Getting a Grip on 2013

Thanks everyone Ryder's at the vets as I type! Poor lad needs stitches and needs to be put under for it. Silly vet decided to go up to him from behind, without making herself "known" and went for his bad paw. So Ryder turned around and barked, not nastily but he has a very scary sounding bark (but honestly, if you'd heard him bark at the reflection of the Christmas tree in the window thinking it was an intruder in the garden he basically purred like a kitten!) so he got muzzled forever showing me up!

Still, Vet Lady totted it up and we signed him away at an estimate of £350 :eek: Had a mini heart attack while trying to play it cool and "Oh? £350. That's fine." but I was mentally selling all my possessions on the street to make the money. Thankfully, I've just got off the phone with his insurance peeps and although there's a £99 excess, he is covered. Phew! I've popped to my Grandad and borrowed £400 off him though to cover it in case the vets want to take payment and then us claim it back. On the website it says most claims are processed within a week so hopefully it all runs smoothly. I should stop begrudging that £8.35 monthly payment now :rotfl:

We pick him up at 2:30, if all goes well, in his cone of shame. He's in good spirits bar the paw but I expect he'll be sleeping all night. And with the painkillers and other various pills he'll be needing to take I'm kind of hoping he's kept a little wibbly for a few days as a husky/malamute/akita with no proper exercise is a dog you just don't want to mess with.

Normally when I go with my friend we tend to go on a Wednesday, she's unlimited and with orange so we both get in for free There's a mars bar thing going on at the moment I think, it's what OH's family use. Codes from 4 bars = 1 free ticket. So £2.40 tops instead of £8 odd? Definitely pays to know the T&Cs though, Cazzy. Good on you for standing your ground and getting in!

Not much to do today now, just waiting for Ryder! Popped into Job No2 on the way back to cancel my training with them tomorrow as I need to keep an eye on le poochie. It's only £6.25 lost so no massive deal. Thankfully after this week my wages will be back up with my extra Monday shift, so Ryder's accident shouldn't have dented our money plans a get deal And I mean, look at his dopey face in my avatar. You can't be mad at that!

Called the vets before we set off and got pushed back to 3:30 so he's not home quite yet! Given me more time to get all the paperwork ready as we need the vets to sign it off.

How long will it be until you get your house keys? It's good you've got people around you to keep you company too Just taken your signature in too, that debt clearing is awesome!!

Got paid £70 from Job No2. Putting £20 in my car as with running around to the vets etc I definitely need it! Giving OH £20 as he messed up his wages and thought he had £80 left but actually has £2. He's changed his NYR to getting his head around his finances. To which I screamed "OMG WE'LL DO A BUDGET" but as he hates budgets he's a little unwilling, I'll work on him 23 days until he gets paid.

Will be keeping £10 in my purse and putting £20 to one side. Money goes quickly!

Sounds like good steps, KK! Love the idea of having them printed out and tangible. One of Mr Ramsey's things is that written goals are way better than just having them in your head. There was a survey done on a group of students in Harvard, all in the 3% who had cemented, written, goals were more successful than the other 97% combined. How crazy is that?!

Ryder is very restless today! OH stayed up with him until midnight, then I was up at 3:15am as he was crying out. Got him settled and snatched a few hours, but was up again at 7:45 to give him his medicine. Since then he's been pacing and whining like he can't quite get comfortable, and is this weird mix of "fuss me, I'm poorly!" and "Get the hell away from me I hate you." Which is nicely confusing. I gave him his Mr Lion, which is the first plushie toy he ever had and is saved for special occasions now he's bigger and more likely to pull the stuffing out completely, and he's just settled down. Here's a picture of him looking amazingly unimpressed in his cone and booty!

Ended up costing us £121.55 yesterday, decided to pay an admin fee of £11.64 and just paid the excess to the vets who will file the claim. On top of that we decided to buy him a muzzle, so after Sunday we'll take the cone of shame off him, keep his booty on, but just muzzle him when we're not with him as he really hates the cone! Mind, he hates muzzles too but at least he won't be knocking into everything and getting stuck on door frames

Work today at 1:45 and I'm looking forward to getting back into a routine and knowing what day it is! Also, will be nice to make money Got meat out of the freezer to defrost for tea and have spent most of the morning cleaning. I'm at a bit of a loss now as not walking Ryder is leaving a massive hole in my routine! I should be out on his second Thursday walk by now. What to do?!

Forever feeling the pinch of budgeting and saving! Friends are planning a trip to Amsterdam, would only be about £70 but with Ryder's vet bills (will cost another £30 on Sunday, without any extra medication) and needing to get money together for car things I just can't afford the time off work. It's a shame as I'd love to go, but as I can barely justify buying a decent liquid eyeliner at the moment, it's completely out of the question.

I have OH's PS3 games to thank for the bulk of the monies. We could have got a smidge more selling them separately but then when you factor in packing, paying postage up front, the general hassle and no guarantee they'll even sell this way is so much easier! I just wish they did the same service for books, have a big paper chase bag full by the door for the charity shop. Could save them for a summer carbooty or take the time to sell them on amazon but I figure this is the best way I can give right now as money and time are limited! Will drop them off on Wednesday

And thank you, I think he's gorgeous but I've had him from 5 weeks so I'm amazingly biased he's supposedly Malamute x Husky but there's a chance of Akita and German Shep in there too. But I think people just say the latter because of his colouring, he's a pretty unique pooch. But a massive load of work!!