NST April 2022: April opportunities

ldee2111

Took DS and a big box of his old storybooks with me to a friend's today. Her little DD was straight into the box and had big smiles as she lifted books out and scattered them across the floor. I nearly sold them online for a small sum, but I'm glad I decided to pass them on to her.   

Looking forward to collecting Mum from the airport tomorrow. 

NSD 7. 

Grateful today for DS playing so well with friend's DD, for her obvious glee at getting new books, and for OH making dinner (it smells delicious), and for the glass of wine I'll be having alongside it. 

Hope turtles are well. x

apple_muncher

Today I am grateful for waking early and getting to the gym, for good drying weather, for my weeding efforts making a difference, for dc having a recovery day, for hm chips for tea.

firsview

Evening Turtles, sorry forgot to post yesterday. DS2 and I went and had our hair cut yesterday so had to spend £40 on that. When he was younger he was happy for me to do it with the clippers, but alas no more! Also filled the car back up as petrol is a bit scarce round here.
Today Mr T are delivering my shopping so another spendy day. Went for a walk along the canal with OH and saw an adder, eek. Luckily (not for the adder!) it was dead so spent the rest of the walk scanning the undergrowth!
Today I am grateful for not being bitten by an adder, a lovely walk and looking forward to 4 days off

Deni_debt-free_dreamer

Evening turtles
Yesterday ended up as a NSD. 
Today i have sold my dressing table and stool on Fb, dried 2 loads of washing on the line, dealt with various bits of life admin, done some of my PT jobs and acheived 11k steps.  I dropped off a small jar of 5ps at the CS and collected another empty jar to fill.  While there i bought a square vase and a dress - while queuing to pay a customer admired the dress and said if i don't like it & therefore return it she will pop back on Saturday and buy it!  I do like it and will probably wear it to DD2's graduation I'm still decluttering my bedroom and now i have sold my dressing table i have more space to manouever - I want to move my furniture around.  I have put a few more things in the CS bag.

Gratitudes - finding a lovely dress in the CS, friendly man in the PO; Fb sales

love Deni 

beanielou

Deni~~I don't know how you do it.
You are always doing something.
Good news on the dressing table.

Thrifty_Taylor

NSD#6

Enjoy your days off @Shrewbie & Hoppy Easter to you all!
A lovely day dawned today. Straight after breakfast, I walked to the post office to post an eboy sale, (sold another one this afternoon too!) Washed the dishes on my return, then shortened 4 dresses into tunics for a customer. Had a slightly later dinner, then spent an hour moving more rubble & soil out of the trench. A customer came to be pinned into a dress, then I did the ironing after tea. My turn in the bath next ☺️

Grateful for a sunny day, phonecall with father in law (he's had 2 procedures in hospital this week), progress being made with DIY (DH on the job), sewing (me) & trench clearing (me)

BadBookkeeper

Hi all,

Still NSD 7/16.  DH & I both had a rubbish day in work.  Me because we always seem to be fire fighting, him because he found out a colleague got a better pay rise than him!  So we went for a walk after tea & a pint in a local hotel.  Watched some footy there so a good way to switch off.

Grateful for:
a long weekend stretching out in front of us
a good weather forecast
local decent hotel

mothernerd

Went a bit mad with spending yesterday (think I'm really resenting not booking the holiday when I'd finally decided to). Struggling with MH, frustrated by my lack of progress with paperwork and not able to get to grips with a load of other things (plus DS3 and Beloved had taken all my clean pots and cutlery, grrr). Low mood might also be partly down to cutting out sugar, caffeine and reducing a number of other food groups.

Good news is my little helper elf has cut short her stay in the USA and is available to help from Monday. She also reminded me that I have done an awful lot and needing to take a step back and pause is natural. Received a letter from Probate to say they had scanned my documents and were returning them, so hopefully I'm getting near the top of the queue (could say goodbye to UC and start on some  things I need to pay other people to do and get the house up for sale.

So yesterday I successfully completed an online shop for delivery (next Monday, so have 3 days to eat up/ clear the fridge). The website had my old order on there (haven't been able to complete an order for a while as needed access to my bank account, my card, pinsentry machine and phone located and charged). I looked through and tweaked a couple of bits but was mostly stuff I will use (scrolled through all the suggestions for things I might need but am no longer buying or eating). Went back straight away and changed the order because I only had 1 x 10 l box of water. Changed it to 3 because UU have informed me they will be doing some work over the next couple of weeks so might be some disruptions (may also buy some no rinse shower cream - no water, no problem).

I ordered veg seeds - heritage veg from the NE, GMO free, used them last year and they had a high germination rate (that's how I ended up with 64 tomato plants). Won't use them this year but ready for next. Ordered plug plants from another supplier - this was something I promised myself earlier in the year as I wouldn't have time/ space to grow from seed. Ordered my favourite tomatoes (and seeds of the same for next year) and a mixed brassica pack - 5 each of cabbage, cauli, sprouts and broccoli - again something I've used before and had good results. I'll have a few weeks before they need a permanent space, moving them into larger pots (use up a few more 2 l pop bottles from mum's).

Finally I went out later on (just to save an NSD today) to buy my puzzle book. Called in at B**ts -not much in the fridge but picked up 2 salads. Woman at the counter looked at her watch and decided to put them through at 50p each for me. Then was really extravagant (cover your eyes apple) and paid £15 for another 16 pack of cutlery which will be kept in my room. Decided to try to walk as far as the land of Ice and now have lots of fish (no batter or breadcrumbs), more frozen veg, ys spinach, red pepper hummus and reduced fat hummus, some SW ready meals (they have the recipes on so can reproduce them myself when I get on top of things) and one pack of 6 sm cross buns(hoping I'm okay with those if I ration myself).

One of the shops I went in had 8 of their new plant troughs - they're wider and deeper than most (so could hold 3 or 4 tomato or brassica plants each). I have a plan for the other long wall in the garden. There's already a cobble raised bed about 18" wide but it's been colonised by ivy, Virginia creeper and the remains of the old raspberries (+ 1 self sown buddleii which will probably cause more problems than all the others put together). I have chopped a lot back but need to clear the rest and put weed proof membrane down (not sure if I will dig the soil out or probably best to just cover it for now and let it rest for a year).

I have 4 x 8' long boards (sides for a raised bed - 4 x 4' boards as well, if I need them) and will do a double layer of pots/ troughs using a few plant pots/ other to raise the back row. Could then place another two rows in front of the bed so would have 4 stepped rows, mostly at easy heights for any maintenance. So plan to start on that over the weekend - have a digging task as well, not much of it but will be a difficult job.

Struggling with MH and overwhelm so have put together a minimal list of tasks and will be going for easy wins. Some bits I've already done need a rethink (some things fell down, one bookshelf has a tower of books at each end and nothing in the middle because it was bending but it looks awkward - off the floor, not in the way but visually a mess). Some baby steps for cleaning and tackling paperwork but will build in leisure time. I have cross buns, pasta salad, red pepper hummus, crackers and apples so can stay up here quietly sorting for a while. Will have pills now and try to read myself to sleep for an hour or so (awake since 3 am).

Grateful for knowing what I wanted and finding most of it easily (if you keep looking and not buying when you finally crack it's a quick in and out), the wonderful new assistant at land of ice (was there last time and is an absolute joy), shopping after nearly everyone has gone home, having a plan, allowing myself down time, doing things slowly.

apple_muncher

Mothernerd, hope you've managed a bit more sleep this morning. £15 on the cutlery sounds like a very good purchase, given the cutlery nickers in your house. I spent £45 on the painting I bought on holiday. I nearly walked away but then thought that when I told dh about it, he'd suggest going and getting it. So I decided to cut out the middle bit and go straight to buying it! And then, surprise surprise, once dc saw it, they also loved it and have claimed it 😂😂😂!

beanielou

Be kind to yourself @mothernerd.