Here we go again...Countdown to Christmas 2026 (Thread 1)

[NoWordForFluffy]

365

Evening!

I'm a bit tipsy and very tired, but it's been a good day.

Round 2 tomorrow with the roast dinner!

Morning my days off to an irritating start my mil is in hospital on the end of life pathway we have been visiting weekly but haven't seen her for the past 2 weeks because the wards been closed due to a virus. The ward reopened yesterday so we were planning to visit today however I have just had a text from DPD to say my expensive new computer which was due to be delivered Monday is actually arriving today - I can't risk not being here as some delivery drivers have a nasty habit of ignoring instructions and leaving things in plain view and this will clearly show that it's a computer in the box. There is an option on the ap to rearrange the delivery to Monday but I daren't risk it as its already on the van and who knows if they will get that information and actually pay attention to it.

DH will have to go on his own to visit now (2 hrs each way) we always stop for lunch on the way there so I didn't get anything in for lunch today as I expected us to be eating out grrrr I'm also concerned at not being there to support DH as we've been told that in the 2 weeks shes had no visitors she has deteriorated significantly. I was told DPD wouldn't deliver on a weekend which is why everything was arranged for Monday whats the point of having a delivery date if they can change it on the day.

Absolutely livid I was tracking the delivery van on the ap for an hour, also had my ring camera on for an hour tracking showed van 3 stops away in the street behind us and then I get a text saying "sorry we missed you" we'll try again tomorrow!! They didn't "try" at ALL today so so cross.

250

@Gracesquirrel so sorry to hear about your MIL and also twatty DPD. I would also be absolutely livid especially as you had much more important stuff to do with your day than waiting in for couriers that didn't bother to deliver. I would be totally kicking off with customer service.

Had a lovely day yesterday with friends in town. Think there was a karaoke bar involved at some point but best to blank that one out. Was home by 9pm and in bed by 9.30pm so don't feel too bad today and may even manage some weeding.

Argh grace that is annoying .
Does "we missed you" mean hey completely missed you out of their delivery schedule ? Because if they came to your door you'd have RingDoorBell footage , a card through the door or a photo of them attempting ..........which you do not have !
If they do try to say they called then you need to ask "where's the evidence"?
Still a pain when they moved the date and you had to shift things about .

250 is a milestone CountDown Day I reckon.

They didn't even enter the Close where I live the uploaded photo they claim is of my property is actually several miles away and is clearly taken from across the road from that house (I know where they took the photo from). I have their ap and it has a pin in my address, a what3words description and a photograph of my actual house, additionally I have a designated safe place and not one but 2 neighbours listed willing to take a parcel for me both of whom were also home all day yesterday. No attempt was made. Moreover at 5am this morning they sent me a text which woke me up to say they were sorry they missed me again and would now deliver Monday instead. Yet at 10am I got yet another text to say my parcel was out for delivery and will be here this afternoon. They are just awful and I have no idea if it will turn up today or not luckily we aren't going anywhere so will be in all day.

What a pain in the arse, Grace. I didn't even know that DPD worked or at least pretended to work at the weekend. Couriers can be the bane of our lives if they aren't reliable.

It's been a lovely day here today. We sat on the balcony drinking beer earlier and it was glorious, as it was sunny and sheltered from the breeze. We've subsequently done some housework (I washed up and cleaned the bathrooms and DH made the beds) and dinner is on the hob, as I made it after washing up (beef shin casserole).

We have done two loads of washing today. The bedding earlier and towels once it was half price electricity. DH swapped the bedding I put out this morning for the towels.

It's been mildly productive (against all odds!).

249

Morning!

Really quite chilly here this morning. Gorgeous and sunny, but 🥶 There was frost in places away from streetlights / urban warmth. I'd worm a sleeveless top so was a bit cold!

Morning all lovely bright day here today, my pc turned up yesterday but is currently sitting unopened in its box whilst I wait for Openreach to arrive to upgrade us to full fibre broadband. Just hoping that they turn up soon. Then its all systems go to getting the pc set up and maybeeee later today I will put my big girls pants on and with everything crossed see if I can install Minecraft and import the back ups I made before my previous computer died ... my grandson says he's extremely worried for me as when he tried to import his old world on his new pc it all went terribly wrong and he lost everything. My son has told me to make copies of my copies of back ups and they are both going to be anxious for me as they know how many hours of work I have put into my worlds since I started playing during covid.

Grace DPD are bloody awful. Sorry you’ve had the run around from them and I’m even more sorry they cost you a visit to your MIL.
I hope your Minecraft stuff moves over ok 🤞🏼

Bit of a tough weekend here. The house was chaos and both DH and I were tired so we bickered a bit. Then DH went out (planned) with LO and I was so overwhelmed by how much stuff I need to do and hormonal that I got upset. DH got home to me snivelling in the kitchen, up to my eyes in clearing out the random Tupperware/drinks bottles/empty jars cupboard
Ended up with us going through the job list, splitting it more fairly and having a good talk. I was explicit about how peri is kicking my arse as I thought DH understood but he didn’t. That helped.
Anyway, I feel a lot better now. We blitzed the house together and I’ve spent the last 3 nights sewing things that have been waiting for ages.

My poor garden hasn’t had a look in though. Sigh.

Once I’m done with sewing tonight I’m going through my craft list and going to try and narrow down what I need to do (as promised for other people) and what I’d like to do. I’ve got such a big list it’s switched from hobby for enjoyment to added tasks on a to do list with pressure I don’t need.
I have no idea how people juggle life, work, house, family, MH, friends without it swallowing them whole!

That sounds stressful Cheeses can you try and get your hobby back to just being a hobby so it gives you back some me time for fun rather than it being another job on the todo list?

I am delighted to report I have fully restored my Minecraft worlds - I am a very happy squirrel.

248

Just dashing in to place the CountDown number .

247

Looks like being a lovely day in London and thankfully I can walk to my exams so I don't have to put up with any tube strike chaos.

Rudolph Day Saturday - is anyone doing anything Christmassy?

Afternoon!

Lovely here today after another cold start.

How long is the tube strike on for? Must be frustrating.

I have nothing Christmassy planned as yet. It still feels a bit early for me!

Thank you Grace and sorry for a miserable post on the happy thread.
I still feel like I’m drowning here but it’s hopefully on the up now.

Weather has been lovely here today. I still don’t have a line but I’ve had both airers out in the garden today so my clothes will have the nice ‘dried outside’ freshness.

Saturday won’t be Christmassy here. It’ll be clubs then me and LO are going to visit my friend overnight. Sounds silly but I’m really looking forward purely because her DH will cook a nice tea (he’s a wannabe chef), her dc will entertain LO and I’ll be able to relax and offload to her a bit because she was me a few years ago.

As part of my stress the other day I went through my craft to do list and cut it down dramatically. I’ve split it between stuff for others, stuff I’d like to make for me or the house and Christmas crafts (but that includes basics like potato printing wrapping paper with LO as well as more time consuming stuff).

246

Morning!

Beautiful weather here again, if still quite chilly for the dog walk / run.

Meeces, I forgot to answer you. Sorry you're finding it hard. My answer is that I didn't try to live anywhere near the life I had pre-kids for a good while when they were little and all-consuming. Our lives were small, other than the kids and immediate family, other than the occasional foray into friends' nights out.

That may not be the approach you want to take, however, but it worked for us and prevented burnout.

Evening! Can’t believe we are approaching the fourth Rudolph day of the year! I’m dragging the family out for a three mile walk. We are having an active holiday and I’m trying to build a tiny bit of fitness that I can with all my health and physical issues.

im back working full time and I barely know my own name.

I can barely remember the Life Before The DC , I know I was thinner , probably had more money etc.
DS tells me if I'd just had him as an only child I could've bought xyz . I tell him if I didn't have him I could've bought two horses ! He doesn't see this a fair swap and reckons my life was completed by his arrival
Rudolph Day we're going to sort out winter clothes to put away , most is done but there's a few jumpers .
Then send DH up in the attic to get the summer clothes out , wash and hang out if it's nice weather .
I want to buy a couple of things but I need to know what to wear them with .

DD wants Steamed Syrup Pudding , that could be a Rudolph Day thing , she likes that instead of Christmas Pudding

245 Morning. Looks to be a beautiful day out there (said from my desk next to the window).

Thanks Fluffy. There has been more big talks here because DH took on additional stuff at work at the start of the school year and my workload is th same now I'm pt as it was before I went off and was ft.
DH has spoken to his boss and is going to scale back the extras and take a temporary sideways move for a year so he'll be around more/have less evening work to do. And I'm addressing the workload with my boss and scrapping the plan to go back full time in September- will do another year part time I think (DH is more than onboard with it, he thinks it's a great plan as LO will be in school from Sept so my day off will be until 3pm rather than 11am like it is now).

I think we both just felt like now LO is in nursery each day we should be able to enjoy life more but we underestimated how much energy it takes just to keep on top of basics.

We've agreed if parents want to see LO we need to push them to come here more (I say they but my parents already do that to make my life easier).

And we're just accepting that it's a hard time and we don't get to relax as much as before or have the same relationship as we did before.
Tough times but I think we're working together to make it work.

70 I remember our lives before LO vividly. I don't particularly miss is tbh, we kept busy with work and travelling because we didn't have any reason to be home (and we were desperate for a dc so everything was a distraction really).
Only thing I miss is the freedom to lie in or just wake up and read/watch tv/have breakfast/craft in bed on a weekend morning.
Oh and money- LO is bloody expensive!

lol at the comparison between your DS and the 2 horses you could have had instead 😂
MIL has horses and I'm not convinced your life would have been better tbh - MIL has done 30years of daily feeding/watering/looking after for her mare. At least DS can feed and water himself by now 😂

Anyway, plan for today is work until 1. Nursery pick up. Collect parcels - one of which is Christmas bedding for LOs new bed (he chose it off Vinted), home for a bit - possibly gardening - then LO has swimming before home for LOs tea and bedtime and my 'feet up and crafting' time I think.

244

Happy Rudolph Day !!

Yesterday was a couple of medical appointments for me . today I have to take my car to the garage then sort out my clothes .

DH is doing some DIY round the house
If it's nice later , might sit outside

Starting a 6 Week BootCamp ( or Princessing or Glow Up ) for my Birthday Prep .

Aim to have no sweet things or ice cream . I'm not doing Low Carb , if I took things like rice and pasta out of my diet I'd starve <Drama Queen>
Just had some bread-maker bread toast . Delicious
Have a lovely weekend Countdowners and the Rudolph Day Planning .

Morning all lovely day here not planning anything Rudolphy at the moment, we'll be visiting mil in hospital who we have been told is deteriorating significantly, so we probably won't be there very long as shes not up to it. We are going via Trago Mills as is our usual habit, lunch in their cafe and a wander around the store to break the journey (and best place for a loo break lol). If anything takes my fancy I could well end up with Xmas stuff but it depends on whats come in this week.

Morning!

It's glorious here. The dog run / walk was sweaty but lovely.

We're currently eating bacon sandwiches in the garden. It's the first breakfast in the garden this year.

Meeces, it sounds like you're coming up with good plans to give yourself a bit more time to yourselves, so that's good.

I'm taking DS to have his eyes tested later as apparently he's struggling to see the board at school. No other plans!

243

Oh shit I forgot Rudolph Day! 😂Had friends over for dinner and I spent the day furiously cleaning and cooking.

So sorry to hear about your MIL @Gracesquirrel it must be very difficult, hope the shopping managed to cheer you up a bit.

Its looking like another lovely day here too and its marathon day, I will be watching from the comfort of the sofa.

Meeces great idea to stay part time if you can, kids are bloody exhausting and it won't change for years. I feel like I only really started getting a bit more time to myself when they started secondary school. BUT this time flies by so fast - last night DS(16) did his first babysitting job for some neighbours. They didn't come back till nearly 1am and I waited up for him. When he got in he said "you didn't have to wait up for me I was only next door" (I could not have slept without knowing he was back safe -So now my sleepless nights will be coz he is babysitting)

Garden breakfasts sound amazing Fluffy

6 week bootcamp on the other hand sounds hard 70

My dishwasher just started leaving a slightly grainy residue on a few things, it isn't the filter as I am on top of that but I wondered if i should take off the spray arms. I did notice that I bought Sainsburys own dishwasher tablets recently and I am thinking it might be those.

So I googled it and fell into a rabbit hole of dishwasher dilemmas and some people saying use powder not pods???? Never even heard of dishwasher powder. Thoughts anyone?

Morning.

Maybe those tablets don't dissolve as well as the previous ones, Magnolia. We use Aldi / Lidl 'platinum' types and they're fine. Back in the day, Wilko did an excellent one, but they stopped making them even before Wilko stopped trading. That was disappointing as it was a big box of them for about £4.

It's sunny here, but the wind has picked up, so not as warm unless you're sheltered. Dog walk soon.

Visit to mil was actually fine, she's comfy and not in pain and really not too aware of whats going on she sleeps most of the time, shes 93 and is just slipping away slowly, its harder on us than it is on her.

I have my annual eye test this morning so popty ping pasta for lunch and hubbys off to an open mic night early evening so sandwiches he can take with him and eat in the car for tea.

Probably is the tablets Magnolia , I did buy the Sainsbury gel a couple of times but my go-to now is the Aldi 3-in-1 (the casuals).
I make a trip to Aldi about every 2-3 months for laundry/dish washer/ washing up liquid and frozen things for DS.
I'm in a hard water area so do a cleaning maintenance wash for the dishwasher and washing machine every month (on or near the 1st of the month ) and a bowl of white vinegar on the upper basket of the dishwasher EcoZone cleaning tablets .
If my dishwasher leaves gritty residue it's usually salt or rinse aid (both have a notification light) that needs topped up , or it needs cleaned .

There was a thread a few months back which was either "filter ? I'm meant to clean the filter "? or "You mank ! You need to disembowel the whole machine every month and scrub it "

Sorted some clothes but there's still loads missing , I know there's another bag up there , things I wouldn't have got rid of .

Grace it is tough just watching and waiting but you know the comfort is needed for the family who will be left behind . Your MIL sounds in a peaceful state which is a comfort .

I'm on Day 3 of Not Eating Rubbish so had a cooked breakfast , coffee , lots of water , no sweets, biscuits or crisps etc. I think the first couple of days and especially being at home is toughest .
I will thank myself by the end of it