Mouche’s adventures with her first mortgage (while coping with her first baby)

mouche

Thank you Janey...was feeling very fraught yesterday and reading back my post was probably more upset than I realised myself.

But...LOs ear looks much better now so meds appear to be working. Plus, OH came home earlier than expected yesterday bearing lemonade and chocolate so we are friends again Also, I had a brainwave late afternoon and thanks to OH coming home by 7.30, we were able to go to Lakeside to the late opening Argos and buy a mini fridge. Not very MSE but at least LOs medicines will be stored at the correct temperature - the peace of mind is worth it. All I need to do now is persuade the doc to give me another prescription to replace the spoiled bottle and things will be ok on that front as well.

So all in all much more positive today and looking forward to a nice Easter break. Hope everyone has a lovely time!

ljaneyr

What a good idea! Sometimes life gets in the way of MFW but some things just can't be helped. Hooray for OH coming home with chocolate too. That always works for me. My OH is currently in 'negotiations' with his boss who wants him to work the bank holiday weekend :mad: Not very pleased.

Brodiebobs

Sounds like your really going through it at the moment.

Re. the mini fridge speak to your insurers, they may cover it as an 'incurred expense' as its a necessity whilst your away from home.

mouche

Oh Janey...I hope your OH got at least part of the Easter holiday off!

Brodie...that's a good idea. I'll certainly ask.

No real news other than the builder says we can move back in on the 28th. Yay! We had a very spendy but a very nice long weekend with two unplanned day trips (Southend on Sea and London Transport Museum) and another afternoon at a funfair. Plus, OH forgot to buy LO and me Easter Eggs and we ended up getting them yesterday - two HUGE ones at half price. Clearly as a responsible parent, I can't allow LO to eat that much chocolate on his own so I will have to sacrifice myself and eat [STRIKE]all[/STRIKE] part of his as well as my own.

Goldiegirl

Oh, that's great news, you'll be home by this time next week :j


You mentioned the trip to Southend on my thread, but the London Transport Museum is another good day out. Mr Goldie loved buses as a boy:o and still hasn't grown out of it, so we've been there a couple of times. Also Covent Garden is fun to mooch around and also to do some people watching

kirstypark

you are having a tough time just now, but things will feel better when you are home again, and in a year's time this will be a distant memory that you can use to impress people at dinner parties! keep your chin up

tootoo

So sorry to read your news Mouche.
Sorry I have been absent lately, it sounds as though you've had an awful lot on your plate but it must feel so good to have that light shining at the end of the tunnel x

ljaneyr

:j Hooray for moving home soon :j It will make such a difference! :T

mouche

Hello everyone….long time no update! The good news is that after yet another delay by the builders, we are back in casa Mouche as of last week. :j The bad news is that casa Mouche still has builders in doing ‘snagging’ (do I think installing a cooker hood and fixing leaks caused by their work is ‘snagging’? NO!) and still has smoke/ carbon EVERYWHERE. OH and I spent two days off work trying to get it to a live-able state and it is live-able now but the kitchen is only semi-usable and all non-essential stuff is still in the garage/ loft conversion awaiting cleaning and putting back. Basically almost everything we own needs to be cleaned – from furniture to books to ornaments – and you know from previous posts how efficient we are at cleaning. It will be Christmas before we are back to normal!

On the bright side, we have a lovely new fridge freezer and washing machine. We are holding back on buying all the destroyed stuff as our contents claim has not been approved yet. But we have bought in some essentials and it’s nice having new stuff. I was especially pleased with our new living room curtains which are from Dunelm Mill – full price £150 but we got them on sale for £80. They are far nicer than we expected to get and though £80 is expensive in my eyes, it’s a whole lot better than £150! Also, our friendly local drycleaner – who has been doing our laundry while we were in the hotel – has washed all the other curtains in the house for £90. He has also stitched the blackout lining to them for free (I had safety-pinned them on!).

We are facing a £3,000 bill from the builder for work that we had done ourselves (not covered by insurance) but I think we can pay that from our savings and from the money we have saved/ will save on laundry and cleaning vs. what the insurance gave us for those.

We still haven’t received all the money from insurance but hopefully it won’t be much longer as all bills have been submitted.

And I reached payout levels on both OnePoll and YouGov recently so £90 coming into my account soon. I’ve decided to give up YouGov as I really don’t enjoy their surveys. I’m up to £10 again on OnePoll and I like their surveys – often hear the results on the radio in the morning!

I decided to post again today as I think I need to start setting myself mini goals again as we are once again frozen by the mere thought of how much needs to be done at home. Baby steps will at least get us started on the path back to normal. So this week:

[STRIKE]Monday: work late and try to catch up on work missed[/STRIKE]
Tuesday: bring ironing board into house, clean and replace cover
Wednesday: if builder has finished work, organise a cleaner & oven cleaner for Saturday
Thursday: attend event at local library
Friday: bring shoe rack and coat rack into the house and clean

tootallulah

Hi Mouche, great to see you I am sorry that your fire damage is not fully resolved. Eighteen months ago I had a very similar fire, caused by my own carelessness not a dishwasher malfunction. Where I was definitely luckier than you was the cleaning company - they were fantastic, my house has never been cleaner! However sad to say I can still smell carbon when I come into my back door, everything else is done now but it did take me a year to get everything done, and I don't have a young child. I really enjoy your diary and wish you and your family a calm and happy summer.