Flying solo

lucielle

Good work on the kitchen cleaning. Hope you hear from the lodger soon. Please can I borrow your mum?? 

L

twiggy86

lucielle said:

Good work on the kitchen cleaning. Hope you hear from the lodger soon. Please can I borrow your mum?? 

L

She's the best! And my dad was there at 7am this morning painting the spare room walls! (I gave mum the day off today as she ended up having to look after my nephews as well yesterday and so is a bit knackered!)

twiggy86

I have a confession to make... I splurged on a treat for myself yesterday! I was really hoping to be a in position to buy myself a proper yarn advent this year - well they are in the region of £120-£150 (plus postage - added that just to help justify my spend!). However I saw a sale of lucky dip bags for £65 - meaning I can make my own (just have to find a way not to look at them until December!) Including postage it came to £71.50 so much cheaper but it was definitely a "want" not a "need". I've pulled the money from my misc savings for now and will consider if there is another way I can cover it. 

A positive is that we won at netball last night! It was a surprise win as we were playing top of the league who hadn't lost a game this season! 

Today's bits and bobs:

• Glue a Christmas decoration for a friend so that I can return to her tomorrow 
• Sort out change - I separated out the 5ps and should have enough to fill a bag to pay in to bank, will count up later 
• Dad is at mine continuing the painting! (He arrived at 7am!)
• Take last of leftover pasta to work for lunch 
• Take something out of freezer for dinner 
• Make CC payment 
• Text potential lodger (didn't do this yesterday) 
  
• Text friend to double check amount for haircut 
• Double check through bag of clothes that there isn't anything worth listing on V*nted
• Start making shopping list 
• Work on one of my crochet projects 

twiggy86

Few little updates…

Lodger agreed to the amount and is keen to move in asap! So I need to sit down and work out what needs to be done to allow this to happen - for example I realised earlier that my parents have the only spare key so need to get one cut! Speaking of parents, dad painted the whole room today and looks great - although the change of colour makes me hate the bed that’s in there even more! Don’t know what we were thinking getting a red leather bed (sounds very Mr Grey!) 

My aunt also texted me about a couple of her friends that want me to help them do their power of attorney forms (I previously helped my aunt and uncle do theirs). They are happy to pay me so need to book in a time to chat to them. 

Counted up the pennies - have £7 bagged up and have been rummaging around trying to find another 8p to get another bag of two pennies gone! (I found 4p as it was 12p required!) 

Right now to rummage through the bag of clothes before I cook myself dinner - with any luck I’ll find some coppers in a pocket!

twiggy86

Had a productive day so far but I’ll start with a negative - the person who was going to move in has got back with his gf so won’t be moving in. It was a very fresh breakup so I had considered that this could happen. But oh well, it’s only a delay! 

Yesterday I walked nearly 13 miles with a friend to a local beauty spot which despite living in this area my whole life I’d never been too! She bought us both a coffee to walk with and then we stopped for lunch on the way back and I paid (she has looked after me and very often feeds me so don’t regret treating her). Totally worth how much I’m aching today! Despite my legs not being friends with me today, so far I have:

• photographed bits for v*nted - I pulled 8 things out of the bag of stuff old lodger left including some brand new shoes! 
• Written meal plan and shopping list 
• Been fed a sausage sarnie by my mum!
• Snaffled 6p off mum, so just 2p left for another bag of change - I haven’t paid the change in yet as the counter wasn’t open when I popped the return in yesterday 
• Bought some of the bedding from the cheapest place - will try their other store one evening this week on way home from work as they didn’t have everything 
• Finally put the clothes in the “clothes for cash” place - made a whopping £4.30!
• Done food shopping in ald*
• Photographed bed - decided to sell it as I really don’t like it and it’s quite bulky so makes the room difficult to position things. Yes I will have the expense of a new bed but found one that’s much more suitable for the space for £149 so that’s not too bad. Dad has said he will dismantle the current one tomorrow 
• Friend has confirmed it’s £10 for my haircut tomorrow 

Still left to do:

• list items on v*nted 
• List bed for sale 
• Pop gammon in the slow cooker 
• Look through yarn stash and patterns to decide the next birthday present 
• Book escape room - friends Christmas present from me (she got a crossword she had to solve on Christmas Day to work out what the actual present was… yes she cursed at me!) 

By that point I will probably run out of steam and crash on the sofa with my crochet! 

twiggy86

Happy Monday!

Decided to start each week with some "weekly goals" - I'm definitely more motivated with a list! So this weeks mini goals are:

• Post any V*nted sales 
• Pay change into bank 
• Continue re-organising kitchen cupboards 
• List bed for sale 
• Progress crochet birthday present 

twiggy86

So with the weekly goals in mind, today I have/ will:

• Weigh yarn for next project - I have a goal of ending the year with less yarn stash than I started, so I'm weighing the starting and ending amounts and will keep a running total
• Take lunch to work including LO potatoes to work as a snack 
• See if anyone at work can swap two pennies for a two penny! 
• Post V*nted sale - made £5 off something I pulled out of the bags
• Update spreadsheet with weekend's spends 
• Start crochet birthday present - a deer if anyone is interested 
• Have haircut by friend so will only cost £10 
• Dad should be dismantling the bed today, so if it all comes apart ok I will put it up for sale (wanted to wait in case there was any issues) - probably going to ask £50 I think 
• See if I can re-shape the shoes that were in the bag - they're brand new but one is slightly squashed, so want to try fix that before I pop them on V*nted 
• Possibly sort out an area/ cupboard in the kitchen 
• Dinner from stores 
• Crochet in front of the TV 

I think that's a big enough list to be productive but not over-whelming for a Monday! 

twiggy86

A few things on my list yesterday didn't get achieved - honestly, through nothing but laziness/ I just want to flop on the sofa mode! However, I'm sure you're keen to be updated.. my colleague gave me the final 2p needed! 

So today I have/ will:

• Take lunch to work - leftover lasagna from last night  
  
• Make CC payments now statements have come in
• Update spreadsheet with weekend's spends 
• Order a couple of bits from the "rainforest shop" using voucher 
• List bed for sale 
• See if I can pick up the rest of the bedding on my way home 
• See if I can re-shape the shoes
  
• Sort out an area/ cupboard in the kitchen - may set a timer for 30 minutes and see what I can get done, as this usually motivates me!
• Use charity bag as bin liner (all small things are worth mentioning in my book!) 
• Dinner from stores - making burgers and will freeze the rest 
• Crochet in front of the TV 

lucielle

heaves a sigh of relief at the 2p
L

twiggy86

Morning readers! 

So last night I set my alarm for only 30 minutes but in that time I made great progress sorting out the kitchen cupboards! Unfortunately it did mean throwing out lots of things that were expired (some as far back as 2020!) - I'm not a stickler for dates in general (i.e. last night I ignored the date on my eggs and instead did the float test - well I'm still here today despite the eggs being 2 weeks past their use by date!). This means I can now completely clear out the two cupboards I want designated for a lodger and probably still have extra space! I still plan to sort all the cupboards may now move on to the utility area, as this will be necessary "pre-lodger" whereas the cupboards can wait a while longer. 

The bigger personal news is that I felt I had the capacity to text Ex last night - just asking how he was and if we can arrange a time for me to take pooch for a walk and maybe have a chat. This is a step I haven't felt ready for previously so shows I'm slowly healing/ dealing. He didn't respond until this morning (I don't think it was delivered last night) but I have a client meeting in an hour and don't know if I'll get upset reading it, so saving it until later. 

Anyway, on to today's bits and bobs:

• Re-purpose little basket which is empty after last night's sorting 
• NOT do a load of washing - thought there was enough in the basket but the amount didn't justify putting the machine on so will wait a couple more days (the benefit of it just being me at home!)
• Take some chicken thighs out of freezer for tonight's dinner
• Take leftover lasagna to work for lunch 
• Work on crochet present at lunch 
• See if I can pick up last of the bedding by trying a different shop on way home from work 
• SORT OUT SHOES 
• Set timer for 30 mins to continue sorting out kitchen/ utility 
• Dinner from stores 
• Possibly make a soup using up some peppers lingering in the fridge - Recipe printed at work so will give it a try... if I can be bothered! 
• Continue crocheting pillow cover in front of the TV