My Busy Life

sidneysmum

At work yesterday……and things went ok. I ordered a bulk amount of boarding for my loft. Hopefully it will be enough but I think my handyman neighbour just made an estimate so we will have to see if it’s enough. I finished in the early afternoon and went to my building society on the way home and withdrew funds from my sons account for him. I then went to the post office and posted all my Ebay parcels. I collected Sid from my neighbours then had my daily trip into the loft to see if I could see any evidence of water!! I just spent last night chilling and reading. I finished the Kerry Needham book about her missing son Ben which was a very emotional read. Every mother’s worst nightmare.
Anyway I have been pondering my finances a little. At present my plans are to have the roof redone which will probably take most of my 2014 spending / saving capacity as my house comprises of 4 large roofs. I am cracking on at present with boarding and lighting the main loft. I also plan on having loft ladders. My hope is to stay in the house I currently live in because I am so happy and settled (even though it’s the wrong house for a single person). It therefore makes good sense to have these jobs done. Hopefully over the next few weeks, my neighbour will crack on with boarding the loft etc and in the New Year it will hopefully be completed. The storage the boarded loft will provide will be excellent. Due to all these plans, I will have to be super careful with my funds. Thankfully I am in the habit of spending very little so any cut backs I make won’t be too difficult. Additionally, I have quite good stocks of almost everything from loo roll to coffee so I am hoping I will be able to keep my housekeeping spends to a minimum.
Anyway I hope everyone had a great moneysaving day.

sidneysmum

Thankfully my work day yesterday sped by quite quickly. I am not back at work till the New Year so I am hoping to enjoy my time off.......and get my leaky roof sorted out. On my way home from work I did a couple of errands - posting Xmas cards and called at the gym to buy tickets for the children's Christmas party which is on Saturday.
At tea time i collected my grandson and daughter from their mum as they were staying the night with me. 2 of my sons turned up plus another girlfriend and a further little person as well. Anyway we all managed to sit round the morning room table for a quick snack of scrambled eggs on toast plus cake!! We actually had a really nice night. One grandchild went home to bed so I was left with the other 2. Unfortunately it was a bit of a fraught night as my grandson had a raging temperature so i ended up having to give him calpol etc. Anyway he seemed OK this morning.
I have just taken the children back to their mum and all my timber has just been delivered for my loft flooring. Unfortunately I have just rung my neighbour to tell him the wood has arrived so we can start work and he is at the doctors!!! He is going to let me know later whether work is to commence or not.
Anyway I hope everyone has a great moneysaving day

sidneysmum

As my neighbour was unwell on Wednesday, I had to change my plans at late notice. So instead of helping to board the loft, I took Sid to the park to ponder what to do. I decided to rejig the next few days so that when my neighbour is well again, we can crack on with boarding the loft. So I went and filled my car up with petrol and then went to Sainsburys. i am so glad I did as the children's half price clothing sale had started. Lets just say I bought about £70 worth of 3 year old girls clothing for £30. All the clothes are beautiful and I am sure that my son and his partner will be delighted with what I have bought for Lucja !!
Next I got some stamps bought and posted the last of my Christmas cards. I was in time for the lunch time zumba class so went there before coming home to do a load of chores. I emptied several boxes of baby things to pass from one grandaughter to the other !!! Children's clothes and toys always find their way to me. I can always find someone who will use them. I also spent an hour or so doing the rest of the Christmas wrapping. Everything's done now. Spent my evening just reading.
Yeasterday was my typical Thursday. My neighbour was still not up to boarding the loft so I got up early and went to the gym for my usual 60 minutes on the treadmil followed by my dance class. I handed in my final divorce paper at the county court and by lunch time i was divorced. You are all the first to know. I dont feel sad or anything, just disappointed that i was so let down by someone who I thought would be in my life forever. Anyway.......
Took Sid for a walk in the afternoon then spent the rest of the day just doing a few chores and having a read. I actually had a few hours to relax and thoroughly enjoyed it. I know its going to be a busy day here today as my neighbour will be here any time to start boarding the loft with me labouring !!!
I hope everyone has a great moneysaving day

tootallulah

Hi that is a bitter sweet post. Onwards and upwards, I still read every day and am enjoying all that you do - very inspirational. When I retire I am getting a dog and joining the gym!

sidneysmum

tootallulah - Hi and thanks for posting. Its good to know people are still reading all my ramblings. Had a good talk to myself and i haven't spent any time thinking about my divorce. Thats the good thing about keeping busy - no time to dwell on things. Hope you enjoy Christmas x

The last couple of days have been very productive. I had to pretty much scrap all my plans for Friday as my neighbour helped me board my loft. I now have tons of storage. I am hoping to get myself some loft ladders which will make it really safe to get up into the attic. Thats one of my jobs for the new year. We managed to get the bulk of the work done by 3pm, but i decided to not bother with zumba as firstly i was really dirty from the loft and secondly I was worn out with all the lifting. After a quick shower and rest on the sofa, I went and picked up my grandson and baby grandaughter. My toddler grandaughter was then dropped off by by other son and his girlfriend. I am very much in demand at the moment for babysitting. I have to say I actually found it OK looking after 3 children under 3. Thankfully I had planned everything like a military attack so we could spend as much time as possible playing games etc.
As all 3 of the children stayed, we spent the first hour of Saturday all in my bed, singing and bouncing on it. Sidney also joined in. I am just so lucky that Sid loves the children. We hear such horrendous things in the press about dogs mauling children.....I would never take any chances, but I just feel really blessed to have a dog who loves playing "mum" to my grandchildren. She just loves snuggling up to them. Anyway.......after playing with the toys on Saturday morning, we all went to the Christmas party at the council gym. It was a roaring success as there were 2 large bouncy castles and loads of activities. Singing and dancing then a visit from Father Christmas. My grandson especially loved everything. We just had time to get home for a quick lunch of fish fingers and waffles (which the kids fed to Sid !!) before they were all collected to go to their respective homes.
After my busy couple of days, I decided to just get my feet up and have a read last night.
Today I got up quite early and was at the gym for 8am. Although Christmas hasn't started yet, I am sick of eating sweet things and rubbish. I did my usual 60 minutes on the treadmill before coming home. Took Sid to the park then emptied the bottom of the fridge of all random bits of vegetables and once chopped, I put them in the slow cooker to make some soup. I am just going to finish eating up all the odds and ends in the house and not buy any more sweet things for a while. I just want to eat some good food and less flapjacks etc! I have spent today so far doing a few jobs - guinea pigs cleaned, British gas meter reading submitted and weekly payment made, wrapped eBay parcels which will be selling this afternoon.
Not sure what the rest of the day will hold as my plans have changed. My work friend was supposed to be coming round to visit at 4pm but unfortunately he is bed bound due to sciatica so we will have to rearrange when he is better.
Anyway I hope everyone has a great moneysaving day

Jazee

Hello there. I'm still lurking. I have to confess to eating a flapjack (coated in chocolate no less) as I read your post..mmmm.

Happy Christmas to you and yours, I'm now off to a candle lit carol concert, so expect to feel really Christmassy after that.

sidneysmum

Jazee - Hi, and I hope you have had a great Christmas.

I hope this doesn't sound too humbug but i am glad Christmas is over for another year. I wont bore you with all the details of how i spent my time, but its sufficient to say that all i want to do is get back to normal as soon as possible. Yesterday I went back to the gym as it was the first day it was open after Christmas. Did my usual 60 minutes on the treadmill. A friend then treated me to a costa latte coffee which was very nice. I decided to get on the scales and was pleasantly surprise to see that i have only put a couple of pounds on recently. Very pleased about that. This time last year I was almost 12 stone and a good size 14 instead of 9 stone and a size 10. Having to loose weight is not something i want to have to contemplate again.
After walking Sid I went and collected my grandson and baby grandaughter who stayed overnight. I took my grandaughter back to her mum this morning and I was taking my grandson to the cinema to see "Turbo" which he really enjoyed. After lunch a builder arrived at my house. He is a family friend and in all honesty I had not thought about asking him for a diagnosis on my roof. Anyway he has been a builder for 40 years and has built many houses. Basically he thinks that the water getting into my house may not be from my roof but from my brickwork. He thinks that all the drilling to the property when I had cavity wall insulation fitted at the end of the summer may have dislodged mortar etc which is now letting water into the cavity of the wall. He has told me under no circumstances am I to have a new roof (as the roofer told me was necessary). He is going to come back in the New Year and firstly see if there is anything clearly wrong with my roof. If so he will put it right. If the roof is not the problem, he intends to find out by a process of elimination what is the problem. Basically I do not need a new roof ! I have decided to put my confidence in him and just put the whole problem into his hands and see what happens. At least if i dont need a new roof I will be able to put my funds towards paying off my mortgage and savings once the building work has been paid for. What a relief. Although there is still water coming in, I feel that i can trust this man and that he is not going to rip me off.
Anyway I have just returned my grandson to his home and i have got the rest of the day to myself. Time for some "me" time and getting my feet up. I hope everyone has had a great moneysaving day .

vasseur

I don't think you are at all humbug for being glad that xmas is over. I certainly feel the same and I'm sure loads of other people do too. I think most of us are fed up with it all before it even arrives as we are bombarded with it all for at least 2 months beforehand! I do like new year though - chance for new starts etc. I love that.

Sorry to hear of all your roofing problems. I am having a similar thing and I have just sold my house! I wouldn't leave my buyers with a leaking roof so was going to get it fixed before moving date and then we had all that rain! My dad knew some roofers and they worked out how the water was getting in (mainly from the guttering which was directing the water through some broken flashings where the extension joined the main house). They fixed it a couple of weeks ago and the very same night we got even more rain! It was a good test for it and it hasn't leaked since. The main point of all this waffle is that it's good to go with someone you trust or whose work is known by someone you trust. I don't know about you but being a woman I always feel vulnerable when I need to get things done to the house or the car. I feel much more confident when it's someone who has been recommended to me. Fortunately my dad has a friend who can do most things and if it's anything he can't do he knows someone who can

Your builder friend sounds good so I hope he can sort things out for you soon.

sidneysmum

polesalot - Hi and thanks so much for posting. You have made me feel "normal". As you say its so easy to be "vulnerable" if you are a woman on her own. I feel just so much better now i have got this builder (family friend) on my side. I feel just so much more confident. I just dont know why i didn't contact him in the first place. Tomorrow I am going to get in touch with the roofer/builder who told me i needed an new roof and tell him it wont be happening anytime soon ! x

Today has been a nice quiet day really. I went to the gym this morning and did my usual on the treadmill. I have spent most of the day just pottering about the house as everything seems to have stopped socially between Christmas and New Year. I decided to make a light fitting for my rear loft. My front loft already has lighting. So with a length of 2 core wire and some small electrical fitting, we now have light !! I am so glad I tackled the job. The only other thing I have done is call at Asda and bought a few bargain bits of fruit to feed to the piggies.
Anyway I hope everyone has a great moneysaving day

sidneysmum

Happy New Year to everyone. Lets make 2014 our year !!

Today has been a fairly laid back day. I was up about 9ish even though the children stayed with me overnight. However they were both tired as I had taken them to a neighbours house for a New Year get together. So this morning we just lolled about a bit before I dropped them both off at their home. I decided to go to the cinema to help pass the day. I went to see "American Hustle" which i rather enjoyed. Called at Asda on my way back and made my first purchase of 2014 - 4 pints of milk. Spent £1. Next stop was taking Sid to the park which was nice as I met my neighbour with her dogs. We had a nice chat.
Just going to relax a bit tonight. Think i will be in bed fairly early as i am quite tired. I am really looking forward to getting back to normal tomorrow. Back to the gym and exercise classes.
I haven't actually got any New Years resolutions this time although I am planning on eating less cake etc and having more good stuff on the menu. Also I am going to get back to the body brushing.
I hope everyone has had a great moneysaving first day of 2014.