5 OS pleasures in your day today - part 3

Purple_kitten

& Sorry to hear of the day in hospital, but thankful for Wi-Fi distractions and that you’re back home.

1 I viewed a webinar about how to present the gap in my CV, as a couple of roles have come up that I would like to throw my hat into the ring for, it reassured me and I slightly re jigged my wording. I’ve not put it out just yet with the ongoing things still lurking at mo.

2 Part of the office is now all cleaned up, de-cluttered and wall space revealed so achieved, but now I do have a “box of files”!

3 Chicken pie from last night sufficiently marinaded enough that we wanted it today for tea, but considering the time and effort I put into it, I wasn’t impressed with the result.

4 I did all the mse things for car renewal, but still got faffed about as my car is 22 years old, it was only that I double-checked, which of course they already knew. I’m going to stick with my current place as it insures my oldie, but I will be paying for the pleasure, but I just don’t trust I’ve heard a few horror stories of the insurers that track using an app and black box.

5 Feeling rotten, but the pleasure is I don’t have commitments and can curl up as my body appears to be demanding.

mhagster

Bedtime! I’ve still a lost 4 hours to catch up from talking till 1am😆


Beautiful day in a oooh it’s quite chilly isn’t it! 

Dog walk at castle first thing. I just love it there. 

Home as a puppy was being dropped off for an hour as the chap had the dentist.
Then I went to beach town to meet niece. We’d a cheap and cheerful lunch in the supermarket. I got a bundle of flowers that were all RTC 35p a bunch. 

Went to a couple of charity shops. Found an 8 piece dinner set from my wedding china range, long since discontinued. So pounced on that. It had been halved in price. Niece got GNephew a big toy for Christmas that’s came home with me to be hidden somewhere…currently to be tripped over at front door! 

I stopped at the beach on the way home l feel dog mum guilt when I go without him but there were lots of jelly fish and tide was in so he wouldn’t have been off lead. 

Beautiful drive home through country side. 

Washed all the china. It’s absolutely immaculate. 

Nipped down to DD2 for half an hour and dogs had a mad run around together. Then home. 

Last two bits of bread were toasted and that was enough for my tea as I’d had lunch out. 

Filled up hot water bottles and came up to bed! 

A good day! 

Frith

Very quick pleasures for today (Thursday)

1) Not a bad sleep, considering I knew what the morning would bring. 

2) The window man came back to finish the plastering. I said where I was going and he had been homeless for 3 months in the past. He gave me some useful information - the most I would receive during the day... He's going to come back and fix a small plastering job and drill a hole for the internet cable. 

3) Homeless appointment this morning. No words for the lack of interest and ineptitude of the people working there. I'll probably never speak of it again and will try to forget it.

The pleasure was going to have a cup of tea in Sainsbury's while we waited for someone - anyone - to answer a phone. 

4) Back here for lunch, not cooked by me.

5) Did some Arabic. 

6) My friend from sixth form and her mum came round at 4.

7) Another friend brought a bed here. 

8) My friend (see point 3) is living here for now. The tea he cooked was a masterpiece. We're watching television with the cat between us. It's all a bit cobbled together with a random pair of curtains strung up temporarily etc but we're ok. 

VJsmum

Frith - well done.  

Pleasures since Sunday

1. work was worked.  I do love the back to back tutorials.  Most are cracking on
2.  went out with DD tuesday evening - ASK and then a musical 
3. travel to ICT went well and got most of next week's lectures sorted
4. Plumber turned up - later than he said but that's ICT time for you.  Too late for me to travel back tonight so i shall go first thing.  Still another step to having a wood burner accomplished.
5. a circuit by the sea in the sunshine and then a yoga session.

Night all.

topsyturphy

Pleasures for yesterday 

1. DS2 not quite as grumpy
2. dog walk in the rain - met friend who looks after my dog occasionally as she did last Monday.
3. Went to friends new house - it’s lovely.
4. Divorcé submitted 
5. Dinner was steak, roasties and tender stem broccoli with hm mushroom sauce 

LaineyT

Thinking of you Ampersand.

For yesterday,

Busy morning with a trip into horsey town to drop off a bag at the CS and then picked up some fresh bits.

Tested the heating ahead of the cold overnight temperatures coming at the weekend, only one radiator needed sorting.

Did a few surveys.

Local farm shop for a late lunch with DB, good catch up.

Thought of our PK while watching ACGAS and there was a ferret needing an operation.

ampersand

Thankyou Lainey, pk and others,🙂🫶.
Fantastic work on all fronts, Frith 👌

1. Currently at surgery after yet more wound inspection, but cannula removed. Hooray!  Pouring crashy rain has restarted.

2. More little tomatoes eaten on way out. Mugged by grapes and still another sweet pea flowers behind them, if you peep>lower right quadrant.....and now a soggy squirrel in front of me 😃.

3. Have now spent over 11 hours trying to vote online in Aotearoa election.  Will keep trying.  At least it is a possibility.

4. Last rugby Preview piece in this morning, done.  Ditto teamsheets checked.  Men's 1st XV are away to Rochford Hundred tomorrow and very testing they will be.  Near you, PK?  And, of course, &'s ABs v Ireland, 2nd of tmrw's ¼-finals....😬 Kia Kaha Arohanui.

5. Odd sleeps are better than no sleeps. Having more now, all good for excision wound.  Feel ok for necessary quick top-up shop, so that's next.  2 more appointment letters have arrived. Again, no praise too great for the wonderful NHS care ongoing that & is receiving.
#
Enjoy your weekends -
& is managing 🏏quite well, too.😁🇳🇿
Graun, just now -
"So, three wins out of three for New Zealand, and they top the table with six points and a NRR of 1.6 – as the tournament moves onto the third “round”. Bangladesh hover just below England with just the one win – they’re going to have to topple some giants to get into the quarter finals."

DigForVictory

To follow our beloved ampersand. Non sum dignus. What can I say? Good intentions vs RL...

VJsmum - I love how your family entertains itself! Spring clean lounge makes perfect sense. (Plus guest loo & noone should see the rest?) Ah, ICT time. Might you have a woodburner working for Christmas?

Frith - reassure me you are working masked? worrying about all the particles... A sensible use for those vast bike boxes. Delighted you have poppy moments amongst all the scraping & filling & painting & lugging. A clear kitchen window! Awed that you learn useful stuff, grieved that it seems to be unheard of by those who are suppsoed to help. 

PaulieHerts - makes sense to store holiday clothes in holiday case.

LaineyT - Eve's Pudding, yum... These horse eating pheasants can be terrifying - well done all surviving. trailers full of leeks, eh? I shall tell Youngest this vegetable is now fresh & to source & use same! A hoovered ladybird has a distinct smell? (Aanosmic enough that this seems intriguing.) Heed your body - if it wants to rest, there's a reason. 

BoP - Fun tho Dahl is to read, can the TV do the chilling mischief of Henry Sugar justice? As my imagination had me walking carefully past the bookcase for a few days, some years ago.

mhagster - mobile library does hearing aid batteries too? Genius! An invigorating windy walk, hurrah. A microFry butty?!  It must have been Meant. And the dinner set absolutely was.

Purple kitten - my retirement cottage will emphatically Not be Listed. I'm quite willing to treat an old building to lime mortar etc but I want freedom to arrange things to suit me! If a strangely rabbit shaped rug does the job, then sometimes you just have to shrug & carry on. A happy ferret was the point, after all. Office declutter - hm, I should try to follow your example! Esp testing the heating!

topsyturphy - so glad you are getting some tlc from hospital staff & hoping DS2 is mending & better tempered. Slightly. 

weenancyinAmerica - wow, a library card for a library in another country - wonderful! 

Happycas - you are aware chocolate is a comfort but not an ally, but towing OH through this takes precedence. He can cheer you on as you take up skipping (or weight training or axe throwing or Whatever) later. Lazy days help healing.

Suffolksue - the real joy of scrabble is it unveils vocabulary. Tactics can come, but the fun matters!

ampersand - delighted you have strawberry flowers & courgette likewise, now trying to conjure dish with both. Whoelsewriteslike, eh? Gosh... My family will be prying books out of my hands! Addenbrookes are an amazing bunch & a full night sleep in your own bed is is an underrated pleasure. Just awed at the grapes, and the unflapped patience. Hope you do manage to vote.

Highdays - have a wonderful family break!

DundeeDoll - an amazing birthday razzle - well done! Plus writing the full value out of an upgrade.

OS Pleasures recently

Middleson has just asked what mea culpa means. Should I worry?!

Third time’s the charm! I have two tiny lime seedlings, one not yet leafing yet after three lots of seeds & much swearing. Along with lemon seedlings, tangerine seedlings, kumquat seedlings & quince seedlings. (One of the mango seedlings has been gifted to a colleague in Newcastle so must be learning Geordie.)

My sister’s expression as I held up the deer antler (bought from pets at home, she’ll get the points) and explained I plan to make nålbinding needles from it. Not appalled but politely not saying I’m right off my chump!

Orthoses have arrived! Just not All the details so lovely lady on desk & I peering & blinking & I toed off one boot & we tried “for length” & chuckling agreed. Very happy pickup…

Youngest accompanied me flowerpot shopping (the lily of the valley buds have arrived & need the depth) without a cheep but as I help the assistant find the right computer code, he quietly added some choc chip biscuits (& fair enough).

Youngest eyeing where empty box is shoved “you are a woman of unique talents when it comes to bring cack footed”. Smooth talking young blighter!

Rousing hurrahs for Simone Biles, a lady who can stretch bend & defy gravity with the formidable grace of a squirrel. That she does this all without guaranteed smoothness, with the occasional wobble, makes it clear this is all the result of a lot of hard work. I am just so impressed.

Intrigued by the lad with the crossbow & plans to assassinate the Queen. A lot of time has been spent trying to figure how he got that way. It seems he’ll get jail time but, unlike others accused of treason, he’ll live.

It’s cold enough for a lap rug to make a noticeable difference. Where’s this Indian summer the forecasters spoke of?!

Lovely physio has emailed me a print out & tick off diary of bends & stretches - I may have mentioned getting bored so the tick chart will help me stick at them. Seems that daily family zoom plus physio (which includes single leg balances) means I’m unexpectedly good at standing on one foot comfortably for 30 seconds plus & I even added a knees bend toes wiggle which had her chuckling. If this all helps arthritis stay a word in my records, on with the daily wobbling!

Rediscovering miso soup as an ally in fending off hunger whilst keeping a sensible hand on cost & calories. Pity I may not keep it in the first aid kit but easy in the bag, coat pocket, glovebox etc.

“Is your car in front of mine?” “Why?” “I’ve a flu jab in the morning.” “Oh… I’ll move it.” (The lads are determined not to lose another parent.)

My arm is full of vaccines. (I am So Grateful. Planning to ask pharmacist how much to flu jab Youngest as really shouldn’t risk mum.) The store cupboards are reloaded. The sons are getting up to their weekend version of whatever it is they do (so long as the tea keeps coming, I try not to ask). The flu queue was full of good humour & good nature & moved at a steady amble - not time to sit as the nurses went about their job.

Sorted a Henry for mum. We’ve never had one before but the care team suggested it when the old hoover died. All being delivered by the power of credit card & internet & online banking. (I am liaison officer for dark forces, but mum & carers anticipating gleefully.)

Son went to the cinema so I powered up the hoover & power tools & chopped some wood, the bone, & the antler ready for shaping into nålbinding needles. (He still hasn’t realised, yet.)

Bank account opened for savings (never achieved) so paperwork for closure complete & ready to post.

Mixed the winter citrus feed & dosed every plant in the office. Teeny lime still alive but bashful about leafing. I may mix a summer feed & grow lamp just to try to coax a leaf as otherwise it’ll likely not survive the next 6 months.

Ooops. Didn’t double check the delivery address & now am up one Henry hoover I don’t want & mum does. Here’s hoping Argos returns are OK…! [For a very finite value of OK]

My credit card thinks I’ve had a head injury. I’ve bought four Henries in the last 24 hours & only in this last iteration do I hope I have the right thing to the right address paid for by the right medium. Bless Argos whose returns process is “decline on the doorstep” - me, I’m declining Right Here! (Oh if only it was that easy. Lady mother has Two. Argh. Dark forces indeed.)

Youngest hopefully asked if I had any choc chips or Reeces pieces (I have been known to squirrel bribes/motivational treats) but spurned my offer of a bar of dark chocolate. (Which I should not finish til advent.) His views on what I keep to snack on could be used to clean surfaces…

Just cleaning up the sauce & son grumbles “does that bowl owe you money?” - I thought it a compliment to his cooking!

Argh my boss has been talking with her boss & he was so proud of some member of staff who “is really resilient & very customer focused”. She had to work rather hard to avoid including “you idiot” when she explained he meant me! Still she’s happy which is a bonus, as I have So much work to do (which learning first aid then reaching accounting has delayed).

I do love the civic trust. Tonight’s meeting was three of us & a fourth by zoom cheerfully upbraiding the council’s lack of enforcement & planning an open day on Advent Sunday as a local shopkeeper is keen on old buildings & has offered us mince pies….

Lovely colleague steered me over a shameful-easy-when-you-know-how boggle & that package now complete & shipped back (my oldest, treble hurrah)! He learned “Wazzock!” from me (a Derbyshire term, I think, & enchantingly novel to Merseyside).

Scouts! Blinking noisy but cheerfully surrendered into the palm of our kick-boxing champion young leader. Smashing lass, and very strict - seems when you win the major belt, you have to buy it, for about £250. But wrapped assorted eager volunteer scouts in the headgear, gloves, hand wrap, & “slippers” - that photo should make Facebook!

Oh, miso soup, how I do love thee. Loads of flavour, minuscule fuss!

The Bonne Maman advent calendar has arrived at mum’s (less jams, more tisanes…) but with three big jars to enjoy as well - a bonus I hadn’t quite expected so the extra box was great fun by zoom.

I came home to see a mystery package & ah, it is my bowel screening kit. Gosh. Not quite what I was hoping for but peace of mind comes in many shapes & sizes.

For reasons known only to the gods mum has lost the ability to hear on zoom. She can see but not hear. Yesterday we did the family balance exercises with a phone clamped to one ear, today we did them wholly by sign language/gesture/ sheer force of habit! Which was perhaps the second best bit of the call - I could see her, & her balance was fine!

Health, Strength Love & Courage to all as have need, along with Hot Water Bottles (tested) and an extra blanket in case...

mhagster

DFV I have just filled my hot water bottles! ( think I’ve turned into my mother, from whom they came from!) she was a hot water bottle user extraordinaire! 

My day, well after a session of being wide awake at 3am, managed another hour or so kip. Dog decided 6.30am was lie in enough. 

Walked to salon to get eyebrows waxed, about a 25 minute walk each way. Rained on the way there but dry for walk back ( uphill) 

Filled two pumpkins with flowers. One for old work , first time I’ve been anywhere near in 5 weeks but felt like the right time and was nice to see everyone. And one for a friend. Dropped that off quickly. 

Home to wait for chimney sweeps ( PM sometime ) and a Puppy. Pup arrived first. And then log burner checked and cleaned and not much sooty stuff at all! Felt like I’d been given the all clear at the dentist.

Washing out. Washing blown. Washing almost dry. Washing downpoured on! Washing blown and washing brought in. Heating on for a wee while and washing dried. 

Chat to sister on phone. 

DD2 picked up her dog boy so chatted with her and then we waved them off ! 

Frith

Lost my beautifully written post.

1) Sleep

2) Halal butcher

3) Coffee morning at the theatre. Chess.

4) M and S. Arabic.

5) Chappatis made in my garage. 

6) Tip run.

7) Picked up a mutual friend and it was like a gathering of the clans in my house. We watched the football and drank tea.

8) Not in chronological order but my sister and niece came round at 4.