January Life Update; Welcome 2019!

Hi readers and welcome to a new year!

I'm currently full of a cold which I've had mildly for awhile but it seems to have turned into a bad cold now. Plus, I've been sleeping on the sofa and not been getting much sleep. Family have been staying over and sorting my old bunk bed out was too much for me.

At least my dog, Patch, in the photo above has been cosy in her bed with her new soft penguin toy.

Christmas and New Year for me has been full of family, fun, food and busy activity. We've had our normal 3 day Christmas and then I went over to my boyfriend's and had a second Christmas. I spent new year's at his then come back and joined my family for a homemade Chinese fest. I got lots of awesome Christmas presents too!

On Christmas Eve we had another year of wearing crazy hats whilst playing board games and doing the present lucky dip. Here's me wearing one of the favourite hats of the night.

It's hard for me to pick the best present I got, must my stuff is still half packed up or stacked up as I've not had time to sort much out. Not in the mood either. Below, is one of the presents my boyfriend got me. He has been into Warhammer and 40K again for a good few months now and we have been playing battles against each other with his different armies. 

My favorite is the Nurgle. At first, I wasn't keen on them and I found them about gross but they have grown on me and I feel I have a good connection with them now, mostly due to being ill and Nurgle like to share illness with everything.  

I've been bugging my boyfriend for a Beast of Nurgle for awhile now because they are like big puppies. I got to design it myself, and mine doesn't look like the one on the box. I've to paint it now and when I've done, I'll post it up.    

Another of my presents were some balls of soft, super fine, mohair wool which I was going to make a knit snood out of but my mum did it instead whilst I was away. Having seen the wool and finished snood, I'm not sure I could have knitted it as it's really fine and I'm not good with anything less then double knit. With more wool left, I might give it a go at some point.    

In my last post of 2018, I should my current knitting project which was a colourful scarf made out of 100% pure wool from Norway, see photo below. I finished it around Christmas eve and it turned it really well. It's super long and warm! Though the winter weather in in the middle of England has been mild so far. I've been feeling too hot due to medicine side effects too. 

My current knitting is finishing off another patterned wool baby blanket. I still have a neon colourful baby jacket to complete too but it's taking forever and I've not had the motivation for it. 

My mum has now started me off on another thing, which is a super chunky sleeping bag. It was meant to be a mermaid/fish tail sleeping bag/blanket and she knitted one for my brother's girlfriend and it turned out great. I didn't fancy the fish tail though but the sleeping bag was prefect for using when I'm at at my PC. So, mum's done the top rib and I just need to knit the rest of it now.     

So after those three projects, I have another lined up! I want to make four of these 'square' dog soft toys below. One for myself, one each for my two brothers and one to give to my best friend's baby for her first birthday. Making this dog will be a huge step in my knitting as this will be my first teddy toy. I've made a knitted baby cube, but this will be different and I get to work with blending two different wools together too! I'm looking forward to getting going on this soon! 

Last knitted thing to share is this awesome sheep my mum made! He is so warm and fluffy, made out of the same wool as my scarf. The big story here though is that 29 years ago my mum made a sheep like this one, only he was a bit bigger and I called him Baa. I still have him, though he is in a right state! When I do some tidying, I'll dig him out and do a side by side photo of old Baa and new Baa.  

I've been also colouring a lot over the holiday. I got two sets of colouring pencils and both have been really good. I'm not great at creating 3D effects and shading - it's actually connecting to my learning disabilities and the way I see things. I don't think bad art should put anyone off and you don't have to show it to anybody, it's enjoying it that counts the most. I thought I would share on my recent colouring, though I not that happy with the hair but it was a good practise. 

I've also been playing lots of games with my family and we played a new one my younger brother got called Ticket To Ride. I had heard of it before but didn't realise how easy it was to play! It can't take me awhile sometimes to get into new games and remember the basic rules, but with Ticket you just have to build railway tracks. It was lots of fun, my mum won and I'm hoping we can play again soon!

Lastly, I wanted to share this website with you that sales jewellery and other things to support animals. They have a page were they give items away for free and just charge postage. I have ordered lots of things over the years and have only had one issue with missing items but I was refunded and also sent the item. They have good customer service, though shipping to the UK takes forever! It's worth waiting as the necklaces are so nice.   

https://www.helpinganimalsatrisk.com/collections/free-animal-jewelry?fbclid=IwAR3Pkwzydpe4xAfNXQW5LRX7W01pwmheotOQfg38F44c0kze-20svlmaR54


(Photos from Facebook, Amazon or my own).

December Life Update; One Week Till Christmas!

Hi readers, 

I can't believe it'll be Christmas Eve this time next week. Feels like it's coming too fast! I'm pretty much ready for it though, brought and got all my presents and wrapped them too. Now, it's just helping my parents with wrapping other presents, buying the food and helping to make the celebrations go smoothly. 

I'm also recovering from a bad flare up and effects of taking steroids. I've less then a week left of those to take and I'm all ready feeling better. Also, I went back to work last week! Though some people weren't sure I was ready, but I needed to get back to some normal-ness. I've to take it easy and not get stressed, so I'm doing simple crafts with the kids and not being so bossy/mother-like that I do sometimes get, I'm just getting to let it go and allow the kids to do what they want - within reason for course! and try to hold back more. It's going to be hard, but I'll try. 

A lot seems to have happened last time I wrote, though it's only been two weeks, but then a lot does happen in December it always seems. So, this is going to be bit of a catch up post really now.

The photo above is the top part of my Christmas tree. We decorate the house on the weekend of my dad's birthday, 9th and this year that was a Sunday. I love getting all the decorations out and up, makes it seem like Christmas is coming closer. My favourite part is putting the tree up! I love getting all the decorations stuck on and remember where some of them came from. 

We have this traditional way of decorating the tree - lights first then tinsel then everything else, including a few different things which have just ended up on the tree over time. There's a small womble - my mum loves them and has many around the house-, a sliver dragon- we are all fans of those, - a little voo doo doll, a dream catcher, a weaved love heart, knitted octopus and other things that mum and I have crafted over the years. It just adds a bit of fun and silliness to the tree which sums up how we do Christmas. 

There are three decorations which always go on last; most people end with topping the tree with an angel or star, but our star is the third from last thing to go on. Next, is a cardboard Grinch with a paper tissue tree, I got with the Grinch movie which is my favourite Christmas movie and I watch it every year. Last to go on the tree is a paper Christmas bug, this came out of my favourite Christmas story; Jingle Bugs which I read aloud before putting the Christmas bug on then tree to complete it.  

Then it's time to get the presents underneath! I got to place the first one which was to me from my best friend then I put ones to my family. I like wrapping things up, though it always takes longer then you think! Below is about half of the presents I wrapped as I did like three lots. The tree though looks more fuller then this now!

As is the other tradition on the weekend of my dad's birthday we went to the Manchester Christmas markets. However, the weather wasn't great and both me and my mum were ill so the trip was cut short. This year, it also felt smaller, though it was busier as it normally was which wasn't good for my anxiety. We didn't take any photos either which I do kinds of regret but I wasn't in the mood and nor was my boyfriend. There'll be next year.  

Yesterday, I went and saw Wicked in Manchester with my boyfriend. I had booked the tickets like a year and half in advance and going felt like some kind of mile stone had been reached in our relationship! We have this silly thing about how we weren't allowed to break up until after we'd seen Wicked and if we were still together we had to get married. Things are still good so far and I know he's currently saving for a ring! 

Anyway, there was a stand selling lots of things and I couldn't help myself, though I didn't have much money, I treated myself to a flying monkey soft toy, postcard set, two programs and I got the poster for free!    

   

We had a great time and really enjoyed the musical. I had seen it before but my boyfriend hadn't and I didn't tell him lot about it because I didn't want to spoil it, so he was surprised about the detail in the story and felt the urge to watch The Wizard Of Oz movie again. 

Now, it'll be a week today that we see each other again. He is having to work Christmas Eve and we decided that since we would be spending from then till about 2nd January together - divided between my house and his house - that it would be okay not see each other the weekend before. I've to work on Saturday night and it would be a bit of back and forth for both us, so it's easier this way. Sometimes I wished we lived closer or even together! Possible a plan for next year as soon as I've found a better job. Anyway, I can't wait to see him and all my family then. 

Till then, I've work and other things to keep me busy. I've four short stories left to write on my other blog for this month now - been getting ahead so I don't have to worry- then I need to start January's soon. I've also finished knitting all the Christmas presents for my family and started on one for me! I'm knitting the colourful scarf out of pure wool. It's like super chunky, easy to do and it's knitting up real fast. I can't wait to wear it even though it does feel bit scratchy.  

The second thing I've to do is read my way through my current book pile! Before I started on the steroids I had begun The Thief  the latest Black Dagger Brotherhood novel which I was really excited to read. Then though one of the side effects of the steroids is that you can't focus on a single thing for long, it's a bit like having ADHD, my mind was wondering about everywhere and reading was just too hard, specially with a novel that has lots of different characters, back histories and tells three different plots tangled together! 

So, determined to not stop reading, I read some short Christmas stories then moved on to reading Dickens' ghost stories. I found that though of course Dickens can be a bit hard going, due to the short stories, I was able to read and enjoy them. I've maybe five/six stories left to go now, including A Christmas Carol which I'm saving to start reading around the 20th/21th when it's only a few days to go. 

After that I should get back to reading The Thief, then Blood Fury which is the spin off series. Next will be The Humans which I brought my dad for his birthday but wanted to read as it's told from the point of view of a dog! I don't read Science Fiction but this one interested me. In between I'll be reading the bottom three in the photo; Fruits Basket is a manga series my boyfriend thought I'd like and I do but I'm having a hard time getting fully into it and the other two are self-help books.       

My other thing to do is colouring! It's super calming and relaxing, it's been my other go to thing when I've become restless, stressed or my insomnia has kept me up. I'm sure I've said this before but I like the Colouring Heaven mags. The drawings are clear and a good mixture of scenes to colour. I like thinking I'm adding life to the characters etc and I also make up stories about them in my head!

I'm currently doing the front cover of the Christmas mag. I've done the bottom left picture of an elf so far. Hopefully, get the rest of it done soon.

I've not asked for any colouring books this year as I've too many but I've asked for some colouring pencil sets. I've been using felt pens for awhile now but I've found that pencils and gel pens are far better for blending and getting a more detailed finished. So, hopefully someone has brought me some.

As for other other presents it's mostly books, dvds, cds etc, I've not wanted anything big or fancy this year. I couldn't really decided. Though I would like a Nintendo Switch but they are expensive still and so are the games. I could ask for a new bed but that seems a strange Christmas present! Anyway, one other things I've asked for is the Body Shop's new Christmas release. I've fallen in love with the peppermint candy cane - as in the photo below. To me it smells like after dinner mints and I love those. The smell of mint I find calming and so I've asked for a full set of peppermint candy cane stuff! 

I'm look forward to everything now, just got to get through this week!

On a slightly different note, I have discovered this awesome tea which has been helping me to get to sleep. It's really nice and I drink it whilst reading in bed and then I feel so super sleepy and just drifted off. I've been a fan of flavoured tea and coffee for awhile, gingerbread is my all time favourite. Spiced apple is a close second so this tea I found really nice. I would so recommend trying some. It's quite calming too which seems perfect for now as many people are getting stressed out by Christmas. Even thinking about it making me sleepy right now!

Last thing I wanted to share today, is the new winter/Christmas jumper my mum knitted for me! Since she give it to me last Wednesday I've hardly taken it off. I found it in one of her knitting mags and thought it would make a great jumper to have. I love the simple style of the white and blues coming together with matching snowflakes. It looks Christmas-y but is suitable to wear afterwards too. Which is great because I love Christmas jumpers but after the day you can't really wear them anymore. 

My mum had been super busy trying to finish the jumper and she didn't have much help from our dog! Patch for an odd reason loves snuggling up to wool balls and knitted things but she does end up in the way! 

And this is the finished jumper! It's so cool! 

Actually it's warm and snugly, Mum made it out of soft baby wool. I love it so much, it's a good job I don't have to take it off anytime soon! 

That's all for today anyway, so if I don't see you before have a Merry Christmas and thank you for reading.  

All photos belong to me.

December Life Update; Hibernation

Hi readers, 

I can't believe it's December now! This year seems to have flown by. The last two months haven't been great for me. I've been suffering depression, anxiety, stress and flare up on my condition. I'm still off work at the moment but hope to go back next week. 

I would like to say I've put my time off to go use; done lots of writing and reading, watched Netflix, TV shows, movies, done some arts and crafts etc but actual due to the mental health problems, being ill and side effects of pills, I've not been that active. 

My only two achievements of worthy of writing about is that I've knitted Christmas presents for my family this year and I've two left to finish off now. That's been a great help to pass the time, keep me busy and helped to de-stress me. Secondly, I have kept up with my daily short story writing on my other blog; https://thestoryfiles.wordpress.com/ I guess this down to habit more then anything now, but it's been another helpful focus. Right now I'm trying to get ahead in writing this months stories as December is a busy time. 

I've already done all of my present shopping. I brought anything online which always makes it super easier and got people what they wanted off their wish lists. My boyfriend and I also buying presents together this year and that helped keep the cost down and make it easier to buy stuff. He's coming over this weekend and next so we can do some wrapping up together then. It's nice to get that out of the early as getting gifts for people can be stressful. 

My family also do this 'lucky dip' present giving event on Christmas eve. I'm not sure how it began as it seems we've been doing it for years now, it was probably my dad's idea of a fun game. The rules as simple; for everybody that's come and yourself you buy an item that is £5. This year, they'll be 8 of us plus my dog so that's 9 presents to get. Then everything goes into a box and in circle, youngest started we pick a present and open it. At the end everyone gets a pile of presents and you can swap ones you don't like. 

There was another rule but this has sort of faded now and it was if the items was something you wear you had to put it on, a drink - drink it, food - eat it and toys play with etc. But that makes it harder to swap and as we are all adults now some of the items can be very adult themed, that just makes it more fun for everyone I think! 

I've been sensible this year and got normal, good items for everyone. My mind wasn't much in a silly mood. My parents can be the worse at the adult themed stuff, so I'll just leave it to everyone else! 

The weather has been bad in England for the last few days and today it's actual dry and clear for once. that hasn't made me want to go out though. I'm finding it hard to be around people for different reasons at the moment and I'm liking time by myself more and more. I've been feeling only little bit lonely but having my dog helps. 

So, today I'm curled up on the sofa, writing this on my lap and listening to a fireplace sound video on the TV via Netflix. I do wish they were on all the time and not just at Christmas, listening to a fire burn away is one of my calming and writing background music I like to listen too! I'm going to write some short stories for bit then I got more knitting to do. 

Hopefully, I'll write another post before Christmas, got two events coming up; Christmas Market and Wicked musical, both will be worth writing about, just got to feel better soon.  

Images from; https://pixabay.com/

December Life Update; A Week To Go!

Hi readers!

It's only a week to go till Christmas day and I just can't wait. I've been so busy and also ill. I had a cold two weeks ago and barely made it through one of my family's traditions; The Manchester Christmas Markets. Luckily, my boyfriend was able to to join us so that helped to get me through. I only took a few photos too as we saw most of the same things as less time. What made the day even more special was that it snowed and the flakes were so visible you could see the pattern of the snowflake. I don't think I've ever seen that before!

Normally, the markets are very busy but due to the weather and two football matches, it was quieter then last year. It makes it easier to see things and you don't have to deal with large amounts of people. There were lots of stalls selling food and drink; I had some mulled rum and also tried the pizza. Not my normal lunch but since I wasn't feeling good I wanted something easy. We also had strudel which I do love! I didn't buy anything and not just because I'm saving money but because I didn't see anything I wanted. Though my boyfriend did buy me a necklace I liked.

Also this year, I wanted some good photos with my boyfriend for my scrapbook! Think these turned out well. And we also got to kiss under mistletoe! It took awhile to get a good photo though, so we might have to try this again.     

The Christmas Markets always have this magical feeling to them. There's more then just stalls to see as there are decorations everywhere. Most iconic is the giant Santa that sits in front of the city hall. He's super big! 

The reindeer and sled were cute this year and it really attracted the kids. 

There were lots of Xmas trees but my favorite is the one at Spinning fields as its always so big and covered in decoration. I like the Nutcrackers in the background too. 

I always like the wooden villages and the Santas and gnomes in the opening photo. They just had to the whole Christmas feel.

Going to the Markets always puts me in the Christmas mood and it means it's another step closer! So I'm glad to I went. 

Yesterday, I did another Christmas themed thing and went to see a panto! My favorite - Dick Whittington was showing and since my boyfriend had never seen one, I thought it would be great for us to experience together. The story wasn't what I remembered and I get why the panto has been getting bad reviews, but I had fun anyway. 

I can't believe it's nearly Christmas now! I've still got so much to do; mostly, writing stories, making Christmas cards (Still!), helping to wrap presents and getting things ready for Christmas eve family party. I'll get there though and Christmas will happen the same way it always does! This photo shows how I'm doing most of my writing right now;    

 

And this is my dog Patch. Who's mostly been snuggled up lately. She's not a fan of the cold, rain or snow and likes to be with someone under a blanket. I totally agree with her! 

Thanks for reading and Merry Christmas!

All photos used belong to me. 

December Life update Part 2: Last post of the year!

Hi readers!

Well this is the last post of 2016 I'll be writing for this blog as next Monday is the second day of 2017! I hope everyone had a great Christmas. I did and I wanted to write a post about the changing of traditions, but to be honest I'm super tired and I've work tomorrow night. Hopefully, work will not be too bad, but you never know.

On another note, it's not snowed here. Manchester, UK has had gale force winds, heavy down pours of rain and minutes of hailstones, but so far it still doesn't feel like winter. In fact it's raining right now!

Also, unlike last time, I've no photos to post up. Not had a chance to really take any.

I have reached my book reading goal of this year though! I only had to read 30 books, but it was a starting block because I plan to raise it up ever year now. So in 2017, I'm aiming for 50 books. Though I should easily make that as I have two series to read, including one manga series that's got about 21 books in it. Of course, I won't be reviewing all of that series book by book! The second series is the True Blood one and I'll have to decided about reviewing all of those there's about 12, I think. Then I've about 10 books on my to-read list. So that's like 43 books, so finding a few more will be fine. Here's my Goodreads link; https://www.goodreads.com/user/year_in_books/2016/7400715

Christmas for me has been really good this year. Last year, I spent it away from home for the first time and for me I can't believe the difference being home for Christmas does make. I think it has to do with a number of connecting things like; being with my parents, the traditions we have, my family coming together, the food we have and just that sense of like belonging and things being right. It really makes me not want to spend another Christmas away from home, but it's nice to have a bit of a shake up and try new things.

So, what are my plans for next year then? Well, still doing this blog in the same way as well as my short story one. Though I'd like to find more people to submit stories to my blog, would be helpful to me and also grow my followers. I'd like to read more books as I just said. I'd love to get a car too and spend more time with the new man in my life. I'd like to have more days/weekends out to places and hopefully to become more stable in my new receptionist job. Lose some more weight is also on there again and maybe look at moving out. I need 2017 to be better then 2016 as this year has been rough for me and I'd like to start a new chapter now.

What are your plans for 2017? Have you set goals yet? Feel free to let me know. As for now enjoy the rest of 2016 and I'll see you in the new year!

Thanks for reading, Hayley.




Photo from; https://pixabay.com/en/new-year-s-eve-new-year-s-day-1877407/

December Life update Part 1: Christmas Is Nearly Here!

Hi readers! 

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and all that to everyone! Christmas is now only six days away and I, like everyone else in the world, have been super busy. So, today's blog is very photo heavy, but I've so much to share. Actually, this Monday I'm pressed for time as I've to go to work later and I still have today's story to write and it's half past two all ready! Let's make a start then.

The Christmas decorations have gone up and the above is a photo of my tree. It's not great because it's stuck in a dark corner of the living room like it normally is, but there's no other space to put it. We had to move my dog's bed and she was totally not happy about that. The house looks okay, but it doesn't seem we've put up many decorations this year. Still though, it feels Christmas-y enough. 

Secondly, back in November though I've waited till now to write about it, I adopted a polar bear with the WWF. I've always said that as soon as I get a good income I'd give back to a charity and since I all ready give back to one that works with children (I work, volunteer and donate items to the youth center) I decided to pick an animal. I guess I went with the WWF because its one of the most well known ones and in return for adopting an animal you receive good things. Below is the welcome pack I got. It had stickers, bookmarks, a soft toy and books covering all kinds of things.  

My cute little polar bear doesn't have a name yet, but she's been living on my desk and keeping me company. I've been sticking with the polar bear theme now and been buying a few different things, including this huge and awesome mug from Asda! It's great for hot chocolate and the spice teas I've been drinking. It's too big to use at work though, but that's okay. I'll have to find another mug for that. 

Over the last few Decembers, I've taken to hand making presents for friends and family. It's great as it saves money, everyone gets something that is more special and it gives me something to do with my spare time. This year, I decided to makes some awesome Christmas soaps for everyone. Sadly, the photos I took have gone missing. I thought I saved them to my computer, but it doesn't look like I did and I deleted everything off my camera's memory card because it was almost full. They were very pretty and didn't take long to make. 

I used all ready made soap that you melted in a microwave and poured into moulds. I added some scent oil and food dye before I did that and then I also added glitter. I made snowflakes, snowmen, pine trees and Santa. I've all ready decided to make them again next year and try some different things with them. So, hopefully photos then! 

I also made lip scrubs which are so easy as they are just honey and brown sugar. I've been knitting scarfs too. I didn't want to spoil it for people I've given them too who might read my blog, so the below photo is of the scarf I made for myself. It's totally different from the ones I made for my friends and mum because I wanted mine chunky. It was really cheap to make as it was buy 2 get 3rd ball of wool free. It took 6 balls to make this and the balls were only £1 each, so it cost me £4 and a few hours to make this scarf.  

I also made these cute felt trees. The pattern came from a craft mag and I also made them with the kids at the youth center. They are not hard to make, but it took me awhile to get the pattern size right. I've got like two still to make, but I don't think I'll have time now. 

For about three or four years now, my mum has switched out the chocolate advent calendars we always had as kids to these present advent bags. You get a small present every day and I'm sure I've written about these before. I do think they are a good idea. I made mum one again this year. This photo is of the things I've gotten so far. I know there's two things missing; a little purple bear and another candle, but I think there's more. I got a lot of usable items this time; like socks, lip balms, snacks and the note book at the back. 

Another thing that is now happening as that my mum gives up wrapping some of my presents and just leaves them on my desk for me. On Sunday, I came down to these four coloring books, packet of Twizzlers and fragrance oil. I've given the spiced apple one ago and it's really nice, but I put too much in and I've had move my burner to the other side of the room! The house now smells like sweet apples, which isn't that bad. 

Before I move on to the main part of this post, I wanted to share this plant with everyone. It's a Christmas cacti and anyone who's been a reader of this blog for awhile knows I love cacti and have a collection of them. This has to be my second favorite because it really goes to town on flowering! Plus, it only flowers this time of year which is great when every other plant is looking bleak. I have two of these plants, as the offspring of this one ended up in my jasmine plant pot. It doesn't actually live on my bookcase like that, but in the kitchen on a vase beside the sink. The other one is on the opposite side. I had to take the photo here though because it was a lot better.  

This December life update wouldn't be complete without talking about my trip to the Manchester Christmas Markets. I go every year twice- ish; the first with friends and the second with family. This year though, I had a meet up with my old uni housemates and friends. It was great because I'd not since some people since we left uni 6 years ago! I don't know why we waited so long, because we are awesome together. I hope we can all meet again next year now. 

I always enjoy the market and it makes me feel like Christmas is nearly here. It's always a highlight, even if I don't buy anything. I took a lot of photos, but I picked only the best ones to put here; 

This fudge stall is one of my favorites. Look at all those different kinds of fudge!

This huge Santa always sits above the doorway to the town hall. 

This Christmas tree looked really cool. 

A row of stalls at the town hall square. 

Cool Father Christmas figures. 

These wicker like things are cute. 

If you buy enough of these wooden houses you could make a village scene!

Nativity wind mill.

I really like these beech trees. 

Really cool big Merry Go Round. I didn't get to go on it though. 

My new boyfriend and I with a giant polar bear statue.

That's done and now I've got three things left to share. So really quick. I know I've said this before, but the Jingle Bugs book is my favorite Christmas book. It's always meant the Christmas tree is going up and it's almost time to celebrate. 

My favorite Christmas movie is The Grinch. It's great fun, but serious and for me it just holds the true meaning of Christmas within it. I do watch it every year, mostly on Christmas Eve.  

Lastly and I know it's more Halloween then Christmas. My mum and I got this pumpkin jumper for my dog. She's been cold lately and we thought it'd help. I'm not a fan of dressing her up, but she's really taken to this jumper. We've brought a Christmas one for her, but that's being kept for Christmas day! 

I hope everyone has a great time and I'll see you all next Monday for my final post of the year! Thanks for reading!