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.

Cherryfudge

Saturday was a full day and we were exhausted by the end of it, but it went well. DH went shopping for the food in the morning (£18.50) then we set off for lunch, about half an hour away.

The day was arranged so people could drop in and out as suited them, which worked well. H was unwell so she stayed at home, and DGD1 was at a party over lunch so she came with DS1 and DGD2 later in the day. DS2 and his partner also came for the evening only, as the restaurant isn't their sort of food. However, J, L, A and their dog made a day of it and were at the venue long before us so they could fit in some walking first. We had a really nice lunch and DH paid (£57) though L bought the coffees afterwards. Probably the last of the winter coffees for this year: I had mocha gingerbread latte. DH and I then had a look round the gardens (we have a season pass) while the others went on to our house so the baby could sleep on the way.

J brought a huge cake - she is practising for her daughter's birthday and offered to make it - so by the time we got home, that was already set out and the kettle was soon on. (New kettle is still new enough to be fun). The rest of the family arrived soon after, the girls being shy and quiet at first but I knew I could leave them with the uncles and aunties and things would soon warm up, which they did. I'm pleased to say that, apart from having to move a couple of ornaments out of baby-reach, the cleaning and tidying beforehand was successful. D and E (DS2 and his partner) brought me more flowers, a gorgeous bright bouquet, so those went on the dining table. They also got me a gardening puzzle book and an Amazon token, while A and H gave me a C0sta voucher and a book I'd requested. I already have my next garden season ticket promised from J and L.

I managed to get all the food cooked despite a kitchen cupboard door suddenly deciding to hang by one hinge which necessitated it being taken down. It's not back up yet as we can't work out what the problem is.

We all ate a great deal and I managed to send quite a bit home with the families with young children, first having added E, baby A and N to the height chart which is quite a feature of family and friends over the years. F refused, I don't think she understood what was going on, but she is only two. We also did a group portrait on the stairs - we can just all fit on. Then D and E stayed the rest of the evening and we had a hilarious conversation (when we had finished the medical bits, as that's their line so they get asked all the questions and filled in with what the doctors said about so-and-so). If you know that ice breaker where people tell two truths and a lie, we heard that D tells people that DH and I met as we were both witnesses to a murder. That's not the case, so I filled in with my version (E wanted to know what happened to my former b/f, who featured as 'noises off stage', but there wasn't much to say about him really). We then went on to our versions of the two truths and a lie. Mine has a lot of detail so it took a while, but E misheard me and thought I'd said I went to miming college, which led to further hilarity.

Once they went home (I was unable to offload any food to them), I got most of the debris cleared up and DH had already run the dishwasher. I was more than ready to sleep but glad we had had the get-together.

Cherryfudge

Sunday was a lot quieter, and needed to be. We made it to church, but DH's health hasn't been so good over the last few days so he is finishing up the medication left over from the autumn and is going to ring the doctor tomorrow. It's one of those conditions that can flare, which is what's happening at present.

He went out for a walk in the afternoon, and I went back to bed and caught up on some sleep! I really must somehow keep more on top of housework so I don't have so much to do to feel happy for people to come in.

Meals have been mostly about finishing up the batches of stuff left over from mid-week cooking. The fridge is, of course, filled with the rest of the party food, but the pizza slices are in the freezer for lunches.

Unusually for us, we both spent all evening in front of the TV as it was the last day of Crufts followed by the last of the series of Throw Down. The afternoon doze must have done me good as I didn't fall asleep!