Keeping Going For My Furbabies

Bogof_OAP

Yes, great to see you again.  I have checked my bookmarked threads every day and was quite worried about you, especially as you weren't feeling too well when you last posted.  Glad everything seems to be going better for you, it's very tempting to read between the lines about developments but I will refrain and let you tell us as much or as little as you want to!  

kmcld2

Funny I was thinking the other day when I was reading the vegan posts that you hadn't posted. Glad to see you back. 

Happy_Monday

Great to see you back, missed your posts.

StartingAgainAt29

Thank you for the warm welcome back everyone!

Yes I can't really say much, just know that I am 100% confident it has all worked out for the best.

Right I'm going to brave Aldi in a bit, taking my facemask because my mum's experience is that it's been a bit of a free-for-all lately :O I'm just excited to get some ice cream

bd80s

It sounds like something positive has happened for you which is nice to "hear", hope everything continues to work out well for you

StartingAgainAt29

Thanks @bd80s

Ok so I thought I'd do an update of where things stand at the moment -

Money - I have been updating my signature even though I've been absent from posts. I have £6 in my every day fund, but I have £63 in my OP fund which I can draw from if needed. I have over £10 to draw from PA, and I withdrew £20 from Cashbackearners last week. They've reduced the email clicks to 0.005 coins rather than 0.01, so that £20 will take even longer...not sure it's worth it now! I got £60 from it over the past couple of years. I spent £39 in Aldi, forgot carrots and spuds though! I have spent more than I wanted on food, as my mum has got me some bits, and they're usually higher than Aldi prices. I'm struggling to get the cats' food again which is worrying, will need to hit the 2 Aldi's in my area more often I suppose. I just find the queueing is so tedious!

Our mortgage set-term is up for renewal beginning of September, and our original broker got in touch with me and ex. I let him know about us breaking up and looking to sell in the future, and we've got a zoom call on Friday. I'm glad he got in touch as I got the letter from Nationwide and felt daunted dealing with it myself. I'm hoping he can get us a good deal, maybe some money off a month (definitely not more, please!) but we need to be mindful of any fees to leave the fixed terms should we sell in the next couple of years. That all still seems very up in the air, especially with news that prices will go down. I haven't had much contact with ex, he still hasn't been round to collect his post from the end of March.

Food/eating - I was all geared up to make a sausage casserole yesterday, I'd forgotten to buy carrots and spuds so went to get some my mum, great, or so I thought. I was on a video call with a friend yesterday, went to start cooking and....the spuds were mouldy inside. Bleh. So instead I made a one-pot mushroom and tomato pasta, it's a vegan recipe and it is DELICIOUS. I've cooked a couple of times over the past couple of weeks and it makes me excited to cook again, when I make a new recipe and it works out it's the best feeling! I'm having the second portion of that tomorrow, and I'm instead doing a sausage and baked bean casserole tonight, will cook some pasta to go alongside it for carbs. That should make 4 portions, so that's one tonight, one Wednesday, and 2 for my freezer I'm comitted to try and eat healthier moving forward, I've had my lockdown "eat whatever I want" phase, now I need to think about my health again.

Speaking of health - as I'm expecting the next period to be less stressful, I've decided to wean myself off one of my medications, which has been amazing for my pain but it leaves me so awfully dry-feeling, especially when exercising I feel like my throat is stuck together. With the warm weather coming up, and with how hot my flat gets, I want to see if I can cope off the medication, even if it's for the short-term. I can always go back on it if my symptoms worsen. I mentioned earlier I'm still doing CBT, I've found the sessions are getting shorter, not really because I'm getting better, but because the stage we're at now my homework is limited by lockdown. You can't do much social experimentation when your limited social interactions are video calls, and twice a week if anything!

Holiday - I renewed my passport last week, I added it to the CC, and that portion of the spends I'm not touching yet. BUT, I've sent an email to the company asking for the deadline to move it, as I'm starting to think the sensible thing will be to move the holiday to next year, as much as that will suck and make me feel sad. I'm not even sure if they would let me into the country with how high our infection rate has been, and if I will be able to do everything I want to do while there. Plus, if I have to quarantine myself for 2 weeks after I theoretically fly back, that would eat into my birthday, which as it's a milestone that would definitely suck!

Dating - this has consisted of a big fat nothing Have I told you guys about the policeman that wanted me to break lockdown and go for a ride with him in his car? I've also heard stories of men asking women to come over to their houses for "fun". As I have no intention of meeting anyone until it's safe to do so, I'm not active on the dating apps. I am so glad to be drama free in terms of a relationship right now!

Writing - I mentioned I've started a creative writing course, and I'm really enjoying it. I've had two good writing sessions this week, and I've done tomorrow's assignment already, so tomorrow I can do a bit more work on a piece I'm working on. I've wanted to get back into it for so long, and when my change happened I was like right ok, this is the perfect time to get on a course and have some fun with it. I took the money out of my Good Riddance Fund, and don't regret a penny of it

Furbabies - they are both still cute! Cat1 has become more soppy as the lockdown has gone on. They're not lapcats, but they definitely know how to snuggle. We love our naps together Cat2 I *think* had worms, as he's been begging for food but is losing weight. I bought worming tablets online (they were due anyway), and they came yesterday. I had such a performance getting the tablets down them. Because they are both >6kg they need two tablets, which doubles the fun. Cat2 wasn't so bad, but Cat1 I literally had to sit on him because he kept spitting the tablets into my face and trying to run off. They make you feel terrible don't they! So I'm hoping Cat2's little worm friend has gone and he can stop begging me so much for treats

I think that's it for now, sorry for the long post! It feels good to be back! I'm off to do some gentle yoga and get the casserole going!

Have a good evening everyone

Bogof_OAP

Lovely update, and LOL at the fur babies - I remember it well.  You'd think they'd swallowed a pill then find it in the corner half a day later!  

I think it's a good idea to reconsider the holiday, I have a feeling that this is going to drag on for some time, so if you have the chance to re-book without losing money I would go for it.

Keep posting, are you staying with this thread then or starting a new one?  

StartingAgainAt29

Thanks @Bogof_OAP, I think I will stick with this thread for now

Not much to report from the last few days - I'm pretty much in full holiday mode now, just chilling during the day and only doing the basics. I had a good zoom catch up with a friend yesterday. I've not even been putting makeup on, and I put on makeup every day (other than Sundays if I'm not going anywhere) so that's how I know I'm in holiday mode lol.

So my decision about the holiday has been made for me, as the company has cancelled it. I'm gutted, but I was swaying towards moving it anyway. Bit confusing through as the company has offered a 110% credit for the trip, they've said under no circumstances will people get refunds and not to call their call centre to ask as it won't be given. My research from here and online, and what I've been told by friends and family, is that they have to offer a refund. I can see why they wouldn't offer straight away as if they did that for everyone they would likely go bust. I do want to do the trip next year. From what I can gather, if I take the credit, then even if they go bust I will be refunded through ATOL? The flights are a different story, and I need to sort them out myself. I haven't really been able to face it today as it is SO HOT in my flat it makes me feel a bit ill. I did pay on CC so could in theory do s75, but I think I have to refuse the credit offered and then if the s75 doesn't work I'm left with nothing. As I say, I want to do the trip next year, so I'd be happy to move it as long as I know I'm still covered if the company goes under.

I've got to be up early tomorrow as I've got my mortgage meeting with the broker and ex via zoom. Interested to see what our options are.

I went for a run today and felt like I was going to pass out - it was so hot I felt how I do when I have a hot bath, light-headed and like my heart's skipping. I need to get back in the routine though as I've been feeling a bit blobish and don't want to emerge from quarantine with a few extra pounds

I'm having trouble getting hold of the cats' food again, they only like gravy food, and Aldi has only had the senior jelly stuff in (so on both counts is no good for me). There's 2 Aldi's near me but I hate the queueing. I know it's not that bad in the grand scheme of things, but I feel like it's a waste of time doing all that and them not having the one item I want anyway. I need some fresh stuff over the next couple of days so I'm going to have to swallow my frustration and just go anyway. I've looked at getting bulk cat food online but it works out 3/4 times the price of the Aldi stuff.

My writing course is going well, although I've not started on this week's stuff yet. If I have 4/5 writing sessions a week I think that's pretty good. I have a pub quiz on Saturday, and we're all meant to be contributing with a round of themed questions, but I have no idea what to do. I want to do one about cats but no one else likes them (or I should say, is as obsessed about them as me ) Need to have a think.

That's it, I'm going to watch a horror film now and then try and get an earlyish night to be up for the zoom call at 9.

Have a good evening

little_green

just stopping by to hi, got 3 pages of this thread to catch up on lol looking forward to reading!  

StartingAgainAt29

Hi everyone, I've been MIA again for a while.

I've been really ill since the 24th - not corona, gastric issues, but they've knocked me sideways. I ended up being seen by a doctor, they've ruled out internal bleeding which is a relief! But they think I might have an infection that's causing gastritis. That plus I'm being hit by migraines every time I eat. I don't think how hot it is in my flat is helping. I'm behind on most admin and housework tasks, which is really frustrating, but can't be helped. I'm lucky in that my mum is able to drop me food (not that I'm eating very much atm), so I'm ok. I had a bit of a win when I did a coop delivery, I asked for two bags of ice and 1 packet of salmon, and I got 1 bag of ice and 2 salmon!

I'm waiting to be referred for an ultra sound, not sure how long that's going to take. It could be a while before I'm back up to 100%. I'm behind on two assignments for my writing course too, there's just no way I can concentrate on anything like that atm (even doing this diary entry is difficult, I've been thinking about it for a few days which is why I've popped on). I was paid on Friday which is good.

Anyway, I hope everyone is doing ok, with things slowly moving back to normal for a lot of us. I will keep resting up and come back when I'm next able