Been attempting to ‘cosy up’ the wood burning stove. (…Still possibly needs more Christmas).

Why you…

Well, I suppose it is *checks calendar* the end of August

Happy Easter. 🐣

Chicken soup for lunch. #tonsillitis

Ray of light. (And some sunshine coming through the window).

A birthday slice of lasagna, a freebie side of foccaccia (plus salad not in shot) and a Campari Spritz. Nobody does it better than the Italians. 🇮🇹

Heidi, just checking in to Blue Sky. #dogsofbluesky

What fresh hell is this

Heidi looks as though she’s about to need an ashtray. #dogsofbluesky

Been bugging me! Who does Francesca / Frankie remind me of? Apparently it’s Paula Wilcox, back in the 70s/80s. #thetraitors #traitorsuk

Hallway afternoon light. (It’s briefly tidy pre-onslaught of bags, coats, water bottles, shoes and crumpled bump notes).

Start as you mean to go on, Juanita.

Found Heidi sunbathing on my son’s bed earlier. She has January sussed a lot better than I do. #dogsofbluesky

Not quite the same breed, but I know what Easter egg I’ll be getting for the kids (albeit in a few months - I mean, it… it is still January right?) #dogsofbluesky

Heidi’s combatting the January blues with her favourite home pastime: squirrel patrol. She has an excellent garden vantage point from her chaise longue. (Do we… do we spoil her?) #dogsofbluesky

Apparently this is what I bought last year in Tesco. It tracks, but also, it… lacks.

Christmas has left the building (well, gone up to the loft). The house still has cosy areas, but I think Heidi is missing the tree. #dogsofbluesky

The Cosmetics to Go sales catalogue, July 1994. Pre-cursor to Lush. As a teenager, I absolutely loved it.

A pause in the de-Christmassing of the house to enjoy air fryer s’mores, made by the kids. Marshmallows, chocolate chips & meringue. Sugar crash incoming.

Only a sprinkling of snow here this morning, but just enough for some snow-sculpting fun with the kids.

Grateful for the rooms I didn’t decorate for Christmas.

Fully invested in The Traitors, having never watched it before. The giant barber with the 90s haircut! The Sugababes tribute act Traitors (albeit now a duo rather than trio)! Minah is brilliant & truly playing the game; feeling very sorry for Kas who seems lovely. Linda is a liability. It’s so good!

It’s the obligatory de-Christmassing weekend, if tradition is to be upheld. For now, all the fairy lights are still on and the tree is still bedecked. It’s so magically cosy. Bleak midwinter outside. Wonder why we don’t keep decorations up til the end of February.

Smashed a snowglobe (while hoovering; that’ll teach me). It’s Beginning to Look A Lot Less Like Christmas.

Have now resumed normal diet, having gone full Very Hungry Caterpillar and eaten the entire Christmassy food contents of my house (plus my parents’ house, plus my in-laws’ house) over the past two weeks. Currently in the chrysalis phase. Hoping I shall emerge a beautiful butterfly at some point.🦋 🤞🏻

Heidi is in her hibernation phase. As are we. #dogsofbluesky

New Year’s Day traditions. Anyone else open the back door and front door simultaneously, to let the old year out and new year in? It was pretty epic this morning, a hefty gust of wind rattled the fairy lights in the hallway and the Christmas tree in the living room visibly bristled. Greetings, 2025.

A new gadget and a new culinary era dawns in our house. (Fashionably late to the air fryer party). Entering… THE MEGAZONE.

Post-Christmas Heidi. Hard relate. #dogsofbluesky

Salad and vegetables are making their way into our kitchen fridge. However so is cheesecake and salmon en croute. Balanced diet and all that.

Took Heidi on a light trail, her personal highlights were seeing a real cat (worth the entrance fee alone, in her opinion) and being given an enormous bratwurst (almost bigger than her body) for free. We let her have a quarter of it; she probably felt we were underestimating her. #dogsofbluesky

Still so much food in the house. No actual meals, mind, just… so much food.

The indignities they suffer for a treat. #dogsofbluesky 🦌

Heidi’s sister, Bonnie, is over for the day. This is their Christmas photo. Heidi seems delighted; Bonnie looks more reticent. #dogsofbluesky

Belated Merry Christmas. Heidi had a good treats haul in her stocking, but we have stopped buying her toys, as the only one she truly loves is her giant fluorescent caterpillar. Nothing compares to it, apparently. The heart wants what it wants. #dogsofbluesky

Tidying up for Santa. Kids are highly motivated to help, husband strangely less so.

Day 24. Relief: the daily jam onslaught has come to an end, with a bauble. I shall dip into my now-impressive jam library sporadically over the coming months, and continue my quest to track down a full-sized jar of the Spiced Rhubarb - my jam, in both the literal and figurative sense. #bonnemaman

Heidi’s Christmas groom photo. What a dashing pup. #dogsofbluesky

Going in.

Day 23. Purple Fig with Cinnamon Conserve. Currently psyching myself up to a Tesco AND Waitrose (for the fancy bits) double whammy food shop. Husband suggested we take the kids and all go. Are you mad? No; no. I must do this alone.

The panettone has been unleashed. In unrelated news, elasticated waistband season is also now upon us.

Day 22. Apricot & peach. Or, according to my brain’s rusty French archives, apricot and fishing. (Let’s go with peach). #bonnemaman

Managed to get a Santa hat onto Heidi while she was sleeping (on top of the kids’ blankets - because, of course). #dogsofbluesky

Heidi. Sitting on top of her toy basket. Wonder what she’s trying to tell me. #dogsofbluesky

Gingerbread tree as decorated by the kids. Zero baking stress as it’s a ready made biscuit kit, just had to whisk up an egg white with the icing sugar. Structurally robust, too - a refreshing change after years of wonky gingerbread houses with catastrophic subsidence.

Day 21. Fruits of the Forest. #bonnemanan School’s out, presents are finally all wrapped, house is decorated. Probably time to get ill. Caning the vitamin C and willing my flu shot to work fast.

Day 20. Guava. I think. #bonnemaman Has everyone agreed that all bets are now off, diet-wise? We can just rip into everything like a ravenous mountain bear for the next 12 days, until the inevitable January scales remorse? That’s my plan, anyway. Recognising, then continuing, the cycle of idiocy.

Day 19. We meet again, my nemesis in a tiny pot: hazelnut chocolate spread. Saving this for next week, during which time my attitude shall be best summed up as ‘calories, schmalories’.

Day 18. Lemon with Elderberry Conserve. I’m not entirely sure how it’s only a week until Christmas. (And yes, I understand how time works). #bonnemaman