Cherry takes the reins

in_need_of_direction

I had an unsettled night last night. I put it down to needing to deal with stuff for the ex nightmare client at the weekend.  That’ll only leave two things outstanding regarding them.  Isn’t it ridiculous just how much we let work related stuff intrude into our real lives? Yes, my income dipped but, we are still covering our bills and it’s steadily increasing again.  You have skills and capabilities so can always income generate.  Maybe it’d help if you sat down and wrote out the risks of not returning and how these can be mitigated- I wish I could apply logic to my own circumstances!

also, remember that there are NI credits available to grandparents helping with childcare but I’m not sure of the threshold.

badmemory

Excellent thought there by INOD so some info.

There is no minimum requirement for the number of hours of care in a week as long as the credit is transferred for a full week. For details of who can apply and how, visit www.gov.uk/national-insurance-credits/eligibility or phone the National Insurance Helpline on 0845 302 1479.

As long as the parent who gets the child benefit is earning enough to pay NI then they can transfer that pension benefit to you.  Have you checked your state pension forecast, it may well be you are already there & so don't need this & if you both do then you can do a couple of years each.

Cherryfudge

Wow, I'd not even thought of that, @in_need_of_direction, I will have a look. Thanks for the extra info @badmemory, and saving my scrabbling through google! I check my state pension forecast a while again and all was well, but it won't hurt to look into it all further. Both parents earn quite well but I'll see if it makes a difference to our finances. We are quite happy to do it for free but I do feel it should be acknowledged as work worthy of pay, and shouldn't be expected as a 'right' from grandparents. (We weren't asked, we offered).

Cherryfudge

Another downpour this morning, just as I started to hang the washing out. There are two loads on the line now so I hope the increased likelihood of rain this afternoon comes to nothing.

It's nice to have the holiday laundry substantially out of the way. Laundering the ''going to wedding' dress will wait till next week, as will DH's orange tee shirt and jumper, as orange gets treated separately.

I've still got a sore throat which is turning into a cough and light-headedness, so I did a Covid test which turned out negative. I think that's the last of the freebie tests from work, but it would feel a bit cheeky to ask them for more. So all I know is that this is a bit of an odd infection. No head cold symptoms at all, which is good.

I've thrown out various milk products that had either been in the fridge or in the car... my lunch was porridge oats with yogurt, blueberries and ginger syrup, and that worked very well.

We are off to the afternoon car boot sale soon, mostly for something to do as there's not much wanted/needed. You never know what you might find though!

Cherryfudge

A fair amount has happened since this morning. The post came with a letter that said we could claim £100 for the power cut last Sunday. Of course we weren't here and had to ask the neighbours what happened. Apparently power was off from 1am till the middle of the afternoon, but they said they had left their freezer shut and not lost anything. There's no sign of anything having thawed in ours, either. The source of the outage seems to have been where it was the other month, so I'm hoping that doesn't bode ill for the future. The infrastructure is all quite old.

The car boot sale went well for me and badly for DH, who just missed out on a fantastic bargain. He literally went to check the contents and someone handed over money ahead of him. It was a large lot of film slides, which are apparently great for resale as well as possibly interesting in their own right. He's been really rattled by it, so I'm hoping a good night's sleep will help. He's also starting with whatever I've had, which in my case has improved a lot over the curse of the day.

I had no plans to buy anything, but ended up with lots. I'm now using the keyboard I bought for £1 and it's great not to have to insert some letters when they decide not to work, or delete doubles of the same letters which seem to arrive randomly when I'm just merrily typing along. I think there may be a problem with the circuitry of the Laptop That Refuses to Give In, as some of the commands aren't functioning consistently, either.

DH and I have both had supermarket shops today but we didn't bother with the usual fish and chips as we've eaten out far too often this week. I made chickpea curry instead and it went down well, as well as being cheap and healthy. The cupboards are now short of chickpeas and tomatoes, but there are six more portions to get through so I needn't replace them immediately. I've also finished a tube of tomato puree and a bottle of lime juice, but got things out of the freezer for a chicken chasseur tomorrow, for which I've bought red wine and mushrooms.

We have the first plums off the accidental plum tree. This is a self-sown apparition with very small plums that go from yellow through orange to deep red. DH tried the first one and says they are very good. I'm gad I didn't cut it down, which nearly happened as I though it was yet another spur of the greengage. We didn't have an actual plum tree before. We also have two courgettes forming, and the marrow plants survived because I brought them indoors while we were away.

Expenditure:
Entertainment £2 (car boot entries).
Clothing 50p
Gift 50p
Books £1
Electronics £1
Household £2.70
Hobbies £1
Housekeeping £6.71 + whatever DH spent.

Cherryfudge

Yesterday (Sunday) had a spend of £5 as I owed someone sponsorship money. I saw her before church to hand over the cash, and she asked me how I was. She's a counsellor by training, so I knew she was asking about stress etc. She ended up giving me the shortest ever informal counselling session ('It will be all right' and 'blocked trauma is being brought out by your current situation'), which I'm holding on to as it's very steadying. She also texted me this morning as back-up.

I helped out with the little kids, and helpers discussed redecorating the room we use. It was originally decorated for teens and the colours are totally wrong as well as generally needing a revamp. I've said I'll help paint. An observant person has found the room has two bricked up windows - not visible from indoors - which could be opened again to make it a lot brighter, so painting may be waiting on that, if they get the go-ahead for the work.

Lunch was another helping of the chickpea tikka (there are two days' worth left), then I spent about two and a half hours gardening. The grass got mowed and mowed again which has evened out some tuftiness, more edge space has been reclaimed, plus a spot of weeding. Brambles and nettles are trimmed in the back lane where they are getting long again, and I found some plums from the trees between the lane and the next estate. I gathered a few but I don't think they are eaters. I then harvested the blackcurrants, five of them. . I think that bush is too old, there's dead wood in there despite me taking a lot out last year. Another item for my Christmas list, perhaps? I then found nearly half a pound of gooseberries which is a record for us. The new bushes aren't fruiting yet so this was all off the ones I brought from my friend's house 29 years ago.

DH went to the cinema in the evening with A to see Oppenheimer, which helped distract him from the sore throat (mine is nearly better), and cost, I think, £14.50. The new cinema is expensive!

I've finished the main part of the shawl I started on the outward journey last week. There are a couple of mistakes far back, so I might try to patch those before doing the edging. The yarn has lasted for better than I expected.

I did my weigh-in this morning and I'm down half a pound in two weeks, which I'm putting down to gardening, and trying to cut out flour to see if it helps with some pains I noticed after eating. So far it seems like a great cure, but I've booked a GP appointment to check I'm on the right lines. Anyway, I'm rejoicing in a slow but clear weight loss which will have all sorts of health benefits as well as more clothes that fit easily!

Plans for today include hoovering and ironing, trying to make yogurt using dried milk that needs to be used up, and looking for jobs.

badmemory

Hopefully unblocking those two windows will not just give more light but may even save some electric if lights no longer need to be turned on.  Perhaps an argument to be used in favour of the unblocking if there is any resistance.  Isn't it amazing what an appeal to peoples pockets will do.

Cherryfudge

I think as long as it's structurally safe there isn't likely to be much resistance, @badmemory. If I've worked out rightly, the wall in question opens onto a narrow path by another building so it won't be great light, but better than purely artificial. You're right that it should help the electricity bill, and that's a good thing. The whole basement needs a bit of cheering up - it was painted in dark colours in the days when it was a youth club, and the toddlers probably think the colour scheme is oppressive.

Amazingly, I've done at least some of all the jobs I listed. It's been too wet to garden but I went to the shops and my shoes leaked... but I got a useful top-up shop, made a couple of pints of yogurt, hoovered downstairs and ironed much of the pile. The first of the blackberries are harvested: if the rain doesn't make them mouldy, it looks like a mast year.

Dinner was chicken chasseur and for once I made about the right amount, so no left overs lurking. I've now got lots of mushrooms, and not much fridge room so it might be mushroom soup time soon.

Expenditure:
Toiletries 95p
Housekeeping £14.68

Cherryfudge

Phew, I got through today! Not too bad actually, though I needed the support my friends gave me. the doctor has signed me off for another six weeks: I'm to contact her as that time approaches to let her know how thing are going. The Union chap was very informative, though we ran out of time so I'm going to email him with some questions I didn't manage to cover. I think I'm ruling out ill-health retirement for the time being as I think there will be jobs I can do, just not what I have been doing. He also outlined a few semi-retirement options as I could take or partially take my pension. I'm not keen to do that yet but we had a good discussion about the benefits of working fewer hours and enjoying life. I'm to contact pensions and find out just what I'm entitled to: I had a look for myself recently and I think I've got a good idea thought there is a small pension tucked away in an area where I used to live thirty years or more ago, which I need to track down. I'm not about to buy a yacht and cruise round the world but it will help to have facts and figures (fairly small figures!)

DH and I went for a coffee afterwards (£5.75) then took DGD home, where I had a nice time paying with her and nearly falling asleep watching Bluey.

This evening I've been to my friend's for pizza... and that's about it I think.

Expenditure:
Entertainment £5.75
Housekeeping £4.90 + whatever DH spent on his tea.

Floss

Good to read you have a plan & a few actions to work on, also that your GP feels you're not ready to work yet.

I went to my GP yesterday, who said she feels I need more time before returning to work, at least a further 2 months.  I have an OH call tomorrow to talk about my phased return which I don't think will be for the hour they're planning!