OS Singlies - We Do It Our Way!

greenbee

MTSTM - go for the allotment. It'll be a great way to meet people and great excuse to chat and get to know them.

My motivation today is that friends are arriving tonight to spend a week here doing some major work on the house - knocking a door through from kitchen to dining room, making a side door in the garage, fixing the gutters/drainpipes/soakaways, opening up the space under the stairs, sorting out the wobbly banisters and helping me work out what else needs doing. As it will be VERY dusty I have had to pack all the excess 'stuff' into one bedroom, and make two bedrooms and the main bathroom fit for them to use (I finally got the 'master' bedroom habitable last week so I can hide in that while they are here). The utility room was JUST finished on time so I've been oiling worktops and slowly getting stuff put away in there, but I now need to empty the dining room and as much of the kitchen as I can, and take down most of the curtains.

Electricians are booked for further work, so next week I need to make some decisions on windows and try to get some plumbers out to quote.

I'm starting to see a difference, but unlike MTSTM I'm not going to see an end to it for a few years And people are surprised that I'm managing to live AND work here with everything that needs doing/is being done. But I don't really have any option!

calicocat

Just popping in quickly.....

Take the lottie.....take the lottie..

You can always get rid at a later date if you don't want it.

JustKeepSwimming_2

Phew...have just caught up & skim read, & now not much time to post, although nothing exciting has happened here in the last week or so, so you're not missing anything :rotfl:

Just been the usual roundabout of laundry, chores, "helping" with homework but throw in having to try & sort the gardens, clean windows & help DS get his bike ready (off to get another puncture repair kit tomorrow :mad:) - well, that's the w/e gone in a flash. And I had plans to sit down in the garden & read a few pages but that never happened.

Could certainly have used the man-in-the-cupboard this w/e!

Hope you are feeling better Byatt & that the car hunting is going well. Good luck to all those improving their homes, & MTSTM - go for the allotment. 2+ year waiting list around here (not that I have time just now, but it's on my fantasy list for when I suddenly get the extra 3 days/week I need).

mum2one

Good news (I think) just had phone call from builders - there coming tomorrow to ake an assesment, but he knows nothing about the bathroom flooring....... but he said he would have a look and see if they can do it all in one and they claim off the side that did the damage....
He sounded an absolute laugh over the phone, had tears down my eyes...

calicocat

mum2one wrote: »

Good news (I think) just had phone call from builders - there coming tomorrow to ake an assesment, but he knows nothing about the bathroom flooring....... but he said he would have a look and see if they can do it all in one and they claim off the side that did the damage....
He sounded an absolute laugh over the phone, had tears down my eyes...

Good luck tomorrow with the assessment. I think the fact he has you laughing is a good start....at least you know he's not miserable which is a bonus, nothing worse than miserable workmen in your house.

moneyistooshorttomention

Mum2One

Fingers crossed that things work out well with that workman. You sound like you've got a lot more to do than I have even, and its thoroughly annoying me...so goodness knows how you keep your cool. Hats off to you for staying (relatively) calm on that.

I will take everyone's advice and go for that allotment. Goodness knows I've been looking enviously at them for years back where...

As you say, I can always change my mind later if I decide it's too much for me can't I?:) Worst scenario is I do decide to give it up later...but meanwhile I've had to chance to learn a bit more about "how to" from others. I've already made one or two mistakes in my garden and cost myself money in the process:(
At least I have some food coming up now and salad with dinner tonight is some I've grown and some I've been given (yay = free salad:T).

If I end up getting too many vegetables, then I can always give the surplus away can't I after all?

On another tack, had a let-down (again:() re a bit of work on the house. Thankfully, nothing that major this time for once, but annoying nonetheless. Have decided I will carry right on "on track" and with my timetable as to "when things will be done" and pulling said timetable out publicly and consulting it as necessary, as I think it might be helping a little bit at least to keep things remotely on track and on time, as it makes it plain I HAVE a timetable I'm working to.

Taking a leaf out of the book of a couple of other MSE threads and I guess I'd better adapt the "Thankfulness Thoughts" on that thread specifically to my (full-on) singlie situation. The thankfulness thought for the day is "Thank goodness I haven't got any adult children trying to pull on my heartstrings for money to get themselves out of messes that seem to be entirely of their own doing from what I can see". I'm bearing in mind a couple of friends in my agegroup right now that are having those "heartstrings" pulled on right, left and centre at regular intervals by adult "children" they have who are in the habit of getting themselves into financial messes of their own making and then yelling to Mum (who can't afford it...but that doesn't stop these "children" yelling anyway...and Mum paying up every time anyway). I'd like to think I'd have the perception to differentiate between "messes of their own making" (meriting advice) and "messes that got landed on them despite their best efforts to avoid them" (meriting financial help if I could afford it). But I do feel for these friends with those "children" constantly dipping into that income that is only sufficient for my friend alone. Thank goodness I'm not in that position (though I would hope any children I had had would turn out a sight more self-reliant than the ones concerned:cool:). I'm horrified and going quite pale at the thought of JUST how much money these "children" are taking from their poor broke parents regardless of the parents own circumstances and ..yep...the "children" are asking, rather than being offered....I feel so sorry for these friends being left so short of money themselves because of this.

Just a bit irritated with those "children", as I tend to think they should be aware JUST how far the "ripples on the pond" go affecting other people that are nothing to do with them, because they refuse to be self-reliant.

Thank goodness for Singliedom today:T. Count blessings that all "heartstrings" are present and correct and not being played on regardless.

groatie_queen

My sore throat has been joined by sore ears... not agonising, just sore. And I'm very tired. Time for some paracetamol, another hot drink, a bath and bed. I went to work today and was unproductive. If still not right tomorrow, I'll take the day off sick.

I hope others' lurgy is resolving. I hope this clears up before I go on my travels - better to have it now than in 2 weeks time.

Re offspring and being bailed out - we reckoned our children were allowed help with one financial mistake as teenagers, ( a naive age) but were quite clear beyond that they were on their own - and they have been responsible ever since. If either needed a sum of money for an eventuality which wasn't their fault, I would help out in a heartbeat, but they are both earning well in excess of their dear old Mum these days, and as I said, have learned early financial lessons.

moneyistooshorttomention

Groatie

That sounds a very good philosophy to me:T

We can all make, possibly, one financial error that's our fault...but beyond that....:cool:. At that point we should have realised we aren't infallible and might make mistakes.

If someone ends up unemployed, for instance, having taken on a job that was supposed to be secure and done it to the best of their ability ....then it isn't their fault if they get made redundant anyway for instance.

It's the making choices in life that have financial implications without stopping to think things through that is what is happened to the "children" of both my friends. In my book...any deliberate choices people make (and that includes "letting Life Happen type choices") are down to them and Don't Whinge if it turns out later that it couldn't be afforded after all and the person was hoping parent/State/anyone and anything else would pay for those choices.:cool:

Winter_Phoenix

Oooh, it's all happening, isn't it?

Another lurgy sufferer here - it must be universal. In my case, a friend came to visit and brought it with her from London. Urgh. The cough is driving me crazy.

Calicocat, I hope whatever work your neighbours are doing is shortlived. I worked nights at one time and remember my neighbours (in the other half of the semi) having their house re-roofed. Impossible to sleep through.

Moneyistooshorttomention, good luck with both the allotment AND the houseproud neighbour's inspection!

Byatt, fingers crossed re: the Ka.

Greenbee, what wonderful friends you have. I hope all the alterations go smoothly.

BookWorm, love the quote! Perfect for this thread.

Mum2one, best of luck with the assessment and hope everything can be done in one go.

I think that's everything.

mum2one

Groatie Queen, the travels sound exicting, where r u off to, on countdown to Goa 3 1/2 weeks.... hope your feeling better soon.

Winter Pheonix - Hope your feeling better to.

Fingers crossed for tomorrow... staying with the trouser look (can't be bothered to cream the legs....) thats what I love about being single and winter.... I can skip the odd carpet removal xx