Simple living in the country - back to basics

Cheery_Daff

greent said:

Have you ever considered a stick blender for making soap? I used to use one all the time - makes achieving trace a matter of minutes at most 😁 - although is obviously not an arm workout, if you're looking at that at the same time 😊 

I ruined my last stick blender making soap 😂 I think it must have still been a bit hot, or something 🙄 But the motor went and the plastic melted. I've not missed it, and didn't want to buy one just for this, although I will consider it if I do end up making it fairly regularly. As it was I just put a film on the tablet and pulled a bar stool up to the cooker and whisked away 😂

Having quite a productive afternoon here. Went to a cafe and wrote a letter to my friend, which was nice 😊 Gave the chickens a treat, painted the final kitchen wall, spoke to my mum, made tea, got my stuff ready for tomorrow, did the banking, transferred a small test bit of dosh to the new savings account. Doesnt sound like a lot but it feels like I've been on the go!

Just gearing up to getting ensconced on the sofa 😂

EssexHebridean

You got masses done there then - and hurrah for successful soap making too! (And probably best NOT to go for the stick blender route, allowing for past history!)

Hopefully the beaky ladies are all settling down nicely now! 

Cheery_Daff

Yes, they do seem to be settling in, and seem nicely relaxed and are eating and drinking enthusiastically - often the first thing to go when they're poorly. We've had two eggs from them so far, but it's been one each day so not sure if it's one each or not 😂 I'll be happier when I know both have laid successfully, especially as the others are winding down and Bessie hasn't laid for years so we're quite deprived 😂

Travelled for work this morning - drove, but wish I'd gone on the train as it was a tedious 5 hours in the car and of course I couldn't even check emails or anything while we were on the move, very tiresome. It snowed while I was on the motorway too which was not exactly fun 🙄

Hey ho. Home safe and sound now, with a mountain of things to get on with - best stop talking to you lot and get on with them! 😂

Cheery_Daff

Hmm, booked tomorrow off work to attend this funeral with Mr Cheery, but hadn't realised that it's first thing, and he's got a band practice in the city I work in in the afternoon... So theoretically I could work the afternoon, and take a half day another time... I could definitely find enough to do...

... but I've booked it off now, and am tempted to have a bit of a jolly instead 😂 Not sure what, mind you, probably just visiting a pal or two. Might see if I ever get to focusing properly and finishing what I'm meant to tonight! 🙄

beanielou

Have a wee jolly 

Cheery_Daff

Ha, thanks Beanie - since you have suggested it, that's exactly what I shall do 😂 

Mind you, I might be in the market for a nap - we're going to have to leave at 6am to give ourselves plenty of time to get there 😱

beanielou

6am~~~eeeek.

Cheery_Daff

Yes, that was my thought too 🙄 But it starts at 9.30, and it's a journey that takes 2 hours on a good day, and we're going to hit rush hour, and we do NOT want to be rushing trying to find somewhere to park etc. So 6am it is (which also gives us time to faff about and leave a few mins late...)

LPG was delivered today. 1620 litres, which i think will be about £850 at our fixed price (including vat). Our last delivery was early August, so that works out roughly £170 a month. 

More specifically, it's about 23 weeks, so £37 a week, so about £5.28 a day on average. Obviously more of that will have been over the last few weeks. But I put aside £167 a month, recently increased to £170, which pretty much exactly covers what we've used. 

Last year we had a delivery on 22nd Dec, then had another almost full tank on 11th March. That's about 11 weeks, and 11 weeks from now takes us to 3rd April. Let's see if we can get further than that...

EssexHebridean

That sounds pretty reasonable for the LPG and costs of heating then - great that you forecast it almost exactly right too on costs! I imagine that your house will always cost a bit more than many to heat because of size, layout, location etc, and there are plenty of people in far more "mainstream" houses paying more than that at the moment I reckon. 

Hoping the funeral went as well as possible, and that you did decide on a jolly (and resisted a nap!) this afternoon! 

Cheery_Daff

Thanks 😊 Funeral was as good as could have been expected for such a tragedy 😕 But our planned jolly didn't materialise - we took Mr Cheery's dad to a cafe afterwards and he managed to fall down the steps outside on the way out 🙄 A kind passer-by helped us retrieve him from the floor 🙄 and we got him home in one piece - doesn't seem to have broken anything but will have a nice bruise i reckon. 

So getting him home and settled took a while, and we did a few things while we were there. Still, we got back eventually and managed to sneak in a little cafe trip and charity shop wander together 😊 Just dropped him off and now I'm meeting a pal for tea 😊

And yes, our house is detached and an odd shape with a lot of exposed wall space, as well as being near the top of a hill with no surrounding houses so battered on all sides 🙄  And LPG as a rule is more expensive than mains gas, although the difference has got less recently i think. I don't think it's too bad considering. My sister had her bill for the last month recently - over £300 on gas alone 😱 There are five of them, and they do tend to set the thermostat a little above the 16 degrees we tend to stick at, but they're in a sheltered semi, and even so 😱😱