Tales from The Shire

Fortune_Smiles

Eat Up!

The last of the naughty leftovers were used up yesterday and we are finally back to healthy eating 😋 

• breakfast was Mixed Fruit & Nut Granola with greek yoghurt and Plum Compote (made with plums from the veg patch)
• lunch was Runner Bean Soup (made from my raffle prize produce) with a cheese roll
• supper was Lentil & Parmesan Marrow Boats (made with marrow and chard from the veg patch and basil from my window sill).

I'm feeling very virtuous (and full) now 😇

Electrician cried off as he was asked to check the electrics at a venue in our market town ready for a visit from the Queen 😮  I think she takes precedence 😁 Plumber did turn up though and we do need a new macerator.  He's going to book us in for a couple of weeks time and estimates the cost around £400 😲  I have a little collection of Bay items to see so am hoping to offset a little of that cost.

Happy Hump Day all

Fortune x

Cheery_Daff

I would be feeling virtuous too Fortune! 😁

Shame about the electrician, most displeased that you were put off in favour of the Queen! 😮

savingholmes

Well done on the eating plan. Ouch to the forthcoming plumbing bill!!

Fortune_Smiles

Cheery_Daff said:

I would be feeling virtuous too Fortune! 😁

Shame about the electrician, most displeased that you were put off in favour of the Queen! 😮

He's re-booked for Tuesday Cheery.  I was prepared to take the hit for Queenie 😂  The only urgency for the electrician is that our extractor fan switch in the en-suite is broken so we're showering with the window open.  That's fine at the moment (we'd have the window open anyway), however, it's going to get colder sooner or later.

savingholmes said:

Well done on the eating plan. Ouch to the forthcoming plumbing bill!!

Thanks SH.  I'm fine with eating healthily at home, it's when I'm out and about I struggle.  Too much temptation 👿

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

Lazy Sunday

A weekend with no agenda - how lovely.  And needed as I'm still recovering from the Younger Fortunates' visit 😊

I have been out in the world a bit this week:

• Thursday I had a dentist appointment.  Just a check up but I haven't been in since before the pandemic started so was a bit worried about what they might find.  I have a tiny cavity where an existing filling has chipped but there's no decay and they're happy to leave it for now.  My retainer may need refixing soon too.  But for now I got away with £35
• Friday I met up with my Writing Group to agree future meetings.  We are all happy to meet inside going forward and will stick with our previous time and venue.  However, another group has nabbed our usual Tuesdays so we're going to try Mondays instead.  Not ideal for me as I have other meetings on Mondays so I'll have to wriggle some stuff around.  Our Chair bought cakes for us to share 😁 so costs were £2 for parking and £3 for a peppermint tea
• whilst I was in town I popped into the book shop and spent a voucher.  Also swung by M&$ to spend another voucher (both were earned through surveys) on grocery list items - the bill came in just over so £1.65 spent.  I got a key cut too as, when we had the windows repaired at the front of the house we realised we were missing a spare patio door key - £8.95
• Mr F and I went to fill up with car fuel, not because we were spooked by the news, but because we were both on empty.  There were small queues but not too long a wait.  Mr F had taken a petrol can with him as we were also out of fuel for the garden tools.  He did get some funny looks 😲

Meals have been:

• Speedy Sausage Stroganoff to use up some open cream.  I doubled up on the paprika and it was delicious 😋
• Creamy Salmon, Leek & Potato Traybake to use up cream, sulky leeks and some of the many, many potatoes we've harvested.  Each plant has produced about 2.5kg 😲  They were only from a sack that Uncle F gave us and very sulky when we put them in.  Wish I knew what variety they were 🙄
• and we've just been having sandwich lunches.

Other MS news:

• the grocery shop came in under budget despite stocking up on some freezer items
• the fridge and veg patch are still full of veggies so that should help to keep the grocery costs down this week
• I've listed four Bay items and intend to do some more today
• I know how many are coming, and when, for Christmas now so have started meal planning.  We have rhubarb in the veg patch which needs using up so I'll be making rhubarb sauce for a fool plus a courgette based soup as we are still harvesting courgettes.  The fridge is full of them 😆
• we have booked a date to have afternoon tea in Portmeirion using a voucher Mr F got me for Christmas
• and we have been invited to stay with the Younger Fortunates for a weekend in November.  Both trips now possible because I've found a lovely, kennel for FDawg and they can take him on the dates 🙂

Uncle F was supposed to have cleared the annex by this weekend but he has a work commitment so we've extended to next weekend.  However, in his last call, he hinted at another work commitment for next weekend.  I've said no as he could fill every day with work at the moment and I don't want things dragging on.  It's important for us to get settled too.

Right, time to start... well nothing really.  I'm planning an indulgent day.

Hope you all can relax too.

Fortune x

savingholmes

Glad things are settling down for you. Good to maintain boundaries too with uncle F.

Fortune_Smiles

Soggy

Well it's a very soggy day here in the Shire.  Fortunately, we've only had to go out to walk FDawg so can snuggle up at home.  I've even put the heating on 😲 An extra jumper just wasn't cutting it 😲  I've ordered more heating oil so, once that arrives, we should have enough to see us through the winter.

We had the electrician here on Tuesday.  He replaced three extractor fans for quieter, more efficient ones and repaired the broken fan switch in our en-suite.  I'm very happy about that as I didn't fancy having to shower with the window wide open at the moment 🥶  Electrician is a neighbour so he charged us half price for labour 😁  Cost have come from the home improvement budget.

All the paint for the decorating has arrived and decorator is due to start on Wednesday.  He'll be around for a couple of weeks.  I've asked him to work through the rooms in order of most to least disruption so things will get easier as he does along.  I'll re-route our mortgage OPs for the next couple of months to cover the costs.

I've been trying to get the builder round to sort out the dodgy patio job they did with no luck.  I'll give him one more call and then start putting things in writing.  Really hoping I don't have to get all formal about it.

Meals have been:

• Spring Vegetable Soup with Basil Pesto - to use up 2 sulky leeks, the last of the green beans from the veg patch and one of our stash of courgettes
• Baked Potatoes with prawn mayonnaise (me) and yakitori chicken skewers (for Mr F).  The chicken skewers were part of an earlier M&$ yellow sticker haul I'd frozen and the potatoes were from the veg patch.  We had them with salad also made with lettuce from the veg patch.  I'm trying to use up everything that's out there before the first frosts come... won't be long 😲
• Cheeseboard & Onion Tart with salad - we had some odd bits of cheese left over from the Younger Fortunates' visit.
• Smoked Haddock with Buttered Spinach & Mustard Sauce - to use up spinach from the veg patch.  I remembered, once I'd started eating, that I don't like this sauce much.  It would be much better made with mascarpone instead of creme fraiche but I had an open creme fraiche to use up.  I never use half-fat creme fraiche in cooking as you need the fat to stop the sauce from splitting.

I harvested the last of the rhubarb and made a rhubarb and orange compote with it.  My plan was to freeze it for making into a fool over Christmas.  The compote didn't turn out tangy enough for that though so I'll keep it for eating with granola and yoghurt for breakfast one of the days.  I'll use some of our frozen redcurrants for the fool instead.  I included the makings of mince pies in my grocery shop this week so might start baking those at the weekend.  Also ordered a bird and a pudding from M&$ when they opened up their Christmas collection slots on Wednesday.  I have my usual Christmas budget so am meeting costs from that.

Hope it's not too soggy your end ☔

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

Gallivanting

I was out for most of the day yesterday gallivanting 😁

• met up with a friend for coffee and had a lovely catch up (personal spends)
• met up with a colleague for lunch and a chat about our new Christmas products (personal spends)
• went for a routine blood test
• saw a man begging on the street.  We rarely see any homeless people in our market town and the Police advice here is that they are not genuine and have accommodation and access to benefits. But I couldn't just walk past, especially when I was out spending money on luxuries.  So I bought him some lunch and stopped for a chat.  It turned out he did have somewhere to stay and probably had a drug issue but, whatever brought him to this point, whether it was circumstances or his own decisions, it cost me very little to make things just a tiny bit easier for him and at least he got to eat today.  The forecast increases in food, fuel, NI and council tax costs are going to make life harder for a lot of people
• got a key cut for an antique bureau.  Mr F and Uncle F each inherited an identical bureau from their parents.  There is one key between them and Uncle F got the bureau with the key.  As Uncle F is due to leave today I borrowed the key to get another cut.  I tried Timp$on$ but they weren't able to help so I popped into a little independent shop.  The proprietor was a tiny, bent, old lady and she spent ages drilling out a blank to get it to fit.  She didn't charge me anything but sent me home with the key to see if it would work first.  It does - perfectly 😁  I have sent her a note to thank her and will pop in next week to settle up.  I'll definately be going to that shop for any future key needs.
• couldn't resist going into M&$ and picking up a pizza tea (fun money).

We ate our very unhealthy pizza tea with a bottle of red whilst watching My F@ir L@dy 😁

ERNIE was kind to us this month - £75 winnings 😁

We have no plans for the weekend other than getting some chores done and helping Uncle F with his move.  So no spends forecast.

Have a great weekend folks

Fortune x

SandyShores

Red wine and pizza - sounds lovely Fortune.  I will be doing that soonish with MrShores.  And congratulations on the winnings.  It was the first draw we had our emergency fund invested this month so wasn't surprised to not win anything, but was impressed to see someone had invested only £850 last August and won £10k.  

Enjoy your weekend x

savingholmes

Hope you get your patio sorted. Sounds like you are really sprucing up your home. Well done on the winnings. Have a lovely weekend.