Long Time No See... 2019 Resolutions Progress.

Hello. So the resolution for keeping up with this blog and reviews didn't exactly happen. 2019 was a bit of a crap year. It seems a bit of depression snuck in somewhere and life circumstances around April meant it really dug it's claws in. It still hasn't let go yet. I suppose some people might see a doctor about that sort of thing but I don't have time to wait around. Appointments at my doctor's surgery regularly run half an hour late although recently my mum was waiting about an hour so... I end up avoiding it when there's a small list of things I could do with talking to them about.

Another thing that hasn't helped in more recent months (mid October onwards) is that I got a new job. I'm now Assistant Manager for a local charity shop. It's fun but busy It's - currently - four days a week working 9 til 5, well half-5 by the time you've cashed up and gotten out of there. It's been a massive learning curve and it doesn't leave a lot of computer time. I am typing this on my laptop which is an option but it's big and heavy and awkward so I'd like to get a little Chromebook or something soon. Something light and fast! A Macbook would be the dream but considering they cost more than my monthly wage that's all it'll be, a dream. Even if I had the money an iPad Pro would be higher priority, mostly for Procreate, the drawing app, I follow artists online who use it and it looks epic!

Anyway resolutions. These were last years:

1. Lose at least two stone
2. Get at least one piercing
3. Get at least one tattoo
4. Learn to drive
5. Read 100 books
6. Watch 100 films
7. See at least 5 films at the cinema
8. Write at least 30,000 words for NaNoWriMo
9. Buy a tablet
10. Get a second dog
11. Find a new job
12. Draw more and improve my art

As you can see I did not do very well at all last year. If I recall I lost a bit of weight but not as much as I wanted to, one of those things that depression affected, like my concentration which is why I failed my reading goal. I thought I consistently read above 100 a year but checking back I've failed a few times, 2014 I read 97, 2017 was only 84, 2018 was 91 and last year, 2019, was 92. My best year overall since I started the challenge on Goodreads in 2012 was 2013 when I read 207 but that was due to re-reading my Animal Ark books before re-homing them. Concentration also affected NaNoWriMo, also with that one time was a factor, having only recently started my new job.

Speaking of the job as you know I was originally at Sainsbury's. I'd not been happy for a while but then a bunch of stuff went down in April which led to my mum losing her job which then left me feeling awkward and stressed and extra unhappy. I was planning on looking for something new soon anyway but then I was in the charity shop talking to the manager there who I used to work with at Sainsbury's and she said they had an Assistant Manager vacancy and I should apply, so I did and I ended up getting it!

Now... the dog... That was not great. We'd been looking into adopting a Greyhound since March and had filled out forms with Hounds First and Forever Hounds Trust, it was taking so long for anything to happen we later filled out one with Bath Cats and Dogs Home but later all they could offer was a Yorkshire Terrier, not going to work. We had a meet with a Greyhound from Hounds First but he was an older, slower chap so we didn't feel like it would work. Forever Hounds Trust kept on giving us the runaround but eventually we got told about Stacey, a Greyhound x Whippet. We went and saw her mid August and despite reservations we decided we'd take her home (not helped by the distance and horrible country roads to get to the centre) and renamed her Breeze. Things were difficult from the start. We had to buy her a slow feeder and stand between her and Forest to give him a chance to eat his food. She didn't understand toys, she blocked him from getting on either bed and he ended up sleeping in the kitchen which he'd never done before in his life! She was also a chewer, ate a pair of my shoes and put a hole in my towel. Her training was also non-existent, pulling strongly, barking at other dogs, couldn't walk in a straight line, she also had several accidents inside. Of course this was mostly stuff we could have worked with (except maybe the beds) but then she quickly started to get quite nippy with him and caused a couple of small injuries and so we decided after a few weeks that she needed to go back for his safety and hers if Forest decided to retaliate - being so much bigger and all). We have now decided if we're going to get another dog then another puppy is going to be the best plan for us personally. We need to know a dog's background, Breeze was a former stray so was always going to be a mystery.

The other goals as normal suffered from lack of money. Same old, same old.

Anyway this post is long enough that I will sign off and do 2020's goals in a new post.

Stef Out xx

Recent Outfits

Not an outfit but these were my nails before the Halloween ones. A white base from Maybelline (pictured) with a purple metallic crackle from Avon.

I wore this when we went to look at a new car. Can't remember off the top of my head where my dress is from originally but I bought it from Oxfam. It's a nice stretchy size 18. I can wear it without the jumper but mostly I prefer not to. The jumper is a men's one originally from M&S but bought from PDSA. My mum had to shorten the sleeves as they were rather long. Necklace is a cheap owl one from Amazon.

I wore this Wednesday to visit the new Portishead Sainsbury's. It's very smart and new, I got flowers for being the first female customer (not technically but I don't think the woman had the chance to give them to anyone else). There was also glasses of fizzy orange juice - potentially alcoholic - and they were giving out free bags designed by a kid at the primary school I work at which was quite nice. We did do some shopping, their hot chocolate is delicious. Bigger packets than Tesco, cheaper and Fairtrade so I think we'll switch to buying there :D Other than that it'll probably be mostly top-up shopping if we go to their petrol station. If we're in Clevedon we go to Morrisons garage so it'll all depend on where we are or where we need to be when we need petrol.

One thing that annoyed me was that I applied for a job there numerous times, even went to an interview organised by the job centre and yet I saw people there that I don't understand how they got the job. One woman's only previous work experience is as a cleaner yet she was working the tills. A man who also had his interview arranged by the job centre who - from what I've seen before - has anger issues and I'm not sure if he's worked before and possibly has issues with learning. It certainly frustrates me but I think the biggest issue is Sainsbury's online application. Last 2 jobs, most recent education, references, and then a scenario questionnaire. It isn't complete enough to get a full picture of you and your history.

Top is from PDSA (can't remember where originally), skirt is the same and trainers were from Shoe Zone.

I wore this Saturday when we went to pick up the new car :) It's a silver 2004 Ford Mondeo. It is perfect! Mum loves it, she doesn't love parking it yet XD it's rather large. Dress is from Pink Clove, shirt is from New Look via PDSA, leggings are Lidl - they're comfy but starting to wear a little thin around the seams. Trainers are Converse.

I wore this when we went to visit a family friend in Clevedon. She's been mum's best friend since they were at secondary school and she's my Godmother. We don't get to see her much because she works Mon-Sat and mum's usually working Sunday's but this Sunday mum's week off work had just started so we popped up for a chat and show her the new car. Shirt is same as yesterday, trousers are Evans via PDSA.

I wore this Tuesday (yesterday) to go shopping in Clevedon. We did a stock-up of stuff for the freezer. We're trying to have a bit more organisation and variety in what meals we have. Sorry about the quality of the photo, it was rather dark thanks to the rain outside. Top is from Evans, jeans are from an old catalogue and boots (barely visible) are from TUK.

I was back at work yesterday and I'm already kinda exhausted. Although that may be more to do with the fact that I've got a cold. Ugh. I did think it was allergies at first but I had a sore throat and a cough which don't usually go with my allergy attacks. They're usually 24-48 hours of sneezing and runny nose which comes and goes super fast.