Moving on

Cherryfudge

Two and a half hours at work then I shopped on the way home - nothing really needed apart from fish fingers for tea, but I knew DH had a friend round and it was easier to mooch round the shop than make conversation! 

Three out of four of the immediate family have voted in my glasses poll and they all like the same pair so perhaps that saves me a decision.  

Spending today has been very bitty:
Toiletries £7.70
Household £3.50
Medical £25.50 (optician and vitamins)
Housekeeping £14.82

Cherryfudge

We started Tuesday on the wrong foot - the water in the kettle tasted horrible and I suddenly remembered I'd left citric acid in it to descale it! In itself it's a food so not dangerous, but not the taste you want in your cuppa, and DH had made a cup of tea for his friend, who drank it without saying anything! I am wondering whether to buy him a box of tea by way of apology!

We had the morning to ourselves as the other grandparents were looking after the girls, so we went for a run (repeated C25K week 3's last run, as I wanted to consolidate rather than risk shin splints from moving on before I'm really ready). We grabbed a quick lunch on returning, then had coffee at the garden centre rather than lose our freebie hot drinks for the month. £5.60 saved. Now that I'm off the sachets of cappuccino (albeit occasionally tempted), I decided to try their cappuccino without the not-so-nice chocolate topping and it was okay, so perhaps I'll have it again. I also picked up a couple of decent flower pots from their bring-and-take recycling scheme.

When we arrived to look after the children for the afternoon, both grandparents were still under par and the older grand daughter very much so. It doesn't look like an infection as no one else had symptoms and they were the only three who had a certain reheated dish. Thankfully the grandparents were well enough to travel, as they have a long road home. DH took them to the train and both girls howled when they went, to the point where A came out of his office, worried there was another sickness bout happening. The older child is emotionally very fragile with her illness but we managed to comfort them and in fact she has slept much of the day. She's back on sips of fluids and a few crackers, so I'm pretty sure she will be improved by tomorrow, but not well enough to go to nursery. DH and I worked out that we can do the child care between us, and the little one will be in nursery, all else being equal.

We went to the supermarket on the way home, which has been the only spend. (£12.90)

Cherryfudge

It's been another busy day: I saw two clients in the morning for the Wednesday job, but managed to forget my diary so I'm guessing at next appointments. Then I called in at the supermarket for dry crackers, simple fairy cakes etc - the sort of thing that can be eaten post food-poisoning (a few got used) and a little bead-threading toy to keep DGD occupied. Then I took over from DH while he went to his volunteering. It was a quiet afternoon but DGD seems much better: no longer sleepy, eating a little and playing a little. In about the last half hour she suddenly livened up and I think we can say she's better now.

DH and I had cold chicken with veg and baked potatoes for tea, then each of us had an evening church group through nearly everyone seems to be away so it was just a catchup chat.

Expenditure:
Gift £2.50
Housekeeping £7.72
DH's library fine (oops) £14.75.

rtandon27

Yikes - that is a hefty library fine - must have been almost the cost of the book!

Cherryfudge

I think it was several library fines lumped together, @rtandon27! At least we're all square now.

Cherryfudge

I went for another run this morning (determined not to let it lapse). Part way through I dropped my phone and in picking it up, I must have hit the 'pause' button as the next of the running phases seemed to be lasting longer than it should. By the time I'd worked that out, I'd probably done more than I was meant to. I was keeping slow as the app advises, and that was extra-necessary as I was on a small hill and it was quite warm - but I had to guess where I was up to and restart from there. I'd also done a balance challenge mentioned by @Sun_Addict which was gratifyingly not impossible but seems to have taxed my brain a bit. I'm going to try to do it often so my brain gets not just passable but good at balance. I know that's a useful investment for the future, but at the moment my brain is telling me it needs more energy for things like that.

Lunch finished off some avocado and tuna (ahem! and a small fairy cake), then I tidied up the kitchen in readiness for the dishwasher repair person. He wasn't here long: turns out he could reset the machine and get it going but he wasn't happy with me having take the seal out to clean it as it's stretched and he thinks that's why it's leaking. I didn't know about not taking it out but he says it should just be wiped. However, the water seems to come from underneath not from the door, though I will admit I didn't double check that. Then he wasn't happy with the plumbing behind the machine - some had come loose when DH pulled it out this morning. So we have a working dishwasher but only if we don't mind a wet floor. New door seal should be here next week and he will see if that fixes it. He said there were so many possibilities that he couldn't tell what was wrong!

Once he'd gone, I found some lentils in the freezer and made myself some dhal, enough for tomorrow too, then went to work. Nothing spent at the shops but I ordered a gift for my sister way in advance of her birthday as there was an offer. I've spent more than usual as I felt bad about not getting her a decent present last year.

Cherryfudge

Today was full-on (again), though I had a quiet morning. I'd had a reminder that I was on the church cleaning rota but a lot of usual activities are closed for the summer so when I arrived I had to let myself in and turn the alarm off. I wasn't down to do all the jobs - I'd agreed to do bins and toilets and a colleague was to hoover. Entirely my choice, but then I realised I couldn't do one area as it was in use. This is a separate organisation that we work alongside, and they only use a part of the building.

I therefore decided to work elsewhere, till they'd finished: then I found there was decorating going on and a bin rammed tightly with debris. I got frustrated as there was such a mess and it took me a while to carry the rubbish out and clear up. Eventually I realised I wasn't going to get all the jobs done so I sent a series of messages to the team to explain. I think I sounded quite fed up, then the colleague who is to do the hoovering got back to me, worried that she hadn't known she was on duty. I checked the rota and (you've guessed it) I wasn't due in this week! The message was left over from the previous team leader and presumably the current team leader doesn't receive them so wouldn't know to cancel!

So: job not finished; Cherry running late, tired and annoyed; no real case to put as I wasn't supposed to be there! When I checked the rota further, the week's cleaning was supposed to be done by the Interns, but they finished their term a week before, which is why things had built up and no one had done anything. So it's probably as well I was there. I filled about one and a half wheelie bins, imagine if that had been left over for another week!

I do have the satisfaction of leaving it better than I found it, even if the decorators will need to mess it up again! I also had a brief chat with the man who runs the project that was happening while I was there. They do a great job of giving people skills towards employment and it's really encouraging to hear what's happening.

I didn't have time to do more than dash home, throw on my uniform and jog part of the way to work, but amazingly I got there with a few minutes to spare and had three hours of work. Good job I had biscuits and sweets in my bag, and the canteen were giving away sandwiches again so I had the last of them as well as the rest of yesterday's dhal. Not a balanced diet but not too bad either.

This evening I put Epsom salts in the bath and had a nice relaxing soak. I'd intended to buy milk and completely forgot, but DH kindly went out to get some. I also dropped off a few medical blister packs at B00ts for the first time: it seemed like a complicated process with lots of taking photos so I gave up after entering ten items on the app. It may not be worth the time and trouble for me to get the points, perhaps I'll end up just shoving the empty packs into the box!

rtandon27

The world works in mysterious ways @Cherryfudge - your worship space needed you and drew you in and is better for it, rota or not!

Watty1

RT's comment made me smile, because that was what I was thinking, you were needed so you called.  Sometimes the energy in the world just works it all out.  (See all the lovely people I am encountering are making me quite 'woo woo' LOL)

Cherryfudge

Thank you @Watty1 and @rtandon27! I guess you would call it the universe and I'd say God, but I do think it was good that I was there and able to sort out a few things. I'm now debating whether to contact the team leader and express concerns - I know she has more people starting in September, but at present I think we have a problem covering all areas this month. I suppose I need to formulate my thoughts first and try to work out what's actually a problem and what's just me. For instance, I know other people would have been able to stand back and say 'I will just do the central area', but I couldn't see it like that and it was only the pressure of having my paid work to go to that enabled me to stop when I did.

Today we are going to meet up with J, L and baby A, and L's parents and it's over an hour's drive so we will be occupied all day. We were originally going to stay over with them tomorrow night but DH's work wouldn't give him the time off.