Bricks Not Books

Not a massive amount to update with this month, partly because the OP was fairly standard and partly because I've been helping organise a conference at work and so I've been a little bit brain-flat this month as all the conference planning has been very time-consuming and a bit stressful.

Had a lovely month of activities with DH. Celebrated the anniversary of our first date (four years ago) by revisiting the V&A Museum in London (venue of said first date). Going in to London at the start of a heatwave was a bad idea, had a lovely time at the museum and a nice lunch at Bella Italia, but getting back to the train station afterwards was hideous. We ended up getting off the Central Line at St Pauls and walking to Liverpool Street with cold drinks in hand as the underground was so hot it was making me feel a bit ill DX The walk was nice though, on a weekend walking around central London can be quite pleasant as, barring the crowds at the usual spots, it's not too busy. A lot of tourists think you have to get the tube or buses to get anywhere, but actually a twenty minute walk can be much nicer.

We also had my in-laws up last weekend as our little down, which is on the banks of a river, held it's annual regatta. In-laws brought my DH's Nan with them, so we all had a lovely picnic on the waterfront and admired the boats sailing by. Unfortunately because it was so cloudy and quite breezy we neglected the suntan lotion. OH got sunburn on his arms, I got it on my knees!! It was really painful until I managed to find some aloe-vera aftersun cream in Boots on the Monday, I was actually limping at one point because walking was making the sunburn hurt.

Anyway, conference went well and I've been working from home this morning, now got the rest of the afternoon off due to all the time owing I've built up. Going to go and have a nice relaxing bath in a minute, and then I might go out for lunch before I do the food shopping, once the laundry that's currently in the machine is done (I don't like to leave it incase it leaks XD)

In house news we now have a wardrobe! Arrived from IKEA last Sunday and DH had it up and assembled by lunchtime. I have a LOT of clothes though so I need to have a bit of a clearout, most of my stuff is still in bags from when I moved in back in March! If I haven't worn it or missed it in the past three months then there may be scope for giving a lot of it to a charity shop. Quite a few of the tops I wear to work also now have holes in as I've had them for a few years, so at some point I need to get some new clothes as well.

Oh, and my promotion and pay increase paperwork was all approved! So once the team has a new recruit I can handover tasks to them and take on all the new stuff my manager wants me to do (lots of comms stuff and social media work, and stuff to improve the website). I also got back pay to May, when the application went in, so I've got a lovely little bonus in my pay this month! Our budget has been fine, we haven't been getting in debt or anything, but it just gives us a little more flexibility with things around the house, or with having a day out. I'm not sure what my new monthly wage will be just yet, as the backpay addition means I've paid more in tax etc this month, but next month I can redraft our budget and see what we can adjust with it.

My aim in July is to also finally sort out our joint account, as we've been planning on sorting it for months and just haven't got round to it.

Anyway, OP this month was £62.57! I didn't actually round up the account this month as I just haven't had time to focus, so must do that in July instead. Going to have a bloody great expenses cheque in July too, my train ticket to the conference was horribly expensive!

Aww thank you everyone! You're right SW, there's some lovely people round here :T

MissLemon - I occasionally clear out the ones I definitely won't read again, but DH would be very cross with me if I did the same to his books!

CathT - It's quite tiring, but I'm also allowed to park outside the office two days a week, which also helps!

Mortgage payment goes out tomorrow. As part of my new aim to OP whenever possible, instead of hanging on to the money until the end of the month, I sent off our standard OP plus a TT of £3.08, so that's £33.08 OP in July. Quidco are sending £5.39, and my expenses claim will be over £60 so I should be sneaking in over the £100 mark this month! :beer: :j

New Doctor Who is a woman :j Really pleased with that. I don't get to see women be the heroes that much, it'll be nice to know we don't constantly need rescuing :T

Anyway, I've had most of the past week off work! Went in to the office Monday morning to finish off a few bits and send a handover email to my manager, who was back on Tuesday. Then had lunch in a Bella Italia in Cambridge and had a long walk around the shopping centre and the street outside, got a few bits from The Works for my Christmas shoeboxes, and bought a nice top and some DVDs from some of the charity shops around there before driving home and putting my feet up.

Tuesday the car had to go in the garage for some work so I was a bit stranded for the day. Tried to get some garden sacks (our council doesn't have wheelie bins) but even though I'd registered for and printed off the voucher we were told to get, the town council office had run out of bags :mad: Quite frustrating but they told me to phone on Friday when they'd hopefully have more. Then when I went to pick up my car they told me they'd spotted a problem with my suspension as well. They're a recent lot and showed me where the problem was so they clearly weren't making it up, luckily they could squeeze me in for Friday as it really had to be fixed ASAP before I went back to commuting.

Wednesday was a day in Colchester, lots of wandering around, spot of tea and a nice cheese scone in a cafe there which helps people who've been long-term unemployed develop workplace skills. Got a few little bits in the charity shops, including some sewing bits I can post out to a friend, and a few bits from Wilko including two hanging baskets! Thursday I drove up to a garden centre, had another cheese scone for lunch, and got some plants and plant pots, and some cake to take home for me and DH. Planted four petunias in the hanging baskets and two more in a little trough pot, and three very small lavender plants in another trough pot. They're now all outside, making the place look a bit nicer. I'm hoping the lavender will grow to be a bit bigger than it currently is, the plants were only £1.50 each and there's only a few stems on each one. But I'm under the impression that it can get quite big, so hopefully they'll grow.

Finally car went back to the garage on Friday. Managed to get the garden sacks, and also registered me and DH with the local GP so that's now in progress too! Week ended up being more expensive than I hoped, especially after a recent IKEA trip as well, but it's two weeks until payday so I can be careful until then.

Hopefully my expenses will be paid out next week and that will be the next large OP to go, will also do my best to scrimp the pennies for an extra TT or two between now and 31st!

Next week off is in 6 weeks after the August bank holiday. I am counting down the time. This week off wasn't long enough DX