Tales from The Shire

Fortune_Smiles

themadvix said:

Will you freeze your mince pies Fortune? If so, I’ll crack on and get some more made and away today!

Yes MV - all frozen prior to cooking.

Fortune x

savingholmes

Well done on being so organised. Really hope they don't mess with xmas. Need to see DS and wider family.

Fortune_Smiles

DIY

Plumber called back and said the leak was most likely being caused by the 'doughnut' as they can get crushed when the cistern is moved..  He promised to come out and fix it when he was next in the area... on Thursday.  We know about doughnuts because the one in our en-suite cistern failed previously, flooding the kitchen and utility below.  Mr F fixed it that time so he popped out to pick up a replacement and did the job himself today. He also replaced the (very rustic) wood spacer the plumber had put in behind the cistern with a tidier one and cleaned up lots of old silicone the plumber hadn't removed.  He's a star ⭐ I've queried the invoice for the macerator so we'll see what comes of that.

D£nby replied to my email to say that T£$co vouchers are single use and the full amount should be used on one order 😲  However, on this occasion and as a gesture of goodwill, they are sending me a voucher to replace the amount I lost 😁  Thank goodness - I'd have been out of pocket £112 otherwise.

I cleaned the stairs and landing in the annex this morning - an hour and a half's work 🙄  Uncle F had obviously been hanging wet washing/towels over the bannisters as the wood has been damaged - he's the gift that keeps on giving 🙄  Mr F can repair them but we'll leave it until after Christmas as I don't expect anyone will notice plus sanding might be involved and I don't want any more mess in there right now.  This afternoon I cleaned the box room, although I'm not sure how clean it is given that it's getting late early around here 😆  I'll have a look round tomorrow morning when it's light to see what I've missed.

We had leftover Potato, Ham & Cheese Pie for lunch with salad.  Supper was a pasta dish using red onion, cherry tomatoes, chard and mascarpone - basically whatever was in the fridge that needed using up 😆

I put a wash on but didn't get round to doing any ironing as I remembered I needed to do the grocery shop.  It came in within budget if you don't count the couple of bottles of Christmas booze I added which will come out of the Christmas pot.

One thing I forgot to put on my 'list of things achieved' yesterday was the making of Brandied Mincemeat Ice Cream.  Mr F and I have had a spoonful (for quality control purposes you understand) and I'm not sure it's going to make it to Christmas 😂

I've a trip into town tomorrow as I'm having my hair cut.  I'd rather avoid the town at the moment but the hairdressers have been a model of Covid-safe protocol throughout the pandemic so I'm more relaxed about that.  I intend to dash in and dash out though.  That will be my last venture out into the world until after Christmas.

I'm off to bed now.  This Christmas preparation is exhausting 🥱

Fortune x

savingholmes

Sounds like you are working harder - not working - than many of us do working... 

Glad you will get to relax a little at the hairdresser. I'm going this week too.

Cheery_Daff

Very impressed at all your festive preparations Fortune! And at Mr F fixing the bathroom. So pleased you got the T£sc0 vouchers refunded though, what a lot that would have been to lose!

Is there much of the Annexe left to do now??

themadvix

Fortune_Smiles said:

themadvix said:

Will you freeze your mince pies Fortune? If so, I’ll crack on and get some more made and away today!

Yes MV - all frozen prior to cooking.

Fortune x

Ooh, thanks Fortune, I’ll give that a try. Do you then cook from frozen? Sounds like a plan!

Fortune_Smiles

Cheery_Daff said:

Very impressed at all your festive preparations Fortune! And at Mr F fixing the bathroom. So pleased you got the T£sc0 vouchers refunded though, what a lot that would have been to lose!

Is there much of the Annexe left to do now??

Trying to get ahead of myself Cheery as I don't want to spend all my time over Christmas in the kitchen cooking and washing up.  Although everyone helps out, it would be nice if we could spend the time together doing something much more fun.

I've still got the bedroom and bathroom to do in the Annexe - it's just Uncle F left them in such a state they are taking ages to sort out.  I've having to wash absolutely everything.  I'm hoping to get most of it finished this week as then I'll need to sort the house out 🙄

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

savingholmes said:

Sounds like you are working harder - not working - than many of us do working... 

Glad you will get to relax a little at the hairdresser. I'm going this week too.

It's a full time job looking after this place SH 😆

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

themadvix said:

Fortune_Smiles said:

themadvix said:

Will you freeze your mince pies Fortune? If so, I’ll crack on and get some more made and away today!

Yes MV - all frozen prior to cooking.

Fortune x

Ooh, thanks Fortune, I’ll give that a try. Do you then cook from frozen? Sounds like a plan!

Yes - cooked from frozen.  I write the cooking from frozen instructions on the freezer bag so I don't have to look it up each time.

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

Almost there!

I cleaned the bedroom in the Annexe yesterday and the bathroom in there this morning 😁  Just need to have a good vacuum round, wash the floors plus wash and iron the bedding now.  I'm hoping to get at least some of that done this afternoon.  It's such a relief not to have to go in to a disgusting mess any more.  Plus my to do list seems so much shorter.

We had ciabatta rolls with goats cheese and peach chutney for lunch yesterday.  My sister sent me a huge box of posh pickles and jams to go with cheese for Christmas.  There is so much there we won't need it all for Christmas so we thought we'd make a start on it now 😆  It was delicious 😋  Supper was Tomato & Mascarpone Risotto - simple but tasty.  We've just had beans and cheese on toast for lunch today for ease and speed.

The Blind Company have just called to say our blinds are ready 😲  I thought they'd got the wrong customer again but, no, the blinds we'd just ask them to quote for have been produced 😲  They were quite happy to keep them but, Mr F said let's just do it.  So they are coming tomorrow to fit them.  We'd asked them to quote for a blind for the second living room window.  The sun streams through it in the evenings right to where I sit so it can get a bit uncomfortable.  The first window already has a blind so I don't know why the second didn't.  The other is for Mr F's study window.  The one he has in there is a daylight blind but it doesn't keep the glare out.  I've painted it but it just looks shabby now.  So both are needed.  I just hadn't planned to be paying out another £223 just yet 😲 Ho hum.

.... scrap that.  I've just remembered we're self-isolating so have called them back to say can we revisit in the New Year.  Doesn't look like we'll be going anywhere then so I could repurpose the fun money to cover it.

The veg box turned up this morning.  It's the first I've ordered in a long time but we're getting to the end of the veg patch produce now.  Grocery shop is due this afternoon.

Right, back into the Annexe with me.  It would be so good to get it finished.

Fortune x