Tales from The Shire

Fortune_Smiles

beanielou wrote: »

Have a fantastic weekend

greent wrote: »

Fab progress so far in 2018, Fortune! :T

Hope you've enjoyed your day of doing nothing

x

Thank you both.

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

The Annex is finished and tenant friend moves in tomorrow :j I'm going over in the morning to help her transfer her stuff.

Such a relief to lose the extra workload. Although I'm really pleased with the result and can see what an asset we have now. I'm really looking forward to having some company too. Particularly when Mr F is away.

I'm nearly on top of the housework. Having guests at the weekend forced the issue really. Still loads of ironing to be done and the garden is getting out of hand again But.... I have more time now

I spent a little of my extra time at a Creative Writing Workshop this afternoon. It was £10 for a couple of hours and, although I enjoyed chatting with other writers, there wasn't much structure to it and I didn't learn anything new so probably won't do another one. It was a better option than house cleaning though :rotfl:

Mr F is on his way home from a business trip and is expected back very late. I might have a little snooze on the sofa while I'm waiting for him

Nighty night

Fortune x

beanielou

So glad all is now finished
Enjoy your lovely tennant.
Extra money & a friend too :j :j

Fortune_Smiles

A whole week since I last posted and I'm not sure where to start - it feels like we've accomplished so much in those seven days.

Tenant friend seems to be settling in well and we are finding our way around each other. I made a welcome dinner for her and her boyfriend on the day she moved in. Boyfriend is a builder and to say thank you he has lowered three drain covers in our drive which were unaccountably high and a bit of a parking hazard :T I did press him to take some money for the work but he refused and wouldn't budge. So that's money from our ground works budget that won't have to be paid out Although I might be able to persuade them to come out to dinner on us. What a great guy. He may be able to help with the other things we need doing as well - although I'm insisting he quotes his usual rates for those

I'm gradually getting up to speed on the housework. Although there is still a rather large pile (or three) of ironing to get through :eek:

The garden is looking much better though. Mr F and I spent much of the weekend getting it in shape. A trip to the local garden centre revealed that the voucher my neighbours gave me months ago for looking after their cats was worth £30 :eek: Much too much for so little a favour. We used it to buy some solar lanterns and a little bird house which have been on our 'Wouldn't it be nice if' list for a while. I also bought some sweetcorn plants and a butternut squash for the veg patch. And I now have three beds cleared and planted :T

Mr F and I took advantage of our first weekend without hugely pressing chores to complete to get some R&R. We tried a new pub for dinner on Saturday to celebrate our wedding anniversary and then had a cheap and cheerful Sunday lunch out at the local garden centre. Costs were met from the fun money budget.

I confess that savings and OPs have taken a back seat the last couple of months. We do feel a lot further forward with our house and garden plans but that's been at the expense of other financial goals. It's time to get some balance back I think.

I hope you're all enjoying the weather. Isn't it glorious! I can even forgive the naughty little horsefly that's taken a bite out of my chest :eek:

Here's to cloudless skies and happy hours :beer:

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

I took the day off today and went out for lunch with a friend. We went to a lovely little venue and sat outside eating salad and enjoying the sunshine and the glorious views. I am feeling very virtuous as a consequence of the salad but must confess I would have said yes to an ice cream if we hadn't run out of time :rotfl: £7.50 to be met from personal spends.

I'm planning a lazy evening too. The grocery shop is arriving sometime tonight but, apart from that, all I have on my to do list is getting some quotes for house insurance. My current insurer has just given me a renewal quote of £951.80 :eek: which is over double what I paid last year :eek: Think I will be visiting that opera-singing, moustached gentleman this evening :rotfl:

Fortune x

therocket_2

£951?!?!?! Crikes! I shudder at anything over £300 for mine!

Still love reading your diary updates - gives me the opportunity to dream of a characterful country pad I'd love to own! It sounds lovely. And F-Dawg's adventures of course haha!

Plus, the financial side of things is inspiring too! Keep up the good work!

Karmacat

Agreeing with therocket, life is sounding good right now, Fortune, I love the sound of what you're doing - I'm really glad things are going so well for you now after all that lurgy

Fortune_Smiles

therocket wrote: »

£951?!?!?! Crikes! I shudder at anything over £300 for mine!

Still love reading your diary updates - gives me the opportunity to dream of a characterful country pad I'd love to own! It sounds lovely. And F-Dawg's adventures of course haha!

Plus, the financial side of things is inspiring too! Keep up the good work!

I'm shuddering too Rocket :rotfl: We have the annex and barn which makes things a little more expensive but £951 :eek: That's ridiculous.

Every day I love the house a little bit more. We have a white climbing rose over the front porch and it's full of flowers at the moment. You can smell them from all over the front garden.

Karmacat wrote: »

Agreeing with therocket, life is sounding good right now, Fortune, I love the sound of what you're doing - I'm really glad things are going so well for you now after all that lurgy

We've finally got the stage where we can relax a little Karma. It's only taken a year (ish) :rotfl:

We need to get our focus back on the finances now though.

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

Mr F and I decided we'd have a night out last night. About 5.30 pm I went up to have a shower and, as I glanced out of the bedroom window, saw 15 friesian cows in our bottom field. They were running and skipping and kicking their heels and having a thoroughly good time. We assumed they had escaped from the field next door and Mr F managed to drive 11 of them through the connecting gate. The remaining 4 had other ideas and thought it a great game to pretend they were on their way through the gate before turning around and racing in the opposite direction. I watched and applauded Mr F's efforts from the bedroom window (and laughed a little) whilst trying to get hold of the farmer on the telephone.

After about half an hour a car turned up on the drive. Oh good I thought, it's the farmer come to fetch his cows. But the car turned around and looked as though it was about to leave. I raced downstairs in my red, tartan dressing gown and managed to catch the driver's attention. "Can I help you?" I said. "Have you seen any black and white cows?" he said.

The cows did not belong in the neighbouring field at all. All but one of the herd had escaped from their pen and walked the lanes for 5 miles before arriving at our gate. Seeing that it was open, they must have casually walked down our drive and past our house to get to the field. We didn't hear a thing.

Mr F and I spent the next hour helping Farmer Will to retrieve the cattle from next door's field and corral them in the holding pen at the start of the lane. What a sight I must have made running around the field in my tartan dressing gown and flip flops :rotfl: The cows weren't here this morning so we have to assume they were collected and taken home. Unless they have gone off on another adventure

Two mysteries remain. Why did a single cow choose to remain in her pen rather than joining the herd on their rambles? And how many little black and white calves will we see in nine months time? You see, when we drove 11 of the cows into next door's field we didn't stop to think that the stray cows were heifers and the cows next door were bullocks :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

Aside from the cows, we have had a another normal weekend - a little work and a little play.

We spent the morning discussing whether we should change one of the trucks for a car we'd seen in a local garage and doing the necessary research. It would make sense, however, Mr F went down to have a second look at the car and it has a lot of corrosion underneath which we hadn't noticed before. So, unless the garage is prepared to rectify that (unlikely), it's a no go.

After lunch (Courgette & Ricotta Tart) we did a little gardening and then, despite the unexpected delay, managed to get into the market town for a late supper and some live music. Much fun was had people watching I haven't added up the costs yet but I think it will be about £45 which will be met from the fun money budget.

I was very proud of FDawg today on two counts. We got a crate for him when he first arrived as this seemed to help him feel safer and more settled overnight and when left alone. We've been experimenting recently with leaving him have the run of the house when we are out and, last night, we left the door open for him all night. I expected to come down this morning to find he had worked out how to open his treat box :rotfl: But no, he had been very well behaved He was also the best behaved dog in the pack this morning. We bumped into a group of four of FDawg's friends on our walk and when a cat was spotted, the four dogs raced after it and wouldn't be recalled. FDawg didn't run off but looked back at me to see what he should do and came back to me when called :rotfl: What a good boy he is :A

Today I intend to start the second painting I have promised for the WI. Really looking forward to getting my bushes out again.

It's another glorious day today The farmers are desperate for rain though as there's no grazing left. And the locals are all complaining about the cow poop on the lanes :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Enjoy your Sunday peeps

Fortune x