Preparing for winter III

Rainy-Days

snowbrow wrote: »

This may be of interest to some of you I'll be recording it whilst watching Downton there's a show on tonight called Will it snow? at 9pm on BBC 2
Heres the blurb


http://www.radiotimes.com/episode/nnq8s/will-it-snow

Thanks for the heads up on this I have put it on pre-record :T

LavenderBees

Have I mentioned I love my neighbours?

My big pile of un-sawed (is that a word?) disappeared from outside my back door this morning, and has come back in sawn bits just the right size for my wood burner.:T There was also a bottle of lager as a thank you for tumble drying my neighbour's work clothes which he needed in a hurry unexpectedly for work last night.

Aaaaaahhhhh, how lucky am I ?

x

P.S where's me newbie alert?? I'll check under the sofa in case the kitten's been & got it...no, not there! Please still be extra nice to me. I'm SOooooooo sensitive :rotfl:

rosieben

sounds like you're a good neighbour too

my granny used to say 'what comes round, goes round' or something like that

tugrin

Oh God is anyone having a really despair-its-Sunday-afternoon-and-its-getting dark- already sort of a time at the mo?? I feel unbelievably depressed and weepy and thie only thing I can think thats causing it is the time of year/length of day. Its like thos grim Sunday pms of childhood when you felt the whole weekend had just slipped away from you and there was nothing that could make up for it! Im thinking maybe my anti-depressants arent strong enough!!

Lucy5781

Found some lovely twin pack fleece blankets in Wilkinsons today, £4 for the pair

^!£$&

tugrin wrote: »

Oh God is anyone having a really despair-its-Sunday-afternoon-and-its-getting dark- already sort of a time at the mo?? I feel unbelievably depressed and weepy and thie only thing I can think thats causing it is the time of year/length of day. Its like thos grim Sunday pms of childhood when you felt the whole weekend had just slipped away from you and there was nothing that could make up for it! Im thinking maybe my anti-depressants arent strong enough!!

Yes I'm on a major downer my trainee teaching year has just hit a very rocky patch!
I've been placed in a school 1.5 hrs drive from home I get up and leave when its dark and get home when its dark, its costing me a fortune in petrol and the school I am at is absolutely awful! They believe sticking toy story on all morning is quality teaching as its "to do with literacy" and they only plan 3 maths lessons a week otherwise "they'll be too much marking" if they did maths everyday lol
But teaching is all I've ever wanted to do so I'm just going to be miserable until Christmas! Right rant over!

On the bright side everything at home is toastie warm due to preparations we did in the summer and the Christmas present shopping is all sorted in our household!

alex21

Thriftkitten wrote: »

In case anyone is interested in the Cotton traders welly/snowboots.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3535305

Ordered a pair for myself. When they arrived DS said but where are mine? So I have just taken delivery of second pair. Really quick to pop on so dead handy for running out to bin etc. Previously I was chancing it in my slippers and then walking about with damp feet!!:D

prepareathome

tugrin wrote: »

Oh God is anyone having a really despair-its-Sunday-afternoon-and-its-getting dark- already sort of a time at the mo?? I feel unbelievably depressed and weepy and thie only thing I can think thats causing it is the time of year/length of day. Its like thos grim Sunday pms of childhood when you felt the whole weekend had just slipped away from you and there was nothing that could make up for it! Im thinking maybe my anti-depressants arent strong enough!!

Oh turgin sending lots of hugs and love to you - I know its not OS but make sure you are in a bright enough room, those awful new bulbs are no where near as bright as the old ones, I borrowed a light meter and put in one of my few 100wt bulbs into the over head fitting, and checked the reading then replaced with supposed same light energy saving bulb and waited till it was fully bright then read ( this was a few years ago and so cannot remember reading and found it was half as light) - it took 4 lights all containing energy saving bulbs to give me the same light reading. Now as mentioned I am in bedroom most of the time I have one light over my head on wall, one each side of the bed - each of these are desk type lamps so can turn them to where I am, and if it still feels dark I throw on over head light, I just find some days am ok with light levels but some I just want more and more light as if I am craving it, but not sure its SAD as get this way all year round. So am afraid its the one thing I will not cut back on is how light my room is.

I also bought this summer a SAD light, but no money to buy the very expensive ones I bought this one http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/4327318/Trail/searchtext%3ESAD+LAMP.htm

I know its not the best but I put it on at least an hour a day and when I feel I need more light, and as I have just seen how it is reduced in price when getting that link, I paid full, I might consider getting another one next week, to have in when this one goes, if I can as it certainly does make a difference to me.

Obviously this is early days and past 4 winters I have got more and more depressed with the lack of light, even the above didn't help by end of winter, so hoping this will make the difference ( although I have other health problems that get far worse for some reason from Nov - March ( Fibromyalgia) that makes the depression worse, cannot just blame the lack of light, but hoping this will address one of them. To me all this is as important as other winter preps as I might find this winter I am not as bad, but would rather prepare with these as well as for bad cold weather than not and have a repeat of past.

I let the depression get the best of me in the past 4 years but this year decided to be pro-active and try and help myself and SAD lamp was just one of the things I bought to help me.

I would go to your doctor and ask if they think you have SAD.

Hope you start to feel better soon, hugs

rising_from_the_ashes

LavenderBees wrote: »

Have I mentioned I love my neighbours?

My big pile of un-sawed (is that a word?) disappeared from outside my back door this morning, and has come back in sawn bits just the right size for my wood burner.:T There was also a bottle of lager as a thank you for tumble drying my neighbour's work clothes which he needed in a hurry unexpectedly for work last night.

:j Fantastic! It makes such a difference having great neighbours:D

snowbrow wrote: »

Yes I'm on a major downer my trainee teaching year has just hit a very rocky patch!
I've been placed in a school 1.5 hrs drive from home I get up and leave when its dark and get home when its dark, its costing me a fortune in petrol and the school I am at is absolutely awful!

Awwww that sounds awful - stick it out. I know it's easy to say but it's just a few months and you'll be fully qualified & can go elsewhere. I honestly don't know how they come up with the placements sometimes, I've heard of loads of people being put miles and miles away from where they live.

Rainy-Days

tugrin wrote: »

Oh God is anyone having a really despair-its-Sunday-afternoon-and-its-getting dark- already sort of a time at the mo?? I feel unbelievably depressed and weepy and thie only thing I can think thats causing it is the time of year/length of day. Its like thos grim Sunday pms of childhood when you felt the whole weekend had just slipped away from you and there was nothing that could make up for it! Im thinking maybe my anti-depressants arent strong enough!!

I mentioned this back in September that I dreaded the clocks going back and I recall an odd comment from someone saying that - or along the lines thereof - that I needed to get over it. I thought it was a bit harsh at the time and I still do. I flipping hate the dark nights the dark mornings, the opening of the curtains but not being able to see the garden until the weekend. We walked the dogs this afternoon - I wore my knitted scarf that I done in Cornwall two months ago for the very first time so proudly - and boy it was chilly over the field. I looked up into the sky and saw Mr Moon at half mast (of thereabouts) and just felt, kind of, it's Monday tomorrow and we are at the end of another year and it does make me feel yuck too. I was so flipping stressed out from work and other stuff that on Saturday morning I took some Quiet Life tablets just to pick me up.

You are far from alone in feeling despondent like this. There is a recognised condition called SAD or seasonal affected disorder, which has proven links to the lack of light and to a season that is bare and offers little hope. We have 15 weeks of this and I tick each one off until the middle of February when I can see the light nights opening up and the bulbs really coming along in the garden. Once we have got Christmas and New Year out of the way I am hoping you will feel a little less jaded.

Be kind to yourself Tugrin and don't beat yourself up, have some warm baths, put a few candles on and most of all look after your inner child. I look back to years gone by too and the sound of a traditional old motorbike going down the road (like an old bonneville or something like that) takes me way back to when we used to go to my late grandmothers and she lived in a village but not far off a main road and I used to sit and listen to the birds singing and then the sound of those motorbikes. Strange thing to remember I know but it does so take me back. Where have all those years gone I don't really know, but some of it is bitter sweet memories of so many times gone by and things that should have been said but were not.