Its days are numbered ...

misscousinitt

I like doing pickles and chutneys - but DH hates the smell of boiling vinegar so I usually have to take it all to my friends house in the next street and do it there!

My tomatoes have just started to ripen too - think we are going to get them till the end of sept at this rate.

MCI

DawnW

I did the pickled onions - got 3 small jars after all

Work ghastly - restructuring means that our team will be disbanded and the function will be spread across the organisation. It looks as though the other 'leaders' and I in this area will be doing this alongside another job, without any support, even though it is more than full time already even with support staff :mad: Needless to say I am checking the jobs sites every day, and looking out for secondment opportunities. Unless we win the lottery (unlikely as we don't do it :rotfl:) I won't do anything hasty though!

The only good thing is that I am out of the office a lot for the next couple of weeks, so won't have to look at the smug expressions on the Directors' faces as they build their respective empires.

Money a bit short again this month, I think because I am putting too much into regular savers. However, this should get sorted after the end of this month when there will hopefully no longer be a mortgage to pay :T

OH doesn't help - he arrived home with an antique coffee table the other day. It cost £150 :eek: It is worth the money, but I haven't got used to it yet. My taste is a bit restrained, and it is really full on, huge, mahogany and covered in patterned leather. I don't hate it, but it is the kind of thing you would expect to find in a stately home rather than a terraced cottage :eek: Still, it works - my coffee is on it as we speak :D

Well, better get myself sorted out and get to work. I have a 'delicate' issue (another one) to sort out before I head off for a meeting. A colleague said jokingly yesterday after I had responded to yet another 'incident' that I ought to have a career in the diplomatic service - I replied that I might yet :rotfl:

DawnW

OH got a quote to have the roof fixed, recommended contractor through friends / nieghbours, and it will be less than 3k :j

I had assumed about 7k, so great - trouble is, he has booked to have it done this month, so I shall have to raid savings yet again, and there is only really ISA money available. An added complication is that my ISA is in the process of getting transferred. Hmm, have to work that one out :eek:

Right, jobs for tonight, find out how to access OH's ISA, find the paperwork for mine, and water the pots and hanging baskets in the garden

I have been out of the office today, but note some silly deadlines in my email, to add to the existing ones :mad:

Flying up to Scotland and back on Friday - out most of next week :eek:

irishjohn

Hi Dawn,
Rather than raid ISA account and lose the tax free interest on that sum how about becoming a short term borrower - have you and hubby more than one current account / credit card account? Asking for an overdraft facility on any current accounts - borrowing money against credit cards - seeking out the best accounts / interest rates and using that cash until hubby's lump sums come through?

Having followed you on here I have no doubt that a short term debt of less than £3000 would be managed by you very efficiently. Please don't let the idea of paying some interest in the short term put you off - even if you have an objective not to increase your debt.

ammonite

Thanks for the bean advice - they were lovely!

Great news about the roof quote, that is brilliant! I'd estimated a price for a quote really at £500 but we changed our minds about something at the last minute and the price went down to £200 - I was so happy!

Mortgage_Reduction_Novice

DawnW wrote: »

However, this should get sorted after the end of this month when there will hopefully no longer be a mortgage to pay :T

Hurray!

Also regarding the coffee table... hate it with a passion because then he won't make house purchases without your input again!

DawnW

Hellish week at work again

I am giving it till Christmas (after which my horribly expensive season tickets will want renewing :eek:) and if no improvement by then, look for something part time. Or rather, start to look for something now, as it might not be easy to find something I like the look of in the current climate, and at my age :eek:

Made 2 batches of green tomato chutney this weekend

Went for a long walk, mostly up a really steep hill, with DD2 and all the dogs (hers and mine) yesterday. Needless to say I am a bit achey today, but that won't do me any harm! It was nice to spend the day with her, and it was somewhere we used to walk when she and the other kids were small, so it brought back lots of memories Picked some blackberries too, and managed to find a corner of the freezer for my share

Went for a walk with OH this morning, and we spent most of the afternoon clearing all the pots and garden furniture off the patio, as the scaffolding for the roof is arriving on Tuesday. It looks very bare but we will be able to have a good sweep up out there while everything is out of the way. I now have plants in pots all round the chickens' area, and all the empty pots and garden furniture in the garage. We still have the front garden to clear (more pots :eek:) and the loft will need clearing out as well, to avoid all the junk getting covered in dust once the old felt and battens (sp?) come off. Good chance to have a clear out up there - though I don't think there is too much in there. We have after all only been in the house for a year, and during that time have sold or given away a lot of the surplus to requirements stuff from the previous house.

I haven't done spreadsheets for August /September as I am not looking forward to seeing the situation in black and white :eek: Once the roof is paid for and the mortgage gone :j I shall reassess. Should all be sorted by the end of October (the roof hopefully before that :eek:)

Went halves with DD2 on a whole lamb for the freezers - needless to say most of our 'half' is in DD's freezer at the moment due to space issues :rotfl:She has our old, big one (freezer that is, not lamb ) that used to be in the garage. But anyway, yummy roast lamb shortly for supper for OH and I, with vegetables from the garden (French beans and courgettes)

edinburgher

Work ghastly - restructuring means that our team will be disbanded and the function will be spread across the organisation. It looks as though the other 'leaders' and I in this area will be doing this alongside another job, without any support, even though it is more than full time already even with support staff

I can very much relate to how horrible this is. I was recently asked to 'help' cover a post for a colleague who was taking 7 weeks off for childcare reasons. I was supposed to be assisted by another colleague, but they are a few months away from retirement and did next to nothing, leaving me to stress over a job that I didn't have the skills for (in addition to my normal role).

I wasn't given any choice, opting out wasn't an option.

There was no sort of reward or recognition for 'stepping up' - in fact, the opportunities for promotion have since been kicked out from under me thanks to (you guessed it) restructuring.

Best of luck with the job search. It's my experience to date that once a job goes sour, it stays that way.

numptyknownothing

I will only eat beans other than runners. French or fine beans but not the flat wide versions. I remember a Sunday when I was a child, being made to sit at the table. I had to top, tail, slice and blanch runner beans all day. I have never eaten one since other than 7 given to us last year by our next door neighbour and then only under duress as my DH would not let me throw them away. In fairness they were lovely but I still wince at the mention of them and the thought of a deep chest freezer and 1lb bags of beans chills me to the bone

Work is not a fun word anymore. We are all in fear of our jobs being disbanded or our workloads being doubled due to re-organisation. Even though we are bursting at the seams already.
As you are so close to your MFW status is there something you always wanted to try as a business for yourself? Would now be a chance to try something new? Its what I hope to do when I get set free. All we need is 1 little idea

But for now...... ahhhh lamb

Mortgage_Reduction_Novice

Defo start looking now... it could be the 'out' you need to get the ball rolling rather than wait idly till Christmas.