22 Foxhole East

in_need_of_direction

DS needs to notify those who organise placements that a reference was refused.  Could he sign up with an agency for some casual hours?

f0xh0les

Not even a £5 gift card, I'm afraid. 

Sadly KK I have to wrangle kids to school and college, but DS3 will be 18 by then (woohoo!) and DS4 will be 16, so I can see the finish line ...... in the distance .... still far away ..... but getting closer......  daily... (I tell myself, anyway)

beanielou

Shocking for DS. 

My DS would love that retreat. Part of his MRes was Philosophy. 

f0xh0les

Oh dear, as well as waiting for the phone call from the Knee-Man to discuss surgery (and not be fobbed off again), poor old Dr F-H thinks he has slipped a disc. He is already on anti-biotics for a stress related but otherwise unrelated condition.  So he can't sit on the sofa for long, he can't get up from the sofa on the first attempt, he can't bend down to get a bin bag out from the cupboard-under-the-sink (all one word) and he can't change direction without doing a 3 point turn.  He is muttering about 'old age',  and that he is 'falling apart'  Oh the drama of it all!!

The 70 and 80 year olds I  volunteer with would be outraged.  Best not to tell them.  Discretion being the better whatnot of thingy. 

Still waiting to hear about changes at the top end of the company.  I will see what gossip is going around at job 2.  

badmemory

Sofas & bad backs do not mix.  I spend more time in an office chair with regular get up & move around time.  My sister's doc recommended every 30 mins & mine every hour.

f0xh0les

Back from my week in Historic Coventry where the squirrels are friendly and the people are lovely to work with. 

Boss approved our hours at some point this afternoon so I have just wasted 90 minutes taking photos of receipts, cropping them, downloading them, and uploading each and every one on a different claim line on the expenses platform which is supposed to make life 'easier' for everyone, and takes 6 times as long as sending them all together on an email. Anyway, it is done, less than 24 hours after I stopped working = I should be paid next Friday instead of end of December, it is worth all the faffing about for that.  

I drove 300 miles last week, this week I will be lucky if I do 15. The mileage alone is an extra day's pay.

Accepted a week of work this morning, but it is not until July next year, phone has been pinging all day with team members confirming they are on the job too.  No news from Invisible Work Friend. Least said soonest mended.

Got confirmation of a 2 day job in a fortnight, so I know where I am sleeping, and hotel/venue/train station is all within 300m of each other. Hooray! No driving on that job. 

Weeded out a million emails, actually, less than usual. I have taken to unsubscribing from around 10 emails a day for the last couple of weeks, it is bonkers at the minute because of C-Word and B-F-Word, but it really is making a difference to the volume.  It is much more manageable but is a bit of a shock after getting so many for so long. 

Took DH out this morning and abandoned him at an event in the Guildhall he wanted to go to, I wandered round the Cathedral - I have lived here 9 odd years, and never been inside. Saw Dicky 3's coffin, and admired all the stained glass windows, there was a kids play session on, so ballpit balls kept being thrown all over the place and they had set up a little 'tent village' of cardboard boxes and fabric throws for them to hide/play in.  Now that is a good community use for a Cathedral! Took myself off to a cafe, had a raspberry croissant and a coffee, and then DH came out of his thing, we wandered into the town, and had lunch and came home . 

Supper will be frozen beige items in the air fryer because I did not go shopping as I should have done, but I decompressed so I don't get PTSD from the event, and spend weeks afterward having stress dreams.  I swear it is on a par with being a wedding planner!  Anyway, I helped make over two thousand of people happy, so what if i wake in a cold sweat every night for 10 days dreaming all the 'what-could-have's'.  

f0xh0les

Fully decompressed now I think. Only had one vaguely stressy dream last night. 

Spent not a penny today. Hooray! 

Got up and put a laundry load in the dryer, and another one in the washer,  set them off and went off volunteering. Picked my old friend up outside his house, drove him in, and dropped him back home afterward. Good deed of the day done. 

Played with figures on my charts this afternoon - achieved nothing but drying the laundry and putting another load on and eating lunch.  The recycling and bins went out. 

Proper food cooked for supper, some beige schnitzel thing with corn, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower leaves, roast butternut squash, sweet potatoes, mash and gravy. Winter food. 

 It is cold here - no, that is not right, I am cold. Hot water bottles deployed, and I am shoving multivitamins down my neck like it is going out of fashion.  Any and all post event viral crashes will be averted. I am bulletproof. 

f0xh0les

Happy December!  I have literally done nothing. It is an effort to get my butt off the sofa at the minute. I am a tad dejected. Very upset with the younger men folk and their utter laziness.  They object to me pointing it out.  Very disappointing.  Not conducive to family harmony. 

So I put up the advent calendars yesterday - when you have 6 it takes up the length of the whole hall wall- on a red and white striped cord.  The greenery garlands have been strung with solar lights, and decorate the banisters on all three floors, all the way up.  If the bl00dy things have stopped working I am going to be upset. I am really looking forward to dusk tonight. 

DH is now being referred to the hospital.  Someone needs to figure out what is going on with the poor thing's mouth. The swabs and blood tests have all come back negative, no sign of an infection, so those weeks of anti-fungals and anti-biotics were all unnecessary. A mouth specialist appointment is on the cards now. He is obviously terrified - DH, not the specialist - but there is no point second guessing.  The appointment is in a fortnight.  As a surprise result of all the blood tests, he is now on statins!  He was borderline on his cholesterol, so they thought they would try him on statins and see if it brings it down at all.   

My health complaints begin and end with chilblains. Blasted wretched things.  I am keeping it that way, safety in dullness, avoid the drama.   I did go to the dentist early this morning for a festive filling. Told you it was dull.  The face freeze has just worn off this second.  I might be able to try a hot drink now - I was out of there by 10.30 and the numb has lasted until nearly 2.30.  

All expenses and wages for Coventry were paid at the weekend, the meters have been read and the numbers submitted, all bills except the water bill have gone out, the credit card has been cleared, and I have an idea of my budget. 

I made a loaf of bread yesterday because the hungry ghosts ate it all and I needed it for DS4s lunchbox. Made 12 buns to use up 3 small sad bananas, and then made 12 cinnamon apple muffins with two sad apples. DS3 and DS4 are delighted with my productivity.  Not so delighted with baked potatoes for supper last night. Snobs. 

May the PB fairy bless you all with his/her/their bounty at midnight (I will be staying up to check, cos I am sad like that).  

KajiKita

You do make me smile with your ‘I have done nothing’ comment and then an extensive list of decorating, DH psychological support, cooking etc etc. we appreciate you, even if your house trolls don’t 😉🤷‍♀️❤️

Sending encouraging, self care stimulating, hugs x

KK

KajiKita

Completely random thought …. 🤔

How would it be, if you took yourself off somewhere for a break. Literally just you, to do what you want for a change. It would be utter carnage when you got back, but the break might do you good and might create a little appreciation in the household ….?

KK