Friday Five!

Yes, KFDancer, our Rick 
Aww, yay for your daughter being a lollipop!

x0Kiss0fDeath, yay Pizza Fridays!

Hedgehog as promised

And bonus lollipop!

She is absolutely too cute!

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Geez, it's nearly 1pm, and I only just realized it's Friday!

Happy Friday!!!

1.) My husband passed! He's Chartered now. YAY!! [

CONGRATULATIONS, MR. PB!!!!  Also, small world, sharing a flight with RickStephens!  Happy new-to-you car day, and have a great time at the festival!

KF, no!  Your Dr. Pepper!  Saaaaaaave the Dr. Pepper!  (I'm visualizing this as a Mountain Dew, and in my mind, I'm dropping to the ground and slithering under that car to rescue my Dew.)  That hedgehog is sooo cute!  So is your lollipop. 

KoD, hold fast.  Get your pizza Friday on!  Pizza, man!  PIZZA!  In fact, I might make some pizza dough for Sunday... weather forecast looks potentially good.  Also, I just finished my first year of car insurance, and stuck with the same company.  I went from £548/year to £469/year, so just couldn't be bothered to shop around.  It went down enough that I was happy to potentially overpay by not switching.

My five:

1.  My husband found an online shop that sells Mediterranean products and ordered 4 tins of tomatoes from Italy, some truffle-infused fuet from Spain (which is really good!), and a bunch of other stuff.  He likes pasta, but only good pasta.  None of this dried spaghetti from the supermarket for him.  So now we have a deal: if I make fresh pasta, he will make the sauce, and this way I can have pretty much all the pasta I want.  We've had pasta about four times in the the last month, and I'm loving it.  Anyway, he likes his new tomatoes, and plans to order more while they are on offer.

2.  I've managed to keep my basil plant alive for more than a month!  I've also managed to kill rosemary.  From my reading online, rosemary is very hardy, so I have achieved an impressive feat by killing it.  Go, me!

3.  Despite my enthusiasm for them, I am going to get out of the Premium Bond business and put my money into a US savings account.    Premium Bond wins are taxed by the US government (not the UK government), so I either need to give my money to my husband to invest into his Premium Bond account, or I need to find some other home for it, and CitiBank (sorry, psweeney1967) has extended an offer for 2.36% APY with no limits on deposits or high balance (just a minimum balance of $500 to avoid a monthly fee), so I can put my money there (as long as I don't update my address to the UK).  I am sad that I won't get to watch this Premium Bond thing play out.  But my husband is well invested in them, now, and has already won £25 in his first month.  Plus,  his money is my money, anyway.    But it would still be more fun if my money won... well, fun until the IRS came calling.

4.  We (my husband) cleared out the loft over the weekend so we can start on the wiring in the house.  There was stuff left behind by the previous owner that we planned to bring to the tip, but we offered it to our weird neighbours, and they took it.  So the junk was gone the very same day it came down from the loft!  Yay!

5.  My husband wants to completely cut ties with Tesco (even though we had a good experience this time) because it's more expensive than shopping locally and not really worth it.  My argument is that there are things I can't get locally, and named cayenne pepper as one of those things.  He was all, "You can order spices online!"  And so I did.  And now I have this:

KD, hold fast.  Get your pizza Friday on!  Pizza, man!  PIZZA!  In fact, I might make some pizza dough for Sunday... weather forecast looks potentially good.  Also, I just finished my first year of car insurance, and stuck with the same company.  I went from £548/year to £469/year, so just couldn't be bothered to shop around.  It went down enough that I was happy to potentially overpay by not switching.

haha we ARE going out tonight now but it's okay because I managed to fit pizza in for lunch as the pizza at the location I'm working out of today is really good so I grabbed a slice


Making pasta is dead easy too and doesn't require thaaaaat much time and effort compared to other dishes so I think that's a pretty sweet deal you've worked out

Also, was it you that watched Hot Ones on youtube or was it a different youtube channel altogether?

haha we ARE going out tonight now but it's okay because I managed to fit pizza in for lunch as the pizza at the location I'm working out of today is really good so I grabbed a slice


Making pasta is dead easy too and doesn't require thaaaaat much time and effort compared to other dishes so I think that's a pretty sweet deal you've worked out

Also, was it you that watched Hot Ones on youtube or was it a different youtube channel altogether?

Making pasta is the easiest!  I mean, you do need to get a feel for the right consistency, but once you know what you're looking for, you can have the nicest, lightest pasta...  Before I started making my own, I always ate pasta as a SDS (sauce delivery system) before, but now I actually really enjoy the pasta for its own sake.

Hot Ones was us.  The channel is FirstWeFeast, and the show is Hot Ones.

I am buzzing this Friday =)

I took a new position at work today that I interviewed for yesterday afternoon. This is a big step up from what I am currently doing so really pleased.

I had a pen in my jacket pocket which exploded and leaked all over my yellow dress =( so think that’s ruined

Regarding my new position, I am being released from my current role as of 01/08 which means I don’t have to work my full notice period

We have a date night scheduled tomorrow night which is very much needed

My work lets out our thirty mins early on Fridays and really in the Friday mood today, but some of the work being thrown my way is just so annoying haha plus I’m exhausted as neighbours cats out fighting and meowing in our garden again.

Awww gorgeous hedgehog!

Also, small world, sharing a flight with RickStephens! 

The Highlands are VERY SMALL world.  I knew a few people on the flight to London and knew a few on the way back. 

I am buzzing this Friday =)

I took a new position at work today that I interviewed for yesterday afternoon. This is a big step up from what I am currently doing so really pleased.

I had a pen in my jacket pocket which exploded and leaked all over my yellow dress =( so think that’s ruined

Regarding my new position, I am being released from my current role as of 01/08 which means I don’t have to work my full notice period

We have a date night scheduled tomorrow night which is very much needed

My work lets out our thirty mins early on Fridays and really in the Friday mood today, but some of the work being thrown my way is just so annoying haha plus I’m exhausted as neighbours cats out fighting and meowing in our garden again.

Congrats on the new position, Eh!  Um.  I know you're excited, and it sounds really great, but how does changing positions and being "released" from your old position affect your tenure/longevity if there are redundancies in the future?  Or have you been reassured that you'll definitely be safe in the new position?

Have you seen Blossom's mesh around her garden?  https://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=66416.msg1282640#msg1282640

Congrats on the new position, Eh!  Um.  I know you're excited, and it sounds really great, but how does changing positions and being "released" from your old position affect your tenure/longevity if there are redundancies in the future?  Or have you been reassured that you'll definitely be safe in the new position?

Have you seen Blossom's mesh around her garden?  https://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=66416.msg1282640#msg1282640

Well I did ask about it, and because its a different department that is fluid between offices ( I don’t want to say 100%) but it feels safer. Nobody can confirm the redundancy rumours, but I think it does make sense: why do you need two offices with a billing department, credit control, accounts payable, etc. I can’t be sure of anything really, but it puts me out of the customer service side which is likely to be where the redundancy happens. This is for change management which is needed across the wider business.

I have, but we rent so not sure if our landlord will let us.

Making pasta is the easiest!  I mean, you do need to get a feel for the right consistency, but once you know what you're looking for, you can have the nicest, lightest pasta...  Before I started making my own, I always ate pasta as a SDS (sauce delivery system) before, but now I actually really enjoy the pasta for its own sake.

Hot Ones was us.  The channel is FirstWeFeast, and the show is Hot Ones.

hahaha i love that you describe it as a "sauce delivery system". That made me smile

I forgot to say weeeeeks ago that I had watched an episode with some comedians that I liked and then just yesterday I watched Gordon Ramsay's episode and absolutely pissed myself laughing. Made Rik watch it with me over our lunch break as I was WFH haha

I am buzzing this Friday =)

I took a new position at work today that I interviewed for yesterday afternoon. This is a big step up from what I am currently doing so really pleased.

I had a pen in my jacket pocket which exploded and leaked all over my yellow dress =( so think that’s ruined

Regarding my new position, I am being released from my current role as of 01/08 which means I don’t have to work my full notice period

We have a date night scheduled tomorrow night which is very much needed

My work lets out our thirty mins early on Fridays and really in the Friday mood today, but some of the work being thrown my way is just so annoying haha plus I’m exhausted as neighbours cats out fighting and meowing in our garden again.

YAY! Congrats!

Congrats on the new position, Eh!  Um.  I know you're excited, and it sounds really great, but how does changing positions and being "released" from your old position affect your tenure/longevity if there are redundancies in the future?  Or have you been reassured that you'll definitely be safe in the new position?

Have you seen Blossom's mesh around her garden?  https://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=66416.msg1282640#msg1282640

Well I did ask about it, and because its a different department that is fluid between offices ( I don’t want to say 100%) but it feels safer. Nobody can confirm the redundancy rumours, but I think it does make sense: why do you need two offices with a billing department, credit control, accounts payable, etc. I can’t be sure of anything really, but it puts me out of the customer service side which is likely to be where the redundancy happens. This is for change management which is needed across the wider business.

I have, but we rent so not sure if our landlord will let us.

Well I did ask about it, and because its a different department that is fluid between offices ( I don’t want to say 100%) but it feels safer. Nobody can confirm the redundancy rumours, but I think it does make sense: why do you need two offices with a billing department, credit control, accounts payable, etc. I can’t be sure of anything really, but it puts me out of the customer service side which is likely to be where the redundancy happens. This is for change management which is needed across the wider business.

I have, but we rent so not sure if our landlord will let us.

Ahh, okay, then unreserved congratulations!  Yay!

Congrats to all who got new jobs/switched jobs/got certified,etc!
Happy Travels!
Cute Hedgehog!
Thoughts are with all who have family in the path of the storm down south (in the USA).
Spices are definitely available online. And you have to have them. Vitacost has good quality ones, and if you keep the weight down the shipping isn't too bad.

Friday Five.

1) It's Friday. Again. Life goes on. Which is not a bad thing.

2) I caught the Daughter's headcold. woo. I now get to sit here with a kleenex shoved up my nose for a couple of days. When I'm not sneezing it across the room. I hate headcolds. I'd rather just be in bed for 24 hours with something truly yucky and then get over it. This is going to go on for a week, if my schnoz does what hers did.

3) The Daughter made me some dahl (from one of our jars of carmelized leek and dahl stash) and a cheese enchilada (from my freezer stash of homemade) a bit ago. It was nice to not have to cook lunch.

4) The Daughter ordered a pair of tights from the USA, with some socks. Total was about $16 (£12.80) worth of stuff. Yesterday we got a "customs charges due" notice for £12.12.  The limit at which customs charges should have kicked in was £15.  She can waste a stamp and argue and get back the £4.12 of the customs charges they hit her with, but the customs people will tell her to recoup the £8 handling charge from the PO. Who will tell her that they never refund that, it's up to the customs people to refund it. So she's likely to net about £2, after postage (if that much) of the  £12.12 if she tries to get the money back that was incorrectly charged to her. The other option, of course, is to let the package go back, but then she'd lose the shipping cost. They have quite a racket going with this. 

5) Pluto TV on the internet now has a Dr. Who channel that is showing all the old episodes. So I can sit here and snurfle, eat chips and hot sauce (to keep things open) and watch Tom Baker outsmart the Sontarans all afternoon.    I love VPNs.