NST June 2023 Flotsam and Jetsam

Starlight_at_Sea

Well done to all who are making gradual progress with getting stuff done, including resting and nurturing themselves!

Unusual day for me today. Up at crack of dawn to head to station with DD. Remembered to put out charity collection bag for local charity to collect, so that's a little more moved on.

Train travel was uneventful, arrived 17 min late and can claim delay repay 🪜but also forgot to pay for parking at the train station (remembered and did so via the app after it had been there 9 hours). It might be fine.... has been before! But might also be a fine that more than eats up the delay repay refund! 🐍

I worked enough to claim a full day as DD was hanging out with a friend and all my meetings overran. So that's half a day back 🪜and also helped reduce the amount of meals I funded! 🪜 We opted for cocktails and a couple of tapas on the hotel roof garden as neither of us was very hungry 🪜.. but it was still a bit more expensive than I'd planned for 🐍

Had a lovely time in hotel spa, it wasn't huge or that warm in the pool but was a stunning space. Have saunad and steamed and admired the gym from afar! Had a good mooch around areas only residents can get to. It would be so lovely if they did tours as there's clearly a lot of interesting things about the restoration of the building. 

Discovered DD was setting off on 46 day trip with no travel insurance 🐍.. have rectified that after countless cycles through comparison sites...🪜except the mobile site changed name of policy holder to me when I put my card details in to pay, so I now have insurance for a 21 year old me with DDs health profile.🐍 I'll ring them tomorrow and plead for help! 

She is off first thing and I am looking forward to catching up with a good friend and enjoying the hotel during the morning. I arranged late check out for free 🪜so we can use the spa in the morning, then check out, and either have lunch or pop to a café nearby. This forms a birthday present for my friend,so it's also something off my to-do list! 🪜

Thrifty_Taylor

Thank you all for your good wishes. Sending hugs to those with medical appointments tomorrow. So grateful to our NHS.

Happy 25th wedding anniversary to us 🎉 Started the day catching up on the dishes & cat litter trays that I didn't do last night, so the yoga was missed today as well as the 100 skips! (300 tomorrow...?)

DH has been on continuous drips & antibiotics all day, but is getting his appetite back, so that's good. He wasn't bothered about visitors tonight, as I'd only seen him yesterday, so stayed home instead 

Work went well, my pupil was off, so I spent time with some others. Felt so good to help ones that don't normally get it. A little 6 year old asked in whispered tones if she could walk round with me at break time tomorrow. Aww! Got to do some drawing in art too (my friend is the art teacher), gave me a boost to hear all these youngsters saying how great my drawing was 😂

DS's did a couple of chores for me, so I managed to get the dishes done, take GF home & have a quick bath. Proud of myself for messaging a lady to say I couldn't squeeze in the alterations to her daughter's prom dress. Haven't had time to do the other sewing jobs the past couple if days, so won't fit in any more. She was ok about it & it's taken some of the pressure off me too.

Grateful for your support, all the lovely cards & messages for our anniversary, laughing messages/chats with my mum & auntie, the DS's helping

Shrewbie

happy happy anniversary @Thrifty_Taylor, hope you can celebrate together very soon! 

Lost my NSD yesterday as bf had to pop to the shop for garlic… can’t blame him as he spent 2 hours in the kitchen batch cooking, so im still on 3.

A meeting overran into lunch, so I had less time in the gym but still managed a good session. Got some good feedback at work, made me smile. Listened to a spanish podcast but had no time for any deliberate practice. No frogs but did start to munch a couple of elephants. 

Grateful for dozing to the sound of the rain this morning, for coffee, for sleeping relatively well. 

grandmanerd

Wednesday 7th June 2023

May your yoga pants be stretchy, your coffee be strong and your Wednesday be short (Moody Sisters)

Well-being Wednesday
Give yourself permission to take a break
Recharge - come back stronger
Take a break from people, places and things that do not support your emotional well-being
It's okay to say no
Set boundaries
(Malarkeysparkle.com)

It's Wednesday and I'm breathing - that's enough motivation for me

On taking a break - DS3 felt the need to explain why Beloved was so upset (there has been a lot of venting but I thought it was trolls/ people with no boundaries on her online games. Apparently her mother committed to 4 x one hour therapy sessions with her last month - she did one!

grandmanerd

Waited for my parcels to arrive and ate (I did get all the paper recycling out and the cans, jars and bottles (bagged, crushed, fallen from previous bags and drifted into all corners of the house and garden). Did a quick hobble to the bathroom, intending to go back downstairs to gather up my things. Felt ill enough to crawl on the bed instead and later brought back what felt like everything I'd eaten all day. 

Waited another 3 hours before taking my evening pills (which is when DS3 packed up my stuff and brought it to me as requested) and then another 3 hours before I put my mask on and settled to sleep. Woke at 5 am, checked that DS3 had put out the bin for collection, brushed my teeth again, drank lots of water. My stomach didn't like the thought of taking my pills, so I slept again and woke 5 hours later. Feel fragile but much better. More tooth brushing, lots of water and currently working my way through 2 apples. No deliveries expected and DS3 has just brought me drinks (he'd have done more tap water bottles for me as well but the semi-opaque tops keep disappearing) so I'm staying in bed until I want to do more.

Grateful for being sick - I hate it, I fight the inevitable, but it's much better when it's over and I have a few more ideas on things not to eat ever again.

Dropping the guilt. I felt bad about my 'lazy days' but I genuinely struggled to get off the couch. Thinking back I've been sub par (which is a very low bar) for the past few days and have been sleeping a lot more. I have no idea whether it's due to the sunshine, the hayfever (the longer the unbroken spell of dry days, the worse it gets), side-effects from higher dosages/ combination of pills or just a bug. I know it's extremely trivial compared to what many of you are experiencing but the battle to get through the day is sometimes so hard - giving my legs a pep talk before each step, trying to balance various side effects.

Time to recharge Just going to stay here, rewrite my shopping list and rethink my to do list and do some fun things and breathe. I'd more or less decided to abandon my seedlings and go to direct sewing but I've seen an offer on RHS award winning 'plants for pollinators' and might go completely radical and plant some boxes of flowers (will also make use of the space on top of the garden wall until I'm well enough to build the trellis screen and support). I might write some of the overdue letters to friends and relatives, low stress and it might help me focus on how far I've come.

Have a good day turtles, big hugs and good vibes.

Toni'sfriend

Hope you and Mr Thirty Taylor are able to celebrate your anniversary very, very soon.

First radiotherapy treatment today. Only 18 more to go. It was fine just a bit uncomfortable to try and keep very still in what is a quite unnatural position. Radiographers were wonderful. I am absolutely in awe of the science behind this and how very clever the all the technicians are. Thanks goodness for the NHS.

So, I was just a little apprehensive because I hadn't had this treatment before so we didn't go for a walk first thing but even so we've done two and a half miles today. Will be more tomorrow.

Just relaxing now with a gin and orange - mostly orange. It's so hot again.

Take care everyone. xxxx

Starlight_at_Sea

Well done on navigating the first treatment Toni'sfriend. It will never be the first one again - I think they are the hardest. x

Starlight_at_Sea

I hope the rest and stillness helps you heal @grandmanerd. I'm really greatful for how you articulate the steps you take to navigate the challenges - it helps me understand some of the people around me who have mobility challenges much better, as I can anticipate a bit the things they find harder, and also celebrate achievements that must have taken a lot of cognitive energy. x

Starlight_at_Sea

Delay repay claims submitted x 4... missed out on one as there is a time limit of 28 days and I was just over. Will remind me not to be so tardy about this sort of thing! 

Estate agent rang at 1658 to see if I could speak to my solicitors and try to exchange today or first thing tomorrow, as vendors solicitor goes on holiday...

 Needless to say I couldn't get through and am not sure that's how it can work ...especially as there are limits on my ability to move that much money at once without going into the bank in person, and I can't do that tomorrow am. Have left a message explaining about solicitors forthcoming holibobs and seeking advice as to what stage we are at.

We're clearly close though and even though I will end up borrowing a bit to cover the very very expensive stamp duty, I am very proud of the savings I have built up to make this happen. I have never had a positive bank balance building month by month and accruing interest before and it is quite an addictive feeling. I aim to use the high interest accounts to build up over the next 6 months to the amount that will be owed on the 0% credit card at the point we have set the flat up. We don't need much furniture as a lot handed down from various places.  I am going to put costs for the white goods on the points credit card, then 0% transfer it all to a empty card - I currently have a good offer for 12 months. I don't want to be heading back into debt but can see it is a short term position to achieve a pretty big goal. 

DawnW

Evening turtles

((Hugs)) to those who are poorly or struggling.

2 loads of washing done and dried outside on the line

Took the dog to the groomer, and went to W*itrose while I was waiting for him to be done, to pick up the couple of things I couldn't get in L*dl yesterday. Also bought a couple of yellow sticker items  

Only 1 NSD so far, must do better - but some of this was OH's spending, which I am never sure whether or not to count.

Managed a bit of decluttering. 4 items were sold on ebay (two posted today). I returned some items bought online for a refund, as they didn't fit. Also put a bag of clothing into the collection point for the local Air Ambulance charity.

Made a fish pie for dinner - not very seasonal, but it was yummy. There will be some left for OH's lunch tomorrow while I am at work.

Watered whatever needed it in the garden. It is very dry, we don't seem to have had any rain for ages.

I need to pack the remaining two ebay items, and price some things up ready for the shop tomorrow.

Grateful today for reasonable health, for my garden and for a clean and tidy dog