Holding On and Letting Go 🎈

Cornish_mum

Lovely wreath Fortune, staying in sounds very sensible, CM

savingholmes

Lovely wreath.

Good luck with the birds 😊

Fortune_Smiles

More Christmasing 🎄

We have been mainly (and unsurprisingly) doing more Christmasing since I last updated.  There are still a few presents to deliver but, in the main, we are ready.  It's all feeling very relaxed and calm in the Fortunate household - this not having guests for Christmas might catch on 😆

Health

• all pretence of healthy eating has been suspended until normal service is resumed 😆

Wealth

• received a refund on a credit card that had taken a payment when it wasn't due
• submitted a claim for cashback on the dishwasher we bought.  They are being very sticky about the information they need though so it might be a fight to get it
• reconciled the bank and credit card statements and everything balances
• we are within budget for Christmas so far.  There may be a little more spending for our visit to the Younger Fortunates and a couple of jaunts but we have a full tank of fuel already so these should be minimal
• I baked some Mincemeat & Banana Bread this morning along with some Stollen Muffins to use up some sulky bananas and the marzipan left over from the Christmas Cake.

Happiness

• Mr F is on holiday now until after the New Year
• I used my final birthday voucher to have a glittery pedicure
• we went on a festive date yesterday - a wonderful carol service from a local choir in one of our market town churches followed by an early supper at the brewery.  Mr F had the 'Bad Santa' burger 😆

Royal Mail have now delivered seven of the nine parcels I posted.  If one of the outstanding parcels doesn't get to its destination before Christmas it won't matter but I'm hoping the other one will arrive soon.  And, finally, parcels have started to arrive which I am not allowed to open 😆 So it looks as though I may have made it to the Nice List after all 😂

I hope everyone's ok - stay calm and keep Christmasing 🎅

Fortune x

beanielou

Yah for the nice list & parcels arriving!

Fortune_Smiles

So far so good...

• all the parcels I've sent have arrived at their destinations
• all the parcels I'm expecting have arrived with another due today which is a bonus as I wasn't expecting it until after Christmas
• there are some presents for me under the tree 😁 Although Mr F says he's still waiting for one final parcel to be delivered
• the grocery shop arrived.  Quite a small one compared to previous Christmasses and the fridge looks a bit empty.  I'm sure there's enough for what we need though
• the Christmas cheese and accompaniments have arrived so we won't go hungry
• Mr F has been paid early so I've shuffled money around and paid bills so I don't have to worry about them during the time slip that is Twixmas
• our Christmas Day lunch venue called for our missing menu choices... which they said at the time of booking were'nt required 😆 I was worried that they might be cancelling us when I saw the call from them so was relieved that it was just about missing info
• all gifts have now been delivered except the one for FDawgs groomer who he'll be seeing tomorrow
• the older Younger Fortunates have confirmed the plan for Twixmas so we know where we need to be and when.

We used the second of our vouchers from Christmas last year to have afternoon tea in one of the bigger towns on Tuesday.  Spent a little time browsing the shops but didn't buy anything.  Mr F tried on some wax jackets as his dog walking one has fallen to pieces and is beyond repair 🙁 (he has had it for 40 years and it's been repaired numerous times previously).  I told him he wasn't to buy another as we have an expensive year coming up and he would have to make do... but I have secretly ordered him one (which I got a big discount on).  It won't be here in time for Christmas but I can give him the good news then.

Today I am procrastinating about cleaning the bathroom 😊 but will get on to that shortly.  We have leftover lentil chilli planned for lunch, which I'll make into fajitas, and welsh rarebit for supper as Mr F has a Christmas supper to go to.  I may have a indulgent bath whilst he's out.

I really am enjoying not having visitors this year - it's nice for someone else to be picking up the work this time.

Hope all is calm and bright where you are.

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

Still so far so good, except...

Mr F's final parcel was delivered today 😁  So I have a full complement of presents under the tree 🎄

We ran some final errands this morning:

• took FDawg for his bath and to deliver a little gift for his groomer 🎁
• drove Mr F to the industrial estate to pick up a car part he needs.  They didn't have it in stock.  Mr F had not called ahead, as requested, to check 🙄
• still we did pop into the site diner for a cheeky all day breakfast for our lunch whilst there
• dropped a couple of gifts round to friends who need a bit of cheering up
• popped into our local independent supermarket to pick up the groceries that didn't arrive with my on-line order this week... did not stay long 😯

We were back by early afternoon so I had plenty of time to wash FDawg's bed, blankets, toys and other paraphernalia we're taking with us to the older Younger Fortunates.

One little hurdle, our fast radio broadband has gone down.  It often does in bad weather conditions.  So we're relying on our slow but reliable BT broadband for the timebeing.  Hoping it's going to be up to streaming the film we'd planned to watch tonight.

Hope your preparations are going to plan.

Fortune x

beanielou

Have the best time.
Enjoy & relax x

savingholmes

beanielou said:

Yah for the nice list & parcels arriving!

From me too. 

Love that the diet is suspended. There has to be a time for feasting ...

Sounds like you've eked out your vouchers well too.

Fortune_Smiles

Hope you made it to the Nice List!

Fortune_Smiles

Merry Twixmas!

We are back from the Younger Fortunates - happy but exhausted and laden with gifts from Santa 😁  They have spoiled us rotten.

We've had a lovely Christmas and have over-indulged of course - I've been craving salad all morning 😆  So now our mission is to get back to healthier habits whilst not wasting any of the Christmas leftovers 🤔  Fortunately there isn't much in the house to tempt us.  We had the last of the pannetone toasted and buttered for breakfast this morning and, apart from that, we have just under half a Christmas cake and some cheese to finish up.  And I've incorporated the cheese into the meal plan for the week.  Mr F has said he'll join me in dry January this year.  He made it to two weeks last year so we'll see how he gets on 😆

We got back in time yesterday to put an on-line grocery shop in to be delivered later today.  It came in just over 50% under budget 🥳 mainly because we came home with two take-away meals from the Younger Fortunates and will be eating out on New Year's Eve.  The savings have gone into the emergency fund.

I have a few chores to do today but I'm still very tired from the festivities so will be taking it easy.  My next job is post a review of the year.

I hope you've all had the Christmas you were hoping for.

Best wishes

Fortune x