NST January 2022: Janus

32b3in2013

Evening

A planned spend day today,  and tomorrow will be a spend day too.  Going shopping early in the morning with my niece.  I don’t plan on buying anything, but I’ll need to pay for parking.

Another item sold on Vinted, which was probably helped by making small reductions to the prices.

Grateful for gifs today,  we had a virtual team meeting this afternoon and it ended with a gif game, where we were given a topic and had to send a gif to the team WhatsApp group which was relevant to the topic.  A really good,  and funny end to the working week.

Have a great weekend all

32b3

beanielou

A lovely wee meet up with a couple of my old yoga friends 

Buffythedebtslayer

mothernerd said:

Lots done. Very tired. Have spoken to and asked for help and solace from my ex husband 2 days on the run, so things must be desperate. just sent loads of stuff to the food bank -phoned yesterday and asked the manager if he could collect. I am not rich (just applied for UC) but there have been many times when I have struggled to feed my children (always did -never had to resort to giving them weetabics softened with tap water) and I know I have food. I don't think I need to keep my mother fed any more and the best thing I can do is to make sure that people in need are fed (still have a massive mountain of soup, baked beans and pasta because the food bank does not need more of those items.

Have had breakfast and a drink, must go and do more work - DS2 and his gf are coming to celebrate 'ONLY 2 more years to retirement' (cue Beatles Song). They did an excellent job of tidying my room and on days I've gone back under the covers are written letters to people, I've got stuff all over the bed again (plus putting bags of food on there to sort out the ones food bank could use). Plan the next bit of the campaign.

Grateful for my mum's life and especially being able to spend most of the last 5 with her, yoghurt and toast.

I have been thinking of you such a lot Mothernerd, always sending you love XXX 

Thrifty_Taylor

Happy anniversary to you too, @Calling14

I've had a lovely day. Tested -ve again this morning. Took hubby for his dialysis, kept our masks on & windows down. Picked mum up & we bought coal (man who loaded it asked if I had someone to unload it at the other end), then we went shopping. Kept my distance from folk just in case & sanitised lots.  Went back to mum's & I downloaded a couple of apps for her to watch her favourite programmes, she was so excited! Brought hubby home, put shopping away, then watched TV with DS1. Feeling tired now.

Grateful for isolation ending, a fab time with mum, candles

apple_muncher

Today I am grateful for kat too, she was an inspiration, for finding ys bread for dh, for dc having a fair day, for me having rather a lazy day, for a good chat this evening with an old friend.

abundant1972

Good Evening 🌖

Funny story; so was putting my stuff into the app so I would get cashback and realised I'd given the box of chocolates to my Mum so had nothing to scan. Decided to go out again to Saintsburys (I'm learning!) and sneakily scanned a box in the isle. Decided to stock up on milk (on offer) and eggs (bonus points) and other bits and use my £10 N*ctar Points - only it wouldn't let me use them at the checkout so had to pay cash thus sending me over my spend budget for the month!!! So annoying... I'm not going to lose sleep over it - talk about false economy. Oh well - I will just knock £10 off my budget next month and use them then.

Have run down my freezer. Have enough stuff in to batch cook up about 12 meals which I'll do tomorrow, got all essentials so I should be good to month's end now.  

Thanks Thrifty and Calling. Yes - 10 years!!! Where has the time gone?!?

Today I am grateful for: 
1) My car not being frozen this morning
2) For finally catching up on my workload
3) For a weekend off and a chance to relax and unwind

Today = NSD number 16

Night everyone x

Esmeralda2662

Just realised my car is due an MOT beginning Feb so need to get it booked in. The clutch is slipping and will soon need replacing so have to decide whether it's worth doing as my little car ("Snowy" 😂) is 12 yrs old and has done 120K+ miles.

Walked over 7 miles yesterday and about 5 today but hip is aching a bit tonight so will take it a bit easier tomorrow. It's been so nice to have bright sunny weather even if it was still freezing.

Walked along the grass track yesterday and today and disturbed a heron both days. He seems to be looking for food inland rather than on the river.

Managing to stick to my new year weekly food budget by supplementing with food from stores and freezer. Need to try and carry on like this for next couple of months. Still on NSD#5. 

Gratitudes: Seeing winter aconites flowering in the churchyard, squirrels scampering about, the sneaky heron and spending time walking with OH.

Happy weekend, Turtles! X

Deni_debt-free_dreamer

Evening turtles

Overslept this morning, grateful I was doing a virtual meeting from home.  Had the afternoon off and went for hair cut, very relaxing.  Came home and made a healthy tea then went to my book group.  Had a lovely discussion.  Spent today on hair cut and yesterday as did a big food shop.  Am still in budget for food and petrol, just! Did my 10k steps to and fro hairdressers

Gratitudes - finding a brilliant drama series on R4; catch up with book group friends; not having to wake up early tomorrow 

love Deni

ditty1234

Hi not really caught up on reading, but grateful for a full time week of work, for a nice evneing with ds1, a long video call with sister,  and for weekend.

mothernerd

Having a very lazy day. Yesterday was 'mixed'. Man from the food bank was coming between 9 am and 10am. Phoned him on Thursday and asked if they could collect donations - thought it was a more efficient way of getting more food to them quickly rather than me taking 2 or 3 bags and boxes at a time, either on the walker or in boxes to my house and then using the trolley to take them to one of the food bank sessions.

Had done some of the work on Thursday night but wanted to get as much as possible, that would be useful to them, gathered together before he came. Lost my roll of labels in the middle and ended up using bits of paper from one of the many part notebooks mum left. First boxes had little lists of the precise contents with exact bbf dates, the later ones had scribbled notes with Mixed contents 2024 and check first - 2022 but mostly with a few months, biscuits March 22 (use in cafe), couldn't find a date on the teabags but they are the most recently purchased.

Resorted to unpacking boxes and trying to find useful items. DS2 had packed and stacked cans into some of my cube boxes, not realising I can't move them when they're full. This was after finding all the obvious stuff like prunes and grapefruit. Anyway the man arrived promptly at 9 am at at 9.30 am he departed with at least 8 doz (possibly 12 dozen) cans, a huge bag of toiletry and medical items including a big unopened tub of both sudocrem and E45, another bag of stock cubes, gravy granules and dehydrated (microwaveable) packs of rice, pasta and soup (mum requests) and two bin bags of toilet rolls (had recently put 2 x 2 packs in mum's kitchen cupboards and asked him to just leave me half a dozen). So some tidying to be done as and when I feel like it but good sense of achievement.

Wanted to sort out paying for the funeral and printing the Order of Service (expected pen drive from the vicar did not appear - maybe put through one of the neighbours' letterboxes in my home street). Thought I had made a big mistake on mum's will and not put myself and my brother down as Trustees and Executors as well as inheritors. This came up in a conversation the previous day over mum's house insurance renewal. The company were quite willing to take my money and renew but could not 'discuss any details of the policy' (including whether or not someone had to be in residence in order to be able to make a claim) unless I could send them proof that I was an executor. So decided I'll take out a new policy with best price supplier.

However found the will again (and the undertaker's estimate) and I have written it correctly. Had a visit from one of the members of a family that has intertwined with my own over 4 generations. He hadn't come before because he was still struggling to comes to terms with it, we sat outside by the back door and had a good chat. 

After that I had something to eat again and started to gather all the evidence I needed for the building soc. Became increasingly frantic because I couldn't find my passport. I had it as ID at the DSS and thought it would be in the plastic pockets with other proof needed. In the end I gathered all the stuff I had to support my being who I said I was but no photo ID. Went to my house to drop off a 3 box/ bag food parcel (been told off by DS3 because I had 'stolen' one of their shopping bags and ruined their evening because all the ingredients had been bought specially for a meal they were going to cook together - I genuinely thought it as one of the bags I had taken from here to my house but thought the food bank could use most of it). Searched all over (down the sides, behind the cushions) the couch as I had sat there briefly in between getting back for the Jobcentre and gathering stuff I needed to get back here.

Dragged myself to the Building Soc/ Bank. Went through the paperwork again (just in case I'd missed the passport the first 3 times I'd looked). By this time I was prepared to cry -as in it might not be a case of 'deciding'.  Eventually one of the counter staff called me over and asked if she could help. She called oved the man I spoke to last time (think he's the assistant manager). We went through the stuff I had and he said he was satisfied but no time left to do it then. So I have an appointment at 11 am on Monday, if I can't find my passport over the weekend, he will use his discretion to help me close mum's account and make arrangements to pay the undertakers from her account.

Staggered round to the printers but they close an hour early on Fridays so missed them by 7 minutes (add that to Monday's jobs, if I can't find a printer who works weekends (they are probably working but not open to the public). Went in B**ts and nabbed 3 x 50p ys sandwiches (+ 1 pack of crisp and one choc bar), phoned for a taxi, said where I was but that I would head down the bollards when the taxi was due (at some point between 4 pm and 5 pm the bollards come down and the taxi could have come to me, but at least I had another 5 minutes sit down. Was absolutely wiped out, dropped in my chair, had a drink and something to eat (cooked a patch of sausages at the same time I cooked my lunch, was going to make a sausage butty but just put them in the microwave for a minute and went back to my chair. Put my feet up and watched the Chase whilst drinking diet decaff coke and eating sausages (on a paper plate so no washing up).

Had a bit of a scare on Wednesday (I went into catastrophe mode). Ex messaged/ phoned to say
Wednesday is one of his dialysis days so he can't come - he's coming up to his ninth anniversary of dialysis and only 14 of the people who started alongside him are now alive. He asked was there anything else he could do - flowers, help with catering costs etc (did I trust him with my bank details or should he send funds via DS1 or DS2). He also said I was very secretive - he didn't have my current number (that's deliberate but I told him I lose them in taxis making late night visits to check on mum, having just thrown the things I need to stay overnight into a bag, which is also true). I asked him to stay with me until after 10 am (when I got a -ive result on my test).

Whilst waiting I vowed to do 24 hours of Swedish Death Cleaning - there is lots of stuff that no-one in the family wants or needs and a lot of stuff that is destined for the tip. Going to go for the easy wins and declutter as much of this as possible.

DS2 and his gf arrived, to celebrate my birthday. They bought more presents (DS1 had had a little sack of bee bombs delivered to my house - little bee shapes about an inch square, a mixture of wildflower seeds and compost to support their early growth). A salt and pepper grinder set in teal (an idea I'd put on my Christmas present list - not specifying colour but DS2 knew my favourite), a pad to help with aches and pains that goes in the microwave or fridge- freezer, a lovely ocean breeze scented candle in a useful teal coloured terracotta pot which I will no doubt find a use for later. The last was a large book (we're talking family bible size) which is actually for storing papers.

I suggested that the pregnant lady and myself make a start on the non-alcoholic wine (would have bought 3 or so for Christmas - no elves harmed, I haven't really had Christmas yet - and DS2 had brought some beer. Suggested that if he didn't give up alcohol during the pregnancy he would get morning sickness (my dad did) and sympathetic labour pains. They told me about their exciting week - they had been looking at bathroom fittings that morning and prams earlier in the week (lots of technical details on pram frames and handling abilities) with DS2's current favourite being upholstered in fine herringbone tweed. 

Takeaway was ordered (they paid and it's my birthday). DS2 didn't like my choice of mum pictures for her order of service so they went through the whole bag of mum pictures and because DS2 kept picking up odd pictures of himself and his brothers, I got out the bag of my family photos and some historic ones and we spent hours discussing family stories and history (I have part family trees of both sides of mum's parents' families - quite a few mistakes but will look at all that at some future date. One of my cousins did some research into my dad's side when she was younger, got scared when she found people who had been put in asylums until mum said they could be 'put away' for minor offences such as taking an apple from a tree (defective morals - this would be in Ireland, although it would have happened here as well).

It was a quarter to midnight when they left, but a gentle relaxing evening, for us all (and DS2 does seem to have an incipient baby bulge). I have leftover takeaway and some 50p sandwiches so no fuss meals for today and part of tomorrow (will add some of the frozen veg in). I seem to be making a reasonable job of feeding myself regularly, having clean clothes to wear and remembered to order my pills (have a weeks worth but thought it could get missed next week).

No plans for today and tomorrow other than to rest, with gentle pottering, decluttering and tidying as and when I feel like it (all the easy wins - there are more mugs, a few plates, a pile of placemats, mountains of ugly cutlery and lots of similar stuff).

Going to take it easy for a few days after the funeral (bring at least one carrier bag of food home with me). Niece has a few days off the week after (and should have reclaimed her car from my brother) so is going to come and help with clearing then (and taking away some of the things she has chosen/ I have persuaded her to take). She was afraid of seeming greedy but my main aim is to give stuff to anyone in the family that wants it/ can make use of it (and mum's lodger of 28 years who has put off decorating and replacing broken furniture because he didn't know what would happen to him when mum died). Anything left after that can go to the charity shops and be found by people who need those items or who will love them and make money for the charities.

The Universal Credit will cease after mum's estate goes through probate (not sure if they will require me to pay back what I've received) but at the moment it helps and my ex sent some money through to put towards expenses.

Grateful for a lovely birthday (once I'd got the business stuff/ tension out of the way), gentle reminiscing with people and having fun food in the house (I think I know which box my chocolate orange and hobnobs were put into, there's only one box that hasn't been reopened).