NST July - Own your choices

Calling14

Thanks Bob will look at challenge properly tomorrow.
Had little sleep last and lot of pain in my buttock which then trapped Sciatic nerve. So tired now, made appointment with someone I know for Monday, shes been great giving me advice and exercises to do today as she had family here this weekend. I did look myself online but too scared to attempt them with hamstring problem as well.

Needless to say fed up to bits.

Bbq went to last night was okay,however as a burger I got given was red inside. Replacement meal arrived and my £15 I paid put on my table. Did however give 5 pounds to my friend as she did the complaining and she is having a tough time financially lately.

Done as advised today long bath, walk on flat ground and not a lot else. A sfd and nice walk along beachfront.

Got lots to declutter blinds,pictures, curtain rails will fill charity bags tomorrow as collection Monday.

crazy_cat_lady

Well I finally got round to cutting the grass in the garden - I've been putting that off for about 6 weeks, so I think we'll put a big tick to that.
Me and the kids are still doing mins game, which has now completely filled our bin up, with bin day not until Thursday... But it's stuff not in the house at least.
I'm still officially a poor credit person - less than a year since I cleared my debt so I can't get anything on good rates. I am completely desperate to remortgage but not hopeful of that happening any time soon. Really need to get this debt paid, get back on an even keel and then try and start saving...

mothernerd

Just lost a big post. Sorry for being missing. Hit a slump and had bug/ mossie bites (makes getting dressed interesting) Plus lack of vitamin d plus sun caused eczema (both short of sun and over-exposed). Not helped by a hysterical/ abusive phone call from my mother (think she is feeling sorry for herself and I was a convenient punchbag).

Have probably overspent mostly health related - bought my own vit d tablets (feeling better 3 days in), replaced all my 2 l drinking water bottles and thrown out the old ones and as the sun cream was down to the dregs, replaced that today (found the one with mossie repellant yeh). Somewhat confused by the plethora of different offers, think I got the best deal but a tiny nagging doubt (left the 'free' beachball for those with children - would formerly have taken it to donate to cs or as a raffle prize but now thinking why bring something into the house which I then have to get out again).

I have learned / guessed how to do several things on both the phone and the laptop (new to me operating system), worked my way through 3 or 4 bags/ boxes of stored (whilst the builders were here) stuff - one bag had loads of receipts (sorted into business/ house renovations/ weeded out). Still 3 or 4 to go includng at least one all paperwork (and a large file box is coming apart at the seams).

Got the net curtain up but the main curtains need the heading tape replacing - think someone has ironed them, despite labels saying not to, and the synthetic tape has fused so the strings will not pull up. Had a similar problem once with ex mil's nets. Home help had washed them on a high setting and they had gone rigid - spent a weekend soaking them to 'loosen' them before hemming. I have several pieces of header tape (some taken from curtains I used to have) so hoping I have enough to complete the task.

Visited mum - more abuse ( I never think of anyone but myself, never ever visit her or phone her and do nothing for her, her partner's children do everything) but the afternoon ended fairly amicably. Not wasting space on this but the 'everything' included booking an appointment for the firemen to fit a smoke alarm and being there when he came.

Will do what I can with the weekend challenge.

Today I am grateful for not losing my temper, for the cool breeze blowing through and for finding what I needed fairly quickly.

Not grateful for dreadful Whigfield tune courtesy of youth (and their parasites) on car park. Will complain myself if that is still going on at 4 am - why can't they play that nice punk stuff thay had on the other evening.

Bobarella

Morning All

Cat I didnt know you were playing Mins. Really happy to hear it,Im a huge fan. Dont throw trading cards if your kids have them though. I have made a little cash on those this month. Although MatchAttax dont do well.
On the remortgage subject. I dont know your story on debt as I think you had repaid the lions share pre MSE forum life? although I cant believe its been a year since Tortiegate1 feels like you've been here forever. But I think unless you have had to go bankcrupt your credit file shouldnt be too bad for mortgage purposes?

Mothernerd Sorry to read your Mum treated you that way. Affer everything you did during the move! Insect bites are the worst I sympathise. I hope this doesnt sound patronising but I felt so excited reading your comments about not taking the beach ball. In your lovely new home you just dont need any thing that isnt beautiful or useful.

Calling sciatica is hideous. I am so sorry to hear you have it. I dont know what your physio has said but when I had it one thing that helped was sitting on the edge of the bed and moving my pelvis forward and back extremely slowly. He used to make me sit on a birthing ball to do the same movement as well if you know anyone who might have one. Sending you huge hugs.

Bobarella

This weekend so far.

1. Review - Opened and filed pension statements for my two. One had gone up one had gone down. One is from my financial services days and is not moveable. I am not worried about it as its all invested in a global insurance business which has a great track record historically . The other although smaller has gone up in the current climate. I have it set for the highest risk option. It invests in BRIC small caps. Ironic that this is beating an enormous French global but unsurprising post brexit.

2. Reduced - kids bike helmet sold on ebay left the building yesterday.
Today I plan to drop off another batch of books to the coffee shop book swap where incidentally I have a free coffee fo claim.

3. My 10 mins on an area I have been procrastinating on, was marching myself to M&S yesterday, & spending £9.50 on leggings then coming straight home and throwing my holey pair out. I am the worlds worst at buying clothes. So that was a good days work.

Right all, on with the show.

Bob

crazy_cat_lady

Morning all :wave:
Yes Bob - I am only just approaching my 1 year anniversary here - although I had lurked for a long time before I got the nerve to post...
With regards to the mortgage - me and DH are dreaded Northern Rock customers. And with my being in a DMP until last year I haven't been able to remortgage at all. On top of that, we took out a 100% mortgage, and I'm not sure whether or not the house has gained any value since we bought it. I should probably speak to a broker but because I don't really know what's what with mortgages I keep putting it off.
Thanks for the advice about trading cards - dd has a load of pokemon cards from her younger days so its definitely worth knowing.
Hoping for another quiet one today - just tutoring on the agenda - although I need to do a bit of cooking for the week ahead at some point. I'm tired so may need to nap again.
Mothernerd - so sorry to hear of your problems with your mum. You deserve a medal for putting up with it to be honest. You seem to live your life for others and then to be treated like that seems very unfair to me.
Calling - hope that your sciatica clears very soon.

Bobarella

Cat My advice for what its worth is get it valued. I always find knowing vs thinking helps my anxiety on something. Have you tried a post on the mortgages board here? I am sure on a forum like this there must be others who have good experiences to pass on.

For what its worth I sold 80 pokemon cards for £5 plus £4 postage. And postage only came to £1.70. So a huge win vs some of my bigger items lately.

greent

Afternoon all (well, it is here!) - haven't joined in this month's challenge as way away at the start of the month for a few days, home for about 9 days (whilst sorting out a fundraising event, so no time for MSE) and then have been on hols in Florida since the 15th. It's a good challenge and am really liking the weekend mini challenges, too, so am slightly sad to be missing it Big shout out well done to Bob for the thread though x

Am away until 6th Aug, so will join on next month's (but will be a little late) and am actually looking forward to tackling 'normal' life - the past few months have been full on with invigilating at 2 schools every day for the whole of the exam period and having 1 teen taking GCSEs and 1 teen taking A2s. As soon as I finished invigilating I went into the last stages of organising a festival and so was away for a week with that and then came home to organising the fundraising event for a charity I'm treasurer for - and then had the post event stuff (tallying of monies, banking etc) - and then had to pack for 3 weeks away. As a result, RL stuff has got left behind and I'm itching to sort out finances, cupboards, the kitchen etc - oh, and ebay things!

Enjoying keeping up with what you're all up to, now that I've caught up!

xx

mothernerd

Thanks for your kind words. I know it's not true, some of her friends and our relations know it's not true and will just have to shrug off the remarks of those who choose to believe her. She's been well most of her life, was very scornful about painkillers and people who were 'supposed to be disabled' and finally having illnesses that give her pain (not constant) is hitting her hard. Keep reminding myself that in order to keep going I need to recharge and do things that make me happy.

I have had a good day. Mostly gentle pottering (with a purpose). Very fond of pottering with a purpose. Done more on some aspects of the challenge than others.

I decided to tackle more of the 'things in storage'. Think the paperwork was part of what got me down last week so the time limit was helpful. Decided to make a start on the 'miscellaneous' box as it includes things that aren't often but 'might' need to be kept. I reviewed my 'dad' file (died 13 years ago in November) my brother's file (died 9 years ago). Didn't get rid of any more (mostly already done) but found it a positive experience. My letters just sound so professional and organised (if you can stun the Inland Revenue into silence and then a thank you you have it cracked).

I have put those files, mum's file (all her paperwork including some relating to my grandparents and grandparents - anything other than the stuff she needs on a daily basis) and quite a lot of stationery (ream of printer paper, large envelopes, padded envelopes) in the bottom of the wardrobe. It's all bulky, infrequently needed but needs to be kept safe. Plus a foolscap box file with all the old end of years tax stuff - planning to scan most of this onto a disc or USB stick sometime but it isn't an urgent task. May do the same with the dad/ brother file.

This left me with two empty file boxes (wide enough for foolscap files one way and A4 the other) and some of my own paperwork in the coming apart expanding file. The paper cutter and the hole puncher (large desk one) are in the bottom clothing drawer which has the larger completed embroidery pieces and the Christmas wrap in. The business paying in and cheque books, more receipts (knew there were some but didn't want to delay submitting my accounts any longer - not out by much as some are monthly bank letters and I knew the dates and the amount of charges) and some business paperwork (again not needed very often - my original business plan, and guides on how to fill in various bits of tax paperwork if I forget something) are in the small drawer whre I have put the acounts book (finding the small drawer was the right size to hold the large accounts book was a joyous moment as I have previously held onto a chest of drawers I didn't like as they were the only place in the house that was big enough).

I have done over two hours filing/ sorting and that's enough for today. I have mended a cardboard box (large shoebox size, will be used to hold more things for the cs which don't go well in a bag), the corner of one of the file boxes (woven wheatstraw on a strong cardboard base) and a small (cd/ video storage size) wooden box. When DS3 wakes up I am going to attach some of the coat hooks I found/ bought to the backs of doors.

I have a (temporary) re-purpose in mind. Trying to keep the surprise birthday party (that was my trump card for yesterday if I lost my temper - the least hurtful thing I could reveal, there are lots more home truths that I keep under wraps) as low budget as possible and not spend on unecessary stuff that will take up room. When I was repairing I remembere that I have used the box and basket lids as trays/ party platters previously - not done any 'mass' catering for a while so it hadn't occurred to me. I have three large boxes and two oval baskets plus maybe six smaller oblongs and 2 each oval and round basket lids (smallest is about the size of a large plate) so hoping that will be enough. If contents were below the depth of the box lids (about 2") I could stack them for transporting (refills could go in bags) so mostly sorted before I left home (I might need to allow time for cleaning up when I get there as well as makin some surface area available).

I have set a new de-clutter target. Did a quick calculation yesterday (mins game if done to 100 days) which came to 5050 (lovely number, please don't tell me if I miscalculated and it should be 4317) so that is my new target for the rest of the year (possibly next 100 days but haven't set other goals, just thinking I need a sort of 100 days/ 2 to 3 weeks/ next few days type set up). Obviously the higher numbers will be hard so just going for as much gone a s possible so have 21 for today with a couple of bits to go to the electrical recycling (DS2 said a laptop was about the max size for the facility). Would have taken them but it started raining heavily again.

It was raining earlier when I was tackling the plastic recycling. I was thinking about the 'jumping in a heap of leaves' remark (think it was apple or fmess a few days ago). Similar to my comment last month about working with small children, there are some activities that can only be enjoyed or fully appreciated when in the company of small children or by accessing that feeling inside yourself. I took the recycling to the bin then carried on to the car park and splashed in all the puddles. Joyful extreme (but quite glad I was on my way back when one of my neighbours and her grandson came into view).

Yesterday, in the library, I picked up a free creative writing magazine the Wellbeing issue (they pick a subject for each issue and invite submissions). Based on the work of groups in three boroughs but not our immediate ones. Lots of poems and a short story which have helped my mood enormously with some factual content including an interview with a writer who helped choose the submissions which made it into the mag. She mentioned one of her poems "Finding my Inner Ferret" which I thought sounded like a fun idea.

I googled to see if I could find the poem but came up with a quiz instead. The link was broken, I found the answers but not the questions but could guess some of the questions from these. I strongly identify with 4, possibly 5 of the answers and somewhat with a further one (intuiting the questions). A score of 26 - 50 (thinking I am between 45 and 55) means I need to nurture my inner ferret by buying myself some toys and 51- 75 means I am well in tune with my inner ferret but spend too much time trying to be a boring human. Therefore I need to kick back and do my war dance/ personal victory dance.

I was thinking it was about time I volunteered for running the thread again but wondered if you could cope with being ferrets (I know I confused some people by making us September squirrels when we had only just become turtles).

Today I am grateful for puddles, my garden (not sure I will get much from the veg patch but I have green things growing which must be better than brick and concrete) and for poets everywhere.

Sorry about your sciatica Calling. I worked with someone who had it so I have some idea how bad it can be

crazy_cat_lady

Hello!!!
For once, my day has gone pretty much as planned. PAD to CC, tutoring, bit of cooking and loads of crochet.
I spent £2 in the £shop with ds doing the £land challenge. Today I bought some deodorant for dh (he was desperate) so I lost. DS bought a snorkel to use in the bath :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:
Mothernerd I am feeling very old before my time so would love to find my inner ferret. I was just wondering who may be running the August challenge.
And Bob - I may put the mortgage on my list of frogs to swallow over the 6 weeks. I just don't know how much I can be bothered with doing and it all seems like a bit of a faff.