Further financial faux pas and even more disasterous decisions

thrifty_fifty

Wow Moo, you put me to shame. DIY mum, Zumba (up and coming) queen, you've got it all going on

Alas my DIY skills are pretty much non existent, but a lend of your very fine book would be very much appreciated. I'll just perfect my chicken catching skills, the results will be hilarious.

xx

moo2moo

My DIY skills are non-existant too. OH helpfully bought me a book which covers pretty much everything with lots and lots of pictures so even I can't balls up.

Had another go at Zumba today and managed to get the belt to fit a bit better, it still ended up round my waist. Haven't dared go beyond the easy setting although I did do both the beginner and the intermediate workout, there didn't seem to be much difference in the difficulty levels but the intermediate involves far more leaping about. Topped it off with a quick chase of the dog around the Wii island. Off to hose myself down before realising just how late we're running... again...

chevalier

thanks for the review is wii zumba I was thinking of getting it to take back with me, but I am not sure if it is for me now. I want to lose weight and I don't think I can do it with that.

Tesco_points_addict

I want Wii Zumba, its got to be better than hauling my body to a 'real life' class

TPA

moo2moo

Spent all day at DD1s shoot finally arriving home at 4pm. DD2 slept in the car and managed a further three hours on the sofa whilst DD1 repeatedly raided the fridge despite having eaten two bacon butties whilst we were out. Astounded myself with third place in my category. Admitedly there were only two others in that class but since they both practice rather a lot and were shooting rifles worth ten times what mine cost I was quite surprised to only be a couple of points behind them. DD1 meanwhile had an abysmal day points wise but thoroughly enjoyed herself anyway. Managed to get rather sunburnt despite wearing factor 25 on every visible bit of skin, it was hellishly windy.

A combination of our late arrival home and a windswept garden meant I avoided doing any painting yesterday. Have to get it all done this morning ready to fit the hinges and locks so that it can be taken in to school tomorrow.

OH went to bed v. early since he had a 4am start today. The DDs and I spent the evening on the Wii. Had another go at Zumba, this time as a multiplayer game with a mobile furry assault course. Found it far easier to use the wiimotes without the belt. The scores seemed to be about the same. It seems there are only two basic 20 minute beginners routines regardless of whether you select the multiplayer, class or party options. After that its either tackle a 45 minute class or an intermediate level one or brave the expert level. There are other things to unlock but have yet to discover whether these are time or score based. Have turned off the irritating yank who exclaims "you go girl" at random intervals. Also removed the countdown timer, seems to make it a little more fun. Seem to be getting the hang of having my feet in three different places at once but, whilst the instructor looks almost sexy, DD1 and I look like two sweaty unco-ordinated people trying not to trip up over their own feet. Its as energetic as you make it. DD1 is happy to shuffle from side to side whilst I'm leaping up and down like a woman in need of an exorcism. Considering I zumba-d for about two hours yesterday I don't ache at all although muscles do feel a little tighter than normal. Am now debating whether to try the intermediate routine or to up the skill level to medium... I have a feeling both options require more co-ordination than I possess. Am enjoying it more than I would an ordinary aerobics class purely because theres no sit-ups or stomach crunches involved.

Washing machine is already on. Really need to do some housework but I'm finding any and every excuse not to bother. Keep trying to convince myself it will be so much quicker to do it when the DDs are back at school.

Need to get round to planting DD2s seeds although this will then mean remembering to water them on a daily basis. Will be worth it to have fresh veg over the summer.

moo2moo

Spent the morning attempting to de-louse the hound from hell who behaved adoringly by leaping into the bath and sitting v. nicely until the water was turned on at which point she went radio rental. After several laps of the bathroom we managed to get her wet enough to add flea shampoo which we'd ingeneously pre-mixed in a bucket simply because it makes the flea shampoo go an awful lot further and is far easier to apply or so we thought. Turns out the hound from hell likes the smell of the stuff and the taste of it and expended far too much energy doing donuts round the bucket trying to drink the contents.

Eventually abandoned all hopes of achieving the flea bath in the bath or the shower and opted just to pour the shampoo over the dog whenever she came close enough to do so. Am most grateful that the bathroom floor is tiled and we'd covered it in large towels to prevent the hound slipping. As it was the towels absorbed the worst of the mess. Obviously having drenched the dog in flea shampoo one then has to rinse off the surplus which is far easier said than done when faced with 45kg of dog who will not stay still and is leaping up and down in excitement treating the toilet, bidet and the smaller assistants as obstacles on a very small assault course. Decided at this point that the safest thing to do was to exit the house v. rapidly and hose the hound off in the garden hoping that she didn't leap in the pond before we'd done this becasue flea shampoo is liable to be toxic to fish.

It would be prudent at this point to point out that in anticipation of getting rather wet the DDs and I usually wear v. little to bathe the dog simply because it cuts down on laundry.... anyhow living in a rather remote location this isn't usually cause for concern... note the usually.... got the dog outside and applied hosepipe turning this into a giant game. The hound decided it was fun to hide behind me and DD2 had no qualms whatsoever about jetting me with the hose as well, turning what little I was wearing see through. At this point the helpful chap from next door materialised in the middle of the carnage with a mower box full of grass clippings for the chickens. Wonder what he'll tell his wife or more to the point if he'll tell his wife.... perhaps something along the lies of "honey, I gatecrashed next doors impromptu wet t-shirt contest".

Off to do lots and lots and lots of laundry since almost every towel we own is now rather soggy.

moo2moo

After much painting and even more sanding OHs box is nearing completion. Just the small matter of finding a couple more screws for the hinges and fitting the lock and the ski runners and whatever else hes dreamt up over night. Am not entirely sure my boss will be impressed with the £80 bill hes racked up in the process purely for materials which is ridiculous considering I've scavenged as many bits as I have. Hes planning to drop it at school later today and then continue building log store #2. Wish he'd get enthusiastic about project landie which hasn't see the light of day for months.

Need to remember to raid the shed for tooling before departing for work. Have a list of things to do requiring spanners but have a distinct shortage of spanners with which to perform them. Forgot to book the DDs into childcare so will be doing things outdoors and other random things which mean I can keep an eye on them. Unfortunately this means leaving the dismantling of the loos to the very last minute which is most definately not the greatest idea ever especially because its guaranteed they'll be a pain in the bum to do. Am really not looking forward to them which is why I've left them sooooo long. Sadly its not something I can avoid any longer.

Spent yesterday weeding the fruit patch. Need to evict several hundred strawberry runners although will wait until they've fruited since I've nothing to replace them with. Seems a bit daft to get rid of them when they're reducing the amount of ground available for weeds to grow but they've rather taken over and are occupying a 3m square patch of ground which could be put to many other uses. Continued on to weed the veggie patches and got rather too excited when I discovered tiny leaves from the potato plants erupting through the earth. Considering it hasn't rained for weeks I'm amazed they've appeared this quickly. Didn't get round to sowing DD2s seeds, time flew by far too quickly.

Bank accounts are teetering precariously on the verge of dipping into the red. Will need to be extra careful not to get acarried away in the next two weeks until payday. Hoping I'll be able to reclaim my expenses in cash whch will cover all my anticipated outgoings. Will need to be super careful next month too as I've racked up a few too many things on the credit card resulting in a large bill in the not too distant future. Will also have childcare to pay since the DDs are on holiday again in a little under 3 weeks time. Can safely assume that will set me back £150 but hopefully mostly at the riding school since the DDs enjoy that far more than the holiday club at school.

moo2moo

So much for being frugalistic. Have spent £24 on chicken feed which will hopefully last until this time next month.

Amazed myself by dismantling and rebuilding two toilets with minimal flooding. Admittedly one loo did take three attempts before it stopped leaking but I'm clearly getting better... guess I should be really with all the practice I've had.

Planning to spend the afternoon in the garden in the hopes of transforming it from building site to green and tranquil oasis in super swift time. First job on the agenda is poopa scooping. Oh joy. Still its preferable to eradicating nettles which I did yesterday.

First lunch beckons and with it several more chapters of a very dubious book with surprisingly little plot linking the very graphic adult scenes. Its truly awful but also strangely compelling.

Noticing more yo-yoing of Kindle e-book prices. The freebies I finished last week are now all in excess of £3. Will be making a point of checking the top 100 freebies on a weekly basis and downloading anything and everything that vaguely appeals. Perhaps this is why my unread Kindle titles now span 8 pages.

Flee_2

Good luck moo2moo, sounds like you have a busy day planned.

Wordsmith

moo2moo wrote: »

First lunch beckons ...

You have more than one lunch yet still have no hips?