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.

Replacing the windows should make a huge difference, surely.

Good luck with your trip!

I've been asked to use my 40 yr old degree in Russian to translate
for a charity. I've told them that they need to get a native speaker to proofread it. No rush...Some time in the New Year is fine...

(I'd said I would do face-to-face interpreting, not this.)

There are two leaflets. For the second one, they've accidentally sent me the cover only. I'll wait until I see how I get on with the first one...

Translating from Russian to English? No worries. English to Russian...? Remember the story about the interpreter who mucked up a Polish translation for President Carter? That's always at the back of my mind.

I'll see how it goes. I've started by accessing Russian websites on the topic, to get subject specific vocab.

No, what's that story @WearyAuldWumman ? :)

I have been a) il for ages and b) working from home long hours on big projects so not done my usual housework load. So after two weeks of this, DH suddenly realised the house was a tip. Today he has hoovered the stairs and landing, tidied DC's bedrooms better than they've been tidied in years and we have just done the tour of his proud handiwork!

Lovely your DD is cooking Math

Hope you have a great Washington trip MissC I think the classic car is already driveable but I've not seen it and DH has another classic car in France.

Christmas lights event looks great Havoc

That meal sounds lovely Death

Sorry it was an expensive weekend Sprouts

Hope you enjoyed the craft classes Myrtle

DD has now gone to Bristol to see her boyfriend and they are back on the train together on Thursday. Having sausage with onion gravy and mash for dinner. Quite tired at the moment, think its adjusting to being back at work full-time but at least I am 12 weeks post diep surgery today so restrictions are pretty much all gone. Currys saga is still ongoing but after 2 weeks they did finally call me back, didn't help with anything but its a start and bank has done a chargeback to get back the £500 they charged me for nothing but takes 90 days before its definitely mine.

@DucklingSwimmingInstructress He was supposed to talk about the Polish people's "desires for the future". The poor sod had been given no time to prep, was cold and wet and trying to interpret on fly.

He accidentally referred to the Polish people's "[sexual] lusts" (no mention of future".

The Polish press had a field day and it made international news.

Welcome, @SereneCapybara, and thanks for sharing your housekeeping news. It's grand that your DH has stepped up to clean and organize. I do most of that at our house, but DH does the cooking (with some help from DS), the washing up, and most of the shopping.

Penguinsa, I'm glad you're making progress with the mischarge from Curry's, but I still don't understand how you got charged for an item they never delivered.

I had a walk around the reservoir and saw a water fowl for the first time in months! I think they are avoiding the area due to some construction activity on the other side. The crane (or a crane) has returned. I got one picture of him before I spooked him and he took off.

Always love your wildlife photsMiss I saw a swan flying the other day. I’ve seen lots of them on water but never in the air before, took me a minute to work out what it was. Sounds like you have a long list of maintenance jobs. We have done some this year but plan to do more once DS has started at university. Should make it easier to decorate and sort if we have a spare room.
I have a relative who translates Weary and will only go into our language. She saying going the other way is fraught with danger.
I think working full time is a challenge at the best of times Penguinsa so less than three months post surgery it is definitely an achievement. Everyone I know seems to be very run down just with normal festive stress as well.
I have had a lovely quiet day, got lots of household stuff done but looking forward to getting out for a group walk tomorrow and picking up some last minute gifts whilst I’m in town.

@IWanderedLonely I hope you're OK

Lovely heron photos, MissC. I saw one flying a few days ago - very distinctive long legs and neck and wide wingspan. There are lots of garden ponds in the area and a river just a little to the west.
About two weeks ago I saw a huge migration of geese. I heard them before I saw them, all flying in their V formations. Every time I looked up all day, there were geese far above.

DD caught a horrible bug and stayed home today. She was up during the night, with Dcat offering moral support. I'm keeping well away. The last thing I need is a fluey illness.

Thanks Math the funeral went very well and we were pleasantly surprised by the amount of people who attended. I feel "heavy" today, if that makes sense. Not tearful, but as if I'm carrying a stone inside me made of sadness.
However, I ran again this morning, slowly and not far, but still. I'm now waiting for my eldest grandson's birthday cake to bake, we're having birthday tea tomorrow.

Welcome @WearyAuldWumman We've crossed paths on other threads. I'm sorry to hear about your loss and health scare. Must be some very difficult times. I hope you'll find our company pleasant and calming here. ☺️
Sprouts, my YVR convert... I'll try to post something special for you. ☺️
Duckling, colouring book sounds like a good idea, a calm and quiet endeavour.

(I'm returning to my post 3 hrs later... now too much to comment on individually. Apologies!)

Got up and rushed out the door in less than an hour. Nursed baby, got Havoc ready, diapers changed, grabbed two boxes of clothes and took Havoc and clothes to school. Teacher goes through clothes and puts aside anything specific for families in need from our class, will pass along some to a family victimized by house fire, then the rest is free -for-all for parents of kids in our class and anything left too long teacher takes to a hospice charity shop. Teacher is amazing.
Came home after playground for a bit and made hot chocolate with marshmallows and toast with peanut butter and butter so it's extra creamy for dc and some banana. It was 2oz choc chips, 1/2 tsp vanilla and a touch of cocoa to 2c milk for the hot choc. Very chocolatey. I added a bit of coffee to mine.
Now need to head out to drop off baby clothes to a baby charity and going to go to a cake shop I'm interested in to see if I want to order baby's birthday cake there or stick with our fave True Confections. I made Havoc's first, and baby's half, but I can't seem to manage a light texture. I must be over beating the batter. Since baby's birthday is right after Christmas I think reducing worry and stress might be achieved by ordering one...🤷‍♀️

More later lovelies. 💕

Thank you @Mumtobabyhavoc

Goodness, you've been busy!

Sending you love and support @IWanderedLonely 💕

I'm sorry for your loss, @IWanderedLonely.

Yesterday was my late MiL's birthday, and it's almost exactly a year since my mum passed. It's been a hard year.

@MissConductUS Thank you for the warm welcome. I love your photo of a crane. And I love this thread. So calm and cosy.

I get my glasses at Asda. Coatings are standard. Three pairs for under £220.
Plain, sunglasses and tinted for driving. Varifocals too. Worth it for the 45 minute drive.

I have always used Specsavers ...apart from when I lived in a tiny village and had to use an independent.

I was having a lot of trouble with some varifocals one year and they were really good at trying to realign the lenses .

Though I am a bit concerned that they picked up mam's cataracts but didn't notice hat she most likely has glaucoma as well 😔..

So now cataract operation is being delayed as we have to wait 3 months for the glaucoma appointment.

But to be fair ...I did forget to ask optometrist if it should have been detected at Specsavers normal eye test ...or if it was discovered during extensive cataract examination 🤔

Candle making today. I love making candles and wanted some expert advice. Found out how to clean the wax from old containers:
Put kitchen roll on a baking sheet
Place containers upside down on kitchen roll
Put in oven at 100C.
Wax falls out and containers can be wiped and used for candles or nicknacks.

The faults I have in candle making are not terrible and everyone uses a heat gun to finish candles off.
If I had £300 I would buy a wax boiler (like a tea urn but you can set the exact temperature).
I will collect finished wax melts and candles on Sunday on my way to a carol service with my mum.

I bought two enormous candles at Lidl because it's cheaper than buying empty containers AND I get to smell lovely candles.

Thursday is clay jewellery.
Monday is day two of glass tree.
Tuesday is silver jewellery.

That's very good!

@Mumtobabyhavoc thank you 😊
Hope DD is feeling better @mathanxiety
I love to see and hear geese flying in formation. It is one of my very favourite things.

I've managed to wash it off some things, unfortunately it has soaked into 1 book (for a baby), and inside the cardboard of 2 other items. Blood running down the inside of a clear piece of plastic isn't a good look.

Oh, @Kpo58 how awful about the presents. I hope you come up with a solution.

I went to two cake shops/bakeries today. First one was closed today, so I drove downtown. Ugh. Had wanted to avoid that. But. There were three cakes available by the slice and one was a flavor I was considering. It was delicious and I ordered one for baby's birthday. I've ordered it for the day before baby's birthday, so if weather is bad I have a choice of getting the cake the day before or day of.

Linking bakery page for the cake ordered.

cadeauxbakery.com/products/rubyberry-cake

I got a discount by only getting one pair, I didn’t need two even if the second pair were sunglasses. Might be worth asking? That was at Specsavers.

"Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings".

@IWanderedLonely Glad to hear the funeral went well. Such a difficult time Be gentle on yourself, grief comes and passes in waves.

@sueelleker what a beautiful phrase - where is it from? I re-read Paul Gallico's book the Snow Goose recently. Now there's a beautiful tender tale.

@MyrtleStrumpet Made candles in a workshop with my oldest when he was young, just before the place sadly closed down. It was lovely - such a nice hobby and the results are great - you can enjoy them in the moment, and they are evanescent so the house doesn't get over-full, and you can build up the memories of all the different ones.

@SereneCapybara love your name!

@WearyAuldWumman that's absolutely hilarious!