Making the future happen - museumworker's MFW diary Pt 2

ljaneyr

Hi Museumworker,

I've just finished reading your diary over the last few weeks and I found it quite inspiring! You seem to have had such a good and productive year! I can't wait until we're in a position to start overpaying our mortgage but we haven't even moved in yet and need to renovate it over the next few years!

Hope all is OK in the MW household as notice you haven't posted in a while,

all the best

Janey

museumworker

Hi Janey :wave:, welcome and thanks for posting! Glad you've enjoyed the diary, although this feels pretty tame compared to the last one! Good luck with the renovations - I get the impression they must be pretty large in scale? I'm also trying not to buy any new books, having a shelf and a half at home I've bought but not read!

One of my aims this year was to have more time for my family and partner which means I have a lot less time online. Have had a terrible cold the last couple of weeks, but glad to say coming out of it. Am on holiday at the minute with OH and the kids, in sunny west wales. It is a lovely place, a working farm with limited internet access so this is the first time have been online. We have seen lambs being born, red kites being fed and visited little towns along the coast. Not fully recovered, so only pootering about. Hoping to visit the national wool museum tomorrow - museumworker by name, museumworker by nature!

Secret_Saving_Squirrel

Hello,

Hope you are feeling better, it sounds like a lovely break. Following your mentions of mindfulness I have looked into it and find elements of it really positive, so many thanks.

Squirrel:j

museumworker

Hi SSS, glad you've found mindfulness helpful - which bits in particular have worked for you?

Back now, we definitely had the best weather in the whole country there. The sun shone almost every day, and we even took a few evening dips in the (outdoor) hot tub :eek: which DD loved!

Time for Intermittent update 4:
* Have an organised home
Didn't count properly in February, but had a major attack on the office which resulted in me filling our recycling wheelie bin completely :j so am very satisfied with that.

* Work with DD on her emotional well-being
Have worked with the school to put together a referral for additional emotional support.

* Be prepared for secondary school choices for DD
Managed 45 minutes a day most days of the holiday, and got through a lot of things. Have been using mostly free online activity sheets - is a bit time consuming to pull things together at first, but she enjoys doing them and only the cost of ink and paper. She resat a maths test she did 3 weeks ago, and has gone from getting 20 out of 50 to scoring a much more respectable 46 . So we are clearly making progress.

* Practice mindfulness and relaxation
Saw health psychologist 2 weeks ago, I am trying a more integrated approach but struggling a bit with it at present.

* Dsygu cymraeg (learning welsh)
Managed 3 conversations in welsh on holiday, had hoped for more but pleased that I did try that when I could. I am half way through the 3rd cd of Welsh for Parents now. Have also found a welsh course may run in April, not cheap at £210 but am considering this.

* Make quality time for OH
See below, we did get lots of time together on holiday, especially as only went online once the whole time!

* Overpay £6K
Standard OP of £207.01 made today .

* Enjoy ourselves!
We had a fab time together on holiday, despite a rotten cold on my part which have had for three weeks now. It got quite rough at one point, but much better now, just the tail end thank goodness. We took it easy and just relaxed in the very nice and clean cottage. It had lots of facilities on the farm, a trampoline, games room, animals to look at, hot tub - so we had lots of time for each other. We did a few little trips but were very unambitious. I had a (cheap) night out with an old school friend and a family lunch too, so a really good trip.

Courgette

Sounds completely fabulous! We could really do with a break too, yours sounds perfect

tootallulah

Hi MW, I hope that you and yours are all well, you sound great. I am back with only six months before I retire, that is a great motivator I can tell you.

museumworker

Hello both - Toots great to see you here and fantastic news about retirement :j. Courgette - hope you've been getting some rest - do you have a nice break planned over Easter?

I have been busy living my values, so to speak - focusing on the family and relaxing, but am sorry to not kept up with all you lovely people.

* Have an organised home
This month we're working on DDs room to create more efficient storage, including room for a desk, and help the transition to teenage years.We have gone through her things (AGAIN!) and filled two blue ikea bags full of things to go - one of which has gone, the other needs removing from the house. OH has five days off from tomorrow to do this - will involve dismantling furniture and a trip to IKEA. She did want us to paint the whole room, but we've agreed to just use accessories in her favourite colour instead (orange :eek:) - which is a little :money: as well as time saving!

* Work with DD on her emotional well-being
DD has her assessment for additional support from external sources on Friday. She has also been working with someone inside school who has been brilliant. Yesterday I helped her write a letter to express what she was angry about (rather than just a rant!). I feel some general progress has been made in this area, although still have a few slips! Have also started a positive parenting course which are free locally, and have learnt some very useful things which are already making a difference.

* Be prepared for secondary school choices for DD
The 11+ work continues - OH is now taking DS out to a dad's club on a Saturday morning meaning we have some uninterrupted time together to work on this. Currently we do about 45 mins Weds + Thurs, 2 hours on Sat and an hour on Sunday. I have diarised a few open days in July.

* Practice mindfulness and relaxation
Still seeing the health psychologist, and have noticed some positive changes in my thinking patterns. Took a much needed baby nap yesterday!

* Dsygu cymraeg (learning welsh)
Have paid the £210 for the course, saw it as a way of trialling it before return to work when may be the only option for me next year! Went to a Welsh speaking toddler group on mother's day (in London!) which was great and really friendly. I got to practice my welsh quite a lot there so would definitely like to go again. Have been listening to the Learn Welsh podcast on some of the school runs too.

* Make quality time for OH
Thinking about it, I think this area is suffering. DD may go away to her dad's over Easter so may try and make up for it then.

* Overpay £6K
OP of £213.61 made today, made up standard OP and small tcb amount. This area is definitely 'suffering' in inverted commas, but my priorities are my health and my family, so not getting stressed about it. Once I return to work in a few months we'll be able to up our payments and meet our target. What I don't have time for unfortunately is the selling of the things around the house but if it comes to choosing between making a couple of quid or an hour quality time with the kids the latter is currently winning! We are trying to be as frugal as possible with food shop and discretionary spends however, so still consider ourselves MFW.

* Enjoy ourselves!
Definitely feel we have some good things going on in our lives at the minute. Am enjoying the baby yoga and exercise class, DD her drama and cadets. She is officially a cadet now, so paid the £50 :eek: towards her uniform this week; she has her drama show next week. OH is getting a cycle in every weekend, and getting some quality time with DS at the local dad's group too (a bargain at only a £1!). DD had a free gymnastics session which she LOVED and we all went swimming together too. Planning a fun filled Easter for DD, with as many free local activities as possible - will need to combine fun and 11+ so trying to get the balance right!

Must go - little lord MW is now bored with dinner and just threw a (HM) hummus covered spoon at the laptop. We are baby led weaning, which is working out well for us although it does create a massive amount of mess for me to clean up!

icklehelen

Hello!! :wave: Good to hear all is going well for you all!!

BLW was quite messy to begin with but we found it so easy and our lg is a really good eater now (most of the time )

Well done for finding a balance that seems to work for you - I dream of finding it too (my part time working does not exist thanks to science and engineering week and getting an exhibition ready for beginning of April!!)

ickle

museumworker

Thanks ickle, am taking the long view with blw and think it will be worth it then *ignores food covered floor*. DD was fed with mixture of purees and finger food and she is a very good eater, so think as long as you are including them at meal times and offering them a variety of food, they will hopefully turn out ok foodwise!

Work sound stressful for you at the minute - hope it all calms down soon. It's ok for me to find balance on mat leave, the real challenge will be seeing how I can continue that when I return to work!

Come on to confess some more spends. We have booked trains to Bruges (£260), and spent £480 in IKE@ this weekend :eek:! Bought furniture for DDs room, a new shoe rack to replace our broken one, and two sofa covers. They were half price for IKE@ family members, and having looked into getting custom covers over the new year I knew £150 for both sofas to look like new was not to be sniffed at! Am just trying to get used to them being plum - they were white before which made the room look bigger but constantly grubby!

DDs room is coming on a treat, all furniture now built and fixed to the wall.

museumworker

Popping on to say have made first gumtr33 sale - £15 for moses basket and stand :j! One large thing gone and some extra cash for the mortgage hedgehog. Have another 3 items listed, and am determined to sell some more. Have said to myself if items to sell not gone by return to work, all will be dumped at the charity shop!