Tuesday 27 October 2009

and finally....

My old laptop is home. They have kept it so long that I didn't think I was ever going to see it but apparently I should have phoned! They are right, i should have but as they said they would phone me then I thought they meant it. Anyway it is back, working as well as laptop of its grand age can and more importantly they saved the photos and my ramblings, which I thought I had accidentally deleted when I tried restore to back up. I could of course manage without the laptop but I would have been sad to lose the photos and my writing. This week I am making an effort to back everything up properly.

Its all change at my work next week. I have a new boss. I have answered directly to the director of finance for the last ten years (eek!) but the board have decided he now needs a direct assistant, so now we have a Group Financial Controller. I didn't apply for the job as I prefer the day to day management of the team, which I will still have,in fact I will have even more of as staff in the other locations will also report to me going forward. But all the same its a bit unsettling. I am wondering whether I do want to work for so much longer. I know I want to work, I don't like the idea of sitting aournd doing nothing, but I am not sure I want to work at my same job. I wish I could be a definite in my plans as some bloggers whose blogs I read.

Today we are at home on day two of our week off. My car is in the garage (its a lot easier to do this sort of thing when we have time of so servicing etc get caugt up). We also made repairs to the stairs. The house is over 100 years old and in places it is definitely fallen to bits. Anyway it is slightly less falling to bits today than it was yesterday. Some holes and a rather dodgy shelf (yes, put up by me originally) have been sorted out in the sitting room. By tomorrow it will be all smoother plaster which just needs painting over. Tonight my son is coming home with a couple of mates to sleep over. I hope it not mean to ask them to move my desk and filing cabinet upstairs to my new office. I am sure they wont mind, especially as the stairs have been mended!!

We also started to talk about a few changes to our house renovation plans today. Maybe things will change in the area that has yet to be touched. Its quite excitying but we need to talk more to be sure its the right decision as it is more expense (isnt everything!)

Saturday 24 October 2009

Cake for Daizy

I received this recipe on a round robin email this week. Good for anyone who needs to be a bit spoilt but really has no time.

5 MINUTE CHOCOLATE CAKE!!

4 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)
A small splash of vanilla essence
1 large coffee mug

Add dry ingredients to your largest mug and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly. Pour in the milk and oil and mix well. Add the chocolate chips (if using), vanilla essence , then mix again.




Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts (high).
The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed!
Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired.
EAT! (this can serve 2 if you want to feel slightly more virtuous).



You are now only 5 minutes away from chocolate cake at any time of the day or night!


Friday 16 October 2009

So much excitement.....

The weekend has caught up with me quickly. It seems like it should only be Thursday tomorrow but I am glad it is Saturday. I don't like that the weeks go so quickly but I think it probably reflects my contentment with my life. Surely it would drag by other wise. So its Friday night and we are at home, watching an ancient DVD, snuggled under quilts on the sofas. It is nowhere near cold enough for heating yet, we haven't even started shutting the door curtains yet, but the blankets make it cosy and comfy.

Tomorrow I plan day of washing & cleaning, a little grocery shopping (Asian and Chinese supermarkets - fun to visit and good for bargains) and perhaps finish off my new office. ON Saturday evening my son and I will visit my parents whilst my husband does his volunteer lifesaving teaching at the local pool. Same old, same old. Should I be revolting against the mundane, the endless repetition? I cant. Its an established pattern but we all seem to like it.

If I finish all of my chores tomorrow then I will spend Sunday re-working the budget. I have got a new deal of phone costs, both mobile and land line which I also need to weave into the mix. For fun I might also bake a cake.

I have to admit it is a bit low on excitement. When we have finished the Crete house I would like to travel again. To visit new places and brush against other cultures. Travel is about the only thing I miss from my current life. But I know its place will be back soon. In the mean while, I am content.

Sunday 11 October 2009

Sunday morning

Still feeling a bit rough actually but off to work tomorrow. Sometimes being back in the office makes me feel better as I have less time to dwell on being ill.

I did do a fair bit of housework yesterday and the place looks as good as it can as a building site and general tool store. Today I need to do some planning for winter. This includes measure up for curtains in the conservatory. We didn't need them in the summer but it got very cold out here last winter so thermal curtains should help there. We also need to back the radiators with the metal sheets which reflect the heat back into the room as the wooden walls just absorb all the lovely heat at the moment. If I am talking about winter then the fly curtains (double width bamboo curtains on the conservatory double doors) can come down.

I also need to package the bits and bobs which I sold on eBay. I intended to advertise some model cars as well but they don't seem to be going very well at the moment. I guess its easier to sell essentials than luxury items in the recession & I don't think anyone could call model cars an essential. SO they are going back into the attic for another time. It is a good time to sell gold apparently as gold is at its highest ever price, according to a man on the radio yesterday. I cant think how this fits in with the problems of the global economy but I am sure there is a correlation. I suspect that all my stray earrings and broken chains don't make an ounce between them so I wont be rich.

My husnand carried out his mystery shopping successfully. It doesnt pay much but he thinks its great fun so I am looking out for more for him. At one shop he had to buy some mens clothes and bought some trousers which were reduced from £25 to £12.50 and then another 25% off, so he decided to keep his purchase. We only made about £1 but it didnt take 30 minutes in total and he loves he new free trousers. At the bank he had to pay in a cheque and make an enquiry. He kept phoning me form his mobile to tell me the answers in case he forgot them so I half expected his to be arrested as he was looking very much like a bank robber, casing the joint. I was quite pleased when he made it home to us at all. He also started investigating how to fix the kids games consols & mended an ancient PS2 & xbox 360 without much trouble. We used to use the games consols to watch DVDs so we have watched some old boxed sets of 24 and Bones this week. Great fun, especially if you dont normally watch TV.

ok, time to get moving & do some work and also my neighbours cat (we should call her rent-a cat, they feed her but otherwise she has moved in here)has come in for her daily cuddle.

Friday 9 October 2009

Catch up weekend

I havn't spent as much time as I like to on my blog since holiday. I have been madly busy as usual and also my laptop is still in the shop havings its transplant. However I have a had a bit of a chance to catch up on blog reading (although I cant seem to comment using this machine, something to do with my proxy server???). I am a little envious of two of the bloggers I follow & some people might say they are lucky, but you only have to read their individual blogs to realise that planning, goal setting, hard work and discipline are far more responsible than luck. Reminding me that when we bought the house in Crete lot of people told me how lucky we were. Hmm, well sort of but the harder I work the luckier I get. All the same I am a little envious of Laura & Daizy,who are both making an impressive bid for freedom from the rat race (or mouse racing as I heard on Kingdom, sounds much nicer).

I have been off work for a couple of days with a cold and chest infection. I feel better today but not fit for much. This meant plenty of chance for 'work' on the laoptop. Financial plans have been overhauled, budgets prepared, lots of reading on MSE site and forums for frugal tips, changed power suppliers and started analysing our needs with landline suppliers. As a direct money making ploy,I have also listed lots of clothes & other goodies on ebay, changed energy supplier via quidco to get £60 cash back and booked two mystery shopping session for my husband ( he likes them, makes him feel like secret squirrel, and I am feeling better but still too poorly for that sort of thing)and applied for a tax refund based on an old P60 I found whilst looking for something else.

I feel quite invigorated by having the chance to sit and think for a while. Maybe being ill sometimes is there for a reason. and as it is FRiday I now have two days to catch up on housework and some of the other things i had planned.

Hurray for enforced sloth, once in a while!

My life

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