Sorry.

I didn't mean that comment, it shows me in a very poor light!
Having had to use a plug in mouse for twelve months, I now have to bang the old one pretty hard to get this contraption to work.
Is it me or is it this crap Packard Bell machine?

We have spent two days with JR, cooking, cheering & sorting the under the stairs cupboard.
There was an unusual jigsaw of "April", wearing tartan tights, only tartan tights.
Is this someone I should have recognised?
A good number of spiders will be settling down to their first night in the "Henry" bag.
A Thomas day tomorrow, coinciding with an invitation to M&S for their Christmas event, with drinks, nibbles & a £5 voucher to spend.
We may need to lunch at MacDonalds in order to fit it all in.

Grateful thanks to my commenters - another two non-readers!

Chill.

Well, we had the lie-in; G made porridge for breakfast at about 10.00am.
G put his new trailer together, with a number of innovations, then pottered in the garage.
I have pottered around the house, sorted out the odd cupboard & washed & ironed three loads of washing - not a bad drying day, whilst the sun was shining, despite the cold.
Another cold, wet & windy night is forecast, to be expected in November, I suppose.
We are going to see JR tomorrow, I've prepared a stew for lunch & made cakes for tea - the way to cheer any bachelor.

The news is all William & Kate - what a delight to have some cheerful news.
It's impossible not to compare the scene with Charles & Di, thirty years ago, especially as they have the same ring.
Kate appears much more self-assured than Diana, who was very shy & showed off the ring with clenched fists to hide her bitten nails.
A new fashion icon & a royal wedding in the spring should keep finance off the front page.

Other good news, healthy, low calorie, low fat chocolate - jaffa cakes, toffee crisp, muller yoghurt, aero chocolate mousse..........

Please feel free to comment - I suspect that No-one reads this anymore.
If nothing else, you can see how exciting your day has been compared to mine!

Home again.

Sitting by a nice big fire, having just watched "Rebus" - "Resurrection Men".
We've read the book, which was a better experience; Rebus is well cast, though.
We have just spent two days at Marsh Gibbon, looking after Oscar & the twins whilst J & G went to a wedding. They were great fun, cheerful & well behaved all weekend.
We work on the principle of keeping them interested & active all day to ensure a good night's sleep.
We picked them up on Saturday lunchtime & went to lunch at The Bure Farm - recommended by T for fish fingers /chicken thingies. We went on to Waddesdon, noted for the dragon's cave & wonderful playground. Home for tea, bath, Ben 10 & bed.
They woke at 8.00am.
Yesterday we played, inside & out, in the morning, then to Funkey Monkey after lunch - two hours of frantic activity whilst Granny had a cup of coffee & Grandad pottered around the shop.
Home to tea, bath, Ben 10 & bed.
We woke them at 8.00am, to get O ready for nursery. Unfortunately, he had a bad cough, so we settled for a quiet morning of reading & playing.
Grandad was a star.
Cold & foggy today, so we left when J & G returned at lunchtime, visiting the garden centre to buy G's Christmas present - a trailer for the mower. Hopefully this will enable every last leaf to be collected with the minimum of effort on my part!

We are starting healthy eating tomorrow in the hope of shaping up before Christmas & giving up fattening foods before the government increases the tax on empty calories & fat.
Apparently, Denmark has already raised the tax on chocolate - perhaps this will rob them of their top position in the Happiness League.

The house is very quiet now that W, MK & family, & especially aj have gone home.
A day off tomorrow, perhaps, even, a lie-in.

TGIF

We have just had moussaka followed by apple pie & blackberries for dinner, aj having arrived safely & the boys asleep.
We went to Solihull this morning, did a little shopping, then on to pick up Thomas from nursery. W & MK dropped J & DK off for lunch & the boys played for the afternoon whilst they shopped.
There was a lot of Ben 10, which was obviously great fun.J "wasn't sure" if Ben 10 was found in Denmark.
We're relaxing in front of a nice log fire.
W, MK & the boys go home tomorrow, aj is going to see some sons & we are going to Marsh Gibbon to look after O & the twins for the weekend - some packing to be done on all fronts.

CBBC

W, MK & family are the perfect house guests - they entertain us, help with the catering, go to bed early,get up early & have breakfast without us even hearing them.
Today J is having a day with Granny & Grandad.
We cleared leaves - J had the big green hands & made mountains of leaves & helped to fill the wheelbarrow.
We followed this with a bike ride to the reservoir to feed a multitude of ravenous ducks & geese, then home for lunch - bacon, sausage, egg & fried bread. All well deserved.
We have had a little rest, watching CBBC, G snoozing.
J & I are off to make a chocolate cake.

We had a lovely day in Bicester on Monday. E & KP took J, DK & me to "Funkey Monkeys", which they all loved, then back to B & E's for fish & chips.
Yesterday we had a day out at M&S. Bliss!

Tomorrow is forecast to be vile weatherwise.
We shall plan accordingly.
Today the weather is perfect, I can't really believe that it will change overnight.

Back to the mixing bowl!

Back again.

What a hectic week.
We worked hard catching up on housework & tidying the garden on Monday & Tuesday.
G did some hedge-cutting & we cleared the yard of about a ton of acorns & leaves.
The leaves have been more than replaced since then.
I went to B & E,s on Tuesday evening, KP & I spent Wednesday having a lovely quiet day together, pottering.
On Wednesday we went to see JR. We took him out a couple of times, had a couple of home cooked lunches & suppers & did a bit of tidying up, all of which he enjoyed.
We came home on Friday evening to prepare for W, KP & family's arrival, on Saturday.
We had a low key bonfire party in the evening, joined by B, E, T & KP.
J & DK were wowed by the fireworks - their first bonfire night; T mainly wanted to see them better by use of a torch!
Today I took Morning Prayer at NW. P, A, J & T came for lunch then we went to the playground to work it all off. Everyone, bar me, managed the assault course, even DK did the lower bits.

We have just watched the last episode of "Downton Abbey".
A disappointing ending as none of the ends were tied up - can't wait for the next series.
As it's not a novel, you can't catch up or get one step ahead.

What happened to the weekend?

With a real effort, I can remember the last few days.
On Friday G & I took Jessie & Thomas to the Ironbridge Museum.
We visited it last week with T & B & thought that the grandchildren would enjoy it as well.
They did, Jessie knew lots about the Victorians, G & I felt very much at home, & Thomas enjoyed looking at everyone & eating,

G went to the dive show at the NEC on Sat morning. I dropped him & then had a couple of hours shopping in Solihull before picking him up again.
We had friends for dinner in the evening, which lasted until after midnight, so the "Fall back" clocks change was a Godsend. Even so, we didn't get up until 10.00am - too late for church!
After a slow start we had a brunch (just a late breakfast, to be honest) then we caught up on jobs around the house & garden.
We went to Drayton Manor Park to the bonfire party at tea-time, had a potter around the Park, VIP seats with bar, for the fireworks & a nice supper in the Hamilton Suite.
A really nice evening, all in all.

We hve had a busy day doing "things".
My "things" included cleaning all of the inside glass along with lots of other dirty things.
G's included drains & gutters & cutting bits off defenceless plants. He provided a highlight by finding the scruumy chocolates that T & B had left for us, on their dressing table.
Shows the standard of housework around here.
J, G & family came at tea-time, on their way home from a weekend at DMP - three very tired little children who managed a few fairy cakes.