Happy Monday! (Yes I know it’s actually Tuesday!)

• Last week I was tired and grumpy. I deal with a certain level of tiredness (I’m a menopausal, middle aged woman, if I wasn’t tired, I’d think I was ill) but this was much more tired than usual. I did all the right things and carried on but by Wednesday, all I wanted was to go and have a nap. Instead, I took Mum for her flu jab, it was raining and I was just done. My poor mum has been so patient with me and my grump. But it’s also worth noting that the days I have been most tired and grumpy are the days I didn’t sit in front of the light lamp. So I think the lamp works…

• Because of all the things going on with Mum this week, I got Sunday and Monday at home. I don’t often get two full consecutive days at home nowadays and boy was it motivational. I got caught up on loads of things I’ve been putting off, and the flat looked much better. As a consequence I felt much better about leaving it to go to Mum’s. There’s a lesson there somewhere.

• I had a night out last week, it was lovely, i loved catching up with Max and Chrissy, I probably need to do more of it but I’d already had a tiring week and it took me most of the weekend to feel human again!

• It’s October and this morning I left the house in a linen short sleeeved shirt and jeans, coat in bag. Guys this is wrong, we have fucked the planet to get warm October mornings.
• I made my first (of three) Christmas cake yesterday. It’s this one and it’s still our favourite. As I get into October, I’m starting to assemble stuff for Christmas. I know it goes against my usual policy of not thinking about it until after Mum’s birthday in early December. However, last year taught me that that isn’t sustainable while also caring for Mum. Last year, Christmas was really hard, I was exhausted. So this year, I’ve made mincemeat (lots of it, thanks to a gift of apples from Deborah and Jo), I’ll do cakes and mince pie pastry this month. Cheese star dough for the freezer in November, and I’ll take a day off in December to do Christmas shopping. This stuff is the stuff I enjoy at Christmas, we’re not having a big roast dinner (sandwich Christmas for the win) but these things I do love, so I’m making time for making them now..