22 Foxhole East

f0xh0les

I think a lot of people voted for the party that said you won't have to hear about Brexit anymore.

I cannot believe they are demonising Andrew Neil for his 2 minute monologue about leaders having agreed to these tv interviews for years, but Boris refused to front up. They are going after the BBC now. I worry when they come for the journalists...... they have already threatened the judges.... are we not better than this? This is 3rd world Latin American state tactics.

So. Car passed mot after service and I can now remove the key, but I still only have the one key, but I can get it cloned. Hooray!!

I was thinking today as I was trying to buy Ibuprofen without lactose in, and I went to 3 different supermarkets, and all of them only had cheapy nasty Bells stuff, and a sign saying they were having problems with their supply chain and so certain medicines were out of stock. And I thought- when were we supposed to leave the EU? End of October? and there were about 6 weeks of stockpiled drugs ..... ooh, look. I am resorting to having to buy baby ibuprofen syrup as the only available ibuprofen. Because everyone was waiting to see what was going to happen.

So, I am going to fill up my pantry with tinned and dried essentials. I will have my hill of beans.

Tonight at the foodbank it was mental. We were understaffed and the clients just kept on coming, in fact they came 25 minutes before the session started in order to be sure they got in in time. I left 25 minutes later than usual. But they all got their normal food allowance, and quite a lot of Xmas bonuses. Plenty of selection boxes for every child, and snacks and slabs of fruitcake, and pannatone, and mice pies, and Xmas puddings. There is a little bit of Xmas in every package and food parcel.

Bought cards for the elderly that like and expect cards to show off to their friends. Will get the kids to write them and I will send them on Wednesday, after all the parcels are supposed to have been delivered.

apple_muncher

Yay! to the car passing its MOT and to getting that pesky key out.

kerri_gt

Apparently there is a global supply issue with ibuprofen - we seem to have some more stocks round here locally although I'm not restricted with ingredients. Trapped a nerve in my neck a few weeks ago and had to resort to the strong stuff - paracetamol and codeine - several years OOD but seemed to do the trick (in that I knew it hurt but didn't quite care so much)

yay to the car key!

This time next week it will be 'the big day' ... yikes!

f0xh0les

Thank you for your kind words about my key-ectomy surgery. The patient is doing well.

I am sitting in, waiting for 2 parcels to be delivered. I think one was delivered yesterday - if by delivered you mean stuck in the hedge inside the front yard and a postcard put through the door. It is 3 books for DH, so I am sitting here, wrapping my s-i-l's gift pjs for the kids, and dh's books, and seeing what I have for the kids stockings.

DS4 is being a total swine. He refused to get ready for school as he wants to have his ears pierced. :rotfl:. Stupid 7.15 tantrum. I am almost tempted to let him just to hear him scream his silly head off (he does not do splinters well, let alone a piercing gun), plus he does sport 3x a week and he is clinically clumsy. So once again I get to don my Capt. Evil hat and stomp all over his hopes and dreams. If he is particularly horrid on his birthday in town, I may relent. Just to show him not everything in life is a good idea for a 10 yr old - his dad had his tongue and eyebrows pierced and still has the top bit of his ear pierced, so according to DS4 we are hypogriffs. :rotfl:I have 7 holes in each ear and my nose has a little stud in it.

Spoke to step-gran for nearly an hour this morning. She seems in good form although was complaining about who was going to take her for her shopping, I know her mate takes her (sshhh! its a manipulative secret), and she won't pay the caring agency to have someone accompany her, and she is so rotten when she is taken out as she gets knackered 1/4 way through the small supermarket and extremely grumpy, so 2 of her mates have decided not to take her anymore. . She says she is getting more forgetful, but couldn't remember anything she has forgotten:rotfl:. Bless.
So now I have to find a few bits to lob in a box and send to her. It has to be small, because if they are big- like a box of shortbread, they go stale before she finishes them so she just gives them away to anyone who comes in without opening them. Unless they are fruit pastilles, she would bite your hand off to get a tube of fruit pastilles. So, individually packaged small amounts of things that are not too hard to bite, are the way of the future. I just sent her some choc covered cranberries and raisins last month. She eeks them out like a proper miser, so that is off the list. Will have a crawl around H&B and I know she used to love a crunchie bar, but would never think of buying one for herself now. She won't eat it all. But it will give her a buzz and take her back to days of short dresses and white socks, no doubt.

I have bought f-i-l a bag of lemon sherberts. Naff present, but he has everything he wants and it is a token gift. I got him a bag of everton mints a couple of years ago, and it took him straight back to boarding school days. Funny old thing, sense of smell and taste can transport them back to a different time. Small pleasures.

Still only one parcel has arrived, and it is not either of my two.
I am not buying plastic tat this year. So it is much harder than usual, and I am keeping an eye on the amount of chocolate and sugar that is going into their gifts. I suppose, in the right light, if you squint through your left eye, a tin of vine leaves could be considered festive. :rotfl: My kids LOVE vine leaves, and capers (bleuch! vinegar flavoured dirt!).
Right time to reheat some leftovers and swap the laundry over.

I think I have done quite well with my 'chained to the flippin' house waiting for the postman' morning so far.

Very productive - not so happy with Boris' plans to make any strike by transport workers illegal.

badmemory

f0xh0les wrote: »

not so happy with Boris' plans to make any strike by transport workers illegal.

missed that but frankly I am avoiding news at the moment. I haven't had a good week & this would just make it worse. I fully expect that in a couple of years with his majority all strikes will become illegal & we will lose a lot of employment rights too. A pity people don't take note of careful what you wish for you may get it! I am so grateful I am retired.

f0xh0les

I spent the rest of the afternoon wrapping up anything I had that was not a moving object or nailed down. As the parcels arrived, they were wrapped and labelled and the returns envelopes and packing slips are carefully hidden under 'my' sofa. Must get the kids to write in their grandparents' cards tomorrow and get them sent off to Ireland.

Step-gran has already commandeered mil's calendar to us - that has not arrived yet - I had to buy one in August! Me and DH will coordinate diaries over the NY - so we have started trading and recycling gifts already. She was trying to fob a purple fluffy blanket off onto me that someone got her for her birthday. It is so funny. Pass the parcel, but it has already been opened. :rotfl:

Tomorrow I have to sit in and wait for another parcel to arrive:(. Then I am buying some onions and a jar of micemeat, and some laundry powder. I am going to make some more amaretto laced mice pies. The kids loved them so much. They evaporated .... pouf! gone? 2 and a half is one of your 5 a day from one of those 6 packs, So 2 of my pies is probably 1. I do not put lids on mine, that way the micemeat stays neatly in the pie base and does not bubble up and out and stick them to the tray - simples! plus it is less calories. Cos if you are making these you are obviously counting calories:rotfl:I am such a nut!

Tomorrow is f/b Xmas social (a putting stuff away party).
So I am thinking I might make pizzas for supper, stick them in the oven, and then just leave them to it.

Not sure yet, might spend the morning doing the inventory and meal plan and then I will have a much better idea of what I need.

Right, I am knackered, cup of tea, and then bed for me. There is a werewolf with my name on it.

Today was unexpectedly more productive than anticipated.

f0xh0les

Ahem! the cup of tea turned into an amaretto hot chocolate which is very very lovely,
night ninght.

f0xh0les

BORED!! I have been waiting all morning for this stupid parcel to turn up. Still no sign. DS4 decided at 7.30am he would like me to go to his carol thing at 2pm and not go to his afterschool club. I have a massive grocery shopping list to fill, cards to send, stuff to do! and I am stuck on my sofa with a hot water bottle on my lap, waiting for this muppet postman to deliver what is probably m-i-l's stupid calendar.

I have now written my To-Do plan for the rest of the month. Which is really the rest of the year. Which is actually the end of the decade. There. I have planned everything until the end of the decade.

How efficient does that make me sound! Are we excited for the Roaring 20's?
but first, have a tree or two:xmastree::xmastree: and a few snowmen:snow_laug:snow_grin:snow_laug:snow_grin :santa2::santa2: and Santas.

kerri_gt

How on earth is it 20yrs since the millennium...when we all thought computers would cease to work, ATMs might spontaneously combust, and I think petrol as still under (or just over) £1. :eek::eek:

f0xh0les

Tomorrow is DS4s birthday and then they are all in double figures. He should be happy with his presents, he gets a kids fit bit, a PS4 game, some clothes, lego, waterstones vouchers, Game vouchers, cash and some books. A pretty good haul. But just because his birthday is Xmas Eve Eve it does not mean he gets less. We are going out to lunch at his favourite Indian, then into town to spend his money, then down to the best gelato cafe, then home. I will be out at the f/b in the morning and in the evening. Then it is the easy slide into Xmas.

Made a gorgeous pizza for lunch (2 big ones), baked a birthday cake, marzipaned the Xmas cake, made a creme carmel from a packet, made marmalade tarts to eat with Paddington tonight, and dipped bourbons in chocolate and sprinkled with chopped hazelnuts. Made the best popcorn I have ever made. Totally by accident.

Did all the laundry, just need to fold and return it to it's owners.

I am drinking mulled wine (heated in the microwave, yeah, classy! but no chance of it boiling) on the sofa with The Bear feeling lightly toasted.

Tomorrow I will spend money, but after that, apart from one day when I take the kids in to town to spend their Xmas loot, I am going to try and not spend any money for the rest of the decade. Aiming for 7 No Spend Days as I keep on spending this month, not always large amounts, but it needs to stop in the New Year.