Wet and windy.

I think that I may have amused the postman this morning as I answered the door in my dressing gown & woolly socks whilst talking on the phone!
He came bearing a box of Tyrrells crisps in response to a letter, penned by aj, a few weeks ago, after finding some unpleasant lumps of unidentified stuff in a bag of crisps.
Allegedly, it was solidified oil or lubricant, posing as dog poo!
Anyway, thanks for the crisps, Tyrrells - I shall give you the benefit of the doubt, this time.

I eventually loaded the car with all sorts of goodies & went to the gym, briefly, the, exercised & scrubbed up, I shopped in Solihull for 25 minutes - enough time to collect my "free from the Telegraph" tie from T L Lewin,  & buy a cheese scone from M&S for my lunch  & park by the obelisk, for a mere 50p.

I arrived in Oxon with enough time to visit Marsh Gibbon, then on to Bicester to collect T & KP from school.
We are having great fun - KP has built a house around me & T has researched Ali Baba, in readiness for the theatre visit, tomorrow.  
Almost bedtime - I suppose that I'd better stay up whilst T & KP are up, on second thoughts.
About to play another game of dominoes, see if I can win one!

Hello from T & KP

Lazy Sunday

I just found a button that changes the size. I like it!
I'm having a lazy couple of hours, listening to "I'm sorry I haven't  a clue" on the replay bit on the TV.
I've found all sorts of things that can be done with the TV when you can get your hands on the remote.
Enough of that.
I've had a successful day, booked tickets to see "Alibaba & the forty thieves" in Chipping Norton on Wed am with T & KP, went to LM church with notices before taking the Advent services at Sh & OW then delivered some printed guidelines re the Christmas trees to the decorators en route home.
After a snack I had a couple of hours before needing to get dinner ready - friends are coming.
I considered ;
1. washing the car
2. digging up the geraniums for safe-keeping
3. finding the extension cables & tree holders ready for church.
I settled for "none of the above",  & relaxed with the remote.
One problem with listening to radio programmes on TV is that you have to stay put, rather than put all the radios in the house on to radio 4 & roving.
The Sunday Times to read yet - another late night then.

Fourteen for lunch next Sunday, so far.
Solihull tomorrow - gym, shopping, coffee at M&S, pick up J & Th then back to J Lewis for an aromatherapy facial.

Time to oven the chicken!

Too much caffeine?

Another great day - up at 7.00am & on the Internet, e-mails sorted, letters done & printed.
Somehow it was still eleven o'clock before I was ready to go out.
I shopped in Coleshill, Knowle & briefly, in Solihull, before picking Th & J from school & having tea,
It was J's school fair this evening, so P was home early so they could all go.
Big excitement.
It took an age to get home due to accidents on the M40 & M42 so all roads gridlocked.
I ate a crunchie bar as compensation, after dinner. I can regret it later.

I hope that this strike next Wed will be called off - it appears that chaos will reign, schools closed, so parents off work, hospital appointments cancelled & airports disrupted, for a start, costing the country a fortune
Apparently, men collect their pension for an average of 21 years, women for 24 years, amounting to about £11000.
Surely you must expect to pay more in if you are going to draw more out when you retire.
What do I know?

I have a sermon to put together, either tonight or early tomorrow morning, before going to clean the church, with Maurice.
I've booked a makeover for next week -  facial at J Lewis (b'day present) & hairdo.
No alcohol since last Tuesday, gym on Monday.
What else do I need to do?

A letter from.....

Thailand.
The first letter from G since we married.
I had a good night's sleep - always a good start, then had an excellent day, assessed by work done & pleasure gained.
I caught up on all of the jobs this morning, including e-mails for the week, paperwork, banking, the Mid Advent Festival (MAF) letters & posters & two loads of washing.
When this was complete I had neat piles of paperwork on the kitchen table, ready for posting, delivery,etc. as well as a voucher for entry to The Good Food Show at the NEC for £12, after 1.00pm.
I scrubbed up then delivered some of my letters on the way to the NEC.
On the door I was told that  I didn't have to pay, I did query this, but they were adamant - £8 for the car park & still £4 in hand.
The show was very good - I tasted some of the best cheeses I've ever eaten, bought parmigiana reggiano, chutneys, sauces, oatcakes & bakeware, ate loads of samples & entered lots of competitions, before leaving at 4.30pm, to beat the crowds.
I had a nice cup of tea & a nap before ironing, remaking the bed, then chilling with a scrambled egg to watch "Masterchef".
I must buy some food tomorrow. I'm planning to go to the gym & shop before picking up Th & J from school.
I have to write Sunday's sermon & clean the church before Sunday - Advent Sunday - get the rings up on the front door.
Time for bed.  

Home Alone.

I've just returned from visiting JR, having gone down on Monday pm.
I was so disgusted with the amount of litter in the village that I spent a couple of hours on Sunday pm;
tennis was cancelled on Monday am, so I put my wellies on & worked my way up the main road to Tuckey's Row. I met  one of the residents, who said that the council team were litter-picking from Coleshill, so I gave up, came home & showered & set off for JR's, arriving at 2.30pm, so his carer c Decorating could have a couple of days at home with her family.
JR's memory is getting very poor so every experience is new - every cloud has a silver lining, I suppose.
On Tuesday he had a near death experience over breakfast, that lasted an hour & ended with me getting him on his walking frame & half carrying him to the loo. After  getting him to his chair, a cup of tea & an hours sleep whilst I watched TV, he woke up & suggested going out to lunch.
Wow!
He ate a good lunch & looks better than when I arrived.
I'm an all round carer as I combine first aid with prayer.
We did his Christmas shopping, wrapping & did his cards, all put away for a few weeks.
I wasn't on the list again this year!

I'm delighted that we have 17 Christmas trees booked for the Festival at church, being delivered ready for "potting" up next Monday. Decorating the following Wed & Thurs PM, then the church open all weekend, when we shall serve teas & Christmas cakes from around the world (not really - me or Costco)
I have a log fire as it's cold & I'm tired after a long, busy journey home.
A bath & an early night seems attractive.

Can man live by cake alone?

There does come a point where you have had enough, even of cake.
I settled for adding coffee (always a firm favorite),lemon & coconut mountains to the fruit, banana, gingerbread & chocolate.
There remains only a segment of the fruit & the banana cakes.
I didn't really eat that too much cake - two coconut mountains that broke on leaving the tray, the odd sliver of coffee, to test, & hefty chunks of banana & fruit cake whilst clearing up, because I'd not eaten all day & was wilting/peckish.
The fridge was devoid of greenery, apart from courgettes, so I defrosted & cooked some salmon & had a sandwich.
Scrummy, even without a side salad.

The C & C morning went well.
Chris, Jan's husband did sterling work on the B&B, Maurice sold £60 raffle tickets, a good return on the £12 worth of prizes, & we made £290.
The house is gleaming again, even some of the silver polished & a "Welcome Back Di" cake made.
I watched  the end of "Strictly", then had an early night, with the kg of Sat Telegraph.
This could be why I was up & on the computer at 6.00am.

Coffee & Cakes.

Back home yesterday after a couple of days with aj, pottering & chatting & eating.
Manchester yesterday to meet MK & DK at the airport & spend the day together.
DK was brilliant & MK behaved quite well, despite most of the day being spent at the Childrens' Hospital, in waiting rooms.
I caught up on my sleep last night, not waking up properly until after 8.00am.
I spent the rest of the day putting fliers through doors/ chatting up folk about the Coffee & Cakes here on Saturday morning.
I took 20 Mid Advent/Christmas Tree Festival posters to Coleshill & have them displayed in the shops, banks, etc, then came home & started on the cakes - the ones that improve in a day or so.
So far we have :
fruit
banana
chocolate
Any suggestions for the rest.

Time for bed. 

Eboracum.

Thar's where I am - with aj.
We had an energetic day, walking down to Acomb for a potter this morning, then catching the bus into York, for a further potter.
We had tea & a bun in M&S & did a little shopping, with some success.
It was dark by 4.00pm today, before we got home for a nice cup of tea & a piece of cake (the way to aj's heart is a Victoria sponge, with jam & cream)
We are about to have dinner - aj's slaving in the kitchen!

I drove here yesterday after church.
G has texted me once in the last two weeks, yesterday he texted twice - once as we started the two minutes silence & again as it came to an end.
When I apologised afterwards I was told that people thought it was hearing aids bleeping.
Much more likely to be found in Sh church than a mobile phone, I suppose.

Back in the saddle.

Yes, I went to the gym this morning, the first time since Boudicca's personal gym!
I had to rush to get to M&S for the cardholders' event - £5 voucher + 10% discount + a glass (v small) of bubbly & a mince pie - then on to pick up J & Th at 3.15pm.
I've had a great day.
Actually, I've had a great week.
I went to Bicester on Monday, to babysit T & KP.
I babysat O & the twins on Tuesday evening, went back to B & E, as it was late, & and eventually came home on Thursday.

I delivered 28 letters about the Mid Advent/Christmas tree festival (MAV), inviting groups of friends, neighbours, families, etc to volunteer to decorate a tree in church for £10, as part of the Christmas celebrations.
The Estate are donating 10 trees & we hope for more from Planters Garden Centre; we have 2 volunteers so far.
It should be great, if it works.
The Church will be open on 10 & 11 Dec, lit only by the tree lights on the window sills & around.

Good Housekeeping has it's best / tried & tested Christmas produce from all of the supermarkets - M&S & JS did quite well:
Turkey               - M&S Classic British.
Smoked salmon - JS Taste the Difference, Speyside, whisky smoked.
Stuffing              - JS Taste the Difference, pork, sage & onion (Philistines)
Cake                   - JS T the D hand decorated....
Pudding              - M&S luxury/Waitrose richly fruited (£3 more!)
Mince pies          - Co-op truly irresistible

JS have some good wines at half price.
Tesco have Tattinger vintage champagne at half price.

New batteries in the bathroom scales so tomorrow morning will be trying - I'll start dieting as soon as I get off them, I'm sure.

Whew.

We had a great bonfire party last night, the bonfire went well, with titivation (paper & videos pushed into holes) & the fireworks all ignited with only the super-duper rocket needing a second attempt.
B the Brave!
We dined on chilli & rice, gingerbread & cakes & the grandchildren all had a late night.

E & T came to NW church this morning, T was assistant stereo operator & behaved brilliantly, although I did find that he was unable to discuss the finer detail of my sermon on "The Foolish Virgins"
B & KP went for a cycle ride & found a bee hive in a tree.

After lunch of roast pork the family had to leave early as T had a b'day party to attend.
G phoned from a Thai beach, having had a lift from Bankok, enjoying himself.
A lovely weekend. 

Wet.

 I have done everything on my list, apart from writing Sunday's sermon & taking out the letters re the Mid Advent Festival (because I have no envelopes.
I'll get up early tomorrow as I'm past it tonight.
I have a delicious, big, sticky gingerbread & cakes made, the ingredients for chilli & Sunday lunch, the beds all made up & two boxes of fireworks in the porch.

It was a lovely sunny morning - two loads of washing dried outside.
I went to Solihull this afternoon to collect J & Th from school. The M42 was closed so traffic was heavy. The Heavens opened for about an hour, so J & I were drenched, despite parking between the schools & having a big umbrella. We went to JS to choose fireworks & had tea there whilst we dried out.
It's raining again - as long as it's finished by tomorrow.

I'm watching "The Hotel Inspector" - The Grimscote Manor in Coleshill - The Grimstock, where W once worked.
JS has Baileys at half price - £9.89/litre.  

Home again......

I took G to Heathrow on Tuesday, having stayed with B & E on Monday night, to give us a head start.
G has travelled onward to the coast in Thailand, somewhere.
I had a text, but it was a bit garbled.
It took me three days to get home as KP had a parents' evening yesterday so I stayed on to babysit.
In effect, I took T to Beavers then KP & I went to Bicester Village for a potter & "a coffee" in Pret.
KP had a brilliant report.
My bed will seem very quiet & empty tomorrow morning, I'll get up & get on with the host of jobs I have to do.
QT is on - very good tonight, Ed Balls is the weak link.Peter Hitchins is particularly good - he had been to St Paul's to speak to protesters & said "they knew nothing about the economy, in fact, they knew very little about anything".
Do watch "The Frozen Planet", the photography is amazing - the best nature documentary ever.
I haven't even started my novel yet!