Thank you Di, for standing in for Melanie.
Regardless of the calendar, it’s still summer because it’s hot. I wonder how long it will continue to be hot? It should be cooling down and raining. Whatever is going on, other stuff should be happening but isn’t. Unless we make some big changes, they won’t happen again. Maybe not ever.
The Chrysanthemums are ready at the supermarket and I’ll buy a couple of them this coming week, after money comes in. I just spent the money I put away last month on a new Kindle. I really hope it works as well as it’s supposed to. If it doesn’t, it will be the last one I ever own.
Melanie, I hope you are recovering and feeling better. I think I speak for many of us when I say, “We miss you!”
On with the questions!
Which of the following could you do without? TV, computer, mobile phone.
Probably the mobile phone because I did without one for so many years. I’d miss it, but I’d survive. On the other hand, I really need the computer and Garry would curl up and die without the televisions and all those movie channels.
Do you have a lot of old photographs in a box, or did you put them in albums?
I used to have them in boxes and cheap old albums. One day, I went to look for a photo and it was stuck to the wall of the old album and I couldn’t get it out. I went nuts and bought all new albums that would not only display photographs, but protect them. I got rid of all those old albums and and salvaged as many pictures as I could. Then I went through all the boxes and put them in albums, trying to make some kind of order from them. I didn’t want any more ruined photographs.
What was the first thing you bought for yourself when you started work?
Probably some new clothing because the world wasn’t yet ready for jeans and a tee shirt. After that, though, a briefcase. Not that I needed one, but I wanted one. A leather one. I eventually replaced it with a big bag from L.L. Bean. All canvas with a million compartments. It weighed more than me. It also had half my earthly belongings in it — extra pairs of panty hose, a change of shoes if the weather turned bad. A brush. A comb. Hair bands. Make up. Excedrin. Tapes of books to listen to on the commute — that’s is how I got into audiobooks.
Plus all the other things I thought I might need. Spare eyeglasses, sunglasses. Pens, pads of paper, notes. Business cards. Mine and one from everyone I met. Chapters from books I was writing. Notes for books I was going to be writing.
I’m still trying to cut down on the stuff. It’s all the glasses. They aren’t heavy, but they use up a lot of room. And keys. Heavy!
What is the biggest thing you bought that did not require finance?
We had to buy our boiler in the year immediately after lockdown. None of the banks were giving loans and somehow, by juggling money that was coming in from the government, slowing down paying the mortgage yet managing to catch up before lockdown was over, we paid all $9,750 dollars of it in cash. I still don’t know how I did it. It was the most complicated financial juggling I’ve ever done and somehow, I made it work.
In just under 12-months I came up with almost $10,000 and we had a new boiler. With no payments. On a small fixed income.
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Categories: #Flowers, #Photography, #SYW, Anecdote, Share My World, Shopping, Summer
SERENDIPITY - SEEKING INTELLIGENT LIFE ON EARTH 
We had to replace our boiler as soon as we moved here and that took the furniture budget. We had nothing when we sold the boat other than a very small coffee table. Friends gave us two reclining chairs as they had replaced them with a different colour, we bought a second hand sofa bed for the lounge, but did buy a new bed and mattress for us. We then had to buy bits and pieces when we could afford them. At least the kitchen was fitted with a cooker, washing machine and fridge freezer, all of which have now been replaced.
Thanks for joining in.
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Thank you.
I can imagine the move from boat to house must have pretty much stripped you down to the bone. We should have been able to get a 0% loan for the boiler, but none of the banks were giving loans. It was EXACTLY the month lockdowns began – March 2020. Banks were freaking out.
Meanwhile, our boiler was 31 years old and making the kind of growling noises you REALLY don’t want a boiler to make.
We lived with second hand furniture for years. Fortunately, a lot of people get rid of furniture that’s in pretty good shape, but apparently they have the money to redecorate for the aesthetics. I got creative creating my own slip covers for sofas and chairs.
We need a new sofa. This one has had very little human use, but the dogs did a pretty good job wearing it down. We are still trying to get the rest of the house up to snuff, but we have a small (fixed) income. It’s amazing how many things need repair. We got old, the house got old. We do the best we can with what we’ve got and hope it’s enough. It’s never really enough, though. But we try.
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Same here. We’re doing OK at the moment though and don’t actually need anything major right now.
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We’ve gotten most of what we needed. We have tree issues which we will have to confront in the spring because that one almost dead tree would crush the deck if it fall. But I think it’ll survive the winter unless, by some strange quirk of fate, we get more snow than usual. But mostly, we haven’t been getting much snow and as it keep warming up, I’m not expecting to see a lot more of it.
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Did you have those photo albums they used to make with sticky pages? They were awful. I got rid of all mine too and bought better albums with pockets for photos instead. If I’m scrapbooking I use the acid free, lignin free paper and a protective sleeve.
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Yes, I did and they destroyed pretty much all the photos in them. And I also got the albums with protective pockets. I think if I added scrap-booking to my list of things to do, I’d give up. But it’s such a great, creative idea. I wish I could. At least the pictures are safe, if not beautifully decorated.
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The pictures being safe is the important thing. I have far too many photos to make scrapbooks of all of them and would never try but I made them on specific subjects. I have one I made for David with photos of his family, one of my own family, another is all our pets. I have’t done any since moving here because all my papers and tools were stuck in what will eventually be the art and craft room which was overflowing with other boxes. However, when we get it cleared out I’ll get back to that hobby.
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I’ve got a list of “to do” items that’s two lifetimes long. I will NEVER get even a quarter of it done.
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Nor will I but we can kid ourselves that we will.
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I’ve actually gone past kidding myself. I KNOW I’ll never get it done. My next goal is to offload enough cargo and hope that makes me feel less oppressed by the incomplete backlog.
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One day I will probably go through my cupboard full of photos, select the best ones to keep and ditch the others but it will be hard.
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Most of mine vanished during my two overseas moves, so the choice was made for me randomly. I have one very small box of spare wedding pictures and one of these days I’ll open the box and see what’s in it.
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On the subject of scrapbooking I think that the journalling that goes along with the photos is as important as the pictures because years later I won’t remember the who, what and where without it.
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I guess writing names and dates on the back of photos isn’t quite as useful as we expected. I’ve forgotten many people of whom I have pictures.
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I have some of mum’s old albums and although she told me who some of the people were I struggle to remember now.
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