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Learn to control money but do not allow it to control you

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  • Firewalker
    Firewalker Posts: 2,682 Forumite
    Good evening! I am very happy to report that I am feeling better - certainly not falling over any longer and in fact I did manage a 4 mile run today. It was glorious - bright sunny day, about 9C; perfect. I didn't run all the time but alternated running and walking. Still took me only about 44 minutes - which is not bad for a slightly overweight middle aged woman with bad leg and vertigo. Gosh - look at that! Add 'foreign' and the there is hardly a handicap I don't have. Looking positively - I would be OK were I playing golf.

    I took some time off my academic writing and will resume activity on Monday. By then will be tuely into meditating - will have to create a habit of this though which I still have not done.

    All bills were done today and we are not doing too badly - it will probably take next month to recover fully from the expenditure on my leg and glasses and stuff...And when I was 20 I thought it is conpletely unfair that older people earn more. Now I see why. Also, in October we spent quite a bit more on food than we normally do. The ones amongst you who read my blog would know that we did stock up on staple foods; apart from that we bought meat in Costco which is still mostly in the freezer - either uncooked or cooked. Our most expensive food item is cheese - we spend obsene amounts on cheese because we all like it. We eat all possible cheeses - from cheddar through to fetta, goat's, blue, stilton and apricot...you name it.

    Oh, and I received a nice letter from EasyJet informing me that I do not qualify for 250 euro (remember my flight from Copenhagen) but next time I fly with them I can have priority boarding with their compliments (or a bag on the plane). No surprise there but I had to try - I will be breaking my own rules if I don't go after all money that I could possibly go after (and this should have come good but...). Which reminds me that my employer didn't pay me for work done in June again...so I have raised the alarm and now people are on the case. Interestingly, my payslip shows that my monthly take home pay has gone down because of increased pension contributions - not by me, by my employer. Go figure why public organisations are quick to take money away but very slow to pay out...

    Firewalker
  • Ellidee
    Ellidee Posts: 6,216 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    FW and Marru very interesting prog on Radio 4 this morning about the crisis in Greece http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b016g4wr
    Nothing is so fatiguing as the eternal hanging on of an uncompleted task. William James
  • Firewalker
    Firewalker Posts: 2,682 Forumite
    edited 29 October 2011 at 6:55PM
    I love this article - please have a look. It is about how ridiculous the idea of national debt is (something I was saying when mentioned that national debt is actually a political convention). This guy, explains it so well.

    http://www.positivemoney.org.uk/2011/10/reason-suffer-austerity/

    Firewalker
  • Firewalker
    Firewalker Posts: 2,682 Forumite
    Today was devoted to housekeeping activities. I did the accounts for last month yesterday (gosh, I like my spreadsheet and I love the MPBT) and I know that we did pay the car insurance and still there was money left over. Thing is we are still recovering from my middle age maladies – but after this month we should be OK.
    It was an expensive shopping day – we bought about a ton of flour and another one of rice (jasmine wonderful rice from the Chinese shop), more olive oil and of course cheese. We also did the menu for the month (all five weeks of it) and the good news is that we pretty much have everything in the house now (a la MG style) so shouldn’t need to spend more than £30 per week (mainly on fruit, vegetables and cold meats). This may be a proper, low spending month!
    A am also hoping to know by the end of this month whether my overseas collaborator and I have been awarded a grant from a Swedish funder. Remember the paper that I was finishing a week ago that almost killed me? Well, have to say two things about that. First, my colleagues at first came back and said ‘I don’t agree about this and this...’ (she tends to drift into detail when under pressure but it is good because as you know for me detail is an unnecessary distraction). Then couple of days ago, she wrote to say how much she liked the paper – given that she is my severest critic I am quietly optimistic about this funding (it is very exciting research anyway).
    Back to today, after all the shopping we did I decided to cook. Now we have a large bucket of leeks and potato soup and biscuits called ‘cigarillos’. My mum’s recipe:
    One mug of oil (vegetable or sunflower)
    One cup of tepid water
    A bit of yeast (I put one tsp)
    Turkish delight

    Put the yeast in the mug of water and stir. After that I put all liquid (the water and yeast and the oil) in a food processor and give it a twirl. Then put in enough flour for soft(ish) dough. Break a ball of dough (a bit bigger than a tennis ball) and roll into a circle. Cut in eight pieces (triangles which means that you cut across). Put one third of a piece of Turkish delight on the large side of the triangle and roll; and so on. Put in the oven for about 20 min on 180C. Place in a bowl and sprinkle with icing sugar. It is delicious.
    Now off to a bonfire party!
    Have fun people and will speak soon.
    Firewalker
    PS: I wish the negative wealth went down faster!
  • Firewalker
    Firewalker Posts: 2,682 Forumite
    Good morning, guys. I was thinking that today we have an extra hour. What are you going to use it for?

    I'll start.

    I am going to use the extra hour to:

    Translate the receipt from Tokuda hospital and get to the my insurance people (worth a try; it is about £200 I could claim)
    Do my expenses for the Oslo trip
    Read my book.

    Sound very ordinary but reading a novel has become a luxury for me.

    Firewalker
  • greenbee
    greenbee Posts: 17,730 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Glad you're including some time for you FW... I used mine to rest, as I'm very tired as a result of having all these workmen here. I have also had quite a productive day in terms of starting to get the house back to normal, and want to keep going with that.
  • Firewalker
    Firewalker Posts: 2,682 Forumite
    Yeah...I have been thinking about this one, Greenbee. I figure that re-claiming some 'me time' is vital - otherwise I may get where I wish to be but won't be there for long. I count myself lucky though - my leg is feeling much better (still hyrts from time to time0 so I can start moving again and running. On Friday I had a chat with my trainer (the guy we do other things wit a s well, like preparing electronic fitness classes and e-books; training programmes etc.) and he was very stern with me: I have to go back to the gym because even looking at me (after my 4 mile run) he noticed that I am out of alignment. This is because I am trying to protect the 'bad' leg - the thing is to stregthen it.

    You rest and do as much as you can - pushing is counterproductive. When your health is completely recovered we'll have a challenge together. How about that?

    Firewalker
  • Firewalker
    Firewalker Posts: 2,682 Forumite
    Hard to believe, I know, but today I washed the oven. Feeling so proud of myself I could burst.

    Now getting ready for a new week.

    Good night and will speak soon.

    Firewalker
  • greenbee
    greenbee Posts: 17,730 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Firewalker wrote: »
    You rest and do as much as you can - pushing is counterproductive. When your health is completely recovered we'll have a challenge together. How about that?

    Firewalker
    maybe... It depends how far ahead of me you get before I can start training! I'm making sure I have plenty of massage, and the realignment is working well because I'm not doing anything to counteract the benefits of the massage. Mind you, I've had a week off and although the restless legs have pretty much gone my pyramformis is making it's displeasure known! I must make sure I have a couple of sessions before my work trip on the 6th...

    Well done on cleaning the oven. I have almost finished the painting AND clearing up after it. I'm also making progress in working my way through the laundry and washing-up mountain... and quite a few bits and pieces have been returned to their proper homes. I'm looking forward to having the house back to normal in the next few weeks :)
  • gilligansyle
    gilligansyle Posts: 4,124 Forumite
    Just checking that there's no knitting going on here!
    Debts at LBM - Mortgages £128497 - non mortgage £27497 Debt now £[STRIKE]114150[/STRIKE][STRIKE]109032[/STRIKE] 64300 (mortgage) Credit cards left 0



    "The days pass so fast, let's try to make each one better than the last"
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