Squirrel's Smiley, Smart and Solvent Diary

redsquirrel80

For Apr-Jun:

1. Pay off £625
2. Run a sub-25 min 5k
3. Run 20 miles
4. Keep job hunting/ training/ generally trying to improve job chances.
5. Spend no more than £25 on clothes.

There may be more.. want to make some Christmas pressies this year so might set a target to knit a couple of things... and hmmm.. dunno....

redsquirrel80

Also, a short term challenge - we go on holiday in about six weeks, so going to try to get through this - http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/italian/lj/menu.shtml - before then!

(I'll go away and be quiet for a bit now )

sallyx

Think that will keep you busy for the next 3 months!

redsquirrel80

Another lovely day here! Had my brief interview for the extra job this morning, just checking a few bits on equal opportunities etc, and meeting the people face to face. Went fine I think, although I was a bit nervous (it's the word "interview" that does it!), was asked to get involved in another scheme too, providing IT training for other staff. Rather chuffed

Spoke to parents last night, my dad is having a hard time between the family stuff after my grandad's death, some health problems, and a lot of stress at work - his doctor has agreed to send him for CBT.. he is obsessing a bit over his family's history of mental health problems and overanalysing a lot of things, including how they brought me up.

Had weird dreams, not surprising considering the conversation above. Sigh.

beanielou

Great news on job.
Sorry about your dad

redsquirrel80

Thanks Beanie, it's nothing new really - has been ongoing for years but brought to the fore again by the family situation. My parents were quite snippy with each other when they visited the other week - again nothing new - but got me thinking about the fact that they are quite destructive towards each other. Surely they must have been happy once? It's a bit sad that one of my 'ambitions' relationship-wise has always been to not end up like them

Karmacat

I'm glad your own stuff is going so well, Squizz, but sorry to hear your dad's so poorly - your grandad died so recently tho, tho, its not really surprising he feels so bad. Still, CBT could well help with the other stuff.

I love your plans for a quarter! Makes me think tho - do you ever do any of the "extra income" stuff, mystery shopping, even surveys and what have you? That could be a considerable help.

I'm wondering about the philosophy course too .... you're not doing an extra course to find new friends, you're doing it for ........what? Work? Enjoyment? Finding new stuff? Covering stuff that was missing at school? Its a fair amount of money, I can't remember what the focus is for you to do the course. Sorry if you've already covered it.

And have a good one today!

beanielou

Families eh?!!

redsquirrel80

Karmacat wrote: »

I'm glad your own stuff is going so well, Squizz, but sorry to hear your dad's so poorly - your grandad died so recently tho, tho, its not really surprising he feels so bad. Still, CBT could well help with the other stuff.

Yep it is quite recent, and it has brought a lot of stuff to the fore. I think CBT could be a great help - it's a shame he didn't try it years ago to be honest.

I love your plans for a quarter! Makes me think tho - do you ever do any of the "extra income" stuff, mystery shopping, even surveys and what have you? That could be a considerable help.

I do surveys (although not as much as I used to) - do Consumer Pulse where you record your shopping, which gives me about £10 a month in vouchers.. and cashback of course. Signed up for a couple of mystery shopping things but they get snapped up really quickly round here, or are in the big shopping centre which is too much hassle (and bad for my sanity)!

I'm wondering about the philosophy course too .... you're not doing an extra course to find new friends, you're doing it for ........what? Work? Enjoyment? Finding new stuff? Covering stuff that was missing at school? Its a fair amount of money, I can't remember what the focus is for you to do the course. Sorry if you've already covered it.

Enjoyment/ interest really. I miss the challenge of writing essays, answering questions like that. But I'm not sure I can justify the time, energy or money at the moment - I might just do some reading around the area instead and maybe come back to the course at another time. Winter might be better when there are dark evenings to stay in and concentrate on writing.. for now, Spring is on the way and there is outdoor stuff to be done, not to mention this extra work!

And have a good one today!

Ta

Karmacat

Thanks! About reading around rather than paying out for the course and finding you don't have the time - you could use the syllabus as a starter - see what the library has? The most basic book is better than nothing, at least it gives you an idea - I just think when we're dealing with an area thats so foreign to us, even to be familiar with one idea is a big help.

Gotta go now - byeeeeeee............