On The Up!!!!!!!!

 Perfect weather for me at the moment. Freezing cold with bright blue skies. Just how I like it. 

Do you remember when you were at school and on snow days you had to go for one of those dreaded cross country runs (torture). One such day we headed off down the bridle path opposite my school. As the path opened out into a field it was one of the most beautiful sights I've ever seen.

The field had stubs of corn that were covered in snow - in the distance was a row of snow covered trees, but what made it magical was that there was a low lying mist. From the ground up to about 2.5 feet. The sky was bright blue and cloudless. It was such a stunning image it's stayed in my mind forever. And thus such days are my favourites and have been ever since.

Of course now you'd stop and get out your phone and take a photo - and instantly miss the moment, and you'd not have that mental snapshot. (look at me being an old fart).

I usually go totally OTT on Christmas decorations. Not this year as puppy will just end up eating them and causing huge vets bills. Last week we put up sons Christmas Tree and left it there undecorated for 2 days. Then after 2 days I put lights on it and turned them on. The fab news was that puppy was totally disinterested. Then we decorated the tree and besides a slight gnawing on a low hanging decoration there was no interest at all.

So we've got no decorations on the bottom foot of the tree and dog is not at all curious. As a result I've put my tree up too - again with no decorations on bottom of tree and nothing to hide the base of the tree (they are both fake trees). It may not be my normal Christmas glory, but it's nice to have something up.

With the exception of my annual trip to Llidl for Panatone and other Christmassy bits and bobs - I'm all done with Christmas now. I'm not bragging, it's simply that if I don't do everything before December the whole thing is completely overwhelming. As I sit here I have a pile of wrapped Christmas presents to my left. The hats and treats for the table when I do Christmas lunch for husbands family are all sorted. 

All that's left is to prepare the treats for my family on Christmas week when I'm on holiday. At which point it will be nice to do one Christmassy bit of preparation. Christmas lunch is at my brothers house so I don't need to cook. It does mean I'll be in the car, but also it does mean I get to enjoy Christmas morning with son. Which is always important especially as he gets older.

Last Sunday was our first Sunday without something in it for months. I managed to get some of the stuff done that was hanging over me. Part of that was sorting the shoes out as you come through our front door. I'm a bit obsessive about shoes. I love them. I have no interest in clothes, but shoes - now that's a different thing. 

We had walking shoes, trainers and school shoes for son and about 100 pairs of summer shoes for me. Plus son grows so quickly loads of his old shoes were there as well. A veritable shoe mountain.

Last Sunday I took all my summer shoes upstairs to store (I have a shoe wardrobe!). Then went through sons shoes to get rid of all the old ones. I was very good and tied all the laces together so I could take them to the shoe bank. All his old shoes then went into a bin bag - which sat in the hall for a week.

This Sunday I was very good and took the bag of shoes to the shoe bank. Feeling very proud of myself for getting it done.

Of course the next bit of this story is the inevitable. Son was sick from school last week and so missed out on sport. Today was first day of sport since the clear out. Guess what. In the pile of shoes I took to the shoe bank are all his current sport shoes!!!!! A very expensive stupid mistake. Happy days.

Money slips through fingers at this time of year doesn't it. This weekend our telly in the sun room also packed up. 2 days after Black Friday... obvs. Husband managed to find a late deal though - so new telly is all setup. Every time we get a new telly it comes with a bit of useless functionality we don't want. Telly in sitting room is 3D. Which is great, but we have nothing 3D to actually watch on it.

New telly comes with Alexa, which has been driving me insane. We are an Alexa family. One in every room except bedroom and use it constantly. Unfortunately the Alexa on the new telly is uber sensative and even when turned off seems to listen in to the quietest of noises. We've done everything we can to close it down as before long it will start commenting on whether your wee stream is healthy. 

All in all I'm in a better frame of mind. I've sussed what my issue has been. I used to work a 4 day week and that meant I had time on a Monday to wrap up chores and even (dare I say it) sit down for an hour of head space. All this year I've been running like a mad thing to set things up at work, plus support those around me whose lives are falling around. I have literally had no time to myself. Plus since lock down ended we're all trying to catch up. Life is a sprint and all the stuff I did on Mondays now just doesn't get done.

Having had 2 Sundays where we've not seen anybody I feel like a new woman. I've done a few of my chores and yesterday I even sat down for a whole hour. A WHOLE HOUR!!!!! I think I just have to accept that my social life is done for the next few years. I need to just take things carefully or clearly I'll be overwhelmed.

A new variant of COVID has reared its ugly head. I'm not unduly concerned if I'm honest, but I do find myself hoping that there's another lockdown. I know that sounds terrible, but suddenly those lockdown days seem a lot less complicated than real life!!!!!!!!! We have had some many dire warnings about things that could go terribly wrong over the past 2 years I think I'm saturated with 'wait and see'. So I'm not tumbling back into the early days of the pandemic this time - all worried and shirty with careless people.

We basically know that we can't keep the variant out and we also know that locking down isn't going to make a bit of difference - it just delays the inevitable. So as with everything else I'm shoulders back and keep on going.

Though a nice lockdown to give me an excuse to be anti-social would not go amiss.

All in all I'm in a MUCH BETTER PLACE. WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP.