Need a hand hold -Part 3

Hi Laura, hope they they were good thoughts? 😃
Yes, Mocha is a mixture of coffee and chocolate but not sure of the proportion. Trial and error really as some like it more coffee or more chocolate.
When I was a child (a very long time ago, about 55 years) my mum used to bake cakes on a Sunday and one of my fav was a mocha sponge sandwich cake with chocolate butter cream.
As long as your daughter likes her lampshade, that’s the main thing, but I agree I wouldn’t want it. Don’t tell your daughter you don’t like it though, better to keep the peace 🤣🤣

@Imbluedalale the lampshade is so bad it's good 😂 table looks well at home. I love it. I didn't get curious and turn to Google! If anyone is curious, Queen Spoonie was on a thread about Penis sleeves. She then turned to the font of all knowledge Google and almost threw up her ham.......I said I don't think I'm at all curious now 😂

omg the chicken bum lampshade! im both wtf and in love 🤣 it is exactly the kind of crazy thing i would also get! xx

Hi Laura and the Spoonies, a very wet & windy day here. Oooh coffee and hot chocolate, you could make a mocha 🫕
my daughter’s feathery light shade she picked for her bedroom resembles a chickens backside ! 😂😂😂 We need a photo of this.
I love sugar puffs and can eat them anytime.

@Imbluedalale I'm just really enjoying the quiet and not being on butler duty to my son 😂 Roast was lovely and I'm settled with a cup of tea now. Good idea on a small tree. You can build it up year by year and it will all be yours attached to happy memories. Yes I had a good idea about sugar puffs. Not sure it means there's any less sugar! I don't buy any of the good stuff kids want 😂

Hi@Imbluedalale my day has been good thanks, we went to see my mum then we lit the fire and watched the latest ep of Outlander... it was as good as ever!
Cooked a chicken cassrole in the instant pot and now just browsing looking for Christmas inspiration, I'll be happy once I've come up with an idea for my mum!!

Sounds like the house is getting sorted, would love to see pics, we need one of the lampshade at least😂

How are you? Are you feeling a bit more settled now? Are you sleeping now? xxx

Good evening spoonies and @Imbluedalale I was woken by the rain battering the window at 5am and got up around 6am as I was wide awake. I enjoyed the sparkling Christmas tree I put up yesterday before everyone else got up. I never do it this early but I just felt like it!
I was thinking of @BeNavyCrab on the boat in the storm. We're you affected?
We had roast chicken today as partner on night-shift tomorrow. My niece was here too and has just gone with my son to stay with Mum. Thank you Mum!! I feel the tension falling from my shoulders 😂

A quick check in as I’ve a day of painting and looking after a 3 yo 🤪.

Im loving all the food chat. All the suggestions sound amazing! I’m doing chicken and chorizo creamy pasta tonight.

Hope the throat is a bit better Laura and that you’re sleeping a bit better. 🤞 that your sons hand doesn’t need an op. Is your ex mil cooking for the kids at the moment?

I better go and put the pasta on! Hope everyone is having a lovely Saturday xx

Afternoon everyone!

@Imbluedalale I have catering packs of spaghetti that were given to my son by someone he lived with who was a chef.
Safe to say the stock is not getting smaller, I will try that spaghetti dish!!

Stop paying the council tax on somewhere you no longer live TODAY lovely xx

Oh that’s so kind @Imbluedalale and the recipe looks delicious, thank you! Probably nicer than lasagne and so much easier! I’m definitely doing this at some point next week if we don’t have it tomorrow.

Oh I love all those menu ideas @Imbluedalale , thank you! How do you do your spaghetti bake? I would normally do a few different salads, bread, sausage rolls etc but in this weather I think baked carbs and cheese is the way to go! And then I can serve things from the dishes they are baked in and everything will stay hot. I don’t like it when food that’s supposed to be hot actually isn’t by the time you’re eating it because it took so long to dish up. Which reminds me I have some folding fabric plate warmers in a high cupboard I got for Christmas one year, I must dig them out!

I think I’m going to do cauliflower cheese with butter beans, these potatoes which sound like yours except no chilli, they shouldn’t need as much space in the oven as normal roasties, and some greens and peas. Plus the ham, and some veggies sausages, normal sausages and some pasta for the kids just in case. (Haha if my sister is on here and turns up tomorrow to this exact menu she’ll know this is definitely me!) I need to get out of bed and go to Sainsbury’s so I can get most of it done today.

@BeNavyCrab I’m sorry about your health struggles, that sounds really hard. I know what you mean about wanting to hide things, but I find hiding it then becomes a barrier to having a real honest friendships and it’s better to be as open about it as you can cope with. I’m lucky that I don’t have any pain but I struggle to walk very far sometimes and with needing the loo urgently, and I used to find it embarrassing and not want anyone to know and feel sorry for me, but I’m more accepting of it now, plus it’s getting more obvious, and things are much more comfortable with friends when I’m honest about what I can and can’t do. A big step mentally will be getting a folding stick I can keep in a bag and use when my leg is bad but I think it’s probably time. My condition is progressive so I just have to get my head around it really.

i hope you are all staying warm and cosy. And lol @Imbluedalale at the kilo of coffee for a person who doesn’t drink coffee - visitors & workmen will still be getting through that jar that in 20 years time, and wondering why it tastes a bit weird!

I think your Mum is using shopping as her love language, so if you have said to her she doesn't need to, and she continues, I would just thank her, say again that she didn't need to - and give her a hug.

I second the heated blanket/throw idea - maybe an idea for a Christmas present (although I'm sure you have hundreds of Christmas present ideas lol). My son feels the cold and he has a heated thrown on his lap and legs and a hoodie blanket and a hot water bottle. He and his cat snuggle in front of the TV. (Although this last month or so he has been ill with colds and toothache etc so I told him to just put his heating on and I will pay this month's bill - mothers eh, what are we like?)

I'm at the cough stage too now and it's quite difficult because it exacerbates the pain I feel from my other medical conditions. Im using some Vicks vapour rub and being more upright in bed to try to keep it off my chest and so far so good. It's quite disruptive for sleeping though isn't it.
Your mum and her shopping made me smile. It's exactly the sort of thing mine would do. Asking do I want something and then getting it anyway because it's a bargain etc. It's just a way of showing you that she loves you and wants to support you. It's sweet and she's probably feeling bad about not knowing what you had been experiencing. I think she might also see it as a way to support you to make your house as welcoming for your kids, as possible. Hopefully she is keeping her eyes on her budget too and it's probably not that much she's spending.

I do understand that feeling of being guilty for being a burden or needing support though. I go through that myself sometimes and feel bad that they have to do things for me, that they wouldn't have to do if I was well. I'm tend to try to hide difficulties from my friends and some have said that they would have rather known, so they then had the opportunity to do something to help. It's my own internal thoughts of "being a pain" and not at all how they feel about me.

I loved you menu plan for @Meanwhile33 and it all sounded so yummy. My husband is the main chef in the household and my daughter is vegetarian. So when she's home from university we have more vegetarian meals. She finds cooking a big challenge, but she has learned some wonderful Indian Dahl recipes that use a pressure cooker. I miss being able to cook myself, I especially enjoyed baking. I do help a bit when I can. Even if it's just reading the next steps for a recipe. After one too many serious accidents I have been barred from being in the kitchen unassisted/without being monitored. 😂😂