Teetering on the brink

EatingBeans

Ah-ha! Finally received an update on the Biology assessment this lunchtime. Paper has now been marked, result was a B (not bad considering dd1 hasn’t seen the inside of a Biology class in almost a year!). Head of department has said he approves of the transfer even though it is very exceptional to be transferring at this point in the year, and now he just has to present the case to the Head of the college for approval. Lord knows how long that will take. 🤷‍♀️

Cherryfudge

I'm glad it's at least moving! Could she ask for some of the work that's already been covered, so she can be catching up?

EatingBeans

Today has been a day of back to back meetings all day leaving me with a lovely headache. Still, I was determined to clean the guinea pigs out as they didn’t get done over the weekend. I know I am now 43 but the two squeaky little piggles do melt my heart. Technically speaking one guinea is dd1’s and the other is dd’2s, but I look after them 100% of the time since they also have a cat each which tbf they do 100% look after. The piggles were kind of my idea so anyway and their cage is right next to my desk, so I’m kind of adopted them. I do love their company. Originally they used to have both an indoor and outdoor cage so they could go out and munch grass in the summer, but since moving to this house there has been no grass to munch and they are inside full time. I always used to think they’d prefer being outside but actually they seem to love being inside, especially as their cage is also near the front door. They have me to chat to all day while I am wfh (or come and sleep next to me which is ultra cute!), and then every time someone comes in or out of the house, they generally say hello in passing. Even random folks who knock the door often say hello to them! Seeing how happy they seem to be with all the company, (and random treats they get for being cute), I can’t imagine putting them back outside in a hutch all by themselves. I mean how would I know it is bed time if it wasn’t for the pair of them squeaking at me for their nightly top up of veg and hay! 🤣 

Anyway, my point was, I finished work and had to clean the guineas out. I have a big tub that I clean their old hay and shavings into and then I take it out and chuck it on the big compost heap which is down the garden. Since I had to have the gate to the bottom of the garden propped open to do this (it takes about 4 trips to clean the guineas), I decided to let the pups have a play while I was doing it. Omg, was little dog keen! It took a good 10minutes to get her to remember that she’s not allowed to just zoom through gates and she has to sit and wait to be asked. Eventually, we got there, one word and the pair of them shot off for full speed zoomies. It’s lovely to see but with the path under the arch still not finished and the to-be grass area still not fenced off, it soon became very muddy zoomies! 🫣 They were still at it when I finished the guinea cleaning so I let them play some more. Great fun was had finding random old toys that had been brought out at some point and playing tug of war with them. I drew the line once the digging started! 

So, whilst the puppies slept off their craziness, I popped to Tesco. I took the car and got a trolley so I could get a good few bags of cat litter but that was fatal. Hungry and with a headache, I thought I’d just get a few bits of shopping to keep me going. £46! I nearly collapsed! I should point out that my weekly shopping is £35 and I have had no problem up to now with keeping to the budget. I don’t know what happened. I bought more ‘junk’ than I normally do - first lot of crisps this year for instance - but I wouldn’t even say I got dinners for 7 days. I’ve been ordering a weekly morrisons online order for years so maybe it’s just way more expensive in Tesco, but either way that ain’t happening again I can tell you! Now I just look at the food and think how much more I could get via TooGoodToGo or Olio. 

The only thing I did do whilst I was shopping which I would say is an improvement, was I made a point to go check out the yellow sticker area. Slim pickings but I did come away with some piri piri chicken which will make a nice lunch. Seems like a little thing but I was pleased because it would never have occurred to me to check these sections before. Now everything in the store feels overpriced. It is funny how my perspective has changed in just a few weeks. 

Long may it continue! 😁

Take_a_hike_Elon_and_Jeff

I use a list when I shop and I also use the mobile calculator, when I've added it, I cross it off the list and not the other way round. This has really helped me to focus and sometimes I find myself removing items. I also decide on certain ingredients say for example for a soup but when I get to the supermarket I sometimes substitute my vegetables for cheaper options and most importantly the soup still tastes delicious..

Humdinger1

Happy birthday on your 'official' day! You're doing brilliantly love Humdinger xx 

Cherryfudge

We used to have guineas too, and they are wonderful company. Ours used to tell me when I was near the back door, opening the fridge or chopping veg - in case I hadn't noticed, I assume. They had a mixture of indoor and outdoor living but clearly are very sociable animals.

The puppies sound a lot of fun too. Well done for teaching them to wait. I don't know a lot about dogs but seeing a dog wait to be allowed to zoom has that feeling of an attentive owner who has put the time in, and of course it helps towards safety.

I used to be a regular T*sco shopper but hadn't been for a while and was shocked at the price increases when I went back recently. There are probably gems to be found but I've not yet been in again to look.

EatingBeans

Well. I ‘woke’ up this morning on my now ‘official’ birthday and… no balloons! Er, guys, did I have the wrong day? To be honest I already knew there was nothing there because I had been up and down all night with a dodgy tummy, but I was surprised they hadn’t made any effort. Not because I mind, but because I know THEY love doing it. So I sang happy birthday to myself, swiftly followed by dd1 appearing to say she didn’t get back until gone midnight as she didn’t want the dogs to wake me up while they were putting up balloons so they have plans to send me back to bed later so they can do it! 🤣 Not entirely sure when that will be as dd2 has already left for college and dd1 has gone to get her nails done, then she has a mock test at college. It’s all a bit weird this year! Ah well. I genuinely don’t mind. I mean I’d never tell them this but I already feel like my birthday has been and gone since so many people have wished me happy birthday (thanks again!), and I went out to the cinema with dd2 yesterday (using the meerkat movies deal 👍)! I guess I’m just not used to the idea of celebrating on a different day. 🤷‍♀️

Anyway, while I wait this morning, I’ve decided I am going to spend my time playing with my budget spreadsheet again. It’s taken me a few days to realise that the formulas I built years ago to calculate my automatically updating forecast for the month (based on the original budget on each account and spending as I go), just cannot handle me making lots of small payments to my credit card. It’s set up to accept a single monthly payment, balance transfers and spending, not, “I’ve found a £5 so I am going to pay it off my credit card”. The overdraft was handled differently, hence why I hadn’t spotted this until now, but since the rest of my debt is credit cards and I feel the £5 targets are here to stay, it requires quite a revamp of the spreadsheet.😅 It will be worth it in the end as having an accurate forecast I can trust which flags if any account needs attention, really takes a lot of the stress away from managing it all. It’s just always a bit of a stress changing formulas on it as after 20+ years of iterations is all very automated and I no longer remember how I built parts of it! 😂 I have tried various apps etc over the years in a bit to ‘get with the times’ and none of them come close to my spreadsheet in terms of accuracy and insight, so despite the occasional headache when I have to tweak it, it will almost certainly be my go-to for years to come. 

EatingBeans

Oh, and I also had the joy this morning of little dog trying to jump over the back gate! Thankfully it is four foot high and she didn’t quite make it. This is a real concern as if she clears the gate when it is shut she could actually get out of the main garden. I know how good she is at jumping as in the house she clears the baby gates by miles if someone comes in the front door and she wants to go and great them - pretty much making the gates redundant as they are only there to stop the dogs. 🤦‍♀️ Up until very recently she has shown zero signs of wanting to escape, in fact she’s always been a bit afraid of the outside world as she gets a bit overwhelmed with all the traffic - opposite of big dog. Now though, whole different dog. I am beginning to think it might be less about wanting to play in the garden, and more that she might be coming towards her first season! 😱 I am kind of dreading this tbh as I am not sure how the pups are going to react to being separated for weeks. I am sure they will get used to it so long as they get lots of individual attention and exercise, but initially I suspect I am going to need ear plugs! 😬 If all else fails, I will castrate big dog. 😕

dawnybabes

Happy birthday 🎂🏬🌠🎈🎈🎈🎈

Spendywendywoo

Happy birthday to you