Further financial faux pas and even more disasterous decisions

moo2moo

Have done diddly squat so far. One v. small carpet vacuumed. One long chat over the garden gate with a neighbour and a brief stint of domestic drudgery which involved putting some of the laundry away. Have developed a nasty tickle at the back of my throat which coupled with the pathetic attempt aat a headache which my body is currently messing around with is adding to the general feeling of meh-ness. Have to go to a cash point en route to school and must remeber to take the DDs something for dinner as we're unlikely to make it home until much later in the day. Am v. tempted to dive into the bath and wallow like a hippo for quite some time. Its too cold here to be naked for long though.

THe boss has offered overtime clearing up after the builders when they eventually finish rather than risk contract cleaners but would like it done one evening. Fat chance of that. Have offered to do it during the hours of daylight if necessary but will not be staying at work until midnight for any amount of wonga.

moo2moo

Finally arrived home at 8:30pm £17 lighter armed with take out. Far far too tired and lazy to cook. Bingo was tedious but made rather funny by having a caller who repeatedly misread the numbers turning the serious part of the audience into a lynch mob. Six very long confusing games later we were released from living hell and won't have to endure this particular form of torture until Christmas.

OH arrived home in a suspiciously good mood, it appears hes had a good time and reading between the lines its been suggested he goes out there more often without anyone actually saying that out loud. We appear to have coped a bit too well for his liking in his absence though as hes miffed the house hasn't crumbled around us and more imortatantly we've had fun without him. Its not excatly been easy though and is does make you realise just how hard day to day life is for single working parents. Those with two jobs are clearly nuts and those with two jobs and allotments (hope you're paying attention Miss Hula) either require halos or a quick trip to the assylum. I don't know how you have the energy.

Anyway upshot of it is hes turned into Mr Naggy Pants because his presence wasn't required and all major catastrophes have been averted but mostly because I've not been in the slightest bit jealous when hes reeled off names of all the beautiful stiletto clad ladies at the foreign work place who think hes superman and hug him at every opportunity. Am I bovvered? Nope not in the slightest. Not sure if this is because I know its all a bluff to goad me into reacting or because I've heard it so many times before. Of course theres alway the unspoken option three as well.

So plans for today. Whoosh into work vaguely acknowledge the bosses sugestion that the floor of hall no. 2 needs scrubbing and several layers of liquid polish applying bearing in mind that there are only 10 litres of the stuff in the cupboard and its going to take a heck of a lot more than that to do anything. Potter about for a bit and then drop my car off at the garage by 9:30. Take the DDs to try on Crocs or imitation Crocs as last years are too small and have been worn to death, start OHs laundry and then fit in another few hours at work and then collect my car before dinner. Simples.

moo2moo

Crocs shopping is going v. badly. DD2 is between sizes and DD1 has adult feet which rockets them up to £25 a pair. Even with half price sales, 4 for 3 and 3 for 2 offers they're ridiculously overpriced and no one shop has the right colour combinations in stock either. Am v. tempted to buy from E-bay confident that £3.99 "genuine" crocs with free P&P are extremely unlikely to be genuine.

beanielou

I got genuine ones on ebay last year for about £18.

KAMH

Hi Moo,
Have been following you devotedly and secretly for a long time and have often been inclined to comment, but haven't until now. I used to work away all week and come home to find my man managing quite well without me, even though I was the major bread winner. It made me feel quite conflicted about my role and less valued than I thought I should be given the fact that I'd been away from home and working my socks off while he had been able to snuggle up in our bed etc every night without me. It is hard being the person working away because you're excluded from so much.
I don't mean this to be judgemental in any way because I think you are amazing and an absolute saint and only wish I could wave a magic wand to make your life easier than it is.
I think that MSE should put a button on your diary so that people could donate to you - because they can, or in recompense for the honour of reading your wonderful, interesting and incredible stories.
I wish so much happiness for you.
x KAMH

moo2moo

Whilst the idea of a donate button is quite appealing the laws of karma would require that their was an alternative button to pay people for putting up with my darker thoughts. I could end up losing a small fortune.

Hello anyway! More input please. It stops me feeling like I'm rambling away to myself.

Beanie - have found genuine Crocs on Amazon for £18 too but when you multiply that by four it suddenly becomes awfully expensive. Its actually cheaper to buy 3x full price pairs on a 3 for 2 offer than it is to buy 3 £18 pairs from elsewhere. But I have a £25 Amazon voucher so am debating whether in the long run its better to spend £6 more than I need to as this only requires £23 cash. Still leaves me trying to source a pair of 13-1s for DD1 whose feet are too dinky for a pair of size 1s and too big for the 13s. Lifes never ever simple. Especially when I go out of my way to over complicate things.

KAMH - I'm only managing because I have to. I did vaguely contemplate sending the DDs for school dinners as this would mean I cold get away with feeding them beans on toast or some such instant food for dinner thus getting them to bed earlier and giving me a little more quality time with them in the evenings rather than around them but they weren't keen. OH seems to enjoy being away from home and is much more relaxed when he returns but the downside of hotel living is his waistline suffers and fags at £4.90 a pack instead of £13 really isn't helping him cut down his smoking. Really don't miss the constant draught from him opeinig the door to stick his head out into the garden nor the faggy breath which makes me hyper aware of this when he returns and results in me becoming the naggy wife from hell. We will eventually reach a compromise but lifes a bit too unpredicatable at the mo. Things are easier when I know where hes going to be and for how long as it allows me to plan a bit for things.

Meanwhile OH has three weeks off in the school summer hols and has suggested a visit to his mother. Oh joy. Its not that I don't like the woman nor that she can manage a week in my presence without actually speaking to me whilst conveying to all and sundry that I am evil and that my offspring are out of control. Especiually when we walk through the door of the hotel at 7:30am wearing wet PJs having snuck out to the beach whilst everyone else is asleep. I simply don't conform and whilst I can manage 24 hours of normal behaviour any longer than that is just too mucah and I tend to lose the plot. Shes never ever going to let me forget OHs sisters wedding. Whilst other people were standing around chatting about the weather I was doing a one woman child entertainment act involving much singing and dancing and Thomas y Tank impersonations. Nor that as the ring leader I had a couple of other people roped in by their offspring and so when the bride turned up in her vintage rolls most of the audience had their backs to her and were jumping up and down pretending to be five little monkeys jumping on the bed... one jumped off and bumped his head. Still she went round the block and normality had resumed on her second visit.

Still four days there makes me shudder.

Collected my car complete with new propshaft and CV joint from the garage for £113 and detoured on the way home to purchase two half price frying pans from Macro along with a freezer load of the DDs favourite sausages and a box of beer for OH making v. short work of £70.

Have 7 days advance warning from my parents of their next visit. Eek. Kim and Agie have nothing on my step-mother. Shes lovely but she does have a tendancy to use the antibacterial spray in her handbag to wipe loo seats before sitting down. She and my dad have his and hers thrones at home to avoid cross contamination. It'll be fine. Really it will. Theres at least one 6' giant cobweb 20 feet up in the air to eradicate before then though. DD2 will not be happy about this as its home to her pet spider Sally.

Mags_cat

moo2moo wrote: »

Shes never ever going to let me forget OHs sisters wedding. Whilst other people were standing around chatting about the weather I was doing a one woman child entertainment act involving much singing and dancing and Thomas y Tank impersonations. Nor that as the ring leader I had a couple of other people roped in by their offspring and so when the bride turned up in her vintage rolls most of the audience had their backs to her and were jumping up and down pretending to be five little monkeys jumping on the bed... one jumped off and bumped his head. Still she went round the block and normality had resumed on her second visit.

:rotfl:

That reminds me of a photo I took of my mum at one of their frends' weddings.

She's sat under the stairs, side on, legs straight out in front of her, head down and hands in her lap - looking for all the world like she's had [STRIKE]one[/STRIKE] several too many to drink.

In actual fact, she was reading a story to two small children who were sat on the other side of her. Or at least that's her story!

Keep it up, moo - your diary is such a great read whether it's chirpy or gloomy. I only hope that you feel the virtual support from your fan club when you need it :T

moo2moo

Whoo hoo a fan club... would any of the honorary members like to join me in a spot of unexpected Sunday morning polish spreading?

Spent yesterday emptying the remainder of the furniture from the room and liberally applying degreaser to the floor and stripping it back to the point I could apply ploish first thing Monday. Just as I was clearing up one of the builders appeared to inform me that first thing Monday they're converting a window into a doorway involving lots of dust and mess and of course its a mere 2M away from the dining room. Can't leave the floor as is because the influx of feet between now and the next hols because it no longer has any protection on it so will be wreked completely to the point it needs sanding back so have no option other than to either tell the builders that they can't chop out the doorway thus resulting in me being hung, drawn and then quartered as they're way behind already or to go in over the weekend and apply polish. Still it means I can do less work next week and polish spreading is a very therapeutic job and I quite like the smell plus the added advantage of being able to send the DDs off in search of something to do for an hour or so which is all it takes to apply a coat. They usually gravitate to Early Years who have some outstanding toys. I like playing in there best too.

Spent time with the puppy this morning, shes the liveliest of the bunch already. Whilst her siblings were snoozing away in the sun she was leaping around like a clubber on acid. What have I let myself in for?

moo2moo

Finally sorted. Crocs for myself and DD2 were £3.99 each incl. P&P (genuine my foot), DD1s were marginally more expensive at £8.50 but all came via E-bay (and Quidco) using the cash gained earlier in the week from tat sales. Had to get OHs from Amazon as I couldn't find his size and colour cheaper elsewhere but used a gift voucher so haven't actually had to part with any money and I got a whopping 18 Nectar points too. Total cost of £34.93 which is less than the local shop wanted for a single pair.

Off to feed the DDs who are whinging that they are starving to death.

DedicatedDFW

Well Done on the crocs moo - and thank you for the reminder about cash back on e-bay I haven't purchased anything in soo long I completely forgot about it and just need to buy a household item we are picking up next week - soo glad i didn't get round to this yesterday now

Bleurgh! to you having to work today or tomorrow but good that this means you'll have a bit more flexibility with working hours in the week.