🌞 Happy Days in our Golden Years 🌞

Jessy103

Welcome back fortune! Was reading some diaries the other day and wondered how you and Mr F were getting on, so lovely to see you have a new diary x

Fortune_Smiles

Jessy103 said:

Welcome back fortune! Was reading some diaries the other day and wondered how you and Mr F were getting on, so lovely to see you have a new diary x

Thanks Jessy.  I've missed the Forum.

maggiem

Belated welcome back, so lovely to ‘see’ you and hear you, Mr F and F-dawg are all well. We are now fully retired and enjoying it but some of the necessary shifts in thinking took a bit of time. Looking forward to reading how you manage that whilst living life to the full with all your artistic endeavours. 

beanielou

Lovely to see you. Happy shiny new diary. 

doingitanyway

I was a regular lurker...nice to see you back posting. 

Fortune_Smiles

maggiem said:

Belated welcome back, so lovely to ‘see’ you and hear you, Mr F and F-dawg are all well. We are now fully retired and enjoying it but some of the necessary shifts in thinking took a bit of time. Looking forward to reading how you manage that whilst living life to the full with all your artistic endeavours. 

Yes - shifts in thinking are definitely required here too but we will get there.

beanielou said:

Lovely to see you. Happy shiny new diary. 

Hi Beanie.  Its lovely to see you too x

doingitanyway said:

I was a regular lurker...nice to see you back posting. 

Nice to see you as well DIA.

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

And everything was going so well...

I saw a friend at the party on Saturday who is a fitness instructor.  She asked about my shoulder and, when she heard that it was almost back to normal, she insisted I go to her Pilates class the next morning 😂  So I did.  I need to do more exercise and the class is held at my gym so helps to make my membership there good value.  Boy was I aching yesterday though.

We had Courgette, Lemon & Ricotta Gnocchi for lunch with green beans and courgettes from the veg patch.  Both have been very productive this year.  Supper was just a baked potato with beans and cheese as I was so tired from the late night and the Pilates that I had to have a nanna nap in the afternoon - for 3 hours 😮

And, as I'm a glutton for punishment, I went to my usual Zumba class yesterday morning so lunch was a quick cheese and tomato croissant before Mr F had to rush off to a meeting.  Supper was Cod Traybake with Green Beans and Crispy Capers (can you see a pattern forming 😂).

I'd planned to do some sewing yesterday afternoon but had to spend the time dealing with bootroom issues.  We've been trying to get our bootroom installed since this time last year and, finally, the joiner has built the cabinetry.  However, he hasn't included things we wanted or addressed our outstanding queries before going ahead.  When I raised this with him he started gaslighting me saying that these things hadn't been discussed and that it's his policy never to do these things for his clients.  I had about four emails from him yesterday and they all contradicted each other and contained lies about what we'd discussed and agreed - despite me being able to give him written evidence to the contrary.  We've paid him £4k already so I suppose he thinks he has us over a barrel.  However, he wants 100% of the outstanding balance before installation and I'm not prepared to give him another penny as, if something's not right or goes wrong, I can't trust him now to do the right thing and put it right.  It could be throwing good money after bad.  Mr F and I talked about it and, after reflecting on it for a few hours, sent him a holding email saying that we're going to take advice before proceeding.  I think we have legal cover through our home insurance so I'll try there first but I suspect we'll have to go through the courts if we have any chance of getting our money back.  I'm not sure I could have him in my home after this.

On the up side, I sent out an invoice from the company (it's going well and putting a little jam on our bread) and paid any company bills owing.

Hope you're week is off to a better start.

Fortune x

Cheery_Daff

Sorry to hear about that Fortune! It's hard trusting people to come into your house isn't it. As you know, I am utterly rubbish at asking for what I want and would happily put up with shoddy workmanship if it meant not making a scene - you are always who I think of when I'm trying to be better! Good luck!

Fortune_Smiles

Cheery_Daff said:

Sorry to hear about that Fortune! It's hard trusting people to come into your house isn't it. As you know, I am utterly rubbish at asking for what I want and would happily put up with shoddy workmanship if it meant not making a scene - you are always who I think of when I'm trying to be better! Good luck!

Ugh.  It's just so boring and draining Cheery. We have a lovely weekend planned with a visit from the littlest Fortunate followed by a vist from another relative.  So I'm going to forget about it for the moment and review the situation after I finish having a lovely time.

What makes me mad is, he probably behaves like this with everyone and gets away with it.

Fortune x

Fortune_Smiles

Engage Turbo

I've had a really productive day 🙂

Meal planned for the week and did the shopping.  (We have visitors this weekend and next week so some treats might have been included 🤭)  Did a wash for Mr F and pegged it out.  Vacuumed downstairs and cleaned the guest rooms.  Ordered some wine as the rack is empty 😲  And accidentally bought a pirate water table toy for the Littlest Fortunate.

Feeling a little guilty about the wine and the toy 🙁  This is what I mean about struggling to lose the scarcity mindset.  Why am I feeling guilty about buying a few luxuries that we can afford?  It's not as though I've bought a wardrobe full of Versace 👗👠👜 and I don't think it qualifies as conspicuous consumption.

Lunch was leftover Cod Traybake and supper was Grilled Harissa Halloumi with Lentil, Pomegranate, Courgette & Mint served with pitta bread.  I grilled the halloumi and made the salad entirely in one frying pan using sliced courgettes, mixed nuts and seeds (instead of the ZOE mix) and ready cooked puy lentils.

I even had enough energy left this evening to make 3 metres of bunting 🎪  We bought a gazebo in an end of season sale recently as we haven't any shade in the garden and the Littlest Fortunate needs protecting from the sun.  It's light grey and a bit bland so I thought I'd make some bunting to brighten it up.  It's 3 metres x 4.5 metres and my plan was to hang bunting all the way around it.  But it turns out my plan was a little ambitious 😂  I might get time to make enough to decorate the short sides before the weekend 🤭  The bunting is made of scraps from some fat quarters I got as a birthday present and old duvets.

So lovely to have some sunshine to end the summer.  Hard on the farmers though as I know they are already struggling for pasture and feed.  We donated our meadow grass to our farmer neighbour a couple of weeks ago and also persuaded our new neighbours (who haven't moved in yet) to donate theirs too.  Every little helps.

Keep cool guys

Fortune x