Finally Debt Free After 34 Years, But Still Need to Live Frugally

HairyHandofDartmoor

I had a lovely time this afternoon and it's really cheered me up 😁. I always enjoy seeing aunt and uncle and I hadn't seen my cousins and their families for ages so it was lovely to see them. We had coffee in the courtyard of the coffee shop ☕ and a lovely walk in the garden where they had some beautiful flowering shrubs and herbacious borders 🌺🌻🌹. It wasn't sunny but the rain held off. We spent £9 between us on drinks but it was worth it for the pleasure it gave and I managed to dodge the lure of the gift shop. The fresh air helped my headache to go and it was easier to ignore my nausea when I was out. I feel very tired now but it was worth it 🙂.

jwil

Glad you had a nice day

Fidelia

Lovely to see you back posting again, HH, even though your initial news wasn't the best.  Look on the bright side though, your invaluable experience and reliability whilst filling in at your current school will put you in a very good position for getting a new job elsewhere.  I'm afraid 'office politics' is the same everywhere not just schools.  I certainly had a bellyful of it working in the NHS for over 35 years!   Maybe the supposed Government 'catch up' scheme will mean there'll be more school support job opportunities about but the way things seem to have gone 'pear shaped' this past few days it seems the whole prospect is a total shambles.  Good luck anyway.  We'll all be rooting for you and keeping our fingers crossed for you xx

Sorry to hear you've been knocked for 6 by your vaccination and hope you'll be well over it soon.  DH and I had our second doses in  April and had no ill effects .  Well,I just had a very slight bruised feeling in my arm at the vaccination spot but it only lasted a day and nothing worse than any other jab.   I'm glad going out and about and seeing people enjoying themselves is giving you a lift.  Sadly I feel just the opposite.  Despite being double-jabbed for months I'm still very worried about venturing out anywhere especially as the Lakes are now getting very crowded again.  Being so near to the North West's Covid hotspots I worry about who is travelling into our previously safe space and bringing goodness knows what with them.   Yesterday a courier came round to the back door with a parcel. For months they've just left things in a big closed porch at the front so it was weird to look up and see a maskless man standing right outside my open back door. He was the chatty type too, a lovely man who I always looked forward to seeing back in the day but he unnerved me this time.  He's the first person to come into our back garden for about 14 months..

Enjoy your garden when you get the chance.  Spending money on plants is certainly a good thing, you spend so little on yourself and your garden is a real mood enhancer.  Those pesky badgers are still visiting our garden EVERY night, I've used up my 'old' cat food and am even resorting to buying supermarket's own brand now with my home delivery. DH says it's my own fault they keep coming, they know I'm a soft touch as I've attracted them with food.  I felt so sorry for them in the really bad weather as they'd already dug up and eaten so many of our garden bulbs.  I love sharing my space with wildlife anyway, I feel privileged actually. No fear my own cats will go out at night and wolf this cheap catfood down, they turn their snooty noses up at it.  I've also seen a couple of mating hedgehogs and I know they like catfood.  They weren't exactly 'mating' as such, just doing the 'dance' they do to attract each other.

Sorry to monopolise your diary, HH.  Enjoy the rest of your HT.

Sunshine_girl2

HairyHandofDartmoor said:

I had a lovely time this afternoon and it's really cheered me up 😁. I always enjoy seeing aunt and uncle and I hadn't seen my cousins and their families for ages so it was lovely to see them. We had coffee in the courtyard of the coffee shop ☕ and a lovely walk in the garden where they had some beautiful flowering shrubs and herbacious borders 🌺🌻🌹. It wasn't sunny but the rain held off. We spent £9 between us on drinks but it was worth it for the pleasure it gave and I managed to dodge the lure of the gift shop. The fresh air helped my headache to go and it was easier to ignore my nausea when I was out. I feel very tired now but it was worth it 🙂.

I am so pleased to see you posting again , sorry about the TA news but things change all the time so hopefully you will get snapped up soon. 

Your outing with the family looked lovely, the flowers were very nice to look at I imagine , it's good to catch up. 

I have been all over the place since being let out so to speak , getting on with life as Covid is going to be with us forever . You have to be sensible and respect other people's wishes . 

Fidelia I am sorry but I am one of those people visiting the Lakes next week who comes from a high Covid area . I am sure I will get greeted with open arms everywhere I go as the Cumbrian economy needs me. 

Look forward to hearing about what you plant in your garden next. 

Also as other people have said work politics can happen everywhere, and one of the beauties of working from home is that you can avoid some . 

Enjoy the rest of your half term. 

Ps I thought you looked very well on your photo. 

Fidelia

Fidelia I am sorry but I am one of those people visiting the Lakes next week who comes from a high Covid area . I am sure I will get greeted with open arms everywhere I go as the Cumbrian economy needs me. 

Sorry, Sunshine girl2, if I upset you or anyone else contemplating visiting our wonderful area soon.  I too  hope you'll be greeted with open arms and enjoy the wonderful Lakeland hospitality.  You're right, our economy desperately needs all the visitors we can get, the area pretty much depends on it.  It's just me being paranoid.  DH was shielding for most of the lockdowns and I locked myself away too to protect him and make sure I didn't bring the virus home.  He isn't ill,  he's hale and hearty and no one would suspect he has an underlying, serious immunity disorder.  He seems much more willing to go out and about again now he's double-jabbed in fact he's relishing it in a safety-conscious way.  I, on the other hand, can't get over my anxiety that something nasty still lies in wait.  I'm usually an optimist to the extent of burying my head in the sand (DH says) where risks are concerned but Covid seems to have changed my personality even though I haven't contracted it.

I hope the weather is kind to you when you're here.  Give me a wave xx

Seasidegal58

How lovely to catch up with your family - and at such a beautiful place too. Double the fun!😀

milann

Lovely to see you back in diaryland Hairy. I’m sorry about the TA job. Have you looked at the agencies and LEA job sheets. Keep an eye out as many of the schools will be advertising for next year now.....but I guess you already know this. Does your qualification cover nurseries too or just schools....I’ve lost track of which courses cover which age group. I loved my nursery job but it was the politics between management behind the scenes that made me change to schools.
Your garden sounds lovely- a little oasis for you to sup coffee with dh ☕️

It doesn’t seem long since you first took ds to uni and now his course is nearly over. I hope he finds the job of his dreams 🤞

HairyHandofDartmoor

jwil said:

Glad you had a nice day

Thanks Jwil

Seasidegal58 said:

How lovely to catch up with your family - and at such a beautiful place too. Double the fun!😀

Thanks SSG

HairyHandofDartmoor

Fidelia said:

Lovely to see you back posting again, HH, even though your initial news wasn't the best.  Look on the bright side though, your invaluable experience and reliability whilst filling in at your current school will put you in a very good position for getting a new job elsewhere.  I'm afraid 'office politics' is the same everywhere not just schools.  I certainly had a bellyful of it working in the NHS for over 35 years!   Maybe the supposed Government 'catch up' scheme will mean there'll be more school support job opportunities about but the way things seem to have gone 'pear shaped' this past few days it seems the whole prospect is a total shambles.  Good luck anyway.  We'll all be rooting for you and keeping our fingers crossed for you xx

Sorry to hear you've been knocked for 6 by your vaccination and hope you'll be well over it soon.  DH and I had our second doses in  April and had no ill effects .  Well,I just had a very slight bruised feeling in my arm at the vaccination spot but it only lasted a day and nothing worse than any other jab.   I'm glad going out and about and seeing people enjoying themselves is giving you a lift.  Sadly I feel just the opposite.  Despite being double-jabbed for months I'm still very worried about venturing out anywhere especially as the Lakes are now getting very crowded again.  Being so near to the North West's Covid hotspots I worry about who is travelling into our previously safe space and bringing goodness knows what with them.   Yesterday a courier came round to the back door with a parcel. For months they've just left things in a big closed porch at the front so it was weird to look up and see a maskless man standing right outside my open back door. He was the chatty type too, a lovely man who I always looked forward to seeing back in the day but he unnerved me this time.  He's the first person to come into our back garden for about 14 months..

Enjoy your garden when you get the chance.  Spending money on plants is certainly a good thing, you spend so little on yourself and your garden is a real mood enhancer.  Those pesky badgers are still visiting our garden EVERY night, I've used up my 'old' cat food and am even resorting to buying supermarket's own brand now with my home delivery. DH says it's my own fault they keep coming, they know I'm a soft touch as I've attracted them with food.  I felt so sorry for them in the really bad weather as they'd already dug up and eaten so many of our garden bulbs.  I love sharing my space with wildlife anyway, I feel privileged actually. No fear my own cats will go out at night and wolf this cheap catfood down, they turn their snooty noses up at it.  I've also seen a couple of mating hedgehogs and I know they like catfood.  They weren't exactly 'mating' as such, just doing the 'dance' they do to attract each other.

Sorry to monopolise your diary, HH.  Enjoy the rest of your HT.

Thanks Fidelia . 

HairyHandofDartmoor

Sunshine_girl2 said:

HairyHandofDartmoor said:

I had a lovely time this afternoon and it's really cheered me up 😁. I always enjoy seeing aunt and uncle and I hadn't seen my cousins and their families for ages so it was lovely to see them. We had coffee in the courtyard of the coffee shop ☕ and a lovely walk in the garden where they had some beautiful flowering shrubs and herbacious borders 🌺🌻🌹. It wasn't sunny but the rain held off. We spent £9 between us on drinks but it was worth it for the pleasure it gave and I managed to dodge the lure of the gift shop. The fresh air helped my headache to go and it was easier to ignore my nausea when I was out. I feel very tired now but it was worth it 🙂.

I am so pleased to see you posting again , sorry about the TA news but things change all the time so hopefully you will get snapped up soon. 

Your outing with the family looked lovely, the flowers were very nice to look at I imagine , it's good to catch up. 

I have been all over the place since being let out so to speak , getting on with life as Covid is going to be with us forever . You have to be sensible and respect other people's wishes . 

Fidelia I am sorry but I am one of those people visiting the Lakes next week who comes from a high Covid area . I am sure I will get greeted with open arms everywhere I go as the Cumbrian economy needs me. 

Look forward to hearing about what you plant in your garden next. 

Also as other people have said work politics can happen everywhere, and one of the beauties of working from home is that you can avoid some . 

Enjoy the rest of your half term. 

Ps I thought you looked very well on your photo. 

Thanks Sunshine

milann said:

Lovely to see you back in diaryland Hairy. I’m sorry about the TA job. Have you looked at the agencies and LEA job sheets. Keep an eye out as many of the schools will be advertising for next year now.....but I guess you already know this. Does your qualification cover nurseries too or just schools....I’ve lost track of which courses cover which age group. I loved my nursery job but it was the politics between management behind the scenes that made me change to schools.
Your garden sounds lovely- a little oasis for you to sup coffee with dh ☕️

It doesn’t seem long since you first took ds to uni and now his course is nearly over. I hope he finds the job of his dreams 🤞

Thanks Milann . My qualification only covers schools, but I am considering doing an early years qualification to widen my options. I am going to keep an eye out for job vacancies. Don't you think behind the scene politics are just as bad in schools?