Festivities

I read through everyone’s most recent blogs last night and it looks like you all had a great Christmas and got goodies galore! I had a great time at Panto, Julian Clary was hilarious, and we had a lovely meal in the Hippodrome restaurant (me a mini meal).

My Cute Knitted Elephant From My Mum. He was bought From a Lovely Lady at the Bicycle Basket Bazaar.
I usually spend Christmas at my aunt’s but Lily is more at home with my mum’s dogs than my aunt’s so we went there and had a lovely time. We watched Christmas TV, did a jigsaw, filled out our new diaries etc. I received lots of lovely presents and so many more than I’d anticipated. My best present was from my mum; over 150 vintage Woman’s Illustrated magazines, which I collect. I’d spotted them on eBay a few months ago as a job lot and mum strongly advised me not to bid on them as ‘it’s a waste of money’. I put a bid in anyway, although quite a low one, and since the bidding was private I didn’t know that I was in fact bidding against mum for them. She did really well to keep them a secret because she’s a bit like me with presents and gets so excited that she wants to give them early, but she held out. When I asked what the large box was in the living room she said it was a paint brush cleaning machine for my step dad. I believed her right up to the last minute when she said ‘that’s not really Tony’s present, it’s yours’, and I wondered why on earth she’d bought me a paint brush cleaner until I opened it!
Woman's Illustrated

The magazines kept me busy all day as I not only flicked through them but catalogued them in my little system. I catalogue all the issues and dates etc so that when browsing eBay for more to add to my collection I know which ones I already have. Funnily enough when I phoned people to thank them for my presents nearly all of them said, ‘I thought it would keep you quiet for the day’. Hmmm. My Where’s Wally set of books, vintage magazines, and Christmas sticker book suitable for a four year old certainly kept me quiet, as did cuddling up with the dogs and eating chocolate. Yes, the diet slipped a bit over Christmas but I still ate nowhere near the amount I usually would so when I nervously weighted myself today I had still lost weight. Yay! I’ve now lost exactly a stone and I’m very much back on the diet.

My New Tape Measure From My Bestest
I decided to be sensible with my Christmas money and rather than waste it on clothes that won’t fit me in a few months I bought the shelving system I’d been wanting from Ikea to keep all my stock tidy. My cousin helped me put it up yesterday and my spare room looks so much tidier. I can’t wait to head off to the carboot sale on Sunday and fill it with more goodies. I haven’t been to a carboot sale for ages and I’m very excited. My leopard print shopping trolley is at the ready and by pounds, fifties and twenties are all bagged up ready to be spent. Apologies for the lack of festive pics in this post, I’ve totally veged out over Christmas and neglected to take any pics of presents and the like before putting them all away. Right, I’m off to carry on my January sortathon. Hope you all have a lovely evening!