Cherry takes the reins

Cherryfudge

It's rained all day and most of it has been windy too, but we've not had the rough weather and floods that so many have had.

The day started with taking another mouse to the fields. Actually it could have been the one from the other day as DH was in a hurry and didn't take it far. The web says to take them two miles as they have a homing instinct (there must be someone somewhere whose job is to tag mice) but that wasn't going to happen, so I compromised with about a mile and dropped it off in long grass by a hedge and some farmland. It gave me a Look as it fled, so I expect to be picketed for unfairness to mice.

The trap is cleaned and set again... in case.

There was a six minute power cut mid morning, but that's as bad as it got here.

It's been mild but I've stayed in the dry and spent quite a while sorting out access to various accounts. I've started moving some money into a better account - that will be in bits as it's a different bank but I may have left the permission on the account to move more over. I need to check that and if it's feasible, move more, sooner to take advantage of the better interest rate.

I was thinking of giving myself an allowance from what I've inherited, but it's just occurred to me that the Christmas Saver account matures in a few days so I won't be paying into that next month and will thus have a bit more than I was expecting. I know I could be back on full pay for a few weeks if i go through redeployment, but it's such a blight on my life that at present I'm headed for resigning. Four weeks on half pay isn't brilliant but until I get another job money is going to have to be managed carefully anyway. Ten weeks on full pay would be useful but that would come to an end soon enough.

I did some baking later in the afternoon as I'd promised some cakes for a charity event DH was involved with. Tea was more of the chickpea tikka - I added sultanas to mine which worked really well - then we went off to the event, which was well attended despite the rain. It was also rather over-catered so we brought home half of what we'd taken. DH gave a donation, I don't know what it came to. I didn't stay to the bitter end as I'm not good at the bit with cups and saucers and chatting but the talk was much more interesting than I'd expected. I didn't know slide shows still existed (albeit with modern technology) but it was a bit of a tour of historic churches, locally and up into the Dales. The speaker knew his stuff and was easy to listen to. If he does another talk next year, I'd go.

Cherryfudge

I woke up earlier than usual, possibly because I didn't use much energy yesterday. With no more car boot sales till spring, I spent a bit of time getting advice from the children's work team about leading the session tomorrow, so I feel reasonably okay about it. I still have salt dough to make but apparently there's play dough somewhere if I feel the need to use it. Someone helpfully suggested putting name stickers on the children as I don't know them all yet! It's the little things that help. We got some housework done and DH has started to take back the plaster on another damp bit of wall. Not the same problem as in the hall which had been 'plastered' with concrete. This is a bay window, with single thickness brick and damp just seeps through so he's going to dry line it.

J texted to invite us to Sunday dinner. H, A and DGD are going too. I've offered to bring a pudding, hence spending today. I've also remembered a couple of boxes of matches so we're prepared if there are any power cuts, and I've started to get bits towards DS2 and his partner's housewarming present.

The weather was so much nicer that I spent some time tidying the garden. I'd much rather be doing that than be indoors, though persuading myself outside can take a while.

This afternoon we took care of DGD for a couple of hours as Dad was at the football and Mum was going to a party. I suspect this new baby won't keep us waiting  - nothing to do with her going to the party, more that I think the bump is really low so I'm wondering if the head's engaging. By tomorrow the baby will be full term, so no worries about being ready.

And work-wise - DH and I had a further chat and agreed I'm going to resign rather than go through the redeployment process, which seems to be undoing a lot of the progress I'd made. I supported him when he resigned a few years ago, and he's happier and healthier in his new job. Oddly, I feel as though I will have more freedom in looking for jobs as I won't feel obliged to find something with the same employer. It doesn't make 'money sense', but it makes mental health sense. If I don't get a job before the 'cushion' in the current account (DH got a lump of back pay a few months ago) runs out, one or both of us can start our pensions, though it would be nice not to ned to do that.

Expenditure:
Gifts £8.49
Stationery £1.49
Housekeeping £23.31

MS
DH doing DIY plastering! I know I can't claim that for myself but he'll be saving us a bob or two.

Not MS
Got the shopping at Sains. Some of it would, I think, have been cheaper elsewhere.
Very not MS: deciding to leave work without the ten weeks on full pay that redeployment would have given me.  However, I still get part of it, plus a sense of freedom and goodness knows what else!

Sun_Addict

Glad a decision has been made on the work front. Hopefully you can move on and find a new job. How exciting another grandchild on the way any time soon 🙂

WelshmansDaughter

It's important to make decisions with your well-being in mind 😀 I find that when I do, it can act as an energy boost and I make progress

Floss

I think you're making the right decision for you Cherry, and it may be worth considering whether to ask if you can be made redundant instead of resigning,  or if not whether you can be paid your notice as full pay instead of taking redeployment pay for 10 weeks. It may well be cost-effective for your employers.

Cherryfudge

Thanks @Sun_Addict, @WelshmansDaughter and @Floss, I feel it's right for me too, despite my sensible head telling me to go ahead with the better financial option.

I'm not sure redundancy could be considered as they are clearly still recruiting for equivalent posts. I think I could be asked to be paid in lieu as they need to fill the post, but that reduces my chances of continuity of service, which in my situation would have some advantages. I think my leave will be paid in lieu, which is actually equivalent to slightly over four weeks' pay, so that will come in useful. Whether leave accrued after August, when I went on to half pay, will be reduced to half, I don't know, I've never seen mention of that.

The only reason I'm entitled to ten weeks on redeployment is my length of service, and I think redundancy based on ten years would be likely to cost them quite a bit.

Medically, I'm cleared to work on certain conditions, to do with not engaging with the current job, so I want to be free to look forward and get stuck into something else, or some things. I'll admit the voluntary things I could be doing are appealing. No pay (oh dear) but using and building my skills in areas I believe in, which would be so good. A couple of semi-offers stick in my mind as particularly nice.

Floss

Cherryfudge said:

... Whether leave accrued after August, when I went on to half pay, will be reduced to half, I don't know, I've never seen mention of that.

The only reason I'm entitled to ten weeks on redeployment is my length of service, and I think redundancy based on ten years would be likely to cost them quite a bit.

Check with your Union rep re: leave accrued as you're still employed so should still be accruing. 

Redundancy for 10 weeks would be 15 weeks pay over age 41.

Cherryfudge

Anther fairly full day. I managed to get to church about twenty minutes early, to give myself time to set up for the children as I was leading the littlest ones' group. Note to self: allow half an hour next time! Also see if I can be an extra pair of hands the week before, to keep my hand in. The team were great though - two of the leaders called in to see how I was doing and if I needed any help, and the two people who were helping this week were fab, as was a little girl of about 10 whose little sister howled every time big sister tried to sneak out! She stayed and took care of the little one, helped tidy up when she saw the adults doing so, and said she'd had fun.

For some reason the service was longer than usual so it's as well the children had plenty of toys and a second round of juice and biscuits to keep them going. I can't say I did the best job but I do have ideas how to improve next time it's down to me.

After the service we whizzed back home to pick up the pudding to take to J and L's, and had a lovely afternoon with them, A, H and N (AKA DGD). They cooked us Sunday lunch (our contribution was spiced bread pudding, I'm a traditionalist) with the BBC version of nut roast as well as chicken. That's such a tasty recipe I might make it for my own use.

Incidentally, it seems to be a time of change round here: H has a new job to start when she returns from maternity leave (which starts later this week, so not immediately). I'm leaving mine and hoping to start the relief post fairly soon, and now J has an interview for something else.

There were some lovely autumnal trees around their area. We don't seem to have had much colour here unless you count green. I think the rain has stopped them changing.

I'm so tired... better get some sleep!

WelshmansDaughter

The tree is my back garden has finally started to turn. Poor thing nearly had the leaves blown off  it altogether 

Cherryfudge

The resignation has been sent! Then I logged in to another email account and an email had just come in, offering me an interview. It had literally arrived three minutes before I sent mine.

I had an email back from my manager saying she was sorry to hear this, and asking the union rep to make sure I understood my rights before she accepted the resignation. I checked my phone and there was a voicemail from him so I gave myself time to get my head straight (thinking 'What does it take to leave this place?!) and rang back - and got his out of office. I don't know if this means I get another day of employment out of them. Perhaps not.

I decided to get ahead with printing out forms and gathering paperwork for the interview, then went and did some gardening while DH was helping at the shop. I was going to see if I could overwinter tomato plants, but stopped part way through as we hadn't really liked the tomatoes from the most vigorous plant, so all the advantage would be early, not so nice tomatoes. I've taken the fuchsias from the hanging basket and put them in a trough in a very shaded corner. They've survived several winters so far so I may get them through till spring.

The weather has been okay, but the laundry hasn't dried so the tumble dryer was on twice for the bedding. Dinner was tuna pasta, and while getting the pasta out I found out that not only had we nearly run out of pasta, but a full bag of carrots and a full bag of cherry tomatoes had fallen out of sight and were going off. What a waste. While I was clearing up mushy tomato juice, I realised there were vitamins out of date so they've gone, too.

This evening was a briefing for the children's half term club. I've said I can help on a couple of days so I went along, then popped into the supermarket on the way home. There was  quite a lot of fresh fish marked down so I've got several meals' worth and frozen most of it. I could have had loads but there's not enough space to store it.

Expenditure:
Housekeeping £17.