I’m back! And here is Charlie who has reverted to “summer mode.” He’s been going AWOL since the warmer weather arrived. At the time of writing I haven’t seen him for two whole days! Wish I knew where he went. Could be the woods at the back of our garden? They’re probably full of field mice. He’s a lad, isn’t he? Can’t help worrying about him…

What have I been up to since the New Year? In order to keep blogging, I’ve decided to keep my posts short so I’ll fill you in bit by bit. One thing I have been doing is researching my family tree. It’s been quite addictive and time-consuming. I’ve gone back five generations and discovered enough to form the basis of several family sagas. Trouble is I haven’t got time to write them, LOL! I’m still working on my WIP every now and again, but school has been busier than ever. Also, we had to make a flying visit to Hong Kong during the Easter break to visit mother-in-law, who hasn’t been at all well. I’ll write about it in my next post.

It seems incredible that it has been three weeks since I last posted. The final week of the holiday I spent rewriting the WIP. Three chapters had to be cut, but I made up the word count by padding out some of the characters and their relationships. I'm pleased with how it's going and only wish I had more time to devote to it.

I went back to school on 7^th January and it was busy, busy, busy. Nothing new in that but by the end of the week I’d come down with a sore throat and by last weekend it turned into a heavy cold. So I wasn’t up to much beyond a bit of marking and preparation. I had to take last Tuesday off as I had spent Monday night coughing and woke up with my head pounding. The cough went down into my chest and became a productive cough with a lot of catarrh (yucky!) but I’m feeling much better now. If only the weather would improve: it has been foul for weeks with non stop rain and wind. Very depressing. Hopefully, spring is round the corner and we’ll get some sunshine soon.

I’ve posted the above pic before of blue tits and a robin on a bird feeder. I have bird feeders and coconuts with suet and seed in them hanging on the Japanese maple by our pond and I love to look out on the birds. They’re very clever and only feed when the cats aren’t around. (Our Charlie Cat has been staying indoors a lot recently as he’s a fair weather friend and has developed a winter paunch through lack of activity. It's almost comical!)

As for me and my paunch, I rejoined WeightWatchers and lost five pounds last week, which is a real boost to my morale. I don’t find it hard to lose weight but have never managed to keep it off. This time, I’ve set a more realistic goal which I hope to be able to maintain.

Now I promise I’ll try and be more regular with my posts as I don’t want to lose touch with all of you out there. How have you found the start of 2008?  Do you suffer from the 'winter blues'?

The Nativity scene above is what I was given for Christmas from my hubby, minus the kings and camels. It would have been far too expensive to include them this year so I’ll wait ‘till next. We got them from Christmas Cribs on the internet and each piece is a delight; I’m sure we’ll enjoy them for many years to come. Son gave me some beautiful leather gloves. I gave hubby noise cancelling headphones so that he can listen to his music in peace and quiet and son gave him Ella Fitzgerald CDs.

Son had a “Battlestar Galactica” DVD box set, clothes and money and was very happy. We stopped having stockings some years ago but we gave the cats store bought ones filled with treats and toys. Sophie thought the gift wrap was her special present and she had a lot of fun diving in and out of it, playing with the ribbons and bows. Now she’s decided my nativity scene is worthy of her attention, especially the star and she’s managed to jump up onto the sideboard and knock some of the little sheep off. Far more interesting than the Christmas tree! Good thing they’re unbreakable.

Hubby and I cooked a real feast for the three of us and we had lots of lovely wine. Now I feel as if I’m a great, fat pudding and will definitely be rejoining WeightWatchers in the New Year.

Today I managed to get on with some writing and it’s my plan to do more of the same over the next few days. How are you spending the last week of 2007?