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.

@IWanderedLonely ...that tree is massive !

I have a twig by comparison!

Bizzey we got it 1/2 price from B & Q - £20 quid.
Penginsa thank you for your kindness 😘

@Penguinsn if your DS is over 16 he can be the contact on the account until he is 18. It will turn into an adult ISA and he can access the money then. See this link for more details: https://www.gov.uk/junior-individual-savings-accounts/manage-an-account

DH's sister and her DD were supposed to come and stay for the weekend but cried off at the last minute. She has her very good reasons but I miss her so I'm quite sad about it. I am on new HRT which seems to be working as my hair is greasy (!) and I suspect the hormones are making me feel emotional.

And we were woken by the doorbell at 8am so I had to rush downstairs as DH doesn't wear anything in bed. It was a Christmas present delivery from my DB. Today will be mostly relaxing and there's an evening dedicated to Annie Lennox on BBC2 tonight.

Finishing off the wrapping eating my birthday chocs from ds1 .

What the flip have they done to Guylian sea shells chocolate !!!

I vaguely recall mentioning this last year as well 🤔...

I will persevere with the chocolates ...and drop big hints to ds not to buy them again !😂😂...

DH discovered a water-leak in the pantry and a completely fractured pipe leading to the dish-washer. He rang our plumber (who’s done loads of work for us over the years) and, amazingly, he thinks he'll be able to come round and take a look on Monday. Hopefully it’ll be a simple repair as it’s a plastic pipe that’s just cracked for some reason.

In the meantime we’re having to do all washing-up by hand, which is a slight pain, but not too onerous.

Bizzey I have found lots of chocolate doesn’t seem to taste as nice as it did years ago. I don’t know if it’s the addition of things like palm oil or my taste buds are changing. I haven’t bought a chocolate orange since the disappointment of finding the segments were a no longer solid. I fear I am the grumpy old person now, harking back to the good old days.
Hope the washing machine is back in service soon Hilda not what you want at this time of year.
Iwander I think it’s healthy to remember that not everyone is looking forward to a Christmas like the adverts show with a huge extended family and everything perfect. Most people are missing loved ones they can’t be with for lots of reasons or doing a Bridget jones with a bottle of wine and a lot of tv.
The men in my house are gearing up for the big boxing match tonight. I suspect dd and I will stay out of the way.

I had mild covid a year ago, and I find a lot of things don't taste the same any more.

You’re quite right, Dandy. Christmas will never be the same for me without my mum. We used to drive up to hers and stay for the whole holiday (if I wasn’t working) and I would do all the shopping and cook the lunch for visiting family. Before then I’d have been buying things for her for weeks, if not months, as she was housebound and relied on me to help her, but she loved Christmas and I treasured all our plotting and planning and thinking up the right gifts for people. That all just vanished when she died and now it’s just me and DH. It was very hard to adjust to that loss and it’s still strange.

Having said all that, I did summon up a bit of festive spirit today - made the marzipan for my cake, put it on, made some mince pies, and some bread. Oh, and got a step closer to finishing the dressing-gown I’m making for DH as a gift never again as it’s been a nightmare from beginning to end

Hilda, those memories sound lovely. 💕

Lovely tree, IWandered.

I got a lot of Christmas prep done this past week. All my packages are mailed. One arrived at its destination yesterday and the others are all on track for delivery by Monday evening. Presents for those who will be home this year are all bought and importantly, I know where they all are. I also know where all the chocolate is. I need to finish cleaning over the next two days and get out to the supermarket to buy Christmas dinner fixings. DD and I will make pies on Tuesday. She'll bake cookies tomorrow and Monday

DD is out babysitting and I'm watching The Pembrokeshire Murders on Britbox.

DH finally felt the baby kick!

Math, sounds like you've got it all under control! 😄

I managed to wrap baby's Christmas gifts and do 2 loads laundry while dc napped today. Last night was a bit of a crisis averted situation. Had taken dc out to Stanley Park to see the Christmas lights and then we looked at lights pretty much everywhere downtown and then over to east Van, so got home quite late. I cranked the heat on in the bedroom while I got everyone, and myself, ready for bed. Then, I thought, hmmm is something burning? I second guess myself on this smell a lot because every time with covid I smelled burning constantly and the dc have congestion and a bit of cough, so I've been dreading and expecting to be next. I went into my bedroom and the smell was stronger. Then I remembered baby had been playing near the heat register. Sure enough, there was something in there burning. Smouldering, really. It turned out to be a thick padded fabric glasses' case. Black and melted.
I had to open the window all the way and use a fan to try and extract the smell. I closed the door and slept on the couch, baby and baby's bed beside me. Haven't cleaned it further today as was busy, so won't use heat again until I do.

Pics from Stanley Park Bright Nights.

On the way home we saw the Christmas tree on Lost Lagoon on the edge of the park, an Insta spot on Burrard @ 4th and returned to enjoy the lights at one specific house again. I posted about it a few days ago. More pics. It's quite stunning.

Last two pics of the house.

I hadn't actually rem,embered pr noticed but my friend has a much smaller tree. Last time our book club was around there we kept knocking into it! She was going to get a smaller one but realised it comes in two parts so just put out the small bit! It looked fine! She was doing me a good favour by cooking some veggie sausages as I have only access to a microwave at the moment and getting sick of microwave pasta dishes!

SHe was in the iddle of pattern cutting as she is not making lots of her own stuff.

SHe put on a musical pod cast as I had mentioned Nat King Cole and it was very interesting. Two of the guests were Jewish and played musical instruments. It went through 'dreidles' (prob not spelt right!) to recent Christmas hits (incl Mariah Carey) . (realy stripping it down to the music and vocals).

I actually went to age uk charity and got a Nat King Cole CD! His voice is like velvet.

@Mumtobabyhavoc
Sounds like my 'little' brother -well, when he was little! He used to turn on the gas fire in the sitting room (this was the time when the sitting room/parlour was not used much unless guests came around), He lit the gas fire (always managed to find the matches!) and then poked things in the fire-like pencils, I would be walking downstairs and mum would say "Your brother is a bit quiet" code for find the little bugger and remove whatever dangerous stuff he had in his hands!!!

You have all been very busy but then you have people coming around. Believe me, my jaunt arond Sainsburys just to get veggie sausages for my friend to cook for me wore me out! Thankfully my friend made me a restorative cuppa or two!

https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&&p=ff81fecb99d14c8127b82bf9cc361f085029f7b6b44f7f7bec786294824576b3JmltdHM9MTczNDgyNTYwMA&ptn=3&ver=2&hsh=4&fclid=2d893548-eb46-63fa-1a7f-207eef4661c5&psq=silence+is+golden+unless+you+have+kids&u=a1aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuY29vbGZ1bm55cXVvdGVzLmNvbS9hdXRob3IvYW5vbnltb3VzL3NpbGVuY2UtZ29sZGVuLXVubGVzcy15b3UtaGF2ZS1raWRzLw&ntb=1

Love the decorations on the tree Iwandered

Lots of lovely cooking there Math and Hilda

I love those pics Havoc especially the penguins.

DH is out taking DD for a driving lesson round his work car park, did one yesterday. I went swimming 96 lengths (x15m), sauna, steam room and jacuzzi. Will get Waitrose order today by 4pm which has some Christmas food in it and then butchers is on 24th. Had McDonalds for lunch and brought back for the kids.

We had cheese and cold meats for lunch. DH was delighted he finally got to use the cheese knives I gave him for our wedding anniversary (Sept!).

We now have white and red vermouth and a surprise bottle of gin, so I will be making perfect martinis at half-time.

We also bought an ice machine for the living room which will arrive tomorrow!

And here are the results of my craft holiday.

Welcome, @goodbyego, and thanks for sharing your pregnancy news. Is this your first? i think we are all mums here, and havoc has little ones.

Havoc, lovely pictures as usual. Vancouver really knows how to decorate for the holidays! It sounds like the baby is crawling now to have gotten a hold of the eyeglass case. Do you have smoke detectors on that floor of the house? We have to update ours to meet the current building code as part of the kitchen remodel.

Very well done on the swimming, @Penguinsn. You've really come back well from the surgery.

Myrtle, I assume the ice maker is to go with a bar in your living room. Does it have to be hooked up to the water mains and drains?

Math, your Christmas organizational skills are very impressive. DH did the shopping yesterday after shoveling out our driveway and he gets to make the au gratin potatoes we're bringing to my brother's house for Christmas dinner. It's been very cold here this weekend.

We had snow on Friday night, about four inches, so it looks like it will be a white Christmas. It's been quite a few years since we had snow on the ground for Christmas. I've about finished wrapping presents and the tree is decorated. DD has arrived at her in-law's house to stay for the holiday. We're going to FaceTime with her later today.

The birds are emptying the feeder at a rapid rate. DH had to buy a 40 pound bag of sunflower seeds for it yesterday. The second picture is a view of the woods from the lower level of the house. The wooden beams are the support for the deck on the floor above.

DH and DS are roasting a chicken for dinner.

@MyrtleStrumpet ...they look soo pretty and lovely...well done,...and wear them with pride of your achievements ..x

That's lovely goodbyego Is the baby due soon? Its a long time since mine where born, they are almost 18 and 19 now. My baby is the cat who is 2.

Thanks MissC love the snow and Christmas pictures. How lovely to have snow around Christmas.

Lovely creations Myrtle

Just played Jingle Bells to Floof as he bounces his tail to that song and he's now back curled up on a pink chair which is covered in fleece with a heater in his direction.

We are having a roast dinner tonight, roast pork. I love roast dinners.

I am not 100 per cent understanding how stupid I have been ...but here goes !!

I booked a food shop.ages ago for the 23rd .

We eat as a family the 24th ..

I had to amend the order today to add extras .

It was coming to the wrong address...
Mine ...not mam's ...

I did something 😳😳...

Lost my slot 😳😳😂😂...

Basket was still there with over £200 ,in ...but my delivery slot had gone ..puff 😢😢...

Boys are saying..don't worry..we will go to the shops ...bla bla ..

But none of them know the wrath of nannie when she finds out 😳😳..

To be fair ...I reckon it has saved ed us quite a bit as it is easy to overspend at Christmas for the sake of it ...

Clinging positives right now ...😳😢😂😂

@MyrtleStrumpet
Lovely crafting Myrtle.

The ice machine needs to be connected to a power supply, but water is added manually with a jug. I won't say we have a bar, but we have a drinks cabinet containing spirits for cocktails and a glass cabinet full of different types of glass. Some glasses and a bag of ice are downstairs in the kitchen, but it's a faff to go downstairs just for ice...

It's a bar, isn't it?!