"Isn't it nice to think that tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it."

Do nothing time seems to build itself in at the moment... and with the travel I'm making clear that they get the time I assign them. Unfortunately there are a couple of issues that can't be resolved as they committed to them without asking me and it would be bad business to undo the arrangements, but they won't be doing it again...

I've mowed the lawn. It was VERY long (and more creeping buttercup than grass, but who cares ) so took over an hour to do. I should go out and get compost, rose food and petrol (so I can mow again one day) and fill up the car with diesel and then split some more logs, but I'm not going to. I need to locate some food and then sit in the garden with a book before replying to a few emails (I went to pilates this morning and then started mowing at 4pm so I do owe work a couple of hours... although they owe me a LOT more TOIL right now!).

I've just been paid, so when I get home I need to double check that all the pension payments are correct now. I have, however, moved what was left in my current account from last month's pay into my savings account.

I was about to submit my expenses when I realised there are two things in there without receipts/itemisation and the receipts are at home, so I can't do that until Thursday which is irritating. Our expenses policy is that you can only submit one report in each calendar month, and this will put me over into next month. It's annoying, but my own fault. We did have a discussion this week about the fact that this policy probably needs to change for a small minority of us (me & my boss for starters) as despite a new booking system that means hotels can now be paid direct, the amount of travel we do means that the numbers can add up quickly. He's been covering all my meals etc. this week, so mine aren't too bad, but I'll have had 3 weeks travel plus a lot of mileage to claim by the time I get home.

I do now have enough in my savings to cover my emergency living costs, so when I'm home I need to shift these into a designated account and then start working on getting the house finished using a combination of savings and cashflow.

Hopefully being away has saved me some money (I've been pretty good about shopping as can't face dragging the stuff around) although I've asked the cleaner to do some extra while I'm out of her way.

I'm home for a week, then away for a week again, and after that it's odd short trips for a while until Sept/Oct/Nov when I'll barely be home.

I'm enjoying it though, have been eating relatively healthily and getting in lots of swimming and a bit of running and a fair amount of walking too most days. Just the odd day after long flights where it all falls apart and I mostly sleep.

So after a couple of weeks mostly away I'm trying to get things back under control. It would be nice to focus on the garden... and I'm just about on top of the deadheading, weeding and mowing, although there's a lot of it to do.

Due to a big family furniture move-round this week I've had to prioritise making space for a new bed and CoD. And because my mum specifically wants the 4ft bed, not the 4ft6 one this means moving a LOT of stuff around.

So having been gradually working through the log pile, this morning I moved the remnants of it onto the drive (actually, I think I've done pretty well to have so little left I can move it), and with the help of my lovely cleaner, put the garden furniture on the patio and cleaned out the garage. We then moved the 4ft bed into the garage and she's cleaned out the spare room.

Then we hit a snag... I can't undo the bolts on the metal bars of the twin beds. The builders put them together, so i'm not sure what my chances are of EVER getting them apart again... and both of them need to move into other rooms.

I may have to rethink and clear the kids' room to get my old bed in there rather than the room I'd planned to put it in, and get another bed for the spare room my mum uses. However, putting the twin beds in separate rooms was going to make space for the CoD to be accessible and a wardrobe to go in the room as well.

This morning I made the mistake of putting a chenille rug in the WM. It's been in the old machine plenty of times - however, I should probably have put it on a wool wash rather than a quick wash. The machine objected and wouldn't drain, saying there was a blockage. Managed to clear it by manually draining the machine, and have cleaned out the drum, but I can't open the filter, and I'm a bit nervous about using it until I can check it.

My cleaner is currently polishing all the furniture than can be polished, so the house smells of beeswax. She'd agreed to stay all day on the basis that I needed help with the furniture moving, so it seemed sensible to give the furniture some TLC given that she's here and I still haven't cleared the other two bedrooms we'd hoped she could do today.

I'm hoping that I can get upstairs sorted over the next couple of months... which means sorting out the furniture so that I have the right storage, both in the bedrooms and in the dining room (my bedroom is currently full of glasses, as is the bathroom). As I'm mostly home for the summer it seems a sensible time to get it done. I might even call the builders ...