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

Goldiegirl

Welcome back. Glad you had a good holiday. Tuscany is very beautiful - we've visited a couple of times on a cruise, but would love to spend more time there

mouche

Goldie…it’s really worth a longer visit, especially if you can hire a car. OH can’t sit still so we visited Florence, Pisa, Siena, Volterra, San Gimignano, Bibbona beach and Lucca, not to mention the little village near our accommodation. We loved all of them except for Florence – and the only reason we didn’t like Florence was the fact that we got there at 2pm in the boiling heat and spent the hot afternoon wandering around, getting lost. The other places were all small enough to be easily walk-aroundable and also had more to see from the outside (we avoided museums, galleries etc. as LO is not the sort of child who will sit still and look at things). I was especially moved by the Leaning Tower of Pisa – perhaps because I had heard it wasn’t worth the hype. The fact that it leans is cool but what no one mentions is how beautiful it is and how beautiful and grand that entire complex is.

Back to reality – the ironing bill came to £25, which is shocking really but I could not have coped with that pile myself and now I have a fresh slate to start from. Our beloved car is back with us – the health check cost about £130 (including a few small things we had fixed). We are now looking for a new car asap and hopefully old beloved will last till we find one and will also sell for a few quid.

Didn’t get anything done last night as fell asleep with LO while putting him to bed. OH came looking for me at 9.30pm and tried to wake me up but all I managed was to stumble to my own bed and go back to sleep. Tonight, will be on my own with LO so don’t know how much energy I will have. I will try to clean and rehouse some books though and also do laundry (LO is toilet training so lots of laundry!).

I did manage to post my claim form for all the osteopathy I have been having. The post office on the way to my new office building is the strangest one I have ever seen. It doesn’t have an actual post box to put letters in. You can stand in a queue and hand them in at the counter – or you can leave them on a shelf and they will take them in at some point. So odd! Still, it has counter services and is actually on my way to work so will make it easier to post ebay parcels once I actually get round to ebaying anything!

Goldiegirl

We've seen Florence, Pisa and Lucca, and if we go again I would love to go to Siena.


Pisa and Lucca are much more pleasant to visit, Florence was so busy and it was a boiling hot day. It'd probably be better to visit in the winter, much more comfortable I should think

mouche

Yes, small and manageable is more our style as well. We especially liked Volterra and Siena was a bit of a washout until we went into the Duomo and spent an awestruck hour in there. We have visited many cathedrals but this one was something special.

Sigh....holiday seems so long ago now. LO decided to have tantrum after tantrum last night at bedtime. He kept demanding his father and of course OH is working late most days now. Still, I managed not to give in to his demands (more water, go play, more story etc.) and eventually he went to sleep in his own bed and stayed asleep till 5am - at which point he crawled into my bed and went to sleep again. Not bad!

Got laundry done last night and also cleaned and rehoused one box of books. Found the one I have sold on greenmetropolis so will have to pack it up and send it off.

OH is working this Sunday and then both days the following weekend. Unlikely to get time off in lieu either. I had signed up for a Saturday Pilates class scheduled to start on the Saturday he is working. Will have to ring and ask if I can attend that one on a different day and then see if OH can actually get home early enough one day that week to let me attend a replacement session.

On the plus side, yesterday was an NSD and today looks like it will be the same.

Goldiegirl

I do Greenmetropolis too


It seems to be very slow on there these days, but I hardly ever put anything new on there, as I have a Kindle now.


I'm probably going to take a few books off soon and send them to charity.


At the rate I'm going now, it'd take 15 years to sell all the books I've got listed:rotfl:

mouche

I know the feeling Goldie...I usually sell about 6 a year if I'm lucky! I listed a whole bunch in October last year. I'll just box them up and if nothing more sells by this October, they can all go to charity.

Feeling slightly low today due to OH working so hard and such long hours. It was expected but I *was* hoping he'd be home on time today as he had said it wasn't quite so busy today. Turns out 'not quite so busy' means he'll be back by 10 rather than midnight.

LO is being very clingy of late - poor fellow probably doesn't know what's hit him - 7 days of being with us all the time on holiday to not seeing us all day and then only seeing one of us (me in the evening, OH is the morning). He was up when I left this morning and was in tears when I told him I had to go to office. 'Sit me Mummy. Watch Pingu with me. You got nightie on. Lie down in my bed mummy. Stay me.'

OH is also absolutely worn out - he is no longer used to working under such pressure for such long hours. 15 hour shifts, 6-7 days a week were normal for him 8 years ago when we got married but he isn't used to it anymore.

Still, I should look at the positive things shouldn't I?
- NSDs all week as remembered lunch and took LO home on bus everyday
- only need milk, bread, yogurt and soup (work lunches) this week
- posted my greenmetropolis book so a 20p profit there

Hope you all have a lovely, sunny weekend.

mouche

We’re all a bit tired and stressed in the mouche-household this morning.

Mouche is resenting Mr. Mouche for wanting such an expensive car (after buying a very expensive fridge). A colleague has just bought a decent family car (he also has a young child) for £6,000. Mr. M’s desired car is turning out to be over twice as much. I know I am giving it to him as a 40th birthday gift and therefore should give it with a loving heart and no resentment but it’s just so much money and it’s just a car! Our existing one cost £4,000 and lasted us almost 5 years. That’s £800 a year. For the new one to have that much value, it would have to last for 15 years at least – not likely as we will be getting one that is 5 years old already (assuming we can find one for that price)!

Mr. Mouche is tired out with work – he’s working 15 hour days 6 days a week and also trying to keep up with his chores at home (cooking, dishes, helping with LO).

Little Mouche is fed up with this toilet training business and with having to make do with either mummy or daddy but not both. He also doesn’t want to go to nursery anymore for undefined reasons.

So to cheer myself up, I have rung the bank to put an OP in place of 2%. This is only £18 but it brings up the monthly payment to just over what it was before we took the fixed deal so at least we aren’t going backwards. I will increase the OP amount again in 6 months when I have paid back the fund I raided to make a big OP before going fixed.

mouche

Well Mr and Mrs. M are feeling a bit more cheerful today but Little M is still miserable – he does not want to go to nursery and he does not want me to go to work. I don’t know where this has come from as I have worked full time since he was 9 months old. The staff at the nursery think it may be a hangover from the holiday when he got as much as he wanted of us and of Peppa – and he gets neither in nursery!

Mr M has been persuaded to consider a slightly cheaper car and I have promised to save up for his dream car for his 50th birthday rather than his 40th. How I will fulfil this promise I don’t know. As an aside, does anyone know anything about leasing a car instead of buying one? He isn’t as happy as he was but still happy with the new suggestion. Let’s see what we end up getting as this decision seems to be in constant flux.

As for me, I am proud to report that I did not spend another £5 on overpriced sandwiches today. I couldn’t get to the supermarket so I improvised with two sachets of powdered soup and some breakfast biscuits. Not the most filling of meals but I’d rather have that fiver in my pocket thank you! Am also pleased that Mr. M is willing to see reason re car. And especially pleased that LOs toilet training is going well. Just typed out the details but have deleted them in order to retain my loyal audience who might think it is TMI!

LO moment: He has a nickname for home and proper name for school (Indian custom) – let’s say Alex for home and Richard for school. When he was messing around instead of going to bed last night I said ‘Alex’ very firmly and loudly and then repeated it louder. At which point he burst into tears and said ‘I’m NOT Alex. I’m Richard!’ Clearly he thinks Alex gets told off more than Richard!

mouche

Managed to get to the supermarket today on my way to work and got three work lunches for £4.50 - less than the cost of one lunch from the sandwich shop!

Have ordered some toys for LO from Amazon - simple things like puzzles, Play Doh, chalks, scissors etc. The total came to just under £30 but they will keep him occupied for ages. Have also got my eye on some outdoor toys on ebay that we will need to pick up if successful. Last night LO played for ages with me when he would normally want to watch the telly so I would like to encourage this new behaviour.

So a bit of spending but on useful things rather than overpriced bits of bread! Pah London prices.

Goldiegirl

Hello there, it sounds like you've got a case of the post holiday blues in the Mouche household. I'm sure LO will settle down again soon. I know how he feels, when I worked full time it could take me weeks to stop hankering after my holiday.

I don't know much about car leasing. As far as I understand it, you can take the car away with a minimal deposit, or no deposit at all, pay the monthly payment for the term of the lease. Then at the end of the term, you can hand that car back and walk away, start leasing a newer car, or pay a lump sum and keep the car. Of course, people don't often have the lump sum available, or just want a new car, so I think there's a risk that once a person starts leasing they are always paying out each month for something they'll never own.

My friend has wanted a sports car for her entire life and finally got one (second hand) at the age of 45. She's really pleased she waited until a time she had enough disposable income to spend buying things for it, without guilt.

It is difficult, working out when the time is right, when there are so many other things that you want to plan for as well.

It's a good idea that you bought some things from Amazon for LO, that'll take his mind off his holiday. Does he like colouring books and crayons/pencils? Sometimes I feel like doing some colouring-in, it's very relaxing!:rotfl: