Further financial faux pas and even more disasterous decisions

lucielle

Very eloquently put!!!!!
L

makeup

that resulted in a very genuine LOL......

moo2moo

Ended up blowing £50 at the farm store on chicken feed, creosote and riding gloves for DD1 who has undergone yet another growth spurt, seems like every time I turn around shes sprouted up by another couple of inches and needs new shoes and trousers. Am currently buying everything in an age 15 or a ladies size 4-6 because the age 11 stuff is farcically short.

Didn't manage to get much done yesterday. DD2 still hasn't recovered from the bug she picked up a couple of weeks back and needed lots of cuddles before departing for a snooze mid afternoon. Meant we ended up watching kiddie films till 10pm since she was too awake to go to bed but not with it enough to do anything else. Did manage to sweep the floors but that was about it.

Plans for today involve several cups of coffee before washing up and mopping downstairs whilst everyones asleep. After that have promised OH I will spend the morning freezing in the garden whilst he bungs wood through the saw bench as this is a two man job. Would rather be gardening, need to finish trimming the hedges before the birds start nesting which won't be long since my rhubarb is waking up from its long winter nap. Am most tempted to dig up OHs beloved weed infested lumpy lawn and plant lots of spuds and a few hundred onions before reclaiming my veg patch from the rampant strawberry plants. Also need to do something with my herb garden which also seems to have got carried away over winter and needs a major hack.

moo2moo

Rather annoyingly yesterday was a NSD. Now have to chase up roofer to find out why he didn't show up *again* and then arrange another date whilst keeping everything crossed that between now and then there are no major rain storms, or tornados or snow because the hole in the roof isn't going to keep much out.

DD2 still isn't feeling great, shes decided shes not well enough to go to pony club on Tuesday which is unheard of. At least shes decided in good time so that I can cancel giving the 24 hours notice required to avoid payment.

Plans for today involve fixing two flappy panels into a secure position so that the decorators can decorate and then spending several tediously dull hours removing staples from walls so that the decorators can fill the holes and paint over then although if it were me I'd just paint over them and hope the pint filled the holes. Either way the staples need to go which will fill many hours without me actually getting much done which is infinately preferable to breaking into a sweat on the first day of the holidays.

Managed to get plenty done yesterday resulting in two full wheelie bins and a vastly reduced herb garden. Chives are almost at a point I can start and eat them and both the oregano and the marjoram are awake too. Unfortunately the rhubarb was a casualty of an over enthusiastic DD1 who managed to stand on one of them several gazilllion times whilst helping OH, but since progress is being made I can't complain too much. Both the front and back of the log store are finished and the door mounted although its so heavy I struggled to lift it. At least theres no chance of it blowing over in the wind. Can't do any more now until the area its going on has been cleared up and foundations dug ready for a supporting wall and a mud free pathway created a mere three years since we finished the extension. Of course whilst that sounds simple it involves the demolition of a wall and the removal of at least one skip full of mud and debris.

Tesco_points_addict

Alert Alert

AWOL!

moo2moo

Naughty Moo used the snooze button gaining an additional hour in bed cos its cold and wet and wainey with intermittent snow showers. The duvet seemed the best option right up until I woke up again at 7:20.

Have had a couple of v. productive days. Managed 16 hours in school which means I'm down to just popping in for a couple of hours at either end of the day for the rest of the week. Spent 3 hours on monday removing staples from walls so that the decorators could do their thing. Was instructed to blitz the office occupied by schools biggest whinger so have made sure I've moved and cleaned and rearranged absolutely everything just to make a point that it has been cleaned. Took me three hours which is ridiculous considering its the size of a hamster cage.... all anologies refering to the occupants are purely co-incidental.... room is now shiny and clean even if there are great heaps of paperwork where formerly there were dozens of random piles. Anticipate a major hissy fit on Tuesday when the worst of the whingers returns to school.

Also recieved news that them with the cash have some burning a hole in their pocket and have decied to spend it doing practical things, clearly no the sort of practical things that actually need doing like taking a wrecking ball to the boys toilets but fitting anti-trap devices to doors. Figure if I can do one every 20-30 minutes it will take me about a week and a half to fit them in the holidays. Now ain't that something to look forward to.

Picked up another batch of furniture from the upholsterers and have instructions to collect more on Thursday. Had to return to school with a couple of damaged frames but repaired those and dropped them back with her yesterday. Great excuse for a wander around the village.

DD2 seems to be feeling better and spent yesterday assisting OH digging a trench and mixing concrete. Now have footings in for a retaining wall to support the log store and start covering the mud outside the door. Also have to figure out how to eradicate the cement that has liberally splattered DD2s Gap fleece and one of the few pairs of trousers that fit her properly. Wish OH would think to send the DDs to get changed or put overalls on before letting them help out. Still at least things are progressing even if he did throw a drunken wobbly about me not appreciating the things he does, at least its been almost a month since he last threw one. Think his boss has something to do with his random temper flares at the mo. Even without him being at work rumours are flying. Ideally they should have 8 qualified peeps on the books but at the mo. they have 6, one of whom is leaving imminently, and so they've advertised and interviewed and have found the ideal replacement, just the one, not the three they need but ones a start and so they've decided not to offer the trained and qualified candidate the job but instead to take on an untrained inexperienced monkey on the basis that it lives locally and can start almost immediately even though it won't be any use for over a year due to lack of training and since its rapildly approaching the busiest time of the year theres no one avaialable to train it either but despite this they'll be expected to hold its hand and provide on the job training anyway. People are not happy. Worse still they're due to move office v. shortly and the managers wife is busy designing the interior of the new one and ordering furniture despite not working there. To say the chaps are fuming is an understatement.

The worst I have to deal with is the reappearance of the builders who went bust who are now touting for business refitting a toilet block. Wheres the common sense in that?

Plans for today involve dragging the slumbering monkeys from their pits even earlier than usual so that I can be at work for 7:30 to squeeze an hour of something in before dropping them off at the riding school and returning home to dig further trenches in the garden whilst remembering to collect the DDs at lunchtime. At some stage I need to fit in some ironing even if its just kick boxing gear ready for tomorrow. Of course should it rain non-stop all day I'll end up doing housework.... would far rather be outside though.

moo2moo

Had an hour to kill at school before dropping the DDs off so decided to commence emptying the loftspace. Big mistake. Huge. The first thing out was a giant velvet stage curtain covered in geriatric mouse droppings and full of broken glass from several broken fluorescent tubes. Spent the entire hour clearing up the mess that made eventually arriving at the stables considerably later than anticipated. Returned home and assisted with the digging of a trench and the pouring of concrete ready for wall building tomorrow. Its now debatable whether theres more mud in the house or in the garden. I fear mopping may feature on the agenda rather sooner than anticipated.

DD2 managed to fall over at the riding school caking herself from head to toe in evil smelling slime. Stripped them off before letting either of them in the car. Now have several loads of v. muddy stuff to wash and two freshly bathed children happily munching cereals in PJs whilst watching mindless drivel on the telly box.

moo2moo

Have been wide awake since 2am, not a clue why, one of those random nights where suddenly I'm wide awake and no amount of attempting to pretend I'm not is making me feel even vaguely sleepy.

I could claim I've got lots on my mind but I've already accepted that February is going to be a very expensive month, no amount of stealth skinflint maneuveuring is going to change this. Whilst I can keep the day to day spends as low as possible theres not a lot I can do about the rest of it although thankfully the DDs have decided that whilst the new and improved pony club is v. shiny on the outside its the same instructor with the same horses so apart from a different range of certificates and rosettes theres not really much difference apart from the annual membership fee, twice, and the need for hats with peaks and bows at £60 each and the most heinous of all offences - regulation plain black jodphurs. That alone was enough. DD1 isn't parting with her two tone purple ones for anything. The adition of the tie and the fitted jacket and the trips to the examination centre were enough to persuade the not to bother.

In most excellent news they've both passed their yard helpers certificate which means if I arrange things in advance I can abandon them at the riding stables during holidays and at the weekend to help out thus avoiding paying childcare and better still they get a free additional lesson at the end of each day as a thank you as well as being fully supervised all day. They're v. excited about this, but not half as excited as I am. Even if it only happens twice over the summer thats £80-£100 less childcare to find.

Did more laundry today but achieved nothing more than adding more clean stuff to the heap which is now teetering at the 4 foot mark. Really need to tacklet hat, I'm just not sure when I'm going to fit it in. Planning to work until 11ish tomorrow then return home to help OH build brick walls before ironing the doboks I didn't iron yesterday and then returning to school to let the kick boxing class in and cleaning holiday club. At some point I need to mop the hall floor now that schools decorators have finished, also need to visit the upholsteror to sort out a stuck screw and pick up more furniture and finish emptying the loft ready for floorboarding. Have filled half of schools bins with geriatric tat already and have unearthed over 100 fluorecent tubes in the process. I forsee many trips to the disposal site being squeezed in before Monday which should be interesting considering I was hoping to wangle Friday off.

Trying_to_be_good

Morning Moo!

I couldn't sleep, either. so am up catching up with quiet things in the house. Like drinking tea and catching up with goings on here. I figured hoovering was a bit mean...

Fingers crossed for better weather today, as it would be great to be outside with the kids, although they don't seem to think there can be too many pyjama days in a week?!

moo2moo

Neugh. Now I can't stay awake. Pah. Off to have an invigorating jet blast with the dregs of some bubble bath or other now that we're running scarily low on nice smelling shower gel - have an emergency stash in case of dire emergencies but am avoiding using OHs Eau de Sweaty Pits in favour of the unidentifiables from the side of the bath. Am down to my last carrier bag of smellies which seems to be predominantly hand creams. Hopefully by Christmas I'll be able to recommence buying bathroom products, in moderation I might add, having freed up several shelves and drawers and cupboards in the process.