Gingerjo’s Blog

I’ve had a long weekend - how was it? It was glorious!

Saturday I spend chilling out in front of the telly while making a necklace and finishing off modifying the handbag I’ve bought to go with my wedding dress. I’m soo glad Sky 1, 2 and 3 are back on Virgin TV. I’ve really missed Stargate and Bones.

Sunday I confess I chilled out in a big way - I had a long lie in, a luxurious bath and then went and did the weekly shopping - well there had to be some semblance of the normal routine. Then I cooked Mark and I a yummy fillet steak dinner.

Today - well today I had a long list of things to do because I hadn’t done anything the whole weekend. I spent the morning catching up with Mum’s website - that took a good 3 hours. Then I did the ironing (no, honestly). Then I did the washing, well at least most of it. Then I did the washing up.

Then I took all the clothes that were too big for me to the charity shop, but I kept one big pair of trousers and a big top as evidence.

Then I went clothes shopping - I was supposed to go to Asda in search of cheap trousers, but I ended up in M&S in the Trafford Centre instead (for somewhat convoluted reasons) where I got distracted by Per Una and ended up buying a rather expensive but truly gorgeous Christmas skirt and top for going out in. I had to do it - the skirt is a size 14 - a size 14!! And it fits perfectly. The top is a size 16, and is probably a smidge tight but I’ll get away with it. Then, even better, I found a cheap pair of work trousers - also size 14, so I bought them too. Then I remembered that my belt was too big as well so I bought a spangly snakeskin belt from Next. I had real fun shopping for clothes for the first time in years. No longer am I a mishapen freak.

When I got home I made a curry from scratch - making the paste in my spice grinder and everything. Then it was off to Weight Watchers. Now after last week’s failure I’ve been super stringent this week. Basically I’ve done the points plan just eating core foods. I really wanted to loose 3lb because that would get me to my interim goal and exactly the weight I planned to be when I planned to be there. I am delighted because I lost - 3lb!!! Well done to me! Also this evening, they revealed the new plan - Discover - funnily enough it’s basically the points plan where you eat core foods - at least I know it works!!

This week I was supposed to be studing for the CIM exam on Thursday, but given everything that’s going on at work, plus all the pressure I’m piling on myself at home I decided to leave it till the summer. Come May/June I know I will regret it, but work have been very supportive and have let me book two weeks off work to study for the two exams I’ll have to do then. Turns out this was probably a good decision as Mark has got an Ofsted inspection at work this week and is really stressed. It would have been awful if we’d both been really grumpy and time starved this week.

A most unexpected and delightful thing happened yesterday. It’s my birthday soon and for the first time in my life a fella (other than my dad) took me out shopping. I really didn’t know what to do - it was so unprescedented! After a great deal of deliberation I decided to choose the Heroes season 1 boxset and a small bottle of exotic booze from Selfridges. I’d never seen Heroes, but everyone’s been saying for ages that it’s just my sort of show. Now I’m completely hooked and Mark is resigned to the fact that he won’t be able to watch any TV at all this week because I’ll be hogging it. He’s such a sweetheart!

I’ve given in. Our existing fridge freezer is very poorly and may die of old age at any moment, but it’s been a difficult choice. We desperately need a new fridge freezer but also want to save towards our wedding and also our summer holiday. Which do you prioritise?

Since it’s my birthday very soon I’ve bitten the bullet. I’ve bought a fridge freezer for my birthday. At least I’ll get plenty use out of it - it’s not as if it’s an unwanted present. It’s just not very romantic. But, it’s frost free which means I won’t have to defrost it every few weeks and I’d call that a pretty fair trade off. Who needs romance anyway?

I got quite a good deal on the Comet website - I had a look to see if it was cheaper elsewhere but it wasn’t because they had 10% off and free delivery and they’ll take the old one away for us. We’ve just got to try and eat as much of the frozen food as possible now before it’s delivered.

It’s a bit bigger than our current model but I’ve measured it and it should fit. It should be a hell of a lot cheaper to run too - it’s A rated. I dread to think how much electric the current one uses - I bet it’ll save us £60 a year.

Mark’s stumping up half the cash for it as it’s my birthday present, but obviously donations from other kind hearted souls will also be most welcome.

I helped rip our old bathroom out yesterday. It was quite dramatic with Mr D crowbarring tiles and wood paneling off the wall, and sawing up the old bath to fit it in his van. It’s surprising how quickly the old bathroom disappeared and we were left with a large, empty shell. It was rather a forlorn sight, but it’ll look fab very soon so I’m really excited.

He’s lining the walls with plasterboard today to make it easier (well, possible) to tile. We’ll probably be collecting the tiles tomorrow and I’ve got a day off work on Monday so I can wait for the bath to be delivered. We’re getting one of those fancy chrome towel rail radiators on Monday too. Fingers crossed, by next Thursday/Friday we’ll have a beautiful new bathroom. I can’t wait!!

Ouch, I’ve just come back from having my lower legs zapped with a hair removal laser in Bolton. It was really sore, but it will be well worth it. After only another 5 treatments I’ll never have to shave my legs again. It’s pretty expensive, but not compared to spending your whole life buying venus razor blades or getting them waxed every six weeks.

I had my underarms done last year (which also really hurts) and it’s fantastic - no more shaving, no more itchy armpits, no more thinking ‘ah, can’t wear this top, I haven’t shaved’. It’s fab, I wish I could have afforded it ten years ago.

Where do I go? Well I get it done at the Laser and Cosmetic Centre in Bolton and I’ve never had any problems. You get treated by a fully trained nurse who understands your skin and the science of how the treatment works - not some muppet who’s just finished a BTEC. They are also very friendly and you can have a laugh and a good conversation while you wince with pain. Honestly, it’s worth it though.

Well, we’re still waiting for the bath to be delivered, but at least I know it’s now in transit. Last Saturday/Sunday we went looking at tiles and have chosen some really contemporary large tiles - the bathroom will be two-tone - creamy white at the top and brown/black on the bottom, with a silver stripe and mosiac tile border. It’s going to look fab - I ordered the tiles this afternoon. We’ll probably look at flooring this weekend, but I might wait until the bathroom’s fitted and tiled before making the final decision. It’s very exciting.

Watched that programme last night with Peter and Dan Snow. Apparently only 10% of people in Britain earn more than £46,000. I’m really surprised (and in some ways depressed) by that. Their stats also showed that the vast majority of people earned less than £30,000 - most of them earning in the £10,000-£20,000 bracket. The average wage is about £24,000 - of course this is calculated by working out the total amount of salary paid in the UK each year and dividing that by the number of workers (30 million busy bees). This average wage is not therefore the wage of the average person - two thirds of the UK population earns less than the average wage. The average person’s salary must therefore be considerably lower than £24,000.

There would seem to be a huge discrepancy between what the media tells us we should earn, what advertisers tell us we should be able to afford to spend, and what our employers can afford to pay us. No wonder everyone’s in so much debt!

Urggh. Basically, since I left home every bathroom I’ve had to live with has been pink. Not just the suite, no it’s worse than that, the walls too most often. Is it any wonder that I have very little interest in my appearance? Who wants to spend more than the bare minimum time preening themselves in a pink bathroom? You just want out-a-there as quick as possible.

Perhaps our lovely new white bathroom will mark the birth of a new me??

We’ve needed a new bathroom forever. The current monstrosity is dusky pink with lilac painted tiles and, well, the rest is just to hideous to describe. But since my sis owes me some favours, and her fella is a dab hand with plumbing and woodwork and electrical stuff, they are going to replace it for us. (more…)

We live in the soggiest house ever. There’s always condensation, especially in our bedroom and I’m sick of my shoes going mouldy. A couple of months ago we had the house sprayed with water sealant which is supposed to stop the rain soaking in through the bricks, but it doesn’t seem to have changed anything much. The bedroom is just as soggy as it’s ever been. So I’ve bought a dehumidifier. It’s only been running today and I’ve already had to empty the reservoir. No wonder my clothes in the wardrobe always feel damp.

It’s not quiet enough to use during the night, it would keep us awake, well Mark anyway - I rather like white noise to sleep to. But it doesn’t matter, it can run during the day while we’re out, or in the evening before we go to bed. The best thing though is that the air it blows out is quite a bit warmer than the air it sucks in - it’s like a very gentle heater which wil be very handy as it gets colder in the winter months. The bedroom is on the side of the house that never really sees the sun so it’s never really warm, even in the summer. That’s probably why it’s damp.

The dehumidifier also has an in-built ioniser apparently pumping negative ions into our atmosphere. These are supposed to promote a feeling of wellbeing. That’s nice, but not being soggy will probably promote all the wellbeing I need.