Tales from The Shire

Fortune_Smiles

Dodged bullet

Well it seems as though we have dodged a bullet.  Family member and partner are due to move back home tomorrow and DS1 has stayed well.   Thank goodness.

As we've got to the end of January (hoorah!), I've revisited my goals:

Wealth - I've sent off all the paperwork for claiming my DB1 & DB2 pensions.  Day to day spending feels under control and I'm making considered decisions on what we spend.

Health - I'm practising yoga regularly and walking FDawg every day.  And I've lost 2lbs.

Happiness - I have two video calls set up this week - one with a writing group and one with a friend.  And I've re-established contact with three old friends.  We are marking weekends by going out for walks, drinking wine, playing board games, getting takeaways and watching films.  A friend has commissioned me to paint some decals for her.

Small steps but all in the right direction.

We are trying out the Sunday roast takeaways from our local pubs and restaurants.  Not every Sunday but it seems a good use of the fun money at the moment - supporting local businesses and giving me a break from cooking.  I'm also thinking about setting up our (large) landing as a craft area for me.  I'll need a desk and some storage which I could buy with some of my pension money and it would give me a dedicated area instead of cluttering up the dining room table each time I want to do something.

We have decided to bubble with Uncle F again.  His mental health has taken a downturn and I think it's because he's feeling isolated.  We've had a chat about how we can all stay safe.  It's a risk but one we'll have to take as he's extremely low.  I've given him details of organisations who can help so will gently encourage him to make contact with them.

Lockdown seems to be going on forever.  I so want to take Uncle F out and about and show him the sights.  I think it would do him the world of good.  But safety first.

Hang on in there everybody.

Fortune x

shangaijimmy

Always looking for the extra positive angle to play on the pensions front. With all those pensions to think about you must be having some enjoyable MSE-style scenarios and permutations fun!!

Fortune_Smiles

shangaijimmy said:

Always looking for the extra positive angle to play on the pensions front. With all those pensions to think about you must be having some enjoyable MSE-style scenarios and permutations fun!!

😆 Yes @shangaijimmy - it's taken a lot of thought to formulate a plan and, of course, things may change and re-thinking be required.  There was the option of consolidating some of the smaller pensions, however, keeping them separate doesn't seem to have made any difference to the end pot and it has given us much more flexibility.  I definitely could lose a few days plotting and scheming and spreadsheeting 😆

Fortune x

beanielou

Keep plodding 

savingholmes

Glad your wider family came through the virus okay. Hope you manage to find a balanced way through. Roll on the vaccine! the writing group and craft area sound positive.

Fortune_Smiles

For the Chop!

The electricity company have arrived today to cut down an area of our hedgerow under some power lines.  They popped round on Monday to have a chat about the work and, as a result, have bought a tracked chipper with them so that they don't have to drive heavy trucks on our very, very soggy bottom field and cause damage 😁  They've also offered to spread the chippings over our vacant badger set to help level up the ground there and fill some holes 😁  What nice chaps.

I did have a very interesting conversation with one of the guys though about why he wasn't going to have the vaccine.  He didn't understand how a vaccine could be safe when it had to be stored at such a low temperature and he didn't want something that cold injected into his arm 😲  He also believes he's escaped the virus so far so doesn't see the importance of getting vaccinated now.  We had a long conversation about that because he has asthma and his wife has cancer 😲  He now thinks he'll have the Oxford vaccine if he's offered it.  I'm counting that as a win.

I shuffled some money yesterday including our savings amounts for the month.  The introductory rate on our easy access saver has now come to an end as has our regular saver.  The regular saver automatically becomes an easy access saver now with a relatively good rate so I'm thinking of keeping a small amount in there for emergencies and transferring everything else into premium bonds.

Meals yesterday were Cauliflower Cheese Soup with buttered baguette for lunch and Halloumi Pasta for supper.

I joined a writing group video call last night which was fab and I've promised to complete a piece of work for them by the next meeting so there's a chance I might actually do some writing in the next fortnight.  Also had a quick phone catch up with Uncle F to make sure he's ok. I'm going to give him a little exercise to do each evening before bed covering some of thing we all do here to keep positive - what things is he grateful for today?, what positive things have happened?, what kindness has he done for himself and for others?.  I think it might help him to get a little more balance in his thinking.  And to practice what I preach - I nominated my sister as a 'Lockdown Hero' with a local attraction and they are going to send her a voucher for a cream team 😁

The electricity chaps are going to let me know when they've finished so I'll have to wait for them until I can do today's yoga.  I noticed on Monday that I could hold my big toe in reclining hand-to-big-toe pose instead of relying on bands.  I love it when I can see some progress.

Happy hump day all!

Fortune x

rtandon27

Fortune_Smiles said:

...We had a long conversation about that because he has asthma and his wife has cancer 😲  He now thinks he'll have the Oxford vaccine if he's offered it.  I'm counting that as a win....

Well done Fortune - hearing that just one more person will have the vaccine gladdens my heart! 💝💝💝

South_coast

Agreed! Well done for persevering!

ruby_eskimo

rtandon27 said:

Fortune_Smiles said:

...We had a long conversation about that because he has asthma and his wife has cancer 😲  He now thinks he'll have the Oxford vaccine if he's offered it.  I'm counting that as a win....

Well done Fortune - hearing that just one more person will have the vaccine gladdens my heart! 💝💝💝

Same here.  Must admit that I had a funny interaction with a nurse when we left the Covid vaccination clinic - she stopped me and asked how much of the needle they'd put in my arm.  When I said I wasn't sure because I wasn't really looking, she said she thought they had to put the whole needle in to make sure it went in properly 😳  Clearly she could see I was shocked by my eyes, and quickly said she was being stupid, but it was just "something she'd heard..."  I asked her what she'd been taught in her training and how does she use needles on the ward and she responded with "Oh yeah" and walked off.  Moral is don't believe everything you read online but assess it against your existing knowledge and experience!

Good luck with the writing Fortune and hopefully Uncle F starts to perk up with the little exercises 🙂

badmemory

Yes well done on having "the word".  It is a worry about how many people get things wrong/misunderstand.  My sister had a test a couple of months ago & landed up telling the person doing it to do it properly!  You can see why they were getting a high proportion of false negatives.  And Ruby who watches the needle go in their arm, that's the last place I was looking.

For those going for their "jabs" soon, pick your location carefully.  Sports City Manchester - 2 hour undistanced nightmare.  Someone I know is terrified that they have now got it from their visit there.  Told she had to use the mask they gave her rather than the MUCH better one she had on & when she tried to explain was told "you're talking chinese to me" (how rude).  She put her own mask on over the top eventually but is worried sick about the time she only had their's on.

Mine at Ramsbottom Civic Centre was an absolute dream.  2 metre distancing throughout & everybody nice to one another.  20 minutes from going in - that's having the jab & sitting for the Pfizer 15 minutes required wait.