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nightwolf

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Posts posted by nightwolf

  3. Posted

    Lego must have been popular this year. 

    Ended up getting lego from a Christmas voucher
    New Logitech G502 X mouse in white
    Few bits and pieces from my parents like new slippers etc.

    I ended up with a different voucher from work, so spent it on a new scarf and will be using it for a new fridge and/or tumble dryer. Exciting.. 

  4. Posted

    I've not bought lego before because I've found it too expensive - though there has been a few kits I've wanted. 

    Ended up getting a voucher for Christmas, so finally took the plunge on their plants range. Was a lovely build, I think full price I'd have been happy, but for £50 I was impressed. 20221228_162520.jpg

    • Like 4

  5. Posted

    Life in 2022 has been wild for me. Reading your responses, I'm thrilled for large parts of your lives <3 

    We'd finally started to settle into our house this year, really started decorating and it finally feels like ours. With all the ups and downs of fixing it, changing it, it's just lovely to drive to it and know its ours. I hope to never get over that feeling.

    Work has been interesting too, I got promoted again! Took on line management fully which has been scary and fascinating in equal parts. I adore all of the members of my team, though I wish I could do more. 

    On the same hand work weren't as good as I hoped about sick leave, it ended up being a whole mess I'm still trying to recover from, but they were at least understanding of how sick I am and have given me time, even if its unpaid.

    Health wise, well I did finally get my surgery, three years later. To then find out I had a complication so rare it's less than 1%. I'll need my ureter reconstructing and that's a whole thing for 2023. But I'll figure it out eventually. I also really discovered who will be there for you when you really need and sometimes that might not even be your parents. 

    Otherwise, I spent time with my wonderful husband, really bonded with some new friends, bought all the things I wanted, went on holiday to Romania and really tried to enjoy everything outside of my health. I'm really proud of this year even if we're not quite 100% yet, but I know I can get through it. 

    • Like 1

  8. Posted

    Either I will through sheer determination/spite or I won't make it to 65. 

    Its really no secret all my health problems. Even though they are on the way to getting sorted, the amount of medical trauma adds years. My partner mentioned it (nicely) this morning. 

    Im also not even sure I'd want to live that long. Even if I were healthy. Because would anyone else? Would my husband? Sure that'd be awesome to have 60 odd years with him. But otherwise no. Let me die already 😂

  9. Posted

    Thank you chaps! Writing this at 3am because my brain won't switch off. 

    Surgery was a success! In the end I was wheeled in at six pm and came out at ten thirty pm. So far longer than anticipated, but that was just to ensure everything was covered. 

    Pain has been a bit higher than my last surgery, but the team here having been amazing. Money really does talk, so I'm glad I decided to go the private route. 

    Now for six weeks recovery and I should have my life relatively back on track!

     

     

    • Like 6

  10. Posted

    On 10/10/2021 at 10:17 AM, nightwolf said:

    @Raining_again its finally happening, I got a letter yesterday morning! I'm on the waiting list for surgery! :bouncy:

    It might seem like bad news to many of you, which to be honest I'm fairly torn myself. Yesterday I finally got confirmation that my surgery will go ahead which means:

    total hysterectomy (sub-total and total are different!)
    bilateral salpingectomy
    excision of endometriosis (again)
    segmental bowel resection

    So basically hysterectomy plus excision of endo plus cutting my bowels, which is madness. But in a ridiculous way gang it really validates all the pain over the last 15+ years. My organs have been stuck together, growing masses and generally causing me agony...which kind of also explains some of my mental health / capabilities over the years too. One doctor recently pointed out that I shouldn't be able to exercise, let alone work. Yet I had to tell him that nobody had ever given me any pain relief or help with it until it got to this stage. 

    Anyway, its happening. Slightly terrified, kinda excited. This will quite literally change my whole life, I just hope for the better. 

    Goodness, a lot has changed since last year. It's almost exactly a year too. In short, it is good news, though I'm scared.

    - The NHS told me in February of this year the waiting list was currently "at least 18 months" before I'd be seen.
    - I contacted a couple of private hospitals
    - I got accepted into one of the best private hospitals in the current for the specialists I need.
    - I picked a date. 

    Tomorrow I start the pre-op, so the nasty drink, no eating, the whole nine yards. On Tuesday I'll be admitted to the hospital at 2pm and have my surgery in the evening. 

    2 years, 10 months. I don't actually have the final number of how much this has cost me over the years, but at least £14,000. If any of you see this, please keep your fingers crossed for me Tuesday evening <3 I'm so thankful I am getting sorted. 

    • Like 7

  11. Posted

    On 08/06/2022 at 5:06 PM, Jimbob said:

     

    I had a walk around the house the other day, was allowed to raid the garden for plants to move over to my garden (it's our garden, but the Mrs doesn't care too much (if at all) about gardening).  We also "borrowed" the TV as ours broke.  I had only seen the downstairs, but ventured upstairs.  It's worse than i thought it was.  Two internal walls (luckily, not supporting) are like jelly if you remotely touch it with your hand.  The ceilings are dire (we're talking holes big enough to put your head through).  Few missing floorboards and one of the supporting walls needs fixing.

    However, the Mrs Mum is offering to pay for all structural work to be done if it means we buy it and move in.  There is a small catch, only if it's not stupid costs.

    "Small" you know it's going to be a pretty penny given what you've said. Run! 

  13. Posted

    3 hours ago, Jimbob said:

    So, the Mrs told me this morning that her Mum and Uncles want us to buy the house their parents lived in (recently, her Grandad passed away so it remains empty).  They want to keep it within the family.  And, as it's just me and the Mrs, they eyeing us up for it.  It's in a better location for getting to/from the railway station and for the Mrs to get to work than where we are now.  And the electrics and boiler are all brand new, only done 3-6 months ago.

    However, that's probably where the positives end.

    It's on a flood plain, which last year flooded (river is literally a stones throw away).  The bathroom is downstairs, and it's tiny.  The Mrs and her Mum (on separate occasions) struggled to fit in the shower/bath.  There's no back garden, only a front garden (but it's fenced around, so pretty private).  Structure-wise, possibly needs a new roof.  Needs damp proofing as there's mould inside in parts.  Bathroom would need moving and a new one installed upstairs in a bigger room (pipes would need moving, electrics redone in that room).  And a new Kitchen is needed, it's very dated and small at the moment.  So with the bathroom being moved, the room at back would be knocked through for the kitchen to be fitted.

    The other factor is,  the last time we listened to her side of the family, we got screwed financially with our bathroom installation and we're still waiting on the electrician to finish the work they started (he's no cost as it's being paid by her step Dad, but that's not the point).

    On the financial side of it, we probably couldn't afford moving again so soon.  We'd need legal fees and all that to cover the costs.  And as we've just moved, those costs would possibly be swallowed with what we'd get back so far.  Then, have to factor in the structural and cosmetic costs too.

    If we were still renting and didn't already own this house i'd probably be more in favour of it.  As it stands, i'm against it because it'll basically screw us over (the cost of living atm is insane).  She is more for it because of the family connection.

    The other thing is, we'd be giving up super fast internet (which is great for working from home) where we are now for something with an average of 30-50mpbs (and reliant on old copper BT lines), whilst we currently have fibre with speeds upwards of 200mpbs

    I don't want to sound too rude here, because I do understand the need to keep things "in the family". I've recently dealt with a similar thing with both my parents and grandparents properties. 

    However, there's literally no reason for the family to keep what is effectively a run down property in the family. Why can't they purchase it? They surely know your situation right now. It would be from the sounds of it, much better to do it up as a group effort, sell it to someone who will ultimately appreciate it and the proceeds go to all of you who worked on it. Yes you'd lose the property to someone you don't know (as I've come to terms with myself) but would anyone really benefit from you both owning it? Except to say that it's still part of the families property(ies)? 

    ------------------------

    I've been keeping an eye on house prices recently, because we've been here now for gone 8 months, neighbour is selling their current property which is a match for ours and needs a lot of work doing for 10k more than we originally bought ours for. I almost want to say what ours would be evaluated at now we've done some work and repairs too it. 

  14. Posted · Edited by nightwolf

    On 12/02/2022 at 9:42 PM, nightwolf said:

    I haven't posted in here for a while, but given I've just had my end of year review, I might as well.

    This year has been mad, the role was a step up for me way back in 2020. But I decided to really go for it and push hard to learn everything I could. So this past year has been really interesting and I've had to really try to find a voice. On the other hand, I've had a few (men and that is relevant given the field I am in) really speak out against me, not understanding why I was hired, why I wasn't doing x, why I was doing y. Putting me down about my role and the things I was or wasn't doing.

    I told my manager as such in my end of year, to which he was surprised. He's heard nothing but "amazing feedback about you, everyone speaks of you highly". I even later found out that I've been put forward to my director as one of three (out of 50+) to be outstanding. He's pleased I was able to deal with it on my own, but very unhappy that it happened. He's a good chap, which is rare from my own experience of managers. 

    This also means I'm getting a promotion, my first internal one if it gets signed. I was thankful I got to chose whether I wanted to continue my career path as it currently is (which was absolutely fine with my manager) or take the step up. I chose to take the step as I want to see what happens. So that's neat. Will hopefully see more about that in the coming months. 

    Honestly working in a male dominated field is really, really hard sometimes. I'm the only senior woman in my particular team and the only person in my role in the whole company. I'm glad for the chance to prove myself and people think highly of me, but good lord I need to shake some of this imposter syndrome off. Perhaps 2022 I can finally gain some more confidence...and perhaps the new title. 

    Looks like the promotion is coming through, I'll be managing 7 people, plus an external team in the coming months. I'll be accepting on the condition of compensation and whatnot, but so far so good. Exciting but also kind of scary. 

    edit: words are hard

    • Like 3

  18. Posted

    19 minutes ago, Will said:

    Oooh yeah, those are both really nice! I do love a nice big wooden desk, I'm not sure what I'd do with all of that space. Is your plan to have one side of it as a workstation and the other for something else?

    My desk currently has a tower, two 27inch monitors and a laptop (with stand), due to my work. So it's full already! My partners has his desktop on the main area and his drawing tablet on the bit closer to the door. So he'll be able to use both sides depending what he plans to do. Eventually he wants to get monitors similar to mine in size, so he'll need the space. Both sellers made much much smaller sizes, we're just...extra :laughing:

  19. Posted · Edited by nightwolf

    @Will you might appreciate my partners and I new desks given your choice of dining table there (beautiful by the way, love it) 

    OOr46Ce.jpg

    My new one, it turned up Monday! I've had a 200cm x 60cm desk from ikea, so I upgraded to this 200cm x 70cm from etsy.

    My partner went for a slightly different approach: 

    n7HN5mH.jpg

    We're really big gamers in this house (go figure) plus with my WFH, we decided it was time. 

  20. Posted

    I went with a broker who was in Manchester (I'm in Cambridgeshire), they were recommended by my parents as they had recently purchased after living in France. My broker is worth her weight in GOLD and I will not be told otherwise. She navigated some serious crap for our house buying (we nearly lost the mortgage and then later nearly lost the house). She'll also be there to help us remortgage later down the road. We also used a solicitors in the same area as her and because of covid it didn't matter we weren't near one another. My solicitor used an app to help us keep track of the whole process which I strangely ended up loving. Weird process though. 

    I'd say it really depends on you and your circumstance, in ours we felt it would be relatively easy to buy, but went with a broker anyway as I'm quite unwell. As you can read above, it was worth the money and I've been telling people to get brokers themselves if they can afford the extra cost. For us she was £495 for her time and our survey was more expensive! Which is insane. 

    Friends recently bought at the same time and went through it with Nationwide without a broker and found them lovely (our mortgage is also with them too). So I'd say a solid choice if you want to go that way.  

    • Thanks 1

  21. Posted · Edited by nightwolf

    I love that green in your bedroom Cube! 

    I think at this point 75% of the house has been painted as the colours they previously had were awful. I wish I had taken a lot more photos of before..

    Spoiler

    Probably the biggest change thus far besides the stairs, originally this "bookcase" was hiding the internet, the light at the top left didn't work and it was FULL of screws, we're talking way over 50+ for no reason at all. It was a really horrible job they had done with it and took up so much space for no reason. 
    mj04dz7.jpg

    097iUVd.jpg

    0HIAu0U.jpg

    QBd0Rc7.jpg

     

    I've since changed over monitors and a few other bits (including cable management) but need to hide the fuse box. Once my new desk comes in perhaps! 

     

     

    Spoiler

    From snot green to blue, running theme you can see with the house that they'd really needed to freshen up their colour scheme but left it (and a running theme for us to put stuff on the walls!) 

    vehwtQh.jpg

    aZxZjL0.jpg

    We've since painted the grey to a different shade so it looks more clean. 

    Spoiler

    Our most recent change as of today! We have blue/grey carpets throughout the stairs and upstairs, which is high pile. It looks like it needs the biggest clean of its life, but it also doesn't suit our grey/colourful house so we're ripping it out this week and next to get a low pile light grey instead. Decided to go for a stair runner which meant painting and staining. We think we've done a good job considering its 1. not finished and 2. we've never done it before! 

    XsN0m46.jpg

    ErS2w5m.jpg

    (Dark patch was us testing and will be hidden when the carpet is in) 

    BUL8P38.jpg

    Trim :bouncy:

    Spoiler

    This room was a really pale blue (with blue carpet, it looks grey in photos but its an awful dark bluey/grey). I painted it almost immediately after we moved in!

    nYtg4Kf.jpg

    l7C074v.jpg

    Spoiler

    JwZT45i.jpg

    Eventually the wall to the right will be knocked through to the kitchen so it's more open plan. 

    4kVjGC7.jpg

    Main bathroom will get more tiles and a proper shower. 

    6205wL6.jpg

    Eurgh the kitchen, it's not bad, but it's not good either. Eventually we'll have a similar layout but space for a tall fridge. Hopefully later this year! 

    X9XNKVI.jpg

    The en-suite bathroom is probably my favourite, but why did it have to be orange? It doesn't look so bad here, but in person on a sunny day that orange is almost neon and it's really harsh. So that's getting painted soon! 

     

    • Like 1

  25. Posted

    I haven't posted in here for a while, but given I've just had my end of year review, I might as well.

    This year has been mad, the role was a step up for me way back in 2020. But I decided to really go for it and push hard to learn everything I could. So this past year has been really interesting and I've had to really try to find a voice. On the other hand, I've had a few (men and that is relevant given the field I am in) really speak out against me, not understanding why I was hired, why I wasn't doing x, why I was doing y. Putting me down about my role and the things I was or wasn't doing.

    I told my manager as such in my end of year, to which he was surprised. He's heard nothing but "amazing feedback about you, everyone speaks of you highly". I even later found out that I've been put forward to my director as one of three (out of 50+) to be outstanding. He's pleased I was able to deal with it on my own, but very unhappy that it happened. He's a good chap, which is rare from my own experience of managers. 

    This also means I'm getting a promotion, my first internal one if it gets signed. I was thankful I got to chose whether I wanted to continue my career path as it currently is (which was absolutely fine with my manager) or take the step up. I chose to take the step as I want to see what happens. So that's neat. Will hopefully see more about that in the coming months. 

    Honestly working in a male dominated field is really, really hard sometimes. I'm the only senior woman in my particular team and the only person in my role in the whole company. I'm glad for the chance to prove myself and people think highly of me, but good lord I need to shake some of this imposter syndrome off. Perhaps 2022 I can finally gain some more confidence...and perhaps the new title. 

    • Like 2
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