I think it’s fair to say…

… I’ve had better weeks! I won’t go into detail but work has been crazy this week. Some very harsh decisions being made, the impact of which will show over the coming months. Moods have been low, tempers frayed and tolerances tested to their very limits. Please keep your fingers crossed for us all for a better week!

Christmas is well and truly over now. We had a lovely day on Sunday with the Linda & John, the friend that I call Julie ( ) and Sue who we don’t see nearly enough of. Son 2 came with us and was proud to announce that he was having his first vegetables for a week! Repeat to my self ‘I will not worry about him’. Before we moved to Ipswich, Linda & John and Julie were our neighbours and people often commented that our road was like Ramsey Street in the Australian soap ‘Neighbours’. We were all very close, our children were close in age and we leant a lot from each other as we went through the phases of our children’s lives.

I decided on Monday that I was having a stay at home day. John and I took down the Christmas decorations – the house is always so bare afterwards – and had a general tidy up. I thought I would be artistic and arrange some of my Christmas presents in my newly acquired spare bedroom which we have now set up with new furniture ready for anybody who wants to spend a night or two. I’ve displayed my beautiful quilting and crochet books for my guests to browse, should they be interested! I also had a couple of wicker baskets which I’ve used to hold some of my fabric stash – I’m starting to become one of those women who have to buy it when they see it and am building up quite a collection (with more on the way!!)

Although Ipswich were playing at home on Monday, I decided to let father and son have some male bonding so gave Son 2 my ticket – I’m so glad I did as we lost yet again. Our manager was finally relieved of his duties on Friday this week – I hope its not too late for this season to turn around. Today we play the mighty Chelsea in the FA Cup – I don’t think anybody is expecting us to win but you never know in the cup!

Yesterday we drove to my cousin in Stevenage which is a round trip of about 180 miles – seems mad I know but it was to be the first time that I’ve met up with my extended family for almost a year. We decided to set off early enough to have a meal on the way, debating which route we would take and of course we opted for the wrong one. We went via the A120 across country and decided that, instead of taking that road for the whole journey, we’d take the M11 to the M25. As soon as we hit the M11 the warning signs started flashing that the M25 was closed at the junction we would be exiting from! Our only option was to head of at Harlow – with the rest of the traffic! The poor sat nav woman was almost in emotional meltdown ‘turn around where possible’ was all she could say until we managed to convince her that we had some sort of idea of where we needed to go! In desperation we pulled off of the road and had a lovely carvery lunch in a pub in Harlow – served by real Essex girls! (sorry Essex girls but they were stereo typical!)

We made it to my cousin’s in good time, even finding an opportunity for John to find a geo-cache in an ASDA car park!! The reason for our visit was to celebrate her daughter’s first birthday and it was lovely to catch up with the rest of the family, although it’s a little strange now because most of our offspring are otherwise engaged and don’t make it to the gatherings which just leaves us oldies to reminisce with one another.

Well – that’s a lot about nothing in particular! Today I’m going to bind the edge of the quilt I made last weekend – otherwise I’ll become one of those who have numerous WIPs (works in progress!) and feel bad for not finishing. John has already been out this morning (at 7am) to find a cache and, as the weather forecast is good for today, he’s planning to set off again soon. I expect Son 2 will arrive at some stage with his laundry but until then I will be home alone – bliss!!