Tales from The Shire

Happy 2018 everyone - thank you all for the good wishes and I hope the year has got off to a good start for you. I am recovering from last night's excesses and the least said about that the better :rotfl: Fortunately I hadn't planned to do anything particular today and there are plenty of leftovers to live on.

One advantage of spending the day in bed is it has given me the opportunity to watch numerous repeats of Bak£ 0ff :rotfl: and consider what I'd like to achieve this year. I'll note my goals separately just to make it easy to track down the post when I need to revisit it in future.

Mr F has been out with his chainsaw today :eek: Just clearing some deadwood from the hedgerow and tidying up a bit. He says he's collected quite a few logs for the burner which is great as we used up a lot during the snow time and over Christmas.

The budget has held but will be tight for a while still. We knew it would be until about the end of March. Mr F will start his travels again soon so I may be able to make some savings on food shopping and fun money.

The weather is wet and windy again but I can see a beautiful rainbow over our field. The rainbows here are high and wide and perfect because the skies are so big. They are some compensation, however, I am looking forward to the lengthening of the days. I received an Almanac for Christmas which shows the times of the sunrise and sunset on each day. By the end of January they days will be one hour and sixteen minutes longer. Bring it on.

I hope 2018 brings you fabulous adventures and much happiness.

Fortune x

Make and Save Pennies

• make mortgage overpayments
• generate income from annex
• bolster emergency fund
• finish Help to Buy ISA contributions
• complete outbuilding renovation
• furnish our new home.

Stay Well

• eat less move more
• have a few treats and things to look forward to
• see friends and family regularly

Have Fun

• explore the area
• find out what's on
• have a plan for the weekends Mr F is home

I have put together a more detailed spreadsheet showing these as smart goals and the specific actions I can take to move towards achieving them. I think the financial goals may be a little ambitious as we haven't had a full year here yet and our expense costs are estimated. But I can always review these and revise them it they turn out to be unrealistic.

It'll be another busy and exciting year but, I hope, a far less stressful one.

Bring it on :j

Fortune x

The New Year always starts for me on the 2nd of January. I invariably have a hangover on the 1st, and it is a Bank Holiday after all, so I treat it as a recovery and planning day.

Today I feel as though normality is returning... well what passes for normal in the Fortunate household :rotfl: Mr F is back at work (although based at home this week) and the alarm went off at the 'up and at em' setting this morning.

My plan for the day was to have a general tidy up and get some admin done but I was thwarted by the return of Mr F's cold which required him to have a nap for a couple of hours this afternoon and my being quiet. So only a little to report:

Make and Save Pennies

• I shaved a couple of pounds off the food shop. Not as much as I'd expected as we seem to have run out of some store cupboard essentials
• Tilly-tidied the accounts into my OP fund. The minimum overpayment I can make on our new mortgage is £500 so I have decided to collect my OP amounts in a virtual account until I reach that sum.

Stay Well

• the day started well with a healthy breakfast but Mr F took his nap at lunch time and, as our bedroom is directly over the kitchen, I didn't want to clatter pans around and disturb him. I resorted to raiding the Christmas leftovers We did better with supper - Spanish Rice & Prawn One-Pot. Quick and easy and not much washing up created but I think it needed a little more flavour. Next time I'll add some chilli flakes and parsley
• took FDawg out for his late walk. I've calculated that three trips around our bottom field equates to one mile and I'm hoping I can build up to running that. A walk was enough today though - the field is very wet
• a few chores were completed. The linen basket seems to have become the magic porridge pot and is spewing washing everywhere :eek:

Have Fun

• Our neighbours have invited us over for drinks and nibbles tomorrow evening. I don't really have the energy for it but we've had to cancel plans to meet up with them a couple of times now so I thought it best to make hay while the sun was shining.

As if. Storm Eleanor is on its way I'm getting fed up with all this wind and rain. FDawg gets spooked by the sound of things rattling around outside and barks to warn us that a storm is raging :eek: Usually at 1.00 or 3.00 am :eek:

The house seems to be holding up though, keeping us warm and dry and, for that, I am extremely grateful.

Stay safe peeps.

Fortune x

themadvix wrote: »

Happy New Year! Hope you have a great 2018 Fortune - I love reading your updates!

You too themadvix - hope it bring you lots of good stuff.

PurpleFairy26 wrote: »

Happy New Year to you, mr F and Fdawg :beer: excesses are fine when you can watch rainbows the day after :A

Hope the head clears soon I made 3 recipes from g00df00d that made me think of you when we had friends round on Saturday. Summer in winter chicken, black bean chilli and chicken and mushrooms. All were a big hit and very easy. I think at least one of them may have been from a link you posted. If not I definitely refound my love of that site from your inspiration and we’ve eaten better this (2017) year from it, so for that, I thank you :T

It may have been the black bean chilli Purp as we're largely pescatarian in the Fortunate household. G00df00d is my favourite site for recipes - so easy to search around the ingredients you already have in. Glad it's inspiring you.

Karmacat wrote: »

Sorry about MrF's cold - but using up the Christmas leftovers for your lunch is a good thing

Have a wonderful New Year - as they say, health, wealth and happiness

I hope it's a great year for you too Karma. Your plans sound fabulous.

Fortune x