Hazelnutty's New Start

Hazelnutty

Hey Karma! Yep, you're right about the social distancing. People seem to genuinely think the virus has gone away. We were pretty annoyed to hear Dan talking on the BBC breakfast couch about favourite memories of lockdown as if it's now just history! It's lovely though to be able to amble through the countryside on footpaths and barely see a soul. After long WFH days, it's a real tonic (admittedly often followed by an actual tonic... with a little gin mixer....)

Hazelnutty

Evening! Just a quick update today as I'm heading for an early night. I have a condition that causes spells of fatigue and today I was hit hard. I even had to switch off the video on a very long work meeting and listen in, head on the desk, eyes shut

Yesterday was an negative spend day with a refund for a wifi booster that crashed our internet (dangerous territory!) Budgets looking tidy and on track for an underspend over the month. DD has her first (socially-distanced) visit from a friend tomorrow and is super excited. OH is baking so a lovely afternoon tea should come in at a few quid.

Paid the first deposit on the renovation today which is always a gulp moment. Some materials are hard to get hold of ATM so builder is reserving everything in good time. Fun times with skips ahead as our row of houses is set back from the road with a grassy area in front owned by the council. Apparently skip firms can't set foot on it so we can't actually put a skip in the front garden It's going to be a lot of extra work ferrying stuff to the road or a kindly neighbour's drive (OH is on diplomacy duty) but why would it be easy?

Time for bed catch up with you over the weekend

Karmacat

Argh to the difficult skip!  But lovely that DD's playdate is today

Hazelnutty

Thanks, Karma! They were so excited to see each other (her friend cried when they had to leave, bless her) OH spent the whole morning baking and we had gooey choc chip cookies, caramel cake and scones all ready when they arrived. Cue evening sugar coma... Spends came to under a tenner so definitely worth it for making DD's and her bestie's day. Her mum said she'd been having a tough time at school since DD left so keeping them connected will do them both good.

Terrible night's sleep so on the struggle bus today. If I'm not active for a few days in a row I get terrible sciatica (at least, I think that's what it is). So up at silly o'clock this morning as I just couldn't be lying down any more. Slightly dreading tonight as a walk today hasn't shifted it. Might try another pootle around the estate this afternoon.

NSD today and only 11 days 'til CC cut off Will try to stretch on the food front for another day or so before the next Lid1 shop. Freezer is pretty well-stocked and OH's courgettes should be edible soon. We are both total novices on the veg-growing front so are delighted that anything at all has grown! 

the_cross_rabbit

I also get the same sort of pain if I don't move around enough.
CRx

Hazelnutty

It's miserable isn't it, CR? Sorry to hear you suffer too. I managed to doze for an hour this afternoon after taking some painkillers so feeling a bit better but the pain is building back up again now, ready for bed

Currently 'training' the cats to use the new cat-flap (never had one in the old house as there wasn't anywhere it could go). It's proving trickier than expected! We want to phase out the litter tray but it may be a long haul with quite a few smelly hiccups along the way

Hazelnutty

Hello!

A LSD for me, £8.55 at the local coffee shop (we decided to have a weekly wander to the coffee shop on the estate to support a local small business and for a good excuse to leave the house!) and 95p on a baguette from the Coop for lunchtime sarnies. I also decided (inspired by you wonderful people ) that there was no real excuse for not OPing just a little each month, so I logged on and increased my DD from £643 to £675. Once the work on the house is done, I'll probably increase this to £700 and see how I go. I know it's not much of an OP but every penny counts, right? Current balance is £145k with 22 yrs, 9 months to run (aargh! I'll be mid-60s). My fixed rate comes to an end in Nov 22, so I'll be looking to remortgage then. With any luck I'll be able to reduce the term.

Unfortunately, it looks as if the work is going to go over into the Autumn. The garden room's happening first (so we also have a retreat) and our builder's projecting that being finished end of August, cue 8 weeks of disruption just as DD goes back to school and me back to work on-site. This makes me very nervous - just need to keep my eyes on the end result I guess.

Excited to be off to Scotland to see my mum next week. She used to look after DD every monday from when she was first born so this has been the longest she's not seen her We're going to drive as the safest option, just need to plan wee stops along the way!

Karmacat

Thats a fine amount to overpay, of course it is!  Think how little Tilly Tidies are, and *they* add up like nobody's business.  Enjoy your Scottish trip!  My Scottish niece in law has just driven up, with her brother and sister, for a family thing, I think they managed it in one day as there are no little ones with them.  Anyway, have a great time

the_cross_rabbit

Very jealous of your Scottish trip we had planned on doing a 3 week road trip round the west coast at the beginning of July. Hey ho.
CRx

Hazelnutty

Thanks, Karma and CR! We usually visit at least 4 times a year and I think of Scotland as a second home (I kinda wish it was my first home but can't make that happen for a while). The west coast is beautiful, CR! Hope you can make that trip in the end.

A couple of extra spends yesterday evening: £6.99 on some washable makeup remover pads for DD (she loves experimenting but this means she's gone through a hefty stash of cotton wool pads during lockdown - time for an eco alternative) and £13 on an extension lead for my office. Both come under particular 'pots' so am seeing it as cost neutral. Good news today is that I sold DD's old bike for full asking price (it was almost immaculate condition and had barely been used - now of course she's shot up and it's too small) So I cycled into town to pay it in and picked up some doughnuts as a treat for OH and DD (on the 'Ents' pot).

I'm stashing the money for now (probably for holiday or something DD needs). I don't know if any of you separated parents have this issue but XH can be quite funny about money (and he has a lot more of than I do). So, the bike I just sold was bought by my parents. He went out and got her a new bike a couple of months ago without consulting me, but is now angling for me to give him the proceeds of the old bike sale towards the cost    I probably would've been OK with contributing had he discussed it with me ahead of time, but he went for an expensive new bike (she doesn't need new or fancy - I would have gone 2nd hand myself as she's still growing and isn't great at looking after her stuff generally) and now wants me to offset the cost.  These little things do grind my gears, like giving her a new phone out of the blue but refusing to buy her a charger or case   TBF there's not really any major friction between us, and I know I've been lucky (we did the whole divorce without lawyers) so it's just something I need to have mini rants about then let go!