5 OS pleasures in your day today - part 3

Happycas

Good afternoon. Don't tell more than half a dozen people, but it's sunny!

D Doll - just read that Dundee has more ice cream shops per capita than anywhere else in the UK. That's my sort of city!

Frith- sounds as if you'll be busy for a long time.  It's good you have so many helpers.

Lainey - gently does it.  Ginger biscuits and chamomile tea for now!

Just spent a while chopping down the grape vines.  The rain has sent them crackers and they were all along the garage gutters.  DH is still forbidden to do strenuous jobs so I yanked it to within reach and he chopped it off. It gets lots of grapes but they're almost all pips!  We did buy a new one, sans pipins, but that's not fruiting yet.

Is anyone watching "Wolf"?  Very dark.  I've only ever read one Mo Hayder book and decided it was too gruesome for me, but the series does hold a strange fascination.  As long as you have the cushion of protection handy!

Leftovers for tea.  Chilli for DH and risotto for me.  Actually, risotto doesn't freeze all that well.  Goes a bit rice pudding-ey, but it still tastes good and I don't want to throw it away.

Happy 🌞day everyone

DigForVictory

HappyCas - belated happy anniversary wishes!

Frith - yikes electricity... hurrah photos of becoming home.

LaineyT - glad to hear energy returning.

mhagster - ooft at folk going!

VJsmum - awed at Valencia for the day.

ampersand - onboard bribery for birds & not in raffle harridan mode? surprise has me giggling.

OS

Odd, as I potted up the honey mangoes the names Dulcie, Melissa & (ye gods, my hindbrain) Beckett emerged. 

QI & “Acoustic Kitty” - really, what the Americans were prepared to do to win…

The upside of Fridays is the weekend, the downside is trying to do the remaining four days work in one.

Tea! Amazing how even a single cup & things seems more manageable.

Son brushed the floor! Then laid out tarp & commenced folding a kayak. The oh! went to oh… and yet I sit here watching fascinated, not that heartbroken! “Read yer book or whatever” - poor lamb unhappy at my fascinated bemusement.

For some reason I woke up with “it’s not Christmas until Hans Gruber falls off Nakatomi tower” & whilst Die Hard may not be little children’s Christmas viewing, by the time they’re old enough to be doing GCSEs (could I push the enthusiast for plural letters & these existing new numbers off too please?) it’s getting quite hard to say “no” Anyway. A treat for this wet August weekend, a Christmas film & possibly discussions about who & where.

Planted the last try at lime seeds. I’ve had two lots die on me, this is the third & final try & either they germinate & join the citrus brethren on the windowsill or I shrug off growing limes. Still, the thrill of hope! (And the realisation they need more warmth, so into the hotbox.)

Youngest bemused I hadn’t heard of MK Ultra (some CIA project in violation of Nuremberg principles) & me equally bemused that it is part of his general knowledge.

The Thing in the bathtub has moved & a ironing board without a cover & a trug are left in the tub for visual continuity. The joy of sons...  [He has since cleared & rinsed out the tub. Plans to soak peacefully in place!]

Mum’s live-in carer is about to get a fortnight’s break and so I get to go south & be mum’s playmate & advocate for a couple of days. (I’ll take Youngest, whose family nickname is my Cook. Truly the young are very wonderful.)

Son ruffling through the camping gear ready for a couple of days kayaking on Loch Lomond. The zips, the lighter tests, the click of Fastex buckles, the “hn!” as things are found - it could be his father…. 

Shifted three acorns with a lot of root & some leaves into pots then left them outside. Hoping they cope as I will feel so guilty if they don’t!

Middleson’s expression as I explained ankle dorsiflexion, & then mine as he neatly pleated into heels down squat! Is it crazy to be proud of the flexibility of youth (alongside glad my own is so far still nearly as good)?

Seemingly I’m an apprentice little old lady as I haven’t got my bus pass. I want to know if an examination is required to become journeyman or master (or mistress) little old lady, and if so in what?

You know you haven’t quite woken up when you make a cup of tea, wash out the milk bottle, dispose of it correctly then go sit down, without your cup of tea. 

Whisper it, but the rain is holding off & there's a good breeze going through the bedlinen.

Somehow the whole power of attorney penny has dropped & I am hammering away at plans clear enough to be implemented, flexible enough to cope with changes. Even cracked this authorised signatory lark. (Someone who could sign your passport photo who can vouch you’re relatively sane on a 2 year plus baseline & not being coerced.)

Health Strength Love & Courage to all as have need & be reassured, a POA really need not be that complex to bring huge peace of mind!

mhagster

Hello! 

Work days done hurrah! Although I had miscounted my working days left and felt ever so sorry for myself when I realised I still had 10, 9 to do instead of being at 8, 7 ( which will be next week.j 

 Anyway the only pleasure is they’re done. 

Two sunny days, so washing out this morning ( then a ginormous shower at lunch but thankfully brightened up again) 

Work in lounge started this morning. Chap came and picked and dropped off keys at work. Nipped home mid morning for doggy and I was ever  so glad to miss the bulk of the noise! 

The only pleasure in the tile hunting saga that was my evening is I had a £10 off voucher! Much traffic and road closures and at rush hour meant very little joy after a long day at work! However I did bring the dog along for the ride as he’d been home alone all day and I didn’t want him being on his own again. 

DD2 and The Pup were here just before we got back. I’d picked up chips for tea totally not on diet plan! 

Then had to nip to supermarket and met one of my lovely friends who I’ve not seen in ages ( though we text back and forth) so had a lovely chatter and promises to catch up soon. 

And thankfully tomorrow is another day! 

DundeeDoll

Happycas said:

D Doll - just read that Dundee has more ice cream shops per capita than anywhere else in the UK. That's my sort of city!

and we always thought it was vjsmum stayed in icecream town!
1) porridge with some of Mr G's rhubarb for breakfast - added some sultanas to sweeten the rhubarb
2) treated my programme director to pizza - £4.70 for a freshly made spicy beef and red onion - yum yum yum - and absolutely big enough for two
3) the new fence is up hooray - be a nice surprise for my neighbour when he gets back
4) mum and I walked the dogs looking at different front gardens with stones - I need to choose a colour
5) watched the cycling then Earth with dd2 - she now works remotely so for the next 5 weeks will be working upstairs - much shorter (and cheaper) commute than before

Highdays

Pretty late for me and my bed and book beckon so this'll be as short and sweet as I can manage - but once i get going who knows....!

Mmmm, ice cream is my absolute favourite thing, if I could eat only one thing for the rest of my days this is it, coffee ice cream for preference but my homemade caramel takes some beating.

Anyway, I digress. Pleasures:

1) Anyone of a squeamish dispoition please skip this big pleasure  - which is that my eyelids, in fact my whole eye area, is a lot less red and swollen and is scabbing over beautifully. See, I warned you! I couldn't be happier, after about 5-6 weeks of seepy blisters and hardly being able to see, I am starting to look once again like a relatively 'normal' person and not one who could be wheeled out to scare little children. And the itching has gone completely. Thank heavens for second opinions.

2) Ok, enough of the gore. Our huge bifold doors were fitted today and are a thing of total beauty (As they should be for the price but so glad we went for the thinner, more expensive frames). They have a 30 year guarantee and son and I agreed today we would have woken up every day of all those years wishing we had paid the extra for these if we hadn't bitten the bullet and done it. You do feel a bit like you are on a stage when they are fully opened though!

3) Son and I went to the stone place today to pick the stone for the extra side patio next to my summerhouse. He's got a big powerful car but even so they advised we bring half today and go back for the rest tomorrow as it is so heavy. Got home and started to arrange into our chosen arrangement only to realise that the lady in the office who did the calculations for us has seriously over-estimated and we need 85 stones less than we have paid for. Hubby will go tomorrow and pick up what we need and get the bill adjusted so a very nice saving. Also we will save time when the builders come as they will all be laid out on the adjacent lawn and we will save a couple of hours of their labour in sorting them and I can spend some time tomorrow working out which ones I want where - as a total control freak this suits me just fine!

4) Got quite  a lot of cleaning, sorting, decluttering and inside painting done for my visitors next week. Really not a pleasure doing it but a pleasure that it's done. We need visitors on a regular basis to keep us on our toes!

5) No rain ALL DAY but can't really complain about the rain we did have as today we have noticed a delicate green haze where we put down the new grass seed so all the rain did some good. Hooray! But today has been a lovely day so another one tomorrow would be great.

Right, finally off to my bed but keep meaning to say, and forgetting, how pleased I am that you are settling in to your new home Frith and DS2. Bit beyond me as someone who leaves houses cleaner than they lived in them how people can leave you with everything you've had to face but at least you are in!

And that really is me done. Nite!!!

LaineyT

Glad to hear that your eyes are improving Highdays.

For yesterday,

Into horsey town for a food shop and picked up some Kefir etc to help out my poor old gut bio which has taken a hammering over the last few days.

Weather sunny or at least dry! so washing done and hung out.

Over to see pony, bit of a clean up and fussing, I’m really hoping that all these nasty bites etc so won’t scar or I will have a flea-bitten grey! 

Few errands in the afternoon, dropped horse rugs off to be washed & re proofed ready for AW and posted card for a friend’s birthday today.

Ate and enjoyed half a jacket spud so things are looking up, managed a few questions on Uni Challenge as well.

Frith

I'm using M and S's internet now! 

More pleasures for yesterday 

6) Lots of wallpaper stripping. Everything is woodchip (of course). We concentrated on the hall yesterday. I had intended to leave the paper on the ceilings but my friend accidentally ripped a bit off and it looked so much better that he carried on!

7) My brother came round with a second hand lawnmower. 

8) My friend cooked omelettes for tea and j picked blackberries in the garden and made a blackberry and apple crumble. 

9) I "mended" the electrics, by finding another on/off switch in the cobbled together fuse box mess. Everything burst back into life. Almost to the second, the electrician sent me a quote for £799 - daylight robbery! So I said I had fixed it. 

10) Met my brother late on to watch the meteorites. 

Frith

Pleasures for today (Tuesday)

1) A lie in!!!! 

2) Mowed half of the top lawn (there are steps in the middle of the garden). It's raining now. 

3) Went to Wren Kitchens and they were very helpful. 

4) In M and S now, drinking tea, doing Arabic and using their WiFi 

5) Will pop to the charity shops afterwards. 

6) Did a video for my friend as he can speak English well but not write much. There's definitely a skill to making videos. It took me 2 cups of tea!

That's about it! Hope everyone has a good day. 

MandM90

Pleasures for today (and I need them today as work is chaos!):

1) woke up at 5.30 and had a great ride on the peloton
2) the sight of our homemade home grown pickled golden beetroot in the fridge
3) dinner - burnt aubergine chilli. With cauli rice, salad and avo for me and in burritos for the rest
4) DH did a great load of mowing tonight. And has agreed with the gardener to come and weed the drive and edge the lawns. So we are inching towards tidiness.
5) watching gardeners world before bed

mhagster

Bedtime! Had a busy day. 

Woke ( first for an hour through night) at 6.10am…late for me! First time I’ve thought brrrr in the morning for a while. 

Chatted to sister at 7am.
Sorted all my flowers. 
Builder chap came just after 8am. Bit noisy at first. 

Out for lunch with two friends. Oh we had such a lovely catch up. Much news to share. Much to be rejoiced over. Big hugs then more big hugs! Lovely! And the most delicious lunch! I had a burger and chips and it was super yummy! 

Home and builders away so I’m assuming they are back tomorrow. 

Then it was time to get ready for Tuesday tea. Normally I set the table all nicely and love doing so however it had stuff on it (boxes  tiles/ grout etc) so I said do you mind if we just eat on our knees! We had mince with veggies with a fajita mix through it in wraps with salad. And very nice it was too! (And mince was much cheaper than chicken) and had celebratory chocolate eclairs! Exam results day in Scotland. Friend’s daughter had done very well. 

They brought me lovely pink roses. Stems shoved in a glass, I’ll sort them in the morning! 

Beautiful sky tonight.