Tales from The Shire

Fortune_Smiles

We took advantage of the fine day to get out into the garden. Mr F took down the temporary fruit cage and started digging over the veg beds. I pruned the fruit bushes and did a little weeding. We tackled the pruning of the apple tree together. The poor thing hadn't been very well looked after when we got here and we didn't do anything with it last year as we weren't sure how to put things right. This year we've been brave and just gone for it. I'm just hoping it survives! We noticed some bracket fungus growing on the plum tree. I think it's Phellinus tuberculosus :eek: Sadly that may mean the plum is on its way out

We also put the Christmas decs into hibernation, all expect one box which holds some outdoor decs I'm still drying out in the house.

Lunch was a margherita pizza from the freezer with added red onion and goats cheese from the Christmas stash and a bit of salad on the side to bump up the veg quota. Supper was Salmon with Leeks & Parsnip Mash.

I'm just plucking up the courage to watch Dracula :eek: Think I'll wait until Mr F gets back from his bath :rotfl:

Happy Sunday all.

Fortune x

woodfired

Glad you had a lovely Christmas Fortune. So nice to get back some 'normality' though isn't it?!x

Fortune_Smiles

woodfired wrote: »

Glad you had a lovely Christmas Fortune. So nice to get back some 'normality' though isn't it?!x

Certainly is Woodfired. We didn't overly indulge but I'm feeling so much better now we're back to normal eating habits. Still haven't caught up on enough sleep though.

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

Yesterday's grocery shop came in a couple of pounds over budget which isn't bad seeing that I've pretty much emptied the fridge now.

The shower guarantee repair guy came out and, of course, the shower would not make the noise for him that it had been making for us He did find some loose wiring though :eek: He said the fitters hadn't tightened up the connections enough and had fitted the cover wrongly :eek: Sooooo.. the fitter is coming out today to check the other shower they put in at the same time.

We have also still to address the roof leak which appeared before Christmas. Mr F had intended to fix it himself but time and the weather are against him. I'll drop a line to our builder today to see if he'll quote for me.

The credit card statement arrived and I've reconciled the account. We are a little better off than I thought, however, that money will probably go on the roof repair now. In one hand... :rotfl:

I've had to invest in a new water filter. Mr F has repaired our existing one twice and it's now beyond repair. Our tap water is very hard and tastes awful so I consider it a necessary spend. I also bought a honey dripper as I'm cutting out plastic wherever I can and squeezy bottles are no longer sensible. I bought it from £tsy as I want to support artists, crafts people and small businesses where I can. Plus a calender as Santa didn't bring me one for Christmas and I am missing one in my kitchen. It was half price though.

Lunch yesterday was Putting Down Roots Soup. I left the bacon out as I didn't have any but I think it needs it (or some grated cheese) to add a little umami. We had the leftovers for lunch today. Supper was a leek, pea and cheese spaghetti of my own invention to use up sulky stuff.

I managed to get some of Mr F's washing and ironing done yesterday in preparation for his trip. There's still some ironing in the pile but I should be able to crack that this afternoon.

FDawg has started lunging at cars again :eek: Mr F took him out for a run this morning and, despite being pulled in on a short lead, he managed to duck behind Mr F and make contact with a car passing on a narrow lane :eek: The car was going very slowly and no damage was done to dog or vehicle. However, the driver had a bit of a shock and we can't risk it happening again. It will be the No 1 training focus for FDawg and I whilst Mr F is away. We haven't kept up his training as we should through the winter. The lanes have been so thick with mud we have largely avoided them. Lesson learnt.

FDawg has lost weight again I think he has had another growth spurt and we need to up his food portions. It happens so gradually we don't notice until he's starting to look a little skinny. We've caught it early this time and he's having an extra meal a day until he's back to where he should be. If only we all had this problem :rotfl:

Having said that, I've lost 2 lbs already and am back to where I was at the beginning of December. 6 lbs to go until I reach target weight and then I'll reasses to see whether I need to lose any more.

Hope your week's off to a good start.

Fortune x

Cheery_Daff

Well your week certainly seems off to an excellent start Fortune! :j :j :j Eek to poor old FDawg and the car Hope you can train him up (and feed him up!) accordingly x

Fortune_Smiles

Cheery_Daff wrote: »

Well your week certainly seems off to an excellent start Fortune! :j :j :j Eek to poor old FDawg and the car Hope you can train him up (and feed him up!) accordingly x

I'd say a 'mixed' start Cheery but all the downs are relatively small stuff. Re-training of FDawg has already started and he's made good progress. He'll do anything for a cocktail sausage :rotfl:

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

Fitter failed to show and check the second shower yesterday so I have called this morning and re-arranged for Friday. Also had to spend £9.95 on a replacement flush button for the toilet. Again, Mr F has repaired it previously and it is now beyond repair. This seems to be my catch phrase this year :rotfl:

Hopefully, some of these repair costs will be offset by some extra income as we got a booking for the Annex this month.

I got all Mr F's washing dry and ironed ready for him to leave last night. Then something came up and he had to cancel his meeting today and is planning to leave tonight instead. At least I get an extra day with him

Lunch yesterday was leftover Putting Down Roots Soup with a cheese-topped roll. Supper was fish and chips from the freezer as, although the grocery shop arrived yesterday, the veg box doesn't get here until Friday. Lunch today will be a baked potato with anything I can find lurking in the fridge :rotfl::rotfl:

We walked FDawg on the lanes this morning and I made sure my pockets were full of cocktail sausages. We met one car and, although he showed a lot of interest, he quickly remembered the drill and kept his eyes on me for the prize We just need to do this consistently until he develops the right habits and remember to reinforce his behaviour from time to time after that.

I must get some of my own clothes washed today. I've been concentrating on getting Mr F ready for his trip but now I'm running out of socks :rotfl:

Nothing else to report. I was so keen to get back to normality after Christmas but, now normality is here, it's a bit dull I have a few outings planned for next week while Mr F is away so that should liven things up a bit.

Hope your normal is a bit more interesting than mine

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

Mr F decided he was staying for lunch and supper yesterday so I rustled up baked potatoes with tuna mayonnaise, sweetcorn and red onion and a lentil chilli from the freezer with rice. I ate from the freezer today as well but the veg box is due tomorrow so it'll be back to fresh ingredients then.

Despite the heavy rain last night, the roof leak didn't leak. It seems that water is coming in when the wind is from a certain direction so it could be that the rain is being blown in through a vent. I'm sure the builder will be able to advise once he's had a look.

I got all my own washing done today and FDawg's too :rotfl: He has towels and blankets and I had to wash his harness after his walk this morning the lanes were so muddy. Vehicle training continued on his walk this morning and I've also started some new 'door' training. He's started barking and racing around the house if we go out the back door and lunging at delivery men at the front door when they hand over parcels. He lunged at the Postman yesterday and nearly gave him a heart attack :eek: He doesn't go to bite them but there's always the risk. Sooooo - another training session to add to the list. The more bonded to us and more confident he gets the more 'behaviours' emerge. It's an on-going process

Despite a damp and dreary night, today stayed dry. So I did an hour's gardening whilst FDawg was having his afternoon run around. I made surprising progress and think the trick will be to get out there little and often. If the weather allows of course

Tonight I need to take off my New Year's Eve nail varnish - bright pink with gold flakes :rotfl: The flakes keep catching on things and the pink has started chipping so off it comes. The last vestige of the festivities... well except for the glitter :rotfl:

Happy Thursday all

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

Mr F got back from his business trip this morning :j FDawg was pleased to see him because... he's always pleased to seem him And I was pleased to see him because the upstairs radiators needed bleeding and the boiler re-pressurising :rotfl: I watched closely so I can do it myself if necessary in future

Our Annex guests arrived yesterday and seem lovely. I hope they are the first of a steady stream as more house repairs are emerging :eek:

It's been a spendy week already as I paid for this term's yoga classes, got my hair cut and took advantage of the big £dinburgh W0011£n M1ll sale to get a replacement pyjama top for one I've worn out and a new tee shirt. Also took my dead laptop into the local repair shop. The hard drive is not broken and the data is all recoverable :T PCW0r1d really are rubbish. The local guys were a fraction of the cost PCW were going to charge me but I did have to buy a memory stick because none of the ones I had were big enough to carry all the data :eek: I've asked them to look into whether the old laptop can be repaired so I can keep it as a spare in case of any future data disasters :rotfl:

Lunch today was Carrot & Cheddar Soup and supper Root Vegetable & Cheddar Crumble. Lots of lovely veggies in the box this week and I'm going to make the most of them.

Have a great weekend all.

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

I feel as though I'm losing focus so time to take stock:

Financial

• MOPs continue. It's so tempting to pause them when bills come in or it's a tight month but I'm determined to have a full record this year. February's payments go out on the 3rd so I'll be able to update progress then
• the emergency savings are at 75%. Just a small increase for January but I'm happy to have been able to add anything
• we had one Annex booking in January which was a pleasant surprise as we weren't expecting anything. February is traditionally slow as well but we might get something for Valentine's Day. One of my DCs has booked 9 days in March which I've heavily discounted. I only charge family and friends the minimum I would expect to have in bookings otherwise but it's still a confirmed 4 days
• I re-directed January's fun money to cover other things as it was a squeaky month and I've halved the fun money for February too. However, Mr F is away on busines for almost all of February so I'd like to plan some fun for when he is actually at home. I might claw something back if appropriate
• our boiler has started to lose pressure. I think it started after we had it serviced so I'm hoping it's just a valve that's not seated properly rather than a leak somewhere. Anyhoo, the boiler is about 12 years old so I'm preparing myself for worst case scenario.

Emotional

• we have been trying to do more in the garden but the weather is against us. Fingers crossed for this weekend
• adventurising has been a little limited for the same reason. However, we did attend a talk at the library last weekend and took the opportunity to have lunch out and explore the town. There's quite a lot to see for a small place
• we have an invite to attend an anniversary party It's not until September but it will be lovely to go to something which we aren't hosting :rotfl:

Intellectual

• the WI Show Team have met to agree the themes for this year's Show. I will be painting a picture with a tropical theme and making rum :eek: I've made fruit gins and vodkas before but not rum so it will be interesting to see how it turns out
• I'm developing a story I started a couple of years ago. My plan is to take the first 500 words or so to the next Writing Group meeting and then a further 500 words to the next. I'm hoping it will help me to actually finish :rotfl:

Physical

• I've paid for another term of yoga. It's not cheap but I'm considering it an investment in my health. I'm continuing to progress - I'm half way to half lotus now :rotfl:
• our meal plan is currently loaded with fruit and vegetables as I'm trying to increase the volume and diversity of the food we eat. We generally eat healthy meals with lots of different ingredients but I know we can do even better. It costs more of course but, again, an investment in our health.

Environmental

• the Tittervating Pot is up to £131.63. I've a long way to go before I can replace the washing machine and tumble dryer but will continue to chip away
• we bought two pictures whilst adventurising last weekend. One for the house and one for the Annex. Both are by local artists and weren't expensive. I used February's fun money to fund them... even though it was January... ooh, ooh, I'm a rebel just for kicks now :rotfl:

Social

• I am now on the WI Committee and there is talk of us joining an area group
• My first girlie night out of the year is on Thursday
• A couple of other meet ups with friends is in the plan whilst Mr F is absent.

All the month end money shuffling has been done and I've budgeted to end March so I know exactly how much I have to play with... or should I say how little :rotfl:

One twelfth of the year gone already :eek: Well nearly Hope everyone's had a good January.

Fortune x