Coffee and chocolate

miggy

I've lost Internet connection for the last couple of days and while it's back, it's now dodgy - so don't worry if I don't post.

All Ebay items arrived and paid for so I now have warm snuggly things to see me through the winter and hopefully make life easier.

I gave in and bought cappuccino sachets on BOGOF the other day though I couldn't get the ones I really like. £2.55 spent. Stuck to two so housekeeping is still in budget and eventually the favourites just may come back on offer (I've been waiting a few weeks now). Food - made liver and bacon casserole yesterday which is cheap and delicious and there's enough meat left to do another.


Miggy's marvellous, wonderful, totally amazing I-will-do-this-yes-I-will *declutter an item or more a day* for 46 days till 7th October list:

1. 23rd August pretty Christmas bag, plant label, handful of receipts, broken dried flowers (all rubbish shoved into a bag in a quick tidy!)
2. 24th August a few weeds, plant food bottle, 3 Avon catalogues, finally finished unpacking my suitcase - and DS2 has thrown out a carrier bag's worth of old clothes and donated a bin liner full to charity. :A Cushion cover, video, bag of screwed up wrapping paper, scraps of cloth, few receipts, two mobile phone pockets.
3. 25th August 2 catalogues, carrier bags, receipts, 3 water bottles, 4 books, assorted clothes, forgotten what else.
4. 26th August 3 small bags of flour found to have insects in
5. 27th August Just a few receipts and a carrier bag
6. 28th August Nowt :o:o
7. 29th August 1 pair holey jeans
8. 30th August large woolly jumper now ready to go back to its owner
   
9. 31st August nothing
10. 1st September DVD back to its owner
    
11. 2nd September bag of magazines
12. 3rd September 9 more magazines, stuck various scraps of paper with recipes into my recipes to try scrapbook, 5 part-bottles of pop that had been 'tidied' into the larder and forgotten.
    

miggy

Am supposed to be visiting mum but I'm just too tired so I've sent a message to say I'll be round tomorrow.

I am a little bit nearer sorting out things for her house - that's if the re-arranged appointment goes ahead on Monday.

I have the whole week off now! - in theory, as there's always the possiblity of being asked to cover. After this I'm going back to my ordinary hours for a couple of weeks at least, so I might just catch up a bit with my own life ... well, at least with mum's stuff.

It isn't that I don't have time for anything of my own, I just haven't got substantial time/energy, and I fritter away what time I have. If I could visualise time, like money in the bank, I might deal with it a bit better?

NSD today...

I missed the first of the month list updating ceremony due to lack of Internet so I will go and have a look in a minute (skip these if you aren't utterly fascinated ) but first I will restart the one I mislaid somewhere:

People to keep in touch with:
Coffee - LR, RR, CS, JW
Email - A, IS
Birthdays and other cards - CC, MP (DH will prob do these), CL and family, JN and family

miggy

Mum's list:

• have a further look for builders (last lot were useless) one quotation arrived
• get all shares documents together to wave at poor bank person who may not know any more about them than I do.
• (The dreaded one) Get the uncashed cheques together, compose lettes to the issuers and get sent off. Doesn't have to be perfect; the aim is to set the ball rolling. If they need more details they can ask me.
• Order the item of clothing she asked me to get done
• Order the books she wants done
• speak to her about gift cheque for CL which didn't arrive done - just need to keep my eyes open for it!
• plan a visit to her house and prebook a plummer to fix dodgy tap (just one small thing but may make quite a difference)
• also if visiting: put storage heaters on low to keep house dry.

miggy

Reposted from first page:

Stuff to save for:

(This post is intended to be added to from time to time and represents ideas not commitments).

Paying mortgage early - £275 p.a.
Replacing the electrics - 2,000?
An emergency fund - £500?
Driving lessons/car - £1,000?
Finish the double glazing - £750?
Decorate dining room - paint and 1 roll wallpaper? £20?
Dining room carpet
Kitchen flooring £40
Next car???

I haven't acheived a single one this month and we've just had a speeding ticket... 36mph in a 30 zone.
Current car will not last forever so I've added that to the list (DH is the driver in case you were wondering).

On the plus side the day-to-day finances have been good this month, we stayed in budget for the holiday and still had a great time, and I have about £250 extra pay due to extra hours, which I am going to transfer to savings any minute now. :T:T:T Once we have the opportunity some of that may go to decorate the dining room if the current account in looking stretched later in the month.

miggy

Another list for me to add to from time to time. This one is called

The Decorating List

kitchen repair paper over door (can't be done till leak from shower definitely no longer happening!) New lino?
lounge nothing urgent but a bit worn round the edges.
hall/stairs/landing repair paintwork on ceiling, paint door frames, repair back door
dining Room everything! This is one of the big ones. Needs money and is a logistical nightmare as requires shifting piano, storage heater, dinign table & chairs, computer corner, 20 gallon fish tank on stand, sideboard, bureau and far too many homeless books. Argh!
Carpet has now been removed and sample paper sellotaped up... er... that's all. September - still there...!
DS's room new flooring, other than that DS1 has done it. New flooring is very slowly getting done by DS. Spetember - this might have ground to a halt.
our bedroom (sigh) would be nice... not too urgent but would be great to have it revamped, and to repair the missing mirror in the wardrobe door. September - slightly less clutter in there so maybe a smidgeon nearer?
bathroom Can we solve spillage from shower? September - I have found a hole in the sealant - fix this and see if it helps.
(and while I'm thinking about the house) the garden just keep chipping away for now Thinking about a veg plot and a pond...
Exterior Need to replace one window. September - have bought paint for steps - now just to use it. Also need to finish painting shed.

miggy

Three things:

miggy wrote: »

FW is askig on her diary, "What three things are needed to change your life around completely?"

That's a really difficult question. A year ago I would have said something about Mum's situation changing but now that has changed - and yes it's made a tremendous difference. I still get small anxiety attacks but nothing like I did. Need to keep the caffeine levels down as that isn't helping. I'm back to having seasonal fluctuations in body temperature, urgh.

I would probably also have said a different job - essentially I have the same job but going onto nights has made it quite a bit better. I think I need a better attitude!


Here is a list which I won't attempt to keep to three or prioritise just now:

Freedom from (onerous) responsibility - beginning to tackle the things to do for mum's house has triggered the anxiety again. Deal with by...? Possibly look at some more CBT. Haven't done anything except have a holiday - and surprise, I feel better!
Learn to drive DD has just booked her test. Can't afford for me to learn unless it's urgent. But then, will it ever happen?
Lose 1 stone 3.5lbs (not been there for ages!) Lost a pound
do something that makes me feel successful - this could be the decluttering, which in turn might free me to do other things
grow veg! Need to feed them now.
get my cholesterol down to a good level Started eating porridge when on nights - cheap, easy and filling as well as good for cholesterol. Will get levels checked when I have my bloods done - MUST GET ROUND TO IT!
clutter-free environment

Time to put that lot in order:

1. clutter-free environment - helps towards 3 below
2. Lose 1 stone 2.5lbs
3. do something to help me feel successful

Also-rans:
Deal with responsibility issues
get my cholesterol down to a good level
Learn to drive
grow veg!

Note. Item 1) is progressive - once clutter is gone it will be important to make a nice environment and then I will have to allow myself time and effort to be hospitable, instead of my prent condition which is being hospitable in a mess!

MatyMoo

Not been around for much of August so just catching up. Your life seems to be as busy as ever and I loved the quotes and Dolly Parton (thanks SB )

Well done on the decluttering, every little helps

Your DS's cooking sounds fab, I still panic slightly at having to cook for more than two so he is to be applauded for feeding 7 :T

miggy wrote: »

I think I've got to the bottom of what's bothering me - mum's memory seems so much worse the last couple of visits. However, she temporarily in another room which has disorientated her quite a bit so this isn't going to be a realistic picture.

Once she's back in her own room (hopefully tomorrow) and give a few days or so for her to settle in again, and there may be some improvement. Today she had a butterfly for a mind: I was trying to get her to write two birthday cards and had to do it one at a time because she was forgeting who they were for and thinking that a card someone had sent her was for sending. Yet - mental facilities being the strange things they are - this is the same woman who helped me out on a general knowledge quiz yesterday (Anubis was the dog-god of the Egyptians).

I'm bound to grieve that her mind is deteriorating, but I'm relieved it doesn't seem to cause her any distress as it did to Dad when it happened to him, and I know she's well looked-after.

Had to comment on this post as it reminded me so much of my Mum in her later years. She struggled to understand anything remotely complicated (Like 2 cards for different people) and was easily confused. But ask her a question on general knowledge or to decipher an anagram and she got it in seconds. She could navigate me from one side of Glasgow (her childhood home) to the other with no problem but could be lost 5 minutes from home.

She had the ability to make me smile with her tales of the past but I frequently shed a tear when I left her knowing that her world was becoming smaller as her short term memory faded.

miggy

Thanks Maty and HL for wading through my ramblings!

Maty, thank you for sharing about your mum. A friend who has worked a lot with the elderly in nursing says that memories get full up and so new stuff sort of falls off the top! Paraphrase but that is such a constructive and gentle way to look at it.

It's unpleasant when a good brain no longer understands two cards for two people but she has had over 80 years of being razor-sharp and that is something to be thankful for - and also that we live in a society where someone like her can receive wonderful care from people who not only look after her but have got to know her and enjoy her company.

DS's cooking for seven... start as you mean to go on?! I think the actual cooking was the challenging bit, not the numbers involved. It's all fairly new to him and he hasn't realised it's supposed to be more difficult to cook for larger numbers!

Hovel_lady

Glad you're around again - thought work was stealing you away again rather then the internet. Boo to unreliable internet - drives me mad too.

I see from your lists you don't have much you need to do then :rotfl:

If you get bored with your own lists feel free to help with mine

ani_26

MIGGY

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::D