12.03.2018 Week two of the big build

The foor bricks went in yesterday and they cut holes in the wall for the floor joist.
I have a busy day today packing up the kitchen, ready for the kitchen wall coming down on Wednesday.EEEKKK

10.03.2018

The foundations have set and they are starting to build today. Well as soon as they pump the water out.

All the building materials at the front.

The assessor came out on Thursday for her revisit and she has agreed to a cash settlement. Once again they haven't contacted me when they said they were going to. I really don't know whats wrong with this company.
I really thought we had closer and we could get on with getting our house back in some order.

I am going to have to email them and copy in the ombudsman again.

No spend days Tuesday was a megger fail.
£42.00 Petrol
£74.00 Pets at home we had to buy a new cat flap for the builders to fit into the new wall. And the cat food was on special offer so I bought some and will save money in the long run.
£6.85 in tesco on a bottle of wine for the stifado.
£122.85 Megger fail!

Wednesday No spend day
Thursday No spend day
Friday No spend day. 

Today I need to buy a mothers day card and some flowers.

07.03.2018

Back to work today after a week off. The joys!

Once again I am up a silly o'clock wide awake. I will be ready for bed again at lunchtime.

I have put Beef stifado in the slow cooker for dinner. I just have to cook the vegetables when I get in.



The concrete went in yesterday for the footings. They are going to finish the footings on Friday and work the weekend to catch up with the build.

This came up on my time hop yesterday. The cheeky boy.

We named and shamed him.


My name is pudding and I just stole a whole bag of dreamies and ate every one. 

Feeling frustrated

Geoffs work van was broke into last night. They stole all his power tools so he couldn't do his work today. He works with Electric keeping peoples electric on really important in this weather.

He had to spend most of the day getting his window fixed and reporting the theft to the police.

I am so mad about it all. Get a job!! :-((

Too much alcohol

I have been in bed all day. I didn't even stay out that late. I was in at 21:00.

I am such a lightweight  

Happy World Handcuff day

That's right!   February 20th is National Handcuff day!

It's on this date in 1912 that the US Patent office issued patent 1,017,955 to George A. Carney for a "swinging bow ratchet - type" adjustable handcuff. Before that handcuffs were heavy and bulky and there was no standard style. Carney's design was always ready and was light weight compared to older models. Since that patent, most modern handcuffs around the world have been made with the same swing through design, with minor modifications. The Carney Patent was bought by The Peerless Handcuff Company of Springfield, Mass., and the first models were manufactured for them by Smith & Wesson

Happy Shrove Tuesday

I's not a happy start in this house.

Geoff has kept me awake all night snoring. He's been snoring since 02;30 am. This has happened the last two night I am that tired I had to finish work early yesterday and go to bed when I got in. Looks like it might be the same today.

Quick and easy dinner Pancakes. Traditional dinner for shrove Tuesday.

Savory for Geoff sweet and savory for me and sweet for Tash

100 year anniversary

We use the Pankhurst centre for the women I work with. 100 years and still empowering women!

Birthday treats

It's my birthday.

How did I ever get to this age?



I have had a lovely day we went and chose our kitchen  and put all the finishing touches to it. I had my nails done. I got loads of lovely presents including  a spar day next a month.

Two bunches of my favourite Tulips. I do love tulips they remind me of spring. 

I have been out to dinner with my lovely family. and a cake to eat tomorrow. 

A day of Culture

There's an exhibition on at the museum about partition.

It was a little  disappointing considering we live in such a diverse  city and they could have got lot's of information at first hand.


We went and had a look at all the other exhibits

The two brothers

Another new recipe

Tonight for dinner we had another new meal. I cooked something from jamie Olivers new book. 5 Ingredients

https://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/beef-recipes/ginger-shakin-beef/

It was lovely.

A day in the hospital

We should have had it yesterday. But my mum got rushed to hospital and we spent all day there. She hasn't been well for a while. She was rushed to hospital on New years eve and sent home without a chest x ray or anything. Any way to cut a long story short it turns out she has a clot on her lung. She is being medicated now on the anticoagulant ward.She has blocked arteries that's why it hasn't moved.  

Thursday 1st February

New day, new month, blank page.

I spent the day cleaning,washing,sorting out yet more cupboards. Talking to the agents that the  insurance  company are using. And baking.

Lemon and blueberry loaf. It's yummy.













https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/104216178861887097/



Then i nipped to Mr T's to get a couple of bits and got this for free. It was on the shelf with no price on the shelf. Because it wasn't in there system the checkout supervisor said I could have them for £2.50 each. I used my voucher and got them for free.

 Using this. They sent me this because one of the days over Christmas the queues were too big apparently. I can't say I noticed.

The girl on the checkout said they had sent one to every customer who used there club card on Christmas eve. Because of the queues. 

Pinch punch first of the month

I need some good luck. Or just old plain luck. The agents that are working for the insurance company rang yesterday and said they wont be sending the assessor out for a re visit. I just emailed the women who's dealing with the complaint and asked her to deal with it. 

I am not getting worked up or arguing with them  anymore!

Sunday round up

Its been a busy week with work. Not a very nice one either. We have a person in at the moment who doesn't like rules so keeps threatening us and any one else who he comes in contact with.

He actually threatened to stab the builder the other day.

Oh well people are just getting worse or the type of people I work with.

I finish work for a week today apart from half day training on Wednesday so that will be a break away from all this madness.

The drains are still leaking from the back gully. CET are coming out gain tomorrow.

Mike the builder came out to do a final calculation. And he said he is going to take that drain out and bypass it altogether that's a relief.

The kitchen planners coming tomorrow after that everything is good to go. I am just going to get my birthday out of the way and then let them start work.

I have a confession I bought another cookery book this week. I saw a recipe on another blog that looked lovely and the book looked good too. I had a quick look on Amazon and it sort of jumped into my basket.

I am making the recipe  Coconut caramel Chicken.

 https://stayhomeinstead.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Chicken%20Recipes?&max-results=20

It was delicious x

Looking forward

I got called into work yesterday, because of an emergency. And we got talking about making plans. I said I thought it was important to have things to look forward to. I like to have something every month to plan and look forward to.

We did something every month last year. This year is more or less the same.

January We usually go away this month but with all the work that's going on in the house we can't this year. So we have been out to dinner a few times and Jade took me out on Monday to dinner and  interview with a serial killer.

February it's mine and Geoff's birthdays 12 days apart. |Its a special birthday for Geoff so we may go away for the weekend.

March I am going to see Sam Smith.

April We are taking my mum to London for a few days to see a couple of shows.

May is our anniversary month (38 years) and depending on the build I may go to Greece to a yoga retreat for a week.

June it's Tasha's birthday and we usually go away after that

July We will still be away

August I want to stay at home and enjoy my new Kitchen and look after my garden.

September

October Jade's birthday

November   We usually go away

December We will be mortgage free. That is going to be the best feeling ever!


So I have some plans already made this year. I will revisit this post and update it as I add more plans to my year.

Do you like to make plans and have things to look forward too.

Making Memories

Every time we go out with my mum my daughters like to take pictures and say we are making memories. Which of course we are.

So now every time we look into going somewhere they say lets make memories. 

Last night was part of our Christmas present off my eldest daughter. My mum has always read about serial killers. Don't ask me why.   

We went for dinner at Turtle bay which was nice. 

And then we went  to 

 Interviews With a Serial Killer

One of the first British policemen to work closely with the FBI Behavioural Science Unit in Quantico, Virginia, he has interviewed over 70 of the world’s worst serial killers and mass murderers to gain insight into their psyche.

Join Paul, to hear some of the more controversial conversations he had with Britain’s and the World’s most terrifying killers. Hear why the Yorkshire Ripper was ‘scared’ of him. Learn, what drove Robert Maudsley, the UK’s real life hannibal lechter, to kill, and why he’s kept in an ‘all glass’ cell. The Amityville Murders; what Ronald DeFeo said to be fearful of, when Paul spent the night at the house of horror.

This is a truly eyeopening and entertaining talk, that covers twelve stories and interviews. Accompanied by a visual presentation, covering the history of the individual crimes, and the killers story in their own words. Sad, frightening, and at times, funny, hear how serial killers perceive themselves, their victims, and their actions.

Paul is regarded as an expert on serial killer profiling. As a consultant on the subject, he regularly works with; authors, and film and television production companies. He is author of 34 books, mainly true crime.

He has recently had published his first crime fiction novel, Revenge of The Malakim, book one of the Grooming Parlour trilogy.

‘Walking with the Dead’ gives a unique opportunity to delve deeper into the dark reality of the mind of a serial killer.

Venue: Texture, Manchester

Doors: 7pm / Talk starts: 7.30pm.

It was a strange way to spend a Monday Evening.

I made dinner before I went for Geoff and Tasha

Cottage pie using all he veg that would have gone in the bin otherwise. The rest of the veg I made into a vegetable stock that I popped in the freezer to use at a later date. 

We will have to have this for dinner today because I am working until 21:30 tonight. 

Sunday Dinner sweet potato lasagna

Because I was working today I made a start on the dinner this morning at 06:00 before I went to work.I thought it would marinate all day before I was ready to use it.

I bought the sweet potato lasagna sheets last week and forgot about them. We had peppers and mushrooms in the fridge. So a cheep and cheerful dinner using ingredients we had in.

06:30

!7:00 I forgot to take a picture before I cut into it. I have to say it was delicious and will definitely make it again 


I am off out tomorrow night. Not sure whats for dinner yet.

Finding money

 I do love the weekends even though I work them. I think it's because there's hardly any traffic and you can take it a little slower. You don't have to rush around getting ready then fighting your way through the traffic. 

I really don't know how this has happened I was busy packing away my dresser ready for when the builders start. Its a lot fuller than this now. It was a red and white stripe tea pot. When i took the lid of to wrap it in news paper.

  I found three of these

One of these 

And one of these 

I don't know how long it's been there and to be perfectly honest I don't know where it's from, or why I would have put it there.

It's gone in my savings jar.