Ultra frugal days ahead

Today Fahed came home from work unable to walk in from the car. Sadly its time to stop working until after the operation. He just cant move anymore.Sadly he doesn't get any sick pay but looking on the bright side at least I will come home to dinner cooked for me each day.

We are planning a BBQ this Sunday in an attempt to get the hard landscaping finished before Fahed goes in for his operation but I dont think he can do anything much to help/ Bricklaying, how hard can it be ?? This is the family last weekend working on it

And this is my sneaky little cat Merlin, who sneaks into bed when no-one is looking. Here he is trying to snuggle in behinds Fahed sleeping knee, without waking him

Good news post

Do you remember the manic bonkers period when we were doing Syrian lunches, cosplay parties etc to raise money to get my brother in laws business going back in Syria. Well it worked!! And thanks in no small part to quite a few people in the blog world, you know who you are xx

So here are some photos of Ameer with his new truck. Wife and daughter also posing. He is looking a lot older lately, and who wouldn't after all these years in a war zone and what has happened to him. Nonetheless he has a lot of get up and go and already he is starting up the business. He has the truck and has rented a shop and even has his first employee! I believe by the end of this year he will be employing quite a few people. And so the recovery begins.

Than you for all your help xx

The final picture is Ameer in the older neighbour hood where they were before. No smiles here. The devastation is overwhelming. I thought people might be interested to see though, its a real neighbourhood of real people, just just a news article.

Sorry, where was I again

I have been so grumpy lately

Having had good blood pressure my whole life I now find that in six months it is gone bonkers, literally off the charts. I dont feel stressed as such but I am waiting for my husbands operations, my mums operation, Jamal's exam (please pass), Jaml getting a job, all the thing with our pensions and T&Cs changing at work. Its all adding up to 203/91. From last summer 114/62. Damn!!
So have given up salt, caffeine, ibuprofen (for my back and neck). This week I am down to 172/76, which is a start but still horrendous.

Bored in my job since our old director left. He used to give me all sorts of interesting stuff to do. I do still manage a team of 30 but they are so amazing that they hardly need me.

Anyway today I cheered up a bit. A tony little pay rise of 2% but also two big new areas coming into my team because they aren't being done well elsewhere. More importantly i got permission for any of my staff to do their accountancy training if they want to. No longer tied to their job descriptions.  Hopefully that will be a wonderful opportunity for a few of my people. I am hoping to go on some training myself, coaching and leading. I haven't broached the subject yet but these things can be all about timing

So I am less grumpy. Let hope it reflects in my blood pressure.