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

greenbee

I'm very lazy KC In fact most of my good ideas at work start with the statement 'Well given that I'm naturally lazy, I wouldn't want to do all that so how about we change the process to xyz so it's less effort.' I also like to describe myself as the least busy person in the business (mind you, that's also because I'm trying to break the 'busy is good' culture).

Gum graft is horrible, but I haven't managed to find out what the options are if it fails again. I'm not sure I want to know, so I'm determined to everything I can to help it along this time. I have stocks of vitamin C, lots of soup, and a couple of weeks off afterwards, plus another 2 weeks of short haul travel before I have any major trips to deal with.

I'll talk to the dentist about what else might help.

greenbee

Another day with not much more than a little bit of gardening and some laundry done. I haven't done the cooking as planned, but I expect I'll manage it (or take it with me for Easter).

Heating is off, so I've brought some more logs in and plan to use the stove for the odd bit of heating I need. As I (hopefully) won't need much, just some background warmth in the evenings, I've brought in some of the odd shaped logs that take up a lot of space in the basket and have to go in the stove one and a time. So far they seem to be working OK. I need to give the logs that are too big for the stove to my brother who has a bigger stove - and a chainsaw...

Expenses have been paid. Must do last week's...

greenbee

Had the gum graft, and my mum picked me up from the dentist. I took ice packs, so it wasn’t too bad to begin with.

Took the car in the next day and it had a very expensive operation so needs to last me at least another couple of years. My mum spent the day with my brother and the kids, and then we had to do some planting as they’d been shopping!

Drove back to my mum’s for Easter via friends, which was lovely (although not much resting done!).

Spent Friday and Saturday putting bark mulch on flowerbeds and getting out garden furniture.

DB, SiL & kids arrived on Sunday - Easter egg hunt and lunch, and the we emptied the attic, as my mum keeps asking us to get stuff out of it, much of which isn’t actually in there. It is now empty. She got a bit grumpy about the mess it made in her office and announced SHE would decide what was thrown away... but we proceeded to go through and claim our own stuff and while doing it sort hers into piles.

Moved more furniture, got stuff out away, tidied up, and now her office is clearer than it had been previously. Stuff to go to the tip is in the workshop (her handyman will go with her to load/unload), as is CS stuff as she has a fridge so will request a collection. Old stereo wired up so she can listen to CDs in her garden room (had to order more speaker wire, but it’s done now).

Cleared out a drawer yesterday while looking for a bottle stopper and have acquired a couple of bottle openers and nutcrackers.

Her big freezer is on the blink, so we’re eating out of that and she’ll order a new one when it’s empty if it doesn’t pack up before then.

New phone installed (we managed to copy the message my dad recorded from the old one to the new one) and old one removed by my DB. Photos from laptop backed up. So now she needs to delete unwanted photos and sort out getting the prints she wants, and start adding phone numbers to her new phone so it will let calls through (it’s one of the anti-scammer phones that makes you ID yourself before putting you through).

We’ve got another 4 bales of bark mulch to apply today, and then I’m off home for a rest!

I need to:
Log in and print off payslips
Send dentist receipts to health insurance to see whether they’ll give me some money back
Check insurance re optician and book
Book waxing & nail appointments
Check I have all my tax return paperwork
Check exchange rates on expenses and adjust
Submit expenses immediately after monday’s trip into the office.

Back to the dentist on Tuesday to see whether the gum graft has worked. Another 2 weeks of soup ahead of me!

Karmacat

I can't believe you managed to do all that and keep going on soup and a gum graft! Sending hugs and kudos your way xx

greenbee

It’s a distraction!

I’ve cleared the open garage, swept up the leaves and put them in the leaf composter, thrown out some rubbish, put some old stools out to be washed by the handyman before putting them with the CS collection, washed out a basket and crate so they can be put back into circulation, disconnected the unused printer and found all the bits (including masses of photo paper) to go to the CS, sorted all the ancient software CDs and instruction books for recycling/tip.

The house now feels like it can breathe. And i’m eating Tesco finest Cornish custard from the pot. I can thoroughly recommend it!

greenbee

Oh yes, must sort out new mortgage deal or i’ll be on SVR which is silly!

juliejim

Have you sorted your mortgage out?

greenbee

Nope

(How did you know I was sitting here bored and grumbling about the rain stopping me gardening?)

greenbee

I know why I was putting this off. The maths is a nightmare.

I need to make sure I do the searches correctly.

I'm a bit fed up with Nationwide, as they've always claimed to offer better deals to members than non-members, but this doesn't appear to be the case this time (except with the 2 year fix) and their rates aren't that competitive. So more work this time than anticipated. Plus timing is more important - this rate runs out on June 30th.

greenbee

Having done the maths various ways, I now know how my retention deals compare to the best offers on the market for each of 2, 3 and 5 years. I don't think they save me enough to be worth the hassle of moving (particularly as I'm going to be away so much over the next couple of months!), so that's one decision made. I just need to decide how long to fix for.

While doing that I looked at savings accounts and realised that two of mine had reverted from their introductory rates, so moved the 'round numbers' into the better paying savings account and moved the odds and ends into the mortgage account. So marginally less to go onto the new (higher rate) fix when in a month or so. I'm just wondering whether to risk a lump sum overpayment before I make the switch.

I think I'll see what my tax return looks like, and whether I'm likely to get a refund on some of my dental treatment! I do still have a kitchen, two external doors and the drive landscaping to pay for!