I know you might think that is a tad negative but believe me that’s me bigging it up.  There’s a lot of round-ups of the year that was etc so I thought that I’d hop on the bandwagon.

For me 2023 was a year that went by and I’m not sure what it was that I did for 365 days.  Work wise, we had somebody go out sick, which meant that a my work became that little bit more stressful fairly early on, and it just didn’t seem to recede back to what was previously normal.  Technically I’ve stepped up to the challenge etc but I’d now like it if I could gift wrap it all up and hand it back.

Another draw back to work challenges was the inability to take time off, however, this was also a result of being the carer of a deaf and demented cat.  Should I want to go away, I would have needed somebody to come and babysit ’cause despite being 17 she was my baby.  Sadly she (Oscar) passed away in October leaving me alone in the apartment for the first time ever.  Prior to her passing, I had two family funerals to attend, one was a cousin – She was my first cousin once removed – otherwise known as my dads first cousin – she was a lovely woman, and whilst nobody deserves it, she most certainly didn’t.  After that, there was my Uncle, he was my Godfather and I was fond of him, but I really was a terrible niece.  I hadn’t been to visit in years- but covid played a part in that.  His death was unexpected and I think that was better, it was sudden and he hadn’t been ill – by which I mean terminally ill.  It did lead to a bit of a tiff with my sister – I won’t say it’s resolved but we have moved on.

So what about me?  Well I essentially spent my time either working or after work just looking after the cat and waiting for the time to pass so that the next day would arrive.  Once I was left in the apartment, it’s taken time to readjust.  Sometimes things have just occurred to me and I have to wonder why didn’t I think of it before – which is rather comical.  I was at a craft morning and I was wondering how do all of the ladies get the time to start and finish so many projects???  Of course then it hit me that – they are either retired or they do it in the evening – and I realised, I no longer had a cat to dominate my time – so now I’ve been doing a lot more crochet.  I’m really rather pleased about that.

And what do I intend to do?  I’m not entirely sure – there’s so many things that I want to do, however I can safely say that consistency is not my middle name!  I’d like to get back to walking, I’d like to attempt to learn to knit, I want to improve my photography – or at least my ability to see a photographic opportunity.  I’ve started to follow an instagram account – it’s a lady that who is advocating that you wear the sparkle, and while I’m not a sparkle wearer, I am going to embrace the wear the nice clothes and not just keep them for Sunday best as it were.  When I’m working from home, there are times when the bar is very low and I’m just happy to be dressed – so yes – 2024 embrace the sparkle.  I also want to start to cook – previously I think you could describe my culinary attempts at simply heating something in order to eat.  Lets face it that can be demoralising – especially if you’re also dressed like swamp monster.  It’s sending subliminal messages that you don’t matter.

So 2024 will involve, good food, good mood – indulging in hobbies – I might even remember to post here

What are you planning to do in the New Year?