Catch Up Notes

Not posted since December 13th! Smacked hands...Boo Hoo, must do better.

Thinking back the week started with a series of mishaps (like it does when you're already stressed) starting with BT; does anyone else have trouble with BT? I got yet another bill for BT Vision which I had returned after only one night's viewing. I thought it was total rubbish and vastly preferred my Sky+. Anyway they have been billing me since September and each month I have to ring and tell them to sort it out which is not easy when they are in India and I'm in the UK. Anyway I lost my rag and told the operator to sort it out himself as I was not being transferred yet again to another department and I was not paying any bills. Whether that has happened we'll see. Then the boiler pressure was showing zero and I didn't know how to alter it so that was another 15 minutes whilst I went through a, b, c, then 1, 2, 3 etc. only to find that I had to phone Baxi direct...and another a, b, c, then 1, 2, 3 blah, blah...and when someone answered it took him 2 seconds to tell me what to do. I had two waistcoats to make to send out for Wednesday but I don't know if they got there in time. Then the light bulbs started popping and I bought some spares and found they were bayonet and not screw-in and had to be taken back and exchanged...and all before Christmas!

However, Christmas was great, Ed came up on Xmas day and we had Xmas dinner, watched the Queen's speech, then I had a surprise as Ed started up Skype and connected with Stephanie and her family in Munich. We had a very enjoyable half hour with them then jumped into the car with dogs and went to the beach. I have never done that before and it was also Digger's first taste of beaches and sea water. It was lovely seeing them bound round the dunes and beach racing for the twigs Ed threw for them. We spent an hour there then came back and dossed in the living room and watched a DVD then some telly before going to bed.

Boxing Day was taken up with getting Ed up for his breakfast, sorting out my computer, having lunch from Xmas day left-overs and seeing him on his way home before he took off for Slovakia.

After that I could not get going again, so I decided to sit in the living room and watch one of the DVD's I had been given, so totally decadent.

The last few days I have been adding shelves to my lobby and bought a stack of drawers to house all my scrap booking papers and bits so I am now very tidy and have unearthed a set of course notes for a course I couldn't take part in before Christmas. I have worked through 3 lessons and just have the 4th to complete and that will add another skill to my CV...Ha, like I need one now! Anyway here are some pictures of the work so far.

I have also cut out two more waistcoats but don't have any calico to make the interlining so they will have to wait until tomorrow before I can buy some more and start sewing them up before Bert comes on Wednesday...well, back to stress and time management, why should 2009 be any different?

Almost Christmas

Bert arrived as expected and as I had cancelled my Thursday market I was able to concentrate on enjoying his visit. Bert met Digger for the first time and Digger fell in LOVE...but Bert was not impressed, and hated being licked all the time and he soon got his marching orders.

We went shopping and lazed around watched TV. We went to the local Atlantic Village to get a suitcase for him and I found a wonderful outfit for my son's ball - quite by chance! On the Tuesday we took the dogs to the kennels for their mini holiday and drove up to Macclesfield leaving behind the sun and heading into terrible weather - torrential rain, sleet and snow - making it hard to see where the lines were on the roads. I dropped Bert off at his sister's house and drove on to my Mother's house where I delivered my Xmas presents and had a great two days with her. We shopped and ate out and did girly things. Then I drove back to sunny Devon for an overnight stop before travelling to Salisbury and Gareth's home. He met me outside the station and took me home and made me a sandwich to last me until we had our meal at the do. Maureen arrived later on with Michelle and Charmion and we caught up with the news whilst waiting for the minibus to arrive.

The ball was held in the barracks in a huge marquee with about 32 tables and a large dance floor. The meal was traditional Christmas and very tasty but towards the end the lack of heating made it very hard to sit still and everyone began shivering, so the tables were re-organised to warmer places. I left about 10 minutes to 12 with Fiona and dived under the dovet as soon as I could to warm up and sleep. Several hours later I was woken by the others banging on the front door to be let in - they had lost the door key!

The next day everywhere was covered in frost and the cars had to be de-iced before being used, then Gareth, Charmion and I headed into Salisbury for a trip round the shops and a visit to the cathedral. It had been updated with a spectacular water feature that entranced Gareth and he soon set a trend and had everyone taking pictures of reflections in the water.

The afternoon was taken up with a hospital visit for Fiona, who had landed there in the night with bad stomach ache, Gareth also drove me past Stonehenge and got a lovely picture of the evening sun behind the stones and then home for a chinese meal and Strictly Come Dancing on the TV.

I left on Sunday on the train and got home about 13:30, slowly put my things away and made a cup of tea and sat on the settee watching TV until I came round and was able to do a bit more.

Thursday brought a few more waistcoat orders and a heavy cold which I am now in the throes of shrugging off. I have reached the coughing stage but lemsip is doing it's upmost to combat the bug and I feel fine in myself. Tomorrow I'll start the waistcoats...promise!