Cheery's path to fulfilment - finishing the DIY, looking after myself, appreciating the garden 🌻

Cheery_Daff

Gosh, apparently I am living in a previous decade compared to all of you! 😂

I ALWAYS have a bag, often a rucksack, although I do have a small handbag style thing as well. I always have purse (which admittedly does need a clear out of receipts and old vouchers), diary (i much prefer a paper one to scribble in), usually makeup (i don't wear much and it's usually not even noticeable but I do wear some), a small folding fabric bag, and my trusty A5 notebook, which organises much of my life 😂 I don't travel light 😂 I'd like to say this is just eg when we're likely to end up in a cafe (which admittedly is quite often) but but it's all the time 😂

Operation Mouse is back in force - I was dosing on the sofa last night and one ran up the side of it near to my head 🙄 Fortunately I don't startle easily (with mice - spiders are completely another matter and I did scream when one ran out of the leg of my overalls when I put them on the other day 😱) It was very cute, but, er, no. Traps will be set every day and we'll try to get rid before we go away!

Cheery_Daff

Anyway, plans for today! 

ADMIN
* MUST check the new bank switch accounts
* buy voucher for cousin's birthday

HOUSE
* pack up Ziffit parcel
* 15 mins of sorting paperwork
* washing

PREPARATION FOR THE WEEK
* make sure everything is washed
* pack for conference
* pack for weekend
* batch cooking for Mon/Tues 

ERRANDS
* post birthday card
* post parcel

GARDEN
* fit rest of greenhouse panes (can't do this til clips arrive, supposedly 'before 10pm' today)

OTHER THINGS
* workout
* IPL machine - did half of both legs last night and need to do the other half 😂

That's all I think. Mr Cheery may be going to his dad's, but might not - he got back late from a gig last night and may not feel like a 6 hour round drive on his own today (and I've already said I'm not going this time - too much travelling already this week). 

Right, best get on with it!

Greying_Pilgrim

Cheery_Daff said:

Gosh, apparently I am living in a previous decade compared to all of you! 😂

I ALWAYS have a bag........ I always have purse......

You're not alone Cheery - although I hasten to add you are considerably younger than me, but I always have a purse and a HM tote bag when out and about.  It does always amuse and impress me when I am in a shop and a glamorous person of more vintage stature than me, flashes their watch or their phone in the vague direction of the cashier and just like that, purchases are paid for, and **poooff** they are outta there!  😁  

Greying X

KajiKita

I have a handbag. 

Mr KK describes it as my ‘life support system’ and is terrified of going in there, even if I tell him to, to retrieve something he needs …! 😉😂

KK

Cheery_Daff

Ha, well maybe I will keep my handbag after all! Should probably still also keep the code on the phone, as annoying as it is. Maybe it'll make me use the phone less 🙄😂

Having a nice day here 😊 Had breakfast on the swing seat this morning, did a workout, watched a programme while using the IPL machine, got some washing on the line, and Mr Cheery and I have been for a bit of a bible round a market town, which involved a drive through some beautiful countryside 😊

Definitely getting to that time of year where we start avoiding certain places on sunny weekends though... 😂 The town itself was fine, but we drove through somewhat of a tourist hotspot... Came back a different way, thankfully, which was completely clear. 

My greenhouse clips have arrived, and now I have sat in the greenhouse for a small snack and a look at the view, I shall put the audio book on and get them fitted, and a little more garden pottering done 😊

SO nice to have a day full of sunshine, even if it isn't super warm 😊😊

Ramouth

Would you mind giving us an update on the effectiveness of the IPL machine?  I have noticed that you are using it fairly regularly and would appreciate an honest view.  I have one but have never used it regularly enough to give it a fair chance of really making a difference.  I do love the idea of longer term smooth skin without the ingrown hairs one gets from waxing.

Cheery_Daff

I've got a fairly cheap one (about £100), and have been using it since just before Christmas, I think. I'm meant to use it once or twice a week, but looking at my tracker thing (just a page in my notebook where I track things), I used it 3 times in Jan, 5 in Feb, 5 in March, and so far only 2 in April, so clearly my regime leaves a lot to be desired! 

There are definitely areas on my legs that are getting far more patchy. Near my ankles on both legs are hand-sized patches which have pretty much no hair, and other bits that have less, but the rest doesn't look like there's any difference. 

I've not been consistent with settings either. Mine has a 'continuous' function so you don't have to keep pressing the button, it flashes automatically, and then you move it along a bit. The lowest setting flashes fastest. I started with the high one, but that makes it SO SLOW - took nearly 2 hours to do all of both legs 😱 I just put a film on, but even so, it means I struggled to be bothered to set aside enough time twice a week. 

Then I switched to the lowest setting, probably twice as fast (but I assume not as effective...). This last time I did the middle setting, and the whole thing took probably about an hour and 10 mins (obviously sizes of people's legs varies 😂 clearly i have more surface area than the folk who are claiming to do the lot in 20 mins!)

The most annoying thing is that I was using an epilator before, but now have to shave - it doesn't work with an epilator (because it needs to deliver the light pulse down the hair itself, apparently). So getting into a regime of shaving, then doing this a day or two later, is what's making me be slightly inconsistent about it! 

So overall I am going to persist, and am trying to be a bit more consistent about it. The fact that I am seeing some results is encouraging, and from now on I'm going to aim for twice a week on the middle setting. 

I know people have raved about them - it's certainly not a super quick fix, it's quite time consuming, and they're expensive. BUT it doesn't hurt!! I suspect the more expensive ones are more effective 🙄 But it will be worth it if it continues to have the effect it's had on the patches that are clear. Those are the bits I start with, so I suspect I'm a bit more diligent with moving the thing more slowly, and I get a bit slapdash as I get further up 😂

Be warned - it's a bright flash and you have to wear the little sunglasses they send 😂 It's not a glamorous look 😂😂 I usually shut.myself in the bedroom with a film and my dark glasses 😂

Ramouth

Thank you so much. You have reminded me that it was waiting for a couple of days after waxing that made me forget to use it in the first place!  It definitely sounds like you are making progress and I should give it another go - the idea of pain free lasting smoothness is certainly appealing!

badmemory

Thank you for reminding me to be grateful that I have virtually no hair anywhere except on my head.  I can't believe how much time it must have saved me over the years.  Mind you plucking those very long hairs off my face that started growing a few years ago is becoming a pain in more ways than one.

Cheery_Daff

Ha, yes, those face hairs are certainly getting more time consuming! I once met someone who just left hers to grow - they were long enough to tuck into her collar, just 3 or 4 of them. I can see the appeal! 

Another long day here, but cheerful enough. Busy but largely satisfying day at work, then to see a friend's daughter performing in a school musical event, most cheerful 😊 It finished later than we'd thought though, so I didn't get home til about 10.15. Fortunately I had already gathered my stuff for tomorrow's conference, and just had to swap it into my rucksack, and my bag for the weekend is packed too. Organised for once! 😂

Had a daft moment yesterday. I bought a big river voucher for a family member's birthday. Did it as an eGift card, but didn't know her email, so sent it to myself. But then there was only a button to add it to MY account 🙄😂 I've done it before, so I was searching through my memory... last time I did it as a printable gift card. Fine, so I bought a printable gift card, and had THAT sent to myself, then copied the voucher code and sent it as a message to the recipient. Then went back to the original, pressed to add to my account, and realised of course that there's a code and I could have sent that one.

So now I have a £25 gift card added to my own account 🙄 Dont even buy anything from there that often so I'll have to remember! 😂 What a plonker 😂