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

missymoo81

Phew! Hi! I’ve just caught up with your diary from March! Wow what a whirlwind for you! My hat goes off to you both for dealing with and sorting Mr C Snr so well. Such hard work for you whilst living far away and working. Your birthday sounded lovely though. Sorry your neighbours are being pesky, and rubbish about the uncertainty at work. Did you manage to finish the curtains for the study? And super well done on all of the gym and running escapades! Reading your diary always makes me feel a little bit tired with everything you manage to squeeze in! Well done for being so wonderful! I am
very glad you get to recoup with cafe trips.
i am very fond of them myself but very much trying to abstain at present! Anyway keep up your wonderfulness! I do love reading your diary.

Cheery_Daff

Ha, thank you @missymoo81 I'm sure it all feels like a lot when you read it all in one go! 😂

Sheep-related trials here today. Went out in the rain earlier and there was a sheep & 2 lambs hiding out in our chicken run 🧐 Later I spotted them pesking about in the garden, then back in the chicken run later. Spotted them on the road on my way home this evening, and managed to encourage them into a field. I was feeling all cheerful about them (they were very cute) until I realised they'd eaten ALL of my bean plants! 😡 Those beans were the only things the slugs hadn't eaten! 

Still, serves me right for never getting round to putting gates on the veg patch 😬

Little local event today, a bit of running for me and a pet show 😂

EssexHebridean

I completely sympathise with the thing of losing half a day when you've only "popped out briefly" - Saturday was an example of this in our world, we'd decided to deal with the outlet centre in the morning as we had things we ideally wanted to do later in the day.  Just before heading out we decided we'd also call in at the garden centre near to the shopping place, and then on the way there we remembered that our friend's new house was relatively close by, so popped them a message to see if we could call in and see their progress (it's a full refurb)...Eventually got home at 3pm having not even had lunch! Worth it though as lovely to see their house at last - and before they get too far through the project too!

Cheery_Daff

Ha, glad it's not just me! 😂

Need to be careful not to do it today too 😬

Just been for a smear test. Not something to be enjoyed, of course, but my docs is pretty good and I usually have an unremarkable experience. Today wasn't great though. It's annoying though because I know so many people are put off going, and it's so important! Not going to give details here (aside from the fact that it was a repeat because the sample pot was a year out of date last time!) but the practice usually asks for feedback, and I might actually give it this time.

rtandon27

Yikes Cheery - my sympathies are with you - it is one of the worst experiences invented by man (and yes it was indeed a man) - I've been know to pass out quite regularly during the procedure and am one of those who puts the whole thing off!  The one and only time it was not traumatic, was when an older (female) nurse did the procedure and empathically stated there was absolutely no reason it should be painful or cause mental trauma!  There need to be more practitioners like her in the world!!!

Cheery_Daff

Indeed, and on the whole I've never had a bad experience. Today wasn't traumatic, but definitely worthy of comment. Although much of the issue was around general things rather than the procedure itself (doc late with no explanation or apology, room too small to facilitate proper examination or privacy, distracted clinician etc). 

Anyway...

Consoled myself with a cafe trip, which we have now decided is a once a week treat. In fact we did decide a new 'no food in cafes' rule but I didn't get up early enough for breakfast before my appointment 😬 Will try again next time! 

Remembered to bring the strimmer to see if they can fix it. Hope so - that should be much cheaper than a new one, and obviously always better to repair if possible. Will report back. 

Nothing much else to report. I have not been very MSE lately, dropped the ball on lots of things (not done the Happy Wheel forever, or Prolific, or anything similar. Going to try to re-engage over the summer.

I've got 3 weeks left at work before a month off 😁 Lots to do in those 3 weeks! Plus putting up two fences (yes, we bought another one for elsewhere in the garden, between them they should give us a good deal of privacy) - got friends coming tomorrow to help. Also got a band concert next weekend (lots of practice still required), and a weekend party in Wales for which I need a fancy dress costume 😁

So lots to do, and I'm not going to make any grand plans for those 3 weeks, but a gentle shift in the right direction, I think...

Rest of the fence should arrive today, ordered from somewhere different which had faster delivery times. Let's see if these ones can get down the drive!

rtandon27

Go gently with your fence project Cheery - it's a scorcher out there - keep hydrated!

Cheery_Daff

Shall do! Just nipped to Mr A for tomorrow's lunch for guests and bought myself some more lolly ices 😂

Going to start in the house when I get home

* bit of tidying
* prepare lunch for tomorrow
* make laundry liquid (how long have I been saying this for??)
* wash some bedding

Then we'll see about the temperature. Other things that could do with doing today:

* more posts in for original fence
* clear nettles etc for new fence
* flute practice

Cheery_Daff

Dropped the strimmer off. Looks like it's not an easy job to get the head off (of course!) - they're going to try, but we may have to replace the whole shaft 🙄 Roughly £110, but a new strimmer of that model is £217 and this one still works other than this issue, so we'll try to fix. Fingers crossed. 

Started to make laundry liquid, realised I have no washing soda 🙄 Apparently you can make it by putting baking soda in the oven (to remove the water etc and change the chemical composition) so I'm going to do that. Don't want the oven on for just that, so I'm going to make granola too - but that's starting to feel like an epic activity so I'm going to sit down with a spot of lunch first 😂

rtandon27

Oven on in this weather? You are a braver soul than I!