Horace's Biting the Bullet Diary

Horace

Felt very glum yesterday so didnt log on - even mum noticed that I was sounding very down when she rang me last night. I think it is the change in the weather because I felt ok this morning but the glumness started appearing when it started raining this afternoon - right as I got the lawnmower out to do the lawns.

Yesterday I managed to sort my mobile phone out - I have now gotten rid of the work mobile altogether and no longer have a contract or the number, I have kept my current number for my personal mobile and have now got a package whereby I pay £9 a month with 1000 free minutes, 1000 texts and several MB of internet. They were trying to get me to swap my phone but I will stick with my basic Samsung which I do not use to access the internet (my previous downfall with the other phone).

My knees are getting no better so I have now booked an appointment for 9am on Monday at the new GP surgery, it is timely as I need a prescription for my eye drops too.

Not much to report other than I have been trying to take it easy and I have been trying to identify some of the plants in the garden - I have discovered a frangipane (west indian jasmine) which smells heavenly at night:cool:

Horace

The glums are still hanging about unfortunately.

I went to see the doctor on Monday and was told that there was nothing wrong with my knees other than age although I have been referred to a physiotherapist:mad: I know that I have twisted ligaments and after walking back from the quacks had to retire to the sofa as I was unable to walk without pain - I needed to go to the chemist to pick up a prescription so got in the car because I couldnt face walking:( I will give it a week and then make an appointment to see a proper doctor (the locum being absolute rubbish).

I had lunch and dinner at my parents on Sunday and came home with some veg that I had bought from the farm shop and a homemade steak and onion pie which I ate for dinner last night. I couldnt face food on Monday night after discovering that the chicken I had taken out of the freezer was green and stunk to high heaven - even though it has been triple wrapped and is residing in the bin it still stinks so I have had to go and buy some stuff to take the stench away.

Yesterday was Remploy day and it turns out that I have been given mis-information so I will be finishing with them in October. I asked about the Marks N Start programme that I had done and was told that only two people were selected so I stood my ground and said that 6 of us were put through so it would seem that two people have a job and the rest of us can whistle (again not handled well by Remploy). I completed an online application form for a job at a local university too so fingers crossed.

Today, I have been trying to sort out my bedroom - stuff taken out of a bag and packed away, some stuff still on my bed and two boxes still to be emptied. I really must crack on with it. I have to do something as they are coming to fit new windows on 30 August and Mum wants to get the electrician in to sort out the fuse box and do other stuff like putting power into the shed so that I can run my freezer (the house freezer is really too small as the drawers are not that deep).

I took stuff to the charity shop today, got some petrol and headed off to the post box to post a competition entry from a gardening mag - to win a vortex water feature. On the way to the post box I noticed that a new shop had opened - a shop selling fabrics, craft kits and wool from around the world - the woman is going to run courses in September for knitting, sewing, quilting, lacemaking and possibly other stuff too. I shall keep my eye out. Also nipped into the market and found that the sweetie man and the bra man had both quit and returned to the Bham Rag Market by the looks of it the florist has quit too as have others. Still I did offer my services to the market owners who turned me down so good riddance to them because I gave them some really honest feedback but what do you expect when they are just playing shop?

I have done some washing today and it is out on the line, the bin has had a darn good sprinkling of pleasantly smelling granules so it smells less like something has died, veg has been prepared for dinner tonight too - veg being spuds, carrots and I picked up a small savoy cabbage in Aldi earlier for 39p (it came with free livestock in the form of a slug..eww).

I have checked the lawn and found little holes in it - I think they are from the squirrels, at this rate they will be caught and roasted for my tea:rotfl: The little rotters.

My neighbour came round earlier too to thank me for the cucumber given to him and his wife on Sunday night - freshly picked from mum's greenhouse. I will pass my thanks on to mum later.

Jobs that I still need to do: apply for more jobs, speak to my accountant and sort out my accounts and details for companies house, sort my pensions out, sort out some contents insurance, collect my new debit card from the bank (as I changed my name from Mrs to Ms I had to have a new card which they tried to deliver on 25 June..doh), sort out a new driving licence and a new registration document for my car. Need to sort out ex too as I want more settlement money so that I can fully clear my Amex card which has to be done this month because I have had some leeway with them but that ended this month.

I have lots to do and feel as though I am wading through treacle at the moment.

beanielou

Keep wading!
What did you use for the bin?

Horace

Beanie - I had a 50p voucher in the Morrisons mag for the 450g tub of Bin Buddy - it contains 15 applications worth of granules. It is quite pricey so if I buy some again I will buy a smaller tub which is cheaper.

I have been quite busy today, I was going to do some more applications but got side tracked. My plug plants arrived today so I called mum and suggested that I visit and drop them in to her - she has said that she will pot them up and bring them on in the greenhouse for me. Instead, mum came to me and she dug the front garden nearest the fence so that border is now clear. I think that I will put bulbs in it in the autumn and will put some low growing plants such as eunonymus in it to fill up the gaps. The large side border will be dug out and turf applied so that the lawn butts up against the path.

I have done 3 lots of washing which has all dried barring a pair of short linen trousers. I have emptied out a packing case and some clothes have gone in the bin or have been packed away. I still have one bedroom case to empty and then I need to crack on with the office so really I havent that much to do unpacking wise. I have also pulled up the rest of the monbretia near the lilac tree and decided that as something had been making a nice bed in the other large patch of monbretia on the other side of the garden that I would pull that up too.

Spoke to my neighbour who said that we both get a large badger that visits both our gardens and I have had foxes in my garden besides the pesky squirrels - that is all I need some stinky foxes and a badger.

Mum gave me some of her arnica gel for my knees today which seems to work and once again she mentioned my weight and had I done anything about joining a class..I had to say that I hadnt had the time. She has said that she will pay for them. One wonders when she expects me to eat and sleep because I have so much to do and it isnt as though I sit on my backside all day doing nothing...sigh. I still have to sort out my driving licence and get a new registration document for my car because I still cannot find the original. There are folks that I still need to contact and I havent really had time to ring the ex OH regarding the rest of the settlement monies and my furniture etc.

I am still plodding along doing what I can when I can - I am now getting despondent on the job front too because I apply for loads and get nowhere. I have to see the advisor at the jobcentre tomorrow so I will ask him if there are any veg/fruit picking jobs going because I can pick fruit with the best of them.:D

beanielou

Thanks for info on Bin Buddy H.

All Im saying about the classes is that Slimming World has worked well for me.I wish I had found it years ago.

MrsPorridge

I am a big fan of Weight Watchers.

I think that really all diets work, but you just have to be in the frame of mind to lose weight.

I am a comfort eater - I eat when I'm upset; I eat to reward myself when I feel happy - so for me its a really big battle

Horace

Yesterday was a lazy day - partly due to carrying a strain injury which caused me to feel as though I was sitting on razor blades:eek::o Anyway ointment has been liberally applied and I totally ignored the instructions so things are a little bit more comfortable in that department today.

I am part way through emptying the last clothing box and have realised that it contains 100s of pairs of socks so most will be binned. It is a slow job and I am pacing myself:rotfl: After I have finished the bedroom I have the back bedroom to sort out and this will be done after wounds have healed.

I am looking forward to Slimming World this afternoon - I am going to the 5.30pm session as opposed to the 7.00pm one. Admittedly I tried Weight Watchers online before and could not get on with it at all and I have heard good reports about Slimming World. I need to get my eating habits sorted out because in more recent times I would not eat for days partly because I was depressed and thus didnt feel hungry. I am getting better now though. I like to pick too and if I have sweet things in the house like cake or biscuits then I will eat them until they are gone. Funnily enough chocolate and hard sweets will last for several weeks. At the moment I feel as though I am being force fed fruit - I have around 6 pears in the bowl and they will either have to be chucked or cooked up and have sponge cake put on top to turn them into a pud...or I could use the granola that mum told me about that is £1 a bag in Morrisons and have a pear crumble.

Suppose I had better think about lunch - I have sausages that need cooking and eating and hopefully the bread won't have gone mouldy. Was most miffed this morning when I went to toast some muffins that I had got from the reject shelf in the coop, I only got them on Saturday and this morning they were covered in green fur spots - so that was breakfast in the bin:mad:

beanielou

SW is great.
Hope you enjoy the class.

Horace

SW is fab - the class was good with 10 new people and in total there were 53 of us in the room. I have done a small shop today and bought some splenda so although I used sugar as a syn with my coffee this morning I have been using splenda ever since which is syn free.

Nipped to the doctors this morning to make an appointment and ended up with one there and then - ok I had to wait for a little bit but I still saw a doctor. Thankfully I did not see the dreadful locum and saw a rather nice chap who bought in a chaperone as he had to inspect my nether regions. He confirmed that I had a large thrombosis but it was not as large as an egg thankfully - so he gave me a prescription for some different ointment.

Had a bit of a stressful day too - mum came round although she phoned first it really wasnt that convenient and I am afraid to say that I was a bit snappy with her. When she had a cooling drink before she went home she did say that she deeply regretted buying the house because it hadnt made me any happier. Erm..it has actually but the stress of living up to high expectations is taking its toll. She said that she had friends who wanted to come and dig the garden but she felt that she could not invite anyone over because of the state of the house - erm it is vacc'd and dusted once a week as I do not see the point of doing it every single day. She is narked that I still havent sorted out my bedrooms and put stuff away...erm, the gardening visitors are not going to be going into my bedrooms are they?? The more she piles the pressure on the less I am inclined to do.

She gave me the money for SW and said that next week she will give me my weekly fee because she had already promised to pay. It would seem that even that is not good enough because I told her my club target weight was 11st 5lb and she felt that I should reach that in a week:eek: She then thought about it and said that I must be a lot heavier than 11st which I confirmed that I was but did not say by how much. No wonder I have issues with eating or not eating when I have someone like that on my back all the time.:mad:

Anyway - I measured out my daily milk allowance this morning which has helped and I have been shopping for interesting fruit (I have pears which are going slowly off because I just don't fany eating them), I got a punnet of plums and some veg as well as some splenda so now my coffee is not so sinful.

Saw the dentist too today and got hit with a bill for £55:eek: this was just a check up and scale & polish. Thankfully the not going since June last year (going in July this year doesnt really count) and the tons of sweets I have eaten since then hasn't meant that I need a load of fillings:j I shall send my receipt in to the Saturday Fund and they will pay me a proportion of the cost back:j

Told by mum that I must keep off the computer and stop looking for a job because I have too much to do in the house. Needless to say she shut up when I asked her if she was prepared to pay me £71 a week to cover my living expenses because if I didnt make an effort to look for work then I could not claim JSA. I don't think she understands that I have made a commitment to the jobcentre to apply for several jobs per week.

Tomorrow is Remploy day which means that I must be up and at 'em early doors and be out of the house before 8.30 to walk to the bus stop. I have a long walk at the other end too now that the council has shut the main shopping drag to instal a tram..it would appear that folks are too lazy to walk from Snow Hill Station to New Street Station hence the need for the silly tram.:mad:

beanielou

Glad that you liked SW.
Any queries please just shout & will help if I can.