And now we go again...

EssexHebridean

Well MrEH managed to snag a couple of packs of batteries in the Land of Pounds so all good, and some extra fairy lights are now up! 

Sainsbugs proved a VERY happy hunting ground for me this morning - 3 tops - 2 summer, short sleeved standard fitted T’s, and one baggy gentle one which will make a perfect sleep top in the sale bit at 70% off original price - plus a pair of rather fantastic iridescent sparkly boots from the kids section which I saw, loved, tried on, was delighted to find were comfy, and so shamelessly impulse bought!   Total cost for the lot was £21.59 - bargain or what?! I also nabbed a Christmas cake tin which will form part of MrEH’s Christmas presents and will replace the rather knackered celebrations tub that he has used for the Christmas cake for years, and a rather fab Christmas mug for myself - both at 25% off original price too. 

Once home, MrEH headed out for rugby, and I nipped to Al’s for a few odds and ends of shopping plus some Christmas stuff - presents for both him and for my Mum too. I’m starting to get 5ere with the presents now I think - still more to do but still, progress. 

This afternoon I’ve had a good tidy round - with Christmas decorations everywhere I realised some years ago that clutter really does need to be kept under control as otherwise I get quite stressed with it all being “too much”. There was nothing majorly messy anyway - it was more just a case of shifting things back to where they belong, but still enough to make a difference. 

I’ve shuffled money around as needed for spending recently so the CC will be mostly cleared off once the pending stuff has all cleared through. My personal Christmas account is looking quite depleted but I do have too much more to come out of it now so should just about be ok. Household Christmas account is looking fine, and should cover the turkey and some other planned meat purchases comfortably. Mum’s covering the rest of the Christmas Day food anyway as we are buying the turkey - I will still make sausage rolls and mince pies as usual though. 

And now I am cosied up with the fire,  candles and fairy lights  lit. I’ve had my YS’d pizza with a salad, a couple of G&Ts have been enjoyed, and I’ve about to stick the kettle on for a cuppa in my new mug! No specific plans for tomorrow as yet - we’ll probably wait and see how the weather pans out. 

PennysIntoPounds

What a lovely day. I'm so jealous you can get shoes from the kids department! I'm constantly tutting about children in the street having better outfits than me, not fair! 😁

Cheery_Daff

Excellent haul! I often eye up the spots in the kids section too - never managed to find a pair to try on though, well done! 

I get stressed at too much clutter too, although I don't think I've ever really managed to get this house to an acceptable level when you add in the unfinished DIY too 🙄 One day!

jwil

Great bargains!

EssexHebridean

I LOVE having small enough feet to occasionally get a kids department bargain - they often have the advantage of being slightly wider on the foot/narrow on the ankle too which suits me and my foot shape, presumably because kids feet need to be allowed room to move and expand whereas adults can just have theirs squeezed into teeny narrow spaces and like it! 

MrEH made our christmas cake on sunday so that is all done now and will need some feeding ahead of being eaten, he's feeding it with the Devon rum again I think - that was delicious last year!  He made do with the dried fruit me had in rather than buying more to make up exact amounts for the recipe, and just needed to buy some mixed peel as we had none at all.

MSE stuff:
- got word from the octopods of the saving on the last saving session - amounting to 69p which allowing I knew it wasn't as good as it might have been wasn't too terrible really. 
- Started trying to remember to add use in between 4 - 7pm now to bolster what savings are there to be had on later savings sessions. This evening will be some dinner cooking and some washing I think. 
- The increased temperature has meant a reduced gas use over the past few days which is a bit of a win - the boiler used under 17kWh including showers this morning
- It has also meant that as yet MrEH hasn't needed the heater on in the office either!
- Meal plan had a tweak to change Friday's planned meal to a curry plate - it will work well with me being out all day, and will use up a couple of different curries, plus a tub of daal from the freezer. I can also use pittas in place of naans as well, so more space created. 
- banks checked and OK. I do still need to transfer the money for the logs/coal across to the CC though - just holding off on doing it until I make sure that the budget is all as it should be for the remaining month!
- CC generally needs a bit of looking at - I've just reminded MrEH that a membership we paid for a couple of weeks back still needs money transferred over to cover it. 

Spendiness:
- £12 on a gloriously pretty set of christmas lights which have now replaced the naff old set with only half the bulbs working in the front room bay window. Just ordinary leds, but in more pastel shades than the classic "red/blue/green/yellow" colourways. Also plug-in so will save money on batteries going forwards
- Just under £4 in the pet store on a cheap peanut feeder and nuts to go in it - if the local birds go for it then we will buy something a little more heavy duty, but we're not going to invest until we know that they will eat them. The birds that visited at the flat didn't want to know about whole nuts and just left them to rot. Fussy little blighters.
- NSD yesterday, and I'm intending that today will be as well. 

Planning:
-I will  be heading to Lincoln on Friday to watch and photograph a bit of little red jet action with any luck - just need to check in later in the week to make sure they are definitely still flying that day! 
-One job we have planned in for over christmas is to start the same "short/medium/long term" list we used to have running with planned jobs on the flat, for the house. Sorting the garden will come under the heading of short term I think - we want that done by the spring. We also want to get the log store sorted, but are hoping we can do that as a DIY job - need to see if we can lay hands on some roofing felt as a starting point I think. I reckon there is a decent chance that someone at the rugby club will have some unused though. The plan is essentially to get some board to create a more solid back on it, and some form of mesh for the base to create better airflow. Then another section of board to create more of an overhand on the roof and hopefully that will then give us better space and not so much of a problem with everything getting wet as the current set up.  Once that is done, we'll be able to budget to get a bulk delivery of logs at some stage. I think we may designate one day over the holiday to sit down and get some general planning done to be honest. 
- It's probably time to sit down and start budget checking and planning what needs to be done and when for our Hebrides tip next year too. 
- I also want to start getting my diary set up for next year with airshow dates.
- We will plan in a "London day" over the christmas break which will involve some tube stuff, and we may pop into the LT Museum that day too as we've not been for ages and we get in free as "Friends of the museum". 

One huge thing which I can now share too relating to our voluntary role for the beer festival - sadly the decision has had to be taken that the event won't be going ahead in 2024 due to various issues notably with our venue. It's a real shame, although it is unquestionably the right call. It does have the advantage of freeing up some holiday time though, so that's a bit of a win at the least. It also leaves us with a lot more free time through the spring and summer of course. It was officially announced yesterday - and frankly I think we're all feeling a bit floored by it now it's out there publicly - not least because there have been some really vile comments from people on social media about it. I mean, I know they are keyboard warriors/armchair experts, but still, it's not nice!  Hey ho - work to do with planning a new event for 2025 now, so we will kick on with that and stuff the haters! 

lucielle

Sorry to read that the keyboard warriors have been out in force. Hebrides holiday sounds exciting. 

I think we need a project, probably the garden. 

L

beanielou

Keyboard warriors are the worst. 

Makingabobor2

Hate keyboard warriors. If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all.  
the new festive lights sound nice, makes a change to see different colours, and being LED they will be cheap to run

Sun_Addict

What a shame about the beer festival. I'm sure some people just make negative comments for the sake of it particularly on social media. They obviously get some sort of kick out of it 🤬 At least it's freed up some time for you next summer and you have longer to plan the next festival. 

EssexHebridean

They do SA - in some cases I think it's just deliberately to try to wound, and in others, it's as simple as they just haven't a clue about the background and so they are commenting on what they *think* is happening, rather than what is the actual situation. Keyboard Warriors are a pain though - let's be honest, we have them on here occasionally don't we - but generally when challenge on their behaviour, a lot will at least back down. It's whether you can be bothered though! 

L our garden project is initially going to be reducing the amount of paving and increasing the amount of growing space, so needs a man with a grinder to cut out the slabs and concrete base, we'll then be able to get bags of topsoil or compost (or actually probably both) in to it. We'll also need the slabs cut back to roughly their original shapes, and some will then get used to fill in a bit of odd shaped lawn at the end of the garden, both to make it more fluid in shape, and also to increase the path in a few areas.