NST March 2020 Merriment

ditty1234

Hi a not managing to keep up on reading - but am grateful for having survived week 1 of at home ness, for a colder day as less people about when went for a walk, and for both boys doing some studying and some cooking. 
A little bit proud of my first 3 weeks of no diet but keeping an eye on weight ... 1 kg lost. Have manage d about 12 NSD days in March, not the best and could have been worse.

BadBookkeeper

Foxholes can we put them forward 12 weeks?!!

A better day here today got to do stuff with DS, been for a walk and just relaxed a bit. This helps me face the week ahead and I will look forward to next weekend and will definitely be practicing R&R!!
April budgets will look much better on a positive note!  No fuel, school meals, not buying Easter eggs (just going to try and get one each for DS & DH but only if I see them when shopping)!  No takeaways, no haircuts. Our food shop may go up as we won’t be going here there & everywhere for cheaper items it will be one shop & that’s it.  

Enjoy your Saturday xx

apple_muncher

Today I am grateful for getting the front mowed as it looks so much better, for tech to play on, for my neighbour moving their no-longer-used plastic climbing thing right up to our fence so we could tie it to the really wobbly fence post and hopefully prevent fence collapse, for good books, for my first cup of coffee of the day, for tidying a few bits up (it's a start...!)

PurpleFairy26

Another NSD here, like many. We’ve not shopped for 8 days and planning on not going until Monday or Tuesday at the earliest. Tonight we went out for dinner in our dining room. Smalls has made menus and waited on. I cooked and DH tidied. 

We used a bag of something that had been in the freezer a while to start and have enough crumble made from gifted fruit for tomorrow. Also made my own custard for the first time (rather than b1rds!) was yummy and very easy. Not sure I’ll buy it again now. Funny how these things make us look at things differently. 

I wonder what other things we will exclude when the pace picks up again. I’m mindful of being selective for sure. 

Definitely tried to have a weekend day today and the same tomorrow. April budget done ready for next week. Quite liberating taking fuel and children’s activities out of the budget 😃

mothernerd

Did a full audit of food in the bungalow Mum's room, my room (stuff I've brought from home is in cardboard box shelves along with all the books and sewing stuff), cupboards, fridge, freezer (not done the shed but it's basically a few fresh veg, 4/5 bottles, part baked rolls and toilet roll - it doesn't fit under the new dining table the way it did with the old one). Wrote a separate list of 'use-ups'.

Last few days has been all about the use-ups. Mum had some chantenay carrots and half a celery in the salad drawer and there were some leeks - all bad bits cut off and chopped them up. Was going to make celery soup for mum as she loves it, used leeks instead of onions and then she said throw some lentils in so added the carrots, a handful of 'soup mix' and a few outer leaves from a cabbage. Mum has had that for one meal each day. Made another quiche using the going off milk, remainder of the ys bacon and the last of the small lump of cheese I had grated. Mum asked for beans and mash today so used up a whole bag of spouting spuds (2-3 weeks old), chopped the sprouty bits off to plant (mum already has some lined up on the back of the sink), peeled them (I eat them with skins on but as it was for mum) and cooked them in 3 batches in the microwave in an ice cream box. Crackers are going down quickly so will let mum eat those and I will eat crisp bread. Had buttered toast and jam toast for breakfast - jam was brought back from a holiday (had scones and I buttered mine and kept the jam). Also started a mini shower gel I bought ys'd in anticipation of going to DS1's wedding as I noticed a rash so think mum's shower gel doesn't suit me.

I have been binge watching 'Call the Midwife' then went out for a walk about 7pm. It was lovely. Took a carrier bag to put over my hand so I could use the handrail to get up the steps onto the canal bank and walked as far as the bridge that carries the bypass. Saw a cyclist coming towards me so moved to the back of the support pillar so was 3 m away - two cyclists riding indian file with their dog trotting in the middle. Saw another woman approaching the steps as I walked back but she went the othe way along the towpath. Heard lots of birds but only saw a pair of ducks on my way back. Another girl came off the towpath after me but she was on a bike and rode on the centre line of the road to keep the spacing guidelines. Dusk was falling so lovely crescent moon.

So I'm going to come out of this leaner, fitter and able to walk properly (may even 'run' a bit), my own version of couch to 5k.

Today I am grateful for having food, feeling safe and good reading material (and a vidoe of the grandpuppy playing with his ball).

mothernerd

Day 29

Characteristics of Resilience

1  Internal locus of control

2  Strong self-esteem, self-efficieny

3  Have personal goals

4  Sense of meaningfulness

5  Can use past successes to confront current challenges

6  Can view stress as a challenge/ way to get stronger

7  Use humour, patience, tolerance and optimism

8  Can adapt to change

9  Action- oriented approach

10 Have strong relationships and ask for help

11 Have faith

I just saw this and thought it might be helpful but I'm not sure I agree with it although I do BOUNCE BACK (resilience) as long term turtles can attest. I used to have an inner core of serenity, whatever madness the world threw at me. The accident that happened when DS3 was a baby (29 and a half years ago) stripped me of that and I never really felt that t came back. I'm full of self-doubt, would say I have low self -esteem. Humour (at times very, very dark) is paramount for me - just as there is always something to be grateful for, there is a funny side to every situation. Take a moment to ask if crying will help, if it won't don't bother. I'm useless with change but a lot of my life has been adapting to change (I just call it doing what needs to be done/ responding to the needs of those around me). I've accepted that I can't save the whole world but I continue to try.

So use the list if it's useful but don't regard it as mandatory. You may have some or none of these (although the twisted sense of humour helps) and you can still get through whatever life throws at you - you may need to retreat from the world for a while, or do things that protect you from toxic people, you may never be the same as before, some people will never understand what you have been through or see how brave you are, how much it takes to just get up and face the world but YOU ARE ENOUGH.

Mental Wellness

Day 28 Focus on your self-care routine. How can you make it more nourishing

Day 29 Download apps that might make you focus more, manage your time or calm yourself down

Day 30 Write a letter to your mental health

Day 31 It's called the 31 day challenge and there is no 31? Ah well, one more thign to adapt to.

The Velveteen Rabbit

He said"You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real, you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."

crazy_cat_lady

What a strange couple of weeks this has been. I am here, and I am reading along. I don't have much to contribute - I'm very lucky in that I'm still being paid and mostly working from home - only have to go in once a week at the moment. So I know I'm fortunate - it's just taking me a little while to get my head round the new role of full time mother and teacher to my own kids, cook, cleaner, entertainer, provider as well as my paid job. It will be ok (it will have to be) but it's quite a big adjustment and for someone who is already naturally very anxious it's not happening as quickly as I would like it to. Some days I'm fine - other days I barely want to lift my head off the pillow. Today I'm somewhere in between. Plans are to make the kids do a couple of house jobs, get out for my walk in spite of the weather and maybe have a long soak in the bath. 

mothernerd

ccl when DS3 and I were involved in an accident (he was 6 months old) I suffered full blown PTSD. Each night I lay down and could not sleep, the accident replayed inside my head on a loop reel (the first doctor I saw said no-one could help me and I just had to pull myself together, it was six months before I went back and got proper help). Each morning around 6am I would start trying to make myself get up, absolutely exhausted (DS3 was fully breast fed until he was a year old, he refused to go onto baby rice or other foods, so fully breastfed) to get the boys ready for school. I often had to get DS1 and DS2 ready and shove DS3 into his bunny suit with his nightclothes underneath). Came back with DS2 and DS3 then sorted DS3 and carried on with our day. For months it took me days to get clothes from the bottom of the stairs to the washing machine.

But DS1 always got to school, they always had clean clothes, they always ate (even when it was only pies from the shop). We all lived (my husband was working 300 miles away and spent every penny he could get his hands on in slot machines - I found out when I was 3 months pregnant). I never saw anyone except my mother who took the boys out every Sunday. I left the house as little as possible. I'm not saying we all came out unscathed (they all think I have a favourite child and they all think it isn't them) but we survived, things got better, I got back some control, I started to cook (I had to leave the onions on the worktop so I would have a starting point and remember what I was going to cook).

You will get through, your children will be (mostly) fine - they will have blips and moods and phases, major in sarcasm, fall in love and out of it, suffer, be joyful, hopefully find their soulmate (even if it's a dog), have setbacks and strokes of fortune.

"I believe your whole life flashes before you, when you die."   "Yes - it's called life."

dolly84

What a change in the weather, sat outside in short sleeves last week and then today it snowed a bit.  Went for a walk in the woods with DH and plan to get the kids to take him out after tea seeing as is was Friday when they last left the house.  Made soup for tea tomorrow, had sausages, stuffing and veg for tea today, made a batch of blackberry muffins to have with custard for pudding the next few days and played some board games in front of the stove this afternoon.

Yesterday DH repainted a wall in the hallway which had got very scuffed by the coats which were in there, we have moved the coat rack now and it has made the whole area so much brighter and clearer.

apple_muncher

Today I am grateful for dd sleeping quite well, for the immediacy of tech communication, for being able to order things for mum online, for getting some weeding and planting done before the hail arrived, for seeing various neighbours while I was weeding the front, for a walk with dd, for having very few emails ping at me today.