Tales from The Shire

Fortune_Smiles

Over Excited

Thanks for the well wishes everyone.  Brother-in-law is still in hospital but getting the right treatment now so, hopefully, is on the road to recovery.

Nothing further to report as I wasn't up to doing much yesterday and we continued to eat from the freezer.  I've been out with Mr F to walk FDawg this morning and managed so I'm going to try to have a normal, if slower, day today.

FDawg has started to become over excited on his walks for some reason and is pulling harder and lunging at passing cars, bikes, joggers, the sound of pheasants calling.....    So we're going to have to start another training regime with him.  He was cold this morning so I think I'm going to have to get him a coat and a bandana so that we can put some calming spray on him when we go out.

Right, time to (slowly) get on...

Fortune x

ruby_eskimo

Oh no fortune, hope BIL is doing ok despite everything seemingly out to get him!  Hugs for you and hope you're taking care of yourselves too.

teapot2

Hope BIL continues to improve and that thyeve got to the bottom of everything he needs treatment for.  In my mind I always associate Legionnaires Disease with those water towers on roofs 🤔
Don't suppose FDawg's pulling will be helping your sciatica either unless its not you taking him walks?  Take care and hope it eases soon.

Fortune_Smiles

ruby_eskimo said:

Oh no fortune, hope BIL is doing ok despite everything seemingly out to get him!  Hugs for you and hope you're taking care of yourselves too.

teapot2 said:

Hope BIL continues to improve and that thyeve got to the bottom of everything he needs treatment for.  In my mind I always associate Legionnaires Disease with those water towers on roofs 🤔
Don't suppose FDawg's pulling will be helping your sciatica either unless its not you taking him walks?  Take care and hope it eases soon.

Thank you @ruby_eskimo and @teapot2.  Brother-in-law is making good progress now he's on the right treatment.

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

Doing Stuff

I managed to be quite productive yesterday and feel as though I'm getting back to normal.  Money wise:

• I ordered FDawg a coat, a bandana and some calming spray.  The bandana arrived today and he looks really cute in it 😁
• transferred money to pay the balance of the window costs
• did the on-line shop which came in a little under budget again 😁
• ordered some tins of chocolates for the dustmen and postmen for Christmas.  I'll include a cash tip for them too as they worked all through the pandemic and where would we have been without them this year.

Lunch yesterday and today was Roast Parsnip & Rosemary Soup which we had with bagels and blue cheese spread.  Last night's supper was Creamy Salmon Leek & Potato Traybake.

Happy Tuesday all

Fortune x

greent

Poor B-i-L - hope he is still recovering nicely x

I was recommended some stretching for my sciatica - I want to say it's the pigeon stretch (it's certainly some bird name!) - it stretches out the hip flexors, which I have problems with, which can then trigger my sciatica x

Fortune_Smiles

greent said:

Poor B-i-L - hope he is still recovering nicely x

I was recommended some stretching for my sciatica - I want to say it's the pigeon stretch (it's certainly some bird name!) - it stretches out the hip flexors, which I have problems with, which can then trigger my sciatica x

Thanks @greent.  Brother-in-law has finally strated to make some progress.

I've been looking at pigeon stretch!  Haven't tried it yet but will give it a go next time I do yoga.

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

Plotting & Scheming

I realised yesterday that I am four months away from being able to draw my pensions 😁  I have two DB pensions - one tiny, one reasonable and four small DC pensions.  I have decided to draw the two DB pensions as soon as I can, taking the maximum lump sum.  I would rather have a smaller amount of money now but potentially for longer than wait another ten years for the full amount.  We will keep the lump sums ring-fenced for paying towards the mortgage at some stage (we'll review this once our fixed mortgage term is up) and use the monthly pension amounts to OP.  Drawing the pensions now will give us a safety net and more flexibility for Mr F in terms of work and retirement.  I've requested the paperwork which should arrive sometime over the next couple of months.  The DC pensions I will leave for now as they have suffered a little as a result of the pandemic and could take me over my personal tax allowance.  We will both qualify for state pensions in time so will have a further uplift to our income then.

So very soon I could become a pensioner 😲😂

It's been all about money this last few days as I've also done the monthly shuffle.  We'll make our usual OP and deposit into savings.  Anything left over will go into the Christmas pot.

I've made two purchases.  The first is the artists lamp which I've bought from my personal spending money.  The second is a new duvet.  Ours is very old and very thin and... a bit disgusting if I'm honest.  It's a super-king size so not straightforward to clean.  I've gone for a wool duvet this time as both Mr F and I get a bit hot under the covers (and not in a good way 😆) and wool is supposed to be better for regulating temperature.  The new duvet is two seperate ones which tie together to make a super-king so easier to wash and Mr F can have a lighter weight during the spring when I still need a siberian tog rating 😆  It was much cheaper than the feather and down I usually get but still quite a big purchase.  It will be money well spent if we sleep better under it though 😴

FDawg's coat arrived but is far too big despite following the manufacturer's instructions for measuring.  I called the maufacturer for some advice and have ordered two other sizes to try.  Two of the three will have to be sent back.

The radio broadband man came out today to do a survey.  He says that we can get a very strong signal and he can mount the dish on an existing fitting at the end of the house.  Mr F thinks Christmas has come early 😆  It's a dream of his to have fast broadband 😆

The sciatica has improved so I'm back to cooking.  Today's lunch was Honey-Glazed Parsnip & Potato Tart with sweet potato wedges.

Happy Friday everybody

Fortune x

badmemory

My sciatica has been better the last couple of days.  There has been less moisture in the air & it hasn't been as windy, that is what seems to do it for me.

On the subject of pensions, have you checked that you both are entitled to the full state pension & if not how you can get it?  The rules changed in April 2016 & the current state pension is more than the old basic state pension by about £42 a week.  You will be on a mix of the 2 with not having worked recently you may be able to uprate a bit.  Less than £800 can buy you about £5 a week which is very good value.  Look for a state pension thread on the pension part of this forum & somebody (usually Xylophone) will have posted a link so you can both check.  Nothing like a touch of belt & braces!  By the way, I am jealous.  Your £175 (new state pension) will get uprated by 2.5% in April my £132 (full basic state pension) gets uprated by 2.5% but the rest is only 0.5% (CPI). If only the supermarkets had put up their prices by only 2.5% I'd be laughing.

Fortune_Smiles

badmemory said:

My sciatica has been better the last couple of days.  There has been less moisture in the air & it hasn't been as windy, that is what seems to do it for me.

On the subject of pensions, have you checked that you both are entitled to the full state pension & if not how you can get it?  The rules changed in April 2016 & the current state pension is more than the old basic state pension by about £42 a week.  You will be on a mix of the 2 with not having worked recently you may be able to uprate a bit.  Less than £800 can buy you about £5 a week which is very good value.  Look for a state pension thread on the pension part of this forum & somebody (usually Xylophone) will have posted a link so you can both check.  Nothing like a touch of belt & braces!  By the way, I am jealous.  Your £175 (new state pension) will get uprated by 2.5% in April my £132 (full basic state pension) gets uprated by 2.5% but the rest is only 0.5% (CPI). If only the supermarkets had put up their prices by only 2.5% I'd be laughing.

Hi @badmemory.  Glad to hear your sciatica is improving.  Mine has almost completely gone now thank goodness.

Good point about the state pension.  Mr F is entitled to the full state pension and I am almost there so some opportunity to back pay some NI contributions.

Fortune x