NST: November 2023 – Sparkle

KajiKita

Everyone is making fab progress in here 😊 Amazing news on your furniture clearing @grandmanerd 👏👍🎉

@f0xh0les, methinks Mr FH should find and pay for a new properly big mirror for you ….. That must have been so disappointing.

As for me, I’m reading but not posting much here! I haven’t quite got the hang of having my own diary thread but also posting in here ….
My main aim was to try and get out at lunchtimes to get a walk in the fresh air and the light on a daily basis. I have managed quite a few but not so many in the last week - not because of the weather but more because of having meetings abutting lunchtime which means I only have 30 minutes to get to and from the canteen and eat. That doesn’t leave me enough time to get outside as well. The days I have managed to get out, it has made a big difference to my energy and concentration levels in the afternoons and into the evenings. 

Gratitude: Got stranded on the side of the road this week thanks to the back end of my exhaust falling off (had a new one fitted a couple of months ago thanks to the front end falling off). Whilst waiting for the big yellow rescue van, same mechanic #mortified 😂, I was overwhelmed with the noise of the traffic. I was stood on the side of a 4 lane, pedestrianised throughway and there were tankers, cars, HGVs, the lot coming though at c. 40mph. I realised after a while that I was looking at residential properties on the other side of the road to me - not set that far back, with nothing between their bedroom windows and the road. It made me be sooooo very, very grateful to get home to the quiet that night. 

KK 

ditty1234

Morning all fist of all a best wishes of good health for everybody who needs it.
I had a fantastic day yesterday w ds1 in his old uni town, which he was torn from when he got ill. So all a bit emotional, but basically good.
November has been difficult for both of us, as he had to quit a training job and go back to being a teaching assistant, where the start then was delayed till after dec 6th due to OT assessment. All fair, but leaves him incredibly bored and kind of relying on me for all conversation. 
And that would be fine if it wasn't for me feeling under a lot of pressure at work, contract not sorted since June, problems with payments for work done, and then problems with motivation and students. I am spending a lot of hours at work, but not very efficiently, and I seem unable to unsnap - get it done, and move on!
Sorry for rant, but I find I am feeling incredibly sorry for myself this particular morning. I will feel better in a bit, but I think I really need to have a look at all of my routines, to jest free up more energy for being assertive and making decisions that will make my life easier. 
The other thing that made me sad was that where we went to see a lovely exhibition about climate change - yes the art was beautiful and innovative, last time I was there was with my friend who passed away in the spring. And today I am having lunch with her widower and daughter, and I am just not sure I can manage. 
I know I spent a few days on the divan only last week, but I am still tired, to the bone. 

• Apologies for the sad thoughts above, here comes the amazing things that I am grateful for:
• I have 4 prints in the post to an Christmas exhibition, that is going up Thursday, I hope they make it. 
• I am doing an exhibition with colleagues and ex colleagues in my town in February.
• My sister is coming to visit in February half term
• My mother broke her arm, but is in less pain
• I am coming in almost on budget this month, even though I took the dog to the vet. 
• I have made contact with a hospital where I would like to do some artwork for them
• I am basically healthy and in a bit need to plan food and clothes for the week, including making a quiche and a chili for lunches and emergency dinners. 

Life is good, but at the moment I find it hard. 

KajiKita

@ditty1234, I think you are having a tough time with both significant losses and ongoing work worries and support needed for your son. I suspect that you are not getting time to grieve properly with everything you have on your plate, which won’t be helping. 

FWIW, I am sending you huge hugs and light sparkles ✨✨✨✨Ditty✨✨✨✨

KK

abundant1972

Morning Everyone ⛅

It's been awhile since I checked in. Sorry! Life's roller coaster took me on a bit of a diversion and today is the first day I've felt grounded enough to get myself back on here. I hope you are all well and on track - I'm going to have a proper catch up on posts today. 

There have been a whole load of things going on in my personal / family life... lots of home truths spoken on my side about how certain people have not being contributing or supporting since I moved back home to help look after my parents. As a result - my brother and his wife are no longer speaking to me... but you know what - that's ok. I'm through carrying them and letting them take the !!!!!!. They always very happy to take money from Dad but they're not happy supporting him or Mum or my sister and I. Well - they know what I think now!!! I actually did it in a really compassionate and caring way - but they have taken it as a personal attack. Not much I can do about that. 

I've been really working on myself - trying to be really honest with what is or isn't working for me in my life - and that includes relationships that take/drain and no longer serve as they stand. It has ben a very telling few weeks, and I feel like my life is one of those slide-puzzles where you have to re-arrange them in order to reveal the picture. I'm almost there... with home, work, family, friends... I just can't see quite yet where I am going to end up. It has been a huge leap of faith - but it all feels very right. 

On a financial level - I definitely spent too much on my week away - and so am in the midst of re-looking at my finances again. Pay day tomorrow so will finalise things then. Since home, I have been batch cooking, trying to use what I have in etc. I did get a few Black Friday buys on things I knew would be due to expire in the next year (new kettle and toaster).  

Today I am grateful for:

1) Quiet time at home
2) For having re-connected with my spirituality again 
3) Clarity and purpose

NSD total = Who knows ?!?! I will re-set in December 

Catch you tomorrow x 

KajiKita

Hi @abundant1972 😊 Good to ‘see’ you again. Yup, when you call time on BS, the BSers tend to sulk 😉 I’m assuming that your sister and parents are aligned with you? 

Fwiw, it sounds like you are listening to your instincts and ‘your truth’ more these days. Trust this and keep going. 

KK x

beanielou

@abundant1972. Sometimes you have to do what is best for you. I am glad that you have been able to do that. 

grandmanerd

It's Chriiiiistmaas
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6488396/nst-december-2023-the-most-wonderful-time-of-the-year/p1?new=1

Toni'sfriend

Thank you, f0xh0les. I'll do exactly that. We have loads in a cupboard. I think they were accumulated when we were getting deliveries during lockdown and they are very strong. Be a shame just to throw them away.

Abundant - Lovely to see you back. Yes, it's difficult when you fall out with family. Nobody wants to do it but your sister and yourself need help to support your parents. Maybe your brother and his wife will take time to ponder and realise that they could do a bit more. If not. They know where things stand and I am absolutely sure that you were kind and compassionate in explaining the situation.

Cold one here again today. Don't think the temperature has got above freezing. Lot's of little jobs done. Really seeing a big difference now. Years ago and I mean many, many years I tried to hang some pictures in the living room. What a disaster. Higgedley, piggedley doesn't even begin to cover it. The number of times I have tried to straighten these without success. I was sitting looking at them this morning. A roll of double sided tape and five minutes later and they are perfect. I think I overthink things!! Maybe the simplest solution if the best.. A little bit of lateral thinking here and there wouldn't go amiss.

All in all things are definitely looking up for me. I hope they are for you too. xxxx

beanielou

I have spent the weekend reading Val McDermid’s latest Karen Pirie book, 
Past Lying. 

Fantastic book. 

Highly recommend. 

A fellow Fifer like Ian Rankin. 

f0xh0les

That is how someone made a fortune from those velcro strips for hanging things on walls @Toni'sfriend  they could not hang a picture straight either.  

Went out with DH to a market this morning, but the market was not there! It still exists online, but it must have been cancelled very quietly.  So we had a lovely cup of coffee in a new-to-us place, himself nipped into the Chinese Supermarket, and my purse stayed in my pocket.  NSD16?

So many things have been broken or stopped working this last week, I got up early and made a sponge cake for (deceased) step-gran's birthday and stuck a candle on it.  Just in case she is shirty about us not marking her birthday last week, then thought I would try the dryer one last time, and it has started working again.   I am thanking the cake! Saved myself a fortune in laundrette drying machines as well,  plus, we had cake after lunch - win/win.