Crazy Cat Lady Chapter 3 - A New Beginning

f0xh0les

Happy Birthday, happy holiday, and happy gentle decluttering day.


Yay to piercings!!

crazy_cat_lady

Hello :wave:
Well, I didn't have a day in the house in the end. Spent a few hours at bestie's house over lunch and into the afternoon, then over to my sister's for dinner and a couple of drinks. It was lovely, and relaxing and not work or exam related. My sister is still having a fair amount of trouble with her ex, so we talked over a few things there... and hopefully came up with a plan to get things moving a bit.
Got up this morning feeling like getting a bit of stuff done. Not lots, but I've sorted through food in the fridge - I am spending a ridiculous amount of money on food at the moment instead of using up what I've got... and whilst I have a couple of meals out planned, I am going to focus on getting my grocery bill down over the rest of the month. As soon as I get very busy or very tired, I start neglecting stuff I don't like doing (like food prep) and focus on bringing more money in and doing stuff with family and friends. Important to me.
Also set myself the challenge of decluttering 3 things every time I get up. It's going well so far and I can already see the difference. I'm being a little bit ruthless and throwing lots of stuff away but I can't go the full Konmarie yet. There's still a lot of ex's stuff here, which I need to decide how much longer I'm prepared to hold onto. I have already thrown quite a bit of stuff away, but a bag or box of junk a day moved out of my house either to his, or charity shops, or the bin would make a massive difference.
Couple of small frogs done - online forms and phone calls. I've also done my cancelled tutoring from yesterday. Now I really am not going out for the rest of the day. Feet up and tv for the moment. My ear is a bit sore today - I'm trying not to keep touching it as that will not help. But on the plus side I don't have a headache.

SpekySquarehead

No headache, productive, motivated, relaxed - sounds perfect. Keep doing what you're doing.

crazy_cat_lady

Morning :coffee:
First proper day of the hols. The most amazing thing happened for me - I woke up to the sound of ds downstairs feeding the cats 'so I could have a lie in'. My heart just melts sometimes. I didn't lie for much longer but it was already a couple of hours later than I would wake up anyway. Came downstairs, made myself a cuppa and have put a load of washing on and ran the hoover round just to tidy the place up a tiny bit.
It's still really grey and miserable outside, but plans for today were shopping. As per the request of dd and bestie. I'm just tagging along for the day out - but I do need a couple of bits of casual clothes as mine have definitely seen better days - however I'm not a fan of clothes shopping at the best of times so who knows what will happen. I have a bit of tutoring money put to one side to pay exactly for days like this so there is a budget to pay for it as well. We'll go to a massive indoor place and wander the shops and grab some lunch somewhere - bestie will have found a voucher somewhere as she's excellent at that.
Other than that, just stay on top of the small things as best as I can.

beanielou

How lovely of your DS

SpekySquarehead

What a star he is.

Are you planning on attacking your list of frogs over the break? I remember how productive you were the last time.

crazy_cat_lady

Ooh, I can't believe I've not been back on since Monday morning...
Shopping was fine - I did end up spending on a dress in the sale, but other than that and a couple of bits for the kids as planned I only spent on lunch, and we used the meerkat to get two for one so it was money saving as much as it could be.
Came back via my sister's house as she's struggling a bit at the moment. In the middle of separating from her husband and it's not pleasant. So I had promised to help her to make a couple of phone calls to bank, mortgage people, solicitors etc. It's awful but at least there is a start on it all.
Got up early to go to the bank with my sister yesterday - she had a face to face meeting there with them. Took my penny savings and 20p pot to cash in as the bank has one of those coin counting machines. I was very happy indeed to have £112.68 saved there, which I have paid straight to the holiday. Less than £200 to find to finish paying for that.
Then had arranged to go out for afternoon tea with bestie and her ds, with my ds. Lovely place, kids eat free and bestie paid (it was her turn) so I got an unexpected nsd. Plus there were loads of leftovers as well so I still have plenty of dessert and cake in the fridge waiting to be eaten. However, on the way out there, bestie's car took a bit of a funny turn. She was supposed to be taking it for a fix next month - the model has been recalled but looks as though the car wouldn't wait that long. She rang the garage and they arranged to fix it today.
So, my plans for today had been to get up and slob, but I ended up going to the garage with bestie to bring her home, then my sister called and asked me to be at the house when her ex came round, so I was there for most of the day. It wasn't pleasant at all, but I'm pleased that I was there to support her.
I'm exhausted, and desperate for a day of doing nothing, but I already have lots of little bits for tomorrow. Need to take bestie to get her car, then ds and I have hair appointments, then I'm going to the solicitors with my sister as she has her introductory appointment. Definitely need a bit of a day off... but these are important things. Think I might get to sit on my butt tomorrow afternoon if I'm lucky.

beanielou

Hope that you get a quiet day soon

crazy_cat_lady

Well I have managed some relaxing time - hence my not being online for a couple of days. Once I get wound down a bit and am not thinking about work I tend not to bother getting the laptop out at all, which is what has happened the past couple of days.
Thursday I did all of the running around bits I had planned - took bestie to pick her car up, went to the hairdressers and went to the solicitors with my sister. When I got home in the afternoon I got a bit of time to myself to sit and sort through all of my crochet projects. I did it while I was watching a bit of telly so it was quite relaxing, and I have far too many half started projects, or stuff that I bought to make and never bothered with. I already thought that I didn't need to buy anything this year, but I know I definitely don't need to buy any more wool, or plan anything else. I've started back on a blanket I began 2 years ago then have completely forgotten about. My first plan is to finish all the bits I've started - I suspect this may actually take months (there's so much, and they are quite big projects).
Friday I had an extra tutoring session to do, then I'd promised to take dd outlet shopping - which was a good couple of hours out and about. Spent the afternoon doing a few little bits around the house - I need to do some more decluttering as I seem to have lots of stuff lying about again. Time to get ruthless clearing done. I feel lots better when I do... Also spent time watching Homeland. Very late to the party but I do like a box set and this one is quite good.
Thought I was going to get some relaxing done today but I've barely stopped... 2 hours of tutoring this morning, then went out with my sister to do a bit of car shopping. A step towards some independence and confidence building for her, and my bestie has a friend that manages sales at a garage who has been extra helpful and sorted my sister out no bother at all.
Had dinner and cocktails out in a fantastic little bistro in our town with bestie and my sister - belated birthday celebrations. It was wonderful (if a little pricey) and I was still home and in my nightie by half past eight. No stamina
No idea what the rest of the hols are going to bring, but definitely can't keep ignoring the exam work I have. Don't know why I keep putting it off - not a big job at all - I might force myself to start that tomorrow. I'm off to bed now for hopefully a decent night of sleep. This is the first night in a week that my ear hasn't been in unbelievable agony so I might be able to sleep on it without waking myself up when I turn over.

beanielou

Glad all going well