MeandO's money-shuffling

Mrs_Money_Penny

Glad your Son is feeling happier with things. Pleased your having a good day. Stay warm and safe inside and eat cake! x

Honeysucklelou2

Catching up with diaries…I’m so sorry to read that you have been through a tough time. Parenting teenagers is interesting and no two are the same!

My youngest DD had a challenging phase…she went to stay with her dad for 5 weeks in the summer holidays a couple of years ago ( from seeing him hardly at all). I had to go with it despite the anxiety of knowing he would just go to bed and not check on her so she would sneak out. She came back after those few weeks and only this year explained that she went there because she wanted to be noticed/accepted/validation from her dad. She was 6 when her dad and I split up and now she has sporadic contact.

I think sometimes teenagers don’t always know how to articulate the feelings that they have inside, if that makes sense.

Sending a virtual hug. I hope the rest of the weekend and half term go smoothly. Does your DS have mocks coming up? Is he feeling stressed from that?

MeandO

Thank you @debtfreewannabe321, @Mrs_Money_Penny and @Honeysucklelou2. xx

I did indeed stay warm, stay inside and ate too much!

I don't know how to do the quote single lines thingy @Honeysucklelou2 , but this bit of your post (below) hits the nail on the head, I think.

I think sometimes teenagers don’t always know how to articulate the feelings that they have inside, if that makes sense.

In hindsight, I think this is largely the problem with DS at the moment and it's all just coming out 'wrong.' He is back again today and is, so far, happy, although I know there were altercations with his father last night over something, but I don't think the ex reacted well and it blew up. 😖 However, today is a new day…

I went to be before 9pm last night and slept for nearly 9 hours! I must have really needed it. I feel better for it, although would love another 9 hours sleep tonight!

I made the pumpkin pie yesterday, although used a big butternut squash I already had in instead of buying a pumpkin. It was lovely, despite burning the edge of the pastry a little, but I have a feeling I will be eating most of it myself as DS won't try it and OH was not that fussed. I will send some over to OH's parents just to save myself some calories…
I also made a crumble with some of the blackberries in the freezer. That hasn't been touched yet, and DS won't go near a crumble, so the whole thing may end up at OH's parents as I can't fit the big dish in the freezer.
It won't be wasted, anyway.

Two loads of washing, two dishwasher loads (1 after baking) and a hoover through the whole has were all fitted in between 11am-4pm yesterday to take advantage of the 1/2 price electricity period. I did myself in with the hoovering though and lifting it up and down the stairs (Henry's not the lightest!) and was in a lot of pain for the rest of the day afterwards. I thought about getting an upstairs hoover but upstairs is so small in this house that there is nowhere to put it. Most of the washing dried on the line with the remaining damp bits drying overnight on the airer. I had to peg everything down a lot more than normal as it was so windy, but at least it dried outside.

A bit of money was spent in &sda on some essential only shopping (around £11), and £6 ish in HB on some cling film, baking paper, a few household bits and some unessential chocolate. 😚 I won £2 on the little app competition &sda are currently running, so that has gone in the Christmas savings pot.

I wrapped some birthday gifts to take 'home' with me this week, saving on postage. There are 3 family birthdays in November, I just need to pick up some small bits for two of them.

I've paid £50 off the CC this morning and am waiting for holiday refunds to hit before I know how much I can pay down the 'debt' balance. Now I just need to keep spends to a minimum as things will be tight this month and possibly event tighter next month. :(

MeandO

Gosh, I’m so tired this evening. If I was home alone tonight I’d gladly go to bed now, just after 7pm. I’m absolutely exhausted.

Today was ok. A couple of ‘count to 10’ moments, but compared to last week, pretty good. I got a lot done at work, not so much at home, but not much needed doing today. I have cooked a big pan of food for DS, some of which will portion up for the freezer later.

I briefly went to the local out of town shopping place earlier to take a coat back I bought for DS which didn’t fit. Whilst there I picked up a few things he was short of as I recently found almost £60 in ‘one and all’ type vouchers he was given almost two years ago which were forgotten about. I checked them online and they were due to expire in a few days so it was lucky I found them when I did. DS wasn’t over enamoured about going shopping to spend them (he hates shopping), so I picked what I thought was needed and would be approved of! Three out of four of the items fit ok and got the thumbs up, one needs to be returned but at least there’ll be no rush on using the voucher we will be refunded.

Not much else to report today. Need to get some meat out for DS’s tea tomorrow, probably something chickeny.

Oh, I have a blood test tomorrow to check folates & B12, will be interested to see what that shows as was previously low on B12 which could account for some symptoms.

Hope you all had a pleasant enough day. Much love x

Mrs_Money_Penny

Glad your day was better. Miserable weather here. It did stop raining this afternoon. Feeling the cold here and trying not to put the heating on.

Have a nice few days away xx

MeandO

Oh it was the same here @Mrs_Money_Penny - rain ALL day. This morning has brought blue sky and is windy, so it's the perfect washing drying day. You know what I'll be doing today!

I'm afraid I've caved with the heating. 😒 It's been on quite a bit in the evenings and was on a low temp for most of the day yesterday as DS is home and the house felt so chilly. I only tend to have it set at around 18-19 though which takes the chill off the rooms and seems to be high enough. I dread to think what the bill will be though. :(

I was glad to get to bed last night. My watch says I had another nearly 9 hours of sleep, I just wish someone would let my body know! 😂 I'm just having the first coffee of the day and will get some greek yogurt & fruit when I'm hungry later.

DS was ok yesterday. There were moments of difficult attitude but nothing terrible. I'm trying to understand why he is reacting the way he is. I think yesterday's blip was him feeling real disappointment about something he was really excited about which didn't live up to expectations and he reacted at me when I spoke to him. Once he'd got over it and dealt with those emotions he was ok again. The key does seem to be giving him lots of space. I know I'm one for trying to make things better for people and I know it stems from having a very poorly parent throughout my childhood and 4 year old me trying to make people happier. I've been at fault for stepping in with DS and trying to fix things. I accept now that I can't fix everything and he has to deal with those emotions himself at times. It's hard though. It's only done through so much love but I can see it doesn't help.
He's not surfaced yet this morning but I can hear him singing to music so he's happy for now!

So today I have a blood test and afterwards will nip to &sda to pick up (more) yogurts, milk and eggs, possibly some more fruit. I need to collect medication from the chemist nearby too.
This afternoon/evening I'm hoping DS will come to the shopping place with me as we need to change some sports items I bought for him last week and I want him to choose the 'right' ones. If not, I will go myself and he'll have to live with what he gets!

debtfreewannabe321

I used to make my DS protein balls. Perhaps these might be an idea for your son?

I used a pack of dates blended up with a small amount of protein powder, tiny amount of cacao (just because I had it doesn't actually need it) orange oil (1-2 drops again because I had it) and I used a tiny amount of water too because I'd added powder, rolled into balls and covered in dessicated coconut by dipping into them. And then putting in the fridge to keep. Everyone here likes them and I'll make them every now and then for fridge snacks. They're filling and they're sweet too if you've a sweet tooth. They don't cost a lot because at the most basic all you need is dates and coconut.

Hope the blood test goes well ❤️‍🩹.

MeandO

Ooh that's a great idea, DFW321, thank you! I shall try him on those. I just won't tell him what's in them, otherwise he won't try them. 🙄

My optimism about a good drying day was short lived. Five minutes after my last post the blue sky turned grey and it's now monsoon-like! 🙄

MeandO

And it's blue sky and sunshine again! Honestly, this weather swings like a teenager's mood…

MeandO

£16.82 spent on yogurts, milk, eggs, fruit and 2 for £2 cookies for DS. Gosh that sounds an awful lot for not much. 😕 No app win today, but I can't complain as I've had £7 back from it this month. I need to spend another £3 odd in the next four days to get another £4 in the savings pot. I should have kept a tally of what I was buying today but didn't want to buy anything that wasn't on the list. I'll easily spend that within the next few days though. 🤨

The washing is on the airer by the patio doors in the kitchen, hopefully getting some sun when it comes out. I'll pop it in the utility room and put the dehumidifier on later when the chance of any sun has all but gone.