Finally Debt Free After 34 Years, But Still Need to Live Frugally

HairyHandofDartmoor

Nicnak said:

Oh, I hope she is okay. I think it was the excitement and looking forward to what people thought that has caused a lot of upset. I know a number of people who haven't seen their family for most of the year and they were looking forward to it. It is better they all stay safe and they control the virus again but I can see a lot of distress around at the minute and everyone is helpless to it. x

Thanks Nicnak . She's got my dad for company. She's disappointed about not seeing her children at Christmas but she's coming to terms with it.

jwil

It's such a shame for everyone.  I'm glad you got DS3 out in time

HairyHandofDartmoor

Thanks everyone 🙂. We were so tired on Sunday we could hardly move! I put two washes on and tidied up a bit but just relaxed and recovered apart from that. We were so tired that DH and I put our light out and went to sleep at 9pm!

The journey home with DS3 on Saturday was pleasant because we were able to have a really good chat with him, which was lovely after not having seen him since mid September 😁. 

This morning we got up early to go to the shops in the centre and buy some presents that we needed for local family. If wasn't too busy considering how close it is to Christmas and we got most of what we needed. We were going to rest after that as we felt tired, but after reading news reports about possible food shortages 😳 we decided that we'd go to Mr M this afternoon and buy part of our Christmas food shop. We bought all the basics for Christmas like turkey, potoatoes, carrots, parsnips, brussel sprouts, mince pies, clotted cream, chocolate fudge cake, New York cheesecake, etc. I feel relieved to have got most of the Christmas food. There was plenty of food on the shelves and it wasn't too crowded. DS3 came with us this morning to buy Christmas presents as well as to Mr M this afternoon and it was really nice to have his company 😁.

We still have more food to get, believe it or not, like a Christmas pudding, dips, breadsticks, crisps, drinks, etc, so we're going to get up early again and go to a large Mr T to stock with Christmas food treats. I also want to get the Christmas lights for the kitchen that we need as our previous ones had broken. 

We seem to be getting through a lot of money 😱, but then it is Christmas so I suppose it's only to be expected. I get paid tomorrow 🎉 but I want to try and save most of my wages.

The situation with the new variant of the virus in the south east and London is getting a bit concerning, especially the bit about it may affect children 😟. I hope schools open after Christmas for my sake and the childrens' as they they benefit so much from being in school. We also seem to have become internationl pariahs with forty countries closing their borders to us 😫. I feel like we're living through a disaster movie at the moment and yet everyday life is going on reasonably unchanged. We all need a good Christmas this year 🎄⛄🎅 so I hope we all manage to have a reasonable one even if we can't have a good one.

I hope everyone in formumland is having a pleasant and productive day 🙂.

milann

I’m pleased you got your ds. It really is unbelievable.....if somebody would have tried to predict the goings on of 2020 last year- we’d have laughed at them.....

Seasidegal58

Glad DS3 is home safe and well. Bet that's cheered you up no end. 

And I have to agree with milann too...

Sun_Addict

There is a book entitled Lockdown that’s about a virus locking down the country. It was rejected as being too far fetched. Now a best seller. 

beanielou

& it just goes on & on.
Will life ever be 'normal' again 

milann

It feels far from normal Beanie....we have to hope it’ll get back to normal but sometimes it’s hard to imagine 😱

beanielou

milann said:

It feels far from normal Beanie....we have to hope it’ll get back to normal but sometimes it’s hard to imagine 😱

I am beginning to think it never will sadly.

HairyHandofDartmoor

When you're in the middle of a crisis you always feel like it will never end, but with effective vaccines developed the end is in sight. It often gets darkest before dawn as the saying goes. Scientists seem confident that the vaccine will work against the new virus strain, so we just need too get enough people vaccinated and we can get back to some normality. We must stay positive 🙂.

We needed to get the rest of our Christmas food today, so this morning we went to a very large Mr T a bit further away. DS1, DS2 and DS3 all wanted to come, so it's lucky we went to a big store! We went around in separate groups anyway as the DC wanted to choose some specific drinks and foods that they like. We spent a staggering amount of money 😱, but DS3 wants to give us the money for the food and drinks he chose, and DS1 and DS2 give us regular keep. It's a relief to get all the Christmas food and drinks in 🙂. Today we bought things like drinks, Christmas pudding, yule log, crisps, dips and that type of thing 🎅. I reckon the food we've bought for Christmas may last us until about the new year, 🤣 so it's not all for two days. Anyway we've had a hard year and wanted to treat ourselves a bit with some nice food 🎅.

I'm still recovering now as it's been a very tiring week. I put a wash on when we got back, so I need to dry that, plus I want to have a good tidy up as there's stuff everywhere and it's driving me potty 😫. I haven't wrapped any presents yet, but we're staying in on Christmas eve so I'll probably do the wrapping then. 

I hope everyone in forumland is having a productive or a relaxing day, or both 🎅🎄⛄.