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

Cheery_Daff

Thanks Beanie. She was one of the good ones xx

So. A day out of the house, running errands and generally being gentle with ourselves. We've also stocked up on party food, which will be plentiful, easy to prepare, and relatively healthy (home made chilli and rice, bread, cheese, home made coleslaw, home made potato salad, and for some reason we seem to have bought a large quantity of apples ) We did spend a fair bit on booze too... 

Not much got done in the way of household tasks, but we have both had a bath, and I washed some bedding which is taking its chances overnight on the line, so that's a start. 

So, tomorrow needs to be productive... 

We're out first thing at an early appointment, but hopefully home by 10.30 at the latest. Then Mr C is concentrating on food and a couple of rooms, and I wil concentrate on the garden and the rest of the house. So, for me... 

* another set of washing
* tidy craft room (lots of stuff to put away, or at least hide)
* tidy study (mostly tidy, need to put away stuff from my holiday)
* stuff into loft
* mow grass
* strim  - including space for several extra cars. I think there will be 7 or 8 cars, including ours - a new record. We've never had so many here, and don't want them to all block each other in, although some of that might be inevitable. There's not really a road to park them on either - our drive is pretty long, the lane is single track (although there is one place where we could stick one of our cars, actually). Anyway, should manage it with a good bit of strimming!

Cheery_Daff

Going to make a timed list, I think! 

8-10.30 OUT AND ABOUT
* stick some washing on
* appointment
* any last food/errands - couldn't get any ice today so will stock up

10.30-11 REST
* building in tea breaks otherwise the list will get out of hand  

11-12.30 GARDEN
* hang washing out
* mow
* strim
* possibly some weeding/shifting of already cut stuff
* possibly shifting of the old bit of fence that's bundled up by the car - fortunately lots of places to temporarily hide rubbish here  

12.30-1.30 LUNCH
* make sure to eat something healthy!
* check if one set of friends is coming Friday or Saturday

1.30-3.30 HOUSE
* craft room
* study
* offshot
* dining room
* our bedroom
* quick whizz round the bathroom

3.30-4 REST
* Nice cup of tea! 
* Possibly bring washing in if it's done

4-5.30 LEFTOVERS
* anything not done off above list!
* hoover upstairs
* hoover downstairs if Mr C has finished with food etc

Oh, and pack up my race kit because somehow I am doing a ridiculous trail race on Saturday morning!!! Aarrgghh! But in my defence, that was organised and paid for well before the party was even thought of and I'm not missing it! It's a 'run as many laps as you can in 6 hours' job, and while I originally intended to keep going for 6 hours, I now think that even walking 10-4pm, then driving over an hour home, and then expecting to be a lively party host and stay up til 4am (because we'll be sleeping in the living room, after everyone else has gone to be) is a touch ambitious, even for me  

So one lap (of 7 miles) and I'll be whizzing home to put on my party frock  

Cheery_Daff

Ooh, a useful MSE thing before I even get out of bed - English Heritage have emailed to say they've cancelled my membership. Sorry to see it go in some ways, but I've made good use of it this year and that £82 renewal price can be put to better use elsewhere!

Cheery_Daff

Oph, and I've been reading back old diaries, and in Dec 2021 we'd apparently paid off 16.85% of our mortgage.

This prompted me to check again - and we've now paid off 28.95%! And with our current standard OP we'll have paid off 29.89% by the end of the year... Wonder if we can tip it over 30%??

Cheery_Daff

Ooh, that's only an extra £242... so an additional £60 a month... 🤔 Best get my thinking cap on... be nice to have over 30% of the mortgage gone! 😃 

Greying_Pilgrim

Cheery - I'm pretty sure you've made the decision to not rejoin, but have EH sent you the 25% discount offer for rejoining yet? It's running until the end of August I think.  For us, I think it takes membership to something like £119 - 2 adults and up to 6 kids I think.

Greying X

Cheery_Daff

Hmm, no - they just sent a standard renewal letter with an £82 renewal price (which I'm pretty sure doesn't include 25% off). Still, decision is made, and it's cancelled. Shame I won't get 10% off in the tea shop but that's probably no bad thing 😂

Currently annoyed with Amex card. We spent £114 in Mr A yesterday 😱 (but did include party food and booze as well as some normal shopping) and the Amex card said I'd entered the wrong pin too many times 😡 I know i entered the wrong pin on that occasion, because I'd entered what I thought was the right one the day before, and it had said it was wrong 🙄 Anyway, I've checked in the app, so tried to use it again just now - it wouldn't let me do contact less, and when I inserted it, it said DECLINED without even giving me chance to put the PIN in 😡

Had a text saying 'trouble remembering your pin?' And directing me to the app - but I've checked it there and know it now. Had an email saying 'you've entered the wrong PIN too many times, verify it in the app' but there's no 'verify' button, so I can only assume they mean 'check what your pin is'. 

Will check again before I leave town, can't be bothered ringing up but I might have to, how tiresome!

Cheery_Daff

Good grief, how is it 12pm already?? Not doing too well on the list! 😬

8-10.30 OUT AND ABOUT
* stick some washing on
✅ appointment
✅ any last food/errands - couldn't get any ice today so will stock up
✳ (using this symbol for bonus tasks 😂) posted parcel
✳ filled car with diesel
✳ picked up a couple of reduced planters to prettify the front garden a little

10.30-11 REST
* building in tea breaks otherwise the list will get out of hand  

11-12.30 GARDEN
* hang washing out
* mow
* strim
* possibly some weeding/shifting of already cut stuff
* possibly shifting of the old bit of fence that's bundled up by the car - fortunately lots of places to temporarily hide rubbish here  

12.30-1.30 LUNCH
* make sure to eat something healthy!
* check if one set of friends is coming Friday or Saturday

1.30-3.30 HOUSE
* craft room
* study
* offshot
* dining room
* our bedroom
* quick whizz round the bathroom

3.30-4 REST
* Nice cup of tea! 
* Possibly bring washing in if it's done

4-5.30 LEFTOVERS
* anything not done off above list!
* hoover upstairs
* hoover downstairs if Mr C has finished with food etc

Hmm, need to get a shift on! At least i can combine breaks and lunch now 🙄 We took separate cars this morning & Mr C has gone off on some errands of his own.

Pleased to report that logging into Amex account online, which triggered a text verification, seems to have done the trick, and I paid at pump for fuel with the credit card and bought plants in the DIY shop too. Slightly annoyed that I missed out on points on our £114 spend the other day (it's only just occurred to me that we could have used Mr C's card for the same account!! Plonkers 🙄). Still, we've got £10.39 worth of points accrued since July (I think paying for holiday accommodation contributed considerably) so all good. 

Right, lunch, washing, then out into the garden! 

Cheery_Daff

Well, we persist, but of course the day has not gone entirely to plan  

8-10.30 OUT AND ABOUT
✅ stick some washing on
✅ appointment
✅ any last food/errands - couldn't get any ice today so will stock up
✳ (using this symbol for bonus tasks 😂) posted parcel
✳ filled car with diesel
✳ picked up a couple of reduced planters to prettify the front garden a little

10.30-11 REST
✅ building in tea breaks otherwise the list will get out of hand  

11-12.30 GARDEN
✅ hang washing out
✅ mow
✅ strim
✅ possibly some weeding/shifting of already cut stuff
✅ possibly shifting of the old bit of fence that's bundled up by the car - fortunately lots of places to temporarily hide rubbish here  

12.30-1.30 LUNCH
✅ make sure to eat something healthy!
✅ check if one set of friends is coming Friday or Saturday

1.30-3.30 HOUSE
* craft room
* study
* offshot
* dining room
* our bedroom
* quick whizz round the bathroom

3.30-4 REST
* Nice cup of tea! 
* Possibly bring washing in if it's done

4-5.30 LEFTOVERS
* anything not done off above list!
* hoover upstairs
* hoover downstairs if Mr C has finished with food etc

Ok, so there is some progress! And none of the party-goers are arriving today, thank goodness, so that makes life easier.   I've nearly finished in the garden (came in for a cuppa and to stop vibrating for a second after the strimmer ran out of petrol - going out to finish off in a second but it'll only be another 10 mins). Mr C dismantled the hall bookshelves into the living room about 2 months ago, and has now finished putting them back (sadly not having put up the new bookshelves in the meantime, so it'll need doing again after the party but hey ho).  

So. Finish the garden, then  I'm going to set a timer - each room is getting 15 mins, no longer. Six rooms (Mr C can deal with the kitchen and living room and music room), so 1.5 hours, bring in the washing, sheets back on the craft room bed, then I'm preparing for tomorrow's race (just finding clothes, not doing any actual training ), and then I think a bath is in order. 

Tomorrow, I should be home about... er... 2pm? I'll do a final hoover if necessary, and change our bed (we're donating it to visitors, no point doing it today then sleeping in it), but other than that I might have to have another bath and possibly a nap  

Doing well on Prolific between tasks today - currently standing at £12.75 with £10.85 pending. Reading back over my old diaries I was trying to make £5 a day to add to savings, so I might reinvigorate that for September - I starting getting back into Happy Wheel casino offers yesterday, doing a couple of new sign up offers too. That'll be up and down as ever, but I'll aim for £5 a day overall anyway

Right, back out before I collapse!

PennysIntoPounds

My condolences to Mr C and you. 60s is far too young these days. Glad you both have a nice weekend still planned.
I have very fond memories of staying with family friends in Skipton when I was little. I was obsessed with the dungeon in the castle, which tells you a lot about me as a small child