5 OS Pleasures in your Day Today part 2

savingforoz

My five for yesterday:

1. Rehoming my two beautiful foster cats - yes, it was a wrench to part with them, but I know they will have a wonderful, loving home now.

2. Dealing with a minor problem with my front door myself via a trip to B & Q - in the past I'd have paid someone else to do it.

3. Our water supply being quickly restored following a burst water main.

4. Having a good lie-in.

5. Reading a great online short story. I love online fiction!

newlywed

Hi all,

1. Not venturing out 60 mile drive to the dinner dance we'd paid £25 each for, meaning a nice evening indoors without having to worry that it was snowing

2. Saving petrol money, as well as drinks money so now I have extra to put on the gas prepay

3. Going for walks in the snow (I miss all those skiing holidays paid on the credit card, that I could never really afford anyway).

4. The local co-op having eggs and bacon and the local bakery being open with bread and cakes - it's the small local shops you appreciate in the bad weather.

5. Having a full stock of food and managing to walk to Morrisons just for the extra nice bits I wanted and a look around (it's fairly new and I hadn't been there - not impressed enough to make a special trip back though!).

6. Getting a few bits for the neighbor and hearing that other neighbor have already got him milk (meaning I didn't have to carry that too ).

7. Having HM soup at my mum's for lunch (having walked there).

8. Phone calls from friends and relatives to check that we're doing ok.

9. Feeling much stronger this week and being glad I'm now fit enough to be able to get out and about on foot, even in this weather.

10. The snow. Sorry to all those struggling, but not having to go to work this week, and having a stocked cupboard has been good, I can just enjoy the snow without worrying. Plus it's the only time our estate looks pretty and is quiet

Kitchenbunny

Here are my 5 for the day

1) Being woken up at 9am by DH telling me he's going to make me a cup of tea (I hear a "Tea, Bunny?" and muzzily reply "Please"). He puts it on the bedside table a glorious few moments of dozing later in the "Morning, Gorgeous" mug.

2) Making Jambalaya at a friend's house last night and giving her an impromptu cooking lesson. We took around the things we would have used to make it for DH and I, but managed to stretch it to feed the four of us.

3) My friend saying she'll definitely make that meal again! And I hope this friend does come to visit us here on the OS board

4) The snow seems to be melting a little. There isn't as much coverage and it has stopped snowing here so hopefully it'll all be gone by the middle of next week.

5) Getting some new boots! I picked up the last pair of size 7 winter boots - soft, fleece-lined and soooooo warm! I actually had to take my hat and gloves off while walking home last night as I was so hot.

6) Trying a tip I found on the Health and Beauty Board about Vitamin E moisturising oil, and discovering this morning my skin is a bit softer.

7) Having the ingredients now for a full roast dinner and not having to go out.

Take care, everyone. This icy weather does make me worry for all of you. (((hugs)))

Keep warm and safe!

Kitchenbunny xx

Olliebeak

Good morning :hello: - the promised snow DIDN'T arrive last night - thank you God !

Kitchenbunny - wtg you on 'shaking your booty' today .
Ladyhawk - pleased to hear that Toupe is feeling a little better now - and hope you're pleased with your new haircut .
Kadeeae - wd on having a fire screen to stop your pooch from getting too close to the gas fire - this is my first winter without a 'fur-ball of any kind' around the house for about 30yrs and it seems strange not having 'something' curled up in front of a fire/radiator.
Tealady - What a wonderful DD you've got to be proud of :T - hope the old guy took her advice and went home in a taxi. Wtg on your 90p chicken casserole :j.
Penelope Penguin - Your Mr Snowman has to be one of the best I've seen - he's a real handsome fella . Wd on the Florentines :T.
nuttybabe - I did try to catch the phone as it went into the flushing water, but it disappeared right round the U-bend - these things are soooooo light that it didn't just sink to the bottom of the pan . The next one's getting clipped to a lanyard round my neck. A couple of years ago, I had one of those blue rubber phones with the lace-up neck cord and they were fabulous! Great to hear that your boiler is working again - my DD's stopped working for a day or so and she found that the 'steam outlet pipe' had frozen solid - could this have happened to yours perhaps?
sparrer - wd to your lovely neighbour for offering to get you some shopping :T - that turkey drumstick sounds fabulous - have you noticed how much they've gone up in price though :eek:!. Isn't it brilliant how 'The Good Life' has now come full-circle again - loved it the first time round and even more now :j.
Broomstick - wd to your DS's on looking after your elderly neighbour :T and good to hear that your car started for you.
scotrae - wtg on feeding the birds - OH has re-erected our bird-feeder and put fatballs on it - hope the gulls don't try landing on it. Last year the crows knocked it over a few times.
ACEY - wd you on finding new ways to keep your ds's amused recently - we keep felts/coloured pencils in lidded tubs too and my dgd1 has also picked up the habit now. I've also got a 'cutlery drainer' on my desk with pens/pencils/markers/ruler etc in - cost me 10p in a charity shop :j. Hope your mum gets her delivery alright.
jollymummy - what is it with these 'older fellas' that think they're tough as old boots - caught one of my pensioners clearing his garden path wearing a short-sleeved cotton shirt (no hat, scarf, coat, gloves) and using a little shovel. The guy has had 2 strokes and a heart-attack, has a bad chest and is profoundly deaf - I rang his daughter to 'snitch on him'.
elizabunny - what a lovely surprise for your DS and his partner :T to you and your DH. How lovely for you to find your DM sitting with other residents instead of being alone in her room . What a lovely fresh-air walk, hot home-made soup and then a well-deserved doze afterwards - can't think of anything better at this time of year .
Patchwork Quilt - awwwwww poor you having a - but at least it's a really good excuse to stay put, snuggle down and pamper yourself - hope it doesn't hang around too long though. What a lovely day you and DD have had and wtg on the blackberry voddie cough cure .

ooops took so long to post (and got side-tracked by the soup-making) that I crossed posts with:

savingforoz - wd on your foster kitties moving on to their new lifetime-homes - space for some more now - ? Wd on fixing the front-door yourself :T.
newlywed - Great to hear that you're feeling much better :T and wd you on attending to your neighbour. The way people are looking to each other is really heart-warming. Shame about the wasted money on those tickets, but definitely the best decision NOT to go in the circumstances .
Kitchenbunny - wtg on your 'passing-it-on-Jamie-style' with showing your friends how to prepare Jambalaya :j - looking forward to 'meeting' your friend on OS .


Mine for yesterday:

1. The fabulous aroma of my Oxtail Stew cooking all day in the SC.

2. Had a rummage around in the freezers to see what the food status is at the moment - still got lots to keep us going, but will need fresh veg, milk, fruit and eggs before payday next Friday.

3. Managed to do 3 loads of laundry and got most of it dried on airers/rad rails - only put my undies and tea-towels in the TD as I didn't want those hanging around the living room/dining room.

4. Noticed how 'manky' the drawer on the washing machine was :eek: - dirty mare that I am! Removed the drawer and gave it a really good scour and soak in bleach AND stuck my hand inside the compartment with an old scourer and gave THAT and good scrub too - I don't normally look at the top of the inside of the drawer compartment, but now I know - I'll never let that happen again _pale_. I then did something that I never normally do, I ran the machine on a full HOT cycle to give it a damn good rinse out. Now feeling very self-righteous - :rolleyes: lol.

5. Discovered that my carrot supply had gone yukky with horrible marks on them - BUT, without OH noticing, I peeled them all, cut off any totally rotten bits, and managed to salvage enough to fill a 1kg margarine tub. They HAD been there since before Christmas but I hadn't had enough space in the fridge. OH would have had a 'canary fit' if he'd seen the state of them, but he'll still enjoy the Carrot and Coriander Soup that I'll make .

6. Got an e-mail from a shoe company I use that had some good price reductions. Ordered a lovely pair of shoes for when the weather gets a little warmer - will be great for my hols in May.

7. The Oxtail Stew with Dumplings went down a treat and I managed to salvage enough for another evening which is now in the freezer - I DID use two packs of Oxtail pieces though.

8. Visit from DS1 and his g/f for a couple of hours so we sat chatting for a while PLUS we discovered a pack of Thorntons Chocolate Shortbreads lurking in one of the freezer drawers - so there was something :drool: to nibble on while we chatted .

9. They left around 9.30 so I settled down with a half-done cross-stitch Bookmark Kit from our holiday back in May - about time I finished it off :rolleyes: . Even managed to watch David Jason in an episode of Frost before heading for bed.

10. Have had a lovely lie-in this morning and planning a trip to Asda this afternoon - definitely getting a bit 'stir-crazy' here now .

11. That pan of soup is now bubbling away nicely :drool:.

Hope everybody is keeping safe and warm at the moment and that any with coughs, colds etc are on the mend. Speak again soon - love Ollie xxx

EC12345

1. Cleaning my whole house with vinegar .. lovely, clean and cheap;
2. Arranging all the shower gels I got for Christmas in my stock cupboard (about 10!!!) - won't have to buy any for about 8 months (only two of us in my house);
3. Having full cupboards, full fridge and freezer and planning lovely hot meal this evening.

The snow is beginning to melt a bit here as well today. Hasn't snowed here yet and didn't freeze overnight. I want it go away ....

:j

Reverbe

Wednesday

1. Making a huge vat of HM soup
2. empty shops and a nice walk
3. being all warm inside with a book and Dracula Prince of Darkness on video and The Fugitive on tv
4.eating the last HM rum and Xmas fruit truffle
5. roast chestnuts
6 hot socks after putting them on the boiler when they got damp from handwashing the laundry
and amazingly enough 7. Finding a ice frozen penny in the street!! Had to melt it with my thumb but great all the same.

Friday

1. 3 Lovefilm discs arriving after waiting all week - Bell Book & Candle,Ice Age 3 and The Damned United.
2. LO HM soup again
3. Having yet another NSD as havent been leaving the flat
4. Reading my book club book for next week with a blanket, hot water bottle and hot drinks
5. Bright sunshine outside the window
6. Having a triple bill of the films so I can return them for a quick turnabout
7. jacket potato for dinner with value smoked salmon from Xmas
8. a hot malted drink before bed

Hope to be back soon. Going to Ebay to look for wrist warmers, slankets and a full size hot water bottle with cover..

Kittikins

Welcome back Reverbe Nice to see you posting again.

Mine for recent days

DD being a little sweetiepie, she's not a big fan of the snow and cold thankfully, so I don't have to go out much, which is great as I'm a bit wobbly on slippery surfaces.

Feeding the neighbours' cat and guinea pigs whilst they're away, so we get the joy of cuddles, but not the cost of food and vet bills!

Another neighbour clearing the snow away from the front of our cars so that if I need to, I can get out - no plans, but school may be open tomorrow *shudder*

Being able to work effectively from home during this nasty weather

Having well stocked cupboards, so we don't need to go out unless we really want to (apart from milk)

Walking up to the village for milk and meeting friends in one of the village pubs for a drink and the kids played i-spy very nicely

Lots of phone calls with parents, DD loves making phone calls, so yesterday I think she called them about 6 times! Good to keep checking in on each other.

Managing to keep the heating off as much as possible - if there are going to be national shortages, I'm doing my bit to not make that happen sooner, lol. DD and I are nice and snuggly in our layers, and have been sleeping in my bed as we then keep each other warmer, no need for hot water bottles!

I have, though, been using the tumble dryer a bit more than I would normally....naughty me! My gas/leccy DDs have been put up a bit due to my consumption, I'm dreading the quarterly gas in March/April, when they next come to read the meter!

Finally starting to use the P$ychologies magazine journals given free with January editions over recent years, there's lots of thought-provoking articles in the magazine and I want/need to make this a year of action rather than thought. I want to build on changes in lifestyle I started last year, both mentally and physically, but suffer from depression/lethargy, so hopefully journalling will help me with that

DD is currently playing with a little chum so I can have a few moments playing on the computer without feeling like a bad mother. Hopefully she'll come back happy and will have burned some energy off!

Olliebeak

Reverbe wrote: »

.............. Going to Ebay to look for wrist warmers, slankets and a full size hot water bottle with cover..

Do you knit/crochet, Reverbe? These sites have wrist warmers and they're quite easy to make.

http://www.knittingpatterncentral.com/directory/mittens_gloves.php

http://www.crochetpatterncentral.com/directory/mittens_gloves.php

http://attic24.typepad.com/weblog/2009/10/wrist-warmers.html (scroll nearly half-way down the page to find the wrist-warmers but unfortunately no pattern - although v-e-r-y simple to make).

house_elf

Hi Everyone!

I have decided that my new years resolution will be to post my '5' every day. I have noticed that if I leave it a few daysI forget the little things that have brightened my day!!!!

1. Walking the dog on Friday morning along the disused railway line. It was so quiet and pretty in the snow. I found myself humming ' Suns in the sky, oh why oh why, would I want to be anywhere else?' (If you watched The Royal Family Xmas special it will make sense!).:rotfl: Of course I would like to be somewhere warm, (17 years ago today we were flying off to Barbados to get married!), but as Newlywed says we too could never really afford our exotic hols!

2. Spending an hour in the bathroom colouring my hair (£1.50) and getting rid of unwanted hair:eek:. Then using my new ASDA grout cleaning brush and basics toothpaste to clean another section of tile in the shower while the conditioner took effect!! It might sound weird, but it cheered me up!

3. Bought a trampoline off EBay. Hope it's ok. We sold ours last Easter when we thought we were moving, then the sale fell through :mad:. Looks like we are here for a while until the market picks up, so DS2 spent the remainder of his EBay profit on the trampoline. He has missed it soooo much.

4. Went into town yesterday to spend a giftcard and while lurking round a stand full of items reduced due to damage, the manager came over and said if there was anything we wanted he would reduce it further because they were trying to get rid of it! Bought 3 waste paper bins and a laundry basket for £12.50! (The original tickets added up to £110:eek:).
5. Haven't done any major food shopping this weekend as I have been using the freezer and the storecupboard. Thanks for the reminders about the slow cooker, we will be having Navarin of Lamb tonight!

Olliebeak- your posts are wonderful! I am originally from Liverpool,but moved to Birmingham for lurve over 20 years ago, so little phrases like 'Dirty mare' make me feel quite nostalgic!!!

Must stop rambling on and get some more work done .........no more snow yet so school tomorrow:j

Olliebeak

house_elf wrote: »

Hi Everyone!

..............I am originally from Liverpool,but moved to Birmingham for lurve over 20 years ago, so little phrases like 'Dirty mare' make me feel quite nostalgic!!!...........

I'm really a 'woolly-back' (St.Helens) BUT been here long enough (37yrs) to pick up 'loadsa de lingo' . But then again, ya do doh, don't ya doh :rotfl:. I've got two elderly female tenants who actually use that phrase all the time without realising :j.