Simple living in the country - back to basics

KajiKita

Waving Cheerfully at Cheery and hoping all is well.

KK x

beanielou

Missing your posts cheery

Tescodealqueen

Hope you are ok Cheery x

EssexHebridean

I reckon she's overcome by the heat in her office with all that carpet and underlay...  

Cheery_Daff

Ha, yes, I've basically just been lying in there like it's some kind of sauna 😂😂😂

Anyway, hello 😊😊 Thank you all for checking in on me, and I'm sorry if I worried you. I was just feeling temporarily overwhelmed by things, and was also spending loads of time scrolling around the Internet, and remembered how much I enjoyed Internet Free May, so just stopped - no forum, Facebook etc. Didn't bother with declarations, just figured I'd do a day at first, but then I started to feel better and get more done, so just kept on. 

A good lesson for me...

Anyway, back for an end of month check in, in no particular order...

* The kitchen ceiling is getting there 😂 All painting and sealing is done! Just need to scrape plaster from round the edges, and there's one bit of beading to add between the two levels which I'd forgotten about 🙄 Never ending! 

* The study is nearly done! Carpet is ace, and it's so toasty in there. I retrieved some green velvet curtains from the attic and they're hung now. They're a bit creased but I'm hoping that'll drop out. Might ultimately replace with blinds, or with better curtains (there's only one each on two of the windows) - but there are loads of other places to do blinds first, and these are fine for now, and keep the warm in.

* I've been tracking electricity use. We're at an average of 5.9kwh a day in October. I've just sent the meter reading in, and they've suggested lowering the DD from £30.33 to £27 odd. Not decided whether I'll do that yet. 

* Made £9.35 on prolific this month, not loads. Also logged into Swagbucks and redeemed £6 worth of vouchers, so I'll transfer that £15.35 to the mortgage. 

* Happy Wheel has redeemed itself this month - I'm up £415 so far. Delighted with that - it more than makes up for last month being down £85! That'll go into savings, I'm topping up the fund for plastering the stairs at the minute so I think that will be full this month. Won't actually get the work done til next year, plenty of other things first, but I find it more motivating to save when there are set pots. After this will be £500 for the bathroom - we'll be doing the work ourselves, and already have the new bath, and won't be replacing the toilet/sink, so this is just for materials. Then the stable block roof - we decided we weren't doing it this year, so I redistributed the funds, but it would be good to do it next year. 

Not sure what else to report. I've had a new normal wage packet now, so I know how much my normal wages will be, so good to know what I'm working with, for now at least. 

Might come back for a proper November plan, but broadly it's looking like...

* trip to a wedding next week! 1st time we've been away for more than one night in over 5 years!!

* finishing touches to kitchen ceiling

* paint kitchen - I did part of the first coat in November last year, and the rest in Feb, so this is long overdue!

* oooh, forgot to say we finally moved the bed (or at least the mattress) into the new bedroom - been in there two nights now, very exciting!! Need to dismantle the bed and get that shifted

* I made one thermal blind for the bedroom - got to get that attached to the wall, and then make another one for the bedroom, and four for the kitchen. I've got the technique sorted now so it should go much more quickly! 

* want to finish the scything, but that will partly depend on the weather.

That's probably it realistically. Got a cheerful work trip planned for November, and will likely need to travel a bit more than usual, so that will take some energy. Will keep tracking electricity, keep the heating at 16 (when it's on at all), and see where we get to. 

Might disappear again for a while - I certainly get more done when I spend less time on the Internet (of course!!) But I will definitely come back shortly! 😊😊😊

Will have a mooch about the diaries before I disappear though 😊

KajiKita

Welcome back!! 😊❤️👏 So good to know that the lack of posts was enthusiasm and happiness rather than disaster or woe! 

Excellent news about your office being warmer! 😊 Re the curtains, if you have a steam iron, it might be worth giving the curtains a good steam as they are hanging - a little moisture often helps creases drop out 😊

Cracking news about the Happy Wheel!! 😊 I’m a little jealous, with my aim for £5 a week from QMee surveys! 😂😂😂 I will have to investigate this some more … <adds to Christmas break tasks list which is already tome-like> 😊

Yaay also for the ceiling of kitchen and the bed of new room! You’ll feel like you have a whole new house by Christmas at this rate 😉😊❤️

KK 

Viking_mfw

So glad to hear you're doing well! Curtains sound fab.

Four_Seasons

glad everythings ok.  Did you manage to move the mole on to new pastures? so far this month we have caught two in my ducklings pen they had made so much mess.  Have a lovely weekend x

Cheery_Daff

Hello all 😊😊

We don't have a steam iron sadly, so they'll just have to take their time dropping out! 

I'm afraid we caught the mole in a trap and gave it an honourable burial 😕 Not something I'd normally like to do, but needs must on this occasion. Touch wood, it does seem to have done the trick.

Also rehomed a mouse that somehow managed to take up residence in the car! 😱😂

greenbee

Lovely to see you back Cheery. I have a mole ploughing up the garden at the moment, so have just been out and resited the traps in the hope that I catch it this time. 

Pre-moving clearing out going on here (haven't exchanged on the sale yet, haven't found anywhere to move to either) and once again I'm disappointed in how useless freegle is round here. Although someone should be coming to pick up a traffic cone later today. Having said that, they said they'd let me know this morning what time they'd come over and haven't bothered to get in touch yet.