would love to be mortgage free!

coldcazzie

Thanks guys considering that the money comes in vouchers rather than cash I told him to spend the full amount instead of keeping it as low as possible, which should get him a pretty decent laptop and stop him complaining about not having a computer good enough to do the work related things he wants to do with it

In the meantime, our credit card month ended 2 days later than it should have, meaning a giant bill as the purchases that should have gone on the beginning of this month were stuck onto the end of last month. I'm really annoyed about this, as paying the bill will put us overdrawn at the end of April, but I'm fairly sure there's nothing I can do about it. :mad: :mad:

I also rang up my new cc provider and checked up on the way they apply payments to their accounts. Thankfully, they apply them to the highest interest-accruing balances first (ie, always in the customer's favour), which is what I wanted to hear. Unfortunately while I was on the phone I forgot to ask them to move my payment date to the end of the month, so I will have to ring back again.

Still waiting on the fella who came to look at our ceiling last week. Am now following up an alternative in case he doesn't get back to me at all. Yesterday one of the sproglets managed to completely detatch our bathroom sink from the wall. Don't know which one is responsible, but regardless, the bathroom has now turned from a "would be nice to have it done soon" to "needs doing asap". It's just the last straw to be honest. Therefore the kitchen ceiling needs sorting as a matter of urgency so that the bathroom can be completed.

coldcazzie

Well, the new laptop is ordered - the voucher codes came via email so he ordered it yesterday. There was still £50 left once he'd bought it. I did consider suggesting a food slicer purchase, but since it's his reward for being great at his job it makes sense that he spend it on what he wants so he bought 2 series that have been on the "to buy at some point" list, as well as 8 DVDs. I feel the urge to justify this, although I'm not sure why. Guess we've been on the edge for so long that I still can't get back to the idea that we can afford to buy things just for the sake of it sometimes. Usually things like that only get bought as gifts, because that's the only time I don't feel guilty about it.

Today is my deadline for my assignment. It's very close to being finished, and (sod's law!) I've come down with a stinking cold. I can't breathe through my nose so my throat feels like I'm swallowing razor blades and I ache all over. Last thing I want to be doing is reading and assessing peer-reviewed articles and sitting in front of a computer all day. Need a "falling asleep at my desk" emoticon.

Hope everyone is doing better than me today.

coldcazzie

Feeling much better now. Definitely not back to normal yet, but I am least sleeping, and don't ache everywhere. Think I'll start exercising again today - really didn't feel up to it before.

Got my assignment in on time, am cautiously optimistic about it which is nice, considering when I started it I felt horrified! Started working on the next block of reading to prep for the next assignment now.

The cheque for my ISA has cleared out of our account, and I've received all the bumph for the account through the post so that's good. One less thing to worry about - I feel much better knowing it's definitely going to be going up in value rather than possibly will and possibly won't. After the screw up earlier on this month with the credit card (and considering that we won't be making any additional OPs until we remortgage) I have transferred the £117 that was in the OP pot into our current account. We're still going to go overdrawn, but not as much. I cannot describe how annoyed I am about this - I think Barclaycard are going to be getting a letter of complaint.

I booked my train tickets for July - I had budgetted £70 just for the tickets, but actually I got them for £38 and that's including travel insurance and plusbus at both ends, so I'm really pleased about that.

Finally, manwife rang to say that a colleague who lives near us is switching from the nearest office to the one that manwife works at. As they are on the same shift he is willing to car share, so the proposal is that we'd give him money towards the petrol and it should half the costs for both sides. :j:j Won't start for around another 3 weeks yet, but it's positive news. Our budget could do with a little less in it!

coldcazzie

Tilly: I just checked with FD - they will only take into account manwife's wage, not our benefits as well so whether or not we can remortgage with them depends on whether or not he gets a wage rise. :think:

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS

Fingers crossed for the rise x

coldcazzie

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS wrote: »

Fingers crossed for the rise x

Thanks! Me too!

Laptop arrived today, so haven't really seen manwife since he got home from work (apart from when I damanded his share of the washing up be done!) ... however, I've seen enough to know that is a bit of an understatement - he looks like someone stuck a coat hanger in his mouth! :rotfl::rotfl:

coldcazzie

A new week already! Where are they all going?

Today Giraffe is going to my parents and staying over until tomorrow. Last week, with our respective colds at both houses, we decided to postpone our usual "Grandma day", so this week I get two days clear in a row for studying. Today I plan to:
[STRIKE]- persuade my mum to take me shopping as I've no fruit or veg at all[/STRIKE] :eek:
- finish Chapter 6 - Long Term Memory and make notes
- read Methods Chapter 4, sections 1, 2 and 3
Tomorrow:
- read Butler and Berry, 2001
- read Methods Chapter 2
- read Henson, 2005
- start to plan next assignment

I'll come back and cross them out as I finish them - hopefully that should help me avoid the procrastination fairy. I will not clean the house today other than a spot of washing up and folding washing this morning before my mum arrives. I've already put some stuff in the tumble dryer, I usually wouldn't but just can't face working it all out and it can't really sit wet until Weds, so tumble dryer it is!

Tonight we need to make a final decision about our new bathroom, then go buy it tomorrow afternoon when manwife gets home from work. We must buy before Saturday to have it interest free for 13 months.

Wednesday is going to be cleaning the bathroom, cleaning the washing machine, changing bedding, and batch cooking day. So far on my list I hope to make 2 lasagnas, 1 portion of bolognese, 1 batch of tomato and mascarpone sauce, 1 double batch of sweetcorn and ham soup, pea and ham soup, apple sauce, bread sauce and some ham croquettes. I'm really looking forward to it. Although, not looking forward to the inevitable freezer jigsaw puzzle trying to get them in :rotfl:

Hope everyone else has a good week and doesn't get too wet! x

coldcazzie

OMG. A friend of mine on fb suggested something to me the other day, and I've just tried it for my lunch - grilled halloumi in warmed pitta breads, with strong salad and sweet chilli sauce... wow! I'm actually contemplating going back and making a second batch...!

But no, I shall do my best to resist and crack on with my work instead... repeat 100 times: I will not make more food, I will not make more food, I will not make more food, I will not make more food.

coldcazzie

I didn't make more food, but I also haven't finished Chapter 6 yet - some of it has proven to be a lot more complex than I anticipated. I shall be taking it to bed with me and attacking the last couple of sections with a highlighter.

With this in mind, plan has been rejiggered:
[STRIKE]- finish Chapter 6 and make notes
- skip Methods Ch 4, S 1-3 (turns out it would've been useful for the last assignment, but not so much for the next one)
- read Butler & Berry, 2001 (only 6 pages)
- skim read Methods Ch2/3 and associated journal articles to assess assignment topics[/STRIKE]

coldcazzie

Today so far I have a HUGE pot of bolognese sauce on the hob, and a large pan of sweetcorn chowder cooling. I've taken mine and Giraffe's lunch out of that and the rest will go in the freezer for future lunches. After lunch I'll be making some tomato & mascarpone sauce. I have one portion from last time left in the freezer that we will be using for dinner tonight (mainly because I forgot to take the lamb chops out of the freezer - d'oh!). I'm also in the process of updating my stock list and doing a meal plan until the beginning of next month.

Last night manwife and I visited a local bathroom showroom, and explained our budget limit, gave them our measurements and explained what we wanted. The fella said he would draw up a proper plan and get back to us today or tomorrow with a quote for the items we are looking at. I am considering ringing the CC company up and asking for a larger limit so that we can get the taps and bits and pieces that we want to go with it.