Saturday

 Good morning!  I woke this morning after another great night's sleep and felt warm.  Unusual at the moment because the night's have been pretty chilly so I thing maybe it's worming up a bit.  We had sun yesterday too - not bright, rather hazy, but definitely sun.  Bring it on!

I was pondering Christmas Traditions yesterday - what to keep and what to lay to rest - and I remembered that I started one, just for me, last year.  The Twelve Days of Christmas was, I think, inspired by Sue C and is very self indulgent but in a lovely, happy way.  Basically, you have twelve gifts, chosen by you, for you, wrap them, up and number them and, on each of  the twelve days after Christmas until Twelfth Night, you open one of them.  Nothing costly or extravagant, just little, practical things to brighten the day. Bath salts, a scented candle, a book to read, that sort of thing.
Last year I started it so late that I did remember what was in each little gift but this year I'm starting now so in four months time I won't really remember which parcel is which gift.  In town on Thursday, after sorting out the hearing aid, I did a bit of looking around and got a few little things.

Another tradition is a new decoration for the Christmas tree each year.  Now, I have plenty, far more than I actually need, so this decoration has to be different in some way while still fitting into my colour scheme of red, green and gold.  If I don't see one, I don't get one, that's the bottom line.

It's funny (and lovely) how thinking ahead to Christmas makes me feel all tingly inside.

Yesterday was a lovely day.  I went to Slimming World as usual and, also as usual, it was a very enjoyable time.  We have some very funny members in the group and even when I don't catch it all, the laughter is infectious.

Then I came home and started a bit of a tidy up.  This week, a lot of clutter seems to have accumulated all over the place so that took more than the usual half an hour.

When the cleaner turned up, I went swimming.  I do like to keep out of their way and over the years they have not taken advantage of this.  When Mum and then Dad were so unwell I would not be at home every second Friday and I always came back to a shiny home on the Monday.

Getting there took longer than expected until I remembered that the schools were back and it was end of the school day time.  On the other hand, the pool wasn't so full.  There was a group of teenagers taking a dip after school, judging by what I caught of their conversation (not much) but there was plenty of room in the marked lanes which is what I wanted.
I'm so glad I'm back to exercise now.  I missed it both physically and mentally and I'm sure it's doing me good.  Two sessions with Lindsey - circuits with a small group on Monday and personal training on Wednesday - plus one definite swim on a Friday and maybe another on a Tuesday sounds achievable and enjoyable.
Mind you, anyone who knows me from five or six years ago would fall over backward in a dead faint if they saw that last!

Today I MUST water at the allotment.  Those poor plants will be gasping.  Ditto for picking and I am fairly sure there will be another courgette or two.
Apart from that it's the day for washing, drying and ironing and, I hope, I can hang everything outside to dry - they are so much nicer after a blow in the fresh air.
And - just remembered - I saw some lovely cat mugs on Amazon and, as Beth has a birthday coming up . . .  They should be arriving today.
Have a lovely Saturday.  Are you doing anything particularly exciting?  xx