Further financial faux pas and even more disasterous decisions

moo2moo

Thats a very long way indeed. Fingers crossed you get some 100 pointers otherwise you're looking at six months to payout.

Meanwhile I finally evicted a few jumpers from the wardrobe of doom. Gone are the faded black thing and the hideous turd coloured monstrosity emblazoned with the long since demised Sweater Shop logo. Gone too are some of OHs mankier work jumpers quite why they've gone to gillets is beyond me. Imagine several short dumpy blokes with moobs and beer bellies wearing skin tight clingy sleeverless jumpers which serve only to highlight just how overweight they all are. Tis the male equivalent of a muffin top in the hideous clothing contest. Bonus being the jumpers now all fit on the shelf. So what if the only reason they're staying there is because they're wedged in between the shelf and the ceiling. At least its a start. Keep finding myself putting stuff back because I might eventually wear it or worse still its about to come back into fashion again.

OH has gone shopping. Not entirely sure that was the wisest descision in the world but its given him something to do other than killing Germans and Rag Heads on vetran level. Apparently this is quite an impressive feat. Its taken several gazillion hours of playing the same game over and over and over and over again to achieve such a thing. Wonder if he'll be quite as tollerant now that Just Dance has arrived.

moo2moo

Life went on hold whilst we danced the night away. The DDs had a fab time with only a few minor technical glitches like DD2 scoring twice as many points as DD1 by leaping around like a lunatic with zero co-ordination whilst DD1 was attempting to follow the fastest most complicated dance routine ever. OH was rolling round on the sofa with tears in his eyes at the three of us attempting a choreographed routine and failing miserably. Had a fab evening. More surprisingly I don't ache at all this morning although several muscle groups were complaining at lack of use yesterday.

Fed granny and gramps whoopsied mince in the form of a bologneise whilst the DDs had whoopsied meatballs. Granny kept going on and on about how tasty it all was. Well yeah, thats what happens when its not low calories quorn, still the puddle of fat it was sloshing around in was enough to put me off buying beef mince again, no matter how cheap it is.

OH has departed for his course leaving me with two ridiculously manic days but two evenings of blissful peace, assuming the DDs can be persuaded to go to bed and stay there. In theory I need to start organising stuff for our holidays but am tempted to leave that until his return so that I don't need to spend weeks on end tripping up over packed bags. So with that in my my plans are thus:

By his return I will have achieved the following:

• Four hours of housework
• Twelve hours at paid work
• One hours evening overtime at holiday club
• Three hours of dog walking
• One hour at puppy school
• One hundred items in the bin / recycling / charity shop pile
• A reduction in kiddie videos by ten items leaving only those that they actually watch
• Fifty stray items placed in actual homes rather than on window sils, desks and the top of the microwave purely beacuse they were convenient locations in which to dump them
• The decarping of two kitchen cupboards
• Mammoth clear out of my t-shirt drawers.... far too many holey faded mankey rancid bleach splattered things hiding in there
• Change of bedding in the master boudoir - fresh sheets just for me because I am worth it god damn it
• More importantly I will be in bed by 10pm each and every night even if I read for an hour
• I will locate the bottom of the laundry basket (extra easy as Granny has washed and ironed everything the DDs have worn since Friday). Four loads should do it.
• I will also eradicate anything that needs ironing so that on OHs return home the armchair used soley for the storing of laundry is no more.... wonder if I can wedge it in the car and dump it at the tip without him missing it.... probably not.... perhaps I can persaude him it needs to go though

But before all that I need a cuppa and then I need to awaken my slumbering offspring if I stand anychance of getting out of the door on time this morning.

moo2moo

Have snuck home from work for a long lunch to walk the hairballs. Did intend hanging the washing out but its persistantly pouring so have bunged it on the airer instead. Note to self: should have bought replacement airer as intended as this one is like the leaning tower of Pisa.

First load of laundry done. Now comes the problem of drying it without resorting to the tumble drier.

moo2moo

Why does nothing ever go according to plan? Collected the DDs at precisely 5pm and attempted to drive home through a thunderstorm. Windscreen wipers on the car couldn't cope with the deluge mind you it turned out you don't need 'em to sit in a traffic jam. Some accident involving a fuel tanker meant we sat still with the engine off for over an hour going no where. Ran in the door. Stuffed tinned shagetti on toast down the DDs gullets, grabbed the puppy and made it to puppy school with nano seconds to spare. Two hours to do what I'd normally do in 20 minutes. Ordinarily puppy training class lasts 45 minutes but tonight they threw in an extra hour for free.

Its now 9pm and my dinner is cremating slowly under the grill. The DDs are still running around despite needing to be up v. early tomorrow. Haven't achieved a fifth of what I intended to do. Bedding is still wet. At least I got as far as washing it although I've got to make the bed before I can crawl under the duvet. Whilst waiting for dinner I have reduced the DDs video collection to a mere ten films clearning lots of shelf space in the process. T-shirt drawer is tidied and several more t-shirts have been relegated to the fit for decorating in pile. Am making a point of wearing one a day because once they're paint splattered theres no going back.

Feel absolutely kettled, can't actually be bothered eating although I'll wake up ravenous at 3am if I don't. Pants, pants and more pants.

moo2moo

Made it to bed with a couple of minutes to spare. Wasn't tired so decarped the bedside cabinet ruthlessly turfing out fifty random items. Halfway to my target despite them all being v. small things like decade old cheque book stubbs and a pepper pot. Who on earth bungs a pepper pot in their bedside drawer (apart from my OH of course). Take a Break gifted me £2 of free bingo money which got me half a house overnight with whopping holiday spending money winnings, may almost be able to afford lunch out on a very slender shoestring with the £8.29 in question.

Awoke to discover the front garden is a swimming pool, theres a river flowing down the road past the house and the chickens require webbed feet in order to exit their houses. Last nights downpour continued non-stop all night resulting in flash flooding and several dire alerts from the environment agency. At least the new gazillion pound flood defences in the next vilage over seem to be working although its caused bigger problems downstream with several roads impassable. Will be taking the boys toy to work instead of the mobile skip as that has a snorkel fitted for just such an occassion. Must remember to fit a mariogold over a couple of bits under the bonnet first though and check that the breather tubes under the axels are still connected. Ah the joys of living in the countryside. At least we're on top of a bloody great hill so any water is transient unlike those in the valley villages who have a ready stash of sandbags by their doors. I forsee the events of today being rather unpredictable. At least the garden won't need watering . Mopping the school hall for the second time in 24 hours is an entirely real proposition though. The underground drainage couldn't cope with the deluge so it was pouring up through the pipe joints covering a third of the floor an a few minutes. Internal drainpipes carrying waste water from the roof are a v. stupid idea! The building is liberally strewn with them and they all leak.

Helen105

Our school had internal drainpipes, I often wondered which idiot thought they would be a good idea.

moo2moo

As expected the hall was flooded. What I hadn't expected was a flooded classroom, the one belonging to schools messiest teacher and the only person to file everything in piles on the floor *sigh* took me three hours to empty the room in order to suck the worst of the water out of the carpet. Not quite what I had in mind today.

Arrived home just as the funeral procession for a neighbour passed by. My usual legendary timing. 15 minutes earlier and I'd have gone. Five minutes later and no one would have been any the wiser about me being around at the time but not there.

The updated three day plan:

• Four hours of housework.... hmmmmm
  
• Twelve hours at paid work 12 hours done, several more to go
• One hours evening overtime at holiday club this evenings fun
• Three hours of dog walking not even half an hour so far
• One hour at puppy school done and then some
• One hundred items in the bin / recycling / charity shop pile 50 down, 50 to go
• A reduction in kiddie videos by ten items leaving only those that they actually watch oh yes
• Fifty stray items placed in actual homes rather than on window sils, desks and the top of the microwave purely beacuse they were convenient locations in which to dump them this evenings challenge
• The decarping of two kitchen cupboards
• Mammoth clear out of my t-shirt drawers.... far too many holey faded mankey rancid bleach splattered things hiding in there even folded everything neatly and arranged in the most anally retentive of ways
• Change of bedding in the master boudoir - fresh sheets just for me because I am worth it god damn it done but they were slightly damp though
• More importantly I will be in bed by 10pm each and every night even if I read for an hour done...but only just
• I will locate the bottom of the laundry basket (extra easy as Granny has washed and ironed everything the DDs have worn since Friday). Four loads should do it. Two down but I'm no nearer the bottom
• I will also eradicate anything that needs ironing so that on OHs return home the armchair used soley for the storing of laundry is no more.... wonder if I can wedge it in the car and dump it at the tip without him missing it.... probably not.... perhaps I can persaude him it needs to go though Clearly I was inhabiting a different universe when I came up with this little gem

Off to sort my car tax in the hopes of figuring out vaguely how much money I'll have left this month.

Helen105

At least school has broken up so you didn't have kids milling around.

Sounds like you are making [STRIKE]good [/STRIKE] some progress on the home front.

My challenge for tonight is to empty the sock basket and reunite the squillions of socks with their partners :eek: . Who would think it is possible to have so many variations on black socks!

moo2moo

Helen105 wrote: »

At least school has broken up so you didn't have kids milling around.

Aah if only that were true. Instead of the normal hordes I "only" have the contingent from holiday club who pop in and out to use the PCs and the hall and the group of 1:1 care kids and the teachers kids and sometimes even my kids.

Finally made it home at 7:30pm armed with a Gentle Leader which apparently is the miracle dog training gadget guaranteed to transform 200 kg of super excited dog into a placid easy to walk creature who does not want to drag me down the road in hot pursuit of a rabbit / squirrel / child on a bicycle / passing car / horse or even a wind blown leaf. Took it for a test drive tonight and I have to agree it really does work. She was far too busy trying to figure out how to eat the thing to pay any attention to what was going on around her. Whether it actually works remains to be seen but I have it on two weeks free trial anyway.

Had a remarkably productive day despite getting a wee bit side tracked what with mopping flood water and drying out carpets and wot not. Finished painting the first classroom and put half the furniture back in vaguely the right place. Scrubbed the vinyl part of the floor so I can finish putting the furniture back in there next time I'm in which won't be for quite some time. Wish it was that quick and easy to git a room at home. The place would be spotless in a couple of months. As it is things are progressing at snails pace. Have to keep reminding myself that any progress is a good thing and with that in mind I'm going to declutter the microwave once I've finished my cuppa.

Swapped 24 eggs for a jar of marmalade and a jar of chutney. Fridge is still heaving. Need to get shut of another couple of dozen in the next couple of days. Fortunately one of my friends has started up selling homemade edibles at the local farmers market so shes happy to use as many as I can send in her direction in exchange for apple pies and cakes and jams and peg pags, knitted baby booties and pretty much anything else that she has handy.

moo2moo

Helen105 wrote: »

My challenge for tonight is to empty the sock basket and reunite the squillions of socks with their partners :eek: . Who would think it is possible to have so many variations on black socks!

At least black socks remain black. Try pairing several gazillion white socks in three different sizes with an assortment of grass stains, mud stains and general baked in grot. Thats a challenge and one which I'm avoiding by throwing the lot in the bin although they seem to be resisting. Every time I go to do laundry I find more of the things in there. Think the DDs must have a top secret sock breeding programme on the go.