Life is a minestrone as the song says - my new diary

teapot2

Work again today, it feels positive getting back to earning again even if it will be slow to build up. I also popped into one of the organisations I do self employed work for to let them know I'm starting back and to check out the funding situation to see if I have work to come back to! I'll wait to hear from them when I might be able to start back.

Did a YouGov survey and a few on OP and cashed in my Pinecone points for a £5 Am@zon voucher. Got the paperwork from LLoyds re OH's PPI but I'll need to call them to find out how I should complete the questionnaire as the questions are aimed at the person who took out the PPI and not someone claiming on an estate .

Shopping from Asd@ delivered this evening, been raining heavily here so hall is full of muddy footprints now but I'll leave that till tomorrow.

beanielou

Glad that you are feeling positive about being back at work.

teapot2

Busy day y'day with work and then family came round in the afternoon - good to see them , biscuit supply severely depleted though :rotfl: 4yo excels at pester power I'd made a meal for them to take away as well.

Did a load of shredding as its recycling day so all boxes are out waiting to be emptied and its not to windy today. Very cold here though, the bird bath was frozen over this morning.

No work today so thats my first week over and seems to have gone ok and I've managed the travelling and negotiating stairs etc. Need to get back into routine of making lunches to take. I often have 'gaps' between bits of work in different places so end up going for a coffee as its too cold to sit in a park etc so I know that can get a bit spendy but I'll keep an eye on it.

Todays list;

buy and send a 'new home' card
send a card to a friend recovering from treatment
do a few work emails
got paid in cash for some work so need to pay that in
have a look in the charity shops when out
buy more painkillers as gum with stitches in still sore off and on
change the PIN on my new T S B account card
move money between accounts and back again
get some photos printed to send to a friend of OH
ring LLoyds re filling in PPI questionnaire for OH's estate - first though gird loins

Karmacat

That's great that you've finished your first week back! You sound okay, actually, but you must still be in lots of pain, I hope that all fades really soon.

That made me think when you said about having to fill bits of time in between jobs and using coffee shops to do it! Especially having seen a few comments here and there from Earthgirl, who is inspiring and awe-inspiring in her determination to be frugal. This is what I was thinking instead of coffee shops:
- hotel lobbies, the kind that have nice sofas
- the warm waiting rooms in railway stations.
- museum lobbies.
- massive cafes like JL on Oxford Street, or Debenhams in Brighton: you can just perch somewhere, they're so big, you're just waiting for someone.
- which reminds me, haven't Starbucks specifically said you don't have to buy anything to walk in ? Though they might have rolled back on that one :rotfl:

Sorry about all that, you got my brain going

beanielou

Glad that you have survived the first week

teapot2

Karmacat wrote: »

That's great that you've finished your first week back! You sound okay, actually, but you must still be in lots of pain, I hope that all fades really soon.

That made me think when you said about having to fill bits of time in between jobs and using coffee shops to do it! Especially having seen a few comments here and there from Earthgirl, who is inspiring and awe-inspiring in her determination to be frugal. This is what I was thinking instead of coffee shops:
- hotel lobbies, the kind that have nice sofas
- the warm waiting rooms in railway stations.
- museum lobbies.
- massive cafes like JL on Oxford Street, or Debenhams in Brighton: you can just perch somewhere, they're so big, you're just waiting for someone.
- which reminds me, haven't Starbucks specifically said you don't have to buy anything to walk in ? Though they might have rolled back on that one :rotfl:

Sorry about all that, you got my brain going

Thanks KC, one really positive thing is that the surgeries I've had have left me pretty much pain free which is amazing so its more about doing the physio and relearning balance etc.

Thanks for the list of suggestions re places to fill in the time between bits of work.

I often have to wait at the station as trains aren't very frequent and its freezing there, there are no warm waiting rooms at all, think they don't want to encourage people to hang around.

I have occasionally sat in St@rbucks when there has been an uncleared table so I can pretend it was my purchase I didn't know they have said you can just walk in :cool:

I'm not very good at just sitting in coffee shops though as the smell gets to me and I want a coffee. I have a couple of full loyalty card for coffee shops so I must remember to use them. I've also got a voucher for a free coffee and cake at JL so thanks for the nudge about them.

There is a library near one of my jobs so I have sat in there sometimes.

There is an art gallery as well near the station and I could maybe go and sit in there sometimes though its a bit of a distance from work.

I just need to get creative and a bit more confident about walking into other places

teapot2

beanielou wrote: »

Glad that you have survived the first week

Thanks Beanie, onwards and upwards

beanielou

Pain free is always good :j :j

Have a happy weekend

teapot2

beanielou wrote: »

Pain free is always good :j :j

Have a happy weekend

Thanks Beanie, you too

teapot2

Got through a fair bit of my list but more to do. Also listed some items online, not had any sales for nearly 3 weeks so thought I'd try listing. Going out for tea tomorrow and am bringing the pudding. I've found a recipe for sticky toffee pudding that I have all the ingredients for so will have a go at that. Most recipes seem to use treacle and cream neither of which I have but found one that has syrup in it instead and no cream so will give that a go in the morning.

teapot2 wrote: »

list;
[STRIKE]
buy and send a 'new home' card[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]send a card to a friend recovering from treatment[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]do a few work emails[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]got paid in cash for some work so need to pay that in[/STRIKE][STRIKE]
have a look in the charity shops when out[/STRIKE][STRIKE]
buy more painkillers as gum with stitches in still sore off and on[/STRIKE][STRIKE]
change the PIN on my new T S B account card[/STRIKE]
move money between accounts and back again
get some photos printed to send to a friend of OH
ring LLoyds re filling in PPI questionnaire for OH's estate - first though gird loins