Merry Christmas

You are all awesome! I hope that you have an amazing Christmas and a wonderful New Year.

Bear is happy with his presents, and all is good here. I'm taking a break until the New Year when no doubt I will be sharing chaos.

Hugs and good health to all.

Trying Things Out

Valer1e - it costs £7.99 per month. You get to have 10% off two shops each month. You can choose which shops but you can't carry them over. Then you also get 10% off the Tesco brands like Fox and Ivy and F&F clothing. I saved a lot when I was buying bear's uniform there. So if you don't buy clothing, branded houseware or baby stuff then you need to spend two shops that total at least £80 when put together to cover the cost. Tesco works for me, but for the next few months I can see me dropping bear at school, swinging down to the massive Tesco, picking up a few bits there and at the Aldi next door and then straight home so I wouldn't be getting the big shop and saving the money. Tesco suits me, but these days I want to drop into the local Co-op and also a M&S food store is on one route home and marks down the stuff first thing. I could be there when it opens... Honestly, there should be a degree in how to get the bargains!

Bless - you really need to work the numbers these days, and I fail at numbers! But I was really cheered up by the carrot bin, so that was something!

Sharon - I avoid Pringles as they can have gluten, so that keeps me safe. And before loading up with them, I checked the 'use by' date. I learned about that the hard way! I'm trying to structure things so that I can make things for me regularly. It's just getting everything set up. As for bear, what he will eat changes faster than the weather!

I took the car in to sort out the washer fluid. I want to shout out to In n Out at Pudsey, who are awesome. They are used to me, they let me knit while waiting for the car to be sorted, they are lovely and polite, tolerant and friendly. It turned out that the car had blown a fuse when I tried to get the washers going when it was frozen, which is a known problem for the Citroen. They just dealt with it so quickly and are so reasonable. 

This morning I had a huge box delivered. My current chair is in a state of collapse, so I got one inexpensively from eBay and it was delivered early. I was expecting it tomorrow. So the huge box got left at the bottom of our steps this morning when DH was out and bear was asleep. It wasn't hugely heavy, but the battle to get it up the steps was real. I sort of hoicked one corner up a step, then the other, then the next step and so on. There were no convenient handles and our steps are not shallow. Here's a pic from a while ago to give you an idea.

DH and bear put it together while I was out with the car, and it is awesome. I'll try and remember to get a pic, but I'll have to do some furniture shifting to get it in place. 

I've been playing around on Canva again. I made a bit of a mess of the Merry Yule message that I made for Facebook. The one that I made for this week's chatty bit turned out a lot better. 

Writing stuff - I'm sharing the chatty stuff because I mentioned the pic, but it's here. As a Christian, I don't celebrate the longest night of the year, but it feels like it should be marked, like a point of balance. It's definitely a writing time of year.

Hugs and good health to all.

Eighteen Tubes of Pringles

Bless - that is so impressive of your daughter! To get student of the year and to keep up her grades is amazing! It is so good that you managed to get there to see her. I hope that she feels better soon and can visit you. 

As I get 2 lots of 10% off a big shop with my clubcard extra, I did one of them today. I have a delivery booked for the 22nd, but it's just the fresh stuff. I can't get a 10% off on a delivery. I also plan to have a quick run around on Christmas Eve to see if there is anything exciting marked down plus some salad stuff. 

I picked up pickles and relishes for Christmas (as there are usually left over type meals) and also some plates. The plates cost £2.50 each and I remembered with fondness the days when I could pick up a cheap white plate for 99p. 

I got the pic from Tesco, but as I'm giving them full credit plus a sort of advertising, I hope that they won't mind. They're nice and sturdy.

I picked up crisps and a few bits of regular chocolate and some non perishables that will take me to January like peppermint tea and honey to help bear and DH's sore throats. We've got the goodies in already. I also picked up some salad stuff for bear for lunch - that he had asked for! I didn't randomly decide what he was going to eat. I gave up on that years ago.

I also bought Pringles. As I explained to the really lovely lad in the queue (who was an absolute sweetie) as I unloaded my trolley, Pringles cost £2 without the clubcard markdown, but are usually £1.65 with a clubcard. Today they are £1.50 with the clubcard and with 10% off they are £1.35. The 'use by' date is in 2024, so I bought 18. The men really like them and will have a handful here and there most evenings. As they seal up nicely and don't go stale, it works. Again I remembered previous prices with fondness - once upon a time I wouldn't buy Pringles if they cost more than £1. I have been tempted not to get them, but the men enjoy them so much. They will probably last until February, depending on how people feel.

On a more positive note, I also bought 18 one litre bottles of flavoured fizzy water. The men really like it with their evening meal, and it's the only one DH will drink as it doesn't have aspartame. I got that many to see the month out, and it was nice to see a price drop. A few weeks ago I picked up two and they were 60p each. This time they were 50p. Mind you, when bear was younger and before I could drive, they were often 3 for £1. 

On the way out I saw this - free carrots for Rudolph.

I am feeling officially flattened. Bear doesn't know if he is hungry or not. This means that I have no idea whether I am cooking for him or not. This means that I don't know what I am going to eat as I'm not sure if I'm eating with him or not - and this is why I end up eating crisps and chocolate for dinner so often. 

I'm still not sure about the Clubcard Extra. I mean, the original at the till (which also included alcohol, but still) was £174 plus change. By the time all the discounts and the 10% were off, it was £150 and change. This is still a lot of money. I mean, it was £24.30 on Pringles and £8.10 on water (after discount) and I got enough basics like the pasta bake sauce that DH likes and the pasta to go with it, for it to take time to put away, but still! But apart from this time of year, I wonder if I would be better off doing lots of very small shops just as I need them rather than a vast and weighty shop of everything that I think I may need twice a month to take advantage of the 10%. You also get 10% off F&F clothes and own brands thoughout, but I don't buy much clothing, bear has his own views and DH shops in M&S. If I was really scraping the pennies, I don't think that I would do the two shops of at least £80 that would cover the cost of the clubcard which is £7.99 per month. 

I wish I had bear's grasp of numbers.

Hugs and good health to all. 

Quiet

Briony - thank you. I've now started taking Vitamin D (when I remember) and I'm sure that it will help.

Bless - thank you! I am so proud of bear. It's funny how you hear about other people's children on the blogs here and you get all caught up and really wish them well. I say funny, but really it's wonderful and amazing that we are connecting. We sort of know people even if we don't physically meet people and it's wonderful. I'm glad that you liked the laundry video. This isn't a blog about anything in particular (except possible that fuchsia) but I think most people passing through are interested, or at least entangled, with laundry and I like to share.

Sharon - thank you. Feel free to print them out. I could get them put on Redbubble if I had the mental resources to navigate it, but I made them in Canva and you can't sell stuff that you made in Canva. I may have a play with it at some point with my very basic paint programme. 

Eileen - Thank you. I am so proud of bear. He has a track record of not telling us when he has achieved something, such as the Bronze and Silver awards he got this term for hitting a certain number of points for stuff like homework and participation. I found them referred to in the report. It makes it very hard to brag about him. 

The car windscreen wipers still don't work. However, it's been warmer today and tomorrow I'll have another go and then perhaps go to the garage. When I had a look under the bonnet, it looked like there was a white block between the old fluid and the stuff I topped up with, so it may still be thawing. I'm aware that I could do expensive things if I try and prod at it, so I'm waiting and seeing. 

Bear has been awesome with a great report and working hard. He has also cracked the panel behind the toilet. I have had a word. 

I'm not sure that I have everything ready for Christmas, but it is what it is. I can't remember the start of a sentance by the time I get to the end. I'm confident that it will be good, though, and we will have some good times together. Writing is helping, and speaking of which...

Writing stuff - Today's flash fiction is something a little gentler than the horror that I've been writing lately. I was browsing the pictures in Unsplash for inspiration and I thought of this - Birds. 

Hugs and good health to all. 

All Normal Here

 The fuchsia is looking washed out. Most of the colour has gone with the frost.

And I probably won't post pics of it again before around next May, when it gets going after the winter.

Today the car looked like this after an hour of driving - still with a roof covered in frost!

And the windscreen washer fluid froze. It's a lot colder than normal here. Annoyingly, I had some 'works below -19C' washer fluid to use for the car but the service I had a week or so ago topped it up with normal fluid. It should settle down by Monday, and I'll see what I can do when the weather changes.

Bear has finished for the holidays. Poor kid has already started revising. But - and the reason that I am posting - he has had a really good report with excellent scores on 'attitude to learning'. I am so proud of him. He also got a certificate for being the best in the form or something. He is not exactly sure what it is and so his explanation is a little vague, but I'm proud of him. 

My mental health is a bit hit and miss at the moment, but you are all awesome and I want to remind you that. And as I am more random than usual (which is going some) I thought I would share a video from a channel devoted to getting the best results with laundry - here. They have some interesting stuff, if you have to face laundry on a regular basis, so I keep watching them. 

Hugs and good health to all. 

That Car!

 Bless - thank you! When it comes to yarn, I'm not sure if I'm a bad example or a dreadful warning! It was very inexpensive, though, and while it splits, it feels nice and soft.

Sharon - thank you! I'm glad that you enjoyed the poem. It's one I'm proud of (and wrote in the heat of a July afternoon, which is me all over). I love the image of you melting the frost. I remember those cold windows as well. 

I took the car to the garage. It was fine. The mechanic tried everything and the car was a darling. It all but rolled over for him. The clutch was as smooth as butter. DH has had it stick, bear witnessed the awful sounds, but, because it's intermittent, they can't do anything. The lovely man at the garage suggested that I try turning the car off and then trying the gear then, or pumping the clutch pedal. After driving home, I pulled up outside the house after doing a swift three point turn to face the way I came, which is how I normally park. The damn car reversed as sweet as you like. I turned the car off, tried to put it into reverse and the dratted thing stuck! I was also getting evils from the robin. It was incredibly fluffed out with the cold, which reminds me that I need to go out and top up the peanuts and suet pellets. I swear that bird sniggered, though.

That's how I know what the new yarn is like - I felt so despondent that I started a new blanket, even though I've nearly finished the shrug. I'll go back to the shrug this evening.

Bear is full of cold. I shall pick him up tomorrow and have a hot chocolate waiting for him. I asked him for washing but it's a 'Christmas Sweater' day tomorrow. Bear has refused to wear a Christmas sweater so he will be going in a black hoodie. It could be worse. 

I'm barely managing to get one foot in front of the other at the moment, but I'm keeping on with things like Facebook for the professional reasons. I'm playing around with what I can do with Canva (I have no talent, so less than I should), and this sums up my day.

And I'm sure that everyone will recognise this in me.

Hugs and good health to all. 

Hello Monday

Eileen - it was as sweet as a nut this morning.

Mary - bear has also mentioned that Warwick is awesome, and that he would rather go there than many of the fancier sounding ones. I just hope he ends up somewhere where he is happy.

Sharon - thank you! The sky was such a delicate colour, but my camera phone didn't do justice to the moon which was very clear and bright and seemed much bigger than in the pic.

Bless - thank you! That fuchsia is much tougher than me.

The car ran perfectly this morning. Bear still came home on the bus, though. I'm taking him in to school but then it's off to the garage and he's on the bus home again. I'm hoping that they can find the problem tomorrow. 

The trouble is, the usual route I come home goes through Birstall roundabouts and if I break down there then the traffic jam will be horrific. I'm working out where to go based on the chances of me causing road chaos. 

I've also been feeling the stress of a few things and have had panic attacks all day which I haven't appreciated. I caved and started knitting with this yarn.

I'm going to try and get some cables in the blanket.

Writing stuff - I wrote a very short story about Christmas which is here. I'm also sharing a poem I wrote about the cold and a bright moon, called Frost on the Moon, which I wrote in a July afternoon. I'm sort of proud about the poem, although normally I avoid all poetry involving the moon as I get carried away. The writing has been helping.

Hugs and good health to all.