NST January 2024: This is Sparta!

Esmeralda2662

@Toni'sfriend sending you positive vibes.  Your mum sounds like mine - a tough old bird (that's what the cancer specialist called her) - but the best person to have on your side.

@grandmanerd sorry to hear your cable has conked out. Hope you get a new one soon.

Bit of decluttering done today so pleased to see a bit of clear space. Set off to take 2 bags of clothes to CS then realised just up the road that i'd left the big box of bric a brac behind! Had to turn car round, go home and fetch it.

Called at the tip CS and found a standard lamp as a gift for my mum (85) to replace the one her toddler great-grandson knocked over and broke. Spent 30 mins in tip shop trying to find a lampshade that fitted. Ivory pleated shade and lamp = £7. So pleased as my mum has been promising to treat herself to a new one but, after 9 months and still struggling with no lamp, this was a bargain. I dont think she realised how dear new ones are and when she did she couldn't justify the cost. Think it's an age thing.

Couldn't get a tip run today so booked one for early tomorrow. Have some old electrical items to go but more importantly some sheets of thin broken glass that are lethal. Just want them gone as someone could slip and have a terrible accident.

Delivered birthday cards and presents to my DIL. Wasn't sure they'd be in but went on the off chance. They were in so we had a nice chat and a look at her lovely Christmas and birthday presents. 

Their teenage daughter needed a gaming chair to play her computer games and as they couldn't afford one my son bought a secondhand Mazda MX5 car seat for £10 and built a wooden and aluminium slide frame sprayed black for it. It's now just the right height for her. He's so practical, he takes after his dad.

No NSD today as I bought the lamp and called to get milk, chicken and chocolate.

Have managed to get free tickets to a craft class tomorrow for my friend and I. She's coming to lunch here and then will drive us to the class. Cotton flower brooches with a button middle. Should be fun.

Grateful for taking the bits to the CS and clearing a small space, getting a bag of books ready for my cousin, finding the lovely lamp and a shade that fits, a nice time with my son, DIL and their daughter.

Early bed tonight as I feel done in! X

ladybird1106

No money spent. Had plenty of exercise with miss giddychops, then went over to dad's to walk hairy maclary from Donaldson's dairy. Will help with an oz of weight loss😂. 
Christmas is packed away in the loft and the house feels bigger. 
Grateful for
1. Stayed dry all day
2. Christmas is packed away
3. New book. 
Love 🐞

f0xh0les

I have been in the loft all day again. Laying the second roll of insulation and screwing stilts to the battens, and putting boards on top and screwing them down.  Did you know you cant cover any wires in your loft with insulation at all? nor where the lights go through, nor smoke alarms.  So I have had to leave little patches and make sure the wires are on top of each layer .  It has taken f.o.r.e.v.e.r !!  Woodworm treated DS3s room for second time, and put carpet back down and the room back together before he got home at lunchtime. 

All food from stores, NSD2, 

 @Toni'sfriend  you can have a wobble if you need one.  Get travel planning for when you get the all clear, or for  when the treatment is over.  A girl has to have something to look forward to.  Hugs.

ldee2111

It was grocery delivery day today so stayed on 4 NSDs. The order was more costly than usual because it included things like dishwasher tabs. Only £4 left in the food budget for the rest of the week now which is fine if OH doesn’t decide he needs bags of ‘ice’! We have ice moulds but he doesn’t have the patience for them. *she sighs* 

This morning I was checking our progress on paying off the mortgage by December 2025. It’s going to plan so far and I’m feeling confident that we can do it all being well (keeping our jobs, no major catastrophes like the roof falling in). I’ve managed to stuff away a few pounds here and there, including a bank switch bonus over the last few months (thanks again for the bank bonus tips @f0xh0les) which means I now only need to find a spare £66 instead of £80 extra a month on top of what we already save for overpayments. As long as I keep being careful, I’m sure I can manage £15 underspends across my food, transport and leisure budgets each week. I might even get the chance to do another bank switch! 

Grateful today for a beautiful big winter sun giving everything a glow, for getting time to sit in bed and play about with numbers, for Dad popping over for a visit, for OH making dinner, and for having fun playing games with DS and OH. 

ditty1234

Grateful for a bit of a sleep in, solving an other quarter of my 1000 piece Christmas puzzle, and day 2 of flow yoga. 

Starlight_at_Sea

That is exciting progress ldee! I am building up to a review of mortgages, I have two - one is £72K with another year on a very low interest rate, so I have stopped overpaying as other things are more costly. The other, on a new property purchased last year is 4.5 X that, and on a high interest rate. I am questioning changing lots of things at the moment (career, lifestyle) in the medium term and having a grip on my options/constraints linked to the mortgages is a key part of the jigsaw. 
A good reminder re bank switches. In the six months or so that I've been adrift, maybe some eligibility has opened up for me. I'll check that this week! 

grandmanerd

Toni's friend you are certainly entitled to a wobble if you need one (and a moan to  us). My cousin (who's still coping with the rather  complicated mess her mother left her) keeps beating herself up because 'other people have it much worse  and I shouldn't  complain'. I keep telling her that other people's suffering doesn't make her pain any less valid and to moan to me as often as she needs to.

This morning we've been through the 'moving into her mum's house and selling her current one' debate (decision already taken but she keeps doubting herself and rehashing it). I've told her this is the way forward. She will move into her mum's house (already spent on rewiring, a new boiler, getting rid off asbestos ceilings etc) and make it into her own  space and then sell the small bungalow with memories of her awful ex (and the not  done to building regs  attic room he created). There's no guarantee that her son will find employment as soon as he finishes university or that he and his gf will be able to afford somewhere of their own to live, so the larger house makes sense.

The cable is past the pull and hit it stage. Wires are exposed and starting to break. Yesterday I had an hour's charge left (after it had been supposedly charging for several hours) so I ordered a new one and paid extra for it to come today before 1 pm, the replacement blade for the electric can opener (£6 instead of £32 for a whole new one). The current one has lasted about 5 years so well worth trying. i shuffled through my pending list and added back a couple of items (due from tomorrow until the 8th). Decided toilet roll stock up will wait until the month end although I'm very glad I ordered a triple load as I'm going through them at a rate of knots and don't think they have reached peak illness stage yet.

So I  showered and washed my hair and went to sit curled up on the couch awaiting the cable delivery with the small grocery delivery I put through yesterday. A few treats and some things to go with items in stock. Yesterday I ate the sliced brisket on wraps bbf last July with a scrape of mayo, a dob of grain mustard, heaps of watercress and tiny tomatoes.but I do need some form of bread. Finally conceded that what I really want is bacon barms so bought white soft rolls and a fruit loaf to toast. Treat was a choc swiss roll (forbidden but less calories than other options and a Christmas treat for myself - only mince pies and hm cookies on offer at DS1's). I'm also enjoying the tiny bottles of perrier I bought in a previous delivery and have added a slosh of lemon juice (again not something I have often but 'something special'.

So the deadline for the cable delivery expired and then I noticed it was on the shelves (above my head height so DS3 must have taken it in but said nothing). All set up and charging again (and DS3 found my phone last night so that's been charged and am ticking off various bits (catch up with cousin). The phone was where I expected it to be - window side of the floor beyond the bed (he could lie across the bed and reach down, I was only able to skim things off the top of the pile.

Grateful for lovely treats, a working laptop and phone (still need a new one at some point ) and a comfy couch. - and for feeling better, lots better really, taste and smell returning, coughing less severe, bits of tidying done

Flying_By

Oh dear, in the middle of a post and it's all disappeared, I'll try again!
Not an NSD for today as I'd ordered a small-ish food shop online and it will hopefully see us through until the end of the week, and also I won't have to fill up my car with petrol.

We bade farewell to DS's friend who arrived just before Christmas and stayed with us for a fortnight.  Such a lovely young man, a joy to have him here.  He's hopefully returning in the Spring, depending on how his Master's degree goes.

After a fright last week, DD2 is staying with us - her partner says he cannot cope with her when she is ill  - Id rather she's with us anyway tbh.  Off to Endocrinology appointment first thing in the morning.

Step-mum remains in hospital having broken her right hip just before Christmas, she broke her left hip about 18 months ago - both from falling over.  She's 95 and since she's been hospitalised this time she's become quite confused and agitated.  She's started physio though, so fingers crossed my brother and I will be able to keep her out of a residential home, and manage her with the help of carers coming to her house   

I felt quite miserable yesterday but feel like I am getting back in control this morning.  Sun is shining here and I've excavated the linen basket until I can see the bottom of it, always a good sign!

Sending love and ultra-positive thoughts to @Toni'sfriend Will be thinking of you daily xx

Love to@ DawnW and your brother.  Hoping all goes well with your travelling tomorrow and there are no cancellations at the hospital.

@grandmanerd I hope you will not be without your computer too long - I love your posts so much.

ladybird1106

Had a really nice but muddy walk with DH and miss giddychops. Called at the plot to harvest kale, sprouts and psb. On the utility plot someone was getting rid of loads of module cells. Must of been about 40, so helped myself as it was something on my list to purchase this year. Devoured Charles Dowding skills book yesterday. 

New washing line bought, meal plan done, shopped from the freezer, cupboards and the plot and then actually went shopping. £52.24-change in the fun pot.

Had to start doing youngest physio again as they are not doing it properly, hopefully by the end of Feb I can hand it back to them to do. Lots of singing at the tops of our voices with Alexa on full, to drown out our dreadful singing. 
Grateful 
1. The plot keeps producing wonderful veggies 
2. Free gardening equipment 
3. DH has sanded the garage side door as it keeps sticking. 
Love 🐞

Toni'sfriend

Glad you got your cable replaced, Grandmanerd. I don't know a lot about these things but I remember the Boy telling me that if you can see the wires it is potentially dangerous and needs to be replaced.

And thank you all so much again, one and all, for your support. I feel as if I am just going on and on about this but I think I am now feeling anger. This nodule on my lung was first noticed in March in a CT scan following the surgery for breast cancer. It was mentioned almost as an afterthought as I was leaving the consulting room and I was continually told it was absolutely nothing to worry about. Even the oncologist waved her hand dismissively and said "you'll be fine. It's nothing" when I told her that I was worried that a respiratory consultant was concerned about it. Well, it isn't nothing!. It's rare and slow growing. Probably been there for years. But it it wasn't for the respiratory man pushing and pushing I still wouldn't know. And if they had supported him in the first place I could be so much further forward in my treatment and Himself, the Boy and me wouldn't lying awake at night worrying. Anyway, rant over.

Got a wee trip booked to Edinburgh on 15th for four nights, F0xh0les. Lovely hotel and we have a Christmas present voucher for dinner in a posh restaurant.. Fingers crossed some doctor doesn't spoil it by booking an appointment. 

So, not a NSD. Two birthday presents needed for two of my little friends. One this month and one in February so that's them sorted.

Still eating out of the freezer but we will need fresh veg tomorrow. Another little (very little) bit of decluttering done. But it is Sunday so that's allowed.

Have a lovely evening and thanks for listening to my moans. xxx