5 OS pleasures in your day today - part 3

Happycas

Good morning

Ampersand - oh, your pesky connectivity!  But very pleased to hear you're getting out and back to doing the things you love.

On Tuesday I shampooed the carpet ( a rare occurrence).  On Thursday DH had a glass of red wine.  You can see what's coming here, can't you?  He nudged the edge of the glass and, as it wobbled, tried to catch it which somehow resulted in an arc of wine blobs on the newly cleaned carpet and the pale grey sofa! It's a good job I love him! Sorted now!

Managed to get our covid jabs this week.  Felt a bit whammy the next day but not for long and not too bad. DH had his flu jab too but the walk-in centre we were at didn't do it for my GP so I'll pop into a chemist next week.

Got my hair cut at last.  Actually shorter than usual but it'll grow.  He's a good hair stylist but tends to forget what I've said and do his own thing.  It looks good though and very MSE as I won't need to go back for ages!

Our village is road works central again!  There are three ways out and two have temporary lights!  I'm so glad we're retired.  It's bad enough when we try to go anywhere but apparently chaos at rush hour times with 15 minute journeys taking an hour.

Think we'll stop at home today

Happy Saturday everyone

Suffolksue

for last few days 

car passed it’s MOT ,just needed a brake light bulb - I don’t see the back lights when I’m driving !

have promised it a good clean ( not by me !  ) but weather terrible so doesn’t seem worth it at the moment,but I can hear DH nagging me 

Good quiz last Tuesday 

slowly getting on with Christmas shopping .

my lovely gardener has nearly finished putting the garden to bed for the winter , sadly I am too wobbly to do much .

pain improved and sleeping better ,still not good but I can function and think ,trying to walk more .

LaineyT

For yesterday,

Must admit to a tear or two in my eyes when Vernon completed his gruelling challenge and one of the people there to meet him was Barbara.

The electrician finally turned up and sorted the heating element on our oven.

Arrangements made to meet up with pals next week.

Over to see my girlie, she is grumpy and still very itchy so will put her on anti-histamines for a few days to see if that helps and will give her a tea tree bath as well.

Celebrated having oven back by baking arancini with garlic bread plus creamed leeks & broccoli. Watched the football which was pretty dismal so got the Yahtzee out and just had tv on in background.

DigForVictory

Slopes in, guiltily. There are Epics and there are Edits, so this whilst still far too long (over three weeks, Oh Dear) ...

mhagster - rousing congratulations & as an uncollared intermediary for hatches matches & despatches I think you'll be wholly wonderful. Just remember, the cooking is No Longer Your Problem?! Whereas getting a delivery of logs fitted into the garage was & you did it.

Frith - I am So Pleased for you, good things should happen for good people. 

ampersand - if you are officially off t'internet, what are the powers that be going to do for you for a landline come the great switchover? As the tin can really doesn't cut it in a storm, although it may beat the stuffing out of other comms in a power cut.

Purple Kitten - may the news be through soon & may it be good.

DundeeDoll - please spend as long as you need fighting off these sneezles as this year's 'flu is vicious.

LaineyT - "we are all entitled to an off day" and this is why the beautiful one & others love you. You get it.

SuffolkSue - so glad the medics have offered you the better painkillers & that the gardener is still part of your life. Quality is important!

Happycas - congratlations on getting DH & yourself through a round of immunotherapy.

Highdays - you're an amazing gran to hand your car keys over!

BoP - what do you reckon to the air fryer -  should I encoirage the about-to-leave-home one to invest & learn to operate same?

PaulieHerts - hoping the antibiotics have worked & that you did have the voom to do All That Christmas Shopping & not have a relapse after.

VJsmum - love 'gin' & that when planned meal still frozen 'OH cooked fajitas instead'!

The OS Pleasures recently Edit

Someone’s advertising remembrance patches for Scouts “only a fortnight to go” & part of my hindbrain is replying “it ain’t Christmas til Hans Gruber hits the Nakatomi Plaza” [reviews this whilst planning the next few hours so boot polish comes before shower comes before ironing parade uniform & necker. Oops.] {Very Ooops, and when next I find that thermal top, I shall add it to Scout kit hanger}

This year’s flu is a fiend - husky colleague left horizontal for a second week. Me trying to cover her work & thinking wistfully of the Hindu 8 armed goddess.

Springsteen “real world” - darn but the Boss can give you a hand up sometimes.

Yikes, you upload one file and you can hear a trap snap shut. I’ve just tripped an accreditation switch & am now amongst the formally accredited. Feeling like a howling fraud but my boss chides me routinely that Imposter Syndrome is where you think you’re stupid and you’re Wrong.

Sometimes driving in fog is like driving through an oddly coloured Monet.

Ah, it is good to see the stuffed dinosaur fastened to lady mother's house key. Big, blue, fluffy & impossible to forget in a bag or pocket, mostly as you’d need a mallet to tuck it in (and it has a squeaker).

Mum’s face at daughter, grandson and two new Good Housekeeping magazines. Like a pup with two tails!

Aw, Thackeray museum restarting the “come & dissect” classes (v popular with biology GCSE students, also hearts at Valentines, so sweet) so checked in with Middleson “I take it you've outgrown the need or want to dissect biologicals for exams?” Got “Yes and that sentence worries me” back. He’s an engineer now, no scalpel into flesh other than steaks.

Sketched out a guide to “coping with Christmas” for the bereaved & ruefully realised the fiendish consumer “must-haves” neatly lined up, so having covered them, pivoted & was ruthless - yes, have it all planned, yes, be ready to be autonomous & then shut the door, subside into comfortable clothing (& tears if needed) & just go along with what’s left of your family opine is mandatory. They have their own plans as to what makes them happy and if you can join in, it’s all much less stressful & you still have the loaded larder for when you do want the turkey, pudding etc.

Visit to carehome of last resort so we can be unanimous that when lady mother is lost to us but still breathing, she is rightly cared for.

Oh that Moon! 

I tuck in mother for post-prandial nap & carefully deposit the cat by her ankles. As I pull the door to (leaving a cat gap), the cat is still glaring at me for this outrage to his dignity.

Yes! The Fourth Hoover has been returned for a full refund. Long story: short version, do not attempt online shopping with inadequate tea levels. Returns can be challenging.

Coaxing sister towards tricolore pasta with toddlers’ zoo shapes (lion, rhino, tortoise, giraffe etc) - the things we do for red & green pasta at Christmas! [A roaring success!]

The morning after the change of clock is one that needs strong coffee. Your body is saying one thing, your hands & mind are saying another & meanwhile you are trying to get all time telling machinery to agree with your government. All this “Ooh an extra hours sleep” is lost in the raised blood pressure of the oven clock (thank you YouTube) & the dementia clock which gives more Immediate grief distress & muffled harsh language than the condition… At least the grandfather clock is easy. We’ve stopped it for an hour. Simple, civilised, almost as good as the extra sleep.

Colleague retires tomorrow, having a last lunch today. Pleasure is he’s looking forward to it! Mostly: as ever it’s the first step that’s the tricky one.

Only Connect! Why is it some evenings I have so many answers & others I am utterly foozled?!

Aw Martin Halloween header! Love it….

Youngest is wearing slippers held together with sniper tape. I’m pretty sure I’ve got the receipt & should be having a Sad Fart chat with Tesco but he’s worryingly unfazed.

Amidst the panicky wrongness of misplacing my work phone, my boss is being an absolute beacon of tranquil “do the paperwork & carry on”. I am hugely blessed.

Peered intrigued at Christmas clothing (my inner ethnographer fascinated, my inner toddler noisily appalled) & listened as colleague picked out two or three items explaining why. Never occurred to me to deliberately buy the wrong size “if it’s broad enough across the back” & she pounced on a solid black sweater with tiny shiny black beads as “ideal for you, Dig” - solid black but “festive”. Amused & appreciative, for some reason I didn’t buy but learned quite a lot!

Just discovered I’m being sent for training Next Week. Sun-Fri residential and I think an exam…. No pressure, stunting in for a sick colleague but first time I’ve left the lads since the deaths. Both delighted & terrified.

Yikes just found Another cache of stamps - fingers crossed swap out still swapping…

The joy of lists! If I must be parted from my usual bed, wardrobe & laundry, I have to figure what and how much of everything sartorial let alone the what to take to class & will I need “evening wear”? [As it turned out, no. Phew.]

Updated my SOS talisman. Correct names, numbers, pills, dosages, all sorted. (My personal travel insurance!) [I must consider pencilling in my optical prescription]

In class & the desk toys are seriously fun kit! Digital camera, drill bits, and a box of techie goodies like USB splitters etc. Deeply intrigued. [Machine neatly cracked open & assorted goodies photographed and  plugged into other tech. This is Lego for grownups, and with a work outcome!]

Oh my, Turkish cuisine! Back in from class bonding meal out & I’ve not felt this bulky since 7 months pregnant. Colleague & I clutching mint tea bags, hoping it’ll work it’s benevolent magic.

I'm alive, I'm awake & I'm off for breakfast. (A couple of ideas I was having reservations about last night.) Now solved by a considered meal & a brew - I feel full of the joys of spring! [There will be an exam.] {Turns out bacon squashes butterflies-in-the-stomach.}

Fellow trainee struggling as has tested-not-covid malaise, isn’t getting the sleep, isn’t getting anything like the food. Clutching a collection of teabags, & a couple of packets of miso, I gently tap on his door at the agreed time & fuss at him. He’s startled at my range of add-boiling-water beverages, intrigued by the soup & touched that I’ve taken steps. [Not cured, alas, left the course to return to wife ailing also, but certain we care.]

I’m preparing for a written assessment this morning &, thanks to my tutors, am able to chuckle slightly. [Absolutely no idea, results Wednesday which seems half a lifetime away.] {Monday - I passed! Boss very 'had every confidence', me still startled and delighted & somehow unconvinced.}

When faced with these “all you can eat” buffets, all paid for, our family tends to nab an extra jam or honey or Nutella for later as well as eating Thoroughly.  Heeding sons’ wishes, I go home rustling slightly with Nutella…. [The later distribution was reminiscent of melee combat.]

There are still young people who brighten the day with respect for their elders, helping lift & move cases, offer seats etc. They’re not All plugged into their phones.

There is a special pleasure in waking up in your own bed. 

The trail left by Youngest taking a shower. (I have not hammered home the ‘put your dirty clothes in a laundry basket’ lesson, ooops.)

Ah, the family chats about where the knife sharpener is, & why I think it’s in the passenger footwell of my car… 

The coping with Christmas file was, somewhat unthinkingly, shared. I find the lady who runs the grief cafe now wants me for her December guest speaker. Therefore whistling a PowerPoint together so the camera stays off! [My bereaved Deaf colleagues can have the original file, and a side observation on the difference between how _I_ phrase things & civil-service-speak.]

My evil habit of giving groceries for Christmas means one sis May be on for an impressive assortment of tinned beans in assorted sauces. 

Middleson assures me aerial doubling as water source, hence dicky TV signal. He refuses to ask anyone to nip up & fix it in the current (stormy) weather & is planning a foray amongst indoor electronics. Eyeing the stone walls I’m awaiting evidence this is a runner but he’s vehement.

I say, Youngest’s Tuscan Bean Stew is the answer to the gruesome commutes in the dark savage weather. I totter in, am fed & within in an hour am restored sufficiently to be a functional human being again! (OK for a given value of functional & human - thank you son peering over my shoulder)

Middleson’s house buying attempt is salvageable - offer in & accepted when owner died & (sadly bereaved) family have just twigged offer on table is worth two in the bush - Christmas may be rearranged a bit! [Completing This Month, egads!]

As the fizzy fun for seasonal swigging arrives, I realise I just need ice cubes & I’ll have both sons lightly entranced. Silicone trays or those single use bags… (Either way, need to defrost the freezer compartment of the shed fridge!)

Picking Prosecco by the reviews so mum has nice bottles to give as Christmas presents. This 25% off leads us astray….

Have just added a son to car insurance (he has put me on his) & am thinking both affordable & also potential dodgy precedent. Still, the things we do for love (& so he can use my car at the drop of a key.) 

More family tree climbing, with the definitely sticky question of do I ask cousin about an uncle none of us had heard of. A photo has the family resemblance without doubt, but the relatives of whom we say not a cheep are ticklish. 

Chased down “Barbara’s message to Vernon Kay” & yes, handkerchief in use, but very wonderful. 

Got a report finished at work today. Colleague I ran it past wholly approving, and then I added some more analysis & I think it’s a decent job. Just still in the office at 7pm which is a bit crazy.

Got work phone working! Hurrah! Third time (& hero on tech support) the charm. It even hotspots, so creaky house network no longer struggling with work and sons!

Home to find lads having enchiladas & they arranged things so I was sat with a full plate in minutes & Middleson opted to wait the extra ten minutes to make that possible. I am very blessed in my wonderful lads.

Youngest’s PC playing up & in my capacity as house tech, I try restoring to previous points then almost “nuke the site from orbit” as son grins “it’s the only way to be sure”. Seems he Does keep everything he cherishes in the cloud. (Success! He’s reinstalling Google…)

And that is the end of the edit. Health (please, Do Not get this years 'flu) Strength Love & Courage to all as have need and Hot Water Bottles for almost all situations.

Suffolksue

Wow just wow DiG

mhagster

Well following on from DFV my Saturday post is very boring 😆

 However the dog and I were at the beach at 7.30am for low tide…still dark ( not pitch black but dark enough) and pouring! But we both enjoyed our wet walk. 

Home. 

Popped the heating on and hung a washing up. Was lashing and has lashed the rest of the day. 

Pup dropped off at 11am. We watched a couple of schmaltzy Christmas movies. He was collected about 4pm ish. 

Received a very nice Christmas tree ornament with a sleepy chocolate lab on it . Think it’s from DD1 , await confirmation when time difference catches up! 

Watched Stricty…Nigel you were undermarked! 

A beautiful message from lady who had booked me for my first service. 

Purple_kitten

1 I did what I would class as the bare minimum of domestic tasks today to get through the weekend without doing them, the house is hoovered, a wash load and a tiny bit of gardening achieved.

2 Mince pie test, wow seriously sweet, might be my new favourite though.

3 Build your own wraps will be tea.

4 The woodpecker, the wagtail and blackbird with 2 white feathers, he’s been around for years enjoying the garden food.

 For today

1 Happy to find something I’ve hankered after in Lakeland on a Black Friday deal and I had another offer for money off that worked also, it isn’t frugal and it is a treat.

2 A chat with DB

3 A funny thing to say but DH’s laptop has been declared useless by repairers, which means he will get a full refund, very happy about that.

4 Just put on a Ghibli film.

5 May have, okay definitely have finished off a mince pie pack

LaineyT

For yesterday,

Rough morning weather wise but cosy indoors and we all had a bit of a lie-in, thank you small dog!

Boiled egg and marmite soldiers for breakfast, it’s been awhile. Made a loaf and generally pottered.

Over to see equine pal, she seemed a tad more comfortable skin wise and I gave her a wash down with tea tree shampoo to help things along, afterwards she fell asleep in her stable and I sat in there with her on my grooming box to listen to a podcast.

My throat had become increasingly scratchy over the afternoon so as soon as I got home the immune system was loaded with echinacea, Vit C tabs and a honey, lemon & ginger tea. Slept for an hour and felt a bit better.

Easy tea as I’d got some steak out of the freezer so had that with chips, have to say that so far all the beef from the local meat box has been absolutely delicious and a cut (pardon the pun) above the usual SM fare.

mhagster

A day of absolutely hee haw! 

Chat to DD1 first thing
Pottered around.
DD2 face timed with her very first Christmas tree up! Because it’s their only shared day off till Christmas! 

Watched a nice film.
Had a cheese and onion sourdough toastie in the airfryer for tea. 

Highdays

Hello again.

Oooh, was just thinking about Christmas trees! Five weeks today is Christmas Eve.....bit of a scary thought isn't it?!

Today's pleasures:

1) Despite the rain my son battled on and (over) filled the skip so a mountain of rubbish has been reduced to a hillock. He developed the ability as a youngster to fill a salad bowl at the pizza place as full as he could and that skill has paid off in filling the skip, I don't think there is a smidge of a gap in the whole thing, it is packed solid. The last one we had lifted the wheels of the lorry when the chap tried to lift the skip and I reckon this one is packed even more solid!

2) In view of the fact our Christmas do is just two weeks away, lists have been written and a plan of campaign made. Hubby has been filling and painting and washing paintwork and I have been sorting and tidying. The pleasure is that, once everyone has left, my house will be immaculately deep cleaned ready for Christmas, we will have leftovers to feast on for quite a while and all our decorations will be up so we will have very little to do other than enjoy the fun things we have planned for December.

3) By doubling up on cooking this week I have a good week's worth of 'ready meals' in the freezer so can concentrate on other jobs next week and not have to cook from scratch.

4) A lovely girlie afternoon with son's partner and her daughter. It's a novelty for me to have other female company in the house and we had fun. Step-granddaughter cut my hair and did a brilliant job of it, she qualifies in March and is doing really well. She wouldn't take any money but loves my chocolate brownies so I will make her a box of those tomorrow as a thank you. Helped her mum with a complicated bit of her knitting and had a good natter and drank tea. Lovely.

5) Hubby is home tonight, the play is finished and all packed away so we will have tea early and settle down to catch up on some of the programmes we never got to see in the week. Don't as a rule watch that much telly but Only Connect and U/Challenge definitely need to be watched. As always, Sunday night with no work Monday is a big ongoing pleasure.

Enjoy your evening, hope you all had a good weekend.