Thanks be to whoever invented online shopping!

My new chicken house - well, what it will look like when we have put it together!

I have just spent an hour and a lot of money, and done some serious shopping online, all from the comfort of my chair here, with the aid of the poor old debit card.

Lakeland, Tesco, the Cartridge People, Amazon, the Book People and something called Surfdome have all benefitted from my custom this evening, and it is such a relief to be able to say that I have done some Christmas shopping at last! I did get the EFG's CD that she had on her list in Tesco this afternoon, and picked up 200 bonus clubcard points in to the bargain, but apart from that, the cupboard was looking pretty bare. The poor postie will have a heavy bag for a couple of days, though!!

And eBay - I bought the new chicken house on Monday night whilst the FH had taken the EFG to band. I only went onto the site to see if people were still selling hatching eggs as I am hoping to get the incubators cranked up in February to get some earlier hatchings in 2010. There are a few eggs for sale now, but I was just browsing and then I saw this gorgeous range of chicken houses being auctioned and only making silly money for what they were. So I got one (that one, up there!) for just £62 plus the p&p - and it arrived this morning. Now we just have to put it together! It was necessary as the floor has all but fallen out of the oldest house we have and the FH's health has hampered him from doing the necessary repairs. That old house has been in use for over 8 years, and could do with a revamp anyway, so we'll probably put it aside for 6 months and let it dry out, then recoat it with Cuprinol, put in a new floor and then it'll be ready as a house for new chicks in the spring.