Mortgage free in Forever Home :-)

SandyShores

So frustrating when they don't listen.  We had some hedging planted a few years ago and I was arguing with the guy we were paying to plant them for us and in the end just gave up.  We were planting a hedge against a fence and he insisted on crowding one into the corner.  He was used to planting hedges for boundaries in the open and couldn't understand that it wasn't necessary to have a corner one because it was against a fence.  Fast forward a few years and we struggle to trim the hedge plant in the corner because we can't get to it.  It was a waste of a plant really as its just hidden by the two on either side.  I guess I should have stood my ground but you just get exhausted.  

Then we had a garden shelter built, and we were supposed to be able to have it mostly built and then be able to decide the exact position.  Instead (when MrShores was out) I had to come out of a meeting as builder wanted to know where to place it before it was even partly finished and was getting really ratty with me because I was trying to get my head around it (having been in meetings all morning and not expecting to have to make a quick decision) and also because I didn't want it in the place he wanted to put it.  Another time when I sadly got railroaded again.

And my final issue is with MrShores who totally messed up the positioning of the car charger.  The surveyor could only come when I was out, or there was a bit of a wait, and between them they've totally c0cked up.  Its the last time MrShores will be left in charge of anything (me brains, him brawn!).  And workmen be warned, I've had enough of being bossed around and have become very assertive these days.  I pity people who have to work with these people on a daily basis.  What's wrong with listening to the customer.

KajiKita

That’s not a bad shout about the electrical tape method @f0xh0les but I’m not sure tape would stay put long enough on often damp or mossy bark. Chalk might work well though … 🤔 The sewing team in work have chalk pens - they would be ‘nimble’ enough to make clean lines. 

Thanks @Brie, @~FlowerPot~, @Sallyforth - your description of the squashed supermarket herb pits made me smile ruefully … Mr KK was a bit that way when we started together but he’s learned a lot over the years. 😊

@SandyShores, there’s something about bad workmen that is so frustrating isn’t there … You’ve got the materials, they have actually turned up but now they won’t listen … Do you bail on it, or try to keep going ….?? 🤷‍♀️ I think the only time I have ever got rid of a workman was in work - I came across one of the team I had just H&S inducted, including a site tour, pulling his willy out of his trousers about to pee against the wall of one of our main factory buildings. I yelled at him - you’ve never seen anyone stuff themselves away so fast! 😂 I ordered him off site as I couldn’t trust him to follow any instruction! I was expecting his boss to ring and try to persuade me to let him back on site, but I never heard anything more …

KK

KajiKita

Had a really good day yesterday 😊

- Three loads of washing done, including all my fleeces and scarves, all dry on the line 😊

- Got carrot seedlings from the plant centre very gently tucked in between the garlic - hoping this might reduce carrot fly action … 🤞 I am also going to do some tall troughs for carrots as well. 

- Sprouted shallots all gently tucked in the clean ground when I pit down be cardboard and compost, over Christmas I think it was? There was a little digging of perennial dandelion roots needed where I was making the holes through the cardboard but most stuff had died back quite a lot. 

- Did some weeding and clearing of the ground under the JM - retrieved some sweet woodruff (love this stuff! ❤️ I am lucky in that this is one of the ‘weeds’ of this garden that it likes to grow - offsets the bindweed a bit! 😉), teeny tiny primula seedlings I couldn’t weed around and some offshoots of another fleshy plant that flowers late in the summer that I can remember neither the old nor new name for! 😉 As it was quite breezy by the afternoon but the sun was still strong I had a tray of damp kitchen paper and tucked these little plants in between the folds to stop them drying out completely - these will need planting out or potting up today. 

- Mr KK continued with the garden bench refurb - because it is green, freshly cut, oak, it smells amazing … 🤩 Once he’d assembled it once, he took it all apart and used 🔨rite to paint the frames. It may need a second coat today or we may be able to go straight to assembly. I will be needed at that point to steady the ends. Then there will be the hefty job of moving it back down the garden to beside the pond again … Think that will be a two person, two wheelbarrow job, as it weighs even more now than it did! 

- Mr KK also cut the hedge behind the veg patch for the first time in a long time. There is a lot of material to get rid of today ….

- Car tax demand arrived - still only £20, which seems ridiculously low to me as I should be contributing to the roads as much as anyone else, but as Mr KK pointed out there is no direct correlation between road tax and road upkeep. I hadn’t realised that he’s paying c. £360 a year for road tax as his little van is classified as a commercial vehicle. I suppose between us that’s fair. 

- Got to have our first cuppa of the year on the patio by the lounge 😊🌞

- Mr KK quite a rough quote for the stone etc. for the oaths around the house and finishing the patio. C. £1500. I have put aside £2K for these works, so with sand, cement, primer etc. I think we will have enough. 

- Meal out was lovely. Really good food and they gave him a free piece of cheesecake with happy birthday written on the plate in chocolate sauce 😊

Bit sore and weak today so having a slower start. But there will be more gardening, more washing and some chilling 😊

KK

LadyWithAPlan

Glad you feeling better and are self caring in the garden 

boo to the tree surgeon 

SandyShores

Really productive day there KK, hope you've recovered today or at least you're enjoying the bench now.  We didn't do quite as much as you, but MrShores did cut the hedge and the lawn, then together we took the mass of cuttings off to the recycling centre.  I've made the obligatory trip to the garden centre today (of course!).  I was surprised how quiet it was, but its probably not peak season yet.  I didn't manage to get any of the recommended plants, but I am on the look out for a Daphne now as I have the perfect spot for one.  I spotted the sale shelves and picked up a hyacinth, a lilac polyanthus and four planted tulips, plus a pot of sweet pea seedlings for the princely sum of £13.99.  Just having a cuppa in the garden before picking up my trowel.

KajiKita

Thanks @LadyWithAPlan, @SandyShores 😊

The bench is stunning! 🤩 It looks almost new and we don’t think we could buy such a solid one as a new piece these days. Mr KK is very pleased with it as it has been a simple job (for him) but very rewarding 😊

He has finished picking up all the hedge trimmings and they are all in dumpy bags. 👏
He’s also made himself a big batch of bolognese that we had with bakers for an easy tea tonight (I had a veggie batch bolognese from the freezer). 

Meanwhile I have dried all his washing on the line and folded it for him, dealt with a truly 🤮 inducing mess that Chloe left in the dining room (I will spare you the smelly and messy details … 🙄) paid my car tax, opened up my LI profile to recruiters only and worked out, numerically, my workload over the last two weeks and the potential workload over the next four - absolutely nuts. I will be using the latter to talk to both my boss and my bossy colleague. 

In the garden meanwhile … 😊

- Broad beans planted - two batches of mine (very patchy germination) and a flat from the plant centre. All gently and cosily surrounded with wool based slug protection. These will need fleecing if they face frost this week. 

- Greenhouse watered with seaweed feed. This is starting to be needed twice a week I think. 

- Planted three more pale primulas under the contorted Hazel to extend the fairy circle I am trying to create under there 😉

- Potted up what was recoverable from the little plants I rescued from the bed I was clearing yesterday. Also potted up the leek seedlings from the flats from the plant centre and the semi perennial bedding plants that had completely out grown their pots - these will also need protection from frost by being brought into the conservatory overnight this week. 

- Had our afternoon cuppa on the new bench by the pond 😊

All work in the garden was closely supervised by a very static robin - if ever a robin could be said to have gravitas, this one did 😊

I didn’t get every done I should have (YNAB update, CV update etc.), but I did also get some time on the sofa with my tapestry and Enterprise2 😊

KK

Cheery_Daff

Sounds like a productive weekend and an excellent plan for the evening KK!

debtfreeoneday

Good going there in the garden. 

debtfreewannabe321

I think I would have cried over the tree too KK. 😥
We do our own pruning but I generally stand at the bottom and DP up the ladder and I will be shouting no no lower lower/ higher higher and he will snip where I say 🤣 it's worked so far. Will the tree grow back do you think? 

You've done loads in the garden! We're still in destruction/ getting rid of hoard mode before I can start thinking about pretty bits. Although I've noticed some rhubarb pop up this last month - we thought it might have died as it got cut right back in clearing mode as DP didn't have a clue what it was 🫣.

Hope you have a good week at work and it's not too busy 😊

KajiKita

Thanks @Cheery_Daff, @debtfreeoneday and @debtfreewannabe321 😊
Not sure whether the JM will recover … 🤞 and trying not to look at it for now. 

Rhubarb is usually gloriously robust … 😉 Mine is spreading wider and wider … and we don’t even have particularly fertile soil 😊

Better day in work. 

Took the workload mapping I did over the weekend into my boss today. After saying good morning I opened with saying I was worried about how I would pass my probation as I couldn’t get time to do the tasks he’d set me for my first three and six months. I then shared my data with him. He understood what I was saying and said he would look at it. I felt a lot better after that conversation. People were very nice to me today - makes me wonder what was seen last week or said today ….

Deliberately did things ‘other’ than the big project today, as a mental break. Had a good 1:1 session with my technician which had been postponed twice due to workload … Also deliberately went offsite for a walk at lunchtime. I am controlling what I can …

Parish council meeting tonight. Oh my word, what a cantankerous old man one of the other councillors is - I literally heard him bending the ear of another (male) councillor at the end of the meeting to work together ‘to stop those women’ who had offended him by wanting to spend some small amount of money on something he strongly disagrees with… Wow … I’m still chuckling at it now … 😉

Mildly lost my wig in frustration via text at my IT chap this evening when I tried and failed to print the agenda in time for the meeting …! He removed on when I got home, and now, FINALLY, I can print from my new laptop 😊👏

KK