Cheery's country living adventure

Cheery_Daff

Evening chums

Gosh I'm a bit tired today. Been pottering about but trying not to do anything too physical (short of that row of scything this morning, of course). I did get most of my weekend things done (the only exception being a trip to the tip, which Mr Cheery is going to do on his own in the week) so that's good. 

Progress towards goals then

HOME
* nothing again, oh dear! But in my defence, the weather has been nicer than expected today!

GARDEN AND LAND
* saw farmer, who said he'd told the guy who's currently working on their barn about our roof, and he's going to come and have a look for us. I still can't get used to this 'I know a bloke, I'll send him over' way of doing things round here. I know it works, and I'm very grateful, but it does put me on the back foot a bit! Anyway, if it gets a new roof without me having to do anything very much, I suppose I can't complain
* cut up a load of prunings from yesterday and added to compost
* peened scythe ready for next time I use it
* spotted that water is basically flowing through one of our gateways, sigh. Farmer nearly got buggy stuck this afternoon - I hadn't realised quite how bad it was. Not really sure what to do - I suppose it needs a new drainage pipe putting in somewhere to send the water down to the stream. I don't even know how to go about that - I suppose it's another 'I'll send a bloke round' situation. 

MONEY
* batch cooked granola and snacks for the week

That's about it. Sun's shining and it's nice, but I'm feeling a little bit overwhelmed today! I think because I just look around and see a million things that need doing, and I can't see a time when they're all going to get done. I KNOW it's our own stupid fault for taking on somewhere so ridiculous... and I don't regret it. But right now it all just feels a bit, well, overwhelming. 

Anyway, instead of actually DOING anything about any of it, I think I'm going to have a bath Not sure that'll help, but at least I'll be clean!

Cheery_Daff

Oh, and I did get round to fixing the tyres on my other bike too, so now both are fixed and ready for early morning bike rides, hooray! And I emailed the geezer about the woodland to remind him to set a date too. 

Right - bath! 

Karmacat

Cheery, I think what you're doing is wonderful - there are *so* many balls in the air you have to juggle, though, I'm not surprised you feel overwhelmed.  But I also think you're both really, really suited to the property, from what you write here, and suited to the mixing of the cultures - the old "I'll get a man round" and the new, green variety that does so well in your main city.  

Cheery_Daff

Thanks KC that does mean a lot  

It's funny, some days I look around and see idyllic fields and veg and chickens and cheerfulness and skills building and fun, and others I see mud and collapsing buildings, and trees over powerlines, and falling down walls and nettles and urgh. And those two different days can be right next to each other! Perspective is an odd thing indeed...

Back at work again today (at home, of course). Timetable is nearly sorted - looks like I'll be travelling to the actual office on Wednesdays, four Tuesdays before Christmas, and the occasional Friday. Not tooooo bad at all. 5 hours of online classes on a Monday mind you But could be a lot worse! 

Speaking of driving... having a sneaky trip into town today to meet a friend for lunch. After getting a bit overwhelmed yesterday I just felt the need to go somewhere else for a bit. So yes, it'll mean working a bit later to make up the time, but I'm very much looking forward to it!

greenbee

The good news about trees over powerlines cheery, is that eventually someone from the electricity network will come out and offer to deal with them for you. They're not much good at trimming them (not worried about shape) but anything that needs felling you might as well get you to do - and they may offer replacement saplings as well (which you can then put somewhere sensible).

I'm now officially unemployed, so have a long list of stuff to get done. Starting with sorting out the rest of the long grass while we've got reasonable weather. I'm going to hand cut & rake as much as I can (but I find it's a very lop-sided activity!), and need to fill up some petrol cans so I can then strim and mow immediately to keep the length down until spring. The bit I did at the beginning of august is already starting to thicken up and I need to to be low-maintenance until next April/May! So far this morning I've done one bag. Which will be about half a bag once I've jumped on it... 

Fortune_Smiles

Be kind to yourself Cheery.  Taking on a older, rural property is hard work.  You've accomplised so much in a relatively short space of time and done so in a sustainable and environmentally friendly way.  You deserve a very big pat on the back.

'The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones' so just carry the stones you're able to each day and you'll get there.

Take care of yourself

Fortune x

themadvix

Cheery, it's only human to be overwhelmed on some days - you can't be Cheery all the time! And you've taken on a big project by the sounds of it. Fortune is definitely right - give yourself that pat on the back (and having a bath is always an acceptable diversion from the overwhelm!).

greenbee

Enjoy meeting up with your friend. I think it's easy to become a bit hermit-like when you live in a rural location with lots to do as well as working full time. 

Cheery_Daff

Thank you all, you lovely people You're all right, of course. 

Urgh. Weird couple of days here, not for any good reason, but I didn't sleep particularly well either last night and it's taking me  a LONG time to get going this morning! 

Still, it's not raining, I only have one video call today (at 2pm), and it's not even windy, so Mr Cheery might be able to get out and do the things he wanted to do yesterday. All ok. 

I've been reading back over my very first MSE diary from 2010 Gosh how different things were then I'd already been hanging round on the forum for a couple of years, but it was the first time I had my own diary. I was still finishing my PhD corrections, and Id just started my exciting new job - I was working 2 days a week and earning £780 a month I think Really interesting to see my budget back then. I thought about it as South_coast has also been looking at past budgets - mine are REALLY different though

£265 contribution to household (for everything! But Mr Cheery barely had any mortgage left back then, and I was in the process of doing comparison sites for all the bills as I refused to pay half of the inflated mad figures he was paying)
£40 van (for diesel, MOT and everything) - now in 'normal' times I pay £150 diesel
£20 phone bill (mine is now £12)
£25 for emergencies

And then I used to take out each week 
£25 for food (!!! )
£10 for 'unnecessary spends

plus some bits for travelling to work. Goodness me. £10 a week for unnecessary spends! I dread to think what would go in that category these days

It was a good lesson in seeing what day to day spending looked like back then though. And just how day to day life was different!

Anyway, today. I've had a smoothie for breakfast, and am about to make a cuppa and start work. Frittata for lunch - got lots of eggs at the minute and some boiled potatoes from the other day that need using up. Tea? Not sure yet, but I've got celery, peppers, mushrooms, and loads of tins of lentils, chick peas etc (and a couple of meals in the freezer if necessary). 

Had a message from a new LPG company about fixed prices so might ring them back. Oh, and I must ring the vet about the £10 they owe us And we had the invoice for taking down the garage so I need to pay that too! 

Right - tea (and work) 

Cheery_Daff

Before I go though, it was LOVELY to see some old faces back on my old diary! Some I'm still in touch with, some are still here some not. Might spend an hour trawling round the forums later and see if I can find people again