The business of business

I used to work for a company but now I am working for myself.  And it's great but when I was sat at work I could surf on a lunchtime and post blogs and generally catch up with the world for an hour whilst cramming in a buttie.

Now I'm sat at the dining table tapping away on a laptop I find myself struggling to find the time to do that stuff.

I have a list in my 'work book' of things I need to do, phone calls to make, emails to send.  So I'm doing that and not looking at things that I like.  This is also partly because I could spend hours looking at the things I like and then I would never get anything done.

And I don't put the heating on because the business is new so I'm not making much money, so I feel guilty about putting it on.  Thankfully we got a multi-fuel burner installed and I don't feel bad about lighting that.  But when I do I have to keep an eye on the thing as it knows when I leave the room and it dies, so I find myself sitting and staring into the flames doing nothing.  Which is not very helpful...

It's all part of the transition.... and I have some work lined up so that's good.  And once I've made some money I'll maybe put the heating on (rather than extra clothes and fingerless gloves).  Although I'll still light up the stove as it is just so nice to have on... and so very warm, if a little tricky.

Any hoo in the interest of providing an update I went back to the river in town to see what the water level was like and it had gone down, so although this is not the river at its lowest, you can see just how much water was coming down over Christmas (left photo).  The newer photo is looking the opposite way but you can see from the legs of the bridge just how much water there was.

In the right hand photo you can see the barge, used for transporting goods, that came loose from its mooring upstream many years ago and which crashed over the weir and got itself stuck.  Cormorants sit on it from time to time to dry their wings. 

 

Anyway I must get on an do some work.... and I might take off the fingerless gloves, heating comes on in five, hurrah!

The new regime

So I have finished work.  Well, I say finish 'work' I haven't worked so physically bloody hard for ages.


Day 1 -

• Cleaned the bathroom from top to bottom, literally (daughter walked in and said "Oh, it's bright in here!") You've got to ask just how mucky it was before..... no don't ask that.
• Mowed the lawn at the front, put weed and feed on the back and blitzed all the dandelions with spray.
• Sorted the house insurance.
• Chased the car insurance
• Did two loads of washing
• Cooked tea
• Hoovered all round

Felt saintly and full of the joys of being at home

Day 2 -

• Ironed for two hours (felt like about 5)
• Changed the daughters bed
• Did more washing
• Sorted my wardrobe (winter coats to the back, summer stuff to the front)
• Went out and bought more wooden coat hangers
• Sorted the flowers that I received last week into new smaller vases with fresh water
• Sorted some magazines to give to a friend
• Chased the car insurance
• Thought about doing some crochet
• Hoovered all round

Felt out of sorts and fed up with being at home

So that's it, the highs and lows of the new regime after two days. 

At least the flowers are cheering me up!

(Can't get blogger to upload a photo so this is a tiny one of one of the bunches I received.)

I discussed with my husband the fact that I felt guilty about doing something that wasn't a 'job'.  He suggested I make a list then aim to do two jobs a day.  After that take time to myself.


Luckily there isn't 'point gable end' on the list but there are some biggies.  I might sneak 'knit a cardigan' onto the list or 'crochet a shawl' or even 'read ten chapters of current fabulous book'.... It might make being at home a bit easier I think.

Lets talk cars.......go on you might enjoy it

Are you into cars?

I am.  I always have been.  As a small child on the long car journey too and from my Grandparent's house in Blackpool I would try to name different makes and model of car.  We spent a lot of time in the car and I got quite good at it.

My first car was a mini - old style - the colour of Mr Bean's mini.  It cost about £700 and I loved it.

More recently I have been lucky enough to have a company car and when I chose my last car I decided that it would be all that I wanted.  I love it and it goes like stink (105bhp in case you were wondering)..... This is it in all its stylish loveliness.

But now it has to go back and I am looking for another car. 

I had two requirements of the new car:
1) Buttons on the steering wheel
2) Alloy wheels

Simple enough.  Oh, and I had a budget as I will be out of work so we couldn't go mad.  I have spent hours looking at used car sites and in the end I have chosen this baby. 

Fiat 500 twin air (85bhp), but a much lighter car.  Isn't it gorgeous?

So now I may be leaving work and leaving behind my lovely little A1 but I am looking forward to having fun in my Fiat 500.  I did a test drive on Saturday and it sounds just like the original 500 when you hoof it......

After the test drive I couldn't stop smiling.  My husband said that when he saw my face he knew we would have to have it, I looked so happy.

I pick it up in a couple of weeks and I can't wait!

My Desk

Last week one of the lads was going round and taking photographs of us all.

It made me think....

I have spent years sitting in this office of mine and maybe I should capture a bit of it.  So this is one part of my desk (this is by my right elbow and is clearly a bit of a dumping ground).

I decided just to take the photo exactly as it is, without moving anything.  These are some of the highlights of this corner of my space....

 

The smiling green round-headed chap moves his head from side to side when it's sunny

 and was a 'calming' present from my Dad

 

The Minion came from Maccy D's (I love minions)

 

The postcard was bought from the Chantry Chapel in Wakefield which is opposite the Hepworth and is the oldest and most ornate of the surviving bridge chapels in England 

 

The pebbles, that you can just see, are there because I have pebbles everywhere

 - they are Suffolk pebbles

 

The Hubba Bubba was bought from Lucy Sparrow who did a complete corner shop in felt

http://sewyoursoul.co.uk/tag/felt-cornershop/

 

The biscuits are my stash from the coffee van.

 

It is going to be a nightmare moving out of this office, as I have soooo much stuff here.

I suspect many trips to the bin will be required..........

It's all gone a bit Pete Tong

Visiting blogland is tricky right now.
 

The place I have worked at for 19 years is closing.
 

It is playing on my mind a bit.
 

I am very busy at work.

I am pre-occupied at home.

Sometimes it seems like a great opportunity.

Sometimes I feel like I never want to work again.
 

I'm lucky in that we no longer have a mortgage to pay. 
 

It is not the case for many of our employees and I worry about them, all 101 of them.

However, I did find a CV that I wrote about two years ago and it looks pretty good.  It needs updating but thank goodness I actually wrote one then because actually putting one together now, when my head is a shed, would be hard indeed.

It is times like this that I am thankful for crochet and knitting.  The counting and rhythm of these pass-times is just enough to take me away from all this.

Just Do It....

In the spirit of 'just bloody do it' I have:

• Cleared the washing basket that was on top of the washer for two years with a pile of clothes in it.  My husband has five more t-shirts, I found a top that I thought I had donated and the charity shop has a bag full of teenage girl clothes as a result.  Happy days

• Emptied the medicine basket and chucked out ALL out of date medicines (oldest was a tin of muscle heat spray from 1997 and there was Sore mouth Gel from 2004 that I used recently.  And there were some herbal sleep-aid tablets that smelt like cheese - urgh).  Now we can dose ourselves without fear of making ourselves even more ill.

• Sorted my wool projects, thrown out ball bands galore and written details in a book of which yarn I have used for each project.  Even my husband was impressed with this one.

• Put photos onto a memory stick (just purchased) that we took on holiday so that I can give them to my daughter's friend who came with us.  We went on holiday in August...

• Taken the trousers that I have been moving about the bedroom since September to the dry cleaners and then hung them back up in the wardrobe.  They are summer trousers but at least they are ready to wear now.

• Sorted out my scarf box - I have LOADs of scarves and they were all mashed and wriggled together like sleeping snakes in a fabric storage box.  Now they are sorted in order of wearing - popular ones at the top, less popular at the bottom, all folded.  Quite smug about that one.

• Walked for 20 - 30 minutes each day.  Well, almost every day, but more than I thought I would when I started (so not beating myself up is working as well).  Really appreciating the local church on this route and the gravestones against the skyline.  It is at the highest point of the walk so nice to stop for a breather.

Finally....... I have bought my summer sandals.  I have small feet and usually by the time I get to thinking about sandals all the best little ones have gone so this year I have just done it and bought some..... and it's only January.... and there's snow on the way.  But my sandals are looking lovely in my shoe drawer (don't ask). 

The thing I must just do is just keep doing stuff......  Now where was that To Do list?

(I would have put in more photos - before and after type thing - but I was so busy sorting and doing I forgot to take them)

In my office - January

 

When I came back to my office after Christmas I found that this plant was in flower. 

Today there were blue skies early on, although the wind was biting.

I confess to quite liking January.

 

I always feel re-invigorated in January (mentally if not physically)

 

I generally start the year on an organised footing.

 

At home I sort out my calendar and clear cupboards.

 

At work I file emails (from over 800 in my inbox to 34 -

lap of honour of the office duly completed).

 

I have decided this year to 'just do it' an old line I know but one that I'm hoping works.

 

I'm a bugger for procrastination, for over thinking.  So 2015 is the year of.....  Just Bloody Do It.

 

As an antidote it is also the year of 'Don't beat yourself up too much if you don't'.

 

Win....win me thinks.

The view from my office

The view from my office is generally uninspiring.

Where I sit at my desk I can see the top of some shortened poplar trees, the end of a warehouse roof and sky, quite a lot of sky.  Today the sky is grey, flat and heavy.

Next door to where I work they erect stage scaffolding and all sorts of removable structures for festivals and stage shows.  Sometimes my view is of some enormous structure, which usually looks like a stage and I wonder who will be playing on it in the future.

This week the view was made more interesting by the introduction of this......

I rushed outside to take a couple of closer photographs.  It is difficult to get a perspective on how big he was (I'm saying 'he' but it could have been a 'she').  If you look at the bottom of the photo above you can see a fence post, so that gives some indication.

 

Later in the day Bear moved into the sky, and then as the sun started to descend he changed colour, to blue then bright pink and finally green.

 

Unfortunately my little phone camera couldn't cope with the fading light and I couldn't get a photograph.  He looked lovely all lit up and when I left work he had a soft green glow.

 

I was looking forward to seeing him when I returned to work the following day.  

 

But he was gone.

 

It was strange the amount of joy that massive Bear brought to me and others at work and it is hard to explain the disappointment I felt the next day every time I looked out of the office window.

 

The colour of Autumn leaves

It is warm here today and so I decided to sit outside for lunch at work.

Where I sit is fairly uninspiring, but it is green and I can enjoy the sun which shines directly onto the picnic bench in the shade of the gatehouse.

While sitting there just listening to the day go by and re-setting my brain ready for the afternoon I noticed the leaves on the grass.  Lots of leaves but some in the most gorgeous colours, I did a bit of a collection to share....

 

This was on the bottom of my shoe......

How uplifting it is to sit on an October day, the end of October at that, in the hazy sun enjoying these colours. 

 The just before I went in a breeze came and scattered them back to the grass and I returned to my desk revitalised by the warmth and the colour of the day.