Still Frosty

The only time I have ventured over the threshold today was to take some rubbish to the bin - and the lid was frozen shut! There isn't much ice around but there's still a few traces of frozen snow. This was at 4pm, when things should have thawed out. 

The traces of snow are very small.

For some reason, most of the pavement on the street is clear apart from one very small patch outside next door.

As far as I know, there was no snow swept up or anything. In fact, outside our house there was no snow to sweep. There was just this isolated patch. 

The fireworks have already begun. We are all settling down here for a quiet night.

Hugs and good health to all.

Darn it to Heck

Fifitr - I agree. Bear seems to be happy to with the books and I think he's already started dipping in. Having his birthday and Christmas so close together is a trial. I spend half a year trying to work out what to get him, and then it's over in a few days. When he was tiny and father and uncle were alive, they went so overboard that you couldn't move for wrapping paper by New Year. 

Sharon - I hope the hair appointment went well. The Alaska thing I keep watching is Simple Living Alaska and I have absolutely nothing whatsoever in common with the people on the channel, but I find it relaxing and interesting. I need to start watching housework videos. Thank you for the good wishes. By the way, I took a photo of the charity book table sign. Most of the kid's books had gone. I don't know if they had been taken my someone needing to keep their children entertained or thinned out by Tesco staff.

I threw out a sweater today. I don't buy many clothes, and I make them last for years. If I remember correctly, this sweater could be twenty years old. It's definitely older than bear. I got it from Matalan and it washed and washed and washed. It hasn't been looking good for a while, and I've been bracing myself. I suppose if I knew how to darn, I could save it, which is a tempting thought as it's one of the comfiest sweaters that I've ever had. It just sits right for me, is cosy and warm but I can't ignore the holes any longer. 

Really it's had its day, but I'm going to miss it. I'm going to knit a replacement next after I finish the shawl. 

I nipped out for what I hope is the last time this year. I dropped the stuff off at the tip, then called in briefly at Tesco. I picked up some bread and a very small gammon joint for New Year's Day. Then I was tootling around with some writing stuff and ironing. We had home made soup for dinner, which included some sundried tomatoes that were just dry and not in oil or anything. The men really enjoyed them, so I'll try getting them in that form in future. 

Writing stuff - Under the Bright Saharan Sky is out on 21st January 2021, and is a lot less expensive to pre-order, currently 77p against £3.13 for Out of the London Mist. I'll be starting the pre-publicity stuff on 2nd January, so I suspect there will be a lot more things here.

Hugs and good health to all. 

Awesome Day

Bear said that he had a good birthday. He waited until DH had finished work to open his presents and was very happy with his loot. He had some gift vouchers from friends, a model to make (with no paint or glue needed - thank you awesome brother) and we had got him a chunk of books and some other little bits, like a fancy pack of cars. One of the biggest hits was actually one of the least expensive - a blinged up set of steampunk goggles with weird refractive lenses.

I hope he settles in to the books. I don't know what to get for the modern stuff so over Christmas and his birthday he ended up with stuff like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Journey to the Centre of the Earth. DH and I plan on also dipping in, if he's happy to let us. I haven't read Robinson Crusoe for years and I think we are both looking at Swiss Family Robinson. I also got him some music books and he was practising almost straight away. 

We had a very slight scattering of snow, but now I'm worried about ice and driving tomorrow. I have a tip run booked, but I'm seriously worried about getting there. It's either scary bypass with aggressive lorries or twisty back roads with 50mph speed limits. And no matter which way, it's steep hills. Still, it's for mid-morning and the main roads will be gritted, so I shouldn't worry. Really, I should be counting my blessings that we haven't been too badly hit by bad weather. 

Hugs and good health to all. 

Mild Win

These days I'm not sure that I should describe something beneficial as positive, but, in the former sense and not the plague sense, today has been mildly positive.

Sharon - The table at Tesco is a swap for 50p, buy for £1, proceeds to the store's charities. I think it's Cancer UK and a couple of others. I'll have a look next time. Morrisons have something similar. It's done on a trust basis, but there seems to be a fair turnover. Mind you, the usual bodice rippers are currently swamped by kids' books.

Sarah - I did wonder about something like a women's refuge or even a kid's ward on a hospital. I wasn't sure where to start donating to a refuge. In other times I would have considered the local church, but it's currently shut. A lot of charity shops aren't accepting stuff. That's one reason why I thought the Salvation Army would be a good place to start - they do a lot of outreach stuff. I've a few books left after my largish donation, so I'll see what I can do. 

There was no snow here today, although it's been cold and it was scarily misty on the way to the shop. The forecast is muttering about snow tomorrow but I plan on staying in anyway. I have a slot booked at the tip for Wednesday, so I will be going out then. I hope the weather will be kind. 

It's not too bad if I miss the tip run. I was the only one in the street who checked the bin collection dates. Our black bin was collected one day early, just before Christmas. As far as I can tell, mine was the only one out. I only realised the next day when I went to bring it in as we are normally one of the first to put the bins out. I can see me turning into one of those women who get obsessed and knock on neighbours doors to get the bins sorted. There have been a row of overstuffed black wheelie bins at the top of our street for over a week now, and it's another week before they're due to be collected. Normally there is a leaflet that gets sent out, but I didn't see it this year. The council said that they are dealing with 20% more domestic waste (I suppose because people are eating at home, having clear outs, redecorating and getting into diy) and have 10% less staff because of illness and isolation. 

Today has been mildy a win. I didn't watch a single episode of 'Say Yes to the Dress' although I have got caught up in a couple living off the land in Alaska. There are worse things to watch as I can get ideas about how stuff like butchering works for some of my writing, and it's giving me a positive attitude to sorting out stuff in the house. When I called in at Tesco, I picked up some bits that I forgot yesterday, and as I went around I was mentally looking at things and actively deciding that I didn't need stuff. I wrote down the spends when I got home (a lot less than it could have been) and I've cracked on with some knitting. To be honest, a lot of the day has been worrying away at an issue I have with a novel, and that has been positive in itself.

This evening I've been wrapping bear's birthday presents and have spent half the evening coming second in a battle with sticky tape. But that's all done now. 

Writing stuff - Today's flash fiction is here.

Hugs and good health to all. 

COLD!!!

 Fifitr - thank you for the hug and the vote of confidence. It's much appreciated.

One of the reasons I'm writing my resolutions down is that even if I fail, my thought processes may help someone else. At least they can avoid the problems that I fail at. I'm always slightly in awe of those who write incredibly knowledgeable blogs. They seem so assured. All I know is that whatever goes wrong, there will be a fun story in there.

I wrote down what I spent today in Tesco. I hadn't planned to go today, but it was one of those complicated things where I needed to exchange presents with brother and I could do with picking up some sandwich meat. We agreed to meet in Tesco car park for a socially distanced exchange. We had a discussion and checked the gov.uk page, and as far as we could tell, it's legal in Tier 3. I'm so bewildered by the rules these days that I just hope we didn't break any laws.

I planned to put a load of the books that bear cleared out into the Salvation Army donation bins by the glass recycling bins. I was told that it would be fine to do this by the very nice man who empties them who I met a while ago. He recommended trying to give them into a shop first, but failing that, the big donation thingies would be fine. Well, they would have been fine, but they were full. I left a large bag full on the charity book swap table in Tesco, but I still have a bootful. Well, not quite a bootful, but a lot. I also have two black bags in my boot ready for the tip run on Wednesday and it isn't that big a boot. 

I also took the opportunity to dump a load of jars into the recycling. It felt very odd, feeding jar after jar into the recycling thingies while next to me people were getting rid of the evidence of lockdown drinking. I had quite a lot, as I decided to get rid of the ones that I had saved for bear's chutney and pickle making, as he had abandoned that quite quickly. I also had gone through some cupboards and pulled out some extremely past their best before dates so this morning I had gone through and cleaned a load out. I'm ashamed of how much got dumped. It may be only half a dozen jars, but it's a sign of impulsive behaviour. For example, I broke the jar scraper thingy on an extremely elderly jar of tahini that I originally got when bear was in primary school to make hummus. Now it had set like concrete. I'm going to have to get another of those extremely useful jar scrapers, so I will be writing that down soon.

It was interesting as I checked the receipt when I wrote down the total. There were some Matchmaker chocolates as we all like them and they were at a reasonable price and there was a puzzle book as I had forgotten my knitting, I didn't know how long I would have to wait for brother, and I like puzzles. Both of those parts of the bill could have been dropped easily enough. I also got relatively posh bread, which was also an indulgence. I think looking at what's happening is a good way for me to adjust things. 

It was wonderful to see my brother, but I got chilled to the bone talking to him and even now, four hours later, I'm still cold at the core. Fortunately he gave me some mead for my Christmas present, so I will be able to warm myself up. I know alcohol doesn't actually make you warmer, and can make things worse for things like frostbite and serious cold, but I like the illusion of warmth that it gives. 

I shall be out again tomorrow. I want to try and do another dump of immaculate children's books on Tesco's charity book table, keeping an option for Morrison's charity book table and scouting out the Salvation Army donation thingies. There is a hint of snow in the forecast, so I shall share what happens. 

Hugs and good health to all.

Making Decisions

As anyone who has followed this blog will realise, I have the willpower of wet tissue paper. I also have the attention span of an overheated bluebottle. This year I'm thinking more about methods of setting up good New Year's Resolutions, rather than the resolutions themselves. I have to work with little or no focus or willpower. I think recognising that is the first step in the process.

I have already had a slight success. As I mentioned, I'm writing down all that I spend. Today I didn't buy a knitting pattern. This may be something to do with the folder stuffed with knitting patterns on my desktop or the dozens jammed into various parts of my stash. Mainly, though, it was because I couldn't be bothered to go upstairs and get the notebook to write it down. This could be a really useful tactic, as long as I stick to writing things down. If I can keep going until the end of January, then I should have formed a habit. And the habit should save me a lot of shopping.

I need to work on habits and rhythms. I think I shall use my phone more. When bear was little, I had an alarm on my phone for all sorts of things, like the time he needed to brush his teeth before school and the time he needed to be putting on his coat. Now I need to get alarms set as reminders for washing and ironing and suchlike.

I was reminded that we have two wolves inside us. One is dark, full of fear and anger. The other is light, full of hope and love. The more we feed them, the stronger they grow and we should feed the one we want to see. I am not naturally a positive person, but I'm working on it. I thought I would extend this. I spend a lot of time browsing on YouTube when I'm hanging out with bear and knitting. I need to turn away from the snippets of Downton Abbey and Graham Norton and instead look at snippets about cleaning and writing. If I'm watching a programme about cleaning, it will hopefully motivate me to clean and start forming a more positive mindset. I'm hoping it will be a sort of mental equivalent of 'you are what you eat'. I'm not tracking it, and I expect it will be hit and miss, but it's a start.

I shall also have to watch more videos about saving money. Food prices are going up. I was watching a video of someone doing a challenge about low cost eating, and a value tin of mushy peas, from Tesco, was 15p. The video was posted on 29th January 2020. I just checked on Tesco website, and the same tin is now 22p, or around 50% dearer. To be honest, I think it was more expensive last time I bought it, but the item was labelled as an Aldi price match. 

As I write what is happening in my life, goodness only knows what's going to be happening on the blog in the next few months. Fingers crossed that it will be fun.

Hugs and good health to all. 

Chin Length Hat

I bought bear, as a big part of his Christmas presents, a top hat. It is a proper stove pipe, eight inches tall and with a feather in the band. We had been measuring his head, and I think I got it wrong. Bear was utterly delighted with the hat, which seems to be excellent quality, silk lined and dashing. He put it on his head and it sank. It rested briefly on the crown of his head, then slowly descended past his nose to chin level. Bear collapsed into giggles.

I'm posting a pic of the hat from the website (which is incredibly true to what we received) and a link because I emailed the firm asking politely if I could return something I bought two months ago and they replied on Christmas Day saying that I could. That is awesome service.

Image from eBay, sold by sugarplum-69

Bear very much enjoyed the rest of his presents, and is planning a reading marathon later. DH made an excellent Christmas dinner and now we are relaxing and looking forward to a lazy evening.

I hope everyone reading is having a wonderful holiday, no matter what your faith, and that you are keeping happy and in good health. Hugs to all.