Santa’s challenge 2020 ...

Anglea

Hi all

Some of the scarecrows are still here, eventually we had well over 400 in fact now that some of them are being retired, other strange sights are appearing. I added a gnome to my fairies at the front.  In the next road from me I spotted a dog bowl full of water outside a house on the pavement and a tennis ball, there was a sign saying 'free dog ball, drink cider, visit Durham'. No idea what the Durham reference is all about as I live in Somerset.

I've got mum's and exH's birthday's soon and hoping to find some cards in the village as I don't do online shopping and card shops still not open. I'm on the computer now, got phone charging as need to sort out some paperwork/bank/bill fiascos for mum. If I hadn't gone round there yesterday and looked through the bank statements I would never have known, I hadn't intended looking at them at all, it was just a fluke.

What did you mean you've got an emergency treatment room in your house Happy Kitties ?

Happy_Kitties

Anglea i hope you get ur mums stuff sorted. Im having trouble with mine at the minute. She has carers going in, is a very smart cookie but bec of her behaviour most of the family have washed their hands of her and today i find out another neighbour who has been really good with her, she really used them, they've said enough is enough. 
No family are allowed near the medics so know she will be fibbing as usual so we've been told they will look after her and to be careful bec of her behaviour.
I hope you get  some birthday cards. I had some in so its not been so bad but ive needed a couple of special ones that ive just had to pick up from the supermarket.
The spare room is the treatment room. Ive got multiple health problems. I have a hospital bed in there and multiple supplies of things like dressing packs, equipment (i have an open line) and my notes are in there.Just before Covid the district nurses ordered extra supplies in so if i have a problem i can get them out quick for treatment without going into hospital-well thats the aim!
Sometimes i use the bed if i need to do things like leg elevation but we keep a cover over the full bed so it can just be whipped back for clean bedding in an emergency.
Not alot happening here. Ive done some wrapping but thats about it......very poor for me.

Anglea

Happy Kitties that's really good you've got that emergency room at your house. I'm sorry you've got added stress with your mother. The paperwork fiascos for mum nearly sent me over the edge because I couldn't get through to people on the phone as no longer available because of the lockdown and I ended up feeling ill because it was 3 lots of things I needed to deal with. Eventually I got 2 of the most important things done on the Friday, the 3rd I'm leaving now as I kept getting flashing light type headaches and I've got my own phone calls/paperwork to try and do later this week.

Just shows how stressed I've got lately - I had various apps plus a notebook right by my bed to remind me to call ex today as it's his birthday and I haven't been able to get any cards. And I still overlooked it !! Only realised by accident nearly lunchtime.

I hope the card shops are open this week, there was a time years ago I would make all of mine.

chanie

Hi everyone,

I thought I would check in and see how you were all doing.  I notice that many shops have sales on, as we predicted, and is a good opportunity to grab a bargain.  I did pop to the shops, but that was to buy DD some much needed summer clothes, but many shops are still shut.

Happy_Kitties

Hope everyone is safe and well.
We don't have many shops, most are still closed. Have to go to the next town where some of shops have opened up.
Have ordered a few things in the Arg@s clearance. Really pleased at the savings made. Some bits are for the charity auction, other bits are for birthday presents for later in the year. Even better the Arg@s on the next town has opened up so no delivery costs to pay. 
Not doing many shops as we've had an outbreak not that far away so extra precautions are back in place. I was antibac all over going into the doctors last week.
Have presents to wrap, just havent been in the mood and i really need to wrap 2 outstanding birthday presents. We are going to do a socially distanced drop off next week.
When i was hunting for something i found one of of the spare suitcases under DD has alot of spare storage space which i think will spur me on to get things wrapped and stored, esp as things are all over the place at the minute.
Currently putting together another parcel for the charity organiser. We have people buying quite abit for Christmas now, really raising good funds for the charity but scary that people who normally do it nearer to Christmas  feel they have to shop now.
I bought some items from the last charity auction and the organiser sent them in a shoebox. I was so happy! She is going to continue with the shoeboxes. Last night i spent a happy hour getting all my shoebox stuff out, picking thru things and packing it up. Hopefully no 5 will be completed tomorrow. I havent seen any notices to see any changes with the boxes and DD has found a collector near a friend so they will do a socially distanced drop off.
Thats about it from me, i really need to get wrapping!!

chanie

I’m pleased you are all well and aren’t letting coronavirus stop our prepping.

 I’m determined to complete the children stockings this month and found some Harry Potter stuff in Aldi, which I bought for DS.  I’m going to go to Home Bargains at the weekend to have a look, between that an eBay, I’m hoping I’ll be able to finish.

Happy_Kitties

Chanie-u sound like u r on really on track with getting things done.
I went to Argos yesterday morning to pick up my items. Was really impressed with the set up they did and collected my items quicker than i normally would. 
The Range is next door, thought i would pop in as i could do with a couple if things to finish off my 3rd education bag. 
My word, the queue was horrendous even though it was early so decided so give that a miss.
One of the Argos  items is already boxed up to send to the charity organiser.
U were right in a previous post Chanie, there are def bargains to be had and sales galore going on

Happy_Kitties

Hope everyone is doing okay and preparations are going well.
Ive been lucky to pick up a few of these
https://www.argos.co.uk/product/9309513
from my local Argos. Cat hotties for a £1
Picked up a couple for presents and a couple to send to charity organiser and to pop away for when they do the Christmas toy collection.
Storage is a slight problem!
Managed to get into the Range. People were not social distancing and people really moaning about having to queue. DD was doing some of her super glares. Didn't actually find much but DD did see a light she took a fancy too. Looks like we'll be going back, def quieter time though

Katiehound

I haven't been here for an age- one of the reasons was that for some obscure reason I couldn't give or earn thanks!! and that really did my head in........ small things!!

Where have the past 3 months gone? I finally got 34 doggie duvets sewn over a 4/5 week period and collected £75 which was paid to charity. Then I made 14 fabric masks mostly for my hairdresser.

Every day , until recently, I have been sending out a daily e-mails with funny / uplifting/ curious things to keep everyone's spirits up.
I have now written a 'to do' list to focus the mind!! Yesterday I finally used the silicone sealant- I hate the stuff- pretty much everwhere but the right place!!
I have got to 95 days of German with Duolingo and it's getting a lot harder but keeps the brain ingear!
I haven't been at home for such a long stretch for many years and starting to get a bit stir crazy.: still just shopping once a week and then taking the car on a trip to 'nowhere!' ie the bypass on a different day. Hoping, hoping to get to Ireland next month.......

It's a whole new lifestyle!

Anglea

Hi everyone,

Katiehound, I had wondered how you were managing at home instead of your trips. Looks like you've been very busy.

That's a really sweet cat from Argos.

I had a long talk with DS1 this morning, as I'd heard that he was planning on coming here this week , however as he lives in London I also heard he was on a trip north of England  first and I was concerned as mum and I have been living very distanced and the village we live has been really cocooned from the outside world and felt a bit worried if he's travelling all over before coming here to stay. So we've put it off now until a better time.

He's left his current job and will now be working with those scientists I mentioned before, he's got a month to himself as his other job caused him to get ill. I had no idea until we spoke today as he's been awol so long.

The other news is that he did a sea rescue at the weekend, 2 people got into difficulties, he said he cut his hands in the process as had to grab hold of some kind of concrete posts or something related to submarines.

I've got 2 birthdays this month, I still haven't been to the shops to see if anything is open. As I'm meeting DS2 and his support worker tomorrow at the shops, benches (different rules as he lives in a group home) I'll get to see if the bank has finally reopened or not, it says shut on the website.