5 OS pleasures in your day today - part 3

balabooberlies

You take care too Cranky.  Ditto on pj's and being at home.  So pleased you have all the support you need.  Big healing hug.  x

Amp, thinking of you.

Paulie, thank goodness that sense has prevailed and that you will be in the safest place possible when you have the jab.  NHS sense, not yours 

Love to all

bala

x

Mrs_Salad_Dodger

Pleasures over the last couple of days

1. 5 portions of Bolognese sauce from 250g of mince  (padded out with red lentils) 🙂 
2. The sun has been out long enough for our solitary solar light to fully charge 👏
3. We have a new lady fox visiting - know it is female as she is visibly pregnant 🙂😉
4. Garden wall collapsed a few weeks ago ☹️ the pleasure is that a builder has been agreed upon (it affected 2 other houses) 👏 
5. Pile of paperwork dealt with 🙂 only a ‘hill’ left to deal with 😉☹️

6. Menu planning 5 days at a time is working for me
7. The first stirrings of my ‘decluttering mojo’ 😉 - I can hardly wait for the cs to open.
8. Won £25 on the Premium Bonds - first time in 3 months 🙂
9. DH worked out that this year we will be about £12 worse off after the Budget. 

10. Gradually reducing food stocks - we had steadily built up supplies over the last 2 years but now have too much. Touch wood Armageddon has at least been postponed 🤞
11. Most of DH’s family have had or are booked in for their 1st Covid19 jabs 🥳
12. DH has started planning our 2022 holidays 😄 as 2021 will be restricted to the U.K. apart from hopefully visiting my DB & his family in Germany. 

Thanks to all fellow posters for continuing to share their lives 👏

Happycas

Gosh Paulie - that does sound scary

Cranky - glad you're home, and feeling supported by friends and family.  When DH was admitted last year, DS said he looked like one of The Simpsons ( fortunately he didn't say it until much later!)

Another day of not much happening. Am looking for some narrow seed propagators (sp?) to stand on window sills. We did have some but they gave up the ghost last year. They were very cheap plastic so not surprising really.

Think I'll tackle paperwork next. I'm sure we still have receipts and instructions for things long gone.

Back to grey days here, and not very warm either! But it is still March!

Happy Friday everyone

Nargleblast

Wishing you a swift recovery, Cranky, you must be feeling a million times better, and the HT must be so relieved to have his mum sorted.

VJsmum

Glad you are home Cranky
Paulie - sounds like a more sensible plan
Pleasures for yesterday

1. This batch of marking is done - more due in next wednesday
2. Two family films - on a Di Caprio theme.  First The Aviator and then Catch Me If You Can.  Both enjoyed by all.
3. A walk up the lane with OH in the gathering gloom
4. Started my new book - Victoria Hislop "One August Night"
5. Left over beef stew with left over lentils and left over rice for tea - nice and easy.

Have a good afternoon all

DigForVictory

Abject apologies all but the work life balance alongside the Middleson doing a week’s nights and just RL responding erratically to more daylight.  Ah well!

SuffolkSue - delighted to hear he’s capable of apology & still blessedly pain free. You are doing amazingly.

VJsmum- hurrah OH jabbed. That you shared Christmas cake another hurrah. Some good marking? Makes the ho hum stuff almost worthwhile?! The young got to learn about insurance. What languages are you learning on Duolingo?! You support Welsh rugby too? Aw lovely snap - you can feel the cool grey! Ah proper engineering... Popping bulbs? Um, circuit? Time off from marking for good behaviour?!

Purple kitten - chickpea pasta? & call ups for jab, hurrah Ferrets all snoring with content- aw! Then demanding hm turkey curry? Daffs are mum’s flower? Beautiful. Absolutely if in doubt, plant! Neverwhere is glorious. Back to back jabs? Excellent (& plan for a recovery day?)

DundeeDoll awed at daughter who buys you flowers! Heard of work life balance - but suspect yoga on bronco easier. Good luck DD2 as yes very strange times to wrestle with recruiting. Tickled by no-longer-fictional bridges! 5 hour work meeting! What are the bladders made of?!

Mhagster - all strength with poorly DD, so glad you have boiler pressure sorted again! Muddy moonwalks?! Then paw prints. All strength with Mother’s Day work! Aww Haggis running around allotment & leaping into pond. Now self isolating - fingers crossed for you all. Ah pressure washer effort- all part of spring. Haggis’ contribution oh gosh. Argh anniversary with nursing but flowers. There is always fence to paint.... Balloon arch, M&S food & florist trimmed cake - when plattering palls, bouquets con cupcakes etc call? Wheee, line drying!

BoP - you pfizzy? Excellent! Belated happy birthday Jenny & yum tiger prawns. Chuckling at Kitty at the mackerel... Belated happy anniversary to you both! Awed at power tool wielding bravura & trying not to covet chocs! Grey weather is frustrating.  Shh, don’t mention the tip lest my family insist the old fridge goes there in My car... You are, or you have, Auditors?!

Bala - mascarpone in lasagna sounds utterly glorious! All joy sneaking lentils in. Getting brother into unmasked sunlight - atta girl! Boiler zonked, oh crackers... so you pick a local business to see you right- awed & applauding!

Frith -  hurrah Council nailed with full legal process, and jab - happydance!

Giggling at Bigger Son’s flatmate’s hair complaint, awed at slack lining practice & weight loss. Toyota recall?  Hurrah washing machine. Car back and videoed but jab giving your immune system a workout? Be patient with yourself & laptop. Love washing machine door pond! Hope Waitrose was as much a treat for you as it is for me. Love “fire lord” appellation! Smaller son taking an interest in clothing?! Life one short is a bit odd.

LaineyT - love the DSS checking up on his dad with you. Chuckling over washing the mini with sparrows bathing in running water! Love how horses roll & shed as birds need nesting materials. Fingers crossed scan reassuring. You number amongst the jabbed, hurrah, smashing birthday present and you were able to spend the time flat as it gets a firm hold. Aw, pony flirting! A mixup that leaves you eating mussels? Yum! Watching strings going up onto the gallops, Must Not Covet but oh... Spelt & rye bread still warm, yum! Observing First Home setup - treat in store for the lads, no app, no manual!

Cranky - read of jab, hurrah, then of increasing problems with horror delighted to hear stone Now Removed & HT coping. Seeds sorted, now to scheme?! Glad you coaxed HT into daylight - takes persuasion... “cooking cleaning & looking after the cat” - you know you’ve done a good job there! Glad to hear of offers & actual help & amused at “see to HT”! Who must be very pleased you’re home and eyeing the 4 week calendar anxiously.

PaulieHerts - happy belated birthday  to both you & twin! Handsome bird box, hope suitable occupant arrives soon! Likewise dentistry sorted as anticipating doesn’t help. Some nights a kebab is a masterpiece of flavour & colour. Chicken casserole likewise proper comfort food! A few not-eaten-yet cherries? How?! Absolutely jab with full team handy, even if it means still more waiting (12 months ago we didn’t have a vaccine- all Will Be Well.)

House Elf2 - yippee for DD2 & hurrah for a nice skip in the absence of civilised entertainment... oooh, I’ve seen ‘too good to go’ but I need to see who’s playing locally!

Nargleblast - thank you for reminding me to get seeds into soil! Absolutely get the choir protecting the walls! Four defined areas of relaxation?! Why not treat yourself to something special?

Nurse2259 - welcome! I’m an erratic poster but adore this board. A mended rug is more personal...

Boazu - hurrah for Spring springing & DD jabbing! Magpies were an early morning goggle with mother treat & I still love their chakka comms even if they have other less lovely habits. Line drying a special treat! Baby lambs already?! If jab means you need a quiet day, go quiet & let your immune system do the hard work. Leek & PSB bake sounds wonderful. Hurrah for Skype & peekaboo!

Villagelife- well done clearing a patch & then ready for plants - inspirational! Yum, fish cakes. Crocuses & shepherds pie, feed soul & body. Good bread, good times. The community fridge can be amazing, can’t it? A completed task is an ongoing satisfaction. An easy tea! A lazy afternoon is good for morale. Ah, daffodils!

Ampersand - lamb & violets counterpoint wet toes. [Hoping all family & friends in NZ merely inconvenienced by earthquake & tsunami warning?] Smart chaffinch incoming & oooh rugby club raffle with your rumtopf as prize? Evaporate inhibitions with a single sip... 

Happycas - new glasses a surprisingly major pleasure. Brilliant getting LPA filed. Like insurance, better to have & not need. Blueberry muffins likewise! DD back driving? Excellent- so good for morale. Shrewd clothing for bleaching - bikini under whatever you never want to see again? Waxing furniture has huge job satisfaction! Gosh, a dentist who takes action - wow & a relief even if a surprise? Best of luck with new term DGD & new car DS! Skinny unheated propagators at Asda fit on windowsill & take the cardboardy seed pots.

MrsSD - hurrah jab on the visible horizon & that most of family likewise. Right with you on charity shops!

OS Pleasures recently (part 1 of 2, <blush>)

First brew of the day! 

Saw a 4 decker animal transport & as we peered at the sheep, they peered back at us. The hypothetical conversation was cheerfully lunatic.

Scouts will be making an oven from a cardboard box (etc!) the instructions go onto how to cook “peachy yums” & sausage balls - which had my husband sniggering amazingly. Fun for all the family, I forecast.

Youngest wearing his “Free Hugs” t shirt - the one with the alien facehugger design. Some days I am hugely charmed by his sartorial choices, as well as the hugs.

DigForVictory

OS Pleasures recently (part 2 of 2, ooops & I edited them)

Sometimes Middleson plans ahead Obviously. He’s out for a walk but there’s a stack of newly washed warm bath towels by the shower. [Now heaped for laundry.]

Himself contemplating travel - “I like being with you... my chauffeur.” Um.

Oooh, Bridgerton, & a trailer quote “may I go play” “a lady does not play” “may I go promenade for eligible suitors”.... I may have to succumb! [just the first few minutes & I twig what has hooked folks. Gosh. The books are witty & in comparison, tame.]

Clearing the heaped odds & bits by the keyboard turns up the tiny Hastings Bayeux  50 pence coinbar our lad was given & hung onto. What use had he for a Guernsey coin smaller than a fingernail?, but he loved the tapestry & the giver & so it was amongst his things. He should have been 22 in three days time.[A few weeks go] 

Midsomer Murders, “PE teachers have no souls” opined Himself. (So harsh, but most of those responsible for endeavouring to coach me in the care of a corpore sano were hazardous eccentrics.)

Plaintive repeated requests to “stop talking” from youngest finding Himself’s humour a bit robust before breakfast.

Himself saw a bit of calligraphy - “inspire” but Ye gods 3D! Until we looked & realised no, really very good 2D. Stripes but some folks are talented!

Staggered to loo, to realise youngest in shower staring at me balefully like a cat shut out in the rain.

“Where‘s your trolley?” “Oh!  Nadgerz!” Ahem. Which of us is the carer again?!

Shopping, I saw a husky young chap wearing a tube mask & mentally shook my head. Behind him on the escalator, realised he has dreadlocks almost as long as my hair & briefly felt a pang of envy - his hair is about 7 times as thick as mine. Then consoled myself - dreads on a white guy mean he’s put in Far More Effort than I do.

We had a wasp! In February - so there was biowarfare & Middleson was stung on the foot. I heard the thudding and flailing and managed not to panic (Himself observing managed not to laugh) he was fine. Wriggling away with a dead wasp on his foot, blaspheming mightily & later researching this was a queen who shouldn’t have emerged from hibernation til April!

Oh my Scouts! A quiz on animal prints - we not only muddled cat & dog paw prints but we had Alien, Roadrunner & Triffid as answers too... The young leader who devised it was distressed not all had quite gone to plan but we were ruthlessly positive as he’d done it & we hadn’t.

Sister has been introduced to the local community fridge, which given she’s not earning is a huge relief to her, and thus to the rest of the family. She’s so happy to get red and green peppers! [And daffodils in bud, which I think is Genius. Feeding the soul too.]

Car insurance all researched per Martin & awaiting a phone call for a final haggle! Not quite 21 days but much better than I usually manage plus an insurance company that will go multi car later if Middleson wants. (Eep!) [They never called. Online cashback instead.]

Babysis having another of her more operatic fusses over storage. Should she be using the roof void? What if the landlord’s agent requires her to move all her stored stuff (to give access for needed roof repairs)? Can she bring it all back to the family home? Just as well she was too distraite to join the family zoom, as we were robustly of the view that our parents health comes Far Higher than any boxes & if she’d calm down several octaves there are possible solutions. [Calm & sense eventually prevailed.]

More snow. I no longer hear hoofbeats as horses are exercised. When I look up, I see the occasional jogger, or some vehicle, or rarely & delightfully, a father with a well bundled child on hip & a sledge in the other hand. [Horses being hacked are back, including two horses bracketing a Shetland, with someone appropriately small aboard but not led!]

Youngest loomed silently while I fumbled for Mute, and stalked off silently with a box of teabags & my empty mug. Is this is what having Staff is like?!

Eugenie’s had a boy! Oh, hurrah - babies are Very potent icons of hope. [Now named as August Philip Hawke Brooksbank, with a sweet smile at those who may have thought Stamp was a credible bet. My eyes cross at the nametapes, but he’s in time to be known to his great grandfather. Just hope they get to meet!]

Miword. There are camp blanket badges for scouts - yes, bisexual, lesbian, & transsexual woven fun badges are all available alongside the pride woven fun badge. I am awed, and torn between admiration & concern as to quite how you manage those conversations. I’ll buy one of each of them for my blanket to reward the Scout Association for its unobtrusive inclusivity, and to bemuse sideways anyone peering at my blanket...

Middleson off work & self isolating in his room while colleague gets tested. This is not what we wanted at all, but he’s both robust & calm that this is correct til test results are back. Still gone into work, just protecting us old creaks. [Test negative, everything back to normal, including heated discussions as to whether a plate of chips constitutes a meal.]

There’s a line painting truck & crew out. Oh bless you, you raving optimists! [Hm, two one metre lines & moved on - an odds and bits day in the vehicles to allow distancing.]

The shop has happened despite subzero temperatures & a flat battery. Middleson lent me his car so Youngest & I completed the essentials & I am now in a team meeting in just a dressing gown. (Camera off and covered.) [All cleansed & purified now, but can’t do more with battery as too cold!]

My Scouts, cannily creating the symbols for various Chinese New Year ideas (good fortune, longevity, prosperity & double happiness) with whatever was to hand - one managed a startlingly credible good fortune using cutlery & a table mat; another emptied her pencil case out & rearranged the mess. So proud of their ingenuity!

Discussing Lunar New Year & colleague pondering the “thou shalt not”s - wash, brush, get injured (all terribly inauspicious, &/or chasing out Money or Longevity) & he reckoned these rules were ‘written by a bloke...’ as he went to install a sink, so meeting ended “stuff the ox, happy new year of the sink!” [‘nearly done’ almost a fortnight later]

It amuses me to remember that the two machines I have stood boggling at were the first computer I saw in the lab dad worked in and the orange juicer in Booths (Waitrose of the North) Carnforth.

Awww, Perseverance has landed! Watching delighted scientists trying to celebrate but distanced.

On the edge of sleep struggling to recall whether you knock or tap up a new cricket bat. ‘Knock in’ - cheers Google, now I can sleep!

Colleague gently grousing life with just her & husband very quiet - I offered Scouting, a dicky car battery, a few other pleasures & maybe consulting a lawyer on legal power of attorney as conversation movers.

The Arrival Of The New Range Cooker (old one lost 2nd oven capability before Christmas) - here, installed & old behemoth removed all by same covid cautious team (Doors & windows open throughout, masks, wipes, & QC installation photos!) Result Baked potatoes! Oh gods, they taste So Good, & I haven’t had them in months. Yum!

Asked to test a form, & assured all data would be wiped, I submitted 4 searing demands for improvements, then got down to trying to break it with whopping chunks of Pride & Prejudice then Romeo & Juliet. Test team came back to me with giggling emojis, which I take it means they enjoyed my heartfelt-but-unlikely-to-ever-be-actioned suggestions.

I love MSE ! The nectar app has just handed me a 500 point boost for next to no work. Money saving at it’s finest.

Parents put up a nesting box - sister asked in 24 hours if occupied & we agreed housing market warming up but 24 hours a bit soon. 72 hours, blue tit sighted leaving - no idea if to check next for rent or fetch tape measure. Sweet family fun! Debating leaving hairbrush leftovers alongside food on bird table.

Middleson’s birthday & Himself whispers at the office door “did you get a chocolate cake?” At 07.29 on the morning of the birthday. Such faith - that I already had one, or would abandon work to race off to germ central to obtain one... Also, he could have asked Youngest (who picked it, having an experienced eye for a nice chocolate cake) & left me undisturbed, but I was awake!

Colleague being out-psyched by child who is wearing coat & Absolutely Determined they are Going Out. Now. While he’s in a meeting with us. We think it’s uproarious, but he’s outnumbered... Live footage of another sibling literally climbing the wall to get to try a window lock. [Later, snap of colleague on a swing reassured us all was well! Hurrah for work phones, some days.]

Mucked out the bathroom. A big bottle of multivitamins, now out of date & binned, the owner having no further need of such. I remember buying it for him. Ah well. I can’t use “but it’s mined” as a pretext not to tidy up but ye gods the place is clearer. Over 8 sorts of disposable razors & several sets of blades....

Oh, Australian two Ronnies 

“D’you reckon marriage is a lottery?

Nah, people Win on the Lottery.”

Himself & I howled with laughter, looked at each other & laughed even harder. 

A bird flew into the window & managed to look bewildered & offended as it dropped.

The joy of daft hours is I get to photo sunrises & sunsets if I want. From my chair, through the window, overlooking the park. Just there’s a model castle on the windowsill, and sometimes the crenellations get caught on the bottom edge of the snap & that strangely adds some days. Others, the amazing colours of light do all I could wish.

You know life is strange but OK when you & your boss agree that things are strange because of grief, the virus, the menopause and wobbly internet connections.

The shop included a box of crayons (I need to improve my handwriting Somehow) & a jar of Q10 cream from Lidl (I’m So high maintenance...) youngest unpacking as I test the acoustics of the shower cubicle.

I collected an envelope of City & Guilds certificates in cleaning qualifications that had been sent to the lad’s flat. His mate emerged, looking for my old car to post the envelope through the window. Laid off by McDonalds, he’s studying computer programming & Russian to emerge from lockdown ‘with something positive’. Awed.

Middleson panning to purchase a cutout switch - shocked to be told there is already at least one in the house & it’s his if he can find it (twin to the one for the mower & I don’t know where that is, either.) [I got trained in keeping safe around mains, not in logical storage.]

I will try not to let this happen again, but I suspect birthday season will be a bit tough for a few more years yet. 

Onwards! Health (Our NHS, all these wonderful jabs!), Strength (gardens, furniture, relatives), Love (on this board we are surrounded by it), & Courage (daffodils be they bulb or eggbox) and let's hope the jabs work faster than school germs!
This is no epic, just massively distracted....

Suffolksue

Hugs DfV yes anniversaries are hard.
the apology was from the DNs ,the implication was theirs .
DH thought it funny ,!

DundeeDoll

goodness where does the week go! caught up now (last post monday). hugs to mhags and dfv and anyone else in need
commiserations bop still missing ma footie in the pub.
1) it's friday
2) went for a long walk with our potential new provost - met them at 3 at the bandstand (all sounds very clandestine!) took the dogs. we had a lovely walk. the sun was shining
3) friends of dd2 who have health conditions are having their jab - very good news
4) lovely drink with da boss - i was on lockdown gin, she on white wine
5) just finished the chilli with a cup of tea and catch-up archers

VJsmum

Goodness DforV - another epic.  though i love that you obviously note your pleasures as they happen.  I'm afraid anniversaries may always be tough..    Having said that, it was my mum's would've been 86th birthday yesterday and, apart from one fleeting thought, I was able to continue as normal.  Other times, it jumps up and bites you on the arris.  But it's early days for you and an elderly and very ill mum is a very different thing from a child..  Hugs and continued strength to you.

Pleasures for today
1. A walk with my friend and her dog.  Familiar to me but new to her and she liked it.  the dog knew the way even though he hadn't been there before.
2. did some baking - regrettably the pear and almond cake, that sounds lovely, is so bland as to be pretty inedible.
3. booked a vaccine - next week for me.  A week or two earlier than i'd expected.
4. had some inspiration regarding how to approach some job applications (essentially i've no idea what to put!)
5. Gin - and wine.

Have a good evening all.