Cherry takes the reins

parsniphead

I'm glad to read you had a good break.

It must be hard to see your children move out. I think I have a few years, mine is only 8.

in_need_of_direction

Hello, I have read from the start. You are doing a lot and doing marvellously well. Your latest post resonated with me as my two have their bedrooms despite ds not having lived here for about 10 years and dd now being away for a full year. Hope you have an easy day today.

Cherryfudge

I actually had a texted conversation yesterday with DD's other half in which we made ridiculous suggestions about what to do with the room - I think we left it as an ice palace. It's still DD's room in a way, but she redecorated it a few years ago and I never really took to the new d!cor, so it feels like a room from someone else's house in a way. Her older brother has moved out, married, moved back in with his wife and then out again, DS2 moved out for a year but has been back about 4 years and DD has come and gone over the last ten years (latest move out was a month ago) so in a way I'm used to it and at least they aren't too far away at the moment.

INOD, have you just read all that? Such a lot to get through - I hope you took it in stages, but thank you. Today has been on the easy side. In fact I did almost nothing in the morning apart from totalling up the 251 items that I've decluttered from my Mum's old house over the last few days! Most of these went to charity but some went in recycling or the bin.

In the afternoon I did housework and L popped round to borrow our garden as we have grass and a sun lounger which he doesn't have. We ended up talking about DFiL who he visited the other day and who he is worried will deteriorate as he's not getting enough stimulation. It's part of DFiL's condition that he finds it hard to take the initiative so he isn't likely to ask to join in social activities at the nursing home. I did feel I should try to visit more often, then this evening DH suggested we walk down to see him. This sorted quite a few things out all together: a visit for DFiL with a walk out of doors, a chance for me to practice pushing his chair on the local terrain and exercise for DH and me, who both needed it.

Spending:
ebook 99p
Toiletries £5.67
Household £0.99
Housekeeping £5.05
MS:
Shopped cheaply for the toiletries
10th coins into savings £1.00
Added fish tank decorations to our tank (freebies from a tank at Mum's). This was really quite funny as I thought a large plastic crab might scare the fish but it turned out to be unsinkable and the largest fish thought it was worth trying to eat it although it's bigger than him.
Decluttering:
Ahem. (Small voice) two pieces of paper.

Today I'm thankful for the large butterflies and dragonfly that were in our garden this afternoon, for DS2 fixing my F!tbit that wouldn't update and for a walk with DH to spend time with DFiL - not to mention J and L having gone to see him the other day. They are so good with him.

in_need_of_direction

Any decluttering has to be good

parsniphead

I've seen lots of butterflies this year but no dragonflies at all. I've not seen any of the massive ones for years.

Cherryfudge

Nothing spent yesterday and an overnight at work, so I'm having a bit of a catch-up before my afternoon shift. I spent £9.84 at the supermarket this morning which includes on-offer smoothies to take to work and down to London during the week. I'm looking forward to the trip but really hope the rain holds off as we're due to go to an outdoor performance!

No car boot sale today due to patchy downpours. DH went for a run but I had a bit of a dizzy spell so I've stayed at home. (I don't think I'm particularly given to dizzy spells but I get them from time to time. Doctors blame a) dehydration and b) iron levels so I'm not unduly worried).

Today's MS is buying supermarket fish instead of getting them at the chippy.

I'm also trying to spend a bit of time on the online course as I've only got 2 weeks left to finish it. Very interesting and thankfully in small chunks, so it's no hardship in itself, but I'm a bit short of processing time. There are also lots of very useful comments by other students but I don't have time to read them all or I'd never do the coursework. I've also played the piano a bit - I used to have lessons but had to stop when I broke my arm and have decided to give it a go again. No lessons yet but a bit of playing time is nice.

Honeysucklelou2

251 items is most impressive! Cut glass items must have been very popular at one stage. Both of my grandmothers had a fair amount.

Hope it stays dry for your outdoor performance.

Cherryfudge

An NSD today, and an early shift. I was absolutely flaked out by the time I got home and went to bed for an hour, after which I felt better. We decided to use DD's old room as temporary storage and I moved a few things in there, notably the drying rack (J and L's washing machine no longer spins so J brought a load of soggy washing to hang on the line, then it rained) and the filing cabinet and boxes I'm using to store my parents' old photos. I also found two items that I'd bought for gifts for the children so those are put aside ready for Christmas.
I then cleaned the corner in our room where the filing cabinet had been: boy it was dusty! There is still a lot of stuff there that shouldn't be there, but I did some decluttering and am quite proud of how it went.
After that everybody except G (DS2's girlfriend, who wasn't feeling well) came round for tea and we had a hilarious time. Poor J's car is on the way out by the sound of things, but she has an option to lease a car through work which might help her. However she didn't let this stop her from having a good evening. Afterwards, I succeeded in giving away two packets of surplus cereal to J and L, and DH found the bag of chocolate given by a relative at Easter to pass on to them all, and distributed it! So a nice bit of decluttering. (The chocolate had been from one house to another and everyone was confused about who was supposed to have what so we just shared it out).

Spending:
None
MS:
Free meal at work
I had £25 left over from last week's housekeeping which is quite amazing but isn't all 'profit' as I ended up giving it to DH to buy food over this weekend. At least we should still be within budget.
Decluttering:
30 papers, gift bow, battered watercolour paints, random unidentifiable piece of plastic, small box, 2 boxes of cereal, a bit of rubbish (lost track of what that was), magazine, 2 plastic bags, catalogue, chocolate rabbit (42 items).

Today I'm thankful for the ability to let go of things, for a bit of clear space where there was none, and for an understanding DH who lets me work through things at my own pace.

Cherryfudge

I had a busy morning doing loads of washing before work, and a bit more of my course.

It's been another NSD today, and my manager has got a 'proper' gardener so that will put a stop to the extra pennies from the odd extra hour there. (He couldn't justify many hours for me as it seems my pay grade is higher than they paid the previous gardener, and the new gardener is free to us as someone else pays him!) However, it doesn't stop me working on the garden (and really I ought to do more in my own!) and at the moment there are extra hours aplenty. That might not last as there is a recruitment drive in progress, but I have enough to do between my contracted hours and working on Mum's old house - I think I'm still a bit tired from last week.

Nothing to report in money-saving or decluttering either... apart from DH got picnic lunch stuff to take on the train tomorrow and save us some cash. I will take a flask and my coffee too - might cut a few spending corners that way!

We will be back on Thursday and I'm off work till next week - so maybe that's time to get another PPI attempted claim in and gather more blackberries? We'll see.

Cherryfudge

I completely forgot yesterday that, although I didn't go to the shops, I bought a couple of presents online. One was (ahem!) for me, for DH to give me at Christmas. Total £15.99.