Get It Done Weekly Challenge

mothernerd

Posted a couple of days ago to say internet had been out mostly sine Thursday 23rd.

List for Week Commencing Sunday 3rd May
1) Repeat Prescription
2) Phone re credit card
3) Contacts on Phone
4) Housework in 15minute chunks
5) Walk more
6) Sort sewing tasks for month
7)Start selling if internet stays on
8) Last bit of the yard (fixed leaking pipe and blocked drain so no more flooding) Plant raspberries
9) Sort sleep pattern
10) Eat more veg

Will report back if internet holds out

dannie

Weekly challenge list from Sunday until the end of Saturday:

1) Menu plan daily ideas.
2) Check "Redwood Wholefood Company" website.
3) SF* Living? Health getting worse.

*Simple Focused Living (these words just "came into my head" so will research this idea in connection with health/life).

dannie

2) Done this particular task (https://www.vbitesfoods.com/). There are some interesting vegan "copies" of non-vegan foods. I tend to read the ingredients and/or check internet recipes and create my own versions. Also, rarely, I obtain similar products from local health food shops/superstores particularly when they "are on offer". No delivery cost, if in store of course.

mothernerd

Tasks 1, 3 and 6 completed. Walking and veg intake increased but still room for further improvement. Added ten more tasks to the list as I thought of them and have done the business accounts (will file when we have internet access), done more changes of address details and finally learned to put money and credit on the phone (the credit was mainly the small fiddly buttons especially if you are trying to enter a sixteen digit card number).

Housework is progressing (most of the kitchen floor and the bathroom are mopped (drying) and worktops have been cleared and cleaned plus the cooker top (don't know when DS2 last did it and I couldn't do it after my op).
Just checking in now as we have internet for the first time since Monday and it was patchy before then (4 hours in one and a half weeks). So happy with what I have done so far and for keeping going when I hurt (I am still having little breaks in between) and when everything felt hopeless.

Keep up the good work Dannie.

dannie

Hi mothernerd and list-makers,

Feeling drained somewhat, so delayed in posting my update/new list. Today, seemed overwhelmed by the amount of tasks needed doing so had to narrow it down to something I could do; this seemed to help.

mothernerd

On Saturday the internet stayed on long enough for the post and for me to delete a couple of e-mails. Now on again (for how long?). May stay up to do a few more things as it's easier than going to the library and being rationed to 45 minutes.

dannie

dannie wrote: »

Weekly challenge list from Sunday until the end of Saturday:

1) Menu plan daily ideas.
2) Check "Redwood Wholefood Company" website.
3) SF* Living? Health getting worse.

*Simple Focused Living (these words just "came into my head" so will research this idea in connection with health/life).

1) These daily ideas were jotted down and mainly consisted of using up perishable/ingredients before spending and checking prices on food groceries. Did fairly well. However, the menu ideas also tend to be focused upon maintaining/promoting health. Never seem to get the desired results however.
2) See previous post about this (#634).
3) Simple Focused Living research - I came across quotes on focused living such as -

"It is not enough to be busy; so are the ants. The question is What are we busy about?" (Henry David Thoreau, 1817-1862, American author).

Also, discovered and read some of the authors' book published 1884 ("Walden") which concerns his quest for a simple life. Setting literature aside, having my own focused/simplified life in view of present health status is a long term, yet ever changing project?

dannie

Hi mothernerd and list-makers,

Thanks for your posts and message (#635) mothernerd. Before I read your message, I had been feeling dispirited about my weekly (life) tasks and had thought "scrap it" regarding the first part of my list:-

a) tie peonies to canes
b) apply fertiliser to indoor plants and outdoor potato plants
c) remove "carpet" of buttercups
d) sow seeds and weeding
e) outdoor painting job
f) visit local charity shop for suitable footwear/clothing

The second part of my list was based on previous reading (these forums and elsewhere) concerning building a foundation for a new life. In the end, I just thought I would keep it all flexible this week i.e. have a try at both parts of the list.

(Hope your hip is becoming less painful mothernerd.)

mothernerd

Finally got the long promised engineer visit and now have a new router, so should be able to post my list this week.

I understand what you mean about Walden and searching for a simple. I wrote a list of 15 words (with brief explanations) for this year. In particular I wanted to move nearer to what I want to be/ how I want to live rather than living by other people's agendas.

My sons are all grown up but the youngest is not yet independent and still lives with me and has recently said he thinks it will be next year or the year after before he can afford to live with his gf (he has small earnings from self-employment and is trying to pay off his student overdraft before it starts accruing interest).

At the same time, when the large house is sold (a prime example of moving further away from what I wanted, the extra room just meant my sons, their partners and friends could move in when they had problems), part of the money is supposed to go towards a property my mother and I can agree on, so that she can move in with me if/when anything happens to her partner.

This is looking increasingly unlikely and or undesirable and in the past few weeks I have had to take a step backwards and stop visiting her as she is upsetting me so much (not just her but she has been involved with her partner's family for the past 17 years whilst ignoring me and her three grandsons and I am trying to avoid being drawn into conflicts within his family). My mother is also coming out with a lot of hateful stuff (previous vicar's wives, local councillors and fellow members of the congregation plus large groups of people - some of it just parroting the words of her partner's children).

I do wonder when there will come a time when I can do the things that please me. I love my mother but hate feeling that I am obliged to look after her, once she has been exhausted by the strain of looking after a benign tyrant (he now has Alzheimer's on top of everything else so it is too late to challenge his behaviour).

I have been following the 'Year of Happiness' course. There is a different topic for each month, quite a lot of inspirational Ted talks and Utube stuff but some topics have been easier than others. January was gratitude and that was mainly doing things I do anyway, finding things to be grateful for at the end of each day and nature watching (sky, trees, spring bulbs opening) but February was 'optimism' which was always going to be difficult. If lots of bad things happen when you are a child (they did) you learn to expect trouble/ bad things (you also believe that this is the 'natural' state rather than an isolated event and also that it is your fault. The optimism practice I chose was to spend 15 minutes a day writing about my ideal future, 1 - 5 years from now with no constraints such as health. My ideal is basically a small uncluttered house, with lots of reading, sewing, walking and gardening. having enough money to afford a small rental property to bring in some income (supplemented by self-employed earnings from craft items) would help me get through till retirement.

This sounds like a gloomy post and it shouldn't really be. A few things got on top of me and I am struggling to get back to being positive. My leg hurts a lot less but when I last went to the bank (8 miles away) I struggled to get back across town to the bus station and I think that also knocked my confidence. So lots of little setbacks (I scribbled down 15 when I tried to analyse what was wrong) but it knocked me off course for a while.

There are a couple of threads I have read on here that are worth a read. One is My home is a mess - this is people who mostly have some sort of illness, either short-term or long term, who have to accept that they can only do so much either because of the constraints of their condition (MS, social anxiety) or because the house has degenerated over a period of months due to illness (some have small children and may have had difficult child births) and therefore cannot be 'fixed' in a few days. The general tone of the thread (it seems to have petered out last December) is that anything they get done is an achievement and they help and encourage one another.

Another is the Slob-lady thread which is a laugh a minute (anti-dote to fly-lady) and whatever our shortcomings, their are people who have done much worse (I don't have a car so I've never hidden laundry or mess in the boot before an unexpected visit although I have been known to go round with a cardboard box). Laughing is good for you.

Anyway will be back with a new list on Sunday and should have ramped up the positivity another notch or two before then.

dannie

Hi list-makers,

Last week, I struggled to post my weekly list so will do it today before any commentary concerning last weeks results. Also, any thoughts regarding mothernerd's recent post (thanks). So from Sunday until the end of Saturday :-

1) Finish another painting job. This is a brick to hold open the backgate. The paint was free (found) and has been stored for quite awhile.
2) Look for some birthday presents and stored wrapping paper. This will have to be considered in relation to a £33 bill this month. Consequently, less money per food budget this month, so a case of this time I really am "eating from the fridge freezer"(?!) Also, need to save a bit of money for charity shop clothes/footwear should I manage to visit again.
3) Peonies to be supported by canes.
4) Write up food recipes. "Sitting down" job so an opportunity to catch up on listening to tv/radio/other computer-related.
5) Identify two plants which should be strawberry plants.
6) Plant two potatoes which are currently in a cool and darkened room.

Good luck.