Friday 29 April 2016

Lists lists and more lists

After a reshuffle at work hubby and I have come to a decision, he had his  staff review last week, I had mine on Thursday.
I'm getting a pay cut of £120pa, but I do still have a job (redundancies were threatened).
Some people have lost as much as £3000, most have lost about £1000.
There are a lot of very annoyed support staff at work now, some in floods of tears.
Teaching staff are not being affected, it is always us at the bottom end of the scale who take the financial hit.
Hubby's job has been restructured and his position is untenable, he still has not fully recovered from losing his mum and the current stress is beginning to take  it's toll on him already.
I am putting my house on the market, in some ways I am gutted, I fought so hard to get the house, which was a wreck, hubby worked hard to make it liveable.
This has had to be my decision as the house is in my sole name, but I think it is the correct decision for us.
We have decided to downsize so hubby can get out of what is rapidly becoming a toxic situation at work.
He is looking for another job but as he is 60 it is not going to be easy.
I'm madly decluttering, so much stuff to get rid of, I'm making copious lists, which stuff to give away, which stuff to sell. Which stuff will fit in a one bed place.
If we end up with one bed flat I may be able to keep my sewing machine, if we can only manage a studio apartment then I'll be lucky to keep even a crochet hook.
We are dog sitting this weekend, next weekend we are going to B&Q.
We need to get top dollar for this house so there are a few jobs we need to do to bring it up to scratch. I used to be a big fan of The House Doctor, so I am approaching my decluttering with that in mind.
We need to stay fairly local so I can still get to work and I can still support my DD. We will also put our name down for an allotment, so hubby can still enjoy his hobby.
I've cancelled Sky, downgraded our phone tariffs and bought a jar of peanut butter for me and some thinly sliced ham for hubby so we can take sandwiches to work from now on. 
Yesterday I was offered 3 weeks cat sitting, this will make up the shortfall in my wages so I accepted gratefully.

Thursday 28 April 2016

Ye gods and little fishes, why me, why me?

I arrived home from work today to a state of devastation.
I had left my house guest in the kitchen, I didn't dare leave her the run of the house as she widdled on my L&M's side of the bed yesterday and got hair in the butter dish when taking a short cut from one side of the room to the other by going straight across the table!
At some point during the day my guest decided she wasn't happy looking out of the window from the chair I'd put there.
She decided instead to climb on to the window sill, knocking off a bowl of potpourri smashing it to smithereens in the process and scattering potpourri over the entire kitchen floor and also dislodging 4 glass candle holders, smashing two of them. To my great relief there was no blood anywhere, so she hadn't cut herself in the process.
She was deliriously happy to see me and I sat on the decking in the sunshine whilst she pottered in the garden.
She is a lot less stressed today, I stayed on the settee last night to keep her company, though actually I had no option, my beloved L&M was asleep on my side of out bed as his side was wet!
Last night she paced the room panting until about 2am, stopping occasionally to push her cold wet nose into my hand, looking for a reassuring stroke.
Eventually she wore herself out, climbed onto the settee, curled up in the crook of my knees and fell asleep.
We woke up around 5ish and I took her for a walk, I had already let her out in the garden but she started to pace again and showed no interest in performing her morning toilet. She didn't perform during her walk either, being too interested in her surroundings.
I had resigned myself to putting newspaper down for before I left for work, but as soon as I went to the bathroom and sat on the toilet she plonked herself beside me and pooped on the floor!
I scooped it up and flushed it down the toilet and then cleaned the floor.
She is currently asleep on my lap, making it very difficult to type.

Work review, update.

I have a pay cut, only £120 a year, I can cope with that. Other people have been harder hit.
Most of us do holiday work, 5 to 10 days a year, that has all gone now.
I gave mine up a while ago, I only do 2 days a year, the last 2 days before we start in September. and I'm allowed to keep them as it will cause too many problems to the teaching staff if I'm not there on those 2 days.
I have lost 2 inset days, that's where I lose the money, hey ho, some colleagues have lost between £1000 & £3000, now that would be a real blow.
Some people were in tears, worried about their future, especially those who are the sole breadwinner in the family. 
Of course teaching staff are unaffected by these cuts, and money is wasted in other directions as usual.

Wednesday 27 April 2016

Mad dogs and Englishmen

Or in this case a mad Polish dog, my latest lodger, she is beautiful but very stressed  at the moment as she doesn't understand why she is here. Her owners have returned to Poland for a wedding and their dog sitter let them down at the last minute




She keeps climbing on the back of the settee standing on her hind legs so she can look at herself in the mirror. I've never met a vain dog before!

Finally finished




I finished this yesterday evening and dropped it off with DGD this morning, she was so pleased with it in fact she wore it as a cape for most of the day

Tuesday 26 April 2016

Worry, worry, panic, panic

It's review time again, most people are having their reviews in groups, but 2 of us have our reviews alone.

My colleague and I are both very worried, we will know our  fate on Thursday.

One staff member has had part of their job taken away and has been advised to expect a £3000 pay cut, ouch.

Monday 25 April 2016

Birthday gift



So what do you buy your daughter for her birthday?
New clothes, perfume, maybe flowers or chocolates?
Me?
I hired a skip for mine!
Believe it or not she is delighted with her birthday gift.


Sunday 24 April 2016

Still on my hook


DD5's blanket, I'm on the last ball of coloured yarn, then it just needs a white border.

Bucket List

I pinched this from Facebook, a list of question about things I have or haven't done.

Fired a gun, frequently, my ex was a licensed gun holder.

Gone on a blind date, quite a few in my younger days.

Skipped school, only once.

Watched someone give birth, yes I was there when my DD had her twins.

Watched someone die, yes more than once, all family members.

Visited Canada, I've not travelled beyond Europe
Visited Hawaii, ditto
Visited Las Vegas ditto
Visited Asia ditto
Visited Africa ditto
Visited Florida ditto
Visited Mexico ditto
Visited Australia ditto
Visited New Zealand ditto
Seen Grand Canyon ditto
Visited L.A ditto
Been to New York, ditto

Flown in a helicopter, no but have flown in a small plane.

Served on a jury, no.

Cried yourself to sleep, yes, but not since I was a teenager.

Recently coloured with pencils, yes.

Sang karaoke, yes.

Paid for a meal with coins only, yes

Made prank phone calls, yes but not since I was a child.

Laughed so much you cried, yes.

Caught a snowflake on your tongue, yes.

Had children, yes 4.

Had a pet, yes lots, cats, dogs, rats, rabbits, chinchillas, guinea pigs, mice, hamsters to name just a few.


Been skinny dipping, yes


Abseiled down a building, no but one of my DD's has.


Been downhill skiing, no.


Been water skiing, no.


Been camping in a tent, yes many times.

Ridden a motor bike, yes.

Jumped out of a plane, no.

Been to a drive in movie, no.

Done something that could have got you killed, yes, tried to get my ex to pay me a fair share when we divorced and he is a licenced gun owner.
Done something you regret for the rest of your life, yes though it was something my ex did that I was unaware of until it was too late.

Ridden Elephant or Camel, no.

Donated blood, yes.


Stayed in Hospital, yes 8 times, mostly to give birth.

Been in a car accident, yes.

Stolen any traffic signs, no. 

Been in newspapers, yes.

Been on TV, yes.

Eaten just cookies or cake or ice cream for dinner, yes.

Worked in a pub, no it is probably the only job I haven't done.


Driven over 100 mph, yes.

Paid for a strangers meal, yes.

Fallen in love, yes.

Been divorced, yes.

Been married, yes twice.

Ever owned your dream car, I don't have a dream car.

Driven a standard car, yes.

Got a tattoo, no, I hate them with a passion, despite my L&M having about a dozen.

Got a piercing except for ears, yes 3 that only my L&M & Dr would see

Had to pay a fine in the past 12 months, yes, drove in a bus lane.

Been scuba diving, yes.

Lived on your own, yes for 10 years.

Found a dead body, no.

There are a lot of things I have done that aren't on this list, maybe I'll post about those another day.

Saturday 23 April 2016

Rush, rush, rush


Bluebell woods near dance class.
Friday afternoon is always a rush, we left work, went to the village centre, to the bank and to get meat & veg for the weekend.
We collected DGD5 from school at 3 though it's usually 3:15 by the time they have all filed out, we then came back to our house so she could change into her dance wear, she also had a drink and a snack.
We have to be at dance at 4 and parking is difficult now the class has moved to a small hall further away, with only a dozen parking spaces, also DGD is in the 2nd class so the carpark is still full of the previous class's parents.
When DGD finished dance class we took her home via the local newsagent so she could buy a magazine. We collected DGD8, brought her home, played domino rally and read stories until it was bed time.
Just to make these journeys complete, there is a road closure which meant all this took nearly 4 hours.
Still the bluebells were lovely in the woods near the dance class.

Decisions decisions

Nana has so many different colours of felt.
Pom-pom fish in blue felt waves. 

Friday 22 April 2016

Sorry Lyssa

Sorry I mentioned Wool Warehouse Lyssa, I was like that with the Bookworm Thread on MSE, I followed it for 2 weeks and bought 30 books for my kindle. I had to stop following the tread before I became bankrupt.

Wednesday 20 April 2016

Such a shame


Normal service has now resumed

My interfacing arrived today so I will make my bags tomorrow, the fasteners are still on route but I can wait for them to arrive.

I didn't start sewing the bags tonight as I went out for a lovely meal with DD1, we had a great time catching up.
DGD5's blanket is growing quickly.


The interfacing wasn't the only thing to arrive today, I ordered more yarn from Wool Warehouse, I ordered it late evening on the 18th and it arrived today, what fantastic service.

Sunday 17 April 2016

Saturday 16 April 2016

Before and after pics, my dining chairs recovered


I found a large piece of navy furnishing fabric, so all the chairs are the same.



Before

After


Beat the Street

People taking part are given a small fob and a map, the map has a list of all local Beat boxes and shows their position.

The boxes are attached to lamp posts or traffic signs.
The idea is that people walk from one box to another tapping their fob on the boxes they pass.

They can then keep a check on how many boxes they've visited.

http://beatthestreet.me/

Weekend

I have DGD5 here, she had a sleepover here last night and was up just after 5am, we'd made choc chip muffins by just after 7.

Her sister, 18mths is arriving about 10 until 3 or 4, so I won't get much done today, I swept the downstairs last night after DGD had gone to bed and have done 3 loads in the WM, they will be drying over the maiden today as it is raining here.

DGD & I have been out for a long walk in the rain doing Beat The Street, it certainly made her enthusiastic about walking.

My L&M is going out with some friends this afternoon, the DGD's will have gone home before he gets home so I will have a couple of hours on my own. I'm going to go through my fabric stash, I need to recover my dining room chairs. I may end up doing them mix and match as I don't think I have enough of any one fabric to cover all 6 of them.

I will also try and cut out another bag too, I can't wait for the interfacing to arrive so I can finish them.

My L&M are having a weekend away in May, I've booked tickets and a cheap B&B, we are going to a boat show, there is live music in the evening which should be fun.

Thursday 14 April 2016

A splurge on Amazon

So far this week I've bought:-

Some rainbow braces, it's the only way I can wear trousers or leggings, I buy them 2 sizes too big and keep them up with the braces.


A pack of 96 wooden pegs, some to use on the clothes line, some to copy Attic24's idea of keeping yarn samples on pegs.

Some middle and heavy weight interfacing, I have only light weight in my craft room and I want to make a bag, I have cut it out, I got the pattern from the So Zo blog.
Some magnetic fasteners also for the bag. 
This is the outer fabric it is navy and green though it is very washed out in this pic.

This is the lining fabric.


This is the pattern I purchased from SoZo.





So far this is all cash neutral as I'm spending money I made on ebay.
I also got a PPI refund, only a £200, but it's gone towards another extra months mortgage payment.


Another blanket

Lots of small squares in blue, green and purple, I think I'll add a few pink ones too.

I'm joining as I go with the squares attached on the diagonal.

Wednesday 13 April 2016

Rainy day




Wet and cold, but still had a great time, I didn't like the half an hour of sleet we had.

Tuesday 12 April 2016

Sex on the canal

We were by now on the Ashby canal, very quiet and very rural.
The only things worrying me were the canal side signs saying 'Ashby Anal Society'.
I was concerned that it might be compulsory.
I eventually realised that some local wag had blanked out the letter c's on all these signs, it was a great relief.

Last year DD bought my L&M a padded lumberjack shirt, it is lovely and warm so he wore it almost continually throughout the holiday.
Unfortunately  when the sun peeped through the clouds the jacket proved too warm so he wanted it unzipped.
As soon as the clouds crept back my L&M got cold and wanted the jacket zipped up.
As he was steering this left only one hand free and he found it impossible to work the zip one handed.
Being a dutiful wife I was always there to lend a helping hand, unfortunately as I can't see to well the easiest way to do the zip was to kneel at my L&M's feet, this way I could clearly see what I was doing.
I thought we were getting some strange looks, but it wasn't until,  as we passed one boat someone on board shouted out 'If my wife did that when I was  steering, I'd crash' that I realised what it looked like I was doing!

From Sutton Stop to Stoke Golding

No pictures from this part of the trip, it rained all day, apart from when we had sleet.

Monday 11 April 2016

On to Hawksbury Junction





We passed a VW graveyard, the were all sorts of other cars here too.


Ponies moored beside the boats.

Through the lock, there in only a few inches difference in the water level either side of the lock.
Under the bridge and round in a wide sweep to moor up at the visitor moorings.


Through the Newbold tunnel and on to Stretton Stop

A small swing bridge.
 
 We filled the water tank here, there were hire boats available, a shop, boats being repainted, lots to see.











There were liveaboard moorings here too.



Through Hilmorton locks to Newbold

 Many boats have wood burning stoves on board so they keep a stock of scavenged on the roof. 

We went through Hilmorton locks, luckily there was a volunteer lock keeper on duty who helped me.
We stopped briefly at Rugby to get supplies from Tesco, then on to Newbold, we wanted to fill our water tank but someone had moored across the water point despite there being lots of room on the visitor moorings.
We decided to tackle the Newbold tunnel in the morning so we moored up for the night.

Feeling stressed.

I'm worried about Beano, his nose is warm and dry and he hasn't wanted to go out for his usual walks today. My face is sore it feels...