Where I am and where I’m meant to be are two very different places this week.
Chris took some holiday, and we were planning to go to London for one last blow out trip before Christmas, well, before December really.
I shut down in December. I clear the calendar and settle down to wait for the big day in nigh on solitude, very rarely will I come out of my seasonal hibernation, and that’s in normal years.
I know, I know, it’s a time when most people are doing extra socialising in normal years, but it’s the month I fear the most.
Mainly because people force themselves to make the effort to go out, even if they are not feeling well.
I’ve been to so many December balls I’ve lost count, and I can assure you at every single one someone has said to me
“Oh God I’ve been so ill this week but I really wanted to come tonight”
Every single time!
So really my preference is to detach from the world outside. The latest I’ll do something is 7th/8th December as it’s Chris’s birthday. Plus by my logic, anything I catch then I can clear by Christmas itself. And that’s my thought process in non pandemic years, so you can imagine my little cogs whirring away this year! Hahahahaha
So we were going for one last play out. Fancy hotel, shopping, eating, etc etc…Then came lockdown 2. Chris decided to still take the holiday days…and we hired a skip instead! Hahahahaha Yes, indeedy, instead of wining and dining, I’m just whining. :)
Oh the glamour, the glitz…
We have a large garden, we have an awful lot of rubbish and junk. So it just made sense to hire a skip again, while we’re meant to be home and keeping out of trouble.
It’s given me something active to do too, I’m trying to stay active this time. I walked 7 miles the other day, but I’ve been getting terrible constipation for a couple of weeks now. I’m just lucky I guess. ;)
Because I still have my large intestine for the most part, I get normal bowel issues. And my bowel gets really constipated if it gets stressed. I know that’s the opposite to most people, but it likes to be different and keep me guessing. :)
I haven’t really found anything that helps. I made those flapjacks the other week, with the thinking they’d be great to ease constipation…But I gorged on them and ended up quite unwell with gut ache, blocked solid and trapped wind (ever had trapped wind before? It’s shocking. If you know you know).
I’m trying to eat clever. I’m trying to appease my guts, it’s not easy as once it’s a problem, it’s hard to un-problem it.
Water, not too much fibre (sounds counterintuitive but it helps)…and thoughts and prayers hahahah
Instead of baking cakes ~ when clearly I have every intention of eating the lot, I moved onto soups.
I grow pumpkins and squash in my garden, they’re pretty easy, look great and taste delicious.
You’d think a fibrous soup would help, but no. My insides are still being obstinate. I have very stubborn bowels. Lucky me. Hahahaha
The soup was delicious and half a pumpkins worth fed two of us lunch for 3 days. Absolute bargain. Free is my favourite food. (Not in the skip diving way, just home grown).
Well, our lockdown skip filling plans were rudely interrupted by torrential rain, so we had to get on with indoor jobs. One of which wasn’t even on the list, in fact in the 14 years we’ve lived here we’ve never touched it. But I was clearing the under stairs cupboard out of coats that no longer fit me (of which there were many) when I realised that maybe it was time to give the cupboard some love.
I gave my handy man some cupboard love and he in turn gave it to the cupboard. Hahahahaha
Fouteen years we’ve lived here and it’s never seen a paint brush.
If you’re wondering where I am at this point, I’m in the living room crying over the fortune I’ve (Chris) spent on coats I can no longer do up round me. Hahahahaha
It came out really rather well, I bought some storage boxes on Amazon to finish it off. Hopefully it will stay reasonably tidy (again, thoughts and prayers). ;)
I’ve been whining to put the Christmas tree up but Chris is being the Grinch. So I made a start in the kitchen.
The reason I can’t get the tree up is because I can’t get in the loft, so I do need my Grinch to be cooperative in this matter. hahahah.
Trees, houses and plant pots from Neptune in Colchester
Pot and contents from Neptune Colchester.
I took my log burner fire out of action. If you have central heating there really is no need to burn stuff just to make the place feel cosy.
It’s not good for the planet and it’s really dusty, so it’s not good for the housework too. I gave up on that. But that does leave the fire a bit redundant.
So I’ve filled it with fairy lights, and added fire side crackle sounds with the aid of Alexa! It’s very cosy now. I must say at times I have moments of genius. Hahahahaha hahahahaha.
On the note of genius, I was on a website looking at personalised door mats, as you do.
Anyway, they were all inscribed with things like “The Smith family”. The This family, The That family.
Well it occurred to me that although we are a family still, only two people are left living in this house, so family seemed an exaggeration of sorts. We’re a couple now.
Anyway a funny thought occurred to me so I had a new doormat made up for us.
It made me chuckle anyway, Chris didn’t say much, and is probably considering confiscating my Amex. Hahahahaha
Come on, it’s funny. The Dore’s (pronounced Door Ray) Doorway! Hahaha, no? Just me then. Hahahahaha…I can hear him coming for my card with the scissors. ;)
I’m still hoping for a breakthrough from the Grinch re Christmas decorations. I love getting them up early anyway, and this year it seems particularly important/necessary.
We (Chris mainly) have been busy with so many indoor jobs, OK, so we didn’t get breakfast in bed in a swanky hotel, no one came and turned the bed down for us to get in…but we do have a newly painted under stairs cupboard, plus newly painted hall, stairs and landing, a new extractor in the bathroom…and I hoovered out the cutlery drawer hahahahaha
We’ll leave our London stay till after Christmas now. It’ll be something to look forward to. January can be such a drag…like most of the months this year to be honest. ;)
Stay safe, keep well.
Suzanne
Xx
Saw this on the Meme Queen Lucy Nics Instagram. Couldn’t be more apt… :)