THURSDAY 21ST DECEMBER 2023 post begun 0733hrs GMT
In one way it seems 'ancient history' but in another it seems 'just last week'.
Four days to Christmas. I always try to carve out quiet time on this day every year to remember my dad, my less-than-perfect but all things considered, Dad. Hard to believe it's been 38 years since he passed away.
Wednesday 29 Nov 2023 post begun 0947hrs GMT
Winter IS coming - we're under a snow and ice alert for the rest of the week and extra blankets are on the bed.
I've just bought the Rolls Royce of manual rotary cheese graters. It is a 5-in-1 kitchen marvel and dishwasher safe (my Comfee worktop dishwasher has to be awarded Buy of the Year, I love-love-love that machine!).
I bought an 'el-cheapo' several months ago and fell in love with the concept although el-cheapo (under a tenner) quickly demonstrated drawbacks:
Still, WOW was that thing a revelation - SO much safer (no more grated fingers) and considerably faster to grate a large block of cheese! The lime green body didn't bother me but in the end (and that end came quickly) the other issues did.
When I searched Amazon and eBay I saw pricier models, I went with el cheapo because I'd been fooled before (GRATY, that's £8 I'll never get back! Also three different mandolin combo sets that promised...but like GRATY did not deliver even a little bit). Once I realised how great a rotary grater could be, I went back to look at those pricier models.
Ooooh, what?! The working parts are all dishwasher safe? The suction enabler is a lever rather than a knob? The hopper and chute are one slide-on piece? The cutting/grating blades are in a neat little holding tray and assemble to a frame (so, easier to fully clean)? WAIT - WHAT, the crank fixes to the unit via an easy-fit screw-down cap??!! It comes with blade plates that grate big and small shreds, and cuts lovely ruffly potato slices to deep fry for American style 'chips and dip' and loads more specialty cuts as well? It comes with a five year guarantee??!!
Not least, the base is a truly beautiful deep forest pine green? And the price is still at 'Black Friday' pricing - half off AND free delivery?!
SOLD!
My husband has suggested it might also shred leftover beef joint cubed - the only way I can get him to eat corn tortilla burritos is if I add shredded leftover beef joint to the beans. But it is so labour intensive to shred the leftovers that I don't make that dish very often (scroll down for the 'recipe', if you like enchiladas you might like my 'taco-lada burrito' recipe for slow cookers) and DH saw the potential with this new kitchen tool sooner than I did.
I also bought a doughnut batter dispenser that drops perfect doughnuts straight into the deep fryer AND a doughnut cutter ring for cake doughnuts. My husband loves doughnuts (and biscuits aka cookies) but has to have gluten-free owing to his having Coeliac Disease. He's been known to indulge in store-bought glutenated doughnuts (to his grief) so when he saw the doughnut dispenser AND the ring cutter come through the door, his reaction was 'So when are you making doughnuts - soon, please?'.
Meanwhile, autumn decor will be changed out tomorrow, the house is nearly finished being extra-cleaned and readied for decking the halls 1 December. Outdoor lights switch on will be at dusk Sunday 3 December. It all feels a little forced given the dire world situation but we agree the effort must be made - we need the cheering sights and sounds to counteract the gloom.
SLOW COOKER TACO-LADAS
Ingredients (amounts depend on slow cooker capacity):
Shredded leftover beef joint
Tinned (canned) refried beans (I use Old El Paso)
Taco seasoning to taste (pre-mix packets OR make your own)
Corn tortillas for frying
Sunflower oil in skillet, heated (I use my Cuisinart multi-cooker - room for two tortillas side by side to fry)
Waaay more grated cheddar cheese than you think you're going to need
Slow cooker, kitchen paper towels
To Make:
Serve with Spanish rice and/or salad - we usually have just a salad when it's just the two of us and add the rice side if we're having dinner guests.
THURSDAY 23 NOVEMBER 2023 (post begun 1211hrs GMT)
Oh. My. Goodness - he's only bloody gone and done it again! GRRRRR!!!!!
Last year I genuinely believed I'd worked out THE perfect way to ensure Christmas decor was quick and easy to retrieve for Thanksgiving Night decking the halls. Everything - and I do mean EVERYTHING - very carefully packed into a huge zip close red storage bag. He took the bag out to the shed and I did the very happy dance at the thought this year it would be quick and easy to pull that bag out of the shed Thanksgiving Eve 2023 to be ready to open today, Thanksgiving 2023.
Quick sidebar moment - yes we live in Scotland. Yes it is true generally the British do not celebrate Thanksgiving. But I lived in America for a very long time and Thanksgiving means quite a lot to me. It is good for a country to have a day of thanks in late autumn and I wish if Britain is going to gleefully import 'Black Friday' they would first import Thanksgiving. Paul is now used to the day and enjoys not only the meal but the ringing over to the US families (daughter and her lot on the West Coast, son and his lot on the Gulf of Mexico coast), the Christmas movie on at dusk while I begin the indoor hall decking. Outdoors decor goes on First Sunday of Advent but the indoor decorating happens Thanksgiving night.
I knew he'd done it again back in June when we were doing a serious clear-out of the sheds and I tried to grab the huge red bag to set it to one side...
When I'd packed it to be put away, it was heavy but not so heavy I couldn't lift it.
When I tried to lift it in June - IT WEIGHED AN ELEPHANT TON!
He immediately confessed he'd needed that exact sized bag and so removed all the things I'd oh-so-carefully packed, scattered those removed items every-anywhere and as a consequence misplaced THE FONTANINI NATIVITY SET (his most serious crime as I'd hunted long and hard to find that vintage set and it formed the centrepiece of my Christmas decorating).
I think he understood he'd made a terrible mistake this time (yes, he's done this before - I still can't find the air popcorn maker he misplaced when we moved house in 2018) when I marched back into the house and refused to speak to him for several hours.
I started over. I bought another bag, I bought new baubles. I began crafting new snowmen and toy soldiers and stockings and mantel garland. I found a new door decoration to replace the missing TWO I'd made over the years. I bought yet another countdown calendar - this one a space-saver with perpetual turn-as-you-go blocks. I made a slip-over partridge in a pear tree quilted thing to put over the countdown snowman when it is time to start the countdown to Epiphany (the song The Twelve Days of Christmas was written as a code countdown to the Feast of the Epiphany).
I bought a new mantel tree - flocked 2ft 'most realistic', it will be a nice change and now I can do a green or white tree as I feel in a particular year. I bought new lights - multi-colour - and I bought a new topper (red finial so it doesn't fade into the white tree). I found a vintage five branch candelabra to use for an Advent Wreath (and a holly-berry garland to wind through the branch bends). In short, I have now managed to assemble a reasonable amount of Christmas decor AND I've even managed to replace the Chanukkiah (Chanukkah menorah, used in memory of my Jewish ancestors).
And now it's Thanksgiving afternoon - and I'm not feeling it. I'm feeling defeated, I've lost heart. I can't even be bothered to drag out the movie and carols DVD collection and set up the DVD player we only use at Christmas.
I'm feeling so defeated I'm not bothering to make the Thanksgiving Lunch. Turkey never on the menu as the stores and butcher shops don't sell turkey until the second week of December - I usually find a huge chicken and roast that.
But. But not this year. It's burgers and chips ('steak fries' if you're an American reader) going in the oven today. I haven't even bothered to find an online feed of the Macy's Parade and a link to the Rockettes annual performance.
In part my lack of interest is down to Paul once again losing all the decorations but also other, frankly more serious concerns including fear and dismay at the war Hamas started (Simchat Torah Massacre 7th October 2023) and their repeated statements since the 7th that they WILL do this again and again until Israel is wiped off the map and they will then go on to murdering ALL Jews and Christians EVERYWHERE in the world until they 'cleanse the planet' of 'unbelievers' and establish a global caliphate.
I wish those who are doing Thanksgiving today a very happy day.
Sat 2 Sep 2023 1034hrs BST
Well, it's 'official' - yesterday the geese returned. 1 September is the meteorological First Day of Autumn but it usually is another few weeks before the geese arrive to overwinter on local lochs, they've arrived early this year. The swifts left last week - also early for their annual departure.
The rowans are already stripped of berries, the beech and other trees in my neighbourhood began turning around the 15th of August. The past two nights our central heating kicked in (it's permanently set to keep the house at 20C/68F, the lowest setting my cardiologist will approve as we struggle to keep gas&electric costs low during the 'crisis' caused by greed and Putin). We've needed a blanket over the summer weight bed sheets for over a week.
I hesitate to predict but the signs are glaring we may-might-could be in for a hard winter. I've got about halfway through the seasonal bedding and clothing mend-wash-put into drawers and wardrobe presses - something tells me I need to speed that process up.
The pantry and freezers are stocked with autumn and even some winter foods, I've begun planning the Christmas-Boxing Day-New Year lunches and baking to start stocking in October. The new house and personal diaries have been delivered. Autumn deep cleaning is done.
Christmas presents are arriving (I always try to be finished with Christmas shopping by the middle of September or early October at the latest) and I dug out some Christmas fabric to make large bag to hang from the stocking hook on the mantel. It's a rather fancy bag in green poly-satin (machine washable) with silver rope trim and tassels and I am confident Paul will not peek. The bag is not something I would have displayed so openly if the grands were regular visitors but Paul loves just seeing the bag hanging there, the bulges increasing every time the doorbell rings.
I can't help thinking, though, I've forgot something in my annual autumn-winter planning and the nagging feeling is new to me. I've rarely felt 'I've forgot something important' over my years of being Mrs Ultra Prepared but this year I am feeling it. I'll go through my lists this afternoon - just now another cup of tea and catch-up telly beckons:)
Tuesday 29th August 2023 1018hrs BST
OK, I'm 67. All morning the Moody Blues song 'Never Thought I'd Live To Be 100' has been on continuous mental play - finally an earworm I can definitely appreciate (grimly).
Paul brought me my favourite roses and birthday cake. My children emailed birthday wishes. My cup runneth over:)
Meanwhile...
The reconsideration project (aka decluttering) continues, almost finished but still some to go. It is working despite being one of the most simultaneous tedious-gut wrenching experiences ('But we might need that one day and the way prices are rising I don't want to have to pay eyewatering amounts to replace it!' and/or 'OMFGosh, AGAIN we have to spend the day sorting boxes, WHAT??!!'). We still need a slightly bigger house because getting to household and cleaning supplies is still going to be 'move ten things to get the one thing' owing to the bare bones storage space in this shoebox. sigh
And I would really like to know where the hell I'm going to hide the Christmas presents. Yes, I have Christmas shopping done (e-vouchers will be sent to the US loved ones at the start of Christmas week so that's done as well).
The first of Paul's gifts arrived this morning (thank-you Mr Postie) and I need to work out where to hide it. I have a half-mind to dig out some of the Christmas fabric and make a big bag to hang off the mantel, I could put every gift in the bag and not have to worry. Hmmm. Gonna give that some serious thought today. Paul doesn't 'peek' so having the gifts tucked in a 'Santa Bag' from tomorrow doesn't pose a worry and would mean I wouldn't be finding things I'd meant for gifts in March. The thought is growing on me.
Speaking of autumn, it cometh, and honestly I can feel winter looming as well. The rowans are stripped of berries, the leaves are beginning to change colour and the swifts will be leaving soon for their African winter home.
Autumn is my favourite time of year - I usually have the new diaries and calendars bought by mid-September but this year (for 2024) I already have got those tucked up. Christmas gifts are bought, winter clothing and bedding either washed or in the process of being washed (my workhorse clothes washer working overtime to get it all done). All that is left is planning and stocking in 'festive foods'. This year I'm either buying a 'crown' (turkey breast roast in the USA) or simply chicken filets (boneless chicken breasts in the USA) that I'll roast and serve with traditional 'trimmings'. Thanks to the lovely worktop oven I have been working on perfecting my sugar cookies and Yule Log skills - one worry off, yippee!
I love everything about autumn, always have. The changing leaves, the crisper air, the cooking and baking, the lovely anticipation of winter - will it snow long enough and deep enough to build snowmen that last weeks, what colour Christmas lights will I use to decorate the front garden, which illuminated ornament should I use in the front window, should I use the full-on 4ft Christmas tree or go with the 2.5ft mantel tree...
67, wow. Never thought about being a 60something, actually. I'm fine with it, it definitely beats the alternative!
1 August 2023 0751hrs BST
Aaaaand the calendar rolls on into a new month as we continue the reconsideration project here at Holly Cottage. Paul is now so fully on-board he has taken over as project manager and is actually becoming rather ruthless in the cull of stuff.
This morning I'm taking close to thirty like-new jigsaw puzzles to the dementia centre after a chance meeting with one of the centre volunteers as I awaited my taxi to the dentist. I tried to convince Paul he could easily sell these puzzles on eBay or our local sell-buy-swap site but he says he doesn't think the puzzles would sell (HEH! How does he think those puzzles got to our house in the first place?!) and he just wants to see the stack whittled down. (Uh oh. I ordered three more at the weekend...)
My personal project of clearing out the kitchen to make it more efficient continues, sigh. Getting there but not fast enough to my satisfaction. Still, every little helps and nowt more than the worktop oven and dishwasher. Yes I lost a lot of food prep space but what I gained in truly life-changing usability is worth the loss of the food prep space. Not having to bend into the oven and not having to stand at the kitchen sink hand-washing dishes is an absolute priceless trade-off.
Can I do a sort of sidebar moment here regarding kitchen efficiency? Scroll past if you can't take yet another of my glowing reviews...
Last year I bought a Cuisinart 'multi-cooker' to replace the single use electric skillet. It's a three piece (griddle-grill+steamer insert+deep-ish main pot) '5-in-1' unit, I can fry-boil-slow cook-steam in the main pot. I can grill bacon, burgers, fish, steak on the grill plate. BONUS (and reason for buying the thing) - all the bits except the heating base are independent of the base. Yes, that's right, all the bits but the wipe-clean heating base go in the dishwasher (or hand-wash, not that I EVER want to have to do that again!).
I loved my electric skillets (oh yeah, I had TWO, one small-ish and one huge) but the Essential Tremor made washing either skillet increasingly difficult. Juggling the washing-up process (keeping the electrical part completely free of any water whilst cleaning the cooking surface without dropping the skillet into the water) got to the point I avoided using those electric skillets as often as I'd wanted owing to how difficult cleaning said skillets had become.
Now, I have GOT to have an electric skillet - Paul has fallen seriously in love with Cajun fried chicken (I put a shocking amount of Cajun seasoning in the flour dredge) and for some reason I can only make said chicken in an electric skillet. Yes I have tried using a frying pan on the hob and all I can say after dozens of seriously bad fails that an electric skillet is a MUST HAVE to make perfect fried chicken.
The last time I used the smaller skillet and stood at the sink praying aloud I didn't drop the damn thing into the soapy water, it dawned on me I simply couldn't be the first chief cook and bottle washer to dream of an electric skillet in two parts - one the heating base and the other a detachable cooking surface that could safely be dunked.
And I finally found that dreamt of kitchen appliance when during a long online browse I stumbled across the 'multi-cooker' section.
OOOOOOH! A Cuisinart appliance! Great reviews. And a Cuisinart. With the famous Cuisinart quality (and guarantee). Well worth the £199.99 price...that I couldn't make myself splash out. I bookmarked it on the site I found it on, I began searching for it on the discount sites, I checked the original site hoping for a sale.
And last year my patience was rewarded by a £50 price drop during Prime Day.
Paul wasn't too happy about the purchase until he enjoyed a few meals cooked in that incredible device. Oh ok, being able to clearly demonstrate how the new appliance actually saved a considerable amount of electrical cost to use probably was the decider for him.
That multi-cooker is an absolute marvel, so much so I haven't used the hobs since it arrived. We're eating even more healthier - veg is so much nicer steamed! Steaks and other grilled foods come off that plate more moist and tasty at a much lower energy use cost than even grilling in the worktop oven (also a huge energy cost saver but I love grilling on the Cuisinart because it's easier to clean than the worktop oven after a grill session).
And I can actually make a seriously mean spag-bol in one go with the main pot (brown the mince, drain, pour in the fresh ingredients for sauce or dump 1-2 jars of decent spag-bol sauce I then 'doctor' a bit plus 2 cups water. Bring to boil then dump in the pasta, bring back to boil then turn down the heat to high simmer until the pasta is cooked. (this works on a conventional hob, btw)
OR I can cook the pasta first and set it aside in a serving bowl then make the meaty sauce to serve over the pasta.
I've died and gone to cooking Dog Heaven.
Our Scottish Summer is following the typical Scottish summer weather pattern - damp to soaking wet (rain, rain, and yet more rain) and on the chilly side. We don't need to turn on the heat but we both find a body warmer and fleece lined trousers our cosy best summer garb. I hate to think what winter may look like this year. I'm in the annual process of making sure the winter blankets and garments are mended (if needed) and washed (needed or not!) and vacuum packed to be opened and used come mid-autumn - or sooner if the weather continues damp and chilly.
I'm giggling a wee bit as I type this, I STILL don't understand why people spend huge sums of money to fight over sunbeds at foreign holiday destinations so they can bake in unbearable summer sun and heat. I love our much cooler summers so much I've actually been known to wear a sundress whilst moaning about the rare 80F heat wave and longing for a return of the damp and chilly typical Scottish Summer weather. All I need is room for a nice little glasshouse to grow tomatoes in.
Monday 3 July 2023 0742hrs BST
3rd July already, WOT??!! Worse, January 2023 seems so far in the past as to be ancient history and dimly recalled. Far worse, for the first time in years I do not have Christmas Next bagged and tagged.
On a happier note, the kitchen is teetering on the edge of becoming much more efficient. When we chose this downsizer I knew the kitchen and bathroom were going to be the problem children of the house move - the kitchen is an 8x8ft (wall-to-wall, the walkway is 'arm's reach' width so I can stand on one worktop side of the galley and comfortably reach across to the other) and so storage space challenged there is no room to slot in a slimline dishwasher.
The bathroom is ok but...the 50 year old tub with shower over is so difficult to enter that I won't shower until Paul is conscious and aware he may have to rush to rescue me should I fall clambering in-out of the damn thing.
Full reno to achieve efficiency and safety is so out of our budget I've taken to buying a lottery ticket once a week in hope of a miracle. Meanwhile, I spend quite a lot of my day brainstorming ways to mitigate the tiny kitchen and bathing facility problems.
SIDEBAR MOMENT:
Use of 'problem' rather than 'issue'. I try to keep up with current colloquialisms and I know 'issue' is currently the preferred euphemism for problem - I am bucking the trend here because frankly in my personal opinion 'issue' is, to me, a way of softening the blow. Most people would call my challenging kitchen and bathroom situation an 'issue' in a misguided (to me) attempt to downplay the depth of the situation. My situation is beyond softening, far past downplaying - those two rooms are like a snip of irritating plastic thread in the collar of an otherwise lovely blouse - grrr! I do not have 'an issue', I have a bloody serious PROBLEM with those two rooms.
END OF RANT SIDEBAR MOMENT
Honestly without that lottery win the bathroom is beyond mitigation. I live with it. sigh
The kitchen, on the other hand, has been made much more efficient by the recent addition of two worktop appliances - a 'compact' dishwasher and a 'mini-oven' that is so not mini it easily accommodates all my bakeware.
Yes the new appliances take up valuable real estate but have made my kitchen life so much easier the loss of real estate is doable.
Why? Because at 66 (soon to be 67) my health conditions have progressed to the point doing the washing up after making and serving a nice meal and/or a full-on baking session was becoming too difficult. I was breaking dishes trying to do the washing up by hand (thanks ever so much, Essential Tremor. not) - since moving into our downsizer I managed to break six sets of dishes and a few Pyrex casseroles as well. Standing at the sink trying to grip soapy dishes became an exercise in futility - between the ET and my stoopid heart thingies, standing there at the sink for any length of time meant broken dishes and exhaustion forcing me to sit/lie on the sofa for hours recovering.
The dishwasher ended that difficulty.
The not-so-mini oven solved my other physical problem - no more bending into the under worktop integrated oven (now super-cleaned and being used to store casseroles and baking tins). My back is saved!
I am reduced to a much smaller food prep space. I. Do. Not. Care. Am I still buying a lottery ticket once a week? Oh hell yes! Both rooms could be made so much more efficient and safe but I need a lottery win to get there. Meanwhile the dishwasher and oven make my life much easier.
Would we move to a slightly bigger house if I won the lottery? No. This house even with an inconvenient floor plan is perfect for being married to Asperger's. No passing motor or foot traffic, no worrying possibility of someone building a house overlooking our home. Heating and maintenance costs lower make living on a fixed income doable (we're both retired on small private pensions that will be moderately plumped once his state pension and my US social security kick in).
Meanwhile. Paul is in another Asperger's induced clearing-out frenzy (sigh) but for once I am fully on-board with it. We need to get this house organised once-for-all now he actually puts things back where he found them (as opposed to putting things in what seems more logical to his Aspie self but in reality is a different bloody damn place every time meaning I can't find a bloody damn thing I desperately NEED at any given moment).
After 13 years together he has managed to understand his Aspie ways to the point we've made successful life-style adjustments including when he is in a clearing-out frenzy he knows he has to sort everything into three piles (or bags or boxes, depending on what he's clearing-out this time) for me to check before he disposes of ANYTHING. And he does put things back where he found them now.
So, it's time to try to do a Big Clear-Out - BIG HUGE BONUS: he is doing all the hard work of sorting and all I have to do is check his sorting before he starts disposing of things.
Married to Asperger's isn't what I envisioned for my senior years but there are some advantages, for example his clearing-out frenzies that save me the heavy lifting.
Now, if I can just win the lottery...
WEDS 7 JUNE 2023 0723HRS BST
79 years ago, it isn't ancient history. Of all the photos and video of the commemorations yesterday, one stays with me - a 97yo British man sitting in a wheelchair surrounded by French children holding 5x7in postcards of the former soldier as the young man he was 6th June 1944. Without his and his comrades-at-arms efforts, none of those children would be here and they knew it. Every one of those youngsters were extending their 5x7s at the gentleman for his autograph just as they would clamour for a rock or sports star's.
NEVER FORGET - NEVER AGAIN
It was a deeply moving photograph, nothing staged or false about the young faces looking at the man who is, clearly, to them, a living symbol of all the men and women who slogged up those beaches that day 79 years ago to liberate France and all Europe from the Nazis.
Several years ago, while I was still living in the US, I had a dream so vivid I was sure it was not a dream at all. I was at one of the French war cemeteries. I walked past row after row after row of white markers and finally came to a row where several soldiers in full formal dress were standing at attention, each next to a marker. The soldier on the row end marker turned to me so I could see his name tag matched the name on the marker.
He smiled at me, a peaceful yet weary smile, and he said 'We're not the heroes, not really. The real heroes are the boys who made it home and raised families, built businesses and cities and towns. They're the heroes, not us.'
Behind us I could hear footsteps and I turned to see who was coming. I saw an elderly man who de-aged with each step until he was a young man again in battle dress. The soldiers standing next to the markers came forward to give him a hero's welcome.
And in that moment I woke sitting up in bed, tears streaming down my face. In the years since that dream, I can't think of any more true statement than the lads who made it home and somehow found the courage to spend the rest of their lives raising families and building lives after what they went through during the war are the real heroes. For many the scars never healed, some of them needed 'extra help' and some never got that help. But they kept trying and THAT is why they were and are the real heroes.
Life. So robust yet so fragile...
It is the 21st century, SIDS (aka 'cot death' or 'crib death') isn't supposed to be a thing anymore. But it is and two nights ago an eight month old little boy lost his life.
My daughter-in-law's brother and his partner must be going through absolute hell. The extended family is shredded. As the mother of two, I can imagine the horror they're going through, this is every parent's nightmare.
There simply are no words of comfort at a time like this.
Wed 31 May 2023 1230hrs BST
Happy Birthday to my brother (who thinks I'm an idiot, but heigh ho, I love him).
Now for my wee rant...
GRRRRR! I have been slowly and carefully recovering from a late winter acute flare of the recurrent pericarditis. The weather has finally hit my personal 'sweet spot' just as the flare has receded and I'm back to full-ish energy levels. I could smell the new mown grass, could see my roses and various bulbs in their blooming turns. I had spent my illness time perusing (ok, pouring over) garden designs and plants that might have a real chance in my little bit of unique micro-climate garden.
And just as I was pulling on the wellies - MY BLOODY HUSBAND BEAT ME OUT THE DOOR TO THE SHED HARBOURING MY GARDEN TOOLS!
Oblivious to my distress, he gleefully called me out to admire his handiwork (omfg, butchered lawn via badly applied strimmer weed whacker and dull blade cylinder push mower).
And to hear him describe his plan for the garden, how he's going to create flower beds and plant dwarf trees and...
I gave a weakly voiced 'Oh that sounds lovely' surrender and went inside to nurse my wounded spirit.
To his credit, three weeks ago the doorbell sounded and a nice young man delivered...
A WORKTOP DISHWASHER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We had it partially fitted - the plumber came and hooked it up to the clothes washer inlet supply using a Y splitter thingie. The dishwasher waste drain line is now clamped to the wall of the half-sink to drain into the half-sink. The electrician took one look at the current wiring in our desperately-in-need-of-complete reno and suggested we use a rated extension lead to power the machine via one of the mains outlets on the wall. That afternoon I had a fully functioning dishwasher.
It's basic - no macerator so I continue (happily) my life-long habit of rinsing the dishes before loading into the machine. It has two - COUNT 'EM - two hygiene cycles (oh wow, sanitary clean dishes without boiling my skin off doing the dishes by hand - yes please!), it shuts itself off at the end of the programme and the dishes come out SO clean and dry.
I love that dishwasher so can forgive (a bit) his taking over MY garden. I also love the worktop 'mini-oven' that is so big all my bakeware and casserole dishes fit - the two appliances make my life nearly perfect.
OK, the kitchen is not the prettiest room in the house but the dishwasher and 'mini' oven make it SO much more efficient, SO much easier on my back, and means future acute flares will not result in piles and stacks of dirty dishes and little cooking while I'm essentially out of commission (during a flare the very last thing I need to be doing is bending into the integrated under-worktop oven and standing for long periods doing the dishes by hand).
He planned it, I know he did. While I lay on the sofa counting the hours-days-weeks to recovery, he was in the study planning his garden-theft. He knew surprising me with a dishwasher would silence my (ahem) disappointment at losing any hope of happy hours working in the garden.
He was right enough - I am so pleased with the dishwasher that I am managing to keep my garden grief to myself. BONUS: the more time he spends in the garden, the happier and far less grumpy old man he is. He is now 65, he was spending too much time online (mostly playing video games like Elder Scrolls and Fallout New Vegas), the exercise he's getting out there is good for him and to my complete surprised, he's 'tasked' me with finding evergreens that flower.
So, ok, no roses for me - where I'd planned a rose bed is now marked for lilacs, but his lilacs will be balanced with dwarfs that keep colour year round. Can't complain.
Much.
Friday 26th May 2023 1017hrs BST
My sister would have been 79 today if she'd not passed away in 2018. She was 12 years older than me and was a major player in my upbringing thanks to a wicked witch of the west stepmother whose sole contribution to my upbringing was to deliberately work as destroying not only my childhood but our entire family.
Valerie and I had been officially estranged since 1986 but unofficially all my life - she hated me, blamed me for our parents divorce, and convinced herself I was only her half-sister, going to her grave, I'm told, insisting our stepmother was my biological mother. (she wasn't, a fact proven when my brother needed a kidney donation and the tests proved we share such complete dna that the medics said we could have been fraternal twins. He ended up not needing the kidney, btw)
And I think a large part of her hate (couldn't be described as anger, it was clearly out and out hate) was she was forced from a too early age to essentially raise me from infancy. There were times she expressed her hate via physical violence I am convinced only divine intervention kept me from full-on death rather than 'simple' broken bones and bruises our stepmother routinely covered up by claiming I'd self-harmed.
OK, the beatings hurt physically and mentally, the lies I'd done it all to myself hurt mentally but to be honest what hurt more than anything else was the way EVERYONE from family (who bloody well knew better) to school to the occasional doctor I was reluctantly taken to when the injuries were so severe they were afraid I'd die and they'd have to come up with a very convincing lie to explain how I'd died OR bury my body out on the desert and then claim I'd run away.
From nursery school through high school NO-ONE EVER CONSIDERED I MIGHT BE THE VICTIM OF SOME SUPREMELY HORRIFIC ABUSE AT THE HANDS OF MY SISTER AND STEPMOTHER. NO-ONE.
But. But I was heartbroken at Valerie's rejection. I idolised her. Until 1986 I knocked myself out trying to win her approval knowing full well I was only ever going to be kicked back (often physically but heigh ho) but oh I did keep trying.
From 1986 to the day I was informed of her death in 2018 I cherished hope one day we could sort our (her) issues.
I don't even know where she is buried. Where ever her physical remains are, I hope her soul has finally found peace. She was almost as much a victim as I was.
THURSDAY 20 APRIL 2023 1120HRS BST
I've been on a year-plus long 'reconsideration' of all things household. It has been simultaneously interesting-thought provoking-eye opening.
What is a reconsideration period? Well, it's in large part a decluttering effort but it is mostly a reconsideration of what I use-need-don't use or need. Prompted, like all declutterings going on everywhere in the world today, apparently, by lack of storage meaning things are jammed in higgly-piggly any and everywhere. Making retrieving things I need to use next to impossible and often never retrieved owing to the exhausting effort required currently to move this and this and this just to get to that then move all the this things back.
I have multiple heart and heart related issues. Mild-ish, I like to say, but damned inconvenient when I'm having a bad-ish spell. I have spent a lifetime making the stoopid heart thingies as unnoticeable to the people around me as possible and I've managed well enough over the years. Although as I age I do notice some escalation, the health conditions are annoying more than anything and I actively work at keeping the annoyances to a minimum. I know my limits and arrange Life accordingly.
Organisation is the key to minimising the pita health issues - an easy to reach place for everything and everything returned to said easy to reach place after use makes for a much easier life. For everyone, not just me, if I don't have to ask The Resident Aspie to help me fetch-carry-retrieve something, Life is good. He's actually wonderful about helping when I need him to but he has on occasion mentioned his deep appreciation for my refusal to be one of those boring old gits with annoying mild-ish health conditions who constantly has to bang on about said conditions.
So not having this house well organised is making me crazy.
OK, yes, the truth is I should have held out for a bit bigger house when we sold the former home to downsize. I should have held out for two bathrooms, a bigger-better organised kitchen, two big bedrooms (at least!) and a 'box room' I could use for a stock room. I should have held out for a working fireplace we could convert to a multi-fuel flat-top stove (heat, light, cooking in a power outage).
Should have. Did not. sigh
If I had a spare £20K lying about I could just about manage to make this house 'work'.
I do not have a spare £20K lying about. And so far my weekly £1 lottery ticket is not coming up trumps. sigh
The local charity shops love me. I did try flogging some of the things I've reconsidered, to no avail.
The pasta making machine, WTH was I thinking - the damn thing can't be cleaned to a hygienic standard, the user is meant to use a bristle brush to knock the crumbs left by the pasta dough. Dough that includes egg, do they really think a germaphobe like me is going to EVER use that thing, EVER? Easier and much more sanitary to use a cutter-on-a-stick thingie that can go in the washing-up basin or (hahahahahaha, as if I'd be able to find room for a...) dishwasher. Paul gets his gluten-free pasta and I get the satisfaction of knowing I can sanitise the tool after a zen-like morning cutting pasta and hanging it on the rack to dry. The rack, btw, is a stainless steel thing I can also sanitise. It used to be a free-standing swing-out multi-rack tea towel rack, works a treat for dying pasta. Just saying.
Any road, during my reconsideration period, I came to understand while it is a wise homemaker thing to keep spares, it is wiser to box and label the spares then put the box(es) in the shed. And yes, part of the reconsideration period includes deciding which items I use enough to warrant having at all much less keeping spares of.
Good-bye pasta machine, extravagantly huge casserole dishes, good-bye (and good riddance!) to inconvenient grating and peeling tools (the charity shop ladies tell me the tomato slicing holder went in a flash. They're still trying to convince someone to take the pasta machine). Good-bye to several never opened bottles of nail varnish I can't use owing to the medical need to be able to use a ox-sats finger unit 3xDaily. Good-bye to several sets of hair curlers, a too heavy hand-held blow-dryer, and good-bye to no end really of craft supplies.
Good-bye to quite a lot of things but mainly the good-byes were to kitchen things. The deep fat fryer, the cake decorating set (I can no longer use thanks to Essential Tremor - easier to 'dust' with confectioner sugar and slather icing on baked goods needing more than a dusting). The multiple 8 place setting sets of crockery - really, do I NEED five sets of 8 place setting tableware, really? Two sets of four place settings and we're good and BONUS - less to wash-up:)
But HELLO grill racks that double as cooling racks! The only ones I sent to the charity shops were the ones too big for my worktop 'mini-oven' (that is the same size as my knee-height integrated one I'm now using for pots-pans-casserole dish storage). WHO KNEW - and you're completely forgiven for your immediate thought 'She didn't, blimey, what a twit!'. I love 'Bangers and Mash', even with the price rises on quality steak sausage, it's a lovely and filling money-saver meal. I am embarrassed to confess I was creating a grilling sheet from tin foil to grill the sausages but the damn things collapse when trying to turn the sausages and it was only last week (I really am embarrassed by this confession) it dawned on me a wire grill rack was what I needed.
Yeah. So, I used a thin and too long biscuit-cookie-cake cooling rack to grill the sausages Monday night...BLOODY PERFECTION, those sausages! Straight to Amazon and my proper size heavy duty racks arrive in a few hours. Quite looking forward to those racks, it comes as a two-pack and now I can send the too long-too thin to be multi-purpose cooling racks off to the charity shop.
And another big hello to borosilicate glass casserole and mixing bowls that can go in the microwave or oven. I guard my collection of Pyrex (new and vintage, I have a difficult time passing up vintage 'Made in England' Pyrex, but who doesn't, eh?) - but I keep three each type only in the kitchen, the rest are boxed, labelled and in the shed.
So far so good, really, and while the reconsideration period is still on. I feel I'm nearing the end. I've gone through just about every thing now, just a few more nooks and crannies to reconsider.
Now all I need is a spare £20k, LOL - 'cause that isn't likely to happen. Oh well, a girl can dream, can't she?
sigh
Weds 19 April 2023 1036hrs BST
I logged on to natter on about my latest kitchen success. Opened 'create new post', typed the header (date and time post begun) and realised what day it is.
28 years on from that horrific day. We were in Guatemala City (Crusty on secondment there and I quite stupidly thought 'Oh yeah, no worries, I'll take my young son to do a temporary (two year) rota in a country in the midst of a civil war'), TV was cable with the majority of the channels being US ones so I had CNN rolling the background when the news hit the wires.
I was running the vacuum and caught a look at the television screen, sat down on the sofa and watched the horror unfold. Fox was in class at The American School, the admin chose to keep the children on campus for several hours to ensure their transport home was safe from any copy-cat attacks so he didn't come home until much later. 13 years old having lived his entire life as the child of a military contractor, he was fully aware of the potential for terrorist attacks against Americans but I remember him being in absolute shock at the attack on American soil, he said he thought things like that only happened in the past (Pearl Harbor). He knew about the 1993 WTC bombing but it didn't affect him the way OKC did. I remember him asking 'Why do people do things like this?' but it didn't seem to impact him the way OKC two years later did.
And later when the perpetrators were identified as Americans, he was hurt and angry and shocked, the Oklahoma City Bombing changed my son forever. He's 41 now and I think he would agree everything changed for him (and so many other young people at the time) - but he doesn't talk about it and I doubt it is at the front of his mind as he goes about his days. But it's there, deep in his soul, just as it is for so many of the young people who were thousands of miles from OKC that day, physically unconnected but completely emotionally connected.
A few hours later the photo of a firefighter carrying little Baylee Almon out of the ruined day care centre flashed around the world and the image is still with many of us who remember 19 April 1995.
Her date of birth? 18 April 1994. She would be 29years and 1day this morning if McVeigh hadn't chosen the building she was in to make his statement against the world. She died in hospital that day instead.
Six years later, Timothy McVeigh was executed by lethal injection - the first federal execution in 38 years. I remember that morning as clearly as I remember the morning in April.
I'm 66 years old. I clearly remember where I was when Kennedy was murdered, when Nixon resigned, when Saigon fell, when Dan White killed Harvey Milk and Mayor Moscone (I was living in San Francisco at the time). I remember 7/7 2005 London bombing and the 1993 WTC bombing and WTC 9-11 in 2001, I remember Tehran and Tiananmen Square and the Berlin Wall and...
I'm glad that I remember - these things (and I've left out so many in the above paragraph, so many) should be remembered. We're who we are, these monstrous things WILL happen again despite all the 'Never Again' vows we make in all the aftermaths of all these horrible things. We cannot, must not live in perpetual grief but on these sad anniversaries, we must take a moment of silence and pray, yes, pray for 'Never Again' even though we understand human nature means these dreadful moments will happen. Again.
My thoughts and prayers today are for all those Oklahomans who suffered such a terrible spring morning 28 years ago and doubtless still suffer. God is with them - I believe that and I pray they do as well.
SUNDAY 19 FEB 2023 1156HRS GMT
Apologies in advance to those for whom this style somehow actually works, but is it just me or is this silliest 'bookcase' style EVER:
I've tried stacking books to save bookcase shelving space - and then been hugely frustrated by having to juggle the stack to retrieve the book I need.
Why buy books if not to use as reference material (medical, cookery, crafting) or to share with trustworthy friends and family (trustworthy meaning you know the book will come home sooner rather than never), and how in the bloody hell are you supposed to use those books if you constantly have to juggle a stack to get at the one you need??
The diagonal bookcase is 'trending' - meh. I loathe trends, always have, and the diagonal bookcase to me is one of the most pretentious of trends currently making the rounds. It ranks right up there with those home magazine pieces asking 'Do you arrange your books by binding colour?' (oh please, books must be carefully 'arranged' for subject, not colour - books are for using as learning tools and, you know, actual READING.
Books ARE NOT NOW NOR EVER HAVE BEEN FASHION ACCESSORIES FFS!
On another topic - briefly as I have to scurry off in a few minutes to do offline things - Wednesday 22 February is Ash Wednesday and I have to finalise my Lenten planning before then. Of course I'm making Lenten sacrifices - this year one is putting a hold on jigsaw puzzle purchases. But the really big one is clutter.
I obviously have never been into 'minimalism' in any way and my home reflects that - my decor style is more 'vintage semi-rustic farmhouse cottage' and has been all of my life.
As a decor style it works nicely - functional whilst pretty in a practical way with fabrics and other soft furnishings all machine washable and most items in the decor scheme having a functional use. It's a charming way to live in a home and Paul (always into vintage anyway) loves it. But it can go to cluttered in a surprisingly fast way.
I'm currently watching a television series for 'decluttering' inspiration (Nick Knowles Big Clear-Out) and it definitely has inspired me...
My starter Lenten sacrifice is to spend the entirety of Ash Wednesday decluttering the living room. I would post a photo showing just how desperately the decluttering is needed except I am too embarrassed to expose the depth of the need that has developed in this room since First Sunday of Advent 2022.
Wish me well!
PS - COULD MY FOLLOWERS PLEASE USE COMMENT BOX TO LINK YOUR BLOGS? Somehow I've lost the links and haven't been able to visit yours for some time now. Yes, comments to this blog are moderated (spammers, sigh) so I will copy your comment to catch up on your blogs but will not publish your info to this blog unless you say it's ok with you to do so.
MONDAY 13 FEB 2023 1040HRSgmt
So, this scene has been carefully dusted and wrapped in acid-free tissue paper since the morning of 3 February 2023 and I am quite missing it. Paul is happily engaged in a hunt for the camels and one of the angels that match, he has nearly a year to find both or either - the main search is for one of the angels. The original full set came with two angels, one 'in-flight' holding a Gloria banner and the other kneeling in adoration. It would be hoping for too much to find both but one is not outside the realm of possibility.
Lent is fast approaching - 22 Feb is Ash Wednesday this year. The night before I'll be stripping the mantel of the winter decorations leaving only the empty glass domes, the mantel clock, and speaker (which I have been waiting for more than a year to be mounted on the wall!). Paul says these mantel decor schemes make it meaningful to him, he said Saturday night (during a rare joint telly watching - Neil Oliver's splendid Saturday night slot on GB News) seeing the displays makes him think, including the stripped mantel during Lent. As we grow older and simultaneously yet more dismayed at the direction geopolitical and societal events are turning, faith is ever more important to us both.
When Paul and I were first together, he had a bit of difficulty keeping his agnosticism to himself - eye rolls and deep sighs when I'd be reading Daily Office or saying the Rosary. But over the years he's asked questions, discussed beliefs and customs, participated in things like setting up the Advent Wreath and Nativity scene. When I won the vintage Fontanini set on eBay and it was delivered on the morning of the Epiphany, he was as pleased as I was and helped arrange the display including testing the illuminated Star of Bethlehem. When I put the tissue wrap and sturdy box on the side table ready to take the scene down, he wanted to know more about the significance of the 2 February date (the Presentation of the Infant in the Temple).
Not bad for an Aspie raised by dour Wee Free-Presbyterian mum and maternal grandparents. Growing up in a home where joy was considered bad manners left marks, marrying me late-in-life has been a revelation to him, he says. LOL, now he's disappointed if his stocking isn't bulging with fruits, sweets, and silly desk toys (although the colouring-in books and fresh sets of Crayola crayons never impressed him so I gave up on that years ago).
Valentine's Day is another revelation to him - he wanted to know the religious story behind St Valentine but he also now enjoys the flowers, chocolates, and a nice meal. Honestly the man gets as much pleasure bringing home the flowers and box of chocolates as I get from having him do so. We don't do cards or romantic gifts (we don't for our anniversary, either - but woe betide if there isn't a special meal 17th January!) but we do celebrate the day.
Same for birthdays, btw. He has progressed to the point of remembering not only our birthdays but Fox's family days as well and reminds me to send a 'money-gram' on their special days. He was over the moon about the eldest graduating from high school last spring, and equally over the moon about the youngest's first birthday. He even remembers 'his' daughter-in-law's birthday. He doesn't call Fox his step-son nowadays, he calls Fox his son, and the boys are his grandsons.
All of which eases the worries current events are causing, the greatest being Putin's insanity - how far will it extend and can we make it through anything he throws at us? I find myself constantly checking, rechecking, checking and checking everything prepared not only for possible war but also the mess the UK (and God help us, that lunatic Sturgeon down in Edinburgh) so-called government is making.
It's not really a joke to wonder 'how fast can I crochet and quilt more blankets' when we're keeping the heating turned down even on the coldest days - the skyrocket electric and natural gas costs are truly horrific. Paul isn't laughing when I fret we've used too much of the stored BBQ charcoal and he isn't laughing anymore about my eBay win of a wash tub and mangle I can set over a campfire to do washing. He was brought up much the same as I was and understands 'things' are now at a point preparedness is wise on two counts, one the stocked items being extremely helpful and two the peace of mind that comes with knowing we've done what we can, just in case. He's becoming very good at remembering to put something on the fridge posted list if he uses the penultimate tin/loaf/battery/bandage...I rotate stocks but cannot manage without the list being kept up to date.
I think about my dad raising us off-grid (until the county came in with a court order, capped our artesian well and forced us onto county power and water) and how valuable the lessons from those days are now. One cauldron for laundry, one for the weekly chicken slaughter, and one for candle dipping. The Singer sewing machines (one 99K hand-crank table top model and the other a treadle), kitchen garden, the 'make do and mend' ethos that got my grandparents comfortably through two World Wars and The Great Depression, and my childhood family well off enough to support a comfortable life as well.
Lessons I think - I fear - will come in handy sooner rather than later.
THURSDAY 2 FEBRUARY 2023 1159HRS GMT
Last day of Christmas, tomorrow morning the Nativity scene will be dusted and wrapped in acid-free tissue, boxed with the LED lit Star of Bethlehem until the First Sunday of Advent 2023 (3 Dec).
My plan worked - no more 'annual anguish' 7th January taking down the Christmas tree and all the trimmings. Leaving the Nativity scene on the mantel through 2 Feb (Presentation of the Infant Christ in the Temple) has worked to ease the abrupt un-decking I once endured. Yeah, I do love decking the halls for Christmas and enjoying the sight from First Sunday of Advent through Epiphany. And yeah, taking everything down the day after Epiphany used to be painful. Use to be, once I worked out leaving the Nativity scene on display (ok, and the lighting on the front garden potted evergreens) made it not only less painful, but more meaningful.
With the Nativity scene on the mantel through the 2nd of Feb, I found myself contemplating the Christmas message in a way I hadn't in previous years. The Nativity scene has become less 'a Christmas decoration' and completely definitive spiritually meaningful display. I won't deny finding a nearly complete Fontanini Nativity scene (missing the camels, angels, and stable but the main figures are present and in good condition) on eBay makes for a more important display. Paul stopped to look at it several times over the period and asked questions - why are there two shepherds, why are the kings (Magi) three different races, who is the guy kneeling across the manger from Mary (at least he knew it is Mary, lol, and 'the guy' is Joseph her husband). This morning he said he's going to miss the scene because it made him think and be more interested in Christmas story without the distractions of the more secular Christmas decorations. WINNING!
I've kept to the NY Resolutions. I won't disclose the entire list here but one is weaning myself off my Internet 'doom scrolling' addiction and so far I'm finding I turn the laptop off earlier every day. The news is so
But I've exchanged my Internet addiction for...jigsaw puzzles. Father Christmas was rather good to me this year bringing me new jigsaw puzzles and vouchers for accessories. Sorting trays, working board, and a really long 'watch list' on eBay, lol!
The watch list pays off - yesterday I 'scored' a brand new still in sealed plastic 4-in-1 250pcs per puzzle set Vivaldi's Four Seasons including a CD of the Four Seasons.
I sincerely hope the Vivaldi set comes 'pre-sorted. Two weeks ago I won a brand new Cheatwell 'Classic Brands' 4-in1 vintage advert posters (Oxo, Bisto, Golden Shred featuring the now 'cancelled' Golliwog doll, and HP Sauce) which of course meant I had to go find the other two sets in the 1996 Classic Brands collection. I love vintage advert posters but the Cheatwell sets come with all 1000pcs jumbled together in one bag and the claim is 'the fun is in sorting 1000pcs into four individual puzzles. Oh. Dear.
Successful search for the other two puzzles sets came up with two 'pre-owned' sets listed as complete. One, the sporting images, came with the four puzzles already separated and neatly labelled in zip-grip bags - indeed complete 'all present and correct'. The other (Pears Soaps) is partially sorted and I have no idea (yet) if all four are complete. Oh. Dear.
I have a system, however I did need to buy another 6-tray sorting set to finally begin to get the Pears Soaps set sorted and I'm sure the extra trays will be helpful when I start sorting the brand new set. The Pears Soaps set is a mess and I suspect it was a gift someone started to try sorting and gave up on when the frustration outweighed 'the fun'.
I welcome (mostly) the challenge - it keeps my doom scrolling to a dull roar and good thing, that, considering how absolutely dismal the news is. 'Things are not looking good out there' (understatement of the century line from the Paul Newman cops-under-siege movie Ft Apache) and after scanning the headlines (with very occasional actual article reading) I have to find something much less distressing to focus on. The puzzles help, as does crochet, sewing, and embroidery. Bonus, the handcrafting yields useful items. The puzzles supposedly 'keep the mind sharp' (I hate Suduko and other 'brain teaser' challenges) so I'm counting that as useful as well.
Fox is happily ensconced in raising his infant son with his wife (my second dil, and wow is she fab!), living the boring life and says 'boring is best'. I know just what he means but it is interesting my oldest grandson (Fox's first born) says the same thing. Maybe the drama his mum brings (serious drama, so serious the drama that girl generates and thrives on) has made a 'boring is best' believer of my now 18yo grandson.
Praying for peace whilst preparing for the very real possibility of war. Putin is endangering the entire world, the sooner all this madness from Moscow ends, the better!
FRIDAY 6 JAN 2023 1430HRS GMT
Epiphany (or 12th Night to the non-religious). Just before dark yesterday I removed the candle bridge and replaced it with a Star of Bethlehem light. I switched on all the battery light decorations (Star, tree, holly wreath, and candle bridge now on the mantel) and have all burning in an effort to drain the batteries before tomorrow when I'll begin taking it all down (except the Nativity).
The Nativity has been greatly enhanced - two weeks ago I won an eBay auction for 11 pieces of a vintage Fontanini set - the only missing pieces are the stable, camel, sheep, and angels. The mini triptych fridge magnet Nativity has moved back to the fridge, the Fontanini set now adorning the mantel and both Nativity will remain on display through 2 February - The Presentation (In The Temple) of the Infant Christ (aka 'Candlemas', the day a household took the newly made over autumn and winter candles to church for the annual blessing).
Paul told me NYE it meant more of a 'big deal' to him that I follow the Church Calendar to live my faith - he's noticed I'm saying a daily Rosary and asked what prayers are said, and he's now asking what I have planned for the Lenten season. As usual, I will be making a Lenten vow and the mantel will be kept completely bare except for the mantel clock. Slowly, over the years, he has become more interested in the religious significance of the Advent, Christmas, Lent, and Easter 'holidays'. He tells me watching me through the year and the displays I use during the most special times is setting a more peaceful sense to his life. AHA! Maybe this year I can get him to accompany me to Palm Sunday services...
Our Christmas has been quiet - an acute flare of recurrent pericarditis
put a damper on the season. It will be another several weeks before I'm
'back on my feet' - just in time for Ash Wednesday (22 Feb this year).
Of course.
Tomorrow morning I'll be carefully un-decking the halls. I'll be dusting-repairing-embellishing-then packing away every bit of Christmas but the Nativity. That will likely take me a week to accomplish (blast this stoopid heart thing slowing me down!).
After that is done I'm hoping to be well enough to make a stable to join the Nativity on the mantel for 2023. Not quite sure how I'll make it and I'm thinking considering Paul's increasing interest in faith, I may ask him to build us one - he claims to hate 'diy' but I've realised he actually loves it and especially the moaning he does swearing he will never do DIY again...and then of course he jumps right in taking over a project the second he sees me digging around in my tool bag for a saw/hammer/bolt driver/spanner.
BTW - NY resolutions - yes, I made one or two and while it is only the end of the first week of 2023 it appears I'm on track. My 2022 resolutions were for the most part kept (still haven't nailed making a Swiss roll Yule Log cake, blast it).
But for once I'm not dreading the morning of 7th January when I take down Christmas. I think a large part of why is down to leaving the Nativity up through 2 February. I'm disappointed Ash Wednesday (signalling the beginning of the Lenten season) comes so soon this year (it's come earlier, I'm just feeling it more this year). I like a month of winter decor before stripping everything during Lent and I'll have a spare 19 days of winter decor to enjoy the snow globe, snowman, and artificial winter floral arrangement. Once Lent ends (Good Friday 7 April 2023), Easter Sunday (9 April 2023) begins the spring season and I won't see those snowmen again until 1st Sunday Advent (3 December 2023). sigh
