A new royal start

LadyWithAPlan

Good luck with the job hunt - I think you will feel better seeing actual options to move. 

Sorry re the move back to the office and the timetable impossibilities with childcare . Can’t believe nowadays companies don’t understand they need to be flexible.

Your food as always sounds great - can you point me to a recipe to make oat milk? I have tried almond milk but oat sounds more environmentally friendly 

have a great weekend 

QueenJess

LadyWithAPlan said:

Good luck with the job hunt - I think you will feel better seeing actual options to move. 

Sorry re the move back to the office and the timetable impossibilities with childcare . Can’t believe nowadays companies don’t understand they need to be flexible.

Your food as always sounds great - can you point me to a recipe to make oat milk? I have tried almond milk but oat sounds more environmentally friendly 

have a great weekend 

Work are being so inflexible. I have a flexible working request going out to change my hours every Tues and Thurs, but in reality it doesn’t work for the company or me very well. But you have to do the same thing everyday with no flexibility. But DH doesn’t do the same thing everyday and so it doesn’t work out. Goodness knows what they expect you to do if your other half does variable shift work.

I use the BBC oat milk recipe (https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/oat-milk ) - it’s very useful to read what can go wrong at the bottom before making it. However, it’s much easier than I thought. A bit faffy if you need to make it all the time, but I only need to make it about once a week, so it works for me.

QueenJess

TallGirl said:

Sending you hugs sounds difficult. Didn’t your DH drop a day so can he not pick up things like the car stuff? Sounds like you need some time as a couple but tricky with kids and it doesn’t sound like you have any family nearby that could help out a bit. You are more important than work please look after yourself and good luck with the recruitment agencies. 

It feels like everything can be resolved with time, but sadly have to work to live for money. It’s a difficult balance and work are just taking more and more time away from me.

DH is meant to be sorting the car MOT for me as he’s the car person - I delegated it to him last year, but need to check he’s done it. I will deal with the car insurance though and I hate doing it so much. My renewal came through and is significantly more expensive, so will do a search during the week.

I am trying to concentrate on the steps I can do to escape from work and am also thinking I should get on and book outstanding dentist and doctor appointments which I will contrive to be in the middle of the days when I should be travelling to work and therefore have to work at home… hoping I can reduce travel to work for 1 day a week for a few weeks. I think it’s the only way to keep my sanity in the short term.

badmemory

My iinsurance renewal was 135% increase.  Yes you read that right, more than double.  With no changes at all.  They must think I am due for an accident as it is almost 30 years since I claim for someone smashing into my parked car.  It was suggested to me that it could be because it was parked in a detached garage & the garage could collapse.

QueenJess

badmemory said:

My iinsurance renewal was 135% increase.  Yes you read that right, more than double.  With no changes at all.  They must think I am due for an accident as it is almost 30 years since I claim for someone smashing into my parked car.  It was suggested to me that it could be because it was parked in a detached garage & the garage could collapse.

Yikes!  Where's that blue haired emoji when you need it?  Mine was 50% increase and to be honest was pretty much standard when I checked on comparison sites.  Managed to knock them back by £10 though in line with the cheapest one on the comparison site I checked.  Not a huge discount, but better than nothing..

QueenJess

Sat at my desk this morning close to tears at the thought of work.  Not enjoying it at all today and lovely to see it's already been confirmed that all bonuses are cancelled for this year..  Need to muster up the courage to ring a large recruiter this afternoon and get the ball rolling there as well.

DH is trying quite hard at the moment and just hung out the washing for me.  I am struggling really as I don't function without enough sleep, but can't sleep due to work nonsense etc going on.  Currently I want to just hide away and pretend it isn't happening, but obviously that is not a practical response!  

Whilst my parents were here yesterday, I did order a few gifts for DS that I've been thinking about for ages and a foldout bed that we'll need for Xmas guests.  Also discussed the rest of the year with DH and we decided that we should have a few key things to look forward to and then just fill in the gaps with other stuff as usual (that will be cheaper!).  So we have booked a Xmas panto (the cost is terrifying!) and a really good local Xmas lights garden experience thing.  We also have fireworks this Friday with Beavers (which is cheap) and there are Xmas markets etc locally we can visit.  These are the big things and then we'll find some less expensive things to do.  Just need to figure out what holiday I need to take over Xmas - I need to check what I have left and work backwards to see what I need to take when.

Trying not to do any food shopping until mid next week to force using up freezer food.  It feels weird basing every meal around the freezer as I usually do that around the veg box instead.  We will have milkman deliveries and Riverford on Thurs though.  Breakfast today was porridge for me with my hm oat milk and some of the massive pile of redcurrants and blackcurrants from the freezer that I made into compote yesterday.  Lunch was hm pea soup to use up some frozen peas and frozen bread and dinner will be chicken leftover from the roast yesterday stir fried with a ton of veg and some hm frajita mix (omitting the mix for DS) and serving with some wraps I need to get rid of in the freezer.  Dessert is all from the freezer... I found lots of hm goodies: apple and blackberry cake, two types of ice cream, lemon poppy seed muffins, chocolate and banana flapjacks, chocolate brownies and chocolate chip muffins.  Only a few left of each, so hopefully we'll get through those fairly quickly.

Also started thinking about DS's party as it's the end of Jan/start of Feb and otherwise it creeps up fast post Xmas.  Thinking about just having his friends over to play and serve them pizza, cake etc.  It is what DS seems to want to do anyway, although I'm thinking we should do some games or something as well.  Will give it some thought.  At least it won't be too expensive!

Right.. need to stop pretending work might magically disappear and force myself to deal with it and ring a recruiter.  Hope everyone is having a good Monday.

themadvix

Good luck with the recruiter!

I need to make a compote from redcurrants and blackberries for my breakfast, else the currants will still be there come next harvest.

QueenJess

themadvix said:

Good luck with the recruiter!

I need to make a compote from redcurrants and blackberries for my breakfast, else the currants will still be there come next harvest.

I had labelled the box I used in the freezer from the 2021 redcurrant harvest!  Oops!

themadvix

Hmm, I think mine may be of at least that vintage, but I don’t label them!

QueenJess

Achieving nothing fast today as all the uncertainty everywhere is making me really indecisive for everything.  Toying with getting an Instant Pot, which I have been considering for a year and still don't know!  I think I'm concluding that I don't need one, but it could make certain things faster and would be fun to play with.  Could put it on a xmas list for DH to get me as I can't think of anything else to put on it!

Currently considering asking work if I could take 3 months of unpaid leave over winter as it is very quiet usually and they might agree.  Just means I can avoid work for a while, although a better plan obviously would just to find another job.  Still not rung the recruiter because I've been stuck in back to back meetings.  Will add it to the list tomorrow whilst I am off.

Need to start writing a to do list as I can't remember anything at the moment when I'm so tired.  Still working on using up the freezer stuff.  Breakfast was compote with greek yogurt and hm granola.  Lunch was pea soup that I made yesterday with a freezer roll and dinner will be a cheat kedgeree to use up the smoked mackerel defrosted from the freezer.  Desserts are ice cream, chocolate brownies, chocolate chip muffins, lemon poppy seed muffins or chocolate chip flapjacks from the freezer.