NST March: Marching to a different beat

LavenderBee

93 days and counting Dolly (not that I'm counting!)

I went to Edinburgh for the first time last year and loved it, funnily enough I was only thinking this morning what a lovely time we had. If you like walking I do recommend walking to the top of King Arthur's Seat (wear sensible shoes!). We don't do anything flash on weekend breaks or eat anywhere fancy, we go for gastro-pub type places and tried a deep fried Mars bar between us

apple_muncher

Abundant - just wanted to comment. My mum is in a care home and has both dementia and alzheimers. (I don't know which one deteriorates fastest.) She has been there 11 months now and her memory issues were propelled to the forefront when my dad suddenly died 19months ago. she is unable to make new memories. however, I have realised that she can make 'emotional' memories - we pay for a trained person to goand spend time with mum once aweek, and mum refers to 'that nice lady' despite only 'knowing' her for 9 or 10months. These memories are intangible and can't be specified but she has a 'happy place' from them. So, spending money on things/experiences wouldn't work for her. In fact, buying her things is pointless as within minutes she has forgotten who gave them/ that they are hers, and she puts them elsewhere and then they are well and truly lost.

Now for the confession: I did absolutely nothing for her for mother's day. That probably sounds cruel and heartless. It is partly self-preservation as I was with her last year and she got so cross and upset about mothers day that I ended up taking away the card and present I'd got her, to end the upset. I was lucky that within minutes she'd forgotten it. But the impact it had on me lasted.

I think what I am trying to say is that time spent with your mum and dad is precious and the little routine familiar things are the ones that provide security and love for them. Hope I haven't upset you by saying all this x

Kerry_Woman

NSD achieved 10/18
There was an issue with my alarm clock as I think the battery was running low as it lost time. So woke up late. When I checked the time it was light, then checked watch. So it was a rush to get ready.
Grateful for:
Having made my lunch last night.
Getting into work just in time to start.
Feeling refreshed from my sleep.
Picking up the buddybox from mental health support organisation from the sorting office which was opened late today. Went after work.
Good connections with buses to and from work.
Hugs to those in need of them.

laurenh1

abundant sounds like a good plan, Ive fallen off the wagon a bit this month too. did I read you had moved to Manchester? We are from Bury (or at least my hub is & I lived there a while) Love manchester!!
dolly I love the dome too & they let you pop in just for a coffee. The witchery is also lovely, right next to the castle but you will need about £150 for 2 people to eat there. & I was pretty restrained (cheapest red wine, please)

Fmess

Apple hugs and thank you for sharing Not celebrating mother!!!8217;s day with you Mum sounds like the right plan, please don!!!8217;t beat yourself up about it.

Abundant well done on your solution focused thinking!

SFD number 8 here. Walked the dogs after work and been to SW, lost 1.5lbs which was nice. Tomorrow is a very expensive dental surgery for one of my dogs, poor thing, I hope he!!!8217;s ok by tomorrow evening.

bizzie

Spend day today on things that were on my list - didn't deviate which is progress.
Another trip to town beckons this week to collect dd's clothes order for her (delivery was free to store) but will combine with outstanding errands - bank (emptied change pot), library, and a catch up with a friend.

mothernerd

LavenderBee It was called The Train (on film4 so may be repeated sometime soon). Burt Lancaster played the lead Frenchman and Paul Schofield (Thomas more in a Man for All Seasons and chief witchfinder in The Crucible) the German who had collected the paintings (official german view was that the Impressionists were 'decadent'), a few other recognisable names and faces but lots of 'jobbing actors', many French. The story was the star.

The toothpaste is a laurel sulphate free one (googled when I first got the symptoms). Local health food shop used to do a fennel toothpaste but no longer and H&B had loads of an Aloe Vera one (had a reaction to that previously so not going to put it in my mouth and another one with similar problems. Third one was a charcoal one (black toothpaste - feed my inner Goth) and is aniseed flavour. Last time I had to hunt for it so I wanted to buy before I absolutely ran out in case I had to travel to Manchester. So was delighted when I walked in the shop and saw the big display - know the 'better than half price' was genuine.

I know I am prone to ulcers if I eat too many tomatoes and also if I am 'run down'. The furry tongue was a new one but is common for people with diabetes and also a 'run down' symtom. Doctor gave me mouthwash and medicine (so thick I had to scoop it out ) which helped but did not eradicate it and anti-biotics would make it worse.

Diet advice is nothing salty (fine) nothing acidic (love tomatoes and lemon juice) and nothing spicy! Oh no! and feel I should be increasing the spicy things as lots of curry spices, especially turmeric, are supposed to be helpful for the arthritis, which is the major problem atm, furry tongue I am learning to ignore, minor inconvenience in the scale of things.

I agree with Dolly hang on in there and try not to let the midwives upset you.

Crafts day, quite good, bit confusing as some things had been left for us to do and I like people to have a choice and we were part way through some things started last week. Spendy day as I elected to get the bus (and not the cheap one). I had a small rucksack, a big bag and a pile of cardboard under one arm and it was windy and I wanted to get there early to try something out (have had these 'woven baskets' in mind for several weeks and still trying to crack how best to make them - some of the craft participants need adaptations).

Carried straight on to the chemists (would have crawled on the bed and gone to sleep if I had gone home first) and they had the tablets, after some hunting around. No-one seemed to want to look at me and then they said 'someone from upstairs' (the blister pack people) was coming down to speak to me. This was an older woman, who was very pleasant and said they had ticked to put it on the repeat prescription list and 'hoped' it would be included in next month's delivery.

So, as I suspected on Monday, they were lying to me, insisting that I got more paperwork from the doctor. They must have got off the phone and started to look for how they had cocked it up. I would feel paranoid but I know that before I started looking after mum and soon after I started, several items had to be requested specially when they were not delivered. Delivery woman is lovely, cheerful and pleasant. Know now that the department is understaffed but some people's lives are dependent on these medicines.

Today I am grateful for companionship, good service, lovely flowers on the square (done that before but they always make me smile).

sashanut

Hi all :j

An NSD today and weather was kind to me so got 2 loads of washing outside, smells lovely & was virtually dry. Some more improvements upstairs, but furniture still needs to be shifted so hopefully tomorrow. Thought I might do it on my own but a bit too heavy. No progress on path but DH took large barrow of turf up to compost heaps for me, as I overloaded it so much I couldn't shift it...will need to go out tomorrow & stock up on canines food.

· For the striders: 9/18 NSDs

· Set your budgets before the challenge starts - did a fair few spends, need to update spread sheet. Ongoing.

· Be generous ; will do

· Note down Certainly need to do this, in order to get a handle on spending. Have noted down spends & will update. No spends today.

· As ever, will do

· Pay towards your debt first! Do not have debt now but have been there before so am very wary. Do have a CC paid off in full every month. Will make a payment on cc today.

· Plan. Will make list of places to go - need to have it in reserve for impromptu trips out. Still A WIP, but found another to add to the list. May go out tomorrow on way back from pet foods place.

Check in every day. Will do from now on

f0xh0les

My kettle broke yesterday :eek:
I went into the kitchen at 6am and there was water on the floor, so I cleaned it up and made coffee in the machine, went back after a bit and there was water on the floor, so I checked the ceiling (first thought - go major) no water, checked the tumble drier was not leaky, noticed the worktop was wet under the pile of dishes waiting for my attention. Dried it up, assumed someone had over filled the kettle or knocked over a glass, went off to take the kids to school. Came back, water on the floor - then, and only then did I realise water was coming out of the bottom of the kettle.
Bought a new 'boy' kettle. It is glass, and has blue led lights and you can watch the bubbles. £30. Everyone loves it.

Just found out that if you lose a post (when it all highlights blue and disappears) ctrl z brings it back !!!!!!!! it is the undo last action code.

DS1 is off on his DoE training expedition this weekend (cue snow)
We cannot find the handle to the camping pan,:mad: so have to go to town to get a new one, so today will not be a NSD. Grrrrrr. So stuck on NSD 9 will trawl a few charity shops on the way.

Have a lovely day.

laurenh1

Morning all-

Today is another NSD! No idea what i am on ha ha but I have a few in the bag I think, one of those months!!

Decided with hub last night that I will take his old phone and go Sim only when our contracts expire next month. That should save at least £20 a month on what we pay at the moment. Our Gap insurance should end soon too so that's another £30 a month stopping. I think once this compensation has cleared ( should be within 2 weeks) We should have plenty in our emergency fund and our house savings are ticking over nicely and so the next step is getting our monthly outgoings down as and when renewals are due. We do okay on a fairly tight budget (£250 a month for four of us) but it really would be nice if we had a little more!

Lots of salad today as Pizza for tea tonight (it's all under plan ) Really want to feel better by the time I go to Paris with my boys.

Have a nice day lovely turtles