Coffee and chocolate

miggy

SouthernBellE* wrote: »

:rotfl:Sorry Miggy, you did make me chuckle when I read about the volume on the phone being turned down! :rotfl:

Yes, and of course I couldn't explain to mum how to look for the thing that adjusts it, as she couldn't hear me! Mind you, she thinks her telly is on the blink because she can't get it loud enough, whereas it's actually uncomfortable for me to be in the same room as that volume!

SouthernBellE* wrote: »

1 DS, 19 too but has SLD. He's also better with anything that's hands on, no medical name given for the disability but tests carried out at 3yrs old found 'too much brainwave activity on the speech part of the brain so everything going in or out was gobbledygook!'

We have such a language-based assessment system too. I imagine it's hard to get a fair reading of his abilities because of it. DD has dyslexic tendencies and a syndrome (can't remember its name) where print appears to jiggle up and down while she's reading - so her brain puts its effort into sorting this out and she can't always say what the text was about. So I think I understand a bit. If it's any comfort, once she was in the workplace other skills came to the fore - she'd only been training for a few days in her new job when she got a mystery shopper and scored 100%! (Proud mum alert! ) In her case she has a good grasp of how shop floor retail works and is good with customers. I hope your son can find something that will play to his strengths, and you'll see he will flourish.
I'm quite happy for you to talk about him: I find SLDs interesting though I'm not knowledgeable enough to be of much use.

SouthernBellE* wrote: »

Thanks for the blog, made a start on reading some but I can identify with your frustration over getting the right care for your Mum and in getting the authorities on board, especially when you can't see things getting better for her (just with my worries over DS). Horrible feeling for you and me when you know a solution has to be found but not sure how/where/when it's going to come.:( We'll have to spur each other on honey, whenever we find it's getting us down!

Great idea! The people who get somewhere seem to be the ones who won't take 'no' for an answer and keep on hounding the authorities - somoething I'm not good at as I tend to assume if they say 'no', that's what they mean. Not always the case - but inevitably they end up paying more attention to the ones who kick up a fuss.

SouthernBellE* wrote: »

Not sure what the bookmark thingy Maty's on about is? Do I need to register?

I think she just means bookmark it on your computer - at least it's called 'bookmark' on Firefox, I think it's 'favourites' on IE and goodness knows what elsewhere. It will be on the menu bar at the top of the screen - about 2 inches from the left on mine! It will give you a drop down menu and you can use the bookmark as a shortcut to the page you've saved.
I don't think you need to register to comment but the blog has moved to a different host so that may have changed. Anyway thanks for reading!:)

miggy

A short update:
I don't think I've been ott with spending over the last few days... some days it's been so wet I was waiting for boats to come past and we lived off the freezer (some luxury sausages that were discounted last week, which was nice).
DH's forethought has saved us quite a bit of money this week though I don't know how much. The torrential rain had lifted a manhole cover and a neighbour called round to say the drain was spilling over :eek:. However, miggy the intrepid (well, venturesome) clipped back the overhanging hedge, shovelled accumulated debris off the manhole (between shed and hedge) and lifted the cover. Not a pretty sight but a bit of poking about with a branch solved the blockage, advice from builder-neighbour and judicious use of hose and the drain cleaninghtingy DH bought last time we had a problem, and all is well again, without any expenditure.
Incidentally, the neighbour says he was called out to so many blocked drains yesterday that he didn't get any of his usual work done - so it may be worth anyone reading checking yours is draining okay before there's a problem. I think it's quite possible ours blocked because the volume of rain lifted the lid (!) and shifted it slightly downhill, allowing dirt to wash in.
So can I put that on my CV?!
Also - am back to resisiting an Approved Food order - much as I would like a catering pack of muffin mix...

miggy

I haven't kept track of savings recently but yesterday's was £3.32 and today's was £7.17 so I'm pleased. I've also come across another cheapy site, big brands for less, and they have 12x Bero flour for £1! Scone mix and stuff too... want...!
Tomorrow is supposed to be the day I do the mortgage overpayment if I reckon we can afford it. Not sure really. It looks as though they won't pay EMA for DD as our income's too high - when was it ever too high for anything?! I do need to check my old payslips, though, as my employer has been known to get things wrong and the figure on the P60 was higher than I expected. It could mean, though, that we have to subsidise DD.
Good news - mum seems a lot better after a hair-raising time last week, and has found the letter I sent her with a note of all the bills I'd covered for her. Bad news - she's lost it again so I may not get paid for a while! LOL. When it does come through, though, it will be very welcome.
I also have extra overnight shifts this month as so many people are off sick - this will be another £100 - whooppee! However, August's was down due to holidays and September's will be too as I was off sick for two weeks. Don't have the figures in yet.

miggy

Oh, and a quick thought:
Some years ago I looked into proofreading as a job. I got as far as studying and learning, which actually came in very useful for a later clerical job. The only actual proofreading I've been asked to do was a leaflet for the Council, and I've never got as far as going out and looking or work.
I was looking through a commercial website earlier and thought - good product, shame about all the errors. I could brush that up with no trouble.
I wonder if I dare contact them and if so - how?
I suppose the first step for me is not to make too much of it or I'll get hung up on getting the approach right and never get anywhere.

miggy

Got some good savings on food today but was feeling stressed and counterbalanced them with some seafood (albeit discounted) and fruit salad (ditto).
I did notice that the bread flour I bought last week has gone up from 50p to £1.38! I didn't know it was going to do this or I'd have got more, but at least I got some. Note to self: keep an eye on Tesco flour shelves as they sometimes have very good offers on bread mix too, but no fanfares to announce them.
Stressful day today due to mum causing a panic - I had to call the police to break in but she was fine! Then I had to call DH, the cleaner and my sister to say 'panic over'. Then I rang the Social Worker and asked politely why mum's care package hasn't yet darkened her door. SW said she was going round this afternoon (mid-afternoon already and two weeks after mum's been discharged from hospital).
Grrrr.
I now have to decide whether to sort out the freezer or go through old payslips to see if HR has made a mistake with my P60.
Freezer winning so far...

miggy

The Miggy update:
Sorry I haven't been around for a few days: I ended up with extra work. (= More money = timely!) Yesterday I went to a church conference and had a very useful and relaxing time but at some point I need a lie-in as between that and work I've been getting to the point where I need one.
I also bought a knitting pattern and have priced up the wool: £21 so can I justify that? DH has been looking at finances and his opinion was that we were about breaking even. With the same figures, I came up with £1000+ overspend a year! All depends on how you look at it, LOL!
Anyway that means that the freezer really does need tackling, both to cut the week's spending and to save wasting money with things we don't need and can't store. It also means (fanfare please!) that DH is looking into what we're spending!! He seems to have an inbuilt resistance to looking into this site, or anything else written about money for some reason, so I've told him the info is here and that it's up to him to do the digging, I'll come on board when he's reached the same conclusion as me!
(Do you get the impression I've done my own research and got tired of telling him?!)
Mum still owes me a cheque which would in fact cover the discrepency between incomings and outgoings, but she keeps losing it... I had to pay out for various things for her, such as her cleaner, while she was in hospital, and that's not cheap.
Incidentally, I've looked at the figures on the P60 and they tie in with my pay ... but have I really gone up by £3000 pro rata since starting the job a couple of years ago? It doesn't sound right. My pay varies from month to month so I tend to take small variations as being due to extra hours or flat rates for overnights, and haven't tried to get through all the faff of hourly pay, which I used to be very aware of, and I can see I need to go back and do some sums, and/or ring HR in case I get clobbered with a huge repayment as has happened to colleagues. I also realised I have mislaid a few payslips which i hope are together as the months are together, IYSWIM. I need them to do the maths, though.

miggy

And a little something else - DH bought two bags of potatoes for 17p each, originally priced at £1.99 each! Yay for him!
He also went to Netto for chicken and paid £4 for a largish one (roast for dinner today and will make sandwiches and casserole through the week) which is about £3 less than the free range ones he prefers. I prefer them too, from a welfare viewpoint, but what's done is done and the best we can do now is make the best use of it.
I shalln't count it as part of my savings as I didn't spend the money, but well done him!
I took some vouchers down to the supermarket yesterday while they were still in date (I'm always saving them and forgetting - mum's not the only one to lose track despite good intentions). Sums are quite complicated but original cost was £10.95 and with coupons I only paid £2.40! Woohoo! Saving of £8.55! These were things we use and I resisted the ones that looked like a saving but would actually have meant spending more than I wanted to, i.e. buying expensive options that we didn't actually need.

miggy

Well, the chicken made a roast, two lots of nice sandwiches, a casserole and some gorgeous soup - and there's still about one portion left!
(Memo to me - make soup and freeze it to take to work).
I haven't found the payslips yet though to be fair haven't spent all that long looking.
A couple of days ago we went to spend a pizza voucher DH had been given as a present. We remembered to look on here for discounts and ended up paying just 53p plus drinks - and the pizzas were gorgeous, in a very scenic restaurant overlooking the city walls and river in York - fab location. We also had a mooch round some bookshops and discovered a dolls' house accessory shop. Even DH was fascinated and I spent a couple of pounds on some irresistables. Mum and I both have dolls' houses we are planning to do up some day so one of the items was a stocking filler for her.
Yesterday I put in an order to Big Brands for Less of just over £18, so I decided to make the rest of it a NSD and use things we already had. I went into the stocks I got from AF and made pizza swirls (also used up some bacon and olives in them), some garlic doughballs and some sultana flapjacks. DS got burgers and chips from the freezer, DD made herself a stirfry - okay I gave her the money for ingredients, forgot about that, and I had the chicken soup and some of my baking. DH was on a conference so his main meal was provided.
By the way - those dough mixes, nice though they are, would be a complete waste of money for me if I had to buy at full price. They're all the same thing, with varied trimmings! It's just a basic bread mix. The garlic doughballs have a garlic and parsley mix which you add to melted butter and paste onto them while hot, and the pizza swirls have a (very nice) tomato-ey mix and you add cheese. The sultana flapjacks are hilarious - they have pre-mixed the oats and sugar, put the sultanas in a separate bag (why? - presumably to make us feel we are doing something!) and provided a cardboard tray to cook them in. So all we have to do is add melted butter and cold water and stir a bit. Oh, and put them in the oven.
It was fun, though, and has cleared just a little bit of space ready for my next order.;)

miggy

I haven't posted much about the house and garden for a while. Not too much happening, though DH is learning how to replace guttering as some of ours has developed holes and we have been quoted about £600 to replace it! He's also made progress decorating the bathroom.
The garden needs work. I have hacked back a bush that's in the wrong place and am putting off digging it out. Do I do that or make the Christmas cake today?!
Still haven't made much progress with the freezer... (sigh) though the fridge is looking better. Not all of this is down to me, as when I'm working evenings Dh tends to get some thing quick and easy and the unused bits get frozen. Also DS buys icecream. However I have lots of supposedly 'useful' bits that I freeze then forget! I think I'll start with the larder freezer and work through a drawer at a time.
Baking supplies are slowly getting used - or not so slowly, given yesterday! There's a bit of a backlog of old stuff like dried yeast but it still works and there's not so much left now. Given that I've just ordered a lot of baking products, you may think I'm loopy, and maybe I am! I'm trying to change the balance to things we will use in reasonably short order not things we might need sometime, and given the family appetite for fresh bread, and the fact they will guzzle that and not buy junk food, I'm prioritising buying healthy stuff.
I'm not sure where to start with the larder... too many things that I bought but haven't found uses for. Will let you know if I come up with anything worth recording!
And now, I think, a separate post about what I've ordered.

miggy

And here's what I ordered from Big Brands for Less:

Sweets (okay I let DS muscle in on the order! But only £1 spent)
Soupfulls (1 pack to try for work dinner) 69p instead of £1.99
Granary bread mix (3.5kg for £1.29 and I love granary bread!)
Two lots of 3.5kg white bread mix - Will last a few weeks, that's all.
3.5kg scone/doughnut mix BOGOF
3.5kg pizza base mix BOGOF
3ft long bubble gum - if it looks suitable I might get more for stocking fillers!
'1 shot glue' 10 pack
black cherry conserve (bonne maman for 79p!)
descaler tablets - 'cos we need some
KP choc dips x 2 @ 29p each - treats!
LED keychain lights (stocking fillers)

Total: £18.18

There is still the usual balance to sort out between what I've spent, what I wouldn't have bought if not on offer and what I've really saved.

There are a few treats in there. I was going to say 'a couple' but realised I was deceiving myself! The bread mixes, though, are a huge saving. P&P was £5.25 but this is more than covered by what I save on bread.
Would normally spend up to 60p for 12 buns (often bought in the evening when cheaper). One mix makes approx 110 buns or equivalent and costs £1.29. Plus, they get eaten.
Oh, and I've started on the strong flour that Tesco was selling cheaply the other week but didn't hear the cooker timer so the buns, though tasty, are rather brown!
I am thinking I might save some of the conserve to have on pancakes for pudding - yummy.
Descaler in theory will make the iron and kettle work more efficiently and save money, but it won't stop me forgetting I've boiled the kettle and having to do it again, or those of us who plug in the iron then go and do something else.
The glue sounded like a good idea as tubes usually dry up or get lost before being finished, and I quite often need some for something.
I haven't sorted what to do with the bubblegum if I don't like the look of it, though! LOL. Maybe substitute for glue - noooo! :eek: Yuck.