OS Daily thread for 23rd December 2006

taplady

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CATOWEN!:bdaycake: I'm glad you're having a nice day!

Jcr16 - I hope your little ones feel better xx

PennyPincher - good news that your old doggie is happy in his new home!

Have finished work now until boxing day:j all jobs done and am shortly off to visit Mum and my sister who is stopping there for christmas.I've made myBIL a coffee and walnut cake for his birthday(just turned 60) so we'll be having that with a cuppa, hope its ok, should be as I got the recipe here!;)

Tonight its strictly come dancing and pizza in our house!

hugs to those who need them

Take care xx

scruffy

:j :j :bdaycake: Happy Birthday CATOWEN Hope you have a wonderful day (it sounds like it has started well!!!!)
Have just got rid of last presents as friend called with presents for us & so we exchanged gifts. It is all done now so when OH gets home from work apart from going to see Mom in the nursing home we can have a relaxing evening in front of the fire with a glass or two of something nice!!!;) :beer:
Have been watching the birds visiting the feeders this morning ( also a squirrel who lokks like he has had a few too many mince pies!!.
It is very dull & cold here also feels rather damp. I will be spending the rest of this afternoon tucked up on the sofa with a fluffy throw as I am so tired ( I only sleep about 2 hours a night due to health probs - Dr has given me some new meds which I am due to try tonight, should be interesting.
Friend has said local shops are absolutely manic & when she went to Tesco's at 9.30pm last night the shelves looked as though a plague of locusts had descended even tho' its a 24 hour shop.
I hope everyone manages to get all that they want without it being too stressful.
Wishing you all a very Merry Xmas & a wonderful MSE New Year.
Hgs to all
Sue
:rudolf: :xmastree: :xmassmile :xmastree: :snow_laug :xmastree: :santa2: :xmastree:

grannybroon

Sorry all, not read your messages. Just wanted to say I really appreciated your posts re my friend and her baby. She e-mailed me yesterday to thank me for the card I sent. Great strength but a lot of coming to terms I think.

On a more positive note. Took Chrimbo pressies to my DGSs yesterday, SIL un packed my car while DD1, me and DGSs went to visit my Mum. Lovely day.Indian carry out. Picked DS1 and partner up at airport 11.20 pm so a long day. Popped into Mr T's last night on way home and got last minute stuff so all sorter. Made Xmas soup this morning and invited neighbours in for drinkies tomorrow night. I still miss putting out the whiskey, carrot and water on Christmas Eve.

DS1 and partner spending tomorrow night with DD1 et all on Xmas morning. We will go over for an hour our two to see boys with pressies. My birthday Xmas day and when I saw Mum yesterday no mention of it. No card -has she forgotten again. I have always hated being a Xmas baby but my dear DH, DS, DD make me feel soooooooooo special. Can't ever remember having birthday party. DS birthday 6 days after Xmas and I always made it special for him. He arrived a month early - shouldn't have been here until the end of January! I have always blamed my Mum's Xmas pud! No, honestly, I had huge carrying baby issues which fortunately DD hasn't had. She is being horrendously sick with No 3. Four sickies this morning!

I have just realised I am rambling but you all are so good to communicate with.

Love and Kisses to you all, have a wonderful Christmas and hugs and kisses if anything goes pearshaped.

Wish I had found this forum years ago!

Lots of love

GB

catznine

Happy Birthday Catowen! :bdaycake:

gingin_2

Afternoon everyone

I finally got to sleep at 2.30am and was up at 7am so am a bit tired.

Thanks Aussielass and CCstar, I will have to be patient and it will be worth it in the end.

Crazychik, the bank did accept my cheque with no questions - thanks for asking.

Despite a poor night's sleep we have just had our "alternative christmas dinner" just the four of us as we always go away at christmas and I like to cook my own christmas meal for everyone. I took some really funny photo's that I would post but I don't think OH can get our pictures onto the computer at the moment. The turkey was a bit dry (well very dry :rolleyes: ) but it was still enjoyed and there is mountains of leftovers which are my favourite bit really. We are now watching a Muppet Christmas carol and eating Quality Street!

Have a good rest of the day everyone

grannybroon

Just remembered, our Somerfield is open 9.00 am-6.00 pm (poor staff) on Boxing Day. Loads of stuff display till 26/12. DH going along to investigate late afternoon. How OS is that? Freezer a bit chock a block but we will manage bargains - the secret is taking it out of the packaging and repacking in named freezer bags! DH gets so many bargains now he has retired. Not always welcome because I have to come home from work sometimes and cook but worth it in the long run.

Forgot to say DS's partner's friend fishmonger. Got 3 huge packs of smoked salmon when they came! We love it!
GB

Bargain_Rzl

Afternoon :hello:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CATOWEN :bdaycake:

Congratulations to ageandjo on finally having moved! :j :j :j

This will almost certainly be my last visit to MSE before Christmas as I don't have home internet at the mo (not even dial-up thanks to knackered modem) and the library with its free wi-fi isn't open again until Wednesday, by which time my broadband is supposed to have come online anyway. So a very merry Christmas to everybody!

Been a busy bee since early finish at work yesterday. I've assembled a saucepan rack, put up net curtains, bought an ADSL modem/router, bought lots of Chrimble fruit and veggies and a vital item I almost forgot - tonic water :eek: (Tesco could have been worse, I suppose) and bought a humungous artificial Christmas tree which I took home and "built" in my, errrr, less than humungous flat :rotfl: (managing to drop a metal pole on its end and take a little chip out of the brand new flooring :mad:)! I'll put the decs up tonight or tomorrow morning. Darn it, I just realised I don't possess a nutcracker. One more thing for the list for tomorrow.

My church has given the choir tomorrow morning off cos they want us fresh for Midnight Mass and Christmas morning which means I don't strictly have to get up in the morning, though I think I might go to a more local church.

gingin, re: "alternative Christmas dinners", I remember having one once at my Grandma's in the middle of summer! There were lots of us grandchildren scattered all over the world, and on this occasion, my aunt and uncle and cousins had been visiting for a week and they left the day we arrived for the following week - so Grandma took the opportunity of everybody being together to do a Christmas dinner!

I will be having a not very old style at all Christmas dinner. This time next year I hope to have had a chance to find out the best local butchers, greengrocers etc, but it's been so chaotic this year that I have gone for the supermarket ready-to-cook option on almost everything!

I hope everybody's sick kids/selves are feeling better soon. I almost always come down with something on Christmas afternoon or Boxing Day. Usually it's just a touch of exhaustion after working on Christmas Eve (obv. not an issue this year) followed by rehearsing and singing Christmas Midnight Mass, rehearsing and singing Christmas Morning Service, cooking Christmas dinner, EATING Christmas dinner (which always makes me sleepy!)... you get the general idea! Although, two years ago I got a proper flu bug which knocked me out for a fortnight, and because of having leave booked over Christmas, I was being ill on my own time and only took two days off work :rolleyes:

Anyway...

Got to go now, the library'll be closing at 5pm. Although I am really looking forward to having the internet at home again, it's really nice perched up here (library is on 4th floor) looking out over the rooftops of South London!

See you (internet connection permitting) on Wednesday, and have a lovely Christmas all.

Rzl xx

lil_me

Meet Holly, ended up giving in and taking the little girl on today, couldn't see her either homeless or killed, not at Christmas. My other dog costs me very little to feed (£6 for a month on working dog food) so once she is old enough for that won't be much more cost, and walk him anyway so she can just come with us) Settling in ok with my other dog so far, she's got him shattered as she wants to play non stop. Definately keeping him busy. Cost me a bit in puppy food, an ID ta etc today which I have to do until vets reopen and will get her chipped aswell.

Bang goes the housework all day as I have had to sort her out, and can't leave them yet until they are used to each other a bit more, so will do the upstairs work later.

PoshPaws_3

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CATOWEN!

Hello all :wave:

Just popping in to wish you all a very happy Christmas and the best of all good things for the year to come. :beer:

Christmas in our house has been made possible, this year, largely by utilising moneysavers' tips both big and small, newstyle and old style. For instance, DS's presents have been bought almost exclusively by utilising Online Research reward vouchers and PaytoClicks cash, plus the good old Nectar points at Argos. Christmas dinner (the meat thereof) came from Asda's money off chiller cabinet (Pork and Chicken) and everything else has been obtained by watching out for the bargains across the year.

I've made mince pies, carrot cake, sausage rolls, lemon curd, semolina biscuits and other things that escape me now but that are in the freezer in advance.

I've made Christmas cards and given gifts of home made lemon curd, biscuits and tangerine pomanders.

Tomorrow, I'm set to do a "markdown swoop" on the local supermarkets for whatever I can find.

I wouldn't have believed it could all have been possible, a few years ago - but you live and learn, eh??

So thankyou, everyone, for being both my inspiration and a shining example. I couldn't have done it without you. :T

elona

:bdaycake: Happy Birthday Cat!!

Decided to take it easy this year and not get stressed. We will have a huge home made lasagne tomorow instead of traditional Sunday lunch.
We have just had home made chow mein and egg fried rice - DD showed me a recipe she got from a foreign fellow student and we cooked together which was nice.

Christmas lunch will be turkey crown, roast potatoes, asparagus, sprouts, carrots and leeks with cheese sauce and gravy. Sausages wrapped in bacon and stuffing balls as well. Prawn cocktail to start and fancy chocolate torte to finish.

Still need to wrap up some presents tonight if I can get a bit of privacy for this.

Happy Christmas to everybody.