Come and tell me your dull and unexciting news 30: 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.

Here is a link to the prior thread:

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5013993-come-and-tell-me-your-dull-and-unexciting-news-29-calmly-through-the-day

Welcome to all regulars, lurkers, and new contributors! Everyone is welcome to join.

While I waited in the queue at the chemist in Morrisons, for a prescription, DS2 (4) tidied the mess of children's small trolleys so they were all slotted together and in a neat line. He was very intent on sorting them all out and making them look neat 🙂

What lovely gardens Penguinsa! 😍 Those prices equate to over $14 here. For context, minimum hourly wage is about $2 more.
@LuluBlakey1 I have a toddler going through a similar phase. When we are out for walks Havoc will close any open gates we pass (people's homes). 😂

Speaking of being out for walks... two days ago we saw a bunny in the hedge of a business on a busy road. It must've escaped it's home as I've never see a rabbit anywhere around here. Poor thing was so shocked and zig zagged away.

Have just finished a bit of a sundae of sorts: chocolate and pb ice cream, sliced banana and strawberries and pecans.

Welcome, @LuluBlakey1 and thanks for sharing your shopping adventure news. What your DS did is adorable. Does he like to tidy at home? When my daughter was that age, her nickname was "Daughter of mass destruction". 😁

Penguinsa, those gardens are spectacular.

Havoc, the cake was fabulous, very light and tasty. It had layers of lemon custard. It was much taller than I expected for a sheet cake, so we had plenty for everyone and took some home. Everyone raved about the cake, so I'm glad we brought it. And yes, our future SIL graduated from West Point. He did so well in his academic program that the Army is paying for him to get a master's degree in his subject, so he and DD will be off for him to do that in August. It's quite rare that they do that. She will find a job, obviously, either something fully remote or local to where he'll be studying.

It looks like another lovely day here, so I'll keep working on the deck garden today.

He likes to tidy plant pots in the shed. 🙂

Miss, that's pretty impressive. I think that will bump him up into officer territory for rank, no? Anywyay, yes, to go to a masters program is great! 👍

Havoc, he became a commissioned officer yesterday when his second Lieutenant bars were pinned on his uniform after graduation. And the only thing better than a master's program is one that the government is paying for!

I went to church this morning. It was quite full as they've consolidated two services into one for the summer. I usually go to the early one, but I did like having the extra hour to get ready.

MissC Well done to your future SiL! He clearly wasn't the goat of the class. That cake sounds wonderful too.

Lulu it's nice to have a tidy toddler.
My DCs used to love wheeling those little trollies around. I used to plonk a big bag of flour into DD4's first thing to keep her from speeding and bumping into people and shelves.

We had thunderstorms all morning. I went to Mass early to get a good parking spot and managed to stay relatively dry. Dcat was hiding in her usual thunderstorm bolt hole when I got back.

Parenting win today!!!
Havoc was up at 7am. Ugh. And woke up baby. Ugh ugh.
So, got up and got a snack for Havoc. Got baby up and fed. Then, despite rain got us all dressed in rain gear and out for an hour long walk, puddles and all. Made coconut blueberry choc chip pancakes with sliced banana and maple syrup when we got back and dried off. Made a latte which turned out perfectly! Yea!!! 😛Both dc now napping and I am about to do same.

What a wonderful Mum you are Havoc

That's lovely LuluBlakey1

Glad church was good MissC

DD has been doing her punting job today and had a retest which she passed fine, they retest their tour knowledge each year.

We had Sunday lunch with roast chicken, yorkshires, roast potatoes, tenderstem brocolli, carrots and gravy. Collected things from Dunelm and George at Asda. Did a couple of loads of washing.

DH discovered DS has been using his toothbrush and toothpaste which is good. DS has also been watching lots of Netflix and must know a Series of Unfortunate Events word for word by now, we all will soon. 😂Making himself cheese toasties in our sandwich maker.

Bank Holiday Monday tomorrow. Its also half term so an exam free week. Weather is a bit meh.

Thanks for your kind words, Penguinsa. 🩷
Your dinner sounds nice! Was it a lot of work? How do you make your yorkshires? I've got my mum's recipe somewhere... Didn't grow up with them at all, then suddenly my mum was making them, totally out of the blue and nonchalant, as if she'd made them her whole life. 😂I'm not one for roast, but likely it's because my mum always cooked it well-done and I prefer meat rare when I eat it. I do like prime rib, but never cook it, only get it on a lark if out and usually it's a pub Sunday special.
I made a crab pesto pizza for dinner with red and yellow bell peppers, asparagus, rocket and a mix of cheeses. It was quite satisfying. I also made a chocolate choc chip pecan banana bread. Went for an after dinner walk with Havoc, did a lot of running, stopped at the book hut and came home with a book about a fire engine. ☺️

Bed soon. Night night everyone. 🥱

Lovely food Havoc. This is recipe for Yorkshire's https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/best-yorkshire-puddings though a lot of people her buy ready made ones like Aunt Bessies but making them yourself is nicer. We do sometimes have it with steak if you prefer rare meat. Otherwise people generally have sauces with the meat like apple sauce with roast pork, cranberry with turkey, mint with lamb, horseradish with beef though horseradish is very strong and don't like it personally. And gravy of course. Roasts are pretty straightforward, though you can make them fancier by doing things like cauliflower cheese but a basic one is fairly easy once you've done it a few times. It becomes quite routine. Does take a bit due to cooking time of meat.

Math, I'm impressed that you know what the goat of the class is. Did you know that every graduation cadet contributes $1 to a graduation gift for the goat? For those who don't know, at West Point, the goat is the person graduating with the lowest academic standing. They used to rank all cadets by academic standing at graduation but stopped doing that about 20 years ago.

It's raining and will rain all day. DD went out for a run about 45 minutes ago, but said that she doesn't mind running in the rain.

This is the leftover lemon coconut cake we took home after the party. We will have to get this flavor again.

It rained for a bit this morning, then the sun came out, but we're still under a severe thunderstorm warning for later.

I just looked out the kitchen window and saw this impressively large snapping turtle in the front yard.

Thanks for the recipe link, Penguinsa. I seem to remember they're not that difficult and pan needs to be hot.
Miss, Mmmmm cake! 😛 wow- a turtle in your yard!!!

Havoc, we're adjacent to a wetlands area, so we get lots of turtles.

My roses are blooming! And we've finalized the menu for the reception dinner.

I edited to add that Murry's Chicken is a local poultry farmer that raises strictly cage-free, sustainable premium chicken. They sell mostly to local posh farm-to-table restaurants.

Miss, menu looks great: simple, classic, elegant and should appeal to everyone. I'll take a doggy bag! 😛😁

Had a lovely walk through Kits this evening with DC. Had "special cake" to cekebrate baby being 5 months old. 🥳 Came across a few shops I hadn't noticed before.

@Penguinsa
Alright, that's it! I am deffo moving in with you! Salmon, clotted cream? Ooooh yes!

Death, she does have decadent menus, doesn't she! 😛

@Mumtobabyhavoc
I am looking back at your receipt from Costco and laughing at the 'Homo' milk! Also shocked at some of the prices.

Ok @Penguinsa and @Mumtobabyhavoc it is decided (by me) that I will have all my meals at yours. I do not eat meat but am otherwise fairly unfussy. Please decide amongst yourselves who I go to lunch with and who cooks my evening meal. I am packing now!

Really bad night. Okay no screeching children but a drunken oaf outside whistling after midnight (the time not a tune!) for a few hours. I could not sleep on my right arm side as it was too painful (RA) and my left leg is also swollen and painful with rheumatoid arthritis. Then of course I have to get up early anyway as doing the early shift. Feeling a bit happier now after two cups of tea and a snickers bar (brekkie).

@MissConductUS that coconut cake looks yummy! On Saturday I was in a working mens' club to9 celebrate a birthday and retirement of a friend. There were 3 cakes including a super creamy one with green icing but wasn't lime, pistachio or mint but still tasted delicious. I think they got it from Costco or similar'

Death, yes, forgot outside Canada homo milk is pretty funny. Means homogenized and is what US would call full fat milk. It is 3.25% mf. We have that, 2%, 1% and skim which is 0%. A lot of people call homo milk, whole milk, too. That's also a US influence. The US also has a laugh at our Saskatchewan town Regina as our pronunciation rhymes with a certain part of female anatomy... alrhough it's never given a second thought here. We also have a town called Dildo... but, I digress.
(Or is it a perfect segueway?)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dildo,_Newfoundland_and_Labrador#:~:text=As%20part%20of%20the%20activity,through%20the%20Newfoundland%20tradition%20of%20'

And we do laugh about that one.

I have just made some more hot honey.

The talk of Yorkshire Puddings reminded me that we haven’t had Toad in the Hole for a while. This was the last one we had. My OH makes onion gravy to go with it. A little of the Pudding goes a long way!
MissC the menu looks absolutely gorgeous. When I was a teenager I had a Saturday job with my mum, working in the kitchen of a pub. They had wedding meals, but the only choice was either grapefruit segments (from a tin) or tomato soup (ditto), roast chicken, stuffing, boiled potatoes (3 small), roast potatoes (2 small), sprouts (4), carrots and gravy, or roast beef with the same accompaniments, (apart from the stuffing). Pudding was either apple pie with custard/cream or trifle. Sometimes there was an Extra course of cheese and biscuits. The cheese was a huge slab of something white. This was in the 70s though and I am very old! The meals were sent up from the kitchen via a manual dumb waiter, to a smaller kitchen about 12 meals at a time. I would then have to go up after the main meals and help with the washing up. It was hard work but I really enjoyed it. There were 7 staff and I was the youngest. I got paid £1.00, plus a share of the tips, about 50p. This was for about 5 hours work.