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

greenbee

Just cashed in my work 'perk' points for Amazon vouchers (I'd struggled find something worth spending them on), and withdrawn my cashback earnings at +13% to add to my wine subscription account. 

Plasterer is due tomorrow, and I need to choose carpet tonight so I can book the fitter. 

PennysIntoPounds

I've only just found your diary but must say hello properly to someone who's utilised their cashback at +13% for their wine subscription 😁
So impressed with how productive you are and looking forward to reading about more of your excellent achievements. Hope the plasterer and carpet choosing go well

Watty1

Carpet choosing is next on my list to do.  I'm going for a big rug in the living room but the stairs and landing need a carpet.  The stairs have never had a carpet as i painted them some years ago which looked ok for a while but now is battered and stained and the landing carpet did not clean as well as I hoped.   I might get a runner to go on top of the carpet (landing is narrow and thin) as the carpet there looks so worn.

South_coast

PennysIntoPounds said:

I've only just found your diary but must say hello properly to someone who's utilised their cashback at +13% for their wine subscription 😁

Oh, I do love you PIP 🤣!

LadyWithAPlan

PennysIntoPounds said:

I've only just found your diary but must say hello properly to someone who's utilised their cashback at +13% for their wine subscription 😁
So impressed with how productive you are and looking forward to reading about more of your excellent achievements. Hope the plasterer and carpet choosing go well

Yes v impressed with this wine subscription advantage ! 

Well done on the cat flap, hosting bats and the sheer amount of work you have done ! 

greenbee

I'm glad my prioritisation meets with your approval 🤣

Plasterer is here and working hard. Gardener is here and also working hard (and will be supervised by my mum once she's had her breakfast!). He's currently giving a large and unattractive laurel a haircut, and will then be digging/weeding/planting. I really do need to get hold of someone to cut the hedges as soon as nesting season is over.

I'm writing reports this morning, and hoping to get out after my afternoon meetings to do some food shopping as I need salad stuff, fruit, and chicken wings for the cats. The garden isn't producing enough at the moment (and probably won't be for a while). Cat food delivery is due today, but I'm out of chicken wings and I don't want them just eating cat food.

I'm hoping for a weekend of gardening with a bit of light dusting.

greenbee

Went shopping after work on Friday and acquired more chicken wings - although the cat food also arrived. They're now back to being fussy. 

Lovely walk with friends on Saturday which also involved offloading stuff that they can sell at a fundraising car boot sale. I also did a lot of weedkilling (I think I did the whole of the back, but who knows - I'm bound to have missed something). But hopefully most of the creeping buttercup has been done. 

Sunday was more productive. Greenhouse and outside tomatoes fed, several trays of annual planted (more accurately, shoved in clumps into the flowerbeds), barrow load of compost dumped where one of the rhubarb's is going. Watering done... if I hadn't, it wouldn't have rained. Last of the rotting carpet cut up and shoved in the bin so that will go tomorrow. Hoovered the rooms the plasterer had been in, and wiped down all the woodwork (again). Deep cleaned the airing cupboard so it can be used again. I'd like to get the hall cleared for Thursday when the cleaner comes again. 

Also did baking over the weekend, so have snacks for the week - Zoe almond cookies, peanut butter almond cookies, black bean and beetroot brownies (with prunes and dates instead of sugar). And a couple of loads of washing so I don't run out of underwear!

Today has so far been unproductive from a work perspective but I've washed the cleaning cloths (drying on the utility towel rail, which is at least proving useful), descaled the WM, put the drawer in the DW on the top rack and steam-cleaned the drawer hole (and scrubbed it). Oh, and cleaned the filter. 

I've also had a go at the 'fast flow' waste in my shower. It's definitely not fast and doesn't flow well. Bicarb and vinegar, boiling water, plug-hole brush, jetting with water from the shower hose. It's better, but still not great, so I've ordered a plunger (which will be useful anyway - I must have got rid of mine at some point!). 

Today I need to (as well as work) call and pay for the new woodburner (hearth is on order, and I'll have an installation date as soon as it arrives); call the tree surgeons about hedge cutting and a couple of trees that don't appear to be very happy; call my uncle who is moving about possible spare furniture (I've made a list of what I need!); prep salad/veg for meals during the week. 

And do some work... I have a list for that too!

Fortune_Smiles

Wow Greenbee!  I'm exhausted just from reading your diary.  Where does all that energy come from?  Send some this way please 😁

Fortune x

greenbee

It doesn't feel as if I have much energy @Fortune_Smiles. In fact my GP has just ordered tests to check whether there is any non-long covid reason for my fatigue. Most of what I'm doing is to try to get myself back to an environment where I can manage the fatigue etc - which was kind of the point of moving! This house was supposed to not need anything doing to it... which it doesn't relative to the previous one I guess!

Paid for the stove (found the BACS details on the invoice from the deposit, so that was easy). Called the tree surgeon who has been round this morning. Thankfully the poplar doesn't need anything doing to it, and they've also agreed that we can have a regular schedule for the hedges when they'll also look at the trees to make sure nothing more needs doing. And as the hedges are done we'll remove the evergreens and non-natives from the front hedge and replace them with native hedging/let the existing stuff grow into the space. There's no privacy issue as the garage screens the drive anyway. Once it's done, ongoing maintenance will be cheaper. 

I finally identified the cause of the damp smell under the sink - there is no seal between the sink and worktop. There MAY have been some grout at some point, but it has disintegrated - so water is dripping down the back/side of the sink and onto the dishwasher hose and pipes. I've tied a rag around the dishwasher hose to wick the moisture away and stuffed another one down the gap the rest of the drips go down and ordered a tube of clear silicone and a roll of bath sealant tape. It won't look pretty, but it'll stop the leak until I have time to deal with it properly.

Garden waste bins also renewed, and the full general waste bin is out for collection today with the old strimmer battery and a selection of other dead batteries. Cat chicken is cooking and a whole lot of stuff has been transferred from the kitchen freezer to the garage one to make room for the chestnut torte I made yesterday which is sliced up for snacks. 

Only ONE meeting today, so in theory I could get quite a bit of work done. Although I may end up dealing with the things that are distracting me from work instead - mess, clutter, phone calls that I keep putting off. Maybe even tidying my office...

rtandon27

haha - greenbee - I'm in a similar position, I'd rather be dealing with the distracting things than the work, which today is chores as I have the day off!