Preparing for Winter V

VintageHistorian

I ordered my spare hot water bottle off a certain large online retailer, along with a small Really Useful Box and a small battery-powered torch. I'll also get some batteries, more matches, and locate the candles Mr VH bought two years ago, so they can the torch can all go in the box, which can go on the shelf above the coat rack, which is easy to get to in the event of a powercut.

The tinned soup stocks are starting to build back up, I bought my first Christmas chocolate the other day and hid it in the spare room (where I will hopefully forget about it until December), and I'm going to try and get to M&S in the next 2 weeks and get a ready to roast turkey breast for the freezer, just so we have a backup Christmas dinner if we can't get to my family again.

Primrose

I suspect that a few people, having lived through the minimal   No Fuss Lockdown Christmas  last year may actually have found that it had a few advantages in terms of more simplicity  and less hassle and may be wondering how they can repeat it!

Fiona236

I've introduced my daughter to the delights of ovaltine! It's not cheap but 4 spoonfuls instead of 5 works lovely. Nice winter time before bed drink. 

Fiona236

Primrose said:

Oh that's a good idea.   We have built in coconut fibre matting inside our tiny entrance lobby (seemed a good idea at the time !!) but I didn't realise how hard it is to clean and get all the muddy footmarks off, so I use another one on top where wet muddy feet first step, but that slips and slides all over the place and I'm continually having to bend down to relocate it.      I'm wondering now if some kind of thin car mat would work, but it would probably slip on coconut fibre matting too.

B and m sell washable door mats if that helps. 

Laura_Elsewhere

I've managed to get the bedroom windows properly cleaned, inside and out, and hope to tackle the siting-room ones this weekend - bit of a performance as they are casements, so you have to press a little thing in, top and bottom, whilst using your third and fourth hands (!) to edge the hinge-edge of the window away from the wall- it opens up a slit just wide enough to squeeze your hand through and clean the outside - you get your forearm skinned a bit, hence why we only do it once or twice a year, but being top-floor flat in a three-storey building, there's not much choice! 

I emptied all the gloves/hats/mitts/cowls, etc., boxes, and put most of it through a 'rinse' cycle in the washing-machine and then hung them around the flat to dry. A few repairs needed, some never-worn will be passed onwards to others, and the rest are back in their better-arranged boxes up on the above-head shelf over the coat-pegs. The big shelf over the front door has the box with the emergency supplies and we've checked over all of that: gas-burner-hob, butane cans to fuel it, lantern and batteries for lantern, two 2-litre bottles of water, and kettle and small saucepan suitable for gas-burner-hob. 

Getting there.... next task is to tackle the year's build-up of things put down just beside the sitting-room door, it mounts up very quickly and stops the door being closed! 

jamanda

I've cut up and mangled an old quilt and made two doggy duvets.  I've cut up a particularly fluffy and lovely blanket that the collie has fallen in love with and made duvet covers for them ready for when it gets cold.  (They will be on top, not under.  Probably).

That seems to be all I've managed today that is useful (or daft).

Wraithlady

VintageHistorian said:

The tinned soup stocks are starting to build back up, 

That reminds me, I have a few days off next week, so will see if I can make and pressure-can some home-made soup for winter. There's various odds-n-ends in the freezer which can get canned as well.

fionaandphil

Thanks @Laura_Elsewhere you spurred me into action and I've checked batteries, candles and torches.  Hats, gloves etc all prepped back in the spring when weather was nice 😎 We're having grey, cold, wet weather so I've put the fire on tonight. 

cornishchick

Cold and damp here, blinds shut and the fireplace app playing on the tv, I swear I can feel the heat coming off it.
I need to get the dehumidifier hooked up to a smart plug. so I can put it on for a bit before I come home and to dry washing on the clothes horse.

jozbo

Really rubbish weather here this week. House is feeling cold and I’ve been feeling under the weather so really motivated to get some jobs done this weekend. 

- line living room curtains with fleece interlining - I have some in the loft and need to use that up before ordering more if needed, it’s about £7pm iirc and there’s a good 12m I’d need to do so whatever I can save…
- clear some clutter from the loft before measuring and checking current insulation (think it’s 150mm, previous epc) so that will need topping up ASAP. We also have the area where the previous water tank was (we installed a new combi boiler and had this removed) but there’s loads of grubby old insulation that has been disturbed so it needs a good clear out and reinsulating. I’ve budgeted £150 for insulation which I hope will do it, hoping for a discount 10% off weekend with one of the big DIY retailers to come up soon…
- shorten curtains in one bedroom that are lying on top of the radiator. They can’t be tucked behind because the plumber installed a radiator right underneath the window ledge. Consequently all the heat from the radiator just heats the gap between window and curtain !!