Tales from The Shire

Fortune_Smiles

Karmacat wrote: »

Oh how lovely! I went out on a council run healthy walk this morning, and the lady by me had the only dog there, a rescue greyhound, which was utterly adorable.

Glad you enjoyed the walk Karma. Greyhounds are so sweet.

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

...and dried up all the rain. Well some of it at least :rotfl:

A few days without torrential rain and the bottom field is already looking much better. We still have the rams in the top field and they have really contributed to the mud there although it is generally a drier area. Can't wait until they're gone and I can arrange for FDawg to have some play dates.

Our outbuilding now has a roof and four walls :T So I think it's just the guttering and doors left to be done. I'll check with Boss Builder today and find out when they are likely to be finished. He's warned me that some things are likely to come in over his estimated but he's also looking at ways of reducing the cost of other things so I'm hoping we can get the books to balance.

Really, really looking forward to having the place to ourselves now.

MS efforts:

Make and Save Pennies

• came in under budget for this week's grocery shop and saved on the boiler service budget too so I'll offset the savings against the unexpected pet care costs

Stay Well & Have Fun

I'm finding it hard to separate these categories as I think a lot of things fall into both so I've just combined them.

• I'm walking FDawg twice a day now as Mr F is away this week
• this week's WI meeting involved learning to hula hoop I now can feel tummy muscles I didn't know I had :rotfl: No parking costs this time but £4 spent on a glass of red wine and £1 for a raffle ticket (met from personal spends)
• went to a new writing group last night. £2.00 for parking and £3.20 spent on a glass of red wine (met from personal spends)

If I can find some free parking I'll have more money to spend on wine :rotfl:

What a social butterfly I am - out twice this week already :rotfl: I've also got a dog training session on Thursday evening too - for me this time rather than FDawg :rotfl: There is so much to do here considering it's a small place. Good job really as Mr F is due to be away for work a lot of this year so I need to keep myself occupied.

Hope you're having a great week folks.

Fortune x

doingitanyway

The hula hooping sounds fun

Karmacat

Fortune_Smiles wrote: »

Our outbuilding now has a roof and four walls :T

Brilliant - you don't need much more, do you

Stay Well & Have Fun

I'm finding it hard to separate these categories as I think a lot of things fall into both so I've just combined them.

I think you're dead right, they *do* go together. As per hula hooping, as you say

went to a new writing group last night. £2.00 for parking and £3.20 spent on a glass of red wine (met from personal spends)
If I can find some free parking I'll have more money to spend on wine :rotfl:

Ooh! How did it go? Did you get the sense that it will be good?

Fortune_Smiles

doingitanyway wrote: »

The hula hooping sounds fun

It was fun DIA and required a surprising amount of energy :rotfl:

Karmacat wrote: »

Brilliant - you don't need much more, do you


I think you're dead right, they *do* go together. As per hula hooping, as you say


Ooh! How did it go? Did you get the sense that it will be good?

There were some interesting characters there Karma and I heard some great writing. I think this group are a little more cliquey than my other group but I've only been for this one visit so I'll reserve judgement.

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

Things have not gone entirely to plan today - water started gushing out of the bottom of my electric shower unit :eek:

Fortunately, the company I used for the boiler service this week also do plumbing and were able to send someone out to me. Not until 4 o'clock though :eek: The builders have had to do without tea all day and FDawg had a cold shower after his late walk.

The plumbers were great though. They discovered that the shower had been wired wrongly with the live going to the neutral connection :eek: and a part had cracked. They checked the main bathroom shower for me and that one was wired properly thank goodness. A new shower is now required to replace the broken one and I've asked them to replace the silicone in both shower trays and fit a mixer shower tap to the bath as it will be cheaper to have these small jobs done at the same time. It's going to be expensive but at least I have some emergency savings even if it is a smaller amount that I'd like. It'll be even smaller now

The builders have started to fix finishing pieces and guttering and will probably have done all they can do at this point by the end of this week :T So all the machinery and rubbish could be cleared by the weekend :T We then have about a three week wait while the doors are being made.

I bumped into the Farmer today and we had a chat. I dropped some hints about moving the sheep out so we'll see what happens over the next few days.

The grocery shop arrived and one egg in a tray of six was broken so they are going to refund me the cost which means five free eggs :T

I managed to push the hoover around today but, with all the shower drama, I've done very little else.

In fact, I'm shattered so it'll be an early night tonight. FDawg woke me once last night. He's probably unsettled because Mr F is away and I went out for the evening too. I have started to 'counter-condition' him for blackbird alarm calls as these seem to set off his barking.

I hope tomorrow is a little less manic.

Happy hump day all

Fortune x

Karmacat

What a day! Hope you get some relaxing time and plenty of sleep tonight

beanielou

Karmacat wrote: »

What a day! Hope you get some relaxing time and plenty of sleep tonight

Ditto from me

Fortune_Smiles

In light of the shower drama, I have budgeted ahead to the end of March when our finances are due to improve. Everything is doable with a little juggling

The builders haven't quite finished so are coming back tomorrow I hope for the last time... well until the doors arrive.

I have a quote from the plumbers for the bath taps and one shower replacement. I've asked them to quote for the second shower as well as, having had to use it for the last few days, I think that's on it's last legs too

I've ordered more heating oil. The price has come down quite a bit but not as much as I'd like. However, I'm not used to the tank yet and don't want to risk running out. The forecast is for another bout of cold weather and snow so the price could start going up again anyway. I'll keep an eye on the prices going forward and fill the tank up when I can get a good price.

I bought a telephone table on the Bay. I've been looking out for one as there's a perfect spot in the guestroom for it as a bedside/dressing table. £20 - met from my personal spends as I don't want a non-essential spend to upset the budget. It's a project so I'll need to get my chalk paint out

We had a day out today and took FDawg for a walk around a local nature reserve. There were more people and dogs around than we'd expected so it was quite a challenge for him. He did ok but was desperate to get into the house when we got home and, once inside, spent the next half hour with an enormous smile on his face. Nice to know he feels safe here now I expect we'll have some barking for the next few nights though as his stress levels are likely to be high now.

Time seems to be racing by at the moment and I'm losing track of where I am with everything. A new To Do List is on the cards I think.

Happy weekend all

Fortune x

beanielou

All sounding good