Further financial faux pas and even more disasterous decisions

moo2moo · 8 April 2011 at 7:19PM

Very, very, very late home on account of getting side tracked and persuading a teacher that it would be far more fun to spend eco day building a bird table than sorting through rubbish bins and making bar charts about the contents. Two hours later we'd scavenged enough timber from the builders to commence chopping it into pieces as indicated in our idiots guide also known as a book of fun things to make and do for the under 6s. Mmm.

Its v. difficult to do these things with an audience particularly when that audience is mostly 30 something men who are avoiding doing their marking and lesson prep. Its even harder when the teacher in question is v. girly and doesn't do DIY. I felt sorry for the saw. The component parts are now ready for her class to sand, assemble and paint.

We did nothing but giggle from start to finish, apparently its rather difficult to saw when generously endowed and wearing a balconette bra as all the jiggling makes things leap for freedom, perhaps thats not the best announcement to make with the headteacher showing parents around in the corridor behind you. He has a way of appearing at the worst possible moment. Thankfully he usually sees the funny side.

Have a whole 25 minutes of peace left before the DDs and OH reappear during which time I'm going to grab a cheese laden vegi burger sandwich and collapse in a heap with a book in the hopes that this one is marginally better than the three I attempted yesterday and rapidly consigned to the charity shop pile.

moo2moo · 9 April 2011 at 7:46AM

Spent last night channel hopping. Watched random bits of drivel in the hopes that OH would flake out long before I went to bed. He hasn't had much sleep recently and has now developped a cold which is rapidly turning into a chest infection... obviously puffing away like a train isn't helping but it is rather funny to watch him have a couging fit, light a fag, take a puff and then cough a whole lot more. Hes still claiming he only smokes because he enjoys it.... yep, he really does think I'm that stupid.

Today is gloriously fabulously sunny. Obviously there will be a small rain cloud centred over the riding school since its never sunny there. Washing is already on ready to hang out before we depart. Planning to cook yesterdays rhubarb, wash up and have a mini kitchen tidy too. May well detour home via the park but need to remember to chuck in wellies as its no fun going for a long hike in riding boots. Planning to chuck together a picnic to make it a little more fun and may even lob in a bucket or two in anticipation of a proliferation of dandelions being ripe for collection. Am most determined to try making dandelion jam just out of curiousity.

Further plans for today involve considerably more tidying up in the garden and the planting of the spuds before my second earlies become extremely lates.

moo2moo · 9 April 2011 at 8:11AM

Bah..... and so because its the school holidays and a multi-bank holiday fest OHs boss is threatening to stick him on a plane to somewhere hot and sunny.... only over his days off mind... how do they manage to schedule these things so badly. Wouldn't mind if it was definate but at the mo. its a bit flimsy but I still need to plan things under the assumption that they'll eventually send him last minute and then discover that all the flights are full because they've left it so late and so will send him out earlier than planned and bring him back later which is great for him but means I need to sort out childcare to cover the half days I'm working when he was having the DDs. Will be really really miffed if it all gets canned and we're stuck paying for childcare we don't need.

Why is nothing ever simple?

moo2moo · 10 April 2011 at 6:49AM

OH overslept so today started with a bang and a lot of running around to get him out of the door as fast as humanly possible. Even so hes late for work but as a bonus he has the company car which means he can zip straight on site without going to the office. On the downside if his companion in crime does the same thing then the new guy will be stuck in the stairwell outside the office waiting for them to return since he still doesn't have keys or access codes, nor is he getting them as the chaps were due to move office yesterday but haven't due to some issue with BT.

The DDs and I had a fab day. Picked a gazillion dandelions at the park before playing on the swings. Bumped into a couple of the little darlings from school one of whom informed me that his mummy thought I was a nutter. Charming. Pointed out to the child in question that the words his mummy needed to learn were eccentric and unorthodox. No doubt the entire village will know that the loon from school was collecting dandelions in the park at the weekend. I do love living in a small village where people have nothing better to do other than talk about you behind your back. Really I do.

Returned home for lunch and spent an hour liberating the yellow bits form the green bits which left us with a whopping 90g of petals. Can quite understand why the yank recipes measure the petals by volume rather than weight. Had to adapt the recipe because of a lack of fresh apple juice. Boiled up some apples in water instead and then lobbed the petals in a muslin bag and boiled the lot together before leaving them to stand overnight to infuse. Will be liberating the apple chunks in order to make crumble or some such thing later in the day. Have to strain the petals and any lumps from the liquid. Easier said than done methinks since they're escaping from the muslin bag. After that I have to pick a further 30g of petals before commencing phase two which requires v. minimal boiling times. At the mo. it looks and smells like v. yellow apple sauce. Hopefully that'll change after straining.

Filled another wheelie bin with garden debris and OH chucked a couple of loads through the cement mixer continuing on his quest to build walls and lay down paving in the hopes of not actually having to do any gardening. Ever. Am now ready to plant the spuds.

The DDs mucked out the chooks and collected another dozen eggs which we ate for lunch. V. yummy indeed.

Plans for today involve more dandelion picking in the hopes of ending up with crystal clear dandelion jam with the odd floaty petal am more likely to end up with jars of cloudy sludge which look more like urine samples from a patient with kidney failure judging by the work in progress.

Further plans involve the planting of the spuds and lots and lots and lots of laundry.

Should really go to Mr Ts as I have a £5 off a £50 spend voucher but since blowing £6 in the village co-op yesterday on overpriced milk and half dozen whoopisied loaves of bread we don't actually need anything... much like we didn't need the whoopsied jelly babies or the bacon crisps that leapt into our basket.

In most fabulous news OH has been clap cold sober for 2 entire weeks. The withdrawl symptoms are steadily getting worse although since he has the mother of all colds its rather difficult to determine quite what is going on.

MrsMoo2U · 10 April 2011 at 9:38AM

Don't you just love the honesty of kids and the trouble it gets their parents into? I now have a vision of him tootling home to repeat the conversation with you to his Mum. Would love to see how she reacts to you on Monday because you can BET that he has relayed the message in the most childlike innocent way. I would be tempted to develop a twitch and a wink whilst sticking my tongue out the side of my mouth and dragging my leg behind me as I walk every time I see her.

Great news on OH. It appears that the confrontations have had the opposite effect to what you expected. I hope that he finds the strength to carry on and that you have the peace to cope with all to come. Congratulations for sticking out the early days you will get the life you deserve.

Wordsmith · 10 April 2011 at 9:54AM

"Nutter" could have been a term of endearment. Well, it could.

Very good news on OH's sobriety.

moo2moo · 10 April 2011 at 10:34AM

Looks amazing. Tastes anything but. Bland would be an understatement with fluffy bits that get stuck between your teeth. Its not something I'll be in a hurry to make again. That may just be because its still hot but I'm not holding out much hope. At least it'll look great in gift hampers.... although it does remind me of the jar of pickled thread worms that are an obligatory sight in all high school biology labs... nothing says happy christmas quite like a jar of sugared thread worms... may well reconsider this!