Further financial faux pas and even more disasterous decisions

moo2moo

Got a lovely letter from the people of Pet Plan confirming that my claim had been paid in full to the vet, only it hasn't, they've paid the first vet and completely ignored the second. Apparently writing a letter to explain the complexities of everything isn't enough, nor was sending the invoices. Instead I have to go back to vet #2 and get them to fill out another claim form to send with the same invoices in the hopes of them coughing up the extra £50. There are days when I really hate paperwork and jobsworths.

Rather bizarely I go complimented yesterday. Having set up for a conference of 80 delegates around a quarter of them tracked me down because my conference hosting abiilities are wonderful... oh if only... actually it was because the ladies loos are stocked with squishy toilet roll, nice tissues and very posh handcream. The boss was equally bemused by this and regaled us with tales of women in heels and business suits skipping down the corridor and sending other delegates up the corridor to see the wonders for themselves. That coupled with the vast array of biscuits selcted from our combined vast knowledge of the nicest value biscuits in town means we now get to host a lot more of these things. Oh joy! Am hoping the cash they donate will be invested in some folding tables to save having to borrow them from the local community centres everytime we host a big function which is currently once a fortnight.

Seem to have racked up lots of hours this week meaning I can run away super early today which is probably just as well since its the last day of school. The DDs are super excited about going camping despite the weather forecast being dire. I menawhile have lots and lots and lots of plans ranging from Wii Zumba-ing to jam making and a top to bottom woardrobe clear out and clean. Am hopeful that in completely emptying it, without the pressure to have it all sorted by bedtime, I can get rid of a whole lot more stuff. Need to persuade OH that hes never going to fit into his many 1980s suits again, that alone should make tons of space. Further plans involve spending nothing whatsoever between the start and the end of the school holidays with the exception of £8 for the DDs martial arts class. Hopefully that will go a very long way to sorting my finances out again. Am excluding all Country Market related spends since I need to invest in myself in order to start earning. Am anticipating blowing £15-£20 on jar lids today, £30 on a hygiene course, £5-£10 on food grade presentation bags for abaking and a further £5 on labels and invoice pads on the day of the market. It sounds a lot written down but I'm hopeful I can recoup a chunk of that at my first official market at the end of the holidays. I have enough ingredients to do a serious amount of baking and jam making which should free up a large amount of cupbard space and reduce the ingredient stockpile quite considerably. Will be attempting to use up all the baking ingredients in the cupboard in order to start over with a completly fresh stock.

Also need to sit down and document what I've spent so far. What I've made and what sells. That way I don't plough my energies into stuff that no-one buys.

Hopefully that should keep me out of mischief for the majority of the holiday.

Wordsmith

I say, missus, you're being very productive. Good luck with the markets. And yes, you are quite right to invest in yourself. Enjoy your weekend. Let's hope the camping doesn't get rained off and your plans for blissful aloneness are thwarted.

moo2moo

I doubt even a monsoon of biblical proportions could deter the younger campers. They've packed wellies and waterproof trousers and appear to be prepared for just about anything.

Have aquired jam jar lids. Was a bit too excited at the humungous oak beams in the 15th century kitchen complete with aga and huge oak table and completely forgot to check the invoice. There are a couple of errors on it but nothing huge and since I stayed for a cuppa and home made scones hot from the aga slathered in fresh honey I'm shouldn't really complain. All in all its a 40 mile round trip which took a little over an hour and a half (including scone break) with the car averaging 60 mpg it cost £4 in fuel which is a quarter of what I'd have been charged for postage plus it gave the car a long run which stopped the squeal from the corrosion on the brakes.

I now have all the things I need to get up and running. Need to make sure I don't take any more than 3 jars of the same thing, apart from marmalade, so as not to put noses out of joint or bore the consumers.

Plans for the mammoth jam making session are as follows:

Onion chutney (but not for sale until August)
Apricot jam (some plain, some with something added... quite what I've yet to decide)
Marmalade with brandy
Marmalade with whisky
and whatever else takes my fancy and happens to be in the cupboards in plentiful supply.

Am also debating what if anything I can make with melon thats vaguely appetising since thats Lidls offer of the week. Although that would mean breaking my no spend pledge before I've even started.

But before then I have a whole load of housework to do starting with the leaning tower of laundry. Oh joy!

moo2moo

Demolished the leaning tower of laundry although later discovered mini towers dumped on the DDs bewdroom floors. Have reminded them that they will not be going anywhere until their rooms are tidy and their holiday homework is completed which resulted in much rummaging in school bags and the production of a book report and a lot of maths plus half a rain forests worth of letters, mostly demanding money for one thing or another. Apparently over the next week I am to source and wash unwanted teddy bears and rummage through cupboards for donations of alcohol and assorted other items for the school fayre. I am also expected to sell 50 raffle tickets, school uniform (although quite why DD1 has a letter when she leaves in 6 weeks is a bit of a mystery) and then I have an endless deluge of eisteddfod paperwork since the entire school is descending upon the international one for a day with a suggested spending allowance of £10 per child plus bus fare and entrance money.

More scary is the bogof offer for the national Eisteddfod then highlight of which is a gala concert featuring the "star" (in the loosest sense of the word) of the Go COmpare adverts. Crivens. The opening concert features some well known Welsh songs, somehow I doubt that will involve any of the ones I know lyrics to. I can't see the welsh tenors on stage yelling Mae n'amser cinio yum yum yum which always seems most popular at the KS1 Eisteddfod especially when accompanied by the obligatory water pistol or better still Heno heno which goes something like this only usually at three times the speed with lots of actions. Either way it means more trips out for me and much crash revison of the Welsh National Anthem since thats sung en masse. Have to say I'm looking forward to the KS1 Eisteddfod far more even though its a much lower budget affair its always fabulous fun although I'll have a sore throat for a couple of days afterwards.

Have to admit I'm rather tempted to splurge on tickets to Maes B to see Yr Ods (who played Radio Ones big weekend 2010), Sibrydion, Cowbois Rhos Botwynnog and The Racehorses although I'd need to do a lot of homework first! It would certainly make learning Welsh considerably more fun. I can live without the Welsh techno tent though. I fear that would be an assualt on the senses. I must be getting old.

Had allsorts of things planned for this morning but am rapidly running out of time already and have yet to do anything. Makes a change to running round like a loon. Off for more caffeine a spot of novel immersion befoer commencing my assault on the day.

MrsMoo2U

I am working at the Yr Urdd Eisteddfod, the International Eisteddfod and the National Eisteddfod. Two of which are in your area so who knows we might bump into each other. I will be on a big bus.............. lots of activities for kids.

moo2moo

Mmm wonder if I can persuade the boss to let me detour in your direction once we hit the field. Are you camping? or hoteling at works expense or heading home every day or would you like moo friendly accomodation for the duration of the national (we're a bit far from the international unless you like traffic jams)?

moo2moo

Its now a smidgen over 24 hours to departure upon the epic adventure of the year. The dining room is heaving with gear. The bike racks are on the car with the plan being to attach the bikes when OH gets home from work. At this point theres no real reason why they can't load up and head off today if OH finishes early which is precisely what the DDs are hoping, especially since he made the mistake of telling them they had lots of extra food packed. They are unbelievably excited to the point that they were still running up and down stairs adding essential last minute things to the pile. OHs minimalistic hopes are now accompanied by an array of stuffed monkeys, the odd bear and a wooden snake not to mention the Uno cards (OH loathes uno) and a traditional deck of cards. Did manage to persuade them that Monopoly was liable to blow away even though it would be a great way of filling time in the evenings. I think its been replaced by Upwords which is like three dimensional scrabble and is a nightmare to play with children who like to improvise on the spelling of words to suit the letters they have available and who are liable to claim that the word in question is correctly spelt in Welsh.

Need to lob a packet of geriatric bread mix in the bread machine. Tis most definately not MSE but it will last considerably longer than a sliced loaf and it will clear another packet out of the cupboard. Next on the agenda is locating the bike locks and the panniers and the saddle bags and the bike pump, adding pillows to the pile and putting phones on to charge.

Whilst I'm doing that I'm going to chuck a load of boring brown onions in the blender and have another go at Onion Marmalade although this time with much smaller jars. Hopefully this will reduce the contents of the fridge sufficiently to allow me to clean and defrost one fridge freezer meaning I can do the other one tomorrow. Such fun things I have planned. Thought I'd have another attempt at blitzing the kitchen in the hopes of achieving one that is not permanantly covered in crap.

Potatoes seem to be enjoying the wet weather, hopefully they'll start to flower in another week or so which will allow me to lift a few plants and put some courgettes in their place. Also need to take a hosepipe down the garden and flood the rat hole thats appeared in the middle of the strawberry bed, not that I intentionally have a strawberry bed but they seem to have taken over the fruit patch.

moo2moo

Kitchen is a bigger tip than normal. Six more jars of onion marmalade are cooling in the cupboard. THe draining board is full of clean washing up, the sink is full of stuff yet to be tackled. The worktops are covered in the stuff that lives in the fridge but doesn't actually need to be refrigerated and the big freezer is crammed choc full of stuff from the little freezer with an array of stuff that didn't fit defrosting on the worktop or dinner tonight and tomorrow. Sadly this means apple crumble for dinner. To add to the carnage the various fridge and freezer shelves and drawers are also occupying worktop space and whilst I wait for the glaciers to melt I've started emptying a cupboard too. Lob in a bread machine and two children randomly making toast and you get some vague idea of the disarray. Need to put some of it back in order to make lunch but thats a whole two hours away. Am tempted to avoid it all by walking the dogs before the heavens open.

ebayqueen_2

Hi Moo
You do so much I dont know where you get the energy. Am still enjoying reading your posts and always check in first thing ... you seem to be most times up before me.
All the best with your break and your future enterprise.
Take care
E

moo2moo

I don't know where I get the energy from either. I suffer from a classic case of it seemed like a good idea at the time syndrome.

Fridge and freezer are now reconstructed and back on. Stuff that lives in there because there isn't space for it anywhere else is also off the worktop. The first cupboard is clean with the stuff neatly put away, seem to have a bit more space in there too, although discovered I still have two packs of filter coffee from the previous milenium. Keep getting caught with showers so have given in and bunged some stuff in the tumble drier. Bathroom floor is still liberally strewn with dirty laundry, perhaps I should't have insited the DDs tidied before departing.

Off to chuck a lump of dead pig in the oven for dinner before figuring out what to do next. Collapsing in a heap is strangely appealing although I could do with bunging the contents of the dining room into the back of OHs car first.