Moving on

Cherryfudge

I'm glad you got through @Watty1 ! I always remember these things at the most inconvenient times.

I realised I've not set down a plan for the week, so here it is:

Monday am, did online course (it was very good and signposted to more detailed courses that should be useful too). All included with the job. pm - I am torn between seeing if the lawn mower can handle the lush grass we now have, and doing some more courses. I need to keep up my hours while I know I can fit things in. Evening - cleaning work.

Tuesday - DGD1's first day of school and we are looking after DGD2 during the day. Maybe meet up with friends in the evening.

Wednesday - lunchtime - carpet cleaner guy coming. I think DH has the day off too. The evening is the first of the church life group meetings for this term and quite possibly the only one I'll get to.

Thursday - GP appointment in the morning, cleaning in the evening.

Friday - cleaning in the evening. Probably baking during the day as DH is helping with a cake stall on Saturday. I will likely be prepping the activity and story for Sunday.

Sunday - I'm leading the children's activity and we have a team meeting after church (which I'll keep brief), then after lunch DH and I set off for our nearly-a-week away.

Cherryfudge

I did half an online course in the afternoon but it wasn't inspiring. I found I've already done some of the others that were recommended. Obviously not all that memorable.

DH has mown the grass and brought the washing in while I was at work this evening - just in time as we had a really heavy shower not long after dark and DH had to collect me from L1dl. I've not been in for a while and they now have entry and exit gates inside the supermarket. £15.24 spent on groceries, which is my fault as I bought quite a few cappuccino sachets.

Sun_Addict

They’ve had those gates for a while at the Lidl I go to. You have to scan your receipt to get out. I never seem to position mine right and it usually takes several attempts.

Cherryfudge

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82130427#Comment_82130427

The first time I used one in this store, I had my hands full and the receipt caught on something and tore, so then I had to put my bags down and carefully hold the bits together to scan them, then grab everything while the gate was open!

Cherryfudge

I felt groggy half the day today, whether due to the lingering cold or just one of those things, I don't know. However, I didn't start well as I made us late for looking after DGD2 on DGD1's first day of school. Both the parents were waiting, as were their friends with their little boy who is in the same class, so we dashed in and let them go straight away. I texted later to apologise but thankfully they will have been in good time and it was more about it being the first day.

DGD2 is (at the moment!) very easy to look after: we took her to the church playgroup, the library and the swings, and chose a library book for her sister as well. She spent quite a lot of time on the trampoline at the park, which is a bit of a luxury as she loves it but is a bit wary: she's so light and bounces around if anyone else gets on, so she's had limited opportunities till now. Eventually she was bossing us, telling us when we could join her on the trampoline and when to get off!

DH fell asleep after lunch while I was looking after DGD2, then he took her to look at the new car (she admired how much cleaner it is than the old one, and told him to 'keep it that way!' - she's not yet three 😁) - and I dozed off.

DGD1 arrived home with both Mum and Dad and all seems to have gone well. We stayed a while chatting, went back to Sa1nsburys to return the toaster we bought the other day (too big!), back to drop off some Christmas decorations the girls had made last year for the Christmas Tree festival and which the playgroup organiser had faithfully carried round to give to them ever since, then home.

Dinner was salmon - a lightly smoked one rather than the usual basic (cheaper!) ones. I don't think it will be a regular as we bought it by accident and it cost quite a bit more, but it was delicious.

I've done about 40 minutes admin from work - all counts towards that 14 hours and 48 minutes! - didn't meet my friends as one was working and I still have the cough, and spent some time cleaning and tidying in the kitchen. It's not a completed job but I'm pleased with what I got done.

Cherryfudge

Today DH and I wore ourselves out moving stuff and cleaning ready for the carpet cleaner to come. I'm glad it didn't rain as we had chairs and toys on the lawn, paperwork on the beds and the dining table in the hall with a small storage unit that goes in the dining room.

My computer decided to drop the internet connection so I did what I could to get it working again and eventually contacted the local repair person who has fixed it. He said sometimes the Wi Fi driver disappears during an update. He got it fixed while the carpets were being done.

The carpets were a disgrace and are now very nice. The person told me all about his diabetes (quite interesting and good that he's got it well under control now) then his holiday and before he left he gave me some of his home grown tomatoes!

DH sensibly got us fish and chips for tea as we were both heading for worn out, but the house looks better. I've cleaned some windows and a lot of skirting boards too.

Both of us had our church groups after tea: mine was quite relaxed and we saw plenty of the new baby while we caught up on each others' news. I probably won't be able to go much this term as there's a class on Wednesday nights - and I've still not found the Maths book that I was going to use to refresh my memory/ start learning the course work.

On the way home I nipped into L1dl as I had discounts about to expire. £15 spent - together with £85 for the carpets, there's £100 gone before you add in the takeaway that will have been around £12.

I picked up a couple of discounted courgettes, which I was pleased about, and when I got home, DH had been given some by someone in his group! So we have those to find freezer space for, or eat before we go away.

Cherryfudge

Rather a full day, as I worked all morning catching up with emails and a (short but interesting) course. I stopped before lunchtime with the idea of making a pan of chickpea tikka so I could have decent meal and leave some for DH, but I discovered we hadn't enough chopped tomatoes. We had accidentally picked up two tins with peppers and chilli in. I got myself granola, yogurt and a banana for lunch then I had to hurry out to be at an enrolment event.

The event got off to a slow start for me as my manager showed up and needed a word, and by the time she'd finished, all the other staff were busy with people who wanted to join courses, and I didn't like to butt in. I got my laptop out and tried to look busy by starting the Maths assessment they've provided us with. It was soon clear that I really don't know what I'm doing! However, I eventually had the opportunity to help someone with a form, so I wasn't totally useless.

After that I called in at the supermarket for more chickpeas then went home and had just finished making the tikka when I had to leave for work. Thankfully a colleague gave me a lift part of the way so I wasn't late. I did three hours - I know I'm getting over the cold as I wasn't worn out by it.

I'd put curtains in the wash before breakfast and they were dry tonight but neither or us feels like ironing them (they are long) so we just have a blind up in the bedroom tonight.

Nothing new financially to report, apart from that the bank balance has taken a battering so far this month. I forgot to use my Clubcard points for the second time at the end of August, so those points are lost, though it wasn't a lot. I've a library book to return soon and can't renew it as someone else wants it and the trouble with libraries is they fine you. I paid off the CC the other day but haven't yet faced looking to see how much they've charged me for forgetting to pay it in full last month. Also a probable financial thing in that DH has an emergency dental appointment as he is getting pain in what he thought was a dead tooth.

rtandon27

@Cherryfudge - I lost out on some P1zza Expr3ss vouchers that I'd converted earlier in the year but did manage to spend 19.50 of vouchers on a Gardening World Annual subscription on the last day most of them were valid! I'm spending more and more time 'nesting' at home so it seemed a sensible spend. We no longer shop at T3sco so OH's card gathers very few points for the expenditures he makes. OH's view was to spend them rather than loose them, as it's money for us one way or another and in the days of cash 'loosing' a 20 pound note would have been heartbreaking!

Glad to hear your cold is on the way out! Is there any other gentle exercise you can do in lieu of running? or does chasing grandbabies count? 😆

Cherryfudge

Haha, chasing grandbabies is most certainly exercise!

I did think of adding the T*sco points to their Christmas scheme - we don't spend massively extra at Christmas, but there's no rule to say we have to buy 'Christmassy stuff' so we could stock up on everyday stuff rather than lose them. There's also the option to donate to the Trussell Trust which sounds good to me.

This morning I was up in time to do a batch of chocolate fairy cakes for DH's cake stall, using cheap rate electricity. He's done Victoria sandwich cakes and a batch of plain but very good fairy cakes, and he likes the new silicone cake cases. We also put the dishwasher and washing machine on, plus the usual chargers for phones and a kettle of hot water to go in my insulated bottle for morning drinks. Won't know what to do with those early mornings once the clocks change and the cheap electricity stops an hour earlier.

I've reached the end of the first week of the new job, and actually managed to find enough hours of activity to justify it. I had wondered what it would look like when my existing week was overlaid with work and I now have more of an idea, though I won't start my normal term time pattern till we get back from holiday. The manager got the team together this afternoon to chat through how it's gone: two of us haven't been able to use our laptop phones, which has slowed things down for us but that's in the hands of IT now.

This evening I was at my cleaning job for three hours so I've had a busy day. the downside is the pain in my foot: I'm pretty sure it's the Mortons' Neuroma playing up but the GP will have to check this. It feels as though it's growing every day, but it could be that sitting down has allowed it not to be squashed into submission when I walk on it. I'm going to try gel pads in my shoes to take the pressure off.

I have been too busy to go to the shops today: DH got us Southern Fried chicken for tea and I got snacks at work as I was cleaning in DH's department and they had the remains of a tray of fruit. Most of it sadly went in the bin as they said it had been out since the day before! I do wonder that no one thought of putting it in the fridge, but things like apples and bananas were safe enough.

And there's a problem with Sunday: I thought my co-leader was preparing the material for me to take the session but despite a couple of nudges from me, I've heard nothing back. She has three young children so it could just be the pressures of the first week back at school, or perhaps she is intending to give it to me on Sunday morning, but I would far rather have time to process what I'm doing and think how to put it across, so I started on my own version tonight. If there's still nothing from her in the morning, I'll develop my plan but base the layout on how she did last week, which worked very well. I found when I started to plan that I was enjoying myself so perhaps I need to stick my neck out and say I'll do a percentage of the curriculum. She is undoubtedly very skilled: I just think she may have too much on her plate to churn out something every week.

WelshmansDaughter

Perhaps the pain is being felt more due to tiredness and illness? When I am overworked I usually feel everything to the nth degree.

The job sounds interesting although I think I have lost track, I thought you were doing a cleaning job?