NST April 2021: Diamonds and Daisies

Deni_debt-free_dreamer

Hi all

NSD x 9 yesterday.  Was making good progress with studies till friends and DD1 arrived at the same time.  Had a nice chat in the garden. Went for a walk with DD1.  Picked up a laptop bag - rucksack style - off Fb free site while out on our walk; it's perfect.  Not sure if and when will be back in the office but i'm working on the assumption it could be next month but hoping only a day a week.  Had a phone call with my mentor and need to redo one of my submissions which was really disheartening; it's a section about finance which is my worst area but heyho has to be done.

Didn't get back to studies after being interrupted by visitors!  Had a nice tea and watched TV and then read in bed
Gratitudes - help from mentor; being able to see people outside; freebies off Fb

Hope everyone has a good day.  Hugs to those who are struggling

Deni x  

Toni'sfriend

Thrifty - A few years ago I had a colleague in the same position. Rushed to hospital. kidneys barely working. He was given dialysis and then a transplant. Less than a year later he was back to his old self if not better. So, please, take heart. xxx

Spendy day today again. Food delivery arrived a lots of boxes of crisps for the children. Think I made a mistake and ordered too many but never mind. They are quite happy.

mothernerd

Mum didn't want a big dinner, so I made do with 2 tuna buns and went outside at about half past eleven., Moved all the wood I'd been working on and then all the half bottle 'plant pots' I did last week. Emptied the soil from a large ex-kitchen bin, drilled drainage holes in the bottom, put it in position, poured in a small bucket of stones followed by 2 larger buckets of soil and put all mum's rhubarb crowns in it (no more bending down to pick it or trim it). Drilled drainage holes in the bucket.

 Gathered all my old raised bed (recycled plastic) slats. Not sure about any of the paints I've bought - they all looked terribly pale. Painted the slats in cornflower. Looked streaky when I did them but have dried to a solid colour which is more or less what I was hoping for. Need to rummage in the shed (or preferably take everything out and have a clear look at what is left in there) to find the bag of joining and corner pieces. 

Was just about to call it a day when mum's cousin arrived with my new raised beds. They look a bit wider than I expected but otherwise will work exactly as I imagined. He brought 2 and went back for the third as he couldn't fit more in his car. I paid him as mum was sleeping. I want more but it will be two to three weeks before he can do them - the stuff for his own yard starts arriving tomorrow and his grandson is doing the heavy stuff for him next weekend.

This gives me time to paint the ones I've got and try a few layouts (more or less decided but it's whether I have them running from the outside fence end or the neighbours fence end and how they fit with the concrete lumps I have to contend with). I can then fill them with soil from the buckets and may even get to do planting. The side bed needs to wait until cousin's grandson can come and do my digging (and possibly putting stuff back in the right order when the layout is done).

I had an inch of paint left in the tin mum will want me to use (may put the order in for more tonight as I've already spent today - mum refunded me) so put one of the beds onto the table and painted all the bits I could reach. A quarter of an inch of paint left but was too tired to turn the bed or lift it down so scrubbed my hands at the outside tap and came in. Not what I had planned but was very hungry so put wedges and haddock in the oven.

My dress definitely needs thanking and letting go but I can put it on again tomorrow and will then bin it - it only needs one of the clusters of holes to join up and it will go critical. Repairing it last year has meant I got another 9 months wear out of it (not doing badly for a £10 off the sale rail dress).

Gratitudes
New raised beds, a lovely tea, my 3 year old well worn dress (even when I first got it, I liked it so much I was putting it on again as soon as it had been washed), progress.

ldee2111

Thanks for all your comments on DS nighttime nappies situation. I agree that we should put him back into them for now.

Friday was NSD 9/16. Travel restrictions within Scotland eased, so Mum, DS, and I went on a road trip to a small village by the sea away from crowds. Mum sorted us all out with an excellent picnic. £0 spent other than on car fuel. We had a fantastic day. It really lifted our spirits.

Saturday 

OH, DS, and I all mucked in to tidy our front and back garden. I also did some weeding and tidying of our neighbours’ garden. They are in their 80s, very frail and have no family nearby.  When we moved in the man looked after his wife. But he now has quite severe dementia.

Saturday was grocery delivery day. £40.06. Hoping for a good underspend in groceries this coming week and to be sweeping an underspend next Sunday. This week I overspent in groceries by around £15. I also ordered a large garden parasol and a wallet for DS. We’ve started giving him some pocket money for helping with little jobs. 

Sunday

NSD 10/16. A fairly relaxed day. DS at grandparents’. And I did some tidying up and a couple of washings while listening to my audiobook. 

Sunday sweep - £30 underspend in transport and £40 underspend in leisure this week - this will undoubtedly change now that lockdown is easing though. No underspend in groceries. 

Grateful for lockdown easing, to have a car, sunny weather, and to live in a visually beautiful country. 

apple_muncher

Today I am grateful for having had 2 lovely weeks off, for my kettle bells and a plan, for realising early enough that tomorrow is week B and not week A and adjusting as necessary, for dd completing a bit more work, for finishing staining the fence before the rasps and goosegogs grew so much it'd look like I'd had a fight with an army of cats (and lost).

f0xh0les

Today was NSD 7 !!!

Ooops, sorry! first and foremost to @Thrifty_Taylor and Mr TT too.  He has a Turtle cheerleading squad rooting for him.

Today I have cleaned and hoovered the house, been through every single chest of drawers, checked all the ages/sizes and  moved clothes down / sideways / back to the right recipient.   They all have enough clothes to keep them from getting arrested in public.

DH has enough clothes to see him for the rest of his life as long as he wants to look like a total scruffbag. He needs to clear some stuff  out. Nobody needs 4 pairs of painty trousers for painting in, when he does not do the painting inside the house (or outside the house come to think about it ). 

So the bathrooms are sparkly,  laundry load 4 is on the line, all PE kits repacked and ready for use. I have laid out my spring/summer wardrobe (and the stuff I am too f*t to wear is on display as motivation to lose a bit) and the big winter jumpers are back in storage.

All the windows have been open and the house has been aired. 

3 bags ready for recycling, but DS1 wants to go clothes shopping in a real shop (***shudder***) so might do the swap a bag of clothes for a £5 voucher at Hennes x 3.  Dissuaded him from going into the city centre today, and suggested his free day on Thursday might be a bit less busy and probably no queues.  He agreed. 

Put my contacts in for 2 hours  for the first time this year to try and get used to them again (they are past their exp date but seem to be fine) For all the time I use them, they should be grand - I will get some more once I use up these last few if I can cope with hayfever and lenses at the same time.

Gratitudes: DH took DS3 out for a bike ride, DS1 walked down to the cake shop with DS4 (3.5 mile round trip), DH made lunch and supper so I could get on with the cleaning and sorting, and for finding 3 sets of DS4s PE kit in DS3s  chest of drawers - after them telling me since the schools went back that none of it was in the house - and for me not buying him 2 new sets yesterday when I went  into town for DS3s school shoes.

lcc86

@f0xh0les thanks for the tipoff, I only just saw your message so am guessing I missed the deals   

NSD here, went horse riding this morning, then chilled at home for a bit before going for a bike ride with OH. Had a nice bath, spinach and ricotta lasagne for dinner and all is well. 

f0xh0les

@lcc86 it only started on Thursday (15th) you have plenty of time, and they are doing another big cycling one in May as well.

https://www.aldi.co.uk/c/specialbuys/dates/2021-04-15?sort=popular&q=%3Apopular%3AtransactionalStatus%3Atransactional%3AtransactionalStatus%3Anontransactional%3AEvent%3ACycling&page=1&firstPlacementTotalCount=0&secondPlacementTotalCount=0

greent

Saw friends in their garden yesterday afternoon for a couple of hours and 3 cups of tea in the sunshine- very chilled listening to the birdsong and the trickling of the fountain in their pond 🐠

Today DH has mowed the lawns and trimmed the front hedges. I dug up lots of weeks from front borders and strawberry bed and sowed 2 lots of carrot seeds. We went for a walk and found a swan's 🦢 nest over the far side of the canal .  Washing has all dried on the line and I finally got around to filling jn a job application (bit last minute!)

A blackbird has just flown into the patio doors and is now sat looking a bit dazed in the patio.... that's the 3rd one in 18 months that has done that (and others that have done it and flown away) hoping this one is OK.... 🤞

Holidays are over - school bags packed ready for tomorrow and a week's worth of rolls have been baked,  filled and frozen for lunchboxes  

Line of Duty in half an hour, so.time to chivy the youngest 2 into bed ready for school - and time.to turn back on all my alarms for the school week

Grateful for great weather, good friends, getting somethings done, cheery daffodils on the kitchen table 

facethemusic

Sunday- NSD 10/16. 
I fear unplanned spending is in the near future. Firstly pony is lame, so my major concern is getting him better but I am hoping it's an inexpensive fix 🤞. There is money in the "animal account", so hopefully it will be enough. Second the boiler motor has died (I think that is the likely diagnosis), someone arranged to come tomorrow to check it out and repair it if possible, so the house maintenance fund will take a hit as well. 

Grateful today- for a walk in the woods, for having money ready for the bills to come and bacon rolls this morning. 

thrifty- glad to hear DH is in good spirits, please make sure you find a little bit of time for yourself to recharge.