I have lost my OS ways, help!

springdreams

Caterina wrote: »

The other day in the park, doing tai chi, I got bitten on both ankles by some insect, and am in a lot of discomfort. Last night I had to put cortisone cream on the bites because the itch was too much. I am worried in case it was ticks, as there are deer in Greenwich park, and am concerned about Lyme disease. Maybe I ought to make a dr appointment myself.

Hello

It is unlikely to be tick bites because if they were the ticks would still be attached to you, and would need to be pulled off.

Caterina

Good morning,

Bella, a planned break in Wales is as OS as they come, it is not a jetting long weekend in Dubai! Just because we are OSers it does not mean we have to deprive ourselves of the pleasures that life offers. In fact it is because we are OSers that we can have a nice break, planned expenditure and moderate extravagance once in a while, because we are such good moneysavers (most if the time hehe). Hope you had a lovely time and come back rested and refreshed.

Ginny, good luck with low carbing, I find it a bit challenging because I don't eat meat and very little fish, so it gets a bit monotonous, but effective. And I am never hungry and never get those awful blood sugar drops, so it is easy in that sense. I don't miss bread at all, but sorely miss pulses and grains. Will start reintroducing small amounts in a few days, after I have settled back into this way of eating. Having a kitchen will help immensely!

Springdreams, thank you for the reassurance, you are absolutely right, whatever it was that bit me was bigger than a tick, it looked a bit like a very large flea, maybe that's what it was. Both my ankles are still a bit swollen and itchy and the bites turned into blisters, but today it is much better.

Early wake up time today, I have been awake since around 4, reading. Now DH is making us a cup of tea but I shall start my day fairly soon.

The first thing I need to do is a laundry, before the electrician comes to fiddle with the plugs and I cannot use the machine anymore. I can put a 55 minute wash, perfectly adequate and it saves me a lot of money in energy.

Then this morning I hope to rejoin my old knitting group, the weather is now cool enough that I can handle wool - I can't stand touching wool in hot weather!

Then shopping here there and everywhere, trip to farmers market for nice fruit and veg, trip to wholefood store for seeds and nuts, trip to L1dl for basic groceries.

I hope to have a bit of time to go and see the tall ships in Greenwich, but if not today I can go tomorrow afternoon.

Later on my nice builder and his GF are coming over to have fish and chips with us.

I need some veg as an alternative to chips for me tonight. I shall have the fish (but remove the batter) but if I start eating chips so soon into my low carb plan I would feel a bit of a failure. Wish me luck in staying focused.

Have a good OS day all

XSpender

I must be feeling better as today I am looking forward to creating a list of all the jobs I want to do in the house over the next few weeks, lots of deep cleaning and sorting out jobs that I have wanted to do since I left work at the end of May and that have never happened.:)


DH is off all weekend and we have no definite plans to do anything except give DS room a good sort out. He has come into our bed in the early hours nearly every night this week so we need to make his room as attractive as possible and put his night light back on. This is an old habit that has restarted this week and he doesn't seem to have any reason for it apart from being frightened of shadows and the dark.


We do not need to buy anything except some beers for DH tonight and a 'grandma' birthday card. I am hoping for a NSD on Sunday but it will depend on what we end up doing as may go swimming.


I have defrosted some cookie dough and will make up a big batch of cookies for afterschool snack next week. Tonight's tea will be chicken pilau from the hairy b1kers curry book, a favourite in this house.


Have a lovely OS weekend all

sugarpuss27

Hi all hope you don’t mind if I pop in and out. I love this thread! I am OS but like everyone else I fall off the wagon but get back on again usually by necessity. This year has been challenging in lots of ways and will get worse in the next month when part of my small income reduces by £35 a week.
It started in February when my dear Dad passed away so pretty much everything goes by the board. Then house maintenance that could no longer be ignored and to cap it all both cars decided to turn their toes up. Hey ho! Anyway still here and have started to get into gear again. I have gone back to the things that work for me, meal planning, drawing grocery money out and using cash for weekly shops. I look at the sm websites before shopping to catch the deals or offers but am flexible if YS come into play. I do most of my basic shopping at Mr A* and DH works for another sm so ‘every little helps’! I do Valued Opinions and request my £10 in Sainsbobs gift cards as does our friend who stays 3-4 nights a week. He then pays towards his ’board’ with his VO earnings. I do calculate which is the better deal as even with DH’s discount it can still be cheaper elsewhere.
I do SW and need my weekly weigh in for inspiration and to keep my focus, have lost nearly a stone and a half so am already feeling better. I buy a countdown so I get 2 weeks free. DH also follows SW but weighs at home so no fees. It can be slightly more expensive food wise but I just have to be more savvy.
Should be a bit easier come this time next year as CC and car finance should be a thing of the past. Just hoping there are no other unforeseen happenings!
Have had a reasonable weekend so far OS wise. NSD today, toast, marmite and banana brekkie then a mile and a half walk down the lane with my friend enjoying the big if very cloudy skies, there were flocks (if that’s the right term} of House Martins swirling over the cornfields and then landing one by one on the telephone wires. Simple pleasures! Pasta lunch followed by delicious vic plums then who knows, it’s already 2.30 and not a lot achieved. Won’t be a NSD tomorrow as DH and I are off to Suffolk/Essex to put flowers on the folks plot, lunch out and then to my sisters to catch up on half the family. Not good for the pocket or waistline but good for the soul.
Have a good week end all.:)

Caterina

Good evening,

XSpender good that you are feeling better, well done on planning all your jobs in advance, I wish I was that organised!

Sugarpuss27 welcome, please feel free to pop in and out as you please, whenever you feel like, it will be lovely to have you on board. Reading your post it seems to me you are already doing all the right things! Looking forward to reading more of your posts.

Update for today:

No chance of laundry, nor knitting as I fell asleep again after waking up so early and snored away until 9 am! By which time the electrician was here, the sun was out and I could not be bothered looking for my knitting bag in the mayhem of my home.

So instead I went to the little farmers market to get a few low cost organic veg and eggs.

Lunch was leftover from last night then off to the wholefood coop to get nuts, found most of what I wanted but no cashews arghhhh my favourite protein source in curries and stews! They said they will order for next week so I shall go back in a few days.

Dinner with friends was fish and chips and I ate the chips too, a bit less than half a portion, and half a portion of mushy peas, accompanied by a glass of wine that our friends brought and followed by a few glasses of Mirto, a Sardinian liqueur made with myrtle berries, really delicious.

Altogether spent around £52 which is under budget for shopping and fish and chips, so I am pleased. It would be nice if I could make tomorrow a grocery NSD but will have to spend something to pay my friend builder to tile a bit of kitchen wall and do a few more odd jobs.

Good night.

grandmasam

I've just spoken to DS in Germany on Skype, and and he showed me my Christmas present, an electric sander!! woohoo!
:xmastree:
Then he ' offered ' me the treat of playing with it by sanding a couple of pieces of furniture there, with a view to repainting them [ me!] and if that isn't enough fun , I can sand the metres of fencing outside as well!
I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry, as my weeks visit in 3 weeks time won't be as relaxing as I hoped.
Just had to share this, have a good os day everyone.
[gone to lie down in a darkened room ]
Caz

bellaquidsin

I'm back home from my holiday now and ready to hit OS head on.


I popped into Mr. M on the way home and spent almost£10 on fruit and veg, leaving me £15 of last week's housekeeping budget. I like to keep a float so that there's always something there for extras i.e visitors, special offers, yellow stickers or just the unexpected.


I'm hoping to cruise along this week on what we have in as I did a big shop before we went away, then next Sunday we have visitors but I have meat in the freezer and also a homemade blackberry and apple pie which will do for pud.


Looks like being a good week so should get all the holiday washing line dried. I've already done two loads. My main occupation for the week will be ironing, also would like to start tidying the garden.


I spent some idle time and lots of money on holiday ordering craft materials from Create and Craft which was all delivered when I returned home so I'm looking forward to playing with that. Not very OS but I do sell some of the cards I make so I'm not going to feel too bad about it.


Have a happy OS week everyone.
Bella.

Caterina

Good evening,

Grandmasam put your foot down when you visit your DS, you are going there to relax and give maybe a bit of help but not sand and varnish the whole thing! Make sure you have plenty of downtime!

Welcome back Bella, hope you had a lovely holiday. Enjoy the crafty stuff!

Today was fairly OS, free cinema tickets to see Pride, a new film, very good. Funny and moving at the same time. DH (who comes from a mining village) even shed a few tears at some point!

Then another shopping, in w8rose so not very cheap, even taking into account the YS stuff ( most of it), £26.32 but it included free Sunday paper and 3 packs of Alaskan Wild salmon, the only one I eat, as I detest the farmed ones. I would rather have salmon once in a blue moon and eat the good quality salmon than eat a cheaper (wetter, greasier, soggy) one. So I am well pleased with this find.

One packet went for lunch, shared with DH, with cream cheese and salad, two in the freezer, might go into scrambled eggs for breakfast (for 3) or in fish cakes to stretch it.

Then back home, friends came to visit and look at kitchen progress (slow, what's new?). It was good to see them.

Then DD came to have dinner with us, which was lovely! She hates tofu stir fry so it was change of dinner plan, to mushroom omelette, steam cauliflower and Chinese cucumber salad, with HG cucumbers. We all love freshly picked cucumbers, it is a first, never grown them before. We all agreed than next year a whole box will be dedicated solely to cucs!

Good night.

sugarpuss27

Hi all, well back from visiting and as suspected not very good for the waistline but not so bad on the pocket! Can't have everything I suppose. Plenty of baby and kiddiwink cuddles though which was lovely. Our Great niece had twin girls in April and they are just adorable as is our nephews daughter aged 4 going on 40! Lovely time catching up and being with thems that mean most. I shall go to bed happy and content.:)
I wish the same for all.
Night, night.

Caterina

Good morning,

Sugarpuss27, congratulations to your grand niece for the baby twins! I had twins 25 years ago, it is hard work but very special.

My OS day plan today is all upside down, I have so much to do, also tai chi in the park, but had a horrendous sleepless night. First a mosquito woke me up several times, as soon as I switched on the light it disappeared, then head back on pillow, sleep, mosquito zzzzzing in my ear. Several times.

Then DH needed painkillers for shoulder pain, in the end I went downstairs at 5, eyes aching with tiredness, and made myself a cup of tea and a vat of porridge with syrup (so pop went the low carb), needed comfort food badly.

As soon as I fell asleep, on the sofa, all curled up under a coat as I was cold, the blasted builder knocked at the door. He used to have a key but last time he was here, a MONTH ago, he left it in the car permits envelope, without telling anyone.

I crawled into bed crying with exhaustion and frustration, DH made me a cup of tea but there is no way I can get up and do any of the things I need to do. Am wiped out, tiredness and anger mixed. I instructed DH to tell the builder to stay out of my way and not ask me anything. I am liable to EXPLODE so it is better the lot of them come in on tiptoe to finish the work and just stay clear of me.

There is no point in remonstrating at this point as we just want the work finished and to see the back of them all. And the builder is a martial arts mate of DH so he is concerned about not creating too bad a feeling. So I told DH in this case he needs to have ALL the final dealings with him, because if I have to I can't be held responsible for what I shall say, for the rage that engulfs me!

Warning to all of you who need building works: DON't use a friend! It makes it all the harder to complain.

So, the only certainty today is NSD for grocery, but if I can rouse myself I need to get a gate lock (so need to spend some money), then work with the boys and babysit the girls tonight.

Am going to catch up with some sleep I hope!

Have a good OS day.