NST August 2022: Lights, Camera, Action!

BadBookkeeper

Evening everyone, here’s my update for today.

- Spent an hour outside watching DS at footy training.  Nice to catch up with some school mums.

- Sold 3 camping chairs on Fb so that’s ££ into the birthday party pot.

- NSD today so that’s now 9/15.

- Grateful for: smooth transaction selling on Fb, DH putting fuel in my car as he wanted to use it and celebrity master chef on tv suitable for us all to watch together! 

Thrifty_Taylor

@ldee2111 ♥️ made my heart sing to read your last 2 posts. Hope DS had a fab first day

My good luck fairy must still be hovering above me! Just before work started, I received a phonecall (didn't recognise the number, so nearly didn't answer it!), it was the lady in Aberdeen who's organising all the tests for my potential kidney donation. She went through the process, including rough timescales, & wants me to go to get blood & tissue samples taken at our local hospital next week! It all seems to be moving very quickly now!! 
On my return home, I'd had a small win in the premium bonds, only my second win in 46 years 🤣 unpicked a coat zip before tea, with plans to see the new one in afterwards, but a friend messaged me about someone giving away blackberry bushes free. Contacted the lady & went to pick them up from the middle of the island - boy were they heavy!! Then had to rush to the furthest west point to pick up DS3. Did the ironing, then had a bath with my book.

Grateful for a good first day back at work with pupils, the phonecall, wins & freebies

Toni'sfriend

Well, miracles do happen! Himself has decided he "probably has too many clothes". At least twice as many as me is the reality. Result. I now have a carrier bag full of new, unworn socks. The ones still in packaging can goo to the charity shop and the lovely cousin's church will take the others for the homeless mission. I wasn't sure if they would take them but she says they are always delighted to get donations like that and if I come across any hats, gloves or scarves they'll take them as well. He has admitted some of his tops are only fit for the bin and now I'm trying to persuade him to relinquish the new, now too small ones for the Salvation Army. It's like winning the lottery!

Today I'm getting my hair done. I always feel energised and determined when my hair looks nice. A little bit of holiday shopping to do whilst I'm out on my own. 9.30 appointment so I'd better start getting myself organised.

Have a good day.

wishus

Forgive my absence Turtles. I've been ill for a few days after returning from my last travels. I got some work at a festival which was amazing - saw some of my all time favourite bands - but I think I caught the sun a bit, despite working inside a tent, and also I was on my feet so much I just got loads of aches in my legs and could barely move the last couple of days. 
I may have spent everything I earned, alas. But it was an experience!
Managed to score a 9th NSD though. 

grandmanerd

Yesterday was the last session on my Mindfulness course. Very good session, lots of interesting questions - 'What have I learnt?'. Be very very kind to myself, don't beat myself up (over things not yet done), I'm doing the best I can in difficult circumstances and with physical and mental health restrictions. If anyone else wants to complain about my slowness (interestingly anyone who's worked alongside of me thinks I am making excellent progress) can come and do some of the work themselves any time they want.

I have a number of tactics I'm going to implement to get more done (also have some ideas for helping me get through tough or boring but necessary jobs). The first tactic is 'adding on'. I'm going to keep using the 'body scan' and 'mindful movement' practices but I've added bits of 'movement' - still focusing on each individual body part but doing toe and finger wiggling (good for arthritis), ankle turns, shoulder shrugs, working out any 'kinks' and cramps, massaging my thigh. Basically paying attention and listening to how each body part is feeling but working on keeping the flexibility I have and dealing with any aches and pains as I notice them. So the 40 minutes practice does double duty as exercise, physical therapy and self-care (paying attention and taking time to rub cream into my feet or hands slowly and as a pleasure rather than a daily chore). Lots of links to further resources.

Adding on is working as a general tactic too. Took my library book back on my way to art therapy, went from there to check my bank balance (eek) and hunt for more antiseptic cream. My morning routine is a little bit more flexible, my shower is happening earlier as I keep persuading myself that it's easier to do it when I'm already in the bathroom (eg early morning teeth brushing prior to taking my pills) and I also wiped a really messy bit of the bathroom that was annoying me (have plans to do another tiny wipe over on each visit. I also washed my hair (with the new soothing shampoo bar) when I had an extra shower yesterday evening.

Best news of the day - the art therapy has proper funding and will continue indefinitely (was a short-term course of sessions) so they will think up more ongoing strategies working with us and as a group and we also thought of places to advertise to increase the group (low attendance yesterday but some people were on holiday and others had sent apologies). Yesterday's session was doing our own abstract pieces using samples as a jumping off point. Mine kept turning into 'definite' things. I tried to paint 'depression' and my mental health must be really good atm as it was quite cheerful.

Took time to rest and eat after getting home but then went outside again in the evening. More rain than the day before but not terribly heavy (comfortable to work in) and short of what we needed (it's wet the bits that I need to be dry but not given the plants the good soaking they need (still nothing in the bucket I put under the hole in the water butt.

the drain was really low but had obviously overflowed at some point (may be backing up from the fault outside again as our soil pipe isn't the problem) so dredged out all the gunge at the bottom (left it to dry out on the side). I put the bin out for collection, brought in the bed cover that had dried and ventured into next door. I lost my tree saw in there the day before. Found it again and lost it again later. Used my secateurs and the long hoe to break/ lop small branches.  Used a broken cardboard box as a stepping stone to get nearer the wall (side wall adjoining my garden) and got a lot of the ivy down/ away mainly using the hoe and another couple of intrusive side branches. Kept at it longer than was comfortable then retreated to sit on the 'gatepost' lump of the fallen wall (2' x 2'6" and 2/ 3 bricks deep). Most of what came down has been dragged (hoe again) back to the boundary and where possible thrown to the edge, ready for chopping.

Grateful for bees, art therapy, my mindfulness course (need to go through the workbook to keep it up), the CBT (will re-instate building up routine, pleasurable and necessary activities with an emphasis on nourishing activities rather than ones that diminish me), plodding, plodding, plodding, nibbling the elephants, being happy, getting my resilience back (been missing for nearly a year). Long-term turtles will know that my life tends to lurch between crises (frequently multiple ones) but my amazing dark sense of humour and other coping tools mean I soon bounce back.

Well I lost my bounce, everything has been very flat. I sought help - had a face to face doctor's appointment at which I outlined my mobility, depression and physical (ongoing 'bug' that left me totally wiped out), wrote out what I had been doing and asking if there was anything else I could be doing/ should not be doing. I also asked for the referral to CBT and after a group course, individual CBT  and mindfulness (plus the passage of time, changing circumstances, plodding, patience and lots of support) I'm much better. I can see that some large tasks are nearly done, I have ideas of how to proceed with others and tips and tricks to go forward.

I'm volunteering to run next month's thread unless anyone is keen to do it (I know we had one or two volunteers). I need to get various aspects of my life in order and you can come along with me. I keep remembering abundant  taking us on a wonderful winter cruise. Well this will be more like a trip on a canal boat with some meandering, little detours into the surrounding country parks and urban landscapes, admiring the dog-owners offerings hanging in the trees and of course, someone will fall in and rain will pelt down on the day we have a fun activity planned. But we'll survive.   

f0xh0les

Can I volunteer to fall overboard? Bet I could make a fab splash, and then could  pretend to be Godzilla rising from the waves to scale the narrowboat.

firsview

Evening Turtles. I have turned back into a normal functioning human being now the weather has cooled down a bit. I am really rubbish in the heat.
We hadn’t had a drop of rain for couple of months and this afternoon the heavens opened. Drain covers were lifted off by the force of the water which was spurting 5 foot in the air and I had to drive through several floods to collect OH from the station. I don’t know if any of you have seen the YouTube videos of Rufford Ford (very addictive) but it was just like that and several cars changed their minds before driving through the one at the bottom of our hill.
In other news I was confronted by a volcano of maggots coming out of the kitchen bin when I went into one of my customers on Monday morning, there were thousands of them. I am afraid I was a bit of a drama queen and there was a lot of squealing and retching. You are not telling me they were not there on Sunday evening, but unfortunately the agency carers are downright lazy and probably just thought it would be a lovely surprise for me.
DS2 still hasn’t found a job despite applying for loads, so no rent for me this month unless he can persuade DD to lend it to him. He has applied for his tax back though which should get him £650 so there is still hope I may get something. Had to panic buy some butter this morning so no NSD, but did remember to put nappies in the food bank trolley. Our local RSPCA have just set up an animal food bank so I will add that to my things to donate to.
Today I am grateful for rain, rain and rain!

grandmanerd

f0xh0les said:

Can I volunteer to fall overboard? Bet I could make a fab splash, and then could  pretend to be Godzilla rising from the waves to scale the narrowboat.

I reserve the right to say "Sheeee's fallen in the wahh-ter" in my Goons voice

ldee2111

Grateful for DS having a great first day at school, for OH and I having time for a cafe coffee before he went to the office, for neighbour’s generous £10 gift to DS which he spent on a book from Waterrocks after school, and for DS making me laugh when he announced “primary 2 tomorrow then!”. No son, you don’t move up a year every day. 🤣

f0xh0les

I see your goons' voice and raise you my Kenneth Williams as Godzilla  'Raaagh!''.

I think I have finally vanquished the conveyancing solicitor today.  Daftest of wenches.

Zapped £7.50 of books, so will send those off to the book people this weekend. Not much for 22 books, but they will be gone, and £7.50 is still made of money.

Got replacement seat covers for s/g's bath lift so will try and sell that on b00kface as well.

Slowly, slowly things are leaving the house.  I went round to an 'acquaintance' to do her a good turn, and it involved me going into her house to drop something off.  Her ground floor was floor to ceiling with cardboard boxes.  No wonder the woman is ill. Bare plaster walls where something has been fixed at some point in the past, and towers of boxes and furniture.  God knows what the top floor is like. I just wanted to get out of there, it is what I fear DH would live like if I did not keep moving things around and getting rid of stuff.   It properly scared me.     After work tomorrow I am going to rid the house of extraneous cardboard boxes. 

It was like coming face to face with  Scrooge's  Ghost of Christmas to Come   ((bang!!))