Project 52 2021 week 48

It’s the start of winter this week, and the weather definitely agreed. We’ve had a bit of snow, high winds, a little rain, and it’s looking typically winter going foward too. N has finally succumbed to joggers for playing tennis in, but apart from the day with snow, he’s still been in shorts for school. Brrr.

Here’s our week 48 for Project 52.

Sunday was cold. The forecast had looked ok til 11ish, then when it got too late to cancel the B team tennis match, it changed again to say sleet showers. As it was a home match I went down to support them, and crikey it was very cold. Extreme tennis. I’d hoped they’d whip through their matches, but 10 year olds seem to work everything slowly. So once the snow came they still hadn’t finished. They battled on through a couple of showers, before we called it a day in the doubles. It was looking like it was going to be a long match, going to a decider, so we gave them the match as they were leading in the doubles. Good play and resilience by our girls, but shame the forecasts can’t agree and be more accurate earlier in the morning.

We had a sprinkling of snow overnight on Monday, and the sunrise was beautiful through the snowy trees. My trip to the post office at lunch time had me wondering who did the decorating. They’d added white netting and Barbie pink ribbons across the windows like gift wrapping, and around the door. Hideous, garish, and I’m surprised noone in the village has asked them to decorate slightly more in keeping with the beautiful country buildings. Still, it made me smile…my brother lives just along from there, and he was a tad amused too.

On Tuesday I hit my biggest ever month traffic wise on the blog, even beating last December and January which were huge for me. This year has continued last year’s huge growth although I’ve still got over 10k to go to get to ad network level. Maybe by next Christmas. Another bonus, my hyacinth has been growing back again. The leaves are going a bit over the top, but I don’t know if it’ll flower again. The advent calendar’s out again, and N is loving getting chocolate each morning again!

Wednesday I picked up my crochet hook and wool again. I wanted to make myself a hat, and managed one in an evening. N laughed because it’s a slouchy hat rather than a beanie, so he thinks it looks like a french beret. I’m now trawling free patterns online, and am obsessed with looking for nice wool. N’s private tennis lesson was cancelled due to the rain.

On Thursday my INR was again within range. Yay. It means I’m back up to 6 weeks gap which is good. N got to try his new football boots at football club. He’s proclaimed them very good, and his friend told him they looked ‘cool’.

Friday was my shorter work day.. Not much else has been going on. He had his tennis private which went well. His coach advised to wait until he’s got his more consistent technique before moving up to normal yellow ball, and gradually working up to it. It means we’ll be off matches until probably March, because he doesn’t want him to lose the technique he’s now getting stronger on. So although they’ll all be old enough to move up, he’ll play them with both balls til he’s happy they’re ready to move up,

He also had his group session which was good too. Fewer children there which always helps with the amount they can cover off. It sounds like we might lose his second private in the week because the club seem to be pushing back on the coaches having access to the courts 3 nights a week. But apart from Fridays, they only use 1 court on 2 nights, and that’s only 2 kids each night. So it doesn’t give us much chance to get confirmed court time. Frustrating when there’s never any people using the courts outside of the group club session times. I might need to do some asking of my contacts at the club given they know N and know how keen he is.

Saturday was a busy day. N had a hair appointment, before that we managed to pick up/drop off a few things we needed to sort out. Then headed into town for shoelaces – N gets through so many of them. I don’t understand why he has to pull all his laces so tightly that they break really fast. I’ve got shoe laces I’ve had for years with no damage. N went out with his uncle shooting for an hour, taking the dog out to see if she’d retrieve. I did some crochet, and entered some competitions. After 2 days of entering advent competitions, I’ve already won some tickets to a Science Museum. Let’s hope that luck continues (and that I find the time to enter some more).

New posts this week:

• Blenheim Palace Christmas: Nutcracker in the Palace
• Tips to stop nail biting and how I did it
• School days year 6 November
• Best ways to decorate a Christmas tree