Holding On and Letting Go 🎈

themadvix

Love both the story and the peek-a-boo trick. Small pleasures are the fabric of life - we can’t always be partying or doing grand things. Enjoying them and sharing here sounds excellent.

 I’m definitely feeling a bit out of sorts too - you’re not alone in that.

Fortune_Smiles

beanielou said:

Out of sorts too for a variety of reasons 

Sorry to hear that Beanie.  The shortening of the days seems to have a melancholy effect on me.

savingholmes said:

beanielou said:

Out of sorts too for a variety of reasons 

Sorry to read that.

FS - love the dog story - both the pet shop and the peek a boo. I think simple joys are the way forward. 

I shall certainly be looking out for those moment SH - searching for balance as always.

greent said:

Look the peek a boo trick you've taught FDawg! 😄

He's very clever greent but gets too excited about training (particularly when treats are involved) so it can take a long time before he gets it.

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

themadvix said:

Love both the story and the peek-a-boo trick. Small pleasures are the fabric of life - we can’t always be partying or doing grand things. Enjoying them and sharing here sounds excellent.

 I’m definitely feeling a bit out of sorts too - you’re not alone in that.

Thank you MV.  I'm making an effort to notice more of the good stuff around me - there's so much negative stuff in your face all the time that it's easy to be pulled over to the dark side 🌑

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

Butterflies

We're just back from dropping my car at the garage for a service.  It was due in March 😮 but I was preoccupied with the Sunflowers then and it has drifted.  I don't do many miles in it so I'm sure the delay won't hurt.  I have money set aside for the cost, however, I think there's also a problem with the air conditioning so the bill might be higher than expected.  We'll know soon enough 😆

In other news:

Health

• my diet and exercise have lapsed recently so I'm determined to get back on top of those from today.  I seem to turn into Br1dg£t J0n£$ when Mr F is away 😆
• having said that we had Banana Pancakes with plum compote and yoghurt for breakfast yesterday, Fennel & Pancetta Minestrone with buttered, wholemeal rolls for lunch and One-pan Thai Green Salmon with jasmine rice for supper.  So quite reasonable.  It was the three packets of crisps I ate before supper that were the problem 😲  Yes - three 🙄 Putting it out there in the hope that seeing it in black and white will stop me indulging so heavily in the future.  My problem is that, although I don't eat less healthy snacks every day, once I start snacking I don't stop
• I've reset my perspective on the change of season and am focussing on the joys it will bring rather than the negatives.

Wealth

• the plums, spring onions, fennel, courgettes and spinach in yesterday's meal plan were all home grown 😇
• did the meal plan for the week to use up more veg patch goodies and anything lurking in the fridge.  The grocery shop came in well under budget so I've made up the order with some things for the food bank
• ordered two bags of hard wood logs from our local sawmill.  We have plenty of soft wood and kindling (mainly from replacing fences) so a combination of those should work well in the log burner
• Chimney Man came out to sweep the chimney.  It's the first time we've had the chimney swept and, as we feared, our log burner has not been fitted properly so he couldn't sign us off as safe 😲  Although he did say he could see the log burner had taken a hammering and as nothing has caught fire yet... Fortunately Chimney Man's son is an installer so I've booked for him to come out and have a look and quote for the work.  We also have a crack in the top of our log burner so will have to replace that at some stage.  It could last another ten years though so, for the moment, we'll just have the chimney made safe
• the heating oil was delivered so we now have a full tank for the winter 🔥
• Solar Man 2 came out to do a survey and will send us a quote.  We've heard nothing more from Solar Man 1
• I've found two fencing contractors who should be able to come out and quote for our repair work this week.  I've heard nothing from the original Fencing Man so I think we've got a fight on our hands there
• sold a small item on the Bay
• the Council have paid us again for the Homes for Ukraine Scheme.  Odd that it has started up again as we didn't recieve anything last month.  I brought it to their attention and someone contacted me within the hour asking me to repay the money 🙄 Makes me wonder why it took them weeks to arrange the payments in the first place.

Happiness

• I cried off the WI meeting last night.  It was a social so no speaker and it was cold and wet so I opted for a hot bubble bath instead.  My bath watching at the moment is P01r0t.  I love to see all the interior design and fashion of the age.  There are thirteen series to get through though and I'm only up to number three so far.  Plus that might have to be put aside when the new Bak£ 0ff starts 😁
• when I was out harvesting vegetables in the rain yesterday I was accompanied by several Red Admiral butterflies.  They are coming in to feast on the last of the victoria plums.

Today I need to start getting on top of the housework.  Mr F is having a weekend away with the boys and they are staying over the night before and after.

Hope all is well with you guys

Fortune x

themadvix

How lovely to have red admirals on your plums!

Solar companies are completely swamped at the moment - this is on top of massive supply issues (Chinese lockdowns, Felixstowe strikes and materials shortages) - so I'm sure Solar man 1 will get back to you eventually. We hadn't heard anything from E0n in about 4 months before we got a call out of the blue last week. 

Where are you watching P0irot? Assume you mean the proper Suchet ones? I feel that these could be a great thing for me to watch when Mr MV is away - we tend to watch most things together, so when he's not about I have to cast around for stuff that he won't mind not watching!

Fortune_Smiles

themadvix said:

How lovely to have red admirals on your plums!

Solar companies are completely swamped at the moment - this is on top of massive supply issues (Chinese lockdowns, Felixstowe strikes and materials shortages) - so I'm sure Solar man 1 will get back to you eventually. We hadn't heard anything from E0n in about 4 months before we got a call out of the blue last week. 

Where are you watching P0irot? Assume you mean the proper Suchet ones? I feel that these could be a great thing for me to watch when Mr MV is away - we tend to watch most things together, so when he's not about I have to cast around for stuff that he won't mind not watching!

Yes, I'd read about the delays re solar.  I think Solar Man 1 might be having a problem with the certification he needs though (heard on the grapevine).  Solar Man 2 thinks he'd be able to fit in November which is much sooner than I'd expected.  We might have to wait until the Spring though as we've got some other big financial decisions to make this year.

P0ir0t is on the 1TV Hub at the moment.  All the series are on there.  When Mr F and I find that rare thing - something we'd both like to watch 😆, I usually discover that he hasn't been able to wait to watch the next episode and has sped ahead without me 😡

Fortune x

savingholmes

I love watching the butterflies in my garden too. 

Well done for listening to your body and not pushing through. Sometimes a soak in the bath is exactly what's needed.

Fortune_Smiles

Work hard, play hard

I had a good, productive day yesterday and combined chores and leisure activities:

• cleaned the dining room whilst listening to a new audio book.  It was one I had in my 'library' already so no additional cost
• cleaned the living room whilst watching a P0ir0t episode
• didn't have to do any cooking as there were leftovers from all of yesterday's meals to polish off
• picked the car up from the garage - nearly £100 under budget 🥳 However, they couldn't find anything wrong with the aircon so have put some dye in the system to see if gas is escaping.  I'll have to take the car back in a couple of week's time for them to have another look. So some of that saving will have to go towards the further cost
• confirmed a date and time for the log burner survey
• baked a Banana & Pecan Loaf to use up some sulky bananas (and I only had one slice... not three 😊).

And hoorah!  The new B@k£ 0ff started last night 😁  During the first lockdown, I did have an idea of trying out all the technicals from the programme.  But then I worked out all the extra calories involved and decided I'd be better off just watching instead 😆

The boys are arriving this evening so I need to clean guest rooms and the bathroom this afternoon.  They are all off in a camper van for the weekend which, unexpectedly, needs picking up this evening so I'll have to take Mr F to do that.

Happy Hump Day all

Fortune x

savingholmes

You know I just want to make a loaf now... I only have one banana but did find a pack of dates so could use a combo. Perhaps tomorrow.

Suffolk_lass

Someone on here told me about a carrot, courgette and orange cake (BBC Good Food) - new favourite cake, made in a loaf tin and not bothering with icing if it is going in the freezer (3 did!). Recommended.