🤦🏻‍♀️🤣 actually I lie as I have my clean jammies on, hair washed and a wee bit of make up tonight…. check me! Obviously no plans to go anywhere as we all have to stay home tonight due to level 4 COVID restrictions in place. It will be a different to previous years but we’re both looking forward to a quiet night together with the dogs, in front of the fire with the candles on.

I slept like a log last night. About time I have to say…..there was no head chatter going on.

We had a great night out at the fire pit yesterday. The moon was stunning…. we played tunes and watched the fire.

So it was about 10am before I was up and moving today and we had to get to the supermarket. Straight to Tesco in Kilbirnie which was pretty mobbed though we got straight in and out pretty quickly. They operate the traffic light system now so when the light is green you can go in. It did seem a lot busier than I expected though. It’s our first time out since Christmas Eve! Life in the level 4 fast lane huh…. 🤣

We then had Pawsitive Solutions work to do so I contacted all the new clients for the year to push their booking out and Craig contacted the current revisits he has to determine which ones can meet outside.

Finally time to sit down, put our feet up and eat the crusty bread and pate that’s past it’s sell by date in the fridge…… it was lovely and we survived!!

So all in all despite the shit this year has thrown at us I’ve had a bloody good year. I’ve loved having to stay home, loved getting things done around the house, loved learning my new career and genuinely loved writing these blogs. As I’ve said so many times, writing helps me understand what’s going on in my head and if one person can take something away from this the other will all have been worthwhile.

Those who follow know how hard some days have been and even today I’ve had another huge wobble but at the end of the day I will always focus on the positives. We are VERY lucky to have no one close badly affected but COVID yet. Those who we know that got it have all recovered quickly and are better now. I know that might not always be the case.

Life has been put on hold in so many ways. None of us could EVER have imagined what this year would be like as we sailed in to 2020 at midnight on the 31st last year.

So here’s to the New Year! We approach 2021 with a 2 vaccines 💉 in the hope that our lives might get back to some kind of normal and I guess I just have to figure out that my new normal is going to be……

Thanks to everyone who’s supported my ramblings for the last 270 days. It means a lot and keeps this mind of mine more sane than it would be without it. 🤦🏻‍♀️🤣

Stay safe everyone ♥️♥️♥️

A lovely cold but sunny start to the day!

It was so light through the night… the moon must have been huge. I wanted to get pics but couldn’t bring myself to get outside!

Good news announced today that a second vaccine has been approved for use!

We miss everyone but it’s just not worth the risk. The new strain of covid is 5 times more transmittable so we have to be more careful.

We had a Pawsitive Solutions call today to decide what to do in January. We can’t be in peoples houses in level 4. I’ve drafted a letter to be sent to everyone (by email obvs) to advise them of their new appointment. Obviously all of this can change with new Government rules in the coming weeks so we’ll have to keep on top of that too.

It’s been a lovely day. I’ve been a bit stressed by various things along the way but actually it turned out ok.

Stay safe everyone 🔥🔥🔥

I am calm today….. “praise the Lord”…. is way more polite to say than “thank ****”.

That said I didn’t sleep well. It was 2.33am when I first woke up and every few hours after that. My head was wittering away while I was awake. I have NOTHING to do, worry about, think about, NOTHING!!!!!! Just stop it already…..

So yeah back to the calm…. it’s super cold outside today and we’ve been outside for most of it! Craig has filled up all the wood sheds with a crate we got on Christmas Eve, I filled the wood shelves in the house and cleaned out the open fire. I then did a poop scoop and I have to say that a frosty poop scoop is THE way forward. Almost pleasant…. ok nope too far… but you get the drift.

Went a walk down to Beith post office with Claire and took Freya. It’s a stunning day!

We had a lovely walk and a good catch up.

Home to make toasties for Craig as he’s now moved on to clearing out the mouse infested shed…. settled back down into Grans chair and have watched the sun go down while chatting to mum on the phone.

I have a zoom call with a lovely group of ladies tonight. I’m a member of Finding Calm within the Storm set up by my Kinesiologist, Shelagh. Looking forward to a lovely chat with some like minded folks!

As we all stay home and don’t mix with other households, the COVID numbers in hospitals are at all an all time high. Which is really sad to see.

Stay safe everyone ♥️♥️♥️

The sharp pains of self discovery were stabbing again and completely fuelled by my own thoughts. We are “on holiday” just now…. yeah that strange no mans land between Christmas and New Year and yes in level 4 COVID lockdown but nothing I have done in these last few days has been “enough”.

I seem to have the idea that so much has to be achieved in these days off. Yet the things that we pick, I pick….. irritate me and stress me and tire me and have me wound up like a coiled spring full of anger and irritability. I don’t even know if this makes sense? We cleared out the rest of the clothes today, and the bedroom has been gutted and is almost spotless. Yet I looked at books and stuff on my beside table and threw an internal wobble that it was a mess….. 🤷🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️ you get the idea?!

Poor Craig has been so good despite my craziness and he’s done everything he can to help relieve it…. imagine his luck when Claire text and asked me to go for a walk…. He said she was his saviour! 😬🤣🤣🤣🤣

We took Calaidh out and got some fresh air on our walk yet I knew I wanted to cry. My head was screaming at me. I have all these hours in the day yet however I fill them I should have been doing something else. I couldn’t even explain it to Claire as it didn’t really make sense to me at the time.

It does now…..I’m tired…. that’s all. Yet with time off I feel we need to get things done so I’m pushing it and actually doing things I really don’t want to do…. Craig hit the nail on the head early on when he said what do you “actually” want to do….. I couldn’t answer……… but it’s nothing…. relax, chill, potter but I didn’t think that was enough. It felt like a waste.

I came home and jumped in the shower, put fresh jammies on and settled into Grans chair with a book and a Hotel Chocolat hot chocolate…..

I savoured it… read a few pages and conked out. For a good hour and a half I reckon and now my head is at peace.

I woke up to the Christmas lights twinkling and the gingerbread candle flickering…. and the relief was amazing.

Craig made fish and chips for dinner and we watched The Midnight Sky 🌌 WOW. George Cloony as you’ve never seen him before. An old dying man. What a story…. I was crying at the end (yeah no surprise there then eh?!?) totally recommend it!

What a whirlwind I have to go through just to get blog content eh?! Jeez……

So let this be a lesson to everyone…. let whatever you do today and tomorrow be enough. It is enough.

Tomorrow…. I promise….. no pressure.

Stay safe everyone ♥️♥️♥️

His 7.30 alarm went off this morning and he just said “ok smart arse” and fell back to sleep!!! I KNOW the women reading this blog as screaming “for gods sake just turn the alarms off, how hard can it be?!?!” 😬 I’m kind of enjoying that smug feeling every morning….

So yes… I’m awake. I read lots of motivational stuff this morning, got up feeling tired but good. Starting clearing the kitchen and then Bhru was sick on the sunroom floor….. my anxiety kicked in and started harassing me so I thought I’d start writing this and it’s not even 9am.

I’ve done this a few times in the last year and it was NOT easy. I berate myself for it and yet I need this space. I need to set boundaries for my own healing but at times I hate myself for it. My anxiety tells me I’m wrong, that I’ve hurt people unnecessarily and I am riddled with the fear, worry, I’m missing out on their lives, what if this…. what if that….

Craig realised I was mulling all this round this morning so dragged me to help with a clear out of all his old clothes. Obvious it was my idea in the first place given the clear out of had a few weeks back…..

That was just the start of it! We then moved on to the loft……

While it seemed like a good idea, I was not fully ready however…… which means kind of half way through when everything was outside the loft, I freaked at the mess and wish we’d never bothered!!!

That said, we have 3 suitcases full of clothes, 1 large travel bag full of shoes, old camping stuff etc for charity and 3 boxes of dvds…. the boxes that are back in the loft all have notes in them to say what they are. They need going through at a later date but at least they are tidied. It was a successful day despite my panic at the mess!!!!!

Came home and had a shower, washed my hair and used my Christmas smelly stuff. Then settled down in front of the fire to watch a movie.

At 7pm we had an Avery family zoom quiz!

That does not mean that we are winning but that’s ok. This is the new 2020 evening entertainment!

So I’ve been a bit all over the place today but I’m much calmer now. It’s funny how my anxiety can take over and tell me that I’m wrong….

Stay safe everyone ♥️♥️♥️

Storm Bella is rocking our cottage today. It’s so wet and windy it’s a miserable day. I’m not sure the dogs haven’t even gone outside much! It’s a howling gale and torrential rain…. and there’s been virtually no daylight.

I am still in Christmas jammies!

We moved into level 4 restrictions at midnight so it’s as close to lockdown as we’ve been since actual lockdown in mid July.

So far today I’ve drank coffee, had chunky toast with raspberry jam. pottered around, emptied my old desk and filled up the new desk…. obviously after I cleaned it all out. I’ve unpacked all my pressies and found a home for most of them. Im wearing another new perfume which is really lovely, even in my jammies!

I’m now sitting in front of the fire watching the end of the football. Getting ready for the Boxing Day munch fest!

I’ve not moved since I last wrote on this…. it’s nearly 7pm and I lie but I’ve only moved for food and drink…. Well cans of juice lol

The smoked salmon was amazing. Really out of this world. I would highly recommend the Morrison’s Christmas food.

It has not stopped raining all day….. I opened the back door to get cans of juice from our “fridge” in the back garden (ie a bag!) and it’s horrific. I got soaked!!

We’ve been watching the Top Gear Grand Tour where they sailed through a Cambodia and Vietnam on three different boats. Things we’d never take the time to watch but I’m enjoying it!! So a lovely lazy day….. missing all those that we can’t see this year. ♥️

Stay safe everyone 🌧🌧🌧

Merry Christmas from our house to yours!!

It’s 6.15 and I’ve been awake since 5.30 when Craig the 6ft 3.5” Christmas Elf decided he couldn’t sleep anymore…. I’m lying on bed and there’s not a sound from outside. It’s the one day of the year that everything seems to stop. Not one single car or truck has driven past yet and that’s unheard of on a normal day.

36 years ago at 12.10am we lost my Grandad at 56 years old. A massive heart attack. I have a story in my head that he got up out of bed, put my Nana’s “housecoat” on as she called it and did Eric Morecambe’s wee leg and arm kick before walking into the bathroom and collapsing into the bath. I don’t even know if this is true or I just made it up……. ♥️

It was the first year I was allowed to stay up late and go to the Christmas Eve service at church. It was such a magical time for me. I was 12 so probably fighting the Santa story but midnight service was something for grown-ups. Something of awe and wonder.

As we came out the church about. 12.30ish my Grandpa was in the car park. Mums dad….. he never came to church. My dads Uncle Cha was in the car park… he never came to church. I knew something was wrong but I felt very tiny as all the chat was going on above me at adult height.

So enough sad stuff! I remember him every Christmas Day.

We had a lovely lazy morning opening presents and think we had it all done before it got light! I got some super lovely gifts…. the pièce de resistance being the projector and screen for Abbie the camper van AND just when I thought it was all done…. Craig said… and since you’ve had a rubbish year here’s another one…… 😲

She’s written on the back “Julie’s Happy Place” wow. I cried. A lot. I think he knows I like it. You can get lost in the waves! I swam in that sea. It was Baltic even although it was a beautiful day….. it took me 4 full minutes to get right under the water as it was so cold. Craig was filming the lot and there were a LOT of sweary words. 🥶🤣

We had some Hotel Chocolat hot chocolate when we got home. It was so velvety and decadent!

Christmas 2020 has been so different for us but we’ve made it a very special day. We had a zoom present opening with mum and dad.

So lovely to see everyone come out but didn’t even get a chance to chat to most folk. It was fureeeeeezing!

Back into the fire and started our first ever Christmas lunch in our own home and by ourselves. I can’t believe I got to this age without ever having to cook a Christmas lunch!

Poor Craig when he realised we forgot to pick up real kilties…… 🙄🤣 it’s just not Christmas without them…. unless you’re on a veggie/vegan twist in your life. 🤷🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️

Dessert was an amazing Sherry trifle and in true Christmas fashion we were both asleep within about 10 minutes of finishing it. I can still remember watching my grandpa and Auntie Marion settling down for a sleep after every Christmas dinner…. ahhhh Christmas memories.

We’ve watched Morecambe and Wise and Blackadder so far. A great trip down memory lane. It’s been lovely to spend the day together with the dogs. We’ve made the very best of our 2020 Christmas.

I hope you’ve all had a lovely day with your loved ones. Scotland goes into level 4 tonight at midnight which is as close to lockdown as we’ve been since lockdown ended in July.

We have enough food and toilet roll to last us until February I reckon 🧻🎉

Merry Christmas to you all.

Stay safe everyone 🎄🎄🎄

Another rubbish sleep and finally wakened by the bloody 4.30am alarm that is still set!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Right enough pics of the sky…. been a while since we had such a nice day but this was always going to be a busy one!

Home, showered and back out for 10am but already running late….. we headed up to Craigs mums to drop her car off! Been a lifesaver these last few days. Then onward to Edinburgh!!!! Yes Edinburgh…. all sanitised and masked up. You might remember I got a desk for the spare bedroom recently to turn it into an office. While I love the space… the desk is just too big.

Anyone need a desk?!?!? There’s now 2 up there. 🥴

We were then meeting a guy to look at a car… something to tide us over until we get the Jeep back on the road again, either to sell or keep running…. we were due to meet at 12 and he messaged at 12.15 to say he was running a bit late and was fuelling up. We left at 12.55 and sent a text saying sorry but we couldn’t wait any longer as we had lunch booked with family. He phoned about 5 minutes later to say he would be there soon?!?! He was already an hour late?!? It just wasn’t meant to be. How could you trust the car when the guy couldn’t be there remotely on time?

So onwards to the real reason for the trip… Christmas Eve lunch with mum and dad! We met at the Navaar House Hotel in Penicuik. So so so lovely to see them!

It was so lovely to see them and swap presents in time for a zoom present opening call tomorrow. We can’t hug, we can kiss, we can’t touch though I did pinch some of dads chips. It was so lovely to see them and listen to them banter away with each other. If that’s all we can have this year then that will have to do.

We listened to James O’Brien on LBC this morning and he talked to Paramedics who said so many people are still not taking COVID seriously and refuse to wear masks putting their loved ones and the Paramedics at risk too. We have taken risks but are not messing with either of our folks. They mean too much to us to put them at risk.

So hug your loved ones close tonight and know that we are doing all of this for the right reasons. Christmas is what we make it to be this year. 🎅🏼🤶🏼🎄🐶🐶🐶

Keep an eye out for Santa tonight. He’s negative for covid so it’s all good.

Stay safe everyone ♥️♥️♥️

Despite clean bed last night I had a rubbish sleep! I was still wide awake at 12.30am which is unheard of for me. Too tired to move when the alarm went off this morning and in desperate need of a nap by 4.30pm 💤

I had the Christmas shop to collect from Morrison’s today which was al very straightforward and easy but then I had to join the queue for the shop to pick up some wine for someone’s gift. There were about 25 people in front of me but the queue moved really quickly. As I stood there I was hunting in my bag for my glasses… which I knew WERE in there. WERE. Not any more.

Got what I needed and back out to search for my glasses. Scoured the car park, the van… everywhere! I even queued back up to go and see if anyone had handed them in. 🤓

Nope………….. it’s fine….. really 🤬

I took Bhruic and Freya for a walk when I got back as Craig had taken Calaidh to work.

Did housework in between everything today so yes we are ready to receive Santa into our home. No one else will see it but it feels good that it’s clean and I can relax.

So I’m back home now and there was some drama down in Glengarnock today. Seems a delivery truck was stolen and crashed and the thieves escaped. There were police everywhere and a helicopter circling about Viv’s Nails. All very dramatic but done and dusted by the time I left. Viv finishes up for maternity tomorrow so I’m stuck with these nails for the rest of my life. 🤣 seriously though my lovely neighbour does great nails so I’m sure I’ll be fine!!

I lay down to write this and now I might just have to nap.

Stay safe everyone 🎄🎄🎄

I’m gonna start with some banter. Craig and I are members of Overland Bound and for those of you who’ve been following the blog for a while you’ll know it started out as Overland and Borders which is where we post all our travel pics… where we DID post all our travel pics when we were able to travel pre COVID.

Anyway I digress… we’re in a WhatsApp group with a lot of the OB guys and I woke up to some chat random chat this morning about tinned Brussel sprouts and a suggested present for the gentleman in your life?!?!

I think I woke up to 75 messages this morning! You’ll never feel alone in a group like that. They’re great guys and such a support in times of “Jeep down”…. which has been quite often this year.

I was straight out to Kinesiology this morning and as usual I went in like a whirlwind and came out lovely and calm. Shelagh works her magic every time. 💜

I had some more stuff cleared out for charity so decided to take them down to the big Cancer Research shop in Irvine then treat myself to a Costa. I walked into the Cancer Research and looked for the place to leave the donations and there it was…. one of my tops hanging up on the rack waving to me. If you remember my lovely neighbour had taken them away to a charity shop and didn’t tell me where they were. I went over and touched it…. and tried really hard not to look for anything else!!! That was a really difficult clear out for me as I got rid of some things that I’d been hanging onto for years and just didn’t need to anymore. Amazing what a bit of help does in a clear out!

Armed with my Coconut milk Latte I came back home and surprised myself with the housework. All floors hoovered and washed… check me?!?!?!? It feels really good. I also tackled the sun room windows that have been bugging me for weeks. Life with 3 dogs was never going to be easy, clean or hair free but tonight it is. By tomorrow it won’t be but I have tonight!

Claire and I did another Christmas lights walk around Beith. Much more succesful than our wet walk at the start of December! My knee did well until it didn’t but it was a good walk. A lovely clear crisp night and we saw loads of lovely Christmas lights.

Someone set a firework off when we were standing here and we both screamed!!! It was bloody loud!! 💥

A great wee walk and catch up tonight. Going to do my knee exercises now as it’s gowping and I have cramp in my butt 🤣 I did announce that on our walk at one point as a cyclist went past…. CRINGE!!!!!

A great day. Only 3 more sleeps until Santa! 🎅🏼

Stay safe everyone 💛🧡❤️

I felt really drained and tired this morning. I slept fine but this lethargy is the the way my meds used to make me feel on a high dose. Sluggish and niggly…. so many describing words!! 🤦🏻‍♀️🤣

All of this was very prevalent on the morning dog walk…

I had the Osteopath this morning. He was playing classical music in the background and it was quite funny to have manipulation on my knee and leg to the Hallelujah Chorus! There were a few times he said “ooooh now that’s tight” and believe me it bloody was!

So I’m sent home with exercises for into the new year. Remind me to do them please!!!

I had calls to make today which took a while but was all set up and ready for my first every Pawsitive Puppies “Settling your new puppy into your home” zoom chat.

I was calm, it was ok, I was slightly nervous when they dialled in but then I started and I was me and it was fine. In fact I think it went well. I was shattered after in and came down die a nice settle in front of the telly and the power zapped and everything went off.

So we have a power cut. The transformer box behind the house has a fault. It “exploded” last year (a huge whump that was felt around the village as the top blew off) and it was fixed so must be something to do with that.

That reminded me that I did take photos of some Christmas decorations today.

Powers back on, was only off for an hour and half. Kinda liked it in the dark…

Stay safe everyone ♥️♥️♥️

The Government finally announced that their Christmas measures were not as strict at they needed to be with COVID-19 cases continuing to increase. My guess is that many people are breaking the rules and mixing and we all do those few things that we think we probably shouldn’t have. I know that I have become more lax in the hand washing and sanitising so while we distance with people we meet and we’re masks there’s always a chance that we are able to catch it.

That said I’ve been very aware of how quiet the roads and shops have been…. People are not going out in the volumes they would be at this time of the year. If you dwell on it too much it’s really sad.

So now that all the negatives are out of the way we can focus on the positives! 🌈

My neighbour tested negative for COVID-19 despite not being able to taste a pickled onion….. I mean that’s a pretty crazy thing not to be able to taste?!? You can smell a pickled onion from a mile off! Great news he’s ok though and I think we all breathed a wee sigh of relief.

We also managed to borrow Craig’s mums car for the next few days to let Craig get to work while Jeepey spends Christmas in his new fav place… the garage.

I felt a wee bit sad as I drove away from them today. Visits seem so impersonal and distant, we stood outside and were very lucky it didn’t pour with rain. We could never imagined life would come to this?! Less than a year ago we could do exactly what we wanted when we wanted to. It seems so strange to think that.

So this Christmas is going to be what it is going to be, I’m sure there will be lots of FaceTime calls or Zoom chats. We will miss everyone but we know it’s for the best and keeping everyone safe. 😷♥️😷

We’re having a lazy rest of day. The housework needs doing but it can wait. The longer I leave it the better it will be for Christmas anyway… clever thinking Batman!

Have a lovely rest of Sunday!

Stay safe everyone ♥️♥️♥️

Someone’s alarm went off at 7.30am this morning…. yes I am very grateful it wasn’t the 4.30am one…. but I was wide awake with a whirring mind while said someone snores gently. 😆

I got up to have a chat with mum. Was good to catch up.

So we had big plans today to paint the living room while all the furniture was out for the floor sanding the other day. Yes better to paint before the floor was sanded but we didn’t think of that.

We headed out to B&Q to get more paint and then popped into Morrisons on the way back for a food shopping. A very expensive Christmas type shopping (without the main meal as we get that on 23rd) anyone hungry?!? Come on over to my place!

This pic made me laugh as the lady at the till said I had a trusting face…. I had picked up two more bags for life and she didn’t realise. Told her I didn’t want her thinking I was pinching them! We had a good giggle when we realised she couldn’t see any of my face so she changed it to I had honest eyes. 2020 really kinda sucks. Our lives are on hold. Waiting for this virus to “do one”.

By this time it’s the back of 12 and I am antsy as…. mind you I’ve not eaten all day, I’m tired and grouchy.

I’m one of these people that if I’m decorating, I want to be up at 8 with paintbrush in hand to get it over with. Not thinking about starting it mid day.

Then Craig gets the call to say the Jeep is not going to be ready…… They’ve replaced the power steering pump and it’s still not working. He now apparently needs a steering box whatever that is. Well whatever it is over £1K.

Enough already.

He needs it for work and I need the van next week.

Then I had a eureka moment…. we were both not in the right frame of mind. We were decorating because we felt we should. We were scunnered about the Jeep… tired, fed up….. why don’t we ditch the decorating for now?

Once the furniture is back in it covers all the dirty marks for now and it’s dark most of the time anyway….

We reduced our stress. The house is kind of back to normal which always helps my head. There’s still stuff everywhere but I’ll get that sorted tomorrow. I feel exhausted. I think we are both a bit punch drunk.

So yeah I’m lying on the couch writing this now and I’m tired. It’s been a bit of a roller coaster day. Feet up for the rest of the night I reckon. Be rude not to.

Stay safe everyone ❤️❤️❤️

Home Bargains had Sarah Jessica Parker – Lovely on sale yesterday for £18.99 so I thought I’d try it.

At first scoosh this morning (in dog walking gear…. yeah seriously!) I thought it smelled really lovely…. after about half an hour I wasn’t so sure. I have to state the obvious here but Eau de Parfum is so much better than Eau de Toilette. It is still lingering strongly and I have spent the whole day wondering what the smell is. 🤦🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️ I really do like it. It’s just stronger than I am used to.

Can highly recommend a random perfume change during COVID-19 lockdown as it really is the gift that keeps on giving. 😆

I was very lucky in dog walk today to join my neighbour and his grandson on their daily Papi walk. He takes the wee one for a walk every day and I bump into them quite often. Today we did Papi puppy walk!! Took a bit longer than usual but lovely to see the wonder of a wee one splashing in puddles and in awe of every truck that passes… ♥️

I came home and booked two behaviour jobs and finished my puppy call presentation! Very productive!

I met up with my lovely friend Evelyn today for a quick cuppa at the little coffee caravan… and a big piece of millionaires shortbread. Today would have been our crochet Christmas lunch in the pub next door. We were so looking forward to it. Hookers day out was not to be. 🧶 🎄🧶

I thought the following articles were worth sharing as my blog is meant to be a record of life in covid days. Feeling a bit nostalgic about it all tonight.

It’s so sad to see what our world has been reduced to these days. I know that others have it way worse than me. I’m just feeling it for them tonight.

So at 18.44 I am waiting on our first Christmas dinner to be delivered from the pub next door. We would have likely been in the pub tonight for Christmas dinner and band night with all the neighbours. (When I think that through I would never have had the Crochet Christmas lunch and Christmas dinner all in one day…. with Holly’s portions that would not have been at all possible.

I’m going to hold off for photos and then publish. You can’t not see what we are about to eat!! 😆🤣🤣🤣

Starters saved for lunch tomorrow and mains already gone. Caramel apple pie for dessert. Wow. Missing all the company of those we would have shared it with but so very special.

Watched the last episode in the series of the Mandalorian at the same time. Wow. A breathtaking ending. We both stopped eating and stared at the screen. We both went back to finish. Don’t worry!

Stay safe everyone 🎄🎄🎄

Wide awake at 5am this morning with a mind like a washing machine on fast spin. No matter how hard I tried I could not get back to sleep.

We got up at 7.30 and had to clear the living room as we were getting the floor sanded. It was meant to be done on 23rd but thankfully the guy had a cancellation. this was the reason for the teeny tiny sunroom tree this year.

Of course now we need to decorate as the walls now look filthy…. the price we pay for having an open fire. 🔥

So that happened today. Not a spec of dust anywhere really, the guy did a great job. He said the main sander is £4.5K… not surprised. It was amazing to see. Obviously every other room resembles the aftermath of a tornado.

I pottered about this morning and made some calls AND started my 2021 spreadsheet for Pawsitive Solutions with drop down menus and all sorts…. slightly obsessed with spreadsheets these days.

I’d ordered some macaroons for delivery today from our local Elly’s Custom Cakes and they came today…. I say they came, she dropped them off as she only lives about 100m away (how lucky are we?!?)

The macaroons are to die for but wait until you see the box she gave us! She made me a SLOTH cookie!!!!!!! How lovely is that? I was so touched. Go and check out her FB page. She’s a genius with all things sweet!

Drove to Costa Coffee in Robroyston to catch up with Auntie Jac and swap pressies!!!! I got my very own sewing machine for my birthday along with a bracelet, lovely cushion from the little gift shop in Beith and a SLOTH jigsaw!

Should say here that there’s a second shop up in Crieff and Jac got the sewing machine for a fiver. I was desperate for one!! I have big plans…. just not quite certain what they are yet or where to start but it will come!

In COVID-19 news, we are one of the few countries certainly within Europe that are now on lockdown. We are now being encouraged not to travel unless absolutely necessary and not to stay over.

Personally I think we’ve done the right thing by deciding to stay home. I will miss mum and dad and Craigs mum and step dad but we will see them, it will just be very different this year.

Stay safe everyone ♥️♥️♥️

Honestly I keep saying through all of this that I do my best work when I don’t plan it and I surprise myself…. who knew that today I would decide to work on the Village hall accounts?!? Who knew that I would actually have any clue what I was doing?!?!

Anyway, I digress from the lovely morning I had. I didn’t get to bed until after midnight last night…. so unlike me but we’ve been watching The Morning Show on tv so decided to watch another episode rather than go to bed and they’re an hour long. So I slept like a log. No bad dreams…. out for the count. Until 6.30am…. then wide awake. So I lay until after 8 catching up on the world, let the dogs out and had a shower, washed AND dried my hair and looked out a nice Christmas jumper to wear. I even put eyeliner and lipgloss on….. I mean come on, wow!

Claire was treating me to breakfast at the Auchengree Farm shop! We commented the whole time about how we didn’t take any photos…. keep meaning to, I mean I really should get a pic on a day I have clean and relatively straight hair! But there are none. I had a roll with veggie sausage and tattie scone and then a scone with raspberry jam. I’ve been stuffed to the gunnels ever since.

It was lovely to get a catch up and put the world to rights.

So came home and headed straight out with the puppers to try and walk some breakfast off!

I met two neighbours Anne and Brian who I’ve not seen for ages and I pointed out by Joycie knitted headband which they knew about and Brian said they’d been driving along “wondering who the heck was out with that on their head” 🌈🌈🌈 🤣🤣 the cheek of it 😆

After the walk I settled down for a bit of a sleep and the phone rang so I answered it (was about dog behaviour!) sat down at the desk and just decided to get a look at the Village hall accounts. Had no plan to do that at all!!

I’m the Assistant Treasurer this year and I told Rachel the Treasurer that I’d be happy plodding along with it but would call on her for anything that needed decisions made as that’s not my forte just now.

I can honestly say I’ve had the best wee afternoon. The spreadsheets are all up to date with income and expenditure. I had a few questions of the exiting treasurer Helen but I got there with her help! I am so chuffed with myself as I enjoyed it so much and I feel like I really achieved something. Shame I don’t get paid for any of this work I’ve been doing the last few days but it’s building my confidence back up and slowly getting me back into the the way of working.

So while I realise that I really need to get a life… I do bloody love a spreadsheet.

Forgot to say that I got a lovely gift from Helen the other day when she passed down the treasury information that I needed. It’s called Mindful Crochet and it’s a beautiful book with really different crochet patterns in it. Trendier patterns than most of that makes sense. I thought I’d try and take and take a photo of the introduction as the words say it all for me.

As you can maybe tell I am pretty proud of my progress just now (remember it took my thousands of pounds in therapy to be able to say that 🤣🤣🤣)

Stay safe everyone ❤️❤️❤️

Its very late for me to be starting a blog at 9.37pm but it’s been a really busy day and I honestly don’t know where it’s gone.

Long story short, dog walk in the dark!

So I was running until my knee gave way! … of course it did.

Hectic morning, we had Bhru escape out the garden and we didn’t realise she’d gone until our lovely neighbour Michelle brought her back… cheeky pup. I’d been watching her the garden from the office upstairs and she’d been having a wee wander… Craig was getting ready for work and she just fancied a wander. All good but we have to keep an eye on her now.

Craig went out and the Jeep steering was away again so the AA came and took it back to the garage. So he ended up spending the day trying to reschedule work while I made calls and finalised my puppy presentation!

I have my first puppy online call booked for Monday!!!!!

Tonight saw the start of my active social week covid style where I met my very old but young friend Lea in McDonalds car park for coffee. We both drove through and sat in the van and had a coffee. Ok I lie, I did not have a coffee but I knocked mine onto the floor and christened the van…. you couldn’t make it up!!!

Christmas presents swapped and definitely hopping we can meet up more next year as we missed Lea’s 40th this year and had to cancel a night away in a fancy hotel. I STILL HAVEN’T BOUGHT HER A 40th PRESENT YET… an issue that’s caused me so much stress 😬🙄😂 my anxiety has seriously over thought this gift buying beyond belief!!!! Next year I will nail it!

Short one today!

Stay safe everyone ♥️♥️♥️

I had the Osteopath this morning at 10am so was up sharp and out with the dogs. So just to recap, I’m going to get my knee looked at which has been sore since I did couch to 5K at the start of 2019. I’ve only started looking for more help as it seems to have got worse over the last few weeks.

Of course today there is no pain AT all… and for some reason I felt the need to run…. yes run…… around the dog walk route with the dogs. They had no idea what was happening when the rambling sloth started to run. Naturally for them it was only a quick walk!

Don’t get me wrong I stopped a few times but on the whole I ran all the way and it felt bloody good.

Coming home after a run into the Club Tropicana house is not the best move (our heating is constantly on until we get the new HIVE heating thermostat. We hit temperatures of about 23 deg in here sometimes. We’ve taken to turning the radiators off in certain rooms so that we can breathe!) I was bright red!!!!

So off I go to the osteopath with my beaming face 🥵

He reckons that I have damaged my cartilage so I have daily exercises to strengthen the muscle round about and to relieve some of the tension that’s built by overcompensating for the pain. So I had some manipulation which basically meant deep tissue massage and moving my knee every which way but it feels eased.

I came home to make Pawsitive Solutions calls and out of 11 of our enquiries, 8 of them were for puppy training. We have no availability until late January just now so of course no one booked up and those who have are cancelling nearer the time as they have found other ways of dealing with their issues while they were waiting. It’s really frustrating to want to get going with my training but I can’t get the jobs to be able to do it. I messaged my Pawsitive Puppies support network… Craig and Lorna to see what we could do differently.

Lorna called me straight back and suggested I could do an hours call for people as I’m already fully trained in the basics people need. I’ve written the presentation this afternoon…. my first time in PowerPoint since the bad old days 😜. Just need to chat it through and make the necessary changes and I am good to go…. it’ll be great if that works out as we can help people immediately and put their minds at rest by giving them the information they need to make a new puppy home a happy one!

A run, the Osteopath and writing a presentation all in one day. Who’d a thunk it as my Gran would say!!

I am getting as much help and support as I need but I have to take this next step. Only I can do it. Me, myself and I. Whichever one decides to show up.

Stay safe everyone 🌈🌈🌈

Well it just shows you that I never have any idea what mood I’m going to wake up in…. I’m having the loveliest of days despite the fact it stayed dark and just poured all day. It never stopped and it just got heavier.

I didn’t sleep well lay night, up to the loo 3 times , I mean honestly….

I’ve just put no pressure on myself today. If I knew how I did that I’d do it every day. I just went with the flow.

Our Morrison’s food shop was delivered about 10.15 and I randomly ended up cleaning out cupboards. I genuinely seem to work better when I surprise myself into something rather than deciding to do it!

We nipped up to B&Q so that Craig could get a drill bit. For those of you who have been in my house in the last 3 years or so…. we finally have a door handle on the living room door!!!!!!! The poor puppers are going knock themselves out when the wham their heads into it to get it to open. Will have to watch out for that. That’s method of entry will not work anymore and they better not be breaking the new door handle anytime soon. 🤣

I even watched some football today which is quite unheard of for me. It was a good game. I seem to like it when “we” win.

I’ve been wrapping Christmas presents on and off all day today. Sitting on the floor of my room… it’s funny, it feels like Craig and I have found our own spaces like kids with their own bedrooms, I’ve been up here wrapping and I can hear him on his computer shooting away 😆🤣.

I’ve cleared through a memory box and thrown out lots of old birthday cards. It’s not easy but I’ve been “without Ruth” again… 🤣🤣 sorry the old jokes get me giggling (ruthless!)

More importantly I feel really good. I feel happy and very grateful. I actually feel full of love for everything today. I am where I am, it is what it is. I am who I am and it’s all good.

Check me ☺️

Stay safe everyone ♥️♥️♥️

Why is it I have such huge expectations for the weekend and way over commit (in my mind of course!) I want a lie in but then hate losing those hours that I spend in bed, it’s that kind of feeling. All day.

Anyway, I had a great sleep last night and was determined to lie in until 9am. I got out of bed at 9.04…. check me!

I was speaking to Lorna from Pawsitive Solutions last week who never uses an alarm. She goes to bed thinking what time she wants to wake up and it works! Last night was my first time of trying it and I’m pretty impressed.

Other than…. of course…. those 2 hours I lost could have been put to good use….. I don’t know why my head does that. I pick what I want to do and then spend the whole day thinking I shouldn’t have done that but done other stuff. then I get mad with myself. Crazy!

We did an online shop today for the first time since COVID. Boy how the prices have gone up since we did it before! We used to pay £1.50 for delivery and think we were £6.50 for delivery tomorrow. Hey we’d have spent more in fuel in the Jeep…

I got the loveliest handmade gift from my lovely neighbour Joyce.

She has one that her daughter knitted and I admire it every time I see it. She had some multicoloured wool left over and knew that I would love it. ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

“Since we can’t do hugs… a hug for my head”

How sweet is that! I’m so chuffed with it. Thanks Joycie!!

That reminds me I’ve had another few lovely gifts recently that I forgot to mention.

June has been a huge support on my journey although I’ve never met her. She always told me she was available 24/7 in my darkest days.

Craigs best mate Colin moved out there before I met Craig and his wife Tamika reads the blog. She sent this in our Christmas card. It’s by the bed just now but I’ll probably carry it with me. 💚💙🧡❤️

People are so supportive and caring. I can’t tel you how much I appreciate these gifts. It means so much.

Everyone’s comments about the blog just make it all so worthwhile.

We’re having a takeaway and movie night tonight. South Indian garlic chilli chicken is pretty damn hot!!!! 🌶

Stay safe everyone 💛🧡❤️