Further financial faux pas and even more disasterous decisions

moo2moo

Morning all! Am being a bit picky about my jam pan because I intend to give it a fair amount of use and anticipate it lasting a v. long time. The ideal pan would be stainless steel rather than aluminium but that seems to make the price rocket to around the £40 mark although most sites claim to have an RRP close to £90. Am most tempted to order a new one which is v. naughty of me but saves the irritation of purchasing one with a pitted bottom from E-bay. Even second hand they seem to be £20 which is mainly due to the postage. Phoned the local charity shops as suggested (thank you!) but didn't have any luck. You wouldn't have thought spnding money was so hard. Am going to see what happens over the next fortnight with bids on suitable E-bay candidates restricting myself to a maximum of £15. May well end up dropping not so subtle hints to the DDs about the perfect Mothers Day gift which will hopefully stop OH buying random things that he fanices and persuading the DDs that I'd like them.

DD1 is having second thoughts about taking the martial arts grading in a fortnights time, DD2 has no such qualms and is most determined to go. DD1 wants to watch to see what happens but won't try until she knows whats going to happen. She doesn't like new things although I know full well that she'll be unbearable for weeks when DD2 has a yellow belt and DD1 doesn't but its not worth the agro and tears of making her do it besides which gradings happen every 3 months so its not like she'll have a long wait. On the bright side this means only having to pay one lot of insurance and test fees this time round unless she changes her mind and then changes it back again.

Too cold to hang the washing out today, I'm rather regretting radshly throwing open the patio doors and allowing the hound from hell to stampede in and out of the muddy patch and round the house and out again. Its nice to finally get all the windows open and clear some of the stale smells from the house even if I am freezing in the process.

Another cuppa beckons before the great laundry shuffle and a spot more tree carnage.

moo2moo

Eugh... never answer the phone when you have nice things planned. Now have to run round like a loon concocting secure quarantine accomodation for three or possibly even five neglected chickens who are arriving at some point this week which could be anything from the next half hour onwards. Bet they include at least one really agressive cockerel which is usually why they end up neglected.

moo2moo

No sign of the additions to the household nor any further detail on them, not that it really matters although it would help to know how much TLC they'll need or whether I need to rig up heat lamps because they're baldie birds. Haven't told the DDs yet as they'll be disappointed if something happens before they arrive here.

OH and the DDs laid another chunk of paving yesterday and discovered that the builders merchants had delivered less than they should have done so OH is going to sort that this morning and order a couple more as we're a little short anyway.

DD1 spent the evening creosoting her bird box... in the house... next to the dogs bedding which was drying on the radiator. Will be washing that again today. More irritating is the pile of dirty plates that some imbecile (code for OH) has plonked on top of the clean washing up rather than putting it away and I came home to find the previously dry laundry was still outside and therefore damp again. Why is it so difficult to bring the stuff in when the temperature drops? Surely thats not asking too much?

Had a rather entertaining evening, accidentally turned the new cleaner beetroot red when I yelled Oi down a corridor to get someones attention over the top of the vacuum cleaner. Turns out that this is a very rude Sri Lankan swear word, although v. meanly she wouldn't tell me what. She did spend the rest of the evening attempting to teach me basic Sri Lankan words although I was finding it very confusing. Apparently what sounds like "Are you born", although ending with boowan, is the Sri Lankan way of saying hello whilst I thought she was asking about birthdays.... most odd. It led to quite a few giggles, especially as there are things that she doesn't have words for becuase they don't exist in Sri Lanka so shes having to make things up that fit which is causing no end of confusion, especially since Sri Lankans don't differentiate between things like buckets and mop buckets, they're all buckets so have the same name even though they have completely different uses. To make things even more interesting I'm writing things down phonetically so that I can say them again whilst she keeps correcting my spellings and explaining why a specific sound is spelt this way and not that, its like being back at school again.

Plans for today involve ironing the various martial arts uniforms and remebering to take a cheque book with me to pay for various things relating to gradings. I'm sure OH has lots of things lined up for me too.

Rumours are flying amonst the great unwashed at OHs work. Turns out the boy wonder was given seven days to make his mind up but hasn't and his deadline has expired. Now unsure if the big boss is going to chase him up to remind him or if they'll walk away and hire someone else, although some but not all others have recieved post interview lettters of rejection. Things could get rather more interesting as the week progresses. The office have opened a sweepstake on a large whiteboard in the centre of the office offering odds on everything to stress related sickness to quitting due to obscene levels of pressure and the office favourite punching the boss and the choice of punchee. Perhaps they will eventually get the hint.

moo2moo

Whoooo hoooo I'm the lucky recipient of £150 of Santanders cash, now have to spend the next three months shuffling cash around in order to move a grand through the account each month to qualify with the ts and cs. I'm obviously on a roll today as the postie also brought £32 in cash off a £50 Mr T shop applicable in small chunks weekly over the next 2 months. Not as great as the £12 off a £60 spend at Ocado but not to be sniffed at either. May well end up stockpiling storecupboard staples in anticipation of prices rocketing up later in the year. I'm sure with some careful planning and creative shopping it can be done especially if I make a point of buying something hideous from the clothing department and returning it because it doesn't fit.

Ironing is now done, OH even helped although I'm pretty sure that was just to keep his hands warm as its a balmy -2 out which has scuppered all his plans for the day.

moo2moo

Its chuffing freezing outside and none too warm indoors either. All plans for brick laying have been abandoned. Instead we're going to give the elm the mother of all haircuts which should start next years log stash off nicely. Not overly enamoured about digging out the rootball so may well cheat a little and just remove chunks of root as I come across them since its only the ones a foot below the surface that will casue me a headache, anything else the plant roots should find their way around quite happily. Hopefully I'll be able to rearrange that particular bed and start planting spuds to perk the ground up once it finally stops being frosty in a morning. Am rather tempted to move the more invasive herbs into pots to restrict their exploratory adventures.

Blew £45 yesterday on martial arts classes and membership for DD2, need to fork out a further £30 next week for her grading test as well as figuring out where the test centre is so that I can find that before her test starts rather than afterwards. DD1 is now hovering in I will... no I won't.... ooh I don't know mode which is most infuriating.

Didn't place an Ocado order in the end since delivery was £6, I refuse to pay that. Vaguely considering going to Mr As and Mr Ts after school tonight whilst everyone else is out so that I can pootle in peace, thats assuming I have any energy left, the alternative is taking the DDs and OH with me at the weekend which is most unappealing as well as being considerably more expensive.

Suppose before I go I should have a vague meal plan in mind, very vague mind you. If OH gets a whiff of it he won't be impressed, hes a spur of the moment person, although he did slow cook yesterdays gammon joint rather than insisting on roasting it in pastry, he usually complains about slow-cooked food.

chevalier

hi there
yes DS1 is fine thanks. It was one of those 1 day things, with the streaming nose. By the end of it I wished he had gone to school, he was that bouncy LOL.

Glad to hear that the old dear has perked up a bit, but eeewww to the 'pile' on the carpet!

I take it there is no way of keeping pets out of bedrooms then?!

Wow about the Elm tree. I didn't think there werw any left in the UK after the dutch elm disease thingy

take care
chev

moo2moo

Twas royally decreed that it was too chuffing cold to do anything outdoors and so we traipsed off to MrAs where upon we proceeded to get both lost and very confused ending up in the only super mega store in the country that doesn't stock dried soya or pulses of any kind... nor did they stock much in the way of herbs and spices or actual food of the non prepared nuke in a box kind. More scarily over half the fruit and veg were pre-choped and extremely expensive. Mind you since a rather large proportion of the clientele were spotted wearing Ugg boots and fleecy pj bottoms with full war paint I suspect theres a reason for this. Didn't get much that was planned but still managed to blow £95, always happen when OH tags along.

Sadly this means no jam making for me this weekend as I refuse to go near a supermarket for another week. Will have to come up with something else to do instead.

chevalier

your description of the supermarket was quite scary, but also wondered where it was! i thought the sight of people in ugg boots and pj's was an urban myth!!!!
chev

moo2moo

Most definately not an urban myth and in most cases accessorised with a toddler in a cheap and nasty umbrella folding pushchair and a phone firmly clamped to mums ear which can only be utilised at full volume. Just one more reason never to leave the house.

Am anticipating the arrival of three chickens at 8:30. Housing sorted, just need to add food and water and then see how they are once they calm down enough to be checked over. Will start with wormer in the water and delouser on their bedding as the least invasive and most effective things I can do.

OH is hoping that it will warm up enough to mortar in paving. Most of the complex blocks are cut ready to go down but the sub zero overnight temperatures are delaying things. Once the pavings down then the log store can be finished and the elm can go straight in there. Doesn't sound a lot but I bet it takes until the middle of March to achieve. If nothing else I'm going to dig out and pot up herbs and then start digging in chicken poo to liven up the bed before adding spuds when the tree eventually departs. Hopefully, if I stick with first earlies, the spuds will be ready to lift about the time the curcubrit family need to go out.

moo2moo

The end of month paperwork finally arrived yesterday showing a whopping reduction in debt by over 50% of our joint income for the month to £16K. Had I not splurged on the big black beastie there would be light at the end of the tunnel that was the original debt with a mere 2K standing between us and being debt free as it is theres still a very long way to go. A very long way indeedy. Clearly February was not as spendy as I feared, that or Marchs imminent credit card bills are going to be astronomical.

Still dithering about on the subject of preserving pans. Decided not to bid on one yesterday because the postage was clearly vastly inflated, it didn't sell, so others obviously felt the same way. However the one ending today is exactly the same and already at £26. I may well say sod it and purchase one from Lakeland or some other purveyor of shiny saucepans although I have cheekily e-mailed the seller of yesterdays unsold pan to see if she'd accept a lower offer.

Spent yesterday outside in the drizzle laying the last of the paving. If it stays fine then this afternoon will be spent pointing the joints. It looks v. impressive but will be toatlly and utterly obscured by the log store. At least if we ever move that the paved area will match the rest of the paths by the house when we eventually get around to laying them.

Still haven't moved the herbs or done any digging. Spent the night dreaming about beetroot and pinking shears. Odd even by my standards.

Gave the DDs the chance to decide what we do today so this morning was a toss up between the 99p film at the cinema and the car boot sale. Turns out we've already seen the film so we're off carbooting unless it pours down, I refuse to attempt to park in a field in really wet weather, although its not the parking that bothers me, its the getting out afterwards when several hundred other cars have churned up the mud in the gateway and the only way to get through is to floor it and hope to god you don't powerslide sideways into the gatepost.