The Ultimate Incentive part 10. The only thing holding you back is you.

Lara44

Cinny, your boss sounds like a right wally. I can't believe you got told not to talk, that's like school or something! I hope there are some other options that come up and mean you don't have to work there any more.

Birdie - that's so sweet your OH is doing JDIJ. I would abuse my pregnant power to get him to do more DIY, if I were you :rotfl: What a lovely dress, put me on the reserve list too behind Cinny

Aaargh the cat caught a bird this morning for the first time ever _pale_. She had it in her gob and was walking about the house with it still alive poor thing. I managed to free it, and it looked unharmed (just covered with cat-slabber, eww) but it didn't manage to fly away and now I am wondering if it has a broken wing. It has disappeared now. Fingers crossed it was just shock. It's a cruel world!!

Cinny91

That's what I love about cats - they think we're this big, bald cat who can't take care of itself! So they bring us food and do their best to groom us. Hope the little bird was okay, my cats used to jump into my bedroom window with mice and toads when I lived at home

It really does feel like I'm back at school. My boss was on a serious charm offence yesterday, he gave me a bottle of wine and was as false as ever. Will post something in more detail on my thread, I don't want to doomsday Dinah's fresh thread!

Did everyone have a nice weekend?

Dinah93

Birdie85 wrote: »

I joined in the clearout a little last night and have this dress in a size 12 with the tags still on, it was a little too tight and I thought I'd slim into it so I didn't send it back... not going to happen now! Does anyone fancy it? No payment necessary, just want it to go to a good home!

That's a really sweet dress but sadly it'd come nowhere close to fitting me I thought the weight I lost through the sickness bug would go right back on when I started eating again but so far hardly any has come back, I'm starting to feel a bit gaunt now tbh.

I was planning to start a spending diary to keep track of our money as soon as we came back, keep track of where all our pennies go, but the sickness put me back. So, starting today you can all tear apart how much money we spend (be gentle).

Sunday 9th June:
£24 postcrete (for putting up the fence)
£61 BBQ stuff (originally for family today but spent the evening cat hunting (after combing the estate she was in a guitar case in the guest room) so now frozen/drinks put in garage for Grace's Christening)
£60 Diesel
£2.45 coffee with FIL during bike ride

Took Grace to her second swimming class today, considering the first one went so well she HATED this one. Screamed the whole half hour after the first underwater swim unless I let her sit on the side and only have her feet in the pool. It's very unlikely we'll keep up the course after this one, it's staggeringly expensive at £140 for 10 lessons, and while I think it's a good class to go to realistically I don't think it's going to affect her life long swimming skills and we just don't have that kind of money at the moment. Decision will be much easier if she keeps screaming like she did today.

After swimming mum took Grace to the farm to see animals and have some ice cream, so I came back to work on some designs for dad. He has a really, really important meeting on Thursday which could get our products into the gift shop of the biggest museum in the area in terms of footfall (and site area for that matter), so I'm trying to do a staggering 234 designs for him by Tuesday. Got 48 done today in about 5 hours of work so it's not looking great to get them all done, but whatever we do hopefully we can convince them we're worth a trial. If we could get into this museum it should be a nice ongoing order for us which would provide a bit of stability and also expansion for the business.

Nice quiet week ahead for me, hoping it stays that way, it's nice being home with Grace when we've been rushing around so much for weeks. Need to get these designs done the start of the week, then I'd like to try to tackle the goal of getting the house in order towards the end of the week as the study has mountains of paperwork and the guestroom is more of an ebay shrine, and with so many people staying here Grace's Christening weekend I'd like it all sorted mid month rather than waiting until the end.

Dinah93

Just realised I'm going back to work in 8 weeks and I don't have any workwear any more! Everything from before is a 12 mostly, and I'm scraping an 8 now.... I really don't want to spend my money on clothes to go to a job I don't want to be at when it could go to paying off the debt and getting me into a position to go part time. I wonder how hard it is to take in trousers?

wendz86

Hi , Hope you are feeling better now.

Only thing i would say on your spends today is bbq food/drinks seems quite a lot. Not so bad though when you are using some for Grace's christening.

I always have just taken Poppy swimming on my own. Will probably put her in lessons when she is older but i think main thing when little is getting comfortable with the water. £140 is a lot for 10 weeks lessons and like you say will probably not affect her life swimming skills. Hopefully she will enjoy the rest of the lessons anyway.

That sounds promising about the meeting for your Dad, good luck with the designs!

Had a nice weekend here. Took Poppy swimming Friday then my Mum and I took her to in the night garden live saturday and visited my sister.

Starting to get a bit panicked that it is less than 7 weeks till wedding so have split out the jobs left to do into weeks so doesn't seem quite so daunting.

Flower08

wendz86 wrote: »

I always have just taken Poppy swimming on my own. Will probably put her in lessons when she is older but i think main thing when little is getting comfortable with the water.

I do this too, OH and I just take Noah swimming as and when we can. I think when he is a bit older we will probably take him for lessons but at the minute he is happy splashing around with us.
There is only one activity I pay for in bulk upfront for him and thats simply because I know he loves it and I have arranged with work that no matter what hours I am working that week I always have that morning off to take him. I cant really guarantee that i'll always be off other days to justify paying upfront for things (even though I do only work part time!).

Birdie85

Morning all! :wave: Why does Monday come around so soon?!

OH's nesting continues... our hall cupboard is now my craft cupboard, it's amazing! What was a total dumping ground is now ridiculously ordered and everything crafty is stored in one place neatly and out of the way. Love it! Kind of want to live in there... Over the week we've binned 10 big bags of rubbish, taken 8 bags to the charity shop and we've still got stuff to sort into sell/donate/bin piles. Wonder what he'll do today?!

I flipped a coin and it landed on you Lara. If you PM me your address I get the dress sent out.

Clothes-wise Dinah, I think you should be able to take your trousers in, a little from each side. It might not look perfect, but they won't fall down!

I hope you got a lot of food and drink for your £61!

£140 is a lot for swimming lessons... can't you cancel and just take her swimming every week, if she decides she does like it and wasn't just having an off week?

Good luck getting all the designs drawn, nothing like a tight deadline to get the dreative juices flowing, eh?!

Kepp

I'm back

Africa was an even more fantastic experience than I had hoped for, hitting the ground with a bump now

My branch was closed down while I was away (how kind of them!) so lots to sort out work-wise, plus must face the finances

Off to catch up with you all, which will be a mammoth task, knowing how much everyone talks

Kepp

Still need to fully catch up but couldn't wait to say congratulations Birdie! :j:j:j So pleased for you!

Birdie85

Thanks Beccie! Nice to have you back, I'm expecting a lovely long update from you on your thread! Shocker about your branch being closed though, does that mean you're out of a job?!

I forgot to say in my post above, we were super MSE this weekend and cleaned my wedding dress (after 2 and a half years...), I'd been quoted £100 for dry cleaning but we decided to take a risk and threw it in a duvet cover, put it on a cool silk wash and it looks perfect (and smells of Lenor!) £100 saved and my dress looks good as new! Hope this gives some of our other brides a little hope after their day and they're worried about getting dresses cleaned!