Tales from The Shire

Fortune_Smiles

Progress continues and there has been a little light relief over the past couple of days too

Mr F and I removed the old dishwasher in the Annex, cleaned up the space and fitted the new one. It's been tested and works perfectly It has a half load, light load and quick cycle so will be perfect for a single person. We replaced the shower seal so no more leaks... hopefully, and I washed and dried the not so easy fit valance sheet.

Chores were completed in the house too so the kitchen, the en-suite and my halo is shining brightly.

My light relief was walking the lanes to pick elderflowers yesterday. You have to pick them on a warm day before noon so they don't lose their fragrance to the hot sun and their pollen to the bees. I used them to make cordial and gin The cordial was finished today and the gin can be decanted on Friday :beer:

Tomorrow, I'm going to have a day off-ish. I have some chores to run in town but there is a reading by local authors scheduled and I'd like to attend that, then I'm having my hair done. Mr F is working from home so there'll be no pressure to get back quickly. I might treat myself to lunch out too. It will be nice to kick back a little.

Can't believe it's Wednesday already - hope you've had a good one

Fortune x

wishingthemortgaheaway

What lovely plans for tomorrow Fortune, I think a little treaty lunch would be wonderful.

Greying_Pilgrim

oooh, I'm with the concensus of opinion, Fortune - give ya'self a treat!


Isn't it with you that I've had discussions about bees before - I'm sure you're pretty spiffy at painting them???


I was thinking of you today. We went out for lunch at our local(ish) adult education training centre, and went for a wander through their gardens. I saw at least one, but I think it was 2 (or 1 very industrious bee!) HUGE red-tailed bumble bees. I mean, think 'Queen' bumble bee size, but surely it is the wrong time of year to see them? Or do we just breed 'em big in Greying County????? It was really something to behold, I managed to get a picture, but you can't gauge the scale. It was one of those 'had to be seen to be believed' moments. There were other types of bumbles about - and they were all MUCH smaller.



Glad to hear you are winning the battle against the 'black hole'


Greying X

Moneyfordreams

sounds like you have moved to a lovely place, and you have embraced life there future goals

beanielou

Enjoy your day

Fortune_Smiles

wishingthemortgaheaway wrote: »

What lovely plans for tomorrow Fortune, I think a little treaty lunch would be wonderful.

I didn't quite manage the lunch Wish but I did swing past M&S on the way home and picked up some treaty bits for after supper

Moneyfordreams wrote: »

sounds like you have moved to a lovely place, and you have embraced life there future goals

It is a beautiful County Money and I love it more every day.

beanielou wrote: »

Enjoy your day

Thank you Beanie. I had a lovely break from cleaning :rotfl:

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

Greying_Pilgrim wrote: »

oooh, I'm with the concensus of opinion, Fortune - give ya'self a treat!

Isn't it with you that I've had discussions about bees before - I'm sure you're pretty spiffy at painting them???

I was thinking of you today. We went out for lunch at our local(ish) adult education training centre, and went for a wander through their gardens. I saw at least one, but I think it was 2 (or 1 very industrious bee!) HUGE red-tailed bumble bees. I mean, think 'Queen' bumble bee size, but surely it is the wrong time of year to see them? Or do we just breed 'em big in Greying County????? It was really something to behold, I managed to get a picture, but you can't gauge the scale. It was one of those 'had to be seen to be believed' moments. There were other types of bumbles about - and they were all MUCH smaller.

Glad to hear you are winning the battle against the 'black hole'


Greying X

You are quite right Greying - I am the bee painter In fact, my painting all started with bees.

A friend of mine has a nest of bumbles in her shed at the moment so I think it is the right time for them. I know I've painted a Red Tailed Bumblebee at some point. It is the females that are the big ones. The males are smaller.

I had thousands of tiny bumbles recently. They were coming in to pollinate the raspberries. I think they've done a great job as there seems to be a lot of fruit developing.

Love bees.

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

Normal life is returning :T so I thought it would be a good time to return to my 2018 goals:

Make and Save Pennies

• make mortgage overpayments. £592.38 op'd so far
• generate income from annex. Tenant friend moves in on Wednesday. I'm going to use the first month's rent to meet the set up costs then anything after to op.
• bolster emergency fund. We're at at 61% of plan and haven't saved anything further as we've made several opportunistic purchases over the last couple of months. Most things were on our list to look out for but a couple weren't. A door fly curtain for the back door for example. A surprisingly expensive buy as it had to be weather proof but an absolute necessity :eek:
• finish Help to Buy ISA contributions. Done and dusted in March
• complete outbuilding renovation. We haven't been able to get a response from the ground works guy who originally quoted but have a recommendation for someone else.
• furnish our new home. Several items have been picked up on our travels including some beautiful garden furniture. We got it at a good price because it needed some work but Mr F has renovated it and it looks fabulous. There was even a little table and two chairs included which are perfect for the annex.

Stay Well

• eat less move more. I'm walking FDawg at least once a day and, although I am sick to death of cleaning, it has helped to keep my step count high.
• have a few treats and things to look forward to. Now I am back to full energy and will have a little more time, I've started to book in social events again.
• see friends and family regularly. We have 3 visitor weekends planned.

Have Fun

• explore the area. We'll probably use our visitor weekends as a good excuse to explore.
• find out what's on. I've subscribed to more Fac£b00k pages and mailing lists.
• have a plan for the weekends Mr F is home. We're going to try to keep one day free for DIY, gardening, etc and one day for going out.

I'm determined to enjoy at least some of this year's Summer. We seemed to lose last years in the move.

There are only a couple of small, immediate repairs outstanding in the annex now for Mr F to do and I only have the kitchen floor to clean before we're done :j I'll flick a duster over the day before tenant friend arrives and then my time is my own again :j:j:j

But if you think I've had a break from cleaning, think again :rotfl: The boys are visiting for Fathers' Day. They were supposed to be coming just for the day but have now decided they'd like to stay Saturday night. So I've cleaned the two guest rooms and the bathroom today in preparation for their arrival :eek: It will be nice to have visitors though. We'll have a nice family supper on the Saturday night and then they and the dog will go off to a local country show for the day on Sunday leaving me to do..... nothing, nil, nada :rotfl: Bliss.

It's Friday people - enjoy!

Fortune x

beanielou

Have a fantastic weekend

greent

Fab progress so far in 2018, Fortune! :T

Hope you've enjoyed your day of doing nothing

x