on standing still

Get me, updating twice in one day. Anyone would think this was a proper blog or something.

So, I was sitting in the kitchen the other day with my mum and sis, and mum asked sis to write out a birthday card for my uncle from her and her boyfriend. She did the same for my brother when he arrived, and gave him a card that she’d bought for him and his girlfriend. I asked if I should write out a card too but she said she’d put my name on hers because “you’re on your own.”

uhm… No. Remember that shy, nice looking chap that was with me the other evening? That’s my boyfriend, that is. Though apparently he’s not allowed to be included on a card since we don’t live together. Pfffft. Fair enough, I don’t see much of him because of the wonky hours we both work, and at the moment it’s doubly difficult because it’s the school holidays and he has dad stuff to do (and as he has 3 teenage daughters I can’t deny him the opportunity to spend time with them while he can, soon they’ll start moving on to uni or whatever else they have planned) – but that doesn’t make him any less a part of my life.

Lately whenever I’m around my family I just feel a little bit like I’m invisible or, worse, like I’m that one that nobody talks about. You know the sort – every family has one, right? It feels like everyone is moving onwards and upwards and I’m kind of stuck. It’s odd because I have a relatively good job, I’m looking to buy my own place and yet… it’s just not enough.

But, on the plus side, I found out today that the birthday cards have gone astray in the post. Shame.

on moving house and other annoyances

Whilst I’m here posting recipes I may as well bring you up to speed with what’s been happening lately. Won’t take long, I promise.

As some of you who follow my Twitter feed may have read, I’ve managed to get myself a mortgage. I’m officially a grown up now. I’d always thought that shared ownership would be my only option because I wasn’t previously able to get a mortgage on my feeble NHS salary, but I guess now that the market is slowly picking up there’s better deals available. Besides, shared ownership schemes don’t seem to be that money saving when you consider you’re paying both rent and a mortgage; add in something like £100 a month for service charges and it all starts to mount up. Also, our local housing association is fucking useless when it comes to dealing with even the simplest enquiries so I wouldn’t entirely trust them with my hard earned cash. Anyhow, I spoke to a few mortgage advisers and I’ve managed to find myself a fairly good deal – so long as I can find a place for less than £110 grand, which is easier said than done. There is the option is to move slightly further afield where the prices are much cheaper (because the area is skankier) but then that adds more time and money onto my commute and ideally I wanted to stay close to D and also to mum just in case she gets poorly or needs to make a quick escape from dad (he’s still behaving like a total prick) – with both my brother and my sister also planning to move away shortly I think mum’s feeling a bit down, so could do with having at least one of us still living nearby. I have viewed a couple of places locally though; one was lovely but massively overpriced for the work that needed doing and the other was well within my price range but the building was quite run down, there was something iffy about the lease and I don’t think the communal areas had been cleaned or decorated since the 1960s. But I’ll keep on looking, something’s bound to turn up.
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the grumpy post

I’m going to my bruv’s 30th birthday party tomorrow night.  Ah, the joy of being surrounded by distant relatives who’ve got no clue whose birthday it is, but showed up because there’s free food and drink on offer.  I’d better start practicing my “No, I’m still not married.  No, I don’t want to have kids. No, I’m not gay…” speech for the umpteenth time.  D lucked out by having to work this weekend (not that I would’ve forced my vulgar relatives upon him anyway, for the simple reason that I’d quite like to keep seeing him) – wonder if it’s too late for me to get overtime too?  Or throw a sicky?  Or be abducted by aliens?