Simple living in the country - back to basics

Cheery_Daff

Afternoon MSE chums 😊

Hope you're all having a continued cheerful festive season 😊

Sun is shining today 😊 But I am not going anywhere today 😁 we've opened our presents, and I'm on my third episode of Call the Midwife - part way through series 7 now. Got to get to the end of series 11 before I watch yesterday's new episode 😂 

Tomorrow is this race, so I need to leave at 6am 😱 Then we've got friends coming on Wednesday, so despite the leisurely nature of today, I do need a small list...

* find an outfit to wear tomorrow
* sort out a picnic for tomorrow
* directions for tomorrow
* find deck chairs and warm things
* check what time friends are arriving on Wednesday
* figure out Wednesday's lunch (probably just a platter of bits and pieces)

Right now though I'm going to make a few more present bags and tick off another episode of my Call the Midwife marathon 😂 Very important work 😁

Cheery_Daff

Oh, and I got a RightMove alert this morning, for a slightly unusual house we often drive past. Not somewhere we'd want to live, but I did a few calculations, and it's reassuring that, if necessary, we could sell this place and buy it outright. 

NOT on the cards any time soon, but I do like to be reassured that there are options should we ever need them, and it's reassuring that if we absolutely needed to, we could move and be mortgage free. 

Like I say, not on the cards at all, but it's nice for me to keep in mind when I have an occasional wobble about finances.

Right, on with these present bags 😊

SusieT

Cheery_Daff said:

Oh, and I got a RightMove alert this morning, for a slightly unusual house we often drive past. Not somewhere we'd want to live, but I did a few calculations, and it's reassuring that, if necessary, we could sell this place and buy it outright. 

NOT on the cards any time soon, but I do like to be reassured that there are options should we ever need them, and it's reassuring that if we absolutely needed to, we could move and be mortgage free. 

Like I say, not on the cards at all, but it's nice for me to keep in mind when I have an occasional wobble about finances.

Right, on with these present bags 😊

It is always a relief to know that you could be mortgage free if the poo hit the fan. I am nearly in the same position and hope that by the end of this year I can be there by either paying enough extra or put it into savings as that may be better with the rate I have fixed at.

Cheery_Daff

It's a good feeling SusieT isn't it? Mind you, it'll be a better one when it wouldn't involve us moving house in order to do it! 😂 (at which point I will remind myself that we were actually mortgage free before we moved here...) 😂

Still having a lazy one, but I do need to spring into action at some point! I've retrieved the camping chairs, well, more like lilos with backs than actual chairs 😂 and also rescued the folding bikes from the coal shed, which is, I suspect, several hundred years older than most of the house, and is sadly showing signs of collapse. Perhaps not imminent, but I'd guess it'll be a pile of rubble by the end of 2023 at the latest, and I don't want either the foldy bikes or me to be underneath it 🙄 There's still a load of glass recycling in there but that can take its chances 😂 And Mr Cheery's big bike, which he rarely uses, and which is far more easily replaceable than the folding ones. I'll rescue that at some point, but not today.

Chickens have had their bedtime porridge, and I've made three present bags. I'm going to put another Call the Midwife on and sew a few more, then spring into action with cooking - I think a simple pasta bake and some mincemeat flapjack, both of which I can take tomorrow for the race, and the leftovers can be part of dinner when our pals come round on Wednesday.

Getting there, albeit very slowly 🙄

Oh, and I just remembered the stewed apple I left in the haybox on Christmas Eve 🙄😂

EssexHebridean

That will be very well stewed apple, then! 😂😂

Have fun tomorrow - although I don’t envy you that early start! 

Cheery_Daff

Pretty stewed, yes 😂 But very nice, just had a dollop with some yogurt 😁

Trying to gear myself up to do a bit of cooking 🙄 Really can't be bothered 🙄 I know I'll be fine once I get started. 

Might swap my poncho for a jumper - that might make me feel less like curling up in a ball 😂

Karmacat

Definitely, I like the warmth of a jumper as opposed to the drafts that a poncho supplies  

Hope it goes well tomorrow!  And that the coal shed stays up for a bit longer 😛

Cheery_Daff

Thanks 😊 I love my poncho 😁 I'd wear it all the time if I could get away with it 😂 But the jumper has fewer tassles and has less risk of dangling in the food 😂 And makes me feel slightly less like I'm wearing a blanket, which makes me more likely to do stuff 😂

Pasta bake made, flapjack just finishing off in the oven. Stewed apple parcelled up in the freezer - it's always super satisfying to get stuff in the freezer 😊

Cheery_Daff

Morning chums 😊

Well, what an adventure yesterday! The idea is that you start at sunrise, and either do a specific distance (10k, half marathon, marathon), or just keep going til the sun sets.

The race itself was actually better than I expected - last time I did it (in 2018) I had to stop after 17 miles, well before sunset, because my hip was too sore and I couldn't run any more. This time though we walked, and we made it all the way to the end of the day 😊😊 21.5 miles in total. There were only about 60 people doing the race, and they'd got a good spread of snacks 😁 I even did one lap carrying a mug of tea and a slice of Victoria sponge 😂

My sister's husband came to pick her up, and I sat in the car and rang Mr Cheery to tell him I'd finished and would be home in a couple of hours. In those 5 mins I was on the phone, someone locked the car park - with me and another lady inside 🙄 there was a small, handwritten note saying 'main gates locked at 4.30' (I'm actually CONVINCED it had said 2.30 when I drove in) - I assumed it meant we'd have to leave through the side gates, not that we'd be locked in all night. The other lady hadn't seen it at all - she'd turned left into a different bit of the car park before she got as far as the sign. 

Obviously it was dark by then, and had started raining, so we spent an hour first trying to find someone to call (no numbers displayed at all, and the leisure centre number obviously not answered), and then walking round the playing fields trying to find an escape route. NOT what I needed having already just walked over 21 miles. 

Finally managed to break out of a pedestrian entrance, between a metal fence and the only bushes that didn't have a post embedded in them.

Then the blower wouldn't work properly in the car so the windscreen kept misting up, and I spent the whole 2 hour journey hunched in an awkward position trying to see properly and keep warm 🙄

Made it home eventually, but I won't be going far today. My biggest problem is a stiff neck from huntching in the car!

Tescodealqueen

Oh Cheery what a nightmare. Hope your neck starts to ease soon do you have any arnica that might help