Cheery's country living adventure 11 March 2018 at 8:28AM edited 30 November -1 at 1:00AM in Mortgage-Free Wannabe 3.4K replies 230.6K views

Cheery_Daff

SC I have to get dressed else I'd never do any work! Make up and shoes and everything!

rtandon27

Cheery_Daff said:

...Make up and shoes and everything!

...make up? - even on days that you don't have video calls?  Wow Cheery I'm impressed!
...and shoes too?  I had to dust mine over the weekend & put them into storage boxes - have only worn crocs, wellies & sneakers for the last 10 months - LOL

Cheery_Daff

There aren't many days without video calls round here even if I don't have any booked, there's often an impromptu one. It's not much make up, you probably wouldn't even notice I was wearing any

And shoes, yes! I went with crocs for a while over the summer but in my job I quite often find myself outside my comfort zone, and having to put on my brave pants, and wearing shoes just helps me feel more like a grown up professional It's a pain because they're mostly knee high boots and I have to keep unzipping and swapping for wellies when I got outside to the chickens much easier to slide crocs off - but actually it makes me stay inside out of the mud and get on with some work!

taka

Cheery_Daff said:

Ha, love the stories of your dad's instruments taka! Apparently the thing behind the kitchen roll is 'kind of a zither' Mr Cheery would definitely approve of your parents accidentally buying a Victorian pipe organ Would you believe we have TWO portable pianos, and an American organ?? Although they do NOT fit my idea of 'portable' I had to get two burly farmers to help me get the last one in the door

Thanks! No idea what a zither looked like... now I know! Just googled american organ too. Realised my parents bought a reed organ / harmonium / parlour organ / american organ not a pipe organ. Still deeply random! Also weighs an absolute tonne - looks a bit like a piano but much chunkier with various carved twiddly bits and foot pumps! I think Mr Cheery would have been in his element at my parents...

You definitely have smarter looking video calls than I do! My work attire is very informal so our work video calls are more of the same but just with added extras like pets & kids accidently joining in.

Karmacat

Yep, another one very impressed by the makeup, even minimal makeup - it's on my Big List, actually, because I look really washed out on visual calls.
You're doing really well, Cheery  

Cheery_Daff

Sounds very much like our American organ taka - all ornate twiddle bits and foot pumps. The damn thing is taller than me!  

Ha, my work attire isn't necessarily smart, most of my colleagues are usually in a hoodie I've just always worked better (in office jobs anyway!) if I feel like I've smartened myself up a tiny bit from filthy jeans, which is what I wear most of the rest of the time I'd be thrown out of any self respecting 'formal attire' office and my sister consistently thinks I'm a complete scruff Usually just wearing some kind of stretchy dress and a cardi and leggings, but it does feel more work like than jeans... 

Lighting is paramount with zoom calls I find! I have a window in front of my desk and find it does bleach out a lot of my wrinkles and did you know there's some kind of 'video enhancement' feature in Zoom which blurs you ever so slightly - not enough to make you look blurred, but enough to make you look marginally less tired. You'd better believe that's been permanently on since I discovered it (don't ask me where - somewhere under the video settings!). Aside from that a bit of lipstick goes a long way, as does having the camera slightly higher than your face rather than focusing on your chins. 

I'm not that vain but I've done a LOT of experimenting this year - largely because my students rarely turn cameras on so I spend a lot of time just looking at myself

Baileys_Babe

I found out yesterday through dd investigating (messing about) in the zoom setting you can change all sorts of thing. She did a zoom meeting with blue lips 😂
So @Karmacat you could probably apply virtual make up, which would be very MSE (where is the turning Martin head when you need it?) as it would never run out, you could quickly change "palette" depending on your outfit or the season, also you wouldn't have to remove it before going to bed.

Karmacat

Ooh, fascinating, Baileys Babe!  Astonishingly mse  

Cheery_Daff

Ooh, BB, that is indeed fascinating! Think of the possibilities! I know about the Facebook video settings that give you hats and tattoos and the like and have had great fun with those these last few months, but I didn't realise such possibilities existed in Zoom! I've tried a couple of virtual backgrounds, but my actual background is so detailed and multi-coloured that virtual ones don't work at all. But I never realised there was virtual makeup, must investigate! 

Not much to report here. Wickes delivery STILL not arrived and customer services, while sympathetic, have so far proved unable to do anything other than say 'the tracker says it will be delivered today'. I've put an alternative item in a basket at Screwfix, and if it's not delivered tomorrow then I'll press go on the Screwfix one and Wickes will have to sort out a refund. Shame really as I do like Wickes and spent a fortune there when we were doing up our old house as it was just down the road. Hey ho. 

Post Office account has been closed, and the dosh arrived in the bank account today so that's looking very healthy temporarily No word about changing address from the Premium Bonds people yet - I assume they'll send some kind of notification when they've done it?! 

Had a letter about my latest test for the Covid study - negative, just like all the others I've had. 

Oh, and I was formally voted in as a trustee today! Most exciting. Not been a trustee before, so this is a new adventure for me. 

What else?? Oh, rain is coming in above one of the kitchen windows - yawn. I don't even think it's something we can do anything about, it comes down through the inside of the wall so I have NO idea where it's ultimately getting in. It only happens when it's raining really hard and the wind is blowing in a particular direction, it's probably happened 2 or 3 times in the last 3 years, so I'm inclined to just stick a bucket under it and ignore it... 

We didn't catch it soon enough though, so all the tools on the windowsill got wet, so we've had a bit of a clean up, and the clean up spread to all my insulation mess, and all the chicken bowls etc in the off shot, and now the place is looking rather a lot better. Phew! 

Right. Realised I did YNAB the other night after I was paid, and reconciled the banks, but haven't actually distributed money into next month's budget yet, so I'm going to do that now - that's always the fun bit! Ooh, and I must update the spreadsheet for the mortgage challenges... 

rtandon27

The virtual make-up sounds like a good bit of fun - lol - didn't even realize such a thing existed.  Tomorrow is a day of meetings, so will have to put on some make-up, jewelry and a blouse instead of a hoody!

Most of my meetings are on M$Teams as z00m doesn't work on the work system - I've been finding posh designer living room shots as my backgrounds - the Christmas ones were especially fun - a different tree in the background every day!  The best background so far is a picture of one of the fancy meeting rooms at work which truly confuses those who know I'm working from home & not the office!  Ooo - and for a bit of juvenile silliness I've also found the h0gwarts common rooms - lol