Winter Blues #3

 

Hi again from Dave and family.

Mum probably has Norovirus, according to the local pharmacist and she isn't delighted by the news. It is doing the rounds in our area and this could be an issue for making Christmas dinner. She is being confined to bed as of this afternoon, isn't allowed to cook for me or Grandpa, has to clean every surface she touches, and has a list of things she can't eat-dairy, salt, sugar, citrus etc. She's not happy at having no Pringles, cheese or chocolate! This could put the cobblers on Christmas dinner, which is annoying. But she intends to cheer herself up watching the latest series of The Great British Bake Off, Masterchef The Professionals and Coronation Street from 1992. I'm hoping for a bit of reading but lets not get too optimistic!

 

We got a bit of good news last night though. The guy that is doing our fence came round. He's had a cancellation and hopes to get our fences done in the next four weeks. Yes! Getting that done will be great AND he is going to come back a few weeks later to varnish all of it so Mum doesn't have to do it! She's very pleased about that! Scott says the firms providing wood have hiked the prices so high that customers are cancelling and he offered us the slot, and we're taking it. We reckon the prices will stay high for a couple of years anyway so we said we'd take it! On the down side, both our security lights are broken, front and back, and we can't get someone out to fix them. Some bugger came through the garden last night. He didn't find anything to steal and with it being so dark and the fence in bits everywhere, he's lucky he didn't fall and break his neck! What a pity... 

 

The Scottish Government Leader Nicola Sturgeon has spent the pandemic telling everyone to wear masks and follow harsh rules to keep everyone safe, and demanding the resignation of anyone in politics who breaks the rules SHE set out. Well guess who is on the front page of the newspapers today at an indoor funeral event in a pub, not wearing a mask and standing chatting to a group of pensioners sitting at a table near her. Nooo, Nicola, that isn't allowed under the rules of your own Tier system! "Table service and the wearing of face-coverings (unless exempt) when not seated by all customers is mandatory in all hospitality venues." Oh deary deary me! Yet again, the rules are for us plebs and not for politicians it seems. Especially as she says "Follow all the rules that are in place. Wear face coverings..."

 

And the Muppet we call Tony Blair is back out of his box, bleating about being able to run the vaccination distribution better than the government. Here is the newspaper quote "Mr Blair agreed he felt frustrated with the Government's handling of the pandemic so far and did not straight out dismiss the possibility of seeking a more prominent role in the roll-out of the vaccination programme. The former Labour leader said: "I don't know whether I should be back there running this." Well Mr Blair, I can tell you that answer is NO. Your failed policies caused a lot of the problems we now face and you are not a Conservative Government Minister. You are not even an MP, as you quit in a sulk when you lost the top job of PM to Gordon Brown, rather than continue in the job to serve the people who elected you, as Theresa May at least did. And he spent years trying to overturn a legal UK referendum result because it didn't suit him. Cretin. Actually, I must say sorry for upsetting and insulting muppets...I can't believe Mum and Grandpa voted for this total arse. (Mum: Neither can we Dave!)

 

Sorry about the political rants this time but we're feeling a bit grumpy today. Stay safe everyone  until next time! 

 

Dave

Winter Blues #2

 

Hi everyone, Dave reporting from Mission Control!

Well, maybe that makes it sound too exciting but huge progress was being made in the DIY nightmare. My grandpa has cleared a ton of stuff and it's now a lot safer to venture in there to deliver the ironing without having a near fatal accident! But he has now decided to swap two more pieces of furniture over and my mum is in despair about it!!! The last thing we all need is more work to do this winter! She has made progress too-just two more bags of stuff to deal with and her nightmare is about over. After that, there are just a few storage units to look through and re-organize the cds and dvds inside them.

 

We would have had it done over the weekend except that on Friday morning, mum and grandpa both came down with a stomach bug. Mum was in bed all weekend but was cheered up on Saturday by a great edge-of-the-seat-of-our-pants win for our football team, coming from behind for a great 3-2 win. Go St Mirren!!! Mum did still enjoy watching the World Championship Darts on TV, which is a festive tradition in our house. We do love a game or ten of arrows! I wish it was an Olympic sport. Both are feeling a bit better today but it ruined the weekend of work we had planned. Mum even resorted to one of those powders you put into water to rehydrate yourself and this was how she reacted to the taste of it...

 

 

Seems it tastes just as bad as Night Nurse liquid and that is a very bad thing! I hate that oozy and disgusting slime that creeps back up the wee medicine cup even when you think you have finished the disgusting thing. Mum tried to give me that when I was sick last year and I responded by trying to bite her fingers off! But although it is just a typical virus, we are baffled as to how we caught it as mum has been confined to house for months and grandpa has been out to grab bread and milk ONCE this week, wearing a full mask in an empty shop and washing his hands three times coming home! The mind boggles...

 

Mum is trying to answer questions on a big book tag at the moment but the questions require a bit of thought and research so it could take a few days. Still no books read for Mum this month which is disappointing her and we worry that with Covid still doing the rounds, next year could prove to be more of the same. I hope not as there are lots of tasty looking books in the Book Cave that I really want Mum to read to me! No book buying until January but we could do with clearing the shelves a bit over this winter. I hope she gets a reading mood soon as I can't turn the pages on my own, having no limbs you see.

It's actually quite scary here at the moment. This new strain of Covid is in our region of Scotland just days after being identified in London and the south of England. They say it is 70% easier to catch but I've heard nothing about whether furry pumpkins are immune so I'm nervous despite mum saying I am immune-but I'm worried about my humans and their friends and families around the world. Please stay safe, wherever you are and whatever you're doing.  

 

Love from Dave and family. 

 

 

Around The Blogs With Chuckles

 

We all enjoy snooping and lurking on other people's blogs right? Why not share those entertaining things you found with other readers and bloggers too! Welcome to Around the Blogs with Chuckles, where I take time out to show you some of my favourite blog posts from the previous seven days and link you up so you can check them out.

It is vital that we all stick together online at this time. Do what you can to show some love to other blogs, to books and authors and let us all know that you are staying safe and well. Hearing from our friends will make it easier to deal with whatever is coming in the next few months. Stay safe everyone.

This week I'm covering posts from the last two weeks...

 

1) Books To Read This Winter 

AJ's list.

http://ajsterkel.blogspot.com/2020/12/top-ten-tuesday-books-to-read-this.html 

2) Book Review-Ready Player Two by Ernest Cline

Mogsy's review.

https://bibliosanctum.com/2020/12/10/book-review-ready-player-two-by-ernest-cline/ 

3) Book Review-The Cousins by Karen M McManus

Greg's review.

http://gregsbookhaven.blogspot.com/2020/12/the-cousins.html 

4) Holiday Things That Make Me Get My Grinch On!

Nicci's grumpy list!

https://www.sunnybuzzybooks.co.uk/2020/12/holiday-things-that-make-me-get-my.html 

5) Book Review-Follow Me by Kathleen Barber

Carole's review.

https://carolesrandomlife.blogspot.com/2020/12/review-follow-me-by-kathleen-barber.html 

 

6) Book Review-The Initial Insult by Mindy McGinnis 

Lindsi's review.

https://www.doyoudog-ear.com/2020/12/the-initial-insult-initial-insult-1-by.html 

7) Blogging Jealousy

Bookstooge shares his thoughts.

https://bookstooge.wordpress.com/2020/12/05/psa-blogging-jealousy/ 

8) Book Review-The Bitterwine Oath by Hannah West

Barb's review.

http://bookertsfarm.blogspot.com/2020/12/tbr-and-beyond-tours-bitterwine-oath.html 

 

9) New To Me Author Discoveries 

Mogsy's list.

https://bibliosanctum.com/2020/12/14/top-ten-new-to-me-authors-i-read-for-the-first-time-in-2020/ 

10) Book Review-Seeing Things by Sonora Taylor

Bark's review.

http://barksbooknonsense.blogspot.com/2020/12/review-seeing-things-by-sonora-taylor.html 

Chuckles Update

 

Hi everyone.

I haven't been online at all since my last update. It's been an ongoing nightmare of trying to get things unpacked from those bloody binbags, ripping and shredding stuff, moving and removing things, sorting through all the books and bookcases, rearranging cds and dvds into storage units and finding somewhere to store the things. My dad and I are pretty fed up as we are sorting out both bedrooms at the same time, trying to help each other, but we're tired, fed up and frustrated with it all. When we're resting in between the stuff we're doing, all we want to do is just flop in front of the TV to watch darts or favourite films. 

 

Blogging has fallen by the wayside at the moment as I just can't deal with Blogger and its carry on on top of all the hassle. I haven't read a book all month and don't feel like it, even though I know I need to start clearing books out of the house. Covid restrictions in my area continue to tighten and while my dad and I are staying safe, charity shops and other places are still closed so we can't get rid of what we no longer want or need so more bags of books and rubbish are lying everywhere and getting in our way. It is all getting me down at the moment. I hate neglecting you all but I feel that until I get all this crap taken care of, I struggle to concentrate on anything else.

 

Today I'm going to try and answer all the comments you guys have left on the blog and then visit some blogs over the next few days to try and get back into a routine. All I really want to do is stay in my bed all day but as nice as it sounds, it ain't going to help in getting productive stuff done. I will be trying to do better in keeping in touch and getting things done.

 

Thanks for your patience.

Chuckles

The Chuckles Great DIY Nightmare #4

 

Sorry to everyone who has been wondering where I am and what I'm doing. It turns out that moving the furniture in my room, however hard it was, was the lesser of the evils. Sorting through endless bags, ripping and shredding paperwork, moving things from one place to another then change your mind and move crap back is way worse, as I'm discovering. I've spent all week working through bags and boxes until I'm ready to scream. Our recycle bin for paper and cardboard is collected every three weeks so to get in all the rubbish, packing boxes, food packaging, old letters and newspapers etc, everything has to be ripped into small pieces so that takes ages. It also gives you The Claw, where your fingers are so sore that it hurts to straighten them and you can't grip anything!

Today was a bit of a nightmare. We decided to get the furniture in my dad's room rearranged. To recap, the big IKEA bookcase we removed from my room will go into my dad's room where the chest of drawers once sat. The drawers will go to where the TV unit is and that will be sawn down to a smaller size for added storage and the TV goes back on top of it. It seemed straightforward enough and SHOULD have been done very quickly as none of the items are heavy to move. 

First we had to empty the books I was temporarily storing in it and get them into my room where I can't fall over it. But as we started to move the bookcase, the back fell off. It took us ages to get it back in its grooves as it kept bending in the middle. Finally my dad had to nail the bloody thing in. Next he dropped one of the shelves and it scraped all the skin off the back of my heel, leaving it raw and bleeding so a medical time out was required! Then at last after a big delay, we got it moved into position. My dad is letting me have 3 of the shelves for my stuff so all my heavy WWII books and magazines went into one shelf, my Elvis magazine collection and other oversized books into shelf two. I'm keeping shelf three empty until I finish sorting my room.

After I dealt with the two shelves, we moved the drawers into place and stuck the TV on top. My dad decided to saw the TV unit another time and we moved it out of our way. Then we had to move a pile of stuff that was in the TV unit and find somewhere to put it. Why is it that what seems like a half hour job turns into a three hour total nightmare??? And to cheer me up I still have two full bookshelves to go through in my room, sorting out what will go to the charity shop, a few more bags to go through, two full shopping bags full of paper that needs ripping, a pile of stuff on the floor AND piles of books/cds/dvds on top of bookcases that need to find a home. Ugh, it's a nightmare and this sorting crap could go on into next year!

Who had the stupid idea of getting the house sorted...???

Dave-'That would be YOU mum!'