13 Moons part 2 - Freebird & Frugabulous

moo2moo

I have the River Cottage preserves book too although I much prefer Basic Basics but seem to be inspired more by whatevers whoopsied in Mr Ts leading to much improvisation. Tis most fun!

fedupandskint

Ahh yes, this is one I wanted a while ago and forgot all about - I may ask for it as a Christmas present this year - thanks for the reminder!

Lula-Hula

Thank you for preserving books info, I do like the sound of having my own stocks of such luscious items - & I reckon they would make good presents too.

Yesterday was a whirlwind of activity & I logged on to update in the evening but was so tired I had to go to bed . Had a lovely couple of hours catching up on news with my friend & learned that she may be moving away next year. Not abroad, but far enough to make it impossible to meet up for our coffee, chat & shopping sessions during the school day . This is the 4th good friend of mine who has relocated in recent years; am considering a getting a complex.

Call me slow, but it was only very recently that I discovered that the reason the weekend whizzes by so quickly is because I lounge about in bed for too long in the morning :doh:. New plan is to set the alarm for 7.30 which is an hour later than during the week & I allow myself to have an extra half an hour to read or just snooze.

We were in town by 9.20 this morning so it clearly has merit as new plans go. We bought gifts & cards for DDs friend, the teacher & assistants, & also got new undies & a pair of cheap pumps for DD. I spent £15 on her & £2.20 on parking. All the gifts & cards came out of the presents fund which now has a balance of £125 left in it.

On the way home we shot into waitrose where I left with an increased balance on the CC & having spent £47.68 on groceries. the total grocery spend is now £158.52p. I noticed a lot things that are more costly than sainsbugs, & yet other stuff that I can't buy in sainsbugs or tatco.

We came home in torrential rain & then had a quick lunch before it was time to take DD to the riding party. I picked her up 2 hours later & wasn't at all surprised for her to be absolutely beaming & requesting a horse. I did say no to the horse, but will look into riding lessons for her. I have been bracing myself for this all week as I knew she'd love it.

There are many many places within a 5 mile radius of here & the place she went today seems to be by far the most expensive. However much I love her, I still baulk at paying £27 for a half hour lesson. I totally understand that is going towards cost of horse, equipment & instructor, but still cannot reconcile this with being good value for money.

Maybe I've been a moneysaver for too long :think:. I am keen for her to take up a new hobby/interest/sport ... but am certainly not rushing into this. It's not that long ago little miss was keen on learning piano ... when I recently suggest she take this up when at High School, I wasn't entirely shocked to learn she'd 'kinda gone off that now'.

I've spent a bit of time with my online banking, a pen, paper & a calculator & the scary Custard Card was swollen to over £1400 what with today's spends :eek:. Drastic measures were necessary. I've now all but drained my emergency slush fund account - leaving just a couple of hundred in there for emergency use on holiday / uniform.

I don't like not having that account to fall back on, but the CC was getting scary again. I've got the balance down to £1200 now, & have 16 weeks to clear that before interest applies.

On the plus side, I got paid £1.69 by Quidco :rotfl: & have earned another £5 amazon voucher .

I'm away now to update the sig.

Wordsmith

Aw, Lula. Will you adopt me?

Lula-Hula

Wordsmith wrote: »

Aw, Lula. Will you adopt me?

As long as you show even the slightest inclination to cook, then you're in

Wordsmith

Ah, now there could be a stumbling block ...

taxi73

that horse riding sounds scarily expensive especially for half hour

taxi73

just popping by to see if you're ok as you've not posted for a few days xxxx hope everything is ok

Buffythedebtslayer

Good point Taxi.

Hope all is well xxxx

moo2moo

Since its the school holidays it may well be worth phoning a couple of riding stables and volunteering DDs help for a day. She could start at 5am and muck out for about five hours before sweeping the yard, filling haynets, water buckets and wot not and then pootle orf into a field to poo pick before removing ragwort from the grass and returning to the stables to groom several ponies. That should put her off nicely or put you in a position to negotiate sensible priced lessons in return for regular slavery.