Cherry takes the reins

Cherryfudge

A lot seems to have been fitted in today: first thing  was  call from the bank to follow up n an email received late last night after I'd tried to send ore money into the savings account. They thought it could be fraud so they asked me loads of questions in case someone was trying to scam me out of it. In the end they released the money to go through (from me to me).

Next was a load of laundry, (the house is still festooned with nearly-dry items so there are two small dehumidifiers working hard).

I checked emails and have received an acceptance of my resignation, wrote a reply appealing the leave I couldn't take last year and have officially 'lost', also sent off the one I'd composed yesterday to go to colleagues, then DH and DGD came here to wait for her dad to collect us all and avoid the rain.

DGD seems to be outgrowing her daytime sleep but DH dozed on the sofa after lunch and I, sitting watching her programmes with her in the hope she'd drop off, nearly did too. In the end we took her to the garden centre and she slept in the pram.

One of the friends I was going to meet with this evening had to work so we did a re-arrange and the other lady came to me (pre-emptive raid on Lidl for salad while DH got us pizza). We had a good evening eating, and watching 'The Chosen' (which was good but I did struggle to hear some of the dialogue over the music), and DH discovered that the washing machine wall switch has jammed. It was fine this morning but is now unusable so I'm glad I'm up to date on laundry.

I've a headache, which I fear is from trying to carry DGD. To think I could carry her auntie till she was nine! I need to do some strengthening exercises, quick before it gets any worse!

Expenditure:
Housekeeping £13, plus things DH bought (but this will provide lunches for a few days too).

Cherryfudge

Nothing spent today: I spent quite some time faffing about in the kitchen, turning yogurt into a sort of porridge with dates in, putting dried fruit to soak for Christmas cake and decanting dry goods into their proper containers, thus saving larder space. Some housework also got done.

Emails... I followed up the missing occupational health report and it turns out it was sent via some particular system and has been available for a while. This isn't something I have access to so I've just emailed the future manager to tell her. Hopefully she will see that soon and be able to finish processing my data.

Dinner was salmon (bought on discount) with home made potato wedges (we are getting better at these) and salad. DH said the salad went well with the rest, which was a surprise as he's not a 'salad person'.

This evening DH and I had separate things at church but mine had to relocate and I offered to host. We don't normally have enough space for this group but today some were away. I was glad we were still mostly tidy after my friend coming round yesterday! The study leader brought lots of posh biscuits and I didn't manage to persuade the others to take them all home, so they are stuffed in a tin.

We've had a few late flies buzzing round - I got them all out the other day but this evening they were back with a vengeance. A nuisance at any time but this evening they seemed to want to buzz round us! I suppose they come for warmth, food and light, like the mice did (no more mice recently), and are rather end of season and slow, as well as loud.

Last thing, I had a text from a former colleague who's also one of my referees, to say he's been asked for a reference for me! So things are moving. I heard on the grapevine that there may be someone more qualified than I am looking at the same post, but that's not certain, and at least I've got as far as interview.

Sun_Addict

Good news about the interview. Even if the other person applies they might not come across as well if they get an interview. Fingers crossed for you. 

Mice wouldn’t stand a chance in my house with 2 cats and a Jack Russell 😆

Cherryfudge

Sun_Addict said:

Good news about the interview. Even if the other person applies they might not come across as well if they get an interview. Fingers crossed for you. 

Mice wouldn’t stand a chance in my house with 2 cats and a Jack Russell 😆

I know I interview quite well - an unfair advantage, I suppose, as people can be be very bright and excellent at their jobs but hate interviews for whatever reason. It's a separate skill, isn't it?

2 cats and a Jack Russell is also an unfair advantage! I know mice are more likely to come indoors this time of year: it's happened before but that time it just disappeared and never went near the trap. I'm hoping this year's like the places they were dropped off and have set up home under a hedge and can't see why they ever thought a house was a good idea (their landlords were awful)...  I was feeling rather beset by invaders but the flies from last night are totally quiet this morning. One of today's jobs will be try to find if they are coming from indoors or out, and if there's anything I can do about it.

Today it's drizzly but I'll go to the shops as I want the rest of the Christmas cake ingredients and a bit of exercise won't hurt either.

I've started wearing the Ugg-style slippers I got from a car boot sale in the summer, and they're much warmer than my other slippers, so that was a good call.

Jobs for today include shopping, tidying the dining table and general housework, and dinner will be sausages. I wonder what happens to batter if you add grainy mustard? I'm thinking of jazzing up a Toad in the Hole.

ETA: I found this, so I'm not the first to dream it up.  

badmemory

Qualifications aren't everything.  A good employer wants you to all fit in (a bad one prefers you all not to)

Cherryfudge

badmemory said:

Qualifications aren't everything.  A good employer wants you to all fit in (a bad one prefers you all not to)

That's a thought. I'll see how it goes.

In further news, I've got very little done so far today, though the relief job now has a starting date of 6th November, well within my notice period so I won't loose my continuity of service.

It's also two days before the interview for the contracted hours job, and the day before new DGchild is due! Could be a busy week.

Small things done today: found some candles that had been invisible in plain sight, if you know what I mean. I put them there but they'd been there too long for me to notice them. I've dusted them off and lit them, which was nice for a while but not while I'm supposed to be doing things.

I decided against going into town as the rain is persistent. Instead I disinfected some of the bird feeders and refilled them, having been reminded by a bluetit pecking at the window. This wasn't some Attenborough moment, there's a bird feeder on the glass and it was trying to get at the odd seed still in there.

I will need to get to town at some point, as my phone has a few problems which I'm hoping can be cured with a new screen (this one is cracked). It seized up on me earlier and said it was full, so I backed it up and now the memory is only half full. I don't understand this but I'm not arguing. Now the problem is that the screen freezes randomly, which I think is a poor connection due to the crack. I hope so anyway. I get attached to phones and starting a new one is a hassle. Also, I've just about promised myself a new laptop for Christmas - or January sales. That plan might not happen if I get a job and the current lappie holds out, as I wanted an upgrade for doing the digital skills curse, which I can't do if I'm working daily. Decisions.

I've also started cleaning shoes...

Cherryfudge

DH has done a bit of shopping today but I've stayed out of the rain and deep cleaned under the dressing table where there were shoes and boxes that didn't fit elsewhere.

Dinner was sausages from the freezer, made into toad in the hole with thyme and a tiny bit of Dijon mustard in the batter. I was trepidacious (if there's such a thing) about the mustard because if DH spotted it, he might have left it. As it was, I put hardly any in, so I can only report that the thyme was nice.

I've moved some more money to the saver account and this time the bank let me. I looked back through some statements from 2017 and the original saver account was paying £0.01 interest a month. Times change.

Honeysucklelou2

Just caught up. Exciting news that your 2nd grandchild is due soon. 

Cherryfudge

Honeysucklelou2 said:

Just caught up. Exciting news that your 2nd grandchild is due soon. 

Very exciting! The next couple of weeks will be eventful what with one thing or another.

I'm making the most of this lull, but I'm getting lots of visitors as the wild birds have discovered the refilled feeders. It's been a quiet morning: fog outside and heating on. I haven't got much done: started a WhatsApp family group specifically for discussing Christmas, moved up a bit in my Duolingo league, done a bit of tidying - all to avoid going out of doors though I know I'll benefit when I do.

Cherryfudge

I made it to the great outdoors and spent some money, largely on phone repairs but with a new screen and screen protector, the phone looks much smarter and doesn't seem to be playing up as it did.

I had a list of things wanted and got most: the rest of the dried fruit is now in the bowl with brandy and apple juice. Toiletry replacements have gone up in price but I found one item with £2 off in the supermarket compared to elsewhere, and the other was buy one get second half price. There was an unplanned spend in Sue Ryder for a nice tee shirt but some of my winter ones are getting a bit aged and this is one I could wear for work. I got pears and lemons cheaply at the greengrocer, but I think their carrots are more expensive than than the supermarket ones.

When I got home there was an email with the official offer of the relief job, but not the two other emails it referred to, so I guess I'll have to wait till Monday.

Dinner was chickpea tikka from the freezer, then this evening I had a go at making applique flowers to cover damage on a fleece. They are a bit random! I feel I should do some more work on them, but not tonight. It's not the sort of fleece one wears outside the house, so I'm not stressing about it.

I don't think there's anything else.

Expenditure:
Clothing £5
Toiletries £13.98
Phone repairs £52
Housekeeping £13.60