Plans progressing and armchair exploring

 We got the 2nd thing off our Needs/Wants list yesterday, a small relatively cheap thing... nevertheless it's another item ticked off the list.  Hopefully we'll be getting the 3rd item next month, then it'll be a big ticket item in March when it's the first of our bonus money months.  

Husband's birthday today, he's going to the gym this morning (good for him!  I thought he'd have cried off it today).  He's having his steak dinner treat tonight, I'll probably have a jacket spud with tuna cheese melt.  He said he didn't want a pudding, which suits me as I'm not really a pud lover.  We have plenty of fruit if he does decide he wants something sweet.

Our friend rang yesterday to say she'd like to come round Friday morning, she was our first visitor not long after we moved in a year ago, we've seen her a handful of times since, she's one of our neighbours from our old house.  We'll have lots to chat about, she says she's got plenty of gossip!  A small part of me cringed when she (laughingly) said that - it made me realise that I don't miss living in the old place at all and am not particularly interested in what our old neighbours are getting up to.  And yet when we lived there I thought I liked it....I was just kidding myself really.  Now I don't have to, I genuinely love it here.

We've already had 3 people saying they want to come down and visit in the spring - husband's daughter and son in law, my sister and our lovely friends from Kent.  When the weather improves a bit, we want to start getting out and exploring the area a bit more, so we have new places to go with our visitors.  I'm sure there are hidden gems not too far away, although we live on the edge of Exmoor we've hardly seen much of it.  I might do some armchair exploring on the internet today, to give me some ideas.  More snow is forecast today in the south, but it looks like we'll escape it, thank goodness.  Apparently it's supposed to be a bit warmer next week.... again I say roll on Spring!

Rejigging the budget and a definite plan

 I've been having another look at our budget and our Needs/Wants list for this year, and rejigging things a bit.  As my Carers Allowance, husband's Attendance Allowance and his state pension are paid every 4 weeks, rather than calendar monthly (so 13 payments a year instead of 12), every year we actually get a month where we get 2 of each, rather than one, which is really helpful.  Even more helpful is the fact that it's not all three in the same month, they're spread out over the year, so we get three months where we have a bonus amount, if you like.  Whereas husband's 3 small private pensions and my private pension are calendar monthly.

I've written all the dates down on the calendar and worked out when our 'bonus' months are, so we can then plan to get the more expensive things on our Needs/Wants list during those months.  So now we have a plan and timescale of things, it'll be easier - well, more encouraging - for us to stick to our budget and know what we're doing and when.

Thank you for all your recent comments.  Janet, yes we do have a Lidl in town - I don't tend to do much shopping in there, they seem to be a bit more chaotic and haphazard in their shelf stocking and they don't always have the things I want, which means I then have to go to another store.  However, I'll give it another go.  Unfortunately, though, I don't like their version of the latte instant coffees at all.  Never mind, there are others around that are acceptable.  We're going to have more days out this coming year, and if we happen to be near an Aldi then we'll pop in and see if they've got my favourite coffees (and our other favourite things) in - if they have, then we'll stock up!  Incidentally, I had a reply from Aldi, which was pretty much useless - they didn't answer my queries, glossed over my complaints, contradicted themselves in 2 consecutive sentences and finished up by breezily saying 'See you soon!'. 😒

It's sunny again this morning but still bitterly cold, more snow is forecast for the South but looking at the weather map, it appears we won't be getting any.  We obviously had a little flurry during the night, some of my bulb pots in the back garden have a light dusting of snow, although there's none on the ground.  Loads of my bulbs are coming through now, I'm really looking forward to seeing them in flower.

Peace!

 For the first time in what seems like weeks, there is complete and utter peace here, it's bliss.  No blasted TV on, I haven't even got the radio on, I'm just enjoying the silence!  Husband has gone to the gym, his first visit in about 2 1/2 weeks.  I've got a few housework jobs to do this morning, then I want to get stuck into some budgeting and looking up some things on the internet this afternoon.

Yesterday we went to Aldi, for our usual monthly shop there - it was going to be today, but husband wanted to go yesterday 'as it would be quieter'.  Was it heck as like -  the roads were reasonably quiet (people were staying in because of the bad weather I guess, it was raining heavily in parts and some of the roads were partially flooded) but when we got to the shop, I was irritated to find that it was heaving - and lots and lots of children.  I loathe supermarket shopping when it's busy - at least there aren't many kids around during term weeks.  Once again, to my annoyance, there was none of my favourite latte sachets - we asked a staff member to check out the back, he came back and said there weren't any in the stock room.  So we asked to speak to a manager - I wanted to get to the bottom of why they haven't had any for our last 3 visits.  The manager checked and said it wasn't discontinued and there was no reason why it shouldn't have come in on the delivery....."but yet you have none" I said.  He just shrugged, apologised and could offer no explanation as to why.  Back home I checked on the Aldi website - he was right, it isn't discontinued, nor is their lactose-free milk which they also haven't had in stock for months.  The Ancient Grains bread, however, is discontinued.  So I've sent a message to Aldi, asking why these products aren't being stocked, and also why their staff are clueless as to the reasons.  I also pointed out that since 3 of our favourite products, which we buy a month's worth of each time, haven't been available for months now, there seems little point in us making the long journey to shop there.  I'm not hopeful of an encouraging reply, but we shall see what the response is, if any.  It's a pity they don't do home delivery - not that we would be any more successful in getting the products, but at least we wouldn't have the 30-35 min journey each way.

It's bright sunshine and a lovely blue sky this morning, but there's a bitterly cold strong wind again and more rain is forecast.  I've got a wash on but won't bother putting it on the line, it'll have to go on the airer in the car port.  

My new glasses should be ready for collection in the next day or 2, and we have a friend coming to see us one day this week - unfortunately, she has a habit of just sending a text or email to say she's on her way, without checking that we'll even be in, so let's hope we will be on whatever day she decides to come!  In her defence, she does have a very busy life, so clearly just slots us in when she finds she's got a spare hour or 2.

Well, that sunshine was brief - it's now gone and it's chucking it down.  Roll on Spring!!

Funerals and birthdays

 I am feeling much better now thank you, both virus and aching limbs gone, although I still have the rotator cuff pain but that'll go eventually.  

This morning we went to Minehead harbour for a look at the sea:-

Yes it was grey and dull and the sea is practically indistinguishable from the dreary sky, but it's our sea and we like it!  It's so lovely to live just a few minutes drive from the sea....even though it's not the beautiful sandy beaches and lovely clear blue seas of Cornwall, we still love it.  There are some sandy beaches, interspersed with rocky ones, in fact there's quite a lot of them.  We're not too keen on walking on the beaches nowadays, whether it be sand or rocks - with husband's balance issues and my bad back, hips and left knee, we're liable to fall over....and neither of us is really capable of picking the other up!  Fortunately, there are lovely wide (and flat!) promenades alongside most of the beaches, which makes walking much easier, and plenty of seats or even walls to sit on.  We're never going to take it for granted living where we do.

I've decided we're not going to my uncle's funeral, much as I'd like to - it's certainly too far for husband to drive, and too much out of their way for my brother and SiL to come and collect me, they'll have a 3.5 hour drive as it is without a diversion to pick me up.  The nearest point for them to pick me up from would be Exeter, which is too far for husband - I wouldn't be happy about him driving back home by himself, and certainly not about him coming back down to collect me later on in the dark.  I've been in touch with my cousin and said brother will be representing us at the funeral, and hopefully we can watch it on Zoom.  That's the problem with our family and extended family now (and no doubt loads of people have the same problem) - we're all scattered around the country, miles and miles apart, our lives having taken us all in different directions.  Still, it is what it is, thank goodness for phones and internet allowing us all to maintain contact.  I can't imagine what it must have been like for families before today's technology - although I guess more families would have remained pretty close geographically.

There's been a lot of media hype about the coming bad weather later today - I think down here we're forecast to possibly have a couple of flakes of snow around 5 pm, which will immediately be followed by rain so the 2 flakes won't stick around!  I hope you all stay safe and warm, and don't go out unless you really have to if you're in an area likely to have significant snow.

It's husband's 74th birthday on Wednesday (wow, when did I get to be married to an old man?! 😂).  We've agreed that I'll give him some money towards the new TV he wants later in the year, which is one of the things on our Needs & Wants list.  It's a Want, not a Need (there's nothing wrong with our present TV), he wants a slightly bigger screen and there's something else about this new TV that he keeps going into raptures over....I don't know what, it's all tech stuff that is way over my head and I'm not interested enough to find out about.  I just hope when he gets it, that he can work it.....😏.  I've just made him a sticky gingerbread cake, it's one of his favourites and is the sort of cake that gets better with time, so it should be just right by his birthday - although he probably won't wait that long to try it.  I've also bought him a nice thick sirloin steak, also his favourite - but he'll have to cook it himself, I can't abide the smell or sight of meat cooking now.  Anyway, if he cooks it (which he is perfectly capable of), then I can't be blamed for it not being the right stage of done-ness!  I will cook all the sides for him though.

A 24-hr virus, and shot ourselves in the foot

 I had some sort of 24-hour virus thing yesterday, started feeling rough with a splitting headache, nausea and feverishness in the afternoon, by 7 pm I just had to go to bed.  I felt really feverish, one minute I was freezing cold with the quilt pulled up around my ears, within half an hour I was so hot and sweaty I had to throw the quilt off....it went on like that most of the night.  I finally fell into an exhausted sleep around 4 ish, and slept until about 08.30 am.  Fortunately, I feel much better now.

Still aching from moving furniture and dragging around a very heavy and unwieldy carpet, in fact it's worse today.  I have a rotator cuff injury to my left shoulder, it was getting a lot better but now it's got much worse again, I'm in agony and have very limited movement in my left upper arm....it'll get better again in due course, it's a case of grin and bear it.  Laying the carpet the other day highlighted not only our lack of strength and stamina, but also husband's worsening cognitive abilities.  He had difficulty working out which way the carpet should be laid - I could see fairly easily and told him, he disagreed with me (of course!) and insisted it was the other way....the easiest thing was to go along with it (he gets very cross if I disagree with him!) and turn it around, until he could then see for himself that it was the wrong way round.  When it came to cutting around the corner of the fitted wardrobe, he got into a bit of a pickle, his mind just couldn't grasp how to do it (he'd have done it easily years ago) without my help.

I've been doing a budget for this year, which is showing a big increase in lots of areas.  So far we've had notification of Betty's pet insurance, our house contents insurance, my mobile phone contract, the water rates and electricity all going up - the insurances in particular have quite significant increases.  And of course our rent and service charges will be going up in April, not yet had notification of how much.  

We did shoot ourselves in the foot by not buying another house when we sold our last one in the early Noughties.  At that time the housing market was very buoyant and quick, we sold the house literally 2 days after putting it on the market, for the full asking price, which took us by surprise.  As the market was so fast-moving, we just couldn't get another house quickly, several houses we'd made viewing arrangements for got sold to other buyers before we even got to view them.  So we had to rent privately - it was meant to be a temporary arrangement, however, we ended up staying there 10 years!  We really liked the house and area and would have been happy to buy it, the letting agent kept tempting us to stay by stating the landlord would be willing to sell up soon....but he never did.  Although we'd made a significant profit on the sale of our last house and initially put that money into savings for a deposit on our next house, we ended up using it on other things once we realised we'd be staying put.  So we became trapped in the renting cycle.  If we had bought another house, with a smaller mortgage, we'd have been mortgage-free by now.....instead of which, we are now paying rent for the rest of our lives.  And the monthly rent, plus service charge, is a large chunk out of our income and always will be.  Still, it is what it is, we're not destitute by any means but the fact is we'd be so much better off if we weren't renting.  We don't of course have all the maintenance costs of owning a house, nor the buildings insurance (only the contents), so that's something good.

Although, as I've said recently, we no longer have the costs associated with the caravan (site fees, annual boiler service and maintenance costs, insurance, fuel to get there and back), everything else is going up so much that it's taking a lot out of those monthly savings, so I'm still having to make economies where I can.

Done but boy do we ache!

 The new carpet is laid in husband's room and the furniture all back in, it took all morning, we started at 9 am and finished around 1.45 pm.  Taking everything out took a while - at least we both have fitted wardrobes so that was one huge heavy bit of furniture we didn't have to empty and move.  His chest of drawers is antique pine and weighs a ton....thankfully, he's got a wooden trolley thing on wheels (he made it himself) so it was just a case of him lifting one side of the drawers whilst I slid the trolley thing underneath - it was still heavy and awkward to move though, the castors on the trolley wanted to go in different directions.  Anyway, we did it.  Although the room is quite small - 7'4" by 11'6" or thereabouts, the carpet was a foot bigger - the carpet was still surprisingly heavy and very unwieldy to move around, we did struggle with it whilst trying to lay it and cut off the excess.  We got it done in the end, and the furniture put back, without too many injuries or swear words, and with Betty getting in the way trying to 'help' - she wanted to inspect and sniff everything.  We both just collapsed for the afternoon - well, after I'd got lunch and made a fish pie for dinner.  We're aching all over today, understandably, so won't be doing anything much, we need time to recover.  We won't be getting the carpet for my room until later in the year, but as my room is bigger, we'll be having it laid by the carpet firm, it's too big a job for us.  Husband has always laid new carpets in all our houses, but he admits it's too much like hard work now and beyond his capabilities, with his health problems, he's agreed his bedroom carpet is the last one he'll ever lay.  We are now having to come to terms with our limitations - I'm willing to give most things a go, as is husband, but we simply don't have the strength or stamina anymore and every manual job now takes twice as long and really takes it out of us.

We will be going to the tip today, that's something we do need to do, there's a fair bit of stuff now cluttering up the carport, including the big cardboard inner tube from the carpet and all the offcuts, plus the old rug and some excess junk from husband's room, such as a bagful of tangled fairy lights that I didn't even know were in his room.  Betty was desperate to play with the cardboard tube but I wasn't going to let her - she'd only tear it to bits and I didn't want to have to pick up loads of lumps of soggy chewed cardboard.

Most of the excess Christmas food - the large pork pie, chocolates, the rich fruit cake I made, e.g. - has been eaten now, so we're now ready to get back to normal healthy eating, which I'm actually really looking forward to.  Whilst eating rich carby or snacky stuff is nice to a certain extent, it's definitely not to be done for any length of time, my body has had enough and is crying out for healthy light stuff, fruit and veggies, Greek yogurt, eggs, fish and brown rice.  I'll be staying off even sourdough bread for a while too, my guts and joints need to get back to normal.

HNY!! And first thing ticked off

 Happy New Year everyone!  Thank you all for your support, care and friendship last year, and the many laughs you gave me, and I hope for good health and happiness (and some good fortune!) for everyone this coming year.

Well, we've already crossed one item off the 'Needs and Wants' list for 2025 - went to the carpet shop yesterday and bought a room size remnant, just the right size and colour for husband's bedroom, and cost less than we were expecting (had budgeted) to pay.  We're going to lay it today - husband's room is quite small so we should be able to manage between us, with some cursing and a few bruises no doubt 😂  The hardest thing will probably be clearing the room out first, and then dragging everything back in.  Husband's got one of those knee carpet stretcher things, he's had it for years.....however, typically for him, he can't find it in his overcluttered shed!  I've already identified a few things in his (very cluttered) bedroom that can go to charity shops or the tip.  Husband has enough shoes to open his own shoe shop, I reckon, he's got probably twice as many as me, several pairs of which he never wears, so some of those can go for a start.

I'm really pleased about ticking the first box, that's a great start to the year.  Just 9 more things to go....well, I say 9, husband has come up with another thing he wants added to the list which, to be fair, is a legitimate addition.

I made a cheese & shallot tart, using bought puff pastry, for yesterday's dinner, I put chopped bacon on half of it for husband.  We had some airfried chips with it, first time we've had chips for a while, it was lovely.  I went to bed around 10.30, reading for a while....husband stayed up till just gone midnight.  The neighbours' (behind us) big family party was practically silent, I didn't hear a thing until around 1 am when people started leaving, loudly laughing, saying prolonged goodbyes and starting up their cars, which all took about half an hour, it bothered Betty more than me.  After that we went back to sleep for the rest of the night.