5 OS Pleasures in your Day Today part 2

Broomstick

Kittikins well done for decluttering (?:D) the OH.

McCulloch - love the stamps idea. How do you get onto the Amazon Vine thing? I hope your friend feels better soon.

We had a 4 hour power cut this evening.:eek: So my pleasures are a bit focused around that!

1. I knew where all the bits and pieces were to get the house lit and we were stocked up on batteries etc. Got lights sorted then just carried on with what I'd been doing.

2. I now have a list of a few other things I need to get, eg a couple more torch lanterns for the DSs bedrooms to fill the gap between teatime and bedtime. I'm not too happy about us having candles upstairs and our solar powered desk lights are not charging well enough in shortened daytime hours. Also, we've changed kettles from an easy to pour gas hob kettle to a plug in jug since the last power cuts and I'd overlooked the fact that I need to be able to fill hotties safely in winter. A pan on a gas stove or hob, although fine for drinks, is not going to be easy to manage for hw bottles. I need to search through the camping gear to see if we still have the old camping kettle. It's the first time this winter that the power's gone down so it's been good to have a test run and find all this stuff out.

3. I realised that, if we had a flood warning come in on top of a powercut which is perfectly possible, we are now organised enough to cope.

4. Nice easy supper by candlelight of lentil and veg soup, the remnants of the posh cheese from Xmas, bread and crackers, grapes etc.

5. After supper, curled up with a torch, fleeces and cushions and Stephen Fry ('The Ode Less Travelled'). V pleasant.

And one more
6. Got loads of paperwork sorted today. Am bashing through some deep and ancient clearing out and it's a relief to know that I'm dealing with it at last. Will resume when I've made myself another hot drink.

Sweet dreams

B x

Kittikins

Blackbeard - we're also a fan of Windward Isle narnas here, DD's other side of the family is from that beautiful island, and I visited once, pre-DD days.

McCulloch - get well soon prayers coming your friend's way, hope the doctor was able to sort her out x

Glad Mr Tealady got over his hissy fit - but just a cup of tea, where was the toast and marmite?!?

1. Cuddles, songs and silliness with DD when she came in to me this morning

2. Good card games with her and mummykins

3. Even more yummy food and drink today - I'm going to have to cut down more than a bit when we go home!!

4. DD and I went out to an indoor play place this afternoon and had a whale of a time.

5. She made friends, as did I (her chum's mum and granny, who I reckon was about my age!). So we nearly ended up being late for dinner (a hanging offence in this house!!)

6. Spending time alone with a very chirpy DD was bliss

7. Did some reading and new year planning whilst out with DD, not resolutions as such, just organising and list making, my favourite things, lol.

sparrer

1. Pamper day, literally top to toe and in all directions N,S,E & W. Luckily no-one came to the door . McCulloch I will go back to the Toiletries board but I realised that signing up to so many forums was a bit ambitious as I can barely keep up with my usual two at times!
2. Chopped my fringe, I can just about see out again now
3. Had a practice run at making garlic mushroom dip which I haven't made for years, turned out well so will do it when friends next come for an evening
4. Called in to Mr S this evening, bought a large pot of double cream for 20p and 2 bags of parsnips for 10p each. I have to stop this bargain hunting! Or buy a bigger freezer but then I'd need a bigger shed for it to go in, and of course a bigger base for the bigger shed...there's money saving and there's being ridiculous :doh:
5. I have a gratitude jar . An American friend gave me the idea which she saw in a self sufficiency e-magazine. Every day I'll write on a small piece of paper something I have to be grateful for, be it large or small, and at the end of a year empty the jar and read how many good things have happened in my life. Mine is actually a pretty little barge-style bucket on my kitchen dresser but any container would do.
a sneaky 6. I've spent all my Christmas money on a new duvet set, curtains and cushions for the bedroom, a complete colour change to fresh white and green from the deep red which I've had for over 10 years. I love it but I feel it's time for a change. Now I just have to find someone to paint the dark red walls white!

Sleep tight

Kittikins

Love the idea of the gratitude jar Sparrer, think I'll add that idea to my list for 2013

RevolvingDoor

Broomstick - it seems you coped very well with the powercut!:T

1. I was in bed by 9.15 last night, very rock and roll.;) I was trying to get rid of this cold and manged 11 hours sleep! I feel a bit better and I'm hoping the sleep did me good.

2. Spicy parsnip homemade soup in the fridge for lunch today with the last of the petit pains

3. I didn't manage to do pampering last night so I will do that this morning, body scrub, hair mask, pluck eyebrows etc...

4. Dry today at least and bright and breezy. I was getting so sick of that rain.

5. I have a celeb magazine to read later.

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

We have a wobbleade jar. Its cup overflows. Minds me when I bough Lady Black a new fridge. Her pretty eyes lit up when she opened it.

5 Normal service to be resumed shortly, just the iffy days between Xmas and new year are a waste.

4 Full Anglais for breakfast. Might have pudding later with Anglias sauce, lumpy like DD's mattress.

3 Big yellow thingy is glowing in the galley. We had forgettens what it looked like.

2 Free bet yesterday again. First hoss romped home, second had choice, got wrong one. Never mind. up £35 though. Over the year, just broke even, up by £17. Close run thing, but I only play when the free bet is available. Now if I wait another six weeks, another one pops up.

BoP does not offer financial advise, and should you be given a name of a hoss by mes, treat said with respect.

1 To achieve success, only say to others what you can complete. If someone else has to finish your job, they will get the credit.

Rite, off to see if corporation buses are running.

Chickenopolis

Good morning all !

Mcculloch - ((hugs)) and best wishes to your stoic friend.

BoP - it's nice to know that you associate me with food ! Quite right too:rotfl:

Sparrer- what a good idea a Pamper Day !

Frith - Not got rid of the GROTTO , surely??

DD - what are you going to do with your roadkill ?? A treat for yourself I hope, you deserve it xx

5 for yesterday

1. Cold on way out - face like sandpaper though !

2. 20 miles on exercise bike - kill or cure

3. Watching the racing on tv

4. Roast beef, HM yorkies, leeks in cheese sauce, broccoli, peas , carrots . My Mum joined us , she said "You will never eat that lot " I said "You always say that and I always do " and did:D

5.Tiny Terrier does not beg for food whilst we eat , she stretched out on the sofa and did not want to leave when Mum went home . She has been here a week and has settled in nicely.

Have a good day all !

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

Chickenopolis wrote: »

BoP - it's nice to know that you associate me with food ! Quite right too:rotfl:

Aye theres lass. Chicken today, and it is served with raspberry Jam as well. Like mine, all buttered up!

ampersand

Well, dkw goes on with this putah thing.
Did catch-up read hier, supplied due Thanks and see many/most have removed themselves now. I keep putting them back, but please take no umbrage if your posts show as Unthanked. T'aint so.
I'm still trying to re-install printer with help from another Thread and find a post disappeared from there, too. Pics to print and Paris folder to build for Jaunt 64.

1. Urgent call meant quick dash yesterday and, yet again, didn't reach Cambridge, didn't change Library book. Someone felt able to call; that's the point.

2. Letter written. Another nearly. Village PO demain and 2 box uplift for NZ - all good.

3. Waitrose perfect peaches and nectarines ARE perfect - grown in South Africa, airmiles, yes, but wasted if not taken, eaten.

4. Still enjoying smoked salmon on toast brekkies. Did you buy any Frith? Do - and yes, it IS a pity if you don't have a nearby Waitrose. Could you not apply online for a My Waitrose card anyway, then know that lovely free cup of whatever is there on a treat-y day out?

5. Pale blue sky and sth else up there. Good day to shift timber and maybe collect trellises and remaining oak.

6. Friends arrived as I was dashing out yesterday - 2 lovely gifts, pre-anniversaire mahjongg+dins invitation, ACCEPT:-) Leaving them last year was night I booked for NZ. Will I again for short flit>Uncle's 90th late May? Could Spitalfields make this possible? On verra.

7. Bought sth never before seen, a ludicrous box of Meli-Melo sugar shapes, £5 1/2-price@John Lewis. Silly but enchanting and fun. Thinking they might be cheaper to look out for in France, used phone net on P&R bus, only to find I'd been overcharged@John Lewis, even by normal price, let alone post-crimbo reductions. Mine is the med. 90gm box; price given was for 140 gm Lge. Rang helpful Janet, read barcodes - tbc. No fears of John Lewis cs falling short....j'espère.

8.:j I have seen, made stories, done plays with Little Chap :-) The bouncebackability of small peeps is remarkable, dv. 2 more antibiotic trails after this one and he should be back to form. He was dressed and up yesterday, although tiring visibly on and off:D

9, Thankyou for the Moomin link broomstick - yes, had logged it as a MUST, but the sort of stuff I do can leave me zonked when I get in sometimes. It Will Be Watched, promise. I'm also wanting to see this, before it disappears from i-player demain:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00v1ymx/French_Film/

10. But today, listening began with this - totally recommend and, I suspect, apt for many here[apart from having Mark Tully on my much-desired list, Another Voice...]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01ph59q/Something_Understood_Letting_Go/

11. Being very surprised to find self enjoying late Wendy Richards' 1995 DID with Sue Lawley on r4x, agreeing with much of her assessment of then-current 'comedy'[scabrous opinions match Jo Brand's earlier this year:T] Even went to 'Go Advanced' to add applause.

12. reverbe - £1, in my bed!

13. I have your dark red walls[well, feature ones]sparrer. Still ok with mine fortunately and too much art won't sit well without. This doesn't matter as my pics, pots, bits are not shackles, but lightning Memory Bank conductors.

14. McCulloch - those wishes are now enhanced by little fella's recovery, improved and ready for your friend.

ampersand

All of you who are undoing crimbo already - do you not wait through the 12 days of Christmas, then Epiphany? La fève, le santon? It's the good Fabian approach to which I would aspire - The Inevitability of Gradualness.
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Well,
15[why not? pourquoi pas?-as I'm never far out of francophile mindset] Call from Bridget, John Lewis and full refund given, not the slightest problem. In fact, thanked for bringing system glitch to their attention. Conf. p/w to follow - this is why JL succeed, against £climate.

Goodo! - off to lug timber.
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Apologies for more, but I feel so strongly about this, its aptness for many, that I'm pasting synopsis -
'Mark Tully asks when it is right to relinquish our dreams and how best to leave grief behind. From sporting defeat to the loss of a loved one, this programme looks at the benefits of knowing when to let go, and the consequences of not doing so.

Readings explore the notion of letting go of worldly successes and status symbols in preparation for retirement; the pain of bereavement as the gradual process of forgetting begins; a Hindu tradition of renouncing material possessions and family connections before death; and the joy of finally accepting defeat.

Music featured in the programme includes an excerpt from an opera unfinished by Claude Debussy which he finally let go of by pretending to have burned the score.

And in poetry, Naomi Shihab Nye suggests that if we don't lose things - let them go - we will never, "learn the tender gravity of kindness".'

That astonishing poem is here:

Kindness

Before you know what kindness really is
you must lose things,
feel the future dissolve in a moment
like salt in a weakened broth.
What you held in your hand,
what you counted and carefully saved,
all this must go so you know
how desolate the landscape can be
between the regions of kindness.
How you ride and ride
thinking the bus will never stop,
the passengers eating maize and chicken
will stare out the window forever.

Before you learn the tender gravity of kindness,
you must travel where the Indian in a white poncho
lies dead by the side of the road.
You must see how this could be you,
how he too was someone
who journeyed through the night with plans
and the simple breath that kept him alive.

Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,
you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.
You must wake up with sorrow.
You must speak to it till your voice
catches the thread of all sorrows
and you see the size of the cloth.

Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore,
only kindness that ties your shoes
and sends you out into the day to mail letters and purchase bread,
only kindness that raises its head
from the crowd of the world to say
it is I you have been looking for,
and then goes with you every where
like a shadow or a friend.

~ Naomi Shihab Nye ~

(Words From Under the Words: Selected Poems)

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bop, leapfrog these ramblings, treat as bramblings and avoid thorns.