Finally Debt Free After 34 Years, But Still Need to Live Frugally

beanielou

Happy news 

teafor2

Hi HHD What a lovely thing for your Dad to do. I'm sure you'll all have a lovely time and it will be good for you to have a change of scene and re-charge your batteries. 

Will you return to school as normal in September unless a new job comes up in the meantime? Having DS at home feels right now that it's the summer hols  Must admit I'm not looking forward to the routine of making packed lunches and early morning get ups again but I'm not thinking about that just yet! xx

Bubblesmum

Somerset is lovely, hooray to a break with your boys x 

foxgloves

I've just caught up with your diary, HHoD & it was lovely reading all your positive news. The holiday will bw fab, I'm sure. I love Somerset. I was actually born there, but moved away as we were a Services family & Dad got a posting. Your garden sounds pretty. It will be nice & peaceful to sit out in it with your sister as I'm sure she will be in need of a change of scene & normality.
Re hydrangeas. I have hydrangea petiolaris. It's the lacecap variety which climbs up walls. It is a useful plant for growing in shady areas. I had to cut ours down hard to remove it from the patio wall ready for the new patio being laid, but it is growing back now & I shall give it plenty of seaweed solution to help it on its way.
Re your powercuts. Yes, we always have a gas cooker & it does always mean we can have a hot drink during a powercut. I like a hob kettle..... in fact, I brought Mum's whistling kettle back with me when we cleared out the house because it reminded me of home!
Enjoy your NT visit. We hope to book one for Sunday. 
F x

Willowtree222

That break sounds lovely and will be so very much deserved. I am sure you will all have a love time. 
I also hope your sister likes the walks you have planned. X

HairyHandofDartmoor

Onebrokelady said:

How exciting booking a holiday, it's nice to be able to get away for a little bit, me and DD2 we're talking about it the other day but I don't think I can really afford it because I've got too many things to do at home, maybe next year 😊
Your garden sounds like it's coming together too, I have a bay tree that used to be in a pot,I made the mistake of planting it in the garden one year and it's now as tall as my house 🙀🙀

elizabethhull said:

HairyHandofDartmoor said:

 My dad has offered to give me £500 to book a short break in a self catering place 😀. Isn't that lovely of him?
We didn't want to go without DS1 as he hasn't had a holiday for years and we asked DS2 to come as we didn't want to leave him out. We were worried we wouldn't find anywhere without adding lots of money to it, so I was getting a bit stressed about it 😩. But we've finally found a three bedroomed house for £734 for four nights. It's in a quiet village in Somerset and has a private garden and country views. So we've booked it! 

My sister is coming to stay with us for four nights at the end of August. She's booked one direct train journey from Edinburgh to minimise contact with people so I hope it will be safe for DH. But as she's lost her husband a few weeks ago I want to see her and she needs her family at this traumatic time. I've been planning some lovely walks we can go on. There's a coastal walk I know she will love. I'm really looking forward to seeing her 🙂.

This is wonderful news - I'm so happy for you. And such a thoughtful gift from your Dad, lovely man !

Thank you both

HairyHandofDartmoor

beanielou said:

Happy news 

teafor2 said:

Hi HHD What a lovely thing for your Dad to do. I'm sure you'll all have a lovely time and it will be good for you to have a change of scene and re-charge your batteries. 

Will you return to school as normal in September unless a new job comes up in the meantime? Having DS at home feels right now that it's the summer hols  Must admit I'm not looking forward to the routine of making packed lunches and early morning get ups again but I'm not thinking about that just yet! xx

I will go back to school in September unless I get head hunted for a new job before then 🤣.

Bubblesmum said:

Somerset is lovely, hooray to a break with your boys x 

foxgloves said:

I've just caught up with your diary, HHoD & it was lovely reading all your positive news. The holiday will bw fab, I'm sure. I love Somerset. I was actually born there, but moved away as we were a Services family & Dad got a posting. Your garden sounds pretty. It will be nice & peaceful to sit out in it with your sister as I'm sure she will be in need of a change of scene & normality.
Re hydrangeas. I have hydrangea petiolaris. It's the lacecap variety which climbs up walls. It is a useful plant for growing in shady areas. I had to cut ours down hard to remove it from the patio wall ready for the new patio being laid, but it is growing back now & I shall give it plenty of seaweed solution to help it on its way.
Re your powercuts. Yes, we always have a gas cooker & it does always mean we can have a hot drink during a powercut. I like a hob kettle..... in fact, I brought Mum's whistling kettle back with me when we cleared out the house because it reminded me of home!
Enjoy your NT visit. We hope to book one for Sunday. 
F x

Nicnak said: 

That break sounds lovely and will be so very much deserved. I am sure you will all have a love time. 
I also hope your sister likes the walks you have planned. X

Thanks all of you 🙂. It's really lovely of my Dad to offer us the money for the holiday and I'm sure it will do us good now we've got over the stress of actually finding somewhere and booking it 🤣.

Sun_Addict

How lovely of your dad to treat you to a holiday. It will do you and your family the world of good and will also be good for your sister to spend some time with you and have a break away from home. Brilliant news 😀

HairyHandofDartmoor

We had a lovely time at the NT place yesterday 🙂. We arrived at the right time so we were allowed in (you only get a half hour time slot to enter, but can then spend as long as you want there). We saw someone getting turned away who obviously hadn't booked. The staff were behind perspex indoors and there was plenty of space to socially distance. We enjoyed walking around the garden and seeing the flowers and plants. They had some beautiful wild flower beds 🌺🌻. We even ventured into the shop which wasn't busy, had a one way system and hand gel by the entrance. We bought a couple of cast iron garden ornaments for our garden there and they look really good. We took our own drinks in our travel mugs. I'm really pleased they've opened their gardens and toilets again as I've really missed going there.

This morning I've had coffee in the garden with DH ☕ and pulled some weeds out of the wall 🌿. I levered off two rotten fence posts with a crow bar (from the long section of wall which isn't topped with a fence yet) which will make weeding easier as the weeds were well established behind the posts and I couldn't get to them. Plus rotting wood is never a good look. I've also emptied the kitchen bins, put a wash on and tidied the kitchen.

I put away DH's tool box and small decorating box that he'd left in the kitchen weeks ago saying he wanted to touch up the skirting boards and door frames. Needless to say he hasn't touched them since 🙄 and I'm fed up with them taking up space in the kitchen , so they've gone into the understairs cupboard now.

DS1 is meeting friends in a park this afternoon so while he's gone I'm going to change and wash his bedding. I also need to iron some tee shirts as I've only got one left to wear. I want to iron some chinos too as I'm down to my last pair of those. It's too hot to garden in the afternoon, so I try to schedule indoor jobs for after lunch. 

It's really good to be able to get so much done now I'm not at work 🙂.

HairyHandofDartmoor

Sun_Addict said:

How lovely of your dad to treat you to a holiday. It will do you and your family the world of good and will also be good for your sister to spend some time with you and have a break away from home. Brilliant news 😀

Thanks SA 🙂. Both things are really positive.