Tales from The Shire

Fortune_Smiles

No Sitting

I've heard back from the window company and they haven't queried the amounts.  They think the replacement panes will be ready next week and the fitter able to instal the week after so not too long to wait.

We had Courgette, Feta & Mint Frittata for lunch today using the last large courgette from the veg patch.  Supper was Gnocchi with Mushrooms & Blue Cheese.

I've spent the day tidying and I'm nearly done.  There are about eight paint cans lined up in the dining room along with the three old kitchen blinds and two cushions that were on the sofa upstairs.  All of those need to go to the barn (are you listening Mr F 😆).  The blinds can be thrown now (they're really grotty) but we're going to remove the fittings from each end first.  We have the same blinds in other rooms and, occasionally, the thread goes on the mechanism so it will be good to have some spares.  Mr F has put a blind back up in the dining room but will need to drill some holes before putting up the final blind in the living room (it was previously attached to the windows).

I'd ordered a fabulous pin board from Et$y for my art nook and it came today (it's lovely) but more drilling is required from Mr F to put that up.  Mr F took delivery of a new office chair which his company is providing.  He donated the old one to me for my art nook but it's the most uncomfortable thing I've ever sat on (in fact, it's an affront to even call it a chair 😆) so I've put it straight on the Bay.  It's a well known brand and a style that doesn't come up very often so I'm hoping it will sell.

I ordered some crafting supplies this afternoon for making Christmas presents.  Also some log slices.  Our Federation WI has a Christmas tree at their office and, this year, they've asked each local WI to decorate a log slice to hang on it.  I've been asked to do ours but the log slice they provided is teeny.  Neighbouring WIs have got larger slices so I'm just trading mine up #logsliceenvy.

Did a bit of research and found a suitable Christmas present to buy with our J0hn L£wi£ vouchers.  Still looking to see whether I can make use of any others.

Have a good evening all.

Fortune x

rtandon27

Fortune - what in the world is a log slice? - I feel some English to English translation is necessary!

Fortune_Smiles

rtandon27 said:

Fortune - what in the world is a log slice? - I feel some English to English translation is necessary!

🤣😂🤣 - it's just a slice off the end of a log RT.  I could get Mr F to cut me one if I had a few months to dry it out.  As I haven't I've just bought one from here https://www.hobbycraft.co.uk/small-wooden-slice-15cm/652089-1000

Fortune x

rtandon27

Haha - OK I get that bit (now) - so next question is why does it get hung on a tree & why does it have to be big? LOL

(We don't have this tradition across the pond!)

Fortune_Smiles

It's just their way of representing all the WIs in the County on their Christmas tree.  I'll need to decorate it and decorating a weeny one woud be really tricky.  Particularly as the theme is Strength & Unity - I'll need a bit of space for that one 😆

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

Mini Break

More pottering and tidying yesterday and we're almost there.  Next week should be more 'normal' so I'm hoping to get back in the annex and to do more Christmas cooking.

We had Leek & Potato Soup for lunch made with veg from the patch.  And Sausage Pasta for supper as I had sausages to use up.  There's a second portion left from both so that will do for lunch today and a meal when we get back from our mini break 🥳

We're off to spend the weekend with the Younger Fortunates 😁  FDawg can't come so we're dropping him off at the kennel this morning - I'm going to make sure he has plenty of toys with him.

I've been super organised and bought and wrapped a house warming gift (for DS1's girlfriend) and the first of the Christmas presents as we'll be seeing some of the in-laws whilst we're there.  Plus a contribution to the drinks for the weekend.  It will be lovely to have a little holiday, although scary too as we'll be out tonight in a pub.  I'm taking masks and I expect we'll be able to come home if it's too crowded for us.  I've saved all of November's fun money to meet the costs.

It's going to be so nice to be looked after for a bit - although I am taking my rubber gloves so I can help with the washing up 😆

See you later

Fortune x

themadvix

Have a lovely time!

savingholmes

Have lots of fun. Sounds like you will. 

Cornish_mum

Have a wonderful time CM

Fortune_Smiles

Worth it?

... yes, but.

We had a wonderful weekend away with the Younger Fortunates.  They looked after us really well and we felt quite spoiled.  The financial cost came in a little more than we'd expected but not too over budget.

However, I came away with a souvenir bug which I generously then gave to Mr F.  The whole of last week was a wash out as a result and we're not back on our feet yet.  Of course we started testing as soon as symptoms appeared and all the tests have been negative.  But, we've since heard that the in-laws, who we'd socialised with on the first night, have tested positive 😲  We've been self-isolating just to be on the safe side.  We had talked about the risk of picking up something whilst away and decided it was inevitable.  However, the risk is much lower for us now, having been double-jabbed, and I think we've all got to starting living with the virus if we can as it's not going to disappear anytime soon.  Whatever we have, we've not been too poorly with it and are on the road to recovery for which I'm very grateful.

So there's not much to report really.  We've been eating out of the freezer and convenience foods and doing the bare minimum needed to keep the house clean and tidy.  Mr F managed to get some chores done before he succumbed so the lawn has had a last cut, a fence has been repaired and some roosting pockets for the birds put up amongst the evergreens in the courtyard.

We sold Mr F's old study chair on the Bay and got £150 for it 😲  Triple what I'd expected.  So that has helped to offset some of our mini break costs and bolstered the Christmas fund (which I think I set far too low 🙄)

The Blind Company called to say our kitchen blinds were ready to be fitted last Saturday 🥳  That's very quick I said.  And then they called again to say they'd made a mistake and it wasn't our blinds that were ready 😆  We should have them before Christmas though.  The Window Company have been today to finish the outstanding work.  All of that could be done from the outside so at no risk to the fitter.  I put Young Decorator off though.  He was due to come today to sort out a small area he'd missed but it's not urgent and his wife is pregnant so I didn't want him to chance it.

I have parcels to post but have contacted the recipients to explain and all are happy to wait a bit longer.  I also need a prescription but can manage for a few more days without it.

My energy seems to be returning so I've got a few chores done today but still need to take it easy.  Mr F is a few days behind me so has the worst to come - I'm preparing for a very grumpy husband this week 😷

I am still meal planning around what's left in the veg patch.  We had Marrow, Potato & Sage Soup for lunch with a cheese roll and I'm planning Potato & Salmon Traybake for supper.  It's good to be eating healthily again.

Hope everyone's well

Fortune x