Cherry takes the reins

Cherryfudge

weenancyinAmerica said:

@Cherryfudge - so sorry to hear about the goldfish. I have read the entire diary and was following the mentions of the goldfish with great interest. Didn't know about feeding goldfish squashed peas and pears. Hugs for you. 

Thank you for following, @weenancyinAmerica! How lovely of you to read the lot.  

Some people cut cucumber into wedges for their fish, too, but this one didn't like it. The plant content is good in their diet, and I can't help thinking they have fun with it: I've seen them playing 'football' with treats! The trouble is it mucks up the water, but a bonus is it's very entertaining!  

Cherryfudge

I'm missing that fishie every time I go into the room with the tank. I hadn't realised how often I looked at him. I've got most of the water out of the tank now, so it looks dull, but it will take two of us to lift it down.

DH managed to get a Doctor's appointment in the morning as the cough is really bothering him. They've prescribed an inhaler, but it wasn't in stock at the chemist. They've also confirmed it's not an infection, so it appears it's a direct side effect of the medication. He's says he's not going for the new version that's been suggested as he's had such a hard tome with the side effects of related drugs.

I had a dental checkup, which was reassuringly uneventful, made a huge salad for lunch then had my phone call from Talking Therapies. I asked her to explain again who she is, and it turns out she is one of a team who support the people referred for therapy and whose issues involve work. She was therefore the perfect person to talk to about the interview tomorrow, so I have some notes to help me through.

Dinner was salmon ad asparagus, which was delicious, just a bit sad as there was no goldfish to save a few peas for! I need to get the small tank set up... I'm already on the waiting list for ex-commercial chickens and have started to keep an eye open at the pet shop for adoptable guinea pigs.

This evening was my Wednesday study group from church. We all sat out in the warm evening with a fire pit burning nearby, and very nice it was! I love these long evenings.

I'm very relieved tomorrow's interview will be in a quiet part of the building.

Right, time for bed.

Spending:
Medical £55

Floss

Good luck for today, hope it isn't too difficult for you.

in_need_of_direction

Just stay calm and bring a list to work through. Take notes about the response to each item.

Sun_Addict

Good luck with the interview 🤞

Sorry to hear about your fish. 

Cherryfudge

Floss said:

Good luck for today, hope it isn't too difficult for you.

in_need_of_direction said:

Just stay calm and bring a list to work through. Take notes about the response to each item.

Sun_Addict said:

Good luck with the interview 🤞

Sorry to hear about your fish. 

Thank you so much everyone! I'm about to start my list... Interview isn't till three so the list so far goes like this:

Start interview list
wash hair
try on and lay out interview clothes
Work through the following in preparation: job description and person spec, reread my application because I know I had some strong points in there that I may not think of without the help of my past self, mug up on safeguarding, etc., go through email from Talking Therapies lady with welfare links, if I still have concentration, go through my therapy notes to see if there's anything else I want to add to my list.

Cherryfudge

Well, it was a very telling interview: half way through I knew I had reservations. It's more a hybrid job than it appeared from the advert and job description, with a lot of time spent in the main building. I've told them it's not for me, and said I'd like to go on the redeployment register. My manager was very nice and said I could do relief shifts so that I can choose who I work with, which might yet be an option.

So for the moment I still have my existing job, but it's shown me how upset I get at the very thought of being back in the main building with the potential of having to meet people. It feels like the property of the new team now, although there are still quite a few people I've worked with for a long time.

I've told my church group about it and got lots of supportive messages, which tells me they can read the situation beyond what I think I've told them. 

In a way I can stall a bit because I'm still on full pay and I want to discuss recent developments with the doctor, but I've also had a quick look at local jobs. I might be able to find something else even if it's not a dream job, and it's certainly worth seeing what's out there. I've still to email about the literacy tutor work as well: it's very like what I've done already, and even if it wouldn't pay my way, it would widen my experience.

This evening we went to J and L's for a belated Father's Day dinner and admired their new lawn which L put in recently. I think it's the lushest lawn in England as they've been taking great care of the new grass. No hosepipe bans here, thankfully.

And I've not spent anything today.

Floss

Good to read that the meeting clarified a few things for you - give yourself time to process & recover from it.

Cherryfudge

Thanks @Floss, that's the right advice for me. I'm a bit weary today but at least nowadays I know that emotions are legitimately as exhausting as exercise.

I did my usual Friday stint with hoovering and plant watering at the church and my colleague took some time out to talk to me about letting go and moving on. He had to do it himself, I'm going to have to find a way to do it. Hopefully the trauma counselling will help there.

This afternoon I've emailed about a job I saw which is just relief hours but sunds interesting, then I went for a rest! I don't think I quite went to sleep.

Tea was a meal from one of the recipes I got as a promotion: Sicilian chicken. I made far too much! It was supposed to feed two and I tend towards larger portions, but I think this would have fed three or four! The chicken had a lemon herby marinade which was nice, then there was mashed potato with smoky spiced onions - not the best success as it was a bit dry, but that was because DH doesn't like it creamy. The 'veg' element was charred lettuce, which was quite good but too much in the quantities they suggested. Over the top of everything went a spiced oil drizzle which worked well.

I bought the chicken from Mr S as I've read too much publicity about the way the chickens are treated for Mr L. It's probably more expensive this way but what I read was enough to put me off (hold me to that!). The meal was also more expensive as it used the oven and two hobs, but that could probably have been done in a dry fryer if we had one.

There are another three meals to try from the kit they sent.

My sister has texted to say she's back in the country and a £5 test payment we sent to her bank account has gone through. So I've no excuse but to sort out the rest of Mum's estate! It will be good when that's done but also means the onus is now on me to check I've claimed for all the rail journeys I made. Eek!

Not tonight.

Some spending:
e-book £2.99
Housekeeping £12.51

Cherryfudge

There is a list of admin type jobs threatening to overwhelm me, but two have got done today.

I've sent a payment to my sister from Mum's estate to cover her plane tickets (told her it will buy lots of meringues). Goodness knows what I'm still owed: I wish I'd been able to cope with paying myself every time I made a journey, but at least I didn't throw away any tickets, and there's a spreadsheet with a lot of it on. That's not a job for tonight.

I've also cancelled a subscription to one of these meal in a box deals. We had one of the meals - they send instructions and spices, and the customer buys the actual food. It was quite nice and I look forward to the other things in the box, but for me it's not worth paying the full cost.

Still to do: vote in the Union ballot, contact Groupon about a faulty purchase, feedback to the power company after last week's power cut, water the garden...