Moving on

Cherryfudge

We caught the fourth mouse of the winter this morning. At this rate I will have to market a line of fudge-icing paper cake cases as mouse lures.

The window cleaner has been and we owe for last time and this (£12). He and DH were having a happy chat about cars.

DH had the day off and has been tidying up to prepare for J and L coming for lunch on Saturday. He offered me a lift to work so I had extra time which was largely spent on hair and skin care. I also tidied up the stack of boxes and wrapping paper in the spare room, put there for the V1nted sales I've yet to make. (I sold one item).

I picked up one tiny box with brown paper in and pulled the paper out to put in the packing pile, and underneath it was the item I ordered for H at Christmas! It could have been thrown out, had I not been saving packing materials. This is just after I've emailed the company to say it hadn't been delivered. After some thought I realised I'd ordered an item for me which is what had been visible when I opened the box, and another for her (hidden). Oddly, I have separate invoices for each item, which is why I thought there was only one thing. I remember researching the item for me, but had forgotten I'd added it to that order, possibly to save on postage. It's not something I need now and H said she liked it so that's okay!

The plus side of this is that I now have a birthday present for her that I know she wanted. I also have a rather tidier spare room.

Not long after DH dropped me at work, I heard that the person I work with is off sick. I was able to get a lift home as DH was still in town, and I can claim for some of the time spent.

We went to the garden centre for coffee (£8.15) and a mooch round. Interestingly, I found I 'needed' to sit where I could see the door. It's the town where the former client who assaulted me lives. Even though I've actually seen them a couple of times and the more recent time I was quite close to them and not afraid, I still had this reaction. Nothing came of it though. I think the proximity of blue Monday or whatever it's called could have had some effect, and the fact I'm not getting much work this month. A part of me feels valued when I work so although I know in theory that my value is not in monetary terms, it's still a thing to cope with if I don't get work.

DH had a call to remind him to pay for the garage so that's been done (£260), and we went to the shops for groceries and a bit of a top-up of stores. (£16.17). I collected yet another parcel - this was a large bag to replace a tatty old one which is now in the bin and I'm very pleased with the new one. However, boredom... I've been trawling V1nted yet again. Do I need a passport holder? Absolutely not, but I saw one I liked. Then I had the bright idea of seeing what other passport holders there are, and found one for the same price that I liked better. What I was really looking for was a phone case as mine has worn through on the corners. No choices made for either item as I first liked a leather case then spotted a couple of 'junk' cases that are really pretty but would probably lose bits as soon as I tried to take them anywhere.

Dinner was salmon with pasta, sweetcorn and sauce, and it was lovely. Admittedly too many calories as I then had a y/s custard slice, but lunch was healthy: yet another helping of hummus on crackers. I'm half way through the hummus and not enough freezer space to set it aside.

I've done a couple of small jobs: replaced batteries on toddler musical books and replaced a handle on a small set of drawers. No idea how many years that's been waiting but there was a problem with the fixing which for some reason I couldn't solve in the past and easily did today. DH has paid for a hotel for the night before our holiday (£79) which went on my cc so we get some points back.

Tomorrow I've to do some cleaning at church (hoping the key to the cleaning cupboard is back in circulation!) and somehow get this house in better order as well as buy ingredients for Saturday's meal. I may well come back here to keep myself focussed.

Cherryfudge

This morning is notable mostly for Not Getting Anything Done.

DH is at work. We are having a four-way WhatsApp conversation about chickenpox as DGD2 now has it but A, not knowing we were seeing DGD3 and family tomorrow, has asked if one of us can sit with her while her sister goes swimming. I looked it up and although there's no risk to DGD3 from us, we might carry the virus on skin or clothing. Takes me right back to pandemic precautions and having to wash clothes, have a shower and wash my hair when I got in from work.

I don't think DGD3 is at higher risk in any way, but she's not old enough for a vaccination yet - and her cousins are too old to have had theirs yet. Just one of those things where they fall into the gaps.

We caught another mouse - there must be a nest, though I've not seen anything. Anyway, this one was super-mouse as it ate the bait and shook the trap till it bumped into some cleaning equipment which opened the door and mousie hurried on his (or her) way, presumably shaken but well fed - all the cake wrapper is gone! I've re-baited the trap and am listening for evidence of occupation.

Things to do: tidy lounge, put laundry on to wash, hoover, clean kitchen, clean bathroom, tidy hall, do the church cleaning (good job it's just a small area I've taken responsibility for), send in overdue timesheet, email manager about yesterday's shorter shift.

Watty1

Argh I hate mice and rat infestations. Good luck with them

Cherryfudge

I can't say I'm keen on them myself, @Watty1. They are very cute, but I don't want them indoors. I should bill them for the amount of bleach I'm getting through.

Email is sent, laundry is on the line though it's very cold so not expecting much drying, a start is made on tidying. Not huge progress, partly because I decided I had to wrestle the dreaded timesheets. One is sorted out but for some reason the cleaning job one won't accept an entry for early December, saying that it's before the post started! Now I've worked there nearly two years so I suspect what's happened is a change in management. Last time the higher management changed I was listed as working on the coast where my then manager was based, but which has never been the case. This may be similar but now I can't progress till the issue has been sorted out.

Cherryfudge

No further mice though the afternoon was a bit of a nuisance. I remembered my shopping list and managed to pick up printer paper at a bit of a discount by not buying the first I saw. £5.99 for a pack but in the second shop it was two packs for a tenner. We are finally nearing the end of all the paper inherited from parents! I also spent £1 on muffin cases.

There was no one around at church but it looks as though the area I'd offered to do had already been cleaned for the second week on the go! That's okay by me as it gave me time to do other stuff, but clearly someone hadn't followed the messages on the WhatsApp group. Then I discovered the cleaning cupboard was a mess: not just an ordinary mess but spilled products, things out of place etc. I did some tidying but in a very disgruntled way.

Meanwhile tomorrow's meal has been postponed to protect the baby from chickenpox, which was kind of a relief as the house still needed plenty done to it.

When I got home, DH was very sympathetic listening to my tales from the cleaning cupboard and pointed out that some of the mess may not have been due to other cleaners. For instance, there's been decorating going on and people don't necessarily know where to put things so they put them where they think. I felt better for talking it through and have had a restful evening (apart from the Internet getting slower and slower, no idea why).

I've resisted the 'junk' phone cases I was looking at yesterday, as really they would be more nuisance than fun. I've not bought anything off the favourited items from yesterday! I know that if I wait a while the lure of the matching passport cover and wallet will go off (crickey, I don't need more stuff). However, I would like to do a bit of an assessment of the presents box and see what I already have before buying more. I'm quite pleased to have made a start already, but must remember at the other enf of the year that it's a start, not a finish.

And while I'm thinking about Christmas (!), I've opened a YBS Christmas saver. At 5%, it was too good not to, though even if I put the maximum in, it's £34 interest, which is unlikely to make a huge difference to anything. I tried to set up a payment from another account but it's asking for a reference number and as I'm paying myself, I don't have one. I tried putting a description in and it got very wary and told me it was all my own risk, so I gave up till I can see the recipient account is properly up and running.

One more spend - £12 to the window cleaner as we missed his last visit.

rtandon27

Blimey - your window cleaner is super affordable! - ours is 22 each time he comes, so he's only hired for once every 3 month!!

WelshmansDaughter

Ooh off to look at the Christmas saver

Sun_Addict

Usually the reference is your account number. Have a look at the info on paying money in it will tell you what to do. I downloaded the YBS app and can request a transfer from my current account app direct which makes it super easy. The money transfer happened immediately. 

Cherryfudge

rtandon27 said:

Blimey - your window cleaner is super affordable! - ours is 22 each time he comes, so he's only hired for once every 3 month!!

I know, he's been coming over thirty years: his kids and ours went to the same school and at one point I felt I had to insist he wasn't asking enough and get him to put the price up by £1! He comes about once a month and it's £6 a time, though we're a mid-terrace so there aren't vast amounts of windows.

WelshmansDaughter said:

Ooh off to look at the Christmas saver

Did you get one? I've used these before and it's nice feeling I'm actively saving!

Sun_Addict said:

Usually the reference is your account number. Have a look at the info on paying money in it will tell you what to do. I downloaded the YBS app and can request a transfer from my current account app direct which makes it super easy. The money transfer happened immediately. 

Thanks SA, I got it sorted this evening. The bank sent me the reference number, but their email hadn't come through last night when I was trying to make a first payment. Now, I've made the payment and set up s standing order so the savings continue to happen. I can't be sure that I'll make them all if I leave it to my memory.

Cherryfudge

In a rather complicated turn of events, DH wasn't needed to babysit the child with chickenpox so J, L, baby A and the dog came over for lunch and a walk. We had a really nice time - a bit of stash and dashing first, but nothing impossible with both of us on board. It's also shown me a few things to go in the recycling, and we passed a mixer on to J and L. It's one I bought years ago off a colleague, thinking it was the access route to all sorts of cooking, but I soon realised it doesn't do anything that I can't do in some other way and with less washing up. However, J and L's mixer had broken but they know they can use it so it's no longer taking space in a spare room cupboard.

Lunch was a vegan stew and an apple and blackberry crumble, followed by a leisurely walk round the town. It was a good opportunity to catch up and spend some time with DGD3 who amazingly is starting to stand and take a step or two, though she's not yet able to sustain it. She's a sunny soul and very adventurous. We had offered to care for her a day a week as we do for the others but with DD's work no longer being based in our town, they don't think they can make that work. There's a second line of possibilities, but that will depend on what DD's work says about a future working pattern she's suggested.

DH has bought a few groceries and I spent 49p on an ebook. A colleague has offered to help with the children tomorrow which I appreciated as she did it to give me the week off.