I owe I owe so off to work I go

The older I get the harder it is for me to fathom the mind of men in general. Take for instance the other day, Hubby and I had “lively” disagreement sparked by a comment about food. I was carefully preparing stuffed sea bass (coriander, plum tomatoes, garlic, shallots and parsley) for dinner. I accompanied the dish with boiled baby potatoes and purple sprouting broccoli. As I was about to serve the dish he came into the kitchen and looked at my lunch box. Earlier I cooked tortellini in Napolitano sauce for my lunch next day and I was cooling the pasta before I put it in the fridge overnight. He casually remarked if I cooked enough for him as well ignoring the expensive and posh meal he was about to have. Of course this set me off and it ruined a perfectly good dinner(which we ate the following day with gusto!).
He did apologise for upsetting me later so that was okay. I guess men do not really want to see women in tears or upset. They are hardwired to avoid high emotions. Instead they just declare out and out war! Ha ha!
This week was not that all pleasant. I am preparing my budget next year and it is giving me such a headache! I vented my frustrations to one of my sympathetic male colleagues. I shed a few tears--I often do that when I am either very annoyed or angry and I was both in this instance--and he basically told me to hold fire for the time being and be a bit laid back. I knew he felt really sorry for me because he made efforts to cheer me up by helping me achieve one of my IT plans and avoided making sarcastic comments which he was known for. The one good thing about my present job is I have a handful of good colleagues that I can turn to for support. And I sure need it!
I got sent this little "poem" just now and it says it all...

Worker's Lament
IF YOU WORK AND DO YOUR BEST
YOU’LL GET THE SACK LIKE ALL THE REST,
BUT IF YOU LAZE AND BUGGER ABOUT
YOU’LL LIVE TO SEE THE JOB RIGHT OUT
THE WORK IS HARD THE PAY IS SMALL
SO TAKE YOUR TIME AND SOD ’EM ALL
CAUSE WHEN YOUR DEAD YOU’LL BE FORGOT
SO DON’T TRY AND DO THE BLOODY LOT,
OR ON YOUR TOMBSTONE NEATLY LACQUERED
THESE THREE WORDS “JUST BLEEDING KNACKERED!”

Rainy days and weekends

It has been raining for a couple of days now and today we had a pretty good drenching. This is good for the growing plants though and at least rain keeps the temperature mild instead of bitterly cold.
Sam decided to spend the day curled up on the chair. I don't blame him though. I feel like doing the same thing as well.
If we have the same weather tomorrow hubby and I will go to Exeter for a spot of retail therapy--my favourite past time. Seriously though, I want to get some nice spring/summer clothes...I sort of fancy this nice pair of shoes at Office. A bit on the pricey side but darn it I am sooo tempted! What to do, what to do?
I also want to look around for skirts. I'd like to wear a bit of colour now that the flowers are emerging from their hibernation. Any excuse for shopping! I don't know what I'll cook for dinner tonight. The weather's fine for comfort food which means casserole or something like that. Okay I decided to do a roast lamb. I can roast it early enough so it will be nice an succulent for dinner. I am quite hungry already!
This is also the kind of day where I can spend reading my various shopping catalogues and magazines. My National Geographic just arrived this morning. Something to look forward to tonight in bed! Or maybe I could just watch something on DVD-- a cartoon perhaps? I spend too much time in front of a monitor. I should try to do something else! Well I've done my household cleaning and laundry for the week. Or maybe I should just join Sammy and stay in bed or just be a couch potato for once. Very tempting indeed.

Bucolic life

It is not everyday that you find sheep grazing on your backyard so I thought of taking this photo to prove that they really do on my back fence. Most people will not believe it!
Hubby and I had friends over for the day yesterday. It was really enjoyable because we started with lunch (roast chicken, cold cuts, potato salad, coleslaw, fresh green salad with rocket and numerous condiments with olive bread). It was delicious! They stayed here until after dinner. I roasted a nice piece of beef (medium rare) with nice boiled fresh vegetables. Yummy! I didn’t do bread and butter pudding because I thought that would tip the cholesterol levels up a bit. So we settled with fresh fruit salad. I had a sip of this wonderful Chilean red wine. It was quite delicious but I just cannot tolerate any form of alcohol!

Now speaking of cholesterol, I had mine tested and these figures came up—4.7 for my cholesterol. It is the total sum but it does not decipher between good and bad. Anyway I am below 5 so that’s fine. My BMI is 20 and fat percentage is 26%. I reckon I am doing well considering I am not too fastidious about my diet and especially not too keen on exercise, although I rate housework as exercise. I also think that living in this house helps me with my aerobic exercise by running up and down these ruddy stairs!
I also did a spot of gardening this morning. I started clearing some dead wood from my front garden. I could see lots of daffodils coming up. I think in a couple of weeks they will start blooming. We can now probably have a bonfire with all the wood I collected. I guess this the downside of spring. You need to give nature a helping hand in clearing up debris of the past season in order to let new life come through.Wonderful.

Line Management? Easy Peasy!

There are certain aspects of my job that give me so much angst and stress. It has nothing to do with my personal performance. It has all to do with line management. I never really thought it would be this tough and there are days when I feel that I am a complete failure! Line management could be two things, it is a thankless job because the buck stops on my desk as far as my team is concerned or it could be one of life’s more satisfying experiences.
Today I think I struck gold. After months of taking on new people in my team, after months of trying to strike a fine line between encouraging, mentoring and gaining respect at the same time. All that I have been studying in my Business Management Masters Course is coming to fruition. I understand the importance of trust in a successful working relationship between a leader and team members. When there is trust, respect will come as well and the authority to lead the team is given to the leader. If you think about it, a person only becomes the leader because the people being led agree to the relationship. It is a contractual relationship. Anyway I will not bore you of the theories.
What’s really giving me such a high is my new staff said that I am a good and effective line manager. When I heard this you could have almost struck me down with a feather. I was at a loss for words! All I could do was splutter words of thanks. Finally, all the self flagellation, feelings of inadequacy, agony and thanklessness disappeared just like that! I actually made a difference and it made my day. In fact the feeling was better than when I received my merit grade. I am not hopeless with human relations after all--even without having to be too pally-pally with my staff I have been accepted as their leader. So this is how it feels to make a difference.

Weekend chores

This is the last week (Week 10) of term for the students. Next week they will all go home for their Easter break. We have three terms (Autumn, Spring and Summer). Each term is made out of 10 weeks. It is within those 10 weeks that I cannot take a holiday. We have compulsory 5 days off for Christmas, 5 days off for Easter and the rest I take it after the summer term, which ends in late June. The temperature is slowly getting milder but over the weekend we had strong winds and rain—well mostly winds that plunged the temperature down again. But you see all the signs of spring—bulbs pushing their way through the clay soil, buds breaking through the stems and birds all around making a racket in the morning!
Hubby worked this weekend so I had the house to myself. Maybe you’d think I sit all day watching telly---well no. I start doing my cleaning rounds from Friday night where I vacuum and dust downstairs in preparation for my in law’s weekly dinner with us. We order takeaway food from our local Chinese or Indian restaurant in Axminster and have the dinner in our place. Wine is consumed and update on what went on during the week ensues. My in laws are very interested with my work in the University and they were pretty chuffed about my invitation to dinner from the Vice Chancellor, which was a pretty important do. We start the night with drinks in the sitting room then after about half an hour we go to the dinning room to have our dinner. I put the different dishes in Pyrex containers and out them in the oven until we’re ready to eat. For dessert I offer my father in law some bread and butter pudding that I made earlier or chocolate truffles. He has a sweet tooth. After dinner we retire to the sitting room again until about 9.30pm. That’s when they go home.
By this time I would be feeling quite tired. I love Friday nights because I know I do not have to wake up early the following day. Saturday mornings I usually stay in bed up to 8.30am. I am usually awake long before that but I just want to savour the moment of not having to drive to work!
Last Saturday I was faced with the grim task of defrosting one of my fridges. I truly hate doing this but it needs doing at least once a year. It took me the whole morning to sort it out and I took the opportunity to get rid of excess food. I spent most of the day doing odd jobs at work and being online. Sam spent it sleeping! I made roast lamb for dinner that night complete with all the trimmings—potatoes, green veggies and gravy. Hubby loved it. I like it too but it is no patch to a good pinoy meal. I will soon have to do my spring cleaning. Now that is a chore and a half.

Vice Chancellor's dinner

I had a great time last night at the Vice Chancellor’s dinner party. We were offered champagne as we walked in and then had this scrumptious five course meal afterwards. I have almost forgotten how to carry an intelligent conversation after work. Of course the topic was all about the provision of good all around education to University students. The Vice Chancellor was in top form, funny and witty. My colleagues and I were all polite to each other and I actually enjoyed the evening with them. I mean I spend a lot of my time with the people there but last night we were all in our best behaviour and everyone scrubbed up so well!

My dress was the most talked about non-university topic. It was worth every penny and I felt so sexy and smart in it. I suppose that’s what a good dress is all about. I was so glad I veered away from the usual black item and bought something different.

The Vice Chancellor’s residence had a muted, understated elegance about it. Everything was just so even down to the name cards and my name was spelled right! The meal was as good as any five star hotel could offer. The chocolates were absolutely delectable. Too bad I couldn’t go beyond a couple of sips of champagne. I even took an antihistamine just in case. The last thing I wanted to happen was to come out in red blotches! The wine was flowing and the men were served brandy, women liqueurs after the meal. I daren’t touch the stuff.

All in all it was one event worth remembering. Everything went so well and no faux pas from anyone ie no one got drunk! I drove home close to midnight which was a real trial because the fog was thick and it was raining as well! I managed to get home safely in spite of driving in my stiletto heels--ouch! Yes, it was a night to remember for a long time. I was also called a glamour puss! Miao!

Green finger

My mother loved gardening. In fact one of my earliest memories was sitting in the middle of my mother’s garden looking at the many colours of her bougainvillea collection. She cut the grass by hand. I remembered watching her weed the lawn using an old knife to prise the roots from the ground. We had a lot indoor plants as well. She used to grow them from cuttings, root them in water and voila another plant is born. What green fingers! Amidst all these greenery, my mother absolutely adored orchids and they would hold a lasting memory for me.
I didn’t think that I could buy let alone grow orchids in England when I first arrived here. When I noticed that my local garden centre started stocking on these exotic blooms I toyed with the idea of buying a specimen as an indoor plant. My first orchid didn’t survive the winter in my conservatory. But last year hubby bought me a beautiful white orchid for Valentine’s day. This time I nurtured the plant with utmost care.
Instead of putting it in the conservatory, I positioned it on my kitchen window sill. Even with our house move it survived. However, the story might have been different if I hadn’t spotted snails munching at it one day. It lost a couple of beautiful leaves as a result. I was desolate until one day I saw a little shoot sprouting off from its roots. I thought nothing of it until it started to grow upwards. To my delight it started to grow buds…yes finally my little orchid bloomed for the second time. I added some more to my collection and like my mother I am hooked. According to our local florist, she would be stocking on hardy miniature orchids. That got me interested. I wonder if I could grow them successfully?
***

I thought this photo of Sam is really good. It captures his mood--always ready for his 40 winks. Like any animal Sam seems to find the warmest place in the house. This is taken from our attic room. We have a window on top of the stairs where the sun shines its brilliant rays.That's one of Sam's favourite spots in the house.