22 Foxhole East

badmemory

f0xh0les wrote: »

The in-laws rang on the Thursday before half term to say they were not coming.

They have given a date in February instead.

Perhaps next time you move you could forget to give them your new address?

No I know you couldn't really but I bet you enjoyed that moment as the thought crossed your mind!

f0xh0les

The fortnight we are without a phone line when we move is rather nice.
I am starting to think DH keeps on messing it up on purpose.

apple_muncher

Now you have passports, could you drop in on them unexpectedly... And maybe leave ds2 with them for a while...

f0xh0les

All Blinds up and working on top floor
Bookcase made for DS3s room in an awkward space under his window, with some spare leftover mdf sheets from last bookshelf making project. He is delighted. Less bits of MDF lying about the place.
3 bedside lamps bought, two working, one needs a bulb still. Who puts a dead bulb back in the packet and puts it back with live ones??
Living room curtains shortened and now are sitting neatlyat the same level as the window sill rather than puddled on it.
Found lots of candles in a plastic bag inside a box on a shelving unit. Liberated them all and they are in the living room waiting for me to burn them all up.

Feel like I have a cold. Boo!

Have discovered the bedroom ceiling has lost pretty much all key to the laths. Have bitten the frog and will be getting more plasterers to come and quote.

Dropped the kids regular savers down from £400 a month to £280 a month. I save £100 for each year each kid has been on the planet and recycle it into the 4% accounts - will owe DS1 £300 and DS2 £100 when they mature in March. Will transfer all the money into their bank accounts and might just leave it there this time. I am feeling unappreciated. DS1 has taken to his cave and is only seen at mealtimes.
DS2 is being vile – he told me to FROG OFF last night. First time ever. I am so angry at him. Twit.:mad:
DS3 & 4 are so busy with after school clubs the like that they just want to come home and eat and watch tv, so they are very easy, but they are starting to be a little disrespectful. They seem to think it is my job to pick up after them and do nothing but feed them constantly, while asking them to pick up their own socks is somehow child abuse and tantamount to modern slavery. They only have to go as far as the laundry basket on the landing outside their bedrooms. It is not miles away. But no. Harsh and unreasonable treatment apparently. Bad me.

f0xh0les

apple_muncher wrote: »

Now you have passports, could you drop in on them unexpectedly... And maybe leave ds2 with them for a while...

DH says he does not live in the same country as them for a good reason. Bit far to go just for a cuppa. And the housedust is so bad it sets off my allergies.
Besides,they are not happy with a brief visit, they want at least a week. :eek:

f0xh0les

Surprise £96 of after school clubs, not including the residential and swimming lessons. Will have to rethink this. On the plus side there is no more to be paid out for the primary school kids until next year -except for Xmas jumper day - we do not do Xmas jumpers, so jumpers needed. boo.

Anyway, it has been paid. This month will end with me still having about £100 left in the bank. If I had not reduced the kids' regular savers amount, I would be £20 into my overdraft. One credit card bill has been paid in full, not sure if I bought anything on CC2 this month. Will wait and see when I get the statement.

f0xh0les

The house is very tidy right now, and all the beds except DS1’s have been laundered. The rotter has not brought his stuff down.....
All homework has been completed.
The fridge is clean and full of lovely veg, the freezer is full of fruit pies (6p) and nice bread rolls (3p) and crumpets (3p) and nice things to make proper meals out of.

£55 left in the bank to last until payday on Tuesday, so realistically that is totally do-able.

I really, really do not feel comfortable without having a safety net in the bank.

This week I will properly get plasterers round to quote – first thing Monday morning after dropping the kids, I will be on the phone arranging appointments. Then at least I can have a proper idea how much all the jobs will cost to do both individually and together. And book in what I can afford to have done before Xmas. This has to be done. I wanted to have the plastering, windows, and bathroom done byXmas and decorated, but I can’f afford it.
So I am going to have to re-evaluate, the windows are done, and brilliant. The plastering is the next on the list, and if I don’t have enough left over for the bathroom, then the kids’ regular savers accounts mature in March – and should be over £4k, which I will ask them if I can borrow to fix the bathroom, so that will be done by Easter.
BUT, the mortgage deal comes to an end in February, so there might be a valuation going on before the bathroom is done. I just wanted to have the house sorted down to the bottom stair tread, before the remortgage valuation. It is so disappointing. But, there is still plentyof stuff I can do to make the house look better before 2018.

DH rang his bank, to enquire about the remortgage, and they seemed to think it would not be a problem at all and that he would be able to borrow 6x his salary (we are asking for £108k so just over 2x) – which was totally odd considering the messing about we had to do through a mortgage broker to get the deal we have now. But he has been with his bank for YEARS and they can see how his spending pattern is, and that he is saving over £400 a month and has not touched his overdraft in over a year, and has paid off his credit card in full every month too.
Actually, thinking about it, I wonder when HIS fixed rate regular saver matures?
Will have to ask him later. And remind him about making that appointment to meet the bank too.

Right, I have a plan, and a lot of things I can make – like a footstool that needs a cover, and some new cushion covers, and a back door curtain, that I have all the stuff I need to complete, and will make a dent in my stash of fabric, and should not cost me anything to do.

I cleared another box of random stuff this weekend, now all the boxes fit on one single shelving unit. And I have two shelving units in the downstairs bathroom I am going to take down this week and hide in a cupboard, and a hanging rail that will receive the same treatment. Freeing up so much more space ,to flow freely through the house.

Ok, that has cleared my mind of worry, and made me feel more confident in my abilty to do this.

wishingthemortgaheaway

An inspiration as always Fox.
I also admire your parenting approach - don't bring the washing down, bed doesn't get changed. Your children are going to go very far in life.

Have a great week.

f0xh0les

wishingthemortgaheaway wrote: »

An inspiration as always Fox.
I also admire your parenting approach - don't bring the washing down, bed doesn't get changed. Your children are going to go very far in life.

As far as the washing machine anyway!

You are very kind.



The kids are acting up quite a bit at the moment. I think it is a mixture of the change of season, two exciting birthdays quite close together, and tiredness after a week off at half term.

There are lots of tears and tantrums coming thick and fast, and you can tell they are thinking about that fat bearded dude in December.

That and Mr Small came home with a single spot of ringworm behind his ear. So quickly Daktarin'ed it and covered it. Told school who said I should take him to the Drs. We had already treated it, it is not something that he needs to stay off school for. It is horrifically contagious, but I caught it quickly, and luckily it was somewhere easy to spot just behind his ear, and I researched every single rash that kids get when DS1 came down with his unexplained 'self limiting viral non fungal non-virus' rash two months ago. :T Go me!!:D
Might have to rename it the House of Pox at this rate.
Postman will love it. :rotfl:

f0xh0les

Still no quote from the water soluble plasterer (bang! and the man is gone!).

DS4 is claiming illness, so I let him stay home, as he loves school and is usually the first one ready and raring to get out the door, this morning he burst into tears and said he was not feeling well, so DH stayed home with him until i had taken his brothers to school, and has been chatty and lovely on the sofa all day.

So I have got very little done.
Cleaned the car windows again, inside and out.
Got the skittles off the carpet with an ice cube and a spoon for scraping.
Moved some furniture around in the back room - it looks bigger
As DS1 had robbed my bedroom telly for his new xbox, I have removed the tv from the living room and commandeered it for my room, the biggest tv in the house has been moved from the back room to the front room. I will decide on another tv when I know how much the plastering is going to cost.

The kids are already planning their Santa lists.
Just made a pizza dough with the rest of the bag of bread flour - not really enough, so will do a pasta dish with it too.

Trying to distract myself from the mortgage being updated tomorrow - hoping to be in the £108s but cannot make an overpayment until.... (this is becoming a theme), until I know how much the plastering will be.

Hoping to start on fabric projects before the weekend. It tends to cause NSDs.

Happy November Y'All