Riding the wave

Keep_Buggering_On

Dentist went better than expected, he did a minor tweak to a filling that was a little rough and it all stayed in Band 1. On the flip side, I have to go back in three months and I have been given prescription high fluoride toothpaste so there was a prescription charge I could have done without, but at least its over with until September! I think thats the first time I have been in three years when they haven't found some major problem needing another filling, extraction or crown so I'm taking it as a win.

Catscoffeecake

At least you gave time to save for September appointment. I have a root canal booked next week and not looking forward to it

Keep_Buggering_On

Rang Dad last night to see how their (very) old dog had got on at the vets. She had blood on her nose and its now confirmed its a nasal tumour. She isn't in any pain and she is 14 1/2 with a heart murmur, so they are just going to give her palliative care and see how it goes, but I don't think they will have her much longer. Her brother is the same age and has the shakes, but is otherwise in good shape for a spaniel of such advanced years, but I can see them losing him in very short order when his lifelong companion has to be put to sleep. Its sad, but at their age you have to expect it.

I am planning a quiet Father's day weekend in. My wife had planned a naughty takeaway tomorrow night for Father's Day, but financial reasons (weekend before her UC comes through and an unexpected bill) mean that has been downgraded to a couple of nice frozen pizzas, a bottle of beer from Home Bargains and an 87p strawberry cheesecake from Asda- I really don't mind as I am always disappointed by takeaways anyway. It was supposed to be my choice of family film for tomorrow night but DS is very keen to watch Raiders of the Lost Ark and as its an awesome film, I am more than happy to go along with that!

I bought a little weeding tool in town yesterday and gave it a go last night, it made the job much easier than a trowel and all the little weeds in my flower beds are now safely gone. I am sure they will be back soon, but for now it looks much tidier. I am hoping the weather forecast is right and its dry this weekend as I would like to get a bit more done on the fence repaint, but it does depend how hot it is- too hot and I will have to give it a miss or as there is no shade so its a bit much to be working out there for a few hours in overalls and wellies!

Keep_Buggering_On

A busy morning- brought home a big tree branch for firewood, cut the remaining hedges back and mowed the lawn. The garden is looking much tidier now. I had to run up into the village yesterday evening to pick up a parcel for OH, so popped into the charity shop and came out with a big book on the Battle of Agincourt and a Spiderman graphic novel for 20p each. I have started the Agincourt book and it is excellent and will give me a good few hours of enjoyment for my 20p! As a bonus, the Agincourt book was signed by the author, which is always nice to see. OH is off to the pub with her friend this afternoon to have a few in the beer garden, so I have the TV to myself (which normally never happens), so after my busy morning I am going to stretch out on the sofa and put on a film I think.

I was talking to OH about getting a little storage shed for my gardening tools to go by the back door so i am not fighting in the big sheds trying to find things all the time. She agrees its a good idea, but looking at the prices on Amazon, they are daft for what they are. Might have to try and pull together some wood and make it myself!

Keep_Buggering_On

Happy Monday folks! I had a very pleasant if uneventful Father’s day, the kids got me another art book in the series covering the Marvel movies I have been collecting and a Lego Delorean from Back to the Future which is sitting in pride of place on the shelf in my office.

I rang Dad last night to wish him Happy Father’s Day and I think he was glad to have someone to talk to. The carers don’t come in on Sundays so its just him and Mum, with her PSP she struggles to speak now and if Dad is lucky he can make out one word in a sentence if she really concentrates on articulating that, so he can at least work out what she wants. My parents always chatted, had stimulating conversations and joked back and forth and I think he is really struggling with that now. Dad has always said he is happy in his own company and doesn’t need anyone around him, but he has always had Mum to talk to, now she can’t I think he is finding it a lot more isolating than he ever thought it was. They live in a farm house in the middle of nowhere and Dad will never leave that place, so I do really worry for him when Mum does finally die as I suspect he will find it very lonely, but of course he would never admit that or even thinking of moving somewhere with more stuff going on. He never rings me or my brother for a chat, but if we ring him he does enjoy a good conversation about history, politics, literature etc. and can be on the phone for a good forty minutes. I just have to accept him for the way he is and check in regularly, without overdoing it as he doesn’t like a fuss being made either…

I took a little look at my finances this morning- 33p in my current account, 38p in the emergency savings and £2.50 in cash…eek! Luckily I get paid on Friday and I haven’t counted the money in the holiday savings or the Help to Save accounts as they are off limits! On the plus side, I am not anticipating spending any money before Friday- the bills are covered by the joint account and OH will be covering the shopping tomorrow so it should all be good, plus the cupboards are full enough to last us through a short siege! The big bill this month is our accommodation for London, OH’s Birthday present and a family railcard. It looks like being another tight month (aren’t they all) but I do have our Summer holiday to look forward to at the end of that, so at least it feels like the money is going to something important and not being frittered.

Keep_Buggering_On

Payday! Hooray!! Done some busy rearranging of money and a few things have been ticked off this morning. I have paid for the accommodation for our Summer holiday and ordered the family railcard (train tickets already sorted) and I have paid off some more of the credit cards, it’s a small thing, but I have officially paid off over £1000 of the total now which feels like a little milestone and next month (providing I don’t get any unexpected bills) I should be able to get the total below £7000 which will be another little milestone. The savings account looks very low now, but it was always there for the holiday so I'm not worried about that. I have one more payday before we go which I will use to cover the last bits we need to pay for (London Underground tickets, cinema tickets for one evening we are there etc.) All the other activities are paid for and I will put some supplies for the week in the suitcases as we are self catering and anything I take with us is something I don't need to buy at the supermarket when we get there.

I took DD to school this morning and a we had a massive thunderstorm around 7am, it was quite pleasant and cool when we left, by the time we got to school the sun had come out and the temperature was rising again and its back to being sweltering- on the plus side I won’t need to water the garden today. I swung by the charity shop in the village on the way back and picked up a book for DS for 50p- I am always buying little treats for DD (she loves Squishmallows and they often come up for a pound or two), but I much more rarely find things for DS as all his tastes are more expensive, so it was nice to be able to treat him for a change. It is still very warm in my office in the garden and I have the door open, so big cat has come in to join me and is flopped out on the rug next to me snoring and purring simultaneously (known as ‘snurring’ in our house!)

I am up to Mum and Dad’s tomorrow which I am looking forward to as we haven’t been across in more than a month. It means I get to have a wander round town between buses and fingers crossed my favourite second hand book shop has some more model railway bits in- he charges £5 each for locos and coaches which compares rather well to the £200+ for a new loco and £50 each for a new coach!

DancingInTheRain

Well done on paying off £1,000 💪

beanielou

Great progress. Be proud.

Keep_Buggering_On

Me and DD went up to Mum and Dad’s on Saturday- it wasn’t too bad going as there was a nice breeze blowing and hadn’t got too hot at that point. We had a wander round town and I found a few bargains in the charity shops (8 LPs for £1, so less that 15p each was a nice find) and picked up a locomotive for the model railway in the antique book shop for £3 which usually retails at £50 so that was good. DD as usual fluttered her eyelashes and got Dad to buy her two books and a Squishmallow she found- daughters are experts at getting Dads to treat them! My mum was on good form, but despite the hot weather she was still wrapped up in a blanket- at least the fire wasn’t lit in the living room this time! Mum gave DD a gold ring with diamonds in it that she has had since she was in her twenties, it is very pretty but after discussion with OH when I got home, we decided we didn’t want to risk it with a 10 year old so its been locked in the strong box for when DD is an adult and will be able to look after it properly. We only stayed up there for a couple of hours as the temperatures were rising, and I am very glad we left when we did. The bus back into town was ten minutes late, like an oven and took an hour to do a journey that should have taken thirty minutes. DD and I were very glad to get off in the bus station as it was very unpleasant!

Yesterday was a fairly chilled day, I ran up to the supermarket to get the things that they didn’t have in stock from OH’s Asda order last week, got the flower beds weeded and tidied up the garden a bit. Next door have carried on pulling up the hedge and got to the back garden now outside my office window. Its amazing the difference its made and there is a lot more light now, the only downside is that the hedge kept the sun out of my eyes first thing in the morning- I had to pull the blind down when I sat down to work today as it shines right in through the window between 7 and 9 now! I am on campus tomorrow for the whole day which I am not looking forward to as we are in the same room all day and they are like an oven in the winter so will be unbearable in June! However as I haven’t been in to work for nearly two months, I will just suck it up as I really can’t complain as I don’t have a daily commute any more.

Keep_Buggering_On

Its been a little while since I last updated- I have been enjoying my mortgage! DD had her transition day to high school last week and despite being really nervous, she actually enjoyed herself (getting out of sports day at primary school might have been a factor as well). We certainly feel happier about her going in September now, and her big brother kept an eye on her and helped her get to school and back safely- he did a lot of moaning about it but we knew he would look after his little sister really.

I got a little more firewood chopped at the weekend and next door took down some more of the old fence to replace it so that has been added to my woodpile as well. I am hoping for a dry but cool weekend so I can really crack on and get a big pile of it chopped. Its rather like painting the Forth bridge- I spend all summer cutting and obsessing over the log store, then use it up all winter and start the process again the following year, but as we can heat the house for around £50 a year for some smokeless coal, its well worth doing!

I am definitely on count down to my holidays now- three weeks on Friday I finish work and off the London the next day. I get paid the week before and that will cover the last few expenses we have for the week. Next month's wages also have to cover OH's birthday and DD's birthday plus new school shoes, so there are plenty of expenses, but they are budgeted in. I have said I will make DD's birthday cake this year as I have a ton of ready to roll icing in the cupboard I picked up cheap after Christmas and she wants a Squishmallow cake which is luckily quite an easy shape to make! Its nearly twenty years since I did a proper birthday cake, but I have the week of DD's birthday off work so I have time and I am looking forward to the challenge, plus it will save the best part of £10-£15 on a shop bought cake, which to be honest I could really do with saving. DD, being the off-beat child that she is, wants a roast lamb dinner for her birthday, fine with me as I love lamb and I have a breast of lamb already in the freezer so we are covered.