5 OS pleasures in your day today - part 3

Purple_kitten

1 Was daftly happy when a bay seller accepted an offer, I put in.

2 Had to go out to return DH’s laptop.

3 Managed to get the Christmas cake cooked up and made cupcakes of the leftovers.

4 Hunters chicken with a lot of veg and mash for dinner.

5 Took DH to the docs for a diabetic foot check all very good and I was complimented for taking good care of them but do need slippers for inside apparently as we just meander around in socks. It was a very cold hours wait for the appt thou.

Highdays

Hello.

Well we were surprised with snow overnight, hadn't been forecast and I would have thought it was too cold but there was a good covering and it was all sparkly with frost on top. Sunshine and deep blue skies today.

Some pleasures:

1) A brisk walk with my boy today, a bit treacherous underfoot but the views over the white hills were spectacular and the sun was lovely on our faces but, golly, it was cold. The sky ws so clear that we could see planes flying over two miles high above us, we tracked them on son's mobile and some were heading to very exotic locations. We waved at a couple, doubt they could see us though!

2) The sorting and cleaning goes on but we are nearly there. Final shopping tomorrow and then to start on the food prep. Glad the casseroles and puddings are all tucked away and just need to be defrosted and finished off.

3) Boiler service today and we have a small leak so have been condemned as unfi! to use although the gasman said it was fine to keep it running! The necessary part will be supplied and fitted under warranty and, because we are elderly (!!) we get priority and the boiler people will be here tomorrow morning. Great service and good to know there are some benefits to getting old!

4) Grandson had a job interview at the weekend and a trial evening today. Fingers crossed as it will fit very well around college and football matches and he needs the dosh for driving lessons and a holiday he has planned with his mates after A Levels. Can't wait to hear how he got on in the big wide world of work.

5)  Another benefit to being old, the winter fuel payment together with an additional cost of living (I think) payment plopped into my bank account this morning. Ta muchly.

Right, it is now December so I am off to my bed! Night night, sleep tight.

Suffolksue

It’s very cold and a thick frost which hasn’t properly cleared for 3 days ! 

For yesterday
 finally cleared and cleaned kitchen .I’m so slow at the moment,will clean floors today 
popped into town got a bit of shopping and some vouchers ,a lot of nieces and nephews are getting vouchers / cheques this year 
ordered some more presents from Amazon delivery today ,
must start writing cards 
going to sons for Christmas ,cake made ,pudding bought ,looking for crackers .

stay safe everyone 

mhagster

Hello. Another cold day. Very heavy frost. Enjoyed photos from sister and SIL who live on east coast. They had snow. Very pretty…in the photos! 

We had a quick sniffy walk out on the cold and dark at 5am. Just us and the robins. 

Had a work appointment this morning which went well. I’m just grateful for the kindness shown to me. 

Nipped into town as I was already parked and still had time. Quick dash to M&S. Then the post office with a how much 😨 to post to Australia! 

Dropped a huge bag of stuff at charity shop. Including quite a lot of Christmas decorations, which I think I’d hung on to last year with a if I don’t use them this year they are out! Some of them I’ve had for over 25 years but just don’t want them anymore and the kids don’t want them so out they go and hopefully they’ll bring someone else joy. 

Bought a top that will be perfect for work. 

Pup was dropped off before 8am and was left with Big dog in charge! All went well! I wasn’t away that long ( Pup is full size big doggy now!) 

They were both very happy to see me. So we had lots of cuddles.

Quick chat with sister. 

He was picked up after 1pm by the chap. So that was nice to have the afternoon free. 

Didn’t do much…watched the Christmas episodes of Virgin River. With a sigh! 

The chap and his mum popped by ( as he’d borrowed H’s car seatbelt attachment earlier) His mum gave me a beautiful bunch of flowers ! Which was lovely and very unexpected. 

And how can it be December already? Hope it’s a good one for you all. 

 

VJsmum

Hello all - thought it was high time i popped by..

Pleasures recently

OH and i went to Highgate cemetery.  Strange place for a date, but fascinating.
saw DD loads over the weekend
finished a batch of marking.  Am LOL ing as i knew the moderator would reduce the marks - so i marked them up! 🫢😝
watching All Creatures Great and Small - lovely stuff.
saw the hunger games at the cinema
a walk by the sea with a fabulous sunset.

have a great weekend all.

Admiral_Barbarossa

The Admiral On Tour - Live

Arrived safe in San Francisco. BoPsie came as well. 

Did the Cliff House, and baths this morning. Then some soup, and the streetcars. More on that tomorrow. 

Went via Pier 39. They has a Big Wheel. 

Now refreshing for some wobbleades. 

Snorkers here are carp and as usual they can’t do bacon. 

weenancyinAmerica

Admiral - you need to ask for Canadian Bacon to get more of what you want. Have fun in San Francisco.

mhagster

We have snoooow! 

Quick doggy walk at 4.30am then back in, doggy had his breakfast and I wrote an address on an envelope and a very quick note for DD1 to go with her gift then off out we went again. Down to the postbox. It was so lovely! Just peaceful and that muffled snow sound. And just us which was even better. 

Have a lovely day ☃️

DigForVictory

RL is crazy but headline news Middleson completes on Monday so this years Christmas will be even more surreal than it ever managed before.

LaineyT - birdfeeders are a cardinal act of mercy this time of year. "leisurely breakfast" absolutely the article. Hoping blood tests back soon along with a bit more presence. Coffee out takes on a whole extra treat level when your health is fragile - thank you for befriending! Love the new coat for small dog!

Happycas - a good night with family (with or without hm florentines) is a treat. I should move some plants around, but they need light more than Christmas lights...

mhagster - delighted to hear you engrossed in a good book! Argh that threshold between awake & asleep, but well done getting to the castle. Happy St Andrews day & whee cranachan! Waiting for delivery, boo! Candle light & tree light - lovely. Donating 25 year old baubles - absolutely right if family do not love them. Snow all to yourself & dog this morning.

ampersand - good to see you, even snarling at technology. Please to stick at the healing?

PaulieHerts - Moon & whatever planet is beautiful indeed

DundeeDoll - you got 'flu-ed? Eeep. D'you reckon duck is worth the fuss?!

Purple kitten - at least in error you have stocked up on food you will eat! I call that saving myself. When you get into the right slippers, you'll wonder why you never wore them before!

Highdays - sure has got cold! Well done getting house immaculate,  and then the food as well! Oooh best of luck with boiler & GS job interview!

Suffolksue - clearing the frost is optional - just do enough to reassure neighbours?

VJsmum - Highgate is full of fascinating people, & some of them are still breathing!

BoP - away in San Fran? Wow, have a ball! (& the Canadian bacon.)

OS

Trying to persuade date stones to root. (The little rounded rectangle trays’ dates didn’t last year, these dates for Christmas May be fresher & more cooperative.)

Setting up work phone contacts & also current medication. Satisfaction that talisman, personal phone & with phone all up to date, even if height & weight ‘casually omitted’…

Resupplied on tea. Tesco may have hidden their ginger beer, but the cup that cheers will carry on.

Heard a crash, grabbed a bathtowel & covered myself to investigate to ding youngest peacefully juggling & denying all knowledge of a crash..  pleasure is getting clean dry self into bed warmed by HWB! Bliss.

Getting live updates on plumbing fix in hand at mum’s (ain’t tech marvelous) & doing phone reassurance in between chunks of paid work - but mum is fine. Thanks be unto whomever!

Ah the plans for “nosh & wash” looking after mum! Looks like it’ll have to be an insurance claim, which is slightly daft as we’re desperately trying to keep everything the same for mum (other than the leak)!

Argh boss trying to get me into “power poses” again. I enjoy sorting talent teams for different tasks & locations & myself cope with being dropped in at short notice fine as life is not a board game but a weather system. She thinks I should be considering promotion & I’m thinking while I might enjoy about 3%, the other 97% tips the scales. Amused she’s trying though.

Oooh, my swapout stamps have arrived! Books of 4 1st class stamps so you can still buy a book of stamps with a fiver, I see.

Shed fridge defrosted & 3 trays of ice cubes freezing. 4 lemons unaware of their future as drink fodder…

Almost putting my hand up for management role. Massive imposter syndrome issues but better me boss than work for someone who doesn’t know my job. Just Ulp, memories of old bad bosses haunting me. 

On a “how many diversions?!” drive south, spotted constellations. 

I’m beginning to see how mum goes through So Much coffee. The cafetiere makes one mug, she puts it down adds milk & then putters on doing seven other things until “oh, it’s gone cold”. Pleasure is she’s doing very well according to the memory clinic, the social life & exercise are helping.

Lugged a car full of papers, set glues & putties & even a no-longer-operational Dyson to recycling. Lovely staff, so helpful & intrigued when I “ooh!”ed at proper bristle hairbrushes.

Took mum to Aldi to choose flowers from her grandsons. Sitting room & hall look suitably as if someone cares (me, & her, but she won’t buy herself flowers)

Having the water off is an exercise in ingenuity, maintaining good neighbourly relations & cardio/strength. We’re expecting visitors, so we need to Fill the bathtub with water to flush with & lugging buckets of tap water seems crazy wasteful (& hard-ish work!)

She’s reading the papers & asking for translations again.  “Non-binary” is a belter when you’re not sure quite where her baseline lies… (She’s thoughtful “that must be very difficult”.) I’ll say, we had less fuss with “tofu eating literati”, some months ago.

That cat sits at the alert by the door waiting for someone to come & open it for him.

Tucking mum in is an act which has us both giggling - with her hearing aids out, I communicate in gesture….

Rudolph run done. Now just my chaps who, this year, are simple but expensive. One has already deployed my Google fu in the Black Friday raffle, the other is buying a house so there isn’t a vast amount I can do but stay practical & calm! 

Cousin who wants hamza apricot seedlings is delighted I have stones in the fridge. His mother has her own mango seedling - dried mango futures with a vengeance! His sister has joined me in the “have a go” corner of the garden & has propagation tackle & his father three young sycamore trees. My car is just thankful I do not propose to drive any more trees anywhere.

Cousin introduced me to persimmon fruit - now contemplating trying to grow from seed! (All I can do is try!)

Introduced to the medieval cameline sauce - not sure if to ask the lads if they want to give this richly spiced, mildly alcoholic sauce a try over Christmas. That it was Henry 8’s go-to lads-night-in dip for lampreys may not swing it, but I confess to being intrigued!

Middleson can’t differentiate between the Taj Mahal & the Brighton Pavilion. Given ancestors were involved in the interior design of the latter, I can’t agree with his view that it’s a mere pavilion!

Family tree & first absolutely open declaration of same sex partner in death notice. Thinking they must have got on with his sister also named.

Argh. Middleson has started campaign of Not Writing Thankyou letters. He can be a graceless toad if he chooses, but he chooses to land me into the middle of assorted uncalled for conversations. It may be a bit late for the bentwood chair whip & pistol…

My library card number has not been used in too long & so I can’t get PressReader on my phone. Library, Ho! (Glorious people & freedom of information as a location, function & reason to be simultaneously!)

Stuck in cold waiting for room awaiting delayed inward train, spotted a bloke in the hi viz of blood transfusion transport. Me bewildered - where haste Vital what doing on train platform, so asked - he’s going to pick up a bike, a custom BMW. Curiosity satisfied, bike specs oohed over.

Team meeting followed by Christmas buffet & quiz - worth the cold train!

Coaching colleague facing test tomorrow that it’s the only time she’ll ever face file manipulation alone.

Watching the Uttarakhand tunnel rescue & just delighted everyone out alive. Charmed the last metres gouged by “rat hole miners”, awed the speed with which the rolling stretchers were loaded & shifted, very touched there were both an emergency medical station & a temple set up.

Son has brought all the paperwork ready for house purchase home & we’ve gone through each sheet. (His language when he couldn’t use his phone app to transfer the deposit, poor lamb!) He completes Monday & plans to move straight in. Blinking a bit at how fast it is suddenly moving, and at memories of last fledgling. This one has his eye on some Le Creuset mugs - which does help distinguish this launch as Very Different.

“Make better decisions, mother”. There are days I will help Middleson pack with my boot. Just he has something of a point.

Yikes HWB leakage (minor but wet) for 2nd night, not a joy to wake up to. Same problem with second bottle - does minion need retraining?! Will order more hot water bottles, as housewarming gift in case. (Gorgeous warm tranquility!)

Now babysis getting into house hunt mode (slightly premature but she thinks she’ll need to move quickly) pleasure being I have some recent experience, just he has far more emotional self discipline!

Visit went exceptionally well, & drive back by moonlight strangely satisfying.

Lovely podiatrist has said come in & we’ll make sure the orthoses are tuned to my unique personal shamble. So me carrying assorted shoes, & even a hammam towel as I can’t find a pair of shorts… (Pods like to see you walk from knees down.) [New orthoses fitted!]

Saturday morning spent catching up on family correspondence whilst cosily under duvet. Not so cold I added fleece blankets but they’re handy in case.

Planning to set up Christmas tree & crib scene. (Playmobil) Suspect my sons will be very sarcastic but I was raised on an ox & an donkey & shepherds & so on. (Besides, one’s eaten half a vast box of shortbread so has little room for critiquing someone else’s joy to the world!)

Son nipping over to get meter readings ready to set up heat & light etc for moving in. He’ll check the sofa he’s been offered (checking the rightmove photos, there are two, both lurid pink) & is startled I have the rightmove page still open. (On my phone, the tab has been open for Months, for reference, for just this sort of surprise!)

Right, health strength love & courage to all as have need, and please check your HWBs as one surprise is unpleasant 2 ridiculous (field tested by me)...

Admiral_Barbarossa

Admiral on Tour - Live

Just watching the gooooners. Breakfast can weight. Will try the Canada Dry bacon. Snorkers remain a no go. 

Off today to the MUNI 150 exhibition. Moor soon. 

Guess we’res out the tin pot DD!

Jen has her buzz