Menu Plan

MONDAY
Lunch - Tuna and salad wraps
Dinner - Spaghetti alla Puttanesca

TUESDAY
Lunch - Homemade soup
Dinner - BBQ chicken/pork, sweet potato mash and vegetables

WEDNESDAY
Lunch - Ham and boiled egg salad
Dinner - Roast chicken, roast potatoes and vegetables

THURSDAY
Lunch - Beans on Toast
Dinner - Sausage casserole and mashed potatoes

FRIDAY
Lunch - Tinned Fish salad
Dinner - Chicken and lentil casserole

SATURDAY
Lunch - Homemade Soup
Dinner - Pizza, potato wedges and salad

Last nights dinner, Lamb Shanks, dauphinoise potatoes and parsnips (using yellow stickered potatoes for 4p and parsnips for 3p) and vegetables. Yummm...

 

Plans for May

I am hoping and aiming that May will be a productive month.

I feel I am settling into my new role as a Support Worker, getting use to the hours and having a different routine.  We do sleep's were I work as the gentlemen I support are unable to be left alone.  I find these have taken a bit of planning for me, simple things taking dinner, breakfast and lunch with me, along with bedding and over night things.  Also leaving a meal for my OH to come into if he has been a work (night shifts). 

Hopefully work will begin on our garden.  We are having the front lawn and tree removed and gravelled over. This is so we can park our new car on the drive.  We have never had two cars so it's all new and exciting.  We pick Winston (our new car) up next Thursday.  The back lawn is being re-turfed and a raised bed built for me to grow veg in.  Fingers crossed the summer will be good so we can enjoy the garden.

I have made a start on de-cluttering.  It feels difficult for me to get rid of things as I am such a hoarder but slowly does it.  The aim is to break the back of it this month.

We have chosen the light fittings, wall paper and paint we like for the living room and I need to get an electrician to fix the lights before decorating.  I hope that the decorators can come the first week in June as my OH is taking his mother away for a few days which will make things easier all round.

As I have mentioned before we love our takeaways which isn't good for our waistlines or budget so we are aiming for none this month.  We have eaten out a couple of times recently and have found we don't enjoy it like we use to as we think I can cook better at home so again we hope not to be tempted.  So to help with being organised to go to work and only eating home cooked I have done a menu plan for this week.

Maybe if I start blogging regularly it will keep me motivated, we'll see.
 

New Job (s)

Things have moved fast, well faster than I thought they would.

For a few years now I have wanted to become a support worker.  I applied for a few jobs with the local authority were I work now and haven't even got an interview.  A commination of not having any experience or relevant qualifications in this field haven't helped.  I was looking at the local press job site and fired off my cv and a little covering message explaining that I might not have any professional experience but am ready, willing and able!  I sent this to care jobs mainly, with the thinking of I could do this part time to gain some experience.  After a few interviews I was fortunate to be able to choose who I wanted to work for a few months have been working part time for a home caring company.  I was rather naïve as I did think it would be mainly just making meals and a bit of cleaning but it is a lot more "nursing".  I have been on a weeks training course to learn how to use hoists and administering medicines.  The days are long and the pay isn't great but I am learning and enjoying it plus everyone has been so nice and helpful to me.  It has opened my eyes to what help there is available to people that need it and has also raised some questions in me such as if I was ill how would I like to be cared for.  Whilst some of the care we give is to enable people to live independently are they really, as I am not sure its maybe best for the client but for their family.  Also some of the care is paid for by the council some by the clients, the care they receive is the same.

Whilst randomly sending these cv's off I applied via an agency to Mencap.  I then looked at the website, read their own application form and thought it was too in-depth for me at this time.  I few weeks later I received an email from the local office saying they had read my cv and would like me to apply formally.  I did this and was invited to an interview, which after a few emails going back and forth as we were away for the date they had asked me to I had my first interview and called back for a second which involved meeting some of the people that Mencap support at a sports hall where people meet up and dance.

I am so pleased to say that I was offered the job and for the last few weeks have been shadowing to learn my role.  So far so good, I am loving it :) and am convinced the reason I got the job was down to knowing the dance routine to Agadoo!

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POv-3yIPSWc

Word of the Year

I have read a couple of blogs where they have picked a word for the year.  I haven't heard of this before but think its a great idea. 

After a bit of thinking I went back to the first word that sprung to mind which is "change".

A big change will be a new career.  Something that I have thought about doing for about 4 years and now I am taking the plunge and doing it.  Will it work out?, only time will tell but I am excited and feeling positive. 

Another change will be cosmetic changes to our home, with plans being made to decorated and some work required outside.



I have always thought I don't like change, I do like to stay in my comfort zone but this time I actually feel excited.  A year ago this week I lost my mum which was a massive change in my life, so emotional, more than I expected.  Mum had changes in her life, moving from London to an isolated farm when she married my Dad, after 10 years of marriage another big changes were when I came along, my Dad passing away and then moving into a flat.  She viewed her life as different chapters and for me, this year, its is just another chapter.  One that I am looking forward to.



 



 

Big Changes...

Happy New Year.

Last year was full of highs and lows. 

I sadly lost my Mum in January and then in November her brother passed away.  Work is another big change.  Due to things that have occurred in the last few months I feel I can no longer work with the people I do. 

The good things to have come out of these are the love of my friends and family.  My cousins came to Mums funeral and for the first time I felt like I had bothers and sisters.  We are not a close family, however, I think the things that have happened this year have made us closer and I like that.  My friends have been such a support too and I have also been reminded who my true friends are.

There have been many highlights too, seeing Prince live, camping in Wales, holidays in Spain, a festival and the best one of all being present at the birth of my best friends little girl.

The plans for this year are to change jobs, things are in the pipeline for this which if come off means a complete career change and a lot lower salary.  But I hope with this change (fingers crossed) I will be happier and have a better work/life balance.  We are still working on the house, there is more to do than we first thought but we will get there.  I hope to have more time to do things that I would like to, hobbies, spending time with my hubby and friends, oh and blog! :)