NST September 2022 Picture yourself on a boat on a canal

f0xh0les

I hadn't offered my darling @applemuncher , but I am up for it, so if you all want to go and fetch your wellies and stout walking boots in preparation to jump in some piles of leaves? I will go and prep something..... (scuttles off to have a look at previous October challenges and rob them blind).

Today I was upset by someone - I am not often 'upset' by anyone, annoyed sometimes,  but after a bit of a muttered rant  it is gone, out of my mouth and out of my head, but today was just woah!!  and it has stayed with me all day.  Grr!

Baked, washed up, fed people, washed up,  did loads of stupid admin, washed up, and dealt with my m-i-l three times on the phone. 48 toilet rolls is not a suitable birthday gift, it was not a suitable C-word gift last year, and as I have just bought 72 of the flippin' things this month it is not needed - I might build an igloo and go and hide from rude ingrates.

Blessings today: gingerbread bundt turned out fabulously, the Earl of Grey and his lovely tea blend, for keeping me company, for not getting out of my pjs until nearly lunchtime, and for the downstairs bathroom no longer smelling of coriander (dh is experimenting with his perfume oils) I hate the smell of coriander leaf.

 

BadBookkeeper

What a lovely autumnal day.

Heres my update:
Simplify - Sorted the footy boot basket put all goalie gloves and spare shin pads in a boot bag so looks much tidier.

Essential spends only - Nothing spent so NSD 12/15 I think.

Planning & Preparation - Weekly planner updated for week ahead.

Think about spending- nothing spent today.  Did get a scam text from Royal Mail asking for a fee to be paid which I nearly clicked on.  It was very convincing.  

Eat to nourish - Okish today.  Need to get more veg in my daily diet.

Mindfulness - Zoned out of real life & watched a movie this afternoon.  Nice to switch off.

Be kind - Did the ironing for the family, I only had four items of mine.  How very kind of me! 

Exercise- None for me but did get out doors to watch ds play footy.  His team won & he scored a goal so he was happy.

Report daily - Done ✅ 

f0xh0les

Oh!  Look!

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6389560/nst-october-2022-autumn-leaves-and-sloe-berries/p1?new=1

There might be a prize for the most creative / original use of a pine cone..... you'll have to come along and find out, to be sure......

Thrifty_Taylor

@f0xh0les 😍😍😍 don't have many pinecones on our island, but I'll be heading off to hospital in Scotland the week after next, so will look around the trees in their garden 😊

Get well soon @grandmanerd.

NSD#11
A very windy & wet day. Had a lie in, then sat at my sewing machine all day. I've made 2 more chickens, replaced a zip in a walking jumper, shortened a pair of trousers & repaired a hole in a jacket. Listened to a couple of green podcasts, watched some programmes I'd recorded & finished my book. Just had a bath & put on a face mask.

Grateful for hot water bottles easing my aching back, finished chickens & great stories to read

grandmanerd

Took a while to get various aching and 'not well' bits under control. Sleeping helped but not a lot done. I made a tiny start on the bathroom, removed two carrier bags full of plastic bottles from my room and dealt with my shopping - yoghurts and milk in the fridge (don't often buy milk but a couple of recipes need it, as do some of the packets mum used), 2 items into the freezer, bottles and cans still by the front door with bread and fruit left on top.

Lots of soft foods consumed, one pasta meal, last of the old yoghurts taken out and eaten. Doing quite well with 'use up' toiletries and cleaning products. My cleaning and re-sorting of the shoe holder (clear plastic pockets) has encouraged Beloved to use up some of them (I'm removing the emptied ones) although they are migrating back onto the bath edges. I even started using a lipstick yesterday. Don't know how old it is but my lips were feeling frayed at the edges, I've finished off the dregs in 3 small tins of lip salve and if I'm not going anywhere the lipstick and the shimmery pink (apparently it's 'pearly shine') lip salve may as well get used up. Ear drops, vaseline, vix, eye drops and a 'reviving' essential oil roller ball were deployed and the dregs of various sun creams and lotions will be finished off by the end of the week. 

Not sure what's happening today. It was wild and wet, so resolved to stay where I am for the time being (lots more sorting to be done and the bed is ready for remaking from scratch) but the wind has now dropped and the sky is brightening. I want to go to art class tomorrow so probably have a gentle pottering day - not struggling onto a bus when I could get soaked just walking from the bus stop in the infirmary grounds into the building (might suggest they install a covered walkway if they're going to keep increasing the distance they make pedestrians walk around the vehicles). Some people arrive in cars and taxis but lots of infirm people - with walkers, sticks and crutches - still arrive by bus.

Grateful for soup and rice pudding, tinned and frozen fruit, home deliveries, books, daft series (alternating Sister Boniface and now Miss Scarlett and the Duke with heavier stuff - re-watching Zen which I've only seen the once when it was originally shown on tv and some really heavy stuff which I'm doing in small doses). Lots of box sets of stuff I've seen a million times but comfy watching.

grandmanerd

Monday 26th September 2022

Monday Mindfulness
Mindfulness in one day (for beginners)
THINK BREATHING Breathe in, hold for 3 counts and exhale. Repeat 7 times
Mindful drink Kick start your body. Mix hot water, lemon and cayenne pepper. Taste it (careful with the cayenne)
DO ONE THING AT A TIME When eating, just eat. When checking e-mails, just check e-mails (twice a day rather than every 2 mins)
Notice your senses What are 2 things you can taste, touch, smell, hear right now
DEEP LISTENING Listen completely and contemplate your response
Mindful eating Turn off all distractions. Notice the textures, flavours and temperatures
MINDFUL WALKING Feel your feet connecting with the ground

Today
The boat needs to go back to it's mooring and you all need to think about making your way home. Remember the lessons you've learnt. Sometimes slowing down makes it easier to see your way forward, leads to greater productivity (think of all the fake business of being constantly tied to your phone) and sometimes it's SIMPLY necessary.

The 5 often forgotten Rs of Eco-Friendly Fashion
1     Reduce. Be mindful of consumption and waste. This ultimately means buying less and buying only what you need
2     Repair When a garment is damaged we need to ask ourselves: Can it be repaired? Can it be fixed? Can it be reused?
3     Recycle Donate items to a cs. Change it into another garment or pass it to one of the cs that reuse old clothes in new ways
4     Repurpose Instead of changing an item of clothing, make it into something new - a bag, patchwork, a memory bear
5     Reinvent Don't go shopping for an item to 'complete' an outfit. take a good long look at your existing clothes and find new interesting combinations. Eco friendly fashion is about more than buying 'eco' - it's about examining your relationship with the things you already have.

Okay it's Monday but who said Mondays have to suck? be a rebel and have a great day anyway.
One thing that irritates me about these quotes is the assumption that Mondays are dreadful, Tuesday (at least it's not Monday), Wednesday is hump day, Thursday and Friday are nearly weekend. So don't wait until the weekend, the holidays, next year - look at what's wrong with your life, work out what needs to change and if nothing can be changed, I'm afraid you need to change your attitude to the situation. 
It also assumes that everyone works a 5 day week and has weekends which isn't the case for many people, especially the most essential. Every day (week month, season,year, decade) is a new opportunity - to reset, make things different, start again (as often as it takes). We can do this. We all have times when we struggle, when we despair, when RL collapses on top of us but we will get through. We need our fellow turtles and we need our communities. Tough times are coming but we are tough too.  

ldee2111

Yesterday (Sunday) was NSD 10/15. 

Had a really good Sunday sweep because OH mainly worked from home last week. Split the savings between a mortgage OP and holiday savings:

• Food 7.83
• Transport 71.40
• Leisure 0

Cleared and cleaned out a kitchen cupboard. A couple of things have gone into the charity bag. Also put away my summer clothes and brought out the heavies for the colder weather.

Mum invited DS and I over for dinner but I said no because I was trying out the first of my gut health recipes - a noodle soup. Mum came to us. The recipe worked out really well - very tasty. Mum enjoyed it a lot too. And she doesn’t hold back when something isn’t to her taste. Once she told me ‘they are the worst cookies I’ve ever had’… ‘pet, don’t waste your time making them again’.🤣

Today (Monday ) I plan to clear and clean another cupboard or two, take DS to a park for a cycle and a play, and we both need a bath and our hair washed! 

Grateful for recipe working out, for a new recipe for the meal plan, and for working out how to set the heating coming on.

grandmanerd

A meal planning reality check
Monday     HM macaroni and cheese, stuffed meatballs and cinnamon roasted butternut squash
Tuesday    Pan fried fish with prosciutto-wrapped asparagus and pine nut couscous
Wednesday  Stuffed meatballs with ...........LEFTOVERS
Thursday   Dry cereal or whatever
Friday        The tears of our forefathers
Saturday    THE KITCHEN IS CLOSED. I hate everybody.
(Modern Mummy Madness. com

apple_muncher

I didn't know you could stuff meatballs...!!!!!

Shrewbie

Hi turtles!!
thanks for your thoughts on Mondays gmanerd, I have always wondered if the mere fact of it being called Monday makes it a worse day than the rest... can’t we just give it another name. Haha

I survived the weekend’s activities with my best friend. I drank but I didn’t go overboard. Even so, my mood is noticeably lower today and I am coming to the (very slow) realisation that it is just not worth it for me anymore. 

grateful for forcing myself to attend gym class and do splits challenge today, for feeling more motivated this afternoon and for the turtles keeping me focused.