Tales from The Shire

Cheery_Daff

Ooh, sounds like a lovely holiday you've been having Fortune! I know what you mean about spends though - we've been to a cafe five times in the last week 😮😂

beanielou

Happy new hair 

SandyShores

I love a 'no cook' day too, especially if its a 'no spend' day. 

Fortune_Smiles

Cheery_Daff said:

Ooh, sounds like a lovely holiday you've been having Fortune! I know what you mean about spends though - we've been to a cafe five times in the last week 😮😂

We've been trying to book dinner out Cheery but everywhere around here is booked up a couple of weeks in advance.  So we can't spend any more fun money at the moment even if we want to 😆

beanielou said:

Happy new hair 

Thank you Beanie - I'm feeling a lot more human now.

SandyShores said:

I love a 'no cook' day too, especially if its a 'no spend' day. 

Love a double bonus 😁

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

Shock Horror!

You may remember that we had some of our windows replaced last year.  We have a lot of windows and couldn't stretch to replacing all of them at the same time so we replaced the ones that were letting in water and planned to do a few more each year.  Well, Window Man came to give us a quote on Friday... 😲😲😲  The cost has gone up by about 52% 😲😲😲  I've queried the quote but I think it's down to the cost of lumber increasing due to Covid and Brexit and increasing demand as we're all spending more on home improvements because we can't go on holiday.  Apparently there's a world wide shortage of lumber.  Once costs go up they very rarely come back down again so I think we'll have to bite the bullet and raid our emergency savings for the extra.  I was a bit despondent about it all on Friday but I've put my big girl pants on now.  We can stretch to the extra cost and I'll divert any little extras into savings rather than OPs for the moment to help get the emergency fund back on track.  At least all of the unsalvageable windows in the house will be done then and we think we can recover the remainder.

We also have to replace our field gates as they are likely to fall off at any minute.  They are all timber too but one we had ntended to replace with galvanised metal.  I'll have to look into costs pronto.

Typically, after months of searching, I've found the perfect fabric for the dining room curtains.  We decorated the dining room last year and the curtains are the final touch.  I'll do some number crunching.  We intended to put Uncle F's contribution towards home improvements and it looks as though he'll be with us for a little longer.  I might be able to work it.

First world problems of course - we have 'money for the meter' so very fortunate in that respect.  It's just a bit pants when your plans are frustrated.

On the up side, my diet is going well and I have resisted temptation so far - I think I'm up to 7lbs lost.

Mr F went into London for work on Thursday which meant an overnight stay beforehand.  We haven't spent a night apart for over a year so it was very strange waving him off on Wednesday.  I'm hoping this doesn't mark the start of his normal travel commitments as we both love him being at home and it's made us even keener to get him to retirement.  If only things would stop costing money 😆

I sewed lettuce direct into a veg bed yesterday, moved strawberries out of the cold frame and into the butlers sink in the fruit cage and potted up some courgette, butternut squash and artichokes.  I've lots of weeding to do today.  It's stayed sunny here and I've been watering the veg garden and the pots.  It's been so dry I think we'll probably need to water our fruit trees later.  They're doing so well - one of the cherries even has a little blossom.

Meals this week have been:

• Purple Sprouting Broccoli Pad Thai with Cashews & Mint
• Pitta pizzas with lots of veg and chorizo
• Goats cheese on sour dough bruschetta with cherry tomatoes and basil
• Creamy Salmon, Leek & Potato Tray Bake
• Steak & chips (a special treat for Mr F, I had breaded fish)
• Steak/fish finger ciabattas (to use up the second steak in the pack)

Hope you're all enjoying the weekend.


Fortune x

in_need_of_direction

Apparently there’s also a problem sourcing glass but that may be particular to NI.  

Cheery_Daff

Gosh, that's a hefty windows increase!! 😮 Does sound like it's worth doing though. Impressed at you replacing field gates too - you're much more diligent than me. Several of ours have fallen off and we've just left them lying in the field 😂

beanielou

That is a massive increase.

rtandon27

WOW!  Fortune that increase is just incredible - I'm floored!

savingholmes

Excruciating increase. Have you double checked with further quotes?