Keeping up appearances.......

Dolphin1

:hello: HappyNow et al!

Update for yesterday...

1) To have 14 NCDs - None eaten again so now on 13 NCDs for July :j. It was definitely more of a struggle yesterday. I was feeling very tempted at about 5pm so I decided to have my evening meal early. Luckily, OH and I were eating different meals last night so I didn't need to wait for him to come in.
2) To walk an average of 10,000 steps per day over each week (so 70,000 total for each week) - Went for a long walk in the morning so managed to get to just over 12,000 steps :j. It's going to rain all day today :mad:.
3) To put my light out by 11pm every night including weekends - Light out at 10.50pm :j.

jvr

Hi


I have only recently joined MSE and have spent the last month reading this whole thread! Absolutely hooked, strangely addictive reading a diary over so many years and seeing how things have changed for all of you. I love your monthly targets and has already made me think about setting some monthly goals. At moment struggling repaying some debt which would be totally solved by quitting smoking (but smoking is how I have been dealing with anxiety) and losing the weight from the same anxiety that I have piled on over last 6 months. Seeing how much you have all achieved with small changes and sometimes very large changes has really inspired me

HappyNow

Oh dear, eight days since my last update. It's flown past in a whirl of total chaos. So, things that've happened:

• Mr H has signed off JSA and is self-employed. He worked four days this week and is working again today. That won't be regular (probably) and the money is rubbish, but he is loving it and is very chilled.
• I am doing his book-keeping/paperwork/bookings etc. Partly because he hates it, partly because I'm a control freak. It's a steep learning curve but I think it's all under control
• My elderly neighbour has been poorly for quite some time and on Monday he became very ill and we had to call an ambulance. He will be in hospital for a good while. He has no relatives, so his dog has moved in with us, and he is the size of a donkey! The neighbour, whilst a lovely man, is a hoarder (think TV documentary level and double it!), which meant the dog had to be professionally groomed, washed and clipped and had to have a new bed, crate (for now), collar, lead, grooming equipment, bowls - everything. He has paid for it (£190!!) but all the shopping and organising has taken ages.
• Parents and other relatives are all doing fine, which is a good job considering everything else that's going on

Dolphin - very well done on your targets as usual. You deserve that holiday and a 'lake and mountain' holiday sounds very active and healthy so you'll be able to keep your step count up. Seven weeks is a good amount of time to focus on your NCDs too so you're fit and healthy enough to indulge a bit while you're away.
Joey - you sound a bit more chipper now . Are you able to say what your project is, because it sounds very intriguing (and healthy - 11 miles :eek:). Looking forward to hearing your frog/elephant eating goals for August.
Honey - hope everything is OK with you and Kelpie. A harness sounds great, isn't it amazing what's available once you start researching what other people use.
jvr - thanks for reading and posting. You're right, setting monthly goals can make a massive difference - why not join in for August while you're feeling inspired? You will be very welcome. Maybe just halving your cigarettes and paying that money off the debts?

Dolphin1

Hello HappyNow et al! Welcome jvr!

HappyNow, how is it that every time you post, you seem to have taken on even more work for yourself? This time it's all the extra work for Mr HappyNow's self-employment and the neighbour's dog. :rotfl: It really was very nice of you to take the dog in though. I dread to think what would have happened to the poor thing if you hadn't.

jvr, without going in to too many details, I too have suffered with anxiety in recent years and the thing that I found most helpful was 1-to-1 CBT. I would like to go as far as saying it cured me but I don't think that's possible once you have anxiety but it has certainly made it easier for me to control it and I no longer live in a state of constant fear and worry. Maybe worth a shot if you haven't already tried it.

Dolphin1

Update for yesterday...

1) To have 14 NCDs - I have done it with 2 days to spare! None eaten again so now on 14 NCDs for July :j:j:j. I would like to say that yesterday was easy but I had HUGE sugar cravings in the afternoon so much so that when I went to meet OH, I went in M&S to do a bit of shopping and put a bar of chocolate in my basket with the intention of eating the whole thing when I got back. However, my OH then walked in before I had chance to pay and made me put it back as we had already planned to go in the local chocolate shop today. I wouldn't be exaggerating if I said that I wanted to cry at that point but a couple of hours later when I had eaten dinner and the cravings had worn off I was actually quite thankful that he had come in the shop at just the right time.
2) To walk an average of 10,000 steps per day over each week (so 70,000 total for each week) - Just over 11,000 :j.
3) To put my light out by 11pm every night including weekends - Light out at 10.45pm :j.

smallholdingsister

Happy WOW! What a fabby neighbour you are.

Hope the doggie lodger behaves.

Honey_Bear

I'm seriously impressed with how you've managed to keep going, Dolphin and I'm very thankful to Joey for keeping you company while I've been footling around achieving not very much on the sidelines. Hugely well done on making the 14 NCD totals, and I'm pretty sure that you've been achieving more 10,000 step days per month the longer you keep this going. As for bedtime, goodness doesn't it make you feel better! I now find myself getting very upset if I have to stay up later than 11.00, because I have to have some reading time in bed. It's become my normal, in effect, and it's transformed OH's life, too. How about you?

jvr wrote: »

I love your monthly targets and has already made me think about setting some monthly goals. At moment struggling repaying some debt which would be totally solved by quitting smoking (but smoking is how I have been dealing with anxiety) and losing the weight from the same anxiety that I have piled on over last 6 months. Seeing how much you have all achieved with small changes and sometimes very large changes has really inspired me

Well, JVR, it would help, enormously if more people joined our merry band of Happy Supporters. The more the merrier, and all that. Having been 'on board' so to speak for 18 months I can honestly say it's the only way I've been able to make changes to my bad habits after decades of trying to deal with some things and it does add up. Taking July off meant that no bad habits have been tackled and I feel a bit sloth-like as a result. I rather like sloths.

The evil weed. Yeah. I used to do that, so I feel your pain. I found that if I could leave the time I had the first fag of the day until a bit later than I was used to, it helped cut down a bit, but you'll work out what would work best for you. Good luck with it.

Honey_Bear

HappyNow wrote: »

Oh dear, eight days since my last update. It's flown past in a whirl of total chaos. So, things that've happened:

• Mr H has signed off JSA and is self-employed. He worked four days this week and is working again today. That won't be regular (probably) and the money is rubbish, but he is loving it and is very chilled.

If Mr H is enjoying being his own boss and is chilled, the money thing will fall into place as he builds up his reputation through word of mouth, because if he's enjoying it he'll be good at it. Jolly good luck to him.

• I am doing his book-keeping/paperwork/bookings etc. Partly because he hates it, partly because I'm a control freak. It's a steep learning curve but I think it's all under control.

I don't really do advice, but I would suggest finding an affordable account now, as opposed to when you reach year end. Wherever you get free advice they're effectively working from a script and it's very generalist, and if you have to comb through your paperwork trying to find stuff you didn't realise you could claim for after the financial year ends, it'll take you ages.



Plus, OH is self-employed and has used the same accountant for decades. The deal he/they did with the Inland Revenue about 35 years ago still stands and he claims allowances for a phenomenal amount of stuff that those of us who aren't trained wouldn't even think to mention. In my case, I discovered that my NI bill that I thought would be over £700 turned out to be £135 a year, and if I hadn't sought the advice of the professionals, I'd have coughed up for a weekly contribution, paid the money and never got that money back. I have no qualms at all about paying their bill - they've save my hundreds of pounds a year, far more than their invoice.

• My elderly neighbour has been poorly for quite some time and on Monday he became very ill and we had to call an ambulance. He will be in hospital for a good while. He has no relatives, so his dog has moved in with us, and he is the size of a donkey! The neighbour, whilst a lovely man, is a hoarder (think TV documentary level and double it!), which meant the dog had to be professionally groomed, washed and clipped and had to have a new bed, crate (for now), collar, lead, grooming equipment, bowls - everything. He has paid for it (£190!!) but all the shopping and organising has taken ages.

You are such a good person, Happy. Lucky dog, lucky neighbour. I hope the donkey-dog settles in really quickly and you find it a welcome addition to the household. The first few days of each dog adoption are always the hardest work, I've found, and once you're passed those and the dog realises you're good folks to be around they generally settle. At least you've got the advantage that the dog knows you and the area. But yes, the organisation it takes to get them settled is suprisingly time-consuming and if a crate's needed, I can guess that the situation hasn't started out as calmly as would be the ideal. *admiration*

• Parents and other relatives are all doing fine, which is a good job considering everything else that's going on

*phew*

Honey - hope everything is OK with you and Kelpie. A harness sounds great, isn't it amazing what's available once you start researching what other people use.

I think I've fitted it correctly. He gets so excited when I put it on I haven't got the heart not to take him for a walk, which he's not technically allowed and if he's wearing it the way it's constructed, he'll pee on it and then it'll need washing, so we've stalled a bit. I'm still sleeping in the sitting room basically, all my routines are shot, I've had to buy a new laptop because the old one conked out so I'm wrestling with Windows 10 and a new keyboard layout and feeling just a tad frazzled. But he's worth it, OH is being super-helpful and the lodger copes well with having to clamber over or around various bits of temporary indoor fencing. All good.

How I'm going to explain it to the guests that arrive today, and the new lodger who arrives on Tuesday, goodness only knows. I should think they'll all think they've arrived at a madhouse.

Dolphin1

Hey Honey Bear, fantastic to hear from you! How is Kelpie doing? Yes, the early nights have benefited me hugely. I often wake up before my alarm now and think 'ah well, I feel fine, I might as well get up' which gives me more time in a morning to relax with my breakfast before OH gets up and chaos ensues. That is lovely! Are you going to be joining back in for Awesome August?

Update for yesterday...

1) To have 14 NCDs - The chocolates were sooo lovely so still on 14 NCDs for July but I have achieved my target so I'm happy :j.
2) To walk an average of 10,000 steps per day over each week (so 70,000 total for each week) - Just under 11,000 which is great for a Saturday so my target should easily be achieved this week :j. Final results tomorrow.
3) To put my light out by 11pm every night including weekends - Light out at 11.55pm . Oooops!

joeyjimbles

Hi Happy, that's great that he's off to a good a start and I'm pleased to hear that all the other Happy family members are doing well. How about you? Don't stretch yourself too far please.

Hi Honey - great news about Kelpie's apparatus and far better that your visitors and lodgers come and visit interesting quirky people than dull ones. You may become their best dinner party story in years to come, how munificent of you, though hopefully you'll never find out if you are as that might not be quite so nice. And I'm struggling with windows10 too - personally not finding the benefits of it, why do people need to mess with things that worked perfectly well (Windows XP).

Welcome aboard jvr.:T

And Dolphin, you ARE doing well still. I went to bed early last night. DS1 and OH are away and DS2 was tired after his insomnia the other night. Lovely sleep til 4am when slightly odd neighbour (about a street away) decided to start hammering in his garage. Several texts from neighbours later as we tried to find the source, I heard raised voices and a slammed door or two and it stopped. One of our neighbours, with newborn twins, went and had a word - she went in her nightdress and slippers with at least one screaming infant and that did the job apparently. So I've been up since about 5am as I couldn't get back to sleep after that and it was a beautiful morning.