Come and tell us your dull and unexciting news 36: Calmly through the day

[MissConductUS]

A quiet and friendly corner of MN to share the very dull day to day happenings of our lives. No criticisms, political discussions, or controversies here. Think of it as neighbors (I'm a Yank) chatting over the garden fence or having a cup of tea while the kids play together. Everyone is welcome.

It will be calming for all.

Previous:

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5477400-come-and-tell-us-your-dull-and-unexciting-news-35-calmly-through-the-day?page=1

bizzey, well done to you for helping out with the gardening. Plants in the ground are not in much danger from overwatering, as the surrounding soil will absorb any excess water.

havoc, that is one fabulous sunset.

@MrsSPenguinzWhat a great trip! You do plan some great holidays. How did the kids like Sri Lanka?

We went to the pool yesterday, which was lovely. It was a bit hazy out, which turned out to be due to wildfire smoke that had come in from Ontario, Canada. It seems worse today, so I'm not sure if we'll go back.

When DS got back to his flat after work yesterday, his air conditioning was working, so they must have repaired it while he was out. I think he'll still come home this coming weekend.

We had a FaceTime call with DD and SiL on Sunday. They had a nice trip to California the weekend before to attend a wedding, but it was a lot of traveling for a three day weekend. The landscaping in their back garden is almost done. They're waiting on a subcontractor to come out to grind down the stumps for the trees that were cut down and removed.

I've got lunch planned with my former colleagues next Monday. It'll be the first time I've seen any of them since I retired last fall. It'll be nice to get caught up with them. The office space has been renovated, so they're going to give me a tour. I'm glad they did that after I left.

Thanks @MissConductUS It was just DH and I that went to Sri Lanka. DD is back from Oxford University and we paid her to look after the cat, chickens and her brother. DD is off to China soon for 2 weeks for a Chengdu rowing regatta and seeing pandas etc which is funded by Oxford Uni and China and also off to Austria and Paris over the summer. We got daily updates from DD with photos of the cat and her brother ipadding at the garden table. He apparently even cleaned the bathroom floor after he made it muddy (normally I do that) and ate her kinder bueno. DS let the cat out whilst the chickens were out about 4 times but did bring him back and the cat just looked at the chickens. DD melted our kitchen scales but kindly bought us a new one. She has been watching the football with friends. Enjoy your lunch.

@inkgirl did your family enjoy their scout trip?

@MrsSPenguinz those photos are fabulous. What a brilliant holiday! Such brilliant memories for you.

@Mumtobabyhavoc and @MissConductUS I just saw on the news the pictures of Toronto with the air really smoky. Apparently it has the worst air quality of any city in the world because of the wildfires over there. We can actually smell burning here from the wildfires about 40 miles away from here.

The England Argentina match is on the television at the moment, I’ve spent the first half making a list of things I would like a cleaner to do. I still have to find one yet though.

They loved it thank you 😊

I'm out of town for the week, and have been hiking, so I'm now a bit sunburned, even though I applied and reapplied sunscreen.

Dcat came out from her hiding place on Tuesday, according to the cat sitter, but she hid again today. I just hope the sitter will remember to check Dcat's water fountain and top it up, as hot weather was forecast.

We have held that title in the past out here on the west coast. 😔
Wildfires have become an awful reality of climate change here in addition to the loss of arctic ice.

The attached shows the situation here.

wildfiresituation.nrs.gov.bc.ca/map

Penguins, what an amazing holiday! Good for you. Also nice to hear about your dc and how they got on while you were away. Your dd is living the life. 💕
Miss, the smoke is awful there. Outdoor events are obv cancelled, ie the FIFA parties, in Toronto.

Condolences to UK friends re England's defeat today. I was at emerg with my mum so we missed the game. Spain is the favourite to win against Argentina, but we'll see. 🤔
There are about 2 million Spanish speakers living in New Jersey and I expect the atmosphere will be otc! 🎉🥳⚽️

I hope your mum is OK, @Mumtobabyhavoc

Thanks, Hilda. Doctor said issue was an anomaly and it was resolving while we were there. We were in/out in just over an hour. I'm giving my mum IV antibiotics daily for 2-4 weeks atm. Have learned a lot recently! 🤓👩‍⚕️

I cleaned my kitchen cupboards today and it feels brand new

Might not look like much, but the pasta I made the kids for dinner was quite delish: spaghetti with evoo and s&p, garlic, prawns, feta, yellow bell pepper and grape tomatoes.

Thanks @Umanresources Hope you can find a good cleaner.

Thanks @Mumtobabyhavoc Sorry your Mum is ill but glad she has antibiotics and its resolving. You are such an amazing daughter, Mum and cook.

I am trying to sort out the house and garden, have been getting fluff off the upstairs carpet, cleaned a couple of rooms and brushed the cat.

We had quite a spectacular thunder storm this evening over a couple of hours. I wish I could've managed pics! I had the kids with me out at the park by the airport to watch planes, but there weren't many. I didn't see any notices of flights grounded due to the storm either. Anyway, lightning was all around un and over head. It was amazing! Apparently the whole lower mainland got the show. ⚡️

@Themidnightcuppa how did your cake turn out?

My DS loves thunderstorms, soon as one starts he's outside 🤔

We had a direct plane back from Sri Lanka but it goes across the Middle East and the route that was shown kept changing.

There was a heatwave here and no rain whole time we were away so we will need to do a lot of work in the garden. Our neighbour also has a dead tree next to our garden and shed and he's now arranged for it to be taken down at start of August but they need access via our garden and ideally our shed taken down (which we are planning on replacing anyway but as its 40 years old has asbestos cement roof so need an asbestos specialist in) and fence down and lane access. So we will start sorting that once we have the house recovered from a 19 and 20 year old and long haired cat being incharge. We also need to clear some land which isn't ours but they need access to for the tree work and no-one seems to own.

We’re driving to see DH’s sister and her daughter for lunch tomorrow.

We used to drive four hours to hers but now we meet halfway. Much better for everyone.

Welcome @Washingforweeks , and thanks for sharing your cleaning news. We remodeled our kitchen in January of last year, so our cabinets are still pretty clean. I did put down shelf paper in most of them.

havoc, your kids must be adventurous eaters. My son would have tried that pasta dish, my daughter not a chance.

Penguinz, it's always like that returning from a holiday, lots to be done.

The air quality index here remains unhealthy, so we've been staying inside as much as possible, which is making me feel a bit housebound. I miss my morning walks. There is a sharp smell of woodsmoke outside. It's supposed to improve this weekend. We did go grocery shopping this morning, and I've been out watering the plants.

My new medication (Tremfya) arrived yesterday, so I did both autopen injections for the first loading dose. I likely won't see any effects for two to three weeks.

We had lobster ravioli with vodka sauce for dinner last night. I think tonight DH just wants to do potstickers in the air fryer with a salad. DS is coming home this weekend, but not until Saturday afternoon, so he'll only be with us for one night.

Edited to add that I got an email yesterday from my credit card company saying that they were sending me a new card with no explanation as to why. I rang them, and they told me that the card number had been exposed in a data breach. I asked them for a tracking number, and they told me there was none, as it was sent by regular post, and that it might take a week to arrive. Of course, the old card is canceled, so I told them to overnight me a new one, as they do when a card is reported lost or stolen. They said they'd try, but I might not get it for five days. It came today. Now I have to update all the websites that store the card for recurring charges. What a bother, and it was a bit cheeky of them to try to save a few quid by sending the first replacement by regular mail.

I have no new pictures to post, so I'll try to get some this weekend.

Miss, Havoc is now off peas and will only take a couple small reluctant bites of zucchini. Baby will eat handful of peas from the garden, but not zucchini. Roasted zucchini was an absolute favourite of Havoc's until age 2 or 2 1/2. Last fall I was encouraging Havoc to "just finish the zucchini on your plate" and that resulted in 🤮 Won't do that again. Baby is back to eating egg yolks after refusing for a few months. Both are off kale/spinach and other greens.
Luckily bell peppers are still on the Yes List, as is cucumber, so they get that. Broccoli, green beans and asparagus are all still on the Yes List. So, I need to be creative. 👩‍🍳

I think it rained all noght and most of the morning. I'm super tired, in the way that a good night's sleep doesn't help. I think I'm at burnout. I've got an appt of some sort each day starting Sunday until Thurs. most mean either packing everyone up to go / driving across town. I suddenly feel like summer is half gone.

Up with the larks at 5.30am. Decided to try and tidy my sewing room which has become a junk room since DH passed.

made good progress and my cutting table is almost clear and tools all back in their correct storage area. I feel inspired to sew but am off to outskirts of London to meet some new friends. Currently eating tea with toast in the very peaceful conservatory.

MissConductUS; The smell of woodsmoke always reminds me of camping with the Girl Guides back in the 60's. We used to cook over open wood fires.

havoc, I remember having to play musical foods with my daughter at that age. Any type of vegetable was strictly forbidden. Like they were poisonous. She also didn't like pasta. She didn't really lose most of her food pickiness until she went away to university. Oddly enough, she still doesn't like pasta, which is a shame, as our son-in-law* loves it.

Sue, I was never in Girl Scouts (the American version of Girl Guides), but we had a fireplace in the house I grew up in, so I'm quite familiar with the smell. Lots of people in my area have wood burning stoves to provide heat in the winter.

midnightcuppa, I was also up with the larks today. A cold front has moved in and pushed out the wildfire smoke, so I got in a three mile walk just as the sun was coming up. The bad news is that we're now under a severe thunderstorm warning, with winds up to 60 mph. The pictures are of the sun coming up at the begining and end of my walk.

DS is expected around noon. He and DH have an appointment to get haircuts together. I think it's adorable that they do that. Since the weather is iffy for cooking out, DS has requested takeaway pizza for dinner. We have a local shop that does really high-end, artisan pizza that we're fond of. It's so popular that you have to ring in the afternoon to place your order and then pick it up at the appointed time. It's takeaway only and he's sold out every night.

Miss, sympathy to you re the wildfire smoke. We've had that several summers since around 2015. It's is very eerie and apocalyptic. I think we've had some in the past week or so because when I put my sunglasses on I can see that odd colour.
We also get whiffs of campfire, right now, actually, which has been for at least 10 days.

@Mumtobabyhavoc i hope your mum continues to make progress. Your meals always look amazing. My DD had a stage of just eating bland foods. For a few months she would only eat macaroni cheese and I used to carry a small tin of it in case we were ever invited to stay for a meal. Now she loves spicy foods, the hotter the better!

It’s been moderately warm here now and we had Yorkshire steak and black pudding pie, with potatoes gratin and cavalo Nero. Absolutely gorgeous food. The pies were from an online pie maker and a lovely treat. We’ve been having lots of salads recently so the pies were very welcome.

We’ve just watched the England v France football game. Oh my goodness, I’m not really a football fan but this game was so exciting, with so many goals!

Uman, lovely meal. ☺️. I watched the last bit of the game as I wasn't aware it was happening until I saw a MN thread about it. 😂

Laundry has just finished and I've just finished a piece of cake.
I've got the soccer commentary on. The English guy sounds like Paul Hollywood to me and they both sound like a guy I used to work with. They must be from the same region. 🤔

So, I've now googled. 🤓
Paul Hollywood is from a suburb of Liverpool and the tv commentators are Danes that played for Man U. The accents are similar. The guy I worked with was from Manchester.

I think I might have nailed it. 👂
Any locals want to weigh in?

I've just had two prawn tacos, a bowl of grapes and some cherry-chocolate froyo. It's almost midnight. 🙈