Simple living in the country - back to basics

joedenise

We finally got a smart meter fitted about 6 weeks ago and it still isn't commissioned!  If it isn't sorted out soon I'm going to get it taken out.  I'm in a worse position now than I was before having it as I can't read the meters at all now so can't even work out how much I'm my gas and electric are costing at all!

All I need now is for them to email me and tell me to send them a meter reading!

Cheery_Daff

Oh dear joedenise! This is one of the reasons I've not done it yet,  although we had no trouble at the old house. I'll see if they get back to me,  but if not,  I probably won't chase.  Might see if they still rent out energy owls at the library!

Ramouth

We got a thing from npower a while ago that was just a sensor that clipped to the mains cable as it was coming out of the meter and then reported current usage.  It was handy for finding out the big power users.  It could be set to make a sound when you went over a certain level (I.e electric oven plus washing machine) but didn’t report the meter readings.  The sensor was tiny so didn’t need any room in the cupboard.

Cheery_Daff

Ooh, that sounds interesting Ranworth, will investigate 😊

We took friend out for breakfast in the cafe, and then she helped me weed the new squash bed and get a couple of them planted and surrounded by woodchip. Took her to town to catch the bus, had a mooch round the charity shops (didn't buy anything), then did a bit of a top up of tinned chick peas and the like in @ldi.

Been loafing for the last couple of hours, reading my book and drinking tea and trying to summon the energy to do the ceiling. I made hasselback potatoes for the first time (never heard of them til last week) and planned to stick a kind of aubergine roast thing in the oven to go with them, but they cooked far more quickly than I was expecting and were done before I'd even started it so I ended up having a bit friend up veg, butter beans and soft cheese. Most satisfying anyway.

Sat down with my book, and the sky went dark and the wind got up... Figured I'd go and shut the chickens in before they all blew away - only to find them all already in their run, peering out at the dreadful weather, and presumably wondering where their bedtime treats were 😂 Treats duly administered, although no doubt Mr Cheery will deem them inadequate when he gets up from his nap and take them more. 

So. I'm up and doing now, so I hereby declare (again...) that I am going to set the timer for 30 mins and do something with the kitchen ceiling. Really don't want this spilling into July and I'm running out of time!

Cheery_Daff

Well, I certainly have done something with the kitchen ceiling. I've stuck up one awkward bit, spent about an hour and a half shaping a REALLY awkward bit, and the glue is now drying on that. Stuck up another awkward bit that failed to stick, so trying a new tack, which includes hanging a hammer from the ceiling 😮 so let's hope it doesn't fall off! 😮 (the ceilings are really low - we're more likely to walk into it than have it fall on our heads and it's right in the corner of the room anyway).

So. Still not got all the bits up, but getting closer! 

Went for a bit of a walk, rained on us but there was a lovely rainbow (which we failed to get a decent picture of, and a cheerful sunset.



Filled the car up earlier in preparation for going to see FIL tomorrow. 198.9 at Mr M now, which is usually cheaper than other places here. Didn't clock Mr T prices, but the expensive garage on the edge of town was 199.9...

Pulled the rhubarb today. It was a bit smothered in amongst the fruit bushes and nettles, and there wasn't much. I might dig it up and split it ready for next year if we're not going to get much anyway. We'll see.

Cheery_Daff

Evening MSE chums 😊

A nice enough day today. Manged to leave relatively early and got to Mr Cheery Snr's about 11.30. I did the remaining coat of plaster on the final living room wall, Mr Cheery attempted yet another fix on the slightly leaking soil pipe (fingers crossed this one works), and we painted a bit of the living room wall. Along with a general clean up that took most of the day somehow, and we finally left about 5.45. 

Home by 8, and we've done very little since. Tea from the freezer - a tomato and butter bean concoction that I was delighted to discover I'd frozen with half a baked potato! Bonus! 😂😂 Thank you past me! 

Food wise we did well today. Breakfast before we left, and we were organised enough to take all food and snacks etc with us. Because we also left at a reasonable hour, there were no petrol station crisps on the way home either. Things are definitely getting easier, although there's still plenty to do. 

Plenty to do at home too! I have tomorrow off, hooray! Mr Cheery is out tomorrow morning, so I'mmaking a plan to avoid lying around and feeling like I've wasted the day. This is all subject to change...

* change bed and wash sheets (the latter subject to weather) 

* hoover bedroom - there's an elm tree right outside, we've had the window open, and it's been VERY windy... Bedroom resembles a woodland floor 😂😂

* 15 mins in New Flylady zone - the living room. I think I'll be getting the duster out, three are some impressive cobwebs in the corners...

* make rhubarb jam. We picked all ours the other day, sent friend home with some, and the rest isn't really worth freezing. Might root in the freezer for last year's gooseberries and blackcurrants and do something with them while I'm at it (or might not - that sounds like a recipe for a multi-pan mess!)

* more kitchen ceiling - get my 3 awkward pieces up, paint the extra noggin, final battens, stick final boards, get the caulk out

* paint 2nd coat on kitchen walls - this will entirely depend on how the ceiling goes (and is therefore probably quite unlikely)

* banks and YNAB

Weather isn't going to be great, but it gets nicer later on, so I might get out and do some more weeding.

Will report back 😁

Cheery_Daff

Morning chums

Mr Cheery has left, the chickens are out (although it's raining now, so they've probably taken themselves back in). I've had breakfast and lost another £20.19 on the Happy Wheel. Still at £150 for June, so not a disaster, but rather vexing to have constant reminders that these things can go down as well as up! Let's hope I don't end up at £0 before the month is out!

Banks and YNAB all reconciled. We're currently on track to add around £50-100 to savings when Mr Cheery's pension is paid on Thursday, so that's good (will see how much gets spent between now and Thursday though). 

Next job needs to be getting off my bum and making jam. I'm going to use this recipe: 

https://fussfreeflavours.com/easy-rhubarb-jam/

Although my sugar has clearly got a bit damp at some point and the whole bag is solid, so that's going to require a bit of mesing about first... 

Right - sugar, then leave it sitting with the fruit while I do everything else. Ready, steady, GO!

Cheery_Daff

Good grief. 

Just tried to make an international payment. I'm with the Co-operative Bank, and apparently they are still in the 1970s, because you can't make an international payment online, you have to ring up. Unsurprisingly, they are 'experiencing an unusually large volume of calls' (not really a surprise, when that happens every time you ring), and it took them 32 minutes to answer the phone, and another 15 minutes to make a single, one off payment, of less than £100 to an organisation.

I had to confirm all my security details (despite already entering them), work out what the exact amount my last payment using chip and pin was, who to, and what time of the day (thank goodness for YNAB because I was just guessing and she was getting increasingly suspicious until I logged into YNAB), and tell the adviser whether the country was in the EU as she didn't know (I didn't know either but I would have thought they'd have access to that info, rather than customers having to google it!)

Anyway, finally done, and slightly snotty 'feedback' sent asking when they plan to allow customers to make international payments online, when they plan to employ some new phone advisers given how busy they are, and informing them of HSBC's current £170 switching offer... I've always stuck with the co-op because of their ethical policy, and in reality will likely do the same now, but goodness me, what a palaver! 

Anyway, I made a nice rice salad thing while I was on hold, and stuck up another piece of the ceiling. Might need another cup of tea to recover. 

Karmacat

Good heavens, that really *is* a palaver - fancy having to phone to do that!  Couldn't be doing with that, you're a star for sticking with them - wasn't there something about corruption at the top of the Coop?  I have a cc with them, and I nearly moved it - it was a while ago now, though, I bet the management is different (though still stuck in the 1970s, from the sound of it, blimey!).

Tea, salad and ceiling - enjoy them all  

Cheery_Daff

I imagine there is corruption somewhere, and they're not as good as good as they could be - I tend to think of them as the best of a bad bunch of mainstream banks, rather than any shining light 🙄

Another bit of ceiling up, chickens let in, and then evicted 😂 and now a cup of tea to celebrate. Jam jars washed and ready to be sterilised, rhubarb and sugar going nicely gooey in a pan ready for heating later, and I'm having a nice day flitting between activity and homesteading videos. All is good 😊