Baby steps leaving footprints in the Winter snow

[roastparsnipsandbrusselsprouts]

It is nothing serious and will sort itself out. It is just a pest to be honest as it would do us all good to go walking with the dog. Dh is taking him out when he is home and a good friend or my ddad are walking him when he is not so don't worry, the ddog is well walked. It is us who need the exercise. I have dragged the exercise bike into the kitchen again and had a few wee spins on it, as has dd, but that is about all the exercise we are getting just now. Bleurgh!

The weather has been a bit crap lately to go out hasn't it.

Hello everyone. Hooray on the sleep news.

Hope your back's better soon, BlackCat.

We're back home again. It was nice to see family, although sleep was variable (as DH reminded me, every year we vow never to stay over again at Christmas, and then forget the next year ).

I felt very much in the mood for FLYing when we got home this afternoon, but who knows whether it'll continue.

Today I did most of the unpacking, made dinner, went to the supermarket and did a load of laundry.

We've had a fairly clutter-free Christmas so far (although we've yet to exchange gifts with the PILs). I am ridiculously pleased at getting nice tupperware pots for putting cleaning / washing powders in.

I need to do a menu plan at some point. I need to get faster at cooking, I think, and develop a better repertoire.

Tomorrow I'm out in the morning (DH is looking after DS) and I'm toying with the idea of going shopping in the afternoon. I can't decide whether this is going to be a good time to hit the charity shops, or whether I should wait a week or two.

I am up way too late AGAIN despite having banned myself from MN other than threads I'm on/started and the food and recipe boards.

Welcome back Angel . Glad it all went o.k.

My back seems to be o.k. this morning but I am going to try not to lift anything heavy (like DD).
I would like to do more but I will have to go with what my body lets me do for now.

I think I also may need to do a menu plan as we have a fairly well stocked kitchen at the mo. I would like to only buy essentials from now till the end of January. I am trying my best to not go to any shops .

DD woke once last night around 12.00 and had a whinge so I am a bit sceptical about her carrying on with the sleeping all night although she did go till 8.30am after that.
We can only live in hope!

DD2 slept for 12hrs again last night but they are going to bed later too, so we're going to try to get back to a 7-730pm bedtime tonight. Not sure how easy that's going to be though!

I am trying to come up with a cunning plan to make my menu planning easier, but I'm not sure it's going to work!

Bessie What is your cunning plan?

I have got dressed, put away dry washing and hanged wet washing.

Hello everyone.

I am feeling a bit stressed today. I think I have cabin fever. The dcs are going to my dparents for a little while this afternoon though so I think I will take a dog a walk for as long as it is light. I am used to walking him nearly every day and feel "wrong" when I don't.

The dishes are done though, I have hung a load of washing, the worktops were clean, I have made gingerbread dough, I am washed and dressed to shoes...

Did you get out to walk the dog Carrots?

We had a bit of a lazy day and sat watching dvd's this afternoon.

Hi BlackCat. I didn't get my walk as the heavens opened and the dog refused to get out of the car

I got myself flamed on AIBU instead. I should know better. No one sees the world the way I do at the best of times and I am in a funny humour today on top of that.

I feel really sad now though - sometimes it stings a bit on there. I am longing waiting for dh to come home, put the dcs to bed, have a drink, go to bed, and try again tomorrow really.

How is your back BlackCat?

Sorry to hear about your day not being great Carrots.
I am a bit scared to post in AIBU although I have in the past (not recently).
Sometimes people can even be a bit funny on chat too. I prefer it here on good
Housekeeping.
The other Fly threads are very busy today .

My back has been alright today but is starting to ache a bit more as the day goes on.

I shouldn't have done it. I think I may need to see the doc about some support while we deal with ds. I suspect I am growing increasingly depressed. I did one of those questionaire things and came out pretty high. Not getting any exercise and much social interaction isn't helping either but I think it has gone further than that. It could be that my thyroid meds are out though so I imagine that will be checked first. I am definitely out of sorts though.

I will put a smile on it though and glory on. I am sure most mums feel like this on and off and that I am not alone.

I will have to go now as we have got our dinner. will try to come back later.
Look after yourself

Hi carrots I'm back if you want to talk.
It must be hard when your DS has problems too.(please forgive me if that's not the right way to put it).

I know what it's like if you are feeling low ( I have been there too).

Carrots Hope everything is o.k. I am just guessing you are busy at the mo.
Please post later so we know you are o.k.

I might disappear off hear soon as it will be bedtime for the DC.

Hi there BlackCat. I am ok. Dh is home and seems to be feeling really low too. We are either both depressed or it is some sort of bug that makes you feel really, really sad.

Ds's problems are tricky to deal with but the worst part, tbh, is everyone else's reaction to his behaviour. When I was at my ddad's today he knocked my ddad's scalextric (sp?) off the track and my dad got a bit cross. Before he knew it ds was hiding behind the sofa and was too scared to come out. My poor ddad was guilt ridden. It also meant I had to spend 20 mins calming my ddad down and then persuading ds to come out and give grandad a hug. It doesn't make for a relaxing start to an afternoon.

I know you have had your low spots too. I have always felt healthy food, exercise and positive thinking help. Was that enough for you or did you need more than that? Did the St John's Wort help you at all?

A few of my friends have had to take stronger stuff and various points in their lives. I am not sure about it though.

I usually rally round and get a grip but I am struggling this time.

That sounds tough Carrots

My DC are doing my head in a bit cause they keep fighting over lego. aaarrrggghh!
Soon be bed time!

St John's wort worked for me but I only take it for as long as I feel I need it.
You have to be careful about taking it with other medicines as it doesn't mix well with everything. **
I do try to pick myself up and battle on a lot of the time. I don't like taking tablets.
My GP said though if I didn't start to feel better I should go and see him but luckily I did pick up after a day or two.

Mine are both in bed. Fingers crossed they will stay there. Dh also brought me home a little bar of Dairy Milk so I am on my second piece of that with a

Adult company is also good when it comes in a non stressy form. My dparents are a bit wound up at this time of year and conversation is all, "have you done this, will you do that etc" I am sure it is the same for a lot of us. Dh is much more peaceful. We are a good match as I am highly strung and he is generally really chilled out.

Sounds like a tough patch for you, parsnips. I had mild depression a few years ago and I never saw the GP about it at all. In hindsight, I wish I had, and DH had a much harder time of it as a result, poor man. Like you, I'm the more highly strung one.

You're definitely right about exercise - IIRC research suggests it's the single thing which improves depression (and other illnesses) most. Hope you get a walk tomorrow.

I'm feeling shattered after a combination of insomnia & DS being wakeful which meant I didn't get to sleep till 3.30am (and had to get up at 6.30 to go out).

All I need to do now is hang out the washing and then go to bed though.

DH ended up taking DS to London on the train, so I shopped all morning in a town near ours where I don't normally go. I've finally found some smart trousers (all I had was jeans!) and I've bought LOADS of cheap books and tat art & craft resources from charity shops and pound shops. So much for decluttering.

Tomorrow is busy again - market fruit & veg shop in the morning, PILs visiting in the afternoon and out for dinner at friends' in the evening. Sunday is hectic all day too! It's 'nice' hectic though.

Dh is off from now until Wednesday Angel so despite feeling trapped with dd's injury, I should be able to get out and about and walk somewhere.

I have done another wash and kept reasonably on top of the dishes so the house doesn't look too bad.

Hurrah on the smart clothes. It is tricky to know what to wear when you spend most of your life in jeans.

The DC are now in bed and I've had a shower so feel nicer again.
We are going to watch Lee Evans in a minute. I think it's good to watch some comedy. I also was given some Norman Wisdom dvd's for Christmas. I like a bit of slap stick humour. I know it's not everyones taste.

I once wrote down this list for "Good mood" foods:
Marmite
oily fish
Chocolate
strawberries
Bananas
Brazil nuts and walnuts

I keep it in my control journal.

Hope that helps.

Will catch up with you all tomorrow

Great minds think alike Angel - we are watching Dara O'Briain. It does help.

(thanks for the list - I will try them all except the oily fish - not all at once though)

carrots hope you are feeling a bit better after comfort food & comedy. You have had a very stressful few months (year?) worrying about your DC, so perhaps you need to start thinking a bit more about yourself? (easier said than done I know)

Good healthy food, exercise, chocolate comedy & wine plenty of sleep always help me. Are you getting enough sleep? Are you drinking your water? Have you thought about a yoga class? I found it helped me sleep no end.

black my cunning plan is to categorise all my recipes (tofu/lentils/beans pasta/rice/bread etc), assign a day a week to each (e.g. monday-lentils) and that should make choosing what to eat easier The only problem is the time consuming process of categorising them all (I have around 400 recipes on my blog).

angels well done with the smart clothes. Even my jeans are badly fitting & scruffy atm - I need to get myself some new clothes, but have no money and cannot be arsed to go into town to look around, so will probably end up buying some more from next

bessie I like your thinking about the recipes. It should be a good start to providing a varied diet.

I am at the stage where I have to add to the list the nights we are in late and either need a slow cooker meal or a quick prepare or quick finish meal.

I think healthier food and exercise will be our first stop in attempts to improve our own mental health though. We are not much help to ds if we are wrecks ourselves.

On the clothes front I used to wear a suit to work every day, nice jewellery etc. Nowadays I do the best I can with my hair every day and that is about it. Time to pull myself together and smarten myself up a bit. We have no cash so it will have to be done on what is in the wardrobe already.

Yes, I used to wear jewellery every day. Now it's mainly at Christmas that I bother!

I forgot to post a recipe for roasted squash and caremelized onion quiche which my mum made for me over Christmas. Very tasty and sweet.

Morning all, How is everyone today?

I think I may have 2 more lazyish days and then try to start Flying again on Monday. We might take our tree down on Monday too as it will be DH last day off then he's back to work.

I like watching the cooking programes on a Saturday morning.

We need to get all our Christmas snacks eaten first before we can start Healthy eating properly. Might try to use a few of them this evening on a kind of buffet type thing.

What does everyone have planned for tonight?
I think we are staying home.