I've Lost My Mojo !!

 Oh dear, I have definitely lost my mojo this last week.  The weather has been dull, damp and dismal as well as dark.  I have to work at the kitchen table these days and the kitchen faces north, making it very dark.  It's lovely and warm when the heating is on but the ceiling light is nowhere near as good as natural sunlight, which makes it hard to match colours for my CS cardmaking.  I might need to investigate daylight craft lamps.  Does anyone have one of these? Can you recommend a good, reasonably priced lamp?

I did manage to make another 15 simple cards this week, making a total of 30 since Jan 1st.   I took them to the shop yesterday and there were just 4 left in the basket from last week.  I need to make more of an effort this week although it's difficult to get time to myself in order to concentrate.  I like to put on a CD, relax and be alone for a couple of hours. Not easy when I'm constantly on call for "where is X ?" "where did you put Y ?" " do you want a cuppa?" 

😦

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The weather has kept us mostly indoors again and my joints don't like it.  My back is delicate, my shoulder aches, my hands hurt and my knee is numb 😢 

On the bright side, our Daughter and Granddaughter visited on Monday to bring Graham's birthday gifts and it was lovely to see them.  They stayed for lunch and we investigated GD's new car.  It's beautiful; a black MG and very stylish.

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I'll be back soon if I can get my thoughts together  to write an interesting post !

Stay safe and well wherever you happen to be,

Angie 

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Spending The Last Points & Mail Problems

 We managed to get the car out at last on Friday, so decided to visit Sainsbury's and spend the last of the Nectar points on stocking up the protein while we could.  This is what we bought....

I can't find the receipt 😕 but it came to a total of £18.32

Gray spent his £12.50 Nectar points plus £5.82 cash

Updated totals below.....

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 Nectar card balance Nil

Graham's Nectar card Nil

Boots card loyalty points £4.45

Cash Nil

 Extra cash spent : £6.73

I don't feel that I've done very well this January with the food shopping.  The snow has impeded progress!  I know we have eaten well so far and we still have enough food to eat well for at least another week but I know I could have done much better.  Lack of exercise has made us sluggish and we have been snacking out of boredom. 

 Oh well... it is what it is....

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Thank you all for your birthday wishes for Graham on Friday 😊 We have still not had post so the poor man had just ONE birthday card which had been pushed through the door, and a gift card from me for a spend at the local nurseries.  He wasn't upset.  He knows that several cards have been stuck in the mail system for a week now and our daughter and granddaughter will be visiting today if the roads have cleared a bit.  We are looking forward to some company!

That's all for now.  Thanks so much for popping in.  Stay warm and safe wherever you happen to be,

Angie💗

Warming up after the Hospital & More Snow!

 Graham had a long awaited hospital appointment just before Christmas with a neurology doctor at a local hospital. He has been waiting for a follow up for some time as he was promised to be referred to The Queen Elizabeth hospital in Birmingham for treatment.  It didn't happen.... and our GP chased it up after a 7 months wait.  Now Gray is back to square one as this appointment was simply another review 😖  We were in the waiting room for more than 2 hours for a 4.40pm appointment.  At one point, I thought we would be locked in as there was no-one else in the waiting room and the cleaning staff were prepping the empty rooms for the next day!  After paying the parking charge of £4.80 we finally left the hospital around 6.45pm into streams of work traffic.  We both felt so fraught that we stopped at the village pub on the way home to warm up and de-stress.  Any excuse 😂 A pot of tea for two by a roaring fire....a bargain @ £2.50 !

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It was Gray's birthday yesterday (9th).  He's caught me up at 76!  It snowed heavily again the night before so we are, once more, snowed in.  The post hasn't arrived for two days so no birthday cards other than one pushed through the door by my Sister-in-Law, no bin collection yesterday either and the local schools are closed.  Roll on Spring!

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Thanks for popping in.  Stay safe and well wherever you happen to be,

Angie 💗

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 Nectar card balance Nil

Graham's Nectar card £12.50

Boots card loyalty points £4.45

Cash Nil

 Extra cash spent : £0.91

National Year of Reading 2026 & Impressive Library Refurb

2026 will be the National Year of Reading.  It's something I applaud because so many kids don't want to read or, in fact, struggle to read and just give up.  Reading is the key to knowledge, isn't it.  If you don't know something you can easily look it up if you can read so it's essential in my view.  Our village library has had a massive amount of money spent on a refurbishment and it recently re-opened.  We wanted to go and take a look so after a button-busting lunch, walked down into the village to check it out....

I really like it.  They've opened it all up, rearranged the bookshelves, created a much bigger kids section which you can just see at the far end of my photo.....

.... and installed recycling bins for batteries, ink cartridges and bras!

They have created a quiet area for computer use, a couple of pods for quiet study and a lovely seating area by the adult large print books.  I wasn't really looking for a new book because I have several to read already but I spotted this one and couldn't resist it.....

There was free tea & coffee on offer at a small help-yourself table, so we made ourselves an instant coffee whilst Gray read the leaflets (no newspapers sadly) and I began my book.....

I like it so it came home with me.  I have until 17th January to finish it 😀 The library is a lovely warm space so we will definitely use it again  once the weather warms up a bit and the ice has melted👍

Do you know if your area will be participating ?

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Thanks for popping in.  Stay safe and well wherever you happen to be,

Angie 💗

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 Nectar card balance £17.50  Nil

Graham's Nectar card £12.50

Boots card loyalty points £4.45

Cash  £19.37  Nil

Extra cash spent : £0.91

To Shop or Not? Ice Decided It....

 The snow has still not melted and our street never gets gritted so we are loathe to go out to do a 'big' shop this week.  After a great deal of thought I decided to do an online shop with Sainsburys this week after all.  I know it costs £2 for delivery on a spend of £40 plus but it felt worth it not to run the risk of falling in the icy weather we are dealing with.  On closer inspection, I had accumulated a few more Nectar points on bonus offers and now had £20.00 to spend.   I used this plus the £19.37 in cash to make up an order to keep us going over the next week or so. 

Aargh.... I forgot to take a photo before I put my shopping away but I'll add photos of the receipt which you should be able to expand to see properly.....

There were several substitutions and the satsumas looked awful so were handed back to the driver for a refund.  The total spend, over and above my £20 in Nectar points, was £20.08.  I used the £19.37 left in the jar plus cash from the account of 91p. This leaves us with:

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 Nectar card balance £17.50  Nil

Graham's Nectar card £12.50

Boots card loyalty points £12.44 £4.45

Cash  £19.37 Nil

Extra cash spent:  £0.91

I bought more than I would have done had I shopped in store, but I now have enough loo rolls, dishwasher tablets and washing up liquid to last the month.  The cereal has been topped up too and a few things added to the store cupboard eg beans.

This now leaves just £12.50 in Nectar points on Gray's card.  Next shop will be a lean one! 😂

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Thanks for popping in.  Do stay safe and well wherever you happen to be,

Angie 💗

Spending Loyalty Points & Needing Fresh Air!

 After another bitterly cold night and more snow, and not having ventured out further than to top up the bird feeder, we were champing at the bit for some exercise.  Gray de-iced the car and we popped to the next village on a mission to spend a few Boots loyalty points on stuff we needed.......

They cost a total of 799 points (or £7.99), leaving 445 points for another time......

I had a voucher for another free hot drink so we took the opportunity to pop into Greggs for a warm up and a yummy hot chocolate.  

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I also wanted to drop off another batch of cards at the shop, so donated another 15 to start the year off well....

We were out for just over an hour but were really glad to get back into the house.  The cold fair took off our ears!

Have you ventured out into the snow?

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Thanks for popping in.  Do stay safe and warm wherever you happen to be, 

Angie💗

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 Nectar card balance £17.50

Graham's Nectar card £12.50

Boots card loyalty points £12.44 £4.45

Cash  £19.37

Charity Shop Book Finds

When we popped to the nearest village for a walk and a bit of fresh air I just couldn't resist browsing the bookshelves in the charity shop.  Most books are just 50p each and I quickly spotted this Trisha Ashley and a Miss Read book.  I have read Trisha's book before but it was some years ago and I quite fancy reading it again.  The Miss Read books are always a nostalgic, gentle read.  I also spotted the Richard Armitage one (not sure if I'll like it) and an Evie Woods who is a new-to-me author but, hey....it's a book about books! 

On my way to the till I had a quick rummage through the 'tat' box and discovered this cute little cross stitch kit for 50p.  I just couldn't leave it behind 😁

 

I am still sticking to my £10 per week spending money so now have £7.50 left.  Oh... and I got a free coffee with my insurance App.  I could even sit inside Greggs in the warm whilst I drank it.  Bargain!

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Thanks for popping in.  Stay safe and well wherever you happen to be,

Angie💗

✭

 Nectar card balance £17.50

Graham's Nectar card £12.50

Boots card loyalty points £12.44

Cash  £19.37