NST OCTOBER 2022: Autumn Leaves and Sloe Berries

hazeldreams

Morning!

@Thrifty_Taylor hope the hospital trip goes well.
@f0xh0les sorry to hear about your loss, but congrats on paying off your mortgage so young!

Outside I must break the wfh day up with a walk outside today. Planned this in for 11.00. Managed a 5 min walk in between overrun meetings

Inside Cleared out drawers under the bed which were full of old duvet covers that we never use. I'm thinking of using them to make draft excluders, but I haven't got a clue where to start. Can anyone point me to a "how to"?

Fun nope. Starting to notice a pattern here.....

Food/Drink Still AF but failed on the sugar front. Work is such a big trigger as its so blooming stressful. I'm in the office today as well, so no doubt my BP will be even higher.

Read Not yesterday, but will listen to Mo Gawdat on way into work this morning.

Plan 4 Dec still can't think about this yet...

Gratitudes DD1 comforting DD2 who is worrying about a maths exam today, cuddles with pooch, yoga and meditation

Yoga/Meditation Did my own yoga routine this morning as my back, neck and shoulders are in bits again. I'm sure its stress related. I'm glad I did my own routine though, as I was able to incorporate all of the moves/poses that I know work when I'm in pain and I feel so much better and less knotty for doing it. Also did my own meditation without any guidance from Adrienne or you tube. The need to be my authentic self and follow my true north came up - made me realise how pulled in a million different directions I am sometimes - I need to remember, I'll never please everyone!

Spending Still on NSD 1/10.

Hope everyone has a lovely day

Hazel x

Shrewbie

Congrats f0xh0les!!! 

Toni'sfriend

Great news, F0xh0les.

Yesterday was a quiet day. I spent most of it reading and watching a detective series on TV. Used up more bits and bobs from the fridge and freezer for lunch and dinner.

Today? Well, I don't know. Himself is still in bed. It's very windy and according to the weather thingy on my laptop there's rain coming soon. Might not be the best idea to try for a walk. 

On the plus side I've just realized that I've chalked up 2 NSDs. 

Just before sunset last night there were hundreds (literally hundreds) of ducks flying overhead, It's quite a sight when the only ones you're used to are the two that swim in the local pond.

so. Coffee time, I think. Have a lovely day.

Wanna_Bee_Free

CMD79 said:

I've been looking at soup recipes this afternoon, so the carrots that I usually end up with buying then most going in the bin, are definitely getting eaten in October! I really like carrots, and I really like carrot soup, so why this is a new thing, I have no idea!

F0xh0les, sorry for the reason but it must be so good to be mortgage free! CMD79 I think adding a tablespoon of powdered ginger to an onion, carrots and veggie stock is really tasty if you have some.

Outdoors: walked back via the park, taking time to sit on a bench in the sun too.
Indoors: Found my w@rmie sheep. Started a CS bag with one item in it so far.
Fun: Park and 0nly C0nnect!
Read: Inspired by F0xh0les thread I finished the novel I've been half heartedly reading for months. Now I can choose another from the shelves at home.
PforD: Nothing yesterday
Gratitudes: Being seen quickly at the hospital yesterday when doctor unexpectedly sent me, OH offering to come which made it a lot easier and he suggested the longer walk back. Tasty dinner even though it was just using up the freezer before we move. Extremely filling goulash soup - we only ate Sunday's dinner yesterday as too full from soup.

grandmanerd

Congratulations from me too f0xh0les.

Yesterday I went to the surgery on the little bus (anybus all day fare is down to £5 now) and then onto Morries for a top up shop). It was all done in stages, nearly a half hour wait for each bus (ie just missed the previous one) but had my current book with me, so no hardship to sit and read in the pleasant weather. I had soup and a roll at the infirmary, I was hungry and thought going round the SM in another hour (even more hungry) was a bad idea.

No excessive purchases - drinks, salad bar, a sandwich meal deal (so I didn't need to slurp from a large bottle whilst waiting for the bus home), ys shelf was mainly meat based and only slight reductions but I did buy soft fruit, salads with veggie proteins (trying to figure out how to put it together myself) and own brand yoghurts. One luxury item - a new book by a newer favourite author for £4.50. I've read a few from the library and have started to pick them up in cs as it's the sort of thing I can read over and over again.

3 bags on the walker but fairly easy journey home then put the yoghurts away in the fridge and brought some food upstairs. Tired and weary (but very satisfied with what I'd done - it was one of the main tasks for this week and can relax more now) fell asleep at 9 pm but was awake in the we small hours.

Still hoping to get to art class today but will see how I go. Oh and I managed lots of exercises (concentrated on my ankles) whilst sitting on the bus and picked up a leaflet from the specialist weight management service I've used before - I'd prefer it if they have on-line stuff but will definitely go in January if not before. Lovely people and the exercises all have easier sit down options. I've saved some u tube ones and am trying for more exercise each day but it's patchy atm (new habit). Will also try to do a home delivery with a cheap slot for later in the week - can tweak my order nearer the time.

Grateful for getting things done, ankle exercises (need to strap the left one up), gripping books, easy read books, good easy food (also doing well using mum's tin stock and other use ups - might do frozen berries in sugar free jelly this week).

f0xh0les

Thank you for all your lovely messages.  I feel bizarrely calm now I have decided to do it.

Scrabbled together odds and sods from the freezer this morning, so each school kid has a different pasty in their lunchbox, I did not tell them, SURPRISE!!! It has removed 3 lonely items floating around in there, annoying me, I will open a box of sausage rolls for them tomorrow.

Did the meter readings - so that is done. Currently just over £600 in credit, will request a refund of some credit once this month's bill has been generated. I would rather I owed them, than they owed me, just in case they go bust...... (pouff!!) 3 x the dd is not an acceptable credit to me.

There is a bumper crop of conkers this year, I give one of the other volunteers a lift home once a week, and we pulled onto the car park to drop him off and it was literally carpeted in conkers on Monday, so I now have a bowl full in the back of my car and my kids think I have gone bonkers.  Teenage boys are not excited by conkers apparently - but conkers are supposed to deter spiders, and my boys are all terrified of spiders, so might manage to smuggle them into their bedrooms as  'ambient octopod deterrents' ....   spiders also do not like the smell of mint.  I am obviously not a spider (it is official). 

Used up the dregs of the bottle of weedkiller, brought across the sea from s/g's house clearance, on the front bricks - It is dry here this morning and all the flowers have died back on the dandelions  so nothing to attract the bees. I will not buy weedkiller, I use vinegar and dishsoap twice a year, but I am on my 'using things up and recycling the bottles' mission.  It also gets the jobs off the list. 

Going to soak some marrowfat peas, half for German pea soup with (not)bacon lardons /hotdogs, and half for mushy peas and homemade chips.  It is not gourmet, but it is Autumn food, and costs pennies - cook once, eat twice.  

Oh, and if you are not on the electoral roll, please get on it. It is good for your credit rating, if nothing else.

firsview

Afternoon Turtles. Thought I had better post before I get too tired!
NSD1 today, all bills paid and savings shunted into premium bonds ( stops me being tempted as it is a bit more of a faff to get at)
I have tested my heating for half an hour and a couple of rads need bleeding, but the aim is always as near to the end of October as possible.
Still sitting in the garden drinking tea most days. Next year I think I will get a gazebo so I can go out even when it rains. 

I have foraged conkers if that counts for my 99yo blind customer who uses them to deter spiders. We don’t have anything exciting like a community orchard around here and all of the blackberries have already been picked by our elderly Nepalese community who are obviously far more enterprising than us Brits are!
Have made lists and started my C word shopping. I have told the children that there won’t be as much this year as I feel it was starting to get a bit out of hand in previous years. Their only concern was that they would still get a stocking each as apparently that is the best bit!
Have been trying to find cheaper ways to cook and use the hob as much as possible rather than the oven.Casseroles seem to work just as well if there is enough liquid in them and seems to be cheaper than using the slow cooker according to my smart meter. Discovered that DS1 was leaving his tv all day and night with rain noises on to help him sleep which was costing us about £2 a day so have put a stop to that!
Congrats on being (almost) mortgage free f0xh0les. It is a bit of a double edged sword, having to lose someone close to achieve it. When FIL died it enabled us to buy a house after dropping off the housing ladder for 10 years as we couldn’t find a big enough house in our price range so rented instead and sometimes in the excitement you had to stop to remember the reason we were able to do so. When my elderly father dies I will comfortably be able to pay the mortgage off and have a considerable sum left over but at the end of the day I would rather have my Dad.
Today I am grateful for getting some washing dry before the rain started, a relatively easy dinner that doesn’t involve hours in the kitchen and a visit to my Dad.

Shrewbie

Hey turtles, reporting NSD 1 finally...
all meals from stores yest and today. Meditation done and some cardio done in the gym. No morning pages. Have also been reading before bed if only for 30min or so.
tomorrow I will make sure I leave the building at lunchtime and write the morning pages. 

Grateful for a stressful project at work finishing today, for not messing anything up too badly on said project and for having things to look forward to. 

CMD79

Hi All,

I've had a weird day. My daughter had a little bit of an upset tummy this morning, so didn't go to school. But the moment 9 o'clock came and I started work, she was almost back to normal! 

@hazeldreams I saw this cute idea on YouTube for the draught excluder! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZYnwmmuGIU You could probably tweak it if you preferred cats or bunnies etc! They are very easy to make anyway. I also want to make, following a similar pattern, a drawstring bag to stuff my soft plastic recycling in. We can't put it into our recycling bin, so it goes in the general waste, Co-Op have a recycling for this sort of stuff, which I would like to start using.

Thanks for the tip @Wanna_Bee_Free ! Sounds a simple enough recipe, so I'll give that a go.

The Ukrainian family we have staying leave us this week. Today, she has washed and tumble dried 5 loads of washing, which has slightly gotten annoying because it has been a lovely day again out there! So, I'm trying hard to resist looking at the smart meter to avoid any further annoyance!   

Enjoy a snuggled up evening everyone! 

xx

f0xh0les

I am considering it a gift of security from the beyond @firsview . 

The weather forecast for the next few days is very patchy with most of us seeing rain at some point and many of us seeing quite a lot.  My laundry is going to have to do The Hokey Cokey, so only the essentials will be washed until it gets better toward the weekend.

It was dark enough to put The Big Light on at 5pm tonight, the kitchen was too dark to cook in without it.  Scratched together enough bits and bobs from the freezer to put on a tray to have with a massive salad and fried potatoes for 6 people.   Nobody complained, so I claim success!   Annoyingly when I was putting everything away I found 2 boxes of surprise sausages DH had put somewhere ridiculous (under a large tub of ice cream),   Descaled the coffee maker and the kettle this afternoon and all the drinks taste better already.  Tomorrow's lunch and  supper is planned, and everything is in the house to feed people, so unless I choose to, I do not need to go into a shop tomorrow. It is nice to be able to have the choice, and to be in control of this.

On NSD2, we have only put the heating on once this month -  mostly to cheer DH up, the house is 85% clean and tidy, and the rest will get done tomorrow.  Coughing kids have all been paracetamoled up and had hot baths and are in their fluffy pyjamas and dressing gowns.  8 school days until half term - not that I am counting ( .... okay...I am counting) and I have 2 days work in The Pulsating Metropolis of Oldham to break up their week's holiday.  Northern £'s !!!