Cheery's path to fulfilment - finishing the DIY, looking after myself, appreciating the garden 🌻

Cheery_Daff

Gosh, it's been glorious out there today! 

I actually didn't wake up til 9.30am 😮 (well, woke at 6 and turned over for an extra snooze). Must have needed it. 

Had a nice leisurely breakfast on the swing, did 2 loads of washing. A neighbour walked past on the footpath while we were outside and stopped for a coffee and a chat for about 1.5 hours, so that was nice 😊

Spent most of the afternoon pottering about making my new haybox. Quite the head scratcher - more complicated than I thought to just make a relatively small rectangular box when you're making it from scratch, and only using scrap materials, mostly bits of old pallets that need dismantling, nails removed etc 🙄 About 5 hours later it has a bottom and two sides 😂 Hoping to finish tomorrow. It will have been free at least, which was the plan 😊 although I may have to buy a bit of trim for the top, we'll see.

Also booked the car into the garage on Thursday, and rang Halfords - they said I'd had 'a communcation' from them on 24th December, and they'd closed the case 😡 They couldn't tell me what form that communication was, or what it said, but it clearly wasn't an email or phone call according to my records, and they didn't pay any money into the bank 🤔 I suspect either incompetence, or hoping I'd forget the whole thing and go away over Christmas 😠 apparently they'll resend the mystery communcation within 48 hours. I won't hold my breath. 

This evening I've finished my first set of curtains! 😃 no mean feat - the most tricky thing was finding the iron 😂😂 

On strike again tomorrow 😬 so a small list

* finish hay box
* put up curtain rail
* finish 2nd set of curtains
* collect prescription
* finish unpacking
* put washing away
* some exercise

That'll do, I think.

Cheery_Daff

Goodness, I could definitely fill my entire retirement with pottering about 😂 two strike days have gone by in a flash! 

Hay box is done 😃 I've done one coat of decking oil and will do the next when I'm here in the day on Friday 😊


Not entirely what the lid will look like yet. The current one just has a pillow stuffed with hay for the top 🤔

It's more functional than pretty, but it's got a nice rustic, repurposed vibe, and it's entirely made from stuff we had already, mostly old pallets. And it certainly looks better than the cracked red plastic tub it's replacing! 

Tried and failed to by curtain rings in town - will order online. But we did find the fixings for the curtain rail, so hopefully we can get that up this week. 

Collected prescription in town. Tired now, and Mr C is having a dizzy spell, so I think a bit of batch cooking now, and some finances, and then maybe curtain sewing later.

Oh - email from Halfords, saying they'd offered me 10% refund. Yes, they did - I told them to just pay it if they were happy with the service they'd provided, and then they asked me what I thought was suitable - then didn't respond when I told them. Will respond again.

LPG people replied to my queries - using several unexplained acronyms, and still not enclosing an invoice. The saga continues...

KajiKita

That’s really impressive 👏 Well done 😊

KK

Cheery_Daff

Thank you @KajiKita 😊 it's not that pretty but it's quite sturdy 😂 And I do love using a hay box 😊 Part of my very long term project to prettify the offshot/utility room/main entrance to the house 😬

Bit of batch cooking done - lunch and snacks made for tomorrow and Thursday at work, and three meals in the freezer 😊 it's a start - I'll try to do another couple of dishes at the weekend too. 

Baileys_Babe

I like your new hair box, it is a thing of beauty and definitely an improvement on a red plastic tub.

What a fail from Halfords.

Elisheba

I really love the new hay box - I think it is quite pretty myself, but rustic and charming.

Cheery_Daff

Thank you both 😊 I must get out there, do the second coat, and figure out a lid tomorrow. 

So. A couple of days of work and tiresome administrative tasks.

✅ car's been to garage - they've reset the dashboard light but not fixed the actual problem so needless to say the light's intermittently coming on again and it needs to go back. Forgot to ring today, so a job for Monday 🙄 Just noticed a small crack in the very bottom corner of the windscreen so that'll need sorting too 🙄

✅ emailed Halfords again about the refund

✅ paid the plumber, and asked him to find a time to come and fix the boiler

I feel like I've done more than that but perhaps not 😂 visited a friend yesterday evening which was nice 😊 forgot it was our wedding anniversary so we'll need to celebrate that properly at some point 😬

Been to see Mr C Snr today. It wasn't too bad actually. I strimmed the garden front and back (taking my own strimmer next time, I could have done it quicker on my hands and knees with a pair of nail scissors 🙄). Someone popped in to check the bath lift, and we had a tiresome conversation which resulted in his Internet being restored so at some point we'll be able to stop putting money on his dongle 🙄

Had a restorative coffee with some friends who live nearby before leaving, which was nice 😊

Nowt much else to report, I don't think! 

rtandon27

Cheery_Daff said:

...forgot it was our wedding anniversary so we'll need to celebrate that properly at some point 😬

Haha - Cheery, this did make me smile!  With everything you've had going on lately & now the catching up on life in general, it's no wonder you forgot!

Jessy103

Belated anniversary wishes 🥳🍾 Hope you and Mr cheery have a nice relaxing weekend x

Cheery_Daff

Thanks both

Not a bad weekend here Visited Mr C Snr, as I said, then had a nice relaxing evening at home. Today I finished painting my hay box, pegged a load of washing out, we pottered round town briefly and got a couple of little useful charity shop things, then had 'cafe at home' (we'd already been to an actual cafe, so this isn't the achievement it sounds like it was nice though )

Had a knock on the door - very unusual! It was the people who've just bought next door, so it was nice to meet them and have a chat. We'll see what that brings.

Mr C is out doing a gig tonight - I was meant to be going with him but cried off in favour of an evening to myself. The right decision, I think. I've hoovered, changed the bed and washed the bedding (now on the radiators), put all the various piles of clothes away, spent almost 2 hours drafting an email to the stupid LPG company (had to read up on the legislation before I started ranting ), done a bit of flute practice, and written out a training plan for my upcoming races

Tomorrow we're taking my mum out for an early lunch, and I also want to: 

* measure and order curtain rings
* book a couple of local events
* check banks
* get wretched curtain pole on the wall! 
* maybe shift a couple of barrows of soggy hay if the weather holds

That'll do, I think