Simplifying Life

mary43

Oh dear..............not such a good day today.............appointment with bank to sift through finances which aren't looking so good at the minute........nothing that can't be solved and I always said I would never fret about money (or the lack of it) but easier said than done. We've cut back as much as we can really and I'm dreading dental appointment next week that could well by in three figures !! Car in for an overhaul......OH thinks there's an oil leak somewhere and we've a trip to Livepool planned (thinking -cost of fuel ???? )................but there are worse things I know...........just knocked my day sideways a bit.............but I'm determined, really determined, that it's not going to get the better of me, no way.....:rolleyes:
There are always positives to be seen..........our veg is growing brilliantly -todays rain doing it a power of good and the army of snails we normally get seem to have been breakfast for blackbirds, thrushes or Mrs. Hedhehog - hope thats how it carries on.
Baby grandsons first birthday next week and thanks to some forward planning earlier this year and ideas from the 'special occassions' board I've got a toy box full of goodies for him from the charity shops. Just need to create a card and write him a letter about whats gone on in his first year on the planet.
That, I'm looking forward to...........even more so when he reads them himself in a few years time.
So, all is not lost, despite purse strings being tighter than ever. :j

Cheery_Daff

Hi everyone

Would you believe I've just read this lovely thread right through from the beginning???? Well, I have. And it's taken me nearly a fortnight - lol!

Some lovely things have been shared, and helpful tips (I particularly liked the idea of starting a folder for thing that need sorting out - how often do they end up going on for months??). I also loved JenniO's thing about realising she could have everything she wanted from her retirement now - how beautiful, and how sensible

Lots of things you've all said recently just remind me that life itself isn't simple sometimes - but I guess you can do what you can to make the more important things bigger - like you all seem to be doing

As for me... I live in my partner's house, which is full of his stuff, and now full of mine too Been doing the flylady thing which a few of you have mentioned, for a few months now, and it's slowly coming into place (or at least, not getting any worse...). I've given up my allotment, because it was just becoming another 'should do' thing, so I'm tackling the garden instead, which is really very small, and is quite enough for now!

I guess I've committed to coming on here regularly since I've just spent all that time catching up

Anyway, just wanted to show myself and say hi

Daffs
xx

mary43

Hello Daffs.............and well done for reading it right through.........must have been like reading a book !!! o
Lots of interesting ideas from different people, and very supportive comments. I've found it a great help, not just in simplifying my household 'stuff' (as in de-cluttering) but it putting life into perspective........whats important and what's not.
Good luck to you. Shame you've had to give up the allottment but maybe someone else will benefit from it and like you say.........no sense in taking on something that becomes too much and ends up swamping you and taking away the pleasure that it ought to give.

ceridwen

Hi Cheery Daff

and welcome. Now - thats what I call dedication - to read all the way through this thread:D

Greenshieldstamp_2

Hello and welcome Cheery Daff (another lovely user name by the way) :hello: .

Mary43 - well done you. You sound so much better these days even when days are difficult. The toybox for your grandson sounds lovely and he will delight in the box itself as well.

Garden update
Why haven't my seeds grown yet?
I planted them on Saturday and am like a little kid three or four days later waiting for them to grow! Think one radish seed looks like it is starting to sprout so hopefully I will be able to have home grown salad stuff this year. I am enjoying the gardening anyway.

Tomorrow is meal planning day but not much else to say tonight., so have a good evening everyone

mary43

greenshield - patience, patience...............lol Seeds will grow in their own good time I'm sure (though since my last failure two years ago resulting in nothing I've come to the conclusion seeds and me just dont get on)........OH does the 'seed' bit - they seem to respond to him and appart from packet of rockery plant seeds we had given us everything is growing.
As for sounding so much better..........well I was..........then ! Since then I had a phone call from bank via call centre.......didn't understand all of it but it sounded like this chap was very concerned and kept on about stoppages and bank charges etc.:eek: Worried me to bits so I'll have to go back to the bank and see an actual person and have it explained again..........too much for my little grey cells to absorb. So now Im having a fret about what needs to be paid out, will bank pay it, etc. I tell myself I'll forget it for now and relax...........then I try and cant.
However, tomorrow banks can whistle..........I'm making a card for my grandson which I'll get pleasure doing. OH can make further appointment with bank for both of us on the grounds that two heads are better than one.
Now it's tele time..............dose of whatevers going on in Holby Ciity and how the Victorians lived and ate................just might take my mind of current pressures.:rolleyes:

ceridwen

Well mary - that has got to be first task for tomorrow...dealing with that bank and getting whatever-it-is sorted out.!!!!! ceridwen insists!!! and I can be very firm if I need to be!;)

Have had to spend last few days being "very firm" in my own life...and I wish to goodness that these things didnt happen. I am sitting there...thinking"This could be the last few weeks of my father's life and I am having to scream/kick/belt round the head/etc firms/Goverrnment departments that are being downright slow and awkward about doing what they should/when they should as my father isnt the sort to leave "unfinished business" behind him, any more than I am. He is insistent that everything is all "neat and tidy" and I am "kicking !!!" hard wherever I can to get these unco-operative/inefficient people to "get their act together" and knowing this is probably not unusual in Britain for the last Act of peoples lives having to spend time dealing with these darn nuisances. Lets hope the NHS doesnt decide to join in the act by refusing/delaying any treatment needed - as I strongly suspect that many British people spend their last days having to fight the NHS to get what is needed, when its needed. My father - for his part - is busily NOT telling the doctor the worst of his latest symptoms...par for the course on that one..and I will be wasting my breath if I try and persuade him to. Takes one stubborn person to recognise another one I guess..

Oh well...I've had a drop more of the "wet stuff" as you call it Mary..and I'm for an early night.

Take care....and contact that bank!!!!!!

mary43

ceridwen - sorry to hear you're still struggling with the necessary 'men in suits' to get them to actually do their job. I know exactly what you mean, case of been there, wore the t-shirt but that was more at the time mum was first ill than now. It's a regular battle just to get what should be done in the first place and I do feel for the elderly who have no family to fight their corner. Good luck with it all.

As for the bank............well I might as well write these two days off as if they didn't happen...............my heads still turning just trying to 'think' let along anything else. I've sent OH down to the bank to see if he can understand it and meanwhile thought I'd have a go at this internet banking lark. Well, what a carry on .............whatever I typed in wasn''t write so I finished up ringing them..........very helpful girl who went through it all with me and it seemed so easy. Unfortunately the computer is in a different room to the phone ............call over I had another go...............well bless me, still a no go !!:mad: So, to coin a small phrase 'stuff it' !!! At least the lady on the phone managed to explain to me more or less my financial situation at the moment so I can relax as far as that goes and I bet OH, instead of seeing the girl at our local branch himself, will make an appointment for me to go tomorrow !
After all that hassle I thought I'd make birthday card for grandson.........and I couldn't even do that right ! Got phone calls to make - well made one and the lady wasn't there ! Hardly dare make the others for fear there'll be a hiccup that I don't need.
And all this when I was wanting to unwind and be relaxed ready for being a 'kid free zone' on Friday, bit of time for me and OH before grandson arrives on Wednesday..........!!

Sorry for winge but so far its not a particularly positive kind of day. Can only get better ............can't it ???

do_it_today!

Hi all :hello:
Hi Cheery Daff :hello: lovely user name
Mary43 deep breaths and enjoy the sun! (if its out where you are at the moment!)
we're just about to complicate things by putting house up for sale

Cheery_Daff

Hi everyone, and thanks for the lovely welcome I'm a Cheery Daff somewhere else too, one day I'll get round to putting a picture up too

Isn't it complicated trying to get other people to sort things out? Sounds like you're having a right palava Mary43! Hope it all sorts itself out soon.

do it today - goodness, putting a house up for sale must be so exhausting! Worth it if you get to live somewhere lovlier as a result though

I'm going to try to keep up with this thread, but please excuse me if I don't pop in every day. I've got work to do today, and I'm trying to do the flylady 'home blessing hour' this afternoon (just an hour of quick surface cleaning everywhere), in preparation for my Mum coming to stay at the weekend.

It's simplifying to do it a couple of days in advance so you're not rushing, right?