Merry Twixmass

to you!

Welcome to the period of 'Quality Street' sweet eating, the void between Christmas and New Year, where you swear you are never going to eat or drink again, but that's all you do! We become feral and smelly, chunky and moulded to the sofa or not?

I'm in the sofa or die, must eat ALL of the Gingerbread House category and will be, until forced back to my desk on the 4th of January! Just saying! I've moved house and country twice in 2020 and I need a sodding rest, okay!

Here, we still have tonnes of lovely festive food to eat but are fancying pasta, in fact anything that doesn't scream Christmas! Thai, Indian.....give me all the NON CHRISTMAS FOOD please! The though of another mince pie and mulled wine is making my stomach heave!

Here we are, full of good intentions, up and at it this morning ish, but we have just finished a full English brunch. Tut Tut! I have however, finally put the good china and glass away and started cleaning the kitchen just a little bit, but can I heck as like get the turkey curry pan clean! Those horrid children of mine leave food in pans on the AGA hotplate, which of course continues to cook until baked to the bottom of said pan! Arghhhhhhhhhh! Also why can't grown kids actually switch the dishwasher on?

Asking for a friend!

Christmas for me, mainly meant changing toilet rolls, removing stuff from the top of full bins, not having a shower or bath because someone took a bath in the middle of the day! Oh and picking up my fancy cushions from the floor, straightening the throws and switching lights on and off!

We are in a comfortable space here at the temp UK house, but there are many jobs to do and no, this old house wouldn't make 25 beautiful homes anytime soon, but still, we have at least emptied the suitcases and most of the bags. It's the small wins isn't it!

I physically can't/won't sleep on new but cheap replacement mattress as I don't want a hip replacement anytime soon, that said we still haven't resolved the EMMA mattress non delivery issue! I have instead moved back to our old bed in the spare room until Mattress Gate is resolved!

I find customer service all over the world irritating, don't you? I'm trying to send a gift back to John Lewis but there wasn't a returns label included in the packaging and their customer service email is now not monitored! Argggghhhhhhhhh! I sometimes think that I spend more time on home admin than I do real work admin these days!

Meanwhile, we've just discussed 'The French Wreck' over coffee and it got heated pretty quickly! We have a 'bath' issue, well more of a disagreement really. Also, he suddenly starts shoving old architect plans in my face which are irrelevant, unless I want them to be relevant, you get me? Anyway, the original plan was to open the master bedroom into the next equally large room, then add a dressing area and a nice big slipper bath! He now wants to squeeze a bath into the main bathroom instead. I want to sell said bloody wreck and feel that we should NOT to be squeezing baths in, but instead put the bath in its intended place! Okay, so the drainage is a slight problem, but the family bathroom is next door.... soooooooo not that much of a problem really! Look sunshine, I'm a woman and was an estate agent for what, five minutes! I've been viewing houses for decades and I know what sells! A fab kitchen, fab bathrooms, log burners and so on! Panes in the Windows would also help eh!

My anxiety is high at the moment and I'm thinking I need a holiday and soon! What I actually need, is to win the lottery but meanwhile a trip back to France would do! I need to be there to buy all these materials and shove a broom up someones arse, get it done and dusted. Have you ever tried to buy building materials online in France?

Try it!

The weather here in Middle England is super mild and also pretty damp, dreary and there are people everywhere! We went for a quiet, country dog walk yesterday and actually had to share space with other people, lots of people, dogs and cars!

I miss the vastness of France, can you tell?

Hopefully, I'm off to that great DIY British institution which is B&Q today, to buy some decorating bits. I really need to get moving with tarting these old wall cupboards up and honestly, the utility is pretty ugly and the units scratched by either tigers or rabid kids, who knows but either way, I need these scratched, tatty cupboards gone! I also need a project to keep me sane!

Must dash as I need to pop another 25 towels in the washing machine!

D x