A new royal start

QueenJess

Jessy103 said:

I hope you got an anniversary card and present in the end!

Yes, eventually.  Anniversary was a nightmare as I cooked two dinners (one for DS and one for myself and DH) and I was trying unsuccessfully to juggle work at the same time.  DH left the smoked salmon in a bag for hours before he spotted it and put it in the fridge, but since I'm pregnant I thought it wasn't worth the risk and so had a rubbish starter.  Main meal (lamb tagine) was lovely though and we have another meal's worth in the freezer.

I did get some nice flowers and a card.  DH seemed to like the pen I got him for work (hopefully he'll stop using those horrible plastic ones now as this one is refillable).  I just chose my own present and now have a set of cake forks which match the rest of my cutlery.  I can feel like a grown up now when I have cake.  I'm so rock and roll! 

QueenJess

Well I certainly got stuff done this weekend.  Cleaned the downstairs toilet, did a fair bit of tidying, multiple washing loads and all dry clothes put away, changed all the beds, dusted the whole house and cleaned all the mirrors.

Also spent lots of time with DS, went on a walk/bike ride and had a long discussion with him about the fact he is going to have a new baby sister.  He is quite excited and keeps staring at my tummy.  He immediately went upstairs and grabbed a cuddly toy which he says he wants to give to the new baby 

I also stewed up all the pears with some cinnamon for my porridge in the mornings, used the two leftover oranges to make orange muffins, made millionaires shortbread (just setting at the moment), did the meal plan for next week and wrote the shopping list, did a huge order for store cupboard essentials from ASDA (coming in two weeks) and a few xmas treats which slipped in.  A full beef roast with all the trimmings is in the oven right now and nearly done with my homemade yorkshire puddings.

Shame I have to go back to work tomorrow really.. I also decided it is December already so I bought a few bits for the house as allowed for the new month.  Ordered some string lights for the sideboard, an extension cable so I can finally plug in a lamp I've had since July 🙈and an indoor plant pot so I can finally sort out the ginger I grew which is temporarily sat on a massive compost bag sized plastic tray in the way in my dining room.

Really need to get back to the remaining xmas present list next week as the week after DS's new bed and all the baby furniture is arriving and we will be building everything for weeks!  Also means we finally have to sort out the room of doom    Will definitely be doing that over an elongated period of time for my sanity!

Not going to do a roundup of November since the furniture spend on it is horrendous... will reassess at the end of December as to whether we just have to put some savings in the joint account to clear it (it's when I clear out all the budget categories for the year and then set the new budget for next year).  For the moment I lent the joint account some money to make sure we don't go overdrawn.

QueenJess

Another week gone already.  Feels like so much life has happened in that time, despite not that much actually happening.  I did tell my employer this week that I was pregnant and they were pretty shocked .  I had until the end of next week to tell them, but it is all reasonably pointless since I am redundant at the end of Jan anyway.

I seem to be having a bit of a money break at the moment.  Just sick of thinking about saving/making money and so just trying to squeeze more life in instead and will leave the money making/saving on the back burner until I feel the mojo come back.  I am doing the odd thing, but only when I feel like it.  On the plus side, I have worked out that when I get paid this month (not sure when that'll be for December), I will be able to complete my mortgage overpayment pot so I will hit £75k come remortgage (Oct 2021).  Yay! 🍾

In other good news, I think DS is FINALLY toilet trained!  I spent lots of time with him purposely in the week being very patient and somehow managed to have a break through as a result.  He is very proud of himself 

Had another weekend blasting through a load of stuff.  All dusting done, mirrors cleaned, toilets and sinks all cleaned, beds done, lots of tidying/sorting done.  Only got kitchen and the rest of the bathrooms to clean in the week (DH is in charge of hoovering).  As DS's bed and most the baby room furniture arrives tomorrow, I will be spending lots of time building furniture over the next few weeks and slowly clearing the room of doom.  Plus DH is in meetings/training and is generally really busy at work next week, so it's going to be chaotic.  I also filled the compost bin up with another load of leaves (it's never ending), video called my parents with DS, made an apple and blackberry crumble, did the food shopping list (and next week's meal plan) for tomorrow, ordered a couple of cleaning things I needed online and a couple of xmas presents for family (only got 1 left to go now).  Relaxed with a nice long (for me) shower and generally pampered myself whilst DH finished off the dinner.

Dinner tonight was roast lamb, parsnips, carrots, yorkshire puddings and roast potatoes (leftover lamb for another 2 meals of course).  When I can squeeze it in later there is apple and blackberry crumble and custard.  Also finished the last of the orange muffins this weekend and still have the deadly millionaire's shortbread in the fridge.

Spent time researching ethical companies this week and it does give you a headache after a while, although it is very enlightening!  I have decided to change my dark chocolate brand of choice though as a result to a more ethical brand.  Cleaning products were also ordered through an ethical company (I used them in the past and use very few anyway as my skin dislikes anything that has seen a chemical.... I am even allergic to any perfumes - I come out in a rash) and I have finally used up the veg/fruit and so will be getting my organic veg and fruit box next week.  I really look forward to getting my veg/fruit boxes 

Got about a million MSE diary notifications to catch up on now!  May take me a while...

QueenJess

I did update my signature for this month money wise... a few aims which should be achievable...
Mortgage: Aug 20 £88,760.53, Dec 20 £81,844.24 (Dec target: <£80,000)
Debt to myself: Sep 20 £1,262.31 Dec 20 £1,987.18  (Dec target: £1,750)
Extra savings (made from extra income/extra savings from budget): Dec £153.89 / £250

MagicCat

Good work with the potty training!

You've done so well with the money stuff over the last few months a bit of a break certainly won't matter.

That's interesting about the ethical brands - I swopped my chocolate brand earlier in the year for similar reasons, the new one is more expensive though but upside is I have to buy less and my hips feel the benefit 

QueenJess

MagicCat said:

That's interesting about the ethical brands - I swopped my chocolate brand earlier in the year for similar reasons, the new one is more expensive though but upside is I have to buy less and my hips feel the benefit 

Ah yes, I find buying 85% chocolate really hits that chocolate craving in one or two squares rather than the sugar laden milk chocolate ones.  I generally stick to dark chocolate, but sometimes stray into milk for a treat.  I don't like the taste of white chocolate - way too sweet for me.

Good news is that I actually prefer the new bar I bought!  Chucked it on the xmas list as well in case DH is stuck for present ideas!

QueenJess

I feel like a whole week has passed already, but it's only Wednesday morning....

Finally got a response out of HR re: my pregnancy and they want to do some risk assessment.  I think they have to do it by law, but it does feel slightly pointless when I work from home 100% and probably have less than 40 actual work days left.  Anyway, will let them do whatever it is they want.  What I actually wanted them to do was confirm they would be paying out SMP in my redundancy package..... I've chased it up in case they hadn't actually realised.  I'd like it in writing as I don't want to chase it up after I've left/on my last day (think I will be paid the day before I leave).

DH is really busy at work and on permanent calls/in training courses online.  Somehow we've managed to make DS's bed in a couple of nights (although a couple of later nights for DS..) and I'm knackered now.  Definitely no more building of furniture until the weekends or when we have more time.  To be fair, lots of the rest you can build on your own, but the bed needed two people.

Anyway, DS was very excited and after being used to his little bed, a full size single looks absolutely enormous!  It looks like giant furniture in a little boy's room!  I'm sure we'll get used to it eventually.  At least we don't have to ever (hopefully) buy him a bed again.

There is now mess everywhere... the old bed is still in DS's room which we need to move and turn back into a cot from a toddler bed.  He also has a table he no longer needs which will go into the baby's room, but the room of doom has so much stuff in it, I haven't got the space to put it in there.  Trying to ignore it at the moment and just clear things a tiny bit at a time.  I may go through during the week and pack up the charity stuff in boxes/bags and then cut up the cardboard into smaller pieces for the recycling.  Hopefully it'll all get done in 2020 and then I'll have to think about the other stuff to get in Jan (car seat base and other smaller bits and pieces that we'll need).  Will try and forget about those until Jan now as my head will explode otherwise!

Since we've been busy building this week, the house is a tip again... I cleared up some of the kitchen/diner late last night, but better get on with some washing and tidying in my lunch hour today.  Also run out of biscuits/muffins/shortbread/crumble 😱.  May have to slum it for a day or two and then I'll think of something to rustle up!

debtfreeoneday

Glad the toilet training is done. 

QueenJess

Honestly, DH hasn't a clue sometimes.  He saw me cutting up the big box for the recycling and told me it wasn't worth it as it will never go in our one recycling box to be picked up and he will have to go to the tip when we've finished building.  I thought that was wrong, but said "at least we can put some in the box".  His reply?  The box is already full for Friday anyway.

He has no idea.  5 mins later and I've cut up the huge box into manageable pieces and slotted it nicely into the recycling box for Friday.  Easy peasy.  Yes, the box did "look" full, but that was because he didn't flatten any cereal boxes and threw everything in haphazardly.  A quick tidy and there is tons of room.  I reckon that as we will probably only create 1 box a week anyway, that it will all fit in the weekly recycling.  But what do I know lol?

savingholmes

Hi Jess
Just caught up on your diary. I am in awe of how much you are achieving while under threat of redundancy and being pregnant. I had to laugh at the fact - that probably due to homeworking your employer hadn't realised you were pregnant. I threw up really badly for 22 weeks with my first - there was no hiding anything. I also temporarily went off chocolate and coffee. He's 23 soon and DD is 17. Time flies. This year I bought him a new bed - a double!