Prosperous soul in the making

savingholmes

Thanks all. The GP was lovely but wanted to wait for the physio letter. I've said I'd be happy to pay privately to see someone who can get me some answers on what the underlying problem is - as I keep being told different things. I may be able to claim some of it back. She was happy to write a letter of referral for me - but needs to know who to. A local private hospital has just closed - and I don't know where to start. It all felt too big of a decision yesterday.

As to whether or not I can work - the problem with last week was I had to go in for meetings 3 days - and on one of those days I drove for 2 hours. I think it was the driving that caused the biggest problem. Work is a good distraction - sitting here dwelling on pain or other aspects of life isn't necessarily good for me. Next week I can work from home all but one day so it should be better. In theory I'm supposed to up my hours but I think my boss is just grateful if I get anything done so will see what the pain is like next week. I'll remind DH about signing up for the gym health scheme thing so we can start going and so I can use the pool. I've also booked an optician's appointment. I can reclaim some of the costs so planning to have better quality glasses this time.

I finished my (reduced) hours for the week the night before so I got to recover yesterday. Other than letting the dog out briefly I stayed in bed until 1.30pm so feel more rested today. Thankfully it was payday yesterday I have therefore been able to buy more acrylic paint stuff and had Am* deliver it for me. I had fun doing 3 acrylic pours today and trying swiping techniques on 1 of them The weather has been wild outside today so we all stayed in. DD managed to run a bath and let it overflow and seep through into the kitchen which did get on some of my new paintings so waiting to see if they are permanently damaged or if they recover. I am gutted however I can do more - there are worse things in life. 

Hope you are all having a better time of it and that the storm isn't wreaking havoc where you are. 

savingholmes

It looks like my paintings will be okay - but the water smeared one done by a friend which is a shame. What is irritating is that I had only just taken it out from its cover. I normally spray varnish them once dry but I hadn't got around to doing hers yet. 

Tomorrow will ask DH to overpay one of his CCs by £200. A further £172 should go out to that card on Monday. So will then be well and truly below £24K which will be nice. We get the benefit of no CT in Feb and March. Putting that towards the CCs. Mortgage OP goes out Monday as well. From March planning to up that £21 to reflect the saving on our BB.

DH is going out with a friend for a meal tomorrow (using his personal spends). We agreed he could have extra this month - as I spent so much on me last month He is debating what to buy with it but I have moved it to a separate account so it's clearly his.

Thinking of getting a food delivery. Have some beef to cook tomorrow and enough potatoes but no veg so will need to nip out for those at least. It's still raining here. I should go to bed soon. DH has already gone up but I slept in so late - I don't feel ready yet..

Busy_Mee

Hi SavingHolmes. Just catching up and so sorry you have been struggling so much. I hope you are back on the mend soon, but sending you a virtual hug x

savingholmes

Thanks BusyMee. I've had a restful day.

1 of yesterday's 3 paintings is bumpy from the water falling on it. Don't think it is recoverable. My Am* deliveries have come so got more paint and pouring mix to play with. I've put a load of washing on - still need to do more. Cooking lunch was a family affair. DH nipped to the shop for some food. None of us could face the beef so planning to freeze that. Currently defrosting some pork instead. I feel I am surrounded by mess and clutter (because I am) but although I want it gone - I don't have the energy to solve it. 

MovingForwards

@savingholmes painting is so relaxing! I'm pleased to see you are taking on more interests, sticking with them and would ask to see photos, but I respect your privacy.

Put the clutter in a bag or box, stick it in a cupboard and deal with it another day. Not an ideal way, but it clears the mind and you stop seeing it.

savingholmes

Thanks MF. I decided to break the 'woe is me' cycle and do something. I went into DS's room and started to look through some of the stuff. I found a box with mostly papers that just needed shredding/binning - so resolved that. I then found a couple of charity bags I or the kids had started. So checked them - rescued a wedding photo!!! and a handful of books but the other 2 bags are good to go. I also found a load of writing I had done from a course a few years ago - so re-read those and kept them. I am therefore counting that as 3 more of my 52 bag target for the year. DH has gone out to meet a friend for a meal. Will ask him to put them in the car later.

I got a letter this week from our interest only mortgage provider - warning us we need a plan for 11 years and 6 months time. I will save it for when we meet the IFA after I turn 50 and get an updated cetv on my pension. I will also ring the mortgage company and check my understanding is correct and I can have unlimited OPs as I'm on a variable rate - albeit only 0.95% above base rate. The provider I'm with now wouldn't offer IO mortgages to us if we were new customers on our earnings although that picture improves depending on LTV. I reckon we are at around 58% LTV. Although I want to plough most of our dosh into repaying CCs and then into our pensions - I would feel better if our LTV was 50% or less. That would mean if we did want to remortgage in the future we could get a better rate.

savingholmes

For MF - and any interested others - This is the painting that went a bit smudged and bobbly along the top:

Hopefully you can see it was due to be stunning! I need to see if it s a completely lost cause or whether if I undid it from its frame - I could cut off the offending part and solve it that way. It's still not fully dry. I would normally spray it with gloss varnish after this... I do have the paints to make it again but it's not a cheap process.... Oh well it is helping me play and relatively relax

MovingForwards

I love it!

The shapes are intoxicating and I adore the colours. Makes me want to touch and trace the patterns with my finger, whilst losing myself into it.

Thank you so much for sharing x 

savingholmes

MovingForwards said:

The shapes are intoxicating and I adore the colours. Makes me want to touch and trace the patterns with my finger, whilst losing myself into it

Thanks MF that's how I feel too. I love the turquoise, teal and navy with the gold and dases of white. I'm hoping that art could one day be a 'paying' game for me. These don't take that long to do - and have a skill level requirement that's within my range so could be a way forward. In the meantime I plan to have fun and if I create a stock - that could come in handy further down the line. Each one ends up being unique regardless of how you plan.

MovingForwards

I'm sure your art could be a seller, I was going to ask how much you sell for, but stopped myself due to the whole 'if you have to ask, you can't afford it' mantra.

It flows so naturally, the more I look at it, the more I see.

Do please keep it up, you have something good at your fingertips.

I looked into doing that, instead of oil painting, but I don't have deep enough pockets, so have to stick with oils, but I'm currently plotting an abstract one for my new lounge.