Renovations and Repayments.

Red-Squirrel wrote: »

Your wife sounds terrified of being alone with her son. I do feel for her, but it needs to be overcome for both of their sakes, and yours!

You mention painting, is that something that could become their shared thing that they bond over, as you do with his music? Often musical children are talented at other arts too and if your wife can teach him some techniques I bet he'd be delighted to learn, and it would give them something to focus on besides each other and the awkwardness they must both feel during their time alone together.

Of course you aren't going to send him away, he's your child and he belongs at home with his parents!

I think she wants to try to make an effort but I agree. I've told her it's not really fair to my cousin and such days will be few in number.

He really enjoys drawing and painting, so I think that is definitely something they could do together.

maman wrote: »

Many Congratulations to LittleK :T. You must be so proud.


Glad you've had that conversation with MrsK. If it helps her to plan an activity in advance then so be it. Involving LittleK in the decision would help too as it would show him that his mum is thinking about him. But that's hardly necessary between collecting him from your cousin and bedtime. They could just potter about, maybe in the kitchen!;)

Thank you, maman. We both are. I was quite surprised just how much a fuss my wife made of him. My in-laws are coming around on Saturday to listen to him play and have a musically related gift which I think he will be delighted with. My father was really pleased with the result and has promised to take him out for a cup of tea and a cake. Inevitably, I'll go too. Mother wasn't quite so encouraging, wanting to know what he should be doing to receive a better mark. :mad:

I think it would be a good idea for them to plan in advance, between themselves on such an occurrence. However, I see what you're saying re. not a lot really needing to be planned for. :rotfl:

July Targets:

How are we over 1/3 the way through this month already?

Organise Summer holiday: 1. Trip to R.W. 2. Holiday. 3. Agricultural shows x 3.
Debts: Pay £1,000 (/ £4,000 to pay) On track to pay.
Total Grocery Spend: £125 / £400.
New bedtime routine: 11/31.
Meditation: 11/21.
Keeping organised: Not sure why I'm avoiding things at the moment other than a few changes which are happening. Perhaps I'm trying to avoid the inevitable re. changes.
Spreadsheets / Money tracking: Updated.
De-clutter and Sell: / 3 items. One item for sale.
Books read for pleasure: 1 / 3.
Prep tasks for course: 1 / 4.
Learn something new or refine a skill: 1. Continue learning and applying new knowledge to create more sophisticated and streamlined spreadsheets. 2. Learn a new piece of repertoire.

Had a generally quiet day.

July Targets:

I don't really know how the week has passed so quickly. Been very busy since the last time I posted on here, generally very positive though. Anyhow, it's summer now. :eek:

Organise Summer holiday: 1. Trip to R.W. 2. Holiday. 3. Agricultural shows x 3.
Debts: Pay £1,000 (/ £4,000 to pay) Paid.
Total Grocery Spend: £260 / £400.
New bedtime routine: 19/31. Not updated because I have been going to bed early. Looks like I need to find a new time to update.
Meditation: 11/21. Not really using this for sleep at the moment but do when sleep is harder to come by.
Keeping organised: Getting there but seem to have a lot to organise at the moment.
Spreadsheets / Money tracking: Need to update this, although July hasn't been a great month (lots of expenses).
De-clutter and Sell: / 3 items. One item for sale. Think this is going to need to be my main target for August.
Books read for pleasure: 2 / 3.
Prep tasks for course: 2 / 4.
Learn something new or refine a skill: 1. Continue learning and applying new knowledge to create more sophisticated and streamlined spreadsheets. 2. Learn a new piece of repertoire.

Calfuray wrote: »

Hey Alex, finished catching up on your diary and decided to de-lurk. I noticed you saying a few pages ago that you were looking at programming stuff for school, I'm a Software Engineer, please feel free to message you me if you need a hand with anything.

*goes back to lurkdom*

Thanks, Calfuray. I may take you up on that offer at some point.

cazmanian_minx wrote: »

Alex, I've not read anything on the internet for a long, long time that made me laugh as hard as this did :rotfl::rotfl: Absolutely EPIC takedown, well done that man! :T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:beer:

:rotfl: It was worth it if only for my mother's reaction.

heartbreak_star wrote: »

I was wondering if your dad might want some cream for that amazing burn haha! Well done Alex!!

I'm loving new Alex and how wonderfully you deal with things I have started a new job in Quality, it's full-on and a bit intimidating, but I'm enjoying it

HBS x

:rotfl: Seem to be getting there at the moment, it's been a long time coming. Glad to hear you're doing well and enjoying your new job.

I've taken my father to a few medical appointments and the specialist asked what changes I've noticed. Don't think the specialist was ready for my response of "well, recently he seems to have developed a sense of humour".

Thank you, Kelpie.

The weather is awful today so I'm trying to get organised. I do want to keep updating the diary as it does help me to focus. Past couple of days have been difficult to stay positive and keep the bedtime routine but I've done it. My parents are really struggling at the moment. Father isn't too well and mother has become very agitated about his future.

Lots of MSE things I wish to get done over summer. Also need to make my mind up how I'm going to pay for my course. My parents are happy to pay but I think it is time they stop funding my education. I'm considering getting back into a little antiques dealing as that would fit nicely around what I'm doing school / property wise as well as keep me in touch with values etc. However, this time I don't want to borrow from the property business for capital as I have a couple of watches which I haven't worn in many years which would raise c.£20,000. If I don't make anything in a year, just under half the money raised will pay for the course and I'll put the rest towards the mortgage.