NST January 2023 Best Possible Me

f0xh0les

Definitely no 🗝️ until completion. What a ridiculous thing to ask for. Do they think you came down in the last shower? 🤔🤔. Good grief!! What kind of fool carpets a house they have not bought yet???  Sorry @grandmanerd but you are selling to idiots!! The solicitor is there to protect you from their nonsense. Keep your distance. Take their money and never think of them again. 
I am feeling militant as I have just been on the phone to the m-i-l who is up to something.  I am so glad I rescued poor DH from their nonsense.  Is it a full moon or something? 

DrCarrie

Hugs to all that are in need: Thrifty and grandmanerd ....glad you are feeling a bit more upbeat abundant. 

Another spend day and I am fast running out of money in the grocery pot. Got a fair bit of food though. Fingers crossed. 

Grateful for getting out into the sun and blue sky, getting some gnarly bits of work off my 'desk', for not buying wine at sainsbugs when I went to buy bin bags and laundry detergent!

Thrifty_Taylor

Was thinking I'd notched up another NSD, then remembered I'd transferred money for my niece's birthday tomorrow! Oh well...

Woke early & did the 2 exercise videos off yootoob. Took the washing off the airer & put it away, then rushed to get dressed, fed & lunch made, then take some things out to the shed before I left for work!
A good day at work, managed to nip a major meltdown in the bud, whilst teacher being assessed. Phew! Brought DS3 & G/F home with me. Unpicked a coat zip after tea, then sewed a new zip in. Took G/F home & did some Du0ling0. 
Feel like I've achieved some things today. No pupils in school tomorrow, but I still have to go in. DS3 in secondary school, so their teachers are striking Wed. He's looking forward to a day off. Was told today that we have 8 weeks summer holidays this year - yippee! Sure we only had 6 last year, so can get LOTS done 😃

Grateful for a sense of achievement, a good day at work, we still have a full moon looking pretty in the sky

Shrewbie

Morning turtles!

im still only on NSD 1 as I paid for my circuits class yesterday. 

it is day 5/90 of no social media and day 2/90 of no booze (not that I’m counting 😉) 

Yest the day started off so well (meditation, exercise and writing done) and then my throat became scratchy and I got some horrendous toothache that made my whole face ache. So work was difficult (did not complete a particular daily frog) and I missed my aerial hoop class. However the pain seems to have disappeared today so as someone else mentioned I suppose it may have been to do with lingering cold symptoms. Have made a dentist appt anyway.

grateful for no toothache, for today being a new day and a chance to improve. 

Have a wonderful day turtles 

thriftylass

Good morning, finally on the mend. Hope others like @grandmanerd are very soon too.

Very rainy today so might not leave the house unless for a walk if it dries up. Told the kids that we're not going to the trampoline place, although it's paid by a membership I would have to pay for a taxi at least one way and a bus the other which would come to nearly £20. Maybe go tomorrow or Thu when we have the car back. They know about the no spend challenge to make this year a better one.

Might also hold off booking flights in April just now. Days ago I saw cheap ones for £270 return for us 3 before I spoke to mum, now I can't see anything under £600. 

Started batch cooking this morning. I watched the batchlady's video about 10 mince based dishes in an hour. Snug some extra sad looking veggies and leftover pizza sauce from the fridge into the tomato sauce.

Will also do some DIY later, DS has this eaves hatch next to his bed that freaks him our a bit, so I'll remove everything in that eaves and seal it up.

ldee2111

Liked your Justin Case advice @grandmanerd. 

@BadBookkeeper I was returning books to the library yesterday and they had a pile of recipe books on display… going to get a few and hopefully find some decent new meals. 

@thriftylass we have a bookshelf filled with DVDs and CDs collecting dust. OH will not part with them which also drives me nuts. 

@Toni’sfriend OH likes to finish food / toiletries and leave me with the surprise of discovering it! 

Update 

We returned home from our holiday very late on Sunday night so Monday (yesterday) was a bit wishy washy…

Let DS sleep in and took him to school around 10am, OH and I returned to work. It wasn’t a productive day for me at all. 

Feeling lethargic, cold, and in a ‘can’t be R-s-d’ mood. Going to use this week to find my feet / get back into a routine, clear the washing pile from the holiday, and make a conscious start on this year’s plans next week. 

grandmanerd

Okay yesterday was a spend day. I spent about 3 hours on the phone talking to mum's cousin's daughter, then booked my hotel (> £200 but I'll have a king size bed to myself in a room with enough space to get round in a wheelchair and breakfast for 2 mornings included - didn't include dinner because I might have sandwiches/ salad box or nip out for a meal). Finally I ordered my return train ticket < £20 but paid £2 extra to have them posted out to me (my phone does not do apps and although I used to use the pick up at the station machines doing so with a suitcase, walker and other bags did not appeal), single was > £16 so return fare was preferable. The bus station and train station are in the same concourse.

I can check in at the hotel from 2 pm (train gets in at 1.50 pm and the hotel is nearby but will get a taxi from the station) and it's at the right end of town for getting to the deceased's home the following morning. I will be going in the family car. The vile toxic cousin will be in attendance but his lovely niece will also come. She's the next generation down but because of the age spread of mum's cousins, she's more of a contemporary - the eldest cousin's daughter got married when I was a child. She's talking about bringing her husband to act as bodyguard to keep her toxic uncle away from her, so we will form a tight little group around the chief mourner and her son (I've told her I'm going for her, not her mother) and ignore the sycophants, toxic people and vultures. In case anyone thinks I'm overstating how obnoxious some of these people can be, I mentioned the death to my brother and he wasn't at all impressed by mum's  cousin and thinks mum lost her awe of her big cousin in her later years.

I din't get round to buying the other items on my list (it was after midnight by the time I paid for my train tickets but I'd started long before - poor website design) but the only definite thing is more arch supports and that's medical. If I do a more extravagant purchase it with be the eco everything duvet cover I've been thinking about for several years as I can get a good reduction in the sale but I can live without for a while longer (I have many many bedcovers).

I need to go to the library and speak to the town hall staff (they're based there now, the Town Hall is now the Archives and museum) about mum's Council Tax but think the rain is enough to put me off. I still have bread buns and sandwich filler - I would normally add extra crunch to make it healthier but it will keep me going until I feel up to venturing downstairs. Will continue to whittle away at paperwork and gathering rubbish and recycling (+ pampering, lots and lots of pampering) and start drawing up lists of things I want to get done. I could happily use some of mum's excess cleaning products to spray bits of the house and leave it to work until I'm up to rubbing and scrubbing.

Grateful for non-toxic relations - some are a bit weird but we've all got more tolerant as we've aged, being able to distance myself from old situations and laugh at them (mother and son mutual admiration societies and the 'unloved' child, people who're still living with childhood grievances 60 years on), books and other distractions, brother slowly come round to a common sense point of view.

grandmanerd

Tuesday 10th January 2023

There's no need to be perfect to inspire others. Let people get inspired by how you deal with your imperfections.
(apologies if I've already shared this one, I know I saved it - but it feels very relevant to me - leading from the back, crawling on my hands and knees. Can we get the sedan chair bearers back apple?)

RESILIENCE
You never know when you are minutes away from a breakthrough. You never know when you are one project away from a promotion. You never know when you are one hour of studying away from passing an exam. You never know when you are one song away from landing the record deal...... That is why you keep going; that is why you keep trying. That is why when you fall down, you get back up. Because the truth is too  many people quit before even giving themselves a real chance. They stop because it isn't happening fast enough or how they thought it would work out.... My beautiful friend, remember that all good things take time. Be patient and your time will come too.
(Nikki Banas) (not sure how much I agree with this, a lot of us are just trying to stay upright - mothernerd/ grandmothernerd)

I like this one better
Don't Give Up
When you feel like all your energy is drained, rest.
When moments become more important than a detailed plan, enjoy them.
When your body changes with each season of life, listen to it, nourish it, respect it
When you start to question your worth, remember to be gentle with yourself
You are doing the best you can with what you have. Look how far you've come in the last 5 years, you are never starting over but instead relearning everything you've gained from experience. 
Keep going 

thriftylass

Thanks @grandmanerd. I like both. I need to learn to get back up after a fa(i)ll, see it as a blip rather than a reason to go: Oh f... it why bother, never gonna make it. At the same time I need to rest more, appreciate what I have achieved and be patient.

Got the bathroom decluttered and now back to rest. 

Toni'sfriend

NSD No 8

Refund for airline tickets arrived. I'm very impressed with the efficiency of the company concerned. It's been refunded to my credit card which I only use for buying tickets, etc so the account is now showing a credit balance. Don't quite know how to get it transferred to my savings account.

Had a bit of disturbing news today. Apparently a man has been prowling around in the night stealing things from our outside porches. My neighbour caught him on her door camera/phone thing at four o'clock yesterday morning rummaging through her boxes in which she keeps tools and the children's toys. It was only later that they realised three pairs of almost new trainers have disappeared over the past few weeks from the outside shoe rack. Unfortunately, by the time her husband got downstairs he'd gone. She also noticed from the footage that during the day delivery drivers were coming to her door but not ringing the bell. She's wondering if stolen parcels are being hidden on our porches to be collected during the night. Nobody recognises him. Not even our local postie who knows everybody, So I don't think he lives around here. It's a bit worrying.

I've been really tired today so I had a nap this afternoon. Feeling really washed out. I'll probably setttle down after this dreaded hospital appointment.

Poached eggs on toast for lunch and spicy sausage and bean casserole for dinner. We're doing quite well using up what we have. Still loads of sausage and salmon. Must look for some new recipes.