I woke early and felt anxiety kicking in…. a million thoughts started running through my mind…. need to do this, need to do that, go back to sleep, no, I’m awake… I should get up, I need to go to sleep.

So I shut my eyes and thought about how much I loved to sleep and how much I loved my bed….. I felt gratitude that I could stay there for another few hours…. and it ACTUALLY worked!!!!!!! I often say this but no one was more surprised than me. Loads of literature says that gratitude is the answer to everything. It was the answer to a few hours extra sleep today.

Had a few hours away from the gang this morning… this was the scene I left behind. My wee family all on their best behaviour.

Bhruic wasn’t too well this morning. A bit sick and clingy…. that’s her hiding in the back corner.

I had to take Abbie the camper van to get the passenger seat welded since it broke on New Years Day.

Tartan Campers reopened today after Christmas holidays but they are not accepting customers. They had to take the seat out of the van. Re-weld the seat fixing and put it back in.

Thankfully the driving rain and howling wind seemed to stop while I was waiting for the seat to be welded. It was an atrocious drive albeit only 25 mins away but I was very aware of being out on the road and whether my journey was necessary. There were very few cars around and mainly vans on the road.

I drove back via the chemist in Beith to pick up a prescription so that’s everything done in one trip and no need to go back out again.

I got dressed up today… which means I wore jeans and boots, first time in weeks and it felt quite normal. There was nothing else normal about the trip. I think our COVID security awareness has increased, I’m certainly way more careful than I was before.

Yeah the above really made me think about the pain I’ve gone through on the last few years and yet taking the responsibility for and making change is taking every bit of effort but has to be done.

Once I came home and had lunch we spent the afternoon doing The Puppy Lab puppy training on the tv. This is training for trainers. We covered food and fear today.

It was really interesting. I love doing these modules. We have a wee test to do at the end of each section too. 😳 just like being at school and that was a long….. time ago!

So brain in gear…. and…. crocheted squares at the same time! Multi-tasking at its best. Another 4 squares added to the blanket. 🧶

Feeling pretty good having the direction in the day. Knowing that I have “something” to do rather than nothing at all.

Stay safe everyone ♥️♥️♥️

I was wide awake at the back of 7 this morning which is unusual for me these days but I was sooooooooo hot. Perspiring gently or sweating like a beast. What I should say and what I actually mean in that order!! 🥵

Interesting given that our bedroom still has no heating and it’s a shock to the system when you’re not under the covers. 🥵🥶

So I got up and came through to read a new book that I have….. Flat Share by Beth O’Leary and have a nice coffee sitting under some blankets.

I got the dogs up first so that level of relaxation is not always possible when you’re being jumped all over in morning excitement. So I mirrored some of their energy and thought I’d get some steps done early. I was listening to Team RH Fitness’ Baking El who walks for an hour every morning and you can step and listen to her chat. I didn’t think my new watch was recording steps properly (it was… just delayed…..) and she was talking really heavy diet stuff so that annoyed me so I decided to sit down again! Funny the things that bug us?!

Then decided to order a book on Audible….. oh my god?!? How hard is that?!?!?! I could not download a book on Audible no matter how hard I tried….

So I settled down with my book, the dogs and my coffee. If only I’d just done that in the first place. 😩

When Craig took the dogs out for a walk I decided to do his gym workout from yesterday. I’d missed it when I was on a puppy call.

Before 12am I had done 120 squats, 120 side leg raises with bands and 150 boxing punches with bands, 80 forward lunges, 60 sit up/stomach crunchy things (that I was really bad at!) and 45 half press-ups. Once more is was perspiring gently/sweating light a beast…. delete as appropriate. 🏋🏻‍♀️ Not half bad for someone who hasn’t done any exercise other than grudgingly walking for years.

It does feel good. I feel a bit stronger after a week. I’m still not controlling my calorie intake to the letter but I’m eating a lot better than I was and certainly not emotionally overeating for a change. I opened a bag of crisps today and instead of scoffing them all I only ate 30g….. 😂🤣

I then did my physio stretches and actually enjoyed doing them as it was a great stretch after a workout.

I got a text from my neighbour this morning asking if we could “use up some Quality Street” …….. no….. sorry, but really no!

I had a cold shower after that and even turned it to freezing at the end just for that extra cold shock. 🥶🥶🥶

Since then I’ve done very little of any real substance. I got the crochet out for the first time in ages and worked on some old squares I’d done and started some new ones.

I’m so aware that the COVID-19 numbers are atrociously high and have been all week.

We actually had over 1300 deaths yesterday here in the UK. That’s 1300 people that died as a result of catching COVID, they were here in the morning and gone by nighttime… I do try not to think about it too much but at times it’s hard to avoid. I have relatives and relatives of relatives that have it now. They are all doing ok and feel like they have an exhaustingly bad flu. It’s got so much closer and this lockdown is the strictest that I have been through any social distancing and lockdown.

I thought about it today and realise how we lucky we are just being told to stay home and we’re not in the middle of some world war and being called up to fight. I miss seeing my family and friends but we have to stay apart just now to keep everyone safe.

Stay safe everyone 💜💜💜

Up and at ‘em this morning. Alarm 7.50, shower, dressed and upstairs to read through my Pawsitive Puppies presentation ready for a call with some new clients at 10am.

I made some tweaks, got it flowing, dried my hair, bit of eyeliner and perfume on… feeling the part and ready to go!

Should say here that because this is a Zoom call we are able to offer this to anyone getting a new puppy and not be restricted to our local area.

It’s called “Settling your new puppy into your home” and gives you all of Pawsitive Solutions top tips for shelter and sleep, food, leadership and setting boundaries and entertainment. It’s a one hour call at a cost of £50.

Hey I right this blog, I may as well advertise it. If you know anyone who might be interested then go to our FB page at Pawsitive Solutions and fill in an enquiry!

The dogs went into this field for a big run! love seeing them thunder away off into the field finally off the lead. No livestock out in these temperatures. ❄️🥶🧊⛄️

We walked around this field and let them run! We were lucky not to go over an ankle on all the frozen clods of earth…

Had a lovely walk, chalked up 8.7k steps which was not bad in the ice and snow. As usual we put the world to rights. We both decided that a lazy remainder of the day was on the cards. Ignoring housework seems easier when you have a pact with your neighbour that it’s ok. 🤭😁😆

So here I am…. been sitting on the couch since after 1. Had lunch and had a lovely FaceTime call with my brother, sis in law and my nephew! Great to catch up with them.

This is a really lovely poem that helped me through the really bad days. It helps even now with the lethargy. I am very tired. Very lethargic. It may not be any more than anyone else but it does feel like pretty sluggish. There are still loads of things that need doing that I just can’t be bothered doing and hey, it’s ok….

Stay safe everyone 🐐🐐🐐

An emergency sugar delivery next door got me up out of bed! can’t have Claire without sugar…. 😂

I went into the Co-op to get some supplies until our main food shop arrives on Monday night. Craig had to clean and heat up all 12 paws as he stood outside the Co. they were good to go again when I got out.

Craig plonked all 3 dogs into lukewarm water in the bath to clean the salt off their paws. The power was out in a few houses today so we decided to sit out at the stove to enjoy the snow and the sun. We were outside until sunset.

Because we built that decking in lockdown 1.0 it still feels really new and like we’ve gone somewhere else other than our back garden!

It’s been really lovely to be outside all day. I felt really shaky and faint when we came back in but I’d done over 11.5K steps on a pot of porridge… could just be that.

Had a lovely dinner and now sitting in front of the fire with the candles on.

What a beautiful day. Lots of fresh air, very fresh! Feels like a holiday. Love the snow. Think the weather turns tomorrow so super grateful we got the chance to enjoy it.

Sorry this has just been a giant photo fest but I cannot stop taking photos. As you all know. My phone will explode one day. I now have 51,839 photos on my phone. 🙄🤭😬

Stay safe everyone ❄️☀️❄️

Auch that’s unfair to say, I am fine today just not bouncing off the walls with energy and excitement and love like I was yesterday. I’m tired today.

I don’t have the same focus and direction as I did yesterday so I find myself with a bit of free time and there are LOADS of things I could be doing but none of them really enamour me. I’ve only managed a mere 2,445 steps so far and it’s nearly 4pm.

On the plus side we did another gym workout this morning! This time which resistance bands. It’s good for us to have something like that we can do together. I have to say that yesterday’s kettlebell workout (without the actual kettlebell remember!) has killed my legs. I can hardly walk downstairs!! That shows just how out of condition I am but I’m really pleased that I’ve started something. I don’t think I’d be doing it without Craig so…… no pressure but I need him to keep at it and to drag me with him.

I had an Osteopath appointment this morning for my knee.

The roads were surprisingly busy when I went out. I do think there are way more people working than were before on lockdown 1.0…. the osteopath obviously being one of them.

Good news is that he’s pleased with progress on my knee. While I may not have the strength to run from now on (that made me strangely sad yet I’ve never been a runner?!) I have built up additional strength to stop the pain all the time. It comes and goes but so much less than it was.

So today he moved to my hip to try to generate some additional movement there and my right shoulder and arm. Going back next week for more work on them. Knee has been discharged for a month! Still have to do the exercises though. Why does that feel like a chore?!? I have more time now that I ever had in my life and still I can’t fit them in to every day……. #lazy

Back home in time for lunch. Some lentil soup which was just what the doctor ordered.

Came upstairs to do some work and booked another puppy call for next week! Then Craig and I had a Zoom call with Lorna from Pawsitive Solutions just to talk about lockdown etc.

Since that ended at 2.30 I’ve been faffing…. thinking about all the things I “should” be doing and yet not having the inclination actually to do any of them. I should go out a walk…. but I’m not going to. I’m gonna write this and we’ll have an early dinner again tonight.

We started watching The Serpent last night, showing in the BBC iPlayer. It jumps around a bit date wise but stick with it. Really good. It’s about a guy in the mid 1970’s who drugs, robs and kills people but gets away with it for years. Based on a true story.

That just reminded me that last night at 9pm Craig interrupted viewing to put on Sky News sadly reporting on Trump supporters storming the US Senate to try to interrupt proceedings. Trump lost the Georgia election which would see him outnumbered in the Senate, or at least Republicans outnumbered.

I have very good online friends who are Republicans so this is not meant to be a dig at what they believe, just to say that I’m so very sad that it’s the last thing the world needed right now.

So, so very sad. We watched Trump live on Twitter tell his followers that they were right to be upset at the outcome of the fraudulent election and he understood why they were doing this but to go home. They were only there because he’s been telling them to do it for ages.

Even more sadly reporters said that the activists were spouting all the lies that Trump has been throwing around since the election was concluded in Biden’s favour.

Trump has been banned from Twitter and FB and there are calls to try and get him out of office before Biden’s inauguration.

Rumours are he’s headed to Scotland flying into Prestwick on 19th…. Nicola Sturgeon made it very clear that the travel ban applies to him as well as everyone else. She said he hoped he “travelled” out of the White House as quickly as possible.

My main aim over the next few days has to be to keep some positivity in these negative times. It’s hard to feel joyous when things like this are happening. It’s easy to say don’t watch the news but this is history in the making.

We’re gonna go and watch another Serpent now.

Stay safe everyone ♥️♥️♥️

Wow. What a great day….. very full, lots of achievements and a lovely sunset to boot.

We’ve been watching Vikings and had a Viking-fest last night on tv so I expected to be dreaming about it. But no, out for the count….. and we had the dogs in with us as their room was still full of furniture but I slept like a log.

Until 7.50am when Bhruic fell off the bed and tried to hang on by my hair…. Never a dull moment in this house. 😉

The most important news of the day is that this rambling sloth did a gym workout with hubby this morning….. an actual workout. Honestly it’s been a very long time since I’ve done anything like that. His gym have gone online so we did a kettlebell workout. Me without a kettlebell obviously which is why mine was just a workout 🤣🤣

We had a quick coffee and then did an online food shop for delivery at 10pm on Monday night…. that’ll be fun waiting up for that 😁

Then took the dogs for a walk. It’s a beautiful day…. very cold and frosty and pure blue skies!

We have been so lucky with the weather this year so far. There’s hardly been a cloud in the sky for days.

We then came home and had lunch…. all logged on My Fitness Pal. I feel positively saint like. 😇😇😇

We moved the furniture back into the spare room (after yesterday’s carpet cleaning) so I spent a good few hours pottering about getting that all back into place.

Then had some puppy calls to make and booked a couple. Boom.

Then spent the next few hours moving all Pawsitive Solutions clients pushed out by level 4 by a further 2 weeks due to lockdown rules. Everyone is being so kind and understanding. I guess there is nothing else anyone can say. The main thing is we constantly keep in touch with them so that they know we haven’t forgotten their booking.

By that time there is the most beautiful sunset!

Early dinner (all logged… will stop telling you that tomorrow I promise…. to be fair it will have probably stopped by then anyway!)

We’re now cooried up in the living room, candles lit and settles down for the evening.

So finally a blog without a moan of any kind. It’s been a while. It was a really good day.

Stay safe everyone ♥️♥️♥️

It’s 14.20 as I’m sat here staring to write this and I feel like it should be about 10pm! This has been an incredibly slow day and I’m guessing maybe because I’ve had a lack of direction and I haven’t actually done that much?!?

Another very long and luxurious sleep which ended with THE fright of my life at 6.20am as Craig’s face was suddenly illuminated right in front of me. To wake up with him screaming “get that torch out of my face”…..Not for the faint hearted….. 🙄😬

It would however…. appear…. that… it… was… indeed…. MY fault. Surely not, you say?!?! I forgot to say I got a new sports step tracker and I obviously don’t fully know how it works and the light lit up right in his face when I rolled over….. don’t know who got more of a fright?!?!?!

The old one I had wouldn’t keep it’s charge so I thought I’d treat myself. I have done a whole 3,251 steps so far. Not much but still good to know. So yeah now the light is firmly switched off so that cannot happen again. No one needs Craigs angry face waking you up. My blog… my side of the story. 🤷🏻‍♀️😬

So despite Scottish lockdown 2.0…. we had a carpet cleaner in to clean the carpet in my new office. Really don’t think they should have been working and yet desperate to get my carpet cleaned. Guess that’s the bit that we need to be more strict about. We shouldn’t have the carpet cleaned when we are not allowed outside the house. She says…. after the carpet is cleaned. 🙄

I think that’s another reason for a being a wee bit out of sorts. We’ve moved everything into the dogs room so I’ve lost my wee bolt hole. I can always find something to do in there.

We went out the back while the guy was in. It’s very cold, super, super icy but lovely at the same time.

Now she doesn’t know I’m gonna do this and I’m not gonna tell her but I HAVE to share my parents Christmas tree….. there are no words. 🙄

Sorry Mum but that needed sharing to make everyone smile. Back in lockdown we all need a wee laugh. Love you 😘😘😂

Stay safe everyone 💙💙💙

Nicola Sturgeon, Scottish First Minister

Dramatic headlines as “Scotland ‘plunged’ into national lockdown from midnight”. It’s hardly a shock. We all knew this was coming and it’s 100% necessary due tot the speed with which this new variant is spreading.

We might not like it but personally we’ve been living like we’re in lockdown since we went into level 4 anyway so it’s not that different for us. I wish I’d gone out a wee bit more now but it is what it is.

No funeral wakes allowed and only 5 people at a wedding. Only one person from two households can meet outside until the end of January.

In other more normal news I was “back to work” today. I had 3 Pawsitive Solutions calls to make today and I’m not gonna lie…. my confidence had all but disappeared over the holidays. I was breathless, nervous, felt sick…. went down to talk to Craig as he can calm me down and I burst into tears. Much bottom lip wobbling….. those of you who know me have ALL seen it.

I’m angry at myself as I KNOW I can do this. I have walked into Senior Management meetings with very important customers and held the room and not batted an eyelid (is that even English?) you know what I mean.

My first two calls were waffled…. the third back to my old self and booked it.

Anxiety is a dreadful, dreadful thing that robs you of so much. It lies to me all the time and I know that. I just get caught up in it and can’t see it until I’m out. But hey… it is what it is and every day is a learning curve (despite the fact I am so DONE with learning curves…)

That actually made me laugh. I’m glad I can laugh at my own jokes 🤣

So Craig has been very busy today and taken the Christmas decs down, put the crazy, wonky Christmas tree outside, gutted his office and tidied the kitchen, oh and walked the dogs so I have nothing else to think about today.

I had a 2 hour nap on the couch yesterday after I put the blog out and didn’t get out of bed until 10am this morning. I’ve shut down the rambling in my head but it’s replaced with the need of sleep. Which is quite nice actually.

I used to get a maximum of 6 or 7 hours sleep when i was employed. Now my average is about 9-10 hours….. that’s not bad going!

It’s only 3pm but I could sleep again and I just might.

Stay safe everyone ♥️🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿♥️

Boy I am tired today….. we were late last night just watching movies. Woke up at 7.30 and finally got up about 8.30. I felt like I wanted to do so much today and yet I couldn’t be bothered with any of it.

Don’t think I said but one of Craigs clients gave him a Christmas gift for each of the dogs and 2 of them were sloths!!! Complete coincidence we think.

We went out to the van for a bit to clear out the cupboards that I had stuffed full with things that shouldn’t be there.

We got home after 2 and I’ve honestly not moved since. I have so many plans for the meeting year to exercise lots, lose weight, tidy up blah, blah, blah…. And yet I can’t be bothered doing anything. I feel exhausted.

I am giving myself the permission to relax. I might manage a wee nana nap…. tomorrow is another day and who knows what it will bring. Who know which version of me will wake up in the morning. I’m praying for sporty spice though thinking it unlikely 🤷🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️😬🤣

Stay safe everyone 🦥🦥🦥

It’s the 2nd January 2021, about -1C and beautiful sunshine again today. It’s been the best start to a New Year. I had a motivational start……

So a huge yes to all of the above. I’ve spent a lot of the holidays feeling antsy and nervous. If I’m honest I think I’ve always been unsettled over Christmas and particularly Hogmanay and New Year in the past. I don’t know if it’s been pressure to party or reflections on the year or of the future? I honestly don’t know. Other than Grandad dying on Christmas Day 1984, nothing bad has ever happened around these times. It’s just not my favourite time of the year for some reason. Anyway, we are now back to the anonymity of January and I feel like I can plod back on with my life.

Don’t tell anyone but I actually logged my breakfast into My Fitness Pal this morning. No one was more shocked than me. It wasn’t the plan, I just did it. Not shouting it from the rooftops, just writing it in my wee blog which no one will see so it’s fine 🤷🏻‍♀️😬🤣

We went into Barmill Park and had our cuppa up at a picnic bench with a view over the park and a lovely wander round after our cuppa and up in to the old railway. I had no idea the railway track was actually still up there.

The Rangers- Celtic new year derby was still on when I got home so I went for shower, did my osteopath exercises and sat writing this. Almost 12k steps so far today… it’s been a while…. my knee is sore but hey, it could be worse.

I have my feet up in front of the fire, my hair is drying naturally and I’m feeling pretty good. Settle down for the evening already and it’s only 3.50pm!! Be rude not to. Rangers may have won so someone is happy. 💙

There have been over 50,000 new cases of COVID-19 every day for the last 3 days… it’s the worst it’s been….

Stay safe everyone ☀️☀️☀️

We were up really early today considering we weren’t in bed till about 1.30pm last night. Was surprisingly impressed with the BBC Scotland Hogmanay show for the bells last night. Much better than previous years and can’t beat Deacon Blue signing Dignity live…. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Had to get Abbie the camper van fully defrosted this morning but we were down in Portencross by 10.30am. The roads were very quiet but super icy… just had to take our time.

Not gonna lie. I took squillions of photos today.

We got back home in time for our village New Years Day toast to each other.

Back in after well over an hour catching up with everyone for steak pie!

What a lovely start to 2021. A lovely drive, a walk on the beach, stunning sunshine, coffee in the van. Wow.

Stay safe everyone ☀️☀️☀️