Moving on

Cherryfudge

Sun_Addict said:

Wow mice really love your house! Can you see where they’re getting in and block it off? What’s attracting them? We’ve always had cats so never had a problem with them. 

Re the things you’re keeping in a fireproof box, could you just have them in a grab bag located near an exit ready to grab in case of emergency? 

DH has plastered over a couple of possible entrances but they still got in. I think there may be gaps by the skirting that we haven't yet found, or possibly where pipes enter the house. It would be lovely to have cats but unfortunately DH gets asthma when he's with them so it's not going to happen.

I think they worked out they could get into the kitchen bin by crawling under the foot pedal - that's the only way in as it's metal and so is the lid. From there they can get through a vent that's meant to allow air out so the bin bag can expand, and then they nibble the bag. Putting the bag out more often has reduced this but now they know how to get in for any crumbs, and over Christmas one ate into a soft Christmas decoration! There's also a low-level food cupboard but we are now careful to shut the doors properly and only keep tinned food there, so they head for the bin corner instead.

The fireproof box is things like birth certificates and passports mostly, plus some very old family photos and some memory sticks. In fact there are some more memory sticks (photos, mostly) to round up and store there. I will give some thought to a grab bag, but knowing us it would have two overcoats, a scarf and a bag on top when we needed access. I hope, though, that in a real emergency, we'd get ourselves out and hope we could retrieve information or copies of photos elsewhere.

weenancyinAmerica

Are you sure it is not the same mouse- who loves living there?

Cherryfudge

weenancyinAmerica said:

Are you sure it is not the same mouse- who loves living there?

Well, it's entirely possible they are boomeranging - a few people have mentioned they can find their way back from 2 or 3 miles, and we've never taken them quite that far. However, I did once see two at once.

At least now the weather is better, we can go further to release them!

Cherryfudge

Today turned out intermittently slightly rainy so I haven't done any more laundry. We had the morning off: DH ran a few errands and I came across an article about donating bras for charity. I knew I had quite a lot that I either don't like or which are worn out so I tried them all on and have kept about half. The rest are in a bag waiting to be packaged up and sent off. What's more, I have a possible way to recycle other textiles, without them landing in some other country that deserves better. I posted the links elsewhere, must remember to add them here.

DH has had a home haircut, and this time I remembered not to set the clippers too low!

After lunch we went to swap duties with the other grandparents and spent the afternoon looking after the girls. It was quite restful in that we stayed indoors and just played, then let them have TV from 4pm, which has become a habit. A told us he'd been to the dentist and a childhood dental accident has flared up to be a problem. He will need expensive (and probably invasive) work to repair damage caused by an infection that's only just come to light, but at least for now he has antibiotics to stop it getting worse and he had the good sense to start saving towards this possibility years ago.

This evening Dh had a meeting and I had a meal out with my Tuesday group and a friend who came on our weekend away with us. It was nice to have time with them again and we've agreed just to meet socially when we are all available. At least this way we keep in touch but we don't have to stress about it if someone's not available. The restaurant does very generous portions and gave us happy hour rates even though it was past happy hour, so I probably ate more than was good for me!

Expenditure:
Entertainment £22.40.

And I can hear a midnight mouse rattling the trap! I think it could be a returnee as I'd not even bated it, so that makes me think it knew where to go for food. I wonder if I can persuade DH to take it further afield tomorrow? It should have a nice day for it.

Watty1

Thanks for posting the bra link. I have a number that don't fit anymore since I gained weight but for some reason I was reluctant to throw so are sitting in a drawer. Now, I have something to do with them.

Cherryfudge

Watty1 said:

Thanks for posting the bra link. I have a number that don't fit anymore since I gained weight but for some reason I was reluctant to throw so are sitting in a drawer. Now, I have something to do with them.

Apparently their website isn't up to date about which places have bra banks, so it may be worth checking ahead of time if you are taking some to donate.

This morning (actually yesterday morning) I went to the Wednesday job. I was supposed to be seeing a client but they didn't turn up and instead I made some progress on bits and pieces for the pre-school children. I then did a supermarket trawl for store cupboard ingredients and fresh fruit and veg: far too much cake is being consumed these days so I made a vegan stew for dinner and there's enough left for another day. I also popped into the optician as my glasses needed a new nose pad.

This morning, I felt very muzzy-headed and it didn't clear till after lunch. Sometimes it feels as if one side of my face is in a fog. Mind you, I've been doing too much for some weeks. I stayed in this evening instead of going to the church group, which I think was the right decision as I have to be up in good time tomorrow morning.

I'm getting a bit upset over the mice: the one I released today wasn't in good condition. I think it could have been injured or dehydrated, but there wasn't much I could do for it apart from leave crumbs and pop it in a sheltered corner.   I'm as sure as I can be there are more, even if some are finding their way back. Reluctantly, I'm thinking they could have nested under the stairs so I've put the trap out yet again.

In better news, I cleared out a small drawer and have recycled some old prescription forms and binned some wound dressings. I tried to order my current prescription online but the computer kept telling me the site - which I've used for ages - isn't secure. I'll have to ring or fill in a form on paper and trek over to the surgery so I can use the opportunity to alert then to the issue with the online form.

I've found the missing DBS form (behind my laptop, duh!) and completed the renewal. The replacement F1tbit strap has arrived (I kept the old one 'just in case' but I doubt I'll wear it again, so why keep it?). And now I really must think about getting some sleep.

Expenditure:
Housekeeping: £17.20
Diesel: £44.78

Cherryfudge

An interesting day so far, and we're only half way through the afternoon.

I had a real slump in mood last night and consequent late night, then woke just before 7 which is early for me. It did enable me to get laundry done before Toddler Club though. And the frost is back, followed by a beautiful day with real warmth in the sun and a cloudless sky.

I've been asked if I'd lead the Toddler Club for about three months as the person who runs it will be off. I'm a bit of an obvious choice as I'm there most weeks, have the relevant DBS and the other regular helper has damaged her back and won't be fit for moving the chairs etc. I gave it some thought but I've been so looking forward to a less demanding few days starting on Saturday... I really feel I can't commit to yet another thing that means getting up early! Oddly, the 'leading' part isn't an issue (there's not much leading to do), it's the pressure of having to be there for nine. And I know I've had 7am starts, but I wasn't at my best then.

Then this afternoon I had a call from Adult Educations and they need someone for an afternoon class for ten weeks or so. I'm tempted! A 1pm start isn't an issue, but it's a Tuesday so that's granddaughters' day. DH already does the early part of the day so could I ask him to do half the afternoon as well? It doesn't seem fair on him - and it's a 40 minute walk from one to the other so a 2 hour class would take up nearly all the afternoon. The only thing I can think of so far is for me to do the early slot and take the girls to their morning activity, but that's even earlier than the 9am start that made me turn down the other thing. I don't see it working, to be honest, but it's interesting that my instinctive response was so different in the two situations.

I wandered into the shops on the way home and bought yet more groceries (the lure of a bargain!) so we have a change of plan and are having chicken tonight. We've not had it very often lately and it's big enough to do us a few meals.

And the mice saga... None in the trap but I found a dead one under the stairs. So sad, but also yucky so I've had the bleach out. I can't even tell if I hear them now, as I'm imagining every noise in that direction is a mouse, but equally our neighbour, who's often away, is home at the moment and is a night person so there are often very small noises from him just moving about on the other side of the wall. Anyway I'm telling myself there are a finite number of mice so we have to be vigilant and eventually we will be rid of them.

And I have my Clubcard points: £12.50's worth which is a lot more than usual. I hope that's due to using promotional coupons, not sheer cost. I don't shop there as often as I used to.

And it's reminded me I need to pay off my CC. I tried the other night but the site was down - and talking of sites going down, the computer is no longer sending me warning messages about the surgery site not being secure, so at least I've been able to order my medication.

Cherryfudge

Another sunny, frosty start. DH has the day off and has gone to take take the hobby car for 'its final piece of work' (inverted commas, advisedly), then has a meeting, after which he's going to help us with the church cleaning. All this on the morning of a day off.

Credit card was paid off last night: a hefty one as the chainsaw and the accommodation for the holiday were both included - and I bet they charge me interest, as they won't know I initially logged on in the middle of the night when their site was unavailable.

No mice today.  

I have started 'curating' my houseplants ready for the growing season. Alas, the mealy bugs have appeared on a hippeastrum so it's been washed as clean as possible and I'll need to keep it clean with regular checks for a while. This means I'll find it elsewhere (if not mice, then mealy bugs...) so I took the opportunity to ash the plant where I first found them for a second time (a few new ones) and the plant next to the hippeastrum, which seems clear. However, in cleaning that plant I accidentally broke some cuttings of - and I've been strict with myself and only kept one to pot on. The others are in the compost because this plant, which was a gift from a friend's husband, is pretty but a bit needy in terms of watering, so I don't want four or five of it to keep track of. Lesson learned, I hope.

The hippeastrum also has a flower bud! The other one flowered before Christmas, I'm not sure why they don't work to the same pattern as they're on the same windowsill. This is quite an old plant and will need fresh compost soon so perhaps something in that has delayed it.

Time I was on my way.

Cherryfudge

Nothing spent by me today, though DH has probably bought things. The car remains at the garage over the weekend as the part is trickier to fit than they thought. DH isn't surprised!

I didn't have much to do for this morning's cleaning as the new person had worked really hard and covered a large area. DH probably did more than I managed as well.

Dinner was more of the vegan casserole from the other day, leaving me a portion for whenever. I've put the remains of last weekend's cakes in the freezer as I need to slow consumptions down, but even so I've had some chocolate panettone and a mince pie today. Christmas is lasting well! That panettone is gorgeous, though.

It was a quiet afternoon and I fed the birds and looked after house plants, nothing riveting. I had three hours at work this evening: a colleague and I had to cover three areas due to absences. Two of them had been kept up to spec but one was definitely neglected so my colleague decided to report the usual person and I backed her up. I don't like doing that and probably wouldn't have done it if I'd been on my own, but I think it needed to happen. I'd noticed a couple of things myself that I've not mentioned as there's plenty else to go on. It's a shame as this person started out as a very thorough worker but is now cutting a lot of corners. How they thought it would go unnoticed, I don't know.

Log burner weather again so the house is very cosy this evening. We are finally using up some of the sugar packets I throw in the log basket as kindling (I don't think they'll recycle due to sugar residue). We are also making slight inroads into the box of kindling from the garden.

PS. I got some free books as someone had donated some at church for people to help themselves. I really ought to pass some on!

Cherryfudge

Both of us slept in this morning and when I woke up I could hear a sporadic rustling noise. I went to investigate - it wasn't a mouse, there was a blackbird trying to get through our glass door! The only explanation I can think of would be that I'd brought a watering can just inside to allow the rainwater in it to warm for the houseplants. Perhaps the bird thought it could get to it? There's other water available outside and I've never seen a bird try to drink from the can, so I don't know.

DH was his usual active self but I had a fairly lazy morning. I think I needed it but by the afternoon I was getting bored. I've mended underwear, gloves and socks and finished the ironing. DH created a baton to secure the grandfather clock to the wall using a hole in the back that could well be about 200 years old. This has been recommended by the clock mender who says the mechanism is working perfectly at his workplace. I don't think he was satisfied with our explanation that the floor slopes which could have stopped the clock: he insisted on the baton and once it was in place, the clock seems much more solid. It's a very lightweight case but the height makes it less stable. My brother once pulled it over and only avoided being squashed because it was in the hall and came to rest on the opposite wall.

We can now arrange for the mender to visit and get it all going again. He's the first who seems to have a really deep understanding of old clocks, which is as well as the repair will be far more than the clock could be bought for! Not that I'm selling: it's been in my family a long time.

By late afternoon, I realised I was risking breaking my resolution about getting daylight every day so I walked into town and tried unsuccessfully to get a light bulb for a particular lamp. I've not been able to get it online either. I did, however, find travel slippers for DH to take when we look after the grand children, and I bought some groceries and a (middle of L1dl) stocking filler for DGD1.

Our main meal today has been fish and chips, which I followed with chocolate. We had a bit of walk this evening to blow away the cobwebs and, in my case, burn off just a bit of the indulgence.

Expenditure:
Clothing £6
Gift £2.99
Housekeeping £8.85
E-books £3.97 (DH found a gift card of mine for £20 which I've now applied to my Am*zon account but I think the payment went off my card).