Cherry takes the reins

Cherryfudge

Yesterday evening I made a couple of trays of muffins, donated some of the rhubarb to J and L and froze what was left.

Today has been grand daughter day: the club at church was closed with it being half term so DH took her to the library where they had a new selection of sensory toys and she played happily for a long time. We were going to go for coffee afterwards but by the time I'd put the laundry out, it was more like lunchtime. We succumbed to pastries with our lunches in spite of having muffins ready, and I also bought more coffees as I'd forgotten to bring the ones I like.

DGD and I had a lovely day, though it was a bit difficult not falling asleep after lunch when DH had some appointments. When her parents finished work we presented her with a play tent which was part of her birthday present. Her birthday is very near Christmas so we decided to spread gifts over the year. We had some photos later and she seems to be having fun. A few weeks ago I don't think she would have wanted to go in it.

Dh wanted salmon for dinner, and I haven't found it at a bargain price lately so we had to pay £3.99 for a couple of fillets from L1dl. Nice though. I saw Mr S had discounted chicken liver to about 50p instead of £1.50 so I got two packets. Wish I had freezer space for more! We have smoked bacon in the freezer, jacket potatoes in the fridge, onions, carrots and tinned tomatoes in store as well as sage in the garden, so liver and bacon casserole it will be tomorrow. If you eat meat and haven't this, it, it's highly recommended.

No sign of a response to my job application, so I might have a mosey round some other job adverts. Apart from the tiredness, I feel I could start work again, just not in the actual job I have. Talking about it to J and L yesterday brought home again just how badly managed it's been historically, and how unfair I feel it is that I've never had official acknowledgement for the responsibilities I had to take on. Not a good situation to go back to and I sense it's more stressed than when I went off.

Floss

Cherry, your comment about recognition struck a chord with me - last year I covered a gap in our team for 3.5 months when a colleague retired mid-March. I finally received my extra monies (a temporary uplift to mid-band above mine) in October, but only after a month off with stress and 2 direct requests to our director. It is really pants when extra work is not acknowledged & appreciated x

Cherryfudge

Floss said:

Cherry, your comment about recognition struck a chord with me - last year I covered a gap in our team for 3.5 months when a colleague retired mid-March. I finally received my extra monies (a temporary uplift to mid-band above mine) in October, but only after a month off with stress and 2 direct requests to our director. It is really pants when extra work is not acknowledged & appreciated x

I'm sorry to hear you had all that to go through, Floss. I'm glad you got paid eventually, though it should have been from the start.

I hope things are better now?

Cherryfudge

I realised I'd forgotten today's expenditure:

Household 50p (spotted a nice mug in a charity shop)
Housekeeping £14.82

I see my employer has two posts advertised, and I'm curious to know whether they've just restarted recruitment (they paused it to allow staff to settle) or whether people have left. Nothing wildly exciting calling my name, but maybe I'm just too picky/unsure of myself/ feeling my age.

Floss

Cherryfudge said:

Floss said:

Cherry, your comment about recognition struck a chord with me - last year I covered a gap in our team for 3.5 months when a colleague retired mid-March. I finally received my extra monies (a temporary uplift to mid-band above mine) in October, but only after a month off with stress and 2 direct requests to our director. It is really pants when extra work is not acknowledged & appreciated x

I'm sorry to hear you had all that to go through, Floss. I'm glad you got paid eventually, though it should have been from the start.

I hope things are better now?

Yes, but now I'm off following breast cancer surgery & waiting to start treatment 🙄 Still, at least it's not me picking up the extra work load this time!

Cherryfudge

Wow @Floss, you've had a lot to cope with! So sorry to hear you are going through this, I hope your treatment goes smoothly.

You are right - at least it's not you picking up the pieces for work, so don't let work's worries be your worries. This is your time to look after yourself.

Cherryfudge

An odd sort of day: I met a friend for coffee and we had a lovely time. We go back a long way and always have a good laugh. She's an SEN specialist teacher so she knows a lot about autism, which means she knew what I was talking about when I explained what's been going on recently, but we also had a good catch up in general. One of her children works in the same field as I do and has had similar work issues but more so. Worrying when it's promising people at the start of their career who are leaving jobs because of the pressures.

This afternoon I had the promised call from Talking Therapies, which turned out to be about work not counselling. She was quite helpful and has sent me a link to Autism Plus, which I think I need to look at on the computer as I was a bit lost on the phone screen. By the end of the call (yet another nearly an hour phone call) I had a headache so I sat down with a book, a coffee and some painkillers, which helped! Then I put dinner in the Instant Pot and abandoned the idea of going to the market. However, I've felt headachy/stomach-achy since and after dinner both DH and I felt cold and unwell. I got a hot water bottle and went to bed for a couple of hours, while he toughed it out. I think I dozed a bit but eventually got warm and the aches are mostly gone. Very odd.

About twenty to eleven this evening I was going upstairs and smelled smoke. A bit of investigation showed a neighbour has a bonfire going. It's not rained for a month, the wildfire season has just started and there was a lot of smoke and rising sparks. I went round and told him I was worried. He apologised and said he'd not lit it in the daytime as people had washing out. To give him his due he was with the fire and I can't see the glow from it anymore, but upstairs stinks of smoke now and we've had to shut all the windows as well as worrying what happens if a spark settles on dry vegetation.

Pay is in: I started going through my bank statement and realised I've been poor at keeping my spending diary up to date so I need to try harder. The savings SO goes out tomorrow, which has made quite a difference to the last week or so of recent months. Without the extra shifts I used to pick up, I'm now putting spending on the the CC when funds get a bit low, to avoid going overdrawn. Of course this means I now have it to pay off, thus perpetuating the problem. I could simply put less in savings of course but the scheme only runs till October and the interest is good so I'm reluctant to.

I was going to go into work tomorrow for a Keep in Touch meeting but I've emailed to say I'm exhausted so could we leave it for this week? How can I be exhausted when I'm not working? I can't tell what's going on: I had routine bloods recently and they came back fine.

Oh, and thanks to a mention by @Sun_Addict, I've signed up for Triyit, hoping to be sent interesting sample products. I always try new products when on holiday, so it's definitely something I'm up for.

Spending:
Entertainment £5.50

Floss

Cherry, just day-to-day life is exhausting when you're not well, whether physical or mental. I had a 45m call with a clinician about my income protection claim that resulted in a headache yesterday, so no wonder you're worn out after the Talking Therapies call x

Cherryfudge

Thanks @Floss, that does help put it in perspective. For some reason I couldn't get to the phone screen that would enable me to put the phone on speaker, and holding it to my ear instead wasn't a good idea (hearing is over sensitive). I hope your income protection claim comes through as it should.

Today is a new day, and one in which I think I'll be reaching for the hay fever tablets despite it being cool and grey. I had an email from my manager to say we'll catch up next week as she's exhausted too! I do feel better than last night, though. Dh has gone to work by car in case he has another flare up: it's odd that now he's on two medications running side by side and one is something he's been on for years, he should have this happening. He's often told me it's less stable around the time the seasons change, and I suppose mid summer is on the way.

There are too many things I should be doing and I've no idea where to begin, so I'll just attack something and update later.

Floss

Also, I found it helpful to think of mental ill health as being a broken brain - you would rest for a broken leg to heal, so do the same for your brain x