Extra Easy Online - attempting to maintain!

[vintagepockets]

I'm starting to go down with the dreaded lurgy that has been doing the rounds in the office so I'm feeling a bit poo tonight! This weather is so miserable! I really wish we'd saved some of our travelling budget to go to Australia over Christmas like we had originally planned

I've been so tempted to go crazy with the insurance money and buy more clothes. I've seen so many lovely jumpers in river island but I'm trying to be sensible as I'll be looking for another temp job in a month. Eugh I hate temping. It's ok once you have work and you know what you're doing but the unknown of who you'll be working for/with and what you'll be doing isn't fun. That's if I get work! I'm just looking forward to getting a 'proper' job that pays the bills and I can enjoy and feel I'm doing something equal to my intelligence and skills (which you don't often get in the world of temping!)

Food Diary...

Breakfast - banana, blueberries, activia 0%

Snack - 1 carrot, 30g Philadelphia light (HEXa)

Lunch - homemade curried cauliflower soup, wholemeal pitta (HEXb), 1 tbsp rf houmous (1.5 syns)

Snack - grapes, 4 pieces Aero mint (4 syns), Thai mugshot (0.5 syns)

Dinner - roast beef, co-op mash potato (2 syns), roasted red pepper, courgettes, red onion, tomato, mushrooms

Pudding - 2 mini meringues (2 syns), mixed berries, ff fromage frais

2 tea w/ semi-skimmed milk (HEXa)
3 herbal tea
Sparkling water

Total syns = 10

 

[vintagepockets]

gorgeous looking paella - with the proper rice too by the looks of it. Now I want paella for tea and not the cowboy pie I've half made!

How was the cowboy pie btw? I've seen a few people mention it but I have no idea what it is!

 

[book_lover]

It was lovely! The OH is already requesting we have it again but it could be down to me allowing him to eat Chorizo lol.

I got the recipe on here somewhere but couldn't find it to link back to it so updated my blog with the recipe instead so I remember how to make it again. It is paella rice. I bought that, risotto and pudding rice ages ago and never use it. I'll have to try out a risotto next time!

The blog is great, I've just enjoyed having a look through I'm going to try your chicken dhansak with cinnamon rice - just sounds and looks so good and rich. Someone had made smash bhajis at the SW taster night last night, really good. I'm thinking you could have a feast - you could make dahl and some veg side dishes too and just go crazy - and syn a tbsp of mango chutney. I think our next Friday night meal is sorted. Thanks for the inspiration

The cowboy pie was so lovely - real comfort food. It was in the SW mag a few mags ago - it's here:
http://www.minimins.com/sw-winter-warmer-recipes/294681-cowboy-pie.html

your day seems delish!

 

[vintagepockets]

Thanks for the link. I’ll give that a go but I’ll probably use mixed beans and some chopped tomatoes instead as I hate baked beans and mashed potato together. I know you probably can’t even tell they’re baked beans but the thought of it makes me gag! Weird I know lol!

 

[Rachel1903]

The chicken and chorizo paella looks yummy! You have so many lovely recipes on here

x

 

[vintagepockets]

The chicken and chorizo paella looks yummy! You have so many lovely recipes on here

x

It was really good. I'm going to try it with some prawns next time and maybe even some calamari and mussels. I was also thinking of experimenting with different vegetables too. I think it may become a staple in my menus.

 

[newbee89]

Ghb

 

[Skulldilocks]

Hey there, your diary is amazing! So glad I found it. Just wondering though, when you highlight in green is that for your superfree foods, because if so babycorn is superfree as well! Its just corn on the cob and sweetcorn that isnt x

 

[book_lover]

Thanks for the link. I’ll give that a go but I’ll probably use mixed beans and some chopped tomatoes instead as I hate baked beans and mashed potato together. I know you probably can’t even tell they’re baked beans but the thought of it makes me gag! Weird I know lol!

not weird at all - one of my besties can't stand baked beans. That and cold tea bags, hehe!

 

[vintagepockets]

30g of Philadelphia light and semi-skimmed milk in 2 teas is great value for HEA! Did you measure it out? I need to get in to the habbit of it rather than guessing. PS I know what you mean about temping. A girl was temping in my job for 2 months and she did a great job and we got along SO well (before that it was just me, my boss and an accountant that is lovely but only works part-time and leaves at 2pm) and she left last week as that's when she was told her temping was finished. Now she has no job and I am sad and lonely in my office! lol. Does your OH work?

How exciting, all of it. New home, marriage, babies, it must be extremely exciting. At the moment myself and my OH have no savings at all so the chances of any of those happening soon are very low. Sob! We are moving in together in the next 3/4 months though which is so so exciting. So expensive to rent in Dublin though. It's about €850 per month for a small one-bed apartment. Have you guys rented much? I don't know why, but just from pics and your posts I can imagine that you are a lovely person and I can imagine you and your OH being a really great couple. Where did you meet? are you together long?

x

Yeah you get 75g Philadelphia light as your full HEXa and I only have a small splash of skimmed milk in my tea so that was well under my HEXa allowance whoops! I normally have it all in some form of cheese but I haven't been having my full HEXa allowance really this week.

Aww thanks hun that's really sweet. We've been together for just over 8 years and I think the travelling was a bit like us closing the last chapter and moving onto the next. We met when I was starting Uni and he was finishing his masters. We’re both from Cheltenham and met on a random night out. I then went to uni in Liverpool and his first project was in Liverpool too so it was meant to be (if you believe in that sort of thing!?) We didn’t live together whilst in Liverpool though as I wanted the full uni experience but it was great him being there when I needed him and vice versa.

My OH is a Consultant and does things with computers lol! It's really difficult to explain but he's a mega geek and it pays well so he likes it! I have no savings either but we’re fortunate that my OH has a well paid job and has managed to save a lot of his wages over the years as he travels a lot for work so pretty much lives on expenses so no bills or rent for him, plus he’s really good with money (me not so much!)

We rented when we lived in London which was a big expense for both of us as he was working in Switzerland at the time so he was paying rent on a place he was only living in at the weekends. And my salary barely covered my share of the rent and bills which is the main reason why I have no intention of living there again. We can get a 3 bed house in Manchester for the same price as a 1 bed shoebox in London! We can’t wait to have our own house as we’ve moved around so much since we’ve been together. I can’t wait to not have to move house again and properly start nesting.

How long have you and your OH been together. It’s so exciting first moving in together. As my OH has travelled a lot for work it’s only been the last 2 years that we’ve really got to live together properly as he’s been on local projects. We’re hoping that he’ll be able to get a project local to Manchester so we don’t have to go through being apart for most of the week again – it’s rubbish!

 

[vintagepockets]

Hey there, your diary is amazing! So glad I found it. Just wondering though, when you highlight in green is that for your superfree foods, because if so babycorn is superfree as well! Its just corn on the cob and sweetcorn that isnt x

Yes it is. That's great thanks hun, I thought it was only free. Yey I love babycorn.

 

[vintagepockets]

not weird at all - one of my besties can't stand baked beans. That and cold tea bags, hehe!

But I love baked beans with most things, including jacket potatoes and chips, but just not with mashed potato. I think it's the texture when they're combined. Yuck!

 

[vintagepockets]

Out for dinner tonight with friend and getting Thai food my favourite. I'm just waiting for her now and I have a big glass of red in front of me so I'll probably be going over the syns!

Food Diary...

Breakfast - banana, blueberries, activia 0%

Lunch - homemade curried cauliflower soup, wholemeal pitta (HEXb), 1 tbsp rf houmous (1.5 syns)

Snack - carrot, grapes, 1 celebration (2 syns)

Dinner - 1 tbsp satay sauce (1.5 syns) w/ chicken (2 syns for any oil), chicken w/ oyster sauce (broccoli, cauliflower, carrot, onion, cabbage) and boiled rice (4.5 syns)


250ml red wine (8.5 syns)
3 tea w/ semi-skimmed milk (HEXa)
3 herbal tea
Sparkling water

Total syns = 19.5 (not as bad as I thought it would be ! )

 

[book_lover]

19 syns is not all that bad - did you have a lovely night?

Re. the temp thing - I just wanted to say there IS light at the end of the tunnel. I temped for years, after a few years of waitressing. I knew I had something else in me but wasn't focused or settled enough at that point to go to uni. I went to uni later on than my peers - I was a few years older and did Psychology. Then after that I did research, interspersed with more temping.... eventually I completed my PhD despite having 2 babies along the way (so it took 9 years instead of the recommended 4!) and now I'm hopefully on track with an academic career.

Sorry if you posted this already but is there anything that you'd like to do in particular?

 

[newbee89]

Ghughb

 

[camz]

Wow, I think it's amazing that you guys are together 8 years considering a lot of the time your OH has been working abroad. I think that would involve a completely different level of love and trust! I am not so good on the trust front... While we are together three years I am such a worrier and I always think the worst. I am trying to overcome it because it really is pain in the bum for both of us, but it's not that easy. Would you and your OH do much seperately? Like would he have nights out with work or the lads and you have nights with the girls? I find when he is going out with work I get really insecure. Lots of booze and lots of women that he works with so it breathes insecurity in me that something bad will happen. Very unfair on him but I just can't seem to stop bloody worrying all the time. Especially when alcohol is involved because I constantly hear stories of people cheating, and I have been there before and I suppose its hard to get over. I wish I were a carefree person goddammit!

I am really excited to move in together. At the moment our time together is so half-arsed because there are usually always people around so we get little time to just chill out alone, or do anything alone. Or I find we're both always tired from work and my OH has to drive quite a distance from his house to mine. Then he's living out of a bag for those few days and my room is TINY so there is very little space. My house is also full of people. I'm the oldest of 5 kids, and then there is my step dad, mam and a big dog. It can be a bit chaotic! It will be a whole new experience to have our own place. Chances are it will be a small apartment, but we will make it out own

Sorry if this all got a bit Doctor Phil, I went on a bit of a rant there, lol!

My OH and I have been together 8.5 years too, we spent 4 years doing the long distance thing at Uni, and are now looking to move in together in the near future (we have both moved home to our parents for financial reasons!) and I cannot wait to have our own place!!

Xxx

Sent from my iPhone using MiniMins

 

[vintagepockets]

19 syns is not all that bad - did you have a lovely night?

Re. the temp thing - I just wanted to say there IS light at the end of the tunnel. I temped for years, after a few years of waitressing. I knew I had something else in me but wasn't focused or settled enough at that point to go to uni. I went to uni later on than my peers - I was a few years older and did Psychology. Then after that I did research, interspersed with more temping.... eventually I completed my PhD despite having 2 babies along the way (so it took 9 years instead of the recommended 4!) and now I'm hopefully on track with an academic career.

Sorry if you posted this already but is there anything that you'd like to do in particular?

That’s part of the problem – I’m not actually sure what it is that I want to do.

I graduated from Uni in 2008 and did a degree in Media & Communications (it was a choice between that and Psychology actually). I then temped for a year whilst trying to get work in TV production which I managed to do in 2009. I then worked for the BBC for nearly 2 years as a production runner in London. I left that to move back to Cheltenham (where we’re both from) with the OH so I could save to go travelling. He had a project here and it seemed like a good opportunity to see family and save money as we were living on expenses so didn’t have any bills or rent to pay but still had our own flat. The project ran on longer than we thought it would so we were here for just over a year before we left to go travelling and during that time I worked in a bar and also got a job doing online marketing. The job would have been ok but the company was awful and I was badly paid and badly managed so didn’t feel like I knew what I was doing most of the time as there was practically no training and the work load was massive. I don’t mind being busy but I hate thinking that I’m not doing the absolute best job I can.

I’m now back to temping again until we move to Manchester. So I’m basically in limbo, which I have been for the past two years. Firstly, waiting to go travelling, and now waiting to relocate. Both have meant that I can’t get a permanent job as I knew I would be leaving. The temptation is to go back into TV when we move to Manchester as half of the BBC has now moved there. But I haven’t missed it at all and it is so life consuming. You literally have no social life and having children is pretty much impossible unless you get a nanny or do an admin role instead of production. There’s no such thing as maternity leave, and it’s really difficult to step back into once you get time off as it’s all about who you know and recommendations.

So I’m currently thinking that I should go back into marketing or work as a communications officer, but I’d like to do it for a charity or for an educational institution, or even for the public sector. Alternatively I’d like to work for a small company doing in house marketing rather than agency work, which is what I was doing before. It’s just the problem now of finding the work as everything is so competitive at the moment due to lack of jobs. You need a degree to do data entry now, it’s ridiculous!

 

[vintagepockets]

Haha no worries! I’ve never really worried about any of that stuff to be honest. I trust him completely but in the beginning he was very jealous, especially when I first went to Uni. His ex-girlfriend cheated on him when they both went to uni so he was really paranoid that history was going to repeat itself. It’s completely understandable that you (and he) get jealous if you have had it happen to you before. Luckily, once he realised he had nothing to worry about he went the complete opposite and doesn’t worry at all. Obviously he wouldn’t want anyone coming onto me and I get jealous if that happens too, but neither of us would cheat as we both know that would be the end of the relationship. The OH is completely zero tolerance so I know it would never be worth the risk.

3 months after we met he went travelling for 6 months and I must admit I had my concerns but I think I was more worried about him getting mugged or hurt or killed! That’s definitely where my anxieties lie. If he went out and didn’t come home I’d be thinking he was in a hospital somewhere rather than in another girl’s bed. That paranoia really annoys him and he can’t understand why I think that way, so I’m sure it’s similar to you and your OH with the jealousy. You can’t justify why you worry about things like that but you do and there’s little you can do about it. However, since we’ve moved in together my worry has almost completely disappeared. I still have my occasional moments when I can’t get hold of him, but it’s nothing compared to how much I would worry before we lived together. I’m sure the same will happen for the two of you when you move into together, and I’m sure it’s not helped by you not seeing each other as often as you’d like.

 

[vintagepockets]

My OH and I have been together 8.5 years too, we spent 4 years doing the long distance thing at Uni, and are now looking to move in together in the near future (we have both moved home to our parents for financial reasons!) and I cannot wait to have our own place!!

Xxx

Sent from my iPhone using MiniMins

I bet you can't wait. It's just great to have your own space and have a home together that's just yours. I can't wait to be able to start buying furniture and decorate the place to our taste. It's also lovely knowing that it will be a home that we will (hopefully) share with babies! Eek I can't wait!

 

[newbee89]

.bbhh