Five Year Fix, Five Year Plan

rtandon27

@Merlin's_Beard - the aligners definately make a difference for functionality! I'm doing the Sp@rks version to correct my bite. Due to seizures, my whole mouth moved badly over the course of a year and it's taking twice as long to move everything back. There was absolutely nothing like the feeling of joy the day I could bite into a slice of apple and chew it properly. Worth both the money and the discomfort!

Merlin's_Beard

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81894123#Comment_81894123

This is absolutely the sort of thing that I want to aim for - I definitely have a weird bite right now and it would be great if my upper and lower incisors actually met instead of me tearing at stuff.

Merlin's_Beard

Okay we're a couple of months into the year, let's do a little review:

Books owned that I haven't read: 271 (+15). Whoops.

Books read so far: 8 (pretty good!) Three of those are the murderbot books, which are more novellas, but I'll take it. Would definitely recommend them to anyone who likes sci fi. The Correspondent was also a highlight.

Please don't add those two numbers up to see how many books I've bought.

I read Blood Orange as well, which was written by Harriet off the Traitors and I thought it was dreadful but the rest of my book club loved it, so, don't take my opinion as gospel 😂

Crafts: still plugging away at the comically large thing, but it is very soothing to do something mindlessly and it's about all I'm up to right now.

Piano: I've been pretty good about this. I don't think I've had a week so far when I've dropped under 3x a week.

Dating? Hmm. I have been on dates. I wouldn't call them a success! The pickings are thin 😂 I'm probably going to put this on hold because I've booked the Invisalign scan to start that, and I can only see trying to combine the two to be annoying and fiddly (eating is supposedly a real faff on it with constantly brushing teeth and having to time things to keep them in as long as possible)

I am UNDER on my food budget! For the second month in a row.

The "ooh I fancied it budget" has been hit by £50 for a gig (in November), and £70 for a talk series on gothic fiction (2 hour sessions online weekly from next week for 6 weeks).

And a lot of 99p-£1.99 books. But it's not doing TOO terribly, and seeing the visible effects of pulling the Invisalign money out of my car fund was definitely a sobering moment.

Merlin's_Beard

oh, I suppose this goes under crafts as well (I guess?) - the writing sample and pitch I sent off got rejected for the anthology but it was successful enough to get onto their mailing list and have other opportunities with them. This is never going to be a side hustle - but it does feel good to have wedged my foot in the door just a little bit.

Doctors trip achieved for HRT - quite frustrating. Doctor pointing out that I am under 40 (thanks I'd noticed, but only by 10 months) that I'm already on combined hormone contraceptive (I know) so I shouldn't be perimenopausal (thanks but I am). I am getting a blood test though, to look for other issues (thyroid, diabetes, iron etc), and then we'll have a chat again. He was talking about antidepressants, so I'm not very hopeful of getting anything else.

Currently listening to Project Hail Mary on audiobook - not my normal way. Definitely worth it even if my attention wanders and I'm having to listen to a lot of chapters twice over.

Have also spent more money - have weaseled my way into the musicals subgroup of the board game group as well as the book club subgroup, so I'm off to see something with them.

KajiKita

Maybe suggest to the GP that you come off the pill and in a couple of months test your actual hormone levels …! These GPs that don't accept the patient’s lived experience and resort to antidepressants infuriate me!!

Well done for the writing - that’s a cheering and encouraging response 😊 Did they give you any constructive feedback on why your piece didn’t make the anthology? It might be a style thing rather than a quality of writing thing?

Oh and if you were ever to come here, you would be quietly astounded by quite how many books Mr KK and I have shoehorned into a fairly small house between us … 😉😂

KK

Merlin's_Beard

Thanks KK! The feedback was just that they had too many that they wanted to include and only had X spaces, but if I joined the mailing list that gave me the opportunity to try and sell it to them for their subscriber Patreon which is published monthly.

(Also going to get feedback on round 2 of a writing competition by the end of the month - I entered round 1 and promptly forgot about it, because I assumed there was no hope in hell, but after submitting round 2 there's a little voice asking what if I did make the final round??)

Listening to some podcasts by Dr Louise Newsom as well, in the hope that I can go into the blood test results better armed (and also, obviously, see what they say re thyroid etc)

The shed has been delivered!

They built it when I wasn't there, assured me that any problems I could just call, so obviously when I did call (they'd jammed it right into the corner so there was no way I could have done anything maintenance-wise), they tried to persuade me that I only needed to proof the two sides that weren't against the fence (hmm) so it didn't matter.

However, held my ground, and they popped out on Monday (when I was at work again) and shifted it a little. It's still not exactly where I'd want it, but it'll do and I can at least look after it. Have ordered a paintbrush and some proofing.

Definitely need to clean the house today - going to a talk with a friend tonight, and she's working about 10 minutes from my house so she's popping round for food first.

(Piano practice, not been going well. Exhausted from work at the minute)

KajiKita

Sorry for the slow response - didn't see that you had replied to me.

Crossing my fingers for the feedback on writing 2! 😊

Very well done on standing your ground (literally!) on the shed location - it's your garden and your shed, you want it where you want it - their opinion shouldn't come into it! .😉

Have you had any FB on the blood test results?

KK

rtandon27

@Merlin's_Beard - agree 100% with KK - the shed goes where you want it, not where they want it!

beanielou

Your shed to be where you want it & not them!

Merlin's_Beard

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81936830#Comment_81936830

Had my doctors appointment to talk through my blood results yesterday - got the registrar which meant a) he was running way behind and b) he was very thorough and by the book (my bloods were incredibly unexciting).

Current plan is: off hormonal bc for 12 weeks, then test my FSH levels, then test them 6 weeks later. That will let us know whether I am in very premature menopause (unlikely) or just perimenopausal (more likely). To a certain extent the difference is academic to me - the end result of both is hopefully I get to try HRT, but he thinks it's important to test. In the meantime I go onto venlafaxine to control the symptoms now they've taken my fake hormones away as long as I can tolerate it.

I did brave asking my mum about how old she was when symptoms started - "I was busy having primary school children I didn't have time to worry about me, and your grandma didn't believe in having problems". This is pretty much what I expected to be honest!

I did brave the outside (in the evening!) and go see Project Hail Mary at the cinema - I read the book this month, and so so good. Exactly my kind of thing, very human in a super satisfying way.