Coffee and chocolate

miggy

I've been signed off for two weeks... not my preferred option but now it's happened I'm slowly realising I have the time for myself - actually for me, and I know I need to resist taking the time to visit mum as that will add to stress not reduce it.
I've decided to spend some time being creative and some time doing things that will make me feel I've made progress with the house.
I've already sat down and played all the way through the piece I'm working on (piano) and I've started the second friendship bracelet (making one each for DD and DD's b/f).
Now I'm about to put a load of washing in the machine and get some coffee.

MatyMoo

miggy wrote: »

I've been signed off for two weeks... not my preferred option but now it's happened I'm slowly realising I have the time for myself - actually for me, and I know I need to resist taking the time to visit mum as that will add to stress not reduce it.
I've decided to spend some time being creative and some time doing things that will make me feel I've made progress with the house.
I've already sat down and played all the way through the piece I'm working on (piano) and I've started the second friendship bracelet (making one each for DD and DD's b/f).
Now I'm about to put a load of washing in the machine and get some coffee.

Sorry you have been signed off Miggy but a break from everything and time for yourself is probably just what you need.

I do a stressful job too (until they make me redundant in April that is!) and I know when my Mum was poorly it was often the straw that broke the camels back.

The shabby chic thread may help you with your creativity

Maty
-x-

miggy

Thanks Maty, I think the break will do me good. I hope you don't get too stressed with your job? I don't know whether it's better to have an end in sight or not?
I have been trying to avoid the shabby chic thread - it gives me ideas about keeping things I haven't got room for, LOL! Perhaps I should be using the time to develop an amazing talent for restoring shabby furniture and ebaying it?! I'm not very good at completing projects, sad to say. And the thread gives so much inspiration to start new things!
I agree it's a fab thread though!

miggy

Today would have been a NSD except DS1 blagged £2.50 off me to play on the astro turf...
Creatively, my second good day in a row. I tracked down and wrote in my old blog, played lots of piano and spent some time soaking up the gorgeous sunshine while either flopped on the trampoline or weeding the garden. There is now a tidy patch under the trees at the back but it's arid. The trees dry it out and there's not been any rain recently.
House-wise, I sorted out all the coats yet again. This is a sort of irregular ritual whereby I get them all out, attempt to identify all of them and end up putting nearly everything back. Occasionally I find something that can go, and more than once there's been something that no-one here appears to own. I remarked on this phenomenon to a friend once and she pointed out that offspring have ways of getting rid of things they no longer want!
No particular cooking today, though we cracked open the Ainsley Harriott citrus cous cous and finished off some fish in batter with it - very nice too. Homegrown blackberries with tinned peacehes for pud - DH's invention and they go sooo well. Saving of 50p for the blackberries.
Mum is doing well, too. :T:T:T

Poosmate

Hi Miggy, sorry to hear you're not well but as Matymoo said (Hi Maty!), a bit of time out will do you the world of good.

If you ever need to find out how to do stuff I use a couple of sites (as well as YouTube - there's guides for doing almost everything on there!)

The two I use are:

http://www.instructables.com/

and

http://www.ehow.com/

Some of the things I look up on Instructibles are really funny but I have found that site quite informative (in a wacky sort of way).

Good luck anyway.

Poo

miggy

Poosmate wrote: »

The two I use are:

http://www.instructables.com/

and

http://www.ehow.com/

Oh Poo, what have you started! I've not come across those before... ten minutes in I found this... though it could have been how to make a giant skeleton hand or a squid-shaped hat.

And I used to have plans for today *sigh*.

miggy

I managed a NSD today so we ate:
DH - chilli con carne from freezer, cous cous, peas
DS1 - southern fried chicken from freezer, cous cous
DS2 - burgers from freezer, ditto chips
Me - southern fried chicken from freezer, cous cous, peas
(DD was out).

I must also own up to finishing off the caramel choclate flapjacks, they were too nice!

The time off work is doing me good: a fleeting sickening feeling but I pinned it down to having to post a birthday card and also sending one to mum to post on to the same person (mum can't get out to buy things). Responsibility. Urgh!

Yet I did these and it didn't really take anything out of me.

I've also been busy freecycling some plants and cardboard boxes which has meant a little bit of earth showing in a little bit of garden. Progress!

It's been gorgeous weather and that makes such a difference. I don't think I'd feel so good if it were grey all day. As it is I thrive on being out in the garden, and there are boundaries on my day caused by things like meals for other people, and these keep me on track. I've been blogging more and I love it!

Just a few more days of school holidays now so I need to get together the little gifts for the new term - apparently a German tradition but it goes down well enough here!

miggy

One of those 'spent a bit, saved a bit more' days today.
Car boot sale in the morning. Bought
tiny basket (50p) just because I liked it,
2 pairs boots (total £1!) so even at Primark prices and assuming I would normally have been rational and bought 1 pair not 2, a saving of £7,
Cotton jumper 50p (a guesstimate full price of £25, so can I really say I've saved £24.50? But I rarely buy anything full price...supposing I'd bought it on ebay, I might have paid £2, which would give me a saving of £1.50, which really is paring it down, isn't it?!)
Tray of plants £1 (saving £1),
6 assorted items kitchen gadgets for £2 all of which I hope to use but none of which was planned, so not counting that as a saving.

I have made various food savings over the week and forgotten most of them. Pasta £1.55 saved.

Other expenses today: chips from chippie, Sunday dinner for tomorrow, DS's school shoes and new bag - all done by DH so I don't count them in my tracking where the money goes. If that doesn't make sense, the rational is that I want to find where the money goes and get some control over it but we aren't, thankfully, at the point where we have to take care of each penny and DH and I are very different in how we manage money!
I bought various bits for the start of the new term, approx total £15, which reminds me, DH and I haven't sorted out what's to happen about school meals this term! Urgent! They start on Monday!
If that sounds as though we've lost the plot, the 'children' concerned are 14 and 17 and school is 5 minutes away, so the older one can come home if she wishes. Both have the option of taking food from home but generally prefer not to. We would struggle to afford the price of a full school meal every day for them and DS is rather limited in what he eats and is probably better having breakfast or taking money to shop on the way to school. This is, incidentally, one of the ways in which money runs through our collective fingers so I think we need to establish a limit.

So in summary: some great bargains, and a likely saving of £11.05, but a looming crisis over term-time food if we don't do something quickly!

miggy

A quick catch-up.
Mum is back in hospital as of yesterday: she'd spent the night in a chair and couldn't get up, which doesn't worry me unduly as she always takes a very long time to move due to her disability. Not good, of course, but what I mean is it's not new. However, her ulcer has been giving her a lot of pain and as she is forgetful now, her tablets often seem to run out or get lost so I think it likely she hadn't been on antibiotics for a few days and her temperature may have been up, which would account for some confusion on her part too.
Anyway she's in hospital which is the best place for her and I think she likes it in a way, though when she gets a bit stronger I don't doubt she will fuss to get home.
So today's plan: there's not much point me ringing the hospital till lunchtime as that's when the doctors will have finished their rounds, but I shall get together some toiletries to send her as I doubt she has any in.
As the hospital is on the opposite side of the country and I'm off sick, I'm going to be good and not plan a visit just yet unless it's urgent. She has company and I can ring every day and post her little parcels.
Other than that, everyone else is out. School has restarted! The house is quiet, which I don't like so much but it will let me get things done. Moreover the sun is shining, which makes everything a lot better!

miggy

I haven't managed a lot of savings in the last couple of days, though I did discover you can get basic toiletries at Wilkos for amazingly small sums (31p for a basic face cloth). Yay for Wilkos!

Spent among other things £7 for a bag of frozen salmon today but had some of that with pasta and some lovely Loyd Grossman sauce which came very cheaply from AF, so all in all the meal was a bargain. Plenty of salmon left for another time and spare sauce frozen and yes, labelled.

Oh, and confession time - spent nearly £4 on a magazine yesterday when I was feeling a bit low. I haven't read it yet. Not a good sign, probably means I was comfort shopping to a greater extent than i realised.

On the positive side I have thrown out some paper clutter, cleaned out the rabbits and managed not to order another lot of AF food - yet. It will come, though!