It is tough NOW. So how are we coping

Charis

Frugalista wrote: »

It's like that here where I live - and I love it :smileyhea [...] I've even been sitting in the garden and heard the swoosh of a bird's wings as it flys over. If we've been out for the day I can't wait to get home to the peacefulness.

I'm in the same county as you, with a hedgerow at the bottom of my garden. I can't believe how many varieties of bird I see out there. They were all singing away when I hung out the washing this morning. Even the clouds looked interesting. Then I heard buzzards mewing high over head, such a primeval sound. I just stood there watching them circling for about five minutes and felt a part of something timeless. I pity those who have 'no time to stand and stare'.

mardatha

Charis we have loads of buzzards here, they are gorgeous arent they ? Lovely high wild sound. Like curlews. Happy days, springtime !

Frugalista

Buzzards here too - they are lovely to watch gliding along on the air currents - but OMG watch out if they s**t on your car:eek: -they do the most ginormous poos:shocked: !!!!!! OH is always complaining about it:rotfl: . Aaah! The sheer beauty and earthiness of living in the country:D .

Sadly, he won't have to worry about cleaning his car anymore as the lease company came today and took it back . We still haven't heard anything back from his last interview, so are still keeping our fingers crossed that the news will be good.......

calleyw

ceridwen wrote: »

Re your hops and lavender you mentioned sending for - I watched that programme (thanks to whoever provided the link) and was thinking perhaps I could make a little pillow "thingie" of it for my mother (as she has a lot of problems sleeping).

Did you see the horizon about the human body clock. It is on the BBC Iplayer.

Said that light or lack of it can effect sleeping patterns. Someone did a 3 year study on alzheimer patients as they normally have problems sleeping. And by changing light fittings so they got more light it seemed to help them sleep better.

Yours


Calley

Charis

Frugalista wrote: »

Buzzards here too - they are lovely to watch gliding along on the air currents - but OMG watch out if they s**t on your car:eek: -they do the most ginormous poos:shocked: !!!!!! OH is always complaining about it:rotfl: . Aaah! The sheer beauty and earthiness of living in the country:D .

Sadly, he won't have to worry about cleaning his car anymore as the lease company came today and took it back . We still haven't heard anything back from his last interview, so are still keeping our fingers crossed that the news will be good.......

Oh, heck. I wondered what had been making all those messes, although the pigeons have a lot to answer for. All good furrr-ta-loiserrr as they say in these here parrts :rotfl:
Hope your OH finds something suitable soon. Also hope you can manage without the car for a while. Transport is so hit and miss in these parts. Still if you don't go out, you won't be tempted to spend so much.

JillD_2

Hi
Just thought I would give you an update following last week's epic post. Blimey ots been a long week!

So since I posted I have
- acquired some wood to make some raised beds in my garden for growing veg. Have bought some seeds and salvaged some bits for seed trays and pots, not sown them yet.
(and just for karma's sake I freecycled my rocking/feeder chair)
- registered on imeasure - thanks to whoever posted that, it looks great
- got husband to get down box of old curtain from loft. Have yet to get a curtain rail and hang them, its been a manic week
- been doing the grocery challenge, hoping to stick to budget
- got hubby to fix 2 of the 3 dripping taps so hopefully that will save a bit. He's still got one to do but he did reseal the bath and shower so no chance of wet ceilings which were starting to happen

For some reason I've been feeling really down about it all this week. Last week I was all positive and now I am just so fed up but no idea why really. Husbands back thing is annoying him a lot, he's had a lot of stress on at work, I've had an annoying cough for 5 or 6 weeks now, we had a wedding at the weekend which was lovely but has left me really tired, and I seem to stay up too late every night. Nothing especially awful has happened, we've had a couple more unexpected bills come in, but thats it really. So no idea why I feel so low

Anyway from a cutitng back point of view I still need to:
- get hubby to fix kickboard under DW
- sort curtain rail etc for playroom curtains
- check timing for hot water, am sure its on too much
- make a trip to GP to ask about subsidising hubby swimming, he says he asked but I think they fobbed him off
- phone A&L and get them to increase term to 25 years til we remortgage
- chase experian for help on clearing fake info on hubby credit check thingy (now stopping us getting new mortgage , think hubby has this under control.....)
- phone British Gas about the bill from h3ll and see if we can reduce payments a bit
- chase hubby to pay for his own gym membership and not joint account
- chase hubby to sort out new sim card
- build and fill the raised beds!!!

Phew thats all I can think of for now, I am exhausted just writing that list. Think first thing I should do (tomorrow LOL) is to get this lst into some sort of priority

ceridwen

Re how to make a raised garden bed - I've put a link to this on my other blog (ie "My Gardening Notes"). Anyways - this is it:

http://thepioneerwoman.com/homeandgarden/2009/02/build-your-own-raised-flowervegetable-bed/

You're welcome to look at my gardening blog if you want - tho' tis now morphing into more of a resource for Transition Town Food Groups (as we are having a lot of discussions at present about how Britain is to feed itself in the future):

http://mygardeningnotes.blogspot.com/

so some people might now find it a bit "radical":D (its not advisable to read the bits about humanure whilst eating your meals....)

bellaquidsin

JillD, this was exactly my reaction when redundancy struck us some 18 years ago.

At first your coping mechanism goes into overdrive, the adrenalin flows like crazy, and then it stops, you can't keep pumping it out for ever. This leaves you feeling drained and unable to cope.

You are taking lots of positive steps to cope with your situation and you WILL cope trust me, and in time all these new projects will become a way of life and you'll settle down into a routine.

Meanwhile, try to get as much sleep as you can, and remember Rome wasn't built in a day, they put it up brick by brick. Take the brick by brick approach and you'll get there in the end.

Bella.

BigMummaF

Hi All...just wanted to add my tuppence to the x-ray part. Today No2 has an appointment to get the results of an MRI that was done 3rd Feb! I know some of the delay is down to actually getting an appointment with the clinical team, but the part was the bit on the consent form saying the results are sent to a "highly qualified team" in South Africa for assessment first!!! Perhaps it would have been quicker to get on the plane for them to see the offending joints in person
So later on today, we MAY know if it will be:-
surgery, referral to a Pain Management clinic, more physio or......a combination of all or nothing of the above!
I KNOW medicine is difficult, but why oh why will the doctors not say "Tell Benefits x,y & z" so that the dipsticks in the JobCentre don't keep asking "What exactly is wrong with your back?" or "When will you be fit for work?" SIZE=1]recent medical severance from last employ[/SIZE or most annoyingly frustrating of all "What can you do?" Who on earth knows what you can do--more importantly, how long you can keeping doing it for--with a dodgy back! Some days are fine & dandy & even I question the degree of incapacity vs. damned good acting re skivverbility :cool: Then others, like yesterday, & my poor baby has trouble getting from the kitchen to the lounge without holding on to the wall for support :undecided
If I'm honest, I am hoping that one of the medics at the hospital, or failing that the GP, will say 'Here's a certificate for six months. Go away & heal thyself in peace from the pen-pushers!'...or is that being too idealistic? see my post 2603 for further details!

ceridwen

Good advice there from Bella above. Certainly the phrase "Rome wasnt built in a day" is very much the case. So - a list of what to do methinks and work through it at a reasonable pace (not flat-out on the one hand - but, on the other hand, it gives focus to what you are doing).

On a different topic - thinking further on "My Gardening Notes" blog - do feel free anyone who wants to to come and add comments to the posts I have made on it. I've done a lot of scouting round the Web looking for useful info. and sending it straight over to my blog when I found it - but there's only so much one person can do and I might well have missed stuff that could usefully be on there.

Mrs M - thanks in particular for being an inspiration as to how much food one household can grow and I hope you will regard it as the compliment its meant to be that I've left a link to your blog on my blogroll:D (ie Potio Appotment).

http://mygardeningnotes.blogspot.com/