Cheery's country living adventure

Cheery_Daff · 13 December 2018 at 4:41PM

Oops, just spent the last hour and a half reading back through my own dairy

:rotfl:

I do like doing that every now and then

:rotfl: And technically I have officially made myself 'available to be visited' from 2-4 today, so am sat in a room that isn't my office waiting for people to turn up (which they haven't) :rotfl: So no harm done

Anyway, reminded myself to add up the stuff I've put to the mortgage this year, so need to update my signature to £619.25 :money: Already paid £130 to the mortgage, but it doesn't register on the account either until the annual review (in Feb) or unless you pay £1000 as a lump sum. So two options now:

(1) Add £510.74 from the wayleave payment and pay a lump sum off
(2) Just pay whatever we've saved by the end of January and have it all register in time for the annual review in Feb

Hmm. Not feeling particularly flush right now, and still not sure what we'll be spending for this building work so the second is seeming the most tempting right now...

Reading back has also made me check survey site payouts :money:

* Prolific is up to £17.23 so hopefully I'll get to £20 payout before Christmas
* Sw@gbucks I've been ignoring this, but just checked and I'm up to 713 points - need 800 for a £5 payout so will get on the case later
* Secret survey site - hmm, just checked and I've not had a survey from them since July... Up to 100 points but not much I can do about that til they contact me

Also realised a couple of other MSE-related things

* A couple of relatives gave me cash for my birthday back in April

I've not spent this - put it to one side in the house because I couldn't think of anything specific I wanted

Might put it towards the mortgage account now :j Not huge amounts - £30 - but still adds up :j
* I acquired a £10 voucher so might use that for Christmas presents and put the cash value towards the mortgage

Er, that's probably it for now in MSE news. Freeze roulette backfired today - I thought I'd brought curry (and was planning to eat it with the microwave rice in my drawer for both dinner and tea at work today) but actually it was soup :rotfl: So now I have nowt but rice for tea, which is NOT going to cut it. Need a quick trip down to the cafe to see if there's anything to go with rice :rotfl:

Diesel spending still through the roof

An average of £165 a month this year according to YNAB :eek: But I now have a M0rrisons card and will be making an effort to get it there (which is also the cheapest) so all good. Next week I'll only be in the city 3 days, not 5, and then not at all until the middle of January - and even then only once a week or so :money: So hopefully next year will be a lot less spendy on that front! :eek:

Should probably stop waffling now

:rotfl:

Cheery_Daff · 13 December 2018 at 5:01PM

Sorry

Back again

Just remembered a couple of other things

Had the gas tank filled again the other day. Doesn't make any difference to cost for now - we're on an £84 a month DD anyway which they'll review after a year. Reading back on here, it seems they last filled it in June, and it had got down to about 25% so I reckon we're probably using slightly less than they've assumed, so hopefully next year's payments will go down.

Radiators have been fitted in the 3 rooms without them, so we've turned the electric heaters off :j Well, except the one in the kitchen, which still isn't very warm

but this is because we've dismantled the ceiling :eek: so there's literally only floorboards (with gaps) to the room above, plus a giant hole where the chimney breast was (literally 2 foot wide for the whole length of the room). So clearly a LOT of the heat is escaping up there...

We'd covered the hole over with cardboard (don't worry - it's only EVER us who go up there, the bathroom is downstairs, so there will be no nasty accidents!) but had a brainwave yesterday - we're going to put a few large rugs etc down upstairs for the time being to cover the gaps between the floorboards which will hopefully keep some of the heat in downstairs... Also need to sort out a loft hatch (even just a temporary one) - there's never been one up there which didn't matter in the summer, and didn't matter much last winter when the kitchen ceiling had plaster on and the chimney breast was still there, but DOES matter now... Will get on the case over the weekend.

Right, my 'being available' time will come to an end in 1 minute, so I will pack up and head back to the office for a cuppa :j The kitchen is full of mince pies etc too from yesterday's food sharing so I might partake of a little free treat :j

Did I mention I had yesterday off sick?? :eek: Just completely full of cold and all shivery and pathetic and spent most of the day asleep on the sofa :eek: Fortunately today I just feel like a normal person with a cold :rotfl: Sadly it didn't save us anything on diesel as Mr Cheery had to come into the city himself :rotfl:

Right - I'm going!

Cheery_Daff · 13 December 2018 at 5:45PM

:j :j With a bit of effort I just got up over the sw@gbucks threshold and ordered a £5 voucher :money: As soon as it arrives I'll put it to the mortgage account :money:

(and now I really AM going :eek: Need to leave about 6 to get to my next (musical, festive) appointment and got some things to tick off the list before then!) :j

themadvix · 14 December 2018 at 12:18PM

Glad you're feeling better!

And glad I'm not the only one who reads back through her own diary! :rotfl:

Cheery_Daff · 19 December 2018 at 1:40PM

Nope, not just you themadvix rofl (Incidentally I've just realised I'm not subscribed to your diary - must do something about that!)

Well I am all over the place at the minute

Had last Wednesday off work absolutely full of cold and spent the whole day asleep. Worked Thursday then did a musical event in the evening, then worked Friday and had friends over and didn't go to bed til 4am, then got back up again at 7 :eek: Spent the weekend loafing, but still wasn't quite on form, but went to work on Monday and Tuesday as normal...

But Tuesday was awful, felt like my head was full of cotton wool all day, completely useless, and actually nodded off on my desk for a bit at one point :eek: Went to see a friend in the evening, had a lovely chat and a takeaway - and then came over all funny and had to boot her out of her own living room to have a nap

which was embarrassing enough, until I woke up and ended up throwing up several times and having to stay over because I couldn't drive home

:eek:

Poor friend was most accommodating

And her spare bed was most comfy

And finally about 2am I stopped being sick and managed to sleep for several more hours.

Drove home this morning and am having a VERY lazy day today

One more day in the office tomorrow, then working at home on Friday, then that's IT for Christmas :j :j :j And then my duties are severely changed temporarily in January and I shouldn't have to go to the city very often at all :j :j I am SO excited, and SO very ready for a break

Not much MSE to report. Sw@gbucks payment came through so I must retrieve that from p@yp@al and add it to the mortgage fund, and also got an everyday rewards payment from the bank for stuff like having so many direct debits, using debit card so many times or whatever - usually works out about £5.50 a month so I can add that too :j :money:

Ooh, and while I'm sat here feeling sorry for myself I might try to boost Prolific a bit too...

Cheery_Daff · 19 December 2018 at 2:13PM

Right - £10.50 added to mortgage amount :money: Up to £629.75 now :money:

Just did another Prolific survey so will be up to £18.62 once that's cleared. Payout is £20 so not long left now - might even make it today!

Karmacat · 19 December 2018 at 3:50PM

Good grief, Cheery! Are you sure its out of your system? Please don't be ill over Christmas!

Cheery_Daff · 19 December 2018 at 4:44PM

I don't think it's gone yet, no! Clearly I've been overdoing it...

As usual

But I've had a lazy day today and tomorrow while I'll be going into the office, it's nothing particularly strenuous, then I'll be working at home on Friday, then that's it for a fortnight :j :j :j Most exciting :j :j

Had two bowls of branflakes now so feeling vaguely more human :rotfl:

themadvix · 19 December 2018 at 5:28PM

Sounds horrendous Cheery! Take it easy and I hope you're feeling much better soon. Hope those branflakes stay where they're meant to!

Cheery_Daff · 19 December 2018 at 6:01PM

thanks :rotfl: :rotfl: Branflakes so far behaving appropriately :rotfl:

Just spoke to a friend though and heard that a mutual friend of ours is nearing the end of her life

She's in her 70s, I knew she was ill, and over time it has become increasingly apparent just *how* ill, and now she's in hospital and family are being asked to visit for the last time

So very sad, and it's quite upset me although I knew it was coming. I met this lady through a support group I've been going to for years, she's had SUCH a very hard life, but has such grace and kindness that I've never seen in anyone else. True kindness, such strength to deal with such awful circumstances, and it's so sad to lose her. She and other friend were very close, so she's seen her regularly but the family had asked her not to say anything about how bad she was because they didn't want others trying to visit

So I'd resigned myself to just waiting for a phone call to say she'd died. At least I've got a bit of advanced warning I suppose, although it makes little difference.

I confess that's knocked the wind out of my sails a bit

Although I didn't have much wind in my sails to start with today

Funny, I've been far more upset over her and another lady in her 80s who I met through the community garden I used to volunteer at than I was with any of my own grandparents except my grandma

Some people just have such a profound influence on your life.

I suppose the only thing you can do is carry on their legacy and take forwards all the good things you loved about them, and hope one day to have a small cheerful influence on the people who come after you.

Cheery's country living adventure

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