22 Foxhole East

dawnybabes

Electric fence round the fridge door ?
sleep in front of the fridge ?

greenbee

I think a bucket of custard on the top of the door, followed by a cage that drops down, and a siren that activates to let you know you've caught the culprit. 

KajiKita

I think you should share screenshots of this conversation with your DH and sons … 😉

KK

Baileys_Babe

f0xh0les said:

Landmines of glitter. 

f0xh0les said:

Bubblewrap carpet?
Clingfilm over the doors?
Drawing pins? 
🪣 on top of door
Glue trap
Mouse trap
Man trap
 🪤 
Cage 

You have given this plenty of thought 😁

f0xh0les

Aaaaand she's back in the room!

Greater Manchester gig went fine, will clear just over £1200 for the week once expenses are reimbursed and meal allowances and all that jazz is sorted.   

Minor drama at the Eastern West Midlands gig, on the first day, someone accidentally went home with my jacket, with my car keys in the pocket. So DH had to come and rescue me, the car sat in the car park overnight, I spent the night thinking I was going to have to mess about with auto locksmiths and insurance companies, but a very embarrassed lady came in with it the next morning, full of apologies, and to be honest I was just so grateful to have it back and that it had not been stolen, there was no point being annoyed, one ladies black work jacket does look so much like another, and we all throw our coats and bags into a hamper, I suppose it would be easy to do - bit like coming home with the wrong blazer/PE top at school.  

So apart from looking utterly unprofessional and ditzy on the very first day -  I think they assumed I had just 'lost my keys' (until the lady came in the next morning and explained) -  it all went well. 60  mile round trip will give me an extra day's pay in mileage, so I should clear another £800, but am expecting emergency tax on that one until it gets sorted properly.   I am well on the way to being able to pay tax this year... I hope.  So far since April I have earned £155 !  It is a start.  

My house is a sodding mess though! 

 Stripped the bed and tidied the bedroom this morning, put the clean laundry away and took DHs clothes basket down to the washer,  the bathroom was disgusting - 5 men, 2 weeks, 0 cleaning. Well, I cleaned the sink when I got home on Saturday because it was horrible, and again on Tuesday morning before going to work, but all the loos are cleaned and disinfected, the mirrors shined, the bath and worktops cleaned.  2 rooms down!

Currently on laundry load 3, I am seething at having to use the dryer. DH has gone off camping for the weekend, so can't even take him to task for not using the sunshine and doing his laundry before he went. 

There was one towel left in the bathroom when I got home last night.  There were lots in the clean laundry pile in the kitchen, but nobody took anything upstairs while I was away, and to be honest I was too knackered at 8/9pm when I walked in the door to do anything but eat, lie on the sofa for half an hour, quick splosh in the bath and hop into bed.  What was lying around in the kitchen was total irrelevance to me at 5.15am unless it was in the way of my darling coffee machine or the toaster. I was out of the house by 6am

In weight loss news, I was 11.11 this morning - I survived on noodles in pots and caramel stroop-waffle at work, but was on my feet for most of the 7.30-7.30, but still, I did not expect to lose anything, and I guzzled an enormous bar of Veg0 chocolate last night just because I could and I was all alone in the living room. To have lost a lb is a bonus

DS3 had attempted to make a pasta and spaghetti he was trying to make for me, he thought the onion would be too much effort so swapped it for mango powder and chili  (????) no, I don't know either, but he at least came downstairs and made sure there was something for me to eat when I got home. 

 DS1 decided he couldn't be bothered feeding me and had been and got himself a takeaway and DS4 had cremated something in the air fryer - I think it was garlic butter stuffed dough balls by the smell and all the windows in the kitchen left open when I got home. 

Not seen DS2 yet.  I have made a shopping list - came home to no milk, no bread, no cheese etc. so going to go shopping, and there is a talk that is going to have to be had.  DH has let them get away with murder this last fortnight.  4th load of laundry just finished. I have tried to submit my expenses online, but I don't think I have had my hours confirmed by the manager so it won't go through.  So annoying. The manual says it is all automated to make things easier.  It is not easier. 

f0xh0les

Expenses went through as soon as the manager had okayed my hours.  Phew!

Finally saw DS2, he gave me a big hug and told me he had missed me.  DS1,3,and 4 said they had not missed me.  I did see DS3 every day though, even if it was only for 10 minutes.  

Hair washed, conditioned, and oiled.  Nice bath had this morning, feeling more relaxed now. 

After some frantic hoovering  the house looks tidier already.  Volunteering tomorrow, second volunteering has been cancelled for later on in the week. Not sorry.  I am not valued by them. 

Hair washed, conditioned, and oiled.  Nice bath had this morning, feeling more relaxed now. 

After some frantic hoovering  the house looks tidier already.  Volunteering tomorrow, 

Made kids a veg packed dahl for lunch, even made them poppadoms, so feel like a bit of a better mother, home cooked food, and all that. I grew the yellow courgette and purple string beans that went into it as well.  Proper smug now. 

Going to make some scones, and I have some booze-free beer and cider in the fridge.  Euro Final tonight. 

DH has broken the curtain pulley string thingy while I was away.  It is 9 years old. Time for a new one methinks. 

KajiKita

Maybe it’s time to drop the second volunteering thing? If they don’t value you and you are starting to work-work more? 

Awww to DS2 … ❤️ (Forgive the back of my mind that thinks he probably missed your cooking … 😉) Nice to be appreciated for a change 😊

Glad your expenses and hours are all resolved and logged 👏 and that you are feeling abut more chill after a bath etc 🛀 😊 How satisfying to use home grown veg in your meal ❤️🤩

KK

f0xh0les

Used home grown sage, and accidental potatoes in a sweetcorn chowder for lunch. 

Put up a new curtain track in the living room too. 

Walked up to The Range to look for a disco ball (just mirrored, not lit) but no luck, and there were very few plants outside !! 

f0xh0les

I have requested a refund from my energy company as I am over £600 in credit, my bill last month was less than £150, so should get around £300 back in the next 10 days.  I will not be turning the heating on for the next 10 weeks so it gives another 2 months to bop it up until the bills increase.   Better in my bank account earning 5% than sat in theirs giving me nothing.  Energy readings submitted at the same time. 

Did a quick freezer inventory and menu plan for the next 4 days of 3 x meals a day.  Will not need to buy anything really, I don't think...unless Invisible Uncle Bob gets the munchies in the night. 

DH has gone off to town to buy some more thread. He is stressed. It was payday. He has money to burn! He offered to buy me lunch if I went with him. The answer was No,  Thanks but no thanks!  There is food in the house.

 M-i-L is making noises about when are we going on the boat to see them, well ... I am not going, I have fallen for this before, I spend a minimum of £800 getting everyone over there, we spend 4/5 days with them being ignored, and then 10 days later they are in my house, on their way to her sister.   Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. Except I have fallen for it about 4x over the last 25 years. So I guess I am a fool, but even a fool can learn a lesson eventually. I will put it down to my kind nature (insert evil cackle). I no longer need a travel agent for a guilt trip.  They have seen us twice this year already at my expense.  I have done my bit. 

Still at 11.11.  For one day I was 11.10, which put me one stone away from nominally being normal.   I am still motivated, and working really helps. 

 I keep checking to see if any jobs are being advertised on their site. That is the problem with coming onboard so late in the season.  Most jobs have already been allocated, but people do drop out.  I have a one day gig next weekend at a Tribute Act Festival about half a mile from my house, so £150 with no outlay.  Just need to get a few more dates in the diary.

My main employer is currently embroiled in a situation which reads like the plot of a tv soap opera.  Major, Epic, Catastrophic, hit Self-Destruct,  Hull-breach-on-deck-4, warp-core-overload territory.   I really wish I could tell you all about it, but I can't.   It will quickly become apparent where the new  balance of power settles. There will be posturing and peacocking and nepotism.  I will pretend to be professional (and bring the popcorn).  All I can do is be reliable and willing to travel and dependable. The rest is up to them. 

Mouth shut, eyes and ears open - is my new mantra, that and BEWARE of SPIES. 

I feel like I should be wearing a cloak, and swish it about and disappear in a cloud of smoke ... pouf!

f0xh0les

This month is proving to be weird financially. 

 Firstly,  I actually got paid a decent whack of money! Woo hoo!  since April I had earned £155, so actually getting paid is an oddity in itself. 

DH upped his housekeeping payment this month, and therefore I had a ridiculous amount of money in my account after all the bills and regular saver payments went out.  Shunted most to savings, set my budget, all good - a little bit of fun money to be had.   

Then my expenses were paid early, so I shunted more money to savings, then other expenses were paid, so shunted more money to savings, PBs will be paid on Friday,  then it turns out I am getting paid same-day in cash for a job I am doing on Saturday, then child benefit is due on Monday, got an email this morning to say the energy company are releasing nearly £500 back to me in overpayments (instead of the £300 I was expecting) before the 15th, then I am working for 5 days (physically incapable to spend money), off for three days, then working  another 2 days and then 2 days later it is payday for the other job last month. 

 I seem to be a money magnet this month - quick, touch me!  Is this what working people feel like? Is this what I have been missing out on for the last 20+ years?  

Today I have been booked for another couple of one day events in Winter, in 3 different cities,  I am sticking to my new 'don't turn down any work this year' mantra.  It feels so strange not to have to stick to the budget I expected to need.   Maybe it is just because it is coming in weekly? from 3 different employers?   Every time I look at my bank account there seems to be another payment in there. 

I am not complaining! But it certainly does feel odd to suddenly have a budget 4 x what I would usually have. 

So I went out and hit the charity shops this afternoon - got a pair of Peter St0rm trousers which DH immediately stole off me when I got home, ( it turns out he is a perfect ladies size 14), he  l.o.v.e.d them on sight, so really it would have been mean of me not to hand them over.  I was only going to dye them anyway.  His gain, plus they were only 50p, I can afford to be generous.  Bought myself a bag for work, it is green - I wanted to have a bag that doesn't look like anyone else's - Nobody else has a green bag.   I might make some eyes for it, it is frog green with a wide opening, like a wide mouthed frog.  Got a dress for 50p,  a work jacket for £3, and a waistcoat £2, and two big pyrex mixing bowls for £3 each.   We had a landslide in the pantry at the weekend, and two big bowls that I use for breadmaking shattered all over the pantry floor. Nobody was anywhere near the pantry at the time, it made a heck of a noise!  So really, it was most necessary to replace them, and they were replaced in the most environmentally friendly way - by reusing someone else's.

Vint3d myself a pair of bnwt boots for work, £9 + £1 insurance + £3 postage, all in £13 delivered, they were here within 4 days.  So  I have a bit of new-to-me stuff in my work wardrobe for minimal spends.