Saturday 17 August 2013

It ain't over till its over!

So the end of my career has just taken place! What a strange feeling this is. It doesn't feel like the end but with the amount of 'stuff' I am carting home it must be. I'm sure I've forgotten to do something? 

I've been an absentee mother to my DD these last few weeks but with the full knowledge that I'll be very much there for her from now on makes me feel she will forgive me for that (and being a stinking hungover mother this morning)! Last night was a really fun night and I got to 'dance' with my hands up in the air, without a care in the world. I saw some old friends and I stuck to my strategy of G&T's all the way - I wanted to have fun but also remember my leaving do and all the people who came along. I'm sure I rambled on to many of them and I'm sure I dragged some people up dancing when they'd have probably preferred to sit back and watch. 



This morning was a bit of a struggle to say the least but it was also thankfully a 'daddy day' (the last one? I hope not) so I got away without having to change a nappy or struggle to persuade my DD to get dressed or brush her teeth and all the other responsibilities which will now fall to me solo in the mornings for at least five days a week! 

It was a strange day in 'work' as I was starting to get a bit miffed I wasn't being included on emails but then I'd be reminded that why should I be! We had bacon and sausage sarnies delivered in the morning, chocolates and bubbles at midday and pizza's at 1pm. We had speeches and tears, laughter and hugs and I made it off Broadwick St in one piece, but with it all feeling still unreal! 

What's brought it home to me now is having to answer my dear sweet DD's request of 'Can I come to your office and see your friends mummy?' with a 'No darling, I don't work in an office anymore.' Cue lump in throat and tears stinging my eyes.
  
I'll miss my 'office friends', expenses, nice lunches, taxis everywhere, regular manis and pedis, clinching the deals but I won't miss the stress or the juggling and I'll still keep in touch. 

So give my regards to Broadwick Street. It's been fun but its time to move on. 

Tuesday 13 August 2013

Compare the market - and I won as far as I'm concerned

I'm exhausted after a really long and hard day of work. Strange I realise as I am in my last week of being gainfully employed but the majority of the work I have carried out today is in the guise of my new role as 'home director' (I still balk at the 'other' title - I'll get used to it I'm sure).

You see in my effort to get organised and fulfill my role as home director I have spent most of my day and evening on comparison sites, looking at home and car insurance quotes! Oh the excitement! But strangely there does have to be something said about shopping around - if you have the time! 

I consulted my new fave website 'money saving expert' and was advised to check out four, yes 4, price comparison sites and then also check individual sites such as Direct Line and Aviva (who we currently use and seem to be so expensive now i have the time to look around). This is a v lengthy process but the results spoke for themselves as we will be saving so much money. The comparison sites all came back with fairly similar results BUT the site that offered the best (cheapest) quotes was Comparethemarket.com. All those years of putting up with 'simples' adverts have paid off. I'm not interested in getting my stuffed Meerkat toy (DD may disagree) what I'm delighted with is how much money we are saving on homes & contents for a much bigger house. Result. Plus compare also has come out tops on car insurance. Again saving us a huge amount of money! Yay!



Now as a 'sales person' for the last how ever many years, I have always got a buzz from hitting targets and beating budgets so the hard work of today has given me a glimmer of hope that my new life will, in fact still fulfill this side of me - if only in a slightly different manner? 

So tomorrows challenge, cheaper pet insurance, cheaper gas and electricity (for a bigger house?), cheaper phone, broadband and TV. Simples eh! 

Monday 5 August 2013

Great Family Fun



This weekend I've stepped back in time and enjoyed a fabulous time with my family recreating our holidays of the 1970's! Thankfully with a good dose of 21st Century thrown in. To celebrate my mums 80th Birthday we returned to a very traditional family seaside resort of Lytham St Anne's and stayed at a hotel, The Dalmeny, we last stayed in when I was about 2 months old. Admittedly my memories of that time are a little hazy but I've lived through the retelling of stories and seen the faded photographs a million times to be able to chuckle through the memories.
We returned to Lytham St Anne's several times during my childhood but it seems The Dalmeny Hotel holds some very special memories for my mum and my older siblings. Mainly memories of good times with my dad from before he became ill with lung cancer. So this weekend we were treated to remembered times; when Dad and other dads at the hotel were roped into helping the owner (a Mr Webb) replace a pane of plate glass into a window, without any health and safety issues; dad rescuing an adventurous two year old sister who tried jumping in the pool without any arm bands - scarily recreated by my own DD; and bygone times when the male hotel staff would challenge the dads to games of football in the car park. 

It's been a very special weekend for different reasons. Obviously it is wonderful that we are able to celebrate my mum still being a fit and active matriarch of our family at the ripe age of 80. She's vowed to still be around to help us celebrate again in 10 years time. But it was also lovely to spend time together as a family as we don't get to see each other too much due to us all living a fair distance away from each other. 
Mother, brother and sisters aside it was seeing the younger generation of cousins getting to know each other that I will hold as a dear memory from this weekend. DD is now at an age were her memory lasts longer and she'll be able to recall events and faces from the weekend when we inevitably go through the photos we've posted on our google plus event (my brothers new obsession!). 



She had two exciting late nights running around with these new 'friends' and dancing at the disco (my heart melted), fun building sand castles and flying kites on the beach, running excitedly around the arcade on the pier and she loved playing with the big girls and boys as much as her younger twin cousins. This morning she named them all one by one, asking where they were and if they'd come to her house to play. With this move I sincerely hope they are more able to come and visit and I take heart in how easily she made 'friends' in about ten minutes. Maybe she'll adjust to the move quicker than I anticipated? I hope so. 

And I also hope we are able to make a trip to The Dalmeny and Lytham St Anne's a regular summer event for us all, helping to create new and precious memories our next generation can revisit in years to come.