22 Foxhole East

f0xh0les

All the bank accounts have been tidied up and end in £XX0.00,  even the kids' accounts.  DH says it is not normal to have  10+ bank accounts with one bank, but only 4 ish of them are mine, 3 are kids regular savers, and they each need a bank account to pay into every 12 months, so really those 6 are the kids.  I do like the H0lifax online banking, it is terribly civilized for a large quantity of accounts to be visible.  If you have more than £5000 in an account then they enter you in their monthly draw to win a squillion pounds or something, so when the balance gets to £5001 I open another one.  It is like a savings goal, fill up that one, get another entry, start filling up the next one.  In my head it goes that one will pay for the roof, that one will pay for the bathroom, that one will do the loft boarding and  insulation and carpeting the top two floors, and maybe a new boiler and central heating system.  

DH toddled off to the dentist expecting to pay another £7k for a screw-in tooth (not a technical term) but dentist did not agree with him, so it will be £800 for a crown (yeah, I don't know either!).  Either way I do not think DH is up for contributing to the extension fund and would rather take out a loan (I despair of the man, honestly!).  So once again I resolve to do it alone.  I just need to pull on my big girl pants and make some phone calls, but I don't really want anyone in the house right now.    We are back to 25th in the Covid League.  Then again, they will do the roof from the outside so maybe I should just get on with it.

You lot really do talk a lot of sense, don't you?

Plus the kids regular savers mature in March, so that capital will go into my 3rd renovations account and top it up and I will have to open another savings account to put the rest in and start to fill.   I think I am only allowed 4 easy access savers, so I will have to start emptying one at a time and refilling it.  I am nothing if not financially tidy!  Plus I am expecting a cash sum from those Child Tax muppets at Easter once DHs yearly tax is done, they will see they have underpaid me what with strike pay and pay rises on academic term dates not the tax year.  Fingers and flippers crossed for me please.

I am still locked out of that Shanghai Bank online - I will go and show them my face next Friday when I am in town giving blood. They are not civilized. I  still cannot understand why they want me to prove my address but won't accept their own mortgage statement as a valid proof of residence, but are happy to accept DH lives here.   I am an A$$ according to my darling DH and I should stop winding them up.  I would not mind, but they copied my passport and demanded id proof when we took out the mortgage 10 months ago (they think I am dodgy)  and now they want it again.  How many times do I have to prove I am me?  Every time, that is how many times, it seems.  I really must write down my password this time I get back in to my online account.  It is ridiculous to lock myself out this many times in a row.

f0xh0les

kerri_gt said:

F0xh0les i now have a very stereotypical and un-pc image of a kind of Father Ted episode...up there with the one in the lingere section. 

That just about describes it!  But she is so sincere about 'the poor dear! I don't know how much more he/she can take! Aren't we lucky to not be in that position? '  She could turn winning the lottery and living happily ever after into a tragedy. 

Oh well, it seems to make her oddly happy.  I think there is a dose of schadenfreude in there at some level.

Blimey the  Covid death rate today was a shocker! 

kerri_gt

I remember visiting my Grandma when I was little(er) she was 80+, on 24hr oxygen and bed bound. Yet her opening line each visit was always who she'd 'wiped the floor with and would not be stepping over her threshold again'. Quite an amazing achievement really 

Baileys_Babe

No wonder the children laugh.

OH's father always ends up telling the same anecdotes. It doesn't matter what the conversation is about he manages to bring it round to one of his tales. 
We now play a game to see how many he mentions each time we see him, which is probably better for our relationship than me gnashing my teeth in frustration.

f0xh0les

We have been tempted to turn it either into a drinking game, or get a Bingo Sheet printed up - prizes for a line or a full house.

Baileys_Babe

f0xh0les said:

We have been tempted to turn it either into a drinking game, or get a Bingo Sheet printed up - prizes for a line or a full house.

🤣🤣🤣
So far we have resisted game boards, but the time may come.

f0xh0les

Well the kids will have fond memories of their grandparents that will make them laugh when they are older.

f0xh0les

I keep wondering why nobody is going in and out of the bathroom, then I remember I've only gone and fixed the flippin' door!!  So quiet now, no banging, no scraping, it works.  The wood fits in the hole again. Clever old me. Another job off the list, I knew it annoyed me, but I did not realise how much and how often it annoyed me.

Cleaned the top two floors and all the bathrooms as well, just need to hoover now and it is all done except the kitchen, which will be addressed over the weekend.  But while I am doing everything else, DS4 is 2 days behind with his schoolwork.  His teacher rang today to check up on him (I have not submitted his work since Tuesday) and to see if everything is ok.    Probably just a courtesy call but still - it made me feel bad!!!

This afternoon I made a rye soda bread (half rye flour half plain white) with pecans and prunes and it is properly lush as well. I am getting the hang of this, and DH made flat bread wraps one day this week as well,   I cannot actually remember the last time I bought a loaf of bread.  I might make a foccacia to go with soup tomorrow, and I fancy trying my hand at a proper loaf soon too.  Like a proper white slicing loaf.  My pizza dough is practically a foccacia anyway (I definitely don't do thin crust) but it needs no kneading, but my efforts thus far at a yeasted white loaf are abysmal, so I gave up about 6 years ago and stuck to soda bread, pizza bases, foccacia, and cake.  Maybe this is the time to beat my loaf demons.

Right, just going to hoover the house now, and then sit down with a hot chocolate and watch a film with DH in my tidy clean house - mostly -the kitchen door is closed and does not count for the purposes of this post.   Happy Friday Night everyone.

greenbee

If it wasn't for lockdown I'd be trying to work out how to persuade you to come and visit... I'm sure you'd have this place sorted out in no time, and I'd be well fed too... 

kerri_gt

greenbee said:

If it wasn't for lockdown I'd be trying to work out how to persuade you to come and visit... I'm sure you'd have this place sorted out in no time, and I'd be well fed too... 

Count it as essential business travel? 🤔