Cherry takes the reins

VelvetFreak

Aw Cherry I'm sorry. Glad he's no longer suffering and glad you will still have your get-together. Love to you all

in_need_of_direction

My thoughts are with you all

Honeysucklelou2

So sorry to hear of your loss. Thoughts and prayers are with you.

evebeme

So sorry Cherry, but at last he's at peace.

maggiem

Very sorry to hear of DFIL's passing, thinking of you and the family xx

Cherryfudge

Thank you everyone. We don't have dates for his service yet so I expect there will be further updates as things get put in place. It was good to have family time last night. J and L made a really delicious lasagne and cheesecake, so after we'd talked about Grandpa, we had our meal then did some more research into a family holiday (glad that's back on the books) and played Taboo.

I had a quiet shift at work last night but payslips have come online and my January pay is suitably inflated by all the extra hours I did. However, so are pension, tax and NI contributions - I can't work out why these always seem disproportionately large! I know the tax and NI are actually paying for lots of stuff that I take for granted, and I can see that pension contributions should eventually benefit us directly.

I found a free short course from the OU on balancing household accounts. The first part of it is about debt so I I'm hoping I can skim that, but later on there are sections on investment and pensions which I'm hoping will clear things up in my head.

Talking of courses, my one on nutrition has now timed out: I completed 3 out of 4 weeks so if it comes up again I hope to finish it. The one on food and the environment still has a couple of weeks to run so I had better push on with it before I go to work this afternoon. Am also hoping to get some housework done, and look into contacting the building society to see if there's anything I need to know or do before making the final mortgage payment. (Need that jumping emoji!)

I could really do with catching up on sleep as well. I slept okay last night but woke to the office phone ringing and assumed in my befuddled state that it was the nursing home. The waking night staff answered it so I didn't need to do anything, but it meant half an hour less sleep than planned and I'm still catching up from Thursday and Saturday. I note that I have a very bitty work week as I've picked up some extras again. Work should be quiet tonight so I'll be home by 10. It's also my week of earlies which aren't my strong point but that means I can be home most evenings.

Oh, and it's snowed. It looks pretty but is horribly slushy and is forecast to turn to rain. The poor daffodils in the garden at work were all bowed down this morning but they'll spring back up. It's been a very wet winter, hasn't it? And grey. I'm loving the early flowers and the daffs will last longer while it stays cold, but some warmth and sunshine would be lovely!

VelvetFreak

I'd offer to send you warmth and sunshine but all I have is rain and humidity.
I'm glad you all had a nice evening together  

Cherryfudge

I had wonderful warmth and sunshine when I visited Australia about 18 months ago, thanks Velvet! Not full-on Aussie heat but very comfortable. I hope your weather improves soon, you've had horrible conditions for so long.

Cherryfudge

I am feeling very smug as I've rung the mortgage company and requested a statement so I can make a final payment when my pay comes through. In the meantime I've been able to add £237 to my overpayments (making £325.51 for February), and now have a mortgage of just under £70.
I have a few other financial things to sort over the next few days: a CC repayment for a bill that's due through about now, and the car trip over to Mum's house needs costing and reclaiming.
It's such a time of change... loss of DFiL, DH changing jobs, concerns over DH's health, getting towards selling my parents' house, DS1 still fairly recently employed after many years of studenthood, me working odd hours to increase income (and because work is desperate!). I'm reminded of the value of ordinary things - being thankful for the ironing and going to buy bread!

Sun_Addict

So sorry to read the sad news about DFiL, he fought a good battle.  It's funny how the little everyday things seem so important in such unsettling times. Hopefully things will settle down for you soon and you can relax and enjoy the rest of the year.

Brilliant news about the mortgage, well done.