Nearly Over

The narrative is CoVid-19. No matter how you feel about it, I think we can agree that we're all sick of it. Whatever my feelings about C-19, I certainly won't be boring your socks off with my opinion of it. What people think is up to them, how they respond is their choice. All we can hope for is that we won't be in the same dire position with it a year from now. This year is nearly over with, but we know it's not the end.

What do we do in the meantime? Well, we moan. We moan and groan and moan some more. It's what gets us through. Vent your frustration to anyone who will listen. Or write it out, make an account of it. One day, it could become a historical document! Who knows?

There're so many craft projects I need to start or complete, but I've run out of enthusiasm for them. The sewing machine that my husband bought me for Christmas last year has broken, and I can't do any projects regarding the soft toys I was planning on making. I could hand stitch, although I was looking forward to using the machine. I'm whining again!

The Hubs has ordered me an embroidery needle punch kit for Christmas this year. I think he may have bought two. I saw an ad on Facebook for them, and they looked like so much fun. A much easier way to embroider and is perfect for me as I get a lot of arthritic pain in my hands when I do intricate crafts. Even typing causes pain if I do lots in one go.

I'm almost at the end of buying Christmas presents. I ordered a gift online that I had been waiting to come back into stock for about three months. When it finally came, my excitement turned to disappointment. The company had sent the wrong item. I sent it back the same day, but I'm worried that with it being such a popular item, it could be out of stock again by the time my returned item's dealt with.

I've wrapped the presents, and they are sitting, nestled under the tree. The outside lights are up and look so pretty at night time. I think I will keep them up for all of January.

The kids are doing curriculum workbooks for four days per week. They have Fridays free to do what they please. They spend as long it takes to complete the section or pages, and it seems to be going well. I think after five years of home-edding we have found a way to keep everyone happy.

Tonight is movie night. At the moment I have no idea what we will be watching, but I know making dinner is easy-peasy. Pizza and garlic bread is the weekly treat. We don't order-in as it's way too expensive and not always worth the money. I buy a vegan pizza, a meat pizza and a two-pack of garlic bread all from the frozen section at Tesco, costing about £5. Buying that from dominos would set us back at least £25. Not happening!

Budgeting is horrid, but it's what we have to do. There are people worse off and living on the streets, which is what I tell the kids when they moan about feeling cold. Now that we have the Christmas lights going for about 6 hours in the evening, we have to make adjustments elsewhere. There is a difference between budgeting and being stingy. My Dad was stingy! For years I thought we couldn't afford the heating to go up when he would recite the words, "just put another jumper on". It turns out that he could easily have afforded more heating but wouldn't allow it. Thank goodness he worked away during the week. My Mum would turn the heating right up to about 34 degrees. My Mum is the best!

The light outside is fading, and everyone is getting hungry. That means that it's my cue to sign this off and wish you all well. Keep safe, keep well and start those historical documents!

Bye. xx