NST June 2023 Flotsam and Jetsam

KajiKita

@ldee2111 yaay for the kettle and DS’s riding 😉
@Thrifty_Taylor that was a productive day! 👏😊

I skipped the cleaning - way too warm! But did harvest strawberries, Broad beans and first earlies. They all got processed into dessert/freezer or salad for dinner last night and salads this week. I also harvested a load of sage which are now upside down drying on a wire across the corner above the TV in the lounge between two curtain rails - I sent my friend a picture and she said it looked ‘witchy’! 😂😊
Mr KK came back safely from his ride out which he obviously enjoyed and has offered to do some bind weed bashing this week …. that would help! 🤞

Unfortunately, my glands are still up and I think I am going down with a water infection again, only 10 days after having antibiotics for another one. This is most unlike me … sigh ….
Oh and my mother told me off for thinking about retirement at the age of 52. Apparently I am far too young to be having thoughts like that ….! 🙄 Sometimes I really don’t know how I have come to exist! 😂

Still, I am grateful for my garden and it’s produce, a fan enabling me to cool down between potterings in the garden yesterday and the weather being cooler today 😊

KK

grandmanerd

Monday 26th June 2023

Monday Motivation

MOVING Move your body - do whatever you can, however imperfectly (sit in a chair and hand jive to music). 

MINIMISE Get things out of your house (even if it's only the rubbish and recycling). I know it's never ending - when the boys were small, I had carrier bags on all the door handles, as I left each room I would scoop up bits from surfaces and the floor and deposit them in the bags. We always had a charity shop bag on the go - the boys wwould bring tghings to me and ask where the cs bag was.

MINIMISE tasks and paperwork. Set up DD and Standing orders. Batch tasks - do all the online shopping in one go - food/ odd little bits/ diy needs and if physically going out to shop arrange it in a logical order - no backtracking (this gets more essential as your mobility decreases). Be prepared to compromise (one shop that covers all the bases even if not your preference/ exactly what you want) or cut short your trip if you have to. 

Minimise time spent on shopping by buying in bulk. My toothpaste is a special order, only stocked in a few places so I buy 12 at a time (also means I can use places like CAT).  H &B do one with the same properties if I get stuck but it's black which doesn't help with sink cleaning. I felt daft ordering a triple order of toilet rolls but it's comforting to have them on the shelf and not do the  order now/ next week/ next month dance all the time (it means I'm spending more money 'upfront' but far less time thinking about it and ordering - clicking 3 instead of doing the order 3 times).  I spent a long time getting all my prescription pills aligned but now I make one phone call to the chemist, she contacts the doctor's surgery, they print out and sign one prescription and it all comes in one delivery. It's not foolproof - there's a period of adjustment with increases or additions - but it's a vast improvement on ordering individual medications as they run out (or phoning me up when you've just finished the box as mum was prone to do)

MOTIVATE yourself. I know it's hard, especially if you are unwell  and your body doesn't do what it's told. Just start, do a little bit, add an extra bit (hair washing and additions to my basic shower are mine) trick yourself into doing another little bit - I took 3 items of clothing out of the WM and hung them on hangers. I took the third across the room to hang on the back of the door and when I got there, there were 2 empty hangers so I walked back to the  machine for 2 more things and took 2 small bags of rubbish with me to leave at the back door. It's not much but it took a lot of effort (definitely couldn't have done it the week before). Do 3 things to improve each room before you leave it - put something away, pick something up, take something with you that needs to go to another room (when you are limited to taking one bag downstairs with you and might not see upstairs again for several hours, you really think about what you need. 

MAYHEM, MAGIC and MAKING IT FUN We all need little treats - debt busting can be a long hard slog and it's important to reward yourself (especially if they are things you need). When I was very poor (trying to sell a house so paying running costs on two) I had a list and each month I would treat myself to something off my list. Older turtles will recall my wonder at a new duvet 'like sleeping on a cloud' but in a very poor month, I was happy with the purchase of a new bag of pegs (hunting down all the ones that 'escaped',  pinged away into the undergrowth or mud and trying to put together the twisted or broken ones gets old after a while). Try to make things fun - look at those items stuck at the back of the cupboard and imagine you're on one of those cookery programmes and have just been given the 'mystery bag' brought in by a guest. Make magic by conjuring up a lovely meal from 'nothing'

beanielou

Thanks for that @grandmanerd.
@Thrifty_Taylor~~I don't know how you do it!!

ditty1234

Here's a big Monday late hug to everybody. I am stuck marking again, I am such a slow coach and tend to rush things, and then I end up having to come back to them. I keep getting distracted, doing stuff nobody else seems to do, filling gaps, being kind, being helpful, basically it is a super busy week, and the stuff I should have done this weekend, I have to do tonight and then an added drive tomorrow morning, and this afternoon, right when I was having a chat with a friend of mine, and tomorrow after work to go drop some prints off for an exhibition, and the car is still full of stuff for the charity shop after a big garage clear out this weekend, looming but not planned. 
So now - back to marking, have a lovely night, I will keep going for a while yet. But I did manage a nsd day as barely left the house. 
Note to self shower before going to bed. 

grandmanerd

Yesterday I listed the contents of one 4 x 2 Kallax cube shelves Printer instructions are next to the printer which will be useful when I get back to sorting that out), went through a medium crate with a number of odd items in (one small box and some packaging discarded) and moved the 4 boxes of pots and pans out of my room - only one made it as far as the kitchen but the rest are lined up ready to go down.

One of them had left their bath water in the bath (I'd showered earlier) so I cheated by putting the tall stool in there - it's the one I used to use in the bath and now it's in front of the sink so I can sit to brush my teeth when I need to (sit down not brush my teeth). It's cheap and cheerful plastic but has lots of moulded edges that gather dirt and hairs (I tried cleaning it recently and it's difficult). So I put that in the cold bath water and kept turning it 90 degrees when I went in there and most of the 'muck' has come off (I've just rinsed it off and the bath with the shower head (after putting the little tiggy in to captures all the bits). Much improved.

I moved books across from the top of a chest of drawers into the spaces in the cube shelf (still a few spaces because there are some new ones in the series, so more space on top of both drawers (when I've sorted all the little extras I'd put on top of the books to keep them off the floor.

Checked my bank account. i do still have some money but easy to see the damage done by a couple of little bad habits (and the extra spent on 'compromise' shopping). The council have not paid the C Tax rebate due on mum's account (they said it would take up to 8  weeks) so need to find that paperwork and go back to them. I had received a letter from the DWP debt collection service about an over payment of benefit and the amount that they would be reclaiming from my end of May payment (no corresponding letter to say what it was for) but that it would be a one off deduction.  however the June payment is for a similar reduced amount (again no explanation). Tried my UC account (they used to give me details of all payments but that account is now closed - I closed the claim). The amount looks suspiciously like mum's tax bill for 21 - 22 which I paid months ago (due January 2022 but couldn't pay it when mum's bank account was closed). Can't do a 'budget' because I don't know why they have paid me 'less' than they should.

So progress made but I still feel like it's one step  forward and 3 back - 2 of the new 'to do's' could take a whole afternoon. The pots and books made me very tired - could be because they're heavy. Keep telling myself that a couple of weeks ago all 'heavy'  jobs were out of the question so it's still progress but currently fed up (and tired - may have a nap soon). I would like to rearrange my room but it's a big effort (a whole weekend?) so leaning towards postponing it and hoping sales of records and cameras can be set in motion once DS2 is back from Australia. 

Grateful that the 'orange fingers' side effect scrubbed off (mostly, needs another go) - think it was mango, that I ate reasonably well yesterday (being dependent on DS3 is a pain - he left the stir fry in the fridge because it didn't say salad on the packet but brought a big bar of chocolate (which definitely wasn't salad) and a yoghurt (asked for the previous day but I still had half a tub left which I'd gone down to get myself). 

Not sure if I can get downstairs but lots left to sort up here. But first sleep.

Toni'sfriend

Haven't checked in for a few days because absolutely nothing is happening here. Same routine day after day. It's getting boring! But only five more to go. xxx

f0xh0les

Woo Hoo!! Down to one hand @Toni'sfriend   Congratulations. 

Today I received two sofa beds in boxes and I have merrily spent the day building them.  Pasta Sauce made yesterday will be supper tonight with spaghetti. 

Finally getting somewhere!

Starlight_at_Sea

Whoop to finally getting somewhere @f0xh0les and double-whoop to five treatments to go @Toni'sfriend.

 'Nothing happening' never seems to happen when one wants it to, or are feeling well enough to enjoy the time and space. clunky English there sorry! 

Yes @grandmanerd I can do July! Thank you for the prompt and countdown reminder. I'll get the thread live when I am reunited with my laptop tomorrow. 

I hope all are well, partners and loved ones are healing and will look forward to reading back on your adventures tomorrow too. It has been a tad hectic here with work and family stuff. Feeling very grateful nothing worse and hooray for NHS and emergency service heroes. In separate events we have one broken leg, one broken neck (very lucky escape as mobile and no spine injury), and 3 older people with various needs in immediate family just now, so as an able bodied person under 80 I am feeling stretched just a bit further than normal with fetching, carrying, ferrying, remembering duties just now! Also a bit gutted as leg & neck folk were my moving buddies so am not now too sure how or indeed if I will move furniture when I get the keys (on Monday!!!!). Am planning a smooze at gym if I can get there towards the end of the week - free functional workout anyone? 

 NSDs the last couple of days, left the house only to go to the gym, and worked a lot!  Have moved £ from YBS saver into current account so it is ready for transfer to solicitors and bought back a further load of furniture from my house so it's close to the flat. Also bought back the pot plants so dad can give them some TLC! 

DawnW

Wow @Starlight_at_Sea wishing your injured friends / family members a swift recovery.

Frustrating morning here - I need to tax the car, but the DVLA web site doesn't seem to be working properly at the moment (grrr) and a recent online order has arrived, but with an item I didn't order and none of the ones I did. Currently awaiting usually slow and clueless (though pleasant) customer service response. I don't think I will order from this company again, despite having bought from them successfully - ish, in the past. First world problems / annoyances which I am sure I will manage to sort out later.

Shopping done yesterday and I currently have a frittata on the stove for lunch, using up oddments of peppers, mushrooms and other bits left over from last week   I should really use stuff up before shopping, that would make more sense, but it often doesn't work out that way for some reason! Anyway, the fridge is now organised.

I seem to be doing quite well with NSDs, which are not my strong point (although in fairness I am generally thrifty, don't waste stuff, and am good at sticking to budgets), with 14 so far, which is excellent for me

Hoping for some rain later, to save having to water the garden pots. And to sort out the car tax and online order of course

beanielou

Blimey @Starlight_at_Sea.
You need a break soon xx