22 Foxhole East

f0xh0les

I have stripped NOTHING since Thursday. Sitting on the sofa watching Martin Lewis talking about energy bills:money: and watching the snow fall outside.

The kids have been out in the yard making a snow dog. They are back inside now. slightly soggy and very frozen. They also managed to break the back door

Stupid belt on the tumble snapped, so we have ordered a new one. Should be delivered early next week but I can't line dry as it will freeze and the boys had football on Friday so all PE kits are covered in mud, all trousers are covered in mud, and all radiators in the house are currently covered in damp laundry of the uniform kind.

Edited to clarify - ordered a new belt, not a new tumble.

Snowing!!
:T:T:T:T:T:T:T:T

Kittenkirst

The snow here in Leicester is pretty amazing isn’t it! My kittens have been out in the back garden playing most of the day (now snoozing on he sofa!)

Bad news on the tumble dryer belt- was it costly to get the replacement ordered?

f0xh0les

Kittenkirst wrote: »

Bad news on the tumble dryer belt- was it costly to get the replacement ordered?

Not at all, it was £5.99, even had the parts number on it so it is definitely the right one. :j

Kittenkirst

OH fantastic! You do inspire me to be better at trying DIY type stuff more

f0xh0les

All the kids schools are closed today. Which is silly. But if the teachers' kids' schools are closed, what can they do but stay home with them? There is all of 5cm on the pavements and the roads are clear. Ridiculous how this country closes down at the first sniff of snow.

Today will be a spendy day - I got child benefit this morning so decided to pay off the remaining £150 of DS3s residential in March/April time next year (£250 for 3 days for 9 yr olds for gods' sake. Ridiculous!!) Paid off all balances on credit cards - i am actually using the card to get M&S vouchers rather than just using my normal card. Finally getting the hang of all this free money stuff. Paying it off immediately, but you still get the points plus it is good for your credit score.

Trying to book a service/mot but the man is not getting back to me. boo!!

Need to get on with buying presents and getting them sent. The snow at the weekend made me stay home looking out the window happily.

Might try and strip another meter or so of wallpaper while the kids are busy on screens - bins go out tonight so might as well fill it.

f0xh0les

Kittenkirst wrote: »

OH fantastic! You do inspire me to be better at trying DIY type stuff more

Changing a belt is easier than putting the drawstring back into a pair of kids' trousers.

If the repair people did not charge such a hideous amount for a 5 minute job, and then seem apologetic about having to charge so much it would not be so bad. So the one and only time I paid for a repair man out for a dryer, I made him show me where all the innards were, and got dH to watch him do the job.

After that, DH has been happy to Utube and give it a go. TVs, dryers, radiators, pumps (hit it with a hammer) , leaks and drips, have all been successfully made to work without needing to pay someone indecent amounts of money (I only take cash darling!!) and usually for less than a tenner. :beer:

Tomorrow is DHs last teaching day, he has mice pie'd the office admin staff already. It stopped me eating them - and I would have wolfed the whole packet,- so -lb saving if not £ saving. :T

So he will be on admin/marking duty and thus grumpy.
Bah Humbug.
He has sacked off the department Xmas meal too. :rotfl:

f0xh0les

Grrrr. the belt is on, but not turning. put it all back together after an hour's tinkering, will continue tomorrow when not so tired. Probably forgot some clip somewhere.
Annoying, but not a catastrophe.

Stripped another 2 widths of wallpaper while the kids stared at screens. Next ones are going down the stairs and the ceiling above it. All the death defying bits . Eeek!
Made a small overpayment on the mortgage too - £51 to make it tidy and remove all of this month's interest, plus a little extra off the top.

Blimey it is chilly now. Keep warm

f0xh0les

The primary school is closed tomorrow, the High school will decide later tonight or early tomorrow morning. We have -7 forecast for tonight, with an 8am forecast for -6.

Brrr

f0xh0les

Boom, crash, crack, pouf. That is the sound of a large piece of ceiling plaster coming away, hitting the landing bannister, falling down each and every stair and the noise the dust cloud makes. Lost about a meter square from the ceiling under the top landing return where the kids jump down 3 steps to the landing. Swines. Nevermind, I am sure the plasterer can sort it next week. If he turns up, that is.

The primary school was closed for 2 days, the High school only for one day. This morning it was a total ice rink and I skidded to the junctions with locked wheels on more than one occasion. I was going slowly and braked early or it would have been messy. Nice to know Snake Pass and Woodhead Pass taught me something - we moved from Manchester to Sheffield in the snow. I was much wiser after that trek.

I bought and sent all the 'foreign' gifts today. All DH's family. He does not 'do' Christmas, but as they send things for the kids, they have expectations of reciprocity. To be honest it is annoying. I can't compete with people who can just swan off to Japan for 3 weeks. I don't even have an income. But the nastiness if I don't send things goes on for months. If they are that desperate for a box of chocolates then good luck to them. They are what they are.

DH bowed to peer pressure and has gone out for drinks with the Christmas meal posse. If he can find them. They have been at it since 3 this afternoon, after 5 hours it will not be a pretty sight if he does.

So tomorrow I need to get back on track ,I will drop the kids at school, pick up an alarm clock from W1lk0 on the way back and come home and clean the house from the top down. Send alarm clock to step-gran - she is worried her watch battery is slowing down and wants a digital clock for next to her bed so she knows what time it is if she wakes in the night. It is easier just to get her one than ask for reasons sometimes.

Also agreed the re-mortgage today to start in February, it will cost me £40, but the rate reduces from 1.89% to 1.59% and the term has dropped more than 4 years down to the 20 years we originally wanted but were refused due to DHs rubbish credit score and him living in his overdraft for so many years.

I should be able to overpay it quicker. Which means hitting £105k quicker and possibly getting down to £100k in 12 months or less. That is my 2018 goal. I just typed goat instead. I do not have a 2018 goat.

It looks like the interest is daily so o/ps at the start of the month, and I can see it online. 10% overpayments allowed - won't hit that unless I get a job or someone dies (happy not to hit the target to avoid those circumstances!).

So, tomorrow will involve Henry and Marigolds and hopefully another bit of wallpaper stripping. Food inventory and menu planning and shopping list making. Now that the parcels are sent I can get rid of the bubblewrap and brown paper mountain in my living room and start to make it a bit more fa-la-la-la- la than central sorting office.

I have 3 boxes of cards that I sorted out, somewhere. For the kids to send to their friends at school. Can't find the bloody things now. Must be more organised.

Got to get my Ho Ho Ho on.

apple_muncher

I remember being driven up Woodhead pass as a student. I think there were 5 of us in the equivalent of a metro. I think we went up it in 1st gear!

I learned to drive in Sheffield - got v good at holding the car on the clutch on hills, hill starts, driving in snow and ice.

Yikes to the plaster fall!