Greetings 2012

The kids had a party last night. It started with DVDs of stand up. Dylan Moran made cry with laughing. Then they played LIPS for hours (thank god the neighbours are away over New Year). At one they stopped singing. No idea what was next but they were still laughing at 5am! The stamina of the twenty somethings. This morning I came down and emptied cans and bottles into the recycling. There were pizza boxes to go as well but from Asda not a pizza takeaway. I like that they worked to a budget but knew how to have a good time anyway.

So when it went from stand up to singing the old chap and I went off to bed but sat up chatting for a couple of hours rather than fall by the wayside too early. Well Fahed has obviously been thinking about 2012 just as much as I have. So we decided a few things;

We are both on board for total debt wipe out this year. We earn quite good money and have a lot of assets but are always short on actual cash because we have too many things on the go at once. The situation in Syria has meant that it is sensible for us to withdraw our interests (we lost two thirds of our investment there anyway from some confusion with my sister in law - I don't dwell on it as it makes me a bit cross). Normally any extra cash we have would go towards the Crete house, which is pretty much finished except the landscaping. We were also going to start renovating the old house to let out. The current situation in Greece is probably not the best time ever for letting out property so we will continue with this but just as and when we can afford it, not with any urgency. So its debt clearance. then even more extra towards the mortgage plus a fully funded emergency fund.


We want to finish the renovation of our UK house this year too. We still need a front porch and small laundry room. A second access door to the downstairs bathroom so that we don't have to enter through Ahdel's room. A proper stud wall to Ahdel room. A solid roof to what is currently the conservatory. Finish the kitchen (more than half done). Pave the lawn area and patio. Not too much considering how much has been done already. When we moved in the people before us had lived here for 60 years and had lost interest in the place in about 1950 so it has been a bit of an uphill battle at times. if we really try then we could pretty much finish this year.

We both want to lose a few pounds (well, stones really). Fahed wasn't fat until he had his heart attack and since then he has some sort of fear of exercise. This year we are both on board, not just me. On the bright side I lost over 12 kilo last year. I then fell by the wayside but finally weighed myself this morning and I am still nine kilo down. Yaay! We don't just want to lose weight but also to eat more healthily so its broccoli and blueberries all the way.

We also had a few ideas for ourselves like me being less scruffy (I may have said something like re-vitalise wardrobe and change hair style but we all know I meant 'be less scruffy'). Fahed had some along the lines of the lines of learning a new language (he speak three), taking saxophone lessons.

We gave ourselves a really good roadmap for the year despite the pounding of the kids singing Jason Derulo until the wee small hours.

This morning I added four new 'rules' to save me some time about the place.
Shoes in the shoe rack or bedroom.
Clothes in the laundry basket or bedroom (sometimes it looks like a strip show has occured in my front room)
Jackets hanging up.
Packing & food waste into the bin or re-cycling not left for mummy to decide.

As most of them are only effected by one or two of the new rules then I am hoping they get absorbed pretty painlessly. Jamal has already agreed after a small moan but I am not waking the other up to check as bears with soar heads are not the best to get following new rules.

Happy new year