Lemons to Lemonade!!

Greying_Pilgrim

Hey up Hopefuljoy

The phrase 'surprise baby' does make me laugh - because BG was a surprise, but as a friend pointed out, you get 9 months* to get used to the idea...... :rotfl:

Huzzah that you've plenty in life to be looking forward to, and as to 'let yourself down' - pah phooey! - more like you bouy everyone around you UP! You go girl! And wear the outfit of your choice to look supersmashinggreat in, for your dear Son and his bride on their special day

Greying XX

* in actuality *some* months, but you get the drift.......

Hopefuljoy

Hello Greying and SA! Thank you both for your lovely posts!:j I'm just floating around the boards before hitting bed with a thump. It's all a bit quiet here as DD is quite justifiably cross with me so I've retreated into a film tonight. Tomorrow will be better!!

Forgot to mention that this coming weekend I'm going on a school trip with the sixth form and camping in a field somewhere in Sussex for two nights. This is immediately followed by a trip up to the Midlands on Sunday to get ready for GCSE marking over the next month. That should net me about £800 by the time I've finished marking and it'll all go to the car loan as that's got the highest rate of interest. We get paid £2.89 per exam paper so that's a lot of work!! :eek: Very well worth while though as it improves my teaching and boosts my income.:rotfl:

Over and out from me now as I've got another revision session at 0800 tomorrow for more worried GCSE pupils. See ya'll soon! Hope BG is a sleeper (mine NEVER slept through the night as babies and DD was 14 before she stopped disturbing me). :mad:

Hopefuljoy

Good Evening all! It's been a very busy but satisfying day today. My first NSD for ages which is no great surprise as I have £1.44 in the bank until payday on Thursday. Perfectly achievable as I've bought all the food and diesel needed until the end of the week.


DD is revising for tomorrows exams after she comes back from walking our little Yorkie. He is SOOOOOOO SWEEEET! He sleeps curled up next to her and one of the cats sleeps on her head every night. Very cosy!


DD is now talking to me again after yesterday so I am happy and content once more. Not only that but her Eng Lit seems to have been good today.


Dinner tonight was some stir fry from the freezer and two salmon baps using a tin from the larder. I've taken two pork burgers out of the freezer for tomorrow evening and there is enough food around to cobble together meals until Sunday.


I've been looking at the mortgage free boards and am feeling inspired to start clearing it after I pay off my CC and car loan. People really seem to make a huge difference by slogging away at it. Once my debts are paid off I will have £204 pcm which I will allocate between getting an emergency savings pot together and paying down the mortgage.


I hope you will continue with me on my journey even though I can be flaky and unreliable as a poster at times because of my wobbly brain. I really do appreciate your support!! It makes a massive difference to me.


For now I wish you a lovely evening and am off to peruse everyone's threads!

beanielou

Glad that you have had a good day

brizzledfw

Lovely to get your news and well done on the exam marking.. Hard way to earn extra cash but as a parent of a kid who will need someone to assess her efforts I do salute you!

milasavesmoney

Hi! :wave:

Sometimes life can seem like a blur when things get so busy! And sleeping out in a field with students...brave woman you!!

You DD sounds like a really good kid what with these exams meaning so much to her. Good job mom!

On the weight loss front I'm down 7.5lbs. I was very slow to get started but am doing ok now.
You will get back to it as soon as thing calm down a bit at work etc. I'm confused as to how your school terms are scheduled. Do your schools go year round with breaks every so often? Most of the US school are 9 mo. with the summer off, break at Christmas and spring break.

So good to hear of your plans for when the cc are paid off. It's such a relief to have things paid off but especially your mortgage. That has made so much possible for us in our retirement. You will love the freedom!

Hopefuljoy

Hi there folks! Thanks for all your comments! Nice to see you all so well.:rotfl:

Milasave, the Autumn term starts on 5th Sept and consists of two 6-7 week half terms with a one week break in October. There is a two week break at Christmas. This year there was then a six week half term, a one week break and then a five week half term at school. For Summer term we have seven weeks, a one week break in May/June and then seven more weeks. We break up on about 25 July until 5th Sept before the fun and frolics start again!!

I'm interested to know if you are an expat and how on earth you found MSE! Either way it's lovely to have you and I'm glad to hear you are enjoying your retirement!!! What is New Mexico like??:)

Today I spent 64p on four cheese rolls, £5 on a bottle of Rose wine (it's my day off tomorrow!!) and got home on time to test my DD on her Physics.:A

Have just watched the film Spotlight which was excellent. As a Roman Catholic who works with children and has a lot to do with safeguarding I am absolutely staggered by the complete lack of humanity, responsibility and Christian love shown to the victims of abuse by priests in our church in the past and unfortunately I presume now. Shame on everyone involved no matter who they were or are. I was sexually abused as a child and the legacy can be terrible. Thankfully most people who work with children are not like that and I think I've said enough.

On to brighter things! Work seems to be getting easier and my pupils are all wonderful at the moment. Tomorrow I'm having lunch at my DS's wedding venue with a friend to try it out and after that there's two days to go til my camping experience and a week off! Hurrah!!!!!!!:T:T

Have a lovely evening everyone and see you tomorrow!

milasavesmoney

No, not an expat...I found this forum from reading Ilona Richards' blog>>Life after money. She said very nice things about MSE several times, so I had a little look see and have been here since then. Lovely people on this site. The exception being when it come to discussions of American politics. Some very nasty ill informed comments. I just love to read another population's version of what is happening and what it means. Many chuckles and a few raised feathers, from time to time, on my part.

Hurray for almost being to a week off!

My husband is Catholic and he has had a very hard time with the way things have gone in the Church over the abuse. He sees them as more concerned with recovering their image than caring for the victims.

New Mexico is a beautiful state to live in. We have slightly more Hispanic descendants than Caucasians and many Native American reservations. It's a cultural heaven. The Rocky Mountains run through the middle of our state and the eco spheres range from desert (where I live) to grassy plains to mountains covered with pines. We love Mexican food, hot air balloons, high school sports such as football (American), adobe houses, Indian jewelry, diversity, and our families. Our population is about 2 million but it is a very large state so the towns are, for the most part, small and spread out. There are huge ranches and there is farming along our two rivers, mining, and many scientific labs. I grew up going to rodeos and country western dances. I just love my state! Thanks for asking.

beanielou

As a non RC have to say it does come across to me that the church is way more interested in their image than the victims.
This also came across in the film Philamenia (sp? )about the adoption of children and the ongoing lies that were told

Enjoy your lunch and the week off. Happy days.

Hopefuljoy

Hello Beanie and Milasave, I couldn't agree with your comments more! Nasty things can only flourish where there's secrecy so here's to more exposure and challenge.

I have spent part of this afternoon researching New Mexico, Mila. What a truly beautiful place to live and so utterly outside my experience. I am crazy about US dramas and love what I see and the diversity of your states but have only ever been lucky enough to visit New York City on a school trip. I'm not at all keen on big cities and would rather visit your countryside but it was still an amazing experience. :T Myself and DD want to save up and hire an RV at some stage so I'm adding New Mexico to my list. She wants to be a geographer and explorer and work at Yellowstone or one of your other National Parks and I love new adventures!:rotfl:

The adobe houses look amazing! :j When we went on a Nile Cruise six years ago we saw lots of them as well. Now there's an amazing place to visit if it ever opens up to tourists again!

Today has been quite MSE for a day off but not a raging success. I went to the wedding venue with my friend and we didn't have lunch there. I bought two pots of tea for £5 total and then I sneaked off to McDonalds and completely blew the diet for £4.39.:(:(It all came out of my entertainment budget for this week on YNAB so it was accounted for in advance.

This afternoon I hit the scales at Weightwatchurrs (£6.25) with an enormous thud and found that I've put back on four pounds.:mad: However, I am undaunted as it was my own fault for deciding to see if I could do without anti-depressents three weeks ago. Foolishly I decided that maybe as life was so stable it was time to stop taking them. Then discovered it was only stable as I am on them!!!!!!!! What a prat of the highest order! After fifteen years on them you'd think I wouldn't be so silly but never mind. I'm back on them and the eating is being brought back under control as is the 'black dog' which is slinking back into its kennel.:T It can blooming well stay there!

I paid in a cheque for £100 towards DD's new mattress and have updated YNAB. The diesel is in the car for the long journeys this weekend and I cleaned the bathroom!!

Also saw my DS today after she took our Yorkie for a long walk. She doesn't want to commit to a dog so she borrows him frequently while we are out. She's madly in love with him as are we!:rotfl: My DD is next to me and insists on me telling you all that he has a very fluffy moustache!!! :rotfl::rotfl:

I'm already in bed as I'm not feeling too great. I think it's lack of sleep so I'm snuggled up with the Dog and two of the three cats. See you all again tomorrow and hope you'll all take care of yourselves!