I managed a lot better this month on the financial front. I am still spending too much on crap (quite frankly). I am really stopping buying books, and CD's; so my main habit now is magazines.

Last night i spent 15 quid in Smiths.

I'm still really busy at work, and since i write my journal at work in free moments...well it's sort of been neglected. I'm sorry! I can't even remember what i have and have not mentioned.

I'm pretty sure i mentioned the house in Castle Vale, and me joining Club Sirius. Sadly i think that's actually it! I've been so busy at work that the only other thing i have done is go to the gym!

And eat...not doing too well on that front. I manage ok and get down to a reasonable weight over the weekend and then as soon as monday swigns around i'm back up high again. Don't really understand that. But i have done my gym programme twice this week, tonight i'll give it a rest and i might try and get back for yoga tomorrow night. If not, i'll do the plan again.

I have been one busy girl. But i'm ok. I'm quite stressed at work, and working long hours. But i feel that right now (what with buying a house!) that a job is a pretty good thing to have.

I joined Club Sirius and have received my magazine. I've spotted a few young men that i would like to find out a bit more about, but my own profile is not ready yet so i'll have to wait a little longer.

I have THE best readers.

General consensus is that i got the letter to frighten me. All i need to do is forward it onto the insurers who will deal with it. Hurrah! I can sleep easy again. I tell you with the stress of moving house and the constant stress of work, this was probably the last thing that i needed!

I need some advice. Remeber i had an accident about a month ago? Well i got a letter from the 3rd party's solictors saying that they were going to claim damages for negligence, and that despite me checking that the other party was ok they now say that they had injuries as a result. Of course i am sick with worry that this is going to mean criminal stuff and courts and huge sums of money. I suppose the only good things was that the letter didn't mention wanting my solictors name, only my insurers.

Does anyone know what this means? The guy at the insurance claim line said he didn't think he woudl get to that, but i would have to contact their legal department to get more information. Oddly, they didn't go straight to the insurers.

Why does everything in my life go wrong? I wish i could have a year with things going swimmingly...

I hate getting spam bombed. What's worse i decided i one swoop to simply delete everything in my junk mail folder. Forgetting, of course, that there might have been some legitimate emails in there. But 7 pages of crap just killed my inbox. Just what i didn't need after working late last night.

Yesterday morning i was at my lowest weight for a logn while. Yesterday evening i had shot back to my highest weight for a long while. As a result, this morning i weigh more than i have done in over a month. How? I dunno! I wish i could say that i had gone out and had a fabulous 3 course meal...but i just eat that same way i normally did...pity it's going to take me 3 weeks to get the weight right back down again...

I'm quite tired. I'm been on call this week and have been disturbed every night so far. This has also meant that i haven't been able to have a workout at the gym due to working! A bit annoying really. Next week i'm doing mornings, and the week after i'm back on call again. Come September i'm going to be dog tired. i'm tired already, and this isn't going to help.

I also have an interview on Tuesday with some woman from CLub Sirus...

I guess you could say that things are really changing for me. I finally gave in and joined Club Sirius. Of course, i am aware that as a woman the amount of men for me to choose to meet is very limited. For some reason there are far more single women than men, can anyone explain that. But at least by joining i am actively doing something and not sitting at home alone just dreaming. Of course, not everyone chooses to have their profile on the website...or maybe there just are few single men my age!

At least i'm in a better position than some of the girls at work. They have a lot more pressure from their families, indeed one of them had her chart read out in India which said that she had (basically, since i can't remember the word for it and don't know any of the Asian languages my colleagues speak) bad karma that meant that she was unable to attract a bloke. Her dad has bought her a special ring which she is supposed to wear to get rid of the negativity. She wasn't very impressed by this at all!

Well, So far so good. My offer for the house on the Vale has been accepted at 68,500. I think it's reasonable considering they are leaving things like the cooker, and the carpets and light fittings. Yes, it's on the Vale, but i've lived in Salford and i think that Salford is probably worse. No offense to Salfordians, but some parts are very rough (and not hospitable to students)

Ray (the estate agent) told me that the women whose house i wanted has told him to come back in 4 weeks time. I'm not waiting that long, and he agreed that the best thing was to go out looking again.

So i did. And i looked around a very sweet house on the Vale (those of you who are from Birmingham will no doubt have hear dof this area!). I have put an offer in, and the estate agent is confident that it will be accepted. I think that i will write more about it when it is. Not, of course, that that means that it will all go according to plan...

I am disheartened again. Have just rang around all the estate agents and they have nothing. Literally nothing at all. I hope this women finds herself unable to sell now. Does she realise how she has ruined my life?

Saturday morning was firstly spent in the studio practising sketching. I draw a still life (very badly) of a wine bottle and a teapot. The bottle wasn't too bad, but the teapot looked a little odd! I enjoyed shading though. Next i braved the outdoors and sat down on my waterproof picnic rug and drew the outside of the stone farm building. It was about practising perspective and it came out quite well. Then i drew a tree and went indoors again and drew some views from the studio window. This was my favourite part. I drew a lovely stone wall with plants and flowers in ink pen, and did some shading my using a damp paint brush.

Then it was time for a lunch, which consisted of a roll and some crisps. This was just enough after the cooked breakfast! Spurred on by another cup of tea with started using some pastels. I produced another view of the stone wall, which had a lot of energy (scribbly!).

Before the evening meal i did my first watercolour. It was a copy of a picture of a lake and was all in one colour, but using different tones. It came out quite well.

Then it was time for tea; didn't time fly!

house update: my suspicions were correct. The estate agent had spoken to her, so when she said that he hadn't she was lying. She is now rethinking selling her property, which is fine for her. But not for me when i've already spent 200 quid on a survey which hasn't actually been done. I am quite cross really, since she has allowed it to go so far. At least i know that i wasn't just being paranoid, and that my gut feeling that she had guilt all over her face was correct. It's really upsetting on my part, and the estate agent (my mate Ray) has suggested that i start viewings again. This is a sensible suggestion, but not a good one since it means i'm back into fighting over property. I don't have extra money to place higher offers.

I'm just generally feeling annoyed about the whole thing.

I won't know anymore about the house until Wednesday at the earliest. Please keep me in your good thoughts that my fears are just my imagination.

I haven't yet written about my weekend in Wales painting and drawing. I made fairly good time to Lluest Fach and was very glad that at around 9pm it was slight light so that i had no problems getting out of my car and opening the farm gates and avoiding the wondering cows.

It was an old smallholding and barn which has been converted into a house, with enough room to sleep twenty people, and a little holiday cottage. There were only about 10 of us, so i got a lower bunk in my bedroom. The building had a lovely rambling cottagey feel to it, and had a wonderful snug lounge. I had a little wine and many slices of a gluten-free flapjack.

I rolled into bed and fell asleep.

And then the weekend began in earnest.

Short update; went to review the house and the owner had all the curtains closed and denied all knowledge of the meeting...i knew things were too good to be true. I'm sitting at home crying that once again my dream of freedom and escape is over. I'll ring the estate agent tomorrow, but i know that the person dealing with it isn't working then. When will this all be over and the joyful life begin?

The rest of that first week went in a blur, between going to the bank and paying off bills...fortunately Friday meant that i was off to Wales.

Well Heather was great. I knew very few of her songs, but she was a great performer (not much between song banter though), Support was from Merz (not good) and Sandy Dillon (good, looks ickle but has an interesting gravelly voice).
And that was Tuesday.