Currently...

Preparing...
... to depart from Wales a little earlier than previously anticipated.

Storm Barbara is playing havoc with the ferries already and Friday is set to be awful. Of course, Friday would be the day we're off so it's prompted a bit of a schedule reshuffle and an emergency booking of a hotel room in Glasgow.

Packing...
... all. of. the. things.

I'd taken the day off work on Thursday ready to do all the last minute bits and pieces, like depositing Tara at the Kennels and putting hair brush, chargers and random other stuff I'm planning on using right before we go.

Since yesterday we had a change of plans we did some emergency packing last night and I've been filling up the edges of my case since then. Luckily I made a list in my trusty bullet journal, Gandalf, but it's just a question of making sure everything fits in there. I'm paranoid it'll be too full or I won't get it all in.

Resisting...
... the temptation to open two early Christmas presents which arrived today.

I've had a pack of 30 Staedtler Triplus Fineliners pretty much since I played with the pack of 20 my friend had and fell in love with the colours, the feel of the pen and the way they wrote. I've had them for getting on for a year now and most of them are in good condition, except for the ones which I use regularly. I've picked up some single black ones since I use them most and the nibs have worn down or become damaged on a couple (though they're still perfectly serviceable, you just have to get them at the right angle).

I've started to notice a couple of the nibs on some of my other regulars wearing a little, there's a blue, a red and a green which are sort of 'go to' pens for various things and I started weighing up the idea of buying some singles, as I'd done with the black ones.

Then I spotted this pack for half price on Amazon and a very good Elf (also known as Mr Click) treated me to it.

I pushed my luck rather by pointing out another little deal on the site:

My good old Anthracite one will probably end the year with just under 20 spare pages, which won't be enough for January. I'll probably use them for test spreads, pen tests and general scrappy notes. But I had already ordered myself a new one a few months ago when I was making up a Christmas present order.

I'd fallen in love with the Azure cover but it just didn't come down in price enough, so I settled for the Navy Blue, knowing I liked the colour and the Azure would be there in the future for me. It was just that after the serious grey colour, I wanted something a little brighter and with a little more pop.

Of course, just last week this one dropped in price to less than what I paid for the Navy one. So I hedged my bets and was totally spoiled too. Since I've changed the way I do my spreads recently (I now have monthly, weekly and daily spreads) I'll probably get through this one in around six months, so good old Navy will be ready for me around summer time next year.

But there's no room for these goodies in my case so I'll leaving them here to wait patiently for my return when I will get to work organising next year!