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

doingitanyway

I'm glad you have finished the fencing.
I know 2022 seems like a long way off, but it isn't really, and you have a good builder worth waiting for.
Your activity levels are impressive!

Fidelia

Great to hear the builder is booked in and your vaccine appointment is not too far away.  It was so windy and rainy here this past week that we had to keep going out and 'battening down the hatches' (sometimes in the middle of the night) on things/places that we'd never had problems with before.  Despite all that we still had quite a lot of dislodged and broken roof tiles  and a poplar tree fell and narrowly missed the summerhouse.  Well, I call it the 'summerhouse' which is what it originally was but it's now just full of junk (stuff that DH thinks will come in handy one day and too potentially useful to throw out!).  The task of getting all that saved and stashed elsewhere would have been a nightmare.

When our youngest daughter was about 6 I asked her what her new teacher was like.  She thought long and hard and then said ''Well, she's very old.  But she's clean''.  I still laugh when I think about it.  Incidentally, the teacher was probably the same age as I was at the time.  No doubt my DD thought I was ancient too. No idea how I rated for cleanliness in her eyes though.

Have a good week, HH.   How many more weeks before DS goes back?  Is this his Finals year?

Sunshine_girl2

Special thoughts today HH to you. Have a lovely day with all your family. 

debtfreeoneday

Randomly read up on the myth of the Hairy Hands this week so made me smile when I saw your name 

beanielou

Nearly the weekend HHD & not long til the Easter holidays 

redofromstart

Smiling at the spring bulbs and thinking of you HHOD.  I cut a bunch of daffodils from the garden today, frugal happiness at its finest,

Fidelia

I hope you're OK, HHoD as it seems ages since your last update.  Just busy I expect.

Lucky you with your daffodils, redo.  I wish ours were ready to cut.  There's not a single flower visible in the garden and we've hundreds of bulbs now after all these years of self-multiplying. Even the buds are still so small and tightly closed it looks like it will be  a while yet.

HairyHandofDartmoor

milann said:

Hairy hairy I’m so pleased you don’t have a time machine as I never ever want to revisit 2020.....it has to be up there as one of my worst ever years. 😲😲 The time will pass quickly to 2022 at least you know it will be done and not a maybe sometime in years to come👍
Your week sounds interesting. It must be difficult for everyone to adjust. I’m just hoping there isn’t a spike in numbers now schools are back and lockdown can precede as planned.
Have a restful weekend- how long until you break up for Easter.

Thanks Milann . I don't want to revisit 2020 either, it hasn't been my worst year ever but it's certainly not been my best year.

jwil said:

Getting the house done will be something to look forward to!

Glad your week improved and well done on the weight loss.  Have a lovely relaxing weekend

Thanks Jwil . Yes it's good to get it booked in anyway.

Nicnak said:

Great that you can get the house things done. I am impatient too and like to book things in. 
We always have a laugh in the staffroom. Not about the children necessarily but just in general about things as it helps when we've had a stressful day x

Thanks Nicnak . A bit of humour does help in a pressurised environment.

foxgloves said:

Lots of really positive stuff there, HHoD..... & we definitely all need positives at the moment, after the year we've had.
F x

Thanks Foxgloves

Sunshine_girl2 said:

Great to hear the house plans are on the calendar for early next year. What a challenging week you had at work , no wonder you fancy a rest this weekend. 

Any sign of DS3 going back to uni ? Enjoy your Mother's Day , I know you will be thinking of your own mum . 

Thanks Sunshine

HairyHandofDartmoor

doingitanyway said:

I'm glad you have finished the fencing.
I know 2022 seems like a long way off, but it isn't really, and you have a good builder worth waiting for.
Your activity levels are impressive!

Thanks DIA . I don't' really notice the steps I do until I get home, it's just a very active job. 

Fidelia said:

Great to hear the builder is booked in and your vaccine appointment is not too far away.  It was so windy and rainy here this past week that we had to keep going out and 'battening down the hatches' (sometimes in the middle of the night) on things/places that we'd never had problems with before.  Despite all that we still had quite a lot of dislodged and broken roof tiles  and a poplar tree fell and narrowly missed the summerhouse.  Well, I call it the 'summerhouse' which is what it originally was but it's now just full of junk (stuff that DH thinks will come in handy one day and too potentially useful to throw out!).  The task of getting all that saved and stashed elsewhere would have been a nightmare.

When our youngest daughter was about 6 I asked her what her new teacher was like.  She thought long and hard and then said ''Well, she's very old.  But she's clean''.  I still laugh when I think about it.  Incidentally, the teacher was probably the same age as I was at the time.  No doubt my DD thought I was ancient too. No idea how I rated for cleanliness in her eyes though.

Have a good week, HH.   How many more weeks before DS goes back?  Is this his Finals year?

Thanks Fidelia . Children do say funny things.

Sunshine_girl2 said:

Special thoughts today HH to you. Have a lovely day with all your family. 

Thanks Sunshine

debtfreeoneday said:

Randomly read up on the myth of the Hairy Hands this week so made me smile when I saw your name 

It's a good legend

beanielou said:

Nearly the weekend HHD & not long til the Easter holidays 

Thanks Beanie

redofromstart said:

Smiling at the spring bulbs and thinking of you HHOD.  I cut a bunch of daffodils from the garden today, frugal happiness at its finest,

Thanks Redo . I do love daffodils as they're such a cheerful flower.

Fidelia said:

I hope you're OK, HHoD as it seems ages since your last update.  Just busy I expect.

Lucky you with your daffodils, redo.  I wish ours were ready to cut.  There's not a single flower visible in the garden and we've hundreds of bulbs now after all these years of self-multiplying. Even the buds are still so small and tightly closed it looks like it will be  a while yet.

Thanks Fidelia . I've just been busy and tired.

HairyHandofDartmoor

I had a good week at school but it's very tiring and busy. Having all the children back gets a bit of getting used to after half a term and two weeks of Educare. I've enjoyed my week and the time goes really quickly, but I'm always exhausted when I get home. The children are settling in again very well and are being assessed to see where catching up needs to be done. One particular year two child appears to have forgotten how to read during lockdown 🙈.

I had my vaccine yesterday after school 🎉🎉🎉😃😃😃. It's quite a process at the big vaccine centres. I was fed in at one end, shuffled from one blue spot on the floor to another, progressed onto yellow spots on the floor, was jabbed, and then spat out at the other end 😀. Apparantly they give 4,500 vaccines a day at the centre I went to. I'd been feeling a bit keyed up for days worrying that something would stop me getting the vaccine at the last minute, because I feel like I've been waiting so long for this moment 😏. Anyway I've finally had it and can start to benefit from the protection it will give me over the new few weeks. I'll feel less anxious about catching the virus at school now 🙂.

I felt fine last night but today I feel a bit achey, headachey and tired. Luckily I have the weekend to recover so I can be well to go back to school on Monday. I'm not going to do much today so I can recover from my vaccine. I've put a wash on and I'm going to ask DH to hang it up for me. Apart from that I'm just going to relax 🙂. 

DS1 had his vaccine on Tuesday due to his Aspergers 🎉and DS2 was contacted by his doctor as he has severe asthma and had his vaccine on Thursday 🎉. It's funny that three of us had the jab this week. So the only unvaccinated person in the house now is DS3, who is the only one without any underlying conditions. I'm really pleased as the more of us are vaccinated, the higher level of protection for DH 😀. It's a bit strange how the vaccinations work because two of my children had vaccinations before I did (albeit only by  a few days) and my cousin who is only 50 is having his vaccine next week, whilst my step brother who is in his forties had his last week (but I think this is due to him needing a gall stones operation). Whereas my sister who is 60 next month was only offered hers yesterday. It varies from health authority to health authority I guess.

It's officially the start of spring today 🎉. I'm very thankful to have got through the winter and hope that the spring will bring more freedom and less virus restrictions. My big daffodils are flowering now and my red tulips have started to flower too 🌷. I haven't really had time or energy to spend time in the garden since we had the new fence, but I'm looking forward to doing some gardening in the Easter holidays, only two weeks to go 😁. I'm enjoying looking out of our windows and NOT being able to see into our neighbours's garden as it's a total junkyard. They've had a fridge freezer, a washing machine and a big pile of kitchen cupboards and assorted junk in their garden for over a year 😡. Now we've got the fence I can't see into their garden any more so the mess doesn't have to offend me .

We've accepted the quote from our builder to re-render/paint our house and we're booked in for next March. It's a long time away but it will give us something to look forward to. We know they're good builders and it's a big and expensive job so it needs to be done right. Their quote was reasonable so it seemed worth going with the builders we know and trust, even with the wait.

I hope everyone in Diarlyland is having a good Saturday 🙂.