Prosperous soul, mortgage neutrality & creativity Year 2

savingholmes

LadyWithAPlan said:

SandyShores said:

Moving home is definitely exhausting and stressful, you are doing really well.  My advice would be to take the easy route where you can - some things might sell for a bit less or cost a bit more but if it eases the burden on you it’s worth it.

Very wise 

sounds like you are trying to live life at normal speed even though you have dumped a huge time and energy drain - a house move - into your life - are there areas you can cut back ? 

I know you decluttered a lot so hopefully that’s helping 

maybe get a hello fresh box for a couple weeks - expensive but if you can get a deal then it’s new tasty recipes without much effort - maybe Black Friday will come up with some deals to try ? 

Thanks LWAP - I slept better last night as I only took 25% of the recommended med. No idea how tonight will go as I took 75%. I've asked them to prioritise me when the original med comes back in stock but they are resisting.

I think I have slowed my life recently. I go physically into work as a last resort but try to maintain a full time job - which I manage by dint of flexi time, WFH. disability adjustments, an understanding boss, buying and taking extra annual leave. I have taken quite a lot of time off recently - delayed annual leave - as my job was too busy to allow me to take it in the summer. I am due to be off at Xmas for 4 working days plus 3 bank holidays - I don't really want to book more until I have a moving date. I can book up to another 14 days before Easter but there may be an option to carry some forward and given I paid extra for 10 of them - I don't want to 'waste' them - and am saving some for around my move. 

Most of what I buy I get delivered - but I try to make myself go out to the shops occasionally in their quieter periods - so I don't become a shut in. However, I over-bought last week which puts me off in person trips. Other than moving related trips I've stayed very close to home recently. I've struggled to even make myself go to a beautiful local park.  Some of my pub trips (mostly alone) are for a change of location and the tiny sliver of social I can cope with and part for the food and (soft) drink. If I don't wear headphones the noise is overwhelming - even if they offer to turn down background music.

I have a cleaner and a counsellor - partly to meet my social needs as well as any practical help. I am going to a weekly art class to make myself leave the house and to be with similar arty people. I find the class therapeutic - 'playing alongside rather than with' is a very ASD thing to do. Art is one of my main fixations currently.  After I engage socially (work meetings or outside work) particularly in a group setting I need a lot of recovery time. It's hard to explain to someone who doesn't have that need. I read recently a fictional story of a girl with ASD and she explained she can only usually cope with one friend at a time - that makes a lot of sense to me. I only occasional see friends or wider family.

I've asked my cleaner to do more packing (and decluttering) from next week onwards so there is less for me to do in the run up to and after my move. She was blown away by my recent attempts to capture my son in a portrait and was really encouraging. I plan to make a mini inst reel of the various attempts and work in progress elements at some point and create a large card for his birthday with the different versions. I also want to do something similar for my DD and then possibly try and paint my parent's wedding photo. Stretching myself currently and trying out different art techniques brings me a lot of joy regardless of whether it goes to plan.

Definitely over-shared above - but I find journalling online and in a book - a useful way of managing my mood - and recognising any deterioration!!

skint_spice

The portraits sound lovely, hopefully a good distraction from all the house moving.

beanielou

Portraits sound just fab.

lucielle

Enjoy your art. 

L

jwil

Your art sounds lovely, and great ideas for gifts.

Sorry everything is overwhelming, and frustrating about the survey.  Hope things ease soon, and you can continue with your self care whilst everything is so hectic.

Blackcats

Glad that you are enjoying your art in the midst of a busy, busy time.
I think @LadyWithAPlan makes a great suggestion about Hello fresh or gousto - they are expensive but once you've chosen the recipe you won't need to shop for ingredients and they are easy to cook and tasty.  There are always discount codes but remember to cancel any subscription (unlike me).

Merlin's_Beard

Thirding the foodbox suggestions. One of the things I struggle with when I'm overwhelmed is the meal planning and deciding what to eat and what I've got in and what I need, even if I'm getting delivery.

HF/Gusto/Mind Chef etc are just one less decision to make - three clicks to pick meals and it's done and I don't think about it again, even if what it gives me time to do is stare at a wall and reset my brain.

savingholmes

Thanks Skint, Jwil, Beanie, Blackcats, Merlin and Lucielle

I wrote this this morning but forgot to post! I didn't get to sleep until gone 3 am - and everything today has been a rush. 

I rang the mortgage survey company yesterday - and they confirmed that the mid range survey will give me what I need - so I've gone for that and requested the £197 refund which I should get in 2 weeks. They checked the house photos of what I was buying and their area manager confirmed it would be fine so I feel more comfortable. I got paid and DD has repaid the £200 she borrowed so double win. 

I've been sent a blood test invite by the GP so need to arrange to go for that - and still need a GP review too. Need to fit that in before any move as that will be a whole load more life admin to do following the move! Next week I need to order my repeat prescriptions - just writing it here as a reminder as it is so easy to forget.

Really happy with DS's portrait now. Technically his hair is the wrong colour - but I don't know if I will fix that or not. On the art it looks reasonably true to the right colour - a kind of dirty blonde - but on the photo of the art it's come out more ginger. He has natural highlights which I feel I've captured well. The skin variation is looking more natural after last night's efforts. Excited at the possibilities. I've found a photo of DD I plan to use and hope to use similar colours in the background and clothing but potentially reversed so that they will look good side by side.

So - tonight - enjoyed counsellor and art class although everything was a rush. I nipped to Mr M and got some fresh baked bread, a YS salad bowl and some cheese and nibbles for tea and a smoothie. I also bought myself a lemon cream muffin as a treat which I'm about to enjoy. 

While I can see the food boxes work for some people I can't imagine them working for me. If I make a meal I try to make multiple portions as it was hard enough to make myself cook the first time. I also tend to get fixated on a particular taste so its better for me if there is more than one portion if it's a ready meal too - but if I hate it I wouldn't want to have bought multiples. I also don't like the loss of control with the boxes or the apparent low value for £. If I was paying extra - I would rather buy something predictable from MnS and I think my takeaway from your comments - is that I need to be less hard on myself if I use the MnS type route.

I've arranged to meet DD and her BF this weekend. She's going to take her old bed to her new place and we're going out for a carvery and I see her new place. So that will be another job done. Finally got around to putting batteries in the garage door sensor so the infernal beeping has stopped. Had to manually open it though as I'd left it too long. Working again now though. I also rescued my bin from a neighbour - she'd taken it in for me after it blew over in the wind.

Today's art class was playing with charcoal to make silver birch trees against a fuzzy background - and using bread to mop up stray charcoal and hairspray to fix the image in place. Good fun.

TallGirl

Great to hear you are getting things resolved on the house moving front plus having time to enjoy yourself and spend time with the family. Sounds like a really good mix hope you can keep it going. 

lucielle

The art sounds like it was good fun.  I'm not really arty clarty so admire anyone who can create marvellous things.  
L