🌞 Happy Days in our Golden Years 🌞

Seasidegal58

A very Happy New Year to you Fortune and Mr F (plus FDawg!) and I do hope all your legal woes are sorted satisfactorily before too long. 

Congratulations too on your forthcoming new addition to the Fortune Clan!😀

Fortune_Smiles

Happy New Year!

Thank you to everyone who popped by and sent New Year wishes.  We are a bit behind with ours because we've only just had our Christmas 😂

The Younger Fortunates did make it to us at the weekend and our belated Christmas turned out to be a white one ⛄  We have had a lovely time with them and Littlest Fortunate is well and happy again.  Tiny Fortunate also visited the house for the first time as 'baby on board'.

So we can now turn our minds to 2026.  Bully builder is still taking up a lot of head space and, until that's sorted, it's going to be tricky making any financial plans.  I think I might just concentrate on some small goals for the moment and revisit as things progress.

This week I have some urgent admin to catch up on and will need to make a meal plan to use up the last of the Christmas food... and a gym plan to burn it all off 😂  I haven't stepped on the scales yet... I haven't dared to 😲 Plus the Christmas decorations need to come down 🎄

Happy New Year everyone and I hope 2026 has got off to a great start for you.

Fortune x

Humdinger1

Wonderful news @Fortune_Smiles.  I'm sure Bully Builder is taking up head space; however, if he wasn't such a patent swine, I'd almost feel sorry for him.  He plainly hasn't realised that you are the channel the Gods have selected for his well deserved comeuppance!  Keep us posted and happy new year love Humdinger xx 

ruby_eskimo

Belated Christmas and New Year greetings Fortune. Congratulations on the impending newest Fortune and hope the legal woes are resolved swiftly and in your favour in the new year.

Fortune_Smiles

Humdinger1 said:

Wonderful news @Fortune_Smiles.  I'm sure Bully Builder is taking up head space; however, if he wasn't such a patent swine, I'd almost feel sorry for him.  He plainly hasn't realised that you are the channel the Gods have selected for his well deserved comeuppance!  Keep us posted and happy new year love Humdinger xx 

Thank you @Humdinger1.  I hope that is the case.  My BIL said "he doesn't realise he's got a tiger by the tail" 🐅😂  I'd found it very difficult sitting around waiting for my insurers/solicitors to process the claim whilst bully builder continued bullying.  Now I'm able to take action I'm feeling much stronger and more confident.  My solicitor feels our case is very strong and is confident we will be able to successfully defend any action brought against me.  I also have funding agreed with my insurer to cover my legal costs and to pay any legal costs awarded to bully builder should he win.  That's a great weight of my mind.

I've found the whole process illuminating and intend to write up my experience when I'm through to the other side.  I've learned lots of things which would have been helpful to know beforehand and I'm hoping sharing those might help others who find themselves in this position.  Unfortunately, there are lots of bully builders out there and I'm told these sort of incidents are on the rise as small businesses come under increasing financial pressures.

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

ruby_eskimo said:

Belated Christmas and New Year greetings Fortune. Congratulations on the impending newest Fortune and hope the legal woes are resolved swiftly and in your favour in the new year.

And to you @ruby_eskimo.  Exciting times ahead - good and bad 😁

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

What's in the Mix for 26?

As I've mentioned previously, I've been finding it very hard to set my mind to goals for this year with all the legal shenanigans afoot.  However, I did set some mini goals for the start of the year:

• use up the Christmas leftovers.  Now achieved except for the odd pot of cranberry sauce and chutney which can be incorporated into recipes throughout the year
• get up to date with financial stuff.  I'm nearly there on this one.  Accounts have been reconciled, monthly budgets set, business invoices are up to date and our tax returns have been submitted.  I've just got a couple of things left to tidy up.
• organise the diary for the year.  I've sent out dates for Book Club and am in the process of arranging the first meeting of the Show Team (I've agreed to Chair that again this year).  Plus we have our next date with the Younger Fortunates booked.  The Littlest Fortunate bought us a day out for Christmas 😁

So I feel as though I've set things up for the year and am settling back into some mindful money ways.

As for the rest of the year, there's going to be a mix of good times and bad times as always.  My aim is that no matter what, I wake up each day and be thankful for life.  I'll have gratitudes and grumbles and it's just as important to me now as when I started my first diary (nearly 14 years ago 😲) to find balance in all things.  So my loose goals for 2026:

Health 🧘‍♀️

• continue to attend 3 fitness classes a week
• add 1 yoga session a week
• hit goal weight.  I know, I know, every year 🤭 but I'm sure things would be a whole lot worse if I didn't keep trying.

Wealth 💰

• add to savings.  We may lose the money we've already paid to bully builder so I'd like to replace that.  We're not quite sure how the business will do this year though so I don't want to put a figure on it.  Anything is better than nothing 🙂
• defend any legal action brought against me by bully builder or take legal action against bully builder if he does not serve Court papers.  It has to be one or the other as it's the only way we have a chance of getting our money back.  Also, the alleged debt won't become statute barred (when he won't be able to sue for it) for 6 years and I don't want to live with the thought of him resurfacing to chase me for money in that time so a line needs to be drawn now.
• raise a data protection complaint (other related issues have arisen during the dispute which I've decided to pursue and may have a financial implication)
• raise a regulatory complaint
• raise a trading standards complaint
• raise a personal injury claim
• Tilly Tidy to premium bonds.  I have been Tilly Tidying to a virtual pot in my accounts ostensibly to build a treat fund.  However, the reality is that this money gets sucked back into other pots one way or another.  So I've decided that, once my Tilly Tidies pot reaches £50 I will buy £25 of premium bonds each for Mr F and I.  I've already started on this with one purchase under my belt for January.

Happiness 😁

• develop some strategies for dealing with the legal shenanigans.  It feels all encompassing and overwhelming at times and it can overshadow everything else.  It is not, however, my whole life so I need to find a way of managing the stress so that I can enjoy all the other amazing, wonderful parts of my life (any advice here would be welcome)
• express gratitudes as well as grumbles (you can all hold me to account on this one 🙂)
• make time and space for fun.

These aren't intended to be SMART goals just a direction of travel for the moment.  Some of the outcomes aren't entirely within my control but I will control what I can and keep moving in the right direction.

Hopefully the Universe will be keeping things in balance too - so by that reckoning I must be in for a big lottery win soon 😂

Fortune x

Humdinger1

@Fortune_Smiles if you didn't have an excellent case, there's no way your insurers would agree to cover it.  Plus, your lawyer would be pulling a long face.  I've been in a similar situation and I promise you it gets better.  Agree with everything you say re cracking on.  Bully boy builder is a quivering jelly, I bet.  Love Humdinger xx 

Humboldt

Morning @Fortune_Smiles just popping by to say how much I love your positive, proactive, approach to the New Year.  As always, a true inspiration, thank you for sharing.

Fortune_Smiles

Humdinger1 said:

@Fortune_Smiles if you didn't have an excellent case, there's no way your insurers would agree to cover it.  Plus, your lawyer would be pulling a long face.  I've been in a similar situation and I promise you it gets better.  Agree with everything you say re cracking on.  Bully boy builder is a quivering jelly, I bet.  Love Humdinger xx 

Thank you for the reassurance @Humdinger1.  Our policy states that we have to have a 51% or more chance of winning for our insurer to accept the claim.  However, I'm sure that if we were anywhere close to this there would have been a lot more to-ing and fro-ing before they accepted.  I'm happy that everything will now be done through the Courts.  It's dealing direct with an unreasonable, irrational, bully that causes the stress.  He has put forward the most ridiculous arguments and seems to actually believe them 🙄

Fortune x