Pavlovs_dog starting as she means to go on...

pavlovs_dog

£100 OP'd to the mortgage today has reminded me to come back and update my poor neglected diary. Don't think I'd ever make Samual Pepys or the like fear for their jobs! At £1285 OP'd so far we are just £215 shy of our £1500 target for 2011.

had our home insurance renewal through from Mr T. poor deluded fool seems to think I'm going to pay him £100 more for the same policy this year :cool: haven't managed to find uber cheap cover but i have at least managed to get a quote which is just £2 more than we paid this year. Is there anything that isn't getting more expensive?

on the food front, we did a rather scarily expensive £98 food shop at the start of the month, and have enjoyed eating our way through the supplies since. Food shopping seems to take us an age, so it's been lovely doing very speedy 'fresh' shops once a week. This could definitely be a way forward for us. I can't really moan as OH does more than the lion's share of the cooking, however it does annoy me when he decides he doesn't fancy what's on the meal plan and so tootles off to buy (usually expensive) ingredients for what he does fancy instead Going to sell the idea of using the surplus from the food budget to supplement our OPs as a way of getting him on board i think.

the capping of the chimney saga trundles on.. went to the balloon festival in bristol the other week and got chatting to a man on the wood and multi fuel stoves stall. Saw some gorgeous models and now i want one for the back room there are many other jobs which need to be prioritised first though, so it's going to be a long time coming. Hopefully by the time we get round to it installation costs will be cheaper! but this begs the question of what to do in the mean time about the chimney stacks? am going to investigate something like this, in the hope that it will stop presents from the birds, keep out most of the rain, help reduce heat loss (especially in conjunction with a chimney balloon) and hopefully (TBC) leave the chimneys functional. did i ever mention that i am the world's most indecisive person?! :rotfl:

alias i'm sure you'll tell me off (almost as loudly as frugaldom ) for the lack of cucumbers or any other edible growth in my back garden. I have however painted the gate, done some work on the lawn, and cut one of the trees back to within an inch of it's life. The more we (royal we - i mean OH ) tries to patch the walls the more problems we discover with them. Hoping to get quotes this week for having them taken down and replaced, with stone if we can afford it or fence panels if not. Reticent to plant anything really until final decisions about how we are going to proceed have been taken. One day, though

gallygirl

pavlovs_dog wrote: »

did i ever mention that i am the world's most indecisive person?! :rotfl:

Are you sure about that

Frugaldom

Not even a tub of lettuce? Pavlov's! How could you? Not too late, yet.

Glad to see you back and that you're doing so well with the OP plan, well done with that.

Everything takes time and money, so you don't need to worry too much as long as you can stay warm and dry through winter. If this is the 'forever' house, then you've no hurry. Ca't even begin to imagine how long it will take us to get to the stage of installing a stove here, but it will get done at some point in the future, no matter how distant. The main thing is that you're happy with your house and that it really feels like home.

Don't leave it so long before posting next time, or we'll be asking for reminders of how old the kids all are or, worse still, if you're a granny yet. Grandkids love picking strawberries!

aliasojo

Frugaldom wrote: »

Not even a tub of lettuce? Pavlov's! How could you? Not too late, yet.

:whistle:



Btw, your OH sounds very like mine. He tends to cook a fair bit which is nice, except he buys stuff I never would and adds considerably to our shopping bill.

Every week I agonise over stopping him and leaving him alone so I get well fed. :rotfl:

twinklie

pavlovs_dog wrote: »

Might do a Twinklie and post a 'to do' list here (for the week, not the 6 weeks, don't want to give you all heart attacks )and then you can all nag me into action!

Can't believe it's taken me this long to find your thread!!! :eek: And to think I've had a mention as well! Oophs. Sorry!

gratefulforhelp_2

You won't regret a woodburner. Especially when insides of loo rolls and junk mail envelopes become "firelighters" very MSE.

pavlovs_dog

gratefulforhelp wrote: »

You won't regret a woodburner. Especially when insides of loo rolls and junk mail envelopes become "firelighters" very MSE.

don't know whether we'll go wood or multifuel - regardless, the decision will be a looong way off.

Do you make paperbricks at all? Thinking of trying them out with our fire pit (that we haven't be able to use since we bought it at the start of summer because whenever we are both home the weather is awful) Of course, in my infinite wisdom (or should that be optimism) I went out and bought a BBQ too, which is also waiting to be christened for the same reason

pavlovs_dog

went into school again today... third time in a fortnight! Lovely to see the kiddiewinks so happy and excited. This was the first class I've taken all the way through a GCSE course, so it was poignant in it's own little way. Got hugged by kids and parents galore! Very pleased with my A level and GCSE results. I feel like it vindicates what i've fought for this year. Hopefully this will make the SMT sit up and take note that I can walk the walk. The school i'm in now could really be a forever school but I have no intention of stagnating in my career just for the sake of an easy life. Got various projects planned for the coming year to develop my skills and improve promotion prospects etc. Starting to feel much more positive about going back, although I'd be happier if it wasn't *quite* so soon

To reward myself for all the hard work with my exam classes I'm going to treat myself to a ukulele. teaching myself to play is going to be my project for the coming year as part of my determination to have a better work/life balance this year. Here's hoping my walls are relatively soundproof or my neighbours will love me. still, could be worse... least it's not a violin :rotfl:

gratefulforhelp_2

pavlovs_dog wrote: »

Do you make paperbricks at all? Thinking of trying them out with our fire pit (that we haven't be able to use since we bought it at the start of summer because whenever we are both home the weather is awful) Of course, in my infinite wisdom (or should that be optimism) I went out and bought a BBQ too, which is also waiting to be christened for the same reason

No, Dad tried it once and lost the plot with working FT.
We have multifuel, but only burn wood - renewable and smells better.

Frugaldom

Well done with your students! It's something I don't think many (other than teachers) will ever consider, so credit where credit is due. Good teaching gets good results. :T

pavlovs_dog wrote: »

don't know whether we'll go wood or multifuel - regardless, the decision will be a looong way off.

Do you make paperbricks at all? Thinking of trying them out with our fire pit (that we haven't be able to use since we bought it at the start of summer because whenever we are both home the weather is awful) Of course, in my infinite wisdom (or should that be optimism) I went out and bought a BBQ too, which is also waiting to be christened for the same reason

We went for multi-fuel, loved it, can't wait to have one installed here. I did the whole paper bricks thing for the open fire and found them brilliant. The major downside for me was that they took weeks to get them made because I'd nowhere to dry them other than outside in whatever sunshine we got... think Scotland. By the time they had dried solid, they smelt musty! If I had somewhere to get them dried, I'd make them again, but that's not going to happen anytime soon - need to get the house watertight first, then think about sorting the outbuilding. :rotfl: Then maybe I can start saving for a stove and making paper bricks.

Have fun learning to play the ukelele. A past neighbour of mine used to play his bagpipes in his back garden. Thankfully, he was a pipe major & instructor, so it was rather nice to hear. Maybe you could have a BBQ during October break and get the music flowing while the coals are glowing, invite the neighbours so they don't complain.