Preparing for winter III

wouldbeqaulitymoneysaver

I have made Winter Preps as a result of MSE so more to learn and I am aiming for more to report.
I hope everyones's Winter Prep is going well and people are both warm and healthy.:beer:

[Deleted User]

A bio bulb will do the trick

prepareathome

Rainy-Days wrote: »

. 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. .

What a good idea:T

prepareathome

kittie wrote: »

A bio bulb will do the trick

What is this please, don't think I have every heard of it?

Thanks

pollys

Sunnyday wrote: »

Yay my outside tap is now off :j

I`ve not insulated it yet though, i`ll brush all the cobwebs off it and do what i did last year and that was to wrap a plastic bag around it and then a microfibre towel and then another plastic bag

I managed to turn off the valve by pulling the dishwasher out and then moving the washing machine a foot or so, glad that i didn`t have to get the leg off the worktop, the dw is a bit temperamental in that if the drain hose is moved it won`t empty so fingers crossed that it works ok tonight with no fiddling about.

I`ve also sorted out a few pots and tubs as i`m really behind with this due to all the ongoing work inside, it got down to 3 degrees outside last night and is still chilly today but bright and sunny - i even managed to give the grass a quick cut this morning, the neighbours probably think i`m barking but it did grow quite a bit due to the last mild spell.

I need to clean up the kitchen and hop in the shower shortly as i`m working later - wish i could stay here as there is so much to do!

Have a super Sunday peeps :wave:

SD

Sunnyday, as you live in Yorkshire you could get a free outside tap insulator. Go to Yorkshire water website and follow the link. Mine arrived this week, so hopefully the offer is still on.

Pollys

alex21

Back on topic! Thought I'd hit a button without noticing and found myself on the getting properly fitted for a bra thread!:rotfl:

singlestep

Success! :j

I finally got a new winter coat sorted out. Took me long enough to find one that wasn't too tight around the chest or one that did but wasn't too big in the shoulders. The sleeves need to be taken up but this is true of nearly anything I buy.

Also purchased: a present for my mother on behalf of my uncle (who apparently could not do this himself in spite of being retired and having nothing else to do with his time ...), some 2.3 tog socks for me and for one of my best friends, some candles as a present for a a fellow addict and some Christmas ones (Winter Wonderland and Christmas Tree to go with my Mulled Wine) for me. Not much in the way of Christmas prep but the new coat makes up for it.

Tugrin, I'm sorry you feel depressed. I agree with Rainy-Days: be good to yourself. You deserve it! Save something for days like today and look forward to them. A mini spa at home day or curl up on the couch with a DVD or something you love but don't normally indulge in? My great-aunt used to take great delight in planning her summer days away at this time of year. I hope you feel better soon.

VJsmum

Rainy-Days wrote: »

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.

^^^^^^^

This.

I get it too, every March 1 my brother and i congratulate ourselves that we made it thro another winter. Do the lightboxes work? and is it worth paying for a more expensive one?

LavenderBees

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 Tugrin, you sound today how I felt on Friday. Grey skies, dark nights, and all I felt was that there are MONTHS of this to go, and suddenly I couldn't cope at all. I sat at my desk, pretending to work as was really quite unable to function properly. No one seemed to notice...can't decide if that's good or bad tbh ...I tend to sleep more, but it's usually an unhealthy sleeping...lots of it, waking up feeling heavy headed and a bit drugged. Luckily for me, Saturday & Sunday have both been gloriously sunny days here, and that has helped no end, as well as having lovely sociable chit chat with different neighbours both days, and letting the kitten entertain us all with his first forays outside. I know I mention kitten an awful lot, but I can't tell you how much he has helped me...makes me laugh out loud so often even when I think I'll not laugh again . I'll let you borrow him for a couple of days...:rotfl:

Keep your chin up, sweetheart, this thread is a lovely support network, and we'll all keep each other going over the next few dark months. That tunnel may be a long one but there is a chink of light there, I promise.

Keep warm

L x

ExTrolly101

Turgin & Rainydays, you are not alone. You have a condition that not only is recognised but more of us suffer then we realise. Apparently ski holidays help with this:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: due to the light on the snow! I wish. I can toboggan very well even on a tea tray!!! I suffer from, and only recently diagnosed clinical depression. Which has stemmed from untreated PND:mad: anyway. When I worked in an office over 20 yrs ago I used to take a very brisk walk to the local shopping area about a mile away and back again in my lunch hour, no matter what the weather. I found that seeing a bit of natural light helped, as I caught two buses there and back, always in the dark. It kept me going until the weekends. When I worked shifts I found it less of a problem because I could go outside eother before or after a shift. Lightboxes apprently help. I've bought a craft lamp from h**bycraft on sat with a daylight bulb(not strong enough for SAD sufferers) it was such poor quality and unstable I took it back bought a daylight bulb from them and a lamp of better quality from I*ea for £10 £50 cheaper very :money:. I have been saving for ages and it just goes to show you don't always need purpose built to do the same job. Catch the light when you can. Arrange a treat on a weekly basis as someone else suggested, a bubble bath with candles, a film, a magazine, a juicy read from the library. Magazines are so expensive that my friend and I share ours and then pass them on further. My next door neighbour buys a different one every week and then chucks them, I'm scared of looking through her green bin for fear of getting caught and when I gently enquired a couple of years ago she dismissed me! Lovely to be able to have disposible income!! Heating on tonight, very bone chillingly damp here. Roll on Downtown & Let it snow!