No T Words mentioned at all - a fresh start

fuddle

The propping up I have received by people who are so scared and upset about their own family is beautifully kind. I am thrilled to read that for two of our friends life day to day has been given a gee up.

Your families cope because of your strength and please may I say that my family cope because their mam isn't struggling and that is because of your input, plain and simple.

Selfless amongst adversity. It's something that cannot be bought but something which all of us can learn. Thank you all

pollyanna_26

Good morning . Thank you all for your kind words and yes dear Monna it can indeed be a wonderful world !
Lainey I hope mum is feeling more comfortable now and able to eat some tasty foods .
Fuds Your family have a mam who listens and learns and moves forward however difficult the circumstances . I'm impressed at the speed you cracked on with the patchwork and look forward to reading of all your projects in the next year .
Candlelight the nurse I mentioned was working for dwp and was from from the most feared assessment company - WCS will probably know who I mean . They often use people with no medical training at all . We got an angel with proper experience as a nurse . We will probably never see her again but I doubt we will ever forget her .
Did you get your email sorted ? Last night I was allowed one off access so spent ages going through 15 days worth of mail . The person who set up my account 7 or so years ago has no memory of my original password or back up details and I was being dragged into the internet age kicking and screaming . I am changing provider anyway so in a few days we'll do that .
I need to work out where I can put a large coffee table to make space for the emergency christmas tree I ordered from Jl on Thursday . I checked the last frasier fir still in a large pot in the garden and it is too wide and heavy now to bring indoors . So that will be planted with it's older siblings in the spring . I think my real tree days are sadly over .
I was lucky to find a tree which should be easy to decorate , very scandi not bushy but more like an outdoor tree in winter . It is 7ft high - hence moving the table . The os is it was reduced in price . I think it should look fine once the clear white lights and my red , white , silver and glass decs are on . At the moment it's blocking my hallway as it's a very large box . I treated myself to the distressed willow tree skirt too ( not os really ! ) and that is in an enormous box .
Anyway have much to do . Tree will hopefully go up for the solstice . DDs bloods early tomorrow , off to town afterwards to collect all the meds - literally threw all the scripts at the pharmacist at closing time Friday as we'd come straight from the surgery .
Hope whatever you're all up to today you have a good one .
Fog is finally lifting here and the sun is fighting through the cloud , much cooler than recently but cheerier .
Onwards and upwards
Take care all
polly x

scottishminnie

A question for my most knowledgeable friends here - I'm thinking of making orange sorbet as one of my Christmas Day desserts. I would like to serve it in hollowed out oranges. Has anyone done this?

I'm wondering how I keep the orange skin whole while I "empty" it. I can be a bit of a klutz with small sharp knives , I'm much safer with big sharp ones:D

pollyanna_26

Quick heads up for Lainey whilst I remember . Bruce Springsteen In His Words . CH4 29th December 2016 . We are being spoiled this holiday
SM Never tried sorbet in orange skins but a proper grapefruit knife may be a solution . Someone will no doubt be better able to advise .
After the brief sunny spell earlier the temperature took such a dive I checked the boiler was still working . All fine there . Typically I had just been thinking how mild the weather has been compared to other years . Haven't checked any forecasts - not that they are very reliable !
but feeling very like December at the moment .
polly

hoglet121

Hi all,

Lovely to read such positive news happening, yeah!

SM - I've not done orange sorbet in skins but I did layer jellies in whole mandarin skins before. It involved making a small hole in the bottom of the fruit and hollowing out the flesh with a teaspoon - it was easier than I'd thought. The effect was fantastic because I turned the fruit back up the other way when the jellies had set and gave them out as just mandarins for dessert, before slicing them open and revealing the trick - magic!

A grey and overcast day here after a lovely warm weekend. I was extremely lazy, did no biking, and read 3 books. Only 4 days left of work (almost 3 1/2 now...) before I have 2 1/2 weeks off. We fly to Australia on Friday to spend a week with my in laws, and once we're back I should be able to meet up with an old friend who's travelling in NZ at the moment.

Not much to report from us really, just focussing on 4.30pm on Thursday!

much love

Hoglet xx

fuddle

There's snow and rain forecast here for Christmas day and high temps of 10 degrees with lows of 1. Keeping their options open for sure polly.

Lainey how is mum's eating? Is she able to feel some joy, if that is the right word, eating food? I do hope so.

scottishminnie I wish you luck as you hollow out the oranges. The thought of the task makes me :eek: and that's just the idea of citrus getting into a cut on me hand! Hey lassie, don't let me put you off. Go for it... but be careful.

Lyn zebra had a grand day out didn't he?! Did Nell enjoy it too?

I've loved a trip to a new to me Farm Shop up on the tops. A real gem of a place just 20 mins away. I didn't 'alf soak up the atmosphere and bought my goose fat for next week. I say my goose fat. I mean DH's. He's the Christmas Dinner cook every year.

I've had a day off from my quilting though. It's too big for my machine so have to wait until I can get the one I'm borrowing. It's frustrating when the kit just isn't up to the job and I wasn't enjoying it.

I'm off to go find a nice recipe for Buche Noel. Myself and the DD's make desert for Christmas Day on Christmas Eve. We're fancying giving this a go this year.

I do hope all our friends are ok and if you're busy I hope the business is of the enjoyable variety.

LaineyT

Hello all,

What a quiet, peaceful weekend after all the stress of the days running up to Mum's trip into hospital on Friday. She is eating little and often thanks Fuddle and whilst still very tired is at least enjoying some different food, she even had half a cheese toastie yesterday, something she has been craving for weeks, it was lovely to see
Saturday was a real pootling around kind of day, caught up on a lot of chores and even managed to get out in the afternoon to our local farm shop. They have a Xmas barn every year and I make a point of buying a couple of new decs for the tree every year, this year it was a felt robin, a mouse on skies and an extra in memory of my darling Bill, a lovely little wooden horse, perfect.
Yesterday we had a lazy morning listening to the A omnibus and then over to see Mum in the afternoon, we even caught some of the jumping at Olympia which was a bit of a tradition when I was growing up.
Sorry SM, can't help on the hollowing out of oranges, sounds very pretty though, please let us know how it went.
Hoglet, 3 books sound like my idea of heaven

Anyways, best dash as need to get into tow, hope all are well,
Much love x

[Deleted User]

Morning everyone, dull and grey here today but not cold so we're just off out with the cutters to bring in some green to take to the girls when we visit. He Who Knows is coming because I'm somewhat vertically lacking and he can get the high up bits!!!

Nell had a fantastic time with that Zebra FUDS and has plans to make theatre trips a regular with him although I'd have been hard put to tell who was the most tired at the end of the day. He zonked out in the car as Ruthie drove him home from the station and Nell definitely didn't wake up early as she normally does but was woken at 8.30 by a very hungry Pushycat telling her that her clock had stopped and would she please get up NOW 'cos he was starving!!!

LAINEY wonderful that mum can now have things she's been fancying to eat, bless her I so hope that cheese toasty was the best meal she's ever eaten. You are all doing so very well under such harrowing circumstances it's so satisfying to see such positiveness in your posts for all of you, bless mum she's a star (and so are YOU!).

I'm so enjoying NOT being in charge this year, I'm actually looking forward to Christmas Day and feel pretty chilled about the whole thing which is definitely a first for me! I thought I'd be feeling sad because things have changed but not so, hoorah!!! Have a nice day all, Lyn xxx.

fuddle

What are your Christmas Day plans Lyn?

Enjoy your new decorations Lainey. The wooden horse was waiting for you.

Candlelight are you ok?

How are you all on the run up to the weekend?

We had a spot of good news today. Remember there was some damp in the new house? We thought we were going to share the cost of fixing and preventing but the owner is going to pay for it. The agent seems to think he's worried he's going to loose out on the sale as the quotes were quite steep. Its likely that we will have to arrange the work after sale but we wanted to move in gradually anyway. This will have been our 6th house move in the last 8 years and this time we're determined to ease into the process as stress free as we can.

Other than that we're lazing about really. I made a tomato gnocci for tea and very little else!

candlelight_2013

Hello all,

Fuddle, I am fine thankyou. Just a bit fed up because Yahoo has just locked me out of my mail account. I know they have done it because of recent security issues, but it won't accept ny password, which I know is right, and if I try to change it they ask me silly questions that I dont know the answers to. I will have to wait
until my DGS comes around and he will sort it for me.

We had to wait in today for a double glazing man to come. A seal on one of our downstairs windows had gone so he replaced it today, nice to be able to see through it again.

Fuddle the owner of the house you are buying from sounds to be a very fair person. I appreciate they probably want the sale to go through reasonably quickly, and I think you are right in taking your time to move in. Normally you just have masses of boxes and furniture vaguely in the room you want it, and then have to work around everything.

Polly you sound to be a lot happier in yourself now that your DD has thr right decision. I hope you all manage to have a good Christmas. Himself is going for bloods on Wednesday because he has an appointment with the heart specialist on the 29th. We are hoping for a better result with his kidney function because the GP has dropped 2 tablets and we have cut down on one of his diuretics without any adverse effect, so keeping fingrs crossed.

We have quite a busy week now, a little shopping tomorrow, I have a nail appointment on Wednesday and friends coming in the afternoon. Going to see DS and BIL Thursday and having my hair cut in the afternoon, so busy busy.

SM I hope you have managed to work out the oranges. I am not sure how to do it except cutting them in half and then probably you won't hav the effect you are looking for.

Lyn, do you think Ezra is getting excited about Christmas, do you think he really understands it yet? He is probably more excited about his new baby brother.

Hoglet your weather doesn't sound very nice, I hope it improves. Have a lovely time in Australia with your in laws, will the weather be sunny and warm there?

AOT how are you, do you have an invitation for lunch on Christms Day, and if so are you up to going? I know when Mum was alive (she had polymyalgia) sometimes it was just too much of an effort if she was in a lot of pain and she preferred to stay at home. I think the business of getting in and out of a car was just too much for her. Whatever you are doing I hope it is a calm and almost pain free time for you.

Floss are you cooking over Christmas, or are you going to be waited on for a change?

Lainey I am so pleased the stent seems to have eased Mum's problem. Can you imagine how she must have felt when she had her cheese toasty. Your Mum sounds a lovely lady, and you have all tried so hard to keep her as comfortable as possible and show her how much she is loved. I hope you all manage to have a calm and happy Christmas.

Enjoy the rest of the week

Much love

Candlelightx