So, it is now close to nine in the morning of the last day of 2018. I'm waiting for the service call-out fellows to arrive for moving the fridge-freezer out from its slot so I can get in there to FINALLY properly arrange the shelves. TIP: never let the delivery men persons (must not be forgetting to be Pathetically Correct in these days of government sponsored Thought Polis trawling the 'Net for 'hate-speech' crime) leave until satisfied the shelving in the new fridge-freezer is adjusted. My mistake and now I've finally convince Paul we needed to ring for a call-out as he is not able to man person-handle the awkward columnar appliance safely - it really is a 'two-stout' men people job especially if one wishes to prevent accidental voiding of the warranty/possibly damaging the appliance.

My day is essentially 'on-hold' until these fellows appear. Paul is heading off to purchase a small amount of non-fireball emitting fireworks for our midnight celebration and I'm peeved as I did want to go with. sigh.

Thing is, Paul left to his own choosing the NYE fireworks is liable to come home with the most motley collection, and to forget the pizzas. Mercifully, all things considered, Paul and I cannot recall exactly what we were doing this time last year - the old house is such a faded memory we are finding we remember only the slightest bits of life there. But we do recall last year he did forget the pizza, and he did not come home with a nice box of fireworks with which to ring in 2018. Five firebal emitting fountains do not a NYE celebration make!

We've been in the new house for a mere four months yet we feel more settled despite the yet-to-be-unpacked boxes, the slightly disorganised cupboards and both sheds, and the beginning to feel never-ending discovery of all the little things a new home owner discovers could do with replacing sooner rather than later.

The name we chose for the cottage has been approved and is now appearing in the drop-down menu of websites as the official first line of our address. The boxes and cupboards and sheds (and ok, yes, wardrobe drawers) are shaping up. Broken down boxes are going to the skip regularly, 'why did we bring this' items going to the charity shops as soon as the large designated box is filled, things we're keeping are finding storage places easily...we are indeed settling in.

The weather is co-operating to a degree and we've been able to do some garden work. The big push comes in the spring but we have managed a good bit of hard-scaping already. In the preparation for the smaller shed to be erected we discovered two little holly plants we've potted and put by the front door. We've chosen a spot for the bin store. The veranda and patio no longer look like Steptoe's Yard (Sandford and Son for the American readers:).

Our modest Christmas outside lights have gone over a treat - nothing over-the-top, just spiral 'warm-white' micro lights on the potted dwarf evergreens flanking the front door and a string of novelty candy cane lights in the kitchen window. I hit the online Boxing Day sales - scored candle bridges and 4-for-£10 sets of multi-colour micro lights for next year (and all the years to come, God willing) - WINNING! Our indoor decorations, may I be permitted to congratulate myself, are AMAZING - the Christmas tree is so lovely! 

SIDEBAR MOMENT OTHERWISE KNOWN AS 'DIGRESSING'...I very-very-very highly recommend 'micro-lights' for the Christmas lighting challenged (like meownself). Now, I think I've mentioned my utter devotion to clip-on lighting before but I now wish to bang on about micro-lights. WOW ARE THOSE THINGS AMAZING! The LED bulbs are within the wire which by the way comes in several colours (copper, green, black, silver, and clear) and bulb options of warm or bright white or multi-colour. The user simply unwinds the strand (from ten to 300 bulbs per), clips the business end (battery or plug-in) to the bottom of the desired decorated item/window, winds the strand EASILY where lighting is wanted, and steps back to justifiably bask in the pride of accomplishment. BONUS: the 'twinkle' feature actually really truly does twinkle - none of that chasing tosh here, set these new-fangled micro-lights on twinkle and boy howdy, they twinkle. 

Erm, the twinkle feature also shockingly quickly drains the life out of the batteries if choosing the battery operated sets, especially if buying in multiple lots the way I have. To save money I highly recommend the additional purchase of a battery recharger and at least 60 rechargeable batteries of the type most called for in your battery operated light sets. I plan to spread the purchases over the next twelve months because between the cost of a reliable good quality charging unit and the batteries we're talking close to £150 here.
END SIDEBAR MOMENT OTHERWISE KNOWN AS 'DIGRESSING'

We are preparing to bring in the New Year in our usual quiet manner but are restricting our usual midnight fireworks to small fountains instead of ones that shoot flaming fireballs to avoid hitting a new neighbour's roof or cows or chickens. For a property smack in the middle of town, there is a surprising lot of livestock quite close in - every morning the chooks on the other side of the back garden wall and I enjoy a lovely and lively 'conversation'; close to midnight Christmas Eve I stepped out on the front garden path to look for the Star and heard first hoof-beats then neighs in the lane next to ours. So we do want to avoid the risk of injuring any of the neighbours, human and otherwise.

Have we made our New Year resolutions - oh yes, we have. Looking back at the ones we made last year (duly noted for 1 January every year in both our personal diaries and the house one as well) we agree we've managed to actually keep some of them!

Happy New Year to all, may your 2019 be filled with love, light, and loved ones. May you enjoy rude good health, peace, and yes, no small amount of prosperity!

So, Paul asked me what I would like for Christmas and I couldn't come up with anything reasonably priced. My wish list is for things like enclosing the back veranda, removing the bathtub and replacing it with a shower stall I can easily get into. A new 'bathroom suite' - new commode and hand wash basin - would be fab. And top of my list would be completely re-wiring this house.

It is probably time - the current wiring passes certification and the additions to the original circuitry has been done superbly. But we're finding ourselves fixing gang strips to the walls at hip height - we ain't gettin' any younger and bending down to plug in vacuum cleaners and other things is only putting unneeded strain on our ageing backs.

Another reason for the re-wire is we need to move the fridge-freezer as in its current location I can't pull the shelving and drawers out fully. Not good for making the most of the storage and definitely not good for a proper cleaning routine. And really, while we're moving outlets and appliances in the kitchen, we need to replace the cabinets in there.

So, no, nothing on my Dear Father Christmas list this year is reasonably priced - and yes, I do buy one lottery ticket a week as really that's going to be the only way to make my Christmas wish list arrive. 😔

Over the last three months we've lived in this new home I've realised the kitchen cabinets want replacing owing to age-related crumbling. Big tip: no matter how well done, chip and press-wood cabinetry FAILS after about 20 years. Go for real full-on wood if you want a real kitchen that will last several lifetimes. Trust me please.

So, that realisation got me thinking what changes I would make if I could. I don't think I'm up for making 'footprint' changes in there - the galley style layout, for example, works incredibly well and is so logical with one and only one exception being the fridge freezer (f-f) location not working.

That f-f location would be a doddle to change - I'd simply move the f-f down to stand by the utility cupboard (ceiling to floor which I use for the bins, cleaning supplies, and on the top shelf the cat supplies) and move the cabinetry it would displace to the area where the f-f is now - bonus, doing that would mean I could slot a small tumble dryer to vent on a very short run to the outside where I could easily clean the vent ducting once a month (yes, I have always done that - clean the lint filter every load, and clean the ducting every month. Fire safety - it's a rule!). Yes it would mean losing one lower cabinet on that side but the return would be so worth it and frankly I don't use one of the two lower cabinets on that side of the kitchen any way so no real loss there and instead a tremendous gain here in perpetual wetland or freezing cold or both Scotland.

I'm now dreaming of upper and lower cream white Shaker WOOD: lower cabinets with pull-out trays instead of reach-in shelving on both sides of the kitchen, with the upper cabinets over the sink and cooker being the same cream white with shelving instead of pull-outs, and extending to the ceiling. Glass front upper cabinets over the worktop on the other side all the way to the ceiling (I have a step-ladder+the need for maximum storage!) and fully across to the newly relocated f-f.

And of course, the new cabinetry and slightly re-jigged layout would require new worktops. I actually have grown to quite like the black faux granite. But I really-really-really-really want medium dark wood-LOOK (emphasis on 'look' as the real thing is so unhygienic just considering it gives me the shudders) worktops. Easy clean-sanitise, looks proper farmhouse kitcheny and I WANT IT.  

Back to the sink-cooker side of the galley...For a very long time I've wanted a dishwasher and if I could be persuaded to give up one of the cabinets on that side of the kitchen, I do have room in there. But.

But the other day one of my home-making email newsletters and then several of them in succession featured an article on what can and can't go in the dishwasher.

Oh. Dear.

I've had dishwashers before and found them simply indispensable for keeping a clean kitchen - ok alright I admit it, I loathe doing the washing up. That is, until I've strapped on the Marigolds and filled the basin and am deep in soap bubbles scrubbing the baked on from my Pyrex casserole. Then I actually enjoy doing the washing up. Yet even as I stood at the sink feeling wonderfully virtuous about my scullery maid work, I would find myself muttering 'Please, Father Christmas, bring me a stainless steel interior slimline dishwasher, PLEASE!' as I know the truth is I love cooking and baking and am not at all keen on the cleaning-up of said cooking and baking...when I was raising the family and even after they'd grown and flown and I was pretty much on my own, a dishwasher was the one kitchen appliance ranked right up there with the cooker and f-f. Couldn't live without it and never lost anything to the machine as everything I owned for kitchen work was either dishwasher safe or simply not in my kitchen. Until about 10 or so years ago.

I've always enjoyed cooking and baking but around 2007 I started on what can only be termed as becoming a foodie. Now, a foodie is someone who goes beyond yer basic cooking to live, and as a consequence becomes quite interested in the proper tools for the joy of cooking and baking. 

So when I read every single one of those 'Things You Shouldn't Ever Put In The Dishwasher' articles my heart well and truly sank. Because now I'm older I've acquired a large selection of...

Things You Shouldn't Ever Put In The Dishwasher

Wooden spoons. Various wooden and marble rolling pins. Frankly high end stainless steel and copper bottom pots and pans. Shiny baking trays and tins. Wire mesh strainers, colanders, and sieves. Graters of all configurations. Wooden handled knives - full tang or not. The list seemed endless as I read all those articles and I own and use daily every single thing on those lists except 'fine precious metal rimmed china, and crystal' (china and crystal being an addiction I got over once I realised the crystal was loaded with lead and the china likely was as well in addition to having to be hand-washed to preserve the decorative edgings. Porcelain and crystal serve-ware, lovely to look at but not so lovely to own - I sold all of mine back in the 80s).

Oh. Dear. 

I did an actual visual inventory of the kitchen and the result ruled out a dishwasher - the only things that could go in there would be the crockery, coffee mugs and some of the drinks glasses, and the stainless steel 18/10 cutlery. Which amounts to about a quarter of the kitchen items I use daily and wish for a magical mechanical way to save me constantly pulling on the Marigolds and plunging my gloved hands into a basin filled scalding hot soapy water.

Sooo, no dishwasher for me. I cannot wrap my head around the maturity required to admit I can't justify the purchase of a kitchen appliance I once considered an absolute must-have.

The Christmas tree and other hall-decking is done. WOW, I knew that Balsam Hill Christmas tree was good but until we got it dressed we really had no idea just how good it was going to be. Let me cut to the chase for those readers familiar with my annual Tree Lighting Debacle...

 I gifted myself earlier this year when the pre-Christmas sales were on full swing - a 20 candle clip on set (plugs into the mains, none of that fiddly battery operated tosh for my house!). I consulted my son who told me I should put the 100 multi-colour lights set on the tree then add the clip-ons.

I love my son. I love him VERY much. But. He lives in America and I live in Scotland and even when we lived in the same house he was absolutely ZERO help putting the lights or anything else on the tree.

So, for nano second I considered putting the 100 multi-colour light strand on the tree.

And then came to my senses because Paul is less help with Christmas decorating than Fox ever was.

And put JUST the clips on and let me tell you that tree, now fully dressed with baubles and 'realistic icicle drops' and clip-on candles is a Christmas wonder. Gorgeous and draws gasps from everyone who comes into the room.

🙋 WINNING 🙋

From my house to yours - a warm and cosy Happy Christmas, and all best wishes for a healthy, prosperous and Happy 2019!
🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎅🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄
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