The Dec's Are Up! And Storm Consequences

 

On Saturday, whilst Gray was at work, I put up the few decorations that I wanted to put up.  Not a massive effort, just small and simple but bright enough to give me a warm feeling of cosiness.....

 

I love this little tree.  The lights are on a timer so will switch on at around 3pm and go off at bedtime.  I won't have to do a thing 😄

I mentioned in yesterday's post that Graham has a new (temporary) job at a garden centre selling the Christmas trees.  Wow Saturday was awful.  Storm Darragh has done a lot of damage. The power went off, the ice rink was flooded, the little train wasn't working and Santa was in darkness 😢

Poor Gray couldn't feel his fingers or his feet by the time he got home and he was soaked through.  He had an immediate hot shower, a mug of tea and then a hot meal.  He warmed up just in time to go to bed with a hottie. 

 On Sunday he went in to help clean up and effect repairs. I made sure he was well layered up this time with 2 pairs of socks and a thermal top under his sweatshirt 👀

Stay safe and well wherever you happen to be,

Angie 💗

Good News! and Bath Time Adventures

 The good news is that Graham is working!  He applied for a job at a local garden centre and was offered the post immediately.  It is still weekends only, at minimum wage, and just 10 hours per week and he seems to have been put to selling the fresh Christmas Trees despite his Horticultural expertise 😐  It might only be until the new year but it's extra money at just the right time.  He is coming home knackered and filthy from the wet trees but it's a job....

I read on the internet this morning that MP's are still getting an annual heating allowance of thousands of £'s, including Rachel Reeves 😡 who is guilty of withdrawing help for pensioners, I don't know how they can live with themselves....

On Friday evening I had just had a lovely, relaxing bath and put on my PJ's ready to have a sandwich and watch TV when I took a phone call from my daughter.  They had the sealant on the walk in shower replaced that morning and it wasn't dry.  Could our Grandson come for a shower please?  Well, as he is an apprentice welder and comes home filthy, of course we said yes.  No problem.  In the end our Granddaughter came for a hot bath too. It was a real treat for her as they had replaced their bath with a shower 😂 It ended up being a lovely family get together with hot drinks and me in my pyjamas.  The things you do for family 😍

Stay safe and well wherever you happen to be,

Angie 💗

Storm Darragh, and a Heads Up

Eighteen days to Christmas and we have had a rough and stormy night.  The wind kept us both awake last night, howling and tossing the trees around with the rain lashing down.  

 We had laid the patio set flat in case the wind whipped it into the glass patio doors during the night.  Luckily, we have no damage at the moment, but the garden looks so bleak.  Little wonder that people feel down at this time of year.  I need colour in my life so I intend to put up our little tree today and fish out some pretty decorations.  That should help a little.  Our Son In Law always gets depressed at this time of year.  He is under stress at work and has, only this year, been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes.  That is now under control but he seems to be having memory loss which the GP says is due to his diabetes.  I've never heard of that before but it's very worrying.  My poor daughter is trying to keep things on an even keel and cope with Christmas preparations as well.  I hope it doesn't take a toll on her own health.

Wales and the West coast of the UK were forecast to be the worst hit by the storm.  We are in the Heart of England but I have my phone on charge and torches ready.  A delivery driver has just dropped off a package and he said that there are floods and trees down all over our area. Parts of the UK had a warning alarm on their phones last night due to 'threat to life'. My heart goes out to people with power outages and storm damage.......

Have you been affected by the storm?

A quick 'heads up'......it looks like we may be in luck again this year with cheap veg for Christmas.  Sainsburys and Aldi will be offering packs of veg for 15p each from 19th December.  I daresay other supermarkets might follow suit but I sincerely hope that they are not all for loyalty card holders or App users 😡That would be so unfair on many people, including under 18's who aren't even allowed to have a loyalty card.....

That's it for now....

Stay safe and well wherever you happen to be,

Angie 💗

Charity Shop Treasure

 Although I'm cutting my spending still further, I still like a good browse around the charity shops in the village...... 

These lovely little lead crystal glasses caught my eye.  They were handmade by Royal Brierley Crystal, where I worked for a couple of years, cut in the Bruce pattern. They would originally have been sherry glasses although drinks measures are now much bigger than they used to be so they are now perfect for liqueurs or a small port after dinner.....

I loved them at first sight. The cost? 50p each! They just had to come home with me 😉

After all..... I had just dropped off a bag of donations so there was plenty of room in my cupboard 😉😁

People don't seem to like crystal anymore. Is it because you can't put it in the dishwasher, I wonder?

Do you use yours?

Thanks for popping in and stay safe and well, 

Angie ♥️

Tuesday Treat and a Quiz

 On Tuesday evening there was a meeting at the Horticultural Guild that we joined last year. It was the annual members supper and quiz night and what a great night it turned out to be! The tickets were £5 each (the normal meeting fee is £3) and the cost included the quiz and a glass of wine. We all took food to share (our contribution being coleslaw, potato salad and crisps) and others provided sandwiches, quiche, sausage rolls, salad stuff, cheese straws, trifle and cake. My one glass of wine turned into two 😁 and Gray made coffee for himself and other drivers ☕☕ It was a really fun night of food, laughter, brain searching and chatting with new friends. There was a raffle at the end too. We didn't win either the quiz or raffle but it was the best £10 night out in years 👍 Sadly, the next meeting is not until February 2025, but the guest speaker is talking about bee keeping so we will look forward to that. 🐝🐝🐝

Who else loves bees? 

Thanks for popping in and stay safe and well, 

Angie ♥️

Monday 2nd December

 Yesterday was quite a productive day.  I set out all the family presents on the kitchen table and thought......blimey....there's not much there.  But, when I added it all up, the 4 members of our immediate family had got gifts to the value budgeted for and, indeed had gifts they would use, not tat 👀  It's just that everything is so expensive nowadays.  I actually found I had far more wrapping paper than I needed. And tags.  Drat I could have saved a bit of money there ....

Now there are the cards to be written another day.  Most will be handed out if I can as the postage is extortionate.  I have stamps left over from my Royal Mail survey days (I got paid in stamps) so I'll use those.  I don't fancy buying more just to have Christmas themed stamps.

The younger kids in the extended family will have money tucked inside a card so I'll send those first class anyway if they can't be handed out.

I went online and ordered a book for my little Granddaughter in Australia as a surprise. She'll love it because I checked first with her dad what she is reading now. Hopefully she will get it this week. 

All is in hand.  Now I can just concentrate on the food /drink. I have £15 worth of Nectar points on my loyalty card and so does Graham, so that's £30 in total.  That will be a big help.

 Thanks for popping in and stay safe and well, 

Angie ❤️

Happy 1st December!

Can you tell I'm in the Christmas mood this morning? 😂 It's the first day of December and I'm planning on getting out the wrapping paper, cards and bows and wrapping up the family gifts.  It's half price electricity today so from 11am I'll be popping in the washing too. I had a dreadful night's sleep on Friday night and woke yesterday morning feeling like a limp rag.  I had no energy all day and felt like death warmed up.  Last night was totally different and I've woken up refreshed and raring to go (luckily... because there's so much to do today!) I also want to give the flat surfaces in the bungalow a good clean so that I can arrange some Christmas stuff.  There won't be much dusting done once all the decorations are laid out 👀

Do you bother taking everything off again to dust??

We don't bother with a big tree but I bought a small lit tree last year which fits nicely on the sideboard and the lights have a timer so, once it's set, it will switch itself on and off.

Right-oh.... it's 11am so I will begin!

Thanks for popping in and stay safe and well,

Angie💗