Come and tell me your dull and unexciting news 6: Calmly through the day

[MissConductUS]

I've started a new one. Please join us and share the boring and mundane things happening in your world. It will be calming for all.

@sueelleker yes, couldn't think what they were called, thank you.
We are not saving Christmas food for Christmas this year, we are treating it as seasonal instead (including the Quality Street ).

Sorry to hear about your Mum @MissConductUS, hope she and her home carer are both on the mend very soon. What a worrying time for you.

Ddog fell into a brook today. It was somewhat flooded and we were all edging over on the bridge (a slightly wobbly plank several inches under the water) - and ddog missed the edge and vanished entirely Fortunately he is a water lover through and through and was unperturbed by the experience - although as soon as we got back to the car he started shivering away like an RSPCA poster dog 🙄 Who will help this poor, maligned little spaniel...

He is now shut in the kitchen wearing his red fleece drying jumper and he is so cross about it...

One of my DSC has the amazing ability to inhale food at a lightening speed.
I know my roast dinners are good (they always say so, not a random boast) but seriously, how great would it be if you let the flavour linger on your tongue for a couple of seconds

Hope your mum is OK @MissConductUS.
We have just started our Christmas ritual of an episode of 'The Box of Delights' at Sunday teatime. We will watch one a week and the final episode on Christmas Eve. There's nothing like an old BBC Sunday serial to take me back ...

Got through my to-do list and did some painting with the DC, hand me my halo! I think I just want tea and cake for dinner... I really want a g&t but it’s a school night!

I am sorry to hear about your mum MissConductUS - hope she remains well. My 97 year old grandmother has tested positive in hospital where she is due to a broken hip (now repaired). She only tested positive on a routine swab and has had no symptoms - it has been a week now so here's hoping......
I have been able to go to actual church as we are in Wales. Both DSs have had rugby training - no matches or full contact at present however.
My mincemeat is jarred and awaiting the pies.

Thanks to everyone for your good wishes regarding my mum and her carer.

Best wishes to your mum and her carer, MissConductUS

Having a very lazy weekend here. The highlight so far has been progress on a spotify disco playlist but I need to go and do some grocery shopping.

I just discovered today's google doodle of Jaques Brel - and vanished into my youth (DM was a great admirer).

Had a lazy weekend thanks to lockdown.

Wrapped lots of Christmas presents.

Was mortified to find out that my daughter's put up her Christmas tree and that she's switched to a fake tree 😱

Sending best wishes to your mum and her carer @MissConductUS

We decided to stop using the laser pointer for the cats. They love it but it felt mean that they got no reward for all the work of chasing and catching it. They always looked perplexed.

Re Lebkuchen. I bloody LOVE lebkuchen. It's one of my favourite parts of Christmas. We're spending Christmas in Austria next year. I plan to eat my weight in lebkuchen as skiing burns lots of calories. I intend to test this theory fully.

Took the DCs out earlier on their scooters as they had started wrestling (we've been in all day). They thought it was great fun to be decked out in hi-vis. Only did just over a mile and we're out for just 20 minutes, but it was less run focused and more fun focused (aha, see what I did there). They enjoyed weaving in and out of pillars and bollards and we saw about 10 houses with Christmas decorations up. We were all in agreement that that was 10 too many.

In other news, DH is playing his Xbox game online with a friend for the first time ever, so has plugged in my headphone/mic to the pad. It is glorious not to hear shooting noises, and he's having a lovely time chatting.
Small world, he was playing last night. There are thousands of players and a huge 'map' to play on. And he randomly walked past someone he knew, as he recognised his gamertag. So they made a date for tonight.

I'm going to go and put away Mount Laundry and watch The Crown (I'm only on season 1)

I watched 'Easter Parade' on iplayer with my daughter tonight. Bright colours, tap dancing and lyrics such as 'I'm just a fella', with an umbrella' - is exactly the right film for me right now! I don't want anything complicated, dark or deep. We both enjoyed it. As it was getting past my daughter's bedtime, I promised that we will watch the last 15 minutes tomorrow. I expect there will be some kind of twist and short-lived drama before a happy ending..

DD has just had a bottle and I need to read something soothing to fall back to sleep.

Sending good wishes for a full and speedy recovery for your mum @MissConductUS ,

@SpeedofaSloth I love your new tradition for Christmas and fully intend to implement similar here.

Watched first two episodes of Roadkill yesterday.

Nerd news: DH had a self-inflicted gaming disaster last night, so we are plotting how to rectify matters this evening. It may take some time 🙈🤓

DS’s teachers are going to try the phonics session with everyone on mute this morning to see if that helps DS. If not, they’ll come up with a new plan. It’s meant to be parents evening later but we haven’t had our appointment slot yet. So might have to poke someone at the school shortly.

Yesterday, we tried making croissants with the dough that comes in a tin. This was a revelation on two levels - first time we’d tried it as we normally just buy readymade ones and they were nice. But also because when I was very little we used to occasionally get them and as I never actually saw the process of the tin being opened (we had a tiny galley kitchen and there wasn’t room for me along with both parents!) I could never work out how all the croissants could possibly come from that one little tin And now, 34 or so years later, I know!

I made a coffee when I got to work, but my milk was off. I didn’t think the work fridge is cold enough; that milk’s only been open since Friday.

@Squirrel26

I made a coffee when I got to work, but my milk was off. I didn’t think the work fridge is cold enough; that milk’s only been open since Friday.

Does the fridge have a dial temperature control? We used to have one at home that had an awkwardly placed dial and DH kept knocking it to the horizontal position when he put something back in the fridge and then the fridge would be too warm. I can't give you a solution if that's the case, if I couldn't make one husband pay more attention to the fridge dial then you have no hope of making an entire office aware.

@Squirrel26

I made a coffee when I got to work, but my milk was off. I didn’t think the work fridge is cold enough; that milk’s only been open since Friday.

This update is so perfectly in keeping with the spirit of the thread it deserves applause. 👏

I discovered the uplighter bulb in my home working room had blown over the weekend. It’s too gloomy to work or have video meetings without it, so I spent 10 mins balancing on the arm of the sofa with a screwdriver trying to change it before giving up and asking DH to do it. He moved the sofa out of the way and tilted the lamp so he could see what he was doing. I have light again. 🎉

I'm listening to Wuthering Heights on Audible. Patricia Routledge is reading it and it is brilliantly done. HOWEVER it is a bit too intense and overwrought to take in more than small doses. Also slightly spoiled by reading Cold Comfort Farm earlier in the year, which means I just want to shake them all and tell them be sensible. So I both can't take it very seriously and get overwhelmed by it.

Just had a halloumi salad for lunch, with two hot mashed boiled eggs with butter, salt and pepper for afters. Yum.

DD is in school, DS is at home on covid isolation still. Been trying to get DS to do his school work but he just keeps slumping on floor.

Just had cheese, real ale chutney, bread and apple.

Trying to arrange electrician and sort solicitors. Feeling a bit fluish but no official covid symptoms.

Having a quiet day working from home again.. the kitchen was painted this weekend as planned, the bright yellow still makes me smile 5 years on and curtains were hung over the new wardrobe that was put in my bedroom a month ago, it finally looks finished and is so much cosier, but the colour is abit too dark .. A busy weekend, but not too busy!

Did some on line shopping for DDs birthday in 2 weeks and a couple of bits for christmas. Am hoping my festive spirit will magically appear one day..

@MissConductUS thinking of you and you Mum, fingers crossed she stays in good health.

Sodding just came to see me for a head bump and some attention. He’s been eating his posh pouch sardine mix. His breath is 🤢. I put the heating on for a couple of hours earlier and almost had to apologise in a meeting for the deafening purring from his radiator hammock.

We had a thunderstorm pass through last night with very high winds. DH heard a loud cracking sound so when out with a flashlight torch to make sure nothing had come down on the driveway. All was clear. We saw this morning that a dead tree had come down on the other side of our stone wall on county property. He had just made instant pot Mongolian chicken for dinner when it came down.

We had a nice Zoom call with DS and MIL. DS will be covid tested on Monday the 23rd, get results back on the 24th and we'll drive up to get him on the 25th. He decided to buy a fisherman's sweater jumper from LL Bean because he saw one in a movie and liked it. He's done nothing to get his stuff organized for the move home but still has time.

I'm back at the oral surgeon this afternoon to get the last of the stitches removed and let him check that the extraction has healed correctly. This will be a much nicer visit then my appointment two weeks ago.

A bit more news about my mum, but first let me say how deeply appreciative I am of everyone's concern and well wishes. You all are really a lovely group of ladies. I spoke with her GP this morning. Her last exposure to the covid positive carer was on 5/11 so they think that's when she was infected. She doesn't have the same carer every day and her test took several days to come back as it was done at low priority since she was asymptomatic. So she's at day 11 now and still doing fine, so that's very hopeful news. I feel terrible that I'm not helping out more but DB and my lovely SIL are fully working from home and if I so much as set foot in her house I'd have to start isolating and not going into work at all.

Sodding, I'm having massive kitten envy at the moment. Mingus does massive head bumps when he wants attention and is very vocal and a loud purrer. Perhaps they're distantly related.

My cat is feeling in a bad mood today ! i have 50/50 parenting and when my DDs go back to their dads for the week, this is how he sulks..