NST April 2023: April adventurising

f0xh0les

Okay, here we go.....

A is for Adventurising.

Taking all the family to visit DH's relatives for Easter.  Going on the day ferry, so I can pretend I am on a cruise ship.  Two weeks off school, and apparently I live within an hour's travel of the largest second hand book repository in the Midlands (it is a farm full of books!).  Will get on with exploring the area - I admit I have been shockingly awful at this for the last 7 years - it is not this city's fault it is not Sheffield, or Manchester, or Northern, or anywhere near the seaside, I need to forgive it and see if it actually has any merits whatsoever apart from being 57 minutes from London every hour.

P.  Have knickers, will travel;  should be my motto in Latin iter c.u.m knickers in   sounds very dodgy though .All dates are in the diary, but they are mostly dull things, - kids' school meetings, or volunteering, no work this month.  But ... I do have a bank switch bonus of £200 paying out mid month, and then the next switch should only take 7 days for another £200.  That is my ambient income minimum goal for the month.

R is for Rejoice! So many things to be thankful for. I will try and remember that. 

I is for Ice Cream. Treats will be in the form of berries and fruits. Going to shift weight this month. I am not baking anything!!  Also I have an enormous pile of absolute tat books to read!

L is for Live your life. Architect should do the drawings this month, so I will know what I am going to do in the house.

Shrewbie

A is for Adventurising. 

I am staying in Madrid for April (apart from trip to Seville right at the end) but i want to look at new places to explore here as I get stuck doing the same things and going to the same places.. so I am definitely up for finding my adventurous spirit!! I will also take myself on lunchtime walks to new places which I’ve been wanting to do but can’t seem to get into the habit of.  Avoid unnecessary spends - absolutely!!!

P is for Pack your bag. 

I don’t have too much in the diary, only one birthday to plan for, so I need to research some fun and cheap (free) things to do and pop them in there. Bf and I have agreed that we will have a frugal few weeks until we go to Seville. 

R is for Rejoice! Get outside and enjoy nature, be grateful for what you have and tell us three gratitudes every day.

Will do! I will aim to get outside for lunch every day, write my gratitudes and mean them!!

 And Reduce – your wants, your needs, your stuff. 

Absolutely. Will be doing a spring clean and aiming to sell more bits and pieces. I need no new clothes (although I have a list of nice-to-haves that I will pick up from second hand shops as and when I see them.  I’ll also do some mending of clothes I already have

Also, Remember those who are struggling

I will remember this. I will also try to do better at nurturing my friendships both here and at a distance. I find this really hard to do for some reason. 

I is for Ice Cream. Plan your treats and savour them.

I definitely need to get better at this. Instead of buying cheap snacks I am trying to be more mindful and buy less but good quality, or make my own (and sticking to my meal plans) a highlight of my week is going for a cheap but nice breakfast with bf and I need to remember that this is a treat and we can’t do it so often that it becomes the norm (even though it is cheap)

L is for Live your life. What do you want your life to look like? Have a ponder and commit to taking some steps towards it this month. Invest your time, money and energy in the things that really matter to you.

I want to be able to travel more. I will save my money for this and towards a future home which I hope will be a place my friends and family want to come visit. I want to put my energy into my friends and family and into my writing. I will start the 100 day challenge again from today with my Spanish and writing practice. 

NSDs = 16 yes! I can do this!!!

Grateful for seeing a heron, a woodpecker and loads of easter bunnies in the park this morning, for feeling refreshed after a siesta, for having enough and being satisfied with that. 

lcc86

Adventurising. Have a few things planned, including tickets to the new Natural History Museum exhibition and a half-day yoga retreat later in the month. I have 12 days off after next week too which I can't wait for! Avoid - I have some spare money in my social pot and have also budgeted for stuff I already have planned. 

Pack your bag. Got everything in my diary that I'm aware of.

Rejoice! I have a walk planned on Monday, do my weekly horse riding and generally enjoy walking and being outdoors. Reduce – I have a self-imposed limit of 2 spends per month on frivolous things. Remember - charity donations planned too.

Ice Cream. - I recently signed up to the Noom app as i need to shift about half a stone that I've gained recently. Have also restarted my gym membership, so treats will be limited so that I don't waste my progress, but I do have some panettone to use up so will make a bread and butter pudding at some point.

Live your life. What do you want your life to look like? I just want to be happy and continue building a buffer for emergencies. One of the companies I've invested £150 in is closing so am going to buy some premium bonds instead. Couple of frogs I need to tackle this month in getting our door fixed to meet fire regs (can't get a tradesman interested for love nor money) and look into new energy deals as ours is up in May.

Today has been a planned spend day. I had to get my car washed as parked under a tree last night when I went to meet some friends and got covered in bird muck. It needed doing anyway but I was just putting it off because of all the rain!

I was on call doing overtime today, didn't need to go in so cracked on with some batch cooking and a bit of cleaning. Went to the gym for an hour or so as well. Also had a cheeky nap this afternoon which was much needed!

grandmanerd

I've written the challenge into my gratitude book (using as a diary) and added jottings. Adventures - seeing grand-daughter, DS2 and d-o-l tomorrow for the Museum of Science and Industry followed by a meal. Tomorrow will probably be a spend day. I have a free bus pass and as both my birthday meal and Mother's day meal were cancelled, I think it's their turn to pay.  However if MOSI have the quantum physics for babies book, I will buy it and if there's time after the meal (and if I can still walk), I might look for the large print puzzle book in town and dive into Morries salad bar (I only went to Manchester twice last year and that's twice more than the times I went in the two previous years). 

I want to continue trying to walk (more rest stops than actual walking) and thinking I'd like to go on a couple of longer bus journeys. We did this for the May Day BH after DS1 was born. The weather was quite dismal so we bought an all day bus ticket, travelled to Bolton and from there to Bury but on a scenic route through lots of little villages (in the foothills). We rested in the newly built bus station,  dodged the rain and the baby didn't  get cold. If I get really adventurous I might see if there is any late availability on any coach tours - some of them don't charge a single room supplement. in the off season months.

First of the month so new toothbrush and discarded the opened eye drops, already noted the mid month filter change for the CPAP  and did another couple of maintenance/ health checks (lots of minor matters that I need to keep firmly under control and many that should really be done daily - but would never get anything else done). Have jotted down ideas for exercise including stretching.  Have put together meals from what we had in - a tiny bit of leftover Chinese chicken was heated over a packet of microwave rice and generous helpings of tenderstem broccoli and sugarsnap peas and later I had corned beef and beetroot (both remnants from mum's stores) on wholemeal wraps.

I've looked through information on savings accounts but need to go through it again and looked at garden trellis options (and some stacking raised beds) and put down measuring the trellis area on my list of first steps. Did hope to do some stock checking under the stairs but that's mostly standing up too.

I was downstairs early but did not get as much as I wanted done. Clean washing was packed to bring upstairs and the TD defluffed. All the toilet rolls are now upstairs (nowhere near as simple as it sounds). Last time the toilet rolls came in many small boxes, only 2 or 3 packs in each box. This time they've packed 6 packs in a box that was roomy enough for them but then put that box inside a huge box and packed the space  with brown paper. The boxes were so big that they couldn't move out of the vestibule and I had to squeeze and shuffle my way past them, open and flatten the first box, open the second box, throw all the contents through into the front room (6 packs of toilet rolls, 4 long lengths of paper) squeeze back and stack the toilet rolls on the stairs for taking up, then repeat with the final box. Had to be done standing up so needed a rest break every few minutes when my legs began to wobble.

I undid the photo frame on the embroidery I'm taking tomorrow (the glass had broken), decided not to mess with the sewing any more, tried to get rid of a slight mark with water and an eraser, cut the excess  fabric at the top and bottom, tried to neaten the sides and thought I was going to have to buy double sided tape to ensure it stays in the centre, But no, I was not going to lose my NSD so attacked a very old bottle of wood glue (pva glue). No luck with getting either of the tops off (pull up and unscrew) so cut the top cm off, used a child's paint brush to spread the glue (across, up and down and across again) until there were no possible ridges and then stretched the embroidery into place. Will  leave it until tomorrow to dry before I put the frame back on.

DS3 came down and I realised I wasn't going to get much more done (took all the brown paper plus a paper carrier bag full of other bits of card, packaging and junk mail out to the bins but couldn't do another trip) so after I'd  finished eating I came back upstairs (with 2 bags and 9 packs of toilet rolls) moving everything up the stairs ahead of me. About half way up one of the bags escaped and tumbled to the ground. Called for DS3 (just as well because one of the cans was damaged and he stopped it from going all over my library book). Stood getting things up onto the landing, DS3 brought the damaged can and the bag of stuff up to me just before I did the last phase.threw the packs up one by one and they made a fairly neat stack and then as I hauled the last bag and then myself into place, one pack of toilet rolls split, hit the clean clothes which DS3 had taken up earlier and it sailed past me and is all down the stairs (legs still ache to much to go back for it).

So NSD 1 in the bag (not the one that's all  down the stairs. I did hope I might be able to do more after resting/ napping but I need to save my energy for tomorrow. Grateful for getting some things done despite zero motivation

Grateful  for creativity, getting something done (including the embroidery), interesting meals and lots of veg.

beanielou

@Thrifty_Taylor.
Have the most fantastic holiday    xx

apple_muncher

Today I am grateful for sleeping well, for dc having a fab dance show, for chatting with a friend, for dh prepping tea, for dry weather.

Starlight_at_Sea

April 1st ice cream in the bag / tum - a very tasty blackcurrant and clotted cream ripple. Even better, was bought for me by my date for the afternoon - my 9yr old nephew! The time together was good for us both (I hope), he accompanied me to get various jobs done and we found far more fun and joy in the day than if I had been doing them alone. Dropped something off to a friend to borrow, took time out to skim stones, eat ice cream on the beach and facetime DD so the cousins had a lovely chat. Visited my house, sorted some washing and a number of dates for next few months out with UD, and saw lodger too.  Big news as UD has found a job - in a nightclub bar - I do hope they treat her well. I feel exhausted just thinking about it! Saw my other nieces and nephews too briefly, handed this one back to his mum at the to others house. A good day on the family connectedness front! 

Not a NSD - i topped up a dinner made at home for nephew with some french fries and orange juice from a drive in - cost £3.98 but generated much fun. 

Thrifty_Taylor

Thank you, I've just finished sewing in all the ends on my jumper, so can do my packing in the morning 😃

A beautiful day dawned on our Scottish island. I did some Norwegian, then hung the washing on the line. After breakfast I dropped 5 bags of sewing off for customers to collect, went to a friend's to borrow her suitcases, then over to mum's. Gave her a card & retirement gifts (some 2nd hand), then we went shopping.

Put it all away & lay on the settee for a nap, but FIL phoned, so I spoke to him instead. Went for a 5.3 mile walk. As I've not walked for a while I was more aware of my surroundings. Noticed the colours of the sky, the hills covered in heather, the grass & lochs, & all the wildlife. Saw some lambs & my first primroses if the year. Lots of different birds, some rabbits & a hare. Spent time before tea & after my bath finishing my jumper.

Grateful for a fantastic first day of the holidays, nature, fun with mum, a friend taking me to the airport tomorrow (dropping DH & DS's off, then parking at mum's to avoid car park fees) 😊🌄🐦🎉✈️

apple_muncher

"Blessed are the curious, for they shall have adventures" Lovelle Drachman

"The biggest adventure you can ever take is to live the life of your dreams." Oprah Winfrey

Toni'sfriend

NSD No 2

The biggest adventure I had today was exploring the freezers. They've got a bit put of hand over the last few months but we now have a plan to use up what's in there. Lots of bits and pieces of leftovers that will soon be gone if we put our minds to it. And there's a big tub of vanilla ice cream!!

I got up late again. Only 10.00am but I used to be up at 7.00am. I don't really know how to sort out this sleeping problem. Himself says it's just a side effect of my not being so well but I'm not so sure.

Other than that I've just been pottering around doing little jobs. Disposed of some empty boxes (actually quite a lot of boxes). I really need to try to tidy out some drawers, etc (if Himself will let me!)

Still no alcohol or snacking on chocolate, crisps etc.

Hope everyone is having a relaxing Sunday.