Cherry takes the reins

CRANKY40

Congratulations on the new arrival. 

in_need_of_direction

Echoing what others have said. Congratulations on the wee one.  That’ll be the start of a whole new type of Christmas 

Cherryfudge

Thank you. she has a name - which of course I shan't reveal on here but it's very sweet.

I was all set for a lazy day today when DH mentioned J and L were coming for a meal at one, rather than tonight. I managed to get dressed and washed my hair, moved the remaining presents onto DS2's bed out of puppy reach and DH made curry. When their car drew up, however, only J and the puppy got out. L was in the car but feeling poorly and didn't want to come in. The poor chap sat there all afternoon while we had dinner, opened presents and took the dog for a walk. They've both had negative flow tests but J is going to get him a PCR.

I am rather too soft for my own good as I'd made a gift bag up for the dog. She loved it - dog treats and a small toy - and it gave her something of interest for the afternoon though we did ration the treats. We humans opened presents from each other too.

It was going dark when we went for a walk so we just went round local streets but as we did so we had a call from A to tell us the baby's name so we all joined in, in the middle of a park in the dark - the video can't have been very clear for A but we got to see DGD again.

H and A have taken DGD into the hospital for a check up as she's possibly a bit jaundiced and our memories of treating the same in J (put her in a sunny window) aren't much use this time of year. It meant we couldn't go to visit but the doctors say it's mild and I think as long as we stay healthy we should be clear to visit soon. Still flow testing every day at present but I'll leave it tomorrow unless we definitely get a chance to visit. At least they are getting good access to a quiet NHS service when they need it!

DH is still suffering where he had the tooth taken out the other day. It looks as if it may not be healing properly, so if it continues tomorrow it will be yet another emergency appointment for him. The pain killers that worked when the tooth was dying aren't helping now, which is apparently a sign of something called a dry socket, and looking at it for him (phone torches and cameras are very useful!) it's nowhere near sealing up.

Anyway, I was sort of relieved not to be seeing A and H this evening as I'm pretty tired. We watched a documentary on preparing for the The Nutcracker ballet and I attempted unsuccessfully to find where I'm up to in my knitting. I need sleep though!

This evening I'm grateful for time with J and a video call with A, for a nice name for the baby, for flow tests that help us know 'where we're at', more or less. Also that the rain let up so we could have a walk, and of course for our presents! Oh, and for DH saving the turkey carcase once he'd got all the meat off, because I then got a whole lot more but if I'd not got round to it he would still have done the majority. (And yes, in an ideal world I'd have made turkey stock but I never used last year's so I'm also thankful I can throw the rest away!)

Cherryfudge

I'm very sleepy again, possibly because Dh and I went for a run at lunchtime, the first time in at least a month.

L has sent off his PCR test but felt slightly better this afternoon and texted to thank us for his presents once he was well enough.

We spent the afternoon waiting for a call to say we could visit H, A and GD. It came just as I'd decided to prepare tea so we piled her first Christmas stocking into the car and set off to meet her. She is tiny! She slept most of the time but at least we were able to spend that time with her and have a good talk with her parents. We even let them open her presents, seeing as she's a bit small to do them herself. I've taken a lot of photos and sent them on to various people.

DH and I had our gifts from A and H too: he has a DVD he wanted of an old series, plus a jumper, and I have a bag and a knitting book. Talking of knitting, I've downloaded some patterns I'd been hankering after: the patterns cost £8.66 and the ink and paper probably added quite a bit more.

Tea was carrot, coriander and lentil soup, one of these things that's supposed to increase fridge space but by the time the leftovers are boxed up, it doesn't really.

I'm going to check the Kindle special deals before bed, and it's work again tomorrow - I would rather like a week off!

Spending:
Hobbies £8.66

Tonight I'm thankful for meeting our grand daughter, for her parents feeling they are starting to win, for gingerbread chai latte and Christmas cake.

VelvetFreak

Congrats on your new grandbaby! How sweet to have a new baby around especially in these pandemic times where it's so rare to have fun or exciting things happening. 

I've always loved the quote "A babe in the house is a well-spring of pleasure, a messenger of peace and love, a resting place for innocence on earth, a link between angels and men." 

There's nothing better than a baby!

PS I'm sorry I don't reply to your diary very often. You move too fast for me to keep track and get on the computer to reply! But I do read on my phone 😇

Honeysucklelou2

So glad you have been able to meet your DGD face to face 🙂.

HairyHandofDartmoor

Congratulations on your new DGD Cherry and I'm glad you enjoyed Christmas.

Cherryfudge

So today my friend's husband is making inroads into tiling our kitchen. It's a small area with a myriad of complicating factors. In addition to the sockets and corners which we knew about, he's now had to adjust the supports for the worksurface as it wasn't level and these new tiles are not forgiving of that.

Two days ago - Tuesday - was back to work. The shift itself went well though there is talk that due to staffing shortages we may be issued with new contracts requiring more flexibility on our part. I can see they may need to do that as there's probably a statutory obligation to provide services, but it does feel rather like punishing those who've stayed the course so far. I really don't want to work elsewhere as this job has been perfect for me for many years. However, like a lot of my colleagues, I have my eyes open for whatever else might suit.

Then our bathroom light failed so we coped with candle light. I was sure we had a replacement bulb (not a standard fitting) but it was no where to be found. DH replaced it yesterday at a cost of £10! There was also some grocery shopping but I don't know what.

We had another visit to DGD yesterday and did our present exchange with her parents. It was a rainy morning and a couple of hours of high winds in the afternoon so I look a bit windblown on the pictures and we didn't go for a run as planned but still it was lovely to spend time with them.

J texted to say L is feeling much better from whatever he had.

I've been through my stash of yarn and actually made a spreadsheet: 98 items! However a lot of those are tiny oddments suitable only for friendship bracelets, dolls' clothes and bits of embroidery so the situation isn't as big as it sounds. Projects on the go at present are a baby blanket (unpicked to where I went wrong and slowly growing again) and a jumper for DH (shelved for a few weeks). There's also a bag of yarn ready for a summer cardi or jumper for me, and I've downloaded the pattern for a baby toy which might be useful for using up some stash.

I'm into New Year's Resolution mode and will be joining the 2022 Fashion of the Ration thread which has been a lot of fun and a learning curve for me over the past two years. As well as reducing the amount of textiles I buy, I'm aiming to continue to keep textiles out of landfill as much as possible. One of the others on the thread has a 'reverse coupons' challenge going on: when she makes something (knitted or sewn), she can add the wartime coupon value to a tally to try to use what she has and build towards the equivalent value clothing coupons. My inventory has shown that I don't have enough knitting stash or sewing skills to do that but I've got quite good at pressing on with existing projects. I really want to learn to sew...

Some of the areas I'd normally target for resolutions are, on reflection, things I've been doing more or less regularly: time on language apps, running. What I really need to do is work through more of the stuff brought back from clearing my parents' house and do more decorating and housework. Those are harder to get down to and with the stuff from the old house I'm baffled about where to start. I really need to make some financial progress too! For ages I've been meaning to make a one-off contribution to my pension, and set up a regular higher payment into it. I can't pay my sister the share of the estate due to her until she provides me with the bank details! She's as bad as I am! Once that's done I can start a serious look out for BTL property to invest my share in. I've had a bit of an advance investigation but nothing much is happening this side of new year.

Such a long post! Time I went to the shops (bit wary of that due to Covid but there are a couple of bits I want and I need exercise).

Cherryfudge

I've come home to the kitchen mostly tiled! He's making a very good job of it.

Work was okay, with a couple of revelations in the ongoing soap opera of work life... From tomorrow we have only one client in due to staffing levels, so it will be even quieter though I've picked up two sleeps over this weekend. Might as well make the money when someone has to and we don't know how long it will be available.

I've also heard of an outbreak of Covid not too far away. With Christmas Day now five days ago and the rate Omicron is spreading, it's probably not surprising.

A bit of grocery shopping done (£8.85) and a gift for GD (£2.50).

This evening I'm thankful for GD and having been able to spend time with her already, for a mild day (fifteen degrees!) and for the brilliance of our ash tree like silver against a stormy sky.

Seasidegal58

Belated congratulations on the birth of your little GD Cherry - what a lovely Christmas present for all the family!😃
Best wishes for the New Year to you all.