Daffy's 'a nice cup of tea cheers you up' diary

Happytogetdebtfree

Yay sounds like it was a succesful day happy running and yes rebook the car for its mot we have an mot due in november thats great xx

Cheery_Daff

<yawn>

Goodness, I'm a bit sleepy this afternoon! But the sun's shining, I've just had two cheese-and-egg pancakes (made by Mr Daffs ), and everything is alright really.

Just busy contemplating how the afternoon's going to pan out... And fretting over a couple of things (mainly cos I'm a bit sleepy). So, if you'll indulge me, I'm going to play a little game with myself

WHAT I'M FRETTING ABOUT: I'm feeling quite podgy and it's making me a bit miserable

ISSUES: I know I struggle to tackle eating first, and do much better when I put some effort into exercising. I'm struggling with Shred at the minute, because I have to do it in the kitchen, which is the main thoroughfare of the house, and either Mr Daffs or his mate are around most of the time. I'd love to start running again, but I'm struggling with managing eating to make it possible - keep saying 'yes' every time someone offers me tea then I'm too full to run!

POSITIVE ACTION POINT: Don't eat or drink anything for the next 2 hours, and go for a run at 3.30 :j

WHAT I'M FRETTING ABOUT: House being a mess

ISSUES: it's not really a mess, it's just rather cluttered and I find it difficult to keep on top of it. When I'm hormonal the whole place feels full of STUFF (mostly Mr Daffs', but lots of mine too), and really grubby. There's several places that are only half decorated, and have been for years, and that quite often gets on my nerves too.

POSITIVE ACTION POINT: Study Flylady book again tonight. I have had a lot of success with this approach in the past, I like the structure and positive nature of it! This afternoon I will set my timer for two 15 minute slots. The first I will wash up and sweep the floor in the kitchen and living room. In the second I'll add a coat of primer to the small bit of wall above the window we had plastered (er, last year )

WHAT I'M FRETTING ABOUT: PhD!

ISSUES: struggling to concentrate, REALLY want to finish, but can't get motivated, everything seems overwhelming sometimes!

POSITIVE ACTION POINT: I will set my timer and work for 8 x 15 minute slots (2 hours). I will plan the structures for chapters 2 and 3, move all the text around, identify areas that need rewriting, and make a list of library books to collect tomorrow.

WHAT I'M FRETTING ABOUT: ringing the garage

ISSUES: feeling a bit daft about missing MOT yesterday. Also have to tell them the bit fell off the front of the car yesterday so we'll need a new one of those too. Worrying about being shouted at!

POSITIVE ACTION POINT: As soon as I've finished this message I will arrange a suitable time with Mr Daffs, then get the phone and ring them up!

There - that feels a whole load more positive! :j :j

Cheery_Daff

Ooh, and before I forget, we got our road tax refund from our van in the post today - £153!!! :j :j :j A bit mixed up, I've already given Mr Daffs his half back, so it's all coming to me - but the cheque's in his name :rotfl: So we'll put it into his bank, then when I get paid at the end of the month and pay my house contribution, I'll pay it minus the £153.

Then, to top off the confusion I'll transfer £153 to Mr Daffs' other account to pay off some more of what I owe him, which will take the total paid off to £1050 :T :T :T Leaving only £110! (I kept forgetting about this tax money, so I was wondering how exactly I was going to be able to pay that off and save for Christmas :rotfl: and this must have been what I was originally planning to do :rotfl:) I should (fingers crossed) be able to pay that £110 out of October's wages too (if I include what I'll save by not going to work for 3 days), so October could see the end of what I owe to mr Daffs AND the fees!!!! :T :T :T How very exciting! :j :j And it'll be the beginning of october too (save before you spend and all that), so only a couple of weeks away! What an exciting thought!! :T :T :T :T :T

Pippilongstocking

WHoop whoop to paying Mr Daffs off - well done you - ace about tax rebate

Hugs me dear - look at you good issue spotting and then motivational ways to sort it.

Garage - I know it doesn't feel like you're in charge but you're the customer.

YOu - you mentioned yesterday you were a bit grrish about things - be kind to yourself - and enjoy your run

PhD - I'm thinking similar thoughts - want to get on and enjoy life, and am going to copy you with my 2hrs today x

Loving you looking to yourself and the universe to get it out more positivity Well done you!!!!

I'm full of scone and hm jam (random berry left over from xmas/ny) found box in freezer now have 1 1/2 jars of semi identified and runny jam - haven't bothered with lids as it wont keep - scones used up left over sour milk and they're no good after a day - so hope kids enjoy later - thought of you as I did my 'well that looks about right' measuring and my baking - more like compot than jam as I'm a skinflint on the sugar - better for them I say!!

Hugs.

Cheery_Daff

Ooh, scones and jam! :T Well done you! :T Thanks, needed your cheery little message, was in danger of getting cross there for a minute!

Well, I set the timer for first 15 minutes, and then mr Daffs came downstairs saying 'i'm going out now' and proceeded to disturb me for the entire 15 minutes :mad: :rotfl: Ah well.

Mr Daffs is off to help mate move his stuff out of ex girlfriend's house. She's not there because her dad has just been taken into intensive care on Isle of Wight - poor thing is having a bad week! So all his stuff is seemingly coming back here He reckons there isn't much of it, Mr daffs reckons mate has no idea how much there is, and there'll be loads - and apparently it can't go in the attic because the floor's too unstable (I'm not convinced it'll fall through, but also not willing to test it out...) - so it's going to have to be stored in the kitchen and living room <sob>

In severe danger of getting in LARGE hormonal strop about this - not only can I not get into the attic where all my work and sewing etc stuff is (and where I spend most of my time), but now my kitchen and half the living room is going to be taken up with someone else's boxes of stuff.

I feel ever so mean talking like this, I'm really glad we could take him in when he needed it, but I can see I'm going to have to do a lot of work to keep myself calm in the coming weeks (and I really hope it's not long, as nice as he is). The living room is pretty much the only room in the house that's tidy! <sob>

Will get thinking cap on, might spend a bit of time later putting all Mr Daffs' clothes away in the bedroom - there's a desk/dressing table in there that I can work on, but I don't like to because there's clothes everywhere and it's depressing, but if I can sort that out, I might feel like I have a little temporary space/haven that's mine...

Right, stop moping - let's get the timer set again! (I did try and ring the garage, but nobody answered!)

Happytogetdebtfree

"
WHAT I'M FRETTING ABOUT: I'm feeling quite podgy and it's making me a bit miserable i think we all feel the same try walking instead of running you can be full for that so then you dont feel bad for not running and then run when you have an empty tummy or try running in the mornings i prefer walking anyway otherwise i feel like im well


WHAT I'M FRETTING ABOUT: House being a mess use the 15 minutes for this, do a mind map pick out a part of the house and declutter at your leasure and you will feel better or try focusing on one room a week and declutter till your hearts content and just do a light dusting elsewhere so mind map for that room and make the plan and go do your stuff


WHAT I'M FRETTING ABOUT: PhD!

ISSUES: struggling to concentrate, REALLY want to finish, but can't get motivated, everything seems overwhelming sometimes! break it down i keep saying about mind map but get back to enjoying the phd why did you start doing it and getting that feeling of motivation back as you see its purpose in your life, stop looking at it as an whole picture look at it as branches of things thats a real word lol:rotfl:start rewarding yourself so 15 mins of reading is more than the day before stop saying i should be doing more be grateful of what you have done and know that it willbe finished, the more you see it as a burden or non motivational the more it will become a burden etc so find the positives of the phd and enjoy it afterall its to be enjoyed isnt it



WHAT I'M FRETTING ABOUT: ringing the garage

ISSUES: feeling a bit daft about missing MOT yesterday. Also have to tell them the bit fell off the front of the car yesterday so we'll need a new one of those too. Worrying about being shouted at! Hey remeber your paying them so they wont care lol just apologise and act like damsel in distress if they seem funny take it somewhere else lol and that that but im sure they will be fine

hope thats spurred you on im decluttering as we speak i love a day of paper organising :A

Cheery_Daff

Thanks happy Some good suggestions in there :j

Running wise, I will be run/walking anyway - run for a bit, walk for a bit. I usually walk most places anyway, so need a bit on top of that! But I won't overdo it House wise, I shall indeed be doing things 15 minutes at a time, that is also a flylady thing that I've been using for several years now! She focuses on a room each week, and once you've done 15 mins of decluttering you don't do any more (suits me, I'm rather prone to getting EVERYTHING out and then getting bored and leaving it strewn around for weeks :rotfl:)

As for the PhD, I've been trying REALLY hard to focus on the positive bits, but yes, thank you for your cheery reminder! :T It's difficult after all these years to even remember why I wanted to do it in the first place! :rotfl:

And the garage - do you know, it never even occurred to me that I could take it somewhere else?? :eek: :rotfl: But you're right! How funny of me. Isn't it good that someone else's perspective from outside the situation can just see something so obvious! :rotfl: I won't be taking it somewhere else because we have a lot of history with this garage etc, but actually, just knowing that I could is helping me feel more positive about the phone call, so thank you :T

Just done an hour of PhD :T Feel much better! Have planned out my two chapters (mind maps ahoy), and moved text from one to the other (and back again), and started making some of the changes my supervisor suggested this morning. Might even get this chapter finished (or mostly finished at least) in my final hour of work today!! :T :T :T

For now though - I know it's 3.30 and I said I'd run, but since all this stuff is coming here, I want to make sure the washing up and floor sweeping is done so I don't feel completely overwhelmed - strategies for managing your emotions and all that :rotfl: So timer for 15 mins, washing up, sweeping, then another 15 mins of painting the plaster work, then back sitting down for another hour of PhD! :T THEN I'll go for a run :rotfl: :T :T

MrsMoo2U

Deep breaths Daffy and well done for thinking things through.

Maybe you need to take this a step further though. For instance, are you trying to tackle everything all at once and this is the reason that you are overwhelmed. Why not take a look at MGs challenge for the Must Haves as a starting point.
So What must you have in this list? health (feeling podgy), satisfaction (finishing Phd), safety (sorting out the car), a space to work (sorting out the attic/kitchen space/bedroom)
It seems to me that looking at the list each of them feed into each other. So If it were me I would start by looking at the space issue. This is two fold, work and exercise. Can you set some rules in the house whilst you have a lodger, so for example if you set a certain time each day that you want to do the shred then make it clear that the kitchen is out of bounds no matter what for that 20 minutes. If they need to go through to use the loo then tell them to go before you start or hang on!! You seemed to be enjoying doing the shred and if I am right then this should be made clear as a priority house rule. My OH is a hoarder and until last month(12 months down the line) my clothes were still in boxes and on the back of the door because I simply had nowhere to put anything, this made me unhappy as I felt completely cluttered when going to bed. So last month I made it a priority to clear the guest bedroom giving me a space to move things into. However I didnt think about the big picture, I just focused on clearing the guest bedroom and other things followed. Maybe if you could do this with the bedroom then you would have a quiet clear little space for you to escape to.
Sorry for the long ramble. It is just that when I see people becoming overwhelmed then I think that it is difficult to see the wood for the trees. You can ignore me or tell me to bog off.

Happytogetdebtfree

Good advice cherisong x

Karmacat

Daffs, things are really moving for you! Cherisong makes some great points, and so does HTGDF - making a house rule seems entirely reasonable, and so does making one room nice, and a space thats good for you to work in. You're upping your game, and that can trigger stuff for you, but you just have to know about it really .... one 15 minute section at a time! Um, I need to take my own advice on this at least when I go into the local town centre tomorrow, I've already got a map in my head of where to go and what I need to do.

Let us know how it works out for the rest of today.
xxx