Goals

 Yesterday husband and I sat down together and came up with a list of 10 wants and needs for the coming year, to be saved up for and bought one at a time.  It includes things like fitted carpets for both bedrooms, vertical blinds for the kitchen and lounge windows, a new raised bed for veggies, a smart speaker, plus some other things.  We've put them in order of importance, so we know what we'll be getting first and roughly when.  We're starting off with a carpet for husband's bedroom, we'll go and have a look in the carpet shop where we bought our hall and lounge carpets - reasonable prices, lots of offcuts and roomsize remnants, and the shop owner was extremely helpful and fitted our carpets at a very good price.  Husband said he'd buy a carpet off ebay.....I said no, we need to actually see the carpet to check for quality and colour.  I need to try and curb his enthusiasm for buying stuff off ebay, he's far too fond of it and around 50% of the time it turns out to be wrong.  Either he buys ridiculously cheap rubbish from China which breaks after the 2nd time of using it, or it's the wrong thing altogether (because he hasn't read the listing properly, or done proper measurements) and then there's the downright nuisance of returning it - as it's been from China or Taiwan a few times, I really haven't wanted the hassle.  So often his 'bargain' purchases turn out to be a complete waste of money.  Husband rarely checks with me first before he presses the 'Buy now' button - I have asked several times that he do that, but it never sinks in, or he forgets.  Or perhaps he just thinks "No I'm not asking her, I don't need her permission!".  No he doesn't, of course, but if I cast my eye over it first I might be able to prevent him making an expensive error, or at least guide him in the right direction.  Sigh.  He's a blimmin nuisance at times.

I've done the freezer inventory and will today sit and write up a list of as many meals as I can make out of what we've got, to keep our January grocery spend as low as possible.  Then that'll mean I can put away a fair sum in savings to go towards our 'Needs and Wants' list.  I'm planning on going to Aldi around the middle of next week with a list - and hopefully they'll have my favourite coffees back in stock!  Nothing ever goes down in price, only up - we've used more electricity recently (in part because we haven't had a lot of sun, so our solar panels aren't earning their keep), Betty's pet insurance goes up by nearly 50% from January - I decided to keep it on after all, it's just too risky not having it, especially given her age and the possibility of her becoming ill.  I did go on some price comparison sites but couldn't get a better deal, due to her age (and breed mix meaning some insurers won't insure her).  Water rates are going up, and there's our annual rent and service charge increase on 1 April.  And of course we didn't get the Winter Fuel Allowance this time.  So, although we've saved on the caravan monthly costs, a lot of that will be taken up by all the coming increases.  Still, we have a lovely comfortable home and everything we need, so I'm not complaining, we're so fortunate.

Last day of the year.....amazing.  I hope next year will be a good one - up to us to make it so, to a certain extent, although obviously we have no control over some things.  I'm certainly aiming for us to have more days out - since we no longer have the caravan, we can and should get out more, or else husband will just be sitting wasting his life away in front of the TV all the time, and I'm not having that, it's no good for any of us.

Marking time

 The supermarket wasn't at all busy and we got straight onto a till.  A half price large pork pie and some reduced chocolate found their way into my basket, that'll be our last treats until a new healthy eating January.  Other than that, I stuck rigidly to my small list.

I'm doing a root veg casserole today, with a herby cheesy cobbler topping and some green veg on the side.  We're forecast to have strong winds again on New Years Day, then the temperature dropping again drastically from Thursday, following a few days of it being quite mild.  So I think we'll be having relatively carby warming meals for a while yet - I don't much fancy salads whilst it's cold and blowing a hooley. 

It still feels like we're in limbo, marking time until the new year starts.  I think I'll spend a bit of time today doing a budget for next year, and making a list of things we want to buy once saved up for, starting with a fitted carpet for husband's bedroom - we have rugs in the bedrooms at the moment.

Spuds galore and hiding nuts

 Popping to the supermarket this morning - I wasn't planning to, but am getting low on my lactose-free milk - with the cold weather we've been having, I've been drinking more coffee or hot chocolate than usual.  I've written a very short list, just 6 things on it....I will endeavour to stick to it - unless there are any heavily reduced bargains that it would be madness to ignore!

Husband took Betty out whilst I was showering this morning....when they came back I was in the bedroom getting dressed, Betty came dashing in to see me and the first thing I noticed was that she was limping and holding her left back leg up, not putting any weight on it at all.  So I asked husband what was wrong with her foot - he hadn't even noticed!  It turned out to be a thorn or splinter stuck in her pad, easily removed and she's fine now.  But I honestly think husband walks round with his eyes closed half the time, he notices nothing 😒

I've been thinking up ways to use up all the veg stuff that is now mostly in the freezer, in particular the mountains of potato products - the catering size bag of mashed potato that we got in the TGTG Morrisons bag, which I split up into several smaller bags.  I've also blanched and frozen potato slices (from the cheap Christmas veggies), and I have bags of shop bought hash browns and chips (anyone would think we liked spuds in any form - and they'd be right!).  I'll start with the mash - I think I'll turn it into cheesy croquette type things or potato farls, I'll add a bit of SR flour, grated cheese and finely chopped shallots (from Lidl, the cheap Christmas ones) and shape them into croquettes or pancake-type things, before baking or pan frying, then cooling and freezing.  They'll make a lovely side to scrambled egg and beans, with bacon for husband.  I'll use some of the mash as is to top a fish pie for this coming week, the slices can be used as a casserole topping or for potato dauphinoise.

I've weighed myself this morning and am pleased to note that my weight has stayed exactly the same, not put on anything over Christmas.  Husband has, which he professes to be disgusted about - but then what does he expect when he's always snacking?!  He says he only snacks on nuts which are healthy - well yes they are, but they're also full of fat and calories, especially as he has a couple of handfuls at a time, 2 or 3 times a day.  Plus the big wedges of the Christmas cake he complained about so much 😠 I can't make him stop eating/snacking so much, I can only advise him.....which he gets annoyed about.  The sooner he gets back to the gym, the better (it reopens on 2 Jan).  Incidentally, I don't buy him the nuts, he buys them himself when he's gone to town for something or other.  The only nuts I buy are for cooking - my nut roast loaf, or a Stilton and walnut quiche, e.g. - or sprinkling on my breakfast yogurt - and I hide them at the back of the baking cupboard so husband can't find them!

Christmas over

 Christmas is being packed away today, not that there's much to put away, just the 5ft tree and baubles, a few Christmas ornaments on the sideboard and the cards.  I know it's early but once Christmas and Boxing Day are over, I can't be doing with it anymore......it's a case of Right that's over, let's move on.  I'm focusing on the new year now, it's a bright sunny morning (the opposite of the forecast, which was for mist all day!) which helps.

I'm going to process the rest of the cheap veggies today too, cooking some and simply chopping and freezing the rest.  The Brussels stalk will stay as it is in the box in the car port, the sprouts last ages on the stalk.  There'll be loads of veg in the freezer now (there's a fair amount already, including the catering size pack of mashed potato I got a couple of weeks ago in Morrisons on the TGTG app) so we shouldn't need to buy any for a while.

I must do a freezer inventory and meal plan, and sort the freezer out at the same time - I have a system of individual drawers for certain things....e.g. a drawer for husband's meats, one for my fish and veggie things, one for milk, the dog's drawer, one for homemade meals, the big one for veg, and the bottom one for anything else, like bread and surplus veg.  Husband, though, tends to put stuff in ANY drawer, simply where he sees a space, so it inevitably gets all mixed up, which irritates me when I have to search all through to find a specific thing.

We're not doing anything for New Years Eve, are you?  We've been invited to our friends, but husband gets very tired in the evenings and I don't want him driving home in the early hours (and dark) when he's tired and lacking in concentration, so we're not going.  I also don't really want to leave Betty home alone for a few hours again - she was ok on Christmas Day for 5 hours, but was absolutely overjoyed to see us when we got home, she clearly thought we'd abandoned her for good.  The neighbours in the house behind us have warned us they're having a family party so there'll be some noise, so I'll probably need ear plugs as my bedroom is at the back.  From what I remember from last year, there weren't many fireworks going off nearby....in any case, they only last a few minutes and it's only once a year so I don't mind.

New plans, grumpy old gits and lovely colour in the garden

 I've been thinking about financial things for next year.  We are of course much better off financially now we no longer have the caravan expenses, but there are a few things we want for next year, plus a couple of short breaks in cottages, that we will have to save up for, and that will mean some juggling with money and making savings.  One thing I do want to cut down on is the cost of shopping - our groceries bill has risen to eye-watering levels, food prices are going up and up.  I did notice that prices of ordinary everyday foods, not Christmas things, had gone up by 15p, 20p or even 50p last week....well I guess the supermarkets needed to do that to cover the cost of the cheap Christmas veggies!  It remains to be seen whether the increased prices will go down again - probably not.  I also want to stop nipping out to the supermarket to pick up a couple of things we've forgotten or run out of - we never just get those few things, it nearly always ends up with us spending far more than necessary (I do love a bargain if I see one).  When we lived at the old place that wasn't really an option, as the shops were quite a lot further away.....now the supermarkets are just a couple of miles away (well, 3 miles I think) so it's all too easy to just pop out.  I must get into the mindset of making do with what we've got - if we run out of something, well hard luck, it won't exactly be a disaster, it's not like we'll starve!

I also want to start getting into the habit of eating simpler meals for dinner (our main cooked evening meal) - things like fried/poached eggs and beans on toast, or jacket potato with cheese & tuna will do me just fine.  It'll be a bit of a problem with husband though - he's got a big appetite (still, whereas mine has got smaller) and a meal like eggs and beans on toast is more of a quick lunchtime thing for him, he'll not be satisfied with it as a main dinner.  I'm not much of a pudding eater, whereas husband always wants something after dinner, he usually has a flavoured yogurt or piece of fruit (both more often than not).  But I suppose if I gave him some sort of more substantial pud, like banana and custard, or fruit crumble, then he might be satisfied with a smaller simpler dinner.  I'm thinking of buying just one joint of meat or a large chicken for him each week, and then making that meat (whatever it is) into several meals for him for the week.  A simple tray of roasted veg, or a veg risotto, with a sprinkle of grated Cheddar or crumbled blue cheese will suit me very well, husband could have some meat with his.

I'd made a Christmas cake a few weeks ago, minus the marzipan and icing as husband doesn't like either.  I did it primarily for husband as he really likes a rich fruit cake, whereas I'm not that keen.  We'd talked about what alcohol to feed it with....he wanted whisky but I really don't like that, I like brandy in a cake or trifle but he doesn't, we settled on rum as both of us quite like the taste, although neither of us drinks it (or any alcohol really) anymore.  Well, husband has done nothing but complain about the cake - too much fruit in it, too sticky round the mouth, too crumbly, he doesn't like the rum and said I should have used brandy (which he doesn't like!!).  Despite all these complaints, he's eaten several big wedges of it.  When I pointed out he'd made nothing but negative comments about it, despite me making it specifically for him and it costing a lot in terms of ingredients, the long cooking time and the general effort involved, he shut up.  Well, that'll be a money (and time) saving next year, as I won't bother making another one!  He's so ungrateful sometimes.

It's a lovely sunny day, although patches of mist keep drifting in and it's bitingly cold again - must have been cold as the heating was on when we got up.  I've been out in the garden (with my fleece jacket on) looking around......several of the bulb pots have shoots coming up, the bluebells are just starting to push through the soil - and the gravel.  There's a lovely lemon primrose blooming, the winter jasmine I planted last year has started flowering, and there's still some flowers on one of the fuschias.  One of the pots in the front garden has 3 different colours of cyclamen in full bloom.  So a bit of colour and signs of new life everywhere, which is fantastic.

Feeling so much more upbeat

 I've been a bit down recently (as you've probably guessed!), what with December being the saddest month for me.....for some reason, it seemed to hit harder this year, most likely because of my uncle dying, the last living older generation relative of my Mum's (her brother).  It wasn't unexpected, he'd been bedbound and seriously ill for months and months, and had cheated death several times before - still, it's always sad.  And just before Christmas makes it sadder still, especially for surviving relatives.....it leaves a dilemma for the future when a loved one dies on or around a significant date - do we celebrate in future years?  Somehow it doesn't feel right, when it's also the anniversary of our loved one's death, there's a feeling of guilt as well.  I guess the answer is to try and treat it as a good memories day, and to understand and accept that our dear one wouldn't have wanted us to feel sad or guilty.

When my Mum died, after the funeral and wake for her friends, us relatives all gathered at my sister's house, we had a takeaway then sat around reminiscing about funny things Mum had said and done - of which there were many, Mum was a bit of a character.  Here's a photo of just one of her quirks:-

None of us could recall the occasion, except that we'd all been together sitting round the dinner table, nor could we remember why Mum had suddenly grabbed the tea cosy and put it on her head - but we all remembered laughing our heads off, and laughed again when I searched for and found the photo on my phone after her funeral.

So this is what I'm resolved to do for future Decembers - remember the good times with our dear departed, and there were many, we've always been a quirky family.

We went to our friends' house for Christmas lunch and spent the afternoon there sitting around the dining table chatting and laughing - they always go big on decorations and have not one but 2 massive trees, plus a 3rd smaller one.  Their son, daughter and son in law are always there too, we've known them all for many years and it's nice to be included in their family Christmas.  It was a lovely afternoon, following a delicious lunch.  Our friend always makes an effort to accommodate my almost-vegetarianism, although I tell him it's not necessary.  But I really appreciate that he goes to the trouble.  It certainly pulled me out of the doldrums.

Today, and for the next few days actually, we're just having a quiet time at home (hopefully! assuming no dramas!).  I'm making the salmon Wellington for our dinner this evening, and over the next day or 2 I'll be prepping and freezing the bulk of the cheap veggies we bought.  Some of it will be turned into soup, the rest simply chopped and frozen to use in casseroles, or mashed for mixed root mash.  I'm thinking come the new year (next week!  Hooray!), I want to stop eating any meat, although I will continue to eat fish, as I love it.  I don't eat beef, lamb or pork or any kind of offal and haven't done for a couple of years, but have still been eating small amounts of chicken about once a week, usually a minced chicken dish.  I also have the occasional sausage or bacon sarnie, maybe once every 2 or 3 weeks.  Sometimes a small amount of bacon or gammon in a pasta or rice dish, mainly for the flavour rather than as a main ingredient.  I've been finding though that the less I eat any kind of meat, the less I enjoy the taste of it, so it makes sense to simply stop eating it.  I'll still buy and cook it for husband though - other than steak or offal, if he wants that he has to cook it himself, as I just cannot stand the smell (or even the look) of it nowadays.

On Christmas Eve evening, we loaded Betty into the car and went for a drive through the town to look at the Christmas lights - I don't know what it's been like in previous years (we were far too busy unpacking and settling in last December), but the town have certainly gone all out on Christmas lights, the high street lights look beautiful.  Butlins were having another firework display, so we parked up and watched that too - Betty was completely unfazed by it, after one initial glance when the fireworks started, she sat looking out the back window, watching people in the car park.  So that helped put us in the Christmas spirit - husband included, he's a bit (well, a lot) of a Grinch about the festive season.

Did anyone watch Gavin & Stacey last night?  I thought it was fab, it ended just right.  Nessa always has cracked me up, she's just so funny in a very droll, dry way.  I also enjoyed Call the Midwife - wasn't life so much simpler then?  The poverty was pretty awful though, it pains me to think some families may well still have to live like that, even in this day and age.

Right, I'm off to get the Wellington made.  I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas day, however you celebrated it.  And thank you for your kind words about my blog being 'real' - I don't know how else to be, frankly, what you see is what you get with me.

Until next year

 It's all too sad and stressful right now, so I'm signing off until the new year.

I hope you all have the kind of holiday season you'd like, be it with family & friends or by yourselves.  Hold your loved ones close, they're precious.

I thank you for all the support you've given me this year, sending you all love and hugs, and wishing you all a happy new year.

Sooze 💜

Another death

 A much better day yesterday foodwise, I stuck to the healthy eating all day.  For breakfast I had thinly sliced Edam on a buttered Ryvita, lunch was a bowl of cottage cheese with a chopped apple, 2 segmented easy peelers and a few skin-on almonds stirred through it.  Dinner was the chicken casserole - skinned and de-boned chicken thighs with lots of chopped veggies, chicken stock and pearl barley, served with sprouts.  There's plenty for today's dinner too.

We've got a pre-Christmas visit from our H/Officer this morning to check we're ok, then I'm going to have my eyes tested and pick new glasses.  We'll then go to the supermarket, one of the 3 in town (we'll have a look in each of  the car parks first, to see how busy they are) and pick up a load more of the cheap veggies and some fruit - not for us.  There's a small local zoo, which also takes in rescued exotic animals that have been found wandering by police (probably abandoned by irresponsible owners), or from other zoos which are closing down.  They've put out an appeal for veg & fruit supplies as they're struggling financially at the moment, having suffered a lot of damage in Storm Darragh - broken fences and animal enclosures, which is costing them money to repair and replace.  So for a tenner we could get a lot of the cheap veg, fruit and eggs to help them out (they've asked for eggs too).

I was disgusted yesterday to find husband using a table knife to clean out the vacuum cleaner head, which was bunged up with hair.  Surely a screwdriver would have been better?! 😠  He has a history of using MY kitchen implements to do small DIY jobs around the house.....my wooden rolling pin, e.g., which now has dents in it from where he used it as a makeshift hammer.  Or one of my sharp vegetable knives which he broke the point off of, using it to undo a rusted in screw.  All because he can't be bothered to open the kitchen door and walk the few feet to his shed!  Or, more likely, because he knows he will have to spend a few minutes searching around to find HIS tools in his messy shed.  I've also caught him wiping up spills on the floor with the dishcloth, instead of opening the cupboard under the sink and getting out a floorcloth!!  Or using the mop which is propped up in the corner of the kitchen!  He's a nightmare at times and is totally unapologetic, shrugging his shoulders and asking "does it matter?".  I know all these bad habits come from his mother, who wasn't much of a housewife....but he's been with me for 43 years and I've not been able to tame him yet.  So I guess it's a lost cause 😒

And, very sadly, I've just been told that my last remaining uncle (Mum's brother) died early this morning - yet another December death.  I think I'll hibernate next December.  January can't come soon enough.

A spanner in the works...well, coins etc

 A frustrating day yesterday, which meant some comfort eating crept in - not too bad though.

I'd put a wash load on in the morning......forecast was for early showers followed by sunshine, with strong gusty winds.  I thought it would be a good day to wash the dog's fleece blankets and towels and get them on the line, with extra pegs - they should have dried in no time.  Well, first of all the washing machine suddenly stopped, mid cycle, with an error code flashing.  After googling it, seems it wasn't draining properly - the suggestions were either the drainage hose was kinked, or the filter thing was blocked.  Husband checked the filter thing first (some dirty water over the floor because he didn't position the collecting tray properly, nor spread out the old towel I gave him....still, easily mopped up).  The filter contained an assortment of stuff that shouldn't have been in there - several blackened coins, obviously out of his pockets, which he swears he always checks before putting stuff in the wash basket....well that proves he doesn't! (I never have coins in my pockets).  A mangled drawstring cord from the waist of a pair of his tracksuit bottoms.  Several small pieces of unidentified broken bits of plastic (I have absolutely no idea), plus a ton of dog hair and fluff.  Once cleaned out, the machine worked fine - thankfully, I don't want to be buying a new one just before Christmas!

I put the stuff on the line, with lots of extra pegs, telling husband we'd have to keep an eye on it as the gusts of wind were pretty strong.  However, after an hour, one of the blankets had blown off the line (pegs scattered everywhere) and was partially draped over a wall.  Husband went out to retrieve it, didn't gather it up properly, so he dragged it along the wet, dirty path and even trod on it, almost tripping himself up in the process.  So back into the washing machine it went.....at least it proved the machine was now working correctly!

A couple of other irritants during the day meant that I had 2 fingers of the Christmas shortbread, along with 3 chocolates and a chunk of Cheddar.  Oh well, could have been worse.

The actual meals were fine - I had Greek yogurt with a segmented easy peeler and some almonds and seeds for breakfast, husband had cereal and a banana.  Lunch was the rest of the spicy soup from the day before, along with the chunk of Cheddar and the shortbread fingers.  Dinner was grated cheese and roasted veg toasted wraps, with gherkins and olives on the side.  And 3 chocolates.  And another small thin slice of homemade fruit cake (it was a very small slice).  It'll be a better day today!!  I don't fancy breakfast, lunch will be a piece of Edam with an apple and a satsuma, I'm making chicken casserole for dinner - no dumplings though!

First day went well

 We got to the supermarket at 08.00 to get the cheap veggies, there was hardly anyone there (it opens at 06.00), although people were starting to pile in as we were leaving.  Picked up a couple of bags each of carrots, parsnips and potatoes and 2 swedes, I don't need any sprouts (having already bought 2 of the sprout trees and they last for ages that way) and don't like red cabbage, so didn't bother with those.  I also got 2 pots of cottage cheese and some more plain Greek yogurt, oh and some easy peelers and bananas.  Food shopping now finished until the new year, hopefully.

I shall write up our day's meals each day up until Christmas, in an effort to keep us on the straight and narrow.  So yesterday we had:-

Breakfast - I had an apple when we got home from shopping, husband had 2 slices of toast with sliced banana.

Lunch - I'd made a panful of carrot, parsnip, red onion and potato soup, using 1 onion and potato, 2 large parsnips and about 5 or 6 carrots, I flavoured it with a tsp of medium curry spice and some pepper.  I used bacon stock saved from the last gammon I'd boiled for husband.  When the soup was cooked and cooled a bit, I whizzed it up with a tbsp single cream, it's made enough for today's lunch as well.  We had a piece of fruit to follow - pear for husband, banana for me which I shared with Betty, who loves banana.

Dinner - Mushroom omelette with a handful of grated mature Cheddar, tinned tomatoes on the side, husband had a slice of ham with his.  We had a small thin slice of fruit cake afterwards.  Husband isn't totally sticking to the plan, he can't quite get out of the snacking habit and had a handful of walnuts and a couple of chocolates in between meals.  Ah well, it's less than he normally has.  I know the nuts are healthy, but he eats far too many of them normally, and they're high in fats and calories.

I'll have yogurt and fruit for breakfast today, I expect husband will have cereal and a banana, the rest of the soup for lunch and maybe a wholemeal toasted wrap stuffed with cheese and veggies for dinner.  Again, husband will probably have some ham with his, for his meat portion.

Diet before Christmas

 The lunch was....just ok, nothing special.  I had a festive burger - breaded chicken with brie and cranberry sauce in a toasted brioche bun, with a stuffing ball and pig in blanket skewered on top, served with chips.  The chicken and stuffing ball were overcooked in my opinion, the chips were nice though.  I couldn't eat it all, but husband finished off what I left (he had fish pie and peas).  I also had a gingerbread latte for the first time - I liked the ginger flavour, but the drink was far too sweet for me, shan't be having that again.  Especially not at £4.25 for a small mug 😳.

I've decided to go on a fairly strict healthy diet for a few days, we've been having far too much carby stuff lately - carby comfort food is my go to when I'm feeling down or stressed.  Trouble is, quite soon it starts making me feel sluggish, achy and gives me gut problems, which is when I have to get a grip and cut it all out.  So for the next few days I'll be having yogurt or cottage cheese with easy peelers or berries for breakfast, homemade soup or omelette for lunch, and fish and vegetables for dinner.  Husband says he's on board with it too, although I expect he'll have some bread as well.  He's been complaining that his trousers are too tight and says he weighs the most he ever has.  I'm not surprised, he's munching and snacking all day 🙄, his appetite seems to grow rather than diminish with age.

He's not going to the gym as his back is playing up, so we're going to the supermarket early to get the cheap veggies and some fruit and cottage cheese.  Better get showered and dressed then!  I shall make spicy carrot and parsnip soup for lunch.

Lunch out and then....relax

 After a couple of days of slightly warmer temperatures, it's back to being bitterly cold - although it's sunny, the sun has no warmth in it whatsoever.  There's also a strong bitingly cold wind again.  

The day hasn't started well - when husband let Betty out in the back garden for a wee this morning, she promptly trotted off down the side path as the gate was open, clearly thinking "oh that's unusual, I'll go explore!".  Husband eventually admitted he'd not checked to make sure he'd latched it properly yesterday, and the wind presumably blew it open during the night.  She did come back quite quickly when he called her, thank goodness.  We never allow her to roam off the lead, there are too many other dogs in the area, some of which aren't on leads (my pet hate....oh I said pet, how funny and appropriate - well, actually, it's more of an 'irresponsible owner' hate!).  Anyway, no harm done.  

I put some washing on the line early this morning to take advantage of the blowy conditions, although as it's so cold it may not dry very well.  By the time I came back in I felt like I was encased in ice, my hands and face were freezing.....and by some of my readers' standards, e.g. those in Canada, it's not even that cold here!  How they cope I don't know, I guess they're used to it.

Husband's obviously having a forgetful day, I've already had to repeat things I've literally just told him minutes before, several times now.  And then he and Betty decided to have a noisy game, he was throwing a couple of her soft toys around and she was madly chasing after them, tearing around the house and barking excitedly, and it's only 9 am!  The glucosamine tablets are certainly helping her, she's as lively as a puppy again....which is good I guess and shows she must have been in some joint pain before, poor thing.  But when she's barking her head off with excitement and charging around nearly knocking me off my feet, I almost wish she was back to being subdued!  Almost....I don't really think that.

We're going out for lunch today to the cafe at Blue Anchor....I had planned on a brisk walk along the prom afterwards, to work off the calories, but don't think that'll be happening - it's too bitterly cold and showers are forecast.  I don't do windy, cold and rainy walks!!  And then after lunch and back home, I'm going to have a quiet (hopefully!) relaxing afternoon.

At least I don't have to cook dinner later - after a big lunch we'll just have something light like cheese on toast for tea.

Isn't it annoying

 Busy morning, only just sat down and am now knackered (didn't sleep very well last night).  

Went to Aldi in Taunton first thing, it's just under 20 miles away but there are several things they sell that I really like, so we go about every 5 or 6 weeks.  One of the things is their instant frothy coffees, a much cheaper version of the big brand name one - which tastes just as nice, if not better.  I buy a whole trayful of 10 boxes each time.....except this morning they didn't have any, none at all!  Grrr.  They've also apparently stopped stocking the lactose-free fresh milk I have - no demand for it, according to the staff member I asked!  (Well, I buy it, several cartons at a time!).  Grrr again.  They also had none of the frozen lemon & herb dusted frozen fish fillets that are my favourite, nor the Ancient Grains bread that husband likes.  Which was annoying, but we did get lots of other things we needed so it wasn't a wasted trip.

But it did mean that we had to go out again, once we'd got home and unpacked the Aldi shopping.  Went to Tesco in town and got a couple of boxes of the expensive coffees, to tide me over until we go back to Aldi next month, plus my milk, some tin foil dishes, some winter vitamins and a nice box of assorted shortbread.  I'm not going shopping again until after Christmas, I have no need - although when husband goes to the gym on Friday I might get him to pop to the supermarket and get a few bags of the 15 p veggies (the veg offers start tomorrow).  Might as well get them whilst they're that cheap, some I'll process and freeze but the rest will last for a good while in a box in the unheated car port.

The good, and somewhat surprising, thing was that neither supermarket was busy - got straight onto a till in Aldi, and Tesco was practically empty of shoppers, despite it being lunchtime - there were almost more staff than customers.....nearly every till was open, with no queues.  Not that I'm complaining!

Thank you for your kind comments about my lovely Betty.....who is currently asleep on my bed with her head on my pillow.....aww!  Hope she doesn't dribble 😂😂

Little Miss Squidgy Face

 The H/Officer didn't have time to do our annual review yesterday, she was overrun with alarm testing and trying to arrange repairs from storm damage, both of which needed sorting before Christmas.  However, she did assure me there's no problem with our tenancy at all, it'll be all done and dusted after Christmas.  Speaking of the storm damage - the workmen turned up to have a look at our bits of concrete flashing that had been blown off.  They got up a ladder and found that several more bits were loose and flaking, so they took all the loose bits off (so they don't fall on our heads!) and checked for loose tiles (there weren't any).  They'll come back after Christmas, well probably in January they said, to erect a tower scaffold and renew all the flashings.  Which is fine by us, they've made it safe and that's all that matters.

The glucosamine/chondroitin tablets we've been giving Betty seem to be working, she doesn't seem to be having a problem jumping up on the bed now and certainly appears more lively, wanting to play more.  On Saturday we will have had her 8 years, we collected her on 21 December 2016 when she was just 8 weeks old.  She was a tiny very wrinkly little cutie-pie then....well, she's still a cutie-pie, but a much bigger and chunkier one who has grown into her wrinkles! (although she still has a very wrinkly face).

The day we brought her home

Her adult squidgy adorable face

I made the mincemeat muffins yesterday, I added some ginger to them and they're lovely, very festive tasting.  The bubble & squeak with poached eggs, plus some of the leftover roast pork for husband, was really nice too.  Something fishy today I think, maybe a tinned salmon pasta bake.  

Bad me!

 So I missed doing a blogmas post yesterday.....bad me, ah well, life happens.  I seem to be just biding time at the moment, until this month finishes....seeing as I really don't like December, for many reasons.  Still, we're over halfway through now, it'll soon be January and a fresh new year, and then Spring!

The day hasn't started well - husband dropped one of his pills on the kitchen floor, we were both in the kitchen at the time and heard it drop and roll.  Could we find it?  Nope.  This is a fairly regular occurrence, he's so cackhanded - he's very blase about it, shrugs his shoulders and claims it doesn't matter.  Well, actually it does - apart from the fact that he's not taken one of his many and necessary tablets, what also worries me is that the dog could find it and possibly eat it, and we have no idea what it might do to her.  The other thing is that husband rarely knows which med it is.....e.g. this morning when I asked, he just said "A white one" - well, funnily enough, quite a few of his tabs are white!!  We narrowed it down to one of his angina pills, he's taken another.  He's vacuumed the kitchen floor, so hopefully sucked up the pill - or else it's gone under one of the white goods.  I have suggested that I take his pills out of his dossette box and physically hand them to him, or put them in a little cup, but he flatly refuses - says he's not stupid.  I understand why, he wants to feel independent and doesn't want me 'nursing' him, although he wouldn't actually say that.  Sigh.

On the plus side, we've got our Housing Officer coming today (she comes every week anyway) to give us our first annual tenancy review, check all our details are up to date and.....assign us a tenancy for life, now we've completed the year's probation.  Whoopee!!  Now that will really make me feel safe, knowing we're here forever.  Well, for as long as we both shall live.

I'm making some mincemeat muffins today, there's a 2/3 full jar of mincemeat in the fridge that needs using up.  It's a Mary Berry recipe for a mincemeat loaf cake, but I'll put it in a muffin tin, for easier portion control.  Husband had a small pork joint for our roast dinner yesterday, I did extra veggies purposely so that I can make bubble & squeak today.....husband will have cold roast pork with his (there's enough of it left for him to have in sandwiches for lunch the next day or 2) and I'll have a couple of poached eggs.

I'm feeling in need of something to lift my spirits......I saw that our favourite cafe (the holiday camp one at Blue Anchor) is doing festive gingerbread lattes and a festive burger, which husband likes the look of.  I won't have the burger, there'll be something on the menu I can have, but I do fancy the gingerbread latte.  And then we can have a walk along the prom to work off the calories!  So that'll be a lunch trip out one day this week.....hopefully it won't be busy as people will be out Christmas shopping.

Make sure your affairs are in order!

 Lovely sunshine here this morning and a few degrees warmer than it has been the past few days.  Not going out anywhere,  no need to and I don't fancy facing the crowds anyway.

The workman turned up to fix the kitchen external door yesterday, he was on time, polite, friendly and efficient, as they all are.  Fitted new parts and the door now works fine (and locks!).  Lots of people complain on the Housing Association's FB page about their repairs and the Housing Association in general - I have to speak as I find, we've had a few issues needing attention in the year we've been here and they've all been resolved in good time, the office staff are helpful and polite, and all the various workmen have been efficient, friendly and very obliging.  We have no complaints at all, nothing but praise in fact.  I do think if you're polite to people, they'll invariably be polite back.

Jessica, your daughter's Too Good to Go bag was an incredible bargain, she must have been well pleased.  Over the past few days I've been checking the app....the Morrisons grocery bags always sell out immediately, they seem extremely popular, so I'm guessing the grocery bags from our local one are very good value too, people must be pleased with what they get or the bags wouldn't sell out so quickly.  We're having some of the frozen mash tonight, I'm doing a sort of veggie cottage pie, so at least I haven't got spuds to peel and cook.

We've now been invited by our friends for Christmas lunch, we've been for their festive lunch many times before and it's always a good day.  We won't be able to stay for hours though, as we're not taking Betty (several reasons why it's best not to), but that's fine.  Previously, we lived just 5 mins away from them so it was no problem to pop home to let Betty out for a wee and feed her, but now we're half an hour away, that's not really feasible.

I've been chatting to a relative whose stepfather has just died (her mother died a few years ago) and has been left with a mountain of problems and mess to clear up.....hoarders house, lots of debt and having to arrange care for her disabled half brother.  She's been having a terrible time of it, problem after problem, it makes our own family problems with our Problem Relative seem very minor in comparison!  It's certainly an incentive to make sure our home and affairs are straightforward and organised, I'd hate to leave a mess for others to deal with.

Too good to go?

 Has anyone heard about or used the Too Good to Go app?  A friend told me about it ages ago, it's a means of shops and eating places selling off unused food at the end of trading at much reduced prices, to save waste.  The Tesco and Morrisons supermarkets in Minehead both do it, along with several bakeries and cafes, I'd downloaded the app but not used it before.  Well, Morrisons cafe were advertising a Cafe Ingredients bag - it's supposedly £30 worth of frozen cafe ingredients food, the app says you get a selection (the shop's choice, you can't choose) from frozen vegetables, meat and sauces, for £10 instead of the £30 it would allegedly be worth (you pay online at the time of ordering).  So I opted to get one yesterday, out of curiosity.  We went to the cafe, had to sit and wait for 10 mins or so whilst the cafe manager went off to get the stuff, she came back with a paper carrier bag just over half full.  Obviously we didn't look in it until we got home and unpacked it.....it consisted of 16 Yorkshire puddings, a 2.5 kg bag of frozen mashed potato (in little croquets) and 5 small (2 serving size I would think) packets of frozen nachos sauce - whatever that is!  There's apparently supposed to be a printed list of ingredients and cooking instructions in the bag - there wasn't, not that I really need instructions on how to cook the things, but it would have been good to know exactly what the sauce contains.  Hmm, I wasn't impressed, particularly at the lack of variety - and no meat!  I appreciate that it's supposed to be excess food leftovers, so it depends exactly what they've got left.....however, as all the stuff was frozen with long use-by dates (mid-2025) printed on the packs, it didn't really count as leftovers, I would have thought.  And a bit ungenerous of them with the lack of variety.  Husband was disgusted at having no meat!  I would also question whether what we were given amounted to a value of £30 (especially as they would buy in bulk at a cheaper price), although I guess it was worth the £10 we paid.  I doubt I'll get another one though.  However, it does mean I won't need to make any Yorkshires or mashed potato for quite a while!

It's been really bitterly cold this week, I feel the cold such a lot nowadays, which I never used to.  And I wear layers and we have the heating on virtually all the time (husband also feels the cold and getting cold isn't good for his heart failure, it makes him more breathless).  From today though, the temperature is forecast to rise a bit - I hope so, I want to go out one evening to see the town Christmas lights, and a house on the way which goes totally OTT with lights, to raise money for the Devon & Somerset Air Ambulance charity.  On the subject of which....isn't it awful that such a worthy and necessary service has no government funding and has to rely on the generosity of the public?

We've got a workman coming today to look at our kitchen door into the car port, initially the handle was so stiff we could barely turn it, now we can't lock it at all, inside or out.  Lucky we have a dog!

A year!

 The artisan craft shop was open yesterday, so in I went and am happy to say I got all the gifts I needed.  It's a lovely shop and I will definitely go again, there's something there for everyone as a gift....young or old, male or female, even pets.  It's a collaborative of 23 local crafts people, selling all kinds of home made and locally produced stuff - jewellery, knitted and crochet items, cards and artwork, all manner of carved and turned wood things, pottery, ornaments, funny signs, fused glass things, doggy chews, local honey, jams and chutneys, even some locally produced pork in a little fridge (although they didn't have any yesterday).  All of the crafts people have to do a turn in manning the shop, hence I guess why the opening hours are a bit hit and miss, depends on who's available to do a shift I suppose.  Surprisingly, the prices were, by and large, very reasonable - quite often artisan craft stuff is priced sky high - reflects the work that goes into it I guess, but more than I can afford to pay sometimes.

I also popped into Iceland to get a couple of things, we particularly like their 'Ridiculously Crispy' hash browns and oven chips, although I'm not keen on their frozen meat (for husband, obviously) - it's usually not from the UK and can be of questionable quality.  They seem to mostly stock those horrid ultra processed ready meals, which I wouldn't touch with a barge pole nowadays, but they're ok for some things, like the hash browns.  I must say the staff in there are unfailingly polite and friendly, which is nice.

All my cards are written and posted, and neighbours' ones put through letterboxes.  Food prep for Christmas is done and bought, other than dairy, veg and fruit next week.  So nothing much left to do - not that there was much to do anyhow, with it being just the two of us here.  I've got an anniversary card to post today - my one remaining uncle and aunt, it's their 66th anniversary and will, sadly, most likely be their last.  They are both now in a care home, uncle is bed bound and very poorly indeed and aunt now also very frail, but at least they are in a double room in a lovely place to end their days together, well taken care of.

Tomorrow we will have been here in our lovely little bungalow for a whole year - it seems to have flown by but we feel completely settled.  Still feel like I'll wake up and find it's all been a lovely dream!  We've been so fortunate, and I am endlessly grateful for our good fortune, it's been such a weight off my mind.

The dreaded shopping

 I loathe shopping at this time of year, especially food shopping.  I know I could do it online, but quite honestly I find it a real chore and prefer to do it in person anyway - you can't choose the quality of your veg and fruit online, or easily choose a substitute thing if what you want isn't available.  Nor can you ask a staff member online to look in the stock room for something!  

We went early yesterday morning - not as early as I'd have liked, as husband insisted on having breakfast 10 mins before we were due to leave, when he'd been up 45 mins before me (for a change, I overslept) and sat watching TV instead of having breakfast then (or even waking me) 😒.  It was around 08.30 when we got to the supermarket - it wasn't that busy, but there were quite a few parents with young children.  And some of the children were very badly behaved - grabbing things off the shelves and knocking off other stuff in the process, running around chasing each other and screaming.  There was one small boy who was, quite deliberately, pulling out Pringles tubes from a display and dropping them on the floor, no parent to be seen - eventually, the father arrived from the other end of the store.  He just said "shouldn't have brought you!" and dragged the kid off by his hood, leaving the crisp tubes all over the floor.  Another woman, who had 4 small children who were running riot, plus her partner who was ignoring them, bashed her trolley (accidentally, not on purpose) into a display of gravy granules and knocked several over, she didn't pick them up either.   I admit to not having much empathy with parents of young children, having never had kids myself due to not being the maternal type, but is it really too much to expect parents to keep an eye on their kids?  And set a good example themselves?  Blimey, I really am getting old!! 😂😉

I will have to go once more before Christmas - perhaps the middle of the night might be best!

I still need to get some gifts, not been this late before, I'm usually much better organised.  It's so cold at the moment though, I feel the cold so much more nowadays and would really prefer to stay indoors where it's nice and warm.

A nice thing

 Thank you for the comments, I'm alright, probably just tired and fed up with the weather.....although we can't expect anything different at this time of year.  Thankfully, the winter solstice (shortest day) is less than 2 weeks away, so that's something to look forward to.  December has a lot of sad days for me - the deaths of my lovely Mum on Christmas Eve 5 years ago, my beloved Nanna on Boxing Day a long time ago now - I'm the eldest grandchild and had a very special relationship with my Nanna, she died at a relatively young age, early 60s.  A much loved friend of mine died of spinal cancer which had rapidly spread throughout her body in early December 4 years ago, and my lovely Aunt Sylvia's birthday was on the 4 December - another one who died much too young, just a few months before my Mum, I loved her dearly and spent most of my teenage years with her, she was my Mum's much younger sister and was more like a big sister to me than an aunt.  I do make the effort to remember the happy times with them all (and there were many), but the sadness still remains, as no doubt it does for all of us who will inevitably have lost someone close to them.

Went into town yesterday morning - boy was it cold, bitterly cold wind.  I'd even worn my heavy winter wool coat for the first time this season, and scarf and gloves, but my face and ears were freezing.  Unfortunately, the one particular shop I'd really wanted to go in (an artisan gift and food shop selling locally produced goods) was closed....so that means another trip another day, at least the town is only 2 or 3 miles away.  I did get a few other things I wanted though, so it wasn't a wasted trip.  I bought this lovely winter door wreath in a charity shop:-

It was just the gold twisted wire and the robin and holly on the top, I love it for its simplicity (and the cost - just £2.50).   The red beads I got in the same shop, for the bargain price of 30p!!  So that cheered me up no end, I like it much better than the new, overpriced but very cheap and flimsy looking more traditional style wreaths there seems to be so many of in the shops.

I also went to the opticians and booked in for an eye test - I'm not actually due to go until July next year, but I need new glasses anyway, mine having broken, and I think the sight in my right eye has deteriorated.  So that's 2 weeks time.  Reported to the Housing Association the concrete flashing that was damaged in the storm over the weekend, so another couple of jobs crossed off the list.  They've said on their website that they're currently exceptionally busy with storm damage repairs (understandably), so it'll be a while before they can come out to do this basically non-emergency repair, which is fine.

Not quite unscathed

 Our bungalow did suffer a bit of damage after all, we just didn't notice it straight away - some of the concrete flashing (? the bit just under the edge of the roof tiles) was lying on the ground at the side of the bungalow.  Husband noticed it first and said it was one bit....I went out and had a look and it's actually come off in 3 places, it could potentially allow driving rain to get in under the tiles on the gable end.  I'll have to report it to the Housing Association today, I expect they'll be inundated with damage reports and it's not exactly an emergency repair, so I don't expect they'll send someone out anytime soon.  It's only minor, others are in a far worse position.  There are a few properties nearby with fence panels down and lots of branches off trees, although there don't appear to be any whole trees down in our immediate area.  We seem to have acquired some empty plastic plant trays and pots in the garden that we didn't have before!  The garden chairs had been blown over, I'd been worried about the glass topped rattan table so husband moved it right next to the wall and put a couple of concrete slabs on the top, which kept it safe.  We did have a cover for it, but it's one of the things that husband probably left back in his old garage or shed, along with loads of other stuff 😒 Hey ho.

It was a lovely sunny day most of yesterday, with lots of blue sky - still very cold and windy, but it was almost dead calm in comparison to the couple of days before.  Unfortunately I had a bad day, even the sunshine didn't work for me.  December is not my favourite time of year sadly and I just want it over with.  I'm really missing my Mum, and others.

Glad that's over

 According to the Met Office yesterday, the red warning for severe winds was ending at 11.00 am yesterday morning.  Did it heck as like!  A local storm chaser who was monitoring the winds posted on our local FB page that wind speed gusts locally were up to 81 mph in the afternoon.  Dozens of people were posting photos of trees down in the area, the seafront road in Minehead was covered with sand and pebbles thrown up from the beach, it was almost impossible to stand upright according to someone in Blue Anchor bay (begs the question why were they out in it then?  Dog walking perhaps?), and power outages in parts of Blue Anchor and Minehead.  We're relatively sheltered here on our little estate, thank goodness, and we've been so lucky to escape any damage.  Not even a tile blown off our roof or fence blown down, although others in our area haven't been so lucky.  Lots of things blown round the garden, but that's nothing, easily dealt with once the wind and rain died down.  We've been remarkably fortunate, although we did have a series of short power cuts throughout the late evening, 5 or 6 times the power went off. The worst thing really was the loudness of the weather, which was filling Betty with anxiety (she's an anxious dog at the best of times), poor thing.  We tried to not show much reaction, so as not to make her more anxious, and played games with her throughout the day to keep her occupied.

I made the last few cards, here's another design, I particularly like this one:-

I'll write them out today and get them posted tomorrow.

The weather is forecast to be much calmer today and tomorrow, with even a bit of sunshine.  Husband will be going to the gym in the morning, so I'll get him to drop me off in town so I can get a few gifts.  We'll then pop into the supermarket when he picks me up.

We survived

 Well, we've survived the storm so far with no damage.  Things blown around the garden, and next door's plants in the car port (they've got a lot in pots, some live in the car port permanently, others are sheltering there over winter) have mostly been blown over onto our side.  Neighbour has already been out righting the pots and sweeping up all the soil that had fallen out of the pots on our side, bless her.  The plastic cover on one of husband's raised veg beds has been ripped beyond repair....I thought it would be, I'd suggested he take it off and put it away before the storm, but unfortunately he'd pinned it to the wooden sides of the bed!  When I got up this morning, I was surprised to see that we've not had a power cut, I was fully expecting one - although there's still time, it's still extremely windy with gusts in the mid 70s until mid afternoon, when the wind starts to calm down a bit.  Only a bit, though, there's still a yellow weather warning for wind all of tomorrow.  On FB local pages there are numerous reports of trees down across roads and power outages - the garden behind ours has several trees and I wouldn't have been at all surprised to see some of them down.  We have one tree, the horrible yucca thing, in our back garden....sadly, it's still up!  Although lots of the long spiky leaves are all over the garden.  There's a big conifer tree outside husband's bedroom window in the front garden, along with an apple and a cherry tree, they're also still intact.  Betty was quite unsettled during the night (meaning I was too), every time there was a big loud gust of wind she was sitting up on the bed and whimpering.  So I think we'll all be snoozing this afternoon, when the weather starts to quieten down.  No walk for Betty this morning, far too windy, and with both husband's and my balance issues it's not a good idea for either of us to be walking round in this wind - and there are lots of trees around our local walk.  Betty doesn't like this weather anyhow - she had to be virtually shoved out of the back door into the garden for a wee, did her business and then rushed straight back indoors.

I'll draw a few more cards this morning and then that'll be it, I've got some bought cards left over from last year if I need anymore.

I hope all you readers have escaped the storm unscathed.  Stay in, keep warm and eat mince pies with a cup of hot chocolate, that's my advice! 😁

The calm before the storm (Darragh)

 I had a restful day yesterday, as I felt in need of it.  Had a bit of a tickly throat, stuffy head and sneezed a few times - well if it's a cold brewing it can bugger off, I don't want it thanks!!  So I had some extra Vit C and zinc tablets, a couple of hot lemon and honey drinks and sat in my armchair either reading or drawing Christmas cards.

I've made a few of each, got some more to do.

The restful day and dosing up worked, no sign of the cold today.  Probably as much to do with mind over matter as the extra Vitamin C, the cold didn't dare come out! 😂  It'll be a similar day today, I've got a wash load on (it'll be going on the airer in the hallway) and am about to do a sausage casserole in the slow cooker.  Not a cowboy affair with baked beans, it'll be a veg heavy one....I'll brown the sausages first (no-one wants a pale skin-coloured sausage, even if it's cooked), along with softening the onions.  Sliced potatoes, carrots and parsnips in the casserole, with the liquid being half chicken stock, half apple juice, with a splash of balsamic vinegar and tomato paste.  There's a little jar of sun dried tomatoes in oil in the fridge that needs using up, they'll go in too, along with some herbs and seasoning.  We'll have it with some good seeded brown crusty bread (so long as husband remembers to buy it when he comes out of the gym!).  So it's a bit of a carby day, but my excuse is the weather!  I'll be making the rest of the cards this afternoon, then it's the job of writing them.

It's clearly the calm before the storm, it's sunny with patches of blue sky at the moment, but there's a yellow warning for wind and rain here in the South West from this afternoon and into the evening.  Overnight it changes to an amber warning, with wind gusts predicted to be in the mid 70s! 😱  Frightening for anyone who needs to be outside, a very good reason to stay in unless it's absolutely necessary to go out.  We're well stocked with battery lights, candles and a couple of those battery lighters, plenty of blankets, and a camping gas powered hotplate in case of the electricity going off.  If necessary we can use the gas hotplate in the car port - as long as it's not too windy.  I might fill up our big flask with boiling water this afternoon, just in case.  Must remember to keep our mobiles charged up.  In the event of a power cut, husband will just go to sleep, I should be able to read by candle or battery light.

Stay safe, warm and indoors if you can!

*Edit

Our amber warning has now been changed to red!! 😳😳

Blogs disappear randomly

 Sue, good idea about adding a Blog List to my sidebar....I'll do that when I've got time and have figured out how to 😂

What puzzles me is that the blogs that go missing off my reading list are usually ones that I read daily - but it's not always the same blogs, they seem to come and go at random.  Very mysterious!

I spent yesterday morning in the kitchen, I made 6 days worth of dog food (cod and pilchard with assorted veg and rice), plum crumble and a salmon Wellington - a test prior to making the one for Christmas day.  I laid the salmon fillets on the (bought) puff pastry, spread over a sauce made of cooked broccoli which I mashed and mixed with cream cheese and plenty of seasoning, and folded the other half of the pastry over the top, sealing and crimping the edges.  We had half of it for dinner last night.....oh it's gorgeous!  I've frozen the other half.  For the Christmas Day one I'll put sliced mushrooms in it as well, for another layer of flavour.  Husband said he'd really like it for Christmas dinner.....hmm, that's now 3 times he's said he wants the salmon, and twice he's said actually no he wants meat - changing between gammon and pork 😒.  Hopefully, he'll have made a definite choice by Christmas Eve!! (we've got both the pork and the gammon now in the freezer).  Obviously, he constantly forgets what it is he's decided on.

The weather has turned pretty awful again, raining, windy and cold, apparently there's another named storm on the way.  I don't need to go out for anything, thank goodness, other than dog walking - which doesn't take long as Betty really doesn't like wet and windy weather either!  The biggest pain is that washing can't be dried outside - or even on the airer in the car port, it just doesn't dry much at all in this cold weather, so every couple of days I've got washing on the airer clogging up the hallway and having to be put in the airing cupboard to finish off, so I can put the next lot on the airer.  It's never ending.  Ah well, such is life.

I'm getting on with the Christmas cards today, time is flashing by!

Drink no more

 Thank you all for comments, seems several of us have different tastes now.  I'm still quite astonished at just how much I like a lot of veggies now - throughout my teens, 20s and even well into my 30s, the only veg I would eat was basically potatoes in any form, peas (frozen, tinned or fresh) and, oddly, Brussels sprouts.  Even now there are still some veggies I won't eat - celery is the food of the devil as far as I'm concerned, I've always hated the taste and even smell of it.  Nor am I a fan of dark green leafy veg, despite them being full of iron and apparently really good for you!  I only started eating runner beans 4 or 5 years ago when a neighbour gave us some young home grown ones - but they have to be young, slim and stringless, long fat tough or stringy ones I still don't like.  Don't like broad beans either, never have.

It's the same with alcohol, I almost never drink alcohol of any kind now.  In my teens and 20s I did drink quite a lot - I had a big group of friends and we went out to pubs and dance halls every week, so drinking was a big part of the culture back then.  I drank Cinzano or Martini with lemonade mostly, occasionally brandy and Babycham, I was never really a beer or cider (or even wine) drinker, although later on in my 30s and 40s I did start to drink white wine or cider and grew to love gin & tonic.  Oh and I did like Baileys at Christmas, either on its own (chilled with ice) or added to coffee.  Over the past few years though, I started liking alcohol less and less, I just didn't really like the taste of it anymore, and found that my body was tolerating it far less - it only took a couple of drinks to make me feel woozy (cheap date!!).  So a few years back I just stopped drinking alcohol altogether, and don't miss it.  Although we do sometimes buy a bottle of Baileys at Christmas still, and nearly always end up throwing out the last third of the bottle several months later!  Husband quite likes a rare drink, mainly stouts or real ale - he also claims to like whisky but he doesn't really, he just likes the idea of it!  He doesn't like peaty single malts, he prefers blends and has to have it with a mixer.  As he's on so much medication, it's not sensible for him to drink anyway, so he rarely does.

I started on a few more cards yesterday, I've drawn the basic outline of the designs.  I appreciate the kind comments on the first card, thanks.

And I see Blogger is leaving some of my favourite blogs off my reading list again, annoying!

Listen to your body

 After a couple of weeks of practising with watercolours and acrylics, and trying out various design ideas for Christmas cards, yesterday I thought it was about time I stopped faffing about and procrastinating and Just.Got.On.With.It!  I don't really know why I was so hesitant to get started, it's not like I haven't done them before, and they've always been well received.  So I got going - with my favourite coloured pencils after all that painting practise!! - and did one:-

Very poor light, sorry, I think you've guessed by now I'm not much good at taking photos!  You probably can't see very well in that photo, I've drawn the trees in lilac and pink (I do like non-traditional!) and there are gold stars stuck on the cards.  Actually, it would probably look better on white card stock rather than brown.  Now I need to get my finger out and do more than one a day!!  I've got a few more designs in mind.

After saying yesterday I was eating too much stodge and feeling the ill effects.....I had toasted crumpets for breakfast.  Duh!  Well I really fancied them - and they were scrumptious, even if they did add to my bloated guts.  But I did have fruit for lunch - an apple and 2 satsumas, with a small piece of Cheddar.  Dinner was the other half of the minced chicken & veg pie I'd made for Sunday's dinner - well, it needed eating up, although I could have frozen it but didn't want to add anything else to the freezer as I'm trying to empty it a bit.

Today I'm making veg soup topped with grated cheese for lunch, and root veg rosti with poached eggs for dinner, husband will have a couple of sausages with his.  I've got some plums that need using up, husband has requested a crumble and custard (more stodge!).  I think I'll make just an individual one for him and I'll have stewed plums with Greek yogurt.

Welcome to Kay, a new commenter.....I'm glad I (inadvertently) helped you with a couple of health things.  Another thing I've discovered about too many carbs giving me gut problems and aching joints...I've found that if I start craving certain foods - such as bread, I've really been wanting to eat lovely sourdough a lot lately - it generally means I've eaten too much of it recently and my digestive system is almost becoming addicted to it.  And that's bad news, the more I eat of it, the more I suffer with bloating, sore joints and generally feeling sluggish and pretty awful.  So that means it's time to give it a rest for a while.

Husband wants to go and buy his Christmas meat today, he's decided on gammon, and possibly a small beef joint.  I don't mind a little bit of ham diced up in a pasta or rice dish, but don't eat beef at all, nor lamb.  Strange how our tastes sometimes change as we get older (as Sue in Suffolk mentioned) - lamb used to be my absolute favourite meat, now I don't even like the smell of it.  I used to love liver and kidneys, now I wouldn't eat them if you paid me.

Too much stodge

 Thanks for all the comments.  I don't know what's prompted husband's burst of (almost) Christmas cheer, but am pretty sure it won't last! 

I'm feeling a bit bloated and sluggish at the mo.....too many carby foods, I expect.  And I might have had the odd mince pie or two!  Not enough fresh veg and fruit either.  The last few nets of easy peelers I've had have each contained at least one that was soft and squidgy, and some of the rest weren't that nice - too dry or tasteless.  I've thrown quite a few away (well, into the compost bin) over the past couple of weeks, and that annoys me, I hate throwing food away.  I expect the fruits have been in storage for ages - and obviously they come from abroad as well, we don't grow much citrus fruit here!  Even the Cox apples I've had the past few weeks - the only apples I really like - haven't been all that great.  I love a Cox apple when they're first in the shops.....juicy, sharp, crisp and well flavoured.....but recently some have been almost soft and powdery and not nearly sharp enough.  Disappointing.  We've been eating more carby foods lately because of the dreary and cold weather, I need to have a few days of very low carb and fresh veggies.  And I've been eating too much bread!  Granted, it's good proper sourdough, but if I eat too much of that it gives me the bloated feeling.

I've been debating whether to get crisps, salted nuts and chocolates (I'm not a chocaholic but do really like Lindt chocolates) in for Christmas, but probably best not to - we'll only eat them and my body and digestive system will regret it afterwards.  Too much salty stuff gives me palpitations (to do with blood pressure I expect) and crisps and chocs make my blood glucose level rise far too much and give me the diabetic symptoms of itchy skin, raging thirst and sore tongue.  The after effects really aren't worth the few minutes of enjoyment.  Why is it that the things we like most are so bad for us?!

Taunton shopping yesterday was bloody awful - both the traffic and the crowds in the shops were horrendous.....I don't think I want to go ever again 😒😂.

I'm already fed up with winter, and it's only just started!  Never mind, come the 21st - winter solstice - the days will start getting longer, albeit by just a few minutes a week, then it'll be January and then Spring fairly soon after that!

The tree, and a stranger for a husband

 Well, the Victorian Christmas fair at the steam train station was a bit of a disappointment.  For a start, there was nothing remotely Victorian about it - I'd expected at least some of the stallholders would be in Victorian dress, they have been at similar fairs we've attended in the past.  Nope, not a one!  And there weren't even as many stalls as we'd been led to believe there could be.  I didn't buy anything either, nothing took my fancy and I didn't see anything suitable for gifts - well, not at a price I was willing to pay anyhow.  At least we didn't have to pay to get in, other than the car park fee.  So we were only there half an hour, if that (but it meant we could get to the supermarket for the top up shop early).  One of the stallholders pounced on me as soon as I slowed down to glance at her stall (it was handmade wooden tree decorations, amongst other things), she insisted on telling me all about them and was really quite pushy, which immediately puts me off.  I don't want to be hounded into buying something, I want to take my time and make my own mind up!

We were also pounced on by 2 ladies in the supermarket entrance, thrusting leaflets into our hands and urging us to buy things for the local Foodbank.  Again, they were quite pushy - I assured them I'd intended to get some things for the Foodbank anyway, which I did - some chocolate biscuits, crackers, hot chocolate drink and a jar of coffee, all of which were itemised on the list of things they currently need.  The trolley of food donations was already piled high, so lots of people had been giving things for Christmas.

I intend going food shopping one day next week, early morning.  The following week (the week before Christmas) we'll go late in the week to get the veggies, which the supermarkets generally drop in price just before Christmas, I'm assuming they'll do it again.  I get a few of each then prep and freeze, or make soups - we both love roasted veggies and homemade veg soups.

I got the tree up, I'm quite pleased with it:-

Terrible photo, I've cut the top off it! 😂  It might not be finished yet, I may decide to add some more baubles to it, and more tinsel around the bottom.  Whilst I was doing it, husband went on his computer and found some Christmas music to play - wow, he must be getting sentimental in his old age!!  I didn't ask him to, he chose to do it....how nice (if surprising) of him!  I did the tree yesterday, as husband announced he'd like to go to a couple of shops in Taunton today - he's not known for a love of going to shops, so I'm happy to go along with him....it's a trip out!  It's almost like someone has removed my Grinch husband and replaced him with a complete stranger 🤔.  His toes are getting better every day now, less colourful and certainly less painful, so that's good.

So that's decided

 Thanks for comments regarding dog insurance.  I went on a couple of comparison websites, found one insurance that was extremely cheap, suspiciously so - it was less than half the price we're paying now.  I looked at the policy Ts&Cs first.....ha, quickly found the reason why it's so cheap - the excess payable (with Betty's age given as the reason) was huge, 3x the amount of our current excess.  Plus we would also have to pay 20% of any claims on top of the excess.  I then checked reviews of the company - 5* for setting up the policy and ease of use of the website, but only 1 or 2* for conduct of claims - they're apparently extremely slow in processing them and frequently mislay documents or information you send them.  They're also a relatively newish company, only been in existence around 7 years, and I've never heard of them.  So that's a big fat NO!  The next few cheapest policies weren't that much cheaper than what we pay now, and would most likely rise a lot in the 2nd year.  And they all have bigger excesses, due no doubt to Betty's now senior age.  So I've decided to cancel the policy and not take out another one.  I'll set up a monthly standing order to go into the savings account, it'll be an amount equal to what the insurance firm are requesting from the 1 January.  I'll also pay extra amounts into the account whenever I have money spare.  Now I've made the decision, it feels like a weight off my mind.  I'll start the standing order straight away, to give us a bit of a head start before our current insurance expires on 31 Dec.

It was drizzly, very dull and very cold with a bitter strong wind yesterday, today is forecast to be much better, even a bit of sunshine and the wind has dropped.  Just as well as we're off to the Victorian Christmas fair and craft stalls this morning, we'll get there just before opening time.  I need a little top up shop of fresh stuff afterwards. 

Tomorrow I'm getting the tree out, so the Christmas music will go on too!  I've seen photos on social media of the town's Christmas lights switch on yesterday, and there's a local street that do a load of decorations and lights on their houses, to raise money (by donations) for the local air ambulance charity, so I might persuade husband to take us out for a look one evening.  Speaking of husband, his toes are less black and blue and more rosy red and deep pink now, and he says they hurt less, so on the mend.

No broken bones for husband, and what to do if Betty has broken bones!

 Husband decided yesterday afternoon he'd like to go to the Minor Injuries unit at the little local community hospital, it's just 5 mins drive away - his toes were getting more painful and he was concerned that the pins he'd had put in his toes/feet during an operation a few years ago might have been dislodged.  I agreed it was a good idea, so we went.  We've had occasion to go there a couple of times before and have been impressed at how quick and efficient they are.  Husband was called in just 5 minutes after we arrived - I went in with him.  It's nurse-practitioner led, a lovely friendly and very humorous nurse asked lots of questions, examined his toes and feet and said he needed an x-ray.  Once again, the waiting time was very short - we barely had time to sit back down in the waiting area before he was called for the x-ray.  Called back in by the nurse within another 10 minutes after the x-ray - no broken bones, the pins hadn't moved, so it was just soft tissue damage in those 3 toes.  She told him (jokingly and winking at me!) he was not to do any gardening, hoovering, running, walking up and down the high street Christmas shopping 😂😂 (as if!!), but to sit and put his feet up for around 8 weeks (no change there then!! 😉😂😂).  She did say she was kidding, but added that he - and I - should keep an eye on his toes and come back if there was any spreading redness or other signs of infection or worsening pain.  I'm sure he'll be fine.  

I've just had the renewal for Betty's pet insurance, it's due for renewal on 1 January.  I knew it would have gone up - she's now in the Senior Dog category and that bumps the price up quite a lot.  However, I was unprepared for the rise of 52% in the premium.  Betty's insurance is already very expensive - around two thirds more than friends/family who have common and popular terriers or spaniels pay.  It's due to her specific mix of breeds - she's half Shar Pei, half English Bulldog, both of which breeds have known health problems.  Although, ironically, she's never had any of those particular problems, but does have recurring ear infections and always will have.  It's not that we can't afford the payment - we can, especially now we don't have the costs associated with the caravan.....I just begrudge paying such a huge jump in the premium.  We've had the same insurers for some years now - changing insurers usually means existing health problems won't be covered.  And all pet insurers seem to give a big discount for the first year, just to draw you in, but then whack it up significantly the next year.  I'd found in the past that some firms won't insure Betty at all, because of her specific mixed breeds, so was happy to stick with the one that does.  However, I'm now thinking I might end this insurance - for a start, the level of cover we have for her is no longer adequate, given the massive rise in vet fees - if she had a major problem requiring x-rays, scans, operations and in-patient stays, we would currently have to pay out more than the sum she's insured for.  If I increase the level of cover, then obviously the premium will be even higher, quite significantly I should think.

I've discussed it with husband - not that it was very helpful, he doesn't really understand and gets confused by it all, so it's down to me really.....he did say he's happy for me to make my own mind up.  I'm considering ending her insurance altogether and setting up a standing order to pay a fixed sum each month into a dedicated savings account for Betty's costs, paying in extra when I can.  This account would purely be to cover the cost if she has an accident or a significant health problem such as cancer or heart trouble, etc, I wouldn't take any money out of it for her annual vaccination or regular vet fees for her ear troubles and worming/flea/tick meds, the cost of which comes out of our regular budget.  The only problem would be if I cancel the insurance and she gets ill in the very near future - I wouldn't have saved enough in the new account to cover the costs.  It's a bit of a conundrum.  I know of some people (a relative and a friend) who set up GoFundMe accounts to try and cover the costs of unexpected vets bills - I wouldn't feel comfortable doing that, you're asking strangers to contribute towards the costs of your pet, which doesn't sit well with me, it's our responsibility not anyone else's.

I might have a look at some comparison websites over the next couple of days and make a decision then.

Black toes, mince pies and a missing CD

 Husband's toes (the three middle ones) are black, purple and blue this morning - he still insists he hasn't broken them (although quite how he'd know for sure I don't know) but says they are quite sore.  He's also adamant he doesn't need to see the GP.  I don't think they do anything much nowadays even if you have broken a toe....don't they just strap them up?  I will of course keep an eye on them.  It is making him more careful when he gets up out of his chair or off the bed - taking a bit of time to stabilise himself in order not to fall or stumble into anything, which is a good thing.

It was very frosty when we got up this morning, looking almost like a light dusting of snow, but the sun is out and has got rid of the frost.  It's still very cold though, I'm very grateful for our lovely warm house.  How any rough sleepers manage to survive in this weather I don't know.  

I had some of my homemade sweet pastry left, so have this morning made some more mince pies to use it up - I could have frozen it, I suppose.  I didn't really enjoy making them though, all the faffing about and clearing up afterwards....so have decided it's the last time I'll be making mince pies myself.  It's not like we eat loads of them anyway, or have a constant stream of visitors to feed them to.  In any case, we can buy pretty decent ones in the shops now, and there are always mince pie reviews in the papers or on social media, so we know which ones to buy.....or more importantly, avoid!

I'd bought a couple of Christmas music CDs in a charity shop last week - I do have quite a few but they're still packed away in a box somewhere!  I got one by Rod Stewart, who I've always liked, and a double CD of assorted Christmas songs by original artists - the first CD all upbeat songs to sing and dance to, like Slade and Mariah Carey and my favourite Fairytale of New York, the 2nd one all slower, more gentle and traditional songs like Silent Night and Driving Home for Christmas (this one sung by Michael Ball rather than Chris Rea).  Well, upon opening the double CD, I discovered the 1st one was missing - only the 2nd one in the box....somebody obviously liked the happy party-type songs and not the more traditional ones, so kept that and gave the box with only the 2nd CD to the charity shop!  Unless someone nicked the 1st CD....😒  Pity, but I do like the 2nd CD still, and shan't be taking it back to the shop for a refund.....it only cost £1.50 and it serves me right for not opening the box and checking before I bought it!  I played the CDs whilst I was making the mince pies this morning, it's my first lot of Christmas music this year - and it's not even December yet (ooh, what a rebel! 😂).

Thank you for all the comments about the Yumove tablets for Betty, I hadn't thought to check if they're sold anywhere else, as the friend who told us about them said she bought them from Amazon.  Obviously, now I know that pet shops and vets sell them, along with buying them direct from the company.  I'll use all the pet glucosamine/chondroitin tabs I got in the supermarket first and see how Betty gets on with them before I decide whether to buy the Yumove (which are a lot more expensive than the supermarket ones).  She's only had them for 2 days so far, it'll be another couple of weeks or so I guess before we can see any improvement in her stiffness.  She doesn't appear to be suffering all the time, it's only occasionally that it's noticeable.  She is sleeping a lot more nowadays, but I guess that's as much to do with the cold weather and the heating being on as it is to do with her age.

We've decided not to go to the town's Christmas fair and lights switch on tomorrow evening - it's forecast to be a bit drizzly, it'll be cold during the evening and will doubtless be very busy.  But we will go to the Victorian Christmas fair and craft stalls at the steam railway station on Saturday (it's on Sunday as well).  It opens at 10.00 and we'll get there for that time, before all the crowds turn up hopefully.  I'm looking forward to it, I'll enjoy the Christmassy atmosphere and looking at all the stalls, and want to buy a few gifts.  Husband can sit in the cafe (or even the car!) with a hot drink if he doesn't fancy looking around....he does make a big thing out of claiming to be a Grinch, but he doth protest too much!

Replies to comments and early morning drama

 Jane, the price of vet meds and treatments (and the consultation fees) seems to have gone through the roof this past year or two.  I did read somewhere that there is, or soon will be, an inquiry going on into vet fees - about time I'd say.

HH, ooh I like the sound of that cheese, onion, walnut and chutney pie!  That's one to make sometime - what a pity you and hubby can't have it now.

Sue - I'd heard about Yumove tabs, in fact a friend of ours had recommended them.  However, I then read somewhere that some of the ones sold on Amazon had been tested and found to be fake, causing illness and even a couple of deaths in dogs.  I don't know if they're sold anywhere else (pet shops or vets, e.g ?) - where do you get yours?  I guess a lot of things that are sold online could be suspect....how would anyone know?  I got the glucosamine & chondroitin tabs from the pet section in the supermarket.

Husband slipped off his bed this morning as he was getting up.....he was sat on the edge of the bed for a few seconds as I'd told him to, rather than getting straight up which results in him losing his balance.  Well, he was too much on the edge of the bed and just slid off, his elbows on the bed saved him from falling on the floor, which was good as I would have had a job getting him back up.  Unfortunately, he bashed his toes on the chest of drawers....I don't think he's broken them, they're just bruised.  He's not going to the gym though.  Life is.... let's say 'interesting' living with him!

It's a cold and drizzly start to the day, although the drizzle is easing off now and a bit of sunshine is forecast.....hopefully, we shall see.  The dog's fleece blankets more or less dried out on the line yesterday, I just finished them off in the airing cupboard overnight.  More washing to go out today but I doubt it'll dry significantly, so it'll be on the airer in the hall overnight.  I do miss my tumble dryer (it packed up after we'd already had it fixed 2 or 3 times), but not the cost of running it.  We're not going to get another one.

I shall be making the mince pies today, that'll be the last of the Christmas baking for the moment as the freezer is too full up!  We're having a frittata for dinner, using up the last of the Mediterranean veggies I roasted the other day.  There are some new potatoes and carrots in the veg box that need using up, so I'll roast them to have on the side.

Working through the list, and Christmas prep

 This morning it's lovely and sunny, I've washed all the dog's fleece blankets and they're out on the line, hopefully they'll dry.  I've just made about 2 dozen sausage rolls, they're done and out of the oven cooling off before freezing.  I saw a video of one of the TV cooks, Briony something or other, can't remember her surname, she's often the cook on one of the morning newsy programmes and also presents Escape to the Country sometimes.....not that I watch those programmes but husband's generally got them on.  Anyway, she made sausage rolls using wraps instead of pastry, claimed it was easier and quicker.  Well, personally, I didn't think it was any easier or quicker than using a bought sheet of readymade pastry, and the wraps didn't stick very well when rolling up, even with egg wash.  I'm sure they'll taste nice (I used wholemeal seeded wraps) but shan't bother again.....will stick with pastry!  I mixed good quality sausages (out of their skins, obviously) with some made up sage & onion stuffing....which is what Briony did.  However, I also mixed in a couple of dessertspoons of small chunk pickle and couple of handfuls of grated Cheddar, for added taste.  Smelt gorgeous when cooking.

Now I'm going to make sweet pastry for the mince pies, although I shan't make the pies until tomorrow as I have other things I need to do today.  I want to do a freezer inventory and meal plan, the freezer is pretty full so I need to plan meals using up frozen stuff - there are quite a few homemade ready meals so we shall be eating those to make space for Christmassy stuff to go in there.  Banking to do today, and sort out the airing cupboard.

Husband had roast lamb on Sunday (I had my homemade nut roast), lots of it left so he made himself a lamb curry yesterday using a jar of sauce and some added chopped veg.  Since I've stopped eating most meats, I've found I really don't like the smell of some meaty dishes, curry being one of them....oddly enough I no longer like the taste of curry either, even veggie ones.  There's still more lamb left, he wants a break from it today but will be having another lamb curry tomorrow - his choice - and Betty will have the rest of the lamb.

I've just got Betty some glucosamine and chondroitin tabs - dog ones - as I've noticed she's starting to show some signs of stiffness....well, she is 8 now, which is definitely getting towards old age for her specific breed types.  She sometimes prefers to lie down to eat - on her stomach I mean, not flat out on her side!  I'm guessing she has some stiffness in her neck, so we now put her food bowl on top of a box so she doesn't have to bend her head right down or lie down to eat.  She also shows some hesitation now sometimes when she's about to jump up onto the bed or sofa.  Hopefully, the tabs will help her once she's been having them for a few weeks.  We all feel the effects of ageing don't we, whether human or animal!  Getting old is not for wimps!

Thank you for all the comments, and the emails from some of you who cannot make comments on here, for whatever reason.  Blogger seems to be a bit of law unto itself.