Elite 11+ shopping and chat thread

TrulyMadly

bubbs wrote: »

Corrrrrrr that looks lush:D:D

It was lush bubbs:D

Just about to set the table for a nice evening in with Mr TM so will catch up later

Hope everyone has had a good day:T

Off to polish the flutes:D

bubbs

TrulyMadly wrote: »

It was lush bubbs:D

Just about to set the table for a nice evening in with Mr TM so will catch up later

Hope everyone has had a good day:T

Off to polish the flutes:D

Have a lovely evening

Tinyshoes

davemorton wrote: »

Im after a couple of decent toiletry gift sets, but none on M&S that I can find, so looking like I am going to have to play the bingogamble that is the boots 75% off sale.

I missed the decent gift sets on M&S this morning, only managed stocking filler type things. The one I did have in my basket was gone by checkout.

Tinyshoes

davemorton wrote: »

Was it something I said? :rotfl:

I did say I was going off for a shower. I'm all freshened up now.

Chinese banquet this evening.

Well a huge Chinese takeaway where everyone picks a dish. :cool:

mhoc

Well here I am reporting from the front line again regarding our visitors yesterday
Well not much happened yesterday morning apart from OH going off at 5 in the morning and not coming back until after lunch despite promises that he would be back early, nothing unusual there .
OH did the vegetables ready for the beef casserole and I made sure he put plenty of potato in and the last parsnip. Only then did we realise the beef casserole meat pack I had was just about enough for 2 people maybe but not three so off we went to Morrisons.
Morrisons was deranged, cant believe people have run out of everything in such a short week .I got the biggest pack of casserole steak there was, an OMG price but there was not much to choose from. I also got more part bake rolls and Morrisons part beak bacon for breakfast as it was on offer – only 6 slices but enough as I don’t usually have any, the smell puts me off mostly.
I got a message from eldest son just before they set off from home so I sent him photos to say we were all ready for them – table all set and Christmassy still, casserole in the oven, tree lit and cats in position. Later he asked if I was doing dessert and I asked if there was any special requests so I ended up doing apple and blackberry crumble, enough to fill 2 small square dishes, thinking one would go in the freezer nicely.
Eventually Eldest son and his GF arrived, they have been to her homeland for Christmas since the 17th and only got back in at 10.30 on Thursday night so there was a lot of catching up to do about what they had been up to. I also got a message from errant son to say he was en route.
So we had some lovely drinks with eldest son and GF and a catch up and they opened their Christmas presents. They were on very good form, really good Christmas although eldest son found it even more incredibly dull and even more unexciting then his home town.
Eldest son then got another text off errant son as he came off the motorway and this is where things got a bit awkward. He realised that we had set the table for just 4 of us, Errant youngest son having sent us barely the odd one sentence message and leading us to believe they were just popping in. So the dining table had to rearranged to squeeze in 2 more people, extra crockery and place settings and 2 chairs found to accomadate the extras.
I was just very glad to have the others sort it all out – sort of letting everything wash over me and not getting stressed out by it all. It was a bit like when you are invited to an event by someone and when you arrive its not exactly what you thought was going to happen but you are here now so you might as well stay and just see how things unfold.
OH also started peeling extra potatoes to boil separately – the casserole would have been plenty for 3 but not enough for 5 (I had the vegetarian option) – we tend not to over stock now there are just 2 of us, it took us a long time to get used to smaller meal times. We are well used to mass catering but this was in the dim and distant pass and we only do big meals now a few times a year and only with at least a days notice to get ourselves ready.
So Errant son arrived with his GF, we were very glad to have eldest son and his GF to keep the conversation going, these 2 are very gregarious and fit in anywhere they go. Dinner and dessert were a success and everyone had enough to eat fortunately, no shortage of drink of all types.
I then realised that Errant son was not on soft drinks so OH must have asked him when they were in the kitchen if he was staying the night, IE in the boys room (and not just sleeping in his van). Again I had to not let things stress me out and so I let Errant son sort out his room and his sleeping arrangements. The single bed in the boys room was made up but at the mo its more or less a room used for storage - it has all of my cruise dresses hung up , all of the Christmas storage boxes, the top bunk must have had a sheet on it but no one has slept in it for about 6 months and it had 2 huge storage boxes on it, not somewhere you would want visitors to sleep. In contrast the guest room has been ready since Tuesday was all cosy with the Christmas bedding, all very soft and fluffy and hugge for Eldest son and GF who booked their stay 2 weeks ago.
Eldest son has us organised all evening – we played a weird card game they brought back with them, Uno, Animal Dominoes, ordinary dominoes, charades and a weird paper game – some games you just cant play with 6 as there are not enough dominoes or cards etc but we managed and everyone seemed to have a good time – the wine flowed, Errant son tried some of the free canned cider we had from COS which was horrible but he liked it and no one went to bed until after midnight. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, mostly through Eldest son and his GF being so pro active.
There was a weird interval in the middle when Errant son and his GF decided they wanted a bath (no idea why as mostly everyone showers now) which was fine, plenty of hot water but I realised afterwards they both had a bath at the same time – our tiny bathroom is downstairs off the kitchen and barely 6 x 6 so I am not sure if they had a shared bath or separate ones as Errant son is over 6 foot – one of the mysterious that will be never solved as well as only the single bed seems to have been slept in …
Next morning despite the late finished Errant son and his GF were up at 8.30 and there was a lot of clattering from the kitchen, he even brought me a tea up. Eventually I emerged and by the time I got down Errant son and his GF were tackling the kitchen – everything had been washed up the night before but between them they had dried up, cleared everything away, the recycling was sorted, the surfaces were cleaned down – never ever had guests doing this before, perhaps it’s because they live in a shared house and the kitchen is a communal space and always has to be clean and cleared. Or maybe it was a genuine kindness, who knows.
Anyway Errant son cooked apple strudel for breakfast, again no idea why but they also made themselves blueberry porridge and I made scrambled eggs . The bacon and rolls were not brought out as I didn’t have enough for everyone and anyway OH slept in until 10.30 – almost unheard of.
Eldest son and his GF got up about 10, showered and they had more crumble and finally OH. The older 2 had a 4 hour drive across to west wales to see GFs best mate who they were staying with for a few days so eventually they got themselves organised and packed the car up again and set off.
Errant son then started cooking pies for their lunch (neither of us, me or OH were ready for solid food so we didn’t have any lunch) Eventually they got themselves packed up again and set off for kent – Errant son took a few more of his bits with him, he was looking for his lace up brogues and I told him where his suit was – (no idea if he actually took either of these yet) They also seemed to have no clean clothes with them but Errant son still has some of his clothes here so they had clothes to put on fortunately.
I also gave him a huge bag with various odds and ends - the Westons cider cans, Volvic waters we got for COS, all of the pepparami stash, a few beers, left over Christmas chocs etc.
Errant son was still telling us very little. He is thinking of applying for transfer to Edinburgh – he is close to the end of his first 6 months probationary period but apart from that we have no idea of how he is doing at work His van that he only had a few months and spent a fortune on new tyres and kitting it out had mechanical problems so he has a replacement even worse than the other, only had it a month. That’s about it really, we still know nothing really about his life, you never get answers to direct questions so we don’t ask and we dont even think he tells us the truth when we do ask so we just don’t and just wait for him to volunteer any information which is very little.
I think over the years I think these 2 will be the slightly peculiar side of the family, someone will always make sure they get invited to any family events but inbetween times they will just vanish without trace, keeping themselves to themselves and out of contact with everyone.
At least now its cleared any awkwardness now before March and the wedding of eldest child and her BF – no idea how things are going to pan out for then
Errant son did give me an extra long hug when he arrived and when they were leaving so at least that is something.
So its back to just us 2 and the 3 cats now for the next few months …

Picasso7

MKS wrote: »

Doctor gave him a number to call. I will be ringing shortly. We will go through all the palaver of DPA and they won't tell me a thing. I will tell them that it should be on his file that I can talk for him as he is deaf and hearing impaired. They will then advise me that it is not on his file, that they will have to check with the GP and can I call back in a couple of hours. I will then call back and get someone else and we will just repeat this mornings conversation. Happens all the time. :mad::mad: Maybe I will be lucky today.:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

I hope you got it sorted. I tend to pretend to be Mum. Saves all sorts of hassle!

Picasso7

Anon wrote: »

Oi, TM... I resemble that remark .

I have actually submitted that one :A.

I was just wondering whether to buy another for family (though if iP is recorded on the claim that would stop it ... I originally tried to upload my receipt from my phone but it wouldn't upload, so may not be worth chancing it ...).

Anon

I bought another today to run through Mum's bank account. I assumed that and the email must be different.

mhoc

Sainsburys today I got the last 2 packs of giant playing cards which were £8 but now going through for £2.50 - much more solid than the ones we have, the box is very heavy - possibly birthday presents but it will be hilarious to see what the reaction will be when they open them

http://www.sainsburys.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/gb/groceries/professor-puzzle-giant-playing-cards-130250251-p?langId=44&storeId=10151&krypto=5AnxvmfG6p8FV08fSjwg5wEcXtyCreJ20SXu7UHtrL1eIuXuj8DmRA1VUCPgpdMo2pQYdj%2BtEC1lT8F9gAPuHkl8HWmaLv8AE3q3GqlvPKJsbci7YTA162yV%2Fa00hpdT%2BOeE%2F%2Faf%2BYaduXpjG9rUPJ7JURuDIB%2FKe6%2BoqwLc3Kk%3D&ddkey=http%3Agb%2Fgroceries%2Fprofessor-puzzle-giant-playing-cards-130250251-p

mhoc

also Sainsburys have the wine journals reduced to 50p each from £5 - useful stocking filler

http://www.sainsburys.co.uk/shop/gb/groceries/sainsburys-wine-journal-130148142-p

vanilla_twist

SweetnSavvy wrote: »

Morning Elite,

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. Mine was lovely but very busy as we had family to stay. Another lot of guests have now arrived for the New Year. :beer: it's nice to have visitors but means I've been mostly awol.

Anyway, one of my presents was the Kon Mari book and I'm itching to start on it:):) must also find the mse page.

Wishing you all a healthy, happy and mse 2017 .

SnS

I have now seen there is a second book so going to put on my new kindle to read tomorrow.
Not sure how much help the kon marie mse site is. Well its very helpful but reads pretty much the same as the decluttering thread.
I kon marie'd in the summer and have pretty much stayed the same just the understairs cupboard that needs sorting so I can turn it into art material storage. Of course my house is still a work in progress in terms of getting each room with the furniture I would like (only 10 months so far) and if I was a perfect Kon Marie convert I wouldn't have all dads books in the attic.:eek:

V x