Santa’s challenge 2020 ...

Happy_Kitties

Anglea I’m going to sound really thick here but how did they know it was a standing stone? Is it bec of the holes? I love finding out about things like this.
With regards to the talking stick I think u just know that if it doesn’t feel right, it’s not right. Frustrating about the Christmas cards and typical Sod’s law coming in to play finding them in ur bedroom after trying to hunt them down.

The shoebox hub is opening soon. It’s the closest I will get to shoebox royalty! A friend has given me extra bits for the boxes, I won’t need and have plenty spare so will take along to the hub with me. The thing I am struggling with the most is trying to get hold of a final box, it is proving elusive and impossible but I am looking forward to going over to the hub when it opens.

Have just been arranging with Duncle to take the Christmas gift bags over in a couple of weeks to him. Almost all finished.
Sent a charity auction gift today by courier. Worked out £3 cheaper than Royal Mail. I always use Parceltogo for bigger parcels but didn’t know it was so much cheaper with smaller items so thinking of the presents I have to send, doing it this way instead.
I’m definitely getting organised, albeit very slowly!

Katiehound

hello! Yes, I'm here
Got home on Tuesday- absolutely cream crackered as it was an old ferry and there were no banquette seats- the only way to stretch out was to lie on the floor and I would never manage to get up, so, not a wink of sleep all night. Mon-Tues was a 39 hour day & I'm still catching up! yes, we had a complimentary breakfast at 2.30 am but I would have preferred a 1/2 price cabin!!
Other than that I had uneventful journeys 'though I was very apprehensive after the motorway closures in the summer.

had a pleasant 5 weeks away in peace & quiet away from doggy duvets (almost!) I managed to make the following:

15 kennel coats. 5 are going to Romania, don't know about the others, yet
30 cards
14 Christmas cards
12 woven cotton 'bones'
6 plaited cotton 'bones'
6 crochet angels
6 crochet 'granny' stars (need starching)
3 little rings- woollen over old wooden curtain rings
3 scarves made from donated tweed- machined an inside edging and then frayed. 4th piece had moth holes- became a dog coat!
1 doggy duvet- boy ripped the cover on the journey home: not pleased!!
Only a few rows on the knee blanket so that won't be going with the boxes.

The angels are made for an order.
All the other bits are for a craft fair mid Nov for fundraising. Plus I need a whole lot of duvets made........

had a marginally interesting time away as a week before I left tripped and scraped my leg (about 6" above ankle) on a plastic crate. After 2 weeks it most certainly was not getting better so ended up going to GP in Ireland x 3!! Luckily I had my Global Health card as the Dr consultations are E60 each & the tablets about E1 each (68 of them.) With the card it is free. The silver lining is that I actually saw a real live Dr- the same one, very charming with time to talk without throwing you out of the door! Don't know when I last saw a Dr here- if you are lucky you see a nurse practitioner. Still not quite healed  , but it's getting there.
Unfortunately the chhlorine in the pool caused a chemical burn so haven't been swimming for a couple of weeks.

The runner? Oh she's my dog walker except she runs everywhere- hence my 'dog runner.'

I had a few bargains away. In Mr T they reduced the Helix Oxford sets which had cost E12 to a silly E1.50  so I bought 2 for the boxes. I think someone had slipped up because there were still loads reduced to E3 on the shelf rather than on the reduced cage.. My friend gave me 3 tumbler sized candles saying that they're just dust traps! True- so they went to Ireland & came home- for shoe boxes of course

My house has been painted over the summer- the first time I have not done it myself- looks good. The weird thing is the garden, I assume it's due to the dry summer but I had about 6 different kinds of fungi- never seen any there before- including 10 red fly agaric & one 'fairy ' ring which had 110 toadstools!

My old girl is still going strong despite wobbly back legs. She has more energy than in the heat of summer-15.5yo now

I'm resigning myself to home alone now- perhaps the house will get sorted. Nah!!

Hope you are all well & thriving

chanie

@Happy_Kitties i hope the Hub event is motivational.  i’ve started buying a few bits for next years boxes already - i bought some hats and gloves from poundland, as they are seasonal items.

@Katiehound you’ve been very busy and productive, i’m getting tired just thinking about it.

@Anglea it’s a shame your talking stick isn’t working out, but if you put the idea aside for a while, you may get some inspiration.

i made the decision to cull a few people off my Xmas list.  i like giving gifts and even though i only bought token gifts for these particular people, both for financial and environmental reasons, i’m not going to get them gifts this year.

i’m planning a trip to Home Bargains and B&M, hopefully at the weekend, so i can buy gifts and supplies.  we have lots of birthdays in the first few months of the new year and i like to get a head start on them.   

Happy_Kitties

Katiehound I definitely wouldn’t mind some of ur energy, how u do it all I don’t know.

chanie I don’t know if u remember a few years ago I had mentioned to some friends about the exchange of presents with our children, children  i have never met I may add, and about stopping and they were resistant. It just seemed pointless. A couple of years ago they then did take the initiative to stop and it was the best that could of happened all round as it was not only the cost of the present but the postage aswell for us all. The only friend whose children I still do for that have grown up is a token one pound scratch card in the Christmas card each for them. I don’t mind doing that at all as that has been a tradition for over 20 years and we have regular contact but I really looked at my Christmas list and how I could reduce it. Made such a difference,

I think sometimes we do need to do a cull because it gets to much, especially in these costly times aswell. I’m so glad most of my items were bought in the sales or when on special offer. I have even reduced the presents for DD, as she is getting money instead. I get the usual bits she is too tight to pay for that she likes at Christmas but I have much less than in previous years.

It’s not shoebox royalty but the hub put pictures up last night ready to open. I sent a message to find out when they would be starting, what nights they were planning to be operational and said about the extra bits I had for them. They replied! They also said they would be happy for the extra sets (dove and lynx)  I had bought in sales as they had planned an additional project but there were less funds coming thru this year. I’m really looking forward to getting over to volunteer for a couple of sessions.

I’m also sending off my final charity parcel of donated items for this year. My storage boxes look empty, not so many bargains to be had.  Normally I still have quite a few bits but not this year. Might be able to repurpose one of the storage boxes for something else. 

I have a couple of things ready aswell for when the trolley goes out for the toy appeal. 

Birthdays in the first few months of the New Year, I don’t like them at all. Costly when u have limited funds and limited ideas when u’ve used up all of ur ideas on Christmas. I have DDs in the New Year, used to put money away when she was younger for a party as it was the only way I could afford to do it. Strict budgeting was required!

Katiehound

ah, but pretty much nothing done in the week since I have been home!

10 dog coats started on their journey
6 angels sold..
This morning thought my old hound had been taken short just after we got back from walk and I tutted at her. Mopped up floor. An hour later saw another huge puddle so pulled out the washing machine- no- looks like 'someone' stood in the water bowl, and it was full. Or else waterbowl (stoneware) has a crack. Result the same: much mopping up with towels....then wm on.

A couple of evenings I have watched Anita Rani on beach programme (series 1) on More4. Done a few rows of that knee blanket. Not sure if it will be finished in time or if I want to pay postage!!

I would really enjoy being involved in a hub but even the collector is 25+ miles away from here! we are out in the bundu.... Have fun, I'm sure you will enjoy it and perhaps make some new acquaintances or even friends.

Happy_Kitties

I did some more wrapping last night and have been collecting more items for the hub. It’s all coming together nicely.
I have been warned by the hospital to rest up after several infections, the hub is 45 mins away, u go past it when on ur travels to the ferry Katiehound. I’m still hoping to get over to do at least a couple of sessions with them, just hoping to pace myself better!

Got some great bargains with the B@@ts Black Friday deals. I’ve bought items to pop away for birthdays and the charity auctions I support for next year. I’ve also started to box up items that will be ready to send to family. They will literally be all ready to pop a card and a quick letter in and send!

I still cannot find one present, I have been hunting everywhere. Fortunately it is only part of the present so I have literally until Christmas Day to find, even if the other gift bags go to Duncles. 

My plan is to really enjoy Christmas this year without the usual stresses and rush…….that’s the aim anyway!!

chanie

i made a special trip to H.B. and B & M to buy Xmas gifts and was pretty disappointed. i didn’t come away totally empty handed, but quite a few of the items i was eyeing up online were OOS.  Plus the car park was rammed and it took me 20 minutes to get out.  

The children in our family have stated wending over their gift lists and some of them are funny as we don’t know what the item is eg lists full of acronyms and random stuff.

Happy_Kitties

Snap Chanie!

I went to pick up some of my Black Friday parcels from B@@ts after doing some bits and pieces.

Rain had kicked in so thought I would pop to H.B, thinking it would be quiet. It wasn’t too bad but there is a supermarket next door to it so their car park is def used for both and was a nightmare.I needed some cleaning bits, also picked up some items for my last shoebox……I have found a box…..I’m very happy!! 

I had spotted in there previously a Christmas stacked gonk decoration, when I went to get it yesterday was there any to be had, nope, all gone. When I’m  in the next town next they have a bigger HB so will see if they have any but came away quite deflated. It’s not often I treat myself as I don’t really need anything, but regretting I left this decoration now. I quite shocked as they had cleared the Halloween stuff quick and have a bigger amount of Christmas stuff out than in previous years.
Could def tell people were Christmas shopping yesterday, the queue in B@@ts was a nightmare. 

Only need 3 present extras to support main presents and I’m done. I was wracking my brains yesterday of what to get for a friend’s DD forgetting that I has already sent it with her birthday present🙄.

I’ve misplaced my present book somewhere which is proving a nightmare🤦‍♀️

chanie

@Happy_Kitties how annoying that you misplaced your present book.  

i forgot to mention that my shopping trip wasn’t entirely wasted, as i did manage to buy a couple of birthday presents for 2023.  The stock at Christmas tends to be better than shops have throughout the year.

OH and his siblings do Secret Santa for Xmas and unlucky for him, he has picked the most difficult sibling to buy for.  i’ll have my work cut out trying to come up with a decent idea.  Plus, i still have a couple of other people to buy for that im also stumped in terms of ideas.  

Happy_Kitties

Found my present book. I had been in an efficient, put things away and keep things tidy mood which had included the present book not in its normal home. Found it when hunting for the gift tags. Very relieved as I am lost without it, 

Well my 7 shoeboxes went today. Also gave the organiser extra items for the extra projects they do. They are having to wind up the hub early this year so just got my shoeboxes delivered in time. Feels strange that they have gone. I’ve also noticed that Tesc@ has its present collection trolley out early this year so that is the next thing.

Saw something for DD so have bought it ready for her bday after Christmas.

chanie any luck with ideas for OH sibling and the other presents u have to buy that u r struggling for ideas with? That’s always my worse nightmare. 

Still need to get the present extras I am short on and I’m planning to get presents sent next Sunday by independant carrier. It takes longer than Roy@l Mail but each parcel will work out a pound cheaper to send. Might even consider putting up the tree then aswell