Moving on

Cherryfudge

Thank you for all the happy birthdays! Much appreciated. And no regrets over turning down the job.

It's been a rather uneventful day: £3 spent on the bus fare, which I will get back. The person I was expecting to support didn't turn up so I offered to help elsewhere. In fact there wasn't much I could do as the in-house computers wouldn't let us log in. I need to follow that up as the tutor and I agreed it would be helpful to be able to use them.

It was one of those days when I carry two meals with me and an extra set of clothes, as I went from one job to the other. That gave me 45 minutes in the canteen for a break in between times but I was unexpectedly tired during the evening and don't feel I was working very well. Never mind, bed soon.

I've also bought some charity shop yarn as there was some exactly like the glittery white in the Christmas tree ornament I'm trying to copy. £2 for three balls of yarn, though I only wanted the one. They sell it by the mixed bag. I also discovered my bag had a novelty tape measure and row counter, which is quite fun.

Cherryfudge

I typed the above before bed last night and it was still waiting to be sent just now. This has happened a few times recently. Is it just me forgetting to hit 'send', or is a function of the new text editor? I've only noticed it since that changed.

In money news, I've given DH a haircut (his day off today) and submitted my February timesheets.

Today we need to focus on getting ready for family coming tomorrow. That means cleaning, tidying and buying food. I have last year's list, I which kept as it worked - 4 pizzas, garlic bread, salad leaves, cherry tomatoes, bowl of pasta, a bag of sweet potato wedges (which will be two bags this year as they are a good filler and nearly everyone likes them), soft drinks, mayo. I'm havering over hummus and dips as I don't think they went down all that well, but I could do a bowl of hummus or something. Then I usually add easy peelers and this year I might slice up some water melon if there are decent ones in the shops…

Also some daffodils as they looked lovely last year and made me feel I had acquired the gracious living badge, though they don't compensate for areas that really need attention.

I don't remember how much garlic bread I got but it's a popular one so for eight adults and three little ones, perhaps 5? The oven will be on overtime so it's as well DH has been able to rehang the oven door, which came off yesterday!

Jobs to do (bear with me, I'm thinking aloud):

• floors are mopped and hoovered thanks to DH. I would like to say the carpets are shampooed but the Vax wouldn't do it last time and I've yet to work out why. Normally it's a workhorse.
• damp dust everything
• clean windows and mirrors
• clean bathroom (not a deep clean)
• ensure all medication is out of toddler reach
• check floors for hearing aid batteries!
• pick up my prescription
• do church cleaning
• pay credit card
• file a few more receipts
• leave feedback for remaining V1nted items

That's more than enough for now.

WelshmansDaughter

Wouldn't it be good if there were adult badges? It would make all the life admin so much more enjoyable

Cherryfudge

I don't see why there shouldn't be such badges - all nice ones, of course.

Not all the list has been done, and quite a bit of what's done, was done by DH as I've been at work. We had more of the sweet potato dish for dinner, and de-cobwebbed ceilings, followed by cleaning light shades. Two of those jobs that are visible only when not done. 😁We decided to watch to the end of the episode of Secret Genius, which coincided with me finishing the ironing - so no piles of clothes to hide when the family is here!

I've bought the daffodils, garlic bread and some grapes on the way home, so there's less to get tomorrow.

The list now looks like this:

• floors are mopped and hoovered thanks to DH. I would like to say the carpets are shampooed but the Vax wouldn't do it last time and I've yet to work out why. Normally it's a workhorse.
• damp dust everything
• clean windows and mirrors - DH did windows
• clean bathroom (not a deep clean)
• ensure all medication is out of toddler reach - Done
• check floors for hearing aid batteries!
• pick up my prescription - Done by DH
• do church cleaning - Done
• pay credit card - Done
• file a few more receipts - Done
• leave feedback for remaining V1nted items -
  Done

We've also spent £55 on a new kettle - the old one blew the fuses several times this morning! We could have had one for under £30 so this was an indulgence but it has blue bubbles and is a quiet boil. I've asked DH to rescue the little wire thing that catches limescale, from the old one - a little bit of money saving as they no longer just cost pence. ☺️

Incidentally, those posts that don't post when I think they have: I caught one at it earlier. Did I not hit the key hard enough or something? I posted it and it didn't. Lesson learned: check before closing down.

badmemory

One of the massive advantages of moving 200 miles north is not having to have one of those wire things in my kettle.

Cherryfudge

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81912753#Comment_81912753

We never had one, growing up on the west of the country. Here, a hundred miles away and further north east, it's very useful. I console myself that the harder water is better for my bones. 😊

Honeysucklelou2

Happy belated birthday Cherryfudge 🎂🎉🎈

Cherryfudge

Thanks @Honeysucklelou2 . 😊 Today we are meeting up with family to celebrate.

Bathroom cleaning got done and I've havered then decided to put laundry on. Yes, it will be on the line when they are here but we won't be outside while at home and I need uniform for Monday.

Hair washed, feel near-enough ready in myself. House still needs last minute things but I've got two vases of daffodils and an lovely pink bouquet of tulips and hyacinths that DD gave me on my birthday. Now I've got to put them out of reach of toddlers and the dog!

Last night I decided to push through with a bit of the permanent receipt backlog and in checking the main account, saw AA membership had gone through at £273.16! 😲 I asked Dh about it and he said he thought it was about £70. Guess what's being cancelled.

That's a real lesson in never letting things auto-new. Rival brand would charge us about a fiver a month, and we rarely use it. Looking back, they've been adding around £40 a year and because it was a DD, (probably with some incentive to get us to pay like that), we've not spotted it.