Two Pennies Left

Fortune_Smiles

A lovely early birthday celebration yesterday. Started with a lazy morning browsing diaries then off to lunch at a local pub. Roast Beef for Mr F and a Smoked Haddock Risotto for me followed by Banana Tarte Tatin with Banana Ice Cream and Caramel Sauce plus Sticky Toffee Pudding with Honeycomb Ice Cream. We shared the puddings between us. Mr F had a coffee (still recovering from the rugby outing the day before) and I had a glass of Pinot. Absolutely delicious and I used my birthday voucher so £35 in total which will come out of the entertainment budget for this month.

We came home and spent the rest of the day in front of the log burner catching up on the Fleabay DVDs (you may remember I buy these if they don't cost any more than £3.50 inc postage). Black Swan - what's that all about! And, Inception which we only managed to watch half an hour of before it was time for bed.

Today, however, I am embarking on a more disciplined approach to my week. First step - get myself ready for the day as soon as Mr F leaves for work. This will prevent the last minute dash to get ready for the gym or finding myself in my pyjamas browsing the net at lunchtime :eek: So far so good, I am ready for Step this morning and have already put one load of washing in the machine.

Step 2 will be to get in the shower as soon as I get back from Step instead of getting distracted by interesting things to do or watch on television. This will mean I am ready to get on with chores quickly and there's no chance of having to open the door to the postman or a neighbour whilst in a state of steamy, smelly, sweatiness

Step 3 - do boring chores next. I aim to clean a room a day but often leave it until the last minute when the light is poor and I can't even see the dust let alone remove it That should also mean I have time free later in the day for earning money with admin work or completing my 2013 projects. Admin work is on the schedule for this afternoon.

So a great start and publishing my good intentions on the diary should give me an extra impetus to carry them through. I've asked Mr F to get his grandfather's letters from WW1 down from the attic so I can start typing those up (Project 1).

I find I'm quite disciplined in an average week but get thrown when my routine is disturbed - eg last week I was in the office on 3 days which is out of the ordinary. This week we are off for a long weekend so I will have to make sure I keep focussed.

I am sure this will help me on the MS side too as the work and home admin should get done more quickly.

15 minutes left until I need to leave for Step and I'm feeling very productive already :T Hope you have a good day too.

Fortune x

pink_poppy

Happy Birthday for whenever it is, Fortune ~ your Birthday [STRIKE]puddings[/STRIKE] meal sounds lush!!

I bought Black Swan for my DD for Christmas & she was horrified ~ I thought it was a nice story about a ballet dancer, but apparently it's not!!

Fortune_Smiles

pink_poppy wrote: »

Happy Birthday for whenever it is, Fortune ~ your Birthday [STRIKE]puddings[/STRIKE] meal sounds lush!!

I bought Black Swan for my DD for Christmas & she was horrified ~ I thought it was a nice story about a ballet dancer, but apparently it's not!!

Thank you Pink Poppy - it's not for another week yet so we're a bit early with the celebrations. We were really disappointed in Black Swan after all the great reviews. I know it's supposed to show the immense pressure on the lead role and how this contributes to her slow descent into madness but, frankly, it's just weird! Glad I didn't see it at the Cinema or pay full price for the DVD. Back on Fleabay it goes

Fortune x

lulabelle1

I watched it on a long haul flight, so it broke the journey up nicely, however, I wouldn't pay any actual money to watch it! And to be fair, I'd be happy to watch paint dry during a 10 hour flight!

Fortune_Smiles

I did manage some self discipline yesterday. Got ready for the day straight after Mr F left for work. Jumped in the shower immediately I got back from Step and did the housework first whilst it was still daylight! Although that did mean I could clearly see the full dust and debris horror that masquerades as my home :rotfl:The only thing that didn't go to plan was I stayed on at the gym for coffee after Step class for an hour. A friend burst into tears after class so two of us stayed to find out what was wrong and give her some support. I won't divulge any confidences here but I can tell you it did make me feel very appreciative of Mr F.

MS:

• reconciled the credit card statement - all good
• a cupboard lunch
• 3 1/2 hours admin work before I lost the will to live
• Baked Fish with Orzo and Gremolata from the meal plan for supper tonight. Inspired by a bag of Orzo I found in the cupboard and had no idea what to do with :rotfl:
• an NSD

Continuing with the new regime this morning. Got ready for the day straight after Mr F left for work and put another load of washing on. Just catching up on diaries whilst having a coffee and then the plan is to clean a room, do some ironing, take the Fortunate Cat to the vet for her boosters and continue with the grand opus of last weeks minutes :rotfl:

Have a good day

Fortune x

beanielou

You have a good day too

Fortune_Smiles

My new regime is certainly making me more productive. I achieved everything on my list yesterday - even finishing the mega minutes which I thought I'd still need to work on today :T They were niggling me so I'm glad I've finished them before the weekend.

MS news:

• a cupboard lunch
• took the Fortunate Cat to the vet for her annual check up. They send me a text reminding me to book each year and, if I respond to this, I get £7 off the bill. Still cost £51.40 though but that was in the budget for this month
• picked up 3 birthday cards and gift tags for this weekend's birthdays - £10.17
• popped into the chemist to pick up some hydrocortisone cream and a couple of other items - £6.51. I've got the start of eczema on the inside of my upper arms. Puzzled me for a while but then I realised that the dress I wore to a recent Ball has lace across the bodice. I remember it being very prickly on the night. Sadly that means I won't be able to wear the dress again but it has had a few wears now
• picked up some dry cleaning - £6.50. That was with an unexpected £6.50 off as I'd accrued a loyalty bonus
• a couple of hours admin work. It's the end of the month soon so I'll submit my claim on Monday when I'm next passing the office - it will be over £300 this time :j
• Egg Curry from the meal plan for supper last night. A portion has gone into the freezer too

The Fortunate Cat is feeling a big poorly after her jabs. The vet has changed the brand they use but didn't tell me this until it was too late. She'd been fine on the previous brand. I'm going to have a winge about it as I think the vet should've warned me in advance. I hate seeing little FC so sad.

I have a coaching client tonight and I'm off to the Ideal Home show with the local mums tomorrow (we blagged free tickets). Away for the weekend too so I may not see you for a few days.

Missing you already

Fortune x

beanielou

Hope the FC is on the mend soon.
Enjoy your weekend.

Fortune_Smiles

• I got an email to say I'd won £10 on the Lottery on Sunday
• the Postman delivered a large bar of chocolate for me to try as part of a product survey
• voucher arrived for another free main course at the local pub
• Pizz@ £xpr£$$ are giving me a free bottle of Prosecco for my birthday next time I eat with them
• Caf£ Roug£ are giving me a free bottle of Champagne for my birthday next time I eat with them (might use that one tomorrow)
• a friend called to say she had free tickets to L££d$ Castl£ and did I fancy a day out next week (of course)

just need that 'phone call confirming a big ITV competition win now :rotfl:

Fortune x

shala_moo

Fortune_Smiles wrote: »

• I got an email to say I'd won £10 on the Lottery on Sunday
• the Postman delivered a large bar of chocolate for me to try as part of a product survey
• voucher arrived for another free main course at the local pub
• Pizz@ £xpr£$$ are giving me a free bottle of Prosecco for my birthday next time I eat with them
• Caf£ Roug£ are giving me a free bottle of Champagne for my birthday next time I eat with them (might use that one tomorrow)
• a friend called to say she had free tickets to L££d$ Castl£ and did I fancy a day out next week (of course)

just need that 'phone call confirming a big ITV competition win now :rotfl:

Fortune x

Sounds like a good day!

Hope you have a good birthday week xx