I can't believe the last time I wrote anything was Christmas Eve, the days have just flown by in a blur of Christmas, New Year, lots of Bank Holidays and regularly not knowing what day of the week it was!

We had a quiet but lovely Christmas. It was just the six of us for lunch and then S and D's boyfriends came over mid afternoon and they all played board games and we relaxed with a couple of glasses of bubbles. We have managed several wet walks and a trip to the cinema. We also had a trip to the theatre in Torquay to watch Cinderella which was very good. 

Now we are back to the routine of school and work and actually it's nice and I always like a whole new year ahead with holidays and little trips to plan. This weekend we have been up to Wiltshire to see family as we didn't see them at Christmas. Yesterday we took Mother in Law into Bath for the afternoon which was nice. We didn't go in many shops but it was just nice to stroll about and we had a coffee. In the evening we had fish and chips with my Dad and today we had lunch at Prezzo with my Dad, Sister and Brother in Law so lots of catching up done this weekend.  It has been really lovely but it's always tiring fitting in so many people in such a short space of time.

Tomorrow we have the hospital with L - she has a rare mole on her nose and so is under the care of a paediatric dermatologist who is keeping an eye on the size and colour of it. At the moment they feel she would be left with a worse scar than how the mole looks as they would have to cut deep to get rid of it all. They are hoping that as her face and nose grow with age it will fade out - we shall have to see.

I am working Tuesday and then meeting a friend for coffee Wednesday morning. As for the latter end of the week I am not sure what my plans are I shall just see how it all unfolds.

Well I am now going to slump on the sofa and read my book. Hope everyone has a good week x 

 Well it's Christmas Eve and we are all ready and waiting. It was great to finally be out of isolation on Monday and get out for a walk and some fresh air. There has been a lot of baking this week by K. She has taken over from my Mum as the sausage roll maker and has made batches of meat ones and Delia's veggie ones. The last few years she has also made mini Christmas cakes for my Dad, Brother-in-Law and Mother-in-Law so those were done at the beginning of the week. I made the Christmas cake but Husband did the marzipan and icing and S did the decorations. S also organised the gingerbread house which wasn't a great success this year - literally minutes after taking the photo the roof caved in and the chimney and santa fell off! It had to have some emergency repairs which so far are still holding up.

In the end we decided to play safe and cancelled out plans to go up to Wiltshire for the night yesterday. We are a big family and Husband is part of a big family so 16 of us were going to go for a meal last night and 12 for lunch today. My Dad and Husbands Mum were worried about the number of different people mixing with omicron about and felt it better to ostpone till the new year so on Tuesday Husband with K and S went up for the day and delivered our presents to everyone. My Sister and Brother-in-Law will spend the day with my Dad tomorrow and I will phone him in the morning for a chat.

Well we are hoping to get out for a nice walk this afternoon although it's currently raining which is a pain so all that remains is for me to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas x

 Just a short post to say I tested positive for covid yesterday so am now in isolation until the middle of next week. I feel fine at the moment just a bit of a cold. The isolating I am going to find hard as I like to be busy but Daughter S has done a great job of running the show since yesterday, getting the girls off to school today and cooking meals. Husband is out of isolation tomorrow, just need to keep testing Lois as she is the only one of us not to have had it now.

I will be back before Christmas, not that I will have done anything to write about!

Take care everyone x

 It's been another busy week here starting with the carpet fitter ringing on Monday saying he had made a mistake with his diary and could he come the following day instead of Wednesday as booked. Well that put Husband in a flat spin as he frantically did lot's of finishing off jobs and ripped up the old living room carpet and took it to the tip. I got home from work on Tuesday to find it all done and the girls had helped Husband hoover up all the bits and put the furniture back. I have to say it all looks really lovely and the new fireplace that Husband built really makes the room. 

Tuesday evening and Wednesday we got all the Christmas decorations out of the garage and now the tree is up and decorated as is the rest of the house and we are looking truly festive. The girls all have a chocolate advent calendar but we also have a fabric one for the living room which Husbands Aunt made for us about 10 years ago. There is a pocket for each day which I fill with chocolates and they squabble over who's having which one every evening!

At the beginning of the week Husband started to feel like he was coming down with a cold. He did a lateral flow test on Tuesday which was negative but as he was still feeling rough on Wednesday Daughter S made him do another and there was a very faint line so with that she had him booked in for a PCR first thing Thursday morning. Unfortunately for him the result came back positive so he is now isolating in Daughter L's room until the end of next week. Daughter L is now sleeping in with me and we are hoping we don't succumb as we are the only two in the family now not to have had it. Unfortunately, a child I looked after Tuesday and was obviously in close contact with, tested positive Wednesday evening so I've got it coming at me all ways. I'm sure it's the same everywhere but our village is rife with it at the moment.

On Friday evening our village Scouts/Cubs and Beavers were doing an outside carol concert at one of our village pubs so me, L and K walked up to listen and enjoy a warm mince pie and the fake snow machine! 

I am going to miss Husbands company obviously, but also we work as a team with the girls as they all go to different schools in different towns and attend various clubs etc so I am now the lone taxi driver - it's going to be a tiring week for sure. Luckily all Christmas present shopping is done and wrapped, just food bits left to get and he will be out of isolation to help by then. Disappointingly, we were meant to be going up to Wiltshire this weekend to visit my Dad and Mother in Law which we had to cancel as even if we had gone without Husband there is too high a risk that me or L could be carrying it. I had presents all wrapped to take just in case Boris changes rules at the last minute again and we can't go for our Christmas visit, now I will have to keep my fingers crossed that our plans to visit 23rd/24th December get to go ahead as planned.

Well last week of term thank goodness. Poor old D has mock A Levels this week so not much of a fun last week for her but the other two have Christmas lunch and jumper day on Wednesday and that is about it as all other Christmas stuff has either been cancelled or postponed. I have finally had a date for my booster which is next Sunday so I will be glad to get that done. I am hoping that Daughter D gets a date for her second dose before Christmas as well. Husband was booked in for his booster this coming Wednesday which he has had to cancel so his will be in the new year now.

Well I think that is it for now. Going to get out for a nice walk with the girls this afternoon.

 Well it's been a busy week of Christmas preparations. I now have all the girls presents bar one and they are all wrapped and hidden away. I have a couple of bits to get for my Dad and Mother in Law and then they are finished. We are going up to Wiltshire this coming weekend and I am planning on taking their presents and those for my Sister and her Husband just in case there are any last minute restrictions on travel etc due to this new covid variant.

K has made two batches of sausage rolls this morning for the freezer for Christmas and she will also make a couple of batches of Delia Smiths vegetarian ones. I have lots of bits of food stashed away in cupboards and in the freezer but I need to sit down and roughly plan the meals we are going to have and see what else is needed and what fresh bits we will need nearer the time.

L's classmates should all be back at school tomorrow after having to isolate as they had covid but as so many children have been off,  the school has decided to postpone their Christmas production as their is not enough time left for rehearsals etc.  She was also meant to be going up to Exeter this coming Friday with the school to the theatre but the decision has been made to cancel this as well. 

I will be back to work this Tuesday which will be a shock to the system after two weeks off but it will only be for two weeks and then it will be the Christmas holidays. It's a busy week this week as we are finally having new carpet fitted in our living room and hall, stairs and landing. Husband has not quite finished decorating the living room so he will be flat out tomorrow and Tuesday! Once that is all done we will be able to put up our Christmas tree and generally decorate for Christmas.

Yesterday we had a lovely day out down in Plymouth visiting Saltram House which is owned by The National Trust. They always decorate the downstairs to a theme and this year it was The Nutcracker. It all looked amazing and it was lovely to be able to visit again. Last year the house was closed so we had to make do with just walking all around the grounds. Afterwards we had a hot drink in the cafe and then came on home. We usually got to Killerton House near Exeter as well but they are not taking part this year.

Hopefully back later in the week.  

 We have had a nice weekend down here in Devon. We have been lucky to miss the stormy weather and snow and apart from it being cold and windy yesterday for a few hours all has been normal

Yesterday we went to a Christmas Market held up at a farm/brewery on the edge of our village. It is held every year, except last year, and it's main purpose is to raise funds towards putting on our summer festival every other year. There are always lots of lovely stalls selling various crafts, food, drinks etc. I got the two coasters for my Sister and her Husband, the gingerbread house kit for the girls to do once they've broken up from school for Christmas and a new tree decoration! The gingerbread kit came from Shute Fruit who are a village  'pick your own business' but who also produce a huge and varying array of preserves, chutneys, cordials and at Christmas these kits. I was very lucky on the tombola and came away with two bottles of wine, a jar of Shute Fruit summer jam and several other tins and jars so I was very happy.

Today was warmer and sunny so we went over to Teignmouth and had a lovely long walk along the beach.  It was glorious weather and there were even some brave souls swimming in the sea.

I have not worked this week and nor will I next week as the woman I work for, and all her family have Covid. They are all feeling pretty rough with it, the only small consolation being that as they all have it no-one has to isolate in their bedroom which as my girls found in the summer is worse than having actual Covid!. There has also been an outbreak in Daughter L's class. There are seven year 6 girls and four of them have it and three of them, including L don't. Goodness knows how she managed to escape getting it but I'm sure it's only a matter of time.

Last Wednesday, after several hundred pounds worth of work, my little car passed it's Mot. Reluctantly, I realise this will probably be her last year with me as she has ridiculously high mileage and she's old. Hopefully, towards the end of next summer the price of secondhand cars will have come back down and I can find a newer version of what I have. While it was in the garage S and I spent the morning in the cinema at their Silverscreen showing which was 'The Last Bus'. On a Wednesday morning they have Silverscreen which is when they show a film from the last year and the ticket includes a hot drink and a biscuit. Needless to say we were the youngest in there, in S's case by about 40 years! We enjoyed it so much we are going again this Wednesday to watch 'Off the Rails'.

D was having dinner at her boyfriends tonight so no roast but a veggie cottage pie instead - she will not go near a lentil so we have to pick the right time to have this dish. S has been to Poland for a long weekend so she is already slumped on the sofa in her pj's. Lots of walking and sightseeing, lots of drinking and not a lot of sleep - a perfect trip away.

Tomorrow I am hoping to start wrapping the girls Christmas presents. With a large family I start early so there's no last minute panic so am very nearly finished I think.

 

 Well, to start with some photos of food - recipes from Margaret's blog, Devon Dreaming, who lives a few miles from me. The chicken curry, Husband and I had last night, and was really tasty. Tonight there were seven of us for a roast dinner - gammon for the meat eaters and nut cutlets for the non meat eaters and for pudding we had Margaret's toffee apple cake which was absolutely delicious and will definitely be made again. Sorry, we had all tucked in before I remembered to take a photo!

This week Husband has been very busy decorating our living room. This started with pulling out a very ugly grey brick fire surround with matching side plinths which created a lot of dust, and he is now creating something prettier! He will then paint the room and fit new light fittings before a new carpet is laid, together with new carpet for our hall, stairs and landing on the 8th December. I cannot wait till it is all finished and everything is back in its place. He has also been busy doing some work on my car as it is booked in for an MOT this coming week and there were a few things that needed doing in order for it to, hopefully, pass. It is a 13 year old car and has done 96k miles but I love it and it is so reliable so I have had to put my foot down with Husband who didn't want to do all the work and wanted me to change it for something newer. However, the price of second hand cars, like a lot of things, have shot up in price and I am not prepared to waste silly money for something not much better.

Today we have been up to Exeter for a few hours, with the girls, getting some items that were on their Christmas lists that I couldn't get locally, mostly some jewelry items from Pandora. I don't enjoy shopping and only go up to the city probably once a year so had to brace myself but we had a successful trip and got everything we needed.

I am now going to put my feet up and watch the second part of Dalgleish that we started last night. I cannot believe that another week has flown by.