Weekly Roundup Monday 5TH Jan – Sunday 11th Jan

17th Jan 202621st Jan 2026 | Suzi Stamp

MONDAY 5TH JAN

I worked from 8:00am – 12:00pm. I’ve been feeling really tired since Christmas and have had niggling cold symptoms that have not amounted to much but have been quite annoying (runny/blocked nose, sore throat, aches), and I think that is what has been making me feel tired. Once I got in from work, I headed to bed and slept from 1:30pm to 3:00pm. I still wasn’t feeling great, so I had a bath once I’d woken up, which helped a little bit. Once Shane came home from work, we made a roast dinner with a Quorn Roast, roast potatoes, roast parsnips and carrots, broccoli and gravy.

TUESDAY 6TH JAN

I had the day off from work and planned to do some blog work. Shane left for work around 8:30am, and I played Animal Crossing for a bit while watching Below Deck. I then started working on some blog ideas and set up a blog calendar for 2026. I’m still feeling a bit tired, so I had a nap from 1:45pm – 4:25pm. We had decided earlier in the week, as part of our meal plan, to have shepherd’s pie for tea, so I started to make that once I was awake. We had that for tea with peas and an espresso martini afterwards.

WEDNESDAY 7TH JAN

We woke up at 7:45am and had coffee before Shane headed off to work for the day. I played Animal Crossing before getting ready for work. Snow has been forecast between 12:00pm today and 12:00pm tomorrow, so work was manic with people panic-buying everything both in the shop and through our online services. I was shattered when I got home from work, so Shane and I had fish and chips for tea from the local takeaway.

THURSDAY 8TH JAN

We woke up around 7:10 am and had coffee and cigarettes. There hadn’t been any snow, but it had been really cold in the night, and everything was frosty when we woke up, so Shane scraped the ice off his car and headed off for the day around 8:00am. We needed some things for decorating the dining area, so I placed an order with B&Q, including wallpaper, paint, brackets and a wallpaper hanging kit. I spent some more time on my blog calendar and did some laundry and other housework before heading to work for a 5:00pm to 10:00pm shift. Because snow was still forecast, people were still panic-buying, and the shop had been stripped bare of essentials by 7:00pm!

FRIDAY 9TH JAN

We got up at 6:40am and got ready for our work days. I worked an 8:00am – 2:00pm shift. I am still feeling ill and tired, so we had a nap when I got in from work for a couple of hours. The brackets that I had ordered from B&Q arrived, and I had a notification that the paint I had ordered for the kitchen was ready for collection, so we headed to B&Q to collect that. When we got home, Shane filled some holes, and we prepped the kitchen by washing the walls down with sugar soap, ready for tomorrow. We then sat and did some bullet journaling before heading to bed.

SATURDAY 10TH JAN

We were both off from work today, so we had a lie-in and didn’t get up until 11:20am! After a lazy morning, I booked myself in for a dreadlock maintenance and detox session with Threadloxx. The wallpaper I’d ordered was delivered from I Love Wallpaper, so I can start that tomorrow. We painted the kitchen, and Shane put up the brackets that had come yesterday. We did some more bullet journaling and watched Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire in the evening.

SUNDAY 11TH JAN

We got up at a more respectable time of 9:45am today, though I still feel a bit tired and ill. Some more of my B&Q order was due to arrive between 10am and 12pm, so we didn’t want to miss that by lazing around in bed! The items got delivered at 11:00am, so Shane did another coat of paint on the kitchen walls while I painted the skirting boards and trunking in the dining area. Once the paint was dry, Shane helped me to hang the wallpaper on the back wall in the dining area. We had salmon fillets, new potatoes, mixed veg and parsley sauce for tea and watched some Taskmaster before heading to bed.

Weekly Roundup Monday 29TH Dec – Sunday 4TH Jan

10th Jan 202621st Jan 2026 | Suzi Stamp

MONDAY 29TH DECEMBER

We made a start on decorating the dining area after we had prepped the day before. Shane patched some holes in the wall that I want to hang wallpaper on and finished the repair to the wall by the window. The kitchen door is stepped back from the wall in the dining area, and there is a recessed area above the kitchen door that I decided I’d like wallpapered and a shelf put there. I hung the wallpaper after Shane had done the cutting in with matte white paint. Once that was done, we made a start on painting the walls with matt white paint.

TUESDAY 30TH DECEMBER

After we got up we measured and cut a piece of wood to create a shelf. Shane then put the shelf up in an alcove by the chimney breast in the living area, which we are turning into a mini bar area! We then headed to the spare room and spent some time sorting out things in there. We tidied up and put some stuff into the attic. We then removed all the staples in the laminate that had been securing the carpet that I had removed in December. In the afternoon, we popped around to see my neighbour Heather to exchange Christmas gifts, have a coffee and catch up.

WEDNESDAY 31ST DECEMBER

I worked 4:00pm – 8:00pm. Before I went to work, we did some decorating in the dining area while listening to My Dad Wrote a Porno. Shane filled in some more holes in the wall and painted the rest of the walls with matt white paint. I painted the arched alcove backs in green (Wickes Walls and Ceiling No 835 Optimism) and the sides in a matt black (Dulux Walls and Ceilings Rich Black), and painted the rest of the area with the first coat of Brilliant White.
After work I came home and had a quick outfit change before we headed out to a local pub for New Year’s Eve Celebrations! We watched a band play and welcomed in the New Year with a couple of friends before heading home at 12:15am!

THURSDAY 1ST JANUARY 2026!!!!!

Work 4:00pm – 8:00pm. We had smoked salmon and scrambled eggs on toast for breakfast. I then did a second coat of green on the back wall of the arches in the dining area before I went to work for a 4:00pm – 8:00pm shift. When I came home, we vinyl wrapped the back window sill in a black granite effect vinyl. We had veg stew that I had made with our leftover Christmas Veg for tea after we had finished wrapping the window sill.

FRIDAY 2ND JANUARY

I had an 8:00am – 12:00pm shift at work, and Shane was back at work after the Christmas break, so we got up together and did our usual morning routine of coffee and a cigarette before we started our work days. There was a yellow warning for snow, and we had all of 10 mins of snow, nothing stuck! When I got home, I felt really tired, so once Shane had finished work, we had a nap from 1:00pm to 4:20pm. I made us a salad with tuna mayo for tea. After food, we did some bullet journaling in the evening before heading to bed.

SATURDAY 3RD JANUARY

Shane was in Bristol for a gaming tournament today and left pretty early in the morning. I caught up on Below Deck and played Animal Crossing. I had work between 6:00pm and 10:00pm. I was still pretty tired, so Roxy and I headed to bed for a nap between 11:15am and 1:40pm. After my nap, I made myself sardines and cheese on toast before getting myself ready for my shift. Shane came home while I was at work and prepared us a curry for tea, which we had after I got back in from work.

SUNDAY 4TH JANUARY

I had a day off from work and once we had woken up we had smoked salmon and cream cheese bagels for breakfast. We spent some time cleaning and tidying up our decorating stuff before we made a start on more decorating! Shane measured, cut and fitted the shelf that I wanted to go above the kitchen door and once we knew it fitted I then painted it Seaside Nautilus. In the evening we did some more bullet journalling before having cheese, crackers and wine for tea.

Weekly Roundup Monday 22nd Dec – Sunday 28th Dec

3rd Jan 202621st Jan 2026 | Suzi Stamp

MONDAY 22ND DECEMBER

I had the day off from work today, so I did some laundry and other housework in preparation for Christmas! I wrapped the presents I’d bought Shane and put them under the tree. When Shane came home from work in the evening, we went to pick Roxy up from my best friend’s house. He had looked after her for the weekend while we were away in Cornwall. After we returned with doggo, we made shortbread for Shane’s Mum and Dad and packaged that up along with the rest of their hamper.

TUESDAY 23RD DECEMBER

I worked a 1:30pm – 5:30pm shift. After I had finished, I came home and got changed before heading out with Shane. We visited Shane’s Mum and Dad to drop off their Christmas Hamper. We had a cider with them and spent time chatting with them and Shane’s sister. After we left them, we headed to Asda to pick up some veg and other bits we needed for over Christmas. We decided to have takeaway pizza for tea after we got home.

WEDNESDAY 24TH DECEMBER – CHRISTMAS EVE!!!!!

We started our Christmas Day food prep by making our Christmas Day desserts! We are having Chocolate trifle for dessert and prepared them for tomorrow. We soaked sponge fingers in Tia Maria Cold Brew Coffee Liquer and placed them into glasses, added some custard and made vegan chocolate mousse that we placed on top! We had a nap in the afternoon from 4:20pm to 6:25pm, then spent the evening watching Christmas Films on TV and playing Animal Crossing.

THURSDAY 25TH DECEMBER

We woke around 9:00am and got up. We made proper coffe then settled down to open our Christmas Gifts. We had Smoked Salmon and Cream Cheese Bagels for Breakfast (around 11am), and Bucks Fizz, then started to prepare our Christmas Day dinner! We sat down to eat around 4pm when we had our starter of Prawn Cocktail followed by salmon and all the veg for our main course. We decided to have a brief interlude between our mains and dessert and let Roxy have her Christmas Dinner while we let our food go down! Later we had our dessert, watched Home Alone, Home Alone 2 and a couple of drinks including a Baileys cocktail that I made! (Baileys, vodka, kalhua, milk and whipped cream).

FRIDAY 26TH DECEMBER

I worked a 1:00pm – 5:00pm shift. We didn’t do anything in the morning as we didn’t get up til gone 11:00am! After work, we had a lazy evening in and watched TV and chatted while having a couple of beers.

SATURDAY 27TH DECEMBER

I worked an 8:00am – 12:00pm shift. Once I had finished work, we had a nap from 1:20pm – 3:20pm. We got up and, after coffee, started to get ready for a night out! We went to a Retro Games night in the Tap Room in Usk, where we played Sonic the Hedgehog (the first one), Road Rash (the first one) and Quackshot. We had a really lovely time, and it was nice to replay some of my favourite games from childhood!

SUNDAY 28TH DECEMBER

I had a massive sleep and managed 10 hours and 25 minutes before waking at 10:10am. Once we were awake and suitably caffeinated, we headed to B&Q to get some materials for repairing walls in the dining area. We spent some time cleaning the walls in preparation for decorating, including heat-gunning the back wall to remove adhesive from it. In the evening, we headed to one of our neighbours’ houses as they were having Neighbour Drinks with other neighbours of ours. We had a fun night and met some people from our street that we didn’t know while having drinks and chatting!

A recipe for…

2nd Jan 202622nd Jan 2026 | Suzi Stamp

This is one of the easiest and tastiest recipes I have made. The mousse is light and airy, while the dark chocolate makes this dessert rich and moreish AND there are only 3 ingredients involved in the making of this mousse!

This mousse uses the water that tinned chickpeas come in and is used as an egg substitute in many vegan dishes. It doens’t sound like a very appealing thing to use until you know a bit about what it does/doesn’t contain. It is rich in proteins, minerals and carbohydrates, and is low in sodium, sugar-free, low in calories, free from cholesterol, gluten and trans fats, so it is perfect for many dietary requirements.

Ingredients

1x 400g tin of chickpeas

2x 100g bar of dark chocolate (I use 85% cocoa chocolate)

100g caster sugar

Method

Firstly, open and drain the aquafaba (chickpea water) into a bowl. You can keep the chickpeas and use them in other recipes.

Start whisking the aquafaba with an electric whisk. It can take a while (sometimes up to 10 minutes) for the aquafaba to create stiff white, merangue-like peaks, so be patient. It is worth noting that, unlike egg whites, aquafaba can’t be over-whisked, so don’t worry too much about how long it is whisked for.

Once stiff peaks have formed from the aquafaba, add in the caster sugar slowly whilst still whisking. Once all the sugar has been added, put it to one side.

The next step is to melt the chocolate. You will need a saucepan and another bowl. Fill the saucepan with about 1/3 water and place the bowl into it so that it floats in the water and place the pan on the hob.

Break up your chocolate into small pieces and add it to the bowl in the saucepan. As the water heats, the chocolate will start to melt. Use a spatula to stir the chocolate, ensuring that all of it has reached a liquid consistency.

Once melted, start whisking your aquafaba and add small amounts of the liquid chocolate to the aquafaba. The chocolate must be added slowly so that the air whisked into the aquafaba stays. Adding the chocolate too quickly will reduce the volume of the aquafaba, and the air will be lost.

Once the chocolate and aquafaba have been combined, spoon the mixture, gently, into small remekin dishes or small bowls. Gently tap the ramekins/bowls onto a hard surface to flatten out the mixture. Place in the fridge to set for around half an hour.

Once chilled and ready to serve, add a couple of fresh raspberries and mint leaves, sprinkle with cocoa powder or enjoy as it is.

2026 – My Plans

1st Jan 202621st Jan 2026 | Suzi Stamp

It’s the New Year, and that means looking forward, making plans and setting goals. It is time to reflect on the past year and move forward into the new. I love the tradition of choosing a word for the year, and this year I’ve chosen “Rebirth” as my word of the year. After the awful start of 2025 and all that happened in the first 6 months, I am finally coming through the other side of it all, rediscovering myself and the things I enjoy, building new relationships, strengthening the ones I have, becoming myself again, and I feel that this word really sums up this journey into 2026.

A New Year is also the time to set goals and make plans for the year, and, as is tradition, I have set myself some goals and plans for the year ahead!

BLOGGING

More posts – aim for 3 to 4 posts a week
Range of posts – recipes, reviews, “On The Blog”, plans, places etc
More content on other platforms- Share photos to Instagram / Facebook
Build my audience/followers

Career

Grow my businesses – Dragon Dreadz UK and Bite Nails UK by advertising on social media
Aim for 5 clients per week
Update my hairdressing qualification
Undertake Team Leader Training