Moving on

rtandon27

@Cherryfudge - I'm loving reading about your working-outs of when to say when - always a good thing to know your limits - something I constantly struggle to recognize!

...and the tales of your grandbabas antics are just darling!

Cherryfudge

Aw thank you @rtandon27, I try to capture something of the kids, as it were. These early years are soon enough all memories. Not so sure I'm sorting my activities out, though. I was up till one last night to have something to feed back to the client, then this morning I was telling my colleagues how much of a struggle it is at present, and they were lovely and gave me some wise advice. Now I just have to learn how to apply it. From this morning's conversation I've learned that I have to stand back and look at more of my activities as negotiable. For instance, if I gave up the cleaning team they'd now have two weeks out of three with no cover. In other words, my presence is holding that together and if I left, 'management' would have to take action (unless of course the remaining couple of people and the new lady somehow found time and energy to do even more).

On a positive note, this morning's client is doing a great job and I'm very happy about that. I spent an hour writing up her case notes . I always put in too much detail but this is complex and it helps me keep track as well as being something a colleague can refer to. Takes ages, though.

The builders have now done most of the edging for the path but won't be back tomorrow as the forecast is for rain. It's taken them a long time as the lie of the land is tricky.

I went to Sains for some cappuccinos and they are nearly out of the preferred brand. Mr T is completely devoid of them. A coffee drought? They have other makes, though, so I suppose there's a problem with this supply chain.

Well, I know with part of my brain that I ought to get my two pieces of work training out of the way but I've been too long at the computer so I won't.

I think I'll raid the freezer and use some bits up in a pie for tea, then go to my group in the evening.

Expenditure:
Housekeeping £5.65

Cherryfudge

It's half term and I had a lie in! Needed to as I went to bed early for me, so I woke at about five and couldn't get back to sleep. DH heard me wandering around an hour later looking for my hot water bottle, handed it over and said 'No wonder I'm hot!' before going back to sleep! I was much better when I had it though it was barely hand hot by then. Perhaps there's a microclimate whereby my side of the bed gets cold and his gets hot?

Anyway I then slept.

I intended to do one of my online work courses this morning but have got no where, partly because I've been messaging the church office to sort out June's cleaning rota. The admin person is very good and aware of the issues so he's pushing it as a need with others, but at the end of the day I know the team so I was able to provide a provisional rota which he's now put on the app.

I also ordered my medication, some over the counter eye drops and some laundry capsules. Now in less than an hour I am meeting someone to try to sell volunteering for the Wednesday job! Actually I think he's keen anyway but needs to know from my experience of what the role looks like in real life.

Perhaps I'll get the training in before work... or after work.

Expenditure:
Medical £23.81 (got a £2 discount and this will last me months)
Housekeeping £6

Cherryfudge

I spent some time talking to the person about the Wednesday job, I do hope they volunteer. I then got ten minutes of the training done, had a cup of soup with cheese and crackers then went to work.

After work I met DH at L1dl for some shopping and noticed they have a 3 for 2 offer on soda water so I got 3. It's cheaper there than elsewhere even without the offer but ours seems only to stock it at Christmas. After this I rang D and we sorted out access to an online game he got me ages ago - every now and then it throws me off and the passwords reset goes through his email. I'm afraid I played the game rather than doing the course. (Hangs head).

I also finished up a tub of 'something' that had lost its lid in the freezer. A casserole with butterbeans, coconut milk and cranberries and all I remember is it was made last winter and the cranberries worked very well but weren't in the original.

Time for bed.

Cherryfudge

Today the workmen are back and hoping the rain holds off. It's going to be warm later - which is nice as I've resorted to hot water bottles recently! I think that's mostly 'cos I was sitting around and tired.

The main path now has foundations and sides and they seem to be starting on the infill. At the back it's still a hole leading to a deeper hole!

I'm going to attempt the rest of that course, go to do my share of the church cleaning and see whether I need to do the other course today as well. It won't be a long one. Then there's the money to sort out - pay is in and bills are not going out till Monday but I need to see what needs moving around and also move some from savings to cover the CC (path payment comes from inherited money and if I don't get the CC reimbursed for paying the deposit, the CC will be the only winner).

rtandon27

I'll be with you in spirit on the course!  I've got 4 mandatory ones to complete - probably 2 today and 2 next week.  I used to be grandfathered on all of them, but the rules at my organization changed and now have to redo all of them on a 3 year rotation - grrrrr - worst bit is I helped set up the questions for one of them back in the day & I'm not even exempt!

Payday is the most wonderful day of the month & it's nice to see the bank balance healthy for a few days before all the payments go out!

Sun_Addict

I would prioritise the paid stuff first then see how much time you have left for the voluntary work. Plus it's important to factor in some downtime for yourself or you'll burn out at some stage. 

Cherryfudge

rtandon27 said:

I'll be with you in spirit on the course!  I've got 4 mandatory ones to complete - probably 2 today and 2 next week.  I used to be grandfathered on all of them

I have to know - I've never heard that phrase before - what does it mean to be grandfathered? Pleased to say I got through my course and am claiming a straight hour for it, as that's what it's supposed to take and I lost track as mine was fragmented. I kept getting the knowledge checks wrong, which isn't a good sign, but got 92% on the final assessment so perhaps I've not totally forgotten the content.

Sun_Addict said:

I would prioritise the paid stuff first then see how much time you have left for the voluntary work. Plus it's important to factor in some downtime for yourself or you'll burn out at some stage. 

Very wise, thanks. I think I'm in a similar boat to people who are self-employed: I don't like not to take all the relief hours I can get. However, I continue to try to work out what I could best give up and have almost concluded I need to drop one of my two slots on the voluntary cleaning rota, and give myself a time limit of two and a half hours when I do do it. I quite enjoy it when I'm working with someone as I was today but it's a bit disheartening when I'm working on my own.

I remembered to take in a bag of irises that needed to be rehomed and my colleague has taken me up on the offer. The other person I brought irises for wasn't there so I took some home - calling in at the supermarket on the way, at which point I discovered a large snail crawling along a leaf. I know one of the staff at the supermarket and she said hello, so I told her about the snail before she noticed it! One never knows what the reaction will be... Bless her, she held my bags, complete with Mr Snail, while I paid! She is the daughter of a former colleague and said her Mum might want irises too, so perhaps the snail has done me a favour in rehoming more. Anyway he's somewhere in our garden now.

I did two and a half hours voluntary cleaning as did my colleague, so five hours' work covers all the basics and a few of the secondary things like the stairs. It won't all get done when I work alone and the time limit should stop me feeling I'm on a hiding to nothing. After all, in paid work I do the time I'm paid for then stop, so I need the same boundaries when volunteering. The difference is I have to make that rule for myself as no one really sets rules for the volunteers!

It's been a very active day, but not exhausting. I watered the tubs of flowers around the church car park for an hour - I used to do this regularly but cut back when I realised how much energy the cleaning would take up. There's a project going on that uses a hose, which they lent me, so the job was easier than with watering cans. I also got chatting to a charming little family who were waiting for Daddy to finish the project so they could all go out. I was probably introduced to the little girl's Barbie doll three or four times! It was a nice distraction for me.

This evening I had another two and a half hours of paid work - lovely warm sun to walk home in. 19,000 steps, which perhaps justifies the ice cream I've just had. First course was butternut squash stew from the depths of the freezer.

Expenditure:
Housekeeping 72p.

rtandon27

So lovely to hear how you are rationalizing your paid and unpaid work!  I've always loved to have one volunteer role on the go, but realized recently that it is much more important to prioritize rest, so I gave up helping at the community growing garden.

I've never been asked to explain the term 'grandfathered' before, but that may be (as I've just discovered) that it is a very north-american bit of terminology.  I've just asked Mr. G00gleAI to help me explain and this is what he says...

"Grandfathered" means being exempt from a new rule or law due to existing circumstances, often because one was already operating under an older version of the rule or law. It's essentially a situation where you get to continue doing or having something that a new rule or law prohibits, because you were allowed to do so under the previous rules.

So in this case what I meant was I've been at my organization so long that I shouldn't have to redo course I've already done in a previous incarnation.  I did however have a moan at my manager about the system making me redo them & she ran a report that says I am actually exempt or grandfathered in some of them!

Cherryfudge

Oh that makes sense! Thanks. It was actually a refresher course so I've taken it every three years since time immemorial, but no chance of getting the grandfather treatment, as it was on safeguarding and the thinking has moved on to include new areas and rename at least one since I started.