Light the fire...

woodfired

lucielle said:

What times lunch?  Just getting my coat and I can bring a log as payment….
L

6pm Lucielle? Very happy to accept logs in payment!! Ha!

Rained off from outside jobs - that always seems to happen but I got the greenhouse organised for winter, all emptied, pots stacked, floor swept and the windows cleaned.  I also managed to clear most of the leaves from the drive (again!!) before I really got wet. I should have done those jobs the other way round with hindsight, at least it was dry in the greenhouse! Finally, I filled the wood baskets and came inside to sit by the fire, not a bad way to spend Sunday afternoon.

woodfired

Brrr it's freezing!!
Quite a bit of snow Monday night followed by a couple of cold nights (and days!) means its hanging around and its blinking bitter out.

We've been in the shop this morning and I have to confess to hibernating once we got home this afternoon.  We have filled the log baskets and lit the fire in the living room/snug.  It's toasty warm despite the thermostat in the kitchen showing only 14 deg.  I've popped the heating on for an hour to warm the rest of the house for the children but we are cosy holed up in here.  Tea tonight is steak and potato pie leftover from last night so no cooking for me, very happy about that, I really am hibernating lol

woodfired

Gosh it's been cold these past few days, we have been using the heating plenty alongside the fire but have kept nice and warm thankfully.
My heated throw has been amazing at bedtime, it takes the chill off the bed but is much easier to use occasionally than a traditional electric blanket as it goes over the quilt and can be stripped off quickly if it is too hot during the night.  Its been a godsend!

We have had a cheap weekend so far, no eating out or take-aways, a few friends joined us at home for drinks yesterday afternoon in the games room/garage which was lots of fun.  I didn't feed them, just put out a few nuts and crisps as snacks and they brought their own drinks.  The garage has a large window that looks out over the brook and it was fun to sit at the bar stools in front of the window and watch the flooded brook rise throughout the afternoon.  It went down quickly once it stopped raining so no damage caused but I love watching the water.

The house was cleaned yesterday morning so I just have some laundry to dry and put away today and we are ready for our new jobs tomorrow. 
Dinner tonight will be curries, I have made DH and the children a chicken madras (not too spicy) and I will be having a Thai red prawn. I have lots of good food in ready for the week, I've got a 3 bird roast (lidl) that should have been dinner today but has been pushed to Monday, fresh cod for homemade fish and chips at DS' request and a leg of lamb for hotpot later in the week.  This cold weather makes me want to hunker down, light a fire and cook good food!

Money is ok, its a 5 week month which is good for us as we are paid weekly, this will help with Christmas shopping and I've already earmarked the 'spare week' mortgage cash for DS' present which we will buy on cyber Monday at, hopefully, a discounted price.  The accounts are all looking fine and we will start to see the effects of reducing staff hours in the business account next week.  DH is going to remain on a bare minimum wage for now, so we will be saving £250+ per week in wages, just to build up a buffer in the account - and save some cash towards the impending tax bill. 

woodfired

I can't sleep so sat with a coffee reading some diaries.

SIL who is a director at our accountants text last night about the corporation tax, its looking like being around the £9k mark which is a lot more than I had hoped it would be.  Seems we had an excellent financial year but then it all went pear shaped once we bought our own premises. So that will swallow a huge chunk of the invoices for the final orders and will leave me fairly deep in the overdraft.  Damn.

We do have some savings that I can drop in but that is saved towards our self assessed tax, which is also going to be a considerable chunk I would anticipate.  If only we could sell the machine but the industry is so quiet as a whole that nobody is investing in expensive machinery at the moment.

On the bright side, we live in our beautiful forever home that is more than I could ever have dreamed of 6 years ago.  We have another business that is plodding along nicely and today will be our first day in our 'semi-retirement roles' that we have had planned out for many years, they have just come a bit sooner than we had hoped for/expected.  We will keep shuffling money and saving where we can, things will work out in the end I'm sure.

woodfired

Good Evening,

Its a chilly one but we have the Christmas lights up and the fire lit in the snuggly living room, I am happy and so are the furry ones sprawled on the rug in front of it!

I've just been sorting some bits for the accountant SIL and nipped over here with a quick update.

All is going well in our new jobs, the early mornings are a bit of a shock to my system but I'm getting so much work done and have lots of free time at home as a result.  We are usually rushed off our feet at this time of year so it is so nice to be more organised.  

I brought every single item of Xmas decoration I own down from the attic last week and once I had trimmed up I've brutally decluttered it all.  I've got rid of so much junk, old lights, broken bits, old cards, all sorts of stuff but sorted through and stored/displayed ornaments that the children have made over the years and other sentimental bits.  What remains is in 3 small boxes compared to over 20 bags/boxes before! I think that is the first declutter of decs that I've ever done in nearly 20 years of living with DH.

This weekend we also took some cash and got through most of our Xmas shopping for the children.  We usually do most online but it was nice change to go to the shops and actually buy things in the flesh, much better for the high street too.  So they are almost finished and I've got lots of the little neices/nephews sorted too, I'm so organised for this time of the year I don't recognise myself!

Next on the list is to continue decluttering in DD's room, she made a start but got bored, I'm going to get in there whilst she is at school then allow her to sort through the stuff I remove in case anything is sentimental.  Hopefully she wont want to keep all of it!  DS's and our rooms have already been done, I'm working my way down the house slowly.

LadyWithAPlan

Sorry re the shock of the corp tax, I am about to look at mine. You sound v organised for Xmas I have bought 3 things ..

Sounds like you are gearing though nicely for the next phase of life.

I would bring a log and invite myself to dinner but there isnt a lot of spare wood lying around central London - with the exception of last weeks' Storm Bert where there were branches everywhere 

lucielle

A good culling of the Christmas decs sounds very therapeutic!!  Well done on supporting the high street as well!
L

woodfired

LadyWithAPlan said:

Sorry re the shock of the corp tax, I am about to look at mine. You sound v organised for Xmas I have bought 3 things ..

Sounds like you are gearing though nicely for the next phase of life.

I would bring a log and invite myself to dinner but there isnt a lot of spare wood lying around central London - with the exception of last weeks' Storm Bert where there were branches everywhere 

Thanks Lady!

It was a shock but I'm getting my head around it now and all is going well in the next phase so far.  Thank you.

Storm Bert wasn't too bad up here thankfully!  No logs required - I also accept wine in payment! Ha.

Thanks for stopping by x

woodfired

lucielle said:

A good culling of the Christmas decs sounds very therapeutic!!  Well done on supporting the high street as well!
L

Oooh it really was!  I can't wait for another tip run this weekend!

It was so nice to do some traditional Christmas shopping - and to have the time to do so too.  Off to Manchester Xmas markets tomorrow with Mum on the train, looking forward to that one too. x 

woodfired

Such a productive day today, we have removed our old shop sign and replaced with a lovely shiny new one.  The old sign was white/red/green and reminiscent of a Sp*r sign - probably done on purpose as it started life as a Sp*r.  The new sign is anthracite grey with gold lettering and it looks as it would have done a hundred + years ago I like to imagine - it looks like a victorian grocery store and I love it!

The sign we made ourselves using a large fascia board and some loose letters we ordered online.  The total cost was under £350 whereas we were quoted over £2k for something similar from a specialist sign company. DH, BIL (and I) fitted it today in a couple of hours and it has had so many lovely comments already.