"Isn't it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it."

greenbee

Turns out I hadn't missed the garden waste collection, but by the time I realised, it was too late!

A couple of loads of laundry have been done and are on the heated airer. One lot of dog towels is done and in the TD on delay. The dog bed is in the WM on delay. And I have a plan to get all the laundry done tomorrow during the cheap electricity period. Now I need to set the battery, immersion, and electric heating (and plug in some electric radiators, as their sockets have been used for fairy lights). 

Trying to stay up in case of fireworks disturbing the animals, but they don't seem keen on the late night, so I think I might have a bath, stick some music on, and come back down again later. 

KajiKita

Hope the animals had a nice calm night and you all got some sleep. 

Happy New Year 🥳 

KK

greenbee

Happy New Year

A few fireworks at midnight, but the radio seemed to do the trick and apart from a couple of anxious glances at the window from not-Fatty, it was all OK. Stripey cat even let us have a lie-in until 6.30!

It was 3C but 'feels like -7C' when we all went outside to empty the dog. Back to bed for a bit, then up to feed them and empty the dryer, then back to bed until the WM was done. Bit headachy (stress/exhaustion rather than a hangover). So need to shift the headache, roast lots of veg for meals for the week and get additional stuff out of the freezer (needs running down during Jan). Dog needs a walk, and the front and back bedrooms need finishing off and getting ready for visitors next weekend. I also need to think about what we're going to do over the weekend and consider whether to meet up with some local friends as well. 

It has made me realise that I most of my local friends are older than me - so maybe this year I need to think about how to meet more people closer to me in age. The whole fatigue thing, combined with my odd working hours, doesn't help. So I should probably have a really good think about what I want to do next work-wise - and then do something about it!

Baileys_Babe

Happy New Year @greenbee 🤗

greenbee

I've just remeasured for the hall curtains and ordered them (made to measure, with thermal linings, from Dunhelm in the sale, via cashback site - although they may not qualify due to the sale pricing). Due to arrive by Jan 22nd. So one more thing off the list. I should probably sort out blinds for the garden doors in the garden room and kitchen as those are the only ones I don't have - not an issue in summer, but I am noticing the garden room in particular in winter (not the kitchen as there's a cheap pair of thermal curtains in front of it).

I also need to send some info to the heat pump plumber I was put in touch with, and call another recommended installer. Plus redraw the plans my friend came up with for the back of the house at a larger scale and make some decisions so I can work out what needs building control involvement and what we can just go ahead with (internal cat flap...) so I can work with the builder to come up with a plan for this year.

Mortgage is currently just over £153k. I'm not sure how much I'll be able to reduce it by this year as I've still got a lot of work to do on the house. At some point I need to take a few days to go through my pensions and savings and come up with a plan to pay off the mortgage and have some kind of idea about how/when I can slow down or stop work. I've neglected pension and savings shockingly for probably the last 20 years while I've been focussing on doing up the last house and this one, and it needs addressing. Either that or a few decent PB wins... 

greenbee

Ordered the matching blind for the hall window and some table lamps. Cashback has tracked which is a bonus. 

Lovely sunny (cold) day, so after I'd managed to remember my work phone password and dealt with some emails, but failed to get into my. laptop, Stinky and I had a nice walk - he met some friends and played. On my return I had a shower, put laundry away, and cleared the landing and bedroom floors so the robot could go round upstairs. Downstairs robot has done the sitting room, but the hall needs clearing for it to do that.

Filthy fleece bedcover from front bedroom has been washed and is drying, so that bed can be made up. One set of fairy lights is dead and packed up for electrical recycling. 

Managed to get back into work laptop and have done a few more bits of stuff. Just having soup for lunch and then getting back to trying to remember what work is actually about...

greenbee

Did some work. Not sure how useful it was. Mostly related to the stuff that's not my primary job anymore but still needs to be done. 

Fire is lit - need to shift some logs over the weekend. 

Robot has been round the landing and my bedroom twice now (it got stuck under a chest of drawers first time and didn't get everything up), supervised closely by not-Fatty. At least it keeps her occupied. Stripey cat had a nice time watching Stinky play fetch in the dark. It's cold out, but nice and dry, so not unbearable having to go out and throw balls. And our Christmas presents have come in handy already. 

Stinky has a rechargeable light-up LED collar so I can see him in the dark. I was given some short wellies with furry lining (a bit big, but that makes them easy to slip on and off to nip out with Stinky), a headtorch (easier than a torch for dog-emptying in the dark), and some fluffy ear muffs, as well as a long, lined waterproof coat (not worn yet) as my legs kept getting soaked between my coat and my wellies. 

I also bought myself some new walking boots which are incredibly comfortable, so I'm hoping that the lump on my toe will go down now there isn't pressure on it. 

Fire is lit - I'll need to get on a shift some logs over the weekend as I'm running low of dry/undercover logs. I do also have some bits of wood to saw up either for kindling or to mix in with logs. 

And I need to get on and sort out paperwork to get the heat pump design done and costed so that I know whether to fill the oil tank again or book the installation for when it runs out. 

But more immediate tasks include eating supper, emptying the DW, making the bed in the front bedroom, putting up the pictures and sorting out the beds in the back bedroom, and putting up pictures in the spare room and ensuite. I could do with putting up the pictures on the landing too, but that might require some help. I'm aiming to get one room finished at a time and close the door on it so the cats can't make it hairy again. I found not-Fatty under the duvet in the spare room the other day (not hard to spot the gigantic wriggling lump) which was odd as she doesn't usually go under covers (unlike Stripey cat). 

greenbee

Very little done last night, but I have made the bed in the front bedroom this morning and set the robot to hoover in there. Bed is made up with lots of layers as I was feeling cold after walking the dog in the snow... which is now melting.

I've also barrowed one load of logs to the garage, put the logs from the hall log basked into the sitting room log basket (last of the commercial ones that stack neatly, so saving for the weekend when I have visitors) and brought the logs from the porch inside to burn over the weekend. As it's now sunny (and hopefully the battery is charging up!) I'm going to put the barrow-load of logs on the porch (after de-spidering, and see how many more loads I can shift into the log store in the garage to dry out. I really do need to collect my axe from my mum's (or just go over and finish dealing with her logs and bring all the splitting stuff back here). 

Otherwise I think it needs to be a quiet weekend - I have clothes to put away, tidying to do, planning for visitors to finish, and maybe a couple of pictures to stick up on the walls!

debtfreewannabe321

I'm glad I'm not the only one getting bin days muddled greenbee 🤣 we forgot both recycling and the black bin! We managed to make it to the recycling day (collection was this morning) but the black bin is overflowing and we have ages till the next one - I think at least a week! 
We didn't get any snow here but it is blinking cold ❄️ 🥶 I just went for a walk and felt all tingly and hands were throbbing when I walked back in the house as my blood tried to pump round my body properly 🤣❄️! 

greenbee

Nothing in my green bin (waste here, just to confuse everyone) as it was emptied just before I went away. And I did manage to get recycling collected... just didn't manage to fill the garden waste in time. Next 'rubbish' collection is Wednesday, then back to normal after that for recycling. 

I'm going to need to bag up some soft plastics at some point to take to the supermarket recycling as they seem to be taking over again. I really do need to work on reducing the amount of plastic coming into the house this year.