And now to relax...

22^nd December 2013

Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around. Leo Buscaglia

We’re officially on holiday ;-) and it’s a cracking bungalow, the only thing that was making it ‘not perfect’ was a noise in my bedroom that sounded like a helicopter!  Okay so that’s a bit dramatic but it was a motor and it was doing my head in, I thought it was the heating system and I was going to ask the owners if they could change the timers if it was but at 2am this morning when the winds woke us up, I went to the bathroom and turned off the light mom has left on and low and behind twenty minutes later the noise stopped!  It was the bathroom extractor fan, so now the cottage is perfect – all that’s missing is my bestie and the rest of her rabble!

Alfie even prefers it because he prefers roads and pavement to coastal paths and sand and we’ve got plenty of that for him to tootle about, so everyone’s happy = result.

Moms settled too which is just fab, she’s had a stressful week what with us having new doors fitted, getting old sucks you know, she gets so frustrated when she can’t do something or remember things.  Not easy having spent your life as the strength in the family to suddenly NEED others to help you, she finds it extremely difficult to have to ask for help and she gets annoyed with herself.

I then get frustrated because I can’t make her ‘better’, I can live with the repetition, that’s just part of our life now, I’ll answer the same question no matter how many times she asks me, I’ll listen to the same tale as many times as she remembers it and tells me again.  My brother Mark has been a star every time I’ve told her he paid for her front door, of course he was a tight wad moments before because there was only £20 in her Christmas card, then I remind her he paid for the door and once again he’s awesome ;0).  My other brother Terry sent a card which arrived just as we were leaving so he was in her words “a knob” because it was only a small card and one day later we wouldn’t have got it, then I remind her that he came and stayed and did all our jobs, the front drive etc and he’s not quite the knob he was five minutes earlier!  I know she talks about me when I’m out the room too because Mark grassed her up the other day when I went to get the washing in, she was all, “look at her, she ain’t got a clue what’s she’s doing” love my mom I do, cantankerous old bird she is.

If you have an old relative or someone who lives close, if you can give them some time, we’ll all be that ‘old lady’ or ‘old man’ one day wanting company or help but being too proud to ask.

I have to say I was glad to leave my house yesterday morning, a kitchen door fell off a cupboard, then the toilet broke, then finally my tom tom wouldn’t turn on, yes I’ll leave all those issues to someone else or it can wait till I get back, I intend to have two weeks stress free.

When I’ve finished this blog and my cuppa, I’m off to do our Christmas food shop, we stopped at Aldi on the way here and I picked up a loaf and the turkey as they’d just had a delivery and the lady on the till advised me they’d be gone by morning, so I have a 3.5kg free range turkey - toast for breakfast then!

Once my shopping is done, I shall mostly be chilling and reading until Christmas Eve when I’ll prepare the veggies ready for Christmas day and get a buffet ready for the other half of our party to arrive.

3 more sleeps – me excited, hell yeah I am ;-) Eat Gorgeous, BeYOUtiful and enjoy and love your family and loved ones because they’re the most precious things you have. xx