Not a race but a steady amble.....

Finally getting round to my January catch-up, although there must be lots I've forgotten and even what I've remembered is totally out of any sequence.

...The first Thursday of the month is our Acorn craft day and as it was my first one since the op they made a fuss of me which was lovely.

...O had a sleep over this week. I love that he still climbs into bed with me for a cuddle in the morning. Bedtime story was a classic off my shelf

... We actually managed our family Christmas gathering in mid January, this time hosted by nieceV and her hubby D. They live in Surrey.

...Hubby for SERV has been three nights on rota this month and called out every time.

...lovely lunch out with friends L&K and L&M. Apparently Hubby and I missed the best bit as L&K have a hard-top 2-door convertable which I know from experience isn't the easiest when climbing in and out of the back, and when they arrived L did a most spectacular fall out of the back and was left sprawled across the car park! No help or sympathy just a lot of screaming laughter! They all had starters and desserts but I really can't manage that much any more so just had a main course and even left a little of that. Lots of news to share so a good catch-up all round.

...Our new mattress is deeper that the previous one and sheets don't tuck in so go baggy on top, so I've added a substantial border around all sides to the sheets so they fit better. Only done two so far but that's still a lot of machining.

...made some cards, first two was because I needed them before having time to go out and buy some, then I did three more because I'd been so pleased with the result. Yes they were all the same but three were birthdays, one was a get well soon and the third a sympathy card.

...I suffered a bit with BPPV for a week. This is a form of vertigo that mostly makes me dizzy when lying down in bed. I would normally do the Epley Maneuver but as I'm still getting a little internal pain I didn't want to chance it, but thankfully it went by itself.

...lovely lunch out with friends R&S. These are very good friends and we've always plenty to chat about.

...and our usual Wednesday night gang have had a bargain start to the year with the 2-4-1 discount vouchers at Prezzo used three weeks and a 2-4-1 carvery one week as well.

...and I've just redone the Crete holiday post from last October as I could only find scrappy notes in draft, which has now replaced the finished post I'd actually done but was hiding!!!
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Home alone.....

Last Sunday, early morning to Wednesday, late at night,  Hubby was away at Son's house so they could rebuild the bathroom together.

So many people asked if I was ok alone and am I lonely!
Lovely that people care but actually I enjoy pleasing myself sometimes and I had lots I wanted to get done, as for lonely I wasn't really alone for long.

When we were clearing out some rooms we asked our Son if he wanted his big punchbag in his own home and he said that it was in fact his friend's on loan (has been here about 15 years). So I contacted his friend who said he would come and get it. Two months later I reminded him and said if he came early Sunday morning he would get to see our Son in person (been years since they've seen each other). So soon after 9am his friend arrived with his two small children (and breakfast for them) as his wife is working a long shift (she's a nurse). They really enjoyed their buddy catchup and promised to be more active at keeping in touch. I really enjoyed playing with the children who are 4 and not yet 1 years old.

Hubby and Son headed off about 10am, his friend packed up the children and left about 11:30am.......we both forgot about the punchbag so it's still here doh!

Barely half hour on my own when Daughter and O turned up. O was desperate to show me his new green scooter that he got the day before for his birthday. E had stayed at home.  They had lunch with me and O was building a willow sticks den in the garden and rode his scooter then left in time for Daughter to do the long drive to collect R from her dad.

Monday I got loads done with running the dishwasher unloading and reloading it,  gardening, washing, pegging out (and bringing in when dry of course), repairing some earrings, ironing and vacuuming our bedroom plus lots of pottering between jobs and of course keeping up with all my online scrabble games. And my neighbours knocked to check I'm ok.

Tuesday I was back out in the garden, the weather was really lovely again, I'm struggling to clear the weeds from between the patio slabs (I'm trying salt water weed killer at the moment) and I have to feed the fish twice a day in Hubby's absence and they are fascinating to just stand and watch, so that always takes a lot longer than expected. While I was over by the pond I picked the first of this year's rhubarb.  Daughter and O came over so he could have a bath. The girls chose to stay at home which they are doing more often these days. O loved the rhubarb fool I'd made he even had thirds!

That evening friendM and I tried a Chinese restaurant we hadn't been to before. ......their  food was ok but we were the only customers they had all evening but even so they weren't that attentive and I even had to shout 'hello' for someone to come out and make up our bill, which included a service charge already (don't like that) and we didn't get the discount from offering a'Gourmet Card' as she said they don't take them, funny that as they had the right sticker on the front door saying they did! It must be so hard running a family business especially when we were their only customers, so we didn't complain, however, friendM has complained to 'Gourmet Society'. Needless to say we won't bother going back again.

Wednesday night I was out with my usual friends in our usual pub and Hubby was home and asleep in bed when I got home. Unfortunately they had had problems with the plumbing and had left the bathroom finally leak free and mostly tiled but still without the bath and shower fitted and working. Son had to be in London Thursday and Friday on a course he couldn't get out of.

Thursday we had O and R here for lunch while E made use of the empty house for percussion practice and help from her mum. When Daughter arrived to collect her two she found us all in full party swing.

R made party hats. There was loud music.
Monkey party guests definitely look worse for wear!

Party food was appreciated.

While he's home Hubby wants to get lots done. Freshly mown lawn today looks so much tidier. Sunday we will be out all day at my friend's dad's stone setting (in London and then Herts),  hard to believe it's been a year since the funeral we couldn't go to because we went on the cruise without these friends. I'm guessing we will get home about 6pm then soon after Son will arrive to take Hubby back to his home in Wiltshire to spend another few days finishing the bathroom.
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A week of food.....

This week has really been dominated by food and also lots of lovely people all wanting to eat out.

Monday our friendsN&T came over and we went out to lunch. We went to ASK the Italian restaurant and I had my 'taste card' and a meal deal voucher and a special 25% off voucher, so we all had a lovely meal and when we asked for the bill the waitress took the lot and worked out the best price she could....so that deserved a good tip hahaha

Tuesday lunchtime I went out to lunch with my old work team. So lovely to see them as we hadn't managed to meet up since our Christmas dinner. I had to ask for a lift as Daughter still had my car while her's is being repaired. I felt like I hadn't been home long before getting ready to go out to eat again with our Son and fiancé, they were treating us for a belated birthday for Hubby and Mother's day for me. In return I helped Son with a 2for1 voucher :-)

Wednesday was our usual group in our usual pub, all except friendDJ who sadly now has lung cancer and had to be home for someone to come and fit an emergency alert button at home as he's not too steady on his feet just now :-(

I had decided to make another batch of chutney and there were enough damsons left in the freezer for two and a half batches and for some reason I decided to do them all as I had enough of the other ingredients. It took me nearly all day Thursday to de-stone all that purple squishy fruit as it gave me backache. I had to leave it with all prepped and all the other ingredients in the saucepan but not cooked. Feeling a bit worried about the final taste as I'd realised a bit late that I'd used a half tablespoon measure when the recipe meant teaspoon! So there was a lot more cayenne pepper than I'd needed and thankfully I'd run out of paprika before I'd finished counting and then just as I started counting out the garlic granules I realised!!!

I was eating out again on Thursday evening with bfriendM and friendH as we haven't had a girly catchup for ages. Mexican this time and friendH had both a 25% off voucher and her student card that gets discount......love a bargain!

All Friday morning I cooked down the chutney, took ages as far too much for one pan! Made about 15 jars of various sizes, it tasted good but with a lot more kick than I'd previously made. Daughter and O came for lunch and Daughter had the chutney (still warm) in her sandwich and declared it good (but not as good as the original plum recipe). O's lunch choice was getting me to make him peanut butter pancakes.

That afternoon I collected friendDJ and we went to meet a new baby of friends (DJ can't drive now so was thrilled to go). Our visit included cake!

Oh I love all baby cuddles. They also have a 2 year old who is adorable and we played together too.

We had arranged for O to have a sleepover here.  He is so funny, when I said that his usual bed was full of stuff on top and would he mind sleeping in one of the girls' beds he said "what about the bed you'll say no to?" as if I ever say no to this boy lol, he meant the sofa bed and that was fine of  course. He'd also put in a menu request by Skype video message of Yorkshire puddings and sage and onion stuffing for his dinner thankfully he allowed me to add chicken and vegetables.

It's now early morning Saturday and I'm rather tired. O went up to bed at 8pm but took ages to get to sleep so I didn't creep out of the room till nearly 9pm. Then a little naked boy crawled into my bed at 3:50am saying he hasn't slept at all (he was asleep when Hubby went up at 10:30pm and still asleep when I checked on him two hours later on my way to bed) anyway he snuggled and tried to relax but we eventually came down at 4:30am! So our first breakfast of porridge at 5am and he's now waiting for a second breakfast of pancakes but he'll have to wait for Hubby to get up before I'll do that. Daughter and R are coming for lunch and to collect O and Hubby has an old school friend coming for the day and I've been requested to make lasagne for dinner so my 5:2 diet hasn't stood a chance this week!
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