Further financial faux pas and even more disasterous decisions

moo2moo

Went to view the hovel yesterday. Field is fab. Property is not. It comes with a wonderful clause which requires the place to be revalued a decade after purchase and 50% of the difference in value to be handed over to the seller. A great reply from the council means it will be subject to either business council tax or domestic council tax if the building is used at all. Everything about it says stay away. The number of builders vans at the open day indicates its going to sell for silly money to a developer so we don't stand a chance anyway but just in case we're debating putting in a lower than rock bottom offer on the basis that you never know. Am not holding out any hope at all especially as its being sold by sealed bid.

Spent the entire day on the drive very carefully removing the various floor supports only to discover the floor is moth eaten and needs replacing too. Was planning to cut a new one from a sheet of alumninium but it appears that both the sheets we have are too small. Still £80 for another sheet is considerably cheaper than £350 for one the right shape with holes in the right place. At least we have the original one to use as a template. Managed to pinch the heel of my hand so have a lovely blood blister.

Was serenaded by DD2 on the electonic keyboard after a mere hours practice armed only with a book of recorder music. Will be returning the keyboard to the deepest darkest corner of the most distant cupboard at the earliest opportunity. Must remember to send it back to my dads with her next time they go so Granny and Gramps can enjoy the experience too.

Ventured up the road with DD1 to the horrible junction and made her cross half a dozen times which was made most difficult by the lack of traffic. She seems a bit happier but will need to kick her out of bed over the hols in time for rush hour, thats when multiple tractors and the odd car all converge at the junction at once, in the hopes that she gets used to crossing with traffic around. She was feeling much happier though.

Rummaged around in the jewellery box and tried on tiaras and bracelets and huge diamante neck collars before persuading her to go for some very demure single pearl drops and a matching necklace. She looks far too grown up.

Am starting today by dismantling the scaffolding occupying the hall floor in time for this mornings 9am assembly. The key to this is having a full contingent of male teachers on site in time to take it apart. Also have to remeber to escape in time to be at the torture chamber for my quarterly dental clean which means remembering to floss this morning or face the wrath of attilla the hygienist. Need to get chicken feed and milk whilst I'm out. Could also do with picking up garlic and cider vinegar too although that means quite a detour. May well see if one of the mums from school is heading to the big smoke and can pick mme some up.

Think today is the only day I don't have a very late night at school. Will be making the most of it. Have shed loads of washing to do but have to hang it even further into the garden now that the field next door is full of cows. They're worse than goats for attempting to eat everything in sight.

chevalier

bah to the hovel. It seems to good to be true and all that.

good luck with the scaffolding
chev

moo2moo

Scaffolding was far easier to take down than it was to put up. Duly left it out for collection only the builders didn't show up so had to bring it all back inside again to prevent it being nicked overnight.

Seemed to spend the day running round like a headless chicken flitting from one thing to the next. Managed to get a heck of a lot done though. Remebered to buy chicken feed and doggy chow, detoured for milk and baccy becomming sidetracked by ruby grapefruit which I figured would make a fab marmalade. Was tortured at the dentist who has referred me for oral surgery. Oh joy. Apparently if I have my gums cosmetically altered it will make cleaning my teeth easier. Clearly shes having a giraffe. Decided against forking out £150 for a consultation since I can delay this quite considerably by opting to join the 2 year NHS waiting list. Got three loads of washing done and dried. Still have at least three more loads to go and then finished the day with a huge batch of rhubarb and strawberry jam which I ate on thick buttery toast whilst it was still hot. V. scrummy. Pootled outdoors and wedged the last of last weekends hedge prunings into the wheelie bin ready for collection today. Also dug up another batch of spuds and planted out the last of the courgette like things. Looks like the first few plants that went in have fruit on already.

Need to dig out a recipe for grapefruit marmalade which does not involve boiling whole grapefruits for several hours before chopping. Tis far too time consuming. I'm too impatient for all that.

Also need to wash the kitchen floor thanks to the cats bringing in an array of dead things to chow on during the night. Whilst I'm at it the entire kitchen is mega grotty and could do with hosing down. Further plans for the day involve slapping some stewing steak in the slow cooker which is truly awful planning on my part as I intend to use the same slow cooker to make jam. Will see if I can cram the meat in the smaller slow cooker.

Further plans for the day involve being stuck at work until 9pm with an end of year drama performance. Its the first of many late night events this week. Also need to chase up the muppet who reviewed and ammended the holiday club cleaning rota so it looks pretty on paper but means the toilets will sit festering for a week at the end of August and similarly every weekend and has also put me down to clean on the only day I said I couldn't do having already arranged for someone else to cover it. Why do other people always interfere in these things? On the brightside the payment has gone up again to a tenner a session which is most excellent. Means I'm doing half the work I did last year for almost the same money.

DD1 is practising getting up ready for high school which meant she was ready early yesterday. Now shes proven she can do it she'll be to drag out of bed at the last possible moment today. Am busy tracking down assorted reading books and text books and library books which need to be returned to school by the end of the week. Need to get the DDs to make thank you cards for their teachers too. Its going to be a very mad week.

moo2moo

Yesterday was a veritable whirlwind of activity. Managed to get tons done, mostly because I was keeping within stiring distance of a cauldron of marmalade which is a great way of focusing your attention on the sort of chores that can be done in two minute bursts. All the ironing is done and the washing mountain folded and banished to the daughters rooms where it was later discovered dumped on the floor. Did explode rather spectacularly which resulted in them refolding it and then vacuuming their rooms.

Found a recipe for grapefruit marmalade. Spent an hour doing the prep and an hour cooking it at which point it was nothing like the thick liquid the recipe claimed. Tested it for set and made the mistake of licking the spoon. Mouthpuckeringly vile. Added another half kilo of sugar which sorted out both taste and set. Now have six jars of that to add to the stash. Need to label it at some point today.

Sold another couple of things on Amazon which means £6 is wingin its way towards me. OH meanwhile has blown another £ 190 on landie bits. Am beginning to think it would have been cheaper to walk into a main dealers and buy a shiny new one. Still its keeping him out of my hair. Did managed to find a piece of sheet metal for the floor which saves forking out for that.

Plans for today involve yet more housework in the hopes of finally getting on top of it just as the DDs finish school for the holidays and it all goes Pete Tong. The list of stuff needed for high school is growing by the day. Think the £200 I was expecting to spend is going to be woefully inadequate. C'est la vie.

DD1s prom is this evening. Dress is ready, jewellery dug out and shes under strict instructions not to atempt to do her own nailvarnish or makeup. Whether leaving OH to help her with it is a good move remains to be seen. It can't be any worse than me having a go. I wouldn't know where to start. I have to run away and snigger when I see the mutilated mums on the playground who have ripped out their own eyebrows and drawn comedy lines half an inch higher. Whats that all about?

moo2moo

Having an eek moment. Went to rummage about in the freezer for something for dinner and discovered we're on our last bag of frozen veg. All that remains is bread, sausages and ice cream. At a guess theres about a weeks worth of meat in there and then its empty. I guess this means the first week of the school hols will be spent defrosting both freezers followed by a mahoosive shopping trip to stock up. Am slowly running out of everything which was the general idea. Have even stopped buying canned food for the animals as an occassional treat which has freed up no end of cupboard space and cut the food bill quite dramatically as well. Not as dramatically as I'd like but its a start.

I'm hoping that only working mornings over the summer will allow me to cook more meaning fewer pasta bakes and expensive jars of sauce. May even go as far as meal planning.

Am vaguely wondering if we can be sub 5K by Christmas although at OHs current rate of expenditure on all things landrover this is extremely unlikely. Still its another goalpost to aim for and 5K is a reasonable figure especially given that Christmas is 164 days and six pay days away.

Off to weigh and label jams whilst avoiding all the things that need doing.

catspaw

oh god, Christmas....hadn't thought that far yet.

Suddenly realised my step dad is currently fixing/builidng/destroying 3 landdies at various stages, if there's anything you are missing let me know and I will find the best/cheapest place for you if I can.

moo2moo

How long is a piece of string? The list of missing or substandard bits grows daily. Think the biggest headache at the mo. is the passenger wing. OHs is dire, yet every other one we've seen has exactly the same hole thanks to corrossion in the panel which holds the headlight and connects the radiator the the vehicle. Added to that is the minor problem of the holes for the brackets which hold up the inner wing (the wheelarch bit) being the size of tennis balls rather than 5p pieces. A reasonable second hand one is £150 and even that has the start of the same problem. Really don't fancy strippping it back in another five years because of that.

Thanks for the offer though catspaw. At the mo. I have spares winging themselves here from PoleVault (cheaper than vehicle wiring product with the added advantage of personal collection this avoiding card fees and shipping costs), Paddocks and Island 4x4 simply because these were the cheapest places around and offer free shipping too. Still means this weeks landie expenditure is rapidly approaching £400 although hopefully there are enough parts here to keep OH busy for a fortnight although hes swapped his shift to work tonight in the hopes of getting ewight hours in on it today.

Was a bit gobsmacked at yesterdays school disco. had to keep reminding myself they were a bunch of 10 and 11 year old kids.... albeit kids with Iphones and Android phones on Facebook. Does make for an interesting experience though when one of the girls Facebooked her mummy to tell her that someone had been nasty to her. The kid had gone to the extremes of videoing part of this making it woefully out of context before sending mummy the video. Mummy promptly arrived 20 minutes later absolutely livid and spent a v. long time hurling abuse at the head before discovering what had actually happened.

DD1 had a fab time despite her lack of phone, so no Farmville in the corner for her, even the lack of chicken fillets in her non-handmade ballgown didn't seem to matter, nor the manicure that she hadn't had or the lack of an appointment at the hairdressers to have her hair done. In fact as far as DD1 was concerned it was a most excellnet night, one in which she felt like a princess and got to eat unlimited amounts of cake. The ridiculously expensive helium balloon arch was a major hit but only once the kids discovered the teachers impersonating Alvin and the Chipmunks. Finally made it home and into bed at 10pm. Slept like a brick.

moo2moo

Plans for today are a little fluid. They start with the post disco clear up whichreally shouldn't be too bad. Need to empty a cupboard because some poor sucker has volunteered to come in for a day to tidy it. Bet they haven't a clue what they've let themselves in for. May well avoid all things Landie by taking the hairballs to the park although its a bit hot for the old dear, not that she'll like being told that. Did give her a quick walk last night once it had cooled off a bit. Theres me thinking leisurley nocturnal stroll to watch the bats whilst she legged it down the road after a rabbit with me in hot pursuit.

Have just enough cash in my wallet to cover tonights martial arts class. Also need to drop DD1 off at sailing at exactly the same time so will see if theres another parent passing school who can collect her en route. Hopefully I'll get a fairly early night tonight in readiness for tomorrows very late finish. Still need to get the DDs to do something about end of year cards for thier teachers. Stuff from other parents is already arriving in aschool. Clearly they haven't noticed theres a recession on. This years gifts are more extravagent than ever.

makeup

I made some marmalade tonight and it wasn't quite the raging success I was naturally expecting.

My Dad loves marmalade and has some every breakfast so I bought some Sevilles back in Jan to make some. However ran out of time so stuck them in the freezer.

My folks are with me this weekend to help me decorate my flat and so I thought this would be a good thank-you present.

However I clearly didn't stir it enough and it started to burn on the bottom....I'm hoping this just makes it taste a bit caramelised rather than burnt but I'm not a marmalade fan at all so he will just have to try it when he gets here and let me know!

Fingers crossed it sets though, I used both a jam thermometer and 'frozen plates' .......

moo2moo

I'm sure it will taste far better than you expect and muchly better than supermarket slop.

Having another of those ugh mornings. In this case whilst being eternally grateful that OH brought me a cuppa in bed I would have appreciated it more several hours later intot he day rather than 4:30am. Still it did mean I got to lounge in bed reading for quite some time.

Emptied the cupboard in question yesterday to find mouse dropping for the third year in a row. Setting traps and putting down poison only gets you so far when the owner of the cupboard insists on keeping open bags of bird seed and guinea pig food and chocolate on the floor and then cramming so much junk in there that the floor is three foot deep in dross and the door won't shut. Normally I'd clean up the droppings but this time I left 'em to it. Fortunately their girliness won and rather than touch anything they simply lobbed it in bin bags and chucked it. Quite why they couldn't have done that instead of lobbing it through the door of the cupboard in the first place escapes me.

Came home to find OH had mowed the lawn. Am still in a state of shock. Felt a tad guilty so evicted so me of the giant weeds from whence they had sprung. Chooks were v. happy.

Spent the evening sitting in the sun watching DD1 sailing yesterday. T'was most peaceful. DD2 immersed herself in the first Harry Potter book and was still reading whilst in the car and then eating dinner and at 10pm and 10:30pm and again at 11pm when I went to check she was asleep and not reading by torchlight.

Have run out of fruit so will need to shop in the very near future. Almost need to give a tiny amount of thought to leaving gifts from DD1 since there will need to be handed out on tuesday. Will not be giving hampers or having boquets delivered from the florist or in the case of one parent arranging for a full valet on a car to be performed whilst the teacher in question has a four course meal at a v. upmarket local restaurant.

Am also v. aware that I have three more days before school finishes and the DDs are home for the holidays. OH is underfoot on two of those days which means today is my last day of solitude until September. Would like to say I'll make the most of it but I fear it will be spent degrotting bathrooms.