NST: November 2020 - Madness!!!

lcc86

I must be the only one who gets normal substitutions in my shopping! This week we had no celery sticks so they gave me two massive bunches of celery instead, and runner beans instead of broccoli. 

Have been AWOL for most of this week but am up to 16 NSD's. Had a pre-"op" covid test yesterday and now self-isolating until Tuesday when I go in, have had a super quiet weekend as a result. Just cleaning up, cooking and doing lots of reading and watching a bit of TV. Have worked out 99% of gifts I need to buy and will be sorting those out ASAP. I used to be so organised and have everything all bought by now but the last couple of years I've been slacking!

ldee2111

Spends today: 70p on two morning rolls and £91 on Christmas presents. Just gift to buy for MIL and we're done. In all will have spent around £200 on gifts this year which I'm pleased about. It would usually be around £350-£400. 
I'm on annual leave this coming week and will be looking over our budget for 2021, planning my attack for December as a new NST 🐢 , and staring at the screen waiting for my first Prolific survey. 
This week I'll be aiming for 5 NSDs and keeping the top-up shop to below £10. 

Kerry_Woman

NSD today.
Grateful for:
Speaking to my brother and sister on the phone.
Making really good progress in the cross stitch cottage kit.  Hoping to finish it by the end of the month.
Reasonable night's sleep.

mothernerd

Feeling much more cheerful. I think writing down what I was feeling helped me take a step back. Mum is living in a dream world where she could manage perfectly well all by herself (she doesn't do the internet and hasn't been doing her own shopping for about 7 years - she just says what she wants and someone else goes out to search for the desired object, which may or may not exist in reality). She's always been hyper critical of me so I need to take the things she says with a pinch of salt and let it wash over me. 

Slept a little better and have done a few things - cut out the large cardboard snowflakes that I stuck decorative paper on last night, made a wonderful dinner and have several portions of extra veg ready (think that's the way to go for now - just keep doing a bit extra that will help later on). Cut up a whole cauli so cauli cheese and pasta is on this weeks menu, lots of mash so will defrost some sausages and cabbage so will have that with bacon (lots of cabbage, a bit of bacon) and the uncooked cabbage will make a coleslaw. Aiming to use up all the bits in the freezer and do a bulk meat order in December and hoping January can be mostly vegetarian or vegan recipes (might try some middle eastern recipes - they do lots of spicy veg). 

A short walk as far as the post box with my pre-appointment questionnaire (appt is on December 4th by phone). Going to start the cards and get them sent off - have already decided to cut it down again. Going to make donations to food bank and Oxfam from my Christmas money. 

Today I am grateful for feeling brighter, a short walk, quite a nice day (not quite good enough for painting outside, it had a shower now and then). laughing at the people who've already put their Christmas lights up.

ditty1234

Am making a promising vegetarian dinner from the bottom of the vegetable drawer, incl potato pancakes w leftover mash from Friday. And parsley. Have had a lovely day BTW. 

Toni'sfriend

Glad you're feeling a bit more cheerful, Mothernerd. Your mother sounds a bit like mine was. Very critical of me and very demanding. She could sulk for months when she felt like it. I think you're doing a fantastic job looking after her.

Tesco order arrived yesterday. Only the Boy's strawberry ice cream missing. He wasn't impressed. Had to slum it with vanilla. I've increased the food budget slightly for the next few weeks to allow us to get what Christmas things we want delivered as early as we can. It's not actually that much because there's only two us. We just like to have some different things and there is no need for turkey and all the trimmings. This year we're having venison steaks (in the freezer now) and roasted root vegetables. Easy and quick to make. 

Got a long. long list today so better get on.

facethemusic

Monday- yesterday was NSD 13, and I'm claiming today as 14- by the time I finish work and collect DD from childminder I won't have time to spend anything! I have baskets of online shopping on a couple of different websites- have some price comparing to do before ordering so will likely not be until the middle of the week. 
Had a lovely weekend just pottering about with DD, nothing major done but it was nice to just spend time with her without "having" to be somewhere at a specific time. 

ditty1234

Well I'm only on NSD 10, but today was an other car free day working from home and a disciplined distance to the fridge! Grateful for interesting work by some students and boring from others. 
Got work booked for tomorrow, so happy days.

Kerry_Woman

Achieved an NSD today.
Grateful for:
My second order of plaques with robins and wording came.
Voluntary work.
Catching up with a few chores around the flat.

lcc86

Evening all, up to 17 NSD's. Odd start to the week, had a meeting about "savings" (read: cuts) we'll have to make at work, it wasn't pretty. I think my job is safe as I have a statutory role that has to be carried out by law but I feel sorry for those who may be at risk. 

Anyway, the rest of the day was a bit weird, procrastinated a bit but did also get some work done. 

Planned December's budget as have had sight of my payslip and it actually looks better than recent months! Amazing the difference that not having pointless (to me anyway) Xmas parties can have!