Sorry I haven’t written for a while! It didn’t seem possible, I know, but life has been even more crazy than it was previously and I was struggling to keep up with the retelling of events back then! Rest assured, there will be some action-packed instalments coming up when I actually have some time to do what I love most…writing! Sleeping might be nice too…aah, dreams!😴

Anyway, back in blog-time, it had been no secret that GH (grumpy husband) and I had not been on the best terms. In fact we were probably in the worst place we had been in our entire relationship! Stressed out, irritable, sleeping in separate rooms and spending absolutely no time alone together.☹️ We couldn’t seem to have the simplest conversation without it ending in raised voices and Mia was definitely picking up on it.☹️☹️ With Christmas around the corner, we decided to have a festive truce to give her a nice holiday period as a family and then…well, we would have to make a decision about our relationship going forward, as we couldn’t carry on like this!

Monday:

Working in an educational establishment when pretty much everyone else is on holiday is hard. I tried to muster up some motivation to do some of those jobs which never get done throughout the year…the bottom of my In tray is like the bottom of my laundry basket at home! Those “hand wash only” garments which probably only get worn once a year because you can’t be bothered to fill a sink and scrub them (or you get frustrated and chuck them in the washing machine on a gentle cycle (because that won’t hurt, right?!) and then you wreck your beautiful pieces which cost way more than normal clothes in the first place for the pleasure of you not being able to launder them in a regular fashion!😑(Sorry, I’m not quite sure where laundry rant came from!😬)

I took Mia for a sleepover at Bianca’s and the kids were off the wall excited! We thought after dinner they may calm down slightly, but they didn’t, so we let them watch a movie, which also did not have the desired effect! They all clambered into the same bed and we admitted defeat for a while, with the hope that lying down would do the trick. Bianca and I watched Pitch Perfect 2 in preparation for Chicks at the Flicks on Friday in between telling the kids it was time to go to sleep! They eventually went quiet and had passed out with the light on they were that tired!🙊

Tuesday:

Bianca had to be up and out early as she had to get to work, so we drove home and pressed the garage door buzzer, but thanks to last week’s water-logging, it wouldn’t work at all! “Just use your door key!” I hear you cry! Alas, Dani still had it from when she was dog sitting, so messaged to see if I could come and fetch it. While we were waiting for a response, we decided to have an impromptu selfie session in the car, as you do!

A lovely lady that I got to know through a local Facebook group came over to help me out with my blog in the afternoon . She gave me tips on how to get adverts on there and how to increase engagement etc. Now I need to allocate time to actually put it into practice!!!😬 Thank you Gail from Thompson Digital Solutions! Toowoomba peeps – Gail is great for all your IT needs!😊

Wednesday:

I went to work and Dani took the kids to meet PJ Masks at Grand Central. Apparently Mia (aka photo poser extraordinaire) refused to pose with the characters, which was completely out of character for her!🤔

Operation festive truce was in full flow this evening as we went to Toowoomba’s Christmas Wonderland and even got GH in some photos! He may have had gritted teeth, but he was in them!🎉 He did, however, want to leave fairly quickly, whereas Mia and I are browsers and probably outstay our welcome at times! I waited until I could see the hint of smoke emerging from ears and then we made our exit!

Thursday:

Went to Rita’s for a play date. The kids played in the pool and the Mums chatted and ate cake! This festive season is no good for my waistline, but at least in England it’s cold and you can hide your cake belly under your Winter layers! Here it’s self-sabotage because you have to sport your Christmas spare tyre in swimwear, or keep covered up and sweat to death! What a choice!😳

Friday:

The final day of work before Christmas break 🎉and I struggled to even get there! I only had one student appointment so turned up in flip flops with still-wet-from-the-shower-hair towing my 5 year old behind me…to discover that she had brought her Mum with her to have a chat with me!😳😳😳 Mia actually saved the day by doing a Christmas carol and dance concoction which took a little bit of heat off my appearance thank goodness!

We said farewell to our final students of the year and had a festive lunch! Mia was in performing heaven (anyone would think the kid never gets attention!) and we had a few festive toasts, which were unfortunately all too brief as we all had to drive home!🤷🏼‍♀️

Then it was off to the cinema for Chicks at the Flicks which was Pitch Perfect 3 and was hilarious! Hiromi won the raffle so our group’s winning streak continued! We seem to be a pretty jammy group thus far, with someone in our herd winning every time we have been!🙋🏼

Saturday:

Mia and I drove out to see some Christmas lights which had been mentioned in the Chronicle Christmas lights competition which were just down the road, because they would be gone soon! They were great, but not quite as good as the houses we saw in Highfields last year. People really go all out but I just can’t help thinking about the size of their power bill! It must be obscene!😳

On the way home I was stopped by a police officer for a random breath test. I have actually never had one before so didn’t even know how to blow into it properly!🙊Mia was very concerned and kept asking the policeman if he was “going to take me to jail!” 😬. I had had a drink with dinner, but not enough to blow over. However, knowing my luck, I did hold my breath for a minute waiting for the verdict before going on my merry way!

Sunday:

Christmas Eve on a Sunday felt weird for some reason, but I dashed round the shops getting last minute bits and spent most of the afternoon wrapping before going round to Bianca’s for a Christmas Eve barbecue which was lovely and chilled.

We bid farewell before we got too comfortable as I still had a ton of wrapping to finish before Santa arrived! As per usual, I was up until the early hours getting stockings ready! One day I will surprise myself and be prepared early. Not one day soon, but one day in the future! And I’m going to be one of those Facebook braggers who show all my perfectly wrapped presents on December the 1st and exclaim how I had actually finished all my shopping in September and how I can’t understand these people who leave everything until the last minute and cause themselves unnecessary stress! Oh, yes I am! One day. In the future. At some point.

So, the end of another installment is here. Thank you as always for reading! I really appreciate all of your support which encourages me to keep sharing our daily calamities!

I will actually be on hiatus for the next month as I am off back to Blighty for a good friend’s wedding and to catch up with friends and family, so the likelihood of another blog installment is even less likely than usual! However, I will endeavour to make notes every time something goes awry – I hope I have enough weight allowance spare for that encyclopedia! Talk to you soon!❤️