The Simple Bare Necessities feat. Gratitude & Recipes

beanielou

Glad all is well

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning :hello:


Hope all well.


Well, I managed to complete my chore list yesterday - but not necessarily in the order slated nor within the time-frame expected But it all got done eventually :j


Yesterday could just be summed up as 'kindness and sugar' - we had excesses of both, and it made for a memorable day..... :rotfl: Actually, it was BG who had the excess of sugar - but we all benefitted from the kindnesses, heaped upon kindnesses; and for that I am very grateful Both we - and BG have benefitted from gifts which have the common thread of 'thought' that has gone into them. We truly are blessed to receive such riches - and they are riches.


By the time we had our tea, and BG and I sat down in front of our (artificial) tree - I began to feel exhausted - the recent energy exertion on frantic crafting began to catch up with me...... BG was delighting in making a 'bed' for us on the sofa - carefully dividing up the space and allocating where each family member should go, how many pillows (cushions) they should have and what portion of blankie...... (you're gonna have to work out who got the biggest slice of everything... :rotfl:) and all I can say is, it's a good job DH came to see how we were getting on, as the minute the warmth of 3 square inches of blankie touched my knee, my eyelids became very droopy indeed......................


Right, I need to sort out what we're doing with our time today. I really could use a haircut, but it depends whether that can be woven in to other chores. I need to get a couple of bits and pieces food-wise, but they can be got today, or tomorrow. I'm a little tempted by the various supermercado offerings of f&v, but harbour a slight loathing of crowded stores and ill-tempered behaviour. I do realise that if I got my arris into gear, I could probs visit the supermercado and have the place to meself, but....... And I do realise that if you are feeding a party of 12 for the duration of the festivities, you're going to need 16 trolleys, and things are going to get a little fraught - so I do have some sympathy with things getting a little heated, but prefer to stay out of the fray IYSWIM.


I have no idea what is for tea. We had a pizza/pasta buffet last night which is a posh way of terming, 'storecupboard staples teamed with leftovers' :rotfl:


Ta for popping in. Always appreciated. Greatly.


Greying X

apple_muncher

You got 3 square inches of blankie?? L u c k y!!!

WannabeFree

Hope you have a wonderful day Greying, I love reading the enjoyment of BG. :A

If I don't pop out of lurking again before the big day I hope you all have a wonderful Xmas

x

Greying_Pilgrim

apple_muncher wrote: »

You got 3 square inches of blankie?? L u c k y!!!

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: Y'all have been there, ain't ya???? :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

WannabeFree wrote: »

Hope you have a wonderful day Greying, I love reading the enjoyment of BG. :A

If I don't pop out of lurking again before the big day I hope you all have a wonderful Xmas

x

Thank you lovely, you know we send bucket loads of good wishes backatcha for You, DS, DD1 and DD2 xxxx






Well, I got a haircut :j And we picked up a few bits and pieces. We were in a market town across the way, and they have a £-stretcher, so I always go in there for a nosey-o as you never know what you may find . We were going to go to mrL and mrA, as we were in the vicinity - and the mrL is a new(ish) one, but time was ticking toward lunch (we should have taken a snap bag :doh:) and so we decided to head on home - via the parentals house to drop off an 'item' that Santa's elves will need to pack........



Lunch has been a cheese sandwich and the l/o soup from tuesday night. We are now officially out of bread, so DH has trundled off to mrL and mrA (the Greying Town branches) to pick up what we would have picked up this morning anyway. It's getting combined with a trip to a big box DIY store, so not an entirely wasteful journey.



We have received a Christmas card from an 'old' friend today and one from a 'new' friend too And DH has received his credit card bill....... but it should be all 'budgeted for' spending on the card - only one Christmas gift, so no nasty surprises, unless DH took me seriously about the 'T1ffa-knees' hint :think: - ha ha ha - just joshing, it's as much as I can manage to safely wear my wedding ring!


Right, best get a wriggle on. BG has gone down (reluctantly) for a nap (although they need it) and I've things to attend to.


Ta for popping in. Appreciated.


Greying X

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Afternoon :hello:


Happy Solstice! More daylight from here on in!!!! even if in something like 1 minute increments per day! The light returneth!


Well, I ventured into Greying Town this morning. A little later than I wanted to, but it wasn't too bad......... BG deposited some money into their savings account - a scrimple of unspent CHB and a some Christmas money that they had kindly been gifted. The lady at the bank was lovely and friendly, and made time for BG which is always nice. We went to mrA because they have ambient packaged gnocchi, which is good enough for a bake I want to make on Christmas Eve. It was very, very busy in there, but I knew what i wanted and where it was located. I normally loathe using the self-service machines, but there was no-one using them - and then when I'd selected my purchases there was a queue - although not as long as those at the staffed tills - but then of course I had to have the till that wouldn't accept my coin. Fair does, the csa went off to get different coinage, but that just sent the machine into meltdown that I was taking forever to put my money in. I suppose i was lucky that the csa didn't take any longer (she was doubtless as fast as she could be, but had to wait for the till to be free at CS.....) otherwise the money i had already put in the machine would possibly have been eaten. Blessed technology!


We picked up a calendar and some apples from HB and headed home the long way - which ended up being even longer, as we had to walk to find a safe space to cross in nose to tail traffic. Having said that, using a traffic-light controlled pedxing elsewhere in Greying town, we very nearly saw someone get mown down. The lights were on red for traffic and the beep had just begun and the person on the other side had put one foot on the road, to then notice that the car coming to their right wasn't even making an attempt to slow down, let alone stop, and the person pullled back onto the pavement. Had they been hit, it would have happened right in front of BG......................


Tea tonight will be toad in the hole with all the trimmings. A feast for us! I shall be making the bread sauce just now - using a bay leaf from a branch gifted by a chum back in the summer.


Right, better go. Ta for popping by.


Greying X

Cheery_Daff

Gosh Greying what a shocking near miss! :eek:

Enjoy your toad in the hole :j Most jolly :j

apple_muncher

We had a similar near miss on a 3-lane crossing point, at night. Fortunately, we noticed and scarpered back to the pavement. Even more fortunately, the vehicle next to the car was a police van, so they turned on the flashers and pulled him over. No need for any statments from us!

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning :hello:


Yes, definitely a very near-miss Cheery - I honestly don't think the pedestrian would have survived the impact...........:(


apple - that was good instant karma, right there. But how I wish this driver had been stopped. Was it a case of sheer distraction, were they on their phone/changing a CD? Or were they under the influence of something?



Right, so I popped into Greying Town this morning to get some chores accomplished, and I am delighted to report that it all went swimmingly. I'm glad that not-s0-sooper drug no longer stocks an item I previously bought there for BG as they only had their fragrance tills open and there was clearly a queue, and a problem, and at least one staff member was sitting on the 'help' bell - but as ever, no-one was rushing to her aid from out back. It's hard to have sympathy with retailers in tough economic times when they make customers wait and queue - for unnecessarily long times.


I returned an item that had been gifted to BG (unwrapped) to the shop where it was bought. The giver won't mind. The size was too small (due to the retailer cheapening their manufacturing/design guidelines - the age range was right), and the actual design was not terribly appealing, as well as being made from difficult to launder fabric. To top it off, the cost of the item was horrendous, given its extrememely poor finishing. It is the sort of item that you would purchase from one of the budget line retailers, and accept the quality, as it would be about 1/3rd of the price of this particular retailer - who's magic and sparkle seems to have gone out of childrens wear. Both in terms of quality of design and manufacturer. As I had no gift receipt, I was given a credit note. Which is OK, and I'm glad of the retailers GOOD returns policy, it's just going to be difficult to find things to actually spend the money on - due to the above ^ opinion of their clothing wear :rotfl:Still, the credit note is good for a year, and can be spent in any department, so again, kudos to the company for having a GOOD returns policy.


BG was blessed to receive a nice financial gift in the post, from a relative, so we took that to the bank, and were treated with kindness again - which is always nice. Relatives have been most kind and generous, and BG's account has swelled a little.



I picked up some frozen goods from h3r0n, which were needed/budgetted for, and some cakes, which were not.... But they had an offer on boxes of mrK cakes (well, certain varieties) and 2 for £1 was too good to miss. And I got a box of mrK stollen slices for 69p as DH likes stollen - I don't, so he get's the box to himself - which given the size of the slice, is no big deal - and will be even more parsimonious if BG gets a sniff of CAKEEEEE!!!! :rotfl:


Tea last night was brilliant - not from big-headed point of view - I mean from seeming to be a real 'treat' point of view. It's been ages since we've had a - I suppose you'd term it our equivalent of a 'roast' dinner - so not only were we stuffed, but it felt as though we were really 'celebrating' too. BG partook of a bit of sausage, and requested both carrots and roast potato - but then ate neither Although they pointed to their beloved papa's whole roast potato, which didn't quite equate to the smish, smashed little squib of tattie that was handed over onto their plate. Didn't look the same at all...... DH isn't very good at cutting up food - I remember him trying to helpfully do it for me, so I could eat one-handed whilst holding and feeding BG in the early days.......... he got such a flea in his ear for making my nice tea into baby food mush! :rotfl: Anyhoo, tea comprised; mrT veggie sausages in a yorky pudding, roast tatties and parsnips, mashed tattie, carrots and sprouts done with lemon rind and cranberries for a citrussy seasonal hit. Bread sauce and gravy just about found room on the plate too. There was no need for dessert


Tea tonight will most likely be pizza and wedges.



DH is looking after BG so I best go and do something constructive. I really should start my final crafting project. I'm getting hung up on the technique - thinking I won't be able to do it, instead of jumping in and having a bash and seeing what I can do. Story of my life!


Ta for popping in. Appreciated.


Greying X

rtandon27

:xmastree::xmassmile Merry Christmas Clan GP! :xmassmile :xmastree:
Hope you are having a wonderful day making memories!
:xmassign: