Crazy Cat Lady Chapter 4 - The Aftermath

foxgloves

If they are definitely sloes (aa I have never known these ever to be on sale in shops, let alone mainstream supermarkets), then apart from sloe jelly (which I have made & didn't much rate), your best bet is to bung them inro the freezer. Then you can makw sloe gin next autumn in time for Christmas. Freezing sloes is a time saver for sloe gin as it breaks down the tough skins, meaning you don't need to do the traditional thing of pricking every individual berry with a needle first.
The other stuff - there'll be plenty of recipes online.
F x

Baileys_Babe

Sloe gin keeps along time. So no need to wait until autumn to make it. I would freeze the sloes first to eliminate the need for messing around with a needle, but this way the sloes are not taking up precious freezer space for months.

crazy_cat_lady

Morning all.
Thank you for the wonderful ideas - very much appreciated. I am going to try and psyche myself up for some veg prep and batch cooking very soon. I might see if I can rope ds in - turns out dd hates cooking as much as I do but ds seems to be quite keen. So if I can get him to see what great 'fun' it is then maybe I can see a future few years with someone else cooking for me.
I am fairly sure that they are sloes. They might be blackcurrants. I wonder if someone just bunged them in my bag? There's no label on them but they are in a sealed plastic bag like you would get Market Street. Pass. I shall wait and see what the veggie box brings today before I make any final decisions but it looks as though stir fry is on the cards, and I will make chicken broth as well. Both kids will eat chunky veg soup if I add chicken and call it chicken broth. As we have a couple of inches of snow out there I think it's a good broth and dumplings kind of day.
In an excellent effort of multitasking I am also currently on hold to the tax people at the same time I'm typing to you. I logged on to my online tax account and my current tax code according to my payslip is not the same as the tax code that I have online so I'm waiting to see what on earth is going on. I always considered myself fairly smart but things like tax and pensions have me beyond flummoxed. Mind you, I'm not entirely convinced that I have faith in whoever answers the phone at the other end. I get vibes of the bad old days when I had to deal with tax credits, and I would be told something different every time I spoke to someone. How very dare I have 2 jobs... that seems to be the problem. Eye. Roll.
Right. Time I was getting on with the day.

DawnW

They sound like blueberries CCL? Try one? I have never seen sloes in the supermarket, and they would be somewhat out of season anyway. Blackcurrants aren't in season either. Blueberries are ace just on porridge or cereal.

foxgloves

That's my thinking, DawnW. I have never seen sloes on sale anywhere. I am thinking blueberries far more likely. If so, there are heaps of things that could be done with them..... maybe blueberry muffins for starters?
F x

badmemory

The best way of dealing with HMRC is to know what you want before you speak to them.  Not always easy I know.  So unless both your jobs are under £12500 a year or total over £50k a year it should be easy.  So the "day" job I would ask for all your personal allowance to go against.  This should be 1250L maybe plus a bit for extra allowances.  Your other job BR for basic rate.  If you have problems go to the cutting tax bit of the forum & ask there.  You can always get another username so you don't get linked to here, quite a few people do that.  Does your personal tax account explain how they got that figure & does it seem correct.  They could have only just changed it so it won't show until pay day.  But either way you should have 2 codes - one for each job.

And they say tax shouldn't be taxing!

crazy_cat_lady

Hello again.
A day of procrastination on the work front. Had a very demotivating Z00m meeting this morning which is what I imagine a cabinet meeting is like: set plenty of work but don't set too much work. Make it challenging but don't make it too difficult. Have high expectations, but don't expect too much (we are in a pandemic after all). I left that meeting just wanting to shut the computer and ignore work for ever. It feels as though I'm under attack as a teacher and as a mother - bit of a no win situation and I'm starting to get fed up of the whole thing if I'm honest. However, I'm trying not to take it too personally, and not to get too annoyed about it because I know I'm hormonal today and I don't want to make a fool of myself or lose my temper because of the hormones. I am just preparing my lessons as normal and thinking that if there's that much of a problem then someone should speak to me directly about it.
I don't think those fruits are blueberries - they look too small. I'll take a photo and see if I can upload it here and you wise folk can advise me.
Tax situation is weird. Basically, about a year ago I got a letter saying I had earned over £50K in 2018/19 and needed to pay back some of my child benefit. I had to register for self assessment and then it turned out I'd earned £50075 that year with all my extra exam work - so I had to pay £7.50 child benefit back, and some extra tax or something (for someone who is so well qualified I know nothing about tax) and they changed my tax code to take back the overpayment from my first job. My tax code on the second job is BR. Anyway, 2018/19 was a bit of a bumper year in terms of exam work and 19/20 came in way lower financially. And I got asked to fill in a self assessment again, online, which I attempted to do and then suddenly got this K tax code saying I owed £4000 in unpaid tax. Then I applied for the tax relief for working from home online and apparently my tax code has gone back to what it was. The lady on the phone was really helpful and says it should be sorted out by this month's pay - along with any tax overpayment. She has taken my estimated income for this financial year and next, bearing in mind that I am in the second year of cancelled exams and it will be lower again than it has been (I think in spite of the new role as well). So we'll see what rolls around again next payday. Ugh though - ugh. It feels like a challenge of a day today. But I know that my income is not anywhere near approaching £50k. That's for sure.

f0xh0les

You are going to have to eat one you know.....  if it is sour then blackcurrants, if it is tongue drying face pulling weirdness, it is a sloe.  If you have just been given really small black grapes I am going to laugh my A$$ off.

foxgloves

Sloes are generally bigger than blueberries, CCL because they aren't berries. They are mini plums. If they are sloes, when it isn't sloe season & they are from a supermarket, I will eat my own feet! (but not with my DMs on, as could be a bit tough & I'm seeing the dentist tomorrow, lol)
F x

janb5

How about ringing up Morrisons and asking what the ` mystery` is?