Spring In Our Step

Sallyforth

Hey @blackcats bring on those TOTs I say! I must admit I do have high maintenance nails and feet so perhaps I’m not the right person to cheerlead this development. That said, I don’t go out often and spend very little on clothing, shoes etc and find chatting to my “nail lady” very therapeutic. She held a high profile job before kids/divorce/remarriage so retrained in something she loved and could work around family. So refreshing having an intelligent conversation whilst having my manicure/pedicure.

Cheery_Daff

greenbee said:

Getting frustrated by the water harvesting systems... the gutter end for the greenhouse is fine. The clip for the downpipe needs a hole drilling for a bolt, but do to that you need to remove part of the trim... which seems to be impossible without taking the whole thing apart. However, the diameter of the downpipe is also larger than the diameter of the pre-drilled hole in the waterbutt. I don't trust myself to enlarge the hole safely. So this needs to wait until I have competent help.

For the IBCs, the lids fit, the filters fit, but I can't see how the elbow fits on it, nor how I'd connect it to the downpipe diverter. So I need to look at some other options. I was hoping to get at least ONE of them set up before there is rain. I guess I'll have to look at the small shed and see whether I can at least get that butt set up!

I ended up drilling a hole in the side of my IBC because even having dug a bit of a hole for it, it was still too tall to have enough of a drop from the greenhouse gutter 🙄 and it's still not set up properly because the fixing i have for the gutter never attached properly - another OAT for me! 

Good progress today. Sealant is off, and that morphed into getting the pink stuff out and doing all the grouting round the bath/shower, and then also getting on my hands and knees behind the loo, which I've been meaning to do for ages, and going round the skirting boards and pipes in the bathroom 😬 Mr C has rightly suggested that I probably want to make the most of the last of the sunshine so I'll come back and finish it later!

Wednesday2000

I did a bit of Spring cleaning as I was up early for a delivery. I vacuumed and then machine washed two of the pet beds. I finished another book as I was waiting for the washing to finish.

As a treat I am hoping to book a Swedish massage next week. I have tried Thai massage and then Indian Head Massage recently, but have never tried Swedish.

Sallyforth

Well not so much OATs rather simply ATs.

DH gave me a lift to Mr Ms to replenish the cough medicine we both seem reliant upon to get through the night. I’d ordinarily walk the 2 mile round trip but just not feeling well enough yet.  This was a particularly annoying task as I had a Mr S delivery due between 11 and 12 so I didn’t have to venture out. 

Rang Mr S first thing to complain the one substitution which, despite being acceptable, was part of their £12 meal deal (including a bottle of wine) had caused the other items to be charged at full price so it was costing me £18.50. They were helpful and accepted this but said I had to phone back once the order had been delivered. So duly phoned back at 11.45 and pretty much had to repeat my issue to a very helpful lady with little command of the English language. When told the £6.50 overcharge could only be issued as an online voucher and not credited back to my payment card I politely pointed out it was their error, which I had detected by carefully checking my receipt and to boot I had had to make two time consuming phone calls. She issued me a further £10 credit - result!

Whilst buying the cough medicine in Mr M’s earlier a packet of Morning Glory seeds jumped into my basket somehow. I’m so not a seed growing person - no patience - but now have these on my kitchen window sill and some nasturtiums in a pot in a sheltered spot outside. I planted them just before lunch and they’re still showing no signs of life! Even if they do germinate I’ve a naughty cat inside and pesky slugs outside so I have very low expectations.

Blackcats

@Sallyforth - hopefully your seeds will be in full bloom by Easter 😃

today I did a quick sort out of the jars and containers in a kitchen cupboard.  It was higgledy piggeldy with packets of flour, sugar, oats (the eating variety) and a load of empty jars 🤷‍♀️.  Anyway inspired by the few pages of Sort your life out that I read for free on kindle I put the packets into the storage containers and labelled them.  Cupboard is tidier and will be quicker and easier to find what we need.  

beanielou

My bowel screening results came back negative so that’s good news. 

PennysIntoPounds

Great result on the extra credit @Sallyforth. I did laugh at the example of your lack of patience being no plants from the seeds after a few hours 😁

Ooh I love a cupboard tidy @Blackcats, nearly time for me to see if my lids and containers still match, but I'm waiting for a wee bit more of a precarious teeter before I fully engage

Fantastic news @beanielou, I'm very pleased 🥂
Big well done you for getting a scary stressy thing done

I have not achieved any OATs but I was feeling shoddy and I still got out of bed and Did The Things, so that is my win for today 

Cheery_Daff

Good to hear your test results came back negative beanie. You prompted me to check the NHS app for the results of the smear test I had a few weeks ago - turns out it was rejected by the lab because the sample pot went out of date in June last year! Clearly someone at the surgery trying to be a bit too MSE (or not rotating stock properly...)

Apparently they won't accept another one for 3 months (!) So I assume someone will write and invite me in again in a few weeks 🙄 how annoying. 

Some good OATs yesterday - very deep clean of the bathroom finished, including removing some marks from the bottom of the bath. I assume the enamel was discoloured because I'd tried wiping with spray and cloth, but no - it came up sparkling white with Pink Stuff scrub and a scrubby sponge thing.

Also wiped some more skirting boards and paintwork in the hallway 😊

Blackcats

@beanielou - that's great news.  Credit to this thread for you and me getting that sorted.
@Cheery_Daff - how annoying re your smear test.  It's not like it's a fun thing to do that you won't mind repeating the procedure.

greenbee

@Cheery_Daff - ask them whether you can check the expiry date yourself next time

I have managed to get two waterbutts connected. One may be a permanent solution if it works, the other is definitely temporary. 

All IBCs are in position and two have their taps on. New solutions needed for filing though, as these ones simply don't work. I will review accordingly...

Mowing done on 'lawn' nearest the house. You can tell where the dog has being weeing as the grass is lovely and lush and long 🙄. Just cut on the highest setting for now, but will aim to take it down to it's normal setting over the next week or so. I just need to decide which other bits of grass are doing to be cut, and which aren't. 

Part of patio pressure-washed, and more importantly, the pressure washer inlet is no longer spraying water everywhere as I replaced two washers (one of which was missing). I'm going to have a closer look at a couple of hose attachments and see whether I can fix them as easily. 

Soil samples have been collected, but I'm struggling to get into the stupid little capsules that the testing powder is in, which is slowing the process down considerably.