NST Awesome August

f0xh0les

Good morning you Awesome Turtles , well done for surviving the night. Another small win!
Today will involve flour and yeast and soup.  The scales are heading in the right direction ⬇️⬇️ .  I have arranged to have lunch with a work friend on Wednesday,so I am looking forward to that this week. 
Will also clean the house. 

Toni'sfriend

NSD No 5

Taking your advice, Grandmanerd, and trying to get into a routine of doing what really needs done every day and everything else is a bonus if I feel that I can do it. Certainly takes the pressure off and I did quite a lot extra today so I'm feeling positive about that.

Just watched the cycling on TV. We love to watch the Tour de France so it's lovely to see so many people turning out to watch the world championship in our home city.

Fish pie in the oven for dinner. Gaps appearing in the freezer 

Weather here has been lovely so I hope it's been the same for you. xxx

lcc86

Hi turtles

Managed a lie in today, woke up a few times throughout the night but was pleasantly surprised that I made it to my 7.45 alarm!

Went horse riding after breakfast, brought OH with me and we had some races  OH wasn't happy he lost one of them, did make me chuckle. Treated ourselves to a small lunch out so I lost my NSD but sometimes that's ok! I'm still well within my weekly budget so I shouldn't beat myself up. I also ordered some toner for my new hair ready for when I need it.

Not much else done today, have made a start on a book, haven't read for a few months, not sure why, so today was the perfect opportunity.

f0xh0les

NSD1. Finally🤣

apple_muncher

Oooh,Toni's friend, you weren't one of the protesters, were you?!

Not that I'm gloating, f0xh0les, but I think I'm on nsd #5...!

Today I am grateful for a dry and sunnyish day, for the cycling on't box, for my fat rasps, for for step dd2 confirming when they're coming to see us this week (eek to the amount of tidying up required for visitors to be able to sit down, let alone eat lunch 🤣🤣🤣), for lovely neighbour mowing all our front grassy patches that pass as front lawns.

Thrifty_Taylor

Well done on securing a place at uni @thriftylass, hope it all goes well. You definitely should treat yourself to that fountain pen!

NSD#2
Another sunny day here. Went to feed the cat in town, then hung the washing out. Went for s 4.5 mile walk with DH. Drank lots en route! After dinner I replaced the 2 zips, then cleaned some more things out of the garage. Saw a quote today that inspired me "what can you do today, to make your future better?" I did more garage stuff, as then DH can tidy all his tools away/put them altogether, & he can do some much needed DIY on our house! Washed the dishes after tea, then tackled some of the ironing mountain. Quite a lot is to get in a black bag to sell on FB 😊

Off out tomorrow night for cocktails. It's been a long, difficult school holidays, so great j can finally let my hair down 😃 cheers! 🍹

Grateful for seeing a Hare running along the road & field on our walk today, tackling more of the garage stuff, & the ironing pile being smaller, also, time to read my book whilst eating dinner

beanielou

@Thrifty_Taylor.  Enjoy your cocktails~~cheers 

WEll done @thriftylass.

grandmanerd

Monday 7th August 2023

No you are not:
Behind in life
Too dumb to learn new things
A failure or a disappointment
Destined to be alone
Too old for your dreams
Too broken to heal
Difficult to love
Too awkward to be around

Cooking and Chronic Illness/ undergoing treatment/ temporary or permanent disability
(throughthefibrofog) + lots of my own experience.
It's okay to take breaks.  After my hip  operation I could do up to 15 minutes standing, doing the washing up etc. If I alternated this with sitting tasks I could do much more. I did all my cutting and preparing meals sitting down (putting the pot on the kitchen table and tossing everything in worked well, the 'weight' of most meals is in the added liquid, which can be done after taking the pot to the stove). Over the past 9 years, my 'standing' time reduced and has sometimes been under 3 minutes (putting a meal in the microwave and then going to sit on the couch).

Back later - I have to finish getting dressed, collect all the old laptops and the toilet seat and get to the skip by 10 am.

grandmanerd

Quite a lot got done yesterday. Nowhere near what I would have liked to have done but probably as much as I was capable of. Two trips to each of the bins (rubbish/ cans and bottles/ paper and green waste). Washing was pegged on the line (not a full load but as much as I could do in three goes, 2 of them with wobbly/ giving out knees). Some clean washing that came upstairs has been put away. Ate a couple of ready meals and finished off baby corn, sugar snap peas and a pack of beetroot.

After lunch I went outside and did some tidying, some weeding and a bit of poking out dirt, stones and rubbish from the holes in the grid (all blocked up atm, no holes in fact it took a while to find the edges). Although I did bits of several jobs, it was logical - I sat on a chair facing the car park wall and worked sideways along the base of the wall. i ahdd some buckets of reclaimed soil with no drainage holes so a 3" layer of rainwater on the top. When I pulled out the nettles that had grown in them, huge clods of wet soil came out too, so they are lined up on top of the car park wall to dry out, so that the soil can be shaken off.

I ate at 6 pm and then lay on the couch hoping I could do more (WM was half filled and there's lots more weeding) but gave up at 8 pm as I was falling asleep over my laptop. I have gnomes at the bottom of the garden (well outside in the backs). I have 2 of mum's folding chairs out there and 2  (plastic wicker armchairs, a bit tatty) gifted by a neighbour last week. Some time last week the chairs had been moved into a circle and last night I saw them. Four pre-teen boys. They're not drinking or smoking, messing with any of my tools or causing damage (they did go in next door's yard for a play - it's a mini jungle again now) but no attempts to break in (not that they could make it any worse than it is) so I'm happy to let them sit in my chairs. They were still there at 8 pm when I switched my bedroom light on but had gone before 9 pm so I'm thinking they still have parental determined bedtimes.

This morning I've done two trips to the skips (they're 3 blocks up on the main road that my street leads off but it was a trek for me and I needed several stops to sit and rest). At a quarter to 10 am I took the old laptops and toilet seat (spent quite a while untangling wires to work out which were laptop wires and which were fairy light wires). Very helpful workmen (and one woman). Not as frantic as I expected it to be, but a steady stream of people bringing things that wouldn't fit in bins and wouldn't be allowed in a collection (large lumps of rotten wood). 

I asked if they'd take a broken wooden chair (yes) so returned home for that, several broken plant pots, a wooden drawer, electric cables and sundry items. I was having a go at unscrewing what is left of the seats and backs of some garden chairs (I use them with planks to have 2 rows of large plant pots raised to a convenient height for working) but then decided to take what I already had as the rusty screws were taking a while. Because I'd loaded the old walker I couldn't sit down until I'd unloaded so I took a shorter route by walking in the road of the long side street facing my house. Only one car came down and I pulled into a space between 2 cars until he passed. Emerged in the street facing the skips and 2 of the workmen saw me, came to meet me and took the items off me. I sat on the walker for a while (I'd taken a clean carrier bag so I could sit down) then walked back at a leisurely pace.

Sat on the couch to eat, sat outside pondering the things I want done (green  bin to be collected this week so I want to fill that if possible and one of yesterday's bin bags included stuff from the kitchen floor and outside, so I'd like to repeat that as well. The yard is looking tidier but there's a lot more I could do. However for now I'm treating myself kindly and am lying stretched out on top of the bed.

Today's thread is sponsored by ibuprofen gel - I hurt yesterday, I hurt when I woke up and more when I'd done the skip runs but peace of mind of getting rid of lots of awkward stuff is wonderful. I asked DS2 if I could dispose of the record player, 2 speakers and ancient monitor and he said he'd pick them up 'if I couldn't sell them' (so why did he dump them on me 14 months ago). They should be gone this week. Thursday is a second skip day so will try to gather more (there's at least one more broken planter but it's on the far wall and was too complicated to get to today). Try to get DS3 to take his stuff and might have a see if he can get out one or two items of furniture (one's under the stairs and a lot of other things would have to move to get at it but I can ask).

This morning's laughter moment - read a list of '15 minute' tasks. One was tidying your bedroom. Well it took a long weekend last time and I needed help from DS3 but it's a nice idea. Sorting out my pills when the old lot is running out and the new lot arrives takes longer than 15 minutes. Still waiting for the forest animals who do all your housework. (Not forgotten the post I was writing this morning but I think it's nap time again),

Toni'sfriend

NSD No 6 

I had a big surprise this morning, After my epic saga of trying to contact Virgin Media in June to tell them I didn't want their upgrade because I didn't use the landline my bill arrived with a rebate and the landline taken off the package, They had previously told me I couldn't delete the landline from the package. I think they make it deliberately difficult to speak to a real person and have only done this because I explained I was ill and really couldn't be bothered with all this hassle. Anyway, we're a lot better off now but I'll still be looking at other options once the contract expires.

Watching Marie Antionette on catch up. I love a historical drama. Must admit I thought the Little Drummer Girl could have been better. Great story but the production was a bit "slow". Anyone been to see Oppenheimer?

I liked your Chronic Illness cooking stories, Grandmanerd. I find chopping veg very therapeutic but I've started doing it whilst sitting watching TV in the living room and then just chucking everything in the slow cooker. Wonderful invention, slow cookers!

Today has been a good day for me. Hope it has been for you too. xxxx