Be Excellent To Each Other

Hurrah!

Congrats!

Congratulations, Uncle Squirt!

Christ, Christmas must be expensive.

Congratulations

Congratulations Uncle Squirt! Can you remember the names of them all? I get confused with mine and I've only got 2 kids. I keep calling them each others names.

I literally just call mine "child" half the time.

Or other words I shouldn't repeat in their presence.

I got approved for a mortgage today. I'm finally adulting.

Congrats!

Whoop! Don't forget to post your DIY photos!

Where? Sweden?

I've been a homeowner for 9 years. I have no DIY photos.

This is the 4th week that I've had the flu bug and finally woke up this morning and didn't feel like shit.

Still have a bit of a sore throat but all the head colds and other stuff has gone.

Oddly enough I knocked my back out a week ago to add to the misery and that's better as well!

Never had a flu bug like it, some people at work have said they have had it for 7 weeks.

Glad you're feeling better.

Was maybe a bit quick of the mark re my recovery, got home after work and felt like shit again. Bed @8.30

So giving in to my wife and seeing Dr tonight.

My wife has an op next week, nothing serious but she can't drive for 2-3 weeks, so I have all the school runs to do which will be 4 days a week for the recovery period of her op

So need to get rid of this bug now

My 2 year old daughter has finally let us put her hair in a ponytail.

She's blonde with little curls, and the pony tail is quite rough and has slipped down. For some reason it reminds me a bit of Guybrush Threepwood

My workplace has generated a mouse (the squeaky animal variety) worth 15,000 dollars

Careful, Disney's lawyers are notoriously vicious.

"Generated" sounds ominous. Do you work in a top secret government bioweapons lab?

Heh, 'created' would be too deludedly grand.

But no, no secrets - we are quite open about it. Not government either, it's a not-for-profit medical research facility.

Remortgaged my flat so I'm now only paying £321 a month for the next two years. So I'll use the extra £100 to overpay on my loan if I can.

FTFY

FTFY

The joke's on you because I only need about 6 more and I've got the whole lot

That's me told!

Spend it on paint jobs then.

And yet you'll still find ways to spend more on it.

Yep, upgrading hardware now.

Here's a yay... I've booked the day off on the 3rd March for the release of the Nintendo Switch.

Corporate Whore.

Good stuff! I try and overpay every month, even if it's just a few quid.

I had the option of paying the same as I'm doing now, but reducing the term by eight years. But it's relatively cheap money and with my unsecured loan as well it makes sense to pay that off first.

My goal for this year is to pay off as much of my unsecured debt as possible. This may be difficult, as I am a serial impulse spender.

Nothing I like much more than seeing people paying off debts - I used to go and read the 'dealing with debt' forums on Motley Fool for good-news entertainment. So do it and make me happy, GazChap!

Join the queue - I'm first in line with the happy face if he manages it especially as it'll improve our house buying prospects.

I doubt I'll pay it all off this year. I have a *lot* of unsecured debt.

You ain't the only one. Egad.

I don't mind that. In fact, watching the whole process may need a level of concentration beyond me. But starting, and continuing on the way - which doesn't involve never spending on a whim, nor cutting fun spending to a minimum - is the bit I like. Watching the ship turn, or something like that. I suppose that realising it will take time, but getting to a point where that feeling/realisation doesn't overshadow anything else, is the thing I like to see.

One credit card paid off, representing ~18% of my total credit card debt. Cheated a bit and used the bank of mum and dad but it removes a psychological barrier - the card I've paid off is the only one I pay interest on, and it was always a case of "there's so much on that card, another £20 won't make much difference."

No excuses now.

See! Totally got a warm frisson from that.

I went hiking in the Lakes this weekend, camping at Great Langdale. Any hiking trip is automatically a minor yay, but the big yay for me was that part of the hike on Saturday involved a scramble.

I have not gone scrambling for well over a decade, and it's not something I would do normally or without being in the company of experts. But with the encouragement and support of the group's leaders, and much cursing, minor panics, and refocussing, I got up Jake's Rake, amid cheers from the other members of the group. I had one of the biggest rushes of endorphins I had for a long time. I might have actually somewhat strangely cried out 'Fredericksburg!' when I got over the final rock to safety, but I can't quite recall.

I'm really pleased that I pushed myself and had the grit to achieve it. Around halfway up, one of the leaders said 'We'll make a climber out of you yet, Kern'. Perhaps they will.

Brilliant, love a sketchy scramble. Tell you what I like about staying in Langdale Valley too. No phone signal.

That's a lovely yay. I wish I'd gone out today, it looked nice out. Will definitely next weekend.

Well done, Kern!

Excellent work.

Hot bubble bath followed by a plate full of pulled pork and spicy wedges. Happy Jazzy thanks to Mali and Joans.

How exactly was Mali involved?

He was in the sink

Good work!

My wife had keyhole surgery on her wrist today, no mean feat at 6 months pregnant.

Was a great success and will mean she can handle all the picking up and wrist work a new born brings.

Only slight wheel off is that the anesthetist gave her a block for pain relief, this means her whole arm is numb for the next 30 hours and in some sort of protective cast.

This was not planned but was done because he was really good at his job and wanted her and the baby to be as comfortable as possible.

So will be taking a day off tomorrow as she will need my help, her sister is here but leaves around lunchtime tomorrow.