Treats For a Tenner & Foxy Lady.....

 This week our government's generous (???) £10 each Christmas bonus dropped into our accounts. Hmm...what treats can we get for a tenner?  Gray chose to spend his on a box of chocolates and a tin of delicious shortbread....

I decided to donate mine again this year and have chosen Ang & Bob's appeal for the Hospice.  They have created a beautiful tableau of the Holy Family in their garage in order to raise funds.  I don't know how to post a link but you will find them on Tracing Rainbows. 

Anyway, they are now recipients of my own tenner.  I will, of course, still take a box of biscuits to my own favourite Hospice charity shop for the staff and volunteers to enjoy in the run up to Christmas.....

What will you be spending your tenner on?

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I'm finding it harder and harder to get up in a morning.  It's so dark, and this morning there was heavy rain too.  After a sleepless night I find I drop off in the early hours and then don't want to wake up!  It was 9am again this morning.  Last night I fell asleep around 1am and woke at 7.20am to the rattle and smash of the recycling collection lorry.  I popped to the bathroom and then back into my warm bed until 9am.  At least it means that we don't put the heating on until then, and the bungalow very soon warms up.

Are you finding it hard to get up too? 

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I can't believe it's now December, the last month of the year.  Where has the year gone?

All our regular bills are paid by direct debit on 1st of every month so our account has taken another hit.  Costs are still rising and we anticipate another big rise in rent on 1st April 2026 as well as council tax.  I took my car in for MOT yesterday and it passed with no issues but there were advisories.... I will need two new front tyres in the Spring and one headlamp is letting in water.  Replacement headlights are not to be found so I have made the difficult decision to sell Foxy Lady after all.  Someone will either do her up or use the parts for renovating another vehicle.  She is 15 years old and mileage on the clock is 31,500.  Kevin, the friendly mechanic pointed out that I had only driven just over 400 miles in a year !😬

It seems a bit daft to let her sit on the drive over the Winter months while still paying tax and insurance on her.

In addition, Gray will be paying more tax on his tiny personal pension next April ( thank you, Rachel Reeves 😭) and that is what we use for our days out and entertainment budget. By selling my car, it will put around £600 per year back into the household budget to help cover any increases in 2026

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We haven't been having our monthly treat since September so we are going to our favourite pub for a cooked lunch today.  Two roast lunches cost £16 and drinks around £7- £8 and it means that I won't have to cook tonight, thank heavens 😉 As the weather is so mucky, we don't fancy doing much else.....

Have you any plans for the next week?

Thanks so much for popping in.  Stay safe and well wherever you happen to be,

Angie 💗

As Luck Would Have It !

 Once again, a big thank you to everyone who has responded to my last 2 posts.  I'm soaking up the suggestions like a sponge and will work my way through them until I find what works for me.  I tried ringing the GP this morning and got nowhere, so Gray drove me down to the surgery ( in pouring rain!) where I spoke to the receptionist and explained the problem with the prescription and my symptoms.  I asked whether my last blood test included tests for B12 and Folate deficiency as I couldn't tell from the App and she said no, it didn't.  She completed an online form for me (for triage) and called me back around an hour later telling me to go for another blood test which I had to book myself online.  As luck would have it, there was just one slot left for Friday afternoon which I snapped up.  Sometimes you have to wait for 2 weeks for a blood test so I count myself lucky.  It will therefore be about a week before I know any more  😞 Meanwhile, I now have a nasty metallic taste in my mouth to deal with as well....

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Feeling very sorry for myself, I decided to buy a couple of cheap books for my Amazon Fire tablet and was pleasantly surprised to find that I still had a £6 credit on my account that I had forgotten about.  I splashed out on 2 books @ 99p each, both from favourite authors; Milly Johnson and Trisha Ashley.  Trisha's book is her new one, The Christmas Retreat,  which I have on order from the library so I can cancel the library reservation and let someone else have it 😀  And I still have credit left on my Amazon account 😊

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The village Christmas light switch on was lovely, if wildly chaotic.  We didn't realise that so many people actually lived in the village! Or perhaps they didn't.  After all, 6 of our own family members joined us to watch the fireworks and afterwards we all piled in to the pub (which was rammed to the doors) We did manage to find a small table and a few extra chairs.  Hot turkey cobs were quickly ordered along with mulled wine and beer, and lemonade for me (I would have loved a mulled wine 😔 )

Afterwards, we walked up the hill back home, like a slightly tipsy crocodile, where I made everyone hot chocolate.  It was great !

Have you had a lights switch on near you?

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Thanks for popping in.  Stay safe and well wherever you happen to be,

Angie 💗

Dentists, Frustration & a Thank You.....

 

Thank you to everyone who commented on my last post, and thanks so much for all the helpful suggestions too.  My dental consultation was partly successful but hasn't resolved the issue of my sore tongue.  The good news is that the dentist could find nothing seriously wrong with my mouth but the bad news is that he thinks I have 'burning mouth syndrome', for which there is no cure, as such 😭I asked about B12 supplements and he agreed that they could do no harm, and he gave me a prescription for steroid mouthwash tablets; swish 4 times a day for a week to reduce inflammation.  OK so far so good.....

Do you think anyone stocks the blooming things?  Of course not.  Every pharmacy I tried has none, can't get them and even online they are unobtainable!  I rang the surgery this afternoon and my dentist is off until Monday.  No one else can help.  For goodness sake 😫

None of the pharmacies had any sublingual B12 (thank you Bun!) nor pastilles (thanks Gill!)

I ended up buying ordinary high strength B12 tablets and have ordered both the sublingual version and the mouth ulcer pastilles online from Boots.  Unfortunately, the collection date will be 4th December at the earliest.  I despair sometimes....

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This evening it's the village Christmas lights switch on...yay!  The whole family are going to come so I'm looking forward to it.  We've just had a downpour of rain so I hope that's the end of it for today.

Thanks for popping in.  Stay safe and well wherever you happen to be,

Angie 💗

Freezers and Sore Tongues !

Yet another week has flown by in a flurry of rain, sun and frost, seemingly all at random!

I had a Sainsburys delivery yesterday of bits and pieces of party food to put into the garage freezer and I've defrosted the kitchen freezer this morning in readiness for entertaining.  I don't really want to be darting out to the the garage in the cold to retrieve the Boxing Day food so intend to transfer it to the kitchen the day before.  I therefore need to make room!  We have been eating up the odds and ends this week and there is light at the end of the tunnel 😉

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I've had a sore tongue for the last week which has been pretty miserable.  I can see a tiny little ulcer on the tip and, boy, it's uncomfortable.  The pharmacy recommended Corsodyl mouthwash but it stings like billy-o so I can't use it.  Research suggests it can make things worse too.  Apparently some toothpastes can be an irritant if they contain sodium lauryl sulphate and one of mine does contain it, so I'm sticking to Sensodyne for now.  I'm not eating spicy food, not drinking alcohol etc Mr Google suggests low iron or B12 but my last blood test showed normal ferritin levels and I was told I'm not deficient in anything ??

Luckily, I have a dental check-up booked for tomorrow so I'll ask my dentist what he think is causing it.  Thank goodness we still have an NHS dentist.  I know many people don't.....

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It's the Chancellor's budget speech this afternoon.  My heart sinks.  What will she do now? At least we have the promise of Winter Fuel Payment this year.  Phew....

Take care.  Stay safe and well wherever you happen to be,

Angie 💗

Good Reads and the Christmas Spirit.....

 I have spent the last week catching up with chores, de-stressing and reading.....a LOT !

When I ordered Milly's latest book from the library, I expected a long wait but it came in pretty quickly.  Having just finished the Heidi Swain which Gill had sent me, it came at the opportune moment for a Christmas read.  The weather was foul; wet, wild and windy so it wasn't too much of a stretch to imagine it was snow falling, and to get into the bones of this book.  Oh I LOVED it!  If you get the chance, please do give it a go.  It drew me in to the characters in the first few pages and kept me gripped right to the end.  And a very satisfying end it was too 😊

I had also reserved another book: The Midnight Bookshop by Amanda James and, when I went to pick it up, I also spotted Heidi Swain's Home For Christmas and nabbed that one too.  I have until December 11th to return them both so I think Amanda James first then the Heidi Swain......

I have 3 more Amanda James ones to read but I think I'll hold them back until Spring now that I'm in the Christmas/ dark days/ bad weather mode.

Are you into Christmas reading yet?

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When I visited the Hospice shop last week I could see that a box of my handmade Christmas cards were on display.  I have donated 35 so far and just 10 were left (after a week) so they are definitely selling......

The birthday cards too had almost sold out so the weekend has been spent making as many as I could during the daylight hours.  It gets so dark now and working at the kitchen table makes matching colours a little trickier than during the brighter days of Spring and Summer.

However, I now have another batch to drop off tomorrow making a total of 400 since March this year.  Woohoo! 😍

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Edit:

Samples for anyone interested 😉

Thanks so much for popping in.  Do stay safe and well wherever you happen to be,

Angie 💗

Birthday: Freebies, Almost Freebies, and a Healthier Fridge !

 Getting older does, I found out last week, have some benefits 😀 I got several emails containing small gift vouchers or discounts from Hobbycraft. 

 I was sent a £5 voucher which I used to buy some pretty flowers for my charity cards.  They cost a total of £7.50 and I only paid £2.50.....

....and a pack of tiny crystal gems costing £2.80 only cost me 30p after using my £2.50 loyalty voucher.....

Even better was a FREE pack of grapes on my M & S Sparks App !  They were priced at £2.65 but cost me nothing 😀 We will enjoy some with our cheese and crackers for tea tonight.....

My fridge is looking a little healthier after last week's food delivery too. The Benecol spread and Cholesterol drinks are there because Gray had a phone call from the pharmacist (why not the GP???) to say that he has high cholesterol and needs statins to bring the numbers down.  After a bit of frank discussion, Gray decided that he didn't want to take even more medication than he's currently on, and will try to resolve it with his diet.  (And, yes, the Toblerone at the very top is his 🤯 )

I guess watching our diet will be beneficial for us both.  We've slipped into some poor habits lately, I'm ashamed to say, especially eating snacks in the evening 😒

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Thanks for popping in and do stay safe well and well wherever you happen to be,

Angie 💗

Empty Fridges, Cupboards and Books....

 Gosh, it's been more than a week since I last posted 🤯 The reasons for this are varied, but  I've not felt 100% healthwise and there has been a lot of other stuff going on too.  I don't know why I've felt 'off''.  I did get my flu jab in the end last week when Gray went to the surgery for his and he asked if any more appointments would be released.  The nurse checked and found there was a cancellation at 5.10pm that day and I took it.  I don't think it was the jab which upset me, but for some reason I have felt particularly low and unsettled and have not slept particularly well all week.  My blood tests came back clear but there has been no further response from the surgery regarding how to feel better and I'm not sure how to get further help.  My IBS is still problematic despite careful, mindful eating, live yogurt consumption etc so I feel more than a bit fed up.  I had my 76th birthday on Saturday which made me feel remarkably old and decrepit! 

The day was spent quietly at home but we were invited to lunch on Sunday at our Daughter's house as I share my birthday with our son-in-law.  It was a lovely roast dinner but she was catering for 8 instead of 6 at a minute's notice and there was only room for 6 at the dinner table.  At least I didn't have to eat from a plate on my lap on the sofa !  We left around 6pm to give our Daughter a little breathing space (and a seat on the sofa!) She has her work cut out.....

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As I've felt a bit 'off' lately, I've taken my eye off the ball regarding the food shopping and store cupboard.  This was my fridge door yesterday....

Jams at the top, a little cheddar cheese and some butter and not much else 😱

The main compartment wasn't looking much better either.  Sauces at the top, Vimto for visiting teens, butter, spread, a bit of grated cheese in the tub and some veg in the bottom drawer.

I found carrots, onions, tomatoes and 2 baking potatoes;  enough there for some delicious soup....

The cupboard where I keep my tinned stuff is almost bare too, just like Mother Hubbard's.  The basket on the right contains bags of flour and about a quarter of a packet of dried mixed fruit.  There is just one sachet left in the cup-a-soup box. And, yes, the two half bottles on the left are alcohol! One is brandy to put in coffee on a cold day and the other is rum to put into the Galaxy hot chocolate.  This size bottle lasts us easily 6 months, I promise 😉

I really need to get my head together and start re-stocking from now until Christmas.  I don't like being this low on supplies.  I do have food in the freezer though.  There are boxes of home grown beans, squash, apples, raspberries, rhubarb etc as well as a few batch cooked meals so we won't actually starve if we're snowed in, but I'm sure prices will be creeping up even more in the run up to Christmas.

Are you busy stocking up now?  

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As I've been trying to relax more, I've done more reading than usual.  I had a book reservation come in so read that first as I could only have it for 2 weeks loan.  I love anything based in Cornwall, especially North Cornwall which we love and Fern's book didn't disappoint.....

I've now begun the new Heidi Swain which was very kindly sent to me by a lovely blog buddy.  It's got a wonderful, cosy Autumnal vibe about it, perfect for this season.  Thank you, Gill, I'm thoroughly enjoying it....

Are you feeling below par now that the weather has turned cold and wet?  Or are you basking in the warmth of a sunny Spring day perhaps?

Do stay safe and well wherever you happen to be,

Angie 💗