[deftona]

Thursday Update

 

I was at work but TH was at home dealing with the boiler installers. It all went well until the electrician who was supposed to be here earlier didn't get here until later and they had already put the boiler in, but he needed to connect it via fuse spur and he claimed he couldn't put it on the wall because of where the boiler had gone in and he wanted to put it on the cupboard. TH rang me with this plan while the electrician was out collecting the gear he had left at his previous job (?) and I told him that wasn't a reasonable solution for us because it means that whenever we need to get that cupboard down, we'd need an electrician to come in and disconnect it before I could remove it and I wasn't ok with that, especially given we were told by this company that we had to remove all the surrounding kitchen before they'd even consider installing the boiler. Lo and behold he could put it on the wall after all. 

 

He went down the double check the fuse boxes in the cellar and found that behind the old style fuse box we have (most of the house - everything except for the extension which is the kitchen and gym runs off one of those old style fuse boxes where you have to change the wires inside the fuses) was rotting. It's on a piece of wood which is an electrical issue in and of itself these days, but the board on the back had completed rotted away and there were bare wires hanging behind. The electrician basically said to TH "I can't tell you how important it is that you get these electrics looked at YESTERDAY - you can't wait for this" and pretty much condemned them.  TH made some phone calls and we have an emergency electrician coming out this morning to re-do all the electrics. 

 

Wanna know my advice? NEVER set a savings goal at the start of the year because since I did that, I have forked out thousands - to have my front garden rebuilt when my weird 12 foot deep drain collapsed, my central heating broke and my boiler needed replacing and then my electrics got condemned and all needed doing. Needless to say I won't hit my savings goal for this year but you know what  - my ruthless savings habit has really helped us ride out this period of my house falling apart so actually maybe my advice isn't to never set a savings goal - savings goals are you friend. 

 

My day was mostly ok but a bit stressful because of what is going on at home and also at work. 

 

I fasted until half two. I actually went for my lunch at half one so I could eat before my meeting but one of my staff members needed to talk to me which ate up what I had tried to set aside for my lunch break so I just turned my camera off for the meeting and ate my lunch during it whilst listening to everyone else. It was smoked salmon and Philadelphia on dutch crisp bakes and a punnet of cherries. 

 

TH made us pizza for dinner and we watched TV. I fell asleep immediately. 

 

4/7 goals ticked off. I missed some pretty easy ones too which is frustrating. 

[KB Girl]

You're making home owner ship sound really unattractive, but then I remember that you have a library. Sorry things keep coming up, but mm I'm really glad this came up now before it turned into a real emergency.  

 

Also I think your thread should come with a 'do not come hungry' warning. I'm really hungry now. 

 

[Shello]

You savings goal is what made taking care of these issues a possibility!  Yay for savings goals!  

[Snarkyfishguts]

38 minutes ago, Shello said:

You savings goal is what made taking care of these issues a possibility!  Yay for savings goals!  

I AGREE!  You are awesome and you were ready for an emergency! 

[deftona]

10 hours ago, KB Girl said:

You're making home owner ship sound really unattractive, but then I remember that you have a library. Sorry things keep coming up, but mm I'm really glad this came up now before it turned into a real emergency.  

 

Also I think your thread should come with a 'do not come hungry' warning. I'm really hungry now. 

 

 

I think the reason I have a library is more to do with the fact I don't have kids so my normal 3 bedroom, 2 reception room house can be anything I want it to be! 

 

And I couldn't possibly steal Tank's vibe! 

 

5 hours ago, Shello said:

You savings goal is what made taking care of these issues a possibility!  Yay for savings goals!  

 

True enough! 

 

4 hours ago, Snarkyfishguts said:

I AGREE!  You are awesome and you were ready for an emergency! 

 

I do wish the emergencies would stop coming though! 

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

3 hours ago, deftona said:

 

And I couldn't possibly steal Tank's vibe!

[Snarkyfishguts]

4 hours ago, deftona said:

 

I do wish the emergencies would stop coming though! 

Amen! 

[deftona]

Friday Update

 

I woke up pretty early and got a quick, gentle elliptical session done first thing so I was showered and sorted before all the drama kicked off.

 

The electrician came early faffed about in the cellar, then told us we weren't covered under our insurance to get it fixed which we are. I think he just didn't want to do the job. He also didn't communicate with us very well and we only really knew what the score was because he was talking to his boss on speakerphone and we could hear the conversation and they were trying to get out of doing the work. He tried (and failed) to get our power on three times before finally managing it. When he left we called the insurance company who confirmed we were definitely covered and they were super pissed with this guy and sorted out another electrician to attend later that day.

 

We had a couple of hours before the other electrician was due so we walked to the nearby town and I got my eye brows threaded so I look a bit less awful now. We walked back and played Forgotten City for a while until the other sparky came. He looked at the job and said we were definitely covered, but it's an all day job and he didn't have time to do it now but he said it was a great job and he really wanted to do it. Not sure what that means but we called and got the work booked in for next week although if we lose power in the meantime we can call back and be bumped back up the list. 

 

We then received a planning application proposal for the property to the rear which may mean we lose access to our drives at the back of the house, thus knocking considerable value off my house. TH  dissected the planning application and he thinks there are no proposals for work there, but we need to check with the council so we have time to object and then fight it through the courts which honestly I could do without but at least we have an indemnity on it. Will 2022 ever stop, I wonder. 

 

I put the kitchen back together now the boiler seems to be all sorted (and my house is loads warmer now than it was, it's heavenly) and put all the cupboards and trims back in. We had sausage, tomato and mushroom sammiches for dinner and then marathoned Nighty Night until bed time. 

 

5/7 goals ticked off. Over on my calories but I had a really high burn so we'll see what happens there. 

[Epsilonte]

3 hours ago, deftona said:

We then received a planning application proposal for the property to the rear which may mean we lose access to our drives at the back of the house, thus knocking considerable value off my house. TH  dissected the planning application and he thinks there are no proposals for work there, but we need to check with the council so we have time to object and then fight it through the courts which honestly I could do without but at least we have an indemnity on it. Will 2022 ever stop, I wonder. 

An here I thought the beginning of "Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy" with all the "we buy a bypass here and destroy your house/planet for it" was just a huge exaggeration...

[Shello]

10 hours ago, deftona said:

which may mean we lose access to our drives at the back of the house, thus knocking considerable value off my house.

Seriously. The universe has it out for you this year.  I’m so glad you have a TH to support you through all this BS. 

[deftona]

7 hours ago, Epsilonte said:

An here I thought the beginning of "Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy" with all the "we buy a bypass here and destroy your house/planet for it" was just a huge exaggeration...

 

Haha. In fairness, the road we use to access our drives does belong to them - we were kind of hoping they'd forgotten it was theirs  

 

26 minutes ago, Shello said:

Seriously. The universe has it out for you this year.  I’m so glad you have a TH to support you through all this BS. 

 

Me too! 

[deftona]

Saturday Update

 

Work was utterly batshit. I worked an hour over. And I didn't get a lunch break. 

 

I fasted until I got home - around 5 pm and I ate two biscuits. TH really wanted kebab so I drove us to the good chippy and we bought some and ate that watching saturday night TV. 

 

Calories were over, but only by a little because despite the kebab, I hadn't really eaten anything else and I got just two portions of freggies. Everything else was nailed though. We came to bed early and I was out for the count. 

 

5/7 goals ticked off. 

[deftona]

Sunday Update

 

We both woke up really early and then decided going back to sleep was a really good idea so we did, getting up at 9 in the end. We did our respective exercises and then went to my parents where my uncle was visiting. On the way back home we bought some snacks to watch the Rumble with and spent the rest of the day doing that. 

 

I fasted until half one when I had a cup of tea and some biscuits with my parents. We had Rumble snacks and then I didn't want any dinner so I didn't have any. We finished Nighty Night and then actually did come to bed for an early night.

 

Stressful day today. We'll see what happens. 

 

5/7 goals nailed. 75.51% last week so the remainder has been transferred to my mortgage account. 

[cn3wton]

5/7 is not bad! Remind me about your money thing? If you get 100% you keep all the money?

[deftona]

2 hours ago, cn3wton said:

5/7 is not bad! Remind me about your money thing? If you get 100% you keep all the money?

 

Yep, I have £100 each week and my daily goal pass rate makes up my weekly percentage pass rate. The failure percentage is transferred to my mortgage account and the pass percentage can be spent on myself, and anything left over is transferred to my short term savings account. When I hit a certain amount this is then transferred to my long term savings account. 

 

[deftona]

Monday Update

 

6/7 goals nailed. 

[cn3wton]

I love that idea its a great idea! I might have to steal that LOL

[Shello]

8 hours ago, deftona said:

Monday Update

 

6/7 goals nailed. 

Great job!  <4

[deftona]

Tuesday Update

 

The last couple of days have been a bit rough. There has been some comfort eating. I won't deny that. But I have been in a deficit each day so there's that too. I am pleased with my progress in January for everything except finances but given how much work we've had to have done on the house I think we've done really well because although I haven't added to my savings, we haven't really had to take anything out so there are still wins.

 

Yesterday was a bit of a clusterfuck but there were doughnuts and I was emotionally exhausted when I got back home. We watched Drag Race UK vs The World but everyone except Jimbo was pissing me off. When a girl is bored of Drag Race, she is bored of life. 

 

3 goals nailed but I was running late in the morning and didn't get time to do my stretching and my back felt much worse for it. I didn't check on my goals before bed either which was disappointing because I lost some easy wins, like taking my vitamins. All of my freggies came from a smoothie which was a bit naughty, but Monday was so rough I got back home and after venting on the phone to my friend I forgot to pack any lunch which meant grabbing something on the way out the door which was a tin of soup and I only like tomato soup from a tin and we didn't have any. I took some lentil soup with zero intentions of eating it, and grabbed a sandwich while I was out getting my boss a leaving card. 

 

Today will be better because I will make it so. 

[Jarric]

On 1/29/2022 at 6:01 PM, deftona said:

In fairness, the road we use to access our drives does belong to them - we were kind of hoping they'd forgotten it was theirs  

 

Depending on how long your house has been using it for access, you might have an acquired right of access. I can remember the law around it, and I'm sure it's suitably complex, but I think it's basically down to how long you've had uncontested access for.

 

Sorry you've had a tough couple of days, hope things improve for you.

 

20 minutes ago, deftona said:

Today will be better because I will make it so. 

 

Yes, yes it will.

[deftona]

43 minutes ago, Jarric said:

Depending on how long your house has been using it for access, you might have an acquired right of access. I can remember the law around it, and I'm sure it's suitably complex, but I think it's basically down to how long you've had uncontested access for.

 

Yes we should win any case based on this - the resident of this property has had access since at least 1992 so the solicitor went through this law with us when we bought the house. We got the seller to buy an indemnity on the use of it too so our legal costs will be funded if we ever have to fight it. Also I think if we have to contest the planning application we'd win because I live on a main road and it's hard enough parking around the front as it is, let alone if everyone on my row loses their drive around the back because the problem will worsen many times over. I just really don't want to have to  fight it. But it seems like we don't have to because TH found a bit in the 48+ documents in the planning application that specifically states the road is used for access by residents of my street, and us alone (there is a "Private Road" sign on the path) and that won't change so it looks like things might be looking up with this at least. Also we're taking this as explicit granted permission if anything like this comes up again.

[Epsilonte]

1 hour ago, deftona said:

But it seems like we don't have to because TH found a bit in the 48+ documents in the planning application that specifically states the road is used for access by residents of my street, and us alone (there is a "Private Road" sign on the path) and that won't change so it looks like things might be looking up with this at least. Also we're taking this as explicit granted permission if anything like this comes up again.

This is great!! And props to TH for reading through 48 documents to find the one little sentence that changes it all. OO 

[deftona]

52 minutes ago, Epsilonte said:

This is great!! And props to TH for reading through 48 documents to find the one little sentence that changes it all. OO 

 

I know, rather him than me! 

[Shello]

6 hours ago, deftona said:

it looks like things might be looking up with this at least.

I'm glad something seems to be working out like you need it to.  

[deftona]

16 hours ago, Shello said:

I'm glad something seems to be working out like you need it to.  

 

Let's hope for more of the same and that we leave all the crap in January.