#SoCS / JJJ - 31/1/26 - Scratch an Itch

Your prompt for #JusJoJan the 31st and Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “scratch an itch.” Use it any way you’d like. To join in the fun click HERE.

I was thinking about taking this prompt literally and wondering out loud how I would cope with scratching an itch if Hubby wasn't around.  You know the one, that point on your back that you just can't quite reach no matter how much you contort yourself. 

But of course scratching an itch is also about satisfying a craving.  I've been good this week and not given in to the temptation of chocolate that's in the house.  Mainly because I've started taking a collagen supplement that is chocolate flavoured and I'm mixing it with warm milk.  It actually tastes really nice but I'm just a bit wary of having a migraine induced chocolate overload so I haven't scratched that itch.

I also went to the library to return a book, one that I hadn't even read, and came away with no new books despite browsing the "New In" book shelf where several books caught my eye.  But I have enough books on my TBR pile to probably last me a year so I really don't need to scratch that itch either.

So now, is it just me, or does writing about this topic create an itch in that impossible to reach place?  Thankfully Hubby is in the house so I will get my itch scratched!

Enjoy the rest of the weekend all.

Fridays Fave Five - 30/1/26 (And JJJ - Cinnamon)

It's Friday and time to look back on the week and find the blessings.  Susanne keeps us on our toes and you can find her blog and all the details here.

It's been a fairly uneventful week here but there are always good things going on

1)  It's been incredibly wet over the month of January but I did manage a walk around the lake on Monday despite it being incredibly muddy so thankful for my wellies.

2)  Tuesday I did my keep fit class and then had coffee (well tea for me) with friends who also attend the class.  Always good to have a catch up.

3)  We spent time with grandchildren Nathan and Ella on Sunday.  Ella who is only 5 is getting much better at playing games but we also had a long spell playing with the Playdoh. (And the colours didn't get mixed!)

4)  Yesterday was Foodbank day and as always it was very busy.  We had two visits from schools.  The first one was a group of older students who are studying Charity and Money Management as part of their course so they were very interested to hear how the Foodbank operates etc.  Some of them brought donations and several wanted to know how they could volunteer.  We often have students who are doing their Duke of Edinburgh awards spending time at the Hub so there are opportunities for them.

The second visit was from a primary school group of Year 6 pupils who had done a week of collecting for the Foodbank and they brought in a huge donation of canned and dried goods which we're always grateful for.

We also had an unannounced visit from the Hygiene team from the local council and we retained our 5 star rating!  

It was such a busy morning that Sally (who usually works with me in the stockroom) and I didn't even have time for a cup of tea or in my case a chocolate croissant or in Sally's case a cinnamon pastry.

(Just slipping in today's Just Jot it January prompt there lol.)

5)  I've decided to give a collagen supplement a go.  The order was delivered earlier this week and thankfully the chocolate flavour I ordered is delicious.  So I'm thankful that it shouldn't be too difficult to fit it into the daily routine and that I didn't have to think about the cost either.

I also got a delivery of garden bird and swan/duck food this week.  Again I'm thankful that we're in a position to be able to do these things now that we're retired.

Now I'm off to try and get a walk in before the rain returns.

Have a good weekend all.

(The Just Jot it January prompt was from Tessa K who blogs  HERE.  The Just Jot it challenge is hosted by Linda HERE.)

JJJ - 26/1/26 - Eavesdropper

Today’s prompt is brought to us by Angela. Thank you, Angela! You can find her blog HERE.

Your prompt for JusJoJan January 26th, 2026 is “eavesdropper.” Use it any way you’d like. Have fun!  For all the info on the challenge go HERE.

I don't consider myself to be an eavesdropper but I do like to know what's going on and there's often a case of FOMO when I'm out with a group of people trying to keep up with all the various conversations.

I used to be better at that - marrying into a large family meant there was always more than one conversation going on around the dining table for example and I could keep track of the main parts of each one. Now I find it quite hard to listen to multiple conversations and keep track of them. Must be getting old.

Weekly Photos 18th -24th January 2026 (And JJJ - transmission.)

Starting from top left to right:

My purchase at the yarn sale - I spent Sunday checking out tapestry crochet on YouTube.

My current read

My clean kitchen floor - a job that was long overdue!

Bottom left to right:

Some of the games played when we had the grandkids here on Wednesday

Beds finally remade after our Christmas visitors in the spare room

Breakfast in bed on Friday

It's a WIP!  It's hard going because it's done on a 2.5 mm hook and it's taken me a while to get used to the "tapestry" technique.  Nowhere near perfect but I'm sure Ella will love it. 🤞 

Had to be a bit creative with the photos this week - I haven't quite got into the habit of taking one each day!

This transmission is brought to you courtesy of blogger and fulfils the Just Jot it January prompt of the day provided by Dar who blogs HERE 

#SoCS & JJJ - 24/1/26 - Take another look!

Your prompt for #JusJoJan the 24th and Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “take another look.” Use it any way you’d like. Enjoy!  (Go HERE for all the details.)

Right have you got yourself a cup of tea or coffee?  Then settle in to a comfy chair because I know I can waffle on about this prompt for a while.

I am good at finding things.  I am methodical in my searching.  (Must be my logical brain.)  And I'm persistent.  If I'm looking for something that I know HAS to be in my house I will keep looking until I find it.  Missing socks? Paperwork?  Keys?  I'm your person.

Hubby is not so great.  He will say he's looked when of course he hasn't really looked.

Case in point, on Thursday he was getting ready to go out for the evening and couldn't find his house keys.  He claimed to have looked everywhere to which my response was "You can't have looked everywhere because if you had you would have found them."

He muttered something about hoping he hadn't left them in the cafe he'd been to earlier but I was quick to point out that he'd let himself in when he got back so he must have had the keys then.  Had he checked he hadn't left them in the door?  Yes that has happened on more than one occasion but not this time.

I began to search but by this time he was getting into a panic.  He was going to miss his bus.  We live right opposite the bus stop and the wonderful TFL app lets us know when a bus will turn up.  Or not.  It sometimes has a blip but generally it's pretty good.  Now bearing in mind that we live in London and the bus service is fairly regular there would be another bus.  It wasn't going to be the last bus of the day like in country places where they only come once an hour and stop as soon as it gets dark!

Daughter who was here managed to convince him to take the spare key so he could leave.

I stopped searching.  I knew they'd turn up somewhere.  Probably in one of his pockets.  He does like clothes that have lots of pockets - great for losing your phone!  The other day he was searching for his phone and he had on a cycling top that had a pocket on the back.  Perfect size for a phone.  Even when I was ringing his phone he didn't realise where it was at first.  He blamed that on not have his hearing aids in at the time.

Yes that's another thing I have to contend with.   If I'm not telling him to take another look I'm telling him to "put your ears in".   I wrote earlier in the week about having more patience since I've got older but dealing with Hubby sometimes requires the patience of a saint.

Of course I love him to bits and I did find his keys eventually - on our bed.  He'd napped earlier in the day and obviously put his keys down at some point and then covered them with the top sheet.  But of course he'd looked there.  Good thing I took another look!

The missing article.  Not that small a thing!

Friday's Fave Five - 23/1/26 (and JJJ - Altruism)

It's Friday so time to look back on the week to find the good things and then share them HERE on Susanne's blog.  Thanks for the weekly reminder Susanne.

1.  Well firstly I'm thankful that we don't have winter weather like Susanne has - lots of snow and cold temperatures.  It's been a very wet week here but temperatures have been okay.  Quite chilly, but hey it's still winter and we have warm clothes, can afford to keep the heating on so we're ok.

2.  YouTube!  I posted earlier in the week about getting this kit at the yarn sale I went to last week.

This was beyond my crochet expertise - I've done lots of Granny Squares and lacy doilies but I've never done tapestry crochet.  Thankfully I found a great tutorial on YouTube and I've made a start and it seems to be going ok so far.

3.  Hubby had a follow up appointment this week for his eyes and he's been discharged from the hospital.  They advised having an annual check up at his optician (who spotted the problem in the first instance) but no more visits to the hospital/clinic required.

4.  Thankful that my daughter and her family are close to us so that when help is needed we can be there for them.  Our DIL wasn't feeling great on Wednesday so I was able to collect Nathan and Ella from school and have them here until after they'd eaten.  I'm also thankful that both my sons have good in-laws nearby too.  

5.  Fitting in my Just Jot it January challenge word of the day here which is "Altruism".  I'm glad that I can help out at the Foodbank each week and that so many other volunteers do too.  It's hard work sometime, particularly on the Thursday sessions - I get home and often just sit (might even catch a nap lol) but knowing we're helping so many people is very satisfying.

And a bonus mention for my library!  One of the prompts for the reading challenge I'm doing is a book which uses "Deus ex Machina" which, for those of you like me had no clue is:

a plot device in which a seemingly unsolvable problem is abruptly solved by an unexpected and unlikely event.

Thankfully the challenge has a great guide on what the prompts mean and also a list of books which work for a particular prompt.  Apparently this book works for Deus ex Machina

and it was shown as available at my library so I went and checked it out today.  I can't start it yet as I have this one to finish first:

Have a good weekend all.

JJJ - 22/1/26 - Impatience

Today’s prompt is brought to us by Dharkanein. Thank you, Dharkanein! You can find Dharkanein's blog HERE 

Your prompt for JusJoJan January 22nd, 2026 is “impatience.” Use it any way you’d like. Enjoy!

To visit our Just Jot it January's host Linda go HERE.

Well I hope that as I've got older I've learned to curb my impatience.

I'm not holding my breath though.

JJJ 20/1/26 - Unspoken

Today’s prompt is brought to us by Maggie. Thank you, Maggie! You can find her blog HERE.

Your prompt for JusJoJan January 20th, 2026 is “unspoken.” Use it any way you’d like. Enjoy!

And if you want to find out more about this challenge and see who else is taking part, our host the lovely Linda can be found HERE.

Well I'm using this post to jump on the bandwagon of looking back on where I was 10 years ago, i.e. 2016.

2015 hadn't been a great year.  It was the year I left my job and lots of things were left unspoken with regard to that.  But I was looking forward to 2016.  Turning over a new page etc.....

It seems a long time ago now but thankfully my blog helped me fill in some blanks.

We didn't have a great start to the year as my MIL fell while staying with us and broke her hip.  A hip replacement operation was done and although initially she seemed ok, unfortunately while in hospital she began to decline and unfortunately passed away on 22nd January at the age of 87.  It was a very sad time for the whole extended family.

We also had 2 new babies in the extended family by that time but one of them, Poppy, became very ill.  It was a worrying time but eventually she was diagnosed with a rare genetic condition and gradually began to improve.  10 years on and most people wouldn't realise she has this lifelong condition although it does still affect what she can and can't eat but she is such a lovely bubbly girl.  A joy to be around.

In April I had what was defined as a minor surgical procedure but the recovery was a very painful few weeks. Thankfully by then I was doing a lot of blogging.  I'd signed up for the annual A-Z challenge which involved visiting lots of London stations.  I'd also started joining in with Susanne's Fridays Fave Five and I was blogging regularly about the weekly news.  Now I don't even want to watch the news!

Our youngest son and his wife moved in with us so that they could save for their own place.  I think they'd planned for a year but we had them for about 18 months in the end but they were easy to have around the house.

Hubby went from full time work to part time (3 days per week).  Having him around for an extra couple of days took some getting used to! (Not really, well maybe a little.)

Our daughter turned 30 in May and we celebrated with all of us going away for a weekend together which was lovely.  We had a chef come one evening to cook a meal for us and we tried out clay pigeon shooting which was actually fun.

Then in June the unthinkable happened - the UK voted to leave the European Union.  That was definitely a tricky time and we're still getting over the fallout from that decision.  Yes I voted to remain.

There were a couple of funerals during the year.  One was a long time friend who died at the age of 50 following a heart attack. That was a bit of a reminder of how life can be short and we have to make the most of it.  (And yet still my cup is usually half empty.)

Things looked up by the end of the year though - our eldest son got married in the August, meaning all 3 of our children were married and by Christmas we knew we were going to be grandparents in 2017.

We saw all of the kids on Christmas Day and we were definitely looking forward to 2017.

JJJ - 19/1/26 - Consistency

Our prompt today is courtesy of running enthusiast Warren. Thank you, Warren! You can find his blog HERE and our host Linda's blog HERE.

Your prompt for JusJoJan January 19th, 2026 is “consistency.” Use it any way you’d like. Enjoy!

Well that's an appropriate word for me because I am definitely trying to find some consistency in my blogging and of course the Just Jot it January challenge is great for kicking off the year to a good start.

Trouble is I probably say something along those lines every year and then things start to slip.  Well I guess that's consistency.

Looking at my stats I did post more in 2025 than in previous years but not as much as my best year which was 2020 with a total of 245 posts.  Hmm I wonder why that year was so good.  Oh yes, we stayed home, a lot! 

JJJ - 18/1/26 - Organ

Our prompt for January 18th is brought to us by the lovely Kaye. Thank you, Kaye! You can find her blog HERE.

Your prompt for JusJoJan January 18th, 2026 is “organ.” Use it any way you’d like. Have fun!

Well I'm just doing a jot today.  My first thought when I saw the prompt was musical instrument so I'm going to link you to Liverpool Cathedral's website here where you can find out about the biggest organ in the UK.

There's even a link where you can hear it.  Enjoy.

#SoCS & JJJ - 17/1/26 - Favourite Saying

Your prompt for #JusJoJan the 17th and Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “favourite saying.” Use it any way you’d like. Enjoy!

Soooo SoCS posts are supposed to be done without planning or forward thinking.  It's almost 10.30 pm as I'm starting this and I'm not sure my brain is even capable of thinking right now.  I've made myself a cup of tea which I may live to regret later (although it is decaf) and I'm trying to think of a favourite phrase.

Hmmmmm not coming up with much.  It's been a busy day, well a busy week right now and I think I'm all talked out.  Today I helped out at a yarn sale organised by the knitting group I attend.  We made about £600 which is being split between two good causes, one of which is the foodbank I volunteer at so that was good.

After that I had a brief bit of time at home when I managed to finish one of my book clubs read "Five Quarters of the Orange" by Joanne Harris.  (She of Chocolat fame.)  Pondering over how to review that one.

But then we were off to a get together with most of Hubby's siblings to raise a glass to his Mum who died 10 years ago at the end of the month.  That was a nice event.  It also coincided with one of his sister's birthdays (on Monday) so we had something nice to celebrate too.

But still not coming up with a favourite saying.  Although I do seem to remember that "time for bed" was a favourite when the kids were young and I was looking forward to sitting down and relaxing after a day of parenting.  And now it's "time for bed" for me.  

#SoCS and Just Jot it January are hosted by Linda HERE.

Check out her blog for all the details etc.

JJJ - 15/1/26 - Symbiotic

Time for the the daily prompt for Just Jot it January 2026. Our 15th prompt is brought to us by Sally. Thank you, Sally! You can find her blog  HERE.  To find out more about Just Jot it January hosted by the lovely Linda go HERE.

Your prompt for JusJoJan January 15th, 2026 is “symbiotic.” Use it any way you’d like. Have fun!

Well I was pretty sure I knew what symbiotic means but just to be on the safe side I checked:

1. involving interaction between two different organisms living in close physical association.

   "the fungi form symbiotic associations with the roots of plant species"

   • denoting a mutually beneficial relationship between different people or groups.

     "the reader can have a symbiotic relationship with the writer"
2. 
   

Well I think I have a symbiotic relationship with my husband.  We are definitely two different organisms.  He's an extrovert, I'm an introvert.  He loves music.  I like to be in the house on my own with no noise at all.  There must be something mutually beneficial going on though as we've been married for nearly 42 years.

JJJ - 13/1/25 - Rubbish

Today’s prompt is brought to us by Di. Thank you, Di! You can find her blog HERE.

Your prompt for JusJoJan January 13th, 2026 is “rubbish.” Use it any way you’d like. Have fun!

And if you want to find out more about the challenge and see who'd taking part you can visit our host Linda's blog HERE.

Well this is good timing because today is our rubbish collection day.

We don't have quite as many bins as this but we do now have 4 bins.

A large green wheelie bin for all our recycling - paper, glass, cans, plastic it all goes in the same bin.

Then we have a large black one for general waste.

There is also a medium sized brown wheelie bin for garden waste and then there is a smaller brown caddy for food waste.

That's all quite straightforward.

But...since they introduced the food waste bins they have only been collecting general waste and garden waste fortnightly.  Not on the same week of course.  So you need to remember is it:

Green & black wheelie bins plus the food waste caddy OR

Green & brown wheelie bins plus the food waste caddy

Of course I could make my life easier and just leave all the bins at the front of the house but that makes it tricky to get 2 cars on the front so the bins live in the back garden and then we put them out the night before collection day.  God forbid you don't have them on the edge of your property by 6am in the morning.  It used to be fine doing it when we got up as the bins were never emptied until the afternoon but now the food waste does get emptied about 6.30 am most weeks.

I have a reminder system in place to make sure we get the right bins out but our neighbour opposite doesn't seem to have got the hang of the new system yet but their work around is to put ALL the bins out EVERY week.  (It's only been running for about 9 months now.)

Thankfully the threatened strike by refuse collectors before Christmas was called off otherwise the foxes would have been in heaven with all the rubbish piling up and the rats would also have been thriving.

Anyway I'll have to end this scintillating post about rubbish now as I need to go and put the bins away!

JJJ - 12/1/26 - Chewy

Our 12th prompt of the year is courtesy of the lovely Liz. Thank you, Liz! You can visit her blog Here to read her posts and say hello. And if you want to take part of find out more about the Just Jot it January challenge go HERE to our host Linda's site.

Your prompt for JusJoJan January 12th, 2026 is “chewy.” Use it any way you’d like. Enjoy!

Well I tend to avoid anything too chewy.  At the moment I still have all my own teeth and I'd like to keep it that way!

I must admit to having a bit of a phobia about going to the dentist.  I was filling in a survey earlier that was actually about our GP service but contained a couple of questions about dental care.  One of which was when did you last visit a dentist.  Hmm that was very embarrassing.  I'm not going to say just how long it is but wayyyyy toooo long.

It is on my to do list for this month to get sorted but as the saying goes - if it's not broke......

My one big fear though is of breaking a tooth.  One front tooth suffered that fate thanks to a piece of french bread and now consists of almost as much filling as there is tooth.  Hence the avoidance of chewy stuff!

Weekly Photos 5th - 10th January 2026

Anyone eagle eyed enough to spot that the date range is only 6 days?

I've decided that I will try to do this post on a Sunday so the photos will be from the previous Sunday through to Saturday.  Well that's the plan.

Last Sunday's photo was posted in the first of these posts so starting at Top left this was taken on Monday when I was tidying up and I came across these under the guest bed.  They belong to my DIL.  I often get left with a souvenir or two when they've stayed.

The other 3 photos on the left were taken on my walk around the lake on Tuesday - the poor birds were all congregating in two patches of the lake that hadn't frozen over.

The centre photo was also taken on Tuesday - I like this idea.

Top right was the puzzle I completed on Wednesday.

Next down was Thursday's Wordle puzzle which I managed to do in 2!  Lucky with my first guess of SLATE.

Celebrations anyone?  We're almost through all our Christmas treats but were still eating these on Friday.

One down, 51 to go.  This is my first book completed this year.  I've blogged a review here.  My opinion* on that book - don't bother.

There I've even slotted in the daily prompt* for the Just Jot it January prompt which today was provided by John who blogs here.  If you're a music lover you should pop over and say hello.

#SoCS & JJJ - 10/1/26 - Don't get me started....

Thanks as always to Linda for hosting this - find her blog, all the rules and other participants here.

Your prompt for #JusJoJan the 10th and Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “don’t get me started.” Use the phrase in your post or just write about the first thing it conjures in your mind. Use it any way you’d like. Enjoy!

Well I was going to say actually you DO need to get me started because I feel like I've been quite lazy this week.  It's been quite a social week and so I've slipped behind with chores at home and I haven't felt particularly motivated on that front.

But actually I'm going to rant about our water company.  In the centre of our little area of London there is a train station which is very convenient for us.  But this means the trains run straight through our town and there is a level crossing right in the middle of town.  We live on one side of it, Tesco our big supermarket is on the other.

This doesn't usually cause major problems, unless the barriers get stuck which is actually only a problem for cars as there is a subway pedestrians can still use.  It can be annoying if you arrive in your car at the crossing just as the barriers are going down but they're not usually down for long and then you're on your way.

Or not as it was today because....just the other side of the barrier there is a burst water pipe and so the road that leads to the supermarket is closed.  We can drive across the crossing but then we have to go left and there is no way back to the supermarket.  (There is a much longer route there via the next crossing under the railway but it seems part of that road may be blocked - by another burst water pipe.)

These burst pipes are popping up all over the place.  The very cold snap of weather we had last week has not helped.

But the bigger problem is the underinvestment in the infrastructure. And that's because Thames Water (the provider of our water services) is a Private Limited Company!  It was privatised by a Conservative Government in 1989.  As such it needs to make profits for its owners.

It's hardly rocket science to see that this is not going to benefit the consumer.  When the company was privatised it was debt free and has since run up debts running into BILLIONS.

The infrastructure was in need of major upgrades and they are working on that, slowly but in the meantime leaks keep appearing everywhere and our bills keep going up.

I really cannot understand why utilities are not owned by the Government.  They are essential services and require investment.  They should not be lining the pockets of investors, many of which are overseas!

Unfortunately when I sent Hubby off in the car armed with a shopping list today I had forgotten about the road closure.  He was not happy when he got back.  He had to park in a nearby side street and take a long detour to get home again.  Fortunately he wasn't doing a huge shop so he was able to carry it back to the car ok.  He was not happy though!

Right rant over.  It's time for bed here in London.

Don't get me started on anything else.

JJJ - 9/1/26 - Celebrate

Well having been described as Wonderful by our Just Jot it January host Linda I'd best get this post done as the prompt was chosen by me.

You can find out what the Just Jot it January challenge is all about and how to join in etc. here.

We had a lot to celebrate in 2025.

3 of the nieces and nephews in Hubby's extended family got married.  We attended 2 of those weddings and many of the younger generation made the trip to Italy for the 3rd.  All the brides looked radiant and everyone had good times.

We also celebrated some golden oldies - my Hubby, one of my cousins and another cousin's husband all turned 70 this year and we spent a few days away with all of them in September near Gloucester.

Our French brother-in-law turned 70 towards the end of 2024 but his celebration was delayed until the summer of 2025 so that we could all get together in France with his family too and make use of his large garden - it would never have worked in the winter inside the house!

We also welcomed 2 babies into the extended family and I wouldn't be surprised if 2026 brings more baby news but we will have to wait and see.

And my favourite celebration:

An empty Celebrations box!

The Galaxy Caramel!

JJJ - 8/1/26 - Stumble

Your prompt for JusJoJan January 8th, 2026 is “stumble.” Use it any way you’d like. Enjoy!

This prompt was provided by Lou who blogs here and the challenge is hosted by Linda who blogs here.

These days I try very hard not to stumble.  Falls at my age could be quite disastrous.  I do not want any broken bones or to be trapped in a boot or worse still plaster cast.

It's surprising that I don't have more falls as I'm not good at looking at what's on the ground and likely to trip me up.  One of my worst falls was due to this - I was carrying a basket of washing and didn't notice my grandson's push along trike on the ground and went flying over it.

Thankfully no real damage was done but you'd think it would be a lesson for me.  After all I used to be responsible for Health and Safety in a school so I know all about risk assessing and trip hazards etc. etc. etc.  Oh no.  I nearly fell over backwards at the food bank today having navigated my way around a crate of food that was on the floor to get something from a shelf.  I backed up and nearly fell over the crate which I knew was there, I'd put it there and I'd just moved around it and then promptly forgot it was there!  That's the sort of thing I do!

Anyway I managed to get home today in one piece.  Long may that continue!

Wednesday Hodgepodge - 7/1/26

Joyce provides the questions, we provide the answers and then we join up here.  Join the party.

1. What are three words you would use to describe your 2025? 

Joyful

Satisfying

Peaceful

2. I ask this question every January, and I always get comments about how we shouldn't be banning words. This is fun and games so just play along : ) 

Every January 1st since 1976 Lake Superior University has published a list of words they'd like to see banished from the Queen's English. Words may be banished due to misuse, overuse, or just general uselessness (go here to read about how the words are chosen). Here's the list for 2026- 

67 • demure • cooked • massive • incentivize • full stop • perfect • gift/gifted  • my bad • reach out 

Which one (if any) do you use most often? Which one of these words/phrases would you most like to see banished from everyday speech and why? Is there a word you think should have made the list? 

Well obviously I would use cooked and I do sometimes find full stop creeping in and I use things like perfect, massive and gift/gifted in the appropriate context.

I'd definitely like to see 67, incentivize and my bad banished.  Can't think of any words I would add to the list right now but I'm sure there are some.

3. What are your nightly rituals? Is that different from your 'ideal' nightly ritual? If so what's your ideal? 

So my ideal nightly ritual would involve a skincare routine that looked after my aging skin. Doesn't often happen.

4. January 6th is/was National Bean Day. Do you like beans? Which one is your favourite? Last thing you ate made with beans? 

I'm not mad about beans.  The ones I eat most often are baked beans in tomato sauce.  Which I probably had with breakfast at the weekend.

5. Are you easily embarrassed? Elaborate. 

I am soooo easy to embarrass and I hate it.  

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

I had lots of good intentions of doing a lot of chores this week as in back to normality after the Christmas break.  I'm not doing well on that front but I have been blogging every day and today I finished this:

Jigsaw of a Fantasy Bookshop - 1000 pieces.

I started it way before Christmas so I was determined to get it finished.  Now I just have to stop myself from starting another one just yet.  But I have taken all the Christmas stuff down and it's away in the loft until next year!

And this definitely counts as a huge jot for the Just Jot it January challenge.