Need to stop spending and chasing dopamine!

Pink_Butterfly

I have been awake since 3:30am and can’t get back to sleep, so I thought I’d come on here! I think I have a cold. It is tradition for me to get ill during the Christmas period when I have loads of plans 🤣 Poor DD2 is suffering aswell bless her. Her immune system is as bad as mine unfortunately and we always get ill in December. I’ll see how she is when she wakes up but yesterday she wasn’t good 😢 I’ve got plenty of Calpol at the ready!

Despite the poorlyness, we all had a lovely day yesterday at the panto. Once again it was a very funny one and we were all laughing our heads off 😁 I was surprised that my brother & his wife still came along, considering SIL had an operation just 4 days prior. She’s had a terrible time this year with her health, even having to go to A&E on her wedding night, but they’ve now removed her gallbladder so hopefully she won’t suffer as much going forward. We went out for a nice meal afterwards and I gave my brother & his wife their Christmas gifts, as we’re not due to see each other until after Christmas now. My mum paid for the meal bless her.

Just before the panto started I took the girls Christmas shopping and DD1 managed to lose her debit card. So we had to quickly go onto her banking app to notify them and request a replacement. She’s such a wally!

I bought OH some travel sickness meds for our trip as he’s recently started to suffer bless him, and I bought some travel sized toiletries too. DD1 finally found a Christmas jumper she liked after weeks of searching so I treated her to it 😊 I’m a nice mummy 😉

Today my mum has asked for all 3 grandchildren to help her decorate the Christmas tree and the house, so we’ll be going round later with my little nephew. OH & DSD are also joining us 🥰 My mum said she’s going to do a buffet too. It should be a nice, festive day! Next year there’ll be 4 grandchildren as my brother’s partner is pregnant 🥰 Baby will probably be a bit too young to be helping with the tree though 🤣

Really hoping this cold isn’t a bad one as from next Friday my diary is extremely full on for a whole week, due to Christmas parties & get togethers, and then OH’s 40th birthday celebrations. The last time we went away I was full of cold, which OH caught while we were out there, so I’m really hoping the same doesn’t happen again 😬

Pink_Butterfly

Well, the cold is still colding, but we move 😂 It’s got 3 days to evict from my nose as then I’m too busy to be ill 😁

My mum’s Christmas tree is now looking pretty thanks to the girls and their cousin helping her decorate it. It was a lovely, fun afternoon. I think DSD particularly enjoyed it as it was a nice distraction from school life. She’s going through some bullying at the moment bless her 💔 She speaks to OH about it but not her mum, for various reasons, which I completely understand, however OH can’t talk to the school about it as he’s not named there. His ex won’t add him and he’s not DSD’s biological dad, so he has no rights. It’s a very tough situation.

It was also a whole year since mine & OH’s first date on that day, so he bought me flowers 🥰 He also brought some for my mum which was sweet.

Yesterday was a tough day, mentally. I was in the office and received a call from a colleague who was clearly upset. She informed me a client of ours had passed away. Very sad, but what was more sad was how he died. I won’t go into it as it could be triggering but it really upset me, and I struggled to focus for the rest of the day.

Today may be a tough day too as I have a colleague who is struggling & I have a meeting booked in with her so she can talk to me about what she’s going through. I think some people forget that this time of year isn’t always happy for everyone, and it actually causes more stress & anxiety than any other time of year.

I finally have wifi as the engineer came over yesterday and replaced a cable. 5 days of no wifi was tough! I even had to buy more data 😭 OH kindly let the engineer in as I was in the office but I got a bit nervous, as a few hours prior I received an e-mail from his football team’s online shop saying a Christmas present I’d ordered for him was out for delivery. I thought that was so typical and he’s going to see the package and work out where it’s been sent from 😂 Thankfully the postman tried to deliver it but no-one let him into the building so he couldn’t leave it outside my door. Yay!

Money update… I’ve transferred £10 from my Vinted account into my bank account 🙂 It won’t go far but it will help a tiny bit!

I’ve been preparing a budget for when me & OH move in together. He gets paid every 4 weeks which is a bit of a pain but I think we’ll put his wages into a separate account until the last day of the month & then transfer it. It does mean he gets 13 pay days a year, so one pay day will be a bonus one that we can chuck into savings 😊

I need to start getting ready for work now. I wish I was working from home today as the rain is coming down hard 😩☔️

Pink_Butterfly

Well, I got my wish to work from home! Just as I was about to leave to go to the office my ex messaged me asking if I was planning to work from home, as DD2 was too unwell to go to school. So he ended up dropping her off and within a few minutes of being with me she fell asleep for over 3 hours. She perked up a bit after that but still had a cough, a temperature and a sore throat. I’ll need to get some more Calpol today as she’s going through it quickly.

The plus side of working from home was being here to take the delivery of OH’s Christmas present 😊 So that’s another thing ticked off the list! Will work from home again today so DD2 can recover. She was meant to be at my ex’s last night but I asked him if she could stay with me so she could have a lay in if she needed it. DD1 stayed with him & went to a school Christmas party in the evening. She messaged me saying it was good. I’ll see her later as both girls are with me tonight & tomorrow night.

DD2 ate very little yesterday but soon wanted some food when OH popped round with fish & chips 😂 I was just glad she was eating something.

I received a promotion & a pay rise in July, and whilst preparing next year’s budget at work I couldn’t help but notice my boss had put in a £1.5K increase for me next month, followed by an additional £2.5K increase with a promotion to manager in July 😀 Was very happy to see this! OH joked and said he’ll be able to retire soon if this continues 😂 haha. My work are very good to me I must admit. I am very lucky! But I also work hard and I know they appreciate that.

I’ve had £88.15 confirmed in my TopCashback account for aaaaages and it’s just not moving into the payable section! I’m checking every day but it’s just not moving. It needs to hurry up 😂

5 days until me & OH go away and I feel like I have so much to do! I think my cold is getting better so at least that’s something 😊 Just hope DD2 is better today bless her 💖 Tomorrow is Christmas jumper day at her school & she’s getting a Christmas meal there so I know she wants to be better for that x

teapot2

Well done on the impending payrise and promotion.  Might be worth trying a 'nudge' on TCB to shift the cash to payable.  IIRC you can do that via your account and 'customer service'.

Pink_Butterfly

Thank you! And that’s a good shout. I’ve just given them a nudge 😊 It’s been at least 2 months since it was confirmed.

DD2 ended up sleeping in until 9am yesterday. She had one lot of Calpol when she woke up but that was it. Her temperature is back to normal now thankfully. She still has a chesty cough but is ok to go to school 🙂 So I’ll be able to go into the office. It’s also our Christmas jumper day!

I have ordered some items from Boots and thankfully had enough points to cover it all, so it’s not cost me a penny! I ordered some skincare, a Christmas present, and a shower gel (just to bump it up to get free delivery 🤣). I stupidly forgot I’m away next week though, so it’ll likely be delivered when I’m not here. I’ll see if I can change the delivery date when it’s despatched.

My boiler got serviced again yesterday, as the guy forgot to give me the certificate when he did it in March/April and my solicitors need it. I’ll scan it at work and e-mail it to them today.

I’m going to get into the shower now and get ready for work. Have a good day! x

Pink_Butterfly

Thank you @teapot2 - my cashback is now in the payable section! I’ve requested it to be transferred to my bank account 🙂

I’ve also requested a refund from Octopus Energy as I’m moving soon, so just want to pay for what I use. It’ll all help towards the Dublin spends next week 😊

I’m only working for 5 hours today as I’ve then got to get ready for the works Christmas party. My friend is going to curl my hair for me as I can’t do it myself 😂 I managed to get a lot done in work yesterday thankfully, and I remembered to get the girls’ Christmas presents from the payroll cupboard, as I don’t have them now for a week, so I’ll hopefully have time to wrap some of them this weekend before I go away. I’ve also got to wrap OH’s presents.

I caught up with my mum aswell yesterday as she invited the girls and I for dinner 😊

Today is OH’s pay day and he did a lotttt of overtime so hopefully he’s happy with his wage in time for our trip. Not that he knows where he’s going 😂 I think he’s got the builder coming over today to look at the garage so he can plan for the conversion in a few weeks. Once it’s all done then the girls & I can move in 😍 yay!

teapot2

Yay, glad the nudging worked.  Hope you enjoy the work's Christmas do and have a good weekend.

Pink_Butterfly

I’m having a break from wrapping Christmas presents so I thought I’d jump on here 😊

The Christmas party last night was really good. Better than I expected! The DJ was playing some absolute bangers and I danced my socks off 😁 I had forgotten how exhausting it was to sing & dance with heels on at the same time. My legs are feeling it today 😂

I’m so glad I didn’t pay full price for the dress I bought for it, as it’s ruined already. The material on the left arm kept catching on the side of my dress and it’s all pulled. I can’t save it, so that’s £12 gone, but better than £60!

My friend who kindly curled my hair for the party was very upset when I got there. She never ever cries but she cried pretty much the whole time I was there. There had been an incident at her eldest son’s school (he was threatened with a knife) and the school were basically not doing anything about it. She has taken him out of the school but they’re putting it down as unauthorised absence, so she will get a fine. There’s so much more to it but this school has a bad reputation for things like this. I’ve told her to report it to ofsted, and the police.

Despite going to bed after midnight I was up at 6:30am and was in The Card Factory by 9am getting balloons & stuff for OH’s surprise birthday family meal tomorrow. I then whizzed over to the bakery to collect the cake I’d ordered, but immediately saw they’d stuck the wrong name on it! I found it funny as the name they’d put on it happens to be his nephew’s name. Luckily they could change it.

Me & OH are going out for dinner with my friend & her husband tonight so I’ll stop wrapping presents soon and will start to get ready. I need to go to my mum’s house on the way to drop off the balloons, cake etc as she’s going to take them to the restaurant tomorrow. She’s a good egg!

I’ve received the cashback and the Octopus Energy refund 😊 I’ve also sold a Primark jacket that DD2 used to wear for £3 so will get that posted at some point before I go away. Just 48 hours to go until we fly and there are a million things to do between now & then! I’ve not even started packing 😂😂🙈

Need to go now as my washing machine is beeping at me telling me it’s finished 😁

Pink_Butterfly

I am so angry with myself. I’ve ruined the big birthday cake 😭 Long story coming up…..

I was getting the balloons into my car but was trying to put them in the footwell so they didn’t float around blocking my view when driving, but in doing so I accidentally ripped one of them and it immediately deflated. I was so annoyed with myself! At that point I had about one hour before I needed to get to OH’s house, and in that time I needed to get petrol, and then drop off the balloons, cake, confetti etc to my mum so she could take it to the restaurant for me. I decided I had enough time to drive to The Card Factory if I was quick to get a replacement balloon, so I quickly ran to grab the cake before I went and without thinking I sat it on the passenger seat. The bakery always say to put cakes like mine (2-tier) in the footwell, but I think I was in such a rush and so focused on getting the replacement balloon that I’d forgotten this rule 😭

To cut a long story short, I put £10 worth of fuel in my car to save time, drove to The Card Factory, got the replacement balloon, and then drove to my mum & dad’s house. When I got there I saw the cake had sloped into the seat. I knew it was ruined. I realised in that moment what I’d done & I balled my eyes out 🙈 I know, very dramatic, but I felt like a complete idiot! The perfectionist in me was angry with myself.

My brother, his partner & my nephew were at my mum’s house and both my brother’s partner and my mum said they would try and save the cake. My mum knew I needed to leave as my friend had booked a table so she told me to go. Poor OH saw I was upset when I got to his house but I obviously couldn’t tell him why. He guessed it was a birthday related reason which made me feel bad because I knew he’d feel bad about me being upset over his birthday.

I managed to stop crying just as we picked up my friend & her husband but spent the whole evening worried about the cake. My friend knew what had happened as I’d been texting her. She was trying to make me laugh by making jokes about the situation (when OH couldn’t hear of course). One part of my brain was telling me it’s just a cake, it’s no big deal, no-one’s died. The other part was telling me I was a failure 😞

My mum updated me while I was out, saying they’d done their best but it kept trying to collapse. She said there was no way it could be transported to the restaurant like it was. We made the decision to take the decorative bits off and to separate the tiers. My brother’s partner had borrowed her mum’s baking tools and managed to cover up some of the damage.

After the meal I dropped everyone off home and went back to my mum’s to see the cake. My mum said she would go to the restaurant early and put the cake back together once there. She tried to reassure me that it would look fine once done. We had a good chat afterwards about me putting too much pressure on myself and how I struggle to deal with things not going to plan. I am neurodivergent so I always struggle with these things.

OH now knows we are going abroad tomorrow as I made the decision to ask him if he knew where his passport is, as I just couldn’t cope with him not being able to find it on the day of us leaving, so at least that’s one less thing to worry about!

The plan today:

🔹 get ready for OH’s surprise birthday meal
🔹 post Vinted item
🔹 wipe old iPhone and drop off at ex’s house so he can sort out a new SIM card for DD2’s Christmas present
🔹 pack suitcase
🔹 go to surprise birthday meal (and try not to cry when the cake comes out!)

I’m sure I’ll laugh about this when it’s over!

Sarahwithlove

Bless you and the cake situation. Im sure your OH will love the effort you went to either way. Hope it all went well and enjoy your time away