Further financial faux pas and even more disasterous decisions

moo2moo

Back to normality with a bump then.

Went to school to lock up and had a major shock. When I handed over the pale turquoise gloss paint we have in the main corridors so that it could be colour matched for the purposes of touching up I didn't expect this to be liberally applied to the new rooms as well where it clashes wonderfully with the baby blue walls and the toilet panels and just about everything else in the room. Will be hiding when the boss sees it on Monday. Its ghastly.

Have purchased a pair of Crocs from Flea-bay for my step-mums 38th 21st birthday so thats one thing les to worry about forgetting. Otherwise its been a pretty uneventful day.

Project Baabara moved a step closer when I briefly aquired a ewe and two lambs. Shooed them back down the drive and into the field from which they had escaped and plugged the gap in the hedge. I'll never make a decent sheep rustler. Need to wait until I have a field before I start sheep-napping for real.

moo2moo

Was supposed to be at DDs club day for 6:30 this morning but overslept a tad finally waking at 10am. Haven't slept that late in years. DD2 had been up for hours or at least she'd made the sort of mess that takes several hours to make thus implying she'd either been very busy or she'd been up a while. Either is possible.

Spent the morning gardening instead. Removed a huge clump of nettles exposing a burrow with evidence of a sheeps wool nest. Inserted hose pipe and had a major heart attck when several thousand grey bedraggled things started swarming towards me. Turned out to be four very wet baby rabbits. Very chuffing scary though. No sign of mum so did the most humane thing we could and used the ones that were trapped for target practice. DD1 is now suffering the emotional roller coaster that is elation that she shot her first ever rabbit coupled with being very upset that it was necessary to do this, but since we'd destroyed their nest they wouldn't survive very long with the number of feral cats that are around.

Garden is now much tidier. Not as tidy as I'd like but its a start.

OH seems to be over the worst of the major withdrawl symptoms or they've reached a tolerable plateau for the moment.

makeup

Hi Moo,

Nothing to add but just thinking of you and wishing you the best.

Big hugs

xx

moo2moo

Had another completely undisturbed nights sleep. Didn't keep randomly waking up to check whether OH was still breathing so feeling tons better again today. OH clearly isn't. He's looking very grey and clammy. Hopefully things will improve. Assume the first ten days will be the worse. He appears to be substituting fags and chocolate biccies for the plonk, still at least hes managing. Three days so far is the longest hes been dry in well over 18 months. No sign of him actually going to an AA meeting as yet, I guess hes hoping he can do this on his own without having to admit it to a bunch of strangers.

Spent £17 on an emergency clothes shopping trip yesterday. DD1 has doubled around the waist and was down to a single pair of trousers that didn't dig in around the waistband. Four new pairs later she should have enough for next weeks school trip. Get the feeling we'll be needing a mega clothes shop before the school hols though.

Have arranged for my step-mums Crocs to be posted direct to her tomorrow so they'll arrive in plenty of time for her birthday. Just need to remeber to stick a card in the post and I'm sorted.

Today is the last day of the school hols. Officially its a teacher training day but the teachers are all in high school so I have to place to myself. Need to eradicate all traces of builders but have six or so hours to do that which should be plenty.

Still need to persuade DD1 to do her homework although she is resisting. Her powers of work avoidance are quite astounding. May need to resort to threatening her with the loss of her DS for the week if its not done by lunchtime.

Plans for the remainder of the day extend as far as housework and a spot more gardening. Need to repair a couple of holes in the fence where the chicken wire has corroded away then it might be possible to plant some veggies without risk of them being eaten as the seedling stage.

moo2moo

Have finally updated my spending diary. Its not as bad as I expected although thats entirely down to me cancelling the coal delivery until next winter saving us £100 ish a month. Fingers crossed we don't get any more unexpected cold snaps. Total spend to date £435.69. Will need to get go-go juice for the car v. shortly, will also need to investigate the latest clunky noise. Bah.

Eager_Elephant

Woo Hoo!!!

DH has finally moved the bin bag of cat litter and put it in the bin. I have read back and I can confirm that it has been sitting in the utility room for 13 days (since 29/3)!!

However...............he also cleaned out the trays again and the bin bag of cat litter is now sitting outside the back door!! Wonder how long that will take to be moved!

The jeans are still at the bottom of the stairs although he has mentioned that he has a severe lack of jeans - ummm that will be because you leave the dirty one's all over the house!! He did however put 3 pairs of jeans in the wash bin, he obviously realised I was serious when I said I wouldn't wash things unless they were in the washing baskets!!

EE

moo2moo

Blimey. Sounds like you're finally getting through to him EE.

Meanwhile I have a very hormonally imbalanced 10 year old on my hands. DD1 is currently sobbing in her bedroom after the traumatic experience that is the lid popping off the Smarties inside the shopping bag. Life as we know it is over.

Its confession time. I merely nipped into the Co-op on the way home to purchase milk. With the offspring in tow that was always going to involve a treat and a quick mooch through the whoopsie counter. £18.08p later we left with four heaving bags. I got a little carried away. Succumbed to the delights of half price whole chickens (roast dinner tomorrow and two more for the freezer), several packs of ridiculously cheap aberdeen angus beef cubes (£1.39 from £4) and two packs of meatballs (DD2s favourite) plus bargaintastic 69p milk, 4l of coke for OH (normally on the list of banned substances) and a Cadburys Flake for me. Admitedly the flake was an impulse purchase but only because the original bill was £19.48 and I had a £2 off a £20 spend. Needs must and all that.

Turns out the panic inducing turquoise paint was merely undercoat and the actual paint is much nicer. Rather glad that I discovered that before the boss saw it.

mooomin

If it's one of the promo Flakes you might win a Benefit lipgloss from it, thus saving you more money

moo2moo

I followed similar logic in the shop but failed to win anything. Should really have bought spuds to go with the roast chicken.

moo2moo

Another dry night, another great kip and OH is transforming into a reasonable person which is even more astounding.

Yesterday was a teacher training day albeit one with a visit from the Health and Saftey inspector which I'd completely forgotten about. Left way before he was due to arrive so as not to bump into him with the DDs in tow. In theory he was there to see the builders but still didn't want to chance it. Was planning to return to sschool shortly after lunch but was having far too much fun in the garden for that.

Made an early dinner for the DDs and OH an left when it hit the table having issued lots of instructions about baths and the tracking down of all essential things needed for school tomorrow. Promised OH I'd pick up money on the way home as well as a coupe of other things. Eventually got home at 8pm. Normally this would have resulted in lots of hurumphing and what time do you call this and the whole abandoned husband routine. With the DDs running amok and the washing still on the line, plates on the table and everything else pretty much as I'd left it.

Instead I walked in and he made me a cuppa. The DDs were upstairs in PJs sitting on the windowsill watching cows through binoculars, table was cleared and the washing had been brought in but best of all he was sitting happily watching a documentary on cheese munching away on bickies. Normally at 8pm he'd have whacked the volume up on the stero and tortured the world with Chas n Dave. The alternative reality is bliss. He seems to have ditched his afternoon nap too and is now going to bed at a sensible hour and sleeping during the night which makes an enormous difference to family life.

It seems strange that so many small things have happened so rapidly to make life more pleasant for everyone. OH still seems to be suffering the shakes and random sweats but they're diminishing in both frequency and severity.