Next steps; grip-relaxing bimbling, and avoiding the temptations

Suffolk_lass

This week is mostly about preparation for Friday (lunch for 35 in the Village Hall) and Saturday (my second and last Christmas Fayre as a seller) - I will be making honey fudge this morning, after my bread has proved and cleared the counter-top, before going to Sainsbugs for my click and collect (for the lunch). I used the £18 off £60 voucher for online or C&C, and ordered the meat and cheese for the December (and maybe the January) lunches.

I plan to label the rest of my honey and try to get over to my friend's as she has some leftover fudge and candles from the Fayre she did on Saturday. Oh, and I might make a couple of little beeswax decorative candles. On the other hand, I might suggest that friend swaps candles and soaps for me to add variety to my table, while she has some of my candle rolling kits and fudge for hers. I've got some little cups and saucers for her too, so she can make up a few as candles to add variety and decoration to her display.

In MSE news, Mr Sl's occupational pension has popped in to the running costs account, three days ahead of a large credit card bill clearing in three days time, removing more than half of it! Phew! He will also receive his state pension this week, so that helps enormously.

Not sure what happened but when I logged in to NS&I my £25 win from last month was now £175. A further £100 and a £50 win had been added. Maybe 2nd is too early to check. I also spotted a disparity between Mr Sl's account and my spreadsheet, where the selection range on my spreadsheet had moved the whole selection down, (taking the top row out) instead of adding one more row, so our total winnings appeared lower than it should. Our percentage winnings (assuming nothing else pops in after today) are 5.8% for my holding, and 3.18% for his in 2025. A bit like % increases everywhere, the disparity grows each time. I have more; I win more. Right, time to have a mooch about on here, I think!

Humdinger1

Sounds fab @Suffolk_lass! Good luck with the exams.  Tell me, do bees too angry to sell have their own module or is the subject dispersed? Love Humdinger xx 

Suffolk_lass

I've just taken the bee behaviour exam which covers that group - Let's see if I've passed it!

Suffolk_lass

Phew, a busy couple of days - I delivered the lunch club for December (the lovely Charlie in the local Morries made up for the inept supply chain not delivering everything in my "Food to order" collection, booked mid November!!). The free goods he substituted for the platters they didn't deliver were plentiful and made the whole up-c*ck less stressful. I am about to contact their head office to tell them what I think about the supply chain failures and warn them that if they do that  for people's Christmas orders they will lose custom, big-time! I shall praise the local staff though!

Then yesterday was our Village shopping and coffee morning. I kind of feel I have to, and I made a bit of money (for me and my friend), but it is so much work and the woman who organised it just did not advertise it at all. Anyway, done now. I just need to settle up. 10% to them for the table and my friend's portion to her. 

Oh, and I have just made a bread pudding (my Mum's recipe) with the French stick that was left over on Friday. It smells fantastic, and Mr Sl has just beamed at me and said, "I love bread pudding, but we never normally have leftover bread!"

Turning back to today, I am going to go through all my bee-crafting crates and sort them out, order any missing bits, and get them back up in the loft, so the next lot of boxes (Christmas decs) can come down. I need to message the New Year gang too, to find out who is coming - then I will know the scale of the prep we need to do!

Happy days - have a good Sunday, mine will involve rest!

Suffolk_lass

I did list the bags I want to get and do plan to venture to Hobby-horse to get some but yesterday was about stopping, taking a moment, thinking about preparations and relaxing. I feel a bit revitalised this morning. Clean bedding may have helped with a good night's sleep. We did go through last year's Christmas cards and mark up the list with who we did hear from. I might pop out for stamps today, and I shall begin writing mine. 

Mr Sl has to take his truck to a specialist for body-work to see what they think about the carp and rust underneath (comes from driving it on a farm, of course - we just need to know the scale of the remedial works, which will involve welding, we just aren't sure how much). Fingers crossed for us.

I plan to finish my wreath while I am here on my own, to do the backing tape that stops it damaging the wooden door. It's really simple this year, just foliage and a ribbon or two

Suffolk_lass

Good grief, my computer is misbehaving and this is my third strike before I am out, trying to post this morning. 

I did in fact finish my wreath and it is on the front door, with plenty of backing tape and staples, holding them in place. 

Mr Sl's trip to the garage confirmed his worst fears and his truck has extensive rust that will make it uneconomic to redress completely. I think we will arrange for it to be cleaned off then under-treated to delay the progress, then keep it for 2 years before getting rid. We would never sell it on without making clear that it has a progressive rust problem. An expensive lesson for us.

In money news, my sales from Saturday's Fayre came through from the adding sums people I use for card payments, and the neighbour for whom I made a small hamper came to pay, but she brought double the money and asked if I could do a second mini hamper, so that has boosted my very modest take from last week's market. Very happy. I should have taken a photo, but I forgot. Doh! With the refund of tax from Mr Sl's small car that he sold, the bills account has just enough in it for the big credit card to clear. Thankfully, my state pension will be there by the time I go to the butcher's for the Christmas meat.

This morning I am back to the Optician for them to put dilating drops in my eyes, so he can explore a black dot further. It might be a floater (mine have always been like a string of white DNA before, though) or it might be a hole that my brain has seen. I had to have a laser treatment to perforate a clouding film after cataract surgery. He can't see anything untoward at the moment, but we want to be sure. Apparently my brain continues to see things that other people's screen out (typical!). Anyway, the aftermath of the drops means no driving and I am unlikely to be able to help my gardener. So he is going to use the old roof tiles to edge the front garden beds. As long as it isn't too wet to work. Our corner of Britain looks to be least affected but it's fairly wet outdoors at the moment.

Mr Sl won't be able to help him as his back is giving him seasonal trouble. I suspect he should be in the gym to undergo some remedial strength and stretching, but mostly he is in his chair after walking the dog then letting his back get cold.

Anyway, here's my wreath - 

Makingabobor2

Good luck with optician

Watty1

What a lovely wreath.  
Hope all goes well with the optician.

beanielou

Hope all goes smoothly with the optician. 

trix-a-belle

Suffolk_lass said:

Our corner of Britain looks to be least affected but it's fairly wet outdoors at the moment.

You could have fooled me with how much it was raining every time I woke up through last night & this morning

What a beautiful wreath!
I hope you are now home resting the eyeballs