Whilst I’m here posting recipes I may as well bring you up to speed with what’s been happening lately. Won’t take long, I promise.

As some of you who follow my Twitter feed may have read, I’ve managed to get myself a mortgage. I’m officially a grown up now. I’d always thought that shared ownership would be my only option because I wasn’t previously able to get a mortgage on my feeble NHS salary, but I guess now that the market is slowly picking up there’s better deals available. Besides, shared ownership schemes don’t seem to be that money saving when you consider you’re paying both rent and a mortgage; add in something like £100 a month for service charges and it all starts to mount up. Also, our local housing association is fucking useless when it comes to dealing with even the simplest enquiries so I wouldn’t entirely trust them with my hard earned cash. Anyhow, I spoke to a few mortgage advisers and I’ve managed to find myself a fairly good deal – so long as I can find a place for less than £110 grand, which is easier said than done. There is the option is to move slightly further afield where the prices are much cheaper (because the area is skankier) but then that adds more time and money onto my commute and ideally I wanted to stay close to D and also to mum just in case she gets poorly or needs to make a quick escape from dad (he’s still behaving like a total prick) – with both my brother and my sister also planning to move away shortly I think mum’s feeling a bit down, so could do with having at least one of us still living nearby. I have viewed a couple of places locally though; one was lovely but massively overpriced for the work that needed doing and the other was well within my price range but the building was quite run down, there was something iffy about the lease and I don’t think the communal areas had been cleaned or decorated since the 1960s. But I’ll keep on looking, something’s bound to turn up.

Elsewhere, work has been crap, crap and more crap. Too many managers setting too many impossible targets and a ‘mate’ who thinks she’s too good for the rest of us now that she’s been unofficially promoted. Pfffft. Worse than that, one of my bestest work buddies has been suspended – obviously can’t say too much about it, but I’m gutted for him. I think he’s going to lose his job for something that wasn’t entirely his fault and there’s absolutely nothing I can do or say that will help him. I really wish I could have a good rant about it here, but then I’d be the one in the firing line.

I’ve lost all motivation to do my OU course now. It’s becoming a chore rather than anything else. Think I underestimated the time that I would need to spend on it – I’m fine with hitting the books and reading up on all the topics, but I didn’t realise that so much more would need to be done online. Ironically I can spend ages on Twitter and the like, but for some reason I find myself with nothing to say in the course forums and the topics of conversation don’t really interest me. I’m supposed to be contributing to the online project over this weekend but I’m faffing about typing this instead. Can’t be good.

My resolution to spend more time with D is coming along nicely. We’ve just had almost 2 weeks together – may not sound like much to you, but it’s quite an achievement for us. Though I feel bad that I spent most of it dragging him around estate agents and looking at grotty flats. Best treat him to something extra-specially nice for Valentine’s, I think – though typically our Valentine’s will be a week after everyone else’s because my work and his family stuff is getting in the way. Meh.

How’s everyone else doing?