Giving every £ a job

Sun_Addict

The mocktail sounds so refreshing. Well done on getting over the top of the council tax margin.

Cheery_Daff

Ooh, well done! I cooked once ate twice tonight too - although thinking about it there are still some portions left in the freezer, so in my case, cooked once at four times! 😀

savingholmes

I love it when you cook once and have multiple portions for other days.

Forging_Ahead

I love the idea of fuzzy water... adorable autocorrect! Sorry, hello @Blackcats, long time lurker butting in to say you're doing so well and love reading your diary!

Sun_Addict

Sun_Addict said:

The mocktail sounds so refreshing. Well done on getting over the top of the council tax margin.

I meant mountain, blooming predictive text changing things 🙄

Blackcats

So it's taken nearly a week to re-emerge after the fuzzy water mocktail 🤣 good stuff that fuzzy water! 

cheerydaff that's impressive cooking once eating 4 times!  

Hello forgingahead - lovely to meet you - I've enjoyed my diary and it has helped keep me accountable and I'm now very close to my early retirement dream.

on that note I've been finalising arrangements at work - I'm working as usual til end of August (9 day fortnight).  All my colleagues have booked leave in August so I couldn't take leave even if I wanted to. (Only 1 of them even had the courtesy to check their dates) however, I'm going to take 1 day off as unbelievably it's the 1 year anniversary of losing my mum.  September I've got a week off and will use leave to work 4 days a week for the rest of the month.  Then October I go into my different role and work 2 days a week until either end of December or end of March.  I'm so excited but still slightly disbelieving that this is possible.

Some of my colleagues are behaving very badly - moody, sulky, passive aggressive and micro managing.  It still bothers me as I don't like bad atmospheres but it is easier to ignore now. 

We went to the seaside early this morning - it was lovely to be by the sea and there was a nice breeze.  We knowingly bust the eating out budget with a breakfast on the beach but personal spends budget pot is paying.  Home again before it got too hot.

doingitanyway

Breakfast on the beach sounds wonderful.
Pleased for you re working arrangements.

Cheery_Daff

Oh wow Blackcats, I am so very excited for you! 😀😀😀😀 You'll be through August before you know it, and then 4 days a week in September, and then down to two! So delighted 😊😊😊

savingholmes

Breakfast on the beach sounds heavenly - as do your future plans. Glad it's coming together for you. 

Sorry that it's coming up to the anniversary of losing your mum. Hope you do something nice for you to mark the day.

Blackcats

Thank you SH.  We are going to have an afternoon tea around the date of the anniversary (but deliberately not on the actual day).  Mum liked an afternoon tea so she would approve.

got up early today (by my standards anyway) and we took overnight oats in fancy little kilner jars with a flask of coffee to our favourite bench (oh yes, we have a favourite bench). It's about a 15 minute walk with beautiful views of the countryside and there are often horses passing by.  Oats were made using a grated apple from the lidlee fruit and veg box, the pots were topped with olio blueberries and we took an olio easy peeler with us too.  Home before it got unbearably hot.

the rain came tonight and has cooled it right down.  I had to grab a cloth from the garden table when the rain came - just stood outside in the cooing rain for a few minutes - bliss.