A new royal start

MissRikkiC

Well done on the job front and for your ways rubbing off on your OH. I really love it when that happens. 

QueenJess

After being offered two jobs, I have selected one, negotiated my own salary and will be starting as soon as they can sort the paperwork and laptop.  It is full time (which I haven't done for almost a year now), but it is remote working so I can at least keep up the hm bread and will save a fair bit of time.  It's also 6 months, so I plan to then have the summer off   Will just need to be extra organised as it may be a bit of a shock to do full time again!

Money wise, I will be putting aside whatever I can with the aim that one day I won't need to work.  I am splitting my savings between 50% pension and 50% ISA with the best case scenario being I can use the ISA to retire early, the next case that I need it to pay off the mortgage and the worst case being I need to use it if I am out of work for too long between contracts.  For now the mortgage will have to stay as it is, although I will continue to spend a small amount rounding it down to the nearest £500 (it's around £50 or less) so I feel I am making a bit of progress.  Then once DD goes to school in September, I will reassess.

My car is in the garage today to look at something that came up on the service and also to change some brake pads.  Luckily there is nothing else that came up and the issue seems to be a non-issue so am hoping it isn't too expensive as it is my mum's birthday next week so I will need to buy her a small present and the kids will get her some flowers.  It is birthday after birthday at the moment and I am sure we will be sick of cake by the time we get to mine!

As I am just stuck at home (car being delivered back later), I am in cooking mode.  The bread is proving at the moment, I just made some spicy parsnip soup for lunch (leftovers for tomorrow in the fridge) and I am using the pudding basin DH got me for Xmas which currently contains spotted d*ick steaming away.  I've never made it or any steamed pudding before, so I hope it works as I'm stupidly excited about it!  We've also run out of snacks as the current buns and welsh cakes disappeared (all DH and DS), so I will also make some fruit scones.  May as well get the cooking in whilst I can!

Looking forward to putting my feet up later in front of the TV, although I will continue to work through my box of wrapping paper scraps that are too small to use and will be turning them into gift tags and Xmas cards.  I've got about 1/2 of the Xmas cards I need this year so far, so it should save me money in December.  I should look into DS's birthday presents tomorrow and get them wrapped up otherwise my time will disappear once I start the job.

Dinner tonight is fish and hm chips with peas for something easy post all my baking today.  I also need to tend to DS who has a nasty cold and is looking very sorry for himself.  Yesterday he came back from school and got into bed.  I delivered warm milk and beans on toast to his bed for him.  I even broke out the expensive tissues we only use for bad colds when you need something softer!

Better go as I still have the fruit scones to make and the bread to get into the oven before school pick up time.

TallGirl

Congrats on the new job you should be really pleased with yourself that you got 2 at the same time and get to negotiate such good terms. Full time might be tough but you can buy conveniences to make life easier and ask your DH to help out. As you say you have a long summer to look forward to which does help. 

QueenJess

TallGirl said:

Congrats on the new job you should be really pleased with yourself that you got 2 at the same time and get to negotiate such good terms. Full time might be tough but you can buy conveniences to make life easier and ask your DH to help out. As you say you have a long summer to look forward to which does help. 

Thanks Yes, I accept I will have to loosen the purse strings a little for the convenience and am currently considering getting my food shopping delivered in the week as that would save me time.  I will see how things pan out and in the end, it's only 6 months so there is an end!

Mrs_Money_Penny

Congratulations on the job. Love hearing about your baking. I always chose Spotted d*ick if it’s on the menu. I’ve never made it either. What recipe did you use? 

QueenJess

Mrs_Money_Penny said:

Congratulations on the job. Love hearing about your baking. I always chose Spotted d*ick if it’s on the menu. I’ve never made it either. What recipe did you use? 

I read a few and went with this one in the end: https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/spotted-!!!!!! 
It looks ok, but no idea how it tastes yet. I saw lots of other steamed pudding recipes I liked the look of, so I am hoping it’s good and I can branch out.

Two of the fruit scones have already mysteriously gone missing 😄

Edit: I love that the recipe link has been got by the filter 🤣

LadyWithAPlan

Congrats on the practically immediate job ! And the summer off  

South_coast

Ooh, posh tissues means a serious cold 😬! Hope he feels better soon, and great news on the new role!

Jessy103

Congrats on the new job jess! x

QueenJess

I was planning some very productive days before starting work, but sadly DS gave me a his very nasty cold and I've desperately been trying to do anything to get rid of it for the last few days.  I think it is starting to finally go and just in time as I start work tomorrow and have a long drive to the office to get my laptop and everything set up before I then work at home for the rest of the contract.  I think it'll be a shock to the system!  It's going to be a busy week as DS's birthday and party is on Sat and I need to make a whole cake before then and do other prep

So nothing much happening here and not prepared much food in advance.  However, I am hoping I can get a little bit of baking in everyday in my lunch hour as required.  I did do a massive shop on Friday to use my final £15 off £150 voucher, but also stock up to hopefully have a very low food shop requirement for the next few weeks whilst I figure out how to work full time and get the other things I have to done.  Hopefully on the plus side I'll be too busy to spend much money generally!  Sad to be working again, but the job sounds good, it's from home, I know the main person as I have worked with them before and the money will certainly tide us through the rest of 2025 if necessary.

Today's lunch was scrambled egg and beans for the kids and scrambled egg and smoked salmon for the adults as a nice treat.  Dinner is a chicken stew using up odds and ends of veg with dumplings.  The spotted d*ick was really nice and long gone, so I threw together an apple and blackberry crumble which will go nicely with the leftover custard.  I also managed to make chocolate digestives for the biscuit tin, which made the kids happy.

Better go as I have a list of things to sort out for tomorrow including figuring out exactly how I get to the office!  As it's in the town centre I am considering making my life easier whilst I am still ill and buying lunch for myself as a one off.  I don't know what facilities they have in the office anyway, so limited to something cold.