Making a list...

1. All presents bought and wrapped

• Check. Near 100% fandabby doozy success with online stuff. Only bad purchase was a t-shirt for yours truly that arrived in skinny size. I'm not a skinny but I got a 100% refund so no loss. I also, in supermum mode, did a quick run around the supermarket this morning for last minute bits. I was back home at 10.30 as they were relatively quiet. 

2. Food ready

• Check. We did an online shop and everything arrived. This year my sister-in-law and I are doing the veg. I can't wait as I love a freshly roasted tattie

4. Stockings done

• Check. Oh I've been in supercraft mode today making my own stocking. Its red, it's got pompoms and glitter and it's going to be filled with pre-BIG EVENT goodies! 

5. Nativity seen

• Check and check. The kids did a supercute one at nursery. And of course, my little one was the only Angel sucking her thumb but my gawd, she was cute in her outfit as were all the other little ones.
• We then went to the nativity at my husband's church. As religion is so important to his family, I want to make sure she sees what it is about before she decided herself what to believe. Again, the kids were supercute but my little one was not happy. Poor kid has ended up with a huge cold and has been miserable all week. 

6. Nursery finished

• Check. Last day of term was on Wed with a Xmas party and Santa - tot would not go anywhere near him as she tends to stay away from strangely dressed men. I was surprised when the Head got rather tearful whilst asking that each of us spends at least 5 mins a day listening and being with our children. Hubby and I spend a lot of time with my child - she's a delight as all children are if they are allowed to be. We do a lot together and I know that we are lucky that we can do so. I hope that no parents are ever too busy to spend a mere 5 mins with their kids. And if the kids are in foster care, I hope the government, social workers, potential adopters and foster carers all get it sorted out so that more than 60 out of 3600 kids are adopted next year in England - frankly, it's a disgrace as those kids have already been let down before and deserve a second chance at a great life.  

7. On the 12th day, move. 

• Well not done yet, but we are planning to move to Livingston. At the moment we are just going through reference checks which IMHO are a complete rip off. We already paid £60 each when we moved to Larbert and now we are paying £90 each as part of the move to Livingston. I never went through reference checks when I was renting in the 90s. I just had to show some paychecks and that was it. It's just another way for estate agents to rip off people and is yet another barrier to people moving to where the work is. Unfortunately, it's a damned if we do, damned if we don't. If we don't move, we will continue to spend far too much on petrol and continue to live in a place which I have not warmed to. If we move, we have to pay to move but in the long run save money and also see hubby more. And the big plus for me is that we will be that much closer to Edinburgh - yippeeeee!!!!

8. Sort out my health

• Ongoing. I haven't had any pain attacks since my trip to the hospital. I've been super careful about what I eat though I could do with exercising more. Next Wednesday, I have an ultrasound which should help find out whether I've got some stones. Sounds mad but I cannot wait as at least I'll know where I stand then and can make a positive plan to deal with it.

All in all, it's going to be a fun few weeks. I hope yours will too and that you all have a lovely jubbly Xmas. 

Shopping

I'm starting to feel a bit sorry for the postie - he's had to come to our house almost every day recently delivering a parcel on top of all the normal letter deliveries. Thing is, it's easy to shop online - to choose bargains, find alternatives, check stock levels and to read reviews. However, the downside is you have to wait for the items and you don't really know what they are like until they arrive. Regarding reviews of products, I've realised that they aren't always reflective of what the actual item is like - I wonder what proportion of buyers actually bother writing a review.
Our kid HATES shopping in real shops with a passion. Any kind of shop. She finds it boring and within a few minutes of stepping out of the car will moan and whine and declare she's tiiiiiired and generally get on my wick. I've let her get away with it so we hardly ever venture out of the house. But now, I'm putting my foot down and making her understand that no matter how boring it is, that's life and she's just going to have to go with the flow. If she's good she gets a treat and one of her faves is going to a cafe so there we are - go out shopping and get into a cafe.
Luckily for her, there are very few shopping areas in Scotland. Certainly you don't have your Brent Crosses, Bullrings, Bluewaters or Trafford Centres up here. Edinburgh lovely as it is, is piss poor for shopping. Surprisingly for us Dundee actually has a decent centre. But if you are serious about shopping you head to Glasgow which is a mecca for shopaholics. We went last weekend with a treat promised of a fair which was just outside the station. Kid was placated by a ride on a carousel (why do little girls love horses so???) and with a promise to go ice-skating later. The area around Queen street wasn't busy. We ended up in Enoch Square shopping centre where Mr Plummy and kid spent so much time in the Disney store that I was able to go around about 4 shops and still got bored waiting for them.   Eventually we made it to the Christmas market. Most of it was not of interest but little one was in love with the honey doused French Crepe made by genuine Frenchmen. I think given a chance she would have eaten until she burst.
At this point, we split and I headed to Buchanan street which is FULL of shops. So many that my head became dizzy. I spent so much time pissing about in John Lewis that I didn't get to any other shops. Probably good as my savings are dwindling and we don't have the spare cash for sprees. We do always have just enough money for a cafe!
A great day out slightly marred by journey home on a stupidly short train where we were all crammed in like sardines and where not one person gave up their seat for kid who ended up sitting on a table. I got so angry when an older gentleman got on board and dumb arse younger people continued to sit - so I ordered one of them to get up and give him a seat. Do not mess with a mother who has a tired child is all I can say.

A bit blowy

Well we survived the winds. They were not as bad as we thought they would be after watching the red alerts on the news. None of the trees fell over though they were bending in a rather alarming way yesterday afternoon. And luckily no-one had their bins out as they would have caused havoc if blown across the roads. In all, we were a lot luckier than others around the North. I hope power is restored to houses that are without soon as it's very cold up here.