Friday 31 March 2017

My yearly eye test is due, so...

Had a letter through the post this morning from my optician saying that my eye test is due, so I'll go down to town in the morning to book it.

I'm hoping I'll either be able to have it done while I'm in town tomorrow... that'd be ideal, or Monday lunchtime before I have my prescription review with my GP on Monday afternoon.

Either way is fine, just can't believe the year has passed me by so quickly!

2.2 million files now

AVG have scanned 2.2 million files now... I don't know what else it could be other than my squillions of emails!

1.6 million files scanned

Since 8 o'clock this morning, AVG has scanned almost 1.7 million files and it's still at 75%, so I'm guessing that it's scanning each individual email now which is fine and dandy by me!

Steve reckons I should get rid of most of my emails, but I can't!  What if I need one of them??  👎  I'll have deleted it and have no way to get it back!  👎  😟

75% again

Started the virus scan a couple of hours ago and it's at 75% now, so it's looking good for finishing in the early hours again.

Remembered to clear the cache in both browsers before I set it going again this morning, so hopefully that'll take a little while off the scan time, just like it did last week.

Gotta remember to run the malware scan when the virus scan finishes tomorrow too and back-up my hard drive when the malware scan finishes.  It's once a week but so worth it for the peace of mind it gives me!

Just had one of my credit cards on the phone

Just had SB on the phone for a 6 monthly review.

They are happy with me paying the £50 a month back and I'll have another review in 6 months time.

I now know that I owe £6500 total across all three of my credit cards... more than I would like but at least it's coming down, slowly but surely!

Wasn't so long ago that it was £8000 or more across the three and I was struggling to make the minimum payment but now I pay £150 a month total and it's more manageable and a lot less stressful.

As long as SB, CO and BC are still happy for me to make smaller but regular payments then I'm happy to keep paying them!

Thursday 30 March 2017

And they've finished!

Patrick's batteries have now finished charging 'cos there were two green lights on the charger and it had finished humming and gone silent, which means they are fully charged up.

I didn't want to over-charge them otherwise I'd have to get 2 new batteries which I really can't afford!

It's all sorted ready for Monday now though!  Yay!

Just gotta hope that there isn't anything blocking my access to the road now!

That's the wheelchair batteries on to charge now!

Just put Patrick's batteries on to charge ready for Monday.

My appointment is at 4pm so I'll make a start on taking Patrick out and putting his batteries in and heading down to the doc at about 3.15pm so that I don't need to rush.

Gonna take my mobile with me so that I can check in with the receptionists if they aren't looking over the dropped desk!  lol

Wednesday 29 March 2017

That's the wheelchair moved

Just taken all of Steve's junk off Patrick and moved him and his batteries into the hall.

I'm giving Steve until the weekend to make the two forms that he can use to show to future employers what he is able to do then I'm advertising the job on Fiverr to have the pages done and dusted by next week.

I've been asking Steve to do both for over a month now and I've now officially given up.  Gonna get my breath back then go to bed.

Not going to look for any more jobs for Steve either - if he doesn't get a job before his benefit ends then tough.  I've had enough of begging and pleading.  I'm going to do what he does from now on - sleep and that's it.  He will have to answer the door every Monday to the district nurse and Marie and he'll have to take his key to the GP on Friday 'cos I'm not going to answer the door any more.

Still going to feed, water and walk the pup but that's it now.  Gonna take my lead from Steve and only do what he does from now on.  I seriously don't reckon he'll make it a week but I really don't give a damn any more!

Found a page of jobs for Steve, but...

He's more interested in sleeping.

He said he'd take my wheelchair into the hall too but he still hasn't done it, so I'm going to do it meself.

He said he'd come up with a couple of pages for me to, but he hasn't done that either.

He's my carer but does bugger all to earn the title, so I'm going to take all Steve's clothes off my wheelchair, take it through to the hall along with the batteries then ask around to see if anyone else wants to do the 2 pages for me!  *sigh*

Couldn't work out where the £202 came from, so...

Just checked my bank account and I've definitely spent £202 this month but couldn't work out where it came from, so I've moved the money I put in B yesterday back into my main current account and I'll just move the extra money over at the end of each month.

One of these days I'll decide what to do with me money and stick to it!  lol

Tuesday 28 March 2017

If I don't spend anything in April...

Just worked out that I spent £202 on yearly things during March, so I will, in theory, have that knocking around ready to pay for a camcorder and new mobile phone in April and May which adds up to £404, then another £404 in June and July, ready for my wheelchair insurance (£153 a year) and any other Namehog stuff that sneaks up on me.

Got no idea where it came from 'cos the groceries are £400 a month and my bills are £330 a month which leaves me with £30 a month, so where on earth did the £202 come from??

Not complaining, I just wasn't expecting it is all!  👌

Only 5 minutes this time

A lot less pauses and unsureness because I had it all planned out this time... still don't know how to end video's though!  lol

I also haven't got the first clue about if you saw me pointing at the bottom of the video 'cos I still had Word open with all the prompts in it, but I love getting comments on my posts down there 👇 and you don't need to give me your name unless you want to, an initial is fine in the name field if that's what you're more comfortable with... if your name begins with an M, C, H, or D though, can you put the second character of your name or a nickname or something instead so that I don't get you confused with the people I regularly talk about with those initials is all 😀

OK, here's the video:


8 minute long video

I've seen a few video's of people who either have had or currently have illnesses and who hold up cards for you to read about them.

That inspired this video.

My longest ever at 8 minutes long and a lot of pauses because I didn't plan any of it and I just said what came to me as it came to me about my illnesses and disabilities.

Next time I'll plan it out before I start, with prompts about things I want to put on the video so that I can be sure I cover everything, but this video is just me yabbering away for 8 minutes about my disabilities... please forgive my pauses and erms etc, that's just who I am!

Go and grab yourself a drink and bar of chocolate, then hit play on the video  👍


Review: McVities Digestive Thins

2*'s out of 5

The hubby and I have just tried these for the first time and we both found them very disappointing.

About the only positive that we could come up with was that you get a good amount of them in a box but other than that, there is nothing positive to say about them at all.

They are too thin, break too easily, not enough chocolate and the taste is of dark chocolate instead of milk chocolate.

Sorry, McVities... it's a good idea in theory but in reality they need a lot of work to get them to our standards.

If you want to try something new in the chocolate biscuit department, then by all means give them a try and form your own opinion, this is ours though.

D- at best... sorry!

That's a relief then!

Just had the company on the phone again and I was getting worried about the fees that was on the contract. 

Ryan put my mind at rest that they weren't going to leave me worse off than I am now so I signed it and sent it off to them... I just hope Ryan was right about not leaving me worse off  lol

If you're interested in seeing if you can claim back your PPI and you're in the UK, give Ryan a ring on Tel : 01792 771007 and he'll hopefully help you as much as he's helped me in the last 20ish hours!  It's no win, no fee so you've got nothing to lose and potentially a lot to gain!

Monday 27 March 2017

Review: Take That's Wonderland

I've been a Take That fan since before they released Do What You Like and very much prefer ballads.

Just listened to this album (Wonderland) all the way through and I doubt I'll be listening to it again.

So far from the Take That albums of the past and not in a good way.  You've done better in the past Take That, please go back to what you're good at!

If you like fast-paced music then you may enjoy the album, but there isn't a single ballad on it... sorry!

Knew he wouldn't!

Marie's just gone and Steve didn't ask her about moving my chair.

I knew he wouldn't.

He's got 5 days to do it himself or I'll have to pay £12 for a taxi which I really can't afford.

I knew that he wouldn't ask Marie... I've been asking him to do it since I made the appointment and he hasn't so this is his final chance.  He's officially my carer but he does absolutely bugger all to warrant that title!



Remembered to ask Marie, but...

Remembered to ask Marie about moving my wheelchair but Steve said he'd do it.

Yeah, right, of course he will!  In a not sorta way!  Grrr!

Interesting!

Just had a call from someone about my PPI claim that I may be able to make.

He's going to call me back between 12 and 12.30 tomorrow afternoon to go through it all with me and they don't take any money up front, just a £99 one off fee if they win my claim.

He said that it didn't matter that I'd already claimed on the PPI when I first lost my job, they will be able to claim on the money I paid them the entire time I had the card for and they would just take the money I'd already claimed help for!

It didn't even matter that I'd already paid off my store cards... he said they would still be able to see if I could claim any money back even though they've been paid off and closed now!

All sounds too good to be true to me!  lol

Gotta try and remember to ask Marie...

Hopefully Marie is going to come over to help with the shopping tonight.

We've gotta try and remember to ask her to swap the places of the chairs and my wheelchair so that I can go to see my GP in it next Monday afternoon for a prescription review.

If it's M then I'll struggle to do it meself instead... M isn't worth asking to do anything 'cos she'll never let me forget it for the rest of my life!



Sunday 26 March 2017

Get the tissues ready for this

I don't care how stoney your heart is, it'll crack after seeing this video... shows what one judge with a heart can do for a broken-hearted mother!

I can only hope that there are more people out there like this judge!

It'll be a tight couple of weeks, but...

Tomorrow I'll have £264 in my account.
The shopping is £112 this week which leaves £152 in my account.
Pet insurance for the pup is £50 which leaves me with £102 for next week's shopping.

Got a camcorder on my Amazon wishlist and Namehog stuff to come out in July and August, but I put a tenner a week into B to cover the Namehog stuff and I'll ask for vouchers towards the camcorder for our anniversary.

It'll be tough going, but we come as a team now and I refuse to use my overdraft any more... if I can't afford something then I just won't get it from now on!

Opinions please!

I'm thinking of getting a digital camcorder with a neck strap, so that I can take you on Mitzi's walks every morning and film my lunch preparations and using all my kitchen machinery so that I can serve raw/burnt food to the hubby and do video reviews and stuff.

Please leave me a message in the comments bit of this post, saying yes or no to the idea and the sort of things you want to see if you say yes.

You don't have to give your name if you don't want to... just your initial is groove and cooly if that's what you would prefer... I'm more interested in your comments than your name this time  😃 👍



Saturday 25 March 2017

The backup has just finished too, so...

The anti-virus, anti-malware and the back-up have all finished so I'm gonna turn my laptop off when the hubby goes to put the pizza's in the oven.

I've also walked, fed and watered the pup today so a lot has been achieved in the last 24 hours!

Yay me!

Currently backing everything up and...

I keep getting an error message saying I don't have admin permission to copy a folder, so I went into the folder, selected everything, copied and pasted it onto my external hard drive et voila!

Just need to remember that next week now!  lol

14 hours later and..

The virus scan finished almost exactly 14 hours I started it at quarter past midnight and I started it going at 10.14 yesterday morning so I can safely shut down again this evening, assuming I've done my back-up of course!

I'm malware free too, that finished scanning my likkle laptop just as I sat down after bringing the pup back from her walk this morning so I'm going to back up then I'm sorted for another week... yay!

Friday 24 March 2017

I haven't got a clue who these people are, but...

Thank you so much for reading my blog - it's just likkle old me talking on a screen as if I know you but haven't got a clue who most of you are!

I know that C is a regular reader 'cos he said in the recent past, but I haven't got a clue who the rest of you are and what you want to read and if you want more reviews or video's or something else... I'd love it if you left me a comment in reply to this to let me know what you want more of.  If you don't want to leave your name, that's totally OK, just leave an initial or something instead and I'll read your comment as soon as I see it!

Maybe you could also let me know how you found my blog too?  Pwitty pwease?

Thank you!

75% now

The virus scan is at 75% and 1.4 million files.  It's prolly going through each individual email which is fine by me!  lol

Just started the weekly virus scan

Deleted 140-odd meg of Cache from both browsers and set it going... already 18% done!

Hopefully it'll be finished by the time I come down from the bedroom tomorrow  😊

Thursday 23 March 2017

*ahem*

Just got back from spending an hour with C.

I asked him to let me try to walk on my own today, he agreed and I asked him to stay on the side of the road just in case I wobbled or fell.

I only went and did it!

I really don't like slopey bits and they have always been my most challenging parts but I even did those without holding on this afternoon!

Feeling so proud of myself right now, so I'm gonna go and get myself a can of J2O to celebrate.

I know you prolly don't understand why I'm making such a big deal out of it, but it's a huge leap forward for me and now that I've done it once, I know it's just practice and confidence that I need now!

Yay me!

Wednesday 22 March 2017

There's been a "Terrorist Incident" in London

Here we go again... we were getting too comfortable after the IRA stuff, then the stuff in London in 2007 and yet again we'd got comfortable about us not being attacked by terrorists, then this afternoon was yet another terrorist attack.

Get with it, UK bods, we're not perfect and we need to be safer!  For everyone!

Namehog stuff for the rest of the year

End of April - hosting for my navigation page - £40
Start July - domain names - £100
Mid October - hosting for yocw - £65
Beginning of November - domain privacy for 2 sites £10

That's it until next year then... that'll be an expensive year!  lol

Good job it's pay day on Monday, because...

Just done a few calculations of bills still to come out of my account.

£52 left in my account atm
£42 still to come out by the end of the week

That leaves me with a tenner and a few pennies to last until Monday!  lol

I still owe Steve the £20 he lent me yesterday, so I'm thinking I'll put the DLA money into B, along with most of my ESA so that I'm not tempted to spend it, then I'll move £105 back across every week for the shopping every week and the money I need for the bills as I need it... most of it'll be on 15th of every month with the rest of it at the start and end of the month.

I've got everything written down, with most of the dates it comes out, and I won't need to worry about moving stuff over to B or going short on bills again 'cos it'll all be in B ready to rock and roll and because I'll only have a few pounds in there, I won't be tempted to spend money on things I don't need!

Spent £170 on domain stuff, and SCBWI membership for Melanie that I won't be paying out for another year, just gotta remember to save up for my wheelchair policy in July and renewing my membership to SCBWI every August every year.

I can so do this!

Tuesday 21 March 2017

Thank you Steve!

Steve's lent me the £20 until I'm paid on Monday so I've got enough to cover my bills this week and have a huge 63p left in my account until Monday!  lol

Thank you Steve!

Need to borrow £20 off Steve

Just checked me bank balance and I need to borrow £20 off Steve to cover my bills just until Monday when I can pay him back 

Monday 20 March 2017

That's the pup's poo cleared up

Steve was really helpful with holding the bag open while I cleared up the poo and put it in the bag... hopefully today is the start of similar clearer-upperings from now on!

I was wrong, sorry

Just looked back on yesterday's blog posts and I wrote three chapters not two.  I've still achieved more this morning than I did in most of the day yesterday though, so I'm not complaining!

More productive in the last 4 hours, than...

Just written 2 chapters and started on a third... that's more than I achieved yesterday and I haven't even had my lunch yet!

I've also just worked out how much my supplements will cost me for a years supply next week when I get paid... £37 which ain't bad going for a years supply!

Calcium & Magnesium - 360 days for £16
Multivitamin - 360 days for £6
Iron - 3x120 days for £15

I love Simply Supplements for their value for money and wouldn't go anywhere else for them now... literally the only thing they don't do that I need is the spray that I get from Amazon!

WTG Simply Supplements!

Sunday 19 March 2017

It's almost 11pm, so...

I've written 3 chapters since I had me lunch, so I'm back on track for finishing on 26th now.  Not bad going considering I only wrote about 250ish words before lunchtime!

Yay me!

Just sprayed the vit B12 too, because...

I hadn't written a single word since taking me supplements, so I've just squirted the B12 oral spray into my mouth to give me the kick I need to get going!

I love taking me supplements... especially the fast acting ones!


Just taken me supplements

Took me supplements and put them back in the drawer.

Compared to not taking them yesterday I feel loads better... more positive, more creative, more patient, more awake... I actually want to write again!  I reckon I'll never not take my supplements again when I want to write!

Yaaay!  👍

Saturday 18 March 2017

Back-up done at last

The backup has just finished and I took my prescriptions about half an hour ago.  Didn't take my supplements today and oh boy don't I feel the difference!

Not meeting up with C tomorrow, so I'll walk the pup then write until lunchtime, eat, write a bit more and celebrate with a bubblebath if I write at least 3 chapters.

I can so do this!

Ooh! Oww! Ice burn!

Just had a tub of soya ice cream and I've now ice burnt my tongue!

Owie!

Up to 97% complete with the back-up though, so that's good... assuming it doesn't take the rest of the afternoon to finish off the final 3% of course!

Just the yummy veg for lunch

Steve forgot to do the nuggets so I had a plateful of butternut squash and brocolli for me lunch.

Have you ever noticed that brocolli looks like a forest of trees?  The floret things have the shape of trees and because there are so many florets in each chunk, so I had a forest of brocolli florets for me lunch today!

Maybe that's just me though?  💭

Given up waiting until after I've had me lunch

Still wasn't getting anywhere with the back-up so I've given up just while I have me lunch so that I can give the laptop battery a bit of a break to cool down while I eat, then I'll re-start the back-up after I've taken me plate back into the kitchen.  👍

Waiting for the last 1% to back up

I'm backing up the users directory on my laptop and, like with the virus scan this morning, it seems to be stuck on 99% done and 5 seconds remaining.

It's been saying 5 seconds for the last 10 minutes!

Ho hum... decided what I want for me lunch though, Quorn chicken nuggets, butternut squash and the rest of the brocolli.  Steve said he'll have sausage sandwiches!  lol

Just rebooted and everything seems fine so far

The PUPs obviously weren't vital files, so I'm going to check my email then back up my documents, knowing that they are all virus and malware free for another week.  👌

The virus scan finished while I was walking the pup

25 hours this time but I'm free of viruses and my anti-malware programme scanned this laptop overnight too and found 2 PUPs that I've quarantined... I just hope they weren't files vital to the running of my machine... gotta reboot to find out though!

5% done overnight

After being stuck on 73% most of yesterday, the virus scan is now at 78% and 3.7 million files.

Hopefully it'll finish this morning!  Yeah, right, of course it will!  lol

Friday 17 March 2017

You're doing so well Steve

Because of Steve's size, he usually has to get the taxi company to pick him up in a people carrier because he's just too big to fit into a normal car.

Until today!

He got a car both ways!

While it wasn't easy, he still managed it!

Twice.

WTG Steve!  You're doing brilliantly!

Steve shaved most of his beard off yesterday

He definitely looks younger and more defined without it and he's got a wonderful chin and his cheeks are more defined.

He didn't shave it all off, just left stubble there which I really wasn't sure of when he mentioned doing it, but I was wrong... it looks better than I thought!

73% in just under 3 hours

Set me virus scan going when I brought the pup back from her walk almost 3 hours ago and it's already done 73%!

Thursday 16 March 2017

My lunch and Guide Dogs

Steve decided against doing the sprouts and he only boiled enough brocolli for me!  Grr!

I've added a 1kg bag of mixed veg to next weeks shopping and while I was doing it, I had a call from Guide Dogs for the Blind.

I've sponsored a little puppy for £8.66 a month now but that really is it for my spending.  If any more charities call or email me, I'll tell them no... don't like saying no, but better that than saying yes to every charity that contacts me and get into debt again.

Gotta be more ruthless with my benefit money now.  I support 3 charities (Dogs Trust, Children with Cancer and Guide Dogs for the Blind) and that has to be it.

Gotta start being more selfish with my money.

Already decided what I'm having for lunch today

For lunch today, I will be having brocolli, sprouts and potato letters.

Got a really bad craving for veg right now... I've got some frozen butternut squash, but apparently that can't be boiled, it needs to be done in the oven so Steve doesn't want to mess around with that today, I'm not complaining though, it wasn't so long ago that we were having take aways every day but now we get home cooked stuff 80% of the time so I'm willing to eat whatever Steve want's to cook as long as it's suitable for chocaholic vegetarians who are allergic to dairy!

That was a nice surprise!

Just checked me bank balance and O2 have refunded £13 and a few pennies, so it's £104 plus the £13 refund means that we can spend £117 on the shopping which we've never done, even at Christmas, so I'll be able to afford a couple of t-shirts too.  Won't have much left in the account, but it's better than being overdrawn!

Might wait until the shopping amount has been taken out, just to be sure I don't go overdrawn, but if we aim for £107 then I'll still have a tenner that I can use for the t-shirts and I'm paid again at the end of the month.

I've cancelled the SUGAR stuff at Namehog and spent an extra £177 on stuff this month, so I'll have that hanging around each month too.  Might move the £177 into my B account each month so that I'm not tempted to spend it and it'll be getting me interest added to it too, then when it gets to £500 in B I'll pay off a chunk of BC and keep on like that until my 3 credit cards have been paid off and cancelled.

When all the credit cards have been paid off, I'll have an extra £150 a month to go into B too, as well as the £177 that I move over each month and the tenner a week that's already set up to go into it.

I can so do this... you and me head on, spending addiction!

Just taken me supplements and...

I'm already feeling more creative than I did all day yesterday... them is powerful stuff for me and I haven't even taken the B12!

Might ask my GP to re-check my vitamin levels again when I go for the prescription review at the start of April just to see what they are like now that I try and take supplements every day... I definitely notice the difference when I don't take them so hopefully my GP will agree.

Wednesday 15 March 2017

So proud of Steve!

We've just had pasta 'n' sauce for lunch.

Steve said that he reckoned he'd got the amount of pasta right this time (there's usually several spoonfuls left in the bottom of the pan) and I noticed that he had at least a third less than at the start of the year.

He didn't even finish that though, he gave it to me and I polished it off.

Steve's never been a small boy... think of only being able to fit into clothes online from places like Big Clobber and High & Mighty etc and you're there.

He's already down one size in t-shirts and he hasn't done that for 30-odd years when he was playing rugby for his school so that made me proud of him back at the start of February but even moreso now because his portions are noticably smaller!

Keep going Steve, you can do it!

Think I've worked out the money stuff now

Got £200 left in my account after todays bills come out.

Still got £108 to come out before the end of the month.

That leaves £92 yeah?

Got £12.40 in Sainsbury's vouchers from this week's shopping.

£92 + £12.40 =£104.40 so far, yeah?

Take off the 40p for the bags, that makes £104 yeah?  I reckon I really can afford to spend over £100 on the shopping next week... I don't want to risk getting my maths wrong again though!  lol

Tuesday 14 March 2017

No wonder I did so badly with my maths GCSE! lol

Trying to work out how much I've got to spend on next week's shopping and it goes from £79 all the way up to £160!  lol

I've got £429 in there, take off yesterdays grocery shopping takes it down to £327.  With me so far?

Take off £239 for my bills tomorrow leaves me with £88 yeah?

So how did I get it to £160??

All I can think is that I took my bills off the £429 instead of the £327

Yet again I've got a different number... £190 now!  lol

Let's take it with the £88 then I've got some to potentially play with  lol

Monday 13 March 2017

Sainsbury's again

Steve's just come off the phone to Sainsbury's and they said that it's up to the driver each week if they bring the boxes in or not for health and safety reason's.

They are going to contact the store about it and send me a £10 goodwill voucher for next week's shopping.

I'll give them the benefit of the doubt for now, but if it happens again we'll either go back to Tesco or find a different supermarket for our weekly grocery shops.

At least it was all in bags this week.  If it hadn't been, we would have both hit the roof at the driver!

Fair do's to Sainsbury's though, they give vouchers for everything from substitutions being more expensive all the way through to things like this.

Not many supermarkets would!

The shopping has just been delivered and...

I don't like Sainsbury's any more.

Apparently they've changed their insurance company and aren't allowed to bring the boxes in any more.

My legs and back are killing me.

We're both in a foul mood and neither of us are steady on our legs any more.

Steve's going to phone Sainsbury's when he's put the fridge and freezer stuff away to hopefully make a complaint.

Neither of us are healthy or steady on our legs but at least the boxes were brought in for us last week.

If the same thing happens next week, we'll go back to Tesco!

Absolute maximum for next week's shopping

Just done a few sums and the absolute maximum for next week's shopping, delivery and bags included cannot be more than £100.

I've got £339 in my bank account.
My monthly bills come to £239, that leaves me with exactly £100, can't even go £1 over unless Steve lends me the extra... pennies, yes, pounds definitely not unless Steve lends me it for a week.

In theory I've got another £20 in my savings accounts, but want to avoid using those if I possibly can.

Get paid again in 2 weeks so I'll be able to go back to saying to Steve that he can spend up to £115 each week again, but we've really got to go carefully with the shopping next week, even if it means that we just get stuff for Steve again.

I can make do if I have to... we've got a freezer full of potato stuff already so I can have that next week if I need to, we just need to be careful for one more week is all.

As long as we go carefully with next week's shopping...

I'll have £180 odd spare next month that I'll be able to put in B to make up for a rough month.

£97 went to Namehog at the beginning of the month.

£83ish went to SCBWI yesterday.

That makes £180 that I've spent this month that I won't spend next month, that's another almost 2 weeks shopping that I'll be saving!

I haven't got any other bills for Namehog or whatever to come out until May then which'll be even more that I can save up!

I can so do this!  Just need to remember that I'm saving, not spending now!

Screw you, spending addiction!  👍 😛

3 months and 3 weeks tomorrow

Mitzi has got enough food to last until tomorrow which makes it exactly 3 months and 3 weeks that it's taken her to get through the Zooplus bag... £30 for almost 4 months instead of close to £100 for the same amount!

I'll be going back to Zooplus if Mitzi's vet says she needs to be on it for that long.  I can feel her ribs though so hopefully she'll just need the 1.5kg bag we've got for her from the vet so that we can introduce the food slowly so that she doesn't get diarrhea and stuff with a sudden change.

So proud of our little girl!

Just taken me supplements and...

Just taken me supplement and, as normal, the multivitamin is kicking in already.

Squirted the B12 into me mouth and that's kicking in too.

I love my vitamins I do... I don't care what anyone else says, they do work for me and I'm gonna keep taking them.

Everyone has an opinion, this is mine.  Please respect that.  👍

Woke up at 7am this morning

Woke up at 7am, took the pup for her walk, fed her then logged on to my laptop.

Gonna take me supplements and B12 spray then keep writing... I'm awake now and feeling so much better than when I went to bed yesterday!

Sunday 12 March 2017

Totally wiped out right now, so...

I took my supplements but I'm still wiped out so I'm going to bed now... C U orl 2morrow!

I've achieved a lot already this morning

Woke up at 8am.
Took the pup out for her walk.
Fed and watered the pup.
Edited a picture book.
Gave feedback on someone else's picture book.
Bought the gift (SCBWI membership) for Melanie.
Cancelled a domain name and hosting.
Took my supplements.
About to log off and have me lunch.

This afternoon I'm hoping to write another couple of chapters then I'll head to bed ready for tomorrow.

Marie might not be able to come over to help with putting the shopping away tomorrow so it'll potentially be a late night and me legs will kill me on Tuesday but never mind!

Melanie is now a member of SCBWI!

Happy birthday, Melanie!  I hope you get as much out of the next year as I have been for several years now!

Saturday 11 March 2017

The anti-virus scan has just finished, so...

Just finished after 36 hours, so I'm off to bed now... nite nite!

90% now

Hopefully the final 10% will zip through soon so that I can go to bed!

Still at 63%, 30 hours later!

At least I know it's doing the full scan this time  lol

Good job I didn't take my supplements this morning

Just taken me prescription pills and the AD refused to go down.  The AP went down with one mouthful of squash which is weird 'cos the AP is bigger than the AD!

Start my newly delivered pills in 6 days time.

10 days under 4 months

I bought Mitzi a huge bag of food to take her through Christmas when the vet wouldn't be open.

She's got one scoopful left which I'll give her tomorrow.

Not bad, considering I paid just over double what the vets charge for quadruple the amount (1.5kg is £12 at the vet, I paid £30 for 6kg that was delivered in the week leading up to Christmas) and my sis-i-l brought over a bag of vet food the Monday just gone.

Hopefully we'll get her weighed next week and she'll be able to go onto the Zooplus food that was recommended on the Westies group on FaceBook.

Friday 10 March 2017

Just put an extension lead on the shopping

Just added a single socket extension lead to the shopping order so it'll be here on Monday evening, Steve's carer will be here on Tuesday and I'll move Patrick into his new home after she's gone, ready to charge up the batteries and go for a trip into Gloucester on Wednesday or Thursday and hope it doesn't rain otherwise I'll get a wet bum when I put the batteries in and connect them up and again when I come home!

I should invest in a plastic skirt or pair of trousers or something!  lol

Patrick again

There are potentially 2 places in the hall that I can put him... the original place I was thinking if Steve's sister takes the chairs back with her tonight.

The other one is at the bottom of the stairs/in the kitchen doorway.

I'd prefer him to go where the chairs are because it's closer to a plug so I can charge the batteries up between adventures.  If he goes in the doorway/stairs part, I'll have to invest in a really long extension lead to go either from the kitchen or the living room to the batteries, which would mean that there's a lead for me/Steve/Mitzi to fall over.

I'm happy either way, as long as it's sorted by the end of March!

Third time lucky?

Just had an "phone bill overdue" email from O2.

I got straight onto the online chat.

Apparently it's sorted now and I won't be getting anymore emails about the contract that I cancelled just over 12 hours after I got it because it was a contract.

I was told last month that it was cancelled.

I was told on the 8th of this month that it was cancelled.

I've just been told again that it was cancelled and I'm due a refund.

I've just filled in the refund form and the person I spoke to said that it was definitely cancelled this time.

If I get another one like that I'm going to transfer my number to 3.

As far as I'm concerned, everyone gets 3 chances... O2 are on their final chance now!

63% done on the virus scan

I turned off the scheduled scan this morning, I just need to get into the habit of setting it going every Friday now... you watch me forget next week!  lol

Just asked Steve to...

Just asked Steve to ask his sister to take the chairs back with her next time she comes over.

I'm just thinking that I can put Patrick where they are and I won't need to pester Steve to move his set of drawers from the doorway every time I want to make the most of my independence that I got Patrick for in the first place!

I'll just need help to get Patrick up and down the kerb outside and the doorway into the house then!  I'll be able to go to my GP and the pharmacy and into town and things like that, instead of him just sitting in the kitchen, gathering dust!

That's me supplements taken

Finished of a bottle of squash with them but at least I didn't throw them up like I sometimes feel like doing with the multivitamin in my mouth... haven't got a clue why though!  😕

Thursday 9 March 2017

Even more productive afternoon!

Wrote 3,000 words in 3 hours this afternoon!

Had a late lunch of Nutella sandwiches at 2.30pm, started writing at 3pm and have just finished writing chapter 5 at 6.30pm so 3k words in 3.5 hours ain't so bad, is it!

Productive morning!

  • 7.30am woke up and came down
  • 7.45am walked the pup
  • 8am fed and watered the pup
  • 8.15 turned my laptop on and started the back-up going
  • 8.30am - had my breakfast
  • 9am - put the recycling in the box
  • 9.15am - played with the pup
  • 10am - set the back-up going again because it stopped for some reason
  • 12noon - brought in a bottle of pop and two bottles of squash
Haven't even had me lunch yet!

Wednesday 8 March 2017

O2 again

I mistakingly took out a contract with O2 last month but didn't realise it was a contract until I got the sim card.  Contacted O2 less than 24 hours after taking it out and I was told that it had definitely been cancelled and I wouldn't be charged.

They took out another £15 this morning and I've been going around the houses with them since 8am.  It's now 12.30 and I've been told, again, that it was definitely cancelled.  I've cancelled the DD again so hopefully that's it now... I doubt it though!

If they take another £15 next month, I'm giving up with them totally.  I refuse to let them tell me twice that the contract was cancelled, only to be charged again a month later.

You're on your third and final chance, O2... screw up next month and I won't be going back to you!

Just taken me supplements

Just taken me supplements and, like always, I'm already feeling the multi vitamin kicking in.

Forgot to take them yesterday and I really felt it... I need my supplements every day without fail so that I can feel like this all day... feel remotely normal every day!

The builders have had a load of gravel delivered into the road outside our window this morning so the pup's walk will be interesting to say the least!

Tuesday 7 March 2017

Fed up of waiting now, I'm off to bed!

Had a conversation at just gone 6pm.

The bloke I spoke to said that someone would call me back "within the hour" to see how the call went and to arrange the call back about if I've been approved for their help tomorrow.

I'm cream crackered so I'm going to bed now though!

Nite nite orl!

£48 plus VAT in April/May

Just worked out that the domain name and hosting will be £48 + VAT for my Namehog stuff at the start of May, so I'll be able to afford that and still have money left over in my secondary bank account, or I can just leave the extra in my main account after the shopping comes each week and I'll be able to use that plus the remaining left in my account after my bills... it'll be hard going, but definitely doable as long as I don't spend anything else.

If I extend the spending restriction to £105 tops every week, that's it sorted within the month too!

So, next week is week one:  £20 for the 2 tops and £105 a week for the shopping.

Week after is week two: £105 for the shopping and nothing else 'cos I've already used the tenner from this week to get the tops last week.

Weeks three (end of March) and four (beginning of April):  £210 for the two weeks shopping and £20 left for the Namehog stuff.

Weeks five and six (middle of April) £210 for the shopping and another £20 for the Namehog stuff.  That makes £40 for the Namehog stuff, yeah?

Week seven is the end of April and another tenner for the Namehog stuff, brings it up to £50 plus the few quid I'll hopefully have saved each week just to make it the extra for the VAT et voila!

There will also be a tenner a week going into my secondary account just as a back-up if I need it in future.

It'll be a tight few weeks, but that's how I prefer it... if there isn't money to spend on things I don't need then I can't spend it!  👌 😀

The pup poo'd on her walk just now, so...

My favourite little bitch poo'd on her walk this morning and while I don't mind clearing it up, if she'd been a few cm's further into the road I would have had to step off the kerb and probably fall over right into it!

I've just fed and watered her so we will have a reasonably quiet day today, hopefully, now that she's wee'd, poo'd and got food and water in her bowls.

I love her so much, but I can't help thinking it'd be better if she poo'd either on the pavement or just off the kerb so that I don't have to risk my knees giving way on me!

Love you Mits!

Monday 6 March 2017

£1.56

I've got £1.56 to last me until next Monday, then the shopping can be up to £105 for the next two weeks so that I can get myself a couple of cheap but cheerful tops with the remaining £20, bills paid on 15th then I'm on track to being able to afford £115 a week on groceries after that.

I've got another Namehog bill due at the start of May that I'm hoping to sort by the end of April, but I'm hoping to have enough in my secondary account to cover it by then, especially if I remember to add in any money that isn't spent on the groceries every Monday.

I can so do this!

Marie came over to help with the shopping delivery tonight

I remembered to remind Steve about Marie taking Mitzi over to the vet to get weighed and she was brilliant and said she would when she could.

Totally fine with me, I just don't want the pup to be on a diet unnecessarily is all.

She knows we want it done now though, so hopefully she'll find time soon then we can get the pup new food and slowly introduce it to her so that it's not too much of a shock to her system after being on the vet food for so long... apparently she could get diarrhea or vomit if it's swapped too quickly which I don't fancy clearing up, thank you very much!  👎

If it does affect her badly on her daily walks then I'll clear it up as best I can, but it's up to Steve to clear it up if it happens in the house at night!  lol

*ahem*

I only went and did 75% on my own today!

Met up with C and went to the pub just around the corner from me.  I did about half way to the pub on my own but came to a standstill at the corner 'cos a woman and two toddlers got to the corner just before we got there.

I didn't want to risk hurting the toddlers, so I grabbed hold of C's arm and lost all confidence in my ability to walk alone.

We sat and chatted for about an hour and a quarter and I was determined to walk back home totally alone.

C stayed the road side in case I wobbled but I made it down two slopy bits and up one which is what I was most worried about all on my ickle ownsome!

I think that calls for a celebratory J2O with me lunch!

So proud of myself!

Got through 6 litres of squash in just over 2 days!

I didn't put any pop on last week's shopping, so I've been guzzling squash all week.

There are 5x2 litre bottles of pop on this week's shopping, so I'll only use the squash for taking me supplements and prescriptions this week.

I seem to drink pop slower too, maybe because it's fizzy?  Hopefully the combination of pop and squash will see me through to next week when I'll try and remember to put another 5 bottles of pop and another 2 bottles of double concentrate squash to see me through the week without rationing myself.
 

Number 3 won't get their bin taken on Monday, because...

We get our bins emptied every other Monday.

They were emptied last week and they'll be emptied next week... this week is a week they won't come around.

Our bin wasn't taken if the lid wasn't totally closed on it... even a 1cm raised lid and it wasn't emptied.  Number 3's lid is at least 30cm up and we've still got a week to go!

It'll be interesting to see what happens this week!  They can't, physically, put any more rubbish in their bin!

~Edited to change the house number from 5 to 3~

Sunday 5 March 2017

Just done the weekly clear-up of poo

Just cleared up Mitzi's poo again.

I need Steve to hold the bag open for me to put the poo in and we've just had a mini blow-out over it.

I'm seriously considering starting to say to Steve that I'll walk Mitzi and he cooks lunch, I'll have a break for just 7 days so that he and M and Marie can see how much I do around the house!

I cleared up the kitchen as much as I could a week or so ago.  Within hours Steve had messed up the bit I'd just tidied again so I'm going on strike with that now and I'll accidentally on purpose leave Mitzi's poo out there for a week too so that the three of them will be able to see just how much I do and why I do it.

I've pretty much given up now!

30 hours... that's more like it!

The virus scan finished at lunchtime today.

30 hours is more like what I was expecting!

Can't find the 5p top now! lol

Maybe it was a figment of my imagination?  lol

Need to find meself some tops

I could have sworn that I had 2 tunics, 2 Dogs Trust t-shirts and at least one white t-shirt so why could Steve only find 2 tunics for me last night?

I've been looking online for some more t-shirts and there are a few I like on Amazon, but I'll have to wait until next pay day to get them.  They are on sale atm and knowing my luck they'll be out of stock by the time I can afford them.

There's one that costs 5p though, which is pretty much all I can afford right now  lol

Saturday 4 March 2017

Taken me supplements again

They went down easily this morning, unlike yesterday!

I know you may not believe me when I say this, but I really do notice the difference within a couple of minutes... life really is in HD when I take them, I've got more energy, no longer tired, my head feels clearer... everything is so much better just from taking 3 supplements every day!

Get yourself 20% off your first order with Simply Supplements by using my name (Amanda George) and my email address (amanda.k.george@googlemail.com) to get yourself one of their multivitamins... you'll soon see what I mean!

Run out of energy half way through the day?  Get thee a vitamin B12 spray from Amazon - I swear by it for an almost instant energy boost!

If you find that you are using the spray most days, maybe ask your GP to test your vitamin levels, especially B12?  I'm not a doctor, but you really feel it if your vitamins are out of whack!

Just to check...

Steve asked me this morning if I'd done my weekly virus scan yesterday.

I said I had but started it again just to be sure after I got back from walking the pup.

It's already done 73% and it's only been going for about three quarters of an hour!

I haven't cleared my cache 'cos I only did it yesterday, but if it's as fast as yesterday it'll be done by lunchtime today!

Friday 3 March 2017

Impressive speed!

Mitzi usually takes all day to eat her food and there's usually still some in there the next morning too.

Not today though!

She got her monthly Viva Dogs box this morning and there was a vitamin supplement sprinkling thing in it.

I nervously put a tiny amount over her food and she ate it all today.  There's literally a couple of mouthfuls left... it usually takes her 24 hours to get that far, so taking a couple of hours is amazing!

We know when she needs to go back to the vet too... she just needs to go first thing in the morning or last thing before the vet closes and she'll be weighed then that's it!  Hopefully it'll be the last time she needs to be weighed and she can go onto normal food now.  It's taken a long time to get her to this point, but we are so close now!

Steve's dad dropped off another bag of food this morning too and Steve called the council about the ripped bag of rubbish outside our window... the council sorted it out within the hour while Steve was with the nurse!

He's also cancelled the service he'd been paying for when he was the webmaster of the railway site... apparently the new webmaster has got the site somewhere else now!

*sigh*

The virus scan has finished already!

5 hours and 16 minutes after it started, the virus scan has just finished... that's faster than the virus scan I did as soon as this laptop arrived and had nothing on it!

I love AVG I does!

Blimey charlie!

The virus scan is zipping through now!

It's at 88% and I only set it going 5 hours ago!

3.6 million files so far!

Took me supplements and...

Taken me supplements and it's usually the calcium that I struggle with... was tough going with the multivitamin this morning though!

The calcium was fine, the iron crumbled in my mouth but the multivitamin took several mouthfuls of squash to get it down... the smallest and fastest acting supplement caused me the most problems today!

The poor pup really doesn't like...

Just got back from taking Mitzi for her walk.

In the rain.

We only did a third of our usual morning walk because she refused to go any further... full of Westietude!

She really doesn't like the rain... it was only spitting but that Westitude meant that she refused to go any further, bless her!

Less than half an hour ago

My weekly virus scan started less than half an hour ago but it's already done 63% and over 2.9 million files!

I've cleared the cache in both browsers now so hopefully that'll help to give less files to scan too... just gotta remember to leave my machine on overnight if I need to  lol

Thursday 2 March 2017

Just had to move £50 out of B, because...

I've just had to move £50 back out of my secondary account to pay for the shopping this week.

Means we have £71 to spend on the shopping this week, instead of the £130 that I was thinking, but that's because I had to triple the amount I spent on the Namehog stuff unexpectedly.  Can go back to spending £130 a week and moving over the money I don't spend after that though now that I don't need to worry about Namehog stuff next month.

Totally my fault... my maths was wrong and I totally forgot about this week's shopping not coming out of my account when I paid the Namehog stuff and moved the money over.

As of next pay day, I'm back on track to spening £115 a week on shopping, £40 a month into B and anything I don't spend on the shopping each week goes into B too.

I haven't got as much in B as I had yesterday, but that's to be expected just for one more week.

😐

Wednesday 1 March 2017

Took a while, but...

Took a week or so, but Steve's just put the old duvet in the bin because I'm not tall enough to so I can stop nagging him about it now.

I've made an appointment with my GP too, for a prescription review... gotta book the taxi on the Friday before and have a bath the morning of the appointment so that I don't stink the surgery out!


Just taken me supplements and...

Just taken me supplements and it was surprisingly easy this time, just 3 mouthfuls of squash and they were gone.

Even better is that there's even a little bit of squash left!

I've just asked Steve to fill up the 3 bottles with squash for me and he's said he will so let's see how long it takes him this time!

Going to make a start on next week's shopping now and the first thing I'll put on it is pop 'cos I totally forgot to this week!  Don't need any more squash 'cos there are still 3 full, unopened bottles in the kitchen, so I'll use the money for I'll save on the squash to get myself 5 bottles of pop instead.