Put away your purse & become debt-averse

HairyHandofDartmoor

Onebrokelady said:

ladyholly said:

To be fair to Boris exercise Cygnus happened under the Cameron government and was buried by the May government. (Boris was foreign secretary so would probably not have had much input) The common factor to both previous governments was the health secretary Jeremy Hunt. Unfortunately for all of us these exercises rarely result in any good coming from them. My DH was involved in one or two simialr though smaller "events" many years ago and in general they were a farce.

I hate Jeremy Hunt and Theresa May even more than Boris 😀

I think I dislike them all equally!

foxgloves

Agree! (though I would vote for Darth Vader before the Tories!)

HairyHandofDartmoor

foxgloves said:

Agree! (though I would vote for Darth Vader before the Tories!)

Ha ha me too 🤣

foxgloves

Afternoon Diary Readers,
Well, I've just paid for the new courtyard & will need to sit down & have a proper go through the ring-fenced home improvements budget at some point. The final job which needed doing to finish it off was completed this morning & it does look fab. 100 times better than the sad municipal grey concrete slabs we had previously, which looked like they'd been fished out of a council skip! We shall need to buy a few bags of gravel or something similar to put around the edges, but we are going to do that ourselves so we have time to look at what's available & choose one we like. 
Today's productivity levels have been reasonable. I watered the newly potted up courgettes first thing before firmly closing the greenhouse door, as it is really chilly here today. Mr F's last words on disappearing out of the door for his drive to work this morning were "No rain forecast today, Babe, so at least it'll be dry", and it was, until about ten minutes after I'd pegged out two loads of laundry, when it suddenly began absolutely wazzing down with rain!! Thankfully it is also windy, so once the sharp showers had passed, everything dried.
I've baked Mary Berry's muesli biscuits.......actually, I'd intended to bake a batch of Cranks' country biscuits, but while I was in & out of the pantry looking for use-it-up opportunities, I came across the inner bag of a box of muesli - no box, so no idea of how long it's been sitting there. I couldn't remember either of us having muesli for ages. So I decided to use it up in some muesli biscuits instead. I used my home made baking powder & it's absolutely fine. I am actually going to make up a tubful now that I've tested it in a couple of things. There's something nice about having a tin of home baked biscuits on the dresser, isn't there? I can be a bit of a naughty biscuit hoover though, so I mustn't keep on dipping in. I also stripped the chicken Mr F roasted yesterday. He did one of his favourite recipes - Madhur Jaffrey's whole Indian roast chicken which is hot & very spicy. There is enough leftover to eat with jacket potato wedges & salad tonight and also to stir-fry with onions & serve in pittas or wraps tomorrow night. 
Final job was doing my regular Monday budget & banking update. I always feel better once that's done. I think you perhaps always do if you've been a past 'spender'......like some little bit of you deep inside can't 100% believe that you won't suddenly find you have sleep-cycled to town & frittered away a ton on a top that is only 'ok', two more baskets & a smelly candle!
Not a no spend day as I have ordered a £12 item online in order to tackle an Annoying Job (replacing saggy flat cushion pads on living room cushions). It would have been quite a bit more, but three of the items required were shopped from home as I decided to dismantle 2 old cushions to use the innards & to bin another one (cover only, a years ago only semi-successful crochet attempt, but pad salvaged as was fine). That just left the big rectangular bolster-type cushion & I've ordered just the one pad to re-fill that one. I find shopping at home very satisfying. I think it's because I know I've solved whatever the 'need' was, so can have 'the thing', but also still have the money to save or to use for something else.
Anyway, hark at me rambling on as usual. 
Take care all.......
F x

foxgloves

A late post from me today. Came in from the garden so knackered, I decided to get straight in a hot fragrant bath to undo some of the knots...... now, less of my buttock muscles & more of today's achievements.
Hello m'dears! Despite last night being flagged up as a cold one in the forecast, I was surprised to peak round the curtains first thing & see ice on all the cars. It was a bit warmer when the sun came up, so I did plenty of greenhouse jobs. I potted the celeriac seedlings into modules, followed by the basil. It's still too cold for tomatoes to go out so I potted the ten plants destined for outdoors into bigger pots so their growth isn't held back. They quickly start looking grumpy when they have outgrown their space. Also potted up a dozen verbascum plants which I grew (like most of this year's flowers) from the stash of out of date seed packets I found in Mum's understairs cupboard. Sun still shining (sort of) so I dealt with 4 tubs of spent bulbs, then tidied up 5 containers ready for arranging on the new patio. I stood a few extra trays of bedding plants outside today, as I need to accelerate the hardening off process, but they are all back in the greenhouse now, as another cold night tonight.
I know I've done a lot though, as I'm achey now & am looking forward to a latte, a biscuit & putting my feet up!
Another solicitor's letter has arrived in my email inbox, but I shall read it tomorrow.
Hope you're all managing to stay well, or if you've had a lergy (CCL, I'm thinking of you)..... that it is now well & truly on its way out.
Keep safe, 
F x

HairyHandofDartmoor

Sounds like a productive day Foxgloves. I can't imagine having frost in May as we rarely get one in January.

foxgloves

Yes, it must seem odd to people as far south as you, HHoD. Frosts in May are not that common up here but they do happen & it's why I can't risk planting things like tomatoes, courgettes & beans out until the end of May, unless I know the weather forecast is stonkingly good. I don't live 'up north' either - we are towards the top end of the midlands. Another cold day tomorrow, then I think temperatures are set to rise again.
F x

DawnW

We had a frost here too. Not as far west as Dartmoor, but still south west. Hoping to be rid of them by Friday according to the forecast.

Honeysucklelou2

We had a frost here last night which is absolutely unheard of. We very, very rarely get frosts past March. Unfortunately I’d planted out my butternut squashes on the basis we were well past our usual last  frost date and now they are not looking very well. Thankfully I had waited and not planted the beans out yet.

Onebrokelady

foxgloves said:

Agree! (though I would vote for Darth Vader before the Tories!)

And me 😂😂😂 at least he is honest about beingthe bad guy 😂😂😂