• the car has been repaired and seems fine now - fingers crossed
• we are still harvesting the odd courgette and marrow from the veg patch and it looks like we'll get at least one butternut squash
• There are blackberries and sloes in the hedgerow ready for picking.
• the front gate has been repaired as much as it can be but I'm still waiting for the refund. It was promised at the end of last week so I'll start chasing tomorrow
• a few Bay sales have bolstered the tittervating pot and I've decided to use the money to buy a blanket box for our bedroom. It's on the list of house needs and I almost have enough cash for it. I'll restart saving for the bathroom cabinet after as we're due some vouchers in October which we can use towards that.

HAPPINESS

• It's been a quiet month on the socialising front but things are starting to pick up now. I went to a cake decorating workshop with a friend on Tuesday and there's the regular girls' night out this evening. We are going to a book signing
• Mr F is due home tonight so we may plan something for the weekend as he'll be away again soon.

Hope all is going well your end.

Fortune x

beanielou

Good to 'see' you :wave:

Fortune_Smiles

beanielou wrote: »

Good to 'see' you :wave:

You too Beanie :wave:

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

Mr F got paid today - a couple of days early as pay day falls on a Sunday this month :T Soooo - I have been money shuffling.

I've put money aside for our regular mortgage over payment and squirreled a larger than usual amount into emergency savings to try to get that pot up to target more quickly. That takes us up to 71% of target. However, I chased Gate Man this morning and he's promised we'll have the refund in our account by close of play today (although I'm not holding my breath). If the money does come in we'll be at 74% of target

Having decided to use the tittervating pot to buy a blanket box instead of a bathroom cabinet... I have just bought a bathroom cabinet. The one I've had my eye on just came up in the sale with 20% off. I was also able to get a further 5% off through Mr F's employee discount scheme. That made a saving of £72.60 so it seemed sensible to take advantage. The new cabinet will go into our en-suite and the smaller one we currently have in there will be moved to the bathroom. So two rooms improved for the price of one :T Goodbye cardboard wine box :rotfl:

I'm thinking of saving up for a small sideboard for the dining room next as that would also enable some moving around of things and improve two rooms for the price of one. The blanket box will stay on the list just further down. If I can find either item on FB, the Bay or in an antique shop I may be able to progress things more quickly of course.

The tittervating pot has also funded a Bay purchase of two champagne glasses. I've lost several of my current set to breakages over the years and haven't been able to find replacements. The two new glasses are exactly the same shape as my set but have a different design engraved on them and I don't mind a little mix and match.

I'm really enjoying saving up for and making these smaller purchases. We've been concentrating on the bigger ticket items for so long, progress has seemed very slow.

I still have nearly £70 left in the tittervating pot and we are due about £80 in reward scheme vouchers soon so I'm off to a good start for the next purchase.

Despite going out with the girls last night it was a NSD. We'd bought our tickets for the event last month and, as I drove, one of the ladies bought me a drink. Just a sparkling water - good for the pounds and good for the lbs

Mr F has just given me his work movements for the coming week so I need to re-do the meal plan to take account of those. The veg box has just been delivered so I'll have a think around those items. He's off to London on Sunday afternoon so our plans for doing something with the weekend will have to be re-thunk. Who wants to go out in this weather anyway :eek: Very horrid.

Hope you're all warm and dry

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

Gate Man was true to his word for a change and the refund appeared in the account by close of play yesterday. I have transferred it to the emergency savings so we're now at 74% of target.

I've put together a meal plan for the next couple of weeks and I think I can get away with skipping a week's shop I popped up to our little local supermarket this afternoon and picked up the few bits we will need. Anything left over from the grocery budget will be split between savings and the tittervating pot.

I listed a few items on the Bay this morning. Some old clothing which I'm hoping will sell to fund some new things I'd like for the winter. I'm going to aim to list one item a day as Mr F has had a sort out in the barn and left a pile of stuff for me to sell.

We picked all the apples today. Not much of a haul compared to last year. The quality's not that great either. Lots of the fruit dropped before it was ripe and much of what was left had been nibbled by the wasps. Still, we managed to salvage a couple of bags of Bramleys and a couple of bags of eaters. They're no good for storing so I'll have to process them for freezing tomorrow.

Today's lunch was Lentil Ragu with spaghetti and supper will be Potato & Savoy Cabbage Soup. I have a lot of potatoes to use up as we still have some left from the garden and more have arrived courtesy of the veg box delivery. I'm just going to use a small pack of pancetta in the soup as I have one in the fridge. Better for my purse and Monday's weigh in :rotfl:

Hope you're not having too soggy a weekend.

Fortune x