Nst november in new york

laurenh1

Thinking of you this weekend Kerry woman


NSD- still on 6 because hub neglected to tell me we needed juice when I went shopping & then bought some this afternoon. Still think I can make 8 this week though.
Orgsnise-- sorted through my xmas boxes, so I knew what I need to buy, plenty of crackers & ribbon left over & I'm going to use some little cards left from years gone by instead of buying tags.used Boots points to get a load of free wrapping paper , which I will collect tomorrow.

Budgets-£109 left

Values-- paid another 100 off the car that came in unexpectedly. Total now £7896. Hoping I can get that to £7k by new year :eek:
Outside- took LO to collect leaves for a collage-- so much fun:D
report-- hello :T


Think that's it from a very tired me!! just keep plodding Turtles

Karmacat

ORGANISE your time.
Didn't do very well at this - too lopsided in terms of too much genealogy, taking advantage of a free weekend, plus a new local interest group in the afternoon. Thats okay.


VALUES

This is a weird one - the little local voluntary groups I'm starting to go too have coffee and tea, and you make a donation, very low, 30p. But I don't *like* the coffee and tea at events like this, and they're only two hours long max, with 15 minutes walk each way. Its a victory for common sense!


ENJOY yourself.

Yep!


BUDGETS
Nope ... I'm feeling the lack. Haven't checked my post to see if the new sim has arrived yet.


EXERCISE

Walked there and back to the group I went to today, but thats only 30 minutes total. Bit bad on this today.


IN case of emergency
I took my phone and cc with me, hurray.


OUTSIDE Not really - but it's been rather wet here...
What greent said


REPORT regularly - here

KINDNESS costs nothing.
Wasn't planned, but at the genealogy group I was sitting next to an elderly gentleman who had a lovely spiffy Surface machine, but didn't know how to download. So I looked on Ancestry for what he wanted, downloaded it, and sent it to him then and there.

thriftylass

Had a nice slow cooker sausage and bean casserole for tea (£1 a person/meal if not less actually) and now sitting crocheting. DD got this lovely knitted hoody when she was 2, hated it. Now at 4 years old she loves it but the sleeves are too short, luckily she's a skinny one and it still fits. So I'm crocheting sleeve extensions. My gran would be so proud.

mothernerd

Goth weekend is fabulous (I only went for the day).


THe man who ate a frog
There was a man who ate a frog every morning. When he was asked why, he said that, having eaten the frog, everything else he needed to do in the day seemed easy in comparison.


In our terms, a frog is any task we have been putting off, often because it's something that makes us feel uncomfortable - a phone call or letter that we don't want to mess up, an apology owed or a misunderstanding to sort out or a physical task that makes our heart sigh. The more we put it off, the more fearful and difficult the task seems.



FROG Challenge (optional)
This weekend we are having a frog challenge. Identify your frog or frogs. Aim to tackle one in the next few days or if this is not possible, during the month. If you cannot manage either, try to identify your frog and work out why it's become such an issue - work out when and how you can tackle it. It's often worth having a frog list so that you can tick something off when you have time available.


My frog is the kitchen although this is actually an ELEPHANT. How do you eat an elephant - one bite at a time. So any huge overwhelming tasks are elephants and should be broken down into small individual tasks and you nibble away at them whenever you can.


I should explain that I am not the world's best housekeeper but my kitchen didn't become a nightmare overnight. I did keep it in reasonable order for many years, although occasionally this required a once a week or once a month extra push.


Over time I had pared down the kitchen to the basics. I had a small saucepan (custard, milk, beans, boiled eggs), a large saucepan (mash, veg for large meals (have two steamers and a bain marie which fit on top) and two 10l stockpots (for making most batch cooked meals which are then portioned and frozen).


The frying pan and two good (le crewsay) pans went to his new flat with DS2 (I recognised that they were getting too heavy for me to handle comfortably), utensils were whittled down to one of each and only the ones I needed and DS2 also got the goblet mixer with the coffee grinding attachment as I found that billy blender coped with anything that I couldn't do faster by hand.


The kettle , toaster and blender were my gadgets, only had a microwave on and off and the one I have now was stored in someone's garage.


Two years ago Beloved (she's DS3's Beloved) moved in with the 3 grand chinchillas (actual chinchillas though they serve as grandchildren substitutes). She is a gadget girl. We acquired at least 10 new kitchen gadgets overnight and another 6 or so have arrived since. We have slushie makers and ricers (a pot that cooks rice, not the julienne type thing), mixers, grills - I really don't have a clue what most of them do.



I found cupboard space, gadgets came out onto the (limited) worktop and stayed there. In January I consulted and bought some 'storage' (spice racks, dishracks, over microwave shelf thing). I arranged things on shelves (half a dozen different tea bags on a shelf above where the kettle is), brought a small table down from upstairs and tactfully suggested that gadgets that weren't neededd every day could be located there (it's half under the stairs but the table is narrower than a standard worktop and there are lots of extra plugs there - I originally had a chest freezer, microwave and fridge/freezer under there).



Most days I go to my mum's at lunchtime and come home between 7pm and 9pm. DS3 and Beloved stay home, sometimes cooking, otherwise living off takeaways and when I get home everywhere is messy. I was keeping on top of things but every time I am ill, I get a little further behind and a tipping point has been reached. I felt so tired and unwell, that I just didn't know where to start.


Please don't start telling me I have to have it out with them (I know, but also know it has to be handled very carefully).


When they went away for the weekend I did a lot in their room but I'm so slow these days that I didn't get to the bottom of it and barely started on the kitchen. Happy with what I've done today and hope to get (much) more done over the weekend then I will feel in control again. And get to cook and enjoy it.


So elephant sized frog for me, you choose what or if you can do (or just enjoy yourself, no pressure, it's optional).


Also especially for zero waste Dolly84, I feel extremely guilty about the plastic, I have been a keen recycler for over 40 years since the days when my only option was to trail to the council tip and then lift 4 children in turn to put each bottle and jar into the correct container.


However in our borough we have a factory which was originally a remploy factory (employed disabled people to make furniture). Over 20 years ago it had a Council led revamp (I think Remploy was a casualty of the Thatcher years) and now a wide range of differently able people make recycled plastic items - garden gates and benches and a range of large planters like the ones used on the Town Hall square (bottom cube a metre square with 2 other cubes above. All extremely hard wearing and useful.


Since the Council led the initiative (probably a trust nowadays) I presume that as much of our plastic waste as possible is used there. please don't make me go out in the dark and bring it all back in and wash it (and put the takeaway containers back in the cupboards).


Concert was brilliant, much better than I was expecting (community choir did some classical pieces and the readings were very thoughtful and thought provoking).


Forgot about cleaning the bath. Have been doing bits at it all week, multitasked by spraying stuff at it, did bits of bending and rubbing but not happy with the result (or the pain). Today I put muscle soak bubble bath in my bath, found an abrasive sponge (actually purpose built for baths but had disappeared for a long time and rubbed round (dirty bit was above the water level) gently before I got out - success. Must remember to write it down (maybe a once a month job) as it works and it's painfree for me (can easily reach all areas of the bath with my left hand if I shuffle up and down a bit).

lcc86

NSD number 6 to report. Sent a few pennies to my savings and put all my change in my money box to be changed up at the end of the year.

Did loads of housework/washing/slow cooking today. Dyed my hair with henna and went through everything I'd accumulated that needed filing/throwing. Hung a mirror in the bathroom, got some studying done and went to the gym. All in all a productive day. More of the same needed tomorrow!

Hanging the mirror made me realise I've barely done any of the housey jobs I wanted to do this year, so that's my biggest target for next year! Nothing major but no sense putting it off. I should have the money available for this now but clearly I'm not being as sensible as I should be!

mothernerd

Day 10


Kermit the Frog Quotes


It's nice to be important but it's important to be nice.


I think the best way to find happiness is to stop looking so hard


Dreams are how we figure out where we want to go. life is how we get there.


Common sense is a flower that does not grow in everyone's garden.


Some people just need a sympathetic pat on the head .... with a hammer.... many times




Elephant Wisdom


Advice from an elephant
Make a big first impression
Don't work for peanuts
Be all ears
Know when to put your foot down
Be gentle, no matter your size
Have big ideas
Charge ahead


The Elephant
Traits associated with the elephant are stength, wisdom, solitude, loyalty and intelligence.
Elephants attain old age and are very wise. They are highly acknowledged for the strength and power. Elephants have the largest brains in the animal kingdom.

apple_muncher

So now I want to be an elephant!

Glad you found goth bunny, mothernerd. You have made a place for ds3 + beloved + the grandchinchillas where they are loved and welcomed. You accept them just as they are and do not try to make them fit another mould. You are awesome!!

GlendaSugarbean

Checking in - not a NSD yesterday due to laundry pods and a few other bits. It's going to be a spend day today as well - so Sunday needs to be NSD which will require a Plan.

Mothernerd: thank you for the inspiration . You are doing a fab job. I understand wanting to care for DS3 but you do need to look after your own health and well-being. Can you find a compromise where they spend a little time (kitchen timer might help?) clearing up each day and you do the bigger jobs when you can? When I'm feeling overwhelmed I use the UFYH app and the 20 minute timer - you can do a lot in 20 mins if you focus, and 20 mins is far more doable than being faced with a giant amount of stuff. Anyway you know your own situation best

laurenh1

Hello lovelies



Today is NSD #7. The only thing I need to buy is medical.

Values/ excersize- walking into town, it's a couple of miles but I feel sluggish & parking is always a nightmare. Plus it will save on fuel. I am hoping that if I'm careful some of my fuel budget can go towards paying off the car.

Kindness- will take my friend some eggs.
Have fun- bit of a long term thing but hoping to have enough club card vouchers in Feb to get my English Heritage membership again. I'd like £75 worth so I need £25 to trade up. I currently have about £21. Keeping a close eye on them. Also planned a day out to Beamish next weekend, there xmas event starts then & I am keen to use my pass again before it runs out. We get military discount & its not too far from us so it has been very good value for money so far & because we've been in different seasons & when different events are on its been different for the kids every time!



Frogs- I will certainly take on this challenge!

dolly84

mothernerd - I feel guilty about recyling too, I try to reduce first. Most of the rubbish you get rid of isn't even yours so don't be too hard on yourself.