It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas Off Topic Chat

That's a tough week lined up there @Loughc You will get through it. Any chance of making the St Brigid's weekend an extra long one maybe to balance out having to do 6 days this week?

I'm here trying to think of what weeks to take off when really I've a million and one tasks to do and need to focus! We've been so short staffed. Why didn't I win the millionaire raffle :-( This week is a real struggle. I was back Weds 28th but that week and last week are easier than this because you've still got the decorations up, others still have theirs up and there's still people off on hols but this is where it gets tough! I might look for the last week in Jan off and I've Bowie stuff this weekend.

Oh and I got more Christmas decorations for the house I don't have. Tesco were selling off their multicoloured lights, gutter hooks and got a brussel sprout whoopee cushion which my nephew will find hilarious this Christmas. My mam visited her sister yesterday and she gave her this Santa decoration that she didn't have room for so my mam took it for my fictional house as well. I'm telling you, I've all the decorations, I just need the actual house :-P Good luck with this week everyone.

Good luck @Loughc and @DvB with the stressful work weeks & home lives. Best wishes for a speedy recovery too to Mrs. Loughc.

Our weekend zipped by in a flash of de-baubling the house & children's activities. Everything is down now and put away (bar my mantlepiece garland); we did a great toy clear out too. Put one toy storage unit in the attic and have limited them to four boxes now in the kitchen - kitchen toys, dollies, blocks & cars. If they want to take something out of the attic, they have to give me one of the other boxes to put up. Also did a bag up for my niece of toys they've outgrown & have a bag ready to donate to the creche too. Delighted to have it done! Also got some paint samples as have decided that I'm redoing the kitchen & hallway after procrastinating about it for the last two years. Mr. CL is not onboard but the fact that I have now painted samples all over the kitchen walls means that it needs to be painted whether he likes it or not 😋

I'm back in the office for the first time since mid-December. Thankfully the commute in was pretty painless this morning. the traffic was much lighter than it had been Nov/Dec last year. Even though I worked the four days last week, I still didn't have a great night's sleep last night. Sleeping it out when working from home doesn't put the same fear into me as doing it when I have to commute into the office.

All the decorations are still up in the office, although none of the lights are switched on. I just don't get the same happy glow when I see the decorations in January though. I got all my decorations down in a few stages over the weekend, although they haven't made it up to the attic yet. The spare room looks like a festive bomb site.

Plan on working a lot less Saturdays and Sundays this year myself, after turning 50 I'm starting to say things like " I don't need this hassle at my age " 😃

But seriously @DvB and @Loughc we do have to consider a work life balance as it is bad for your health in the long run.

@Loughc , best wishes to your wife for a speedy recovery.

Coming in to the office this morning in the car & had Nova on, PJ & Jim were back presenting this morning after their christmas break and with PJ being a notorious bah humbugger there was more than one message read out saying the same (i.e. 50 weeks to Christmas) to which he declared people as 'mad'

Can only imagine what he'd make of us lot in here 🤣

Very dreary today - hard to get motivated on days like this. Just want to curl up in front of the fire and crochet.