Not mentioning the T word at all

Kaz2904

I love the stamp that is used in the Boots ad. What a brilliant idea! Mine haven't had any home made mince pies as I don't like them and don't have a decent tin to cook them in. All of my bun tins are sadly cheapo ones which warp terribly every time they go in the oven and I had to throw them away last time I made jam tarts as the tarts got completely welded to the tin. I have asked for some decent tins from DH but annoyingly, when ever anyone else asks what I want for Christmas, I forget about the blooming tins!
I think I'll make myself a list for gifts which I can keep in the kitchen. That way, Mil can see it and spread the word and I'll get surprises .

I do use cornflour or a roux to thicken stews at times but it is my bugbear with the slow cooker that I need to be able to get to it to add the thickener about an hour before I want to eat it. It's fine if I'm up and about but when I'm on nights, it's a real struggle to get to it to add thickener. Oh well, gravy for those days then.
cat_smith, Morrisons eh? I very occasionally have the misfortune of having to shop in there. It's diabolical. DH has been know to just leave a basket full of shopping in the queue before and walk off when one of CA changed the queue and put him at the back of a really long queue when he'd been queueing for 40 minutes already :eek:. Really poor shopping experience at ours

Well, down here in the soft south I have no idea what was going on last night but we kept losing the power at work. We rang ITU to borrow one of their machines as ours don't have battery back up and they sent down an anaesthetist to 'help' us with the machine. Errr, yeah I know you think we're all stupid but it's a 'power cut' and the machines need 'power'. Maybe he had an electric personality

SDG31000

Evening all

Well the mince pies have been made, along with 17 triple chocolate cupcakes for DS2. I had one while it was still warm and the choc chunks were melted and it was yum. Unfortunately I felt slightly quesy afterwards. I think the "No sugar" month has had an effect on my chocolate tolerence. It was a waste of time anyway as I managed to gain weight :mad:
DH got home from work at 4pm having left the house at 6.30am. So that's another 9 hours overtime at time and a half. Fingers crossed he will be awake enough at some point to buy me some presents.
I have a pot of beef in red wine simmering away on the stove and it is starting to smell fab. I had a heck of a job yesterday in the butchers trying to convince him that I didn't want his braising steak The conversation went thus "Yes I appreciate that you are selling top rump as braising steak and yes it is a good deal and yes it looks good, but it's not what I asked for. I want featherblade steak" In the end I managed to get some skirt steak. I wanted the tough bits, they add flavour and stand up to cooking for 4 hours much better than top rump.
Kaz I don't have a slow cooker so don't know if these will work, but they might be worth a try.
http://www.mysupermarket.co.uk/#/shopping/findproducts.aspx?query=thickening%20granules

cat_smith

Kaz my Mr M experience wasn't toooo bad, but definitely not my favourite. Will see what happens with prices.

Mince pies - DH said he would make them this year. This seems to mean he will do them for Xmas day. On Xmas eve. Not a problem as I don't have a sweet tooth. But there is a long list of Other Things I need him to do on Xmas Eve, so a little bit of forward planning would be very helpful.

shegar

Wheres everyone gone to??...Posts are very much down in the last week.....I do hope your all okay, perhaps your all busy doing christmas type things,I went shopping today , it felt so great, :Dfirst time id been able to walk properly as the last 14 weeks ive had that terrible plantar fasciitis in my feet and after having a very painful steroid injection that didnt work I then had acupuncture which seems to have helped so much, I feel free of that ruddy pain which ruled my life, and having to look after my poor hubby 24/7 I tend to need my feet !, but im so happy I feel like a new woman and will never take my feet for granted and moan if I have to walk some where , cos I can now .........:T...So I done a bit of christmas shopping today and I kept looking down at my feet wondering why they arnt aching its a lovely kind of weird feeling ......:D......

I feel as though ive paid for my health to get it back and I suppose I have really, as you can tell im soooo happppyy...:T
So for all you other sufferers of this complaint get yourself to a acupuncturist, I also had that for my sinuses 1 yr ago and that worked too.......:T
Do feel a bit guilty, ;)I bought myself a new pair of black knee lenght boots:eek::eek: so lovely, it topped my day......was supposed to be xmas shopping,:eek:...................

Hope your all keeping healthy and warm,

Cat501

SDG31000 wrote: »

cat_smith Have you seen the new Boots Christmas Ad? One of the women in it uses a stamp to "sign" her partners name in the Christmas cards.thrown out the label :eek: I'm not

There was a tip in December's Prima magazine, a woman got a stamp made saying "Merry Christmas from Jim, Mary, Jill and John" (that wasn't the names but you get the idea).
I know it's timesaving, but even as someone who hates writing cards, I just couldn't do that, so horribly impersonal and a bit insulting imho

eta I think a "husband" stamp is acceptable and funny though

Cat501

re the above - Just reread it and she also uses it to stamp present labels - now surely if someone is important enough to buy a present for, they're worth 10 seconds of your time writing a label???:eek:

shelley_crow

I've not achieved much today, other than keep the little man entertained and tackle clean washing mountain. Consequently, I have mainy snacked on crap today, will try harder tomorrow.
I went to make my mince pies and realised I threw the cake trays away after last year, they were knackered. I wanted to take a trip into town but DH took the car. My youngest is just getting over scarlet fever and is feeling better, will get some new trays tomorrow.

Still got cards to write, already done the ones that need to be posted. I've got so much left to do on my list before my eldest breaks up from school next tuesday, mission impossible!

Writing the couple of cards and two short notes has made me realise how little I write these days, everything is computer based. Even when I was at work, everything was computer based there too.

Got lots left to crack on with but my motivation has shrivelled, got the feeling I'm forgetting something too!

CCP

Afternoon all.

Apologies for my long absence - real life keeps getting in the way of the forum at the moment. :mad:

I'm not even close to being caught up with Christmas yet - I've still got several presents to buy (including two - for my DM and DGM that I have no idea what to get :eek:) and haven't even bought, let alone written, any Christmas cards yet. And I've still got an OU essay to write, too, which is due before Christmas. :eek::eek:

On the plus side, I've got my tree up and looking very sparkly: I love to turn the Christmas tree lights on first thing in the morning and watch it sparkling in an otherwise dark flat.

I hope everyone's doing OK - or at least being more organised than I am!

shegar - that's fantastic news about your feet - and your new boots sound fab.

scottishminnie

I'm feeling slightly more festive - I put the tree up last night and my mother bought me some cinnamon scented pine cones so I have them in a basket by the lounge fire. Sadly it's just an electric fire but it doesn't look too bad.

I did wrap some gifts last night but then discovered I had no tags so at the moment they are sitting with post it notes on top until I get some. The best laid plans......

I'm nearly there with my gift buying, awaiting a few online orders and I need to find out my mother's bra size as I'd like to buy her a nice set from Bravissimo. I've enlisted my sister's help as she will be visiting at some point this week so hopefully between us we can find out. I know what brand she likes so one I have the size I'm all set.
That will round off my shopping pretty much.

I do need to get some doggy chews and little toy things though - we are going to my parents for Christmas dinner and my mother has 2 terriers who like to be kept busy so I think the best option is to take them something too. I wondered if the £ shops have those sort of things? I need to go there to get a pull bow thing for a foodie hamper anyway.

I'm hoping the big storm warnings don't come to anything after our power outage last week. We still don't have a generator and I'm beginning to think we are doomed to defrosting freezers and iced up windows inside again soon. Who was it who used to say "we're all doomed"? I can hear them now!!

Shelley - I love your "my motivation has shrivelled" phrase - can I borrow please? It seems less blunt than "I can't be a****d"! Even though that's the truth sometimes.

I found the Competitions thread a few days ago so I've entered lots of ITV.com ones tonight for money and vouchers etc. I've never really been much of a comper and I will only enter where I would actually like the prize but as they say "you've got to be in it to win it" so worth a try.

Aesop

The £ and 99p shops do sell doggie treats, even for xmas! I had to keep telling DS the items he was picking up and saying he wanted were for dogs!