Financial faux pas and other disasterous decisions

lucielle

Mmmmm lunch?
L

moo2moo

This fitness lark isn't all thats its cracked out to be. Apart from impromptu wresting (bruised thighs), Wii Fitting (sore stomach muscles from hoola hooping) and hill climbing I was also dragged out twice by the DDs for bike rides (grumbling calf muscles). Made the mistake of jogging after them to save them waiting for me to catch up covering roughly 1.5 miles each trip - the distance to the end of the flat part of road and back in both directions after which it becomes very steep and hilly. I feel like an arthritic old croc and the temptation to stay snuggled under the duvet with a trashy novel is far greater than that to partake in a 30 minutes blitz on the Wii. Still I'm up and consuming vats of coffee in anticipation. What of I'm really not sure.

Still no news from OHs work despite us being under the belief that hes due elsewhere in Europe next Monday. Hes officially on holiday from Wednesday for 12 days but that doesn't count for much.

Collecting uni friend from station tomorrow straight from work. Still need to do lots and lots of cleaning but its simply not going to happen. Have made a start on the room shes using by sticking DD2 into DD1s room and beginning the fumigation protocol. Need to come up with things to keep her occupied whilst shes here. Vagely considering a trip to the zoo although that'll work out at £50 just for entry tickets. Alternatives include a hike around Chesters city walls and a trip to Erddig (a National Trust property). Will see what Brit Trips have to offer.

moo2moo

Another day, another load of laundry. House isn't the picture of domestic bliss I'd envisionged for the arrival of uni-friend but I really don't think she'll care. Shes ridiculously excited as its been almost three years since she was here last and phoned last night whilst I was out so squeaked at OH for a bit about what to pack. Its always been cold and wet when shes been here before. Think shes a bit disappointed its too warm to have light the woodburners. Planning to woosh round like a loony collecting up piles of detritus and wedging them in the tardis under the stairs. Must remember to rescue a few bottles of plonk first. Then its a quick trip to school to open up before taking the DDs to their riding school for the day and returning to school to continue all the last minute bits that need doing before the teachers arrive. Bizarely this includes replacing a doorhandle which decided to collapse in a heap of parts whilst the building was empty.

Still too achy from Sundays exercise to walk comfortably. Definate indication that I've overdone it. Contrary to popular belief excercise is not good for you. Must curb any other outrageously enthusiastic ideas about running marathons or attempting the Marathon des Sable or the Tough Guy Challenge .... must not entertain mad ideas about entering the Tough Guy Challenge, nor dream up ridiculous fancy dress costumes in which to participate.

moo2moo

£43.50 of Tesco vouchers have appeared from their hidey hole under the toaster along with a whopper of a credit card bill. Easy come and far far too easy go again.

moo2moo

Whoo hoo. I'm off work until next Tuesday (apart from 2 trips to job #2) whcih is probably just as well because I have a mangled finger. I managed to remove a large chunk of flesh on the side of the knuckle and despite managing to prevent blood loss for 12 hours with the creative use of several very large plasters OH has insisted on a monstrosity of a finger bandage which is making typing rather awkward. Still at least its a reasonable excuse for doing minimal housework as I can't get rubber gloves over it. More annoying though is trying to wash your hair with a carrier bag cling-filmed to your hand.

Friend arrived on time last night, we got lost in the vast array of diversions around Chester designed to prevent random traffic cones from injury. Lots of road work signs but no sign of actual road workers. Arrived at the station just as she exited the building so savd a small fortune in NCP car parking charges. Planning a relatively laid back day today and the Flintshire and Denbigh Agricultural Show tomorrow. Rumours of free food and show jumping decided that one.

Turns out OH is not off to Rome or Milan next week, they're sending two other guys from his office, neither of which have plane tickets yet so it could all change again. He lost his temper with his boss over that and many more things directly caused by his bosses lack of organisation, double standards and general don't give a toss attitude. Got the standard "well no one else has complained" response at which point the rest of them all complained too about that and a whole heap more things resulting in a very vague apology and a much happier office.

Project Land Rover is once again at a standstill. Chassis is unlikely to return until Friday as they haven't started painting it. OH is still stripping the axels which he then wants to get shotblasted which means we won't get them back until mid September. Still at least it means I don't need to worry too much about the cost of all the parts at the mo. Not that thats stopping me. Think I under-estimated the rebuild cost and 4K is much more realistic than 2K. Hope he finds a much cheaper hobby next time round although hes already talking about a Land Rover Series 1 restoration.

moo2moo

Men! Last nights e-mail from OHs boss informed him that the things planned for next week in pizza land are now taking place in the UK and he will be now required to attend. Further instructions required him to book flights for the trip to sunny belgium. Did that this morning then left to go to the county agricultural show. OH boss phoned at lunchtime to tell him not to book the non-refundable airline tickets as it turns out hes not going. They're sending him somewhere else. When, where and for how long was not revealed. OHs boss was not impressed when told the tickets were booked.

Agricultural show was fab. Ate my way through the food tent sampling almost everything then tried an assortment of whiskys. Can definately recommend blackcurrant whisky. T'was lovely but rather strong. Perhaps it was not wise to mix it with orange brandy or several variants of fruity vodka or more whisky after sampling the ciders and the local beers.

DDs flew hawks, owls and falcons, rowed coracles and crashed on the fairground dodgem cars. Uni-friend was not overly impressed at the lamb carcass competition although DD2 did try really hard to convince us to bring one home for dinner.

moo2moo

Forgot to go to job #2 yesterday so am up at the crack of sparrows fart to rectify this. Theres significant evidence to suggest it will be quite some time before OH and uni-friend arise from their pits. Turns out shes never been on a Wii before. DDs rectified this by introducing her to the very unglamorous art of Wii Hoola Hooping before insisting she demonstrated how not to be a cheerleader and then perfected her wrist action (think manual trouser snake entertainment technique) with a game of carrot spitting with the Raving Rabbids.

Depositing uni friend at the railway station late afternoon for a 7 hour journey to Edinburgh en-route to John O' Groats and beyond. Turns out one of the things to do before shes 40 is a trip to the most northerly and the most southerly points on the UK weather map, co-incidently Lands End and John O' Groats both feature too. OH will be most glad to be able to sit down with skewering himself on a crochet hook but its been fun having another grown up around the place. Just need to come up with something to do for the morning assuming the rest of them mange to get out of bed during daylight hours.

Have an in-box full of free bet offers from a variety of bookies but have promised OH I won't do any more transactions with the bookies as hes not at all convinced about the legality of matched betting despite reassurances that its all above board. The price one pays for domestic harmony. Needless to say the cash would comein rather handy as this month is going to be a bit short again. Translation : I hadn't allowed for yesterday or its £30 entrance fee and although remarkably restrained throughout the whole day spending less than a tenner its still £40 more to find to cover everything else thats going on this month. I did include a £50 "anything I'd forgotten (or not allowed for)" buffer which this would fall into but since I've also forgotton to include Septembers school snack money at £5 theres not a lot left for other minor disasters but quite a lot of month to go until payday.

Intergalactic_Floozie

moo2moo wrote: »

Have an in-box full of free bet offers from a variety of bookies but have promised OH I won't do any more transactions with the bookies as hes not at all convinced about the legality of matched betting despite reassurances that its all above board.

BAH! Spoilsport. That's the reason I started reading your diary, because you drew me in with your cleverness at matched betting then got me hooked.

I had a 12-team-footy accumulator come in last night!!!! I put on 50p and won the grand total of £13.77!

moo2moo

What can I say? Some things are simply more important than money.

Congrats on your footy win Floozie, £13 profit is better than a 50p loss.

Lots of very bizarre things happened yesterday including the arrival of a large and unexpected cheque from my grandfathers estate. Hes in a secure care home with full blown senile dementia so I haven't seen him in over a year. I upset him far more than anyone else because hes convinced I'm my mum which confuses him tons as one of the few things he does remember is her name and that shes dead. last time I left he threw himself at the doors leading tot he exit and had to be sedated. The rest of the time hes happy just to amble around aimlessly. My aunts manage to visit him daily without incident so it seems kinder to him not to upset him unnecessarily.

Won a £5 gap voucher and got a free copy of gardeners World magazine too. The DDs spent the evening doing homework and revision for their end of summer horse riding exams. Peace! But not for very long.

Visited a craft village yesterday on the way to the station where uni-friend bought the DDs some teeny tiny beads and some elasticated nylon fishing line to make bracelets. This kept them quiet for ages and there are enough beads left over to make another four or so assuming I don't snap the stringy stuff when pulling the knot tight again. Still the floor under the sofa is now clean.

Need to catch up on lots of laudry today and do all the housework that I haven't done whilst uni friend was here. DDs are hoping to go for a bike ride in the country park as its a lovely day, makes a change from the sever weather warnings that have been in force over the past few days.

Got an e-mail through from flea-bay offering free listing on everything until August 31st so may feel inclined to make the most of that too. Oh keeps muttering about selling his diving gear which hasn't been used since he lived within driving distance of the Red Sea circa 1998. Turns out diving in some cold and murky quarry in the UK no longer appeals. Can't think why.

beanielou

Great news for you on the money.
Are you going to pay some off the debts & buy something to rem,ember him by?