Bricks Not Books

VintageHistorian

September OPs have started off at a whopping £61.76, of which nearly £40 is purely from a Delay Repay claim I made for DH after he had a nightmare train journey that was delayed by 2 hours.

The pest control man returned on Tuesday and found the trap hadn't been touched, the bait was exactly as left. He's going to come back this Tuesday for a last check and if it's still clear then he'll remove the traps and we'll assume the squirrel and the birds have spooked each other enough that they're staying away, for the time being at least. Hopefully they'll stay away long enough for me to pay my brother to fix the hole (forgot to ask him about it last week).

Vinted sales have slowed considerably as I'm no longer listing 5 things a day. Did get one sale posted out at lunchtime, but that was the only one this week.

Vinted purchases, on the other hand, have gone back up. I managed to get 2 bundles of diecast cars in the shape of various vehicles from the Pixar Cars franchise. DS has been enjoying the movies again recently and he won't mind getting slightly chipped versions for Christmas, he probably won't even notice the chips when he sees I even managed to get the tow truck. I also bought 3 Postman Pat DVDs and I have plans for another one or two Thomas the Tank Engine ones. This coming week is the Tesco toy sale and I've been keeping my eye on some Toy Story figures I want to get DS. Currently getting all of them will be £40 so we'll see what kind of reduction there is on Monday.

I'm now off for a week of annual leave. No plans to go anywhere. I want to have one lazy day, and I need to work on my ebook in the hope that I can finish it before my next birthday. I've said that before though and failed so let's just play it by ear 😅 Might have a treat lunch out on one day, or possibly just buy a massive cheese scone from the local garden centre.

For dinner tonight I had a potato, bacon and cheese bonanza, consisting of a crispbread and some croquettes. Not the most imaginative but I need the room in the freezer.

Have a good weekend everyone!

VintageHistorian

£1.65 TT made this morning.

I am having a lazy morning as a whole lazy day is no longer feasible. Monday I got lots done around the house (DS's laundry, sent out 2 Vinted sales, booked our holidays, baked a Victoria sponge for the first time in a couple of decades).

Tuesday I focused on my ebook and made a good dent in the edits. I was also going to take the car to a local tyre shop to get the tyres replaced, I'd ordered them online and the email said to phone before coming to let them know. Glad I did in the end as their tyre fitter was off sick and they were a bit swamped. They couldn't fit me in before DS was due to come home so we rearranged for Friday morning. I did, however, refill the windscreen wash and check the oil level.

Yesterday was my day with DS. He didn't want to go to the car boot sale so we popped to M&S and a giant Sainsbury's. Picked up some new clothes for him in Sainsbury's, including a nice warm jumper and some new pyjamas. We also did the food shopping, and he had roast chicken for dinner.

Since I'm now doing tyres on Friday I've condensed my lazy day into a lazy morning. Actually suits me a bit better as I tend to find myself getting bored by the afternoons when I have a whole day. So far I have had breakfast, done a money shuffle, and packed up another Vinted sale. I have also watched a movie and I've just put a second one on. Mr VH is working from home today as I've got a talk tonight. I need to have a shower and either do more book edits or catch up on some blog posts before we get DS from nursery.

Holidays have been booked and deposits paid. The £600 was too good a saving to miss so it's Disney in 2028. Paid the extra for all-you-can-eat breakfasts in the hotel as it's much simpler to just walk in and eat before going out than wandering out the park looking for a croissant, and I can make sure to get a few extras to make snacks for DS during the day. Doesn't include travel as you can't book the trains this far in advance, nor have I booked any other meal plans just yet as I want to leave that until closer to the time we go.

And to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary we've booked a different Center Parcs. Basically used the £600 for that, upgraded to a slightly nicer lodge and paid extra to choose which one I wanted. You could pay £70 to pick a lodge that's very close to the main area, or £55 for the middle area. I managed to spot one lodge available that was right on the edge of the two sections so it was £55 but still close to the center and near a main path. Also had an offer for £40 off, so it was £15 for a lodge of my choosing.

I've only paid deposits as although we have the money ready to go I'd rather take time to save up a bit more first. Centre Parcs needs another £431.90 to be paid off and that's due in the new year, so just need to save £108 a month. Disney will be another £1550.16, which needs to be paid by January 2028 and you can pay in a maximum of 6 installments, which would be £258.36 each. We'll see how much more I can sell over the coming year and then split the remaining cost 50/50, I like to think we could cover at least £800 of Disney from selling, given that I still have a beside cot, a moses basket, and a travel system all waiting in the garage as well as more clothes in the loft.

Dinner tonight will be McDonald's on the way home from my talk. Mr VH is having an M&S moussaka from the freezer.

Have a good weekend everyone!

VintageHistorian

I cannot believe that I've just had a week off work. This week at work has been absolutely manic. You know it's bad when your to-do list stretches to 2 sides of A4 and on Friday afternoon you're already working on the list for Monday 😰

Tyres were replaced and paid for. It all went smoothly in the end. Only took an hour and I had my book with me. My talk went well, got £35 for my S&S ISA and £14 in petrol costs which I've put towards the new car, and they'd like me to come back next year.

Everything else is now a bit of a blur 😅 I have emailed our favoured gas engineer to ask if we can get the boiler serviced next month. Hopefully he'll come back to me early next week with a suitable day. I have also finished catching up on blog posts this week, and although ebook work has slowed I'm feeling enthusiastic about it again. Possibly because I can see the end in sight. I've got 9 (I think) sets of edits to do, 1 re-read for editing purposes, and then I need to do some date and bibliography checking. And design the front cover, which is the worst part as I have no eye for colour or design. But I know roughly what I want and if necessary I may just hand the laptop to Mr VH and ask him to do it for me.

Today me and DS went out to the car boot sale. Bought some more plastic envelopes for Vinted sales (sold a jumper during the week so posted that out yesterday) but otherwise my purse remained closed. We then went to M&S where DS pushed a small trolley nicely. We got some bread, chocolate, biscuits, and mince pies for Mr VH. Once home I had some toast but DS was quite fussy, demanding TV (we don't put it on until midday and it was only 10:30 at that point) and refusing to play with anything. So I took him back out to Tesco where we got some yellowsticker onion rings for Mr VH to have with dinner tonight, and some hot dog rolls that I was going to buy on Monday anyway.

We also picked up a large plastic box with a lid as it was on Clubcard offer. DS then helped me put all his wooden train track pieces and his wooden trains into it. The previous box was a bit too small and didn't fit the "extras" (blocks for bridges etc), and the train box was overflowing. Although this new box takes up a lot of room it at least contains everything with no overspill, and a bit more room for future purchases (although he doesn't play with the track much nowadays so we may not need to buy more).

Dinner tonight is southern fried chicken drumsticks and thighs that I got in a 3 for £10 deal at Waitrose last month. They've been taking up awkward space since then so I'm glad to be rid of them. They're also one of Mr VH's favourites so he'll be happy when he gets home from work.

I've also made more freezer space by decanting some yellowstick pork belly slices, which I'll marinade in barbeque sauce tomorrow before they get slowly roasted and then grilled, and a yellowsticker pack of diced stewing steak which is going in the slowcooker tomorrow so that beef stew can go back in the freezer for the first round of cold weather.

Have a good weekend everyone!

VintageHistorian

Total OP for September - £69.37! I salute that Delay Repay refund from the beginning of the month. I do have another one for file for just over a week ago, must remember to do that tonight.

This week became quieter once I got past Monday and polished off the tasks leftover from the previous week. So it was nice to have things to do but not rush them, or worry that a ticked off task would be replaced by two others within the hour.

No reply from the gas man so I need to resend the email and possibly check the local Facebook groups to see if anyone has mentioned him being off or ill. I have, however, booked the car into the garage as in low gear after driving for a while I get the occasional whiff of hot/burnt rubber, and I've separately been getting a warning light pop up for a sensor on the dashboard (although not at the same time as getting the smell). Not related to the tyres as the sensor light has come on before, but normally disappears without popping up again for months. And the smell first happened during the heatwave and at the time I assume it was the car in front. I've decided to kill all the birds with one stone so the battery and windscreen wipers are all going to be replaced at the same time and I can then sob at how empty the car repair fund looks.

This week I took DS to a gymnastics place that does a pre-school play session on weekday mornings. It's a bit softplay in the middle with a few toys and ride on bits, but the rest is gymnastics equipment set up around the perimeter. He had an absolute blast. Clambered on everything, ran around, jumped off, threw himself on the floor etc. Everything was springy or soft so clearly designed for a little boy who loves running and bouncing off things. There were tears when it was time to go home but it's only £7 so we've definitely found our "it's too cold or too wet to go outside" Wednesday morning activity. On nicer mornings I'm going to start taking him to a local Wildlife Trust site. Carboot season is almost over and the day goes much smoother if he's had a chance to get some energy out before lunch.

Speaking of carboots, Mr VH is working again today so me and DS popped out to a sale. I bought DS a small Hot Wheels truck for £1 as a reward for being so confident at the gymnastics place (despite the presence of several Dads he ran around happily from the moment we arrived), and I've bought a picture for my parents that I'm now considering gifting to my brother instead for his new house. I might send a photo of it to my sisters to get their opinion on who would like it more.

After the carboot we went to M&S for a few bits then came home for a snack and a play, although what I actually got was endless requests for biscuits and TV 😅 I think I'll take him to a playground this afternoon to burn off a bit more energy, he looked wiped out before his nap as he was up at 6:15 this morning and after a busy 2 days at nursery it's just not long enough.

The book is progressing. I actually have a cover that I like! That I made myself! I finished off the final first draft of the last chapter, I think I have 4 more collections of edits to do and a little more bibliography work. Then I need to tidy up the formatting, set up headings and the table of contents, and then I can upload it. Terribly exciting and nervewracking at the same time.

Oh and my freezer is overflowing again as I had another yellowsticker bonanza on Wednesday. I ended up with a whole slab of pork belly at almost 50% off (not sure why as the date on it was for Thursday), plus 2 packs of diced pork, a packet of duck legs, and a packet of breaded chicken fillets. There was a lot of shuffling in the freezer. I turned the diced pork into pork and chorizo casserole and made space in the freezer by taking out bits to make a bolognese. I made the bolognese yesterday but 3 portions are still sitting in the fridge as there's just no room at the moment. But they'll be fine sitting there another day or two.

Dinner tonight is probably going to be chicken and parma ham pasta, which is not coming out of the freezer and therefore will not make any space 😆

Have a good weekend everyone!