Old Style Diary Archive - JUL 05

Aril

Hello all
Not too much going on today OS wise although hoovered the house before leaving for work. The small person is doing his last performance of Alice in Wonderland tonight- we went last night and it was delightful. Tea is going to HM burgers using my Lakeland burger maker and then a quick whizz over to Tesco to pick up the bits I need to make the brown rice salad for the BBQ we're going to on Saturday. Tomatoes which were given to me are coming on a treat and should be ready for picking within the next week or so.
Cheerio
Aril

nicki_2

VickyA wrote:

Contratulations nicki on getting all those things sorted! And your DD being able to read "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" at the age of 4 - I am very impressed . She really deserves a treat - and one which will turn her into an Old Styler too. You must be very proud .

I am She's not just OS with her knitting either - she loves making her own cards, baking and growing veg. :j She wants to learn to iron and use my sewing machine as well but I've told her no until she is 10 - that's when I learnt and I think she'll be old enough then to do the basics, mind you that is less than 6 years away which is nothing really :eek:

ancasta_2

Just had a very panicky phonecall from OH who is down in london working for the BBC and he let me know there had been more suspected bomb blasts, minutes before it was announced... i want him on a filght home tonight... ill even sell a kidney to get him on a plane home!

squeaky

Oh dear!

Just managed to log onto the BBC news.

r.mac_2

oh Bu**er!

I bet they did that just because they know I am about to leave for the airport. Currently my director is pacing my office trying to decide if I am 'allowed' to go to London for this meeting or not. hurumph.

oh well, perhaps it's a weekend at costa del home rather than my friends in central London!

Trow

It sounds very 'copycat'-y - three underground, one bus, people with rucksacks but this time the timing is different and no explosives used.

I'm just glad that I am back home unlike last time - I left London on the Wed and was returning on the Sunday...

Anyway, back on topic:

I made toasties for lunch using leftover chilli from last night, and have baked to passion cakes (YUM!) using up frozen bananas past their best, and a plum crumble using up loads of reduced plums from the supermarket.

Now I have to go to work, but only for an hour or so. Will be doing nothing old style tomorrow as am working from 7am to??? Could be 5pm, could be 7pm, could be 9pm - won't know until the work is finished

greenlogo

Afternoon all

Working all day today and then out to get a couple of things at the shops after work...

had my usual bring-in breakfast from home - seedy porridge *yum* - and some of the pasta I made and froze on sunday (it's amazing what can be turned into a luxurious pasta sauce with a wee bit of cream cheese and some pine nuts!)

I'm getting my friend a bottle of (pink?) bubbly from M&S (as my Mum, source of all knowledge, claims that it has the cheapest yumee one) so I'll have a scout and see if they've any good foodie offers; have a quick trawl round the sales and head to sainsburys for some proper shopping as I don't usually get to sainsburys and I'll be in the vicinity.

I was thinking of wrapping the bottle in tissue and cellophane (pink, she likes pink ) and attaching a little packet with a couple of tea lights and a couple of little choccies? She's a very girlie girl and aspires to a lifestyle of fabulous shoes and things and I think she should enjoy that muchly.

enjoy the rest of your days all!


anacasta - it's soul destroying when you've nothing to do at work - that's why I'm looking to move. Hopefully yourday will pick up a bit *hugs* (and I know exactly the bit of HP you mean...)

VickyA - GOOD LUCK! I'm sure that the practise interview you did will stand you in good stead.

(((snowyowl))) I hope she's off too - and that your managers sort her out sharpish

Somersetprincess -sounds like a busy and productive day!

AT - I'm campaigning for more heat WHEN I'M NOT AT WORK it's been nice the whole time I'm stuck in here and vile as soon as I make it through the door! Bah!

(((TM))) - you're allowed to be tired when your sleep's been broken like that - a nice big cuppa sounds in order for you today... lots of cooking to do (and all your talk of ginger cake has gotten my mouth watering. Numee).

Hi Gigglebox - I love your avatar... mmmmmmmm the delectable mr Marsters . Not such good news about the reductl (although if it works, that's fab) but nice to know the tests didn't show up anything unpleasant.

R.mac - England is indeed abroad - after all their money's all different...

Culpepper - I envy you your fridge (and hope to be in a similar position of having an actually cold fridge very soon!). Horribly inconsiderate of the neighbour's boy last night - does he do it very often?

Elona - I say if it's easy and it's your DD's fave you can't go wrong really

Bonnie - I hope your assessment goes well, good luck.

Nicki - wow. Your list made me grin - sounds like things are going really really well today. Long may it continue.

loadsabob - sounds like the train is the way to go until the term starts then - it's nice to get a bit out and about at this time of year and I'm sure your walk will be lovely.

tootles - scone bribery sounds like the way to go to me

soba - you're making me hungry! Your lunch sounds yumee!

ancasta_2

GreenLogo....

Its just that one line.... and it sets me off crying again... booo hoooo

Pooky

Afternoon all - I was going to say I've had a completely OS free day....but thinking about it - I've had a very OS day.

Was working today but got together with another childminder and we had an outing to the zoo, all the kids were under 5 so got in free, we managed to blag free tickets as we phoned in advance to see what rate they could do us, laying it on thick that we were childminders, but hey it worked! One of the parents gave us petrol money as she was pleased we'd be going out for the day, another parent provided sweets and one of the others gave drinks. Lunch for me was homemade bread and some reduced price humous. :j

I went out with a few spare pound in my purse and came back with it too.

Kids had a wonderful time and all 5 fell asleep on the way home - a whole 40 mins of silence - was sheer bliss.

Finished work now and will think about putting some bread going and some washing - but then again - I might just have a bath and see what happens later

SnowyOwl_2

squeaky wrote:

? Why don't you all just ignore her completely and just get on with each other in a normal friendly way? You're all letting her dictate the atmosphere in the office. If you all start chatting (and gossiping and giggling - whatever) amongst yourselves things will feel a whole lot better.

Has anybody ever asked her why she isn't talking to you all?

Oh dear Squeaky, if only it was that simple! I am new as is one other person - both of us are getting the cold shoulder. The third person being frozen out is our line manager - she gets a bit more conversation, but only if it's about work - greetings etc get ignored. When I joined I thought the layout of the office was a bit strange - it's quite a big space but the four of us are arranged so that nobody faces each other. I am sat staring at the photocopier and have our manager behind me facing my back (anybody reading the feng shui thread will be having palpitations!!). Thought nothing of it, just "hmmm, bizarre". So this huffing started five or six weeks ago (though has been a couple of years with our line manager!) and I've been doing a bit of "research" to get to the bottom of it. Seems this girl has been spoken to before for similar behaviour towards other people. Also the desks were arranged in that odd manner because in previous times, and with our two predecessors, there was a lot of back-stabbing and !!!!!iness. To stop that management (above our line manager) came in one day and just moved everyone's desk during lunchbreak to how they are now. I have spoken to our line manager and asked why she allows such ignorant behaviour towards herself, never mind us two newbees. The reply was "it's her personality, she'll never change". Or to put it another way our line manager is intimidated - she gets a stress rash on her neck when she asks our friend to do anything. I have complained to a director about the situation and apparently something is going to be done. Who knows when though - they are appallingly bad managers there, it's really painful to watch and be subject to, especially when the way to resolve it is so crystal clear....sack the b*tch!! Only joking...a disciplinary interview would help, and during that she should be offered guidance on anger management & learning to be assertive as opposed to passively angry, or sometimes aggressively angry (she has quite a mouth on her sometimes). BTW the sin myself and the other newbe committed was that we went to break and left the back office empty. This had happened before, however our friend decided that day to abruptly end her break and go and cover the office. We didn't know that someone had told her to ensure the office was never left empty, nor did we know that she was expecting us two new ones to stay behind...all she had to do was ask! I think that she is actually angry at herself and doesn't know how to articulate her feelings and that the only thing she can do is to ignore those who make her angry. What a mess!! I wasn't going to put any of this on the boards but since ya asked Squeaky here it is...but I will modify it later as really, it's more gossip than anything else. As far as I am concerned I have done nothing wrong and (apparently) I have got the ball rolling for this problem to be addressed. The problem is on-going, predates me and affects more people than just me, hence why I have not tackled her directly. I'm not seeking advice here as such, more letting off a bit of steam and thinking out loud (though quietly via the keyboard if you know what I mean). Though if anybody has any wise words, I'd be glad to hear them.

So to summarize, I had a sh*t day at work today.

It's my birthday tomorrow (still hanging onto my thirties, but only just!) so I am going to do some baking tonight to feed the gannets at work. Po Face won't be in tomorrow so I can enjoy my birthday, if that is possible at work.

Oh and I broke a tooth last night, so have to go and see my ginger dentist - he's cute, every cloud has a silver lining!