NST September 2020: the turtles do the Hokey Cokey

f0xh0les

apple_muncher said:

 it is a vego one f0xh0les! No gluten, dairy, eggs, nut. Do you make your own?

Vego is a brand, g/f d/f e/f but it usually contains nuts - they do a white almond one and a brown hazelnut one, not good if you can't nut obv, but it really is the nicest vegan chocolate out there, and now available in c00p. It is the pinnacle of dairy free choc. Poo to them not having a nut free one! it will come. 

I did buy some fancy ice cube moulds in a c/s a few years ago,  and have made my own starfish and herrings and wrapped them in sweetie foil squares. They look amazing and dh loves them.  So with some survey vouchers I bought some candy cane / gingerbread men/ coat buttons / present shapes and  I make them to decorate 'healthy puddings'  in the run up to the big day.

When the kids were born I sewed them each one of those pocket calendars and they all get a sweetie each morning - but the smallest actually said 'can we not just have a £1 coin instead?' last year.   I was very restrained.  He got reindeer poo the next day (choc covered peanuts and raisins) with a note saying elves don't do currency and that he was a product of the capitalist/imperialist class and he was on a list.  Up with the anarcho-syndicalist Nordic elves!

I went for a run this morning, let the kids bake an apple pie last night so they had some for breakfast - well it is one of their 5 a day! and there was no added sugar. Have been to the c/s, got the laundry on the line and things are progressing nicely.

Enjoy the sunshine Turtles, there is a nip in the air in the mornings now.  It will soon be candles and fluffy throws time.

apple_muncher

Got it now, f0xh0les. I thought you meant vegan, and were simply being trendy in your language!!

Today I am grateful for waking up naturally (but, really, 6.17?!), for getting to the gym, for dd loving dance and then a couple of hours skateboarding with a friend, for a good book, for line-dried washing, for the fancy all-weighing-all-measuring-you-can't-hide-anything-from-memachine at the gym showing a decrease in most of the areas that need to decrease.

Toni'sfriend

Not an NSD as it was buy the milk, bread, etc at the local shop. Went to the butcher as well for roast for tomorrow and some things the neighbours asked me to pick up. That was nice because they have been so very, very good to us whist I was in isolation and it was just a tiny something in return.

Apart from that haven't done much but we have laughed so much at the children playing on the trampoline outside in the communal back garden. 

Girl next door is 21 tomorrow. I've known her since the day she was born. Unfortunately she can't have a big party but is going for meal with her immediate family. Such a shame that she is missing out on such a big event in her life but all her family work in care in one way or another and she is quite philosophical about it. I am the guardian of the biggest, most beautiful cake at the moment. It is sitting on the table in our living room and I am terrified that something will happen to it. Himself has been banned from going  anywhere near it (He is so clumsy). Still, I believe there will be lots of balloons and banners so that might just compensate a little.

Off to bed shortly to read. Finding very difficult to sleep just now.

Deni_debt-free_dreamer

Evening everyone
Toni's friend - my daughter was 21 in March & all her plans were scuppered too It sounds like your neighbour is making the best of it & the cake sounds amazing! 
I've had a very busy week at work doing my FT job, PT job & self employment role all in the same week. As I work in the public sector I have recieved a small pay increase for which I'm grateful. I also got an increment in my PT job so I can throw some more at the CC debt. 
Both DDs were away last night & I felt a bit lonesome so my friend invited me over today for a cuppa tea.
Gratitudes- caring friends, fave granola on offer in sainz,  boss who told me he really appreciated my support & is supportive to me too, increment & pay increase
Dxx 

facethemusic

Sneaking in a Saturday check in before it gets to midnight. Yesterday was a minimal spend day, but today was a NSD so up to 10/15. Am running out of money in the current account so will have to have a few more by necessity next week. 
Riding lesson today so exercise achieved. The decluttering continues in a way- I seem to be creating mess but things are leaving so there is less stuff, it is just more spread out! I have managed to wrangle a chest of drawers out and into the trailer for the skip so now have a space to put some boxes as I start to pack. The downside is all the clothes that were in the drawers are piled on my bedroom floor 🤦‍♀️, but I have a plan and tomorrow it will look better. 
Gratitudes- pony was fab at our lesson, more "stuff" out the door never to return, some of the many green tomatoes slowly turning red. 

Toni'sfriend

NSD No 13

Boy coming for his roast beef dinner. All legal because he's in our "bubble". Waiting to see tomorrow's restrictions to see if will impact on our ability to go on holiday.

Just discovered my favourite film "Dr Zhivago" is on television. Watching it now, I so love this film.

apple_muncher

Today I am grateful for dd's leg not ballooning up after yestetday's fall off her skateboard, for the last stage of le Tour on the telly, for a quiet day, for sourcing gf df eclairs for dd, for having a go at needlefelting a frog.

lcc86

Evening all, hope everyone has had a relaxed weekend. Two more NSD's here, yesterday I just did chores at home, went for a walk and did a workout. Dropped OH to the pub in the evening, he texted me later saying nobody was social distancing. Really annoys me that some people act like things are back to normal when it's far from it. I personally am predicting a wider lockdown to be announced tomorrow (sorry to be a negative nelly!). I think it's better to bite the bullet rather than wait until October half term as has been mooted as God only knows what mess we'll be in by then.

Anyway, today was a lovely day, went for a long horse ride and then met a friend and went for a walk. Promptly fell asleep when I got home! My back is pretty bad so I may have gone a bit too far! Have a physio appointment tomorrow, let's see if I can get any closer to a diagnosis, it's only been three years... 

Time for a bath and then chill in front of some terrible TV for the rest of the evening. 

f0xh0les

Still here! 9 days left til payday.  Still just about within budget, yesterday turned into a spend day at 5.30 when my cheese dealer posted on fakeb00k the kids fave cheese was half price(bb date was that day). So had to go and get some, it would have been rude not to. YS cheese in the fridge and the freezer now.  So close, but no NSD, so I am particularly happy to have got one today. 

Not many jobs off the list, but tidied the yard and got rid of some mess. Recycled some food tubs that had been repurposed. Picked the red tomatoes.  Laundry on the line nice and early.

Finding it really hard to apply for DS4s secondary school place.  Most of the schools round here have gone from special measures  (1) to requires improvement (2) or from Good (3) to requires improvement(2) (one down from Good), with all having nice things to say about the management team, and the general direction the school is going in, but they are pitching the work to the lowest achievable level but not stretching the higher level kids. Which I totally get, and  understand how it can happen,   but I can't get a feel for the school if you can't go and visit.   Quandary? Moi?

Oh well I still have 5 weeks before the deadline....  who knows, there may not be any school open days this year anyway!

facethemusic

Sunday- still NSD 10/15.
I really am running out of available cash now- the budgets I had set for  the month went wrong when one of DDs activities restarted and had to be paid for, and I bought some plastic boxes- i know I can pack into cardboard boxes, but some stuff will end up in the loft in the new house and plastic seems like a more mouse and damp proof option than cardboard. However I do not need anything except milk and possibly bread and its payday on Thursday- next month I will leave a small "just in case" budget in the spending account and that should avoid my end of month obsessive balance checking! I could just transfer some money back into that account but that feels like cheating at my own game!
Gratitudes- spending most of the day outside- was amazingly warm for mid september in this area, a day off from decluttering (back at it tomorrow but I needed a break from it), DD behaving in a more normal fashion (fingers crossed it continues as last weeks strops were epic).