Keeping up appearances.......

Honey_Bear

HappyNow wrote: »

I assume you have now also written your cards, done all your Christmas shopping, cleared your in-tray and filing, and are now sat enjoying a well-deserved B3cks Blue? If not, you'd best crack on

I've written two, commissioned and bought a present, wrapped it and more importantly with me, they're going to be posted today! As to the rest, it's a work in progress. (See next post.)

HappyNow wrote: »

Nope! After a mega-successful (:o:o ) Nocrap November I am in full swing with Do-it December. Only two targets though to reflect that, as usual, I am likely to be full of crap!

• Money. The usual and permanent quest to waste nothing and make the money streeeetttch
• Christmas/New Year. I will do something every day towards making Christmas 2015 one to remember - and for all the right reasons. The extended family are all coming here on Christmas day, and I am going to write a strict list/timetable, so that I meet my fate all serene and well-organised, without the standard wild-eyed, last minute panic. It's going to be FAB!

That sounds so sounds so reasonable it should be do-able, doesn't it? Serene Happy on 25 December, all calm and peaceful, while her family gather sedately around her to spend the day politely and without any over-indugence. I've got an accurate picture of the Now family, haven't I?

joeyjimbles wrote: »

I can add the Covent Garden Travelodge to the recommended list. All the rooms appear to have been upgraded now and the beds are fantastic, but the best thing of all is the location which is right on Drury Lane. I remain completely baffled however by all the people choosing to eat and drink there. I'm sure they have their reasons but with all of London - cheap or expensive - on their doorsteps it seems odd to stay in and eat generic frozen and fried food. I suppose it would be boring if we were all the same but it surprises me every time.

No idea, but you get the same in the budget hotels in France. The breakfasts are revolting processed muck and people tuck into them as if it were their last meal. In FRANCE! Very odd.

My December plans are much the same as yours Happy. I want to get everything that I can done in advance and then I can just enjoy it all too. Currently I have cards, chocolate, crisps and about a quarter of the gifts so I have lots of scope for improvement :rotfl:

Good to see you've sorted the essential food groups out first, Joey.

Honey_Bear

• No computer after 9.00 pm and light out by 11.30 pm; As I thought we weren't having a Do-It December I indulged last night. Jolly fun it was too. Have to pull my socks up on this one, won't I?
• Five fruit and veg a day. Currently pretty hopeless, if I'm honest, with most days only three.
• Electric toothbrush once a day at least.
  
• Finish writing Christmas cards, do the rest of Christmas shopping and OH's birthday stuff by 15 December. Oooh, I can claim some success on this one, with two cards written and some presents already bought! Marvellous stuff. Now to write the gift tags and wrap them - if I don't do it in that order I end up in a terrible muddle.
  
• Clear the filing tray and get the in tray down to a quarter of an inch by the end of the [STRIKE]month[/STRIKE] year. Shouldn't be beyond my capabilities now that I've done most of the filing and pruned the In Tray by filing most of that with a note of what needs doing ... eventually.

joeyjimbles

In my defense I was being very MSE with the chocolates as they were bought on the early deals and they are still here as a. I hid them and b. I don't like chocolate. The crisps are only here because other people know that I bought them and would comment if they didn't show up at the appropriate time (otherwise I would have eaten them).
I now have 12 bottles of wine, a 3kg gammon and several sheets of salame and prosciutto bought, I've made two christmas puddings and 2 huge vats of pickled onions and shallots waiting for their sterilised jars, and I have a fearsome list of the rest of the food.
Tomorrow I will make the list of presents and hopefully get most of it purchased over the weekend. Or at least have plans to get it sorted within the next week, its all internet-able or locally available..hopefully.

Honey_Bear

joeyjimbles wrote: »

In my defense I was being very MSE with the chocolates as they were bought on the early deals and they are still here as a. I hid them and b. I don't like chocolate. The crisps are only here because other people know that I bought them and would comment if they didn't show up at the appropriate time (otherwise I would have eaten them).
I now have 12 bottles of wine, a 3kg gammon and several sheets of salame and prosciutto bought, I've made two christmas puddings and 2 huge vats of pickled onions and shallots waiting for their sterilised jars, and I have a fearsome list of the rest of the food.
Tomorrow I will make the list of presents and hopefully get most of it purchased over the weekend. Or at least have plans to get it sorted within the next week, its all internet-able or locally available..hopefully.

Seriously well done, Joey. I know I always enjoy each bit of getting ready for Christmas as long as I don't leave any of it until the last minute, hence the original NoCrapNovember target. I may not have got as much done as I wanted but I finished the first batch of cards and posted them yesterday and there are now only 20 to go, two of which are already written, along with all of the envelopes. I am getting there and it's much earlier than usual but I'm nowhere near as organised as you. You're a bit of an inspiration, so thanks for that.

Honey_Bear

• No computer after 9.00 pm and light out by 11.30 pm; Worked until 10.00pm on the computer and then made myself switch it off, and the light by 11.30. Feel a lot better this morning.
• Five fruit and veg a day. Made myself have five yesterdfay but they were all fruit.
  
• Electric toothbrush once a day at least. Tick.
  
• Finish writing Christmas cards, do the rest of Christmas shopping and OH's birthday stuff by 15 December. Progress as above, but otherwise still quite a bit to do.
  
• Clear the filing tray and get the in tray down to a quarter of an inch by the end of the [STRIKE]month[/STRIKE] year. Shouldn't be beyond my capabilities now that I've done most of the filing and pruned the In Tray by filing most of that with a note of what needs doing ... eventually.

HappyNow

I don't want to sound like a drama queen, but the last few days have been a bit of a challenge.

A van was hired on Friday to move the rest of Little Miss H's stuff from her rented house, and everything has landed in our house making it look very, very small! We have spent the entire weekend trying to get some sense of order, but it's still pretty chaotic. She's settling back in though and is no trouble at all

Then, just when I thought life would get back to normal, my dad had a nasty fall today and we have spent the day at hospital. He dislocated his shoulder and chipped a bone, but is back home and will be fine

We also received a bill for £129 from the council for the routine compulsory testing of our private water supply. It failed because it has e coli. We already knew, because it failed the last one, so we drink bottled water. We still have to pay £129 to be told the same thing again .

So, Do-it December hasn't exactly got off to a flying start, but it's only 7th and hopefully the good stuff will start tomorrow

Honey_Bear

What a testing time you're having, Happy - no pun intended but I'll leave it there so you can have a hollow chuckle. You normally post very cheerily at the beginning of the month and then things go a bit quiet when you start snacking on Smarties in secret, or go right over the top and have a single glass of wine and it takes you a day or three to confess to a tipple. Not hearing from you I hoped it was just that you were still having to force feed Miss Happy Christmas tree-shaped crumpets and that was taking all your time.

*Ecoli be gone* and *tat be tidy* vibes heading your way together with a (((hug))) to help banish the frustrations of life.

joeyjimbles

Oh Happy I'm so sorry to hear about your woes.
You all know about mine as they have been on every news bulletin since Saturday - I'm one of the lucky ones as I live on a hill above the river but we do keep losing power and internet and cannot get anywhere without major diversions. Today was the first time we could walk across a potentially damaged bridge into the city centre.
I'm just home having helped for a few hours clearing through the remnants of a friend's business and her neighbour's home. I have brought home their washing and boxes of their valuables and sentimental treasures, and after a bit of a weep I'm on load three and box four cleaning, straightening and sorting. Words cannot describe..

Honey_Bear

Joey, at least you can do something really practical that helps, because it's all so awful seeing the news about people's homes being flooded and knowing there's really nothing I can do to make it better. (((Hugs))) all round.

joeyjimbles

Sadly cannot do anything practical anymore. The bridge was closed again yesterday morning to both traffic and pedestrians pending divers inspection - which cannot happen as we've had endless rain and winds again. Awful sights of Glenridding this morning.
Hope you're all safe and well. My current aims are just carrying on whilst being cut off from the city. I hope this doesn't sound like moaning, I realise exactly how lucky we are.