When it's good to be a housewife 14/9/15

Since leaving my job last April I haven't yet settled into a new role.  I don't want to go back to work full time but not being of pensionable age yet I can hardly call myself retired.  I've been enjoying the break and getting on with things at home and helping out my sister-in-law as she goes through cancer treatment.  And blogging of course.

I've never been happy with the term housewife.  There is so much more to women who stay at home to raise their families, or just to run the home.  It takes a long list of skills, although removing snakes from pool traps would not be on my CV (see last week's Hodgepodge).    

Today however I have agreed to be classed as a housewife.  It saved me money.  I was dealing with some paperwork this morning including the renewal details for our car insurance.  I was just going to file it when I thought I ought to check the details as instructed and realised my occupation quoted was no longer correct.  A quick phone call to the insurers had that corrected but I had to list myself as housewife because that was cheaper than saying I'm unemployed!

A funny old week

I’ve tried to keep to routines this week but it hasn’t been easy.  A family friend, Del, died last week which was sad but he’d lived to the age of 93 and had not been in great health for some time so it was a release for him but of course difficult for those left behind.

His body was received into our church late on Wednesday so I attended the service for that.  Del used to be a Governor at the school where I worked so some of my former work colleagues were there and we ended up going to the pub for a drink so it was nice to catch up.  On Thursday I collected my Mother-in-law and with hubby we attended the funeral and reception afterwards.  It was a lovely send-off and the weather was good so we were able to sit outside at the reception which was held at the local tennis clubhouse.

My Mother-in-law has stayed with us since Thursday as it was our weekend to have her and on Friday hubby’s sister from France came with her husband for a visit.  They stayed over until Saturday morning before heading off to visit other family members.

It was nice to be able to put them up without any hassle.  One advantage of an empty nest.

Today we have our youngest and eldest offspring here with their partners for dinner so that will be a nice get together, especially for MIL.

Lots going on but I’ve done very little walking!  One thing we also did this week was to return items to work.  I still had my laptop, keys, security fobs, debit card etc belonging to the school that needed to be returned.  I couldn’t face going in so Nick did that for me.  It was closure in a way as I now have no reason to go to the school and there is no reason for them to contact me.  But considering I’ve had no contact from the Headteacher or Leadership team since I was off sick and subsequently resigned I’m not surprised that no one had asked for my things back!

Making that break was quite hard but because of the funeral this week I have actually seen all my former office team now so at least they know what happened.  From all accounts things are not getting any better at the school and more staff are leaving at the end of this term.

It’s taken a while but I’m glad to be out of the firing line and I am enjoying getting on with the rest of my life.

A - Z Challenge - W is for What's Next?

My theme for this challenge is family and relations.

This post was going to be Wives “married women” but you’ve heard a lot about me already in my other roles so I’ve decided to go with What's Next?  It’s appropriate because yesterday was my official last day at my job that I’ve had for 14 years. 

I’ve not actually been going to work for the last two months as my GP decided I was not fit for work so the passing of the last day was a bit of a non-event.  As was last Friday which would have been my last working day.  Friday was hard as I did not leave my job through choice.  It’s true that I resigned but only because I felt I had no alternative.

What’s next?  I’m not sure yet.  I have a long list of things that need doing.  One of which is to look at our finances and see if I need to get another job or not.  If I do I will need to consider what sort of job I’d want and I’d need to revamp my CV.  If I don’t need to work I’ll need to decide if I want to work or if not how I will fill my time.

It’s all a bit scary.  I’ve started making lists but now I have to start crossing things off the list.  (Did I ever mention that I love making lists but not very good at doing what's on them? lol)

Friday was a sad day for me but today was better.  I needed to go to the Vet’s to pick up some tablets for my cat so I walked there.  It was about a 3 ½ mile round trip but the weather was nice and it was good to get out in the fresh air.  In the afternoon I made some plans for a family gathering we are having on Sunday for my hubby’s 60^th birthday.  It’s good to keep busy.

I’ve seen a few people who have a “101 things in 1001 days” list and I might think about that.  Having targets and things to look forward to is good.  One other priority is taming the toilet demon.  (For anyone who needs that explaining check out this post.)  He reared his head again yesterday and I nearly didn’t go to watch the London Marathon.  But I’m glad to say I dealt with the demon and made it.   

It was important for me to go as my youngest son was taking part.  Unfortunately he must have been running past us so fast that we all blinked and missed him!  He wasn’t running that fast of course but with all the crowds it’s difficult to pick people out.  He managed to complete the course in just under 4 hours which was his aim so he was pleased with himself and he raised money for charity.  We did get to meet up with him at the end and it was a good day out.

What’s next? Time to get this post posted and then to bed. I'll worry about tomorrow when it gets here.