Terrible Tuesday

Firstly, after deciding to sell our flat in Aberdeen the tenant messaged first thing Tuesday morning asking me to cancel the appointments made for Friday. I had to call the agent, photographer and surveyor. Ok, this was fine, we were considering another path anyway. 

I received an email from PayPal to say that since I hadn't escalated the dispute for the scammed cardi (which I had the day before) the case was closed! I found a telephone number for PayPal and after a long call they refunded me in full (this was a good bit of the day, not terrible). 

I had an appointment at the hospital. The carpark was chocker and I ended up on the very top floor (number 13 - who wants to park on number 13 when going to hospital?). I was late but still got seen. My standard procedure was awful and not successful. I might have to get it done under a general. Great. 

In my haste to get home I forgot to pick up Mark's order from Tool station!

We were due to fly to Heathrow tomorrow to then fly to Jamaica Saturday. I spoke with the travel agent who advised I could not swap to another resort as they were all full! We had to wait and see what happened when the hurricane actually landed on the island! Well, I'm sure you've seen it has been devastating. Just awful. The airport has a huge hole in the roof - see picture! The people of this Caribbean island have been put through the tumble drier! No idea what was happening with our holiday. Though they finally offered us a cancellation yesterday. 

Then finally, on Tuesday night when Mark got up from sleeping (he's on Nightshift) he made toast. He's eating it saying there was weird crunchy bits. (And not seeds as I asked). He spat a couple of mouths out before giving up. He then found a big bit of glass! I felt I needed to go straight to the store (Lidl) in case other loaves were effected. The poor duty manager wasn't sure what to do. I hope it wasn't malicious. Hopefully I'll find out. It was a big shock and a worry. Mark spent all evening thinking he could feel glass in his gullet. Anyway, he survived as I did this miserable Tuesday.

A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle. 

Toothy

So I had this tooth pulled out on Wednesday. Believe it or not it's a wisdom tooth! A pathetic silly deformed wisdom tooth! Pretty much says it all really lol. (I'm not pathetic and deformed - just my wisdom). It's been loose and wriggling for months. I kept agitating it hoping it would fall out, but to no avail. It became sore when brushing or biting, and I was worried (well, Mark was worried) I'd get an infection before or during our holiday. Dentist yanked it out in one pull! PS it's not blue, that's just a weird reflection on the photo!

First thing Monday morning I had to go to the pharmacist for work. As I waited for the prescription I had a look around the chemist shop (they sell gifty things). I spotted a vanity mirror with X5 magnifying. Thought I'd see how it compared to my mirror at home. Big mistake! Huge! I immediately saw two long black hairs growing from my chin! And (I can't believe I'm actually telling you this) a long white hair growing out of my nose! Argh, like an old man! Right, the first thing to do was source and borrow a pair of tweezers at work. Except as soon as I was in the door I was busy recording the COVID booster and flu jabs the vaccination team were giving. Hence I forgot the hairs ... Until I got home and I was mortified all over again! 

I have to admit getting quite stressed with life at the moment. Nothing is happening with my house and we've decided to put the flat we let in Aberdeen on the market too. Our tenant of 12 years has given notice so it seems a good time. Aberdeen market is pants so we'll have to sell it for less than it's value. Fingers crossed we at least get what we paid for it! Haemorrhaging money just now, it's so bloody expensive. On top of that it also occurred to me that I'm wanting to move to Newcastle not because I'm unhappy in Scotland, far from it but, if I can't sell my house and move, I will become very unhappy being forced to stay. If that makes sense? Please keep me in your prayers.

Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it. 

Dupped

 

I saw this cardigan (top) on Facebook and loved it. Clicked the link, picked the colour and paid by PayPal. A website seemingly ran by mother and daughter called Mabel & Daisy. I first became suspicious when the exact same cardi was advertised on another Facebook advert, same looking website (two female names - I forget). I got email confirmation and emails when dispatched etc. Finally it arrived and was absolutely NOTHING like the picture (see my product - below screenshot of what it should look like)! Very cheap fabric, huge in size and looked awful. That's when I found the one star reviews, a smidge too late. Mark helped me raise a case with PayPal and I attempted to contact the company. An email response came back (I was shocked to receive a reply I might add). They told me 'of course you can return it for a full refund.... But you have to post it to Asia which costs £30-40!!' Instead I could accept 10% refund plus 20% discount code. I declined. Then they offered 20% refund. I thought sod it, can't be bothered to fight! They told me I had to close the PayPal dispute case first. I decided to let PayPal do it's thing, except this morning they offered 40% refund. It still means it cost me about £20 for a disgusting bit of clothing I couldn't even sell for £5 at a boot sale! I don't know, I'm undecided. Ooh and PayPal came back and said they company will refund in full, if I post it back. So back to option 1 really. Blinking scoundrels.

I've had a bit of a mental health challenge this week. Not only trying to sell my home but also decided we should sell the flat we own in Aberdeen. The tenant gave us notice (he's lived there since 2014! But his job is taking him to Qatar). Seemed a sensible choice as our mortgage people are looking for repayment as the mortgage was taken out for 25 years on an interest only basis (we used to get tax relief on loan payments but that was stopped a few years ago). It's a lovely flat and we've had no issues at all but tenants are so protected that if we got a new person in they have to be given at least 12 months before we can evict - and then only for a handful of reasons. So now is the best time. Of course if it doesn't sell quickly we have to fork out the mortgage ourselves as it'll be empty soon. It's just too stressful and financially worrying. I don't think Mark will be retiring any time soon. Please wish me luck on both properties. 

Anyway, on a better note, I've started to swap my summer and winter wardrobe, which means packing some of my summer dresses ready for our Jamaican holiday! I can't wait. And I'm hopefully getting a long weekend in Newcastle when we get back. See my family and friends before Christmas and swap presents as it'll be 2026 before I get to my homeland again. 

I hope you all have a great week. Be kind to one another, and breathe!

You don't have to set yourself on fire to keep other people warm.

4 days!

Don't judge, but I slipped off the wagon. I know you're all disappointed. Scrub that, my mum is disappointed, I'm sure no one else cares a cotton tail. It's complicated, so bear with me. I decided to do sober October as I'd been drinking too much recently and wanted to be a little healthier, and October seemed to be a convenient way to go about it. My choice. Now if I was being sponsored for charity I would easily have gone the distance. Even if I just wanted to prove to myself that I could do it, I would easily have managed (well, clearly not, obviously) but on Saturday we were battened down because of storm Amy, huddled in my living room cosy with a blanket and reading the paper, I simply decided I fancied a cocktail. Then Sunday we had fillet steak (last Christmas' butcher's voucher gift from work). And it would be so wrong to have best beef without a delicious red wine! So that's my story. It's not all lost. I'm still being sober between the drinking! I did feel bad though when a reader/colleague told me I'd inspired her to also be healthy, and she had decided to go for a wee walk every day this month! Oops, I managed 4 days!

Another reason I need to eat humble pie - having no plans for anything this month I fell off the holiday/short break/hotel wagon too. I've booked for Mark and I to stay at The Marcliffe (Aberdeen's only 5 star hotel). I found a great rate, for a superior room including breakfast. Would be rude not too. My daughter then reminded me that I had said I was booking any more holidays/short breaks/hotels until after we had moved. We need to save as much money as possible for the new house. God I'm crap at these things. I might or might not have also booked next summer's holiday. I'm saying nothing and you can't make me. Only that it was such a good price that again, rude not to. I just couldn't resist. It's a good job Mark loves me, and I take him with me. Trust me, he loves the holidays just as much as me. Don't think he will be retiring next year after all. He has a wife that needs to be kept in the manner that she had become accustomed too. 

PS hundreds have looked at our house online but still zero in the flesh. Let's not panic! I have manifested.

PPS as you can see the apples pretty much survived Amy though the leaves not as well.

Don't ask me for life advice, you'll end up with a new dog. 

Greenfields

So that's Greenfields on the market! With Masson & Glennie if anyone wants a neb. We have a For Sale sign in the garden and at the bottom of the road. I'm excited and nervous and sad and worried and thrilled all at the same time. I'm realistic enough to know it could take months to sell but I was also hoping it'd be snapped up before Christmas! I thought they'd be banging on the door to take a look but no one has booked a viewing yet! Oh the stress, my tummy is in bits. 1800 people looked at it on ASPC the first day, then the next 600, then 127 so far on day 3! 

Everyone has been so complimentary about my lovely home, they've praised how gorgeous it is. Of course, no one is going to tell me they think it's horrible lol. My blog last week had record readers - treble my usual. That was nice. But, like the ASPC viewers that figure will plummet this week. Such is life. 

I started sober October! Already regretting it! I mean, come on, 31 days without wine or gin? That's sad. I'm missing it already. Day one I had Appletise in a champagne flute. And I've got a couple of bottles of alcohol free at the ready. I'm out on 31 October so my sober month will end one day early but I'm so fine with that. I know so many people that need to go the whole distance otherwise it doesn't count. Climbing that hill having to reach the summit, no chocolate for Lent for the full shabang, running 10k with no little walk time. I also have friends that don't even finish a course of antibiotics (not condoned). I'm somewhere in the middle. Quite happy to miss the end if I need to! Please don't frown, I finish important things! Obviously! 

This is that time of year that this tree in my garden goes a beautiful colour. I will miss it! It represents the start of colder seasons but reminds me that it's not all dark and miserable. Good things happen in autumn and winter! It also tells me that spring is on the way ha ha.

You might be breaking, but remember you're not broken.