Ding! Ding! All change, please... (now replaced with new diary on MFW)

EssexHebridean

More lovely visitors - thank you! Yep - Mr Boss doing the legals is fab - and it's put us in a better position as well as we've already got that in place so no perception that we'll lose time finding solicitors etc.  

Moorviews glad the spag dish worked as inspiration! I very rarely use recipes a anything more than a kicking-off point - and some of our most commonly eaten meals have either just evolved over time from a recipe I cooked once and enjoyed, or have simply come about as a result of us having ingredients in that needed using. that pasta thing is a prime example - it would have worked equally well without the cream, or with a different protein component, or different veg...!

Final day of the working week for me today - and then of course a 4 day weekend (3 days for MrEH) but with lots of stuff to get lined up for holiday and ensuring the voluntary role stuff is OK. We've already agreed that we will be needing a quite structured weekend to make sure everything that needs doing gets covered. 

Dr's appointment last night confirmed that I was OK for HRT albeit with a small risk of complications - but that's going to be one to see how I go as we go along I think - anyway I asked nicely for the prescription to be issued on paper there and then rather than sent across to the chemist as I know from experience the chemist will refuse to do anything with it for a few days if it's sent direct - and I am now wearing my first patch, so it will be interesting to see how that goes. Spent 10 minutes last night programming reminders into my phone to prompt me to change patches when needed as it's two a week - and different patches in weeks 1/2 to the ones in weeks 3/4 so I figured it could be easy to lose track otherwise. Very pleased to have finally got it sorted though I have to say. At the moment I'm just using the existing pre-paid certificate to cover the HRT but I'll have to keep in mind when I need to get my next prescription for it and whether I just go for another 3 month standard prepaid, or go for the annual HRT specific one. At the moment I suspect as long as I time it right I should be able to absorb it into the usual ones though. 

After being delightfully smug about food going so well this week last night I have realised I totally forgot to get the flipping soup out to defrost for this evening - that'll teach me! I'll have to consider whether to just microwave it, and if so, whether I'm best to change the variety (the pea & ham will probably microwave defrost better as it's less textured) or whether I need to just come up with something different altogether (doable - I could easily switch out for couscous for example). 

Great to have the decrease in energy prices now confirmed today - although of course we have to wait a couple of months for it to kick in (wait for the wailing of "why can't they just bring it in right away? Prices have fallen - they're ripping us off!" over on the energy board - meaning the while process needing to be explained yet AGAIN when all this information is out there and available - sigh!) but it being on the horizon is a good start. the new house has a mix of different types of heating - normal GCH in most rooms, the kitchen has underfloor heating (electric - but probably won't get used much) as does the bathroom (also electric - but probably will get used for a burst of warmth first thing Autumn > Spring) and then of course the fireplace in the front room (which will most likely eventually get changed for a wood burner but we'll see about that). It's higher on the EPC than we are currently though and barring one small improvement we'll be able to make pretty quickly (extra insulation in the roof) there is little needing done on that side of things either. Handily Mum's loft contains an absolute mass of loft-boarding that Dad bought years ago intending to do theirs and never used - so we'll be inheriting that once we're in, if it's needed. If it is already boarded then we'll chuck extra insulation into the two "outside" edges and leave it at that I suspect. At the moment I'm budgeting £200 a month for energy bills there but that is definitely one of the areas I'll be aiming to make savings. 

Banks checked and all good - MrEH did feed his oyster last night as I suspected, but that now means there is nothing more to come out of the joint account this month so I can see there should be £570 to transfer to the New House Fund once his pay lands next week. 

Spendiness: 
I bought a tick remover (been meaning to get one for holiday use for years) and also some insect repellant bands to try on the big river site last night - total spend was just under £14 and if the bands help even a fraction with the midges that will be wonderful. The tick remover is one of those things you hope not to need, but invariably one or the other of us will pick one up at some stage and it should make removal far safer. I've paid for both of those from my personal spends.  

Seasidegal58

Finally caught up with you after a couple of months - huge congratulations on the property front!  Last time I read your diary you had just put your flat on the market!  I do hope all goes smoothly with everything and that you and Mr EH will be raising a glass or two to yourselves in your new home quite shortly!
Just read about your tick remover - as you know I'm currently dog sitting in the Highlands for my DD and OH whilst they are on holiday. The dogs have a couple of sizes of tick removers that look like plastic tweezers and these are very good for removing ticks from them if these manage to get embedded - this happens especially round the dogs heads as they are always nosing in long grass. The ticks were rather awful last year but haven't seemed to have started yet!  Pesky horrid things! (The ticks not the dogs!). 

I'm also interested to hear how you get on with the midge bands. Since I arrived yesterday the midges have not started to appear much yet but I'm not holding my breath!  Luckily it's been windy the last few days so they're probably hiding away sneakily.  I always manage to go home with a few bites though however careful I am!😳

Cheery_Daff

Ooh, happy long weekend! And happy HRT experimenting. As you know (I think) I started patches in January (same all month for me, but combined with a mirena coil) and they did make me feel a lot better - still not great though so I switched to gel a few weeks ago and now I've had more energy than I've had in yonks and can actually THINK properly which has been a HUGE thing for me. Mind you, I'm also doing a LOT of exercise this month - can't decide whether the exercise is making me feel better, or the HRT is giving me enough energy for all this exercise - quite possibly both! 😂

Anyway, hope your experimenting is successful 😊 Only thing I didn't like about patches was one would occasionally get an edge stuck to my jeans and if I bent down to pick something up, it would feel like a plaster being ripped off my bum 😂😂

beanielou

Nothing helps the blooming midges!
& they love me

Jellytotts

Good luck with the HRT journey.  I've been peri for around 6 years now and have finally found a combination of herbal/supplements that seems to work for me.  One of the supplements suggests a break every 3 months and I stopped them last week, the difference in my cognitive and emotional reactions was extreme and DH remarked yesterday that perhaps I've had a long enough break from them and could I please start them again....now!   He was relieved when I told him I'd taken them about 20 mins ago.    I tried to avoid the HRT route because I was under the misguided impression my body should know what it's doing....clearly not but hoping I'm far enough along now to ride it out (famous last words?).  My sister is a few years older and hasn't had a single symptom and sailed straight into menopause....us humans are strange beasts.

So pleased you managed to secure your house too, congratulations, it's an exciting time.   Our purchase fell through 5 weeks in but 2nd choice property was still on the market so we are now 5 weeks into that purchase with every single thing crossed that this one makes it.  The market seems so rocky at the moment.  I'm a firm believer in what will be will be, but that's pretty naff when you're out of pocket and starting again.

savingholmes

Sounds like you've got everything planned out. 

I googled tick removers...

EssexHebridean

I’ve no idea how effective the tick remover will be SH - truthfully I’d sooner not have to find out but I bet we do! 

Beanie I’m a midge magnet too - thankfully over in the islands it’s mostly too windy to have many problems with them but our cottage this time is lower lying and right by a Loch so might well be worse affected. 

Cheery I had remembered you’d been trying HRT as well - and I gathered it could be a bit trial and error! I always used patches for contraception as well so they suit me well - there are smaller and thinner than those too so seem better so far - I do know exactly what you mean about them getting caught though and ripping away - ow! 

Jellytotts it’s all about what works for you I guess. I did a fair bit of reading around the various pros and cons of traditional HRT and for me the benefits relating to reduced loss of bone density in particular are massive - there is osteoporosis to some degree on both sides of my family and although I’ve generally probably been more active than the generations preceding me, I’d sooner do everything I can to make sure I look after my skeleton as far as I can. 

So far I’ve not noticed anything earth shattering, but I have felt quite energetic and lively - more so than I have done for a while, and also like I’ve got a bit less brain fog going in. It’s really early days of course, and that could be as simple as either placebo effect or just coincidence, but I’ll be interested to see how things progress. 

Fairly productive morning here anyway - we collected our door keys from the estate agent first thing as he no longer needs them. He reassured us that our buyer is happy to sit and wait until we’re ready, which is excellent news - and also that our sellers have had an offer accepted on a place that is currently empty and will be a probate sale. Apparently the probate application is already underway so with luck that might be a good sign. Anyway, that leaves us with a three link chain with us in the middle so that is definitely good as the shorter the chain the less there generally is to go wrong, and it seems all three parties are pretty committed too.  Home, breakfast and a bit of pottering including sketching out a meal plan for the next few days and then I headed out again - the opticians for a contact lens trial - multifocal lenses are sadly NOT for me as the compromise in vision they give isn’t something I was happy with. I do have a trial of single vision ones again though - and so I headed straight from there to Primarni for a couple of pairs of reading glasses! 🤓 Also grabbed a couple of (much needed!) new t-shirts in there, oh and some cotton wool pads for face cleansing as it’s about the cheapest place to buy the oval ones. I think it’s going to be interesting to see if I can get used to lenses + reading glasses - it’s working OK sitting at home as I am right now, but might prove too frustrating when out and about which is obviously when I’ll really want them! Also swerved in to the Direct Sports shop to see if they had my walking shoes in stock - still a no though, and the other branch didn’t have them at all. Sigh. Probably too late to order a new pair ahead of going away now annoyingly. Finally in to Sainsbugs for the little bit of shopping we need - there might be a few more items needed over the weekend but we can play that by ear. 

Spendiness = £7.50 Primarni, £10.50 SD (socks) and just £6.77 in Sainsbugs - bargain! 

Cheery_Daff

Ooh, a three link chain is perfect! 

Sun_Addict

Good news that the seller is the end of the chain. I love the Primani oval cotton wool pads too, at 90p for 100 that price can’t be beat, always buy a few packs when I’m in there. 

Staffordia

I've recently had to go down the contact lens/ reading glasses route. I keep a pair in the car and in my rucksack, as well as two pairs in the house. It means that I usually have access to a pair when I need them.