NST May MISCHIEF AND MAYHEM

apple_muncher

Today I am grateful for my counsellor, for dc going to school, for clearing a bit of space so that I can use my sewing machine, for recorded programmes.

greent

M   Make the most of Your Life. Suspend reality for 5 -10 minutes and wite down your ideal life(without limits). If worries and to do's  dominate your thinking put them on paper (therapeutic, gets them out of your head and you can chop them down to size) 
I   Identify 3 areas to work on. Assess them with SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) and break them down into small steps. -most of our ideals now are about retirement. Health and finance concerns currently exist - but not necessarily dominate life (sometimes they do)
S   SFDs 16 (hard), previous best +1 (easy) - I've given up monitoring these!
C   Challenge runs throughout May. Budgets are set before the start of the month.
H   Health needs to be a priority (Mental/ Physical/ Spiritual - good for your soul) - 2nd round of chemo next week - couple of appointments beforehand. Have reiki booked for this week for a feel-good boost. Daughter also undergoing tests for a possibly worrying condition - hopefully it won't be (tests have been initiated by GP, not DD's request) and husband is v stressed with work (33% chance he gets made redundant this month) and my health - and now has chest pains, low o2 SATs and strangely low HR and temperature - nothing very low, all at the low end of 'normal range' - but not his usual readings. He refuses to phone any medics. Oh - and DS2 has his GCSEs starting and his MH is also not great.... the greent house is suffering slightly right now!
I    IMPROVE Find ways to make things a tiny bit better or stop them getting worse - a waiting game this month for DH's work. But I will end the month 1/3 of the way through my current treatment - whoop! And will have a better idea (hopefully) of when we can plan things around it/ DS2's exam timetable etc. Have some things planned in for this month - but flexibility is the name of the game!
E   Exercise 4 x 30 mins a week (walking wounded exempt) - will aim to walk (short ones) daily along the canal this week before next session
F   FUN we all need more fun in our lives - have a treat for DS2 planned in before exams start (which uses up a gift card which expires this month - win:win) and 2 meals out with bestie and husbands - it's her husband's bday for one of them and the other is using up gift cards for afternoon tea which we each have (so no cost for 2nd) Also have DS3's bday - he doesn't like any meals our or takeaways, so that's easy! 

A   Attitude - Try to adopt a positive attitude (you are allowed sad or bad days) - I generally am almost annoyingly positive - slightly less so this past month, but overall not too bad
N   NO unnecessary spending especially savings thieves like coffee shop coffee. - May has 2 lots of car insurance (done - with cback where possible), bestie's hubby's bday, DS3's bday, my mum's bday, my sister's bday, a couple of other bdays just requiring a card, new trainers & possibly shoes for DS3 
D   Debt or Savings should be paid first, live off the rest - savings DDs/ Stos paid

M   Maintenance Start a notebook for regular checks of your home (roof, wall, plumbing, appliances) - we have s/sheet
A   Alternative Solutions different ways of looking/doing/seeing/being
Y   Your Relationships Listen, hug, avoid/ end.
H   help those in need and add an extra good deed - 
E   Energy - We all have limits - Simplify, Organise, Delegate (more later) - yep
M   Motivation will be offered on Monday. Self-care Sunday is recommended


Stall set put above (started post yesterday morning!) = will come back later and post properly  

mothernerd

Finally managed to get myself together and took a bag of things to the food bank - there are more somewhere but if I keep waiting until I get them all together, I'll never get it done. Could see the bus waiting at the traffic lights a block away so crossed the road and caught it. Got off at mum's and did her bins, checked the mailbox and my cabbages had bolted (they were getting near the top of the fence), so pulled them off, stripped off any usable leaves and binned the rest. 

Went back to the bus stop but the delay meant it was just on it's way back (could have gone back to town) so I went in the corner shop for a drink and a sandwich (had intended going back home after the food bank) and sat waiting for the next bus eating my lunch (not taken anything out with me to read). Got off at Morries checked out the garden centre but the panels I saw the other day are not suitable for what I want (could only look through the window last week as they were just unloading them and putting them on a pallet).

However they did have a large flat garden dustpan (stood on mine at the weekend and W's no longer had them in stock). Assistant had gone on their lunchbreak so took it inside the store, added a couple of the ready packed food bank bags, went to the salad bar. Two women nearly had a punch up so me and another woman were staying at the nearer end of the counter until they moved on.

Picked up quite a lot of reduced items, not huge reductions but a few interesting items (a bulb of fennel and some pac choi), sat waiting until I could get near the last chance bargains - only one plant based meal but a family quiche for 20p, a vegetable pasty and jellies with fruit in for 10p each. I am officially depressed. I bought 4 magazines. I only buy the regular puzzle book and the large print puzzle book when I can find it (plus the odd gardening mag if the freebie seeds are too tempting.

I have never ever bought 4 magazines. It may be part of the process of giving things up as one is a cross-stitch magazine and one is a sewing toys magazine and not sure how well or for how long I can keep doing either of those things. The bus was coming towards me as I came out of the SM so I walked to the bus stop (it goes one stop further then turns around for the return journey). 

Sat and ate when I came in, put the food away in batches and put 2 bins out for delivery. DS3 has been upstairs to say sorry for not putting the bins out and that he has emptied and refilled the DW and set it off. I was going to go outside and round up some more leaves and twigs but I've just had a long phone conversation with my second cousin once removed and it's dark now. Will turn off the laptop and read myself to sleep. Hopefully I should have time to round up some leaves and fill more bins tomorrow before the bin men come.

Grateful for interesting and ys food, timings of some buses, my washing line posts being delivered (and vinyl is coming tomorrow), a few little wins, good chat.

Thrifty_Taylor

Sending hugs to the @greent household & anyone else who needs them. Thank you for all the new good wishes. DS2 has had a good day.

NSD#3
A good day at work, colleagues were pleased to have me back again. Regifted a small bottle of prosecco to my boss, to thank her for her help on Sunday. She was chuffed, think she'll be definitely needing it on Friday after being away with our eldest class on an outdoor residential trip! Boy are they a handful!! Dropped sewing off on my way home, received a nice tip on top of the fee, I only received the item of clothing for repair yesterday. Was tempted to stop at the post office & buy a 60th birthday card, but went home & made one instead. Hung the washing on the line, wrote a letter to go in the card & changed the bedding. Also unpicked a coat zip.

Grateful for great colleagues, hanging the washing out, DS having a good day

beanielou

Greent.  Hope all goes well.
Take care of you.  xx

MazzieD

Busy day WFH yesterday, I have just returned from Annual Leave so a lot of catching up with emails.  Pleased that IT Dept got in touch to advise that my work laptop is being replaced and on it's way by courier so should arrive today.  It's been getting slower and slower!.

Bit of a surprise yesterday, someone came to read my Water Meter.  They have been compulsory here for about 5+ years so pre-dates me living in current house.  Normally they are in the front garden or pavement outside.  I was completely unaware that mine is in the house.  Couldn't find it so he then told me he could read it wirelessly from outside the property!. 

Decided to check the Water Company website to find out possible location after he left.  If he had told me 'near the stopcock'  it might have been possible to find it as I know where that is!.  Found it eventually last night but it's really difficult to access and read so would have been a waste of time.  Previous owners had an obsession about using every bit of space, not sure it was a good idea to almost block it off between a fitted cupboard and washing machine in the tiny utility room.

Yesterday was NSD3.

Grateful for the first yellow rose of the year in my front garden and a beautiful red one in the back garden.  For going for a walk at lunchtime and keeping away from the shops!.

mothernerd

Wednesday 4th May 2022
May the Fourth Be With You

It's Wellness Wednesday
Take care of yourself, stay refreshed, stress less

Problems solving Steps
S   Say the problem without blame
T   Think of solutions safe and respectful
E   Explore consequences what could happen if.....
P   Pick the best solution make your plan

Spend Free Days
Some turtles have everything down to a fine art. They're in control of their budgets, on top of things and don't need to count spend free days. However they can help with awareness of spending, halting impulse buys - do you really want to lose a SFD for this one item? Can you substitute with something else - if you need a loaf of bread, could you use crackers or crispbread instead (something you already have in the cupboard), can you bake a loaf or a few buns? I buy wraps when they're on sale - last hour before they close shopping often yields piles of 10p wraps - then I freeze them (they can lie flat on the bottom of a freezer drawer without affecting your net freezer space).

When life gives you limes -rearrange the letters SMILE 

cuddlymarm

Good morning guys
Hugs and cuddles to those that need them.
Yesterday was quite a good day. It stopped drizzling enough for me to walk to work so that was one of my half hour walks done. So the £2.60 saved has been transferred into the saving account.
OH told me he needed deodorant after the deadline for the online shop so I picked one up on the way to work so today should be a NSD. The cupboards and fridge are full now, but I am keeping my stocks high. I’m cutting down on perishables that might go to waste. OH likes salad but I’m not keen so that will be only in the early part of the week after the delivery if this makes sense.
It’s raining at the moment but I’ve a couple of hours before I go to work so hopefully it will dry up so I can walk in. 

OH thought it was really funny that I bought a hot water bottle, but funnily enough the delivery man said he’d delivered a few. Well done us thinking ahead people 😀

Toni'sfriend

Morning Everyone.

Hope you are all well. It's a bit wet here north of the border today but it freshens up the garden. Got to find the positive!

Money - NSD No 3. I found a plastic tub full of pennies and two pences yesterday. Himself says they don't belong to him so they must be mine (?). I shall count them, put them in bags and see if the bank will put them into my account (if I can get to the top of the queue). Scottish Power have reduced my DD. A bit strange since everyone else is complaining about them increasing theirs. I've just submitted my monthly meter reading and I'm just over £100 in credit. I wonder if it has something to do with that. 

Home - I started giving the bathroom a real good clean yesterday but had to give up towards the end because my back was hurting. I'll get out the small ladders out today and finish the bits I couldn't reach and then it's just a question of keeping on top of it. It could do with redecorating but that can wait until all the other stuff is done. I threw out lots of old half used tubes and bottles of medicine. Out of date and no longer prescribed so really not needed. Need to buy some elastoplast, antiseptic wipes, etc next time I'm in HB.  This cleaning malarky is  definitely catching. When I came out of the shower yesterday Himself had hoovered the living room and mended a pot lid.

Me - Had a bit of a "spa" afternoon. It was so relaxing and I felt so much better afterwards. I must try to do this weekly. Wasn't so good with the diet yesterday. Roll and sausage for lunch and pork chops with mustard sauce for dinner. Delicious and used up a couple of things from the freezer.

Well. must go and get the duster out and get on with things.

Have a good day.

wishus

Very timely advice @mothernerd - I forgot to get chicken breasts out of the freezer for dinner tonight, which was either pasta or risotto with artichokes. Hubby wanted cheese with his burger last night, so that has all gone too. It's our last chance to eat the artichokes, and he wants some meat, so although I could easily do without or whip up an alternative I think I am going to have to bite the bullet with a quick shop in the way into work. 
Decided to count yesterday as an NSD after all, because the taxi to the dentist was a necessary work travel, and I just prebooked the taxi on the way there. I reasoned it might be a wait for the return journey, so I ran back and it only took 28 minutes, so was probably quicker (plus, exercise!!!). I have already put my claim in for the visit, and fingers crossed the deposit will come back next week and the rest the week after.

Feeling natty today for the office in a cute flowery dress, my green jacket and a battered trilby, plus a customized cardie. V. Pretty in..er, green?