Maldives & MSE - not your usual combination!

If_My_Pennies_Were_Pounds

Hey Jody, glad you had a lovely time away. Can I have the link pretty please?!

jtr2803

Thanks all for your comments on the pics! I still keep looking through them but my tan is fading bu the day .

Jules my actual pics weren't really that good, most of them were too dark where I played around with the settings but I managed to edit a lot of them on Picasa so they came out ok! It's harder taking pictures while diving as you are desperately trying not to land on coral but this lot were a BIG improvement over the ones I took last year, I read a good book about using compact cameras underwater which really helped!

Had an exam today and think it went OK, got one tomorrow and I have a 50/50 chance of passing, I keep re-reading bits but it just hasn't gone in :rotfl:. Can only do my best....


Must update my sig as think a payment has come off, oh and only 291 days till the Maldives

Kepp

291 days?! What have I missed?!

Good luck with the exams x

**Kat**_2

Yea me 2 - you going back?? xx

jtr2803

Um.....it's not booked yet but I have my dates and my quote, just waiting for OH to do his 'review' and confirm. We are planning on 10 days in March over my 30th birthday . I've drawn up this large spreadsheet which means I save enough to pay for the trip without my year end bonus and I am going to pay the equivalent amount off my debt once I get the bonus in December which will cut the DMP down by 7 months I think (maybe 8 as I will put my monthly payment up soon).

We have gone for the cheapest island as it's peak season so prices are higher but there wasn't really anywhere else I wanted to go

Kepp

That's a lovely idea for your 30th birthday.

I'm sure you'll manage the savings target too x

**Kat**_2

That sounds fabulous and as long as (like you have planned) are paying saved cash there is no harm x

If_My_Pennies_Were_Pounds

Wow Jody your pictures are fab!

You're so lucky that you are going back too!

Maybe you could add your savings target to your sig for extra motivation?

jtr2803

If_My_Pennies_Were_Pounds wrote: »

Wow Jody your pictures are fab!

You're so lucky that you are going back too!

Maybe you could add your savings target to your sig for extra motivation?

That's a good idea hun! Once we have booked I will start up a new savings goal, I've been quite lax this year but it took quite a while to adjust to losing the pub money . Fortunately I have managed without it and I am sure I can still manage to save a nice amount to cover holiday so fingers crossed.

Anyway, I have some news to share with you......don't get overly excited it isn't that great but it's very heartfelt.............


I have to openly admit that I am not, and have not been, a very good mum to my daughter for the last 5/6 years. I have really struggled to manage a career, study and home/family life (coupled with some really horrid years with my ex). I am not sure how many people know but she does not live with me. When OH and I moved out in March 09 I sat her down and explained that we were moving out and I told her there was a bedroom for her if she wanted it. She thought about it for a few days and decided she wanted to stay living with my mum, it was a logical choice for her, my mum worked at her school as a teaching assistant and my mums house is on the same road as her school so she quickly realised that she would be getting up much earlier if she came with us. She also has no memory of me and her dad living together, she was only 1.5 when I moved back to my mums with her so living with her nan is all she has ever known.

It was hard leaving her behind and ultimately not what I wanted but I decided she was old enough to make her own decision and it would be unfair of me to make her move, especially when she is so close to my mum (my mum also childminded her when she was little and I was working). Anyway, she is now almost 11 and every time I see her she seems to have just grown up all of a sudden, She also goes to her Dads at weekends which she loves so I was kind of relegated to a couple of evenings a week. I realised I have already missed so much of her life , I am lucky in that she holds no hard feelings towards me and she is a very lucky girl in so many ways, she has an amazing extended family and is loved very much by a lot of people. I spoke to her two weeks ago and asked if she would like to start spending every other Sunday with me and she jumped at the chance :j. She has a school trip next weekend and then is a bridesmaid at her Dads wedding the weekend after but hopefully at the beginning of July we can start spending some days together . I need to run all this past her Dad but I don't think he would dare disagree. I've spoken to my mum about it and we have agreed that one day a month with be a girlie day where we spend the day doing something together and on the other day it will be just me and her. I have some big bridges to build and I need to do them soon before she heads off to secondary school and no longer wants to hang around with her mum!

Wow, that was emotional (and cathartic at the same time).

**Kat**_2

I'm so pleased that your daughter has agreed to spend more time with you. The bridge will be built before you know it and I'm sure you won't just be mother and daughter but great friends too xxx