We’ve finally arrived at the start of 2012, and what sort of year does it hold in store for each and every one of us? There will be a few who believe that we will not get to see the end of the year as some global catastrophe will befall the planet, well either that or the Mayans decided not to carry on with their calendar!!

Watched the firework display in London on television and have to admit I thought I was watching V For Vendetta when all the fireworks started erupting from Big Ben and even through it was a great display I do have to wonder how much the display cost and more importantly who footed the bill?

I must be coming up with a new way to celebrate the new year as for the last two years I have spent the evening cleaning up and New Years Eve 2011 was spent no differently with me still going through some of the stuff that I have removed from the shed at my mothers. I have found a new home for my collection of Doctor Who books and magazines, having cleared out my old craft magazines – they are already loaded into the car ready to be given away.

I was not able to save my radio controlled Dalek – the moment it had been thrown into the shed was the moment it was destined to be thrown into the bin.

New Years Day was spent rather quietly at home where I cleared out the fridge – no more turkey for me which is rather shameful as I could have made a batch of turkey curry and frozen it for later in the year with the amount of turkey I had left over.

Managed to watch a few films during the day, saw It’s a Wonderful Life and The Muppet Christmas Carol – both fantastic films and two more films that I have managed to watch this holiday season.

Washed the car today and will have to remember to not use the jet wash after a stinking 4×4 has used it as I had to drive over a pile of mud which had been taken off the said 4×4 so I spent a few minutes just pressure washing the ground to clear all the mud out of the way. Here’s hoping I will be able to wash the car at least once a month.

We arrive at the end of another year and in the past I would normally do some sort of digest of what I had been up to over the past twelve months. I know that I have not really devoted the amount of time to this site that I used to and even when I did post some sort of update it felt half hearted.

As with every other year that has gone before, 2011 came and went and I cannot think of anything that I’ve done that is of note – I don’t mean that to come across as being negative and I’m sure if I really thought about it I have not just sat in front of a computer screen for the last twelve months.

I spent my 33rd birthday getting up at the crack of dawn and driving three and a half hours to North Wales where I climbed the highest mountain in England and Wales – Mount Snowdon. I do regret that another year has passed and I’ve still not managed to make to New York or Australia, both destinations that I wanted to visit for as long as I’ve been online.

As my last entry stated I have finally called it a day with my “101 things in 1001 days” project three years after it should have ended and while looking at some of the items that I had not accomplished I was surprised to find that some were relatively straight forward with no real excuse for them not being completed.

2011 saw my family tree research slow down considerable, maybe because over the last few years I have spent loads of time building the tree and to extend on this means having to visit record offices and spending time looking through church baptism and marriage records – this would involve a trip to Warminster and an overnight stay to make the most of it.

I have however already restarted work on my research by ordering a birth and marriage certificate, so at the moment waiting for them to arrive from the General Records Office.

I have however been keeping my research skills honed by working on a new project, in fact I’ve spent the last year and a half working on it and will eventually reveal all!
I’m generally happy with how I’ve been managing my finances over the last twelve months and having cancelled my Lovefilm membership yesterday I’m looking forward to being able to find another use for the £13.27 a month subscription. Anyway over the last twelve months interest earned from the majority of my accounts amounted to £88.97 an improvement on the £55.65 I earned in 2010.

I am not sure yet it I will come up with a list of goals for 2012 but have already said I will volunteer a few hours every week to help a local charity – so will see how that goes.

Today I went out to get a Christmas tie, I never knew it would be so much trouble to find one in Carmarthen. I tried both BHS (I asked here and they had no idea what I was talking about and finally pointed me in the direction of the normal ties) and Marks & Spencer with no luck and even a visit to the numerous budget stores like B&M and Poundland proved to fruitless.

Eventually got one from Debenhams who were having yet another special EVENT the prices have been the same for the last few weeks regardless of any special offer they appear to be promoting.

Got some drinks (soft) for a work buffet we’re having this week, still not sure how much would be needed for the twelve of us and it somehow feels wrong that I have bought the premium brands even though I normally get the budget brands for my own consumption.

I did manage to get the the clothes recycling bank yesterday and have unloaded all the clothes from my car and spent a little time last night going through my wardrobe and clearing that out.

Well home now for my lamb stew, which has been in the slow cooker for the last few hours and iron my shirts for the week ahead

Well since my last entry I have completed a great deal of my Christmas shopping, rather alarmingly this has to be one of the only years that I have not made a list or budget for presents. I have asked family what they want and have gone out and bought them – think it is much easier to get what someone actually wants or needs.

I still need to get a few things and am awaiting a few deliveries but the fun will be when it comes to wrapping them all up, luckily I still have wrapping paper left over from last year.

In other news December is looking like it will be a busy month, with work Christmas dinner and the work night out it is probably a good thing that I am not looking at what I am spending.

Been busy over the last few weeks having a clear out at home, I have a load of old clothes that I have had to admit I will never fit into again and have these bagged up to go to clothes recycling and took a bag of new things (yes still with the labels on) to a local charity shop.

Also decided that my VHS collection needs to go, I had originally hoped to replace each video with the DVD but since joining the amount of DVD’s I buy has gone down considerably with me only really buying a few DVD’s in the January sales.

So far I must have gotten rid of about 20 videos and the majority of these were ones I was “forced” to remove from my mothers house a few months ago that have been sitting in a bag in the corner for the last few months!!

However all this space I appear to be creating will be filled when I move more of my things from my mothers shed – my collection of Doctor Who videos and books, and old school books.

Will have to remember to remove my old microwave to my car so that I can take it to the tip at some point, that is something else that has been sitting in the corner for nearly a year.