I got another bill for my phone - 16 pounds before switching to broadband last month on internet bills alone. This move is definately going to save me money. have a higher bill this month, due to paying for part of April plus May's payment, but from June it should be a lot easier. I haev also cancelled my DD with BT. I am 30 pounds in credit, which should see me for the next quarter easily.
posted by small 3:15 PM

The meal at Pizza hut was terrible. The company was good, but the food and service was pretty bad. We had to ask for salad bowls for our starter, and by the time we got back from the salad bar, the side order of stuffed potato skins had arrived as a starter. It was lukewarm and very dry. The pizza arrived before we finished our starters, and by the end of it i felt uncomfortably stuffed. And we paid 13 pounds each for that.

Compared with the pear tree for the same price we had a main crepe with a bowl of salad each and a dessert crepe and a drink, with good service... well i know which i will be going back to. No wonder the pear tree is always full, the food is good and wholesome and tasty and reasonably priced. Children are welcome, but unlike pizza hut they aren't over-stimulated and stressed. They are in a calm, almost family-like environment.

I am trying to do something every day to meet someone.

I bought bread last night and have made so many sandwiches! This is even easier than the pasta i used to do. Now what i need to do is throw some fruit and veg into the mix and i am doing pretty well.

Now if i could stop eating the crisps and chocolate i would be sorted.

I'm going to do another fish curry for tea, with two portions to throw into the freezer. Lentils tomorrow, and probably chinese on Friday. Saturday i have a tutorial so i think that tasty pasta will be nice to come home to.
<>PIn another money saving drive on Freecycle birmingham someone was giving away 3 boxes fo old videos. As i seem to be going through vids at an alarming rate (think my vid needs replacing really) this is great. They are old - but should be decent enough to tape 8 simples rules every week day!

posted by small 4:25 PM

Hurrah, my expense came through. Quite a lot this month as i worked two bank holidays on March. I now have enough to pay my largest CC and my council tax. Yippee. Enough for petrol, and a bit to buy cat food, cat litter, bread and some spices.

I froze my first ham sandwich last night, so i am going to eat it in a couple of hours and see what it's like. If it's ok, i'm just going to make a big batch for lunches at work. This will save me a lot in the long run.

Hey, i can now buy some soil to plant geranimums in!

I was going to see Lysistrata with Mel, but that rather feel through and we are going to Pizza hut instead. This is a nice treat for me, and good to catch up with her. She sent me an email last week saying that she had some news. I knew instantly what it was. She is going to have a baby. Very exciting!

Mind you, what with that and going to Tango's wedding last weekend i felt somewhat deflated that all around me people are going and living their lives, and i seem to be rather stuck. I am happy for them all, but cannot help but feel jealous and wish it was me.

Still, it was nice to see tango again, but it was such a long day. He is still super nice, and i could have all those years ago gone out with him. What an idiot i was to go for someone who had issues instead. What a waste of time i spent on someone who wasn't worth it. But, i thought to myself that i wold have been no good for Tango and he is with someone much better suited than i. I think he had a lucky escape from me really.

some time later... the sandwich wasn't bad at all. I might spend a little more and get some decent quality bread and when i come back from Pizza hut tonight, just go and make a batch and freeze.

This is a cooking week. I have added tomatoes to my curry recipe. Tasty!

posted by small 4:32 PM

I decided to do it. I stopped my PT sessions last night. I have two more, then that should be it. I wasn't certain if i could stop it for next month as i know about pay cycles and what not, but apparently it was. I guess i will see.

This will give me more money to put into a fund for things like car repair/service/mot and some to pay more off my cc debt.

I am giving up chocolate again. I did so well over Lent. I haven't had a piece today.

I did aeroskip last night, it is so tough and i am usually exhausted by the end of it - but it's different. On the other hand my body combat class is being withdrawn, i am clearly going to have to rearrange things so that i can still go to a combat class sometime.

posted by small 1:26 PM

I'm going to try and make the 7pm aeroskip class tonight. That way i can be home for 8 and hopefully doing some words on tma04. I am really struggling with it. Was Cleon a wise leader? I quite literally have no idea... oh well.

I think i have the exercise thing cracked again, as i am feeling motivated. I just can't stop eating. I don't know how i managed it during lent. I just decided to stop and i did. Although i don't have the money i do need to buy food for next week (not much, just veggies and some tins), i should buy some bananas as they are healthy and might stop me from snacking.

I decided to put my goals on 43 things (see the new link above), which reminds me...i really should overhaul this site!

posted by small 4:09 PM

for the first time in many years i have actually gone overdrawn. I am quite sad about this, as i thought that when i got my frist job and was living in Chesterfield, that those days would all be over.

I clearly need to start cutting down. I think one place i am going to do that is buying food. I know how much i need, and i can certainly buy enough to last without need to go and buy "extras".

When my abbey and mnba cards are up (abbey will be paid off, mnba will not) i will transfer the money into a new low interest account, and do a BT for my capital one. I feel certain that i can now get a lower rate and one card to pay off each month is going to be easier than remembering to do three.

I'm also going to take a look at what else i'm spending. I've changed from buy albums to just buying single tracks - so that will save.

Maybe i should forget about the PT sessions. It's a lot of money. Money that i could chuck straight at the credit cards. Now Alex has gone, but i am still motivated (balance, aeroskip, circuits and combat each once a week!) do i actually need a trainer?

I could put half towards debts in fact, and half into an ing account for expenses like car mot/servicing etc.

I am going to crack this.

Oh hmmm. I just spoke to Harriet. She sounds very good. It looks like i might have to try and find other cuts...

posted by small 3:47 PM

I'm not going to obsess anymore.

I am supposed to be going to a wedding this weekend, and i have just been invited to the informal stag do... Yes i know i'm a girl, but i think that sums up a lot of my Salford experience really! Despite my size (i was pretty thin back then!) i was well able to drink many of my male compatriots under the table. Possibly because i woudl challenge them to spirit drinking contests and they were used to drinking beer!

I am not sure about going. 1 i haven't got a hotel booked...and 2 someone will need to feed charlie. It's a poor excuse, and i am more worried really about seeing these people again.

I don't look as i did (being something like twice the weight i as back then) and i am not exactly doing well in any area of my life...

I swear i have spent less this month but am worse off. I have 17 quid to last until payday. This is a slight problem as i will have to buy at least 3 loads of petrol (around 25 quid a go) and exciting still like cat food. I'm lucky that at least for this week i have food enough in my freezer. I will need to purchase some stuff for next weeks food - but it's not much and will only come to around 5 pounds, but still.

Missed a call from Harriet today. I think she's going to be my new trainer. She's only earlys on Wednesday and off Thursday which leaves Friday. Friday is always a bad day to arrange things due to traffic being much heavier than normal. As i have paid for a session the receptionist passed my call to Dan (another trainer) who reckons that Harriet could fit me in twice next week. Ok so one of those days is going to be a Friday - but i might swing it for a weekend if she is in. I will phone her tomorrow and see what can be arranged.

posted by small 4:23 PM

In response to the last comment it is rather high, but then compared to most peoples first years driving i do a lot more miles! Since i passed my test 3 years ago i have done very nearly 100,000 miles. I'm not what one would call the most confident driver - a lot of the problem is that some drivers are not terribly patient. Bibbing their horns if i don't decide to go with split second timing.

As it happens that last accidents i have been in have been people driving into me! Christmas eve, someone drove into me, and the day after Grandpa died a lorry bunny-hopped into the back of me. So i figured on that front i'm pretty much all square.

I'm just mega paranoid about being caught be speed cameras. Which, if you knew me, you would laugh at as i am a notoriously slow driver. If we go in a convoy from work anywhere, everyone else can be guaranteed to lose me as i stick to the speed limit very closely.

This time is a little different. Not that i hit anyone, or anyone hit me. I don't know. i know i am paranoid, and i trembled everytime someone came to the door, or letters through the letter box this weekend.

As the mother of an ex-boyfriend once said to me..."You have enough guilt to be Catholic".Mind you she did want me to marry her son, which probably would have meant converting...

posted by small 12:52 PM

Another driving scare - but i am not going to swell on that, and just move on.

I had my last PT session with Alex on Wednesday. I am quite sad about that, as he has been very good and we are just beginning to get to the bottom of some of my problems. My left quad is really very noticably weaker than my right. And i mean really. So we have started just working that leg on the weight machines and then doing CV work. It's not ideal as rally i shoudl work both legs, but given how much weaker my left is - when i work both i just shift all my weight onto my right leg so my left doesn't improve. But anyway, it was a sad day.

Yesterday i did an aeroskip class. I think that these are new at the gym. I got there, after the driving scare, at 7:30, but the class before overran so it started at 7:45. It was hard work and i was terrible at the skipping! But i got the hang of doubles and jumping in. I will definately go again as it was good cv work, and didn't hurt my knee at all.

I got 66 for my last tma - not the best....but not a failure either!

posted by small 4:33 PM

I'm not sure he deserves credit really! Since he was the one who seemed very eager to meet up again, and suggested the theatre. When i said i wasn't sure, he was the one who wanted to reschedule. Then suddenly the next day everything changed. Oh well. I woudl say guess it's for the best, but i get so tired of being alone...and yet i keep thinking, maybe if i had said yes to the play. But then i think, if he is the kind of person who wouldn't give a bit of leeway over that, then he wasn't the right guy for me.

But it's not all bad - i'm on broadband now...

posted by small 4:30 PM

It's been quite a long time since i have written. I have found the past few weeks hard going. I had last week off work as it was Grandpas funeral on Tuesday - and i was also getting central heating and water installed. I now have hot water and toasty radiators!

Sadly i have around 150 quid to last for 3 weeks...

I continued emailing a guy (Martin) from Dating direct. We finally met a week last Friday and he seemed really nice. We agreed to meet again, but it was to see a play. I wasn't really sure about that as a) you don't spend any time getting to know the other person and b) it had strong sexual themes and i wasn't certain that this was an ideal second date. He said lets reschedule, and i was happy about that. The next day i got a text saying that he saw no future in us and didn't want to reschedule!

I was quite hurt and deflated by that. I quite literally felt squashed.

I ate and ate and have put on so much weight it's untrue.

It hasn't really been the happiest time for me, but i am trying to keep myself cheerful.

posted by small 4:29 PM