Put away your purse & become debt-averse

Four_Seasons

Hi Foxgloves, on the subject of prices going up I received my thermal bits and bobs with a different price on to what I had paid - it was a £1 an item less - obviously shop prices are up but they forgot to alter the price tickets in the warehouse - a quick email and a refund of the difference sent.  I know its not a lot but it was still my £'s.  I have collected all my egg shells, thank you, to try to deter those blessed slugs.  At the moment we have a poorly mallard drake in the garden so pleased I didn't resort to slug pellets. On the subject of the C word after reading you were adding to your present stock it motivated me to knit three pairs of wrist warmers to put away, now I am going to tackle a cross stitch that I started the end of last year - the light wasn't good enough then (or at least that was my excuse!) ready for the same event.  Well done on the raffle prize x

foxgloves

It's definitely worth getting cracking on handmade items for giving as presents @Four_Seasons. I've already stashed away a nice pair of hand-knitted socks for my B-in-L & have a pair of  slouchy hiking socks on the needles atm for Mr F. I'd also like to make a pair of nordic-style mittens for my sis. I bought the pattern last year in 3 sizes & they involve a fair bit of colourwork. Think would make a nice & striking present, but I could do with testing the pattern out by knitting a pair for myself first, so must look at yarn requirements & colourways. 
Good to hear you got that price difference refunded.
F x

ladyholly

Congratulations on your win. If its any comfort we have had deliveries fairly late on into the evening so you never know.

marionmgcars

great surprise getting the gift voucher , well done.  I often wonder if anyone ever wins these things. 

foxgloves

It was defo a nice surprise to win the voucher. I had also wondered if anyone actually ever does win anything for filling in these supermarket surveys. The manager who phoned to let me know I'd won said 'Please keep doing them" & that they do take them seriously because customer feedback is important.
As for the wretched parcel.....that poor man arrived at 7.30pm.....two & a half hrs late. I don't know if I was the last call at no.104, but if I was, I don't see how he could possibly have done 104+ calls in the allotted 8.30 to 5pm time frame. Once it gets near rush hour, the roads around here are just one big traffic jam. I didn't complain to him because I couldn't, not after having watched "We called while you were out". Parcel has gone so hopefully payment for the books will be winging its way to our PayPal account before too long (destined for our Leisure & Entertainment Pot)
F x

EssexHebridean

Well I am glad to hear the parcel finally left you - that’s a long day for the poor driver though, and a lot of time driving, stopping, driving and stopping again. That prize though - what a lovely surprise, well done! 

Elisheba

Oh, I do miss knitting. I was never very good, but I enjoyed it. Sadly my dog runs off with the balls of yarn and either soaks them because he won't let them out of his mouth, or just chews them, so it's a no go activity currently. Hopefully it'll improve when he's a few years older...

foxgloves

@Elisheba - I've had feline yarn-chewers too. The worst offender, who was my cat back when Mr F & I first got together used to secretly chew through the yarn as I was knitting it. I'd be knitting away & suddenly reach an abrupt soggy end! Soot & Ash are both interested in balls of yarn but can easily be distracted by biscuits (much like myself!) I bought a hand-potted yarn bowl (beautiful) to help with this problem but it really only works effectively with round hand-wound balls of yarn. The usual splatty oval shaped balls don't move freely inside the bowl so progress is impeded.
F

foxgloves

Evening Friday Frugalistas,
Useful morning - Grocery shopping came in under budget - as many of us are probably doing atm, we are selecting supermarkets based on what vouchers we have. That meant it was M*zzer's for our main shop (to use a £2.50 off total spend voucher), followed by Waitr*se to make use of a couple of good offers on the loyalty app. One of these was £4.50 off a box of the cats' fishy gunk of choice, resulting in a box of 40 pouches for £8.50. Other wins: Paid the money we borrowed from ourselves back into the ISA - bit of a saga to do with the building work. I feel better knowing it's back under lock & key & I can't be tempted to do something else with it. Went for coffee in favourite coffee shop but it was just a coffee. Had fully intended to have a cake but found I was still too full of toast!
Busy afternoon in the greenhouse but it felt quite gentle. You see, there's simply so much to do this time of year, especially for veg growers, that it isn't possible to tackle everything at once. If I wrote a list, it would be daunting & turn something I love into pressure. So I like the 'flow' approach. I decide on a task, based on need, then once that's done, space is freed up or modules become empty or there's compost for re-using & that leads perfectly onto another thing. So I potted up some plants for my sister (meet-up imminent), which made enough space to be able to sort out my own stash of plant babies, which meant some got to move outside for hardening off, which provided space for me to pot up some more seedlings. I can also get to my greenhouse border now, so tomorrow's first task will be to weed it, add some homemade compost & plant my 6 indoor tomato plants. This will free up space on the bench for potting on the outdoor ones into bigger pots to get them as big & strong as possible before planting them out at the end of the month. So no list,...just one job flowing on naturally to the next one, enjoying the fresh air, doing a bit of bending & stretching & letting nature sort my head out.
The truth is that a garden is never finished, only tended, so we might as well just go with the flow. 
Oooh, & the flow of gin, as Mr F has just brought me one!
Wishing everyone a good weekend,
Peace,
F x

EssexHebridean

Hmmm…gin, now there’s a thought. See, I knew your diary was inspiring for all the right reasons! 😆