Come and tell me your dull and unexciting news 31: 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/5077459-come-and-tell-me-your-dull-and-unexciting-news-30-calmly-through-the-day

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

Happy Thanksgiving, Havoc!

I can confirm that Math is Irish and lives in the greater Chicago area.

And speaking of Thanksgiving, we did FaceTime with DD and SiL last night. They had to change their flight back to accommodate an exam that was just scheduled for the Monday they were planning on returning on. There were no flights available on Sunday, so they have to fly back on Saturday. DD has started a new job as the check out person at a medical office. It's full time and all she has to do is make new appointments for patients as they leave. There's no further word on the government job she's interviewing for and likely won't be for quite a while. That's fine, she's making okay money now, likes the people and it's sociable hours.

I now have the pictures downloaded to my laptop. As you said, Havoc, they're not that big. The first two were taken in the afternoon and the others at dusk.

The septic tank has been pumped out and inspected. The bloke forgot his battery powered drill and had no tools to remove the screws holding the cover in place. DH loaned him a pair of pliers and the got the screws out. The good news is that the system is in good shape and we won't have to think about it for another 18 months.

The foliage in the front of the house is even better than that in the back.

Gorgeous fall pics, Miss! And thanks (everyone) for the holiday wishes. ☺️
Death, sorry about your tum. Ginger "tea" is excellent for poor tums. Steep a few slices of fresh ginger root in a mug of hot water from the kettle and sip plain. I learned this years and years ago from asian friends and, yes, it does help a lot. (nausea, d&v, gas etc) Ginger candies are not the same (sugar / sugar substitutes just exacerbate symptoms).

Got so much done yesterday and last night, was late to bed, but thankfully slept til 8. Havoc slept straight through from 7:30pm! It's pouring here and I love it. Yes.
it's because of the warm glow inside, the 2nd latte, the choc chip pancakes with caramel sauce drizzled overtop, my clean home with the paint all touched up... 😃
Plan is to get out for a good walk in the rain, clean the bathroom, change the beds and begin meal prep. Company arriving for 3:30.

Wishing everyone a good day! 🩷

I've recovered enough to go back to work tomorrow though I still have a heat rash from fever. I'll wear a little scarf to cover my blotchy looking neck, I think. Many thanks for the good wishes.

Happy Thanksgiving to havoc and family. Hope your festive meal was fun.

Commiserations to lemons and havoc going through the "mine" stage, which I remember as a very trying one for all concerned. We used to go to a certain playground that had a big sandbox, where DD3 used to eat sand every time my back was turned (so we didnt go often) and we encountered a certain little girl who used to take everyone else's toys and cry lustily when their owners tried to get them back. We later got to know her through school. She's a 3rd grade teacher now, and is getting married right after Christmas. So there's hope :-)

penguinsa I hope your recovery continues to go well. Hope your DD is having the time of her life.

Lovely fall photos, MissC. We finally have some chilly weather. I usually leave my bedroom window open until I end up waking one freezing night to close it. So far, so good, though mornings are brisk. The leaves are starting to turn, and I'm hoping it stays dry so the colours will be good.

I'm currently watching Monday night football, after spending the weekend watching football, and baseball playoffs, while sipping mugs of a very untraditional sports-watching beverage, ginger and lemon tea. My neighbours are having a get together around the fire in their yard - the season has definitely changed. I moved some plants indoors on Sunday night, and I'm trying to figure out where I'll put the rest of them when they have to come in.

New neighbours moved in downstairs and I haven't heard a peep out of them, always a good sign. I hope they find us quiet too.

Math, so glad you're feeling better. Thanks for the insight

Dinner was good. The duck was perfect! Stuffed it with orange slices, garlic, ginger and onion. Chinese 5 spice, salt, a bit of cardamom, cinnamon and nutmeg rubbed all over and roasted. Roasted potatoes and squash; boiled corn on the cob; and garlic bread rounded it out.
Dessert was a "sampler plate" 😹 of desserts bought last night plus strawberries with Chantilly cream.

Thank god we have Thanksgiving in October, if it was end November like the Staes I don't think I'd enjoy a Christmas meal! I need time to recover from the food overload! 😹

DC are wired. Just falling asleep now at it's after 11pm.
and of course I can't go to sleep until they're asleep...
(oh! Asleep now...I'm off. )🥱😴

We have no internet service at home. Yesterday, a UPS (United Parcel Service) truck delivered a package, and on leaving our driveway, our fiber optic internet cable snagged on the top of his very tall box truck, and he pulled it off the house. A supervisor from the local UPS office came out to take pictures and write it up as an accident. They'll reimburse us if we get charged for the repair.

We were able to use our phones to make Wi-Fi hotspots last night, which isn't great, but it's better than nothing. DS watched the football game on his laptop this way.

DH was able to book a repair for this afternoon and will leave work early to meet them. Hopefully they can get it up higher than before so this doesn't keep happening.

Glad you had a lovely Thanksgiving Havoc

Lovely autumn photos MissC

Hope you continue to get better Math

A hospital tabby sounds great Death

Hope all the school things are going well Dandy

Had another hospital check yesterday and was with 2 nurses. All seems well still though a slight bit of pain on one side and a slight fluid leak but resolved quickly so think both are fine. See surgeon next Monday and that maybe final one I am hoping. They rebandaged me.

DH has had clients from Japan over at work and was in office yesterday afternoon and all of today and will be out with then this evening, not sure what restaurant he will take them too. British ones he takes to a Thai restaurant but this is trickier.

Watching Bekow Deck sailing yacht, don't like it as much as other Below Deck but not allowed to do much at the moment. Been looking up things to do on weekends to end of November as not the easiest season to find walking things here unless you love rain and dark. Have found some fireworks events, over 3 weekends, all linked to Bonfire Night on 5 November but go from end October to mid November. This Saturday is DDs matriculation at Oxford, it's not for parents but some do watch the street cameras online and a few ignore and turn up but that's not really on.

How exciting for your dd, Penguinsa! I read up on that just now. I'm glad to know healing is still good. ☺️

Dandy, I neglected to explain Thanksgiving. It's food/family/friends. Nothing other than that, really. Meals are typically turkey, gravy, dressing when cooked in a casserole and dish stuffing when cooked in the bird, but used interchangeably), roasted veg; dessert is pumpkin pie. That's sll standard and what one would expect if going to anyone's house or at restaurant. We have a lot of different cultures here, so family traditions might vary, but many add in pumpkin pie, turkey, or both to their own special celebration meals. I was at a pre-Christmas friends get-together, a pot-luck, everyone mostly Chinese with parents having immigrated here, and food was roast turkey (best ever was wrapped in streaky bacon for roasting!!!) with gravy, fantastic dressing (apparently a recipe off the net!), baked salmon, roasted veg, and an array of Chinese dishes. One of the best meals ever.

In my family we always had turkey/gravy/stuffing and mashed potatoes (a better vehicle for gravy, imho), brussels sprouts (always over-cooked 🤦‍♀️, but obligatory lol) and an array of eastern European food.
This would be the same for Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter. Some people do crown roast, lamb or prime rib. Some always have salmon. If you visited here I think you'd find it all quite similar, maybe a few twists. Oh, forgot cranberry sauce! It also makes an appearance, especially at Christmas.

Here's a recipe and info about a uniquely Canadian sweet:

www.nanaimo.ca/about-nanaimo/nanaimo-bars

It sounds like you're mostly healed up at this point, Penguinsa, and that you're getting very good post-op care.

Our internet service was repaired yesterday. They had to replace the fiber optic line from the telephone pole to the house. It was a three person job, as they had to have someone to stop traffic on the road while they were doing the work on the pole. I'm thankful they were able to come to the house so quickly.

I've ordered a new winter parka as I've lost some weight since last winter and my old one doesn't fit well anymore. I got the new one for 40% off and free shipping. It's from Lands End. I do love their outerwear.

Amazing weather here today !
22c!
Feels much warmer as I am dressed for mid October 😂!

Weird how the months determine our clothes and not the weather !

22c in July.....I would not be wearing my joggers , t shirt ,zip up hoodie and socks 😂

Gorgeous day, here, too, Bizzey. Although temp is 10c.
☺️

It’s been grey and so so humid here. Just went for a run and it was like running on a summer’s evening, but more humid. Urgh!

Awful weather here. Lots of flooding locally.

Flippin can't stop crying over the news that is everywhere 💔.

Really don't know why it has affected me this way .

But it has .

Bizzey, how does one just "fall" from a balcony?
There myst be cctv. It's very bizarre.

@Penguinsa

Yes, every hospital should have a 'Charlie'. Apparently, my line manager who lives nearby said Charlie's owners set up a fund me page online when he was involved in a traffic accident. They should have had insurance but I guess that was an expense too much for them.

You certainly seem to be getting better though not sure about your tv viewing!!!

@MissConductUS
Glad you have internet back! How did we ever go through life without it!!

I bet you had a huge grin on your face writing about the weight loss! Good on you!

@Mumtobabyhavoc
Of course we don't have that tradition (thanks giving) here but that does sound lovely, especially the Chinese and then Eastern European things going on. When I worked in a maternity hospital, our group - mainly Pathology and the laboratories would get together every Christmas and bring in food. As many of the staff were from over seas we got a lovely mix of stuff. From Moussaka to Scotch Pancakes! Sadly the hospital is now flats and where I am now they don't do anything.

Thanks for info re ginger. Yes I had heard that. I think it was because I was stressed about something and it always goes straight to my tummy. Also had not taken my pills for weeks and that makes me quite ill - fluid on lungs so huffing and puffing like Thomas the tank engine, barely able to walk etc. So when I took them again (won't go into details of why I wasn't taking them!) I absolutely pissed for England! Embarrassing because my line manager was trying to help me with a problem which meant a lot of phone calls and I kept having to leave my seat and pee! Well, back to normality now (apart from the problem).

I decided to try the alarm on my phone. It worked a treat but it took me ages to change the time so not only did it ring at 6am it did so just now at 8am! I thought I switched it off at 6am but it kept going to snooze. A mixture of dim light and poor eyesight I guess!

@@mathanxiety
And..... another one on the road to recovery! Could you not have passed the rash off as a hickey? Smile mysteriously and say nothing (unless they already suspect you and the dreadful Charlie from accounts (yuck!).

The bit about your daughter and the sand reminds me so much of my 'little brother'. Poor mum would have to get 3 kids ready while my dad huffed and puffed outside - no help from him! She had just made sure that two of us had our coats and shoes on when the hunt for my little brother would begin. He was in the place we stored the coal (cannot remember the name) and was eating it and no doubt was covered in the stuff!!!! He would be 59/60 now and no longer does it, though he does have two little boys.......

Thanks Havoc Lovely to have lots of different cultures and food around. I also looked up a matriculation at Oxford video and was interesting. It appears done Oxford college by college in the order oldest to newest, Cambridge used to do that order too though I think we just matriculated into college and not the university and graduated with the university and then everyone at Oxford and Cambridge gets awarded a Masters degree and you go back for that around 3 years later and those gowns are different. DD seems to share my fascination of this but no word on the studying other than lectures started on Monday. Lots of details of parties, dinners and traditions.

Thanks Death agree all hospitals need cats. Yes my TV viewing is a bit dubious and that is only increasing in dubiousness as am only allowed walking and weather is not great plus not even allowed that much walking. So recovery is going well but going a bit stir crazy and desperately wanting to swim, partly as it's indoors and warm. I have now booked some fireworks events but this weekend is a challenge, Saturday is rain all day, Sunday is rain all day but 42mph winds and those are only 2 days DH and I can go out as he works full time and too dark in evenings now. 8 weeks of this to go, no 7 and 5 days. I am watching lots of steam train programmes now.

Well done on the slimmer figure MissC That is one excellent thing about this surgery I have a flat stomach again, was worried my stomach might look bad after operation but it's fine, flat and just one flat scar low down. Hoping Monday is last check and bandages come off.

Neighbour is having trees cut tomorrow and will go into our garden. Ours will be done mid November. DH took the Japenese guests out to an Indian restaurant, he apparently wasn't involved in the choice but said it was good but we also had an Indian meal night before. Though plenty of choice.

Floof came on my reclining chair with me, this is the look of will DH get up now and get my tuna or not fear.

@penguinsa Sounds as though you are making a good recovery, but don't try and run before you can walk. Healing takes longer than you think. After my hysterectomy I felt fine the day after, leapt out of my hysterectomy bed to go to the bathroom and instead of sprinting (it was a few years ago), I was shuffling like Julie Walters in the "two soups" sketch. For non UK readers who don't know it, do have a look on YouTube. The other two actors are seriously trying not to laugh.

I bloody love cats. At one time we had 7 when the mother had a litter of 5 and we'd kept one from her first litter. We had 3 for a long time, Tabitha, Pyewacket and Clive. After they departed I couldn't bear to get another.

Thank you to whoever recommended pierogis. We had some last night and they were delicious and very filling.

PI went to bed at 3 am, woke at 6 to go to the loo, decided to start cleaning the bathroom (as you do). DiL and grandsons were getting up at 3 for their early flight. I wished them a safe journey and they sent a very smiley pic from the plane saying thru were ready for take off. We got a message an hour ago saying they had been diverted to Spain because someone was taken ill on the plane. Hopefully the person is going to be OK as they had to wait for paramedics. Not sure how long they will be, but they should have been landing about now.

The bathroom people said they could start work on it next Monday. That's my actual birthday and there would be 7 of us with no bathroom or loo, as it's the only one. So work will commence the following week. Ooh that means we'll have a new bathroom in a couple of weeks. Fantastic! I shall be taking before and after pictures as well.

I'm always in awe of cooks/chefs/bakers on cooking programs, who come from different cultures, with exotic family recipes. My mum was a cook in a pub but they had very traditional tastes, like cottage pie, cheese and onion pie, hot pot and liver and onions. New owners brought in exotic meals like chilli and curry (it was the 70s) and it didn't go down well in working class Lancashire, although the majority of customers were local solicitors! They brought back the old menu as well as the new.

Family now due in Manchester about 12 thank goodness.

@Umanresources
I bloody love that "two soups " sketch! I tend to shuffle about when I don't take my meds. I get a fluid build up and can hardly walk and I huff and puff like Thomas the tank engine! Then the day I start taking them again I absolutely pee for England!

I love Pierogis too. My friend sometimes took me to the Ukranian club where a few elderly ladies would sit in the kitchen making them. Made it look so easy but I know if I tried they would all look like overstuffed parcels!

Uman, how many days will the loo be out of service, and how do you plan to work around that? I want to redo our kitchen, but I need to be able to make coffee and a basic breakfast.

Penguinsa, I recognize that look Floof has on his face. We call it "dirty cat look" in our house and it fills me with fear. My only concern about the new parka is that it might be too small. Fortunately, Lands End is brilliant with returns if I need to exchange it.

Math, has your rash cleared up? I also like to sleep with the window open, even if it's just a tiny bit. This drives DH a bit batty when it's really cold out. It's been near freezing for the last few nights, so the last of the plants have to come in from the deck and DH will drain the hosepipes this weekend.

This picture is of one of the roads that runs around the reservoir. I think peak color is about two weeks away.

Can't wait for next series of fall pics, Miss. 🥰

I was out and about today snd ended up at the beach in West Vancouver. Gorgeous day!
View from 21st street; some crazy cold-water-loving swimmers were out!

Lovely autumn pics Miss I love it so much. Managed to get out and about for a walk.
Havoc I'm loving your food and adventure stories!
Had family meal out on Sunday for DS's belated 18th celebrations in local restaurant, it was lovely.
Glad you're recovering well Penguinsa.
It's been warm and wet here for the last couple of days like Helena and Lemons. Getting cooler again now though.

Thanks, Spouts. It was a busy day!
afternoon was my mum amd I getting covid&flu shots,
my mum getting pre-surgical ekg & labs; me getting labs; mall to get Havoc a toy as promised for being extra "good" and finally stationary shop for an old-fashioned address book and walked out with that plus some odd and ends to have on hand (cord organizer, clear push pins and those felt pads you stick onto the bottom of furniture to prevent floor scratches). Got home, nursed baby, changed diapers and got dinner on. Just relaxing with a yummy plate of food, sun was gone about an hour ago and it's chilly! (Penne, prawns, tomatoes, spinach, garlic, feta, cream)

@Mumtobabyhavoc

So once again I am inviting myself to yours for yummy food!

Those views are lovely!