Pushing myself out my comfort zone

 

I made some tomato sauce with some of the veg in the Lidl box.  I thought I'd film it since Luna was still at daycare.  Oh my goodness, seeing and hearing myself is way out my comfort zone!!

I did invest in a tripod ages ago but I'm just using my android phone to film and Clipchamp for editing which is the free software on my laptop.  Already I've learned about unflattering camera angles 😱 and sound quality when you're cooking.  I know a microphone would fix the sound issues but it's not in this month's budget so I'll just have to speak louder!  I can add photos and text so I'm definitely making my brain work hard!

As I've now been officially retired for a year 🎉 and I've moved house as planned, I need to start building my 'retired life.'  Teaching myself to make videos is just one thing.  What else could I do to push myself out my comfort zone?  Any suggestions?

I'm ready!

 

Just 2 more sleeps and it's moving day.  

I'm ready!

I'm ready to get my retired life up and running.

I'm ready to get my health and fitness back to full strength.

I'm ready for the next phase of life.

Can't wait!  Watch this space 💖

Afternoon Tea at The Balmoral

My youngest son and his fiancé treated me and her mum to afternoon tea at The Balmoral in Edinburgh.  It's an old beautiful 5 star hotel in the heart of the city, more recently famous for where JK Rowling finished writing The Deathly Hallows.  More details HERE.  It was my retirement gift from them 😊  I must confess I've never had afternoon tea before.  But it was such a gentle and relaxed few hours, I thoroughly enjoyed it.  Someone was playing Christmas songs on a harp.  It was all very civilised.  We had a teeny cup of delicious pumpkin and vanilla soup to start.  Then sandwiches and scones.

Then came the pastries!  I couldn't eat all of mine as I was full so I brought 3 of them home in a posh doggy bag.  They had a choice of 88 different teas.  I chose a white jasmine.  It was so delicate and delicious!  We also had a glass of champagne!

Even though the weather was cold and snowy and Edinburgh was so busy it was worth forcing myself out of the house to be sociable!  Here's a decent photo of me and my baby 💕

First day!

 

I got a message last night from my work besties asking me how my first day of retirement went.  My reply was 'mainly puppy wrangling!'  Luna continues to thrive and her feisty personality is coming through.  Like all puppies, she's a whirlwind for a time then just falls asleep where she is! 😂 I'm starting to do more things while she plays by herself and found her asleep in her crate (door is always open during the day) while I made myself lunch.  Yes she's cute but she needs a firm hand!!

One of the wee jobs I did yesterday was to sort and save the seeds from some astrantia that came from my Lovely Mum's garden.  They are a very pretty pink colour.  I'm hoping to plant them at the allotment as part of my aim to get more perennial flowers there.

I did manage a very quick pop in to the plot with Emma (to give her a break from Luna!) to check on my tomatoes.  They're growing well and getting big, none are ripe yet.  But I did pick my first ever home grown cucumber!!!  I've planted them a few times but they've never got to this stage before.  It's so delicious!!! 😋 I hope I get a few more so I can make bread and butter pickles! 😊😊

All in all not a dramatic or particularly exciting first day of retirement but I did have a huge grin on my face when the clock hit 9am.  I looked at the sleeping puppy at my feet, took a big sip of coffee and thought yep, this is definitely where I want to be right now 💕

Officially retired!

 

This will be me tomorrow when my colleagues go back to work! 😂😂😂

Today is my official retirement date and frankly I couldn't be happier 😊😊😊

Home for a break

 

I'm back home for a few days.  I need a break from all the 'stuff' so I'm letting my sister step up a bit.  Mum is still in hospital although she got out very briefly.  Unfortunately she had to be blue lighted back to A&E and is still being investigated.  Thanks to all to the scans she's had we have a very clear picture of some other issues going on so she'll be in and out hospital for a wee while in the near future.  We are so lucky to have the NHS and I've seen first hand how stretched resources and staff are on a daily basis.  Although having to spend 23 hours on a trolley in corridor wasn't nice for mum.  Bed shortages are appalling!

As I had to leave the house quickly I left instructions for my DIL to deal with my drying/dried rose petals and applemint.  She did a great job.  I think I'm getting her rather hooked on growing and preserving! 😂

It was a dry sunny morning at 8am today so I was out early to pick some of my lavender.  I have a project in mind for it 😉 I discovered last week that my sister and niece can't stand the smell of it.  I love it and it has a lot of herbal properties!

The lemon basil I grew from seed is thriving.  I haven't decided how I'll use it yet but it smells delicious 😋 It likes the sunny window in the living room.

Another reason I came home was that I missed Emma!  She's well looked after by my son and DIL but she's missed me.  This was her face when I told her I've bought something very expensive for my retirement that she might like.  Although she might not... 😂😂😂

Well that was unexpected!

 

Well the end of my week took an unexpected turn with my Lovely Mum taking ill and going into hospital!  Luckily she's a very fit and healthy 76 year old so it could have been a lot worse.

I've come back to stay in my childhood home which is lovely and weird in equal measure so I can be with her in hospital.  She's expected to make a good recovery but like me, she's an impatient patient!!

While she sleeps I've been knitting my watermelon socks and finished them this morning 🍉🧦 I'll knit some squares for my sock blanket with the leftover yarn.

Oh, and I'm retired now!  I've changed my header and my About me to reflect my new status😊

After the party's over

 

I don't think I mentioned that one of my colleague's husband has set up a wee photography business.  He's very good so I asked him to take photos of my party.  Just informal ones and a few posed.  He sent 171 photos today!  Here are my work besties who organised it all for me.

One of my favourite photos! 💕

Another favourite one of my Lovely Mum, 2 of my sons, my DIL and my future DIL 💕

I'm not crying, I'm laughing so hard as they're singing to me!  They changed the words from "I will survive" to "I will retire" and included all the things I've done at school.  It was hilarious!!! 😂

And my gorgeous Emma who was the star of the show 💕

I went to the Leavers Assembly this afternoon where I was presented with a lovely peace lily in a blue pot which will go nicely in my bedroom.  I cleared out the last of my personal belongings from my classroom, hugged all my kids and handed back my key fob.  I'm officially done with school 🎉

I picked some strawberries from the garden tonight and thought yep, I'm looking forward to my retirement now 😊

Frankly, I'm glad it's all over

 

My retirement garden party was yesterday.  I had mixed feelings about it beforehand.  My work besties organised everything so I genuinely knew nothing about it.

My gifts from the staff were specially made balloons, flowers, Prosecco, non alcoholic gin and a Dobbies voucher for £250!!!  Some people brought a 'hostess' gift too.

It was a bring your own bottle arrangement but I set up a bar area and provided some drinks too.  People said nice things and they made me feel very special.

Then most people got completely trashed (not me, I was sober!) They sang and danced loudly then pretty much refused to leave.  That's the heavily edited account!  I was rather disappointed with their behaviour.  I felt the need to apologise to my neighbours this morning who were very gracious.

Frankly, I'm glad it's all over and I can move on now.  School finishes on Friday.  I'm going in on Tuesday afternoon to the leavers' assembly as I taught most of the kids who are moving on to high school in August.  And that's it.  I'll stay in touch with some folk but there are a few I doubt I'll ever see again.  And I'm good with that.

Shopping, socks and gin cocktails!

 

I've been up since 6am.  I booked a saver delivery slot for £1 between 6am -10 am.  You get given an hour's delivery slot just before 6am so when I got up I knew it was coming between 7.05 and 8.05am.  But I had to check my email for any substitutions.  I refuse to do email on my phone!!  Only sub was 15 eggs for the 12 I had ordered.  Win win, as you get the sub for the lower price!  

When you put it all together it doesn't look much for £92.25 (that's minus the £1 delivery fee) to last me until the end of May with maybe a few fresh fruit/veg top ups.  No meat except bacon rashers and I got a frozen fish pie mix.  Good job I still have a ton of cooked meat in the freezer.

I've been slowly clearing out the 'stuff' from my craft room and my 'room of doom' where all the 'stuff' from the upstairs cupboards was dumped when my son and DIL moved in.  We finally managed to get all their storage boxes into the upstairs cupboards which just leaves mine to clear.  I'm sorting out all my teaching resources into donate/dump piles.  That's taking ages so I do an hour at a time.  I've still got assessment folders full of kids' work from my previous school!!  These kids are all sitting Higher exams right now!  Which proves that all that 'evidence' we have to gather never gets looked at or taken in by anyone in management or the education dept.  Urghhh!  Lots of burning/shredding paperwork is going on as it all has names/DOB etc.

My relaxation is sock knitting 🧦  Here's my latest one hot off the needles last night!  I had an idea to use up wee bits of leftover yarn and make a stripey multicoloured pair.  But it's such a faff joining yarns and I'm not very good/patient at knitting in the tails.  So I stuck to just 2 colours.  The photo doesn't do justice to the lovely bluey green colours.

I'm signed off work for another 4 weeks.  I've not yet been summoned to an attendance meeting so it looks like HR have accepted I'll not be back until I retire.  Not sure if I want to go back for the last week or 2 yet.  I've been told by my work besties that the teacher covering my class of now 14 kids (one has been moved into the other P1 class!!) is struggling with them and has said he doesn't know how I managed without the support he has in place.  In retrospect, I don't know either!!

The planning for my retirement garden party has been taken out of my hands and is being organised by my work besties.  I'm not sure if I'm scared or relieved!!  It's taking on a life of it's own as there's now a Whatsapp group (I'm not in it!) to organise everything.  My previous 2 headteachers have been invited!!  If everyone comes I may have over 40 folk here!! 😱 All I need to do is make the garden look good.  

I bottled the blackcurrant gin liqueur I started last year and started a new rhubarb one with the first rhubarb of the year.  Look at that pretty pink colour already!  Now we've got a start on some cocktail ingredients.  I'm planning on buying Prosecco so we can add some to make a Kir Royale with the blackcurrant gin and maybe a Rhubarb Gin Fizz!   I have an idea to create an Ali Cocktail using things grown in my garden or allotment.  Wee bit of research need I think! 🍸

Sold!

 

Finally at 16.53 yesterday (7 minutes before my lawyer's office closed) the flat sale finally went through and the money was transferred into my account.  I got back more or less the same amount of money I paid as the deposit so I'm happy with that.  But I have paid a few thousand in legal and estate agent fees.  I'm just relieved that part 1 of my 'grand plan' to retire is complete.  Now on to planning the next stages.

In other news I've not been well this week and took 3 days off work.  I definitely had/have some sort of virus as I've had a pounding headache with a high temperature and been alternating being freezing cold and boiling hot!!  I had a few days in bed and then stupidly went back to work on Thursday  When will I learn?? 🙄

Folk at work were happy that the teacher's pay claim in Scotland has been resolved.  It looks a good deal on paper, 13.5% but that's back dated to last April and spread out over 28 months.  It's not 13.5% all at once.  And in 2 years time teachers will be back to the same position of negotiating the next pay rise.  I'm glad I'll be out of it.

Thankfully this week I was able to just pull something quick and nutritious out the freezer as cooking when you're not well is off the agenda.  I took a photo of my tubs in the freezer as it was very satisfying to see them all 😊 Saved me time and money as no takeaways were required!

Another weekend of recovery

I've spent yet another weekend just recovering from my work week.  It's made me even more certain I've made the right choice to retire! 😊  I've been watching Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan on Amazon Prime while knitting.  I've now finished both sleeves.  I'm not sure if I've made them wide enough for the more jacket like cardigan image I have in my head.  I might add a wee extra strip down each one to make it wider if I need it.  I'll see how the rest of it knits up.  But I'm happy with the effect so far 😊

I didn't need to make soup this weekend for the week ahead (thanks to last week's mega soup batch cooking!) so I made a big veggie lasagne instead to use up the leftover veggies at the bottom of the fridge!  That will do me and my DIL tonight and I'll have several portions leftover to freeze. I made a wee lasagne with some minced beef from the freezer (cooked and frozen weeks ago) for my son.  And we're having a rhubarb crumble for dessert, using up rhubarb frozen last year.  I think it's the last batch.  There are a few bags of plums and just 1 tub of blackcurrants left.  The fruit I froze last Summer has kept me going throughout the Winter!

This week we're on strike for 2 days, Tuesday and Wednesday.  There's also a rally at the council HQ to protest the lack of action on resolving the issues.  I was asked if I wanted to address the rally but I don't think I will.  I might get carried away and be a bit too honest!!!  I don't want to put pressure on myself by agreeing but I'll see how I feel on the day.

People said nice things

 

Well,  I told everyone at work yesterday that I was retiring.  It seems it was a bit of a surprise to most people but everyone (almost) said really nice things and wished me well.  Many people said I would be really missed which was lovely.  A few folk said they were jealous!!  I was honest with my headteacher and told her I was burnt out and had nothing left to give especially after the inspection.  I'll also be letting my union know that too!

I popped into Morrisons on the way back from dropping off my son at work tonight.  My DIL was with me and we looked for bargains!  They have random shelves of reduced stuff all over the store so it was like a treasure hunt!  I got some flowers reduced from £6.99 down to 70p.  Lilies are my favourite!

My DIL got some gorgeous red roses reduced from £5.99 to 60p!  She also got some yellow stickered cheese, cooked ham and a pizza.

I got a jar of lamb gravy granules reduced from £3 to 25p.  Gravy is gravy so any meat flavour works for me!  It's still months in date.

I didn't get my non contact time today as the teacher who covers me and my stage partner was off with flu.  It seems there's yet another bug/virus doing the rounds plus a wee vomiting outbreak in some classes 😷🤮 

Definitely will not miss the bugs, viruses and germs!!!!

133 days

 

I counted.  It's 133 days until the 30th of June and my last day of teaching 🎉🎈🍾  The countdown has officially begun!! 

Meanwhile, yesterday and today I made 14 mugs of soup for the freezer for my work lunches.  Got to keep meal prepping to save money and eat healthily!  7 mugs of chicken and rice soup (using the last leek from my garden) and 7 mugs of carrot and lentil soup (using up the last of the veg lurking in the fridge!)

I also sliced up a £1.99 Lidl sourdough rye loaf and froze it too.  Soup and a chunky slice of crusty bread is an easy work lunch.  The bread isn't GF (or cheap) so I'll use it sparingly!

I've told my immediate family my plans but I haven't yet told my work besties.  I'll speak to them over the weekend before I go public next week.  They'll not say anything until I tell my Headteacher on Monday.

It's all a bit real now 😱

Huge big thank you!!!

 

Thank you, thank you, thank you for all your lovely comments on yesterday's post!! 😘 I also posted in a frugal group on FB and got so many positive comments too.  It's a huge relief to have made the actual  decision.  I just have a huge permanent grin on my face! 😁 I know there's a bit of paperwork to do and I still have to inform the right people (ie my headteacher and my colleagues!) but it's all very real now.

I popped down to the plot this morning to check it had survived the Winter.  It's not too bad.

On the way home I went to Dobbies first to spend my Christmas voucher from my sister.  I got 60 seed potatoes and 50 onions sets for £14.97.  One of the bags says the varieties will continuously produce potatoes for 5 months!  Let's hope so!!

Then I went to the big Lidl in town and got a reduced extra large chicken for £3.35.  It's currently cooking in the Crockpot.  The label says it feeds 6 to 7 people.  I'm pretty sure I can get more meals than that from it!  Plus I'll make stock for soup with the bones.

My frugality mode has really kicked up a notch knowing that I only have a few months of full salary left.  Operation retirement has begun in earnest!! 

Decision made - eeeeek!

 

After the 2 staff development days and listening to our management team tell us what HMIE thought about us, I decided I've had enough.  When teaching and learning is being judged on data and not by what they saw (albeit very briefly) in our classrooms then it's time to go.

You know I've been crunching the numbers forever but I finally actually registered with the government gateway thingy and discovered that my state pension (that I get when I'm 67) will only be £6 a week less than if I continue to work 2 more years.  It's not worth it!!  I'm not ruling out working at something else in the next 10 years so I could top that up between now and then.  Together with my teeny tiny teacher pension I will have enough to live on when I'm 67.

For the next 10 years I could draw down equity from my house or I could sell my house, move into a smaller place and live on the equity.  Or I could win the lottery.  Or write a best seller.  Or marry a millionaire!!! 😂😂  Who knows!

But the decision has finally been made.  I will not be returning to teaching in August.  I'm done and I couldn't be happier 😊

It's a sign

 

It's been one of the most challenging weeks of my 35 years teaching career.  I don't know if the 2 weeks holidays plus Halloween plus me being out of class to do training things plus having a student has sent my kids craaaaaazy!!!!  I've almost been in tears twice and I NEVER cry.  I've had crying parents who can't cope with their kids at home and had 2 hysterical colleagues in my classroom.  And it's not even a full moon! 🌕

I came home tonight in a foul mood and opened up my emails to find an invite to apply for celebrant training with the Humanist Society.  I checked back through my emails and I originally enquired in March 2020.  I never heard back so thought it wasn't meant to be.

I'm taking it as a sign that it's something I would be able to do if I retired! So of course, I'm applying! 

Z for Zachariah

Many years ago when I was in 3rd year at secondary/high school (so about 14yo) we had to read the book Z for Zachariah.  I've been thinking about this book all week for some reason and looking back this has actually had a profound effect on me.  Basically, the plot is that a 16yo girl survives a nuclear event on her isolated farm in a valley and has to continue to live her life thinking she is the only person alive.  That is until a man arrives in her valley wearing a radiation suit.  He is the last man alive (A for Adam being the first) hence the Z...

I didn't know it had been made into a film although looking at the IMDb site they added another male character to create a 'love triangle.'  *sighs*

Anyhoo, as a child of the 70s/80s I grew up with notion that the Cold War would result in a nuclear event at any time.  And I was always thinking about how would I survive if that happened.  Combine that with my childhood love of Little House on the Prairie and pioneer life and you get a glimpse into how my tiny brain works!! 

Fast forward many years and many life experiences later  (that I've written about extensively here and elsewhere so won't bore you about it!!)  I (and millions the world over) find myself in a situation where my fascination with preparedness and pioneer life should help me.

For example, this is my fridge today.  I have no fresh food left.  But I have loads of food in the freezer, some veg in the garden and I have eggs.  (Btw I'm re thinking keeping chickens!!)

So, I made a rice crust quiche with leeks, peppers, garlic and chillies.  It was bloody tasty!! Recipe HERE But there's still scope to add more home produce to what I'm already doing.

It was a beautiful sunny morning here so I went to the allotment.  It counts as exercise under the new rules of lockdown.  There were a few people there but we all kept our distance from each other.  I cleaned out the storage bench that had been filled with water and floated away when the river burst it's banks. 

I cleared 2 of my raised beds of weeds and prepped them for the seeds/plants I have in my 'indoor greenhouse.'

I'll tackle the 3rd raised bed tomorrow/or Monday as it was a bit weedier than the other 2.

 

I didn't think anything except weeds had grown in the 3rd bed until I took a closer look.  My purple sprouting broccoli had survived the flood!!! Yeay!  It's my favourite vegetable! 😋 I also picked lots of rhubarb which has already been stewed.

I guess what I'm trying to say here is that given my long held need to be prepared for any disaster scenario, I need to up my game in planning what to grow for my storecupboard and freezer.  Although I already had a plan that I worked out when I was in Australia, I'm majorly reviewing that in light of recent events.  And also reviewing my retirement plans!  More on that another time!!

Stay safe and stay home everyone! 💗

54

In 100 days I will be 54.  I know this thanks to the memories thingy on FB when I posted about being 50.

At 54 I can ask for a full projection of my teacher's pension.  I could work out how feasible it would be to retire at 55.

Exciting and scary at the same time.  Could I?????

Yes, I do have a plan

I'm 3 days into the new term and I have already been asked several times if I know when I'm retiring yet!  The answer is yes I do.  Although I don't know when but I do know how.  I have a plan that's been formulating in my head since we came back from Australia.

First, I need to finish bringing my house up to date and making it sale worthy (on a budget) so I'm spending my cash and time on all those DIY jobs.  I'm working on a list of jobs to do and a schedule to do them.

Second, we will sell both of our houses and buy one together 😊😊😊 We have already looked online at the areas and types of property we like.  We've drawn up a wish list of  non negotiable items.  Large garage/workshop for him, large kitchen with Aga for me (I really miss my Aga).  Space to keep a campervan.  Garden/land for polytunnel and chickens.

Third, reduce my working week to 3 days.

Fourth, OH retires then I retire!

We both want to retire from our current jobs but actually we're open to still working in some other part time capacity.  We both have interests and passions that we could pursue that would generate an income.  Neither of us is the type to sit and do nothing!

So 3 days into the term and all is going well.  I have 2 new pupils who have settled into the class nicely but I'm getting another one next week that is going to change all that *sighs*

My classroom is still not fully set up but I'm gradually unpacking everything.  Hopefully it'll be finished in time for the Meet the Teacher event next week!