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Weekly Roundup Monday 12TH Jan – Sunday 18th JAN

| Suzi Stamp

MONDAY 12TH JAN

I’ve got a few days off from work, so I decided to start painting the skirting boards in the dining area. Whilst the paint was drying, the wallpaper hanging kit I’d ordered from B&Q arrived! Once the skirting was fully dry (and with the proper tools!) I decided to hang the accent wallpaper strips and finished wallpapering the back wall in the dining area. When Shane came home from work, we decided to have fish and chips from the local chippy for tea!

TUESDAY 13TH JAN

Another day off and another decorating day! I’ve already painted the inside of the corridor/living area door (I’ll add a pic below so you can see it!), and I have decided to paint the other side of it today. I spent some time base coating it with white paint, and when that was dry, I masking taped it up before getting stuck in with the accent colours. I chose Valspar Found Treasure (a bright yellow) that I’d had mixed as a tester, and Dulux Rich Black for the details on the door and am painting the rest of the door in B&Q Tough and Durable paint in Shizouka using a tester pot. The door needed more than one coat of Shizouka, so after Shane returned from work, we headed to B&Q to pick up some more. While we were there, we also had a look at some new kitchen door handles and kitchen taps. When we came home, we made tuna pasta that we had for tea.

WEDNESDAY 14TH JAN

I had a quiet morning and began exploring decorating ideas for the upstairs area, now that the downstairs is nearing completion. I worked from 12:00pm to 4:00pm. Shane is away for a few days and will be coming home on Friday, so I had left over tuna pasta for dinner and caught up on some TV. I also booked some leave from work as we are planning some time away in February and March. Once Shane had arrived at his hotel, we had a cute evening playing Animal Crossing online and visited each other’s islands, which was fun.

THURSDAY 15TH JAN

I had the day off today and had no real plans aside from painting another coat on the door. My best friend had borrowed my car over Christmas and dropped it back to me. We had a coffee before popping up to his for another coffee and to see my baby boy, Zeus. I went to B&Q to look at paint samples for an idea I have got for the stairs in the house, before deciding that opting for wood stain would be the better option, so I picked up a sample sheet of different stains available. I also popped into TkMaxx to pick up some shower gel, new graphic liner pens and some coffee beans. I also got a new perfume as my favourite Lush one was running out. I stopped off on my way home at Aldi, where I got some groceries for tea. When I got home, I put another coat of paint on the door as the purple was still looking a bit patchy and started to add the wallpaper to the panels, then I did my nails. After that, I had a bath and read my book before making my tea of cauliflower and cheese bakes in buns with salad.

FRIDAY 16TH JAN

I had a massive lie-in and got up at 10:45am! Shane was travelling home today, and we decided to play Animal Crossing online while he was on the train back. I picked him up from the station at 1:30pm. I had work from 5:00pm to 10:00pm, so I started getting ready for my shift after we had coffee. We had spinach and ricotta stuffed pasta with tomato and marscapone cheese sauce topped with fresh parmesan shavings (yum!) for tea after I’d finished work, as it was quick and easy to prepare, and both of us were pretty tired after our day.

SATURDAY 17TH JAN

I had a shift at work between 6:00pm and 10:00pm, but before that, Shane and I decided to go to B&Q to get some plumbing items so we could connect the dishwasher to the drainage and water supply. While we were there, we picked up some wood that I want to use as a frame for the wallpaper that we have up in the living area on our chimney breast. We also picked up some white spirit and some cloths, as we are planning on removing the vinyl flooring in the kitchen and will need to remove the glue from the tiles under it afterwards. While I was in work Shane plumbed in the dishwasher!

SUNDAY 18TH JAN

I kept getting hot and cold in the night, resulting in a disrupted night’s sleep. I woke with a sick feeling that wouldn’t go away. We had a fairly lazy day because of this, although we did place a grocery order through Ocado. I worked from 6pm to 10pm, and when I got home, we had an early night as I was so tired.

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 29TH Dec – Sunday 4TH Jan

| 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

| 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.

WEEKLY ROUNDUP MONDAY 24TH NOV – SUNDAY 30TH NOVEMBER

| Suzi Stamp

I used to love writing these kinds of posts and sharing what I had done in my week, and it’s something I’m keen on re-starting. At the moment, I can’t add any photos to my posts, I have used my allocated media space and need to upgrade my plan, but I will be adding photos to my blog Instagram so you can view them there for the time being! I am planning on writing these posts and publishing them on a Saturday morning. The Weekly Roundup posts will cover the week previous to the one we are currently in and will be dated in the heading with the week that they cover (as above), so they will be easy to track and spot!

MONDAY 24TH NOVEMBER

I had the day off from work today and spent some of the day making hair braids with red, white and green kankelon hair for my boyfriend to wear to his work’s Christmas party. I made some 3-strand plaits, some twists and a couple of fish tail braids, connecting them to mini hair claws so they would be easy to put in and take out. We had been shopping for food a few days previously and had picked up some frozen Salmon Risotto, which we had for tea.

TUESDAY 25TH NOVEMBER

I had work between 6pm and 10pm, but during the day, I managed to write a blog post and publish it (you can read that here). I also started working on a blog plan for posts that I want to write for the rest of 2025 and 2026. Work had some lovely Christmassy plants in, and I came home with 2 sets of hyacinths in sparkly pots to display in the house.

WEDNESDAY 26TH NOVEMBER

I had a shift at work from 12pm – 4pm. I was awake early and did some housework – laundry, putting the bins and recycling out for collection and cleaned the kitchen. I spent some more time on Excel (my go-to software for planning), working out a blog schedule. While at work, I realised that one of the feathers from my Pandora charm had disappeared, so I need to look into getting that fixed or replaced at some point.

THURSDAY 27TH NOVEMBER

I had a day off today, and my best friends and I had arranged to meet for a late lunch and a few drinks. I had a bit of a panic as I didn’t know what to wear, the weather was cold and rainy, and half the clothes I used to wear don’t fit anymore as I’ve lost so much weight. I finally decided on a dress that I layered over a black mesh top and black vest top, tights, boots and my trusty fake fur coat. I did my makeup and got a bus (a single ticket was bloody expensive!) to our meeting point earlier than planned. We went to Wetherspoons, where I had a pint of Atlantic Pale Ale and Scampi and Chips. We sat and chatted and had a lush time. I’d made an application to change my surname via deed poll, and the certificate had come earlier in the week, so I took that with me, and my besties signed it as my witnesses! My boyfriend came to pick me up later and dropped my friend home.

FRIDAY 28TH NOVEMBER

I had a shift between 4:45pm and 10pm. I was up early and spent some time doing some cleaning and tidying. I had sardines on toast with some parmesan cheese for breakfast – something which I love but don’t have very regularly! I also wrote and published another blog post (you can have a read of that here). I spent some time planning more decorating and looking at house decorating stuff online before getting myself ready for work. My boyfriend cooked us food for when my shift was over, we had Quorn Chicken Nuggets, beans and chips, which were yum! We got down some of my Christmas decorations and had a look through them to see what we could use and sorted through them.

SATURDAY 29TH NOVEMBER

I’ve been wanting a proper, real Christmas tree for the past few Christmasses, but, for one reason or another, I’ve never been able to have one, not to mention that for years I’ve not really felt very festive. This year, though, I’m finding that the festive spirit is seeping back into my life and I’m getting really excited about Christmas this year! Before I started work (6pm – 10pm shift), my boyfriend and I headed to the local B&M and bought a real Christmas tree!! We got some new decorations to go on it, too! When I got home from work we put some Christmas music on, poured ourselves a good glug of Dooleys and set about decorating the tree! We were up until gone 3am, having too much fun decorating the tree and chatting.

SUNDAY 30TH NOVEMBER

Sunday was a bit of a chill day; I had seen an ornament on Facebook that was similar (or maybe even the same) as one my Grandma used to have, being advertised for sale in the local tip shop (a shop near the tip that people can donate items to that are too good to be thrown away). I showed my boyfriend, and we decided to visit the shop to see if it was still for sale. Unfortunately, the item wasn’t there anymore, but we had a look at other items they had in the shop. We then visited the tip and got rid of my old, fake Christmas tree, which was falling apart and had gone rusty. When we came home, I made us fried cheese toasties, which we had with salad for our lunch. We decided to have a roast dinner later and prepared all the bits for that. We have been doing some scrapbooking and ordered some photos for our scrapbook pages from Free Snaps, so we can make some more pages for our memory book when they arrive!

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?