~*~OrangeFairy will be debt free in 2014...with a bit of hard work~*~

mummytogirls

Hi OF,

Lovely to hear from you. Hope your calendar and reminders helps with you getting organised.

Have you tried oven pride for the oven? You can buy it for about £3 in h.bargains and places like that. You put it on overnight and you literally just wipe out the oven the next day. Its amazing how sparkling it gets!

Dont be working too hard! xx

starnac

Ooh mummytogirls thanks for the oven pride tip. Is it really that easy?? Must go and buy some if so

MrsSmith2013

Happy Belated Birthday OF!!

Glad to hear the party went well and you enjoyed your celebrations even though you had to attend the funeral. WOW for Rome, that is a fantastic suprise! I don't think my hubby would ever go and arrange such a wonderful surprise - lucky lady that you are! Bet you can't wait to go, how long are you going for?

I'm sure after you've had a nice relaxing break you will get your organisational skills back on track!

Enjoy your break, I'm sure it will be fabby!!

Mrs S x

OrangeFairy

Morning all,

Well Rome was amazing, our hotel was fab and we visited some beautiful places.

Back to normal now though. Made most of my necessary payments and so am now just trying not to spend much money!

My direct debit with e0n is dropping by a tenner which is handy. I have changed supplier of my contents insurance which saves £3 a month and I will get an Oleg Meerkat teddy which are selling in eB@y for £25/30 so ill sell that.

Today I am meeting my friends for lunch. However to save money I have made a lunch from home and will have just a coffee and a slice of cake.

Another job for this evening is to catch up on MSE diaries and lower my mobile contract.

Right my bus is stopping!

OF x

starnac

Tell us more about Rome. I'd love to hear about it x

OrangeFairy

Hi Starnac,

Rome was fantastic. There is just so much to see that really we could have done with another couple of days!

We visited the colosseum which was immense. Very busy in the day so we went back at 6 in the evening and walked straight in. This was one of my highlights. The other unexpected highlight was The Pantheon which is a spectacular old temple. The roof is a huge concrete dome. Apparently the largest Un-reinforced concrete dome in the world. I have never seen anything like it. A definite must see. It wasn't even on my radar as something I needed to see which kind of made it extra special. We walked around the corner and literally stopped in our tracks to say 'Wow'.

We visited the Trevi Fountain and threw in coins over our shoulders to ensure a return journey to Rome! The Spanish steps were great except the church at the top being covered in scaffolding hurt my photos a little! Both these places were packed! There were actually lots of scaffolding around Rome so a lot of restoration/repairs going on.

Hubby booked a tour around an Roman house that was discovered underneath a Palazzo. It was an amazing tour as you went underground and then walked on glass above the ruins. Some of the mosaics on the floor were amazing. The tour then used lighting to point out various features and also to reconstruct what it would have been like back then. It was fantastic.

We went out for 2 meals, I had pizza one night and lasagne the next perfect! The sandwiches we had for lunches were amazing but very pricey in the middle of Rome itself.

The saddest thing was that we couldn't visit Vatican City as we left it until the Monday and when the owner of the hotel went to get tickets for us the sights were closed as it was their bank holiday :-( So I didn't get to see the Sistine Chapel...maybe next time.

Our apartment was amazing. It was called Appia Antica Resort which is a building of 3 apartments and the owners dwelling on top. The owner was the most attentive host we could ever have hoped for. We got lost and they came out to pick us up. The kitchen was full of drinks, ham, cheese, egg, cereal and bits like oil, coffee, salt etc. All as a gift from the host. He spent an hour with us helping us to decide where we wanted to go and how to get there. His history knowledge was second to none. He does this with all of his guests. He dropped us to the metro on the last day and stopped to show us some tombs in a really peaceful part of the city. It was great to hear him talk bout them. The site wasn't looked after at all and explained that as Rome had so many ruins to see that were classed as more important these types of places weren't cared about which is such a shame. The hotel was in the Appia Antica area which follows a very old road built to get in an out of the centre of Rome. This is a beautiful old road which was a pleasure to walk down and see all the amazing buildings. A part of Rome that probably doesn't get visited enough.

The hustle and bustle around Rome was lovely for a couple of days. Lots of begging which was hard to see and people selling the same rubbishy items like paper umbrellas and fake Prada bags! The Italians are sooooo loud

There is my holiday report Starnac. I hope it wasn't too long...I have rambled

OF x

starnac

Not a ramble at all. I love Italy. I've been to Venice, Florence and Pisa but would love to go to Rome. Your holiday sounds so lovely and your host sounds wonderful. What a lovely way to celebrate your birthday.

OrangeFairy

Morning all,

Wow I haven't been on since Friday- doesn't time fly!

Well we had a nice weekend. Though we drove to a town 15 miles away to go to our favourite furniture store as they were having a sale and I wanted to see if any of the items for DD2s room were there....but they were shut :-/ we always go on a Sunday so they have changed the opening hours since we last went. Grrrrr but no money spent. Then we went to @sda and spent £2.20 on pastries to have for lunch at the big park nearby. The kids were treated to an ice cream as they were good.

We did pop to the outlet shopping mall and I spent more than I would have liked. We found placemats we both liked which is a big deal as we have had our lovely solid oak table for 2.5 years now and have been using Christmas snowmen mats all year as we couldn't find any we liked! They were in the outlet Denby store so cost me 8.75 for 6 mats and 6 coasters!

Also bought DD1 so board shorts from trespass for her school trip to the tune of £8.49 but she needs them. I bought all the cards and paper I need for 2 months from the hallmark store.

The spend that really wasn't necessary was a £15 shirt I bought for my 12 year old brother from Saltrock. However it was so perfect for him and a couple of weeks ago I bought my little sister (8) a dress to take on holiday. So I felt a bit guilty that I hadn't got him anything. So now I feel better

Today....

Update budget sheet
Dinner and lunch from stores
Drop rent money to uncle
Work a looooong day
Work out lifts for things cropping up soon
Check banking
Wrap hubby's present
Update figures


OF x

OrangeFairy

Hi MSE land

It's finally Friday. I've had such a hard week and have been feeling a bit down :-(

I did a short week last week as my mum was away so I had problems after school. So this week I have done a much longer week to make up for the lost hours and to make the rest of the month easier. Trouble is hubby isn't that supportive when I work longer hours as he just whines when I go in early and that I'm tired which is an added stress. Then the kids haven't made my life easy either :-( DD2 is always finding extra things for me to do that I really don't need.

This week she has been making posters for a cake sale she wants to so next Friday. For no reason other than she wants to! But this means a couple of nights of baking for me and I've got enough on.

Last night was nice though as it was so nice when we got the kids at 6pm that we rushed home got changed and popped down the beach with a Frisby. The perks of having 3 beaches within a few miles of your house. Then fish and chips after! It was nice to do something spontaneous and enjoy the sun.

Tonight I have been invited to a BBQ which will be lovely to chill with my two besties. But this depends on hubby having a squash court at 6pm so he can be home for the kids so I can go out.

Fingers crossed he can!!!

OF x

OrangeFairy

Hi MSE'rs

I had a lovely weekend though spent a bit too much. Went to my friends BBQ on Friday so spent £12 on food to take. Had a lovely evening and got home with the kids at 11pm! Oopps!

Saturday we went food shipping in the morning. I spent £86 rather than a planned £40!!!! So not too good. That afternoon we spent the whole afternoon in the garden which was productive. All flower beds cleared, paths weeded and lawn cut. We got the outdoor table and chairs back out so in the evening we had dinner out there when SIL and BIL came round for dinner. Hubby cooked a tasty carbonara! They stayed round till 11 and we made some plans for our holiday in August.

Sunday was Father's Day. We drove down to Exeter with the same SIL and BIL and the in law parents. BIL and DH took FIL to a car show and us ladies went shopping. I was worried I'd spend loads but actually I spent £20 in HM on a bikini for DD1, shorts for DD1, a top for DD2 and sunglasses for DD2. Then £5 on some lunch. So not bad at all.

Father's Day didn't cost too much this year......

£10 Stepdad (towards a big cider, sweet, DVD and fudge hamper)
£23 (Biatelli coffee pot for hubby)
£15 FIL (£6 car show, £5 kindle voucher £4 chocolate)
£0 on my Dad as he is so rubbish. I am at the point I just can't be bothered anymore.

Today I am hopefully having a bit of me time as I am going to go swimming after work. I need to get some exercise in and lose some weight as I am feeling really miserable the size I am at the moment. I saw myself in a couple of pictures in Rome and I could have cried. So operation lose weight had begun. I only have 10 weeks till my holiday.

So other than £3 today should have no other spends :-)

Just got to work- have a lovely day peeps

OF x