Santa’s challenge 2020 ...

Happy_Kitties

@Katiehound 34 doggie duvets wow! What a good amount raised for charity. Im trying to make sure that i can say that despite lockdown, i was productive and positive and didn't waste the time. It was hard at the beginning, but really tried to turn a negative into a positive and the charity will def be grateful of the £75 from the doggie duvet production
@Anglea i think that was sensible planning with DS1, esp as u live in a village thst is cocooned. Fair play to him for risking his own life in the sea rescue.

I can finally say that i finally dropped off the 2 sets of presents. The weather has been rain and more rain so kept putting it off. Yesterday we made use of the good weather as DD wanted a few bits from the big Tesco in the next town and dropped the presents off  after. One of the presents is a bird house and felt that Dfriend was not going to see any benefit from it and they were never going to get the presents.
Made some Christmas present changes and also have a birthday coming up i forgot about so picked up cocktail car freshners to go with presents. I'm in the process of making a margarita set of goodies for one present, with a couple of quirky bits.
Also without realising it, DD  gave a massive clue away of what i could get her for Christmas.....just need to save!

Katiehound

I forgot to say that the other 'thing' I did with my time (well some of it!) was to make some elderflower cordial- and very nice it was too-but it's almost all gone.

My dog runner picked the flowers for me in away-from-traffic places. After the first batch I made some pink as I spotted a cultivated bush down my road and asked the owners. The drink looked an amazing colour but it didn't taste as good. 
When every last drip has gone and all the bottles have returned I am going to make another batch- flowers are in the freezer.

I also have elderflower liqueur on the go- goodness knows what that is going to be like. Straining, adding sugar syrup and bottling is on the list for next week!

Christmas? I am trying to find out about shoebox regional collectors as the lady I met last year has retired! (and the year before one much nearer retired!)
Other than that- will I be visiting my friend and her family? who knows....

Happy_Kitties

@Katiehound the elderflower sounds lovely.
My life seems to revolve around charity items at the minute.
Arg@s has provided a wealth of sale items really cheap which DD and i have been picking up for charities and for presents.
We have picked up quite a few items. Cardboard boxes have become an issue, need really big boxes to send items, struggling abit on this one.
Yesterday DD had a delivery of one of my Christmas presents which provided us with a big strong box. So we packed up 14 items for a charity and ended up dropping the box into one of outside collection points at 9pm last night.

I had signed up to do 3 bags of education aswell.The completed bags are bigger than u expect so i left the 3rd bag and just concentrated on 2 bags of which i had 2 boxes for.
Postage labels duly requested and i had mentioned that bags were in separate boxes. Long story short, the postage label covers all 3 bags. When we took the 2 boxes to the drop off point in the next town, they were great and ended up sellotaping the 2 big boxes together. It was abit of a nightmare tbh.
Im not going to request an extra label for the 3rd bag, will post using my RM survey stamps. Trouble is i have no box to send it!!!!
Not really been wrapping any presents. Need a good sort out and tidy up of them as ive just dumped them down for wrapping and not done anything with them.
While being productive we also dropped a bag of items of at the local animal rescue charity shop yesterday. We weren't sure if they were accepting donations but DD had no trouble handing items over. Started to work on the next bag for the shop.
So that's all ive been doing, with paperwork.
Have checked out and researched a present for a difficult 21st present. I have finally got an idea, just need to make a final decision.
Hope everyone is staying safe and well and keeping busy

chanie

Wow, you have been busy, happy kitties

I’m currently unemployed, so Xmas prepping is currently taking a back seat.    Instead, I have turned my attention to decorating our home.  Although most rooms have been done in the past 5 years, we have young children, so the rooms were looking a bit grubby and needed a refresh. I have been working solidly most days since last Monday, but hopefully, should be finished in the next 1-2 days.  

In an alternative universe (the one where coronavirus never happened) we would be in Spain now.  Oh well.  Although I would have loved to be on holiday, the opportunity to get a lot of stuff done around the house has made up for it, as we now have nice fresh rooms.  

Katiehound

The elderflower liqueur is bottled- tasted a bit like firewater! but it has to mature for 2 months, so fingers crossed.
I have 2 shoeboxes (family) filled just waiting for chocolate which I bought today. the bars I got last week were one month short of the needed date- these new ones bb some time in 2021!!
My plan is to get 2 x OAP boxes done shortly and deliver to Lincoln. May be next week? and also hand over a carrier bag of items that the area collector can use for her boxes or pass onto to HQ. I said I would also make her 4 x small shopping bags.

In desperation I decided to splash  out a bit and buy a new sewing machine which is named 'jeans' ie it should sew through layers and layers. I still aim to get my Pfaff machines repaired- if at all possible. Ordered a machine from Hobbycraft sat. evening and it arrived just before noon, so haven't yet even taken it out of the box!! That's pretty impressive delivery....

Hoping to go to Ireland. There is some announcement by Irish Govt today about new regulations for travellers.........I'm not holding my breath!
Stay safe

 

chanie

Katie fingers crossed about Ireland.

i managed to get another shoebox yesterday.   I spied a trainer box in my nephews bedroom and insisted he hand it over to me.  Although I had the four boxes I needed, one was quite small, so I’m going to replace the smaller box with this one.   I haven’t really thought about my boxes for quite a while, so I think I should do an inventory at some point. 

Happy_Kitties

@chanie sorry to hear about u currently being unemployed. U can't beat a freshly decorated house though, i bet it looks great. I still have to get my living room sorted......its taking forever
@Katiehound. Hoping for positive news for u for travelling and for the firewater!!

Ive been back haunting Arg@s. Ive been trying to keep decluttering and by chance it offered me up a big box. So i bit the bullet and sent charity organiser another 22 items, some were heavy things to make the most of the weight allowance. The items were beginning to take over the house so now back under control. Some are multiples that will be used in the christmas auctions. Went back for my final trip of items to Arg@s today as i had forgotten to pick up one order. Was annoyed with myself the other day that i had forgotten but was glad to get out of the house for abit of fresh air today to go and get it.
Ive packed up another shoebox-this will be number 6 but i did have 2 left over from last year that just needed the choc changing in them. DDs friend needed new trainers but lives in the middle of nowhere, so combining it with a trip to Argos on Monday DD picked up the trainers and i got to keep the 3 shoeboxes. Ive also got abit of a problem with collector. Dont want to use the one that was a nightmare last year, DD no longer at uni to use that one. There is one by one of DDs friends so hopefully DD can do a drop off soon at least with some of the boxes for abit of a test run.
No presents wrapped, they are the one thing that do need to be sorted and put away.
Ready to do my 3rd education bag but have no box to send it in.
More decluttering to the CS including DDs prom dress. It wasnt the usual type of dress u would expect for a prom and the design too young for DD now so she has decided to part with it. Since then we've built up a third bag of clothes to go but hopefully tomorrow i will be doing some paint touch ups from the marks from the dreaded wheelchair

Katiehound

I have now managed to do the x 2 family boxes, they are now 'mummified' in layers of seloptape! The only boxes I had this year weren't the nice robust Ecco ones but some from New Balance where the lid is integral so not so easy to pack. The boxes bulge!! When I have 2 x OAP ones done to the same stage I will get into the loft for the wrapping paper.

Happy Kitties: have you checked on the website to see the area collectors? These may have changed

I have turned out a carrier bag of bits for the area collector to use in her boxes, or send in- that has reduced the amount of stuff to store. I have made 3 shopping bags to send in- was going to put the material in the rag bag but these will be fine for someone who has no bag.

Next week the charity shop where I do GiftAid is finally opening. I have a small bag of stuff for them, but more importantly I have one very full bin bag of rag for them (in 3 smaller bags) which I would just love to ...move on!

Seem to suffering from Lockdown Ennui!! Loads to do but.......the incentive has taken a dive. Added to that I seriously think Christmas will be a non event for me- no chance of social distancing at my friends- the house is always crammed. No £5 challenge either- not going anywhere to collect the goodies. All in all : a touch depressing- sorry.

Take care everyone

Katiehound

yesterday I ordered some really nice (looking) wind -up dynamo torches from the Clearance Shed @ £2.29 each. I ordered enough to get free carriage! so something to store until next year! I do need two anyway. Wondering about doing an extra 2 OAP boxes - but thwarted by the lack of boxes!!
Anyhow today  2 x OAP boxes filled. Now all 4 need the wrapping and then I can deliver. Then ithat will be a Small spacecleared!! This week the hospice shop opens  and then I can dump my rag bags (for which they get paid) so one day soon I may see a few inches of floor.

Today, something on my bucket list: I got a mention on Michael Ball's show on R2- and a plug for Dogs for Good.

chanie

Katie well done on your Michael Ball mention!   Your hard work motivated me to get moving with my boxes.  I had a sort through my boxes to work out what I needed and added some stuff I found around the house.  When I next go to Tesco’s, I’m going to buy the toiletries like soap and toothpaste.

My focus for now will be DDs birthday, in a few weeks time.  My plan was to invite her friends around for a party.  I had already started to buy supplies, but I can use them next year.