Tales from The Shire

teapot2

How fab to have a slug eating frog and a friendly one at that .  Can I ask what you use the blackcurrant vinegar for - I made Bramble vinegar last year, just a couple of jars but not used much of it so looking for ideas 🤔

Fortune_Smiles

rtandon27 said:

Gin trumps ironing any day of the week Fortune! I like your priorities

It certainly does rt - although I now have the Mount Everest of ironing piles to get through 😆

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

teapot2 said:

How fab to have a slug eating frog and a friendly one at that .  Can I ask what you use the blackcurrant vinegar for - I made Bramble vinegar last year, just a couple of jars but not used much of it so looking for ideas 🤔

Hi Teapot.  We also found a thrush under the netting in one of the veg beds - he was helping us out with the snails 😁

I use fruit vinegars to make salad dressings but you can use them as cordials or to pour over icecream as well.  You could also substitute for balsamic vinegar in recipes.

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

A Quick Catch Up

Our social lives are opening up again and our days are getting busier.  Recent progress includes:

• the old style field gates came back into stock so we re-ordered the 8ft and 12ft gates we'd had to send back.  The 8ft is fine but the 12ft had a big crack in it so has had to go back again 🙄  At least we know we can get them now
• young decorator is here and has made a start on the guest bedroom and cloak/utility rooms.  He's doing a great job but I've had difficulty getting the wall paint for the bedroom.  It's a very long and boring tale of woe so I won't go into it here but it involved extraordinarily bad customer service from one company and the issue still isn't quite resolved.  The paint is due to arrive with a local company today so I'm hoping young decorator has enough work to keep him going up until then
• mortgage OPs are on target but the emergency fund hasn't really moved this year because we keep spending it 🤭  We are still at our minimum level and, at the beginning of the year, decided to save more.  However, work on the house has become more pressing in the meantime.  We are very tempted to get more decorating done as it is making so much difference to the house.  Young decorator is going to quote us for the hall and landing which is the biggest job and we'll make a decision once we know the cost
• the veg patch is the gift that keeps on giving 😁  We are overwhelmed with courgettes and broad beans and I have been gifting quite a lot.  Also currants which I am madly processing to get into the freezer
• we are spending more of our fun money budget which is great - we definitely need more fun in our lives after the past eighteen months 🥳

Off to make some lunch now... it may involve courgettes 😆

Speak soon

Fortune x

greent

Haha! I know your pain - I'm debating grating up a courgette to sneak it into a sort of chicken supreme for tonight's dinner - and then seeing if I can get away with them as a side as well 😃

Cheery_Daff

Lovely to hear about your house and garden adventures Fortune!😊 So pleased you're getting out and about more, and that your decorating has started! Very exciting. I know what you mean about just wanting to get the jobs done - I suspect I might go the same way once we have a kitchen (although I'm equally likely to go the route of 'I'm never having builders in my house again so we'll see...)

Fortune_Smiles

greent said:

Haha! I know your pain - I'm debating grating up a courgette to sneak it into a sort of chicken supreme for tonight's dinner - and then seeing if I can get away with them as a side as well 😃

Stealth courgettes 😂😂😂

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

Cheery_Daff said:

Lovely to hear about your house and garden adventures Fortune!😊 So pleased you're getting out and about more, and that your decorating has started! Very exciting. I know what you mean about just wanting to get the jobs done - I suspect I might go the same way once we have a kitchen (although I'm equally likely to go the route of 'I'm never having builders in my house again so we'll see...)

Our decorator is great Cheery.  He is tidy, quiet and doing a fab job.  I almost don't know he's in the house which is brilliant as I, too, hate the upheaval of having work done.  We can't do the upstairs rooms ourselves as the ceilings are very high but I'm thinking I'll just get him in to do everything as and when we can afford it.  Worth the spend for the saving in time, energy and hassle.

I would take some time to enjoy your new kitchen, recover your equilibrium and then think about getting the decorators in.

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

Just when I thought it was all going to plan...

...the barn freezer has given up the ghost.  We bought it from a friend and it was never ideal for the garage.  It isn't frost free or designed to be kept in an outbuilding plus the door seal has always been a bit dodgy.  I went to get something from it today and it was a solid block of ice inside 😲  Fortunately I'd been running down the food in there to make way for this season's fruit and veg so we didn't lose anything that can't be replaced by foraging/gardening in the next few months.  However, we will need a new one and the only one which fits the bill in terms of size and function is only available from @rg0$ and I couldn't get any deals on it.  It's not hugely expensive but it's another hit for the emergency fund 🙁

My afternoon's plans have gone out the window too as I now have to clean up the old freezer and see if I can find anyone to come and collect it.  It does work, just needs a new door seal. However, as it's not suitable for what we need anyway I can't see the point in repairing it for us to keep.  Hopefully it will appeal to someone.

Some good news though.  Young decorator does outside work too so can help with the refurbishment of the windows we are keeping.  We were planning to do the work ourselves but it's going to be a bigger job than we expected.

Now, where's the bleach.

Fortune x

beanielou

Yah, young decorator is just what what you need.
Get that hall booked