Odd Thomas Odd Blog

Why, oh why, do I let myself get caught out every Christmas?! It seems that, as well as over-spending on presents for the family, I should really be putting money aside for the inevitable Christmas breakdown, too ... in addition to my hob's attempt to cook the worktop , my washer-dryer has given up the ghost for the fifth time!! Ironically, the insurance company contacted me back in November to ask how it was doing and I told them it was doing fine, so they sent me the paperwork to apply for another year's insurance ... I think they thought they weren't going to have to pay out! Mind you, so did I :-( So, it looks like I'm going to spend another couple of weeks wearing old clothes I hardly wear because I can't get them washed ... good job I haven't been able to take them down to the charity shop yet, otherwise, I would need to buy them back! I guess that also means I'm going to have to buy an airer for all the wet clothes that keep getting stuck in it... Wi...

For the past few years, Christmas has brought more than its fair share of surprises ... financial ones, that is. You can pretty much guarantee that something will happen that will involve forking out several hundred pounds at a point when you really can't afford to. As I have just been paid, I was planning to hold back on buying stuff for myself and use this money for purchasing the majority of this year's presents. No such luck! Whilst cooking tonight's dinner, the nine-year-old hob decided to cook more than just the contents of the pan and tried heating the worktop, too. Personally, I'm not into flame-grilled pasta, so opted to douse the unit in cold water (after switching it off of course!), and placed a large pan of cold water on it to help take the heat away. Ooh, déja vu moment there just reading over this first bit ... weird! Anyway, I don't suppose you can see it in this pic, but there is a nice puddle of water surrounding the heating element to try and ...