The OS Doorstep - a helpful and supportive thread in these tough times

Possession

Just do your own thing Mar. There's no rules that can't be broken (unless there's grandchildren when a whole new set of rules come in LOL!).
DH has taken the children to DD's school Christmas Fair - I get out of it as I did the karate sessions this morning. I always feel guilty now that I'm not organising it so quite glad not to be there. I'm supposed to be using the time to get stuff done but am feeling a little bleurgh and have only sorted DD's clothes a bit (which is enough to strike terror into anyone's heart). I need to empty the last stuff out of the chest freezer so that it can be switched off and sold (sob sob), finish DD's room, do some packing, make some stuff for packed lunches next week...the list continues. I need a kick up the bottom!

Pooky

I remember my Nan loved Christmas but my Grandad hated it - he wouldn't allow her to have a tree and decorations up once all the grandkids had grown up, he was a big of a "bah humbug" at the best of times. When I left home and got my first flat I invited my Nan down to come decorate the tree with me, she was in her element. The next year I was working in a large department store and in the Christmas eve sale the tree's and decs went to 75% off and I got a staff discount of a further 25% off that price. I brought her a tree and enough decorations to cover it and dropped it round on my way home from work. Her face was a picture, so was my Grandads The next Christmas she was very poorly and undergoing chemo so I offered to go put the tree up for her but my Grandad had already done it.....I got to him in the end. She wasn't around for the next Christmas but he did still keep putting the tree up

Got lots of work done this morning, popped to a Christmas fayre and got a brand new cat scratching post for the kittens and came home to spend 4 hours cleaning - blugh.....just had a call to say the kittens have been signed off from the vet and we can collect them in the morning!!! Good job I got all the cleaning done and out the way today - tomorrow will be spent watching them play and sleep....as you do.

mcculloch29

Some lovely stories there. My only tiny bugbear with the tree is that my Mum loved Christmas and her tree, as I do. My sister got all the decorations when Mum died, which didn't really bother me, except that now she never bothers with a tree. As she is 300 miles away I can't exactly pop over to get them! In due time hopefully my niece will get them, and treasure them; she was 17 when Mum died so will have clear memories of those decorations.

As it is, some of mine are pretty special anyway, some made around 30 years ago by my children, the olive wood decorations my daughter bought in Bethlehem, decorations from my parents' homelands of Estonia (Mum) and Latvia (Dad), beautiful German decorations from when we lived there... I could go on and on!

chickens11

burtha wrote: »

Shh.... Stop saying the C word .....fingers in my ears and hoping it will go away .....:eek: our tree goes up ( if i have to ) on Christmas eve and down on boxing day ......kids have trees up in there bedrooms so I don't have to see them ......hate the whole thing ....hey ho....also never send cards ( do donate money to local charity) or put any up ....only the ones the kids make go up ....but then I don't do birthday cards either .......hate the way they clutter the place up .....house is messy enough without all that going on lol xx

That was what I use to do , tree up christmas eve and down boxing day....Now I just cant be bothered at all this year , what with my third op on December 8 this year , im like Mardather sick of it on tv all the time , adverts etc it do my head in........We are still over a month away , it wears you down....
What a wet day today and its so dark , grey , dismal and dank , ive lit my fire to make myself and the home feel more cheery..:)
Pooky....Glad your all prepared for your kittens , will be lovley for you...
Nuttyp....Also lovely for your mum to have a small dog , a little walk day will be beneficial for mum and the dog...:)
Ive been going for small walks with my dog Bo, ive bought a pair of Croc wellies and they are so comfortable and soft cushion heels and very light weight, a real treat for anyone with foot problems ...
Kidcat ....I hope by now youve picked up your minibus and you are all home safe and sound, hope the drive home was good.......
Ive put some casserole beef in the oven for tea , and im going to have swede, leeks ,, and cabbage with it and gravy, theres enough beef for 2 days so I re heat what I dont eat for tea tonight and have tomorrow.......
I hope you are all having a peaceful weekend and catch you all later ...Sheila

mcculloch29

chickens11 wrote: »

Nuttyp....Also lovely for your mum to have a small dog , a little walk day will be beneficial for mum and the dog...:)
Ive been going for small walks with my dog Bo, ive bought a pair of Croc wellies and they are so comfortable and soft cushion heels and very light weight, a real treat for anyone with foot problems ...
...Sheila

I agree, great news on the dog, Nuttyp.
I'm so pleased you have something comfy for your feet, Sheila.
My Crocs were one of my best investments ever for my feet. I bought the fur lined Mammoth Crocs, you can get looky-likeys for a sixth of the price now, but you couldn't at the time. Though it's definitely a good job that the linings are removable for washing.

Rosanna79

Great to hear a variety of views on Christmas trees and decorations. My mother detested Christmas having lost her own mother 4 days before Christmas as a child of 7 and her first daughter aged 2 1/2 four days after Christmas. She did her best to make it good for my brother and me but there was always an air of sadness around the season the whole time I was growing up. She also disliked the mess that real Christmas trees make so as soon as artificial trees became available we had one! Even then she insisted everything was taken down by New Year's Eve. Any streamers or other decorations were a definite no! no! as well. Christmas presents were all ripped open as early as possible on Christmas Day and Christmas dinner was all washed up and done well by 1pm! This was mind bogglingly boring for a youngster left with the rest of the day to entertain oneself as my brother being blind and 4 1/2 years older had completely different interests.


So when I married OH and I made a much more leisurely thing of the season and I actually started to find some enjoyment. On a couple of occasions he decorated the flat we lived in completely so I did experience what the full range of decorations was like. We did find it rather tiresome clearing it all up. Now in retirement we (or rather OH) decorate both mantle pieces and we have a fibre optic tree. When we moved to my home town we had 3 of those but over 11 years 2 have died on us! At some stage we may get a replacement but are both rather tired at present. We're keeping the presents fairly simple too. Last year I did so many big craft projects only to find the Royal Mail was privatised and our postage bill was about £100 including sending stuff to the Irish Republic.


Seem to have lost my mojo a bit since I turned 65 last March but still keep going! It may be psychological but it seems like a good idea to live life at a steadier pace - things still get done I guess. As I've never bought into the commercial side of Christmas, only really celebrating it from a faith point of view it's OK.


One good thing is that my vicar friend takes her carol service into the local pub where her curate takes the service, the barmaid reads the lesson so she can play her fiddle with a number of other musicians. They mainly play guitars so she likes me to take my flute, wooden whistle and tenor recorder along to provide some woodwind accompaniment. This community gig is always most enjoyable even if for me it's about a 16 mile round trip! Christmas has started then!

Rosanna79

As for the medical advice one is given post operatively I encountered some ridiculously optimistic ideas of recovery times during my nursing career. Day surgery particularly led employers to think a person should be back to work almost within the week. I argue that although the hospital turn surgical cases around much more quickly these days the body still takes the time it ever did to heal!

Over 13 years ago I was preparing to go into the Royal London hospital for a massive gynae operation. For weeks beforehand I cooked double quantities and froze half so OH had a selection of meals when he got home from work. He was also building anew bathroom at the time.


He arrived at my bedside with about 4 different designs we could have and expected me half out of my head on a patient controlled morphine pump to tell him my preference!! He then proceeded to tell me that he was saving the freezer meals for when I came home so I wouldn't have to cook!!!! It turned out that the local chippy was getting his daily custom for the week!


He was very helpful and did all he could to help of course. I'd said I wanted a Dyson vacuum cleaner as I was so fed up with the one we had losing suction. However I would not be able to use if for at least 3 months after the op which was the general trend at that time. So OH became the one who always used the vacuum cleaner. Thirteen years later that is still the case!!

philphil1

philphil1 wrote: »

Thanks for that I will probably give it a go even if it means leaving the lid off for a couple of hours to reduce down, although not sure if that will just let all the heat out! If \I do I will report back here



Never tried anything like that before, but looks like it would be good with a pack (or 2 ...or 3!) of tortilla chips!

Thanks again

This is in the slow cooker today, having it later hopefully!....

Just put in chickpeas with a couple of hours to go, and not pur yoghurt in yet as I read it can separate in a slow cooker if on for a while. Might add it for the last hour or so?!
Trial and error but smells good!

Edit.. Not thickening too well, hopefully leaving lid off a bit will do it

ivyleaf

mardatha wrote: »

I don't actually like xmas at all, never have since the youngest grew out of santa. I much prefer new year, so think I will compromise by decorating my wee corner and forget the tree. TY everybody

That sounds ideal for you mar x

ivyleaf

I hope you enjoy it philphil I've bookmarked softstuff's post and will try it when I get around to it!

Possession What are the people in your avatar cartoon saying? I've just made my eyes go funny trying to read it through PH's magnifying glass, to no avail