Kids and Finances

In some ways it's nice to have a break from their boundless energy, squabbling, shouting, screaming and irrational moods (teenagers eh ?) but in another it's only when they go away for a short while that you realise
how much fun they can be, it's only been a few days but we're both missing them, although it is nice to sit down in the lounge and watch TV without interruption or just talk for a while, it's the first time we have had alone since we got married and it's nice, Andrea only has 8 weeks left until the new arrival, and she it getting to terminal velocity as far as her bump is concerned, it's a very active baby always on the move, it's like watching "Alien" uncut for most of the time.

We are both looking forward to it's arrival, the kids are too, we have most of what we need, we got a very nice pram and travel set from ebay for £117 it's called a "Hauke Infinity", apparently they are quite expensive to buy new, all I know it's in very good condition and looks like it's hardly been used, so I guess it's a bargain !! my sister offloaded practically all of her baby inventory to us, because she has stopped breeding now, for which we are very grateful, (the baby inventory, not the stopping of breeding ;¬) )

I dread to think what it all would have cost had we bought it all new, probably well over a grand, possibly more !!! What did people do before Ebay???? I've also had to spend a fortune on a new computer for one of our friends who kindly lent Andrea a spare computer when her ex husband left, he took the computer with him along with half of the furniture including the bed !! so our friend stepped in and loaned one of hers, I wasn't involved in this "deal" but I have taken ownership of this "debt" by the default of marriage it seems, anyway the short story is, it blew up when moved, the guy who repaired it last (another friend), well lets just say his construction skills aren't up to much, and one of the screws in the motherboard came out and shorted the motherboard, unluckily it took out the entire computer, and my luck didn't stop there, I intended getting a computer of similar speed and capacity, like for like ...... as it turned out the cheapest I could get is 8 times faster than her original, I don't begrudge it she did after all loan hers out in the first place, so it's only fair to replace for similar or better :) however it is going to make things tight this month.....again !!! there never seems to be a let up in the finances, we squeak through every month with either nothing to spare or very little or like the last few months actually spending more than I earn.....my overdraft is like the north Atlantic trench, deep and very full..... :(

But I guess that's the price you have to pay if you want to stay ahead of what you owe, sacrifices have to be made, personally I hate owing money to anybody, although in some circumstances it's impossible sometimes to avoid it, although I know some people are perfectly happy to run up debt with their friends (or enemies) and not give a toss about paying it back, personally I would be mortified if I was in that position, thankfully Andrea is almost completely out of debt now, and it's the first time since her first marriage that she has been in that situation, we have both been working hard to clear the problem, we took some hard financial knocks, and there were a few debts I really didn't like paying because half of them were down to her ex husband, or in some cases completely down to him, but we have more chance of being hit by a meteorite than him opening his wallet anytime soon, besides I don't think 10 shilling notes are legal currency anymore are they ?

Bizarre weather and a strange silence .....

I awoke this morning at 06:30am to get ready for my day, went downstairs made myself a coffee, and went outside onto the decking, it was a glorious morning, sunrise had just started and it was streaming through an almost cloudless sky lighting up the valley and warming my face... lovely I thought brilliant start to the day as I sipped my hot coffee, and listened to the woodpeckers and wood pigeons close by, (ok there was a crow too, but he didn't sound half as good) :)

I went back into the house with a smile on my face, put the television on to catch up with the news, only to be presented by the local weather forecast, which was giving a met office warning that Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire would have torrential rain and possible flooding.... "surely not" as I looked out of the living room window from the sofa, then at that precise moment the skies opened, and it was streaming down like stair rods, in the matter of a few seconds since coming in a huge black cloud had closed in on us and dumped enormous amounts of water on us in a few seconds, outside was a swimming pool, made worse by the agricultural auction held over the weekend which had turned our field into a quagmire and the surrounding
road.... oh well at least it will wash all the mud off the road outside our house by tonight I hope.

The only other news is that the kids have gone down to Exeter with their Dad, and the house seems eerily empty now, both of us are expecting a sudden explosion of sound or screeching to erupt, but it hasn't happened, the only other thing is that we have bought in food that WE like for these two weeks they are gone, and the change of diet is refreshing to say the least :) I dunno kids and fussy eaters!! Their dad has said they are doing all sorts these two weeks, camping, horse riding etc, they should have a really good time....I hope they do :)

On a slightly different note the eldest lad was recently told he was getting a motorbike by his dad, but unfortunately he lost the auction and of course the motorbike, which begs the question why get somebody's hopes up then dash them at the last minute??..... Needless to say he was gutted, he should have just kept it to himself until he actually had it to give, rather than what he did, there is no point in promising things that may not happen, it's a bit like the boy who cried wolf, eventually they simply don't believe a word you say, personally I prefer to only promise things I can actually deliver, that way you avoid disappointment all round.... one thing in these two weeks they are gone, it will be cheaper to live with the gannets down in Exeter, I fail to see where they pack all the food they get through, they must have hollow legs !!

at least we won't have the last minute rush to buy the school uniforms they have been bought along with new shoes, so they won't go back to school looking tatty..... :)

I miss them already to be honest.... :( ahhh well it's only two weeks I guess, wait for the post titled "OH GOD THEY ARE BACK !!"

Gahhhhhhhhhhhhhh Traffic

Well here I am on a Friday evening, still at work, because I’m on the late shift, but I’m faced with a long journey home because a portion of the M4 has been closed off and all the traffic is being filtered past my work place, it’s going to take me ages just to reach the motorway, in fact it’s going to take me bloody ages to get into the traffic stream !!!

The weekend has landed……..yeah right !!!