Friday 31 May 2019

Friday 31st May 2019

That's the puppy walked and fed.  No poo's this morning but she flooded the street with her wee!

Time for me supplements now.
***

They all went down sorta OK 😌.  The B12 went down the easiest of the four 'cos it only took one mouthful of squash but the Calcium with Magnesium was the worst 'cos the crumbs went everywhere and it took 4 mouthfuls to get them all down the hatch πŸ˜”.

Just discovered 2 blog posts that D sent me overnight, so I'd best get them up before I forget!
***

That's D's blog posts up.  What do I do now though??
***

Teeth brushed and new mouthwash kinda opened.  The plastic seal was a nightmare to take off today and there's still some left at the bottom!  😲
***

Just moved £50 from my savings to our joint account 'cos Steve's just said that he's gonna be in single figures in his account after the mortgage came out overnight.

I've got enough in my current account for the groceries on Monday which'll leave me with about £15 but it's pay day again on Monday and again on Friday which will cover June's bills and groceries but I've only got £30 left in my savings which'll be used for part 2 of Steve's birthday gift when part 1 is made and sent.  If it hadn't been pay day twice next week there's no way I could have afforded to help Steve out though. 

I don't mind helping out with the bills when I can, but I can't unless I know Steve's struggling!
***

First home-cooked meal this week (Monday we were at Steve's parents, Tuesday was left-overs from Monday, Wednesday was a take-away and yesterday was a mug of soup each) so Steve won't be getting his Toblerone's today.  He's got to cook both tomorrow and Sunday to get them on Sunday then on Monday it's the start of a new week.
***

Just saved meself £82 when I bought 3 courses... got sooo many to study now so best get on with the shorter ones before I head to bed tonight lol
***

Just signed up for Triyit - it's free to use and you just need to be willing to give your feedback about each of the products you are sent!  That's literally all I know about it so far though... assuming they are genuine I'll leave a review on here when I get my first box from them!
***

That's me prescription taken and Steve's just made me a mug of tea so I'll be up and down for a wee all night now!  lol  My own fault for requesting it though!
***

Off to bed for an early night now... bet I'll still be awake at 10pm though lol

Nite nite orl 😴
***

 

Thursday 30 May 2019

Book Review: Fathering the fatherless by Todd Johnson

⭐ out of 5 

I realise that I'm the wrong gender to be a father and I'm not Christian either but there are huge errors throughout the book and the paragraphs are usually a single sentence.

I appreciate that the author wants to offer support to other fathers from his own experience, but getting on for half of the entire book was just quotes from the bible and very few original words from the author! It's almost like he started off with so many good intentions and ideas, but by half way through he became lost and limped slowly and painfully towards the end.

If you want a quick read with the bible shoved down your throat at every opportunity then you might enjoy this book, but I didn't unfortunately.

Thursday 30th May 2019

That's the virus scan done for another week.

Time for back-ups now.

Still waiting to fill up the bottles with squash though.
***

He's just done the bottles of squash for me and tidied up a tiny amount in here and "did the best I can with cleaning the toilet" of HIS poo so we're sorted now.

Just had a reminder come up to take me supplements so I'll do that now... hold on!
***

That's me supplements swallowed.  They went down reasonably OK, thankfully.  Not the easiest ever but far from the worst times too.  I'm dosed up for the day now, just need to try and persuade the puppy to go for our morning stroll, but she's snoring her head off like a good'un right now lol
***


That's the puppy walked, fed and watered.  She poo'd after less than 25% of her walk lol  I picked it up and put it out the back when we got home of course but our neighbour had a go at me, so I'm going back to the police to complain about his harrassment of me again.  I'm fed up of his attitude.  Again.
***

That's been reported to the police now and I've emailed the council about clearing up the poo too.  I'm just so fed up of being constantly blamed for something that isn't my fault.
***

That's delivery one (me supplements) just turned up.  Just waiting for the heavy duty refuse sacks now!
***

That's the second delivery done and dusted so that's all I've been waiting for now here so I'm gonna shut down until Chris has gone back home... it's been too long since I last saw him!

Buh-bye for now!
***

Back now.

Between the two of us, we worked out that it had been 5 months since we last met up... waaaaay too long!  It was great to see him again though and I'm missing him again already!

He recommended an author to me and I've already forgotten the name... apparently he passed away from Alzheimer's waay too early and it's the discworld series or something?

It'll have to wait until Monday at the earliest though 'cos I can't afford anything until then  😞  The shopping is only just (as in under 50p) over the £40 that it needs to be for it to be delivered so I'll be able to use the extra tenner towards one of the books.

Or borrow it from the library for free!  Why have I only just thought of that?!

Gonna have a search for it now while I remember.

BRB!
***

Found the Discworld series on the library software, but just remembered there's a different book I need to read and review so I'll do that first then borrow one of the books... there are loads of them though - which one comes first??
***

That's 2.5 hours of my life I'll never get back.

Just finished reading the book and I'm about to review it on Amazon and on here.
***

OK, that's the review sorted.  Time to take me prescription now.
***

Prescription taken but I'm not going to bed until at least 9pm tonight... there's no point 'cos I just toss and turn until 10pm, no matter what time I turn the laptop off!
***

Shutting down for the night now.

Nite nite orl.  See you in the morning.
***


Wednesday 29 May 2019

Wednesday 29th May 2019

Mornin' all.

Time to set the virus scan going for another week.

***

In continuation from last night:


***

Gonna take the pup out for our daily stroll now.
***

That's the senior pup walked and fed.  She accidentally bashed her cute lil nose on a car when she wasn't paying attention to what she was doing.  She's not bleeding and she seems fine but I'm gonna keep a bit more of an eye on her today, just to be sure she hasn't seriously hurt herself.
***

Supplements time now.

They all went down reasonably OK-ish this morning.  The Multi almost got stuck at the back of my mouth, but a quick extra gulp of squash sent it on its way.  The Calcium crumbs went everywhere so it took three mouthfuls of squash to get it all washed down, but the Iron and B12 were fine and dandy this morning,  thankfully.

Been taking them every day for 5½ months today.  Almost half way through them then I can start on the ones I ordered yesterday when they arrive.
***

Just asked Steve if he was still up for doing the back yard like he suggested on Sunday ("so that it's planned.  I don't like doing things that aren't planned").  He's replied "maybe later" which usually means no.  I'm gonna give him until lunchtime then do it meself.  Again.
***

I knew it!  Steve's just said "can we leave the back yard for today.  I had terrible thoughts and dreams and nightmares about falling over out there and not being able to get back up" so it is going to be me having to do it meself.  Alone.  Again.

I'm sooo fed up of this happening!
***

He's refusing to even hold the bloody bin bag open for me to do it meself now!  I knew this would happen!
***

That's 2 bin bags full of tree until after lunch when I'm hoping to finish off sawing up and binning the branch that I started.  Gonna do one branch a day even if I have to do it alone again.

Steve's being paid to be my carer FFS!  He's being paid to care for me for 30 hours a week but in actual fact, I'm lucky to get a single hour!  If you include the cooking that I have to bribe him to do, it's less than 8 hours a week assuming he cooks every day.
***

Just bought 50x100 litre heavy duty bin bags on Amazon and they will be here tomorrow.  Gonna keep using the Sainsbury's ones until they arrive then hopefully put all of them into a couple of the bags I've just ordered.

When we've finished chopping up the tree I'll try and remember to ask Marie to take them to the tip for us, then we've just got the toilets, cisterns and pouffe to get rid of and we're sorted then... Mitzi won't need to dodge past anything when she goes for her wee's and poo's at 2am.

When that's sorted I'll celebrate with a well-deserved J2O and look in to getting someone out to sort out the bathroom floor.  That's gonna be an expensive job, but it needs doing.
***

Pasta Bake for lunch today πŸ˜‹  Chris wanted to meet up tomorrow but I've got that Amazon delivery coming so I can't make it.  Gonna hopefully meet up next week when I've found out which day we're getting our hair cut though... it's been waaaay too long since I last saw him!
***

Yummy, scrummy, in my tummy.  I was suspicious that the passa bake sauce had dairy in it, purely because of the colour of it, but I was either completely wrong or the dairy was cooked out of it and any last little bits haven't affected me yet.
***

Still haven't been affected by lunch so very much doubt there was dairy in it... maybe it was a food colouring or something?
***

Invited Chris over to the house for the first time in the years I've known him.  The living room is still a pig-sty but so much better than it used to be!  We shall see what he says!
***

Apparently there's a Thunderbird (my email programme) update?  Hasn't been released for me yet, but I'll do the back-ups before I install it tomorrow.
***

Chris is coming over at about 2pm tomorrow so I'm gonna shut down just before we eat so that I can put it on the floor under the table ready for when Chris comes over.

He usually has milk in his tea and we haven't got any other than the coconut milk though!!  😨
***

That's me prescription swallowed and as soon as my mobile has finished charging, I'm off to beddy-byes.
***

I'm orf for the night now... see you all in the morning when hopefully the virus scan has finished so that I can do the back-ups and get ready for Chris coming over after lunch.

Nite nite orl!
***


Tuesday 28 May 2019

Tuesday 28th May 2019

That's the puppy walked and fed.  She met a new neighbour on the other side of the road this morning.  No wee's or poo's 'cos apparently she went out the back for both at 3am lol  Poor Steve lol  They are in their own little routine though.  Apparently she sleeps like a good 'un when she goes for her sleepovers so it's our routine for our puppy to go out at 3am and not want to go for a walk until 7am lol
***

Our shopping is coming this afternoon so I'm gonna see if anything has been replaced... hold on!

Haven't had the email yet... I'll keep waiting for it though!
***

Supplements have been swallowed.  Two weeks tomorrow I'll have been taking my new supplements for 180 days straight and it's really made the difference to how I'm physically feeling too!

I've been a regular customer of Simply Supplements for getting on for 20 years and wouldn't go anywhere else now!

If you live in the UK (I think they post to other countries too, but I've got no experience of that) and fancy 10% off your first order, just go here, If you want 10% off your first order, just put my name (Amanda George) and email address (amanda.k.george@googlemail.com) into the boxes at the checkout et voila!  They've got an early bird Summer sale on atm if you want to save even more money?
***


Blimey Charlie!!  Just looked on the Simply Supplements site and while most other prices have gone up, Simply Supplements have gone down!!  I spent just over £71 on the supplements back in mid-December but I've just checked the prices for the same things and it's £35 for the same ones now!  Only one of 'em is in the sale too!

Gonna go and buy them now before I forget!  Now would be a great time to stock up on your supplements!
***

Hurry on over there now... I've just saved £30 on another year's supply of supplements so I've got 18 month's worth now lol

There's a voucher code that saved me 30% so I spent a grand total of £42 instead of the £77 (my maths up there πŸ”ΊπŸ”Ί only took account of the 120 pills so I had to add 3 of the tubs of a couple of supplements) but I saved almost half the price and hopefully got cashback from Quidco too.
***

Steve's mum has just called and told me off for the cheque's I left there yesterday so that's saved me £70 lol  Gonna move it over to the account I paid for it with and put the other £30 into my lil nephew's savings account.
***

Even better is that the Simply Supplements cashback at Quidco has tracked at a huuge £6.75!  When that's been confirmed, I'll have collected over £200 in cashback just by going via Quidco first and spending no more than I was going to either!

These cashback sites are proving to be sooo worth it, just for an extra couple of clicks before each purchase online!  What's even better is that Amazon is back for certain purchases too!

If you fancy free money just for a couple of extra clicks before you buy something, I definitely recommend joining Quidco using this link so that we both get £10 as soon as you've got £5 confirmed cashback in your account so we're both winners!  It doesn't even need to be in one transaction, but it's soooo easy to get it adding up and only takes about a minute (depending on connection speed) longer than normal and doesn't cost you a penny more than you were going to spend!  Basically, just by buying another year's worth of supplements for £42 we could both have earnt £10 cashback each as soon as it's been confirmed!  What's even better is that you can get a browser add-on thing that's free and pops up a box on any site you go to that is offering cashback to Quidco customers!
***

OMG.

Just had a despatch confirmation from Simply Supplements!!  An hour and 19 minutes after placing the order!!  How good is that!!  I'm pretty sure that if you order from them before mid-day then it's dispatched the same day, but could be wrong about that... it's just one of the many reason's they are the only place I will go to for my supplements now though!  It's why they've had my custom for getting on for two decades and wouldn't go anywhere else now.  They usually send them via 1st class Royal Mail so will prolly have them in my grubby little hands by the end of the week too!

I've just asked about advertising them on the mental health forum I'm with so if it's approved before Friday, they will hopefully have more orders than ever to sort out soon!
***

Shopping's been and gone.  Yet another female day-time person who couldn't have been more helpful!  We request on the shopping each week for the delivery driver to take the boxes through to the kitchen for us.  If Marie answers the door then are totally OK with doing that, but if it's at any time other than Monday evening and it's a male then they trot out the health and safety line and leave Steve to unload it into the hall all by himself, so either the female delivery drivers are breaking all kinds of health and safety rules by taking the boxes through for us, or the drivers on a Monday evening when Marie isn't here are sexist!
***


This is soooo me!  πŸ˜œπŸ˜„

This is my only release from all the crud in my head... I'm there for everyone else but nobody is there for me, so it all comes spilling out in here!

There isn't one single person that I know who is willing to let me talk to them when I need to... it always comes back to them eventually.

Every time.

I've lost count of the number of people who have said that they are there for me whenever I need to talk about anything but within a few minutes it's turned back to them.

Every time.

Doesn't matter how bad I'm feeling, if they need to talk the conversation will soon be about them.  I've had pills lined up and things to sever my arteries with and I've told people that, but because I'm seen as strong and dependable, I can guarantee that within under 15 minutes we'll be talking about them.

People have asked why I've made so many (obviously unsuccessful) attempts on my life and I've told them that nobody wanted to listen when the strong person needed support.  They said that they would have been if I'd told them how badly I was feeling but within 15 minutes the conversation was turned back to them again.

Every time.

People don't know how to support the supporter so they don't even try so I turn to here.  If you genuinely want to know how I'm feeling without interruption, read this blog and leave supportive comments in reply.

I can pretty much guarantee that every supportive message will soon get turned around though.  It always does.  Every single time.  It does by email.  It does on Facebook and it does on the mental health forum.

You don't know how to reply now, do you?  Other than saying "sorry you're feeling bad right now" or sending me a virtual hug, everyone is at a loss for words so they turn it back to them.  Again.

Why don't I tell them when they start doing it?  Because they need support from the supporter who has nobody and will one day crumble to dust and everyone will be shocked.

It'll be too late then though.

I've given everyone plenty of chances to find out how I'm feeling but it only lasts for a few minutes before it's turned around to them.

I just need one person who is willing to be my supporter occasionally.  Hasn't happened for the last 41 years now so I doubt it'll happen any time in the future.

That's easy for me 'cos it's a huge list of prescisely no-one.
***

That's me prescription down the hatch.  Hoping for another early night tonight... bet something will happen to stop it from happening though!  😩
***

You know what?  Sod it.  I'm publishing this, shutting down and heading to bed now.  I reckon I deserve it!

Nite nite orl!  Sea ewe in the morning.
***


Monday 27 May 2019

Monday 27th May 2019 - part 2

I was wrong.

We spent 4½ hours with Steve's family today, so just that again and we've spent more time with Steve's family already this year than we have with my mum since 2010 combined.  Hardly fair, is it?

I'm back for the rest of the day now though and Steve wants a take-away for tea so that he doesn't have to cook, but that means he won't be getting his Toblerone's on Friday then though.  It's not often that it works out like that though, so I won't complain about it too much.

Apparently we're having a burger from Yummies for tea purely so that Steve can get a free bottle of pop.  Hardly free when you've got to spend £20 on your order to get it!
***

Just bought 4 courses for £49 instead of for over £1000 (not a typo) so that'll keep me busy for many days to come!  I'd already done one of the courses though, so that'll teach me for not checking before buying lol  You can see my current courses here if you want to?
***

That's me prescription taken and our tea ordered.  Gonna have the leftovers that we came home with for lunch tomorrow and the Quorn roast dinner on Wednesday.

Sooo tired already though!
***

Just had me burger and D wants me to put an "about me" section on her writing site.  I'm hoping to get it done and dusted before I head to bed... no guarantees though... need the text from her first lol
***

I'm totally exhaustapaytid so I'm off to bed now.

Nite nite orl, until the mornin'
***


Monday 27th May 2019

That's the puppy walked, fed and watered.  Her ear is back up too, as of last night apparently!  I'd got used to it being bent over so I didn't notice it until Steve said when we came home from the walk!  What a totally ace little puppy!
***

That's me supplements swallowed.  They all went down nice and easily this morning, thankfully.  If only every pill every day was like that!
***

Spending the day with the in-law's today, so I'll publish this just before we leave the house and possibly another short one when we get back, depending on what time we get back and how I'm feeling.
***


Sunday 26 May 2019

Sunday 26th May 2019

The puppy isn't eager to go for her walk yet, so I'm gonna take me supplements first, then try and convince her to go afterwards.
***

Supplements taken.  They were all a blinkin' nightmare to take this morning... not a good start to the day.

Gonna take the puppy out for our daily stroll now... assuming I can wake her up of course!  πŸ‘Œ
***

We're back.  Just the standard length today.  She was a right royal PITA 'cos she wanted to make friends with a ginger cat so put the brakes on each time she saw it sitting on our neighbour's upturned recycling box.

The neighbour came home just as we were doing the last bit and Mitzi's little tail was wagging like mad, bless 'er.
***

That's the rubbish and recycling out for another week.  The rubbish bag was barely ⅓ full and the recycling is about ½ full.  The magasines from upstairs have been collected up and binned, as has the pup's poo and there's another tree that needs cutting down out the back lol

Need to email the council to see if magasines can be recycled instead of binned too.  If they can then there will be magasines in the recycling every week too!   Since we've been having home-cooked meals, our recycling has gone up, our rubbish down and our health is improving loads too, as well as being a lot cheaper!
***

Magasines can be recycled and they are most of the rubbish from the bedroom, so starting next week I'll bring 'em downstairs with me on a Sunday morning to go into the recycling box.  This is the full list for future reference:

​Items We Can Recycle in your Green Box

  • Newspaper & magazines
  • Phone directories, including Yellow Pages
  • Catalogues and paperback books
  • Junk mail, letters and cards
  • Thin card egg boxes
  • Envelopes
  • Cereal & thin​ card food packaging
  • Shredded paper (place in a clear carrier bag in your recycle box)
  • Clean food cans
  • Drink cans
  • Clean glass jars and bottles (any colour)
  • Plastic bottles (please squash)
  • Milk & juice bottles (please rinse & squash)
  • Cleaning bleach & detergent bottles (leave lids on)
  • Toiletry bottles
  • Household dry cell batteries
  • Cartons such as Tetra Pak e.g. milk, juice, soup (please rinse and squash).
  • Aerosols. Please remove lids and MUST be empty
  • Mixed plastic containers such as meat trays, fruit punnets, yoghurt pots, butter and ice cream tubs, sweet tubs
  • Textiles such as old clothes, paired shoes, sheets & towels placed in a see through bag on top of your recycling box. Please continue to take reusable items to local charity shops.
  • Aluminium food trays e.g. takeaway containers, pie cases, pet food trays, foil lids, kitchen foil (please rinse to remove food).Scrunch foil lids, confectionery and kitchen foil together to make a larger ball.​
So there will be even less rubbish and even more recycling than there already is from our likkle house!

Steve's also promised that we'll do a bit more of a clear out of trees in the back yard on Wednesday.  I'm secretly hoping that we'll get it all sorted and put into black bin bags so that we can just haul one bag a week into our rubbish.  It only needs to be a big session, once, to get it all sorted then we can just clear up the pup's poo each week and put just the one bag in with the rubbish before we take the rubbish bag out on a Sunday.
***

That's the puppy gone again and I'm already missing her!  😟
***

Cheesy chips and beans for lunch today and they weren't peppered so my arse is going to be rancid at the in-laws tomorrow!  😈
***

Going to have a bath and get changed ready for tomorrow now.  See you when I'm out and dressed!
***

The puppy's home!!!

She got back just as I was getting undressed to get in the bath, but she's home now and the house feels full of love again!  She's the smallest and youngest member of the household but she's got such a huuuuge personality!

WTG pup!
***

That's my three cardigans in for a wash.  Apparently it's gonna be mid-teens over here tomorrow so may not need it after all, but it's better to be prepared I reckon!
***

I'm totally wiped out, so I'm having a really early night.

Nite nite orl!  See you at some point tomorrow!
***


Saturday 25 May 2019

Saturday 25th May 2019

Mornin' all.

Woke up early this morning for some bizarre reason.  Ho hum.  Time to walk the puppy then take me supplements and hopefully start studying.

Steve's going to see his family the same in one day that I've seen my mum since 2010!  He's seeing his family on Monday morning and spending the day with them, then coming home and seeing his sister in the evening.  I saw my mum at my father's funeral and then in the middle of August 2010 and haven't seen her since.  Hardly fair, is it?!  He'll see his family for more hours in one day than I've seen my mum throughout 2010 combined!
***

That's me supplements taken.  Time to walk the senior puppy now.
***

The puppy has been walked and fed.

I've just brushed me teeth.

Time to study now I reckon.
***

That's seriously impressive speed, Amazon!  I ordered Steve's anniversary gift on Thursday, it was dispatched yesterday and it's just been delivered!!  Not bad going for 1.5 days via Royal Mail... the earliest delivery date on my account was Tuesday so it's 3 days early!

Means I can go to the in-laws on Monday now though 😐

Just waiting for Steve's birthday gift to be created now, but that's going to take a lot longer and the person who's created doesn't have my address yet so I'm not expecting anything else through the post for a while 'cos my mum got her birthday gift delivered last night, Steve's anniversary gift is here now and I haven't even thought about my F-I-L's or Chris' gift yet so there is unlikely to be anyone else coming to the door for at least a couple of months!
***

Got a couple of things in mind for me F-I-L's birthday now but still haven't got a clue what to get for Chris!  This is the reason I start shopping for gifts so early though... gives me time to find something at a leisurely pace rather than rushing around in a blind panic when I can't find anything a month before!
***

The groceries are coming on Tuesday afternoon now "so that we don't have to rush back from my folks on the Monday" - how come we don't have to rush home from Steve's parents but we do from my mum's??  😣

I'm lucky to spend 3 or 4 hours with my mum, but I reckon it'll be double that on Monday!  😑
***

That's me prescription down the hatch.  Hoping for an early night again, after last night's waiting up to find out when my mum's gift will be delivered.
***

I'm absolutely wiped out, so I'm off to bed now.

Nite nite orl!  Sea ewe orl in the morning!
***


Friday 24 May 2019

Friday 24th May 2019

That's the puppy walked, fed and watered.  She only wanted a short walk this mornin, so I'll take her out again when Steve goes to wait for his taxi.  He's going to walk up to the flats so I'll take the pup up there for a change of scenery too.  That's another 400% which means she'll have done a huge 750% on her walk today.  Might take her up and down the entire length of the street twice tomorrow, to make up for us not going for a walk while she was at her sleep-over yesterday morning.
***

Swallowed me supplements.  They all went down OK this morning, thankfully.
***

I'm getting surprisingly organised for this year!

Why?

'cos I've just bought Steve's birthday gift.  Me mum's birthday gift is arriving today, Steve's anniversary gift next week and his birthday gift will be paid for in full either today if it's done by bank transfer or tomorrow if it's by PayPal.  Just got 2 more birthday gifts to buy between now and October for Steve's dad and Chris then that's it until Yule in December then Marie's birthday gift in late December!

I'm too organised for me own good lol
***

Just paid for the gift for Steve's birthday... hope he'll like it!
***

Just had the result of me smear - I'm HPV negative so don't need to be tested again until May 2022.
***

Got the ultrasound appointment too.  20th June, first thing.  Not looking forward to it 'cos I've got to have a full bladder for it an hour and a half before the appointment... I'm lucky if I can hold my bladder for 10 minutes before wetting myself, let alone 90!!
***

Had our lunch.  Vegan chicken nuggets for me and macaroni cheese with garlic bread for Steve.
***

Taken me prescription and I'm wiped out already, so gonna shut down and have an early night.

Nite nite orl!
***


Thursday 23 May 2019

Thursday 23rd May 2019

Not having a good time with the back-ups.  Had to restart it 3 times 😠 and Windows is currently repairing the drive.

I'm gonna take me supplements while I'm waiting for the repair to finish.
***

That's the supplements swallowed.  Not the worst but far from the best too, unfortunately.
***

The puppy's home!!!

Gotta remember to write a cheque for £25 for her grooming as well as a cheque for Marie for her vet visit last week and a third cheque for my MIL for the huge bags of rice and pasta... Steve's gotta find out how much we owe Marie and his mum first though!  lol  Only been asking him to find out for the last 6 days!  Tsk.
***

Sweet 'n' sour Quorn bits with rice for lunch today and me belly is already rumbling with hunger lol

Can't wait!  πŸ˜‹
***

Yummy scrummy in my tummy.  It was especially nice today.  Steve's really getting better at this cooking malarkey.
***

That's the three cheques written for Mitzi's grooming today, vet from last week and the groceries that Steve's mum got for us, so that's the money stuff sorted for the day now.  After clearing my credit cards, I never want to be even slightly in debt ever again and it's already accounted for in my outgoings document, so the money will just pay the three debts instead of going into my savings this month is all.  It's all part of owning a dog and us needing to be fed in bulk rather than in a couple of portions a week is all πŸ‘Œ
***

Maffs/calculation issues again.

I've got £259 in my account atm.
Got 2x£10 still to come out before I get paid again.
That's £239 - right so far?
The cheques come to a total of £95
Which leaves me with £144 yeah?
Shopping comes to £50 a week x2 weeks is £100 off yeah?  That leaves me with £44... but why? 

Why have I got money left over even though I've been buying courses, grooming, vets bills and extra groceries from last week?  Where has the additional £40 come from that I wasn't expecting❓❓  What have I missed❓❓
***

Just reduced my pop bottles by 3 'cos most of this week's are still waiting to be opened and even that only comes to £46 so I'll have even more cash than I was thinking too... £48 and we're not denying ourselves anything at all!  If I've got £44-£48 left over after splashing out on so much, I'll be able to get me mum and Steve even better birthday and anniversary gifts at the end of June too!

Gotta find a gift for them both first though lol
***

That's me prescription taken and I think I've found a birthday gift for my mum but I'm still trying to find Steve's gift.  Gonna ask him to add things to his wishlist... bet he won't though!  Grrrr.
***

Just bought the gifts for Steve and me mum, so I can relax until October now.  There are 3 gifts to get in October (Steve, his mum and Chris) then that's it until December when it's Yule then Marie's birthday.
***

Off to bed for an early night now.

Nite nite orl!
***


Wednesday 22 May 2019

Wednesday 22nd May 2019

Gonna take the pup for her walk, brush me teeth then take me supplements and start studying.

The puppy is going for another sleep-over today so the house is going to feel empty without her huge personality again  😟
***

That's me supplements taken and the puppy is asleep, so I'm gonna brush me teeth now then wake her up to go on her walk.
***

Teeth brushed so time to walk the pup now.
***

Puppy has been walked, fed and watered so I can get on with studying now.  Which first though?  The online security certificate methinks.
***

Hmmm.  Maybe not.  I can't get to the New Skills Academy atm  πŸ˜•

I'll do some of the 2-3 hour courses on Alison instead then.
***

Starting off with a 5-6 hour one that is: Introduction to Banking.  Hope there isn't too much maffs in it 😟 otherwise I'll give up now lol
***

It *is* mainly maffs and I'm already confused after only 2 topics in the first module!

Gonna stop studying that course and find a different one instead.
***

Word 2016 - Features and Functionality is gonna be today's course, as long as it doesn't get too complicated too quickly.
***

We're watching a programme on Horizon about Alastair Campbell's depression and he's just said about exercising helping.

I've found that too.

Since coming off the AD and walking the pup every morning it has definitely helped my mood and motivation.  There are still times when I can't find the motivation to do stuff, but our diet is a lot healthier too and I just push through it now.  The first few weeks were horrible and I still have down days, but the good days usually outnumber the bad now and I can only put that down to our better diet every day and walking the puppy every morning.  Tomorrow is gonna be horrible 'cos I'll miss walking the puppy in the morning, but I might go for a walk anyway.  Just up and down the street then come home, just to get me set up for the day again, same as I do every morning with our puppy.

Might see if Steve wants to come with me too, but I won't pressure him if he doesn't fancy it, just like this morning.

Just asked him and he said "might do" so we'll see if he still fancies it tomorrow.
***

Soup for lunch today 'cos neither of us are that hungry.  Fine by me 'cos it means I don't have to move me laptop and I can drink it (cos it'll be in a mug instead of a bowl) as I'm watching the video!  Still counts as a home-prepared meal too 'cos it ain't a take-away!
***

That's me prescription taken and I'm about to take the end of course assessment... it was supposed to take 3-4 hours, but it's actually taken a minimum of 8!
***

88% on the final assessment and it's taken almost double the time it said it would!

I'm not complaining though, it's another course done and dusted and out of the way.
***

The pup's gone for her sleep-over and I'm cream crackered so I'm heading to bed.

Nite nite orl!
***


Tuesday 21 May 2019

Tuesday 21st May 2019

Mornin' all.

Time to take the puppy out for our morning stroll then come home, feed her and get on with studying today methinks.
***

Just taken me supplements, so time to hopefully encourage the pup to go on our daily walk now.
***

That's the puppy walked, fed and watered.  A couple of cheeky sports bods parked in the street rather than at the gym too.  Tsk.

I can start studying now though!
***

Just taken the first assessment and scored 90% on it, which is pretty good.
***

Steve's in the kitchen making our pasta bolognaise so I'm gonna go and brush me teeth, while I remember.
***

Teeth brushed and I'm hoping to get to the end of this module by the time our lunch is ready.
***

95% on the final assessment of the course.  I'm proud of that!  It also took a lot less time than I thought too which is even better and means I can do a shorter course as a bonus too!
***

Next up is Psychology - Memory and Cognition which will apparently take 3-4 hours to do... reckon it'll be done in less than 2 if it's anything like the course I've just finished!
***

About bleedin' time!  Been trying for the last hour and half to pass the final assessment and I just have, thankfully.  Not gonna study for the rest of the day now... not in the mood for it any more  😞
***

Just bought another course for £20 instead of £300 so I've got 4 courses to take with the New Skills Academy, 48 with Alison and 2 to do with OpenLearn so that should keep me out of trouble for a while lol

There's a Windows update so I'm gonna shut down now and head to bed for a reeeeeeeeeally early night - think I deserve it.

Nite nite orl!
***


Monday 20 May 2019

Monday 20th May 2019

Pay-day today, so I've done a bit of moving the money round and I've now got enough for the next 4 week's worth of groceries, the last few bills coming out in May *and* paying Marie back for the vet visit last week that I bet Steve will get credit for.

I've reminded him about the screwdriver too but I can almost guarantee he'll forget about that.

Taken me supplements so now it's time for her daily stroll then we can come home and feed her while I study.
***

That's the puppy walked and fed.

I'm totally shattered now.

The only time I'm gonna leave the sofa is to go to the bathroom.  Any more than that would just be too dangerous.
***

Just bought another 2 courses for £30 instead of £148 with the New Skills Academy, then I've got 50 free courses to do on Alison too, so I'll be keeping busy today and for a while (as in weeks, minimum) yet!
***

Steve's on the phone to his mum about borrowing the screwdriver at last!  H's book and bookmark are in a bag ready for Marie to hopefully take home with her tonight.  It's gonna be too old for him atm (purely because of the choice of some of the words), but only by a year or so... it's a great lil book, just a touch mature word-wise is all.
***

Just applied to become an affiliate with the New Skills Academy site.  It doesn't cost the person any more than they would already pay for the course but it means that I get a few pennies for sending them there.  I love the site, so I wanna promote them to anyone who'll listen and get a little bit back for sending them there in the first place.  It'll prolly be the price of a stamp that I get back, but that's more than I'm getting atm!

Just waiting to be automagically approved as an affiliate now then I can start gushing about their courses even more than I already do lol
***

Nice and easy lunch today - chips.  Still cooked here, but Steve doesn't want to stand around too much today, so he can just bung the chips in the oven for however long they take then dish them up, but neither of us are that hungry today either so it's a quick and easy meal.
***

*ahem*

100% on the assessment of the entire course!!!!
***

Another 100% on the second course of the afternoon!!

Not bad going for 2½ hours of studying. 

Not gonna do any more today though, but I'm hoping to start studying a long one tomorrow so that I can hopefully finish it before Mitzi goes for her second sleepover on Wednesday tea-time ready for an early morning grooming session on Thursday.  Depending on what time I finish tomorrow's long course (hopefully before Wednesday lunchtime) I might look into doing a 3-4 hour long course while we're waiting for the puppy to be picked up and I'll take things as they come on Thursday, depending on what time the pup gets home.

I'm really enjoying all these different courses I'm taking!
***

Pondering on doing the Diploma in Health Studies as my long course to start tomorrow, but haven't decided for certain yet though.  There are loads of 2-3 hour long courses so would it be better to do a few of those instead of the longer one tomorrow and Wednesday?  Or shall I do the Health Studies (the long one) tomorrow and into Wednesday then the 2-3 hour ones while we're waiting for Mitzi to be picked up and dropped off?

What do you reckon I should do?  Lemme know in the comments pretty please!
***

That's me prescription swallowed.  Went down nice and easily tonight!
***

The lock in the door is, apparently, screwed in as far as it would go now... thank you Marie!  She's also taken the book for my lil nephew, so I'm gonna have an early night now.

Nite nite orl!
***


Sunday 19 May 2019

Sunday 19th May 2019

That's the puppy walked, fed and watered, me teeth brushed, the rubbish and recycling out with only a minor disagreement and most of another branch of the butterfly bush snapped and binned.

Steve said he "overbent" his knee getting out of the taxi yesterday so it was all down to me.

Again.

But it's Steve that's in the strop.

Again.

I've asked if we can borrow a cross-head screwdriver from his dad again so that the screw in the lock.  It'll take less than 5 minutes to do but Steve's been promising it for the last month and hasn't done it yet.

Again.

If he doesn't do it this week I'm gonna ask his dad meself on Tuesday.  I'm fed up of asking Steve to do something, him promising that he will then leaves it up to me.  He's being paid to be my carer but does bugger all to earn the money!

Same with the software.  I paid him £1400 back in March to come up with three apps for me.  He didn't even start doing it until the middle of last week, despite promising that all three would be done by the end of April.  He's got until the end of May or I'll be wanting my money back so that I can find a different programmer to do it for me!
***

That's me supplements taken.  The Calcium decided to be a PITA this morning.

Gonna look for other courses on Alison, search the interweb for more free courses to study and sort out this week's spreadsheet additions now.
***

The disability page (where all the spreadsheets go) is up now, so it's time to start researching other free online courses now.
***

Our little puppy has just been mocking Steve in her sleep lol  Steve poses a question and Mitzi snores her reply just as he finishes talking, bless 'er!
***

Just asked Steve to help me with the bathroom bin and he said "maybe later, I'm right in the middle of something".  Yeah, watching a video.  So I sorted it meself.  Again.  Just sorted out my living room bin and the general living room bin too.  By myself.  Again.

So much for being my carer eh?
***

Apparently the fire bods are coming out to check our smoke alarm at 3pm!  We'd both totally forgotten!  T'was a good job we both tidied up a bit this morning really!  They are going to refuse to put out any fire in the spare room 'cos they can't get into it, which is totally my fault, but down here will hopefully be fine and dandy!
***

Found 50 free courses to do on Alison today and they are all free so it'll keep me going for many months to come!  lol
***

The fire service bods have just left, fitted us with 2 new (incredibly loud, obviously) fire alarms, cleared the top of the cooker off, they're gonna put in a request for Steve's kitchen stool so that we can get his rollator out of the kitchen then we can sort out the stuff that's behind it that I seriously can't reach atm (I'm too short) to tidy up, then we'll be able to put the pasta machine and food processor and even a chopping board on the (currently cluttered) side so that we can both prepare our cooked meals and hopefully encourage us to prepare and eat fresh veggies a few times a week rather than frozen ones a couple of times a month.

I'd love to be able to help Steve to prepare our meals, I just can't right now because of my height (I'm 5 foot 1) and Steve's rollator is too wide for me to safely reach across to the edge, let alone do anything on the counters!  We've got a pasta machine and a food processor that are still in their boxes as well as a bread machine that we haven't used for several years so it's going to waste atm.

They are going to pass on our details to another department within the fire service who will be able to encourage us to tidy up in here, the bedroom and the kitchen at the very minimum.

A couple of other houses in the street are getting their fire alarms fitted for free too - makes you wonder why they only have one set of steps between them all though  lol 

Things are heading in the right direction and we're definitely in the system in all the right places now... we just need to keep on top of our crap from now on!

We're having a well-deserved take-away for tea... we definitely deserve it after this afternoon!

Thank you for coming over and being gently honest with us, Gloucester fire service!  We need to hear it from professionals so that we take it on board and work on your suggestions to the best of our ability!
***

I'm totally wiped out so gonna have a really early night tonight.

Be back again tomorrow though, as usual.

Nite nite orl!
***


Saturday 18 May 2019

Last night's scheduled post worked, so...

I was testing scheduling a post to be posted in future last night and it worked, so I'm gonna use that on my author blog to put up things that are happening in future that I'll never remember otherwise.

Might try and remember to schedule some posts in this blog for the same reason too.  Just gotta get into the habit of making use of it seeing if I can find the way to automagically post my author posts to my Twitter account too.  There *is* a way to do it, I just haven't found it yet... but then again, I didn't know how to schedule posts until just before I went to bed either!

I really am going to bed now lol

Saturday 18th May 2019

Missing our baby girl soo much!  Been the longest 18 hours and counting without her.  She's the smallest member of our likkle family but her love and personality fills the house entirely!

I cried myself to sleep last night 'cos I knew she wasn't down here!

Gonna take me supplements then start studying and hope I can concentrate without her in the house!
***

That's the supplements swallowed and I'm thinking, depending on what time she get's home, I'll take the puppy out for a short stroll when she gets back as long as she's not too wiped out.  She's got the majority of yesterday morning's food left too!
***

Time to start trying to study.
***

She's home!  Our baby girl is back home!!

Hasn't said hello to either of us yet, is just getting her sent back on everything, bless her, but that's OK 'cos she's home now!  Yaaaaaaay!  I can now relax and the house is filling with love and her personality again, which is awesome.  The last 20 hours have been so empty without our little baby girl!

I can relax again now and the love is filling the house back up as I type this.  Our likkle family is complete again now... I never want to be without her for more than a few hours (like when she goes to get groomed or goes on her play dates or whatever) ever again!
***

Got 90% on the third course assessment and just scraped through the first two, so I've just got the end of course assessment to do now which I've gotta get at least 80% on too... wish me luck!
***

Got a score of 84% for the final assessment, which ain't bad going considering I didn't even do a section of the course that several of the questions came from!  T'was the most useful to me part of the entire course too!  Done now though and I'm heading to bed for an early night.

Nite nite orl!
***


Just testing something

Just testing the scheduling.

I'm posting this at 8.06pm and I'm hopefully going to set it to post at 10am tomorrow.

8.08pm now so my OCD is happy too lol

Okey dokes, all set!

I'd love to know what time you see this post in the comments!


Friday 17 May 2019

Friday 17th May 2019

That's the puppy walked and fed and a price list sorted for Steve.  Turns out I'd been under feeding her, despite her putting weight on!

Gonna have a look on Amazon to see if they offer any low-fat, soft treats that we can hide her steroids in every morning instead of Steve hiding it in half an apple pie.

Time for me to start studying again now though!  Hope I pass the end of course test 'cos I can't remember anything I learnt yesterday 'cos of sleeping in between!
***

Haven't taken me supplements yet!

Oops!

Gonna take the assessment then take 'em methinks... wondered why I had no energy or motivation!!
***

End of module assessment finished, so it's time for me supplements now.
***

That's me supplements swallowed.  The B12 was a bit of a PITA to swallow today, but other than that they all went down OK.

Mitzi's going for her bath within the next half an hour-ish so I'll be here totally alone until Steve gets back from his medical appointment 😦 so gonna spend the time studying the next module 😣.
***

The puppy has just gone and I'm missing her already!  😧
***

Second module of the day finished.

On to module 16 of 21 now.

Still missing the pup and Steve... she's only been gone for 20 minutes!

Just had a text from Steve saying he'll be home soon - yaaay!  Our likkle house feels big and empty without him and the pup!
***

Our baby girl is back... but only temporarily 'cos she's going for a sleepover at Steve's Uncle's house tonight so that she can go to the vet first thing to have her "bum and other area's clipped" with Steve's cousin (who's a vet nurse) tomorrow morning.

We're pretty sure it'll be my first overnight I've had without her since we got her almost 9 years ago.  I doubt I'll be able to sleep tonight without her in the house!  Even her being spayed was over and done with in a day!
***

Our baby girl has just gone again and my poor likkle heart is breaking already!!  πŸ’”
***

That's me prescription taken, tea cooked and I'm onto the last module of the course, so I'm hoping I'll pass the end-of-course assessment so that I can have an early night tonight.

Still missing our little puppy though!
***

That's the last module completed, so time for the final assessment of the course now.

Wish me luck!
***

*ahem*

I passed the course first time!!!

Despite sleeping and having 3 meals over 2 days, I still passed the flippin' course!

I scored 80% and the passing score I needed was 70% so I didn't especially scrape through either... didn't smash it by any means, but I comfortably passed.

Gonna update the two pages then relaaaaax for the rest of the evening.
***

I is absolutely wiped out, so I'm having a very early night.

Whine like a baby to you tomorrow.

Nite nite orl!
***

Thursday 16 May 2019

Thursday 16th May 2019

Was awake and down here before 6am this morning!

The virus scan had finished so I started with me backups.

Gonna go and brush me teeth, walk and feed the pup then get on with studying again while the backup plods onwards.  Children's party planning today (and maybe tomorrow?) methinks.

BBS I hope!
***

The puppy isn't interested in going for a walk yet so I've brushed me teeth and I'll try again when the back-ups have finished so that I can shut my laptop down while we're out and about so that the battery can cool down a bit while I'm not using it.
***

The back-ups are being a right royal PITA today... grrrrrrr!

I've taken me supplements though, so I'm all set for the day as soon as the back-ups decide to play ball!
***

That's the puppy walked and fed... think I'm backing up my documents folder twice though, for some reason!  Not to worry, better twice than not at all!
***

Just chosen to skip the duplicated files so just waiting for the rest of the backup to finish now
***

Decided to start studying while it was backing up and adding the documents into one batch instead of making it two.  Took forever but it's done for another week now.
***

Vegan non-scampi bites for lunch... totally new to me!
***

They tasted more like salmon than scampi to me... still lovely, just not the taste I was expecting is all!
***

Just about to make a start on Module 9 and it'll hopefully be finished by the time Marie comes to take Mitzi to the vet... if it's not, Steve'll have to wake up and take her!
***

Getting soooo dark and it's not even 4.45pm yet!  Gonna have to turn the light on methinks.
***

Officially half way through the course now.

I can almost guarantee that I won't finish it tonight so I just hope I remember enough to answer at least 21 questions correctly tomorrow!
***

That's me prescription swallowed so I'll keep studying until it kicks in then shut down and head to bed.

There's no way I'll be able to finish the final 9 modules and the test before I head to bed so I'm not going to force myself to stay up past my pill kicking in... I'll just finish the module and head to bed.
***

Module 14's got an assessment at the end and I've just started yawning, so I'm gonna shut down and have a really early night.

Nite nite orl!
***


Wednesday 15 May 2019

Wednesday 15th May 2019

Mornin' all!

The weekly virus scan is underway so I'm guessing it'll be finished in the early hours again.

Decided on doing the wedding course then the kids' party then the writing course.

We're having a roast dinner for lunch today so we'll both be struggling to keep our eyes open this afternoon.  lol

Just taken me supplements.  They all behaved impecably so got them down with a mouthful of squash each, thankfully!

Time to walk the puppy, brush me teeth then start studying I reckon.
***

Had Quorn roast for lunch... yummy, scrummy, in my tummy.

Bet we'll both be burping and sleeping all afternoon and evening though lol
***

Onto the penultimate module of the course now!  I was thinking it'd be 2 days and at least an hour for studying each module, but it's taken less than 10 hours to get here 'cos the vast majority of the modules took less than half an hour each and there haven't been any assessments so far either.  I'm guessing there will be a huge assessment at the end of the last module too which I'm kinda dreading.  There doesn't seem to be a limit on the number of times you can re-take the final assessment though and I haven't been to sleep since starting it so I'm hoping I'll pass first time... wish me luck!
***

Just taken me prescription and I haven't been on any adventures in Patric today so I'm hopefully assuming I'll still be awake to take the end of course assessment in about an hour or so's time.
***
*ahem*

I passed first time!!!!

80% on the final assessment!

I can go to bed happy now and it took under 12 hours rather than the 2 days I was expecting too!

Might do one of the courses on Alison tomorrow then the last two New Skills Academy on Friday and over the weekend.

Or do I do the kids party planning one tomorrow and potentially Friday?

Decisions, decisions!
***

Goin' to bed now.

Nite nite orl!
***


Tuesday 14 May 2019

Tuesday 14th May 2019

That's the puppy walked, fed and watered.  Got me smear and first HPV test today, so not gonna get into surfing the interwebs or anything, 'cos I've got to leave in an hour!

Gonna take me supplements, check newsgroups and email then shut down.

I'll be back afterwards though, but that'll be studying time... wedding planning first methinks.  Or should I do kids party planning?  Or story writing?  I dunno!  lol
***

Brushed me teeth after I got home with the pup too.

Supplement time now though.
***

That's the supplements down the hatch... they all went down pretty easily this morning, thankfully!

Gonna add mouthwash to next week's shopping and try and remember to ask the nurse about the hard spot on my spine - you watch me forget though lol
***

That's the mouthwash added and Patrick's tyres pumped up, so I'm gonna save this post and shut down now... I'll be sooo early but I'd rather that than be late!

BBS
***

Back now.

The HPV thingy was just another test they do at the lab, no different to the smear that I have anyway.  Remembered to ask about the spot on me back but can't remember what she said now... d'oh!  Might make an appointment with me GP to see what he has to say about it. 

Apparently the strings on the coil were nowhere to be found so she's referring me for an ultrasound at the hospital to see if the coil is still there or not.  It's due to be replaced this year or next year though, so I'm guessing it'll be another cut-me-open to replace the coil when it gets replaced.  I just hope I get the replacement appointment before the ultrasound one!
***

Gonna do some studying this afternoon and prolly into tomorrow, but it'll hop... we're having a take-away for tea so I'll need to put me laptop on the floor so I'll have an early night and start on it tomorrow morning... which one should I do first though?
***

Had garlic bread and veggie lasagne for tea so I'm totally stuffed now!  Gonna leave it for a while before I take me AP so that I don't get even more bloated.
***

Right, one more slurp of pop then I'm off to bed for an early night.

Nite nite orl!
***


Monday 13 May 2019

Monday 13th May 2019

Taken me supplements and been blue-screened twice, so gonna save this post, shut down, take the puppy for her stroll then, hopefully when I boot up again, everything will be fine and dandy.

At least I hope it will!

Gonna shut down now.  BBS I hope!
***

That's the puppy walked and fed.  Patrick's batteries are charging up too, so I'm gonna get back on with the editing now and hope I don't get any more blue-screens!
***

Had a bath ready for my smear test tomorrow morning and started next week's shopping so that's me sorted for the day now.

All our groceries were in stock today so I'm glad we've got help to put it away this week.

Apparently Steve found another 2 packets of spaghetti behind my cans of ginger beer, as well as last week's that we didn't use, so there will be a lot of spaghetti to eat this week and next week lol
***

Blimey!  The shopping has been and gone already!
***

Just taken me prescription.  Went down really easily today, so I'm gonna charge me phone up ready for tomorrow then have an early night tonight... just gotta wait for it to kick in first though.
***

That's me phone plugged in and charging up.  Apparently it'll take 3 hours and 31 minutes before it's fully charged, so might not have an early night tonight after all  😞
***

Too tired to wait up any longer so I'm gonna shut down and keep charging my phone before I go to the appointment tomorrow.

Nite nite orl.
***


Sunday 12 May 2019

Sunday 12th May 2019

Blimmin' 'eck it's hot out there!  I never sweat from my forehead but it's so hot outside that I am today!

We've put the rubbish and recycling out ready for tomorrow morning.  The recycling box is full to the brim and if there is any more at any point today we'll have to put the second box out or wait until next week.  Our rubbish bag is only half full too, despite us having started to chop up the chopped up butterfly bush and put it in the rubbish bag too!  There's still a lot of garden rubbish out there, but we'll get there in the end if we do a bin bag a week, like we did today.
***

The puppy has been walked, fed and watered now too, so just gotta work on getting the images online then that's another weekly task sorted.

Not gonna study today.  Had a reeeeeally late night last night (still awake at midnight) so gonna have the day off today and start again tomorrow.  Which one should I do though?  The children's party planning, the wedding planning or the children's story writing?  Let me know in the comments?  Please? 
***

Apparently we're not having the Quorn Roast and veggies today 'cos apparently "it's a lot of up and down for it, so can we have pasta bake for lunch today and the roast tomorrow instead pretty please?"

No probs at all!

Sooo, an update on our lunches this week... pasta bake today, roast tomorrow then we'll take it from there for the rest of the week.  We just need to have a cooked at home meal today for Steve to have his last Creme Egg.  Mini Toblerone's next week!  They are so small that it's gonna be 2 Toblerone's on a Friday and another 2 on a Sunday if he cooks every day.  Might try and find a multipack of Fry's Turkish Delight ready for when the Toblerone's run out 'cos apparently he prefers those to the posh ones that he's had in the past.  I'm happy either way, just wanna keep encouraging him to cook for us is all!
***

Just found a pack of ten of the Turkish Delight for under a tenner which'll keep him going for 5 weeks and a 2kg tub of Fudge that he likes too which'll keep him going for several weeks too.  Not bad going for just under £20 combined!
***

Yummy scrummy in my tummy.

Just had the pasta bake and the cheese was stronger than usual... Steve says it was the cheap pack so it's left a strong cheesy taste in my mouth now!

Nowt wrong with that!

Need to go and get his last Creme Egg now then recycle the box... brb!
***

Toblerone's starting on Friday for 5 or 6 weeks then I'll get the Turkish Delight for him, followed by the fudge then that should take us to maybe the end of Summer so I'll get him something else then.  All depends on how big the chunks of fudge are... if they are nice and big he'll get one bit on a Friday and the second on the Sunday, but if they are tiny like the Toblerone's are then it'll be 2 chunks on Fridays and Sundays.

Gotta get through the Turkish Delight first though lol
***

That's me prescription swallowed.

Nice and easy tonight, thankfully.
***

After a very late night last night, I'm heading to bed tonight at 8pm. 

Nite nite orl!

πŸ’€πŸ’€
***


Saturday 11 May 2019

Saturday 11th May2019

Mornin' all!

Was still awake an hour after I went to bed last night... typical innit - I get the opportunity for an early night, take it and my body goes "aksherly, nah" lol

Gonna take me supplements, brush me teeth, take the puppy out for our morning stroll then get on with studying.  Blog creation one today methinks!  See if it'll teach me anything I don't already know lol
***

That's me supplements swallowed so time to let the puppy out in case she needs a wee or poo while I brush me teeth now.
***

She didn't want to go out after all, so I got on with brushin' me teeth.  Gonna take her out for a bit of a wander now though and I bet she will wee at least lol
***

600% this morning.  The puppy wanted to do more, but even once more wouldn't have been safe 'cos my knees and legs were already going "you can't do much more without a rest.  We won't let you" so I didn't want to risk it.  We've already got 4000% in the walkies bank already so I didn't want to risk it.  Better to be safe than sorry and all that jazz.  As long as we do 100% every morning, anything else is a bonus.
***

That was a particularly yummy lunch care of Steve.  Sweet and sour non-chicken bits and rice.  Another old favourite that we haven't had in too long.

Tomorrow is a cooked-at-home vegan Sunday lunch with Quorn family roast and veggies.  There's talk of adding waffles to it too, for the potatoey part but I'm not sure that waffles really go with a roast dinner, or do they?  Let me know in the comments what you think?  Do you agree with me (no waffles) or Steve (yes to the waffles)? 

Ideally there would be a can of new potatoes in the cupboard but Steve only decided for certain that we were definitely having the vegan roast dinner yesterday or the day before.  If we both approve of tomorrows roast, I'll add the family roast, another bag of veggies and a couple of tins of new potatoes to the shopping ready for next week.

Back to studying now though.
***

Just cast my postal vote in the European election.

The envelopes both tasted absolutely horrid and I definitely need a lot of pop to get my saliva working again now!

It's done and dusted now though so I can continue to ignore any other info that's sent through the post.

Gah!  The taste is too strong!  Yuckerama!
***

Wonder how much pop it's going to take for my mouth to recover from those two envelopes?!

Back to the studying again.  It's taken about 5 hours to do 3 modules so unless the next 7 are quick, it's another 2-dayer again even though it's a certificate instead of a diploma!
***

Just swallowed my prescription and I'm up to module 7 now so there's a slim chance that I will just about scrape through studying the whole course before I head to bed.

Wish me luck!
***

...and it's finished.

Another certificate under my belt.

Only took 13 hours lol
***

Gonna publish this then head to bed.

Nite nite orl!
***


Friday 10 May 2019

Friday 10th May 2019

That's the £100 put back into my savings and the supplements swallowed... they all went down OK other than the Multi getting a little bit stuck because there wasn't enough squash to swallow it with, which made me retch until I drank a bit more squash out of the second bottle.

Time to take the puppy for her daily stroll now, then I'll put the review up on Amazon, my writing site and writing blog.
***

Just brushed my teeth and finished off the tube of toothpaste at last!  Need to unbox and open the next tube of toothpaste when we get back from the puppy's stroll... you watch me forget though lol.
***

That's the puppy walked, fed and watered.  She was a right cowbag before we even got out of the door so I was dreading it this morning, but after the first little bit she was a good girl, thankfully.

Time to put the review up now then start studying.
***

100% on first module assessment which is a great start!
***

80% on module two's assessment.  Not as good as the first module, but still a pass.
***

Another 100% on the third module.  Only 1 question wrong out of 15 so far!
***

Yet another 100% on module 4.  That means I got 19/20 questions spot on!  One more module and test then possibly a whole of course assessment then that's the course finished!
***

I was wrong... only four modules and no final exam either!  Time to code the certificate into the page and upload it, then a very late lunch of a mug of soup to celebrate.
***

The punctuation course has only got one module so I'm gonna do that now then have the rest of the day off so that I can catch up with email and forums and stuff.

There's a birthday on the forum today, so I'll go and do the admin for that then get back on with studying this afternoon.
***

Just finished the punctuation course and got 100% on the end of course test so I've got one single question wrong out of thirty today, which is awesome.
***

Just taken me prescription and Steve's having something from Yummies for his tea with yours truly paying apparently.
***

Gonna shut down for the night now and have a well-deserved early night.

Nite nite orl!  πŸ’€πŸ’€
***


Thursday 9 May 2019

Thursday 9th May 2019

That's the virus scan finished so time to set the back-ups running.  22 hours for the virus scan this week.
***

That's the back-up's started, so time for me supplements now.
***

Blimey Charlie they went down soooo easily this morning!  Does that mean today is gonna be a good day?  Hope so!
***

Gonna read a bit more of a book while I'm waiting for the back-ups to finish then it's review time.
***

Considering this is a children's book, I'm not sure that the word 'fart' should be in it at all, let alone so frequently!
***

That's the back-up's finished, so time to take the puppy on our morning stroll now!  Gonna shut down to give the battery a chance to cool down while we're out.

BBS.
***

That's the puppy walked and fed.  Another 600% and I'm totally wiped out now.  Craving a Cortado so I'll get that then not move off the sofa for the rest of the day.
***

No.

You know what?

I'm not going to have a Cortado, I'm gonna have a Chococino 'cos I haven't had one of those in forever and I need a chocolate fix today!
***

Just bought 3 more courses - one of them was on my list of courses I want to study (a writing for children course), a punctuation one and a blog creation course to try and find out other things that I can do on here.  It was £50 for all three instead of pretty much £650 so I'm saving even more money and it'll keep me out of trouble when I've read and reviewed this book too!
***

Why do I seem to use exclamation marks so freely on here?  Hopefully the punctuation course will steer me away from using so many of them lol
***

Just worked out that when I'm paid me PIP money tomorrow I'll be able to replace the £100 I've taken out of my savings and still have £100 to spend on the next marketing email with offers on courses that I want to do/sound interesting which is awesome!

Lemme just check me maffs in case I've got it wrong though...

£263 in there atm
£230 tomorrow for PIP means that there's £493 tomorrow morning, yeah?
£143 for the bills on the 15th takes me down to £350, yeah?
£150 for the groceries for the rest of May leaves £200 yeah?
£100 back into my savings to replace what I've just taken out leaves me with £100 for whatever I want?  Does that sound about right?
***

Just worked out that I can also put almost my entire ESA payment into my savings on the 20th too 'cos May's bills will already have been paid, the groceries are covered and I'm paid again 2 weeks later which will cover June's bills and PIP is on that Friday to cover June's groceries too.

The pup has to go to the vet again next week so there's that to come out too, but there's already £93 set aside every month for her food and vet bills so as long as it doesn't come to more than £100 then that's already paid for too!  The ESA payment on the 20th will more than cover the bill and I'll still have a small amount of savings too.  So much different to all those years ago when I was struggling to pay the minimum payment on my credit cards, my overdraft was maxed out and I couldn't afford anything else.  Just need to work on improving my credit rating now.
***

That's me teeth brushed now, just gotta keep on reading the book ready for tomorrow.  Steve's fast asleep so I can't see us having a cooked lunch today  😞
***

Chips for lunch... yumsk!
***

Apparently they are the Sainsbury's Basics one's!  Other than being a touch thinner and less coloured I didn't know until Steve said!
***

Just finished reading the book and other than the smattering of swearing sprinkled throughout it, I really enjoyed it!

I'll put the review up tomorrow on Amazon, my writing site and writing blog 'cos that's its official release day.
***

Steve's prescription has just arrived and my GP surgery is back online now, so assuming they are still up on Sunday evening, I'll put my repeat prescription request in as normal on Sunday evening!

Both of my appointments are on the system and they are for 20 minutes each!!  That's double the time I was expecting!
***

Gonna shut down and head to bed for a well-deserved early night.

Be back tomorrow.

Nite nite orl!
***


Wednesday 8 May 2019

Wednesday 8th May 2019

Was awake just before 7am, downstairs by 7.30am and online with the virus scan started by 7.45am.  Time to take me supplements now then walk the puppy.  It's peeing down with rain though so we'll both get soaked!  ☂  Just the normal 600% today I think then get us both dried off before we get a cold each.
***

That's the supplements swallowed and a software idea blog post written, so it's time to take the senior puppy on her morning stroll now.
***

That's the puppy walked and fed.  600% today because it's so soggy out there but it's still 2500% in the walkies bank already this week so I ain't complaining!
***

Word has just crashed on me  πŸ‘ŽπŸ˜ž
***

Not gonna study today - Word is too unstable for some reason and I don't want to lose the notes I make during the course.
***

Pasta and meat-free meatballs for lunch today... yumsk!
***

Mmmmm, that was particularly yummy and I'm now nicely full.  I can see all three of us having an early night tonight lol
***

That's me prescription taken.  Gotta remember to phone in my repeat request on Friday morning and hope that it gets delivered before I run out!

Might do it tomorrow just to be absolutely sure though... better to be paranoid and have plenty rather than it taking over a week to be processed!
***

Righy-oh, I'm off to bed for an early night.

Nite nite orl!
***


Ideas please!

I've just asked Steve about coming up with a piece of software for me as a result of yesterday's course that he has, in theory, agreed to make for me.

There's no rush for it but I need some negative thoughts that you have and then turn them on their head so that they are positive thoughts.  For example, the thought of mine that inspired the idea was "I'm too thick to study at this level" which is a normal negative thought for me, so I'd pick that thought from the list and hit a magic button that comes up with the positive thought of "you excel at courses you're interested in!".

Could you leave them in the comments of this post for me so that I've got one single place to refer to when I give Steve the information pretty please?  You don't have to leave your name with your ideas if you don't want to, but I think you have to leave something in the name field, so maybe just a letter or character or something like that?  Close your eyes and press a totally random letter on your keyboard?

I'd prefer to keep the software family friendly, so please don't swear in your ideas!

Thank you so so much!

Tuesday 7 May 2019

Tuesday 7th May 2019

Just taken me supplements.  Went down pretty easily today, thankfully.  Time to brush me teeth and walk the puppy now then start studying.  Gotta remember to clear both cache's today, in preparation for tomorrow's virus scan.
***

That's me teeth brushed so time to take the puppy out now.
***

700% this morning, means there's already 2000% extra in the walkies bank... as long as we do 600% a day for the rest of the week we'll be at 4500% extra when we come home on Sunday.  Another new personal best for us!

Just gonna read Facebook and my emails then I'll get on with studying again.
***

Studying Improving Personal Effectiveness Certificate today and the first module alone takes about 110 minutes!!  😲  Maybe there's an end of module assessment or something??
***

I was wrong.

Module 1 didn't have an assessment after all, so Steve's gone out to put our lunch on and I've just dowloaded the PDF of module 2.  Gonna make a start on it while Steve's in the bathroom then put my laptop on the floor when there's 10 minutes to go.
***

Passed the end of course assessment with the same score as yesterday's course - 76.67% so my OCD is happy with that number too.

Right on track for doing the last certificate course tomorrow and the two diploma courses at the end of the week and weekend.

I'm really enjoying the courses and the diploma courses are stretching my memory too which can only be a good thing, I reckon!
***

Both browsers cache's cleared ready for tomorrow's virus scan too, so I'm just waiting for the reminder to take my prescription, then I'll charge up me phone then head to bed for an early night.  Hope I'm not awake before 6am again, like I was this morning the first time!  lol
***

That's me prescription down the hatch, so gonna read a few emails, check Facebook, Twitter and me newsgroups then head to bed I reckon.
***

Me phone has just died so I've just plugged it in and I'll be heading to bed in about 1½ hours from now, which'll be about 7.50pm-ish.
***

That's it fully charged, so I'm gonna publish this then head to bed for an early night.

Nite nite orl!  πŸ’€πŸ’€
***


Monday 6 May 2019

Monday 6th May 2019

Was awake before 6am this morning, down here by 6.15, puppy and hubby greeted, fuss made of the pup and me laptop turned on by 6.45am then my supplements were down the hatch by 7.15am. 

Gonna brush me teeth now then take the puppy for her morning wander.
***

Just taken a photo of our adorable little puppy, so gonna brush me teeth then upload it to my site... need to update the spreadsheets before I take the puppy out this morning too, so think I'll do that first while I remember.
***

That's the spreadsheets sorted, so time for me teeth now then.
***

The puppy forced me to do a new personal best on our stroll this morning... a huge 1500%.  I can't move for the rest of the day now... it's gonna be a struggle even getting to the bathroom!

She's going for another play date this morning.  Bet/hope she'll spend most of the time she's there, asleep... doubt it though lol
***

That's the puppy gone to play again and I'm missing her already!  😒
***

Just signed up for another 3 courses for £30 instead of £297 and these are a video course and 2 short courses, so I'll take those today, tomorrow and Wednesday then the 2 diploma courses over the next 6 days after that.

Clicking on that Facebook ad has saved me many thousands of pounds since clicking on it!

I'd love to have some of the other courses that I want to take heavily discounted too, but I'm not complaining!
***

She's hooooooome!  Our beautiful little senior puppy is home! she was only out for 3.5 hours but they were the most depressing days since she last went on her play date.  I know it's a tiny drop in the ocean of the day, but I really missed her!!
***

That's the shopping been and gone already!  Finished the end of course assessment literally less than a minute before it turned up.  Just scraped through with a score of 76.67% which my OCD likes lol

Taken my prescription too, so gonna have a well-deserved early night after this morning's marathon walk!
***

Off to bed now... think I deserve an early night!

Nite nite orl!
***


Sunday 5 May 2019

Sunday 5th May 2019

Taken the rings off my little finger and left them upstairs so that the base of the finger can recover.

Taken me supplements so it's time for the senior little puppy's walk now then revision, studying, assessments and end of course test to do... assuming the site stays up today of course!
***

That's the puppy walked, fed and watered - 4000% total in the walkies bank this week.  For some reason she's more tired than usual too... maybe she's starting to feel her age?  She's 10 years old at the end of June, so I'm guessing it is that.
***

That's me teeth brushed and spreadsheets saved, so I'm gonna code and upload then get on with studying again.
***

That's the spreadsheets uploaded and the disability page updated so it's time for me to study now!
***

Took me 2 attempts, but I've just passed the Body Language course, despite no revision either time!  Gonna put it on my navigation page then relax for the first time in 3 days lol
***

That's me prescription taken.  Went down nice and easy this evening.  As soon as my laptop has charged up again I'm gonna have another early night.
***

Not even 7.45pm and I'm wiped out so heading to bed.

Nite nite orl!
***


Saturday 4 May 2019

Saturday 4th May 2019

That's the puppy walked and fed, my teeth brushed so it's time to start studying I reckon!  Gotta take me supplements first though.
***

Supplements swallowed, so I can definitely start studying now!
***

That's the puppy's food just arrived.  Thank you Marie!  Moved £14 to the joint account so that Steve can pay his sister for the food and the next bag of food is free.

She's got to go back to the vet for a check-up on her skin in a couple of weeks so when I find out how much that is I'll move that over to the joint account too.  Means the £160 I thought I had after PIP pay day on Friday is pretty much gone, but that's OK, she's worth it!
***

A bowlful of waffles each for lunch and just 2 more modules to study, two end of module assessments and an end of course test to do then that's it finished and I can move on to the next course.

This course is a ten moduler that will take the best part of two days to finish by the time I've done both assessments and the test so the other two, because they are double the length of this one, will easily take 3 if not 4 days each to finish... what on earth have I let myself in for!?
***

The flippin' site is down now!  Grrr.  Just as I got to the end of module 9 as well!  It's almost guaranteed to be lost in the mists of my brain damage by tomorrow morning so I'm just gonna revise my notes and hope for the best... bet I won't pass though  😟
***

Taken me prescription and I'm having an early night.  Nite nite orl!
***


Friday 3 May 2019

Friday 3rd May 2019

12 hours of sleep last night and I feel so much better now! 

Just taken me supplements then I'll take the puppy for her morning stroll. 

It's May Day Bank Holiday on Monday so I got paid today... yaaaay!

Gonna add my magasines to the shopping then take the puppy out now, then brush me teeth before I forget.
***

That's the puppy walked, fed and watered, the magasines added and me teeth brushed so I can settle down to studying now, for the rest of the day.
***

Blimmin' 'eck!  These are the longest courses so far!  Even the shortest one is 10 modules, then the other two are 24 modules each so it'll take me at least 5, if not 6 days to complete the three courses instead of the day each that I'd wrongly assumed!

Gonna start with the body language course first, which is the 10 module one.

Wish me luck!
***

This is our baby girl in her favourite position:




Such an adorable little sweetheart!
***

That's me prescription taken and I've just finished module 4's assessment, so I'm hoping for one more module then heading to bed.
***

Going to have another early night now.  Nite nite orl!
***


Thursday 2 May 2019

Thursday 2nd May 2019

That's the virus scan finished.

Still free from viruses.

Time to back everything up then walk the puppy.
***

That's everything backed up, so gonna shut down and walk the puppy.
***

Puppy walked, fed and watered, so time for me supplements now...
***

Supplements swallowed, time to brush me teeth now, then I'm all set for the day.
***

Teeth brushed and coffee is waiting for me to drink.  Not gonna study today unless I get a marketing email from New Skills Academy again, 'cos there's no way I can afford to buy any more at full price... almost £300 per course instead of the £255 I've spent on the 26 courses combined that I've taken so far.

Gonna use the day to catch up on me email and Facebook and Twitter and newsgroups and forums and stuff instead 'cos I've barely touched them since clicking on that ad!
***

 As predicted, I've just had another marketing email - 2 courses for £40 instead of £299 each, so gonna buy 2 courses but not start them until tomorrow... I deserve a day off after yesterday's studyathon!  lol
***

Just added a wedding planning course for another £17.99 instead of £299 too.  That's 3 courses for £58 instead of pretty much £900!

I've saved many thousands of pounds just by waiting for their marketing emails!  So glad I saw that Facebook ad when I did!
***

They are all diploma courses too, so they'll be loooong courses just like yesterday's so that's me busy all weekend lol
***

The 29 courses (the 26 I've already completed plus the 3 I've just bought) should have cost £8,671 (not a typo) but I've paid a smidgen over £300 for all of 'em, total.  Basically I've paid for one full priced course and got 28 for free which is awesome!
***

Urgh!  Just got a letter inviting me for my HPV screening.  I'll go for it, I just don't like the scraping pain is all.  Last time I had my smear it wasn't too bad 'cos I looked away while it was happening and didn't scream for the first time ever.  Never been invited for an HPV screening before though!  Hopefully the nurse will be able to do them both at the same time.

Just gotta make the appointment now *gulp*!
***

Veg chilli and chips for lunch.... yummy but it seemed to be a touch spicier than normal for some reason!

Back to Facebook, emails and newsgroups now!
***

That's me prescription swallowed.  Nice and easy tonight, just two small mouthfuls of squash instead of the usual mouthfuls.  I like nights like that lol.
***

I'm giving up for the day and heading to bed 3.5 hours earlier than normal... I think I deserve it.

Nite nite orl.
***