Saturday 1 July 2023

June 2023

What a month. What a month!

 

Crochet

I had my first Etsy sale! Wahoooooooooo! Which was very good because it showed me how all the fees etc work, which means I’ve been able to change the prices of stuff. Most have gone down, a couple have gone up. And it also showed me quite clearly how much money I DON’T make from each item. The cotton cloths for example, I sell on Etsy for £18.40, and of that, I get £4.74. £4!!!! So I definitely won’t be an Esty millionaire by christmas. Anyway, you can find my Etsy shop here. I am going to add more to it over the next week or so. 

I have been busy crocheting, again. I always do more than I realise. I have made 42 different things so far this year! I am busy making surprise gifts for people at work for varying reasons. Craft Club is still happening, and I'm sure Steph and Netti only made scones and soup for me now (which is not a problem).

I realised as I was eating dinner (chicken curry) that I haven't done my usual list. So here it is! In june, I made, fixed, or finished:

·       A set of six coloured cotton cloths (and sold them woo!)

·       Baby blanket

·       Three striped cotton cloths to go with the blanket

·       An angry uterus

·       Worked more rows on the diamond waffle pink blanket

·       Finished a set of six white cloths

·       Darned his socks (and they now need darning again)

·       Two head blob things that were going to become jellyfish but I decided I liked them as head blob things

·       A cuddly platypus

·       Started two mice but they’ll be finished in July

 

Things I am working on in July:

·       Mices

·       Pink blanket

·       More things to get photos of to add to Etsy

·       A gift for someone at work

·       A gift for someone at home

·       Perhaps something for me too! Ooooooh 





Allotment

The allotment has taken a lot from me this month. I went up then sat in the shed and cried for 45minutes at the state of it all. D came up the next day with the big mower and now I can see where the raised beds are and actually make a plan to get on top of it. I need to change the way I do things. I wanted grass/clover paths between the beds but life is just going to be easier without them, so I am making arrangements and plans for plastic sheeting to be put down instead. It’ll be a big job though as I need to dig out the thistle, nettle, dock, and bindweed as much as I can before putting down cardboard and then plastic.

I am going to give it another year and then reassess the situation I think.



Exercise

I don’t know why I keep using this as a subheading, I don’t do exercise..!

 

Work

I’ve had another couple of interviews. One of my previous interviews that I wasn’t successful at got in touch to offer me a different role with them, about 45mins after I got home from an absolute nightmare of an interview selection day thing. Anyway, long story short, I provisionally accepted the job offer but told them it depended on the outcome of selection day, and then I got offered the selection day role! Which I am still in shock about. Honestly. We were at the in laws and I went outside to take the phonecall, came back inside, and just burst into tears. And then D started crying! And I’m still in shock a few days later.

So there we go, I have a new job!! Wahoooo! Although I still won’t believe it until I get the paperwork in and signed. And I also don’t have to put in my notice at my current job as the contract is ending anyway.

I genuinely am going to miss the people I’ve been working with at HWT, they’re such a lovely bunch. I hope I can get on well with this new role, it’s a big step up for me and I had an anxiety dream about it. I sewed two naan breads together, and now people are interpreting it to mean that I’m anxious about the unknowns. I’m always anxious about the unknowns! I have anxiety!!


 

Mental Health

I’ve been signed off. I self certed for a week with exhaustion – I worked out that I hadn’t had a week off for nearly 17 weeks and I usually aim for every 11 or 12. And then I had a Drs appointment for the end of my 7 days, and he signed me off. He wanted to sign me off for four weeks, which would’ve taken me pretty much up until my last week at HWT, but we compromised on two weeks instead. And he also wants to me to think about my medication and whether or not I want to change it. So that could be interesting.

 

Cat Life

The notorious P.i.p has been with us for six months now! He is such a good boy. He doesn’t sleep on the bed much anymore but I think that’s because it has been too hot for him. He enjoys investigating mole holes in the garden and often comes home with dirt all over his face. He had a new collar and name tag and lost it within a week. He seems quite smug that he’s lost another collar and name tag. He is becoming Davids best buddy, probably because D has a small laser pointer which entertains Pip (and us) quite spectacularly.



Physical Health

I hula hooped once! Wahoo! I really need to get my arse in gear. Did I say that last month?

 

Money

Still skint. But now I have a new job. Wahoo! New job comes with a new salary but it also means I am over the threshold to start paying back student loan. I’ve managed 9.5years since graduating without paying anything, so I’ve not done badly.

 

Garden

I dried chive flowers and was WELL PROUD of myself. I got three jars full!! And then I went to use them a couple of weeks later and they’d gone grey and rancid. Apparently I didn’t dry them well enough. So that’s a lesson learnt for next year. Minimum of six weeks!!

The big flower bed is looking really great, lots of direct sown seeds coming into flower. I think I am going to dig up the peonies and replant around the garden a bit. They haven’t flowered this year and I wonder if that’s because they’re still in transplant shock, but also maybe I planted them too deep?










Other Stuff

I lost the big stone out of my wedding ring when I went to the selection day interview, so that’s now somewhere being sent off to a goldsmith to get a cost to have it all repaired. I was well upset. I still am!

We had an afternoon out on the river – it was a delightful shade of sewage green, so I didn’t go swimming.

The blue tits fledged, one nearly landed on my knee. At least one died. One got stuck in the leaf mould bin and we had to scoop it out with the snow shovel. 

And I think that’s it. D has been v busy with Search & Rescue shenanigans and I have been v busy mentally draining myself doing interview prep.