Weekly Chat (Non-Osprey), 6 December 2020

Ah! - it's working again.....

Awoke to pouring rain today, and a grumpy OH who has had his golf cancelled. Then this tablet refused to post anything on here! And my phone was flat... Urgh.

Never mind, went out between showers to the post office to send Amber her festive T shirt and to tax the car. As the post office is in a shop, spent some time & money on buying a few treats for us to enjoy. All calorie free, of course (!!)

Heather B said:

Hello LINDY are you OK?

Yes, fine thank you, Heather - was just testing... 

Sorry your weather is as dreary as ours. My OH has been racketing about, so I told him to put up some indoor lights to cheer us up. He made home made chicken soup this morning whilst I was out, from stock he made out of our weekend roast chicken. It was nice and warming when I got home. I drove into the driveway, thinking how I'd got lots of things done after my outing, when I twisted my bad knee getting out of the car. A bit of a few swearywords ensued!

I'm still looking at boxes of Christmas decs etc ! So unmotivated. I have started making lists for food shopping, though. Lucy ( eldest daughter) has ordered beef from her butcher for our Christmas dinner. We aren't a turkey loving family. It's probably all my fault as I don't rate it very highly....

Morning all:  Re Xmas decorations, ours are getting more slapdash as the years pass.  Put the 'vintage' ones along the back of the house (white and blue bulbs don't last as long as the others, especially orange) and then got out the mini ones for inside only to find that half the string wasn't working.  Googled why not and saw that one bad bulb can mess things up: Started to test the bad bits with a good bulb then got fed up and decided life was too short (it's a long string of lights).  Changed fuses: no luck there either, so rolled up the non-working half and hid it behind some books, then strung the good half around the bookcase.  Don't tell anyone.  Will put out the snowflake-projecting thing in the front garden and that's it.  Small, ancient (30 year-old) fibre optic tree in the living room is still going strong and still so pretty - an amazing bargain from Target way back when...

Am going to friend's house for coffee in her garden and to pick up their battery-operated pole trimmer to tackle the Monterey Brush Cherries along the back walkway.  Our neighbors said they were going to hire someone to do their yard and agreed to have them do the brush cherries, but nobody has shown up to do anything.  This is the second or third time that they've announced one intention or another and failed to follow through....they're young and both working fulltime and have two kiddies so probably no time to think or arrange anything.

I see the UK is already rolling out the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.  Are any of you in line for a shot soon?

Lindybird:  Hope His Grumpiness is over his missed golf game and hope your knee isn't causing trouble.

Heather:  I'm not big on turkey or most meat for that matter, but I can eat anything with Trader Joe's cranberry/orange relish slathered on top.  Actually, I've bought just small amounts of turkey from a nice Deli and managed to heat it up without it drying out.  Not sure what we'll do this year as it's just me and OH.

Lynette:  Nice that you were able to meet the church friends.  I may have to borrow your gardener.  :-)

Take care all

Heather, we've not got the decorations as such out, only the lights. Annette, that's a clever wheeze to still use the lights. I did something like that last year when a whole quarter of a set of "net" lights wouldn't work {the ones with a lot of little sparkly ones on a sort of net which you just throw over things - highly recommended as easy to do).

My OH is cheering up but its sort of spoilt his day - he misses having time with his friends and getting outside in the fresh air. He also hates this time of year, when I'm constantly saying "I've just bought...." LOL!!

We love turkey but absolutely understand if someone else has pork or goose or whatever - the bird is not obligatory! We decided years ago that most people overcook the turkey which dries it out, and dry meat is not tasty after all: and we also cook ours in a bath of water so that the steam keeps it moist. Foil over the top, with streaky bacon on the breast, and all is well.

Hi, everybody! Didn’t notice weather today - guess it was neither good nor bad. It was good enough for birds large and small and for the mouse, anyway! Opposite have spoiled their tasteful white and silver lights etc – now added gold Bambis – not even reindeer!

LYNETTE – how many are allowed to meet in your church to satisfy Covid rules? We were amazed at how few we would be able to fit in properly distanced! Good that you had someone to tidy your garden.

ANNETTE – I would tell that person at Tai Chi she has a constitutional right to risk her life, but not the lives of others! J stayed at home today – still quite “wobbly” – day off Wednesday, but I hope he will work Thursday. Glad you managed to get the Ch cards. A good trick hiding the non-working part of the string of lights – our decorations (indoor only) will go up the Saturday before Christmas which I regard as the first day of the holiday. Haven’t yet chosen a day to “undeck the halls” – will be as soon as I dare! I have successfully heated deli turkey in the past, but this year we are having chicken breast fillets stuffed and wrapped in bacon but with “all the trimmings”.

AQ – liked the letters to Santa! Hope you are still resting plenty.

HEATHER – sorry about dull day. Shopping lists are good progress – and nice that your Dau has dealt with the meat issue.

LINDA – is that true? Goodies bought in a post office have no calories? Hadn’t heard that one! Sorry about the knee – hope it feels better soon.

Had a phone call to go for “fitting” of my hearing aids – can’t get there till end of next week so hope town will not be too busy then. We shall have lunch at King’s again as it worked well for us last time. We are now in tier one – that is level one of five in Scotland, zero to four - I hope people will not go silly.

Just a thought

Take care to get what you like or you will be forced to like what you get.

AQ:  I can understand your lack of enthusiasm for your busy schedule.  I imagine the trio would love to come decorate a tree.  You must miss them!  

OG: This is the earliest I've ever put up lights, mainly because I want it over and done with (so much enthusiasm!).  I got the cards but have failed to send any as of this evening.

We saw the 90-year-old lady who was the first to get the vaccine on all our news channels tonight with lots of associated coverage.   Has anyone on here been called for a shot?

Have to take the car to get the front end aligned tomorrow. (the Costco folks who put on the new tires mentioned that the front tires had uneven wear).  Don't tell anyone, but the first thing I did when I left Costco was to drive over a curb surrounding a tree in a parking lot!   Arghhh.

Have a good Wednesday everyone.

Good Morning. At least it's all progress, AQ - hope you feel less weary soon. Sounds like a good idea to give the decorating ideas to the youngsters. Of course, it's a busy and exciting time for them just now.

I sent some (bought) packs of strips ready made, for our grandsons to make home made paper chains to keep them busy once the school breaks up. We used to love doing it when we were children, and those,plus a few cheap balloons, were often our only decorations apart from a tiny Christmas tree but we were happy enough in those days. I'm sure your Christmas will be enjoyable if you can get to see the trio, AQ.