NST September 2023: Turtle Tightwaddery with a sprinkle of Alchemy

Thrifty_Taylor

I've got a few bits done today too. Felt a bit lethargic on wakening, so instead of doing yoga, I hung the washing out to make DH's list a bit less. Sold 2 things on fleabay, so had to package them up. Both quite bulky, but used up some saved reusable packaging. My work besties agreed to take the rest of the bag of clothes given to me by a colleague on Monday. I said she could list it online to help fill up her coffers, as her other half has been made redundant. 
Work went fine, but encouraged the pupil to let me walk instead of run, due to energy lacking & needing a wee! 🤣
Bought frozen pizzas on the way home, ready for Saturday, as won't have time to make homemade ones with having visitors. Collect

Thrifty_Taylor

Oops, pressed the post button accidentally! At least I hadn't list my post 😊
Collected DH's prescription, then posted the 2 parcels. Ended up costing more than I'd charged postage for, but I can take it from the item price, so not costing me any more, just less profit.
Played games on my phone whilst tea was cooking, then shortened 2 pairs of jeans after tea.
Forgot to say that I put some autumnal decorations up this morning too 😃
Haven't done much to help me relax today.

Grateful for the hedgehog reappearing & eating more food, autumnal decorations, helping a struggling pupil & making them smile this afternoon

DrCarrie

I am on NSD number 5 - the mortgage is through and I am in a bit of a tailspin. 

Grateful for: Sunshine, Choir members for conversation and laughter, and its very nearly annual leave. 

Swayingseaweed

Think I'm on nsd #5. Busy day yesterday, support my friend with her garden and then went to the allotment. Harvested potatoes, carrots and tomatoes. ED came home a day early which was a lovely surprise.
Grateful for 
1) ED coming home earlier
2) that YD first week at  college was a success
3) this row of potatoes not having blight (only another 5 to go)
Seaweed x 

Swayingseaweed

Nsd #6 in the bag.
Spent most of day upcycling the stuffing from 2 old lounger cushions into new seating pads for the bench and rocking chair in the garden. Used an old duvet set from a cs to make the covers.
Grateful for 
1) physio telling YD how important it is to continue with her stretches and strengthening exercises.
2) the versatility of potatoes
3) the girls still getting on 24 hrs into ED visit😂
Seaweed x

lcc86

Tried to have a lie in this morning, but my back decided to wake me up at 6.30 annoyingly. Got up after a bit and had a coffee and got ready for work, managed to get a few bits and bobs done before I left. Had a really long day at work unexpectedly, plan was to leave at 5 but didn't leave until 6.30 as I'd started something and just wanted to get it finished. Did manage to submit and expenses claim so have £60 on its way shortly.

Managed a NSD, am up to 9 for the month. Finances are looking okay at present, with OH away I definitely spend less! No takeaways or little treats haha.

Thrifty_Taylor

What a day! Started with waking @5.30. Could feel that I was starting with a cold, then was panicking in case I had covid & might give it to DH on top of everything else he's having to deal with health-wise. Got up at 7 (after putting a mask on & trying to sleep unsuccessfully), did a test, it was negative. Kept mask on anyway. Woke DSs1&3, made a stir-fry packed lunch for today & tomorrow.

A nightmare morning, which involved a faulty fire alarm going off, an inconsolable child, a very late lunch 1.45 & not being able to go to the toilet since I left the house at 9 until my lunch break 😓 felt extremely overwhelmed & shed a few years. Thankfully the afternoon was better, but I felt drained & rung out like a sponge.

Went to bed for a couple of hours when I got home. Still felt low when I woke up. Altered 2 pairs of trousers after tea, then had a soak in the bath with my book. Thank goodness tomorrow is Friday!

Grateful that I'm not in the boat with the visiting family tonight - it'll be VERY bumpy!, for great friends & caring colleagues, for not testing +, & for DS3 having his first shifts the next 2 days as a waiter in the hotel he's started working at

beanielou

I don’t know how you do it @Thrifty_Taylor xxx

f0xh0les

NSD 9 yesterday. Today is the last day of the event, 6th  12+ hour shift in a row. We are all starting to feel a little frazzled. Still, all punters happy, and it will all be over by 10pm, and there will not be a 5.30 am alarm tomorrow. Small wins. 
Grateful for working with some lovely people who appreciate what I do and recognise that it is not as easy as I make it look. Finally, they are starting to get it.

grandmanerd

Yesterday I soaked my mask whilst I showered and cleaned as many bits of the bath and surrounding areas as possible using both my hands and feet. Stopped when I started to feel chilly. No one else was awake so I started to tackle the printer. Put the black ink in, then the yellow only had them about 2 years (made DS3 leave the printer sideways on when we had the great room switch on so I could get at the printer wells). I bought an eco printer (will check business accounts to see how long ago that was) so you only buy the inks that need topping up.

Plugged it in - nothing happened. Put the plug in a different socket - nothing happened. Pressed a button - nothing happened. Read the (carefully saved) instructions. Pressed a different button- a light. Tried to print - nothing happened. Consulted the instructions. Redid the button and then left it for 20 minutes to 'prime the ink'. Yay. Couldn't get the printer to talk to the laptop. Suspect the disc I needed was one DS3 said I'd never need and was discarded in a recent purge. DS3 went to the bathroom. Hijacked him on the way back and explained the problem. Did I have a cable? He looked at a few cables in my room then went downstairs. Did not return.

Hijacked him after his next bathroom break. If I didn't have a cable? (implied it was my fault when their room is cable city). Next stage - get it on a pen drive and go to the library. Pause for lunch. Went downstairs to get my pendrive (knew exactly where they were). Laptop needed charging so took that and the cable with me. Plugged it in. Put the pen drive in. Laptop recognised the presence of a 'device'. yay. Wasn't sure about the next stage but DS3 was back in bed and fast asleep. Big sigh.

Okay I've done this before. Tried the male method of pressing various options (I avoid that because often things disappear and occasionally - including during a crucial exam - disastrous things happen). Big sigh. Urgent need for the bathroom. Made it but still felt troubled so lay on the bed (close to the bathroom). Laptop, charger and pen drive downstairs and no way I would risk going across to the library. Big sigh.

Decided it was time I did something about my staycation so started my jigsaw. Only 500 pieces and fairly easy. I'm reading an extremely good book but needed something undemanding. Jigsaw was good, fun and undemanding and gradually my stomach pain eased off. Laptop was retrieved but too late to go to the library. Started to feel hungry around 6.30 pm. I'd decided to write the letter out by hand then phone my brother to collect it, sign it and deliver it by hand (he doesn't wake before 2 pm, doesn't make sense before 4 pm - not a lot of sense then - and is at his best around 4 am). I was going to open a can of soup but found the remainder of the cheese triangles and oat cakes I'd had for breakfast which avoided dragging myself downstairs.

Turned the laptop off early to carry on with the jigsaw. I was surprised when it got too dark to see - I kept thinking that mum would have enjoyed this jigsaw, just the sort of thing I used to hunt for (bright colours, small sections). Put the light on, read for a bit, then feel asleep (woke in the middle of the night with my hand still resting on the book).  Apart from bathroom breaks I slept until 10.39 am. Checked my email - parcel delivered? DS3 brought them up. The aida fabric I ordered (11 hpi rather than the 14 I've been working with or the 16/ 18/ 20 hpi I preferred). Projects will look slightly clumsy (to me) but if it means I can continue cross-stitching for another few years, that's fine. 

The other parcel (they both slipped through the letter box) was a little felt koala - this year's tree ornament for the baby (to remind them of their month in Australia). DS3 and Beloved love it. I also received a text from the GP's surgery. They've issued a prescription to bring my pills into line (suspect that only means the newest one) but not expecting delivery until next week now (3rd month in a row that delivery has been impeded by the GP surgery). Also they are no longer able to prescribe vitamin D but it will be available to buy over the counter.

This is more creeping privatisation. Lack of vitamin D can be very debilitating - it put me in bed for 3 weeks once (I'd been very active for the previous few weeks) and I was very sad when it was discontinued after a month. However I've since been put back on it as it's been proven to be highly beneficial to those with a compromised immune system and many elderly people. Without it and the flu jab, I'd struggle to get through the next 6 months. It will be available over the counter for those who can pay (I can now but would have struggled for most of the last 10 years) but the poor and vulnerable will suffer (and quite a lot will die). I can have it on prescription again, if I become symptomatic ie can't get out of bed and sleep all the time. I saw a cartoon recently that went, 'I can't decide if it's a bad cold or the flu ... or a flare up .....or side effects..... or a new symptom... or a new condition ... or a combination of one or more of the above. Ah well, just keep plodding. 

The printer debacle has spurred me into action. I've missed my self-imposed deadline so I think I'll just hand write the notice and still get my brother to collect and deliver it (letter will be correctly dated etc but recipient will not be able to act on it until next week. The other thing is that the council now allows 2 collections of 5 items per year and I think I'll get rid of some of the bulky furniture that's annoying me (one set of drawers too many in my room, one thing that lived in mum's shed and I've been using out in the garden, one double bed and a start on the heavy bulky wardrobes in their room). The wardrobes will have to go when DS3 and Beloved do as I'd have no  chance of moving them on my own (let alone taking them downstairs).

DS3's decided he should have switched to a single (they have separate beds) which would make moving things around in their room easier and I need a single (either in the 'baby's room' or downstairs for when I don't feel  up  to  tackling the stairs - a downstairs toilet is on my list of future proofing improvements). The drawers in my room are damaged (could be an upcycling project but the Councikl now has a section set aside for items that  could be used by others). I can only open the top drawer (the bed blocks the others) and I'd much prefer a raskog either side of the bed (more useful, will hold a lot more and I still have raskogs in their boxes). The wardrobes have been more of a nuisance than a help ever since my mother made me bring them all the way back from Weston-Super-Mare after my brother died 17 years ago, before telling me that they were going to live at my house. So I'll be getting rid of things that are of limited use (and totally unsuited to my future life) and upgrading to things I intended getting anyway. Hoping these improvements will make my life better and less of a struggle.

I may have a bit of a binge buy. To 'celebrate' 25 years of pr1me, the big river company are offering £5 off a £25 spend. I have a list of 'needs' (toilet roll purchase triggers this weekend,anglepoise type lamp for each side of the bed instead of lugging things upstairs and down according to where I need them) and I want to test if it's £5 off each and every £25 purchase.

Need to get on and have my shower and think about lunch (several ideas that weren't used yesterday). Grateful for sleep, my bed, jigsaw and books.