Tales from The Shire

CosmoCat

I love the idea of having social, physical and intellectual goals along with all the financial ones. I have to admit I haven't thought much about any of those. So thank you for the excellent reminder.

Fortune_Smiles

CosmoCat wrote: »

I love the idea of having social, physical and intellectual goals along with all the financial ones. I have to admit I haven't thought much about any of those. So thank you for the excellent reminder.

Hi there Cosmo - I find it difficult to separate financial goals from other 'life' categories as they all seem to affect each other. I've been striving to find balance in all things since I joined the Forum. It's an on-going project :rotfl:

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

Happy New Year everybody! Hope it's off to a good start for you.

Our latest set of visitors left this morning. We've had a jolly lovely time socialising with them but it feels sooooo good to have the house to ourselves again. Peace and quiet at last. Lovely.

I reconciled the bank accounts this morning and the money situation is slightly better than I thought. Not that there'll be much to spare over the next couple of months.

Despite my very careful meal planning for the festivities we do have a little decluttering to do. We were gifted a delicious panetonne and had the last couple of slices of that with our coffee this morning. Lunch was a baguette sandwich to use up some of the leftover pate and salad. A tiny bit of Christmas cake went down well with a cup of tea this afternoon. And tonight's supper will be a kale and mushroom pasta of some sort as I need to use up some runny cheese and thought it might make a good sauce. There are a few other bits and pieces which I'm trying to use up in recipes for main meals so at least the indulgent food is paired with something a little healthier. We should be back to normal meal planning by Monday at which point I shall re-start my diet. I haven't dared get on to the scales this morning :eek:

I've had a little tidy round today so the house is back in order. And I did manage to get a load of washing done and hung. But I don't really have the energy for much else and I'm already yawning An early night is definitely on the cards.

We've had a lovely, festive time but it's going to take me a while to recover I think. Thank goodness it's the weekend soon :rotfl:

I wonder what the year will bring us?

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

Morning Peeps

I am due to make our first OP of 2020 today :T There's no money for the savings pot though as my unexpected new laptop absorbed any spare cash before Christmas. I will also need to spend on a few things today. FDawgs frisby has broken and it's his very favourite toy. We've also run out of long lasting chews for him. They are very useful for distracting him if he's a bit worried about new people in the house. Our kitchen tap has started dripping and it's getting harder to turn it off. Mr F has repaired it a couple of times now but thinks it's useful life is over I remembered we bought a tap from Ik£a last time we needed one and it was much cheaper than elsewhere but still good quality. I shall get my tape measure out in a minute and check measurements.

This evening I must do the research for my car insurance as that expires soon. The renewal quote with my existing insurer is £140 more than last year :eek:

I have a grand plan for the tittervating pot - a new washing machine and tumble dryer. My current ones are getting on a bit now and are not doing the job as well as they used to. The washing machine walks around the kitchen formulating an escape plan whilst in use and the casing of the tumble dryer gets so hot I'm worried about using it. It's only a little compact dryer as we didn't have space for a full size in the old house. I don't use the dryer much but it is useful when I need to turn the Annex over quickly or have to sort Mr F clothes out between business trips. PADs and budget savings are already being squirreled and I'll start with some Bay sales as soon as I can get up the motivation

I have re-jigged the meal plan to make best use of what's left in the fridge. I've left the last few days blank so I can check what else is leftover after that and plan accordingly. Mr F has his first business trip on Thursday and will be gone for nine days so I'm hoping to keep the next grocery shop low.

We were thinking of inviting friends over on Saturday for cheese and wine as we still have a lot of cheese in the fridge but I can't face any more socialising just yet. If the weather stays fine we'll get out in the garden during the day and have a couple of quiet nights in.

Happy Friday folks!

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

Well almost :rotfl: I still have the WI Christmas meal to look forward to this month.

We decluttered the last of the mince pies and cream yesterday. Also the last of the pate which we had with a baguette and salad. We still have lots of biscuits for cheese left but they have a very long use by date so I've kept them back for other 'occasions' we might need to cater for. There are several cheeses in the fridge but I intend to use those in recipes so they are combined with less calorific and healthier ingredients. Last night's supper was a Sweet Potato & Rosemary Chilli. Delicious and virtuous. It marked the start of our return to healthier eating so I have braved my diet app and 'fessed up to the Christmas weight gain - 3.5lbs Back on the wagon for me today

I sorted out my car insurance last night and managed to get it back down to around last year's price. I'll need to call the old insurance company today to stop them auto-renewing :eek: I've left the budget saving in the current account as things were looking a bit squeaky in there. Having said that, I reconciled the bank accounts yesterday and we may have more money than I thought. It's difficult to tell at the moment as I had to start my budgeting from scratch on the new laptop and it was difficult to get an exact figure. Once the credit card statement comes in I'll know for sure. In the meantime, I cashed out T0p C@sh B@ck and added £14.37 to the Tittervating Pot. Also made the first mortgage OP of the year which meant I could mark another 1% off the total owed :T

Mr F and I took FDawg for a long walk along the lanes this morning. Mr F is intending to do some heavy work in the fields and I plan to take the Christmas decorations down.

Hope you all enjoy the first weekend of 2020

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

We have de-Christmassed Apart from the light dusting of glitter that's carpetting the house, sparkles of which I know will defy all hoovering and still be winking at me come July :rotfl: We just need to return all the boxes to their place of hibernation in the barn now.

I felt a little sad taking down all the lights and the greenery but I suppose it's done its job - the sun came up after the solstice and the days are getting longer

Lunch today was cheese and salad tortillas made with some of the leftover Christmas cheese. And for supper we had the remains of the chilli I made yesterday. I've tracked all the calories and blinded Mr F with my shining halo :A

Mr F has spent the day replacing rotten fence posts and sawing up the old ones for logs. His halo's not looking too shabby either :rotfl:

I've had more energy today, probably as a result of eating more healthily. However, we're both still feeling a little sleep deprived. I think I'll be off to my bed very soon.

Night, night all.

Fortune x

the_cross_rabbit

When the kids were little, glitter at christmas was a must, the more the better. The hubbster however would come home and would be like nooooooooooooooooooo not glitter we'll be finding it for months!!!!!!!!! Make me smile eveytime I think about it.
CRx

Cheery_Daff

Look at you both with your shining halos :rotfl: :rotfl:

I confess I won't be de-christmassing any time soon. Far too grey and gloomy to lose the tree just yet. Might be ready about March :rotfl:

rtandon27

Fortune_Smiles wrote: »

...light dusting of glitter that's carpetting the house...

...a little fairy dust to remind you of the magic of life :D:D


OH just asked me if taking down the fairy lights was in my plans for today...

...I scowled and lit the xmas scented candle (cinnamon):rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Will be stretching out every last bit of the festivities between today & returning to the office tomorrow!:snow_laug:xmassmile

Fortune_Smiles

the_cross_rabbit wrote: »

When the kids were little, glitter at christmas was a must, the more the better. The hubbster however would come home and would be like nooooooooooooooooooo not glitter we'll be finding it for months!!!!!!!!! Make me smile eveytime I think about it.
CRx

It does make me smile when I find a tiny sparkle months after the event. At our local friends and neighbours party this year we had Christmas table confetti around the nibbles. I expect I will be finding tiny paper holly leaves for months too :rotfl:

Cheery_Daff wrote: »

Look at you both with your shining halos :rotfl: :rotfl:

I confess I won't be de-christmassing any time soon. Far too grey and gloomy to lose the tree just yet. Might be ready about March :rotfl:

I doubt they'll be shining for long Cheery :rotfl:

Fortunately it's been a clear, bright day in the Shire so that took the sting out.

rtandon27 wrote: »

...a little fairy dust to remind you of the magic of life :D:D

OH just asked me if taking down the fairy lights was in my plans for today...

...I scowled and lit the xmas scented candle (cinnamon):rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Will be stretching out every last bit of the festivities between today & returning to the office tomorrow!:snow_laug:xmassmile

I don't blame you RT - although I'm quite pleased to see the back of the mince pies :rotfl:

Fortune x