Flying solo

missrlr

Oh Robin go you on the paperwork mountain it can be overcome! Glad you were inspired otherwise I was going to resort to a virtual boot to bum!
Hope you are winning the battle!

satchmo1

Robin, I conquered my filing mountain last week, and it's amazing how much stress has lifted. I've got a carrier bag of paperwork to be shredded now. I'm planning on using the industrial-sized shredder at work tomorrow.


Good luck with your paperwork, but think about setting yourself a 15 minute daily time limit. You can do quite a lot in 15 minutes, without being overwhelmed.

grannyx2

15 minutes slots are definitely a great idea, they are how I'm getting things done at the moment and it helps you both to stay focused and to not over do it. I've sorted 2 roomsout using this trick without really noticing how much I've achieved.

Granny x

judi24

Just wanted to stop by and say Hello Robin - I think I may have looked at your diary a long time ago - but spent most of last night catching up with things. You're doing amazingly well i can't be easy - what I learned from you is that you really don't know how your life migh change and how you will have to reframe your future. you have just got on with it and faced your challenges one at a time!


I am in a very different circumstance but your diary hit home in that life throws you a curve ball and suddenly what you thought your future holds changes in an instant - but it's not the end of the world!


Thankyou and good luck

*Robin*

Hello Diary and dear MSE Friends, :hello:

Thank you everyone for your encouraging comments re Fifteen Minute Task system; if it works for all of you then am more than willing to try dealing with Paperwork Mountain in the same way..
Ha - at least that shouldn't challenge my attention span, lol.

Welcome to the Nest Judi; well done on your perseverance in ploughing through my little history since losing DH (apologies for depressed and boring bits ).
You're right; none of us know what's coming. If Flying Solo encourages anyone to spend a moment taking stock of their own situation and appreciating their loved ones more, then writing it all down will have been worth it for me.


Oho - DS2 just called; he's got the electrician at DH's cottages. After giving me glad news re the re-wiring estimate which is only half the cost I'd budgeted for it, he confessed that the cash I've already given him to pay for materials was spent during xmas.
Hmm. What a good job I didn't hand over all the money earmarked for that project! (-One thing to be grateful for today! ).
The rest is still here so they're coming to pick it up on the way to the electrical wholesaler..

:think: At some point a quiet chat with DS2 is required; as he and GF aren't paying rent or utility bills, I'd like to know why they're so short of money?


Hmm, that's my fifteen minutes up.. Hopefully will be back after another hit on Pile One.

debtfreewannabe321

good luck with the 15 minute system I do this with my housework and it works well for me! I pop the music on grab the cleaning stuff and off I go until the alarm goes off on my phone Hope you get through it all xx

judi24

Thanks Robin - it certainly did make me take stock! so instead of going to the gym on my own today I took Doodle dog for a lovely walk and met my mum for coffee - as I was horrible to her yesterday and she was only trying to be supportive!!! Do feel much better for it although the enormity of the need to sort my life out has become very very clear and I'm now quite emotional!

*Robin*

Back again! ..Time for a cuppa (and ciggie ).

Thanks for popping in, DFw and Judi - like me you'd better keep your coats on because it's only 14'C inside the Nest today. A bitter north wind is blowing sleet outside - although Clever Dog is still out there watching the world from a sheltered corner (her choice :cool:).

Managed more than fifteen minutes on Paperwork Mountain but have little to show for it yet, except a box full of random receipts which really belong to Pile Three, and 20€ in banknotes which were screwed-up among them (does that count as road-kill?).

debtfreewannabe321 wrote: »

good luck with the 15 minute system I do this with my housework and it works well for me! I pop the music on grab the cleaning stuff and off I go until the alarm goes off on my phone Hope you get through it all xx

..I will complete the task DFw- apart from anything else it would cost £100 to fail, therefore not an option.

judi24 wrote:

Thanks Robin - it certainly did make me take stock! so instead of going to the gym on my own today I took Doodle dog for a lovely walk and met my mum for coffee - as I was horrible to her yesterday and she was only trying to be supportive!!! Do feel much better for it although the enormity of the need to sort my life out has become very very clear and I'm now quite emotional!

Oh well done, Judi! :T
..Thank you for sharing that; gave me a smile and lovely warm fuzzy feeling inside (particularly welcome on such a bitter-cold day, lol ). Hope you both enjoyed the time spent with Mum.
Doodle is a wonderful name for a dog, btw.

Right, better get back to FMT, via a fast trip to m' woodshed - predict stove will be lit early [again] this evening.

judi24

Thanks Robin - Dog is a labradoodle called Dolly - usually called DollyDoodle - shes a big daft lump of a dog - but lovely with it!

*Robin*

Hello Diary and Gentle Readers, :hello:

Yesterday's miserable weather is but a memory; today the sun is back (didn't need to reach for a winter coat when getting dressed this morning :cool2:).

Not much progress overall was made yesterday on the task in hand.
Today have a nagging headache, but am resisting taking pain-killers because I've consumed far too many recently - don't want them to become ineffective, make the pain worse, or develop a physical dependence so am wandering around with a wet tea-towel wrapped round m' neck and hoping fresh air will clear the thumping fuzziness (last night ate three Belgian choccies left over from xmas which may have been two too many - so thick 'ead is possibly self-inflicted?).

Missrlr, have been feeling guilty for not replying to your comment earlier:

missrlr wrote:

Robin the meal sounds absolutely lovely. Shame the clearing up and recovery is taking its toll on you.
Not sure what to say about tax returns other than I am afraid it needs to be a just do it affair. I have to say I get mine done in two sittings, one to get the necessary mess together and one to DO IT otherwise I panic and really I cannot cope with that at present.

Thank you so much for this, Missrlr, it helped me a lot to start thinking of splitting up the task. Though likely to need more like twenty short sessions to get through it than the two it takes you (bet you're a lot more organised than I am, to start with).

missrlr wrote:

Still remarkably damp and soggy here. Haven't managed to get serious repairs sorted as a consequence, realistically anything other than a temporary fix that has already been done is off the cards until it gets warmer and drier and everything has an opportunity to dry out, so probably about September! I do appreciate the thoughts though, maybe it stopped the rise of the flood water at the back and brought the nice sunny day today?

Am delighted to have many inclement days here if it means the big yellow ball shines down on you (yeah, shame it doesn't really work like that, but even so )!

missrlr wrote:

A rare day and night to myself today, spent having a swim, vacuuming and cleaning carpets, washing, ironing, gentle and short Doglet walk (all we can manage now I am afraid) and mammoth bed change session. But with sit downs when I need and now a rare welcome gentle session on the sofa under a throw with Doglet and an even more rare glass of wine!

..Sounds like a well-deserved good day, although perhaps a shame so much of your 'me time' was taken up with household chores. You certainly deserved the enjoyable glass of vino and cuddles with Doglet!

missrlr wrote:

Good news though we have a new lodger to help with matters fiscal! Just as well with the repair bill mounting and the upgrades now noted as being essential from the weather issues we have.

:T Oh that is great news - hope New Lodger turns out to be a gem, as opposed to a pain!

missrlr wrote:

Here is to revamping and upgrading houses to withstand the global weather and actually if I am honest here, repairing degradation of time.

It's a never-ending task, isn't it? Unless global emissions restrictions are enforced bluddy quickly - which isn't going to happen - then the weather will keep getting more extreme well into the middle of this century, so wise folk will prepare for it.


Right. More catch-ups must wait until I've faced FMT for the first time today.. :cool: