OberonSH's DFW Diary Thread - 1 Woman, 1 Toddler & A Whole Lotta Debt!

Hey scottish,

No, I haven't thought of writing, used to a bit when I was younger but never thought I was any cop. Intriguing idea though. Might have to get the old thinking cap on.... you star! Any more info you could give me?

I'm lucky in that DD goes to bed around 6, so get my evenings free. I used to only have my lappy on battery, to stop me spending my evenings on MSE, but that adaptor lead followed me upstairs and now I only log off when I think about getting some chores done and it's dark outside...

I am attempting to redo my shops website - was sold one with the shop, but seller neglected to mention it was running on shareware and once I tried to reregister the software it locked me out, and I'm having to build the whole thing again..... currently at 3,000 items and that's just wendy & sirdar patterns! Plus I had to teach myself the new software - that was always the Beast From The Dark Side of The Moon's job, but I'm doing alright - hoping to relaunch it in the autumn with about 20,000 items of knitting and cross stitch. Then maybe branch into cardmaking, scrapbooking, quilting, embossing........oh my gods I just tripled my workload.

Honestly, you guys make me sound like some sort of saint, but basically I'm doing what we're all doing - getting on with things. We can't curl up into a ball and wail 'Oh my gods I owe so much money' cos that's about as helpful as a VAT officer before their first cup of warm blood. We're all getting there, day by day. It's nice that you all reckon I'm doing well, cos some days when I've got people screaming for money all over the show I just think 'I'm no farther forward than a month ago.'

Then I look at my sreadsheets, eat some cheese and caress my £2 coin stash in a vaguely disturbing way - and I'm happy again.

Thanks guys, but I wouldn't know where to start! It is an interesting idea though. Hmmm, maybe I could write a book about a group of creatures called Bobbits who journey to a faraway land to return the One Earring to the Pit, battling an evil wizard called Moron. I could get Ian McKellan to play Grandad, the Daz-White wizard, and a host of Hollywood stars to play various impossibly-goodlooking characters along the way.

Could be a hit....

Evenin' ladies & gents & small animals,

Today has been a nice day - tried some yoghurt in my easiyo, using skimmed UHT, knew it was going to come out thin, but searched high & low for full fat to no avail (This found some this arvo at my Co-op, 56p / litre). Anyways, popped it in a sieve with a bit of muslin (what a godsend they are, from DD's bum to wiping up various bodily fluids my daughter has subjected me to, now they're kitchen equipment and snotrags as my hayfever is playing up) and it came out lovely after a few minutes draining.

Did a roast dinner - I know there's only 1.5 of us, but we'll be eating that chicken for the next few days! 4 days from a £1.50 bird. Not bad. Even though it's just me and her, and she's not fussed what goes in her mouth, I do like to make a bit of an effort on Sundays. I made a trifle too, used up sme stale muffins, poured over jelly and a can of low fat custard, then popped some almond essence into this morning's yoghurt and topped it with that. V proud. I'm like Nigella but with less frightening teeth.

Went through my front room like a mad thing 'muttering 'don't need this, useless, not used in a year, his' and it all went in my Ebay box, then put all the books into my nearly empty glass cabinets. As soon as I can get them the money, I still owe £400 to the suite company for a mattress and chair, so need the room cos I want to get that paid over the next few weeks. Place looks a little sparse now, but I like the space. Felt a lot better after that.

Am slightly worried about my VAT payments - had a feeling the cheques would bounce, but haven't seen them hit my account, and have had no notifications that the cheque has bounced. I'm going to have to phone up the IR tomorrow and say 'what's going on', cos I'm sure as hell not having a bailiff turn up tomorrow claiming I haven't paid. Have to speak to them anyway, cos I think my £400 a week might have been a bit ambitious. I want to see if they'll take £200 instead, and pay the money straight into their account, cos Rossendales charge you £1.20 a pop to pay intot he bank, rather than paying £25 for a bankers draft (the only other option according to them). Bloody cheek I call it. Still, I'll let you all know whether the VAT people are going to come round and sacrifice me to their Dark Lord (Gordon Brown)

Going to have a nice bath with face mask, cos I'm all grimy from all the cleaning I've done - well, I have been at it since 7am this morning, thanks to DD and her unstoppable body clock. Little monster thinks 6am is an excellent time to be up, and stands in her cot squeaking until she hears my voice. She then switches to 'Snooze' mode, and gives me approx 30 seconds to come and get her, otherwise she reverts to Alarm mode only at twice the decibels. Forget your alarm clock, get a toddler - never miss another sunrise again.

Hope everyone else had a wonderfully cheap day, and that Dotty has had a cup of tea.