Moving on

Cherryfudge

And we have sunshine and the weather's warming up!

Cherryfudge

We got out to the garden centre and used our freebie hot drinks voucher - Earl Grey for him and hot chocolate for me. It was really nice sitting out in the sun, and we did a bit of planning for the weekend when our friends are coming. At the moment we are looking at having lunches out and dinners in - good old Instant Pot will help us there.

I also got my free plant, a snow in summer.

Back home, I went to paint the lounge door but the new paint turned out to look like varnish. Lots of stirring revealed just a narrow whisp of the brilliant white it was supposed to be so DH took it back to the shop. A couple of shop assistants agreed with him that it was definitely not 'bright white', and fetched a manager who grunted, but DH got his refund and spent another £9 on top of the original price to get a thick non-drop white gloss. I'm pleased with how the door has turned out, but it will need at least one more coat.

After that I made the most of the lovely weather and tried to dig out the fern for my friend. After a lot of loosening it with a garden fork, I brought in the spade, a hand fork and eventually a saw! Then I spent a lot of time loosening as much soil as I could and extricating ground elder roots, though I've warned my friend to keep the ferns in pots for a while and look out for ground elder that escaped me. That's two of potentially sixteen ferns rehomed. 

This evening my friends were round and we had our pizza and study as per plan, and now I need to get ready for bed. The rest of tonight's dinner is in the fridge for another day(s) and I've made more notes in preparation for tomorrow at the debt advice centre.

Expenditure:
Household £24
Housekeeping £10.76

Cherryfudge

Guess what? - pizza for lunch today, with some salad.

I went to help out at the debt advice centre and ended up cleaning windows! 'My' person didn't show up, but I did see quite a few others coming for appointments, and then there was a certain amount of problem solving such as the sugar had disappeared and the main lights wouldn't go on. (Sorted eventually). The window cleaning was because it always needs doing - small children are particularly likely to open doors by pushing the glass panels. I know it was done a couple of weeks ago, because I saw it, but doing it meant I could be available without looking as though I was hanging round waiting.

It's overcast but comfortable out now - an ideal sort of day to be outside so I might tackle a bit more garden later. DH has done some work preparatory to moving the lounge door to the other side, and the boiler man came and sorted out a loose something or other and repressurised the boiler so we can now have heat and hot water. Am looking forward to washing my hair and having a bath!

Cherryfudge

Well, so much for getting out in the garden: I got hit by the two thirty exhaustion and slept for a couple of hours. Meanwhile DH got the lounge door back in place but turned the other way round, which gives a lot more room in that corner of the lounge. There's still work needed but it will do for now. DH is at work for the next two days then our friends are staying over the BH weekend and it's now at a point where it can be left.

Dinner was fish pie from stores in the freezer and some of the salad.

DH went out to his church group this evening but mine wasn't meeting so I got my garden time in: about 45 minutes of mowing the lawn and pulling up weeds. I'm quite pleased with the result of all this time spent out there, though the edges haven't really been touched. It's not ideal to be starting 'no mow May' with an onslaught on the lawns, but I'm leaving the far end by the gate where the really pretty wild stuff grows. I feel I need to keep up the war on the ground elder because if I let it go now, I'll have an even bigger problem later. In fact, not mowing the lawn would allow the incursion into the lawn to flourish.

Nothing spent today but I will probably go shopping tomorrow for oddments plus food for the weekend.

Cherryfudge

Another nice, sunny day. I feel like spending time in the garden but there are lots of jobs to be done elsewhere too.

So far today I've actually taken action on some emails:

• renewed my free accidental death insurance that I get through the Union
• Contacted the eco team at church about my availability to water the tubs of plants - I'm cutting back to days I'd be there anyway because otherwise I risk stretching myself too much.
• Contacted the person in charge of the cleaning team as they've asked for some feedback.

Still to do... oh, far too many admin things but what comes to mind is:

• put timesheets in so I get paid
• move money to YBS Christmas Saver
• Pay credit card off.

Everyday stuff like:

• get dressed
• wash my hair
• hoover iron
• clean bathroom

(if I get these housework jobs done today I will have tomorrow 'free' for the 'panic because guests are coming' jobs).

Then there are things to do preparatory to our friends coming this weekend:

• move things off the guest bed! (Clothes STILL there awaiting decisions on summer wardrobe).
• clean floor in guest room.
• clean the windowsills (my plants are shedding bits).
• see if I can find a cream paint that matches the places that need matching.
• Menu plan.
• Shopping for weekend will be tomorrow.
• Pop to L!dl for free bakery item.
• Take soft plastics recycling out.
• Get to A sda for tins.
• Vote.
• Make banana bread.
• Feed plants.

I'm due at work at five so I'll see how it goes till then.

Cherryfudge

Progress is slow, though I've added in ten minutes of gardening and a bit of a facial.

Hair is washed, I'm dressed and presentable. Bathroom cleaning has been started and lunch eaten. That's finished up the pizza and most of the salad.

I'm going to sit down for a few minutes and see if I can get all the admin list done.

Cherryfudge

So much for a few minutes... an hour and five minutes later and my savings are transferred, my cc paid off, two timesheets and a spreadsheet checked and sent in and the excess baggage payments transferred out of the holiday account to repay my cc.

It's as well I checked as I'd missed two shifts. I read through the texts which tell me which days I'm working against my paper diary and the timesheet, and if there's a discrepancy, one or the other should give me the information to complete the picture. Hence time taken, but at least it means I'll get the pay I earned.

Now I have an hour to eat the overnight oats I prepared earlier, get changed and set off to work. I'll text DH to remind him he has fruit in the fridge, which lets me off the A sda run till tomorrow, but I will nip down to L!dl for the free bakery item (bread I expect) as that runs out tomorrow.

Cherryfudge

I managed the above and dropped off the plastics recycling on the way through to work, so the list is a bit smaller. I didn't make it to vote, though DH offered to wait for me. I don't know who the candidates are and there are quite a few, but none of them seems to have done any publicity or if they have, it's not reached me. I feel a bit guilty as environmental policies and adult learning both come under the remit of the new major, and both are my thing, but I'm too achy to do any more today.

Dh has done some cleaning and tidying, bless him.

I've managed to avoid spending again, but will need to tomorrow.

peb

Stop and bri!

(And please don't hoover the iron - you may need to buy two new appliances)

Cherryfudge

Does that let me off both jobs then, @peb? That would be nice. Actually DH has hoovered though he's left the hoover out in case I see more that needs doing when it's daylight!

I'd forgotten the ironing and I have to do something with it as it's in the spare room... might just select anything we need by while our guests are here and stash the rest somewhere. I will put that down to prioritising, not cheating.

I've chosen a veggie stew for dinner tomorrow so it will go in the slow cooker before I go to work. Saturday will be fish and chips as our guests like going to the coast and there are some good eateries there. On Sunday I'll put a chicken in the slow cooker as we are going to a NT place for lunch/afternoon. so we can hide indoors if the forecast is right and we get rain.