NST May Challenge Living on the planet of the teddy bears

apple_muncher

Today I am grateful for a great evening walk with a friend where we put our worlds to right, for dd's ukulele playing, for the soothing therapy of watching the snooker and knitting a bit, for all the cherry blossom, for the bluebell carpet up in the woods.

f0xh0les

Oh Cripes!  sorry @mothernerd , I haven't asked for my ticket number for the Ew0k(TM) Shuttlebus.   Please can I join in?

 NSD 1 yesterday, but not today as I went to bed at midnight with 2 litres of milk in the fridge, and got up to barely a cup of tea's worth. Those thirsty ghosties! So I bought a crate of 8 to do until Tuesday (spend day).  Still in limbo because of banks giving their computers holidays (stupid idea) so nothing is updated and I cannot do a budget until Tuesday.

Had a panic about 10 minutes ago, I forgot (again) that it was a BH tomorrow - then I remembered, and everything is cool and happy again.   Only 19 school days this month, then 9 days off for the Whit week term break at the end.  So there is something lovely to look forward to, as well as the heating only having been on for 2 hours today.

Thrifty_Taylor

Nsd#2
A 2.5 mile walk with hubby after breakfast, cleaned the bathroom, then spent the afternoon in the garden. Nothing put on selling sites, so will have to do double tomorrow!
Grateful for the garden looking a bit tidier, great plans for areas of the garden, Line of Duty tonight, a good book

mothernerd

I'd assumed you were in f0xh0les, with or without a number. Can everyone else check that they have a number? (If you want one - you can just play along and do what you can lurkers, if you don't feel brave enough to join us in the bus or in the water, yet). Sending hugs to all turtles who have gone awol - don't want to pester you if you're having a rough time (or are blissfully happy) but we are thinking of you. greent - assume you have your milk exemption even though I haven't put it in the rules (brain is a bit foggy this morning and I might delete the entire post by mistake).

ditty1234

Gosh I am so behind wit reading before the week even starts, will have to do later. Am working hard not to be co-stressed over my sons coursework, he has avoided doing all year and now due in tomorrow, for A levels. It's just hard to balance helping and letting him get on with it, and not just letting him sink! And regrets for not being more firm earlier. 
Anyways am now off for a run, that should refresh the energy and chuck out the worrying and give him some space.   
This afternoon I will be catching up on my own to do list, and then it's hopefully back to cover work and regular work this week. 
@f0xh0les hope you had a lovely anniversary on Saturday.
Happy, if slightly cold, bank holiday Monday.
And I am grateful for ds doing his coursework and that it is not a problem that he needs silly money for a software licence to complete his work. I am just feeding him and going 'how about a little to the left'. And grateful for a lovely group run, even if I am still struggling with keeping up. 

mothernerd

Train your brain to find new connections, innovations, opportunities and possibilities that otherwise would have been missed.

It's time to
Get Yourself together
Fix what can be fixed
Improve your thoughts
Read more books
Indulge in self-improvements
Work on your moods
Get stronger and healthier
Work on yourself
Work on your happiness
Be full of self-love
Improve your weaknesses
Be comfortable about growth
Outgrow yourself
Be who you were meant to be

(not all at once, though - just ideas for different ways of looking after yourself. You are perfect just as you are)


I found a tiny turtle song but he came to a bad end (not as bad as Ralph McTell's tortoise). Then I found a modified ending - Tim only ended up sick in bed. But then I came across Sheldon (steady geeks - different Sheldon) the tiny dinosaur.

Sheldon (the tiny dinosaur) uses a record player as a treadmill. He can only handle short records.


Hey you. Yes you, the person reading this. 
I love you. You are a fantastic person. Capable of doing amazing things.
I hope you have a wonderful day.
Oh and you look great today.

Toni'sfriend

NSD No 1

What an absolutely horrible day. It's been raining heavily since I got up early this morning so no chance of a walk. I have planted up a pot of sunflowers though. They should look cheery once they grow,

It's been a very lazy sort of day. I just can't find the motivation to do much. Must do better tomorrow.

f0xh0les

It is a bank holiday Monday, therefore it must rain or people will start asking why we have a 5 day working week instead of a 4 day  working week.   Result = Anarchy!!!  

NSD 2 today, not going out as it is horrid. House hoovered. Bathrooms cleaned, lay in bed until 9.30 am so I am convinced it is 12.00 instead of the reality of it being 3.30, because I am 3 hours behind myself.    Fun and games!

1lb weight loss this week, but it means the next weight bracket down. Onwards and Downwards. Keep on swimming.

mothernerd

Okay, after the exertions of Saturday (clearing and moving the bed and putting things back and then cleaning the oven which mum foolishly started) I ached in lots of places yesterday. So decided I put something on tv and sort what I could from a comfy chair. This was sorting mum's pills (she had dropped her tin but I want to do it once a week so I will pick up on any problems) - one large old biscuit tin and two back up boxes, put the second lot of washing from Saturday out on the line, many trips to my recycling bins, chopped and peeled lots of veg for lunch and for next batch cook. Opened the tiny jar of silver paint for mum as she decided to finish the gate (after a gap of over a week).

One of my notebooks (>13 years old) parted company with it's cover so started transferring info into the new one (18 months old and have put new info in there but not moved stuff across). Still in ABC but two were full pages of info and only plan to do a bit at a time or I'll go cross-eyed. Paid for some charity cards mum had ordered and the food delivery. I could have done another day or two but felt so bad on Saturday that I was worried I might be worse so put the order in. Have decided to allocate £400 for a food budget this month and have spent £194.14 eek. I have been adding to it for the past couple of weeks but have got used to coasting through on freezer scraps and small top up shops/ overnight orders. It did include brisket, fresh and frozen chicken, diced lamb and sausages and lots of cupboard and freezer staples. I'm allowing £100 for miscellaneous and have spent £9.98. Category created mainly because I need something to put the padlock under. Travel should be free as I'll be with mum and she will pay with her vouchers. I may buy the padlock on Wednesday after mum's blood test - we could hop to town and she can sit on a bench whilst I nip to Wilcos, but it depends how tired she is (appointments wipe her out for the day).

This isn't my money I'm spending, it's mum's, mine's just going in the bank and all the standing orders going out - DS3 will start paying me again near the end of the month. However it's good discipline to have a budget to work to. Miscellaneous will not include the second batch of raised beds or the young man coming to do digging and other heavy stuff - I have no idea how much these are going to be and mum's already agreed to the spending.

In the evening I ventured outside. I moved soil from an old toybox into several small plant pots (9 - 10 l) but didn't have energy to move them - I now have two lots of smaller containers filled with soil and ready to move but today's weather is not at all encouraging. I also sawed through a chunk  roughly a third of the tree stump (made three experimental cuts the other day and this one was nearly sawn through. Have put it on it's end and started two downward cuts to make smaller chunks to go in the green bin.

Finally I sorted my own pills out and then picked up some seed packs and assorted items.

Today will be less productive but more pampering and more joy. Moved some things around - empty mushroom boxes are by the door in case a break in the weather lets me get outside to put compost in them - new sack is by the gate, couldn't move it any further. I've flattened some of my cube boxes - will be keeping them but have emptied them and flattened for ease of storage and moving them back to my house (crossed fingers). More recycling gone out and took the bin from my room, emptied it into the kitchen bin and put that out. Mum keeps squashing things in and when I try to take it out, it rips so prevented that. Still a small bin space left so may do a rubbish round up before that goes out for collection. Set off more pea shoots.

Grateful for luscious chilli (last of my frozen mediocre spag bol (aka lentil gloop) transformed with the addition of kidney beans, half a tin of chopped tomatoes and a large dash of chilli flakes, left in the fridge overnight to percolate, getting things done very slowly, perfume, new tunic dress and other mood boosters.

mothernerd

Good points about this bank holiday 

1   Not forced onto a cattle train to Blackpool by my partner insisting we must go out for the day, ignoring the fact that I was 8 months pregnant. Kind person offered me a seat and DS1 climbed up on my knee - me, DS1 and baby bump in a seat for one touching seat in front - went into labour the next day.

2    Not stuck in a bank holiday motorway queue

3    Not spent in Wigan after partner failed to get any money out of local cash machines but insisted we use our remaining cash to get on the bus to Wigan where cash machines were also empty. We did scrape enough pennies together for a bag of chips and a drink each.

4   Not spent the morning and most of the afternoon helping s-i-l prepare food for niece's 1st birthday and hearing husband boasting about how much money he was earning. Death knell for my marriage - husband who was putting over a £1000 each month into slot machines whilst working 300 miles away from home.

5   Not spent bank holiday weekend at in laws, running around looking after 3 children whilst partner sat chatting with his mum and both his parents ignored me.

6   Not in LLandudno in lashing rain (always rains when I'm in Llandudno)

Enjoy the rest of your day turtles