NST June 2023 Flotsam and Jetsam

grandmanerd

Welcome one and all. 

Pauper1

I would love to join this please! It looks just what I need at the moment 😁

Toni'sfriend

Another month. June already. Time is flying by.

So this month

• I will eat healthily
• I will take some exercise
• I will lose weight
• I will look after myself
• I will stop worrying about things I can't change (big fingers crossed on that one!)
• I will be organised, eat those frogs and just get on with it
• I will laugh and do the things that I enjoy doing (even if it's a little thing)
• I will have a few little treats

I'll be back later to report on day 1. Good luck with your challenges and have a lovely day. I hope the sun is shining as brightly with you as it is here. xx

Shineyhappy

Thank you.

It feels like there is so much going on and I am usually only good at focusing on one thing with tunnel vision.

My focus areas for June are:

- Weight loss. I would like like to get under 10st and am currently 10st 5lb
- Carrying on renovating the house, the courtyard area outside the front door is currently being done.
- Pay off balance of cruise and repay some of the car money from savings
- Make extra to pay into pension.
- Put some focus on relationship as we are currently always too tired for any date night type thing

I will go though the whole list and think of my three things.

Thank you for running this thread x

f0xh0les

PINCH PUNCH FIRST OF THE MONTH AND NO RETURNS!

f0xh0les

Good Morning Lovely Turtles.

All the bills have left my account, so I will do my budget today and see how much I think I have left.

I have a list of things to do today, and one for things to do tomorrow, whatever comes off either list is a bonus.

grandmanerd

Thursday 1st June 2023

What a lot of new turtles we have swimming along with us.

I sometimes put daily quotes in, inspiring messages or a bit of exposition on particular parts off the monthly challenge. Sometimes I pick up on something one or more turtles is struggling with and sometimes (including today, you lucky turtles) I jot down my musings. Just some random thoughts on the challenge and examples of what I mean.

A tiny bit of background
Recent history From the start of the pandemic for 21 months I lived with my mother in her bungalow (she was ECV and not computer literate), mostly in isolation. I moved back home on December 21st 2021 and in less than 2 weeks my mother became ill, was hospitalised and died. 2022 was taken up first with funeral arrangements (my brother is ECV, a cough or cold could kill him and there's a DNR on his file) and then with emptying the bungalow and getting it ready for sale (my brother's only contribution was insisting on selling the bungalow). The bungalow was ready for viewing on August 31st and the sale should have completed on December 14th.

That didn't happen - the whole mess dragged on until February this year. My ex died in May last year and my 33 boys' inheritance is all  in vinyl and old cameras. So all the records I got rid of over 30 years ago have come back (my youngest still lives with me and this is his part of sorting the estate) along with 4 pieces of furniture that my ex-b-i-l identified as being their mother's.  DS3 and his Beloved (+ 3 grand-chinchillas) had got far too used to having my house to themselves and retreated into their shells. I intended buying a house for them to rent off me (possibly the house next door as the owner went into a nursing home over 18 months ago and it's a wreck and is impacting on my house) but we've also been looking at property in Keighley as Beloved is from there and wants to go back. DS3 can work anywhere (computer based own business) and his requirements (as of yesterday) are that the house has a working boiler and a bath (we were looking at one with no plaster on the walls and bare joists in places.

My much needed new kitchen has been put on hold as it will be much easier once they (and half the furniture and all their assorted kitchen gadgetry) have moved. The boys' father's estate is still in limbo - not sure if probate has gone through yet but DS2 is dealing with it and he's off to Australia tomorrow for a month. My mobility went downhill last year, rapidly for the last quarter - I thought I needed my other hip replacing but it's soft tissue damage (a steroid injection in January helped but I can't explain how). An old ankle injury resurfaced in April and despite doing all the right things (the physio said I was) it isn't improving and went worse (couldn't put weight on it) and may take 3-6 months longer to heal.


Reasons to be cheerful
Many turtles practice gratitude, listing 3 things at the end of each day. It's not compulsory and you don't have to put it on here, just make a note for yourself, but it helps focus on the good bits of your day/ life (and however bad the day, you can find some good bits). So
1)   My first grandchild was born last year. She's lovely, smiley (has 4 teeth now), a constant joy. I don't see her as often as I would like but she's always in my heart
2)   I can walk It may not sound like much but after a week of hobbling and a couple of virtually bed-bound days, I strapped up my ankle on Tuesday and came down determined to do something. It was mostly trekking from the house to the bins with recycling and rubbish and doing bits of tidying and sweeping in the yard and the backs, but it was something. I dragged myself back upstairs at 4.30 and until about 11 am yesterday I couldn't walk at all - I was using both arms to hold myself upright so that I could move my good foot and it took 5 minutes just to get into a standing position. Yesterday it slowly improved and this morning I can stand up on both legs (this is the second time I've been downstairs today)
3)   I see all three of my sons on a regular basis and have a good relationship with each of them. They are all settled with lovely partners (DS3 and Beloved have known each other for 20 years but started as friends - he got her through a couple of abusive relationships). The older two are 2 long bus rides away (north and south Manchester) and if I ever get DS3 and Beloved moved, they won't know how to get through the border police from Yorkshire to Lancashire.


The  Challenge
Finances I have enough in the bank to pay all the bills and buy food. However there are things I should have done and things I need to chase up, I'm not really in control and not sure how much of my expenditure is covered by my own money. There are parts of mum's estate that still need to be dealt with (I've been sorting things out for everyone else since I was 3 years old and I want to hide under the bedclothes and let someone else be the adult for a change). No access to my bank account until I find the pesky pinsentry reader.

Looking at things differently. The bad ankle means I'm barely mobile - up to ten days ago I was on top of the laundry and washing up and was managing to move one heavy thing a day (mainly in the yard - my apple trees in incinerator bins need to use from one side of the yard to the other so that the garden table can move into the corner and be set up as a mini greenhouse (I have seeds everywhere with nowhere to move them on to) and then the magic motorbike can be moved into the other corner near the house, so I can charge it. 

In the last 10 days moving anything has become much more difficult but on Tuesday I brought down a suitcase and packed 9 x 2l bottles in it. I can move it into the kitchen and put it away with less bother than it is to carry one bottle. I have a new dolly truck which would be a great help so I may prioritise putting that together

I'm not happy with my house - it's got far too much stuff in, the records I thought would only be here for a few months are still here and likely to be for a few more (we'll miss the July auction, so it's going to be October at the earliest. The under stairs shelves are still filled with food from mum's stock (I sent loads to the food bank and to another local charity that provides hot meals for the homeless and anyone else in need). Sort of in a semi-truce with DS3 and Beloved (we're civil, barely see each other most days but we all need our own space). Action sort the next box of records for DS3 to catalogue (have space set up for most of them once that's been done). Concentrate on using up mum's food stocks (think I've used most of the cleaning supplies and toiletries). This is mostly stuff I wouldn't normally use but was convenient for mum to use (eg sachets of ready rice) and will throw a few dregs that have been open a while. Also have another mini move around that could make things simpler and clearer.

grandmanerd

Thursday Reminders
Chase goals not people
Celebrate your small wins
Take a  break if you need  it
Do something that makes you feel good
Learn something in everything
(OurMindfulLife.com)

Toni'sfriend

Afternoon everyone. Nice to see so many new Turtles

Well. finances first. Budgets and banking all done. Bills all paid. Birthday cards for June all written and presents all bought and wrapped.

It was a lovely morning this morning so I was up really early and had the washing all done and out on the line and plants watered before Himself and I started out for a walk just after 8.00am. We walked to Lidl and back. Three and a half miles. It's a pretty walk. Nice big houses and lovely gardens. It is, however, a mistake to take Himself anywhere near somewhere that is selling Italian food. Oh well, some new recipes, I guess. Variety and all that!

Did a little housework, a few jobs and made a phone call that I had been putting off. Goodness knows why, It was simple in the end. Trying to plan ahead I've put all my appointments in my new handbag diary so that they are all in the same place. Made a minestrone soup for the freezer for when cooking might be a little difficult (time wise rather than physically) later in the month. And it's used up some green beans and asparagus.

So I've been eating healthily

• Blueberries and yoghurt for breakfast. I not all that keen on yoghurt but apparently I need it to maintain bone density
• A salad for lunch with a very low calorie Polish cold meat
• Sweet and sour chicken for dinner. That's not quite as healthy but it is home made and I need to use it up to get some room in the freezer

So another early night and reading some more of my new series of books. They are really good.

Hope you've all had a productive day. xxx

beanielou

I havent been feeling too well so need to get slightly more foccussed on finances.
I am pleased with my decluttering so just need to try to keep on top of it.

Have a great month everyone xx