A bed of roses

 Christmas was a bit spread out this year, but went well.  My pashmina is even nicer 'in the flesh' than it was in the picture, which is unusual!  The dinner wasn't the greatest I've ever produced but it got eaten so I'll take the win.

I've spent the past week being quiet, lazy and self-indulgent, which was just what I needed.  The next week is for working my way through the house, giving it a proper clean.  It's not that big a house but doing a job per day leaves lots of time for doing other things.  Like rewarding myself for all the hard work with gaming :D

I got my booster jab yesterday and my arm's a bit sore but I'm otherwise fine.

I'm so glad I booked the extra week off, because I am NOT ready to go back to work.  I will keep an eye on my inbox, though, to clear out any random stuff so I don't have too much to tackle when I'm back properly on 10 Jan.

I seem to have developed a taste for rom-coms.  I rewatched The Holiday and then watched A Christmas Number One - both pretty cheesy and fairly predictable but taken in that spirit pretty enjoyable.

I'm also making my way through Poirot, which was made in the late '90s and early '00s, and which I enjoyed the first time round.  Poirot's relationship with Japp is a joy.  But the woman playing Miss Lemon overacts everything, which is annoying.  She does bear a striking resemblance to one of my colleagues, though!

I still have Titans S3 to finish and The Witcher S2 to watch.

And I'm trying to read Angela's Ashes but I'm finding the style a bit of a struggle to get through.

And that's life, today.  Happy New Year and see you next week!

I got into town as early as possible last week and it was already heaving.  Apparently everyone else had the same idea as me!  But I got some presents bought, then moved on to the 'normal' shop, which I had zero enthusiasm for.  More present buying today, but my 'normal' list is much shorter this week, so it shouldn't be so exhausting.

I'm going to put the Christmas decorations up tomorrow.  I was going to wait for next weekend but that would have felt like decorating JUST for the visitors, and I want us three to get into the Xmas Atmos.

My body is playing 'shall-I-shan't-I?' with periods again.  It FEELS like I'm about to get hit with the mother of all bleeds, but it just isn't arriving.  It's more annoying than the actual period would be.  I think...

I'm re-reading Little Women and enjoying it more than I remember.  It may be worth looking out the sequels, which I've never read.

Work was another battle of getting more senior people to do their jobs so I don't look like I'm not doing mine *sigh*  But I do love the VC, who has given us the days before Christmas off!  This means I have 3 whole weeks of doing nothing.  Well, not REALLY nothing, but you know what I mean.

And I'm feeling very noble for NOT investigating Playstation Access' '19 things we know about FF16'.  I don't need to be persuaded to buy it - I KNOW I'm going to buy it - all I need is the release date!  Oh, and another DA game is coming.  That, I think, I will probably investigate more, and get it when the price drops.

Right, the Asda shop is arriving early this week, so I need to be ready.  Bye, DW!

Work wise, I'm learning about Power Apps and working (slowly) through the process of designing and building one.  I've done the planning and some wire-framing - next up, data!

Weather wise, yesterday was a mix of squally showers and bright sunshine.  O_o

Christmas wise, we're wondering about whether we should have everyone down, which I think we're deciding we shouldn't.  But what do we do instead?  I'm pondering gift cards and cross-stitched Christmas cards - I would need to get my skates on to produce the latter but they should be doable.

Health wise, I'm feeling just about back to normal.

Writing wise, I got story number 46 up!  You can read it here.  It feels like it could be a bigger story, but so have a few of the recent ones.

Oh, and with Christmas coming up, don't forget you can still buy The Curse of Mannerley Manor, which is set at Christmas time!  I've just realised that I never got round to the e-version...  I think it should go on next year's 'to do' list because I don't have the mental capacity at the moment.

And that just about wraps the week up :)