Busy Mee's Last Leg

beanielou

I am heavily involved with our local foodbank & it’s manic. 

Suffolk_lass

I hope you have a video call system set up with your FIL - I was just thinking how hard it must be, having lost your MIL relatively recently. My Mum commented how busy she is with calls at the moment, with all the pals she normally sees at the coffee shop, separately calling each other to catch up. Men are much more likely to wait for a call then initiate it (well, if my DH is anything like a normal chap!). My sis is my Mum's carer so they managed to install Zoom on her tablet. We had a few issues setting it going but I know she really enjoys the video chat, which has replaced the 'not dead yet' texts every morning. That reminds me, I must go and call... Happy Easter weekend and enjoy your weekend

Busy_Mee

Beanie you are just amazing  When I retire I am going to volunteer, if there is one thing that this has taught me, it is food insecurity is awful  and this is where I want to give my time. In the meantime I will continue to donate.

SL we haven't set FIL up with any kind of video call. He is not that good digitally and doesn't have a smart phone.  He is well blessed with calls though, we ring him everyday and so does BIL. He also has five grandchildren and other assorted relatives who ring him regularly. In fact he was getting quite grumpy because he was out in the garden and he kept having to come in because the phone kept ringing  He actually seems quite chipper at the moment, mainly because the weather is good and he can get out in the garden. One of our nephews who lives nearby and his neighbours are fetching anything he needs.

My parents aren't doing so well. They are really bored as they are normally very sociable and out and about. Dad is in one of shielding categories so is totally locked down. They are getting lots of calls and they are a bit more technically savvy. They have downloaded the audio version of the Daily Fail ( should be banned from the homes of all old folk imo ) but they like it ! 

I have also been pointing them in the direction of anything they might enjoy watching or reading. This week they have been enjoying the Gary Barlow duets on Faceache.

I am having a doorstep delivery of flowers for them. A local flower farmer offered to deliver flowers locally because the local farmers markets where they planned to sell are closed. I am hoping these will bring them a lot of pleasure. They will be some quite unusual varieties of tulips and other spring flowers.

beanielou

Flowers sound fabulous. 

I love tulips. 

Suffolk_lass

How lovely. I sent my Mum a three month subscription while there was little in the garden, so just Jan, Feb and March to give her a little lift once a month, ending on my birthday.

Oh dear, here I am indoors on a beautiful morning. Off now. Have fun!

savingholmes

Have fun even?
Nice that you can send flowers. I sent flowers and chocs for mother's day. I may see if they have a local garden centre that's delivering as real plants would cheer my parents up - they too are shielding as are we as much as poss. 
Busy-Mee on the food budget and staying stocked up - I think that is just common sense.

Busy_Mee

Well it has been a busy couple of days and almost quite enjoyable if only you could ignore the tragedy in the outside world.

The weather has been amazing and has made all the difference. Could you imagine if we had days of pouring rain and wind, as we did in February. Anyway it has been glorious here. I have got into a routine of walking the pup first thing and we have been doing around 4 miles. I am making my daily exercise count, and good job too because I am eating for England. This will stop on Tuesday.

I spent Friday sorting our deck out, planting planters, sweeping up and getting all the cushions for the furniture out. I even found some solar fairy lights and put them out. DD and I sat out there until 9pm drinking wine and having a really good catch up.....it was so lovely. One very positive aspect of the lockdown is that DD and I are getting on really well. I am under no illusion that I am a poor substitute for her friends, but I am enjoying it while it lasts

I have baked up a storm this weekend and made the obligatory Easter nests, Creme egg brownies and cup cakes. Even if I say so myself they were very good and must have looked good because DD decided they were Instagram worthy. I definitely turn to food in times of crisis, cooking and baking, eating and feeding others. I wonder if it is some primeval survival thing. 

DD commented that I have made Easter into the new Christmas this year and I think she is right. We have an Easter Tree complete with Easter decorations and I have sent Easter cards possibly for the first and last time  . We are having a full on roast today and I have stopped short at an Easter egg hunt.....the kids are 27 and 29 after all ! But there is plenty of chocolate 

I will be phoning round all the old folk today. The cards and flowers have all gone down well, so I am glad I bothered.

Have a lovely day and Happy stay home Easter x

savingholmes

We are still doing the Easter egg hunt LOL - my kids are 16 and 22! Have a lovely day. 

Busy_Mee

And another week in lockdown. I actually feel as if I have had a busy week this week, work has been busy and I have been filling the time out of work with things that bring me a lot of pleasure.

On the home front

I have baked my very first sour dough loaf. I was pleased with it and it went down very well and has been gobbled up. I have another loaf proving at room temperature, rather than in our very warm boiler room. I thought it would rise better in  there, which it did, but promptly flopped when it came out. Hence the resulting loaf was a bit flat. This time I am going for a longer prove at room temperature. I was very excited that my sour dough starter worked so well though 

I have also made pilau rice for the very first time. I dunno why I haven't  tried this before but we haven't been able to buy any so I thought I would have a go. And it was lovely and used lots of the spices bought on our travels to India and Sri Lanka.....sigh. There was plenty left to box up for the freezer , so I honestly don't think I will buy ready made again. I might try home made naan bread next 

My free seeds have germinated on the window ledge and we now have pepper, chilli and basil seedlings and I have just planted some radish.

Err and I seem to have acquired another mouth to feed. DDs boyfriend has become homeless as a result of the crisis. He had given notice on his rented accommodation because he is in the process of buying his own place. However because of lockdown the survey on the new place can't happen and the bank won't release his mortgage. Everything was in place but has now ground to a halt. He had planned to live for a couple of weeks with his Grandparents but they are now shielding, so of course he can't go there. I don't mind as he is a nice lad and well house trained but it gives me another worry bead, as he is another key worker in and out to work. But we are all fit and healthy with no underlying health conditions and I keep telling myself this on repeat 

I popped to the garden centre yesterday to collect our order ( grass seed, bread flour and eggs) and realised that it was the first time I had driven for 10 days ! Mr Mee has been doing the shopping this week because I have been so busy.

On the financial front
My HSBC regular saver interest has arrived and is £80.88. I have added this to the ring fenced savings. I am waiting for interest from Mr Mee's HSBC, both FD and a joint M&S to drop in next.

We also received a refund from Jet2 for our holiday flights, which was just under £600, so I chipped another £500 off our IO mortgage. This means we will be mortgage neutral by end May rather than the end of June 

 Jet 2 were very good. I didn't ring them and waited for them to get in touch and there was a no quibble refund. 

I am also pleased to announce that I have done my very first HMRC self assessment to claim back 40% tax on my SIPP contribution. I should hopefully have a £555 tax refund. The figures worked out as follows. I paid £12000 into my SIPP(vanguard), they added £3000 as the 20% tax refund and then I claimed back the 40% element I had paid. So I have saved £3555 in tax on that contribution to my pension. So despite the hit the pension fund has taken, I am still ahead financially and hopefully the pension fund will improve before I need to start drawing any.

I have been indulging in a bit of spreadsheet fiddling and trying to decide what to do with our savings this year. I think probably some short term fixes for a year given the current uncertainty and low rates. Our mortgage interest rate is only 0.79% now, so we can still wring more out in interest elsewhere.

I think that is all my news. Take care xx

beanielou

YOu were lucky to get the refund from Jet 2 so easily.
My mum was to fly with KLM next month & they are adamant she wont get a refund.