Virtuous

Still no mortgage quote yet.

The Broker rang yesterday evening to let me know that she was waiting on a decision from a lender, but as they close at 5pm she should get it today. Spoke to her again this evening, and apparently The Lender is currently inundated with applications so mine has not been processed yet. She has been assured it is 'near the top of the pile', and is hopeful it will be done tomorrow, and if not then she will continue to chase them for it.

Wish I just had the numbers, so I could at least see whether I can a) afford it, b) the housing scheme people think I can afford it, and c) I could just get my application sent off so I can then forget about it until after Christmas.

Ah well, I guess "patience is a virtue"...!

I'll Sail This Ship Alone

Going it alone...

Growing up

I have survived the winter bug - just! Felt awful all last week and in the end succumbed to a day off on Friday, at the peak of feeling crappy. As a result, I didn't get out on Saturday night either (a combination of illness and lack of babysitter), but am fighting fit once again!

In other news, my plans for house buying next November have just become a little scuppered, as the last plot on the estate I want is now going to be completed in MARCH!!!! So, as a result I am now having to bring everything forward 8 months, keep everything crossed and not spend a bloody penny after christmas! Will be worth it though, if I get it, because I really, really, really want this house!

Mortgage broker is ringing tomorrow with figures and offers, so fingers crossed I will be sending my application in in the next few days and then will just have to wait and see....!

It's a bit scary to be honest, I feel all grown up!

PS. This is not the house I want (obviously, it's not built yet!), but the picture I am using everywhere - for motivation!

Stars for the week ahead

The dictionary defines a paradox as, 'A seemingly contradictory statement that may nonetheless be true.' Situations, though, can be every bit as paradoxical as statements. When we face such circumstances, we can either try to square the circle or we can shrug our shoulders. It is easier, by far, to ignore a paradox than to try to understand one. This is because life itself is beyond reason. We feel, the entire time we are here on this planet, as if we have been - and will be - here forever. Yet we know that's not true! There's plenty in your world this week that makes no sense. Ignore that. Just relish the magic within it.

Sniffle sniffle

Am poorly, and it's rubbish!

I wonder

I am trying to see whether it really is possible to get a free ipod. If anybody wants to help me out, please click here and register your details. I am most intrigued!

Will update on the outcome - assuming anybody does of course!



PS. If you dont want to risk being inundated with spam email as a result, just set up a new email and use that to register.

Winter

Spent the afternoon and evening today at work colleague Angel's for her birthday bash. Has been a lovely chatty day, and even managed a quick flirt with a rather attractive man who was having a fag outside the pub over the road at the same time I was smoking on Angel's doorstep. Wish I'd invited him into her porch!

Finally left at about 8pm, with a very tired X and a drive home in the snow!! Snowing indeed!

Stars for the week ahead

Have you ever got into the car and started to drive, only to realise that you have inadvertently left the parking brake on? For a while, you can't work out why your vehicle is so sluggish. Then suddenly, it becomes obvious. Sometimes, we make a similar error with the vehicle of our life. We begin to wonder why we just don't seem to be getting anywhere and we feel frustrated because progress is so slow and sluggish. Then it dawns on us. We are holding ourselves back. We are letting ourselves be weighed down by irrelevant fears. There will be a Full Moon in your opposite sign at the end of the week, that will help you pick up a lot more speed.

Quality

Just got back from a night out with Ava, and had a bloody great night playing with boys! Not in "that" way of course, but just generally taking the piss, winding them up and having a rare old laugh at their expense.

I have to say, men are so incredibly easy to wind up, in the nicest possible way of course, and Ava's one of those friends that when we're both on form and together, we play off each other really well.

Highlights of the evening included:
- Much chuckling about the boy in the biggest coat in the world
- A double act of staring and giggling at Lego boy, who finally succumbed to the attention and then got a bit scared on being told by me that we were just "discussing how fuckable you are"
- Spotting a particularly young specimen, tapping him on the shoulder, smiling widely, and then giving him granny double cheek pinch - and getting away with it
- Chatting, laughing and dancing for ages with a very funny but unattractive Hook and his very attractive though incredibly drunk mate Peter
- Watching a really cute guy fall off the kerb as we were just about to drive home, who then asked if we were offering lifts, to be told we'd witnessed his mini vacation!

Just what the doctor ordered!

Well well well

After one of the shittest starts to the week in a very long time, I found out yesterday that my team have won a regional home office award. Fucking hoorah!!!

I am absolutely thrilled, and it couldn't have come at a better time.

Put it this way, when I first opened and read the letter I thought "Mr MP, I could bloody kiss you!", this was closely followed by the thought... "In fact, this is so great, I'd even let you fuck me up the arse!"

Happy days!

Hey There Delilah

Just really like this one...

Getting sorted

It may be a bit early for new year's resolutions, but one of the things I am determined to do next year is to buy a house - or at least be in the best position I possibly can be!

There is no possible way that I can afford to buy by myself in the current housing climate, and as no rich knight in shining armour appears to be on the horizon, my best option is "affordable housing" (a paradox if ever I've heard one!) - or shared ownership as it's traditionally called. To buy a new 3 bed house in my area, I'm looking at around £140-£150k, around a £70k mortgate and the remaining 50% in rent. At a rough guess this is likely to cost me, in total, around £650 month.

Before I can go down this route though, I need to:
1. Repair my horrific (though not so bad as it was) credit history
2. Save around £2000 for legal/moving costs

Being absolutely hopeless with money, neither of these is an easy task, but I have been working on the first and this is a much more acheivable target than saving - particularly as money always "seems to burn a hole in my pocket" (to quote my parents!). However, I have just taken a big step towards the second, by applying for (and being accepted!) an Alliance & Leicester Premier Savings Account. This is a fixed term account, which means that I can't withdraw any money at all from this account until a year after my first payment. Perfect!! So, as of 2nd December 2008, at a rate of £250 month saving and 12% interest, I shall be the proud owner of £3195 in savings, and well on my way to my very own (half share) house!

Now, I'm off to write a PPI claim letter!

PS. If you decide to follow me and want to open an account, please let me know via email, and then we can both get an extra £40!

Sometimes

It doesn't happen very often, in fact, considering, it's a bloody miracle it doesn't! But occasionally, like today, it would be so fucking great to get home after a shit day and have somebody say "you sit down and put your feet up, I'll sort the kids out and do dinner". I don't really get lonely, and I don't have any major aspirations for an "other half" (other than the obvious one!). Sure it would be nice, but it's really not high on the agenda at the moment. But today, today it would have been nice.

Work is shit at the moment! Fucking public sector! I am sick of having to scrabble around for pots of money to keep a service that at first sight seems to be an unnecessary and specialist service, but that in actual fact fits a vast array of health, crime, drugs, housing, community and young people targets both locally and nationally! How any service can develop, grow and improve when fighting the battle of public funding year on year begging is fucking beyond me!

Rant over.

Stars for the week ahead

You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink. You can take a teetotaller to a bar but you can't make them drunk. This week, we need to look at what's allegedly impossible and keep looking at it until we see a route to success. The world is full of people who think they know where their own limits lie and what their companions are restricted by too. How do they know this? It is a moot point. Just as a positive prediction can easily give rise to a self-fulfilling prophecy, so a pessimistic belief can turn into a miserable reality. You can do what you think you can do this week. You can't do what you think you can't do. So think positive.

Hibernation

It's about all I'm good for at the moment! Not low, but just feel generally wiped out and can't be arsed. Don't know if its old age or crappy weather, but whatever it is I seem to have lost all energy at the moment, so just taking it easy.

I'm reading blogs and comments but just not able to reply anything remotely constructive, let alone post anything even remotely interesting. Am there in spirit though and am sure I will buck up again soon.

Bleeding Love

Most deserved...

Stars for the month ahead

Some people get a real thrill from being pessimistic, critical or unhelpful. The more petty-minded they can be, the happier they can grow. Such characters have a particular dislike of people like you. You embody all the qualities that they secretly envy but pretend to despise. You are ambitious and adventurous. You have courage and clarity. You see the big picture. How satisfying it must be to stop you in your tracks by enforcing an archaic rule or unnecessary regulation. How they must chortle when they see you stumble. Don't rise to their bait in November. And don't give ground to your own inner critic. A true triumph is imminent.

Darn

bloody mouse is knackered. Will return..