A Long Weekend in Yorkshire Making Our Xmas Visits to Family

If I've been a bit quiet on her lately, it's because on Friday of last week, OH and I packed up and headed north to visit family for the weekend before Xmas. LB was working over the weekend, so she couldn't join us, so was having some friends to sleep over instead.

Considering it was the last Friday before Xmas, we were lucky on our journey north.  We did set off at around 12 noon though, so probably missed most of the traffic trying to get out of London for the Xmas exodus. We were there by 4pm and met OH's mother at his brother's house. We then later retired to her house for a spot of supper and a catch up of the family news, before OH and I ventured out into the nearest village to a social club to watch a live band. It was a totally impromtu and spontaneous outing. We walked there, which is about a mile along a busy road and then settled in and had a good few drinks. We saw a few familiar faces from our school days and the band was really good, so we ended up having a really nice evening out.

On Saturday, we had to be up early, as we had a busy day ahead. I did a bit of shopping in the morning, whilst OH ran to his brother's house. We then went from there to meet with my sister and her daughter for lunch at a local pub a few miles away. It was good to see her, as I'd not seen them both since April. We all had a good catch up and a nice lunch and eventually went our separate ways, with us returning to OH's mum's for an hour to relax before then heading out to OH's sister's house for the evening. She made us a lovely curry for supper and we all had a good chat and a catch up, but we needed to leave at a reasonable time, as it was quite foggy out and we didn't want to be too late getting back to OH's mum's.

With most of our visiting done on Saturday, Sunday was slightly more chilled. I had arranged to take OH's mum and his brother's partner out to Dunelm Xmas shopping, mainly to buy his mum's present. His brother's partner hardly gets out of the house at the moment, so whilst OH sat with his brother, she got to come out with us for a while. I wanted to treat her to something nice too, but she didn't really want anything. I bought her a few bits, but I think she was a bit embarrassed to accept another gift from us, as OH had already sent a food hamper to them. They need spoiling though as they've had a horrible year since his brother had a stroke in February. His mum, however, did choose a few select items that she wanted/needed and was more than happy with her Xmas present and we all had a nice outing with brunch in the cafe to boot.

The remainder of Sunday, was spent at OH's mum's house spending the rest of our stay with her. We had pizza for supper and I watched the final of the Game of Wool. We packed up and returned to London on Monday morning, after one last visit to drop off a floral arrangement at the local churchyard where my parents are buried.

On the way home, we stopped off at a local Lidl and did our Xmas grocery shop, well most of it, bar the refridgerator/freezer foods. I had a 10% off voucher that was expiring that day and it seemed stupid not to use it. OH managed to get some beer and some smokeless coal too, for the woodburner, in case the weather turns colder. 

We were lucky again with our journey home and didn't have too many delays. When we did get home, OH had received a lovely hamper from a work associate and a really good bottle of wine from a neighbour, whose cat we are checking on over the Xmas holidays. I received a card from my sister in Australia, which was lovely and a parcel I'd been expecting, which was a great bargain that I'd bought on eBay from a charity seller, as it was just too good to miss. It was 15 large packs of xylitol chewing gum that usually cost at least £4 each pack, for £14 in total. It will keep me in chewing gum for most of the year ahead, at a super bargain price. The last time I bought this on eBay, it cost £27 for just 6 packs.

We were glad to get home, unpack and relax in our own home. It's lovely to visit family, but we love being at home for Xmas In the evening, OH and I caught up on an episode of Landman and then LB and I watched the movie Bridget Jones Diary, which was good. Christmas starts here.

A Week of Trying to Get Everything Done - W/E 21st December 2025

The week before Christmas week, started with a weekly shop. With the car tyre now sorted, I was able to get back to my usual trip out of town. I was quite looking forward to it, as I'd not done it for a couple of weeks.

I had a few extra jobs to do, number one being to post off all the Xmas cards that needed a stamp, so first stop was the Post Office. I then remembered that I needed to drop off lots of donations at the charity shop whilst out, so I headed back home to put them in the car. I decided to call the shop and ask if they were accepting donations and more importantly, accepting Xmas trees, as they were filling up the car and there wouldn't be room for the shopping if I couldn't drop them off. The shop manager assured me they were, save for books, so I had to remove the books I had in there before I could head off.

First stop was Home Bargains for a few bits that I always buy from there. It is always the busiest shop I visit, every week. I always end up queueing for at least 15 minutes for the tills and that's with most of them open. I had a quick stop at ASDA for OH's porridge and then went to the charity shop to drop off the donations. It felt good to make a bit more room at home by finally taking them. Of course, I had a look around whilst there and ended up buying a dress for £5, a small gift for LB's birthday in January, which was reduced from £6.99 to 99p and these spring bulbs which were reduced to £1.29 per pack:

As you can see, I bought several. I also entered the tombola, won a prize and then re-donated it, as it wasn't something I would use.

Next stop was Tesco, where I needed to recycle our plastic packaging and drop off the food bank donations I'd gleaned from a pantry clear out. These were the last two jobs I needed to do aside from the rest of the shopping. I managed to find lots of yellow stickered items at good prices in Tesco and came out with a huge bag of shopping for just £28, which was great.

I then did the bulk of my shopping at Lidl, got a few bits from Sainsbury's, using a £2.50 voucher from Nectar points in the process and stopped in at B&M for some vitamins and then it was home, finally. A bit of a marathon today, but it paid to shop around.

Some of the shops are getting much busier now that Christmas is getting closer, but others didn't seem that busy at all. I was glad to get home and not have any issues with the tyre though.

On Tuesday, I was booked in for my last class at my current gym, as it is closing on Xmas Eve. I am moving my membership to another gym, which will be more expensive, but is only a 15 minute walk in the opposite direction to the current one. Alternatively, I would have to travel across the borough to get to classes and the gym. It's the end of an era for me, but I'm looking forward to a change of scenery, as I've been feeling more and more demotivated lately. I'm hoping the change might inspire me to do more exercise.

Later in the day, I decided to attempt to stuff LB's pouffe, that I'm making her for Xmas. It wasn't a simple job and I didn't have enough scrap stuffing, so I had to add a couple of pillows and an fleece throw. In the end the finish was a bit uneven, but I'm sure it will be fine. It's a footstool afterall. I've posted separately about it. I'm just glad that I got it completed in time and can now focus on cleaning the rest of the house before the festive season is upon us.

On Wednesday, I started the day with an 8500 step walk using my usual route. I'd not slept the night before as LB had been out until the early hours and I don't sleep well until I know she's home safe. As a consequence, I was a bit tired, so getting out into the fresh air woke me up. I spent the afternoon cleaning the kitchen as OH and I were going away for the weekend and LB was having some friends to stay over.

I ended up going to bed early for me and thankfully I slept really well. I booked myself into the gym on Thursday morning. This was one of my last sessions before it closes, so I made myself go and get a workout in. I did a bit of sewing when I got back, but my machine was being difficult, so I didn't actually finish everything I wanted to do.

Later, I did a bit more cleaning and got a few bits ready to go away. We were heading up to Yorkshire on Friday for a few days, to see family before Xmas. LB was working over the weekend, so she couldn't join us.

Making An Xmas Gift For My Daughter - Xmas 2025

Most years, I try to make a gift for my daughter LB, mainly just to put love into at least one of her gifts at Xmas. This year, she wanted me to make her a pouffe, to rest her feet on when she's sat at her desk in her bedroom.  She's currently propping her feet on a cushion, but it's not really high enough.

I offered to make her a pouffe made from denim. My reason for this in part that I had some denim from some dungarees I took apart and wanted to use it up. The fabric I had, however, wasn't enough to complete the project and I wanted to use denims of different colours, to add visual interest. I therefore needed to buy some jeans from charity shops to proceed with the project.

I got lucky on a visit to Hull in November and managed to procure 3 pairs of jeans for the princely sum of £2 each. I got a light denim, a darker denim and a black denim pair. I also bought almost a half metre of very dark denim from Boyes, whilst I was there too. This, added to the dungaree denim and some khaki denim that I'd bought at the Knit and Stitch show for £3, gave me plenty to work with.

I decided that I was going to make each side of the pouffe in a different style, but all of them would be made from patched together bits of denim. I have posted already about how some of them turned out, but here are the pictures again:

I then left it for a week or so. I got busy putting up decorations and doing a bit of cleaning around the house. On Sunday last, however,  I decided to get it out again. Time was passing quickly and I was worried that I wouldn't get it finished in time for Xmas.

I added some jeans pockets to one of the side panels for decoration and then made up the final bottom panel which needed a zip inserting, so that the stuffing could be taken out and the cover washed if necessary. This came together okay, although I did make a few errors putting in the zip and had to correct them. I then went on to sew all the sides and the top and bottom together. It was a bit tricky, but I managed to get them all sewn together and the seams trimmed up on Sunday afternoon, leaving just the stuffing to figure out.

I wanted to create a lining for the stuffing, from an old pillow case, as this would contain all the small scraps I was using as stuffing. I'd collected them over the months, chopping up any scrap fabric that were unusable and this was the perfect project to use it all up. I didn't have enough scraps for this project though, so I had to add a pillow or two and a fleece blanket to make up the extra stuffing I needed.

Eventually, I got it all put together. It's not perfect, but I was pleased enough with the outcome, although the stuffing is not very evenly distributed. I may work on that before I actually give it to her. Here are a few pictures:

I think it probably cost little more than £10 in total to make, although it did take quite a few hours, but then that is the whole point. Taking time out of my day to make something special that she needed and would use. I hope she'll like it anyway.

At my request, LB is making something for me this Xmas. She's crocheting me a nativity scene, starting with Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus. I'm looking forward to receiving this and it becoming a mainstay in my Xmas decorations. I'm hoping a donkey, an angel and a few kings too eventually. Fingers crossed!

Have you been making anything for anyone this Xmas?

Some Reading, Some Cleaning, Decorating the Shed for Xmas and Another Free Festive Film - W/E 14th December 2025 - Part 2

The second half of the week started with me waking up on Thursday after a long and deep night's sleep, which was much needed. I must have been tired going to bed, as I realised I'd put on my nightdress the wrong way around! TMI, sorry. Anyway, I stayed in bed a while reading. I'm currently reading this book that I got from a library in a different part of our borough:

It is a really interesting read. I'm into books about craft at the moment, but this book is about Craeft or the ancient traditional crafts dating back to pre-history, although a lot of it's content is still relevant to the crafts we do today. It's written by an archeaologist/historian and is fascinating. I'm really enjoying it, but it's due back to the library on Friday, so I need to renew it at our local library, as I'm only half way through.

I booked myself into the gym on Thursday morning and headed off after breakfast. I had a good workout, then dropped in at my favourite local charity shop on the way home, but didn't see anything I wanted to buy.

After lunch, I decided to decorate the shed for Xmas. We have a tiny little tree that we put in there and a few Xmas cushions and lights. It looked nice and cosy when I'd finished. 

I then did some cleaning in the house. I vacuumed and mopped the hall, stairs and landings and cleaned the main bedroom thoroughly. I've still got the kitchen, toilet and bathroom to do, and LB's room, but they will be a job for another day. It felt good to give a few more areas of the house a thorough clean. OH and I watched the final of Race Across the World tonight, which we enjoyed.

On Friday morning, I had booked to go see another free festive film at the independent cinema on our local high street. Today's film was a classic, namely Dickens  'A Christmas Carol'. It was a black and white, 1951 version starring Alistair Sims, George Cole (i.e Arthur Daley), a young Hattie Jacques and the guy who played Dickson of Dock Green I think. It was a great film. Christmas isn't quite Christmas without watching 'A Christmas Carol', whichever version and this one was definitely a good one. I don't think that it does any harm having our consciences pricked at Xmas time and this film does that, for me anyway.

When I came out of the cinema, I had to drop into the library nearby to renew my book and then I walked on to our local Lidl, which is over a mile away, to get a few bits that we had run out of and needed. I also picked up a couple of freebies, i.e. a bottle of lime and lemonade, that I put away for Xmas and a box of Lidl brand Jaffa cakes. I also bought a pretty expensive bottle of wine for OH for Xmas, which concluded the purchase of his Xmas presents and I also bought him some decaff coffee, although he gave me some money for that, as it's not really within the budget.

I dropped into a local hospice charity shop en route and bought this book for £3, which sounded interesting and a grey sweater vest for £4. I'll post about it in my monthly clothing purchases post.

I then walked all the way home again, so managed to get 8000 steps in, which was a bonus. I chilled for the rest of the day and didn't do a whole lot, but when LB went out later in the evening, I took the opportunity to wrap some of her presents whilst she was out.

I didn't stop at wrapping all of LB's presents, I also wrapped almost all of OH's, save for the hamper I've gathered for him. I just need to put that together at some point. I felt like I'd made good progress today with regard to Xmas. Just need to get the cards written and sent, finish cleaning the house and finish making LB's pouffe now.

On Saturday, I had good intentions of doing some sewing, but it didn't happen. Our neighbour asked if we could take their dog for the day, so most of my day was taken up with him; going on a long walk with him, snuggling with him on the sofa, etc. I did do a few small jobs, such as writing most of the Xmas cards I'm sending and hanging up the ones we've received, plus some laundry, but not much else got done today. Maybe tomorrow will be a more productive day.

As hoped, Sunday was a much more productive day. I spent the majority of it working on LB's pouffe. I began by making the bottom section which needed a zip inserting to add/take out the stuffing. Once I'd made this, I sewed each side and the top and bottom together in a random order. I'm hoping when the stuffing goes in that it will look okay. It seems cube like, but isn't exactly to my original dimensions and who knows what it will look like when I get it stuffed. It took a fair bit of concentration and that was enough for one day. I hope to get the stuffing sorted in the week and finally finish it. I will make a separate post about the final outcome.

I really don't know where time goes as we get nearer to Xmas. It just seems to disappear. I got OH's hamper put together today too, which was another job done. It wasn't too difficult, as we had wicker M&S hampers from last year that we were given by a colleague of OH and they still had their original shreddings in them, so it was just a case of arranging the items in the basket.

I hope your Xmas preparations went well this week.

Frugal Xmas Wreath, More Car Problems and a Small Charity Shop Haul - W/E 14th December 2025 - Part 1

This week started with a lie in. I'm not getting to sleep until 3am most mornings, so I end up sleeping in to catch up on sleep. It's very annoying.  Anyway, I got up and ready this morning. When I looked out of the front window, the car tyre was flat again. I was going to go out of town to get the last few bits I needed for the week, but I decided not to risk it, even if OH did reinflate the tyre. I have to go on large, busy roads and I would be stranded if it got flat whilst I was out.

Instead, I decided to go for a walk and get some steps in. En route I went through a local park that I hadn't been to for a while and discovered a new outdoor gym had been installed, with quite a few good machines to work out on. The timing was perfect, as that morning, I'd got an email telling me that my gym was closing on Xmas Eve for 3 years. The outdoor gym might be my best option going forward, as other gyms in the borough are a cycle or bus ride away.

After that discovery, and trying out a few of the machines, I continued with my walk. I decided to stop off at the local Xmas Tree shop, which sets up every December to sell trees. I asked if they had any loose fir branches, as I needed them to try to make a wreath for the front door. They were great and showed me to a pile of discarded branches and told me to help myself. I offered to pay, but they said I could take them for free, so I was very grateful. I'd seen some fir branches for sale in Lidl for £6.99 and described as wreaths! Anyway, I filled a small bag and continued home. I've now got fir branches, bay branches from a tree in the garden, rosemary that I need to harvest from the allotment and lots of ivy growing over the front wall, all of which should make up a nice wreath when combined with dried orange slices and maybe even nuts in shells.

I've decided that this year is the year that I'm going to give handmade wreath making a go. I've never done it before, but I've got the time, I've got some materials, I've watched a few YouTube videos on the subject and I'm ready to give it a try. I'll post separately about the results.

I spent the rest of the afternoon tweaking the Xmas decorations. I put up the fabric paper chain, put the decoration bags and boxes back upstairs out of the way and then hung some laundry out. OH, meanwhile, hung out the Xmas lights in the front and back gardens, which is nice to look out on, on dark winter afternoons/evenings. Once I've done a bit more cleaning and made the wreath, we'll be all set and it will just be a case of wrapping presents, writing cards and baking for the festive holiday.

On Monday evening, I ventured out to my last Charleston dance class. To warm up, the teacher taught us a little Xmas Charleston Walk, which had us mimicking carrying santa sacks, eating Xmas pudding, throwing snowballs, slipping on the ice, pulling Xmas crackers and more. It was so fun. Later, she handed out mini mince pies and chocolates, which was very sweet of her.  I wasn't really feeling like going out when I set off, but I had a lovely time once I got there. I'm thinking of booking another set of Jazz Solo classes in January with the same teacher, but I'll just have to see how the finances go.

On Tuesday morning, I got up and ready to go to my usual class at the gym.  I was tired after the class the night before, but it was good to keep moving.  After the class, I walked down into the town to get a few bits of shopping.  First stop was the Card Factory, for a few individual cards for family members. I then dropped into Crisis Charity shop, as I still had an £8 gift card burning a hole in my phone (it was digital). On this visit I did manage to find a few bits to spend it on. 

I got this sead head for wreath making for 20p, 

This felt wreath sewing kit for £2, (it is complete, but someone has started making it - very nicely might I add) and my final purchase was a 100% wool fine knit black jumper from Uniqlo for £9.50, which I thought was reasonable for a sweater made from natural materials. I've got a plan to elevate it a little if I can find the right embellishments. I spent £11.70 in total, so had to pay £3.70 over and above the gift card, but at least the gift card is now all spent, it's taken me 3+ months to do so.

My final stop was Tesco for a few groceries I didn't get from Lidl at the weekend. I also picked up the TV guide for over Xmas and New Year, which cost £1.80 (Cheap version, not TV Times).  When I got home I lost a few hours of my life going through it, to circle all the mildly interesting programmes I wanted to watch over the festive period.  To be honest, there weren't a lot. There is a Christmas edition of Amandaland on Xmas Day which might be funny, a new series of Traitors starting at New Year, a Celebrity Xmas Sewing Bee and a couple of other things, but not much else. I'll probably end up watching some nostalgic stuff, such as an Xmas episode of The Good Life.

When I got back, OH had just got back from taking the car to have the tyre looked at. The garage did some work to remedy the problem. I'm just hoping it works and we don't have any more flat tyres for the foreseeable.

On Wednesday, I woke up a bit groggy, as I only got a couple of hours sleep. There's so much going on at this time of year that when I get to bed stuff is all churning over in my mind. Anyway, I got up and ready and decided to go for a walk. Part of my reason for doing so, was to gather more greenery for my Xmas wreath. I'd seen some ivy berries on my previous walk and wanted to harvest some on the way round. I also found some holly, although not with berries, as I leave those for the birds. On the way home, I dropped in at the allotment and harvested some rosemary and then last stop was to cut some ivy from the front wall.

One of the items I recently bought on eBay came today, namely, this cute vintage Xmas decoration:

I have to admit that I did think what have I done. It seemed much smaller than I expected, but I actually really quite like it. It's very naive and kitsch and I love the little robin. 

I decided that today was the day that I was going to make the wreath. I'd been procrastinating and putting it off, as I think I was a bit scared to do it, which sounds silly, but it's how I felt.  Anyway, it wasn't actually too bad in the end and I was pleased with the outcome. I've made a separate post about it.

After tidying up after this messy job, I made Toad in the Hole for supper. LB and OH were both going out, so we needed to eat early. I stayed home and watched The Game of Wool again and had a chilled evening and was in bed by 10pm which is a rarity for me.

Frugal Xmas Wreath Making

Wednesday this week was the day that I decided to finally get around to making my first Xmas wreath. I don't think I've made one before, but I've always wanted to try. I was a bit anxious about it to be honest, but it needed doing as I'd collected some greenery on Monday and it had been sat in water for two days.

The materials were mostly foraged or from the garden or allotment, so I didn't need to buy anything. I already had a wicker wreath ring, which I'd bought last year in January for £2. I also had some dried slices of orange that I'd bought from Lidl a couple of years ago, which I think I paid £1.99 for, but hadn't yet got around to using. I only used 5 of these which constituted about one third of the pack. The only other thing I bought was a gold seedhead from the charity shop for 20p.

The greenery I used included fir branches that I got free from the Xmas tree shop, bay sprigs that I cut off my bay tree in the garden, rosemary harvested from the allotment and ivy from the front wall. I also foraged some ivy berries and some berryless holly on my walk and that got added too.

I didn't find it that easy to wedge the greenery into the wicker ring, but with a bit of effort I managed to get everything in relatively securely. It's a bit of a wild and straggly wreath, but I quite like that as it seems to make it more authentically homemade to me. Here's a couple of pictures of some of the greenery I included:

After making it, I ran it under the tap to douse it with water to help keep it fresh and then hung it on the front door. I'm really happy with it and really like it for a first attempt. I just hope it doesn't disappear.

There were a few small bits of greenery left over, so I made a hanging garland with them. I'm not sure where I'm going to hang it yet, but waste not want not.

Then there was only the cleaning up to do, as I made quite a mess:

I really enjoyed the whole process, from the foraging/gathering of materials, to making up the wreath itself. I will definitely do this again at some point. Do you make your own Xmas wreath?

More Sewing, A Feel Good Xmas Film, Putting the Xmas Tree up and an Early Weekly Shop - W/E 7th December 2025

The second part of this week has been quite relaxed and varied. On Wednesday morning, I took myself out for an 8500 step walk which was nice. It was nice to walk in open spaces with no traffic or fumes and just breathe in fresh air here in London.

When I got home, I spent the afternoon sewing. I did a couple of small sewing tasks and then finally got around to doing more work on LB's pouffe. I've posted separately about this sewing session, so you may have already read about it. It felt quite productive though, as I made some progress.

On Wednesday evening, OH was out with some friends for an Xmas drink, so I enjoyed myself watching Game of Wool on Channel 4. I've heard that a lot of knitters don't like this programme, but I find it entertaining. They are very skilled at what they do. I for one am in awe, as all I can do is a basic garter stitch.

On Thursday, I got up and went to the gym. OH was already there when I got there and we both came home together via a local cafe, as he needed to eat and it was pouring with rain. It was a nice treat, although I only had a peppermint tea.

I didn't do a lot on Thursday afternoon. I didn't want to do anymore sewing and I couldn't motivate myself to clean ready to put the Xmas decorations up, so I had quite a lazy afternoon. In the evening, we watched the penultimate episode of Celebrity Race Across the World, which we enjoy, and I then once OH had gone to bed, I watched Kirstie's Handmade Christmas, which was also on Channel 4. 

Before going to bed, I got inspired to make yet another couple of items from the denim jeans I bought. Once again inspired by Pinterest, I found a pin to make denim coasters from the remaining seam and hem pieces. I worked out that I had enough offcuts to make one coaster from each type of these pieces. I didn't start work, leaving that until the following day.

On Friday morning, I was due to go and see a free film showing at our local independent cinema. Our local council were funding a film each week over Xmas, which was free to over 55's. This week's film, which started at 11am, was called The Shop on the Corner. It was an old 1940 film starring James Stewart, as a shop clerk and an actress called Margaret Sullavan, as a shop assistant working in the same store. It was actually a good film, one I've never seen before and was actually pretty funny. It brought back memories of watching old movies as a child on TV and as it was a kind of feel good film, similar to A Wonderful Life, I came away feeling uplifted, which can't be said of a lot of modern films.

On the way home, I dropped into a local chariy shop for a festive mooch, but I didn't find anything I wanted to buy. Just as well really, as I won a couple of auctions on eBay, spending around £11 on two items; one a vintage Kitsch Xmas decoration and the other a small gift to put in my reusable Xmas cracker. I now just need to find small gifts to put in LB's and OH's.

I spent the afternoon, working on one of the denim coasters using jeans seams. It took quite a while, but I managed to sew all the remaining bits of seams into it, including the belt loops which were small, so I sewed them into the centre. The finished item almost looks like the growth rings in the bark of a tree. I still need to stitch some felt on the back and possibly cover the top with PVA to protect the fabric, but I'm pretty happy with the outcome. There isn't too much fabric left from the jeans now, enough for a project for myself and another idea I've got in the pipeline for all the small offcuts solely of denim, not seams, hems or plackets, just plain fabric, that is much easier to sew with.

I've got one more coaster to make, using the hems of the jeans. It's currently pinned in place so you can get an idea of how it will look when finished.

Our car went in for it's MOT and service on Friday. It needed a couple of new tyres and a headlight bulb replacing. It cost a few hundred pounds all in, but it's not too bad to keep it on the road for another year. It is 13 or so years old, so it's doing okay.

On Friday evening, OH and I watched George Clooney and Adam Sandler in Jay Kelly on Netflix. It was watchable and OH thought it was a great film. I wasn't so enamoured of it.

On Saturday morning, I got up after barely sleeping at all and headed out to the last free gym session of the year. OH joined me there and we both had a good workout. After lunch, I finally got around to cleaning the two living rooms, so that I could get the Xmas decorations and tree up. It feels good to get that job mostly done and the house feels a lot more festive. There's a few jobs still to do, such as hang my fabric paper chains, the front door wreath, any cards that we have received and a few lights that I needed to put batteries in, but they shouldn't take long.

OH headed out to the allotment today to paint preservative on the shed base, which will be erected in 10 days. Later in the evening, he went out to have Xmas drinks with his cycling friends. I decided to have a chill evening watching TV.  

On Sunday, I woke up feeling groggy after a very good night's sleep, which I was grateful for. The day didn't get off to a great start though, as I found out there was a problem with one of the new tyres on the car. One of the tyres, which are tubeless, had not sealed and the air had come out causing a flat tyre. OH had had trouble with it the night before on his night out and it was flat again this morning. Anyway, he managed to get it pumped up again and hopefully it has now sealed and will be okay.  I was a bit nervous going out to do the weekly shop in it, but I was only going locally, so OH could have come out to me if there was a problem.

I did the weekly shop a day early at our local Lidl, as I had a £5 off a £70 spend voucher there, that needed to be used today. I ended up spending way more than the £70 - over £100 in fact, but I did get a gammon ham and a panettone for Xmas, plus a few small Xmas gifts, mostly edible. I also needed a bottle of gin, as I'd run out, so those things alone pushed it to well over £70, which is about what I spend most weeks.

I did have a small accident on getting the shopping out of the car.  The fridge bag had fallen over in transit and the eggs fell out and to the ground, as I opened the boot, so I lost a couple of them, which was annoying, but stuff happens.

The rest of the day was relatively chill. LB finished off my wrist warmers with a row or two of crochet, so hopefully they won't now unravel and I can start wearing them. OH made a curry which was delicious and we watched another episode of series 2 of Landman on Paramount.

How has your week been?