Holding On and Letting Go 🎈

Fortune_Smiles

Lost Time ⏰

I seem to have lost a couple of weeks somewhere - very careless of me 😆  We've had jabs two weeks in a row which might have something to do with it.  I felt poorly for 24 hours after each one and think I'm still suffering some ill effects of the flu jab now a week later 😲

Health

• I am still following the diet - except for one slice of victoria sponge at book club and one slice of millionaires shortbread with hot chocolate at the cinema 😊.  That's one treat a week over the last fortnight and my weight has maintained.  I want to get back on track this week though and lose a little more before Christmas
• the weight loss/diet means I am now completely free of acid reflux and can sleep flat and drink wine again with no recurrence 🥳  I have no joint/bursa pain, my mood is more level and I have more energy
• I managed 2 days of the 30 day yoga challenge before having the jabs 😢 but again want to get back on that from today
• Mr F was due to go in for a routine operation last week but it was cancelled the day before 😢  He has private health care through his employer so will investigate that.  It's not considered a priority condition so it's likely he'll face several more cancellations if he stays with the NHS.

Wealth

• I have received the report from the financial advisor about my main pension.  It recommends I go for the more now, less later option so I'll sign the form and send it back this week
• the electricity company have given us £66 of the Government £400 again this month
• November's pay day should be a little more due to the reversal of the NI increase
• Mr F is getting very fed up with work so I think we have to continue with the plan for him to become self-employed next year and try and accommodate the cost of living increases within that
• I have ring-fenced budget for buying his company car in April and paying for the new stove installation in January
• our emergency fund is a bit low as a result so I'm channelling any spare cash into that for the moment rather than OPing
• a new dishwasher is arriving on Friday.  Our current one is 16 years old and has been threatening to give up the ghost for months.  I have been using Tilly Tidies to save for a new one and a current cash back offer has reduced the cost of the model I want by £70 🥳 so I had enough put by to pay for it.  It arrives Friday.  Mr F can fit it and we'll put the old one on FB as a freebie so no installation or recycling costs
• HMRC sent me a tax refund on the mini pension I cashed in.  Pleasantly surprised to receive it so quickly
• I've set a budget for Christmas
• yesterday's lunch was a Breakfast Burrito as we still have chard in the veg patch and supper was a Sausage Casserole with mash.

Happiness

• we've finalised our plans for Christmas.  It's just the two of us on the day so we're booked to eat out at a local hostelry.  Then we'll be travelling up to stay with the Younger Fortunates for a couple of days over Twixmas.  We'll break our healthy eating/diets for those few days but I won't be getting in much in the way of indulgences otherwise.
• still planning to make a Christmas cake though as I really enjoy decorating them.  I'm thinking of hand-painting a cake this year
• we want to start building more of a social network for Mr F in the run down to his semi-retirement so I've organised for my WI friends and their hubbies to attend a curry night at a local attraction.  Many of my friends are in-comers like us and have a limited social circle here so I'm hoping it will be a good thing for everyone
• Mr F and I went on a date last night at the cinema.  We saw Mr$ Harri$$ goe$ to Pari$ which was lovely.  With the parking and snacks the cost came to about £35 which will come out of this month's fun money.

Happy new week all

Fortune x

savingholmes

Social plans sound lovely. 

Good to have the pensions decision made. It's so stressful while deciding - it's positive when it's done.

Fortune_Smiles

savingholmes said:

Social plans sound lovely. 

Good to have the pensions decision made. It's so stressful while deciding - it's positive when it's done.

Thanks SH - yes, I always feel more settled once I've decided on a way forward.  All the unknowns around Mr F's semi-retirement are still a little unnerving.

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

Back on track... partly 🤭

I'm up to day 3 of a new 30 day yoga challenge.  I was finding the old one too fast with too little guidance.  We'll see how this new one shapes up but so far so good.

There were a couple of further blips with the diet.  I went to the WI Committee meeting on Monday and the wider membership join us for lunch after.  We've been meeting at a local deli for the last few months and, this time, they delivered some traybakes to the table to thank us for our custom.  It seemed churlish to refuse 😊 (I know that's no excuse).  And I also bought the M&$ light projector biscuit tin as I thought it would make a good Christmas decoration... then opened the biscuits for Mr F to have some and couldn't resist helping myself.  This is the problem with me, once I start I can't stop.  However, I have planned the menu for today and it doesn't contain any sugar and is within my calorie allowance so I should be back fully on track by the end of the day.

There's a hotel local to us with a spa and the Younger Fortunates bought me some vouchers for beauty treatments there for my birthday this year.  I've just heard they are closing the spa part 😲 So I've booked in for a pedicure in the run up to Christmas to use up the final voucher.  We're hoping to book lunch at the same hotel for Sunday as Mr F will be marching in the Remembrance Day Ceremony and it would be nice to eat out afterwards.

I've also booked tickets for a Christmas production at our little town theatre.  This is following on from our decision to focus more on fun and social activities.

I am still waiting for a quote from the first of the fencing guys who came out.  The second has sent a quote but not for all of the work so I'll have to chase him up on that.

My focus this week is to get on top of chores and errands and start to prepare for Christmas.  I'd ordered some bookmark blanks to decorate for friends and neighbours this year and had a try with those yesterday.  They are quick and easy to do and look quite effective.  I've made 3 already so that's a good start.

I've got some washing out on the line at the moment because it's so warm today.  We didn't even need to wear coats on our dog walk this morning.  Nice to have some dry weather after all the torrential rain we had yesterday and it means we can all keep our heating off for longer.  But I do worry about the natural order of things.

Right.  Mr F will be wanting his lunch soon so I'd better get off to the kitchen.

Fortune x

savingholmes

Bookmark blanks sound interesting. DS was suggesting that I am made and sold some 

Fortune_Smiles

savingholmes said:

Bookmark blanks sound interesting. DS was suggesting that I am made and sold some 

I'm using Christmas stencils and paint pens to decorate them - very simple and quick but quite effective.  If you could use your pouring technique on them that would look amazing!

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

Exciting Times!

Exciting times in the Fortunate household this morning as the new dishwasher has arrived!  Having written that down I am feeling quite a sad person 😆  It's a big event for me as we only replace large appliances when we have to (so usually every 15-20 years) and I use Tilly Tiddies to save for the model I want so it takes a long time.  It's sitting by the side of the kitchen island at the moment waiting for Mr F to instal it between meetings.  I shall take some photos of the old one and post it as a 'free to collector' on FB.  It still has some life in it so might help someone out over Christmas.  Delivery was a pleasant and painless experience - thank you J0hn L£wi$ 😁  I need to claim my £70 cash back now.

Another win this morning - a couple of my saucepans got ruined whilst the Sunflowers were here.  Plastic utensils were a no no for my gluten free guest and I discovered too late that she was using metal utensils in my lovely D£nby non-stick pans 😲  I bought them with T£$c0 vouchers so thought I'd check whether I'd built enough up to replace them.  Hoorah!  I had £40 in vouchers and D£nby give you 3 times the face value so that made £120 🥳  They have a 30% off sale at the moment plus an extra 10% off for C1ubc@rd holders for the next few days. So a new saute pan, small frying pan, garlic press and set of 5 crystal wine glasses are on their way to me for the princely sum of £30 odd plus postage.  The wine glasses will be a hosting gift for the Younger Fortunates who are putting us up over Christmas.  We bought them champagne glasses in the same set last year.

Fencing Man 2 has come back with a quote for the gate repair so I shall have to grit my teeth and contact original fence guy to ask him to meet the cost.

Our neighbour electrician popped by last night to look at the work we need doing.  He's now got a list of jobs in priority order and will come round and do them one by one as and when he can fit us in.  I've asked him to prioritise putting a plug on the boiler (so we can run it with a generator should there be power cuts over the winter) and replacing a broken outside light switch (so we can see to get logs in, etc when its dark).

I've made some decisions on Christmas presents and have managed to stay within budget so far (except for Mr F who has been very good this year and will probably get a couple of extra stocking fillers 😊).  I've bought myself a new sparkly jumper which should see me through the festive season.  Also a coat to try.  I've been looking for a new coat for the last couple of years without success and have been saving Tilly Tidies on my personal spends to meet the cost.

When I cleaned the bathroom on Tuesday I noticed that the bath mats were leaving little rubber dots all over the floor 😲 So they've come to the end of their natural life 😢 The rubber is an absolute bugg£r to get off and it tracks everywhere.  I've found a replacement cotton set that doesn't have rubber so that should live for longer.

I've pulled a muscle in my shoulder so didn't do yoga yesterday and will probably skip it today.  I'll try another session on Saturday and see how it feels.  Diet is going well though and I'm 0.2lbs off the elusive 1 stone loss!

We had One-pan Thai Green Salmon for lunch yesterday (leftover from the night before) but I adapted the recipe to cook it on the hob rather than in the oven.  Supper was Portobello & Blue Cheese Melts.

That seems like a lot of spending 😲 And that always feels a bit worrying when you're used to saving rather than splurging.  However, it's all planned for, saved for/a necessity and discounted and there'll be more spending to do for Christmas so I'll need to relax about it.  Time for letting go of the purse strings for the moment.

Happy Friday peeps 😁

Fortune x

ruby_eskimo

That does seem like a lot of spending but as you said - necessary or planned and definitely budgeted for, which is the most important part.  Regarding a new winter coat - I've got a lovely wool one from Monsoon (via a steal on ebay!) which is probably the warmest coat I own and in a lovely dark green colour.  Hope the shoulder heals quickly and well done on the weight loss, I wish mine were as speedy as yours! 

Fortune_Smiles

ruby_eskimo said:

That does seem like a lot of spending but as you said - necessary or planned and definitely budgeted for, which is the most important part.  Regarding a new winter coat - I've got a lovely wool one from Monsoon (via a steal on ebay!) which is probably the warmest coat I own and in a lovely dark green colour.  Hope the shoulder heals quickly and well done on the weight loss, I wish mine were as speedy as yours! 

Yes - it all seems to have come at once @ruby_eskimo but has been in the planning for ages... except the bath mats, they were a surprise 😆

I buy almost all my clothes from the Bay and have got some lovely, brand new items that way for a steal 🙂  The only thing I can't take a chance on are trousers and coats.  I have short legs and arms and getting those items to fit is a nightmare.  I always look out for those on sale though.  Fingers crossed for this next one 🤞

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

Installed

Mr F has fitted the new dishwasher 😁  Due to the quirky nature of our electricity and plumbing fittings it took a lot of cupboard clearing and water mopping from me and a lot of cursing from Mr F 😆  I am now watching it through its dry 🤔 run and checking for leaks every 10 minutes 😆  It's got 40 minutes left, after which, I shall put the cupboards back in order and start stacking its first load.  Am weirdly looking forward to that 😆

And that's taken up pretty much the whole day 😲

I did check the cash back situation and I have to wait 30 days before I can claim.  Also listed the old dishwasher on FB as free to collector.  We'll have to see if we get any takers.

Lunch was pizza from the freezer as we were mid mopping and cursing so needed something quick and easy.  Supper might be Courgette Carbonara as I am exhausted now (why?) and am looking forward to a hot bath as soon as possible.

Have a good evening all

Fortune x