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

macgirl

Hi MW, sorry to hear you and OH were both stressed - hope things have settled down now?

As for BarryM, it always slides off me too! Someone at work said they didn't think I wore much make-up, yet I daub it on every morning :rotfl: Hey ho - a little bit of sparkle goes a long way in my World!

Well done on making progress in all areas, take care x

museumworker

To be honest have had a really draining week. DD is not doing well in her gifted and talented english set - not concentrating/behaving well so have been worrying about that all week. Had a meeting with the teacher today and have set up a home school contact book, her seating arrangements have been changed so she's next to her best friend, and she has been set 3 clear behavioural targets in the class. It is IMO an emotional issue, and the school keep treating it like a discipline issue, which is extremely frustrating. I think her current G&T english teacher just wants her out the class, but I'm worried that there won't be adequate alternative provision if she goes back to her form class for english, and then she'll just get bored and misbehave. But I have to stay positive - measures are in place, and hopefully they will bring about the required level of change. I've also been in touch with a teacher she really gets on with, and she's going to start meeting DD for lunch to talk through her concerns and see if there is any way she can support her emotionally. So at least the week is ending more positive than it began, although I am completely worn out by it all!

The stress thing is a major concern, OH isn't happy at work and he is coping very badly with it. We have a book on stress management I bought last year which we started working through together, I keep saying we should start looking at it again but although he agrees he never seems to want to.

There are also bugs abounding - DD hasn't slept properly in a few nights with a blocked nose, and OH and I have the symptoms of the start of a cold.

Anyway, it is now the weekend :j! My number one priority is to RELAX!! Me being me, I don't find sitting doing nothing relaxing when there is so much to do around the house, but I am going to try and do it at a pottering pace. DD is away at her dads this weekend. Thoughts are:
* meal plan tonight
* food shop tomorrow
* sort through DD's toys from last week
* 1 hrs work on book proposal for work (less stressful than leaving it til Monday!)
* gentle exercise
* finish sorting out wardrobe
* post ama$on sale
* see friend sunday afternoon
* pick up parcels from depot
* post niece card

To end on a more positive note, OH picked up the bugaboo this week, which we ended up getting for £100. It has everything, including the carrycot, foot muff, raincover, parasol, buggy board - so I think that is a really good buy. The lady even steam cleaned it for us so it looks spotless. I also went crazy in oxfam and bought 2 dresses, a shirt, a top and a chunky boyfriend cardigan I can wear for myself, and a top for DD for £13 odd. The top will be one of her rewards for better listening in English.

macgirl

Argghh just typed a post and lost it!

Poor you, I'm sending you a virtual hug. Could OH find other work - I know it's difficult, but is that an option? Being unhappy at work is the pits, so I hope he finds a way through it soon. I wish I knew how to handle stress, I sometimes get chest pains and although my Mum tells me it's "just" stress, I worry that it's far more damaging. I'd be interested to hear about your book.

Is the prospect of the new baby unsettling your DD? Even if she is excited (and I'm sure she is!) I guess it will change the dynamic of the house and take a period for her to readjust... It sounds like you have done all the right things and the teacher sounds nice and supportive, so hopefully things will improve for her.

Hope you have a good weekend and manage to do something nice with your OH to help you both chill out

museumworker

Thanks for the hug. OH has a good job, and I think he is doing v well - potential of development and promotion etc. It is a hectic environment, sometimes he thrives on it, and other times it just gets on top of him, like this week. We've ended the week more positively though as we've talked through some of the issues at work, and he's taken steps to resolve them, with immediate good feedback. Stress really is very bad, it wasn't stress but release from stress that was one of my main migraine triggers.

Funnily enough, DD is so over the moon about baby bean I don't think it is an issue. She is very excited. She has been unhappy at school on and off for 3 and 1/2 years so I think it is more underlying issues about that. When the baby comes along I think she'll have a period of adjustment then. But maybe I'm being naive.

OH paid yesterday, so £207.01 standard OP made, £300 set aside for regular saver, and the rest about to land in our current account to see us through til next payday. Had our car serviced, needs new front tyres and rebalancing, so looking at about £320 all in, but hoping that is that for large payments for a few months at least!

OH was out last night (I hear mention of shots being drunk!), and I'm feeling exhausted so definitely a quiet day for us. Might even have a roast today, and bake a cake.

macgirl

Glad to hear things are brighter today
DH and I go through stressful work episodes from time to time - he's self employed but has a partner - and there are times things look very bleak, but then we get through them and it's all ok again. Sounds like a night drinking shots might have been exactly what he needed :beer:

Hope DD is settled soon, there is always something to worry about with them isn't there? And enjoy your cake making - you've inspired me to make a damson crumble for after tea - yum yum!

museumworker

ooh, that sounds like a lovely crumble, save a piece for me won't ya !

Really annoyed as just tried to submit a missing cashback clam to topcashback for my switch to edf in august. Need to have done it in 100 days, which is long gone. EDF don't even give you your account details for ages, so ends up a small window to chase. It was £50 too . We did go for the best deal at the time, but even still I did everything right in my click throughs so I definitely plan to switch away from them in September, gits. And with the pregnancy I did have other things on my mind at the time. Grrr, my first real tcb disappointment.

Service was £340, and spent £80 on a shop. Went for a more lavish meal plan this week as we've been eating essentially the same meals for months and am desperate for a bit of variety! Main meals are:
* Slow roast hand of pork with spicy tom sauce, roast potatoes and brocolli
* Celeriac and green herb soup
* Red cabbage and pork bake
* Sausages with crisp roast vegetables, chestnuts, and caraway flavoured cabbage
* Pasta with remainder of spicy tom sauce and veg

museumworker

Forgot to say, the car service took longer than expected yesterday so OH and I walked to the town centre and hand lunch in a little family run Portuguese cafe. Really lovely atmosphere, have eaten there before in the evening, but they do super cheap lunch dishes - £3.70 for Portuguese stew and rice/chips. Was a lovely treat, OH was delighted for us to be eating out together, and a little over £8. Who said us MFWs don't know how to have fun!

After such a big and rich lunch we had the sausages last night, and I've started the slow roasted pork now, to finish off later once we've had a walk. OH up the allotment, I'm about to do an hour or so work on a book proposal for work (groan). Have a friend round for dinner, she is bringing pudding, yum yum!

earthgirl

That all sounds great MW. You have made such good progress with all of your targets. How did dd get on at school or have the changes not filtered through yet? Hope you enjoy your relaxing day!

[Deleted User]

Hope you had a relaxing day and the lunch find sound great
sorry things have been stressful for OH , work stress can really affect everything so hope he starts feeling more upbeat soon!...shots and roast dinner have hopefully lifted his spirits a bit at least!

your meal plan for the week sounds yummy too!!

museumworker

Aims:
* have a happy and healthy pregnancy.
Went for 1 and a bit hour speed walk through the forest today, and more leisurely stroll for a few hours yesterday. Have incorporated a different mix of vegetables into the food plan, and had a homemade fruit smoothie this morning. Bit of a cold this week, nothing major, but have taken it easy this weekend to make up for it. Has been quite a stressful week though, and I do feel I need to look more at relaxation techniques.

* spend quality time with DD and OH
DD at her dad's this weekend; not sure I managed to get any specific time with her in the week . Had lovely day with OH yesterday, nice stroll and lunch - he turned to me in the evening and said 'you do realise we've probably been touching each other (i.e. holding hands/sitting next to each other) for about 6 1/2 hours today'. I think that was a good thing :rotfl:.

* get the house organised
!!!!!! all done to be honest. I have kept on top of clearing the draining board all week though so that must be officially a new habit . Will start a new habit in February.

* OP mortgage
£207.01 paid in.

* achieve my AMA
I did spend 2 hours on a book proposal today which I will put down on my log as have never done before. Haven't seen book yet, I think it is in the post office for me to collect.