Countdown to Christmas 2021 (thread 2): the end of winter can't come soon enough!

[NoWordForFluffy]

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We stayed up watching Sherlock and now I'm wide awake. I'm unimpressed! 😂

At least we finally made it to thread 2...I doubt we will do as many this year!

fluffy they only stopped our garden waste bin for 2 wks over Christmas to help out with the black and recycling rounds we're supposed to put all food waste in the garden one too...🤢 it properly hums in summer, and lives as far away from the house as possible.

70 How about this ^ for a change??

They haven't even collected our Christmas tree yet and it's nearly March.

@PussyCatEatingEasterEggs

Very festive 😊

I bought DD an Easter bonnet making kit in the range earlier 🐣

Some buffoon is letting off fireworks nearby...WHY??

@lachy
Thanks - You don't fancy lachywithbunnyears for a few weeks then? 😂
I believe (not sure if 70 mentioned it), the fireworks means the drugs have arrived...
or it could be some poor old farts lockdown birthday party.🥳

Very impressed at the Easter name there PussyCat

Love the idea of Easter Crafts have fun with the bonnet lachy
I might try an Easter Tree this year , I've had a chat with the cats and they're being non-commital .
Might raze it to the ground , might be ok with it The Christmas tree was tolerated this year but they still attacked it

Yes we hear the single random firework on a Saturday evening , it comes from a street away , cannot pinpoint it , but we always say they;re putting the shout out that the weekly stash is in.

300

Two hundreds tomorrow. Wooooo!

Allotment day today. No idea how I'm going to do it though, as I ache from yesterday. Glossing is my job, so a day of kneeling and grovelling to get it done. Especially under radiators! My lower back and knees are complaining somewhat.

It's meant to be sunny today though, so it'll be nice to have a couple of hours in the fresh air!

Morning. I need to pop out to get some ingredients as dd wants to made brownies for her favourite TA who's leaving. They've had to make half the schools TA's redundant as they can't afford to keep them we will now be left with 2 TA's and an HLTA for the whole school. Stupid shitty government.

Next week is my last week of redeployment too. Dh is being really nice to me and doing lots round the house

Morning all :)

Enjoy the allotment fluffy

I am keen to do some Easter crafts this year too.

Another beautiful day and we are going for a walk with friends as that is now allowed in Wales :)

Then hopefully some cross stitch later.

Afternoon.
It's such a beautiful day. 🌞😎
Can we keep this for a while do you think? I've got loads of Crocus and mini Daffs out now and the Camellias are heavy with buds.
DH has taken up prime position on the sofa in the conservatory so I expect some snoring very soon.😴

@PussyCatEatingEasterEggs I might change to your suggestion, I've not name changed for a while, Easter might be the time to have a temporary change 😊

@70isaLimitNotaTarget That may explain the very specific "fragrance" that was wafting around yesterday evening 😳 I'd not twigged but it might be the case.

@NoWordForFluffy aching here too - I've been scrubbing the kitchen today, and I'm still not done, it seems to be a never ending task. What are you growing? (always happy to take spare rhubarb if it's going)

@WreckTangled hope your brownies turn out well. My friend made some sweet potato brownies and they were amazing. It was a Dan Leppard recipe - worth a try if you fancy something a bit different.

@Themostwonderfultimeoftheyear DH is working next weekend so I'm planning on do quite a bit of Easter Crafting with DD. I love Easter 🐣 and I'm hoping the weather is lovely this year and we can spend it outside. DH will be working all over Easter so it's just DD & I this year.

The weather is gorgeous here today, I really wish I knew where my pegs were - I'd have my washing hung out in a second. They're probably in a box in the shed which we haven't got round to sorting.

Enjoy the sunshine and rolling tomorrow - 200's here we come!

Sweet Potato Brownies

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2011/aug/19/sweet-potato-brownies-recipe-lepard

Really delicious and worth a try.

@lachy, my rhubarb hasn't really come back through yet after dying back over winter. It should come back soon in the warmer weather. It's the wrong time of year to split them now; you need to find a friendly gardener in autumn to split one for you!

The plants in at the moment are onions, garlic and broad bean, plus the remainder of my parsnips.

I need to plan my space for this year. I know where my spuds, peas and beans are going, but that's it for now!

Brownies turned out quite well, I won't eat them but they look nice.

I don't like sweet potato but I've heard they're good in brownies.

Argh! I've found a leak in the airing cupboard. It looks like it's been leaking for a while 😳 as the pipe above the pump is a bit rusty. It's only very slightly damp if you touch it, but I don't want to disturb all of the corrosion as that's probably the only thing holding it all together.
I've put a dish under it for now, so hopefully it doesn't go pop overnight before I can get the plumber out tomorrow.🤞🏻
Happy days. 🙄🤦🏻‍♀️

Argh. Bloody hell. Good luck!

Good Luck with the plumber PussyCat

The brownies look delicious Wreck and they are always better the next day or so ( I wince when I watch Nigella eating those just-out-the-oven, practically raw brownies )
My DD won't eat bought brownies , only ones I cook. I have discovered after watching Edd Kimber demonstrating KitchenAid mixers on QVC that the secret to the crust is whisking the egg and sugar .
My previous recipe (ancient Sunday Times book) melted the sugar and butter .
Whisking makes a huge difference ! Not just showing off the Kitchen Aid

I put some chopped dark Toblerone minis in one batch which were lush . I like walnuts , DD doesn;t ( so I put them on one half only)

299

Morning. We've had secondary school emails out this morning. We only have one choice though and obviously got that

Last week of redeployment I'm back into exercising (well I've done a few days) am going to do something this morning once the dc are at school.

Had an awful nights sleep with lots of nightmares.

Wreck I was awake most of the night too...not sure if I could hear dripping, or I was imagining it.🤦🏻‍♀️ I might need one of your brownies to keep me going.😳

Morning. We all slept awfully too. Today I will mostly be drinking all the coffee!

Morning!

I'm going to counter you lot as I - mostly - slept like the dead! Other than DS shouting in his sleep at 1.15!

Welcome to March! It's a harsh day financially today as all my 27th-1st DDs will go out together. I'm poor! 😬😂

Well done on the school, Wreck even though it was a shoe-in!

Pussy, how is the drip?!

Fluffy, that's the funny thing - it isn't dripping now, it's more a slow and steady seep. I've got either Wayne or Simon calling in later to have a look in my cupboard, so I've given it a good clean and got rid of the dust and cobwebs 😳😉

Went to Sainsbury on the way back from the school run...bought 40 coffee pods ☕

@PussyCatEatingEasterEggs At least your cupboard has had a good bottoming (as my Nana would have said) 😊

Wimon? Swayne? 🤣🤣

Seeping sounds like it's on terminal decline. They'd better hurry before it upgrades to whoosh!

What a relief anyway Wreck. Is your DD happy about it? I presume she'll be going up with most of her friends from primary school too.

Would it be weird to do turkey again for an Easter roast? I know lamb is traditional but DH and DD2 aren't keen. I'll have to look for a nice pudding too - with various allergies, intolerances and downright "don't likes" I can't seem to come up with one thing that everyone will eat - it's too early for British strawberries as that would have fit the bill.

Can't do: trifle, cheesecake, fruit crumble or pie, anything with palm oil in (that seems to rule out most chocolate things) although I could make something with Aldi chocolate (not mousse) brownies maybe - inspired by the discussion above. Two don't like buttercream and I can't have fresh cream so a cake is out. Pancakes are popular but I make those regularly so they don't seem special. I make pudding every weekend but usually one of us doesn't have it - I try to rotate so it isn't the same person every week. Aaaaargggggh 😱

It's a grey and miserable day here and it's reflecting my mood.

My weekend seemed to pass in a blur - the house was complete chaos while work in the kitchen was going on and it's not quite done so we have worktop and some cupboards being stored in the conservatory which DH is moaning about.

Woolly you have inspired me to make myself a trifle as a treat today 😋

Wreck your brownies looked amazing.

I hope the news isn't too bad from the plumber puss