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I thought I'd come and say hi - I know some of you only get news from me like this, so I'm sorry I don't pop in more often.  Life, you know...

The great news is that I start a new job on 15th December!  I've missed being a medical secretary. For the past 2 1/2 years I've been called "office manager" and I've been doing a lot of admin work but the invoicing side has got too stressful if you ask me.  A job came up in a department where I've temped before and I was asked if I'd like to come for an interview. That's rather good for the ego, I must say. Anyway, long story short, I handed in my notice on Thursday and I work here until Friday 12th December. I hope I can leave early because I'm due to go to Norfolk to spend the weekend with friends...

Otherwise, what have you missed?  Ooh I'm a Great Aunt again. Lovely little Nathaniel was born on 13th September and I got to have cuddles and take photos a couple of weeks later.

Sadly, I could feel I was coming down with something, and I had the return journey from hell due to problems on the line; the next day I dragged myself to the GP to be told I had shingles. Luckily I was put on Aciclovir really quickly and the pain wasn't too bad. The fatigue, however, was something else. Horrendous. I was signed off for the whole month of October in the end. Looking back, it was as bad as after my subarachnoid haemorrhage, but I've now realised that your mind plays tricks on you and you forget really difficult times, so I felt like this was the worst I'd ever felt. A bit like childbirth.... or so I've been told (being too posh to push myself haha), you forget just how painful something is. Anyway, after weeks of thinking I'd never feel normal I have finally turned a corner in the past week and my energy levels are much more back to a reasonable level.

The best thing in previous weeks was my weekend away, crafting with my gal friends. Such fun and laughter. Oh and a bit of scrapbooking... We've already booked our next one :D  It's become a bit of a tradition, and it's such a great place - especially now it's been done up.

The best news of all is that we are going to have Christmas with the family!  We thought we wouldn't manage it and it would just be me and DD, but things have all fallen into place and it's going to be me and DD, my mum and one of my sisters. Yes, all the singletons in the family are getting together hahaha. I think we're also going to cross paths with my brother and his wife, so it's going to be a very festive season indeed.

Talking of the festive season, I've been working like mad on crafts to sell to raise funds for the Community Centre. I really enjoy working with my hands.

Clay decorations..

Owl keyrings...

 

Then I saw some mini meringues in Sainsbury's, and thought they'd make excellent snowmen... 

 

 

I shall be making these with little Alex when I next babysit for the afternoon. He's 4 now - I reckon it's right up his street.

I also decided to whip up some cream cheese with cocoa powder so I could stick some together like this, in a more grown up fashion....

Yum!

Well there you go, that's a bit of a catch up. I know I've said this before, but I might even manage to pop in a bit more frequently nowadays.  Watch this space....