Family Time......

 
We started this week with Doggy Day Care for Daughter's dog as M had surprised her and O with theatre tickets in London. 

Sadly we also heard that Son's dog has lost her recent health battle. She had been so well loved and will be deeply missed. 

Christmas Eve and we had a little band of veg-prep Elves: Daughter, E&C, Hubby and me. I was enjoying catching up with E and forgot to take a photo.

Hubby and I set the table before we went to bed.  

Christmas morning always starts with playing the LP of traditional Christmas songs, I bought it for our first Christmas together 51 years ago. We keep the record deck especially for that. 

Daughter, E&C, R and O arrived with the dog of course. Sadly M was too unwell to join us and Son and fiancé were feeling very sad and also decided not to come.

O, as usual, did the prezzie distributions. Yes he really is getting taller and taller. 

Daughter had said she was doing all the cooking and brought with the vegan Wellington she had made for all those not eating turkey. 

There seemed plenty of time for some game playing, which took a lot longer than expected

So in the end I also did some of the cooking and we all sat down to two yummy courses and all too full to have dessert. 

But not to be defeated dessert was dished up and eaten while watching Dr Who (which was a load of rubbish, TV not dessert).

They didn't leave it too late before gathering all their stuff together and heading home, with a plated up dinner for M.

Boxing day Son and fiancé came for a quieter afternoon just the four of us. Mince pies and chocolate biscuits with mugs of tea, prezzie swapping and lots of chat was lovely. They decided not to stay for dinner so I wrapped up the vegan pigs in blankets and the sweet potato Wellington we had saved for them so they had dinner to eat at home. 

Friday didn't start so well as I needed to go for a blood test and sometimes I'm a tricky customer this was one of the tricky days. Two phlebotomists needed five attempts, but they got there in the end. 

So a lazy afternoon with the heating up and lots of TV. 

We've a busy Sunday ahead I need to get the house ready for, so I'll leave you now and get on with it..... but not before wishing you all the very best for 2025.

Festive Feasting with Friends........

 
Starting the week with a smile. I was bought an orchid last August and only recently all its blooms fell off, now suddenly it's blooming again. 

I'm always confused by this cactus that can't decide if it's an Easter cactus or a Christmas cactus. A lovely healthy plant but it only ever has one or two flowers at any old time of the year but none now. 

Thankfully I'm feeling a lot more comfortable this week, not totally fine but OK to take on the very festive week in our calender. 

Monday was our noisy coffee morning of course. 

Tuesday we should have been out at a late lunch meeting two couples in Chelmsford. Sadly friendL phoned in sick so her and husbandK couldn't come. Then friendsL&M decided we should postpone till January, so I cancelled our pub booking. 

Hubby and I took the rare opportunity to go round Tesco together. I just  about survived physically and we were pleased to have done so much with only the fresh stuff with short dates to get next week. Not sure Hubby would survive me shopping with him too often hahaha. 

Wednesday the usual gang booked the festive menu at the pub and it was all really good. 

Thursday the old work team gathered. Even after more than 15 years it's still my job to arrange things. We now prefer to have a lunch event rather than evening but it's still a full three course pig out. Mmmmmm 

Oops, you can now see I wore the same jumper both days, hahaha. 

With just a few days before the main event I'll wish you and all your families the happiest and healthiest festive season. 

And this year both religions can party together. 

In this family we always do!!! ❤ 

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Feeling Poorly.........

 
We swapped coffee morning this Monday for a local hotel Christmas lunch. Unfortunately I had been unwell over the weekend, with food making me feel yucky so I thought it best to miss this festive two course lunch. I insisted Hubby still went and he took this photo and reported it was all good. 

An added bonus was neighboursA&D paid for Hubby's as a thank you for the various jobs he has helped them with. 

 I was still feeling ill with lots of side effects ganging up on me, so phoned the helpline and later spoke to the Specialist Oncology Nurse, she is getting anti sickness pills prescribed and also recommended travel sickness bands which I'd ordered from amazon. She also told me to stop taking the meds for a whole week and we will review the dosage after that. 

These bands seem to help, which is fortunate as the hospital pharmacy doesn't appear to have received a prescription for me! 

We did manage to join my usual Wednesday evening friends and I even ate a little which was an improvement. 

I'm always so proud of Daughter and how she takes on all sorts of extras. This week E and her boyfriendC have moved back from Dorchester to Norwich and Daughter hired the big van and did the move with them. Taking O with for company and help they had the five hour drive down there Tuesday evening, loaded up about 11pm then slept over and drove back Wednesday morning. E&C have a fully loaded car and will meet them back in Norwich on Thursday, meanwhile here with Hubby, Daughter and O they unload half the van to store here, apart from their three seater sofa which was manhandled at Daughter's house but wouldn't maneuver into the bedroom space they had cleared for it so rearranged other rooms to fit it elsewhere. Phew! I had the easy job of keeping the dog out of their way.

Now I really need to muster up the energy to do the last of the gift shopping and wrap and sort menus so Hubby can shop. I'm exhausted just thinking about it.

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Twinkle Twinkle Little Star........

 
As with every previous year R and O traditionally have to start their Christmas by building and decorating our tree. They both get so busy with work and other commitments that this year it actually had to happen before November was totally finished. 

We all thought the lights looked better on R than the tree, tricky to keep her plugged in though! 

Finally finished and looking very festive. 

Hubby and I were left to clear up and then do the little tree in the dining room. 

And put up the extra lights. 

Hubby also attached the icicles to the guttering outside, so a good festive sparkle inside and out. 

I'd seen a recipe for air fryer bagels made with just Greek yoghurt and self raising flour. I couldn't get it to form a good dough and so it was sort of sticky dollops that landed on the baking tray that I threw into the oven (I've a very small air fryer that would have taken far longer cooked two at a time).

They didn't look pretty and I couldn't see any resemblance to bagels but they tasted OK. I won't bother making them again. 

Two days running we've managed a really short shopping dash locally and I've ordered a few bits online so I feel I don't need to panic just yet. All my cards are written, posted with royal mail or with our local scouts, and only a few left to hand deliver. 

So pleased I've always kept lists. Off to check mine again now and see what needs doing today. 

Enjoy your week.

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Amused and Amazed.......

 
This one kept Hubby busy for a long time, can you see how many people are crowding that beach? And the WASGIJ ones don't follow the picture on the box! 

Daughter came over on Tuesday as she had a strange car noise when she turned the steering wheel, well all Hubby had to do was open the bonnet and close it again for the noise to disappear. Now they are both head scratching wondering what caused and cured it. 

I went for a blood test this week and as we pulled into their car park another car had just parked and the driver was getting out. Hubby parked quickly but really badly and said "I'll repark when you beat that woman with her stick" hahaha! 

Another Doggy Day Care afternoon when Son and Fiancé did a little more Christmas shopping. I've had two small deliveries this week but really must get into gear with getting our Christmas gifts and food shopping done, although all my cards are written and ready to post.  

Good thing about having Son here briefly is he could help Hubby get the Christmas stuff out of the loft (saved me helping) as this weekend is the only free time R and O have to start their long held tradition of making our house festive. I'll put photos in next week's post. 

Nearly Ho Ho Ho time...... what's next on my list? 

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Good News Week........

 
Very early start last Saturday as M and O were off to a comic convention/ exhibition thing in West London so Hubby took them to the station just after 7am. Daughter and R are already away in different places so we are on Doggy Day Care again

When Hubby picked them up from the station late afternoon they were both grumpy and exhausted from hours of queuing only to be told it was mostly cancelled. They had paid for tickets, travelled and queued for nothing!

It was announced on the Red Rose Theatre page that their play Ungodly, which has just finished its London run, has been nominated for two Offie Awards! 

As I was lamenting that our beautiful tulip tree on the drive had now lost nearly all its leaves I was more than adequately consoled when I noticed our beech tree. It has been too cold for me to venture into the back garden for ages so this was a stunning surprise. 

Call from the consultant said the results of last week's CT Scan show some improvement as the tumor has shrunk a bit YAAY, not improved enough to allow me to reduce the dose but good news makes it more tolerable!

Hope you've had a good week.

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Cosy and Comfy.........

 
Another jigsaw completed (almost all by Hubby). 

CT Scan this week went well. Hope I don't have to wait too long for the results. 

Soda bread with caraway seeds. Yummy.

Another day was lemon puffs mmmmmm

Friday was a bit of Doggy Day Care when Son and fiancé wanted to make a start with a little bit of Christmas shopping. Fiancé still gets tired easily. 

Been nice having a quiet week and while I had the time I sorted some old stuff and got totally absorbed in old letters and events of my past. 

Enjoy your weekend.

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Reluctantly Quiet........

 
My favourite sign of autumn is definitely when our tulip tree turns gold. 

Problem for me this week is an annoying and very persistent cough plus I've lost my voice down to a very croaky whisper, not ideal for a week with two hospital phone calls and two social evenings out. Hospital said this is probably another side effect as I've no other symptoms and done a covid test which was negative. Let's hope it's another temporary problem. 

As friendM was on holiday on her big birthday there was a slight delay for us four to have a meal together to celebrate with her.

We ate at The Felixstowe pub we used to use so much in the past and that meant we could round off the evening at friendM's home to see the changes she had made there. 

Wednesday our usual gang plus friendHS. Afterwards to the snooker club and us three girls chatted while all four men bonded at the baize and laughed which was good to see. 

Not much else has happened, especially as I've lost a lot of sleep coughing, sorry Hubby! 

So that's it, but if you couldn't hear me I'm happy to repeat myself.

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Definitely Not Scary........

 
Didn't really notice the extra hour in bed as Hubby did a good job of changing all the clocks before, and there are a lot of them. 

Coffee morning Monday and blood test on Tuesday and yes that's how exciting it gets at the moment. So I've started my next book, Unruly by David Mitchell and just two chapters in I'm enjoying the history flavoured with David's observed nonsense. His style reminds me a bit of Ronnie Corbet when he told his stories to camera and there were so many asides and digressions that you almost forgot where it was going until he cleverly brought it back on track. 

I'd never get a handshake on Bake Off but I'll insist the lumpy lemon icing on top was intentional *wink*. Lemon curd centre for a vanilla sponge and it was yummy. 

This Halloween we decorated the outside of the house just enough so the trick-or-treaters knew they could knock. Neither of us are into pumpkin carvery. 

Unfortunately the little battery lights in the window didn't show up very much. 

Quite a few dressed up children did knock and were sweetly rewarded. Hopefully by next year I'll have something better in the window. 

We finished our week with a couple of days as Doggy-day-care.

And now it's November which actually is a bit scary! 

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Family Hugs.........

 
Saturday afternoon Hubby and I set off for a two and a half hour drive. W is my brother-in-lawK 's sister so part of our extended family and she had invited us to her 70th birthday party. The journey was really good traffic wise and so worth it for hugs with my sisterS, my niece and nephew, their spouses and their children. 

SisterS had offered us a sleepover but Hubby said he was happy to drive home. So a fun evening and our own bed yaay!

Waking up Sunday we both wished each other a happy 51st wedding anniversary.

First on the agenda was watching the Strictly we'd missed, enjoyed with breakfast. Sadly received a message from Son that fiancé was in hospital having some tests as she had been unwell Saturday afternoon. Updated much later that she was feeling a lot better, had had a CT Scan and would be monitored and having an MRI Scan on Monday. Son said she didn't want any visitors. Such a worry. 

We did two machine loads of washing, and after they were all hung upstairs we went out for a restaurant lunch. We hadn't booked but thought we'd try our local farmhouse carvery, but that unfortunately was full. Plenty of room at the Beefeater and their Sunday roast was enjoyed by us both. We both left there really full up. Hubby went out in the evening for the Pool League (he's captain this week). I was very grateful to be staying in as the weather was wild, wet and windy. 

Fiancé was fine to come home Tuesday. They will no doubt keep monitoring her to make sure she stays fine. 

Our main doctor's surgery often has students in and I was invited in to talk to this week's students as they are onto urology. I had been told there would be three half hour sessions each time with three students. They were quite late getting started and as I'd had multiple kidney and bladder cancers the first group and I chatted for well over an hour. They had lots of questions and said my extensive knowledge of how it was all dealt with and how it all impacted on me physically and mentally was really useful to them. With just ten minutes left until Hubby was picking me up I had to decline talking to the next group. Just a tiny bit of paying back for all the NHS has done for me. 

Had to get home on time as we were dog sitting for Daughter. M collected her from a distance as he now has covid. 

Daughter and O went to London to see Ungodly, the play that R is in. 

Production photo Bernie Totton 

Daughter said it was brilliant and their press night reviews echoed that sentiment. 

Friday we went to Son and fiancé's to visit, with 'get well soon' flowers for fiancé and some shopping Son had asked for. We didn't stay too long as she's still quite tired but she is recovering and told us all the hospital care she's been getting even now she's home, is really helping.

Hubby's pool practice night was brief as so few turned up it wasn't worth him staying more than two games. Shame he had to drive just over 25 minutes each way but only be out about 80 minutes in total.

Don't forget the clocks go back an hour this weekend...... wonder if I will benefit from having more time, or just stay confused all day Sunday as usual.

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Chatting and Chomping........

 
Our regular sparrowhawk visitor has been seen waiting on our fence a few times this week. 

Everyone made it Saturday evening and seven of us enjoyed a Chinese takeaway feast. There was so much food that I made up a full meal for Daughter to take home for R who was working and usually comes home hungry. Son took a few boxes home in a bag too. I made up two mixed meals to put in my freezer and Hubby and I had Sunday's lunch too! Mmmmmm

Busy Monday with coffee morning, think there were 11 of us. 

And after our lunch we both went out to have Flu and Covid booster jabs. By bedtime I've just got a very achy arm but Hubby has the cold symptoms he usually gets. On Tuesday Hubby gradually improved, meanwhile I had trouble feeling warm and staying awake. Wednesday and we are both nearly back to normal (whatever normal is).

Friday was a really lovely late lunch catchup with friendsL&K. We met in the middle about 45mins to an hour's drive each. K has an art group he goes to in the morning and Hubby plays pool in the evening so eating about 4pm worked well. 

I seem to be late posting this, probably because we were later getting up than usual which seems to happen when the heating comes on. So I'd better say TTFN and see you next week.

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PuzzlesTo Solve........

With the heating out of action Hubby lit the lounge gas fire. This is used so rarely and often just switched on for its annual test. So cosy looking and warmed the room very quickly, although we had to put up with the smell of burning dust at first.

Son arrived early Saturday morning to help fix the cooker hood. With his first cuppa they discussed the heating problem, with Hubby explaining it's the Hive receiver that's the problem. Son then remembered he had given Daughter his unused Hive which also contains a receiver in the box. She can't use it so brought it over. Daughter did stay for a cuppa but wouldn't come in any further than the back door as living with R and O who have horrid colds at the moment she didn't want to pass on any germs. After swapping our old receiver with the new one it all worked again. Hubby then cancelled the Monday repair saving the call out charge at least. 

Son and Hubby also fixed the cooker hood, needing Son lying on the bedroom floor with his head under the floorboards reaching down, while Hubby lay along the kitchen island reaching up. Fixed and two very happy chappies! 

Son had planned Chinese takeaway here with us all Saturday evening to celebrate his midweek birthday, however we postponed it a week hoping they will all be over their colds. 

Apologies I need a little medical rant. When I've had side effects to the cancer meds the specialist Oncology Nurse always suggests having a break or halving the dose by taking them on alternate days. These pills increase my risk of picking up an infection and I now have a skin infection that needs antibiotics. As the cancer pills inhibit healing I was told by the nurse I must stop them until the antibiotics course has finished. However, when the consultant rang he kept repeating that this treatment will only be effective if there are no breaks! I had to promise that as soon as the antibiotics finish I will go straight back to taking the cancer pill every day. Conflicting advice and attitude from the only two people in my care team!!!

Definitely less gardening weather now so the jigsaws have started. We've discovered a few of our neighbours have jigsaw collections so we are passing them around. This one is from neighbourT.

I wish you warmth, good health and may all your puzzles be solvable.

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No Heating Brrrr.......

Definitely feeling autumnal now and of course this week introduced October. NeighbourA has organised our December Christmas lunch for the coffee morning attendees. Isn't it good we have a strong community with our neighbours. I've also rounded up the xBT team and booked our December festive lunch. 

I've had another blood test and call from the Oncology Nurse so hopefully I'll get my next lot of pills delivered soon. 

There has been progress on the box painting but still a long way to go before they are finished. 

I'm a very proud Grandma as not only did Red Rose Theatre bring back their very successful play Ungodly

but after two weeks in Ipswich they are taking it to London's Southwark Theatre plus early next year it's going to New York! R's first time performing away from home. 

R has a really bad head cold this week and when I messaged her to say someone in the first night audience told me she was amazing she replied "I'll be honest, I can't really remember it but I'm told it went well".

Back to the fixing subject, and hopefully the cooker hood will be repaired this weekend now Hubby has received the replacement parts and Son is coming to help. However..... Friday morning our heating and water packed up! British Gas will send someone Monday, which would have taken a lot longer until Hubby told them I was vulnerable health wise. We do have a couple of portable heaters and an emersion switch for hot water so will be fine. 

Enjoy your weekend if you have plans, or stay home and cosy if you don't. See you next week.

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More Needs Fixing........

 
It was a busy weekend which seemed busier as I think I was in slow motion, feeling quite tired and my back kept hurting. However I managed some big-box painting, some chatting with Daughter when she popped round, some cooking, some laundry (mostly line dried but the last few bits had to come inside on the clothes horse) and sorting out the vase in the front window which needed washing and the artificial flowers having the dust blown off them then rearranging as they'd moved around and looked scruffy.... they look lovely again now (all the way round as they are in the window). 

Coffee morning as usual and I don't remember much else in the afternoon so probably nothing interesting. 

Tuesday woke with left foot pain again, this time across the top of my foot. So a day off resting it raised with the hot wrap round it and paracetamol plus I skipped the culprit pill that day and Wednesday morning it was greatly improved. 

Wednesday evening the usual group went to the fish and chip restaurant in Felixstowe (always praised as the best) for a change. My appetite isn't very good at the moment and I barely managed half my small rock and chips, so they wrapped the other half for me to bring home. 

Thursday Hubby said the forecast was heavy storms from midday onwards so he did all the bins first thing rather than in the evening. He'd been researching a new phone and who was selling it the cheapest. He decided on John Lewis and apparently they only had one left in stock, so we shot over there and he came home with his new toy. Lunch was the fish and chips leftovers shared between us. Then Hubby spent hours phone transferring everything and trying to remember all the passwords needed. Thank goodness I had refused changing mine as I hate all that hassle especially as mine is working fine. 

Cooking our burgers Hubby discovered the cooker hood had died. After a lot more investigation he thinks the motor is the cause, so Hubby has ordered a new one which will hopefully arrive next week. Meanwhile some of the hood is taken apart and furniture in the bedroom above was moved and the doors taken off the fitted wardrobe so carpet and floorboards could be lifted. That turned out to be unhelpful so it all had to go back again. 

Friday it rained nearly all day. In a brief gap Hubby went over to feed the fish and discovered the pond pump needed a blockage cleared. Of course it was raining again before he'd finished. 

Our week ended with a yummy rhubarb crumble mmmmmmm.

Hope you are not somewhere that's getting flooded and you've heating if you need it.

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Absent Friends.......

 
We have two large open-top storage bins that were part of our previous bedroom suite and are now in my craft room sitting side by side. One is used as our laundry box, very convenient as it's directly opposite the bathroom. The other is more a storage of "keep it for just in case" stuff (motto of my life really). 

A long time ago I decided I was going to paint them and they were undercoated in readiness..... then forgotten about. 

All of a sudden I felt like doing it and got my acrylics and brushes ready. 

I spent quite a bit of time deciding the best position for the box for access and light and not chancing paint on the carpet. I really enjoyed getting all the areas underpainted ready to add detail to. 

Of course I can only do one panel at a time in this leaning on the sofa position so decided to stop for now. 

When it was totally dry I stood it back up and wheeled it back into place...... and that's when I realised I'd been painting the side that sits against the wall so nobody will ever see it! Doh! You'll have to wait for the right three sides to be finished and I'll let you see them. 

Monday evening was our girls night. There were always five of us who met for a meal and catchup six times a year, once to celebrate each birthday plus a pre-Christmas sparkly one. This time was for friendJB's birthday. Unfortunately friendTF can no longer join us and friendM was involved in an accident on her Greek holiday and is stuck there not well enough to fly home yet. So just three of us went to dinner. Hoping friendM will be OK when it's her birthday at the end of next month. 

I finally decided I wasn't wearing the hearing aids enough to warrant their cost. I was told they would reduce the interference of background noise, unfortunately they didn't and times like coffee morning I find it so hard to hear each conversation as the general noise of up to 15 people in our dining room gets quite loud. I was also told I'd have more control using the app on my phone, turned out I could change the volume and nothing else as they'd sold me the model that wasn't compatible with the version of Bluetooth on my phone. The final straw was they had become irritating to wear which I think is a side effect of my latest pills as my eye lids twitch and my lips are a little sore so it feels like it's nerves sensitivity. So before the 90 day full money back terms ran out they went back. I also left with a printout of my hearing test result which might be helpful if I try again elsewhere. 

Hubby and Daughter are making the most of this dry sunny week by doing lots of garden clearing and tip runs. They've synchronised as we have the big garden bags so Hubby has been emptying at the tip then helping to fill them with Daughter who had booked a later time at the tip. This happened three days running. 

FriendsL&K were supposed to sleepover on Thursday after seeing Sarah Milican in Ipswich. However they had both been a little unwell during the week and decided they wouldn't bring any possible germs near me. They did book the four of us to have a catchup lunch in a couple of weeks time. 

So yet another week passes and although we are still in September there is a lot of talk about Christmas but I'm definitely not ready to even think about that yet and not even going to ask if you are.

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