It's GBBO, Strictly and the start of the -ber months...the countdown to Christmas 2019 is officially ON (thread 5)!

[NoWordForFluffy]

115

Morning!

We went out yesterday. My head hurts. Shhhhhhh! 😂

I've had a surprisingly productive day despite the hangover!

I harvested some chillies and made chilli jam;
Harvested tomatoes and roasted them to make a cooking sauce with garlic and homegrown herbs;
Made Yorkshire puddings;
Mowed the lawn;
Picked blackberries in the garden; and
Filled the car with diesel as the Tesco 10p off voucher needed using by today!

Not a bad day really.

It's been sunny but windy today, apart from. 5 minutes where it went pitch black and chucked it down. It went back to blue sky after that. Bizarre!

We had the pitch black skies but no rain so I've now got a fair sized basket of ironing for tomorrow.

Not so productive here - I've done a load of laundry, emptied the dishwasher, made lunch and cast on a sleeve for a baby cardigan I'm knitting. I've also ferried DD2 to and fro for work. I'm just going to sort dinner and then crack on with the cardigan until bedtime. DS is back on school bedtimes from tonight and early waking (alarm set) to practice for Wednesday.

Our local Tesco Extra has the "Seasonal" Aisle ( aka the Aisle of Tat" until it has a purpose ) . Today there were galvanised bins and braziers, loo roll, cat food and a teeny selection of Christmas tat . Cards, those mugs with a plastic bag of marshmallows and a spoon , a few rolls of wrapping paper .

It has begun

I need dairy free Christmas chocolate (coins and a Santa-type thing - they did lollies last year). Hopefully they'll be in stock soon.

My kids go back on Wednesday, but my whole week is manic.

I have a meeting tomorrow with nans new carer agency, tuesday i have to go to nans at 8.00am to make sure she doesnt kick off (dementia), wednesday I'm either house sitting for a friend whilst she awaits a delivery or shopping for DD6 birthday. Thursday baking DD birthday cake (and potentially shopping depending on Wednesday), friday its dds birthday and dh is on late shift. Also my house is in dire need of a good clean, just no point doing it with 3 kids & dh trampling through it.

I'm happt though to have started xmas shopping. Have all the kids main gifts, and thanks to whatever pp said about cinema vouchers as thats ideal for my nephews & mum.

If anyone knows what to get for an 89 year old with dementia who hates everything, declares she cant do anything, who doesnt like eating, drinking, reading, sewing (or any crafts), watching tv, walking, music, or people in general please PLEASE let me know.

@ArrowFanatic, I just wouldn't bother in that situation, I think. If nothing will go down well, don't try to please!

A nice scarf arrow?

@emrys, i did that the year before last. Its never left the box i wrapped it in. Last year i bought her a selection of jams as she will eat jam on toast, but she refused to use anything but her cheap co-op brand and we really thought we were on to a winner there.

She's not a nasty person, just so awkward to buy for.

Blanket?

Thank you MarcieElizabeth

Arrow would anything from the Alzheimer's Society appeal to her? There were ladies with dementia at my mum's care home who enjoyed the feel of twiddle muffs.

Arrow if you will be there when the new carer is introduced (which it sounds like you will be) you can say to them "Oh can you use up these jars before the new ones" if they are doing her breakfast ( say you don't want them going to waste )

My DParents are nigh on impossible to buy for , no dementia (though I suspect DMum is slipping that way) but just very basic tastes and nothing they need .

What about a nice mug or cup, maybe unbreakable .
There is cutlery that is angled for easy use .
Maybe some music from her era and the carer can put it on while she's there ?

I decided to check my finances before I started Christmas planning. I’ve been swapping energy suppliers, I’ve managed to save some money. Now I can get back to my list.
Arrow is there a favourite photo that you can have framed or transferred to canvas.

Ooh. The Booths' Christmas food book is out on 18 Oct. Exciting! 🎄🎅🏻

Oh I love the Booths book Fluffy

SIL gets it for me every year. I never order anything 😂 but it is a thing of beauty.

I'm getting most of our stuff from there this year. My in-laws are going to collect it for us as we're away in Aviemore until Christmas Eve.

I hope you get snow at Aviemore. It sounds fabulous.

Me too. I'm checking the steam train page every day to book the Santa train on 22 Dec! The 2pm one so it's dark when we get back. There's a YouTube video of it (Strathspey Santa train) and I think I might start to believe again if it snows as well! 😂

Arrow is there anything you / your nan would buy anyway that you could buy as a present? My Nan saved everything nice for best so I resorted by buying nighties / slippers / mini hamper of nice tea bags & cake.

Fluffy 🤞🏼 for snow for you (and me as I'll be in Scotland too).

I haven't been very productive - took nephew to rugby practise this morning, visited sister to see the babies and some housework.

I've listed the people I need to buy for - it's huge 😔
DH
My parents
DSis & her 3 dc
Auntie
Cousin
MIL & her DH
FIL & his Dw
SIL1, BIL, their 2 dc
SIL 2 & her DP
DFriend 1 & her dc
DFriend 2 & her dc
DFriend 3

I managed some of the paperwork and none of the cleaning jobs. I did make my salad for lunch tomorrow though, and spent 2 hours with DD organising her study notes (on request). And we all went out for lunch together which was nice.

Arrow when my nan had dementia we just got her a hamper of stuff she needed, but the posh versions. So we got her posh biscuits instead of rich tea etc.

I’m so excited for my productive day tomorrow, I still have some last min uniform to buy

Hello all!

I get so excited as soon as the kids go back to school because the Christmas Countdown is on! Already started on the youngest shopping, was watching the bargains thread on here but seem to have lost it!

114

Morning!

Wet start today. Hopefully it'll dry off. Definitely autumnal though! 😁

Mind if I jump in? I've been on loads of these threads with different NNs but I'm late to it this year. The first Monday in September is a bit of a wake-up call! DD is at uni now so doesn't go back until almost October, which throws me off a bit.

We're planning on a slightly dialled-back Christmas this year - there's only me, DH and DD and it was getting ridiculous the amount we were spending and the stress I was putting myself through! So this year the focus will be more on 'doing' rather than 'buying' (walks, baking, crafting etc). Fewer but better thought out gifts - even though DD is in her 20s I still find it hard to resist buying piles of crap, especially when The Twitch kicks in. Usually I'm all done and dusted for her present-wise by now but this year I've purposely held off buying anything. Come December I usually realise I've got a cupboard full of 'bargains' that she doesn't need! And she's not 6 any more so a huge pile of presents isn't really necessary. I'm going to do her shopping in one or two trips in November which will be weird but much more sensible!

I love this time of year, it feels like a 'renewal' far more than New Year does for me. So much to look forward to! Double figures soon and christmasuk.org going full tilt in two weeks, Christmas food in shops, nights beginning to draw in... Perfect

Ladies, I have to join you, no one else wants to listen to me talk about Christmas in Sept, so I feel safe here! :)

Been having a sneak browse on the range to see if there is anything I must have this year, all of it of course.

Going to start making up stocking fillers from bits I am buying off Ali express, little purses, keyrings , puzzles for the kids.