holidays

Weekly Roundup Monday 22nd Dec – Sunday 28th Dec

| 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!

Weekly Roundup Monday 15th Dec – Sunday 21st Dec

| Suzi Stamp

MONDAY 15TH DECEMBER

I had a shift at work in the afternoon and worked from 2:00pm to 6:30pm. Yesterday I placed an order with Hobbycraft online for some more crafting things we needed for collection, including some soap-making supplies. After I had finished work, I headed to my local Hobbycraft to collect it. One of my work friends had placed an order for a Christmas Gnome, which was nearly finished, so I put the finishing touches on him and wrapped him up safely to be delivered to her. Once my boyfriend finished working, we made some more Christmas Soaps, scenting them with sweet orange oil for our Christmas hampers.

TUESDAY 16TH DECEMBER

I worked a morning shift from 8:00am-2:00pm. After work, I popped up to see my best friend and had a cuppa and a chat. Shane had a Christmas party in the evening so I watched tv and treated myself to a McDonalds takeaway for tea! I had a McPlant meal that came with free Grinch Socks! I always get Roxy a burger

WEDNESDAY 17TH DECEMBER

I worked 12:00pm – 6:00pm. I’d been feeling really tired all day so when I came home my boyfriend and I had a nap in the evening (from 7:40pm – 9:35pm!). When we woke we decided to do some more Christmas crafting and finished the candles and gnomes for the Christmas Hampers.

THURSDAY 18TH DECEMBER

I was off from work today and am off until the 23rd December. We are travelling to Cornwall tomorrow, so I spent some of the day packing. I also made some shortbread for the hampers and packed that up to take with us. I also did some cleaning and set up my nail station as I had 2 clients booked in for nails in the evening.

FRIDAY 19TH DECEMBER

We got up around 8:30am and packed the car. We dropped Roxy off at her “other Daddy’s” (my best friend), who was looking after her for us while we were away and set off on our journey to Cornwall. We planned to stop off at Jamaica Inn for some food on our way to Helston. We had planned to arrive there around 1:00pm, the perfect time for lunch and a break. The traffic wasn’t too bad on our way down until we hit Launceston, where the A30 had been closed due to a gas leak. We were diverted onto some small country lanes, and the traffic was really slow. We finally reached Jamaica Inn around 4:00pm. We decided to stop but not have food as we would be eating with Mum and Dad when we got to Helston and had a beer instead. We were back on our journey by 5pm. We got to the hotel in Helston at 6:30pm, where Mum and Dad collected us. We went for a drive around Helston, then headed to Porthleven for drinks in The Harbour Inn before going back to Mum and Dad’s house for some food.

SATURDAY 20TH DECEMBER

We woke up and got ready to go to my parents’ house. My Dad picked us up, and we headed to theirs around 10:30am. We had breakfast, then headed out for a drive after coffee. We headed to Trevaskis Farm, where we had a walk around and saw some piggies. Mum and Dad had booked us in for lunch at the restaurant there. I opted for a Prawn Salad, which was huge! It came with homemade rice salad, bean salad, potato salad, coleslaw, pasta salad and fresh green salad and the biggest helping of prawns in Marie Rose sauce! Shane had the Farmers Platter – equally big! We managed to save some space for dessert, though! I chose the Chocolate and Cherry Roulade, which was yummy, and Shane opted for the Baileys and Malteser Cheesecake! After food, Dad took us for a drive along the coast, where we stopped at a beach. We were planning on having a walk, but the weather had turned, and it had started to rain and was pretty cold. We all headed back to my parents’ house and had coffee before Shane and I went back to our hotel to pack up and get ready for our journey home the following day.

SUNDAY 21ST DECEMBER

We woke up around 9:15am, packed the car and travelled home from Cornwall. We had to stop on the way at a supermarket to buy some ingredients for a meal we had planned with my besties in the evening! We planned to make a pre-Christmas, Christmas dinner for them with all the trimmings. Once we had finished shopping and unpacked the car, we began cooking dinner and preparing the house for their arrival. We served mushroom and cheese tartlets as starters, roast salmon with all the vegetables (roast potatoes, cauliflower and broccoli cheese, roast parsnips, roast carrots, peas, and sprouts) for mains, and for dessert, a vegan chocolate mousse with raspberries and mint. I made a cocktail using vodka, black cherry rum, soda water, mint and blackberries. We had a lush evening and were very full and tired by the end of the evening!

Weekly Roundup Monday 8th Dec – Sunday 14th Dec

| Suzi Stamp

MONDAY 8TH DECEMBER

I had the day off from work today, so I decided to take up the carpet from the stairs, landing and spare room as they were worn and old. The plan was to take up the carpet and see what the flooring was like underneath before we decorated. I was hoping that there were floorboards underneath that could be sanded and varnished. When I took up the carpets, I found that they had been laid on top of laminate flooring along the landing and spare room. It explains the fusty musty smell that I couldn’t get rid of in the house. The laminate underneath was peppered with staples that had been used to hold down the carpet underlay, and was covered in something sticky, so I decided to take that up on the landing. Underneath the laminate, I found the original floorboards. I would have taken up the laminate in the spare room as well, but after loading all the carpets and laminate into my car, I had no more space. I also made fish pie that we had for tea!

TUESDAY 9TH DECEMBER

I worked a 9:45am – 3:00pm shift. It’s starting to get really busy in the run-up to Christmas – lots of stock is arriving, shelves need to be stacked, and customers need to be served. My shift went really quickly. I had a nap after work as I was so tired. think I’d overstretched myself the day before.

WEDNESDAY 10TH DECEMBER

I worked a 7am – 11am shift today, then I came home and played Animal Crossing for a bit. We had decided to make some Christmas gifts, including hampers for our parents, and after making lists of items we needed, we headed to Hobbycraft to get the things we needed. We popped into Tesco to get some food shopping and some other craft bits that we couldn’t get in Hobbycraft, and after that, we headed to Wetherspoons for some dinner before coming home.

THURSDAY 11TH DECEMBER

I worked from 9:30am – 5:00pm. The shift was busy but good. We have been able to wear our Christmas jumpers since the 1st of December, and that, along with Christmas tunes being played on our store radio, is making me feel really festive. When I got home, we had a crafting evening, making cards, candles and shortbread to put into the gift hampers.

FRIDAY 12TH DECEMBER

I came down with a flu-like virus and had to have the day off from work. I spent much of the day playing Animal Crossing and watching TV between taking meds and napping.

SATURDAY 13TH DECEMBER

I still felt awful and had to take the day off from work again. I hate being ill. I spent the day snuggled on the sofa with Roxy, under the blankets not doing much.

SUNDAY 14TH DECEMBER

I started feeling better today, so we took my car to the local tip to get rid of the carpets and laminate that I’d taken up earlier in the week. After we had done that, we headed to Hobbycraft to pick up some more craft bits for our Christmas hampers. We picked up a soap crafting set, some felt to make hats and some empty crackers to fill. When we got home, we started to make soaps and hats for the crackers, along with some wine glass charms as gifts to put in the crackers.