December 2022: The Turtles do the Cha Cha Cha

grandmanerd

Who's doing January. I've no ideas for the moment but I have enough time to think of something, if I'm needed.

Shrewbie

Good afternoon turtles!! congrats @f0xh0les on the contract extension and @apple on the new job!!

I am also clinging on to the thread…. desperately out of time and doing some sort of drunken hokey cokey. But I can hear the rhythm people and I am being pulled back into line!!

Chase your dreams - I have been thinking a lot about this and I am clearer on what I want out of life for 2023. I think I more or less have a plan of action!

Challenge- I have tried not to drink too much and I have been doing fairly well, I was surprised by how little I drank in Munich compared to my friends (who I would have matched drink for drink a few years ago)

Charity - I have spent in the charity shop this month and will make a donation.

Chart - I have totted up budgets so far for December and have realised that Munich was horrifically expensive. I knew it would be (I was with people who enjoy a bit of the finer things in life) but I honestly didn’t think it would be THAT bad. One of my meals out cost the same as 3 nights in the hotel! BF was chuckling at my delayed reaction. The positive is that I do know exactly what it cost, rather than burying my head in the sand and I also know how much I’ve spent in total on holidays over the year which is disgusting but not surprising since I had obviously not been travelling during the two years previous. My little spreadsheet is quite illuminating. Have not even tried to count NSDs though!

 I am very grateful that I survived the various work events without too much stress (a coldsore was threatening but has backed off) and that I have more or less done all my xmas shopping, a little later that I would have liked and more spenny than I would have liked, but it’s done. And next year I know what I could do differently to make it cheaper (need to make sure I don’t forget). Now let’s see if I can pack everything in my tiny suitcase... Right, I’m off to catch up on your posts!

beanielou

@abundant1972.  Still snow here.
Believe me you would not be jealous.
'Tis dire.

Thrifty_Taylor

Hellooo! Sorry I've been AWOL a few days. Wednesday was a full on day, then because I'd missed one day, it snowballed! No pun intended. 

Well done on your contract bring extended @f0xh0les & to our new invigilator @apple_muncher! 🎉
Thanks for the birthday wishes @Shrewbie & pleased you had a great time away, despite it being a bit spendy. You were making memories, so don't beat yourself up about it.
Sending hugs @beanielou, stay cosy & hope the outside whiteness disappears soon!

Had a NSD today, but will have to check numbers, might be 6 or 7.

My pupil went home I'll on Wed, so freed me up to help put things away after the morning's school performance. Had a few laughs with one of my work besties & she was able to open up about some things she's dealing with, so good I was there to lend an ear. Took DS3 & GF home with me, very snowy everywhere. Watched a Christmas film together, then I took her home. The roads were quite bad, but we got home safely. 
Thursday I got to help pupils cut out templates to make a penguin bag, then we had our Christmas dinner. Very delicious. Went on a trip to the art museum, was some lovely pieces on display, will have to go back without  pupils another time, to have a good look round. The parent council put on a reception for all staff, to thank us for our hard work. They had food, cake, a selection of drinks, & games. I won a bottle of prosecco! Then we were given a gift, thoughtfully wrapped up. It was so lovely, I've not heard of a parent council doing this before, so made us feel special & appreciated.
Friday schools were closed to pupils because of the weather. No buses running either. I told the head teacher I wouldn't be in, our road was horrendous. Late morning me & DH walked to the village (-2°C at that point), delivered a few cards. I made a fire when we got home, did the ironing, then spent most of the day & evening hand stitching a new lining into a coat. Finished off doing some knitting & watching TV.
Yesterday I finished seeing the coat, rushed to town before a shop closed to buy more salt for the driveway (heard they ran out soon after!) Got good shopping for us & my mum. Picked up 5 lots of sewing, dropped mum home after work, had my hair cut & headed home. Put the shopping away, then knitted & watched a xmas film. It makes me cry every time, but even more so this year, as the female character has a heart transplant & my DH had his kidney transplant.

Lots to be grateful for - the donor & his family, that DH is doing so well, finding matching zips at the bottom of a drawer in the haberdashery, a day at home to catch up with things, the parent council showing their gratitude, GF having a nice time during her visit to us, though her mum puts her down the whole time & isn't supporting her through her difficult time

Esmeralda2662

Hi everyone, hope you are all ready for Christmas! Sorry I haven't posted recently but I've just lost my motivation over the last week or so.

Worked 4 hours O/T on Sat morning so that's a bonus. Hopefully boss appreciated it. Took mum shopping Sat afternoon. Got a few Christmas bits she wanted, the rest was food.

Today visited uncle who is having radiotherapy. He seems quite well apart from terrible cough. Sat and chatted in front of their blazing log burner. Lovely.

Went to a Christmas carol service at the local chapel tonight and it was lovely. First time I've felt even slightly Christmassy this year. No idea if i sang in tune or not but really enjoyed singing!

All the wildlife has been struggling for food in the freezing weather. Lots of birds have started coming back to the garden. We've been putting plenty of stuff out for them. We even had a moorhen up on the high fence! Goodness knows how he found his way as we're not very near the brook! Unless he followed the crowd.

Gratitudes: only 3 working days left this year, the weather warming up a bit (but not the rain), the lovely carol service, knowing we're helping feed and water the birds.

Hope you all have a good week x

ditty1234

Hi I am still an occasional poster, spinning plates here and baking cookies. I finally managed to start my Christmas shopping yesterday not a minute too early, considering were flying out to visit family Wednesday morning. And when we land we will pretty much be in the middle of nowhere!
Had a lovely chat w ds2 this evening, I thought he was being a bit standoffish, but he really just wanted a bit of 'ear time' so that was nice. I have a strict but accumulatively quite large gift budget. 
Are having 3 sets of guests before Christmas - which feels good, one set yet to go. 
Drove into London Friday due to the train strike and paid blood money to drive my old diesel in, while I enjoy driving in London, it is not something I would normally do as it is just al lot faster by train. I got out of going to uni town though, as ds2 came back Friday night as well. 
So not too bad, 
Tomorrow night is carols and mince pies in the park, I'm listing, I'm tired, after a pretty quiet day of much needed rest. Hang in there, to the turtles still working this week, only a few more days. 

ldee2111

I’ve been absent the last few days… a turtle lost in the snowstorm of activity… 

What’s been happening? 

DS did his lines fantastically at his school nativity. I’m his Mum so I’m bias but he really did so well. I was very proud. I balanced my phone on a cup and filmed it… it’s there to cherish and watch a million times.

I’ve also been helping out at the school… serving tea and coffee at their Christmas cafe, cleaning tables... I’m mucking in again this week… walking the kids to the Christmas service at the local church and helping at their party. 

Work was also busy… I really would love to tie-up loose ends this final week before the break… it’s unlikely but I’ll try to do as much as possible. 

After months of negotiations with the Union, employer finally agreed to a one-off payment for all staff… an unexpected bonus! Initially when I heard about the payment, my default thought was to save it… but I’ve saved like a ninja turtle this year so I decided we should just enjoy it. I booked 4-nights in Spain for OH, DS, and I in January.

Grateful for DS doing wonderful in the nativity, for an unexpected extra payment from employer, for the Union and our union reps keeping on at them, for beautiful white and silver frosted trees, for Christmas films and tunes. 

apple_muncher

Wotcha, turtles! Sounds like there's a lot of simultaneous plate spinning, juggling and balancing on a wobbly ball going on.  I think that's fairly normal for this month, and with the weather thrown in, even more so this year. Hang in there. Try and take a few moments each day to step back, relax your shoulders and be quiet and still.

Turtle hugs all round ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

DrCarrie

Morning Turtles, 

I fell asleep in front of the telly last night, so didn't post. I did a fair bit of housework yesterday, I need to call my landlord and ask him to attend to 3 things - the hot water is not reliable, the push-up/push-down plug in the bathroom is stuck on the down, and the light in the kitchen is not working. It is such a pain working from home, in a tiny flat when people need to come in and out to do things. Plus I don't like people being in my home much at all. 

I also had a small win - took the overbuy of wrapping paper and gift tags back to sainsbugs - £8.75 refund. But bought some cleaning stuff which was over £8.75, so it was a spend day.  

Grateful for, milder temperature, for getting stuff done, and only 3 days left at work for the year (including today). 

apple_muncher

And yes please, grandmanerd, for Jan.