Gingerbread Familia - Januar 2020

Out of the mouths of Ginger One

“I don’t like baths!  I’m not like you am I?  It’s boring.  It gets cold quickly and I’m lying in my own dirt.  Showers are quicker.”  I was determined to make GO love baths as much as I do, okay our bath isn’t perfect but it is the best bath we’ve ever had.  I quickly realised there was a reason his weren’t as bubbly and he sometimes felt itchy afterwards.

The Darth Vader Bubble bath he was using was actually just bubble mixture.  Silly sausage, made great bubble though. 

Happy Postponed New Year

We postponed our New Year celebration until the First of January because we were so exhausted following on from our mammoth journey.  We planned to have a Raclette dining experience, a table top grill, and we’re going to get all dressed up.  

Gingerbread Haus - Januar 2020

Goodbye Christmas 

Taking down Christmas is usually a low mood day for me, it’s the feeling that the season of joy is over.  People stop smiling and wishing each other seasons greeting and everyone seems to be blue.  This year I am determined to find joy and celebrate all of little holidays.  With this in mind as we took down and packed Christmas away GO and I left a few wintry bits up, in hopes of a snow day.  We started to make plans for Burn’s night and drew snowy pictures on the window.  

Happy New Decade

We’ve come a long way baby, from two singletons in a room above a pub in Oxford to a long married couple in our own house in Burnley.  We have fun, laughter and some (lots) of tears along the way.  There have been some lows, and goodbyes but many more highs and hellos.  What a decade with my best friend and so mate.

Happy New Year

How gorgeous is this illustration by @mori_raito.  After travelling for eighteen hours on Monday we were whacked yesterday so we are having a New Years/Decade Eve redo tonight.  We’ve exchanged gifts with the in-laws and are about to get the Raclette started. 

Happy New Year to you all. 

2019 - A year in review

January

The year began with an oompah band.  To the brass band version of Prodigy’s Firestarter we danced away 2018.  We blew away the cobwebs with a wall to Hardcastle Crags Followed by a trip to Blackburn to watch Rovers versus someone else.  We also spent the month waiting for Finlaw to paint the GBH (Gingerbreadhaus) so we could begin to move in.  We began packing and organising bringing things to the house in the evenings and weekends.

February

February was moving month, both GO and I had a half term week that matched (a rarity) so we hired a huge Luton van/lorry with a lift, got some help from friends and began the job of moving in.  I was most worried about driving the lorry down the hill and then turning around, I needn’t have though as I reversed down the hill as the road was empty and then drove it back to the depot. We settled down for an evening in front of the TV with a pizza.

March

March was definitely the month we turned the house into a haus/home.  We scrubbed and sorted, washed and organised. We also had to do the same with the Derby House as we handed it back to the landlady, after weeks of faffing it was off our hands.  We did have to stage the rooms as we’d moved everything out when she said the photographer was coming round to take photos.  

April

Not so much the month of showers, April was our first holiday in the Haus and I went all out decorating and making a celebratory meal for the two of us.  Then we had our first visitors, Mamilein and Papichen came to visit for a few days.  We showed them the local sites and they enjoyed all of the local amenities, particularly the fish and chip drive thru.

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

My year in books

What a lovely surprise, as I was updating my Goodreads book challenge I discovered that they had made a review of the year in books just me. 

https://www.goodreads.com/user/year_in_books/2019

Tis the season to be Murray 2019

Maybe it’s just me but I feel like Christmas has been both a long time coming and has arrived all too quickly.  We have some things planned but I feel this year may be a quieter one than usual.

Give me five

Festive season is here, time for some reflection.  Tell me: 5 things you’ve gained, 5 things you’ve lost, 5 things you’d like for next year.

Gains:

1. A lovely little house

2. A new big blue car

3. Took GO to my childhood Canadian home 

4. Discovered hammock life

5. Spent a lot more time with GO

Loses:

1. Free time (long work commute)

2. Didn’t walk as much or as far as 2018

3. Sleep (see number 1)

4. A stone in weight

5. Family and friends (some have passed away some have been neglected)

Next year:

1. A new job closer to home

2. Home improvements (kitchen, doors, garden)

3. Visit a new country

4. Learn a new skill (sailing perhaps)

5. 1000 miles, boots on

Heiligabend

Some years we do everything the same some years we change things up a bit, our tradition is that we have no traditions.  After a stroll into town we came home and tried the Raclette machine and snuggled down in front of the goggle box with a glass/bottle or two of wine.  When lilbigbro and so law are over it can be an intense military style operation go here, do that, eat this but when they aren’t we like to chill a lot more.