Come and tell us your dull and unexciting news 32: 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/5148913-come-and-tell-me-your-dull-and-unexciting-news-31-calmly-through-the-day

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

Note there is one minor change to the thread title. "tell me your dull news" has been changed to "tell us...". I thought it was more in keeping with the spirit of the thread.

@HildaTablet
I think it very sweet that Norway still bother frankly. My mum heard somewhere that "we" send an annual electric bill! Sounds like us Brits for sure. I understand Canada also gets a tree??

I am. I live in Blue Mountains and my garden is parrot pandemonium heaven every day 😁The ones I refuse to feed and even throw shoes at when they drive me bonkers, are the cockatoos. They are gorgeous, but boy they are destructive.

We get plenty of wildlife in the garden. The house backs a reserve and I often see wombats and bush rock wallabies. The wallabies are so cute.... but they love to eat the leaves of my geraniums and my pots are looking horribilis.

Being a Madrid city girl it took me a while to be woken up by kookaburras instead of traffic noise. Today I wouldn't change it even if they pay me.

Thank you everyone for your welcome. It's a warm and cosy place in MN.

A garden picture.

@Alondra
Aww I love Cockatoos! Yes I know it would be different if I lived there!! I love watching the rescued ones on you tube. Buster the one that cries like a baby when his Daddy isn't home, Pebbles the foul mouthed one and Mr Max with the attitude, the hated of vets and erm interest in his snoopy dog!

Don't look at the buggers on Youtube. The videos always look adorable except than in the wild, they are really destructive if you feed them.

Well I am thoroughly fed up!

I ordered What we did in the shadows DVD on Amazon but could only get the original from Series one. The New Zealand one. I can only get the UK one from Series 2 on that site. I have tried different sites but they all expect you to have a smart phone and will text you back to the phone which I no longer have!

Although I do like the original, it hasn't got Nadia and Colin (my two favourites in!).

Here's the Christmas tree in the Washington train station. I'm stopping for lunch at Shake Shack before going to my hotel.

Specsavers tried to fix my specs but couldn't. However, they still had the frames in stock and the lenses were in good condition, so I just had to pay 45 quid for replacement frames and they reused the lenses.

I'm happy with that - I knew looking at the hinge that it was goosed.

That's a super bird feeder, MissC. I love the rain/ snow shade. Lovely tree in DC, and London too, Hilda.

DD made it through her day, came home, and by the looks of things, she went straight to bed. I've made some chicken and veggie soup, and the bread machine is pummeling dough for rolls for when she wakes up.

It's 13F here, but it was -5F this morning with wind chill taken into account. I wore my new sweatpants and hoodie - nobody at work was wearing anything even close to normal work wear, and everyone had funny hair thanks to the effect of hats worn on the commute plus indoor static. I cranked up the humidifier when I got home as the air was so dry that I zapped Dcat when I tried to greet her.

Lovely photos of Van Gogh and Australia. I went to the immersive Van Gogh experience and loved it.

Just spent about 90 mins going through storage bins looking for a brand new Macbook I packed away when floors were being done last year. It was still in box and I hid it in a bin with a bunch of stuff and put it in back of the storage closet... or so I thought.

Spent all yesterday evening untangling Christmas tree lights. Now they are on the tree I’m not sure I like them.

@Alondra what a very beautiful garden! I believe you about cockatiels but it's so much nicer a problem to have than say rats ...

Didn't have the children last night so I didn't -have- to get up this morning and must have realised it as I slept through four alarms. It was lovely! Got a lot of admin done this morning and need to go shopping soon. Slightly disappointingly I was hoping for news about an important health insurance case and unfortunately the other side need to do more research so the settlement out of court that we're hoping for will have to wait.

Apparently my fierce lawyer lived up to her name until the other side said 'i've said 5 times we need to do more research, please give me that time!'. Had to laugh.

5 of our ducks, who now live at a delightful convent, are so fat from all the food that is thrown over the fence that they turn their beaks up at my offerings of nice healthy cabbage leaves and dried worms.

@Alondra
They do seem very destructive in the homes too!

@Alondra
Don't look at the buggers on Youtube.

You may be from Madrid but you are now fully Oz!!!!!!

I finally have something to share from crafting.

Necklaces made from clay.

Lovely day yesterday. Drove through windy one-track roads to the workshop and spent the day making these. Home made soup for lunch followed by florentines and accompanied by prosecco.

The drive back was longer due to a road closure and I had to get fuel for the car. My DH rook his DD out for a dad and daughter meal so I went out for dinner to our local hangout. Came back and snoozed in front of the TV.

I will pick up candles on Sunday and finish the glass tree on Monday with silver jewellery on Tuesday.

As predicted, the hinge of my glasses was squished beyond repair. On the plus side, they still have that particular design so were able to move the lenses from the squished frames to a replacement pair for £45. That was yesterday.

Now I"m wondering whether I've already posted this.... Auld age doesna come by itself.

Forced myself to get out of bed at a reasonable time and made it to my gym class.

Weight training at 44 was much easier than weight training at 64!

Welcome, @Manchesterbythesea, and thanks for sharing your Christmas decorating news. One thing I love about having an artificial tree is that the lights never come off.

Your necklaces are lovely, Myrtle.

The Christmas decorations in Washington are non existent. New York puts them to shame. My hotel does have a Christmas tree. I can’t seem to post the pictures but will try again from another device.

Those bracelets are just lovely @MyrtleStrumpet

@WearyAuldWumman I found that the menopause made a big difference to weight training, unfortunately! I'd hoped to get to the gym or winterswimming today but it's not been possible.

Thank you. They are necklaces and I love them.

Ooh love those necklaces Myrtle. Gorgeous warm colours.
Excitement today was getting my shingles vaccine. We arrived 5 minutes late because I struggled getting into the car, there was a queue of two people in front of me with complex queries, which meant I was 15 minutes late. The receptionist was quite snippy, “I’m not sure if the nurse will be able to see you now, you’ll have to wait and see.” We waited for 10 minutes and a different nurse came out to say she would do the injection, if that was OK. It was and we were out in less than 5 minutes. The waiting room had been completely empty the whole time we were there. Shortly after we arrived home I had a text message asking for feedback for the visit to the doctor’s. I’m still mulling over my answer, as it was my first negative experience ever.
All Christmas cards written and posted or hand delivered, so tomorrow I’m going to be wrapping presents, ready to be delivered next week sometime. I’m managing to slowly fill my form in. I’ve put them in four large envelopes, 2 drafts, 1 finished (in best handwriting) and 1 with spare sheets. Slightly OCD I feel.
There are some gorgeous Christmas trees in your photos. My daughter usually decorates our tree, but she’s gone away this weekend and I’m not feeling the Christmas spirit at all, so the tree is still in the loft. I might look for a small tree somewhere. I think it’s because it’s my mum’s 10th anniversary tomorrow and I’m a bit under the weather. I’ll be feeling better on Sunday, I’m sure.

Mrytle I will only use battery powered garden tools nowadays, they are so good and much safer in my hands.
Ooh, Havoc snow at this time of year would be very exciting, it is grey and drizzly here.
I love wildlife photos Alondra so definitely snap some of the parrots and wallabies. What lovely things to see from your back door.
I see your lion under the tree (the perfect gift) and raise you a kitten decoration MissC. He has grown up now so has left the tree alone this year.
I have had a delightfully dull week, I wrapped gifts, cleaned the house and recovered from some kind of winter bug. I also put a bridle on my young pony for the first time and he didn’t bat an eyelid. A very satisfying week if not very exciting to other people.

Myrtle, the* necklaces look perfect for holiday dress-up. 😊*
Uman, did you have to pay for the shingles vaccine? It's not covered here; my mum just git it and it was 2 doses at 6 months apart and $180 for each. Good you've started the form. Sending you support for this time of year. 💕
Miss, shame about lack of decos in DC.
Weary, the important part is that you are doing it.
💪😊
Maths, that's quite a temp shift for the day. How nice that you made soup and bread for your dd. A perfect comforting meal for the weather. 💕

Walked around Lafarge lake with the dc again last night. It's a gorgeous display, wasn't busy and is free. It started raining a bit, but it wasn't bad. We walked the opposite direction from last time, so it was like a new experience. There will be a market there tonight. Might go back.

There was a giant Lite Brite that Havoc loved (water bottles filled with coloured water) and a hobbit house sort of thing that you could peer into and there were rabbits inside, but I'm unsure about the man with the fish.

The bunnies and the man with the fish. 🤔

@Mumtobabyhavoc the vaccines are free. Two for the shingles 6 months apart, so I’ve put a reminder on my calendar for next June (not another Friday 13th though). I looked up the cost and it seems to be about the same price over here. Although I say free, we do pay through our National Insurance and taxation.
My OH would have had to pay for his flu vaccine because his age range hadn’t been invited for theirs, but because he is classed as my carer he doesn’t have to pay.