NST November 2025: NOWvember

BadBookkeeper

NSD - 4/12 

Outside - not today again! Only to walk from car to office.

Winter Planning - Cleaned upstairs tonight as out on Saturday so like Cinderella must do my chores first!  Deep cleaned all of the shower seals but think new ones need to be bought as one has split.  They’re not expensive so will add to my shopping list.

Veg/Fruit - only 1 today food shop tomorrow so will ensure enough in the house to meet my goal. 

Enjoy / Grateful for - Deciding not to do additional work hours & do housework instead

Make Time / Lists - dying my hair at home something I should have done a few weeks ago but finally done!

Bring your own / use up  - So the perfumed body lotion I’m using up has glittery specks in!  Made me smile when I realised!  Found a spare deodorant when putting holiday toiletries away so will use that up too.

Exercise - Steps achieved mostly by housework 

Remember others - Donate / Act of kindness - Helped a work colleague with a new task she was really stressing but seems ok with it now. 

dustydigger

Well got to the bank yesterday set up new current account with a linked savings account. Closed the emergency fund account,which has been untouched for several yearsand arranged that £500 of the £750 will go to the new savings account on the 17th,day it all opens..
Was very happy that there is a new bus route. Normally I have to get off at the Interchange and either walk 12 mins to the bank or sit in bus station 10 mins and get a bus right to the bank. Now there is a bus every 30mins near my home that drops me off 3 mins from the bank. Great reduction in waiting for buses etc. Came out from bank and was delighted to find a bus stop down a side street and got the same bus home,all one journey.
Even so while I didnt feel uncomfortable walking around the town by bedtime my back was killing me,and I had a restless uncomfortable night,very disrupted sleep and woke up today totally shattered. Spent whole day just resting.. Doesnt look like I will be doing brisk 30min walks anytime soon
Waited 3 hours for the nurse to call today to discuss my test results.Once again tests ruled out coeliac disease as the reason for my weakness etc.Many of the blood tests show me way below the healthy reference ranges.I have a macrocytic anaemia problem. My bone marrow produces immature ill functioning red blood cells. They are inadequate in number and on top of that are big and bloated.They are too big to get into cells with their precious iron vitamins and oxygen. Hence weakness and lethargy. I like the oldfashioned name ''pernicious anaemia'' because in the old days  it was so pernicious,so evil ,it killed its victims. My doc says she is tearing her hair out trying to find out exactly whats wrong. B12 and folate cure it if its just diet related. Intrinsic Factor ,found in the stomach,is supposed to deal well with iron etc in the stomach,extracting iron and sending it to cells,but I seem to have none. lol.I could eat piles of veg a foot high but they wont give up their treasures for me. I get packed with B12,and folate,and now I have a tablet every second morning ,cant eat or drink for 3 hours after.Cant say I feel any benefit from it lol..After  15 months of treatment I have reduced the size of my blood cells from 15.1 to  14.1.  Range is 12-15 units,so at least now I am inside the range,but the cells are still huge.  Haemoglobin count is low,111,range is 115-165. Ferritin is 22,range is 15-200..
My surgeon to do my back was very wary of my bone marrow problems. I was to have bone marrow samples drilled out,but he decided he didnt like the look of my marrow and since I am not getting much worse with my back he wont do the op,I just have to cope.
Personally I just think all of it is just part of my rotten immune system,had a whole life of sub par health. I just keep plodding.

dustydigger

Oh forgot. My diabetic HbA1c test was not good,but was what I expected. For the last 5 years I have kept my sugar level at 48  where 47 is prediabetic. So i have kept it steady,no problems. Diabetic target range is 48-59,lower the better. Today it was 52 ! I know that the last few months I have been so stressed out and comfort eating,eating so many sweets and chocolates daily,and about 8 slices of bread a day.
Why was I stressed? Mr Dusty's 2 daughters have never been to UK,and are yearning to see their dad. My stepson,the doctor in Virginia,booked and paid for their flights. We were surprised at the long long interviews the had at the British Embassy. Then we waited weeks for the entry visa to come. Was delayed so long  the September flights and accommodation had to be cancelled. I lost quite a bit money there. Then things were rescheduled for 8th October. Days before the flight date a visa refusal letter came. Wasnt even from the embassy in Uganda,so we could protest it face to face,but came from Pretoria South Africa. It denied entry to Britain and bluntly said that there was no point trying again unless there were very different criteria to there application. There was no posibility of appeal.My stepdaughters are just gutted. They know Mr D is deteriorating they want to see him for probably the last time.Its terrible. One of the girls had a mastectomy 2 years ago. Looks like they think she is a health tourist or something stupid like that. They made her prove her daughters were working and that she took care of the grandkids. Insisted that she prove she had such small grandkids as some sort of proof that she would not just stay in UK but would return after her 6 day trip to again take care of them. So she had to send copies of the littl'uns birth certificates. All to no avail. Rudely denied a visa.My stepson the doctor in Virginia tried to talk to people,and my son here took pictures of the beautiful accommodation set up for my stepson and his sisters,with receipts of payment. Then they wanted 3 months pay notes and his bank statements to show the girls would be taken care of while here. Not sure if it was the fact the flights were paid  for in the USA,while the rest was here in UK but they just turned us down.
In the end my stepson came for 4 days with 2 of his daughters,and it was good to see them,but I have been coping with heartbroken stepdaughters ever since. Its 3 weeks since my stepson and granddaughters returned home but everyone is still upset.
Our new plan is to stay quiet a few months then enlist Mr Dusty's doctors  to advocate for a compassionate leave visa. Save up money and perhaps pay for the flights from Africa,and make sure the girls have some sort of funds in the bank to make them look less suspicious. Wow seems being poor is a bad thing everywhere today. Makes you seem like a criminal.

grandmanerd

Warning - put down your coffee and toast away from your device.

Do not seize the day.  This will startle the day. It may cause it to become aggressive and bite you.

Instead approach the day slowly without making eye contact, pet it gently and slowly enfold it in a loving embrace.

if the day shows any signs of resistance to being engaged with, it is likely to turn on you. Back off and return to bed, 

f0xh0les

NSD3 yesterday.

Went volunteering, came home, lots of chatting, chinese rice casserole for supper.  

The End. 

Not very exciting, but some things got done, and everyone is home safe and sound. 

thriftylass

Good morning,

I declare/ manifest etc gym day 5/7 and NSD 4/7 today. Was meant to make a large potato salad and other things last night but after dentist and club for DD I just wanted to crochet in peace. Started another project after DS made a lovely stool in school (my dad was quite impressed, he was a joiner, as it was all dovetails and dowels instead of screws) and wanted a cushion for it. 

Have a good day

dustydigger

Much better today,pain receded so had 2 3hour chunks of sleep about the best I can managed Tidied kitchen this am,did a small wash,hoovered kitchen and sittingroom. so now back is in agony again. So I'm not cooking,I reckon I am due for our 2 monthly fish and chips takeaway. Lovely fish mediocre chips. I remember the good old days when the chippies cooked in lard,and added a bit salt Today's  chips seem very mediocre to this old dinosaur.
The Price is what hurts most though and why it is a 2 monthly treat. One fish,one fishcake and a small bag of chips £15.50. Ouch . The £3 delivery charge is the main culprit here. 
Oh well,I claim as fish and chips my favourite meal of all time so I look upon it more benignly that a frugal person should lol.
Still not on track with NSDs,once I get my new account et up on 17th I will see whats what.
Keeping mind sharp: did some maths on YouTube. Solving quadratic equations by grouping if anybody out there remembers their school days. I have been watching lots of YouTube videos and trying to see how much I can do mentally without having to write down. I find it very odd. When I was doing my O levels way back in the 60s we had a tartar of a maths teacher,strict and no-nonsense. When we had practiced a while we were then expected to doing workings in our heads and just show the result. Now they seem to show every step of the way in full,and it looks a bit odd to me,but it should be helpful to the kid
Would show you but I have no idea how to type 8x cubed. How would one manage to make a smaller number ? I have no idea.
gratitudes today:

Another nice sunny morning keeping away the dark days blues a bit longer

NHS. Free treatment and medicine for me and Mr Dusty.. Looking at the dire straits of the old and poor in the USA I fervently give thanks I am here and not there.Its forcast that when all the health benefits are slashed or removed and people will pay double or triple for their health insurance up to an extra 50,000 Americans will die.

Our house is so cozy and warm. The council did a great job  years ago when they did cavity wall insulation,18 inches padding in the attic,doubled glazed all windows and gave up an excellent quality boiler. I shudder to think what I would be paying for energy today if we still had no glazing,and old cold radiators..I feel sorry for the millions of people in nonupgraded home,especially when energy costs are so high. 

thriftylass

dustydigger said:

...
The Price is what hurts most though and why it is a 2 monthly treat. One fish,one fishcake and a small bag of chips £15.50. Ouch . The £3 delivery charge is the main culprit here. 
...
Would show you but I have no idea how to type 8x cubed. 

A fish supper was a fiver when I moved here in 2003 and it was huge and crispy. So was a packet of fags mind you, the good old days ....Although nowadays I only bemoan the price of the fish supper....

I was thinking the other day, only 20 years ago we only got a small 80L rubber bin emptied weekly per tenement flat...and it was enough! Nowadays, we have 4 120L bins for all sorts of "recycling" and they are full. Crazy how packaging especially the amount must've changed.

Try 8^3. That also means 8 to the power of 3

thriftylass

grandmanerd said:

Warning - put down your coffee and toast away from your device.

Do not seize the day.  This will startle the day. It may cause it to become aggressive and bite you.

Instead approach the day slowly without making eye contact, pet it gently and slowly enfold it in a loving embrace.

if the day shows any signs of resistance to being engaged with, it is likely to turn on you. Back off and return to bed, 

Love that advice. Only fully admired it once I read it the second time.

apple_muncher

Dr Carrie, no that's not cheating at all!