Life

Weekly Roundup Monday 5TH Jan – Sunday 11th Jan

| 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 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!

2026 – My Plans

| 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

HOBBIES

  • Scrapbooking – at least once per month
  • Card Making – at least 2 times per month
  • Jewellery Making – at least 2 times per month
  • New hobbies – Try a new craft a month

TRAVEL

  • Festivals
  • Camping
  • Visit my family
  • Day Trips (Hawkestone Brewery, Bristol, Cardiff, the beach)

PERSONAL

  • Start keeping a proper journal
  • Restart Mindfulness
  • Work on routines
  • Graphics

HOme and garden

  • Finish redecorating the dining area
  • Redecorate the spare room
  • Redecorate the bedroom
  • Set up the summerhouse as our Craft Cave

HEALTH

  • Book a blood test with the dr
  • Take vitamins
  • Cook from scratch/meal plan
  • Work on sleep

LIFESTYLE

  • Stop procrastinating
  • 3 monthly life review
  • Read more books
  • Schedule me-time

RELATIONSHIPS

  • Plan more Besties Date days/Nights
  • Plan dates with my boyfriend
  • Get better at replying to messages
  • Plan cute activities to do on days off

What are your plans and goals for 2026?

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.

Routine or Ritual? My Morning

| Suzi Stamp

Routines are really important for me. As an autistic, I have to have routines implemented into my day, otherwise I forget to do certain things (like drinking or eating). I have routines for weekly events too, such as watering my plants or putting the bins out. I even have a routine for how I get dressed (from the bottom up – socks first!). To me, these are pretty mundane and ordinary and done without much thought or have any kind of real effect on my feelings or thoughts; they are just things I do that help me in my day-to-day living.

Rituals, on the other hand, have a bit more thought and feeling connected to them, are a bit more magical and spiritual. I like to view my morning process as a ritual as it has a stronger effect on my feelings, thoughts and levels of productivity, and each part of it feels meaningful.

I love my mornings now; previously, when the ex-husband was living with me, there was no space or calmness for any kind of routine. Everything was too loud – the noise from the TV and radio, the chaos and untidiness of the house and it was impossible to function or even form thoughts properly. My mornings now are a hella lot different.

I begin my morning by getting up, normally any time between 6am and 8am. I stay in my pyjamas, brush my teeth, come downstairs, let Roxy out for her morning wee, and, while she is busy, I fill the kettle or prepare the coffee machine and prepare mugs for my boyfriend (yep, I have a boyfriend – more on that soon!) and myself.

We sit and have our coffee and a cigarette without the TV or radio on, just in quiet calmness. I often use this morning coffee as a Mindfulness Exercise. We talk about what plans we have for the day and how we slept, our feelings and thoughts, among other things. If it’s a weekday, my boyfriend heads off to work, and if I have an early shift, then I get myself ready for work. If I have a later shift or a day off, then I head to the kitchen.

I check Roxy’s food and water levels, empty the dishwasher and put the dishes away. I reload it with any plates, glasses or mugs that need to be done, I hand-wash any items that have been left over from the evening before (ones that don’t fit into the dishwasher) and wipe down the kitchen units and tidy as I go. This little bit of my morning helps me to feel like I have accomplished something on my list, and makes me feel positive and productive. I like having a clear kitchen, and having this little routine built into my daily ritual feels like I’m clearing away the previous day and greeting the new day.

I put the kettle on and make another coffee, sit on the sofa and have a cuddle with Roxy. I play a game on my phone, mostly puzzle games such as Killer Sudoku, Tap Gallery, or Scavenger Hunt. Puzzle games seem to help my mind wake up and start working properly, and I feel more awake and “with it” so they are really important for my mornings.

After I have done this, I feel like I can start my day. I’m awake and calm, feeling positive, my mind is clear, and I can then do all the things I need to.

How do you like to start your day? Is there anything that you would like to include more in your morning ritual?

Reclaiming My Space

| Suzi Stamp

My home hasn’t really felt like my own in such a long time. Not since my ex-husband moved in, and certainly not after he moved his “friends” in after they lost their house. (See this post for more on that). When my ex-husband moved in with me, he arrived with so much stuff…tools, dart boards, furniture, clothes, the list goes on. And while I was prepared to compromise and make space for his stuff, I wasn’t expecting all the clutter and mess that came with it. To say he was untidy is an understatement. My things got reduced and moved, and before I knew it, there was hardly any of me left in my house. And to make matters worse, I could hardly move for his crap taking over every available space.

When his “friends” moved in, they brought their own baggage, and it seemed that, day by day, while I was at work, they were adding more and more of their things to my home. They bought a MASSIVE pouffe/storage thing into my home, packed it with a load of their crap (which never got looked at), and it was sooo heavy that I couldn’t move it. That thing was plonked, unceremoniously, in the middle of my living area and was in the way every damn day. That was frustrating enough. Then I found that they had bought up most of their kitchen stuff too, plates, cutlery, saucepans, all the fucking kitchen gadgets known to man, glasses, mugs, all sorts of crap. It wouldn’t have been so bad if I didn’t own plates or anything. They shoved all my things to the back of cupboards and drawers and dumped their stuff in front of and on top of all the worktops, even using the oven as extra storage space. The most absurd thing was the collection of packets of herbs and spices and sauces, the ones you get from Hello Fresh when you order meals through them…soooo many unopened, out-of-date packets that were kept in a huge basket and shoved on top of the wall cupboards and never used. Space was so tight in the kitchen that I couldn’t even prepare myself cheese on toast for breakfast due to a lack of countertop space and the oven being used as an extra cupboard. On top of that, opening the cutlery draw proved difficult as it was RAMMED full of 174 different knives, forks and spoons, (not counting mine) and when you opened the drawer they would catch, well, my ones would and i discovered that they were getting bent up and misshapen too as no one seemed to be able to open the drawers carefully.

If that wasn’t bad enough, my Dysons (I had 2 that my parents had given me) disappeared. I couldn’t clean or tidy properly (too much clutter and no space, hardly any of it belonging to me), I couldn’t get to my shelving units to dust, and if I could, there was no space to take my things off and put them safely whilst I dusted. I couldn’t mop because there was no visible floor to manoeuvre the mop around effectively.

I’m ashamed to say that after they (his “friends”) left after 7 months, things didn’t get much better in terms of cleanliness. By that point, my mental health was spiralling pretty badly, I didn’t have the energy to do much other than exist, and most things just didn’t get done. My “husband” didn’t care enough to help out, not that he ever had. He always saw cleaning and household tasks as “Pink Jobs” so just left it to me to get on with everything, and if I didn’t do it, then he wouldn’t either. To make matters worse, he wouldn’t ever tidy up his own belongings, and the house was littered with tools and other heavy/bulky items of his that were hard to move, so that made cleaning just as difficult as when his “friends” were staying. I had nowhere to put his stuff in the house, though there were sheds and an outhouse, not to mention a summerhouse where they could live. If I dared to move things, then I’d have an earful about how he couldn’t find anything and how it was my fault. Asking him to put his things away was just as bad and I’d have excuse after excuse ranging from “I’ll do it later”, “I need them out because I’m going to use them later” (which NEVER happened), or “I can’t put them in the shed/summerhouse/outside because they might get stolen”. I gave up and just lived with it.

Once he was out of the house and I got the keys back, I started moving and packing up all his things. My house started to feel brighter and fresher. The air quality changed, and the atmosphere just felt so different, more positive, freer, lighter. I was able to see the floors again. My friend bought me a Hetty Hoover. I was able to hoover the carpets and floors, the skirting boards, under the sofa, and all those little places dust and dirt like to hide. I mopped the floors using washing-up liquid, then bleach, then more washing-up liquid, then disinfectant. It took nearly 30 buckets of soap and water to get the grime up and the water to rinse away run clear.

I got down on my hands and knees and scrubbed the kitchen and hallway linoleum with a brush, which was stained, grimy, and grey-looking. It now looks bright and fresh, and the white within the pattern is now visible again! I then went to town on the bathroom, bleaching and scrubbing everything to within an inch of its life. There is textured, anti-slip flooring in the bathroom, and I again scrubbed that clean. I took the seat off the toilet and soaked and scrubbed that in the bath.

I dismantled shitty, broken furniture that had taken up so much space in the bedroom. Gone now are a massive wardrobe, 2 sets of drawers, the massive, stupidly oversized super king bed he had insisted on that was waaayyyyy too big for the room and was stained with his sick. Every single inch of the carpet was hoovered, the windows cleaned, the window sills dusted and wiped. I replaced the broken furniture with a new Kallax Unit, which I made from a flat pack myself. I reinstated my dressing table and mirror back into the room, removed the old (broken) TV from the wall, and removed shelves from the built-in wardrobes, turning that space into another hanging space for clothing.

I started to redecorate. I had been wanting to redecorate downstairs for years and had chosen the wallpaper and the paint colours that I wanted. He had promised me that he would help decorate, but it never came to fruition; the paper and paint remained in the shop, and no decorating was ever done. As much as I liked the wallpaper and colours I had chosen, I decided not to go with that – too many bad memories of asking and asking and wanting and never getting it done, it felt weird and tainted. I came up with new ideas and colour schemes. I decided on a new wallpaper (this one from B&Q/I Love Wallpaper) and a white, lime green and black colour scheme. I spent weeks and weeks slowly decorating, and the room is nearly finished!(I can’t wait to share some photos in another blog post!).

My next plan is to re-decorate the dining area, again, going with a white, lime green and black scheme with the same wallpaper. The rooms are knocked through and separated by an archway, so it makes sense to decorate with the same theme. After that, I will be removing the carpets. I only have carpet going up the stairs, along the landing and in the bedrooms. Though they are clean, there are soo many stains on them, and they are looking worn and tired. The bedroom and landing carpets have been installed over the laminate, which, I think, is making the carpets smell funny as the airflow is blocked. I’ll be removing the laminate too, seeing what the original floors are like and hopefully, be able to sand and varnish that. Then I’ll be starting to redecorate the bedrooms! I have some ideas and will be sharing these in a blog post coming soon!

A Crazy Few Years

| Suzi Stamp

It doesn’t seem that long ago since I last posted, but, upon looking, my last post to this blog was way back in 2022 with my piece on Autism Awareness Month. While I had wanted to continue to blog, things were going on in my personal life that made it hard to even think about writing, but now, I feel that I am in a better headspace, and I’d like to start writing again. I feel strong enough to start sharing things and bringing this blog back to life and I am going to start with what has been going on over the past few years.

2022 – The Year I Got To Try My Dream Job

I was still working for the NHS in 2022 as part of the payments team when I was offered a secondment on the Communications Team for 6 months. I seized this opportunity, and in September 2022, I transitioned to Comms, starting my secondment there as a Communications Officer. The team dynamics were completely different from my old team; we felt like a cohesive unit and were fully supported in our projects. We had weekly team meetings, talking about our projects, things we had learned and any hurdles we had faced. The job was varied, with projects being undertaken that involved learning Powtoon, an animation based software, photography work, creating newsletters, organising award ceremonies – from creating the awards brochures, liasing with companies to produce the awards (and collecting them!), photographing and videoing the ceremonies and producing the post awards brochure, setting up exhibitions, working with other departments and healthboards to produce work, updating websites and creating new, more interactive and interesting information, fact sheets and so many other things in between! I had so much fun in that role; no day was the same, and while we mostly worked from home, I never felt that I was on my own. The team managed to create an environment where conversation was encouraged, and my team mates were always available on Teams, whether it was just for a chat or to support or seek advice from. I wish this role could have continued, as I felt like I had found my perfect job role where my creativity was encouraged and my skills were all used instead of sitting stagnant.

Not much else happened in 2022, basically all that I seem to have done is eat, sleep and worked for most of it.

2023 – Everything Starts To Change

The start of 2023 saw the end of my secondment, and in February, I returned to my Payments Team desk job. However, returning wasn’t easy; there were already unaddressed issues from prior to my secondment starting that I knew I had to return and face, which, having generalised anxiety already, made the symptoms even worse. There were issues in the team, a new team leader and a weird vibe of unease seemed to hang in the air. My panic attacks returned, and along with those came a new symptom of fainting. By April, I had been signed off from work with work-related stress. I just couldn’t cope with the atmosphere, the unrealistic expectations put on me, the lack of support, and the attitude of the new team leader (who was pretty aggressive and had a really bad attitude). I was away from work for a good few months and decided, in that time, that I couldn’t realistically stay in Payments, so I started to apply for other roles elsewhere. I applied for, and got invited to, so many Communications jobs, but failed to get hired due to not having any “formal” qualifications in the field, despite having a portfolio of work, having been working as a Communications Officer for 6 months and being able to prove my skills. That was pretty disappointing, and my confidence was shaken.

I returned to Payments after a few months and continued to apply for other jobs around the area, and by December, I had secured employment with an optician in the next town over from where I live. I handed in my notice to the NHS, but quit 2 days before my notice period was up. I started my new role the following week.

Working in the opticians was completely different to my Payments job. It involved face-to-face interaction with patients, welcoming them on arrival, booking their appointments, answering queries, helping them choose glasses, fitting their glasses upon collection, fixing glasses and learning how to do pre-checks and OCT Scans. The job was fun and varied, and each day seemed to pass by in a blur of activity though I was starting to feel stressed in such a busy environment. But by 2024 things were set to change again.

2024 – More Change Ahead

The start of 2024 was already off to a rocky start when my “husband’s*” friends moved in with us. It turns out that the wife had not been paying the mortgage on their house and had been hiding a ton of financial shit from her husband. The repo men turned up and kicked them out of the house, and they had nowhere to stay. My “husband*” and I offered to put them up for a short period of time. That time turned into over 7 months, and along with that came a ton of drama and chaos and the yappiest dog known to man. (* he’s not my husband anymore, read on to find out more!)

I was still working in the opticians and trying to cope with my stress and anxiety due to still learning the job role and being in a high-pressure environment. There was even more stress and anxiety brewing in my personal life, which was starting to affect me. The “friends” that were staying seemed to be cramming more and more of their possessions into my home, taking over every available space, being around all the time, making so much noise, breaking my things and generally just outstaying their welcome. There seemed to be no sign of them leaving, and every conversation with my “husband” turned into some kind of argument where I was made to feel that I was in the wrong.

Again, I ended up being signed off from work with stress and anxiety, which is no surprise, really, due to the circumstances of things I was going through.

By mid-July, I had had enough of the outstayers and made it clear that I wanted them gone and my house back. Funnily enough, after 7 months and not seeing them make any progress towards finding somewhere to go, they miraculously found a house the following day and were packing and gone within the day.

I knew, due to my mental health, that I couldn’t go back to my optician role, and after discussions with the doctor about my mental health and recovery, I was told that I shouldn’t be working full-time, as my stress and anxiety would continue to get worse over time. I quit my optician’s role in October. With it came some relief, but my anxiety and stress were still there. BUT, I had already been thinking about other work I could do while I had been away from work.

I had researched and written a business plan, looked into business loans and secured myself a place on a training course. I applied for, and was accepted for a business loan, and in December I travelled to Barnstaple to begin training to become a loctician! I had training with Jon from Threadloxx and learned so much, and by the end of November, I was able to open my own business creating and installing dreadlocks, carrying out maintenance on dreadlocks and offering services including the creation and installation of temporary/braid-in dreadlocks.

2025 – Escape And Rediscovery

January arrived, and by this point, things had started to escalate pretty badly with “husband”. We were barely on speaking terms, and much of the time that conversations were going on, they ended with him screaming and shouting at me. There were several times that I left my house in the middle of the night and went to stay with friends. I felt unsafe and threatened in my own home. I asked him to leave, but he wouldn’t. I wasn’t sleeping in the same bed as him, preferring to sleep on the sofa. I kept quiet, walking on eggshells, my anxiety working overtime. I felt like I was constantly in fight or flight mode. There was an incident in January which pushed me to make a decision regarding my relationship. (Currently, I don’t want to share too many details about this, but I’m sure that, in the future, I will). I knew I had to make a plan and that leaving was the only option.

While I was busy thinking and trying to come up with a plan, I was still pushing my business, I had 2 clients book in for permanent dreadlock installation and a return client for maintenance.

I had also started a part-time job in a local grocery store just before Christmas that I was enjoying. The job gave me a break from my thoughts and plans, gave me space to start to rediscover myself, regaining confidence that had been lost and helped me to become more sociable.

As part of my business, I wanted to attend festivals as a trader and offer dreadlock maintenance along with selling some items – incense, handmade jewellery, temporary/braid in dreadlocks, offering face painting and hair styling. In May, I took one of my besties to a small festival and set up a stall. We had so much fun, not only did I manage to sell a load of things I also had lots of visitors to my business page afterwards. And I had a break from everything going on at home with my relationship and my “husband”. Funnily enough, while I was away with my bestie, the husband didn’t bother to text or call me for the whole 3 days I was away.

May was also the start of my escape plan. I bought a van that was part converted to a camper, there was an issue with the oil pump that I thought would be fairly easy to fix (the engine should have been fine as it hadn’t been moved or turned over since the oil pump went) and my plan was to get it back on the road, put my stuff in it and go and live in a field on a friends farm for a bit. But, as always, even with the best laid plans come issues. Currently, the van is still sitting in the garage, the engine is totally buggered, and I need to acquire a new engine (and we are talking £6500 or more) or try and find somewhere that will recondition it for me. This shouldn’t be that hard to sort out aside from the garage that I have it currently at not getting back to me with quotes or anything and I feel like I’m constantly chasing them to find out what is going on with it. This scuppered my plans of leaving the “husband”.

By June, things were pretty unbearable. I was spending more and more time staying at friends’ houses, working, doing my own thing or spending time with friends than any time with the “husband”. While I hadn’t discussed any of the issues I was going through with my friends, they knew that something was wrong. I went on the run with a friend towards the end of June, staying in hotels, bunkhouses, a cottage and camping. I left my dog at home and literally had only a bag of clothes with me, though I still managed to go to work. And even though I was living in complete chaos, not knowing what was going to happen, thinking I’d lost my house to him and that I’d have nowhere to go, something inside me started to grow stronger. I started to take back control. It started with gaining access to my bank account that I had set up when I moved to my house in 2018. It may have been a small thing, but it revealed so much to me. And I got angry, really, really, blood-boilingly angry. How dare he take over my home and do all the things to me that he did? I phoned the housing association, explained the situation, the house was SOLELY in my name, and he had no authority to try and take over my house and for me to leave. He was basically a squatter. The police were involved, the locks were changed and CCTV was installed. I got the keys back on the 28th July 2025.

The house was in an absolute state when I let myself in. All my things had been boxed up. The house was filthy and stank. He had even emptied out my studio space and let his child and her husband redecorate it so they could move in too. The police said I should let him have some of his clothes that night, but I wasn’t supposed to let him into the property. I had a friend with me, and with her help, we bagged up some of his shit; he came and collected it from the doorstep. I’ve not seen or spoken to him since that day.

Over the next 8 weeks, with the help of another friend, we packed up all of his belongings and ferried them to a lock-up for him to collect it all from. The police had said he wasn’t allowed near the house or near me, and it was discussed with a third-party representative that this was the best option. During this time, I dismantled broken furniture, filled both my car and my friend’s car (numerous times) with rubbish and did so many tip runs. I have scrubbed and cleaned the house from top to bottom. The floor downstairs needed so many buckets of soapy water before it came clean. I hacked up a stinking old broken, uncomfortable sofa with a saw (really satisfying) and got that out of the house and sat on the floor for weeks. I have redecorated the living area, bought a new sofa, unpacked my things and am starting to live again. I got boxes down from the attic, ones that I didn’t even realise were up there, ones of my things that he had slowly packed away and placed there.

I’m still discovering things that he has done to me and have been hit financially (I can’t disclose much at the moment), and have been left with a huge amount of debt that I’m working to pay off, but I finally feel like I can breathe again. No longer do I feel like I am walking on eggshells; my sleep has improved, I’m eating better and have even rediscovered my love of cooking. My anxiety is still there, ticking away in the background, but it is bearable and no longer is the overriding feeling louder than anything else.

So, what now? Well, I am working on building my business back up. I’m hoping to get back into being a nail technician on a more permanent basis, as well as continuing with my loctician services. I had a hair client a week ago that booked in for maintenance, and I took on a nail client over the weekend, which was good. I’m going to focus on advertising and creating a website with all my services and prices listed, along with a booking function. I am going to build up my jewellery and other stock so I can attend some festivals as a trader in 2026. I am getting my van fixed and running (waiting on a call from the garage, spoke to them yesterday, and they have PROMISED to call me back with an engine recon quote today). I am looking into training to become a team leader in my part-time job. I have had some really good feedback from other colleagues, got awarded a badge for selling the most memberships and had a certificate for some feedback left by a customer too! I am planning on returning to blogging, and honestly, since mulling over whether to post this or not, I’ve had a few ideas for future posts and I have a ton of other things I want to share, including some of my house decorating, food I have made and places I’ve been as well!

Guess Who’s Back? An Update

| Suzi Stamp

It’s been months since I last wrote a blog post and so much has happened in that time,  I have had a few weeks away from work with an unidentified sickness which was thought to be Coronavirus (this was pre-testing) which then developed into a 4 week, 2 lots of antibiotics, battle with a chest infection.  On top of that, I have had to take further time off from work as I had been in contact with someone who started to show Covid symptoms to shield my co-workers and make sure I was not unwell.  All of this and the uncertainty of the past few months in general have really knocked me off kilter with my routines and writing which has meant that blogging has been pretty hard to keep up with.

Though I have not been blogging I have still been writing, Iwrote an article for an on-line magazine called The Everyday that you can find here https://theeverydaymagazine.co.uk/opinion/working-from-home-before-and-after-covid?rq=suzi%20tench and I have written another article for them that should be published at some point in September.

I started the 100 Day Project(https://www.the100dayproject.org/), a free art project lasting 100 days, which started on 7th April 2020, where you aim to do something creative each day for 100 days.  I started with the good intensions of being able to complete the 100 days but gave up around 20 days because I just felt so unmotivated to do any art.  I had started with an idea to work on an 8×8 inch square each day that would link together with other squares to form a bigger picture.  In all honesty, though I really enjoyed what I was doing, I think I was overly ambitious in the sizing of my squares that took more than a day to complete.  I think I will do the project again next year with the same concept but use much smaller squares of either 4×4 inch or 2×2 inch as they will be quicker to complete.

I found a fab group on Facebook called Frock Up Friday thatwas set up by Susan Sims and Bevali Francis during lockdown and gave members an excuse to get dressed up on Fridays when much of the world was working from home in comfortable clothes.  I joined and have taken part in frocking up on several Fridays during lockdown, which has helped me with my mental health during these uncertain times and has given me something to look forward to each week.  The Frock Up Friday group are lovely and the outfit’s people post, not just on a Friday, are amazing!

The biggest thing that happened just prior and during lockdown was that I gained a new boyfriend who has moved in with me!  I say new, though we grew up together, his sister and I were best friends through secondary school and her family became like my second family when growing up.  We have been in contact much of our adult live, mostly via social media, and decided to meet for a drink one evening and didn’tstop talking all night.  It has been lovely to have someone in my life who has known me through the years and has shared memories of things we did as kids.  A few months ago, we made the decision to move in together, he gave notice on the place he had been living in and moved in with me.

Since Rob and I got together and lockdown has eased, we have been away several times for the weekend, once we went to St David’s for the weekend to visit his mum and other weekends we have stayed in Brean walking along the beach, going out for dinner, having a mosey around the market or playing games in the arcades.  We have spent nights in during the week, watching tv, cooking food, having takeaways, listening to music and enjoying the odd glass of cider or wine.  When it was really hot, back in July, we bought a large paddling pool that we put in the garden, filled with water and sat out in the evenings watching the sun go down and the stars come out.  All this stuff, things that people take for granted in relationships, I didn’t realise I missed until I had it back in my life.

Anyway, that’s enough of the soppy stuff…  What have you all been up to while I have been away?  I hope you are all well and safe!  Hopefully, this post will be the start of more regular blog posts coming from me as I have really missed my blog, blog friends ad my blogging routine!