301k in debt and morbidly obese - things aren't great!

shaggydoo

yummymummy2012

Crongrats Mr B!!

Knit_Witch

MrBloater wrote: »

Back with some cycle-breaking news.. another promotion - from January I am an Assistant Principal which is where I should have been looking to go before the horse bolted in the dark days of September 2012. Getting the career entirely rebuilt and rebooted has led to self-esteem, self-worth and all that malarky shooting up to all-time highs. Arthritus in thumb is a useful reminder that I need to get the fitness back on track again - no excuses, no wallowing - things are on the up and I need to elevate them further.

Brilliant news! :j

Granariesgirl

:jYippee - Bravo Mr B!:j

Upsidedown_Bear

Well done Mr B - really pleased for you :j:j

MrBloater

Trundled 6.9km today which followed on nicely from yesterday's 6.2km. Had a strangely calm weekend with wall-to-wall Christmas movies. Keeping my halo even more shiny by staying off the booze and cutting way back on the snacking and more importantly spending. Seeing as I've consistently had difficulty keeping more than one plate spinning I'm not going to add anything else into the equation for now.

MrBloater

Just done 6.8km which was somewhat better than the 1.5km I managed yesterday evening after a bottle of red. Have dropped 7lbs in 4 days. I wish I could do moderation. It must be lovely to take the slow steady and constant road but I have no doubt that I will rebound from this, like a poster said further up the thread - it all goes in cycles. A week ago I was swinging from the ceiling with joy cos I had the promotion, whereas today I feel like a complete failure because our finances dictate that Mrs B has to work. Trying to think of solutions to this problem but as far as I can see they involve being without transport and renting somewhere hundreds of miles from where we are now.

Angry_Bear

MrBloater wrote: »

Just done 6.8km which was somewhat better than the 1.5km I managed yesterday evening after a bottle of red. Have dropped 7lbs in 4 days. I wish I could do moderation.

That's great! But don't forget that a lot of that will be water, I don't say this to kick you in the teeth, but so that if you hit a standstill in a week or so you know why and can keep going.

It must be lovely to take the slow steady and constant road but I have no doubt that I will rebound from this, like a poster said further up the thread - it all goes in cycles. A week ago I was swinging from the ceiling with joy cos I had the promotion, whereas today I feel like a complete failure because our finances dictate that Mrs B has to work. Trying to think of solutions to this problem but as far as I can see they involve being without transport and renting somewhere hundreds of miles from where we are now.

You're definitely not a failure. The simple fact is that most families have to have two parents working these days, even where one earner has a good job. How does Mrs Bloater feel about all of this? Some women feel better for working as it gets them socialising with poeple other than their family (and other mothers). There can be a lot of positive to working other than just the money.
It should also free up a little of your time rather than 4 jobs so you can be a happy Bloater and spend more time with your kids.

Oh, and as I'm sure I've said before, I tend to run in cycles too. The trick for me is to try to stay still in a "down" cycle rather than falling backwards. Then the overall trend is still up

MrBloater

Yeah things were just a bit cruddy this morning - Mrs B has been a tad emotional recently and I've unwisely had my male attempt-to-fix-everything-with-a-solution hat on. Better day all round today - we've both snapped out of it. Haven't resorted to wine and haven't spent anything either.

MrBloater

3am on a Saturday morning finds me in a contemplative mood - and because it's 3am I'm not sure if this is a good or bad thing. I think it's time for a list.

Positives
- Still being a decent Dad and husband
- Won a couple of useful battles at work and feeling pretty secure about it, was also happy to realise that my CV now has totally natural progression. Anyone reading it before the last promotion would have questioned why I left my former establishment to come to my current one, whereas my new job title makes it look like it was simply a totally seamless move rather than the 'being thrown to the lions / landing in the gutter / lucky break / running fast to stand still' journey that it really was.
- Exercise / Weight loss going well, going very well actually, and I'm very aware of the usual obstacles that come up - some times this week I was so close to self-sabotaging my routine, but every day is showing some progress (not necessarily on the scales) and it's getting easier.
- Got a royalty cheque from my American publishers for the princely sum of $2.30 which is not even worth cashing but is something I wasn't expecting seeing as the books are pretty darn rare to get hold of these days.

Negatives
- It's been an expensive month and obviously December is going to be as well. Going to have to tighten our belts at every given oppurtunity.
- Saturday job will have to come to an end (this can also be considered a positive cos it was a PITA - not so much due to my losing my Saturday mornings but the resultant loss of the Friday night) due to my changing role after Christmas and the potential evening one is now more likely to be a non-runner.
- Which means I need something else to chuck a few extra quid into the Bloater pot. Time for another list.

List of things that might chuck a few extra quid my way.
- My refused PPI claim still irks me as I am the only one on this planet who had it turned down (this might be an exaggeration but it sure feels that way) - I have nothing to lose by consulting one of the cowboy firms - maybe the Ombudsman will be in a more generous mood for them. (potential return - thousands - less the cowboy claims firm's hefty percentage)
- Am also still irked by the money I had to fork out to get the motor fixed. I have a strongly worded letter sitting on my desktop complaining about how it went wrong in the summer, maybe I should send the flipping thing off to someone. (potential return - maybe the £550 excess I had to pay)
- Ebay - although as my heart has just sunk typing the word so I don't hold out much hope of it happening. (potential return - probably nothing after they take the cut for the postage and I have reconstructive surgery after bashing my head against a brick wall)
- Kindle - until recently the thought of putting anything out on Kindle again would have led me to an Ebay-ish response. But if my books are fully remixed and out under another pseudonym I might sell a few more. I would certainly sell more than if I don't reissue them. (potential return - a few quid)
- A very interesting job oppurtunity - was emailed on Wednesday inviting me to apply for a very interesting job - 20 days a year, can work it around existing commitments and it would basically involve writing examination questions which would then be unleashed upon a nation of students. Combining two of my interests - education and writing sounds pretty appealing to me - must fill out an expression of interest. (potential return - prestige, a fair chunk of change and I dunno, maybe I'll be invited to join the freemasons or something)

The good thing about all the above on the list is that they are not labour-intensive, once I do the initial legwork it's a question of sitting back and waiting for an outcome. I think getting some of this list done sounds like a perfect Sunday afternoon task.