Second Time Lucky

amycool

We somehow got all of the class ones written last night, although we ran out before we got to teachers. To be honest, I haven't been all that impressed with the teachers so I'm not sure they deserve one.

I found some old cards in a cupboard and have written them for neighbours and a few family. I could do with buying more in case I remember anyone else.

Despite having the lurgy, I dragged myself off the (new, lovely) settee and did a coat of paint on the last bit that needs doing. Just one more coat and the painting is complete! Annoyingly, we went to the DIY shop twice at the weekend and forgot to get picture hanging stuff. The room looks very bare without the pictures or shelves up.

I have made a Christmas decoration for 2 of our rats so far and DD keeps bugging me to make the last one. They take ages though! I want to put the tree up next week so I need to get cracking. She also asked about the Barbie jumper that is actually finished and wrapped in her stocking so I said I'd been very busy, which wasn't lying.

DD's wobbly tooth got a lot wobblier last night when she bit into a corn on the cob. I think I'm more excited about it coming out than she is. I'd be wiggling it constantly. My mum used to put a tissue over ours for extra grip and yank them out. No idea why they couldn't have been left to come out naturally!

I was watching the Martin Lewis money show and the savings situation is frustrating. Especially for my Mum as she has no private pension so her small savings have to last a long time and at the moment they're not even keeping up with inflation.

I'm excited about this weekend as (weather permitting) we are going to not one but two National Trust properties! DD doesn't seem too keen as it's quite a long car journey but one is a tudor house with tudor food and music, and then another is a really cool garden with different "rooms". We went a few years ago and it couldn't have been any more Christmassy.

Then next week is Christmas Play time, which I can't wait for, then the following week my Aussie uncle is visiting and we're going out for lunch.

I realised at the dentist (my age was written on the screen in years and months) that I will be 32 in 43 days. I have always wanted to be 32. It's such a lovely number with so many factors and I always thought when I was younger that by the time I was 32, I would have life sorted. I think I pretty much have. Better health would have been nice (how pleased I am that nobody can read the future as my 15 year old self would have been very sad to find out I only had 3 years of health left) but I have a lovely husband (who admittedly does some very annoying things like "sorting" the paperwork by shoving it all in a folder marked Bank Statements), a lovely daughter, a lovely house, and some lovely friends. I am very much looking forward to 2017 and hope to enjoy the last month of 2016, which has been very tough at times.

amycool

It's out! The tooth came out at dinner last night and caused much panic! Blood, tears, and very little actual dinner eaten.

The one next to it is probably going to fall out within the next week.

DD was very disappointed to find a pound and no tooth.

Weirdly, I had been pondering what to do about our savings and how depressing the interest rates are. I was thinking maybe we should make bigger payments into OH's pension and then along comes a letter saying if we pay an extra 1%, they will match it. It's a no-brainer so that starts next month. In the short term it means less money obviously but hopefully (assuming the pension scheme doesn't go bankrupt) it will mean a more relaxed retirement. They also gave us the option of managing our own investments. :rotfl: Can you imagine? The pension pot would be gone in weeks!

My cold isn't getting any better at all. All I've managed today is making another tree decoration for the third rat and entering some advent competitions. I don't have a calendar this year so I get quite a lot of pleasure from opening on-line ones!

Muser1

Lovely to hear you so positive Amy. Enjoy the NT trips x

amycool

I won 20p on the TCB Xmas giveaway!

I also realised that I am growing a double chin and costing us a fair bit in food. Even my Mum was appalled to hear how much I've been eating, and she loves binge eating! . So I have started a new weight loss plan. It's not the best or healthiest way to lose weight but I feel like I may actually be able to stick to this. I'm very all or nothing and I just don't have the willpower to eat in moderation, so yesterday I started just having one meal. It's very moneysaving too. It does mean being hungry a lot, but if I'm hungry, that hopefully means my body is using some of my vast reserves for energy. So far it's not been too hard as I really look forward to a hearty meal at 6pm. It will just be midweek as I can't really avoid eating lunch with my family at the weekend, but I'll still skip my big bowl of coco pops in the morning.

I bought my brother's keyboard as he's a bit desperate for money at the moment (through no fault of his own). It needs a good clean.

NT places were brilliant and DD actually enjoyed it! That just cost us petrol.

The tree is up and looking marvellous. We still haven't finished the lounge so there's very little to put tinsel on at the moment. The tree is heaving though.

I have stripped the fireplace and started sanding it. It might be a never-ending job. So many nooks and crannies!

Still doing the advent comps each day but not expecting a win.

DD is in the nativity today - can't wait.

amycool

I am queen of my to-do list.

The fireplace is stripped and sanded and waxed. It was exhausting and I ruined my slippers in the process but it's finally done. I need to start looking for someone to fit it, plus some other jobs. There's a guy we've used before who I'll e-mail but if he isn't free, I might leave it now until after Christmas as weekends are so busy and I'd like some days of rest before the very long holidays!

I've filled in all of the paperwork to transfer DD's Child trust fund over so hopefully soon we'll know what she has in there and can decide whether to start adding to it.

My brother was really chuffed with the money, which felt good.

Riding high on the joy of giving, I donated some money to the Moldova project to give some very poor children Christmas gifts. It's a lovely small charity and I must look into making a regular donation.

I'm on day 4 of eating one meal a day and it hasn't been too bad. I've introduced an apple around lunchtime for 2 reasons; 1) so I don't faint, especially if I'm being very active and 2) to make sure I'm getting some nutrients and fibre. Our evening meal is always the healthiest of the day by far (predominantly vegetables) but I doubt there's 5 portions in there. I'm really enjoying how much I appreciate the food now. Before I was constantly shoving food down my cake hole but now I actually take the time to enjoy it properly. Having said that, I am rather looking forward to having lunch at the weekend.

DD was great in the nativity - in fact it was the most polished nativity I've ever seen with no tears, nobody falling over and everyone getting the words right. I nearly had tears though.

Still no advent wins but I'm enjoying imaging winning things.

Hoping to finally cash the big cheque this weekend and buy some stuff for when we have people round on Sunday. I've already made some (very basic) crackers and put a Christmas scratchcard in each. I hope somebody wins something. I once bought scratchcards for all of my family when I worked in a newsagent (I was only 15 :eek:) and we didn't win a penny between us.

Also need to give the library a card and gift for being so wonderful this year.

At some point next week I need to try on my dress (size 10) for my grandparents' diamond wedding. Wish me luck. I seem to recall it being quite forgiving but then I've never been this fat. :rotfl:

Firegirl

Looks like you've been busy!!!! If we don't see you back on here we'll know you've won big on the scratch cards!

debtfreeoneday

glad the play was good. Am sure you will fit into your dress fine!

amycool

Scratchcard news - OH won £5 and my friend's husband won £40!!!! I felt a bit bad for the other couple there as they won nothing but a joke and some chocolate sprouts.

I have now completed a whole week on the OMAD diet. By Friday I was struggling somewhat and felt quite dizzy so I had some grapes and a bowl of cereal at lunch, but didn't go mad at dinner.
Saturday was a big disappointment as I was expecting a big family lunch at the in-laws...they had told us the wrong date!!! Luckily we had a few eggs at home so I had one poached egg on toast and a cookie. Went a bit mad at tea with sponge pudding and ice cream after my noodles. I was very good yesterday lunch as we had a whole buffet prepared and I just had 2 crackers and a fondant fancy, knowing I could really enjoy the leftovers for tea. However, my darling daughter decided to moan throughout dinner so it wasn't quite as nice as I had hoped. As a result I did eat 4 chocolates in the evening.
I wanted a bit of a treat at the weekend but didn't want to put all the fat back on that I had just lost.

So far this diet is working great for me. As I have no scales, I have no idea of weight, but my belly is definitely smaller. I love that you have mini-treats every day (big dinner and pudding) and then a bigger treat at the weekend. Wednesday I'm going out for lunch so that will be tough as I'll have to have no dinner, or something very small. Not sure I'll manage that one.

The cheque has been paid in! The excitement of having so much cash made me go a bit crazy and I spent £150 on the Big Issue shop website buying extra gifts from very worthy lovely companies. Never in my life before would I ever have dreamed of spending £15 on a single pair of socks (they give a pair of thick socks to a homeless person too) or £12 on some hand wash (all employees are disabled and all profits go back into the company to employ more people).

I also bought DD an extra gift. We were in a shopping centre (she had £2 to buy me and OH gifts from B&M) and I saw a jumper in Peacocks that I know she'll love because it's soft and fluffy and has jewels on it. Basically the kind of jumper I hate. :rotfl: The shop assistant was so lovely and friendly and even cut me out a 25% off token to use! It was a rare lovely shopping experience.

The downside to all of this is that I now have even more wrapping to do. Boo!!! I bought more cards so they need writing too.

No time to do the advent comps this weekend, apart from the tombola one as it's a guaranteed win if you play every day (it'll probably be £1 of credit but a pound is a pound!).

I have decided that as I only have 1.5 weeks left before DD is off school for a VERY long time, I'm just going to leave the fireplace and shelves for now and worry about them in January. I need to actually enjoy the peace and quiet as DD finds normal school holidays challenging enough without the added stress of Christmas. Her behaviour this weekend was...difficult.

amycool

I've just ordered a second hand smartphone for OH for Christmas and a Giffgaff SIM. £42 and it claims to be in good condition...We will see.

Spent £10 on a lunch yesterday with relatives. It was my first proper lunch since I started my new regime and it was delicious.

Yesterday DD said, "It's shrunk!" in reference to my belly so it looks like the plan is working! I'm struggling today as I'm really tired (totm maybe?) and I ate 3 crackers and an apple at lunch but it didn't help. I think being surrounded by delicious food doesn't help. Still, I'm really enjoying seeing my belly fat start to vanish and it's a good motivator. I should have gone out for a walk earlier rather than sitting on the internet all day.

I was so proud of DD yesterday. We had a relative round who she'd never met and he isn't great with kids so her anxiety was off the scale - screaming, impulsivity, getting hurt etc. It normally takes hours to calm her down but yesterday she said I'm going to my room to calm down. She went up and put some music on, and sat combing her doll's hair. I gave her about 20 minutes of cuddles.

I've been stressed this week as I know we need to get the ball rolling with seeking a diagnosis for DD but it will involve a lot of waiting and chasing, blood tests and lengthy assessments. I hate the thought of my little girl being prodded and poked and questioned. On the other hand, without a diagnosis we can't support her fully and we're fairly sure she has it. I'm thinking January.

Money is flooding out of the account at the moment. I've finished getting the stocking fillers now and I think all presents are bought so it's just food to get. We don't go crazy with food as it's just the 3 of us but we'll get some treats.

We have a horribly busy Saturday coming up (even I might have a meltdown) but I'm hoping on Sunday to take DD and my Mum to a National Trust place for Christmas cheer!

I wish Christmas would hurry up now.

In other news, DD's CTF paperwork came. She only has £50 in there, which makes me a bit sad. For some reason I thought children in care would at least have a nominal amount added each year. We need to decide whether to set up a direct debit or whether giving an 18 year old a lump sum is really a good idea considering everything.

debtfreeoneday

We have £50 for ours and I've just left it, I'm not adding to it, I'd rather save seperate and give it them when we choose to.

What diagnosis are you expecting?