Mortgage free in Forever Home :-)

beanielou

My mum & I once asked one of my neighbours for Christmas lunch. It was very hard work. Having had  ‘done our bit’ we diden’t ask her again the next year. 

edinburgher

We are having to do Christmas with MIL, SIL and MIL's new boyfriend. Mrs E really misses her dad, it feels far too soon for new BF to be part of Christmas 🥲 For my part, I really CBA "entertaining" someone new. That probably sounds mean, but it has been a busy and tough year and I could really use the downtime of familiarity!

PennysIntoPounds

Sounds like you've done a great job getting workplace improved and moved on.

When are you telling Mr KK that you're going to the coast for a veggie roast over Christmas? 😇

Hope you've had a lovely evening and feel much decompressed 

PennysIntoPounds

edinburgher said:

We are having to do Christmas with MIL, SIL and MIL's new boyfriend. Mrs E really misses her dad, it feels far too soon for new BF to be part of Christmas 🥲 For my part, I really CBA "entertaining" someone new. That probably sounds mean, but it has been a busy and tough year and I could really use the downtime of familiarity!

Ah that sounds tough, my sympathies to you and Mrs E @edinburgher. Just do what you usually do and if new chap fits in that's fab, and if he doesn't, you'll all be happier for not repeating the experience again. He's probably well nervous!
For what it's worth, I think most people are relieved to find themselves in Christmas company where they can enjoy their grub and drinks and a nap and getting fat on chocolates and cheese reading or watching Wallace and Gromit or Eastenders or somesuch, rather than having to perform for a perfect Christmas that is no-one's actual idea of perfect!

KajiKita

Thank you @debtfreewannabe321, @beanielou, @PennysIntoPounds  😊 Downton was an easy on the brain and soul, distraction which was just what I needed. My fried and I had a good laugh on the way home with me messing about as I drove verrry slowly over speed bumps and pretending to be ancient - it was very silly, but fun 😉
@beanielou, that sounds like a hard work Christmas lunch …

Thanks @Humdinger1, @LadyWithAPlan 😇😉😂
Sympathies @Cheery_Daff, I like a seriously chilled and quiet Christmas Day - I usually really need it by then …

@dawnybabes, that sounds next level! 😳 Could you give them all specific things to do or bring so they each feel they have contributed / gives them something to talk about? (My MiL is sounding easy by comparison now! 🤔)

@badmemory, fortunately this house is such, that once they have been fed and have a cuppa in front of them, I can slip away into the potting shed for an hour or so … 

@Brie, is there any possibility that the neighbour might offset the usual problems with Christmas? He sounds like quite special person and if you don’t invite him this year, he might not be there or well enough to invite next year? 

@edinburgher, that sounds tough on Mrs E … But MiL has a possibility of new happiness? I hope that the day itself is as easy as it could be. Might it be worth popping over to MiL’s between now and Christmas to meet / get to know new BF a bit better before Christmas so the day itself is not quite so ‘polite’? Might make it easier on Mrs E if you can do more of the heavy lifting on the hosting of this chap and she doesn’t have to interact with him quite so much? (Do this and your halo will be visible from satellite orbit! 😉)

I had no idea that Christmas arrangements would resonate so fiercely with people! I will do an update on another post 😊

KK

KajiKita

Yesterday was a ‘mopping up’ day in work. 

Sent positive feedback and thank you to the builders who came in to look for and fix our mains leak - both for fitting us in, their great team who came to site (our dispatch guys missed them when they left! 😉😂) and for the front office team as well. Always worth keeping a good building company onside in case we need them again …

Did a one to one with my seconded resource. At the age of 60 he’d never had a one to one before … 😳 I asked him at the end what he made of the process and he said it was good to be able to sit down one on one and really talk some things through without rushing. That made me feel like I had actually got my approach more or less correct 😉

Much coaching of my other report on what to do with supplier complaints, when to request credit, how to word emails, how to challenge feeble feedback etc 😊 We both quite enjoyed that. 

Managed to get out in the garden for a hour or so yesterday. Did a lot of weeding in my new bed - I’m seeing it as clearing the ‘weeds seed bed’ before next year! 😉 Aiming to finish that today, harvest some musk mallow seeds so I can spread those around further next year as they one of my favourite plants ❤️

I did cut some flowers yesterday to make the most of them before the frosts come …



I have many, many plans I want to achieve this weekend as ever … 😉

KK

KajiKita

Forgot to mention. Mr KK and I did freezer audits, wrote a meals list to the stocks, and then a shopping list from that. Grocery spend this week I kept down to £61, less than half what we would normally spend. We won’t manage that every week (we’ve both postponed making meal batches and we are eating from cupboards as well) but it was good exercise to do and we should repeat it occasionally I think. 

The totes that were sculling around in the conservatory from my collection of groceries last week are now gone! 👏 And for some bizarre reason the driver gave us the potatoes I’d ordered for free because they were short dated - I wasn’t even going to reject them … Very odd, but also helpful 🤷‍♀️😊

Time for some breakfast 😊

KK

f0xh0les

Oh those dangerous short dated potatoes! They can 'turn' overnight, not sure what they think they can turn into, for goodness sake.  Our supermarket food system is totally crazy.  

Very pretty flowers though.  Enjoy your weekend. 

Cheery_Daff

Lovely flowers! You've encouraged me to get out there and see what's still blooming round here (I spotted a dandelion yesterday - maybe I'll bring that in!)

I found a most excellent blue mushroom yesterday. Not really the thing for a table display, but it was quite pretty - one of these I think. 

Love how you keep talking about chipping away at your garden, it encourages me to get out there and do the same

skint_spice

Lovely flowers - very cheerful!