NST November 2025: NOWvember

ldee2111

NSD 2/12

Another day working from home with OH as company (not sure ‘company’ is the right word as we both sit in silence with our faces in our laptops 😂). Got a washing done and hung in the spare room, baked two potatoes - one for today’s lunch and the other for tomorrow’s when I’m in the office. And since the oven was going, I made some banana bread… lunch and afternoon snack sorted for tomorrow… hopefully another NSD. Also listened to a fair amount of the current audiobook I’ve got - Shuggie Bain… not the most lighthearted of stories! Sad stories seems to be a theme with me just now having just finished Of Mice and Men. 

Grateful today for working from home, for getting two days’ lunch sorted, for getting a medical appointment rescheduled for DS for next month, and for a lovely picture of fireworks from DS which he drew at school using bright coloured chalk on black paper. 

beanielou

If you can afford it, I vote for the hairdresser.

grandmanerd

Despite worrying, I made it to my 9 am podiatry appointment - it was the insoles one. They hadn't any in stock in my size so will post them out to me. She also said that if I'm not having any issues with them, I can just rquest more when I have my diabetic foot review.

I went round the corner to my doctor's surgery, requested the blood and other paperwork for my diabetic review and re-booked my flu jab. I had a taxi there and thought I would need one back but as I got to the entrance the bus came up the side street. I hurried to the stop and the driver waited. I got off one stop before normal, outside the community (no waste) shop. It only opens at 10am so I sat waiting as the queue grew (people looked through the free items outside. It started to rain and I needed painkillers so I left. It took me over half an hour to get home due to the Civic Centre improvements. Only the bus lane was fenced in when I left in my taxi. When I came back the whole square was fanced off and there were several piles of bricks and soil piled up. 

There was a path around the front of the library so I followed that and then went inside to warm up and rest before the final leg. Picked another 4 books. Luckily the car park was free of obstructions - they are filming a sequel to 'The Split' inside the old Town Hall and a good part of the car park is coned off for the pantechnions (is that right).

Got home, ate then rested. Later I decided to take a bag of cans to the brown bin and bring it back to my house. The bottom of the bag fell out, cans rolled everywhere and I sat down again. I did put some of the clean pots and cutlery away.

My brother has phoned 3 times with house queries. Question about the boiler - he couldn't open the rest of the form. He shoved a letter about gas and electric which had gone to grandma's house through my door. Phoned back later with details on the boiler question (I need to rummage through forms), ground rent and they want an ordnance survey map with the property outlined in red (tomorrow).

Grateful for good appointmnts, time to rest and signs of progress on the house sale. 

apple_muncher

Grandmanerd, those embroidery items have been mentioned many times! You've got rid of many, I believe, already. If you have the 0li0 app, you could offer it all for free.

Beanie, if the indoor walker means fewer falls, might it be a good thing?

apple_muncher

Hugs, ThriftyT, enjoy your weekend away, when it comes.

apple_muncher

Today I am grateful for having some work, for laughter and giggles at work, for messages from Pip, for my naked snowmen getting scarves ( eyes, buttons and hats to follow), for coffee.

Thrifty_Taylor

@thriftylass one of my son's eats 10 eggs a day!!

Counting today as NSD#3, my massage after work is paid for from my self employed earnings & my house insurance had money saved in an envelope for it.

Exercised again this morning 😊 had the last of the veg stir fry for dinner. A good day at work. My ex pupil (helped them for 3 years, 3 years ago) popped in & brought sticky toffee pudding they'd made for the staff 😋 it was delicious! They allowed me to give them a hug too.

Lovely massage after work. Compared prices & took out new home insurance, then unpacked a storage crate of clothes, 2 dresses to donate, 2 to throw away & rest hung up. Another space cleared in my living room 😀 Knitted after tea & watched a film.

Hope you're happy with your new walker when it arrives, @beanielou.

Grateful for a good day at work, decluttering another box, visit from ex pupil & their baking

grandmanerd

I have got rid of a lot of embroidery stuff apple. I could no longer use the bright colours and then the pastels and I've gradually been getting the higher count stuff - I was using 22 count (that means each 1" square has 22 x 22 stitches) and others (20 to 16 count), now I'm using 10, 12 and maybe 14. The earlier batches went to the group that meets in the library but I asked a couple of weeks ago they no longer meet there and the staff don't know where they went. 

I now have one piece for Beloved (very little left to do), one piece that was originally for my mum (emerald green on navy so can only do in short stages) and a set of 5 (should be 6 but the pattern was lost when I changed laptops) woodland animals for my grand-daughters - mainly background trees which I'm doing by copying/ reversing bits from the completed ones.

I think the rest are going to go to the Hospice shop as they have lots of knitting  and sewing stuff. But they're at the top of the pedestrian area which is a difficult walk and some of the larger pieces (baby afghans) are packed away and need to be tracked down. I don't want to let go of the threads until I've completed the pieces and they're useful for 'ordinary' sewing (working with felt so no seams or edges). It just takes a while for me to adjust to the fact that embroidery is no longer going to be part of my life - we did a bit at school when I was 13 and I did some pieces that were going to be a bag. My first big project was a cushion for my grandma, 40 years ago. When they saw my interest both my grandmas gave me the few threads that they had left.

Okay I'm tired today (yesterday's appointment even though it wasn't very taxing) so will work on lists and tick a few bits off. 
Housework    the Rubbish and Recycling is ever present especially when I can't get down the yard to the bins.  I probably need to do some work on what I'm bringing into the house and how it's wrapped and give more time and effort to getting the shopping packed away. Everywhere is a mess atm - I'm missing Mrs Builder but there are things I need to do in between her regular visits. I also need an extras list of places that need attention.
                    
Basic Hygiene/ morning routine    this used to be 19 items but it's grown since. Not all of it needs to be done every day but more 'pampering' is required. Not 'spend all day at a spa' pampering but protection and prevention - lots of moisturising (currently using up various lotions but want to draw up a shortlist of products I love) - the increase in handwashing and using gel is making my hands dry and I need to keep on top of nail cutting etc. 

Christmas shopping  (it's November f0xh0les the elves are safe now.  I was watching a frugality blogger yesterday and her tips were all about doing what you could in November, so December is a relaxed fun time (hah) so make your cookie doughs and put the rolls in the freeezer then you only need to cut and cook later. I'm going to get on with the shopping as gift exchange might be early December. For the baby I want a push along toy and a pull along. I have been looking so just need to make a final decision and get them. When GD1 was this age, I gave her a sensory basket of things to explore so I'm going to do the same - I already have wooden figures in 2 skintones (multicultural upbringing) and a duplo elephant (baby's mum loves elephants) plus some other things I can choose from. May buy something extra, especially if I see something to add onto other purchases to get a discount or free postage.
GD1 I have a number of items I can give her. She's getting into building now (using items I bought for her birthday) so I may go building route or a variety of manual dexterity items. I have large beads to string and then we could maybe do simple sewing in the summer. Will look through the boxes and decide. I also need to buy them a decoration each to put on their tree.
I'm intending to buy as much as possible from charities.
I'm going to order my cards and get them written and addressed last year I kept losing them. 
Adult presents I've seen bracelets that allow you to track an endangered animal so elephant mum may like that (I usually go for cheese but DS2 hinted that I'd overdone that as a gift). I usually buy DS2 some 'ale' including non-alcoholic for when he's driving. Darling d-i-l likes gin so will get that with my SM shop unless I find a charity one. DS1 has a donation to the charity that saved their dog.
I already have a bag of books for my grand-daughters that have been hanging around since September and I need to add some bags of wild bird seed (the remains of the last lot were shared with 2 other families at the park)
      
Clearing the clutter
Bulk waste collection to be booked
Book purge go through and discard those I will not read again

Clothes purge I wear everything out and then suddenly notice how shabby it all is. Will weed out a few 'wearable but not loved items'. I'm also going to donate my best coat (mountain climbing is no longer on my list of possibilities) to the homeless shelter at Manchester Cathedral

Craft purge  A lot of ribbons will be used for parcels. Some things I need to be realistic and just bite the bullet (maybe the food bank users could use them)

Condiments, spices and sauces purge I have lots that I don't really use anymore - did lots of Chinese cooking for mum but I'm finding I'm reacting to more foods. The food bank has a table where people can take things if they can use them. Some of these will be ood but fine to eat. They can't give them to people but can leave them out for people to take. We may thing a bottle of soy sauce or jar of grain mustard is nothing but when you're struggling it can be a budget busting purchase. In the pandemic I concentrated on items that would bring life to basic ingredients.

Donation to Food Bank I have a regular direct debit to my local food bank but may try to do a 'hamper type' donation. Good biscuits and other little luxuries. I think they would prefer to have these items at the end of November so they can plan. I may drop these into the trolley at the library as it's easier than going to the food bank.

General Clutter  I have a 12" cube box filled with kitchen items which belong to DS3 and Beloved. They've both said they will take them upstairs and they're still here months later. I need to do a minor rearrangement under the stairs (the microwave need to come out and there's a spare trolley to go in). There should be room for a lot of the cleaning items under there and anything of theirs I come across can be packed away too (the 'urgent' washing that's been sitting on a chair for days)

Easy food ideas I've just decided to have a tin of peaches for lunch as I can't be bothered to open a can of soup and heat it up. Will start with boiling some eggs and making tuna butties for the freezer.


Gratitudes - time to rest (tryig not to fall asleep again), good books and entertainment, having enough.

grandmanerd

Happy new walker Beanie

DrCarrie

Hi all, 

I am in the big city, and claiming a NSD as all that I have spent will be tax deductable. I hope that is not cheating.