Second Time Lucky

debtfreeoneday

Don't let a horrible instructor put you down.. do what you think is best in terms of continuing with the block, but use the time to ask around and see if you can find an instructor who is nice, maybe try and meet then before and explain you need kind words, not grumpiness..

Hope you are feeling better, but tut tut at you for not having a permanent supply of choc oranges.. you've just reminded me I have one in the fridge!

Firegirl

Ask for your money back and find a different instructor. You'll waste more money in the long run and your confidence will go. But keep going! Don't stop like I did and then start and stop again. Lol I've been where you are and I got my test in the end. You will pass and then after that you'll never do a perfect reverse round the corner again!!!!

amycool

Thanks so much for the comments. It's funny how certain situations can take you right back to primary school and you're 8 all over again and completely unable to stick up for yourself.

I had a few troubled sleeps thinking over and over what to do about the driving situation. I've basically decided to see how it goes tomorrow just in case she was in a particularly bad mood. If it's just as bad then I'm going to say something along the lines of, "I don't think this is going to work as my learning style doesn't match your way of teaching" or something hopefully as polite. Hopefully I'll get my money back for the other 7 lessons.

I've been out twice with OH over the past few days but this evening my L plate flew off! I was on a fairly busy road so I just had to carry on and hope I didn't get pulled over by the police! :rotfl:

I hit my weight target! :j Unfortunately, mentally this has had the effect of making me eat like a pig for the past few days, not helped by making a gorgeous banana and chocolate cake today. I can't resist homemade cake. So this week I must rein it in or I'll have to start calorie counting again.

The plan to spend no money was scuppered today (again). We needed compost to pot the squashes on (the courgettes were decimated by the slugs in the beds) and it was 3 bags for £12, then we needed a bag of gravel (£4), and then OH spotted a lupin reduced from £10 to £3 and couldn't resist it. He's very much an instant gardener and often asks why I haven't grown xy or z. It never crosses his mind that he could grow something. Anyway, we had a £3.50 voucher at least.

Talking of vouchers, we finally got round to spending our Waterstones voucher. I chose a book we really wanted and then 2 80p classics to make the amount up.

I've also spent £8 of amazon vouchers (and then some) on PJs, new L plates, and a fire blanket.

One week to go until payday and then I'll see if we're anywhere near the overpayment target. An unexpected windfall would be handy right now.

In :money: news, I knitted my new niece a toy Ewe using yarn that I bought last year so that cost nothing and they were very impressed with my craftsmanship!

I've decided to really test myself and attempt to knit a lace shawl. I bought some beautiful merino wool last year (bought loads as I got a voucher) and I've been looking at it longingly for ages. Anyway, knitting with such fine yarn is HARD. I did a swatch and just before I finished it I slipped and every stitch fell off the needle! Very easy to destroy everything! So I've started the actual shawl now and I am using lifelines for the first time in my life. I have no idea when I would wear a shawl - maybe I'll become an eccentric and wear nice dresses every day just for the hell of it.

In kondo news - I had every intention of starting on my old diaries and letters, but adoption stuff took over. There's a lot of patience required in the world of the prospective adopter and I am lacking in it! On the plus side, I was so happy when I remembered that I had put all of my knitting patterns in an easy to find box, so didn't have to search the entire house for what I wanted.

We have carpet beetles. I found one on a pair of knickers. I may have to kondo more knickers soon.

amycool

Driving update - I managed to get the courage to speak to the instructor before we began the lesson and it went much better. No shouting, no hurtful comments and even some praise! I'm still rubbish at driving, but at least I feel less bad about it.

In banana cake news, there's very little left...

Otherwise a highly unproductive day of sorting through e-mails and doing surveys. I guess that's still a little bit productive. Nothing physical achieved though, which is always more satisfying.

debtfreeoneday

Well done you for saying something and I'm glad the lesson went better for you!

amycool

The peas are nearly ready to harvest! :j

We harvested the first of the broad beans far too early so they were miniscule, so this time I am going to be patient.

I've sown some parsnips and some cauliflower (a bit late actually -oops). The courgettes have been almost all eaten. Luckily I kept 2 back in pots. The gojiberry bush has also been largely eaten, but I found a cache of slugs under a piece of wood and destroyed them, so hopefully it can recover. I've dug up the radishes (it turns out neither of us likes radishes), the winter spinach and cut back the lettuce in the hope that we'll get fresh nicer leaves.

I've also sown some more wildflower seeds as I'm hoping to create a wild bit at the bottom of the lawn. It currently just has stuff that has grown from the bird feeder.

18th hour of driving today (not counting practice with OH as we tend to only do about 15 minutes!). Next week - bay parking. I suspect I might struggle with this. My new L plates arrived so hopefully I can get out in the meantime and have a sneaky practise so it looks like I'm better than I actually am. :rotfl:

Today I had a look at the spreadsheet and I have overpaid £1000. I'm hoping there will be more left to overpay but we'll have to see. I quite like to pay it a few days before to save the penny or so in interest. I'm hoping this means we'll be below £60,000 after the next payment, which will be nice!

Potential spending at the weekend as we're taking some friends to Yorkshire for sculpture-related fun. They're providing the picnic but it'll cost a bit in petrol and parking. I shall avoid the gift shop though. I also need to find the bus fare for Monday for the hospital.

Slightly annoyed that I didn't think to do the washing today as it's been lovely and warm. Fingers crossed for tomorrow!

debtfreeoneday

I'm hoping for sun tomorrow as it's my day off and I have a pile of washing looming!

amycool

Just been playing with the mortgage calculator and it looks like once we pay the next payment we will have knocked 18 months off the term!!! That's over £2500 saved in interest in less than a year. Wowser.

amycool

debtfreeoneday wrote: »

I'm hoping for sun tomorrow as it's my day off and I have a pile of washing looming!

The best of the sun is ALWAYS when I'm at work!!! Clearly I need to work less...

amycool

I've been putting off kondoing the "Memories" cupboard for a week or so now as I knew it would be a massive job. This morning I got the ironing done, procrastinated a bit, and then decided to just go for it.

In most other areas, I have always been fairly good at discarding things I don't need, and I rarely buy things that are surplus to requirement. But in the letters, photos, diaries, tickets, shells, badges, certificates, school reports etc etc area, I am awful. It always felt very wrong to throw out a handwritten letter so I had amassed a huge amount over the years.

I found lots of letters from old school friends and old penpals, and even some that I have no memory of!! On re-reading them, they're largely quite dull and I doubt I'll ever feel the need to read them again so they went in the bin.

Old letters to and from OH and I have all been kept together in a nice box, as they bring me a huge amount of joy.

I also kept a few significant ones that make me smile.

Next came the school stuff. I had all of my merit certificates (loads of them!!) and every "Participated in Inter form Rounders" type certificate. The only one I kept was my 1st place Shot Put certificate, to prove to any future children/grandchildren that I once succeeded in sport. Once. :rotfl:

I was going to throw out my high school reports, but they included some really lovely comments from some lovely teachers so I have kept those. I also kept 2 primary school reports from 2 favourite teachers.

My year 6 report brought back some horrible memories as I really didn't get on with the teacher and she wrote negative comments in every area in the report. So this was very happily binned. I did however keep the report that I wrote in Year 6, because it was hilarious. I was a very earnest child, completely incapable of lying, so it honestly said how I found Maths boring as the work was so easy and I didn't like Geography, not because of the topic but because the work set was very dull. :rotfl:

Diaries came next. I have written a diary since I was about 10 and I have kept every one of them. I think I have held onto them because I like the idea of there being a record of my existence (hence this diary maybe?) and I worry that I may forget things that have happened. On the other hand though, my teenage years were really a very miserable and difficult time, and whenever I read back old diaries I end up feeling very sad. I also had a few years of being very unwell and reading a year's worth of "Felt really ill today" "Spent the whole day in bed" "Went to the doctor for more tests", isn't very inspiring. I think I've reached a point where I don't recognise that person as me anymore, so it seemed quite easy to let it all go. I hopefully have many more years to make more memories and write more diaries, which I will no doubt throw away!

I also took on board something my Mum said. If she died, she wouldn't want anyone reading her diaries. This also goes for dubious polaroid photos...:o

Onto photographs - I have put lots in albums and then found another chunk - so they need sorting. I love looking at old photos and they bring back so many memories. I forget how my OH looked back then!

I know I've rambled but I feel like this was quite a big thing for me and in future it will stop me from always bringing back stones from beaches and leaflets for caverns. I also need to stop taking photos of trees. They never look as impressive as in real life.