It's been a funny old week..............

Hey you!  How are you doing?  I hope all's well in your household, and if you're in the UK are you making the best of this warm and wet summer?

Did it chuck it down in your neck of the woods tonight?  We had a belter of a storm together with so much rain.  There'll be Floody Hell's all over Britain again after this.  I'm not going to dwell on that. We need something cheerful and positive to focus on don't we?

I'm bullet listing below some of the positive stuff that's happened in  my life this week.

• Had an interview on Monday for a volunteer role with the RVS to be a member of the Home Library Service.  I was chuffed to bits to be accepted.  This is to visit housebound people to help them return and choose new library books, CD's and DVD's.  Apparently there's a great demand for the service and I'm looking forward to getting started.

• Not only have I managed to secure that, I've also been asked by them if I'd be interested in Community Driving.  This is taking people to doctor's, dentist or hospital appointments.

• Not done yet......because my IT skills are up to date, there's a huge need for tutors to help older people set up their emails and Skype.  I especially like the idea of this, if I can help even one person to communicate with their friends and family then I'll have done a good job.

• On Tuesday, I had the cortisone injection in my hip.  It felt a bit fragile immediately after, and the physio guy said sit would be about 48 hours before it kicked in.  I was also instructed to take it easy for a few days and not do anything to aggravate it, i.e. digging the garden (fat chance), or going hiking (even fatter chance).  When I got home, Grumpy Trousers announced we were short of a few bits and bobs from the supermarket.  I reminded him that I have to take it easy, and promptly wrote him a shopping list together with a route plan of Morrisons.  Bless him he got all the right stuff - and two cream cakes as well. 

• Grumpy Trousers and I spent a full morning out in Chesterfield yesterday, mainly for me to return some forms to the library, then afterwards browsing the flea market.  There's so much intriguing stuff on there, and it would definitely take a full day to get round it. I got tired quickly though and my hip ached a bit so we called it a day.  We later had lunch with our younger daughter.  She went back to work and us lazy sods went home for a nap!

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I've been busy decorating jars and bottles again.  There's a new batch destined for a friend's 90th birthday party, some for my elder daughter and I'm holding some back for using at a fund raiser I'm doing for The World's Biggest Coffee Morning for Macmillan nurses.

I've popped a few images on here so you can see what I've been doing, and it will also explain why my hair is full of raffia bits and my fingers are flaky with lumps of dried up PVA glue!

Friends are being so brilliant at saving all manner of jars and bottles for me to play with.  The one with the butterfly label above is a Shippams Beef Spread jar for example.  The square one at the top that looks like an inkwell had preserved fruits in it, and I think the rest are mayonnaise jars.  I'm in another zone when I sit quietly doing my crafts.  I have some relaxing  music on and all feels right with the world.

Oh, and I've had a right old issue with my car that needs a post all of its own.  I'll be ranting - be warned.

For now though, I do hope there's a good weekend ahead for you.

Hasta la vista xxxxxx

A new phase of life

I've decided.  I'm retiring!

The decision to leave work a year early, while a bit difficult ended up being a no-brainer.  There are too many changes about to happen at work and my role is going.  A similar one with a new title will take its place but I’d have to apply and there’d be some retraining.  Definitely not worth it for just another year.  A small redundancy package is on offer, and my pension figures are on the way.

So a new phase begins.  For once I'll be at the top of my own agenda.  I've worked solidly for 47 years; 12 years full time before I had my elder daughter, sometimes doing volunteer work too, 16 years working for myself in direct selling, then a variety of jobs including temping, permanent, temping again.  I worked my way up in 'corporate world' to a really well paid PA role.  Not secretary you understand.  I did actually make it to Personal Assistant.  Sometimes I even worked at two, and even three jobs at once.  I even did happy stints at our local pub a couple of evenings a week.  I was always beavering away, never letting up with the money coming in.  Despite that, we were never that well off.  Better than some, not as good as others.  We fell somewhere in between.  Do you know, it's not until I've come to write about it that I realise just how hard I DID work!  I just got on with it.

47 years - good grief!  Where's the time gone?  I took stock of all the skills and experience I've built up over those years and they amount to rather a lot. I even cared for my mother-in-law for 5 years up to her death.  And STILL I worked as well.  So the skills and experience are in fact much more than I thought.  Even though I'm retiring from work, I'm not retiring those skills and still hope to put them to use with some form of voluntary work.  I live very near to Hardwick Hall which is a National Trust property.  They always need volunteers and I couldn't think of a nicer place to hang out in my spare time.

In the meantime, this is my favourite Jamiroquai song.  For me the words are deep and meaningful, and fit it well with my decision to leave work early because of the changes.  I hope you'll give it a listen - it may mean something to you too.