NST Amazing August

Calling14

Hiya turtlees.

Sorry didn't check in yesterday, no spending. Gained some pennies from office cleaning.

Need milk today, have been using up long life stuff I bought at start of pandemic.

Couldn't do a walk yesterday with the wind, my eyes had flared up night before wind and pollen mix I reckon. So sore last night did nothing.

Grateful for

Being off this afternoon, warm but cloudy here.

Friend and nice chat yesterday after work

Work getting busier. Saddo I am, nothing worse than trying to look busy

ditty1234

Grateful for now having heard from person I had put on my potential black list for not replying to messages, turns out she has moved house. Grateful for hour long catch up with equally misbehaving sister - she has new man, am finishing a university course while working full time, she even tried to apologise for not being in touch, and so happy about that. Also grateful for one ds visiting family and having a good time seeing people and other ds now at home more relaxed(as the oldest is out of the way for a good week, and he is having job trials and volunteer coaching) so finally having a chance to be a productive member of society instead of being cooped up in his room. 
Had a bit of a fright yesterday and we both got tested and were a bit frazzled for the rest of the day. The negative pweh result back came back by midnight on email, that is just a fantastic turn around16-18 hours, so am super grateful for that, as well. 
Am not really caught up on reading, will try to do over the weekend. 
I am also grateful that my mother had a scan of her heart today, after they found a growth on an other scan for something else last week. Fingers crossed it's benign, I haven't heard yet so am slightly worried. 

Toni'sfriend

NSD No 2

Thank you lcc86. I had another look at it and rather than a screw it looks like something that would have to be removed by a tiny spanner which I haven't got and it is stuck fast with paint. Definitely going to have to seek help with this one.

Woke really early and was out for a walk just after 8.00 am. Did four miles Glad we went then. It got really hot afterwards. 

Two loads of washing done and dried outside, dinner in the slow cooker and pate made for lunch tomorrow.

I'm so glad you're ok, Ditty, and I do hope that you get good news about your mum.

mothernerd

Toni'sfriend said:

NSD No 2

Thank you lcc86. I had another look at it and rather than a screw it looks like something that would have to be removed by a tiny spanner which I haven't got and it is stuck fast with paint. Definitely going to have to seek help with this one.

Woke really early and was out for a walk just after 8.00 am. Did four miles Glad we went then. It got really hot afterwards. 

Two loads of washing done and dried outside, dinner in the slow cooker and pate made for lunch tomorrow.

I'm so glad you're ok, Ditty, and I do hope that you get good news about your mum.

If it's something that needs a tiny spanner then
1) It's worth asking if any friends or neighbours has one - often supplied with beds to tighten nuts (or sometimes to hold 'nut' type thing whilst using a screwdriver to move the bolt into place) or with some furniture items (Swedish shop is rather fond of them).
2) You might be able to grip it with a pair of pliers and then turn it slowly - may need to alternate hands, it's just easier if you can keep going rather than getting hold of it again after each half turn.

apple_muncher

Gosh ditty - that's quite an emotional rollercoaster you're on. Take care.

mothernerd

Tuesday evening and into the early hours of Wednesday I did food orders. First of all tried to order a large veg box plus a few other items from our local veg box people. They have the silliest website I've ever met. Searches dire ct you to the bookface page which gives details of the veg boxes, sizes and prices and says they also do loaves and rolls. I wanted the website which has all the boxes and all the extra items they stock (available as 'boxes' and as individual items). But none of the links worked, some took me back to the search, the phone lines are only open from 10 am until 3 pm and after half an hour of going round in circles, i gave up. I want to support local suppliers but there is a limit.

Next I tried a deli supplier I've looked at before, picked a mixture of fresh fruit and veg (mum had rattled off a list of things she would like, which I knew was going to be more than I order), dried pulses and some bulk spices and a kg of bicarb. Got to the end and they didn't take card payments and didn't know how to use the methods they offered (probably because they usually supply restaurants). I don't like shopping at the best of times but I'm starting to hate it. However since I ran down the cheese, meat and fresh f & v, I needed to press on - gone midnight by this time.

So did a tosco order and managed to transfer some of the items on my shopping list onto that. Then decided to try the big river shop (hate, hate , hate them, so trying to bankrupt them by getting as much as possible with free delivery). I tried their food ordering section a couple of weeks ago and apart from not being impressed by the fragile stuff (came from a town about 8 miles away but was delivered by a couple in a car so don't know how many orders they had to deliver or how they had it in the car) it was very good. I quite like Morries so went into that section (after big river tried to entice me to buy one of those talking boxes that puts the radio on when you ask it the first 3 times). Did my shopping basket (it's a basket rather than a trolley as last time it told me I could only have 50 items when I'd already got 60 in my basket) and then when I went to checkout, although I had been using the Morries bit, it told me that so about 30 items were from Morries and 11 from big river. Morries part met the minimum spend requirement, so put that through and then stopped for the night (about 3 am). 

When I put the laptop on again, the big river items were still there but didn't qualify for free delivery. As some were things on my wishlist, I went back to look what else met my requirements. Did quite well on medicinal type stuff, including small tub of E45 for 3 pounds something rather than 8.99 (I have a pump spray at home but Beloved was using it, so I left it there).

So yesterday was all about deliveries and moving stuff - mainly food. Started by moving as much as possible from the shed to my room (I leave most stuff in the shed to decontaminate rather than cleaning each individual tin/ box/ bag). This was all from the week before - it was fairly heavy so I had left it. Usually i start moving it after 3 days - things I need before then are cleaned first. Morries was due between 11 am and 1 pm, Tosco between 2 pm and 3pm and big river from 3 pm and 5 pm. I put the two smaller wheelie bins outside the gate, put two clean boxes on top and then ferried stuff to the shed on the walker (because the trolley is still at my house). I was able to move the bins with full boxes on and set up ready for the next delivery (brought my boxes back inside in case it rained as I only have 2 good ones left). It started to rain as the last delivery arrived so got everything under cover and went to have a sit down.

I had completed the first sampler and started on repairing my dress. I've folded it wrong sides together and sewn all round and then right sides together and sewed round again, so any ragged edges are fully enclosed. I didn't intend wearing it in public so used up odds and ends of different coloured threads, I've taken about 5 " off the length (skims my ankles), finished at lunchtime and it looks great, mum couldn't even see the join (lovely kind pattern). It won't last forever, there are a number of small holes which will get bigger but it's very wearable and will be good for gardening, cleaning and diy (my rock'n'foll lifestyle). I spent the morning sewing whilst watching old films/ drama series and in the advert breaks, I went in my room and stacked the food in the wardrobe, writing everything down in my notebook and in the afternoon I sorted sequins by colour (looked for the thread and fabric to work on the second sampler but decided to do some work on the lavender bags (uses up a lot of bits - felt and other fabric oddments, bag of lavender, sequins, all my remaining scraps of ribbons and trimmings and embroidery threads). I have a skirt to repair but will do more lavender bags/ bits (may work on embellishing the fronts first). Have also sorted all the embroidery threads in current use back into the cardboard drawer (a few more sequins at the bottom of 2 different drawers) so will tidy, put away all sequins other than the pot I'm going to use and then get as much as possible tied down before one of us knocks the box over again.

Progress has been made on tidying my room, washing and line drying, the double thickness merino throw/ quilt has been out in the sunshine all day to freshen up and copious amounts of various moisturisers have been used (pampering). Just about to start the fourth in a series of books (bought no 11, realised after a few pages that I was going to love it and bought 1 - 10 as a set for a bargain price. 

I am grateful for sunshine, for extending the life of a shabby but beloved dress, for getting my embroidery supplies organised, for making very pretty somethings from scraps that most would say had no use, for good food (a grazing day today, 2 apples with a  piece of cheese, a tuna butty, half a chunky choc bar - left the rest for later but mum thought I'd left it for her,) using up scraps and spending little time on preparation

crazy_cat_lady

Evening everyone
Thinking of you ditty, and hoping for good news for your mum
Mothernerd - took me a while to figure out big river, but I got there
I've been adjusting to my new life as the mother of a needy young thing again. OK - he's a kitten, but he does like to be with humans at all times, and he wakes regularly to play, even at 11pm. I love him, but he is quite hard work, and he stops me getting other stuff done. Good news is that I am tackling the annoying jobs list with gusto - I did 8 yesterday and 3 today. Mainly because I can get them done with little meows assisting in the background in a short period of time.
I have begun recovering my wardrobe doors with dc-fix but have quickly worked out that I'm at least 2 rolls short, which is a bit of a pain, but I can get more quite easily. It's more hassle putting the door back on after I've taken it off and covered it than anything else. Progress is also ongoing in the outhouse.
Today I've been to Scr3wf1x to pick up some things for finishing off in the outhouse and some more wood paint ready to tackle the many, many doors off our staircase. Also did another tip run, finally getting rid of the last of our old kitchen chairs, loads of cardboard and some more rubbish from the garden. I still think we can go again but I haven't booked another appointment just yet - I have too many other jobs to finish before I think about decluttering cupboards.
And dd convinced me that I needed to go to Mr S... so that's that done for another week.
Also, I have decided to apply for a role in the exam company that comes up just about once in a lifetime. I don't have a cat in hell's chance of getting it, but I feel as though I need to at least apply. It's a long and difficult application form, but I am determined to find the time to do it. Just not today because I had gin night with my friend last night, and I'm suffering today - all completely deserved but I want to feel fresh when I apply so I give myself the best chance.

apple_muncher

Today I am grateful for a smooth journey back home, for being able to just flop, for fresh rasps, for the beautiful flowering sunflowers, for being daft enough to book a gym slot tomorrow morning so that I have to go.

Good luck with the exam board post, ccl x

lcc86

Evening all,

Ccl definitely go for the job, if you never try you never know! And any interviews are good experience too.

No NSD here, had to go to the office and forgot to defrost lunch so bought a sandwich. Then OH wanted takeaway for dinner so I had one too. So have spent £13.70 today from the takeaway budget.

Off work tomorrow. Am toying with the idea of going to the gym while it's quiet, haven't been back yet as I'm not very confident about it and I don't think I'll renew my membership but if I can get there when it's quiet I might go. Plus it's probably going to be the coolest place around tomorrow! Lots of household jobs to do as well, but we'll see how we go with the heat. Will probably end up doing nothing but lying around reading a book! Still, that's what days off are for sometimes.

misstara

Toni'sfriend said:

Are you near Aberdeen. misstara?  Can see it heading towards us in Glasgow and to Edinburgh as well given that some many venues have been involved.

Yes and we're back in lockdown although nothing felt that different today, was hoping that traffic would be less so my commute to work would be quicker but unfortunately not!

Today was NSD 3/15 . I'm grateful for a long walk in beautiful sunshine, getting a load of clothes dried on the line and planting some more plants that I got for free.