NST January 2024: This is Sparta!

beanielou

Great result @ladybird1106 on selling the gold. 

Toni'sfriend

Hugs, Ditty. I can completely understand where you're coming from

Edinburgh was freezing. Really too cold to do much walking even if I was able to. Hotel was lovely. I was hoping to to relax but the constant text from NHS and hospital were really stressful. Home now and going to try and get myself together till the next scary hospital appointment at the end of next week. xxx

Flying_By

Hello @Toni'sfriend, Good to know you are back, your Edinburgh trip sounds bitterly cold but I'm glad you enjoyed the hotel.  It must have been very difficult dealing with a bombardment of texts and messages whilst you were supposed to be relaxing. I hope you find some time to pamper yourself now you are home.
Big hugs x

beanielou

Toni'sfriend said:

Hugs, Ditty. I can completely understand where you're coming from

Edinburgh was freezing. Really too cold to do much walking even if I was able to. Hotel was lovely. I was hoping to to relax but the constant text from NHS and hospital were really stressful. Home now and going to try and get myself together till the next scary hospital appointment at the end of next week. xxx

Sorry to read this xx

f0xh0les

Hugs to all who are waiting for tests, or appointments for tests. The not knowing is awful.

Be kind to yourself, and try and plan in something nice, a coffee out or a walk, not just sitting very still on the sofa, going round and round  in circles in your head. 

Today was another case of demonic possession - I got up and I cleaned, changed bed linen, broke a bed by sitting on it, removed broken screws, replaced screws, fixed bed! (woo hoo, go me!)  remade bed, hoovered, scrubbed, let Mr Builder in to fix something he had done badly, he admitted it was not the best, and did it properly with good grace (ish), cleaned bathrooms, made a mountain of laundry in front of the machine, did 3 loads and gave up.

Went shopping, bought food, lost the will to live before I got out of the car. God it was depressing. I hate shopping. It was nice to come in to a clean and tidy hallway though. So that was really nice. DS3 came and helped me unload the car and put it all away. 

It was totally light when the kids rode off to school on their bikes - it was dark this time last week.

Grateful for:  central heating - living room is a positively balmy 16 degrees right now

food in the cupboards

paid work all next week  ( a week off from paint stripping!!  yay!! )

Thrifty_Taylor

Sending hugs @ditty1234, hope your results on Monday are positive.

Well done on the piercing @Starlight_at_Sea. I had to wait til I was 16 to get mine done, as my dad didn't want me to get them done. I did push the butterfly too far into the post in one ear & my skin started growing over it, but i managed to sort it. Phew!

My goodness, @f0xh0les, you're a force to be reckoned with! There's no stopping you!!

Another snow closure, so had another lie in. Sorted out wool for my new knitting project. It's a cardigan with toadstools around the yoke. DH bought me the pattern for sproutmas 2022, & mum bought me wool in the base colour for it too, so I just needed to look out the highlighted colours. Wrapped DS3's GF birthday presents (2 of which were from a CS for 50p each, last weekend), & my quilled frame for a friend's birthday. Phoned DS1, as he'd not replied to 2 txts. He's doing ok 😃

Finished the last of the soup I made the other day, then cleared the drive of snow. Took DS3 to town, where he met GF & her family to take him back to their house.

Did Norwegian when I got home & fixed a zip on a pair of jeans, so I didn't need to do a full zip replacement. The customer was pleased with my suggestion too 

After tea, I washed the dishes, then put a nice film on N3tflix, & started my knitting.

Grateful for the roads bring clearer, L1DL having milk in stock, the zip being a quick job & finally starting on my knitting

DawnW

((Hugs)) @ditty1234 and @Toni'sfriend  Hope you both get good news very soon. I have to take my brother to the hospital to learn the results of his biopsy on Monday. We know he has lung cancer, but apparently there are lots of different types, which indicate different treatment possibilities. Not much looking forward to that.

In other news, DS came round for dinner with his fiancee and his daughter. They are borrowing our car for the weekend to take GD back to uni in Aberystwyth (sp?). Theirs is currently being fixed. Not worried about not having a car till Sunday pm, as we weren't planning to go anywhere. I usually go to see my brother on Saturdays, but will be picking him up on Sunday afternoon anyway to make it easier to take him to hospital on Monday morning. He lives in the next town and there always seem to be road works / holdups. I don't want to risk being late for his appointment as the traffic in the hospital city is also dreadful. It was lovely to see GD particularly, and we had a nice chat about her course.

I am waiting for someone to pick up a freecycle item. I have had so many messages from them, including one before 6am to tell me they were on the way. They still haven't turned up, so not sure what is going on there

grandmanerd

Two quiet days but yesterday I sat on the couch and transferred a lot of information from my phone (if case/ for when it gives up the ghost). Trying to put  names next  to numbers and then went through my messages picking off extra stuff. Accidentally deleted some stuff I wanted but it may not have been on there anyway. Last year  I had a visit from Social Services Early Intervention team (they arranged for the stair rails and grab bars to be installed) and she texted me thee name and number of a cleaner with experience of helping people like me. Will  have to chase it up by phoning the team (after they have moved out).

I asked if they wanted to go on a house inspection visit (whilst they were both still awake). They said 'Not today' which is worrying because I'm trying to move things along and a relief because I really didn't feel up  to it and was happy to nest on the couch with my phone and various notebooks (diary and address list). DS3 got up again  so mid-afternoon I came back upstairs to stretch my legs (both knees are swollen, the left more than the right). Sorry I am reading along but not taking in a lot of what everyone is going through.

Later I messaged DS2 to find out what is happening today - he will come to collect me when the baby goes down for her nap. I ate from stores (but too many chocolate biscuits overnight as I couldn't get to sleep. A  little bit of pre-birthday tension (or maybe it's all the stuff I need to do something about, with brothers and sons who make herding cats look simple). I asked DS3 about the auction (I asked twice but he reminded me that it was over 2 days so continued on yesterday) and the end result is okay (better than the estimates but way down on what I was hoping for. Keep thinking about buying a lottery ticket  - this is on a par with buying magazines as a mental health indicator. I only buy a ticket if I find money unexpectedly or if I see a dream property - a very old cottage near to the big house (so old the gardens look like the original villagers strips, a 'small' castle, a slice of the Hope Valley and a wood near Whitby with 7 cottages included).

I'm grateful for being able to support the people in my life who need it (difficult conversation with my brother coming up - need to go via my niece to see when he's at his best), for plodding on very slowly - a sheet , a towel  and a pillowcase went out on the line yesterday (this end of the yard, the half near the gate is still no go for me), for getting 2 more portions of chilli out of the pan, for chocolate biscuits (party food)

ldee2111

Grocery delivery today so staying on NSD 11. I’d gathered enough necktie points to get £2.50 off my Saneberries shop which kept it within budget. 

Fiddled about with our monthly budget this morning and tweezed out a little more for mortgage overpayments: £50. I also want to increase my pension contribution by 1% this year. I have minimal understanding of them. I just know we grow older and at some point we need this thing called a pension. Although it’ll reduce my pocket money at the end of the month, I really don’t spend on myself anyway. I usually treat myself when I’m gifted cash. I spent my December gift from Dad on a new bed set and dining set. Old bed set was fraying and dining set had seen a few casualties and was becoming too sparse. 😁 I’ve never been a shopper or someone who likes the latest thing (like OH). I’ve been an old T-shirt out, new T-shirt in kinda girl for many years now.

Heading to football match now wearing my Sprouts Day gifts: hat, scarf, and heated body warmer!

Grateful for a lie-in, for time to look over budget, for finding a little extra cash to overpay, and for having enough.

Flying_By

@ditty1234 So sorry to hear that you've received such a bolt from the blue, I'll be thinking of you on Monday and hoping that you get some good news.  Hugs to you xx