Carry on Questing

Lula-Hula

Well good evening

DD1 has finally gone her way this evening, she came over yesterday to celebrate her birthday, open presents, eat pizza & cake & then fell asleep on the sofa about 10 pm, her sister asleep at the other end :rolleyes:.

Today we have done washing & been to the RSPCA centre again. DD was not at all impressed with the large ginger & as expected, fell in love with the trio of kittens but they were about to go home with their new owners. She decided on a long haired very fluffy black one who was a stray without any history but very friendly & about 18 months old. I managed to get a travel basket from the onsite charity shop so only £6 & am marveling at the range in prices for all the equipment that cats need. You can get a feeding bowl for 90p or you can pay £5.90 :rolleyes:. I discovered some fab & very stylish cat baskets. They're made of baskety or rattan type material & round in shape, on a stand of the same material very like those 70's chairs. I loved them but they were £50 :eek: For now we will manage fine with the normal style cat basket that we already have. DD has already bought a collar for him & is so excited she could almost burst. We still have to wait for the home inspector & for the cat to be checked over by the vet & declared fit which will probably be the longest few days of DDs life.

Money has been trickling through my fingers today & I now have £1.69 left to get through the week :rotfl:. DD1 being here for the best part of 3 days means that my stock of tea bags, sugar, bread & loo rolls is much depleted. I've been wondering what else to get for little DD for her birthday but today she remarked that she wasnt expecting anything other than the cat but was quite happy about it. She will have the CD & the craft stuff which is virtually free thanks to surveys but that really will be it from me. She does need some new jeans & a fleece but I will ask other rellies to get that for her

I've just checked my diary for next week & it's empty . How fabulous, no plans at all, no bills or clubs to be paid for & no trips to Gatwick :j( 140 miles in traffic does have an impact on the fuel tank ). I shall concentrate on work, gardening, chores, allotment & NSDs.

Lula-Hula

*Staggers in with bumps, scratches & bruises but with a happy grin *

I was woken up this morning by the sound of DD making cakes, great apart from it being 7.20 in the morning :rolleyes:.

They were very tasty though & the clever little thing had realised that with only one egg in the fridge she should halve all the rest of the ingredients so did :A.

After clearing up the debris, a large coffee & hanging the washing out we headed off to the allotment where I spent a happy couple of hours breaking up pallets & starting to create a box around our fruit cage. This girl is never so happy as when wearing a pair of muddy jeans & wielding a claw hammer about . Except for when she's wearing fab red shoes & wielding a glass of wine of course . We also gathered a large bag of delicious free food again. Potatoes, carrots, leeks, cob of corn & also grazed on fresh peas & raspberries while we were there.

On the way home I spotted ahouse with a pile of slabs & bricks on the drive with a sign asking people to help themselves for free. I have yearned for a patio for some time now but can never quite bring myself to spend money on slabs of stone that will sit in the garden. I am quite happy however, to reverse my car around a roundabout & load 18 of them into the boot for free . I was really really delighted :j & ever mindful of karma I left half the bag of veg on their door step with a note to say thank you for the slabs. I then had to unload them all again & now bear the scrapes & brusies as proof but wow was it worth it. That's another project to amuse during the autmn & winter. * goes right off the idea of decorating, again *

For tea we made some delicious allotment soup & scoffed it all with some fresh baguette ( lost a NSD on this but the soup was free so balances out in the end).

The washing dried on the line & is now in the airing cupboard. I had a call to say the RSPCA inspector is coming to inspect us tomorrow so I thought it might be a good idea to wash the floors & will have to throw the hoover around before starting work tomorrow. I'm now slightly scared at having a cat to take care of but DD assures me that she will be on litter tray duty until the beastie can go outside so that helps. The difficult bit will be remembering to keep windows & doors closed. We tend to leave the door open when we're in the garden, putting the rubbish in the dustbin, taking recycling stuff down, emptying the compost bin etc etc. The chances of cat staying indoors for 4 - 6 weeks are remote. Even more so when DD & I go to Cornwall & DD1 comes to stay & kitty sit :rolleyes:. Must buy tag for collar.

Not sure whether to use CB in the ISA + the £2 coin savings to pay for adoption fee & all equipment or just bung it all on CC & pay off in one go . That's all the easily accessible saving s I have at the moment & I hate to use them up & have nothing. Common sense however, tells me that I should use real money as if I have to use a CC then I shoudnt be doing it at all :think:.

On to finances; I have just paid another £30 off CC1 :j that balance now £ 2,702.54. CC2 now at £ 2,089.70 & CC3 still at £ 1,030.67 .

So, the total debt now is £ 5,823 - rounded up of course.

I have every intention of tomorrow being a NSD ... need to buy ink cartidges for DD on tuesday ( plan a trip to Tatco :shhh:) so if we pass the inspection will get all the cat equipment then .

I need my bed so G'night

Lula xx

Lula-Hula

Well, this morning I woke up thinking that somehow during the night I'd aged 30 years :eek:. All the digging & slab lifting at the week end seemed to have caught up with me & I really struggled to get out of bed & my yoga stretches were very half hearted .

Yesterday was the planned NSD & DD was full of delight about her first trumpet lesson. Imagine my joy when she told me that next week she gets to bring her instrument home to practice :rotfl:.



Given how much I hate Tatco & we have a pet shop 5 minutes walk away, I came up with a cunning plan to not go there at all today. I walked to the next village & paid in a cheque, bought the cartidges that DD needed, popped in to the charity shop but emerged empty handed & then walked home again along the canal. My muscles stopped aching somwehere along the tow path :j. I then went to the post office to pay cash into my current account & managed to walk past the post box & all the way home with nieces birthday card still in my hand :doh:. Got all my work done, removed washing from line & did minimal ironing necessary, made hobnobs & then waited by the window for DD to come home by herself from club. We then walked down to the pet shop & spent £9 on cat stuff, DD1 was waiting to collect her washing when we got back, had a brief chat & next thing I know we're in the car on the way to Tatco in search of cheap litter . Another £8 in Tatco but we still dont have food bowls or a litter tray ... so DD insists we got to big Pet store a mere 5 miles away. Fine, but not at 6 pm when there are road works all along the main road :rolleyes:. 10, yes 10 sets of traffic lights later we are at big pet store & money is dripping out of my purse. Yes, the big cat play centre does look fun but no way am I wedging out £69.99 :eek:. Another £20 gone, but I did some nifty back-street driving & we only had to do 2 sets of lights on the way back, & if there are 3 cars hesitating on a roundabout I will be the one who goes first :D.


Slowly sinking into my second glass of wine, have fresh shiny conkers on all the windowsills to deter spiders ( good tip thanks Horace :T) enjoying the candles & tealights to mark Autumn Equinox & planning on another NSD tomorrow

Goodnight
xx

sarahb123_3

Lula, am so jealous of all your lovely villages within walking distance, towpaths etc . Am stuck in city hell here. I can't wait until my plan for rural living comes to fruition, it involves an elderly relative I have never heard of leaving me all their money.

I would love to be able to have pets but sadly flat sharing is not conducive to that. Or is it "with that?"

10 sets of traffic lights?:mad: You have more patience than me.:D

Lula-Hula

Er, it's not as lovely & rural as it sounds sarah :rolleyes:. It's a kind of edge of suburban grot on one side with the M25 passing within a mile & clearly audible at times . The other side of the home is very rural looking with the fields at the back & frankly that's what makes me stay here & keeps me sane. I cant imagine being overlooked all round :eek:. I guess that I'm just very lucky to live somewhere with all the amentities of town living & yet be able to go in the garden & feel miles away from the rest of the world.

As to traffic lights ... bah I hate them :mad: but as I dont have to commute on a regular basis, I do occasionally quite enjoy seeing what everyone else has to do. I would probably end up being a road rager if I had to do it on a daily basis, full respect to those that do. My everyday world is small & life can be led within a 5 mile radius, which is good for money saving but can be rather boring.


May your distant & unknown but generous relative have a peaceful passing. Soon

Tixy

Hi Lula :hello:

I assume you passed the cat inspection then?

Have you or DD applied for any cat/kitten freebies yet? There are quite a few available I think for small samples of food and I seem to recall some came with toys. If you address them to DD they could be like little extra presents

When does kitty arrive?

Good thing about trumpets (compared to some instruments) is that you can half muffle the sound by putting something soft in the end, well at least until she's making proper music - thats what we used to do with my brother anyway .

Happy questing

Lula-Hula

Aaaaah Tixy, what an absolutely brilliant idea about the trumpet muffling :T, I had no idea . As to the cat, well it had its vet check today but I've been so busy with work that I havent got around to calling to see how it went so will do so first thing tomorrow & then we can go & collect him after school . Hadnt thought about free kitty stuff either :doh:will have to get on the case tout de suite

First things first; I have had a NSD - number 10 no less so I'm very pleased so far .

Now the rather scary bit ... one of my allotmenteer friends called earlier; would I be interested in doing a few hours admin at the place where she works :eek:. It's my own fault, I've often moaned about how unstimulating my current job is & how business has really slowed & that if she hears of anything to please let me know. I was kinda expecting cleaning work as the last time I worked in an office environment was about 9 years ago :rolleyes:. Actually , it was 8 years & 51 weeks ago. Well, work is work & at least it will give me some insight into how the world of business is these days, rather than the world of blogs where I spend far too much time. I wonder if they still have telex machines

Must go for a rummage in the wardrobe now to see if I have anything even remotely suitable ... that fits too :rotfl:

Horace

Those were the days..I can remember a huge telex machine that we had in the office with a separate typewriter where you typed your message and it came out on a roll made of little holes that you then carefully threaded into the telex machine and then somehow made the connection (I can't remember if we had to ring) with the portal at the other end and the telex would go clanking through and then when we received one we got it in type. No Lula - nobody uses telexes anymore we have email instead:rolleyes:

I'm feeling more positive now i have gotten rid of the leech, it took a word with my tutor who then passed my email onto the Institute who then gave me advice. I am also feeling more positive about my wedding fair too and plans are afoot to organise one myself with the help of one of my friends who covers Walsall and that side of Birmingham. I feel like a decrepit old woman today after trudging miles at the NEC yesterday, it was quicker to walk than wait for the shuttle bus, in fact I only saw the bus once despite twoing and froing from the carpark where I admit that the first time I went back to the car I lost it:rolleyes: I knew that I had parked on N4 and couldn't find it at all and then I wandered part way across one carpark and spotted this huge lamppost thingy with N4 perched on the top - I found my car parked right next to it:rolleyes: Last night I was exhausted and it was all I could do to sling some oven chips into a pan and sling them in the oven:rolleyes:

I was going to the show again today but couldn't be @rsed to pay a further £8 to park:eek: I chatted on skype to my friend and mentor for an hour and then tried to sort out some words for an advert that needs to be submitted on 25 September. My mate Sal is asking her dad to look over the ad and make it sound better...I am just hoping that he doesn't say Cadbury's flakiest chocolate, tastes like chocolate never tasted before:eek: Before he retired he did all the catchy ads for Cadbury and other companies.:eek: I still need to do stuff for the fair on Sunday but in the meantime I have the dentist tomorrow, the hairdressers on Saturday (the last day of the colour sale:j) and then Sunday is the day:eek: Next week I have a visit to a lovely restaurant/pub/hotel to nose around and have a free lunch (see, its the thought of freebies that makes me love my job:rotfl:). And then week commencing 5 October - I won't be in all week - two trips to Stroud, a trip to Worcester, a trip to Studley and a free ticket to Grand Designs Live at the NEC thanks to my bank:D Pity I couldnt get the visits to Stroud on the same day but hey ho...Monday I am off to Matara which is an ethical place where they will plant a tree when you get married, Thursday I am off to Snow Business who provide snow for hollywood films - I am hoping to get onto their supplier listing:cool:

Have a look in Lidl for kitty kat things - they have great pet stuff in there. They sometimes have pet weeks as well where they have stuff for pets - mainly stuff for cats like cheapo scratching poles, beds, bowls and the like.

I hope the folks that let you have the slabs enjoyed your veg and I hope that good karma comes your way:j

moo2moo

Whoo hoo to a second job Lula and to magically stretching your week to generate enough hours to wedge it in.

Lula-Hula

Morning all,

Well it seems that my karma is kind at the moment . I went along to the potential new jobby place & apart from having shivers at the word 'spreadsheet' it seems to be a great place. The boss man was very frinedly & honest & gave me an excellent precis of where the business is now & where they're going. I liked it . Thankfully my dear friend is well aware of my lack of up to date techie skills - I was joking about the telex machine Horace - so I'll be started off with basic tasks. It's 2 days a weeks during school hours & they're fine if I cant do holidays. Everyone seems very friendly & inspite of my sheer & utter terror & lack of a suitable office type wardrobe I'm up for the challenge :cool:.

Horace , well done on all your achivements :A particulalry finding your car :rotfl:I'm exhausted just reading what you're up to next week.

Thanks Moo for the encouragement, actually the jobby should fit in quite nicely with current work/home/child commitments. My home job hours were cut months ago so Thursdays have really been a pottering / shopping day for ages. Tuesdays I dont have too much home job work on & DD is at a club until 4.15 so it should work out fine.

Typically, I found myself wanting to ask whether there would be an opportunity for the hours to increase in the future :rolleyes: *sees self telling current Boss to shove her low wage & no holiday pay job ... then remembers that it has kept her in work for the last 8 years & is very flexible & would be very bad karma so keeps big mouth shut*

Wages Day today & I got 2 x £2 coins so they've gone straight into the pot. The funds have all been topped up & are as follows :

Gas & Electricity £ 160
Car Tax £ 40
Car £ 40 - Need car for work so fuel no longer a 'luxury'
Presents £ 10 - Its lucky DD's mummy does surveys & buys cats
DD clubs £ 0 - Paid Brownies trip £50 so nothing going in next week either
Clothes / Shoes £ 20 - For DD only
Groceries £ 35
Miscellanea £ 10


I also have about £6 in change in my purse but will need to buy more cat food so wont count that.

I've been trying to ring Cat Home all morning but cant get through so will just have to pitch up later on & hope cat all fine to go.

Will struggle to get to 1st of the month on the fuel left but as it's now an essential for getting to work, it doesnt have to come out of my treats budget :j more Pink Elephants for Lula :dance:We are definitely running low on some household stuff - loo rolls mainly & that's because DD1 'borrowed' one, also I'm down to my last toothpaste tube so hoping for bogofs at Tatco.

I have received my £10 Argos voucher from Ipsos :T so will use that to get another small present for DD.

Right, must stop faffing about & go & catproof the home. Not sure I can cope with a new cat, trumpet & job all in one go :eek: :rotfl: