Blowing in the Winds of Change

*Robin*

The Feast of Consumerist Over-Consumption is almost upon us. _pale_

I have done my best. There is a small pile of token gifts for close family under my bed, mostly books or favourite edibles, awaiting humorous festive wrapping.
This morning M and I attended the final artisan market before The Event where we managed to track down both charity representatives to whom funds had been promised. Can happily report that is where the larger portion of the budget went; Christmas dinners and comforts for homeless people / refugees, and whatever the local animal refuge needs most.

An organic veg stall lady gave me some beans and a cauli which needed eating, so after a kip in the car-park recovering from the hectic hour spent being sociable, I cooked up a wholesome veggie stew when everyone else had gone (no risk of random smokers wandering past the cloud of leaking gas ).
Drove down to the beach to eat it, and we're going to stay the night - listening to hypnotic crashing surf; must be windy off-shore. Musketeer was enchanted with the waves which chased him up the shingle, but it was already too dark for a proper walk and I'm exhausted again anyway, so that's something to look forward to in the morning.

Got around to checking the B@rclays SO before leaving DH's cottages this morning, only to discover that I must have sorted it out a couple of weeks ago and completely forgotten. This is happening more and more; after DH's flat finally sold when I was re-allocating the funds, for about a week I just "lost" £100K! :eek:
Eventually DS4 shamed me into admitting the problem - I'd been avoiding signing paperwork because of it - luckily he knew where it was (on short-term loan helping a close friend buy his new place - he was about to lose the purchase while waiting for his own funding to be sorted out). Phew. It was the catalyst for getting new POAs done - not sure whether this is a symptom of inexorable ME decline or just temporary because am using more energy than available reserves at the moment, but either way it seemed a good idea to have the framework in place for Divos Three and Four to take over if I go completely doolally.

Thank you for posting, everyone who has popped up out of Lurkdom, I really appreciate knowing you're out there, stopping me from feeling lonely in moments of self-doubt. :T

please-let-me-be-lucky

Stew on the beach in the dark with M’s protection sounds perfect! Enjoy Xx

Sun_Addict

Sounds good to me too Glad you got the financial mystery sorted too, you really don't want to be mislaying that amount of money :eek:

Dansmam

That is a very Robin post if I may say so ��. If envy travels you should be getting waves of ‘wish I was on a beach with a dog eating delicious stew’ right now. Enjoy- it sounds magical. Am still chuckling at ‘ the Feast of Consumerist Over Consumption ‘ being almost upon us. Gifting here gets more focused on needs not wants every year. Having Grown Ups for children is a joy!

chevalier

i too really struggle with this time of year. All the traffic seems to go one way ie away from me. i organise all presents, OH does !!!!!! all. has to be frogmarched to get me anything. would never ensure the kids get anything, and they are selfish enough that they don't see why they should spend their money on their parents. SIGH. not sure where we went wrong really. Every year the gifts aren't really appreciated and to be honest if it wasn't for my mum being here, i would be no effort in at all as there would be no point. I don't feel anyone else appreciates it at all.
sorry for the rant. Anyway i hope you have a great time over crimbo and the new year. what a close shave about the gas. i would still try and email them a right bomb about dodgy work.
ttfn
chev

*Robin*

please-let-me-be-lucky wrote: »

Stew on the beach in the dark with M’s protection sounds perfect! Enjoy Xx

The stew was delicious - when fishing some broken cashews out of the store-cupboard to go in with the veg, I found a bag of Goji berries DS4 had donated to the cause of "Mother Healthy Eating". They added just a hint of sweetness to the spices which really worked very well.
Realised too late to move that I'd parked next to a footpath leading on to the beach, so M noisily alarmed every time people walked past (up until about one ayem! ..It was a beautiful clear night; apparently this beach just out of town - away from the street lights - was a good place from which to watch for shooting stars. I saw a couple while taking M out for his last comfort break of the evening ).

Sun_Addict wrote:

Sounds good to me too Glad you got the financial mystery sorted too, you really don't want to be mislaying that amount of money :eek:

I know - awful, isn't it?! All large chunks of capital are now safely buried in bricks and mortar again, which minimises the possibility of my misplacing it [or loaning then forgetting it!].

Dansmam wrote:

That is a very Robin post if I may say so ��. If envy travels you should be getting waves of ‘wish I was on a beach with a dog eating delicious stew’ right now. Enjoy- it sounds magical. Am still chuckling at ‘ the Feast of Consumerist Over Consumption ‘ being almost upon us. Gifting here gets more focused on needs not wants every year. Having Grown Ups for children is a joy!

"A very Robin post" ?? Teehee. :rotfl:
As for envy, tbh it feels very much like making the best of a difficult job - a consolation prize if you will - I'd eagerly swap my life now for having DH back, even if treatment had left him permanently impaired [but not to a degree where he couldn't enjoy life].

Chev - do hope your fiesta turned out more enjoyable than you were expecting.. Sounds like there is still a powerful burden of stress in your World, which saddens me. So (((hugs))) across the ether, dear friend - am very glad the internet has enabled us both to touch each other's lives.. :lovethoug


I have crashed. Not as in smashed up my vehicle, but as in become overwhelmed by ME-payback for using too much energy on the journey. It was expected, but would have been better timed a day later.
Had already ducked out of the family Xmas feast / party - this year a more extravagant than normal bash at GGF's Grandmother's house, at which the centrepiece of the meal was an entire haunch of the neighbour's organically reared pig. It took Divos One and Three two days to cook it!
I had a nice chunk of wild Scottish salmon, organic new potatoes and green veg from the Nest's garden.. But it's still in the fridge. Couldn't stand up long enough to cook it.
Musketeer ate well though; had enough energy to extract bags of raw meat from the freezer then weigh out his medley of minced turkey, venison & goat, with chunks of lamb, a raw egg, a chicken drumstick and frozen Kefir cubes.
Divo Three called round with my veg, and to collect the presents for putting under DS1's tree. GrandPup was fascinated by M's new toy - a K0ng Gir0 - but I was right in thinking this wouldn't have been a suitable gift for Mister Extreme Chewer; during half an hour's play GrandPup has peppered the ring with tooth-marks.
Musketeer is still about six inches taller than GrandPup but the little gannet has been piling on bulk since joining his 'parents' - he now weighs a good five kilos more than M!
After extracting all the treats from M's Giro, GrandPup lay down next to me with his head on my lap, staring adoringly up at me while Three went on about how much the pup loves being with M and self.. None of GGF's family are keen on fostering him when DS3 and GGF go away for their annual holiday, but I have reservations about looking after these two boisterous chums while living in camper-van.

Sun_Addict

Sorry to hear you're not firing on all cylinders The shooting stars sounded fab though. Time to put your feet up and regroup.

Chevalier your post mirrors just what I feel. One selfish child and one totally oblivious child plus OH with brain damage = not a very merry Christmas I bought my own present from OH.

Hope you feel better soon Robin xx

Dansmam

Hope you are beginning to recover now Robin - that’s not a short drive you just completed and it’s a drive many people with no health issues at all will never make or even contemplate! You really do make the best of things, and sorry if I was a bit crass on the envy point - it’s a time of year for missing old times, isn’t it just.
Two big dogs in a van. Hmmmh, glad you’re thinking that through first. Is there any real reason GGF folks can’t take grandpup while his parents are away? You could always ‘borrow him’ for an hour or so on your own terms - let him gaze adoringly for a while then hand him back?!
My usual ploy of getting (adult) kids to cook while I visit family and friends did work again this year but I was badly let down on the table laying side of things and they have now either fled back to their own territory or turned into overfed slugs reading their new books and making occasional fridge raids. I got my Christmas wish for nothing I can’t use up in the next 12 months - this house wont be short of soap for a while ...

skeggs885

can someone pse send me a link to start a new thread i cant see the button for it

chevalier

skeggs885 wrote: »

can someone pse send me a link to start a new thread i cant see the button for it

Hi there
if you got back onto the debt free diaries main page (where all the thread titles are ) just above the start of the thread titles there is a button that says new thread
cheers chev