Countdown to Christmas 2023: get past the post-Christmas slump by thinking about the next one! (Thread 1.)

[NoWordForFluffy]

364

Morning (just)!

I failed at eating yesterday which meant I got blotto far too early and wasn't well. Oops! 🙈

But we had a great time anyway and I avoided having to tidy up!

Countdown to next year is go go go! 🎄🎅🏻🎄🎅🏻🎄🎅🏻

My NDN did performance washing, 70, when she was having her new kitchen fitted. It gave her an excuse to go around the back of the house a few times a day to check up on the fitters who took a whole month 😳🤣

Afternoon!

It's lovely here now it's warmed up. Bloody cold first thing though!

I've been to the allotment to put more pea plants in the ground and do weeding / add compost to the soil to keep it in good condition.

I'm having a slight crisis about how to fit everything in this year, but I'm sure it'll come good!

Most exciting thing today is that I finally have apricots forming. After 2 years of flowers and no fruit, I've had flowers followed by fruit. Just have to hope it grows! I've fed the tree today to hopefully give it a boost.

My rhubarb is going great guns. Might have surplus this year!

Phil the pheasant came to say hello. He apparently used the back of the plot as a shag pad this week. Marvellous! 🤣🤣

That's very exciting you have apricots growing Fluffy. Not so much Phil the pheasant having some fun time on your allotment though. We have patients who seem to forget we check on them every hour who have some 'them time' what is seen cannot be unseen let me tell you 🤣

Cheers why what has been read cannot be unread.
fluffy We had a squirrel this morning at the front, so not eating all the food put out for the blackbirds (already collecting - bit early) robins, tits and sparrows and starlings, woodpigeons, hoovers etc.
I stuck some sweet peas in a couple of pots last week, they were collected from last years pods. I now have 25+ seedlings. On thursday we were "Ooh, there's 5" then 10 mins later "Ooh, there's 6"... 🤦‍♀️ Not sure where they're going, although there's loads of pots, we have bamboo canes and plenty of tennis balls as "toppers" so they'll go somewhere.
Did anyone else have thick fog first thing? It burned itself off by 9, but meant the lawn has stayed soggy all day.

The rains coming down really heavily here. Apparently we’re in for a big thunderstorm. Thankfully we got some shopping earlier so we won’t need to leave the apartment today.

How long have you had your allotment fluffy?. It looks beautiful.

We've had amazing weather here all day. It was supposed to rain and we had plans for lunch so I didn't put washing out. Bloody kicking myself now though.

Shag pad allotment Fluffy? You'll have to start charging him rent 😂

Why 🙈🙉🙈🙉

It's been a garden heavy afternoon - thank god we had a good lunch out.
Broccoli plants perked up in the sunshine so fingers crossed for them.
Have sown carrot seeds (and created a frame for the netting as birds stole them all last year). Have also installed my coil/spiral frame and tied the clematis to it. Hopefully I didn't squish or kill it in the process.
Also threw some pepper seeds in the propagator. I had to appear busy while DH jet washed the drive - it took him ages and I didn't want to get covered in muck helping him

Going to pick up my crochet hook tonight I think. It's been ages since I did any crafting!

Ah glad to hear the broccoli has perked up. What sort of stuff do you crochet? I love it, I got into it after my aunt crocheted me a blanket for my uni flat and I wanted to make more

No fog here, Puss. Just freezing cold!

We have our usual blackbirds, starlings and pigeons. Not seen the wagtail recently. Hope it's OK (hopefully nesting).

Crazy, hurrah for the power of sunlight on the broccoli seedlings!

I sowed my chilli seeds in the heated propagator today. Hopefully they'll do better than last year where I had disappointing results.

Nola, I'm heading into my 6th year come July. It's looking really good at the moment...until the weeds strike good and proper!

Crazy I bought a clematis. It's a teeny tiny one. I'll pot it up tomorrow with it's climbing frame.
fluffy our wagtails both went last month. I think they only come here for extra food in the winter. They don't normally frequent these parts
NOLA start off with tomato plants - dead simple. Put a couple of seeds in a pot with compost, warm window, wait... 🕰 ...transplant seedling into a bigger pot/growbag, water, feed every week once the flowers appear, tie them up to bamboo if they get tall.
Homegrown taste a billionty million times better than anything from a shop!
spuds are easy too

I planted out some sweetpeas and nastursiums that I grew from seed and a Passionflower and a Clematis that I bought - they are really little but I have grand designs for them.

DD and I went for a potter round Westfields Stratford City , it was bright but cold , I bought her some clothes and make-up ('cos I;m a Nice Mother !).
Then after I got my planting done (and watered in) the heavens opened .

I need to pressure wash the patio , I dod plan that over Easter but CBA

Need to get DH to put a bolt on the Utility door , it's a bi-fold which MaleCat keeps barging open. (Cat food is in there and he knows )

Though if I call "You're not allowed in there , we discussed this when you moved in" he potters away from the door .

I wish I had a mum like you 70 (I don’t just mean the buying stuff!)!

Aww thank you Wreck

It's strange looking back at the Christmas Threads from years ago when the DC were little and I wanted to make Christmas lovely for them ( magical and seamlessly effortless was my aim)

Of course now they are adults and my DS pretends to be all for Heavens sake Mother when I try to plan nice things (but he does secretly enjoy them)
My Mother never did Christmas and even though back in my day Christmas was low key I was jealous of friends who had parents that 'did' Christmas and went shopping together .

DD is a very feisty young lady now , nearly 21 ! I am immensley proud of both my DC even though they drive me to despair sometimes but that goes with the territory .
We ate Easter Sunday dinner at the table , DS was practically phoning his lawyer to have me charged with some unreasonable demands behaviour I had foisted on him.

"She made you sit . At a table ? Outrageous . I bet she didn't let you use your phone either"

The rains stopped but we have more thunderstorms forecast for later tonight. A little annoying because all this talk of planting has given me the itch. I wanted to go to the garden centre to get some seeds but this weather is probably not the best time to plant.

It looks lovely Fluffy, you can tell a lot of hard work goes into it. There was an allotment on my walk to school when I was a kid I used to love watching people pottering about in them.

Thanks for the advice puss. I’m excited to start growing some things, I feel a bit disconnected from nature being in the city!.

70 the way you talk about your kids is really sweet. My two are still really little and I’m a bit upset at the thought of them getting older but your post has made me a little more excited.

253

Morning!

I think our wagtail was a winter visitor too as we don't usually see them in the garden either. I'm hoping the sparrows come back again once they have babies, as they seem to use us between babies hatching and fledging, and then not in between!

I've booked two holidays for next year. I'm taking the kids to Portugal for 4 nights in May and we're going as a family to Northumberland in the summer.

It's started wet here this morning but is meant to be dry later. Fingers crossed. At least the weather is warming a touch from this week!

252 Morning from a very grey and cold looking part of the country.
I'm a good mood here though as Easter holidays are over, DH is back in work and I can WFH without him interrupting/judging my breaks and snacks 😂

I crochet all sorts Nola. Last things were Christmas gnomes for my mum and sister - I make them something festive every year.
Have made blankets, toys, hats, scarves etc.
Last night I started a baby blanket for a friend who's pregnant.
I want to make myself a storage basket but I can't find the big hook I bought especially for it 🙄

puss I'm hoping you're right about tomatoes being so easy to grow as I'm trying them for the first time this year (they're currently about 6inches tall).

Fluffy I'm missing the birds in my garden - after I spotted a rat on my feeding table I've switched to a hanging bird feeder and I don't think they've found it yet.

It’s been such a gorgeous day today. Completely different from the rain we had the other day.

Your holidays sound exciting fluffy. I love Portugal.

It’s always the way isn’t it crazy, I bought some beautiful yellow yarn when I was pregnant with DS to make a blanket, couldn’t remember where I put it and I still haven’t found it!. He’s just turned 3 months old😂. I’m not as advanced as you yet though, a storage basket sounds cool!

251 Morning (just)! Sunny here today so I have washing on the line (and feel very organised because of that).
Also good news - my clematis appears to have lived through me attaching it to the coil frame, it falling over, getting squished and having to be rearranged and reattached <oops >. Today the one flower bud has started to open to show a lovely purple flower.

Nola losing things in the house is a speciality of mine. There is the beginning of a child's scarf with yarn still attached here somewhere - it's been MIA for almost a year 😂

Fluffy I completely missed your mention of holidays. Portugal is lovely. Is your DH going or just you and the kids?

Hi all,

Spent the day pottering in the garden today, and wrestling with dandelions. Those things have ridiculous roots on them - I swear they are deeper than the foundations of our house.

DH is eyeing up my new toy (weed burner 🔥 🔥) although I've said it's mine and I'm not sharing! I umm-ed and ahh-ed over buying it, but we are in an endless battle with weeds on our drive (gravel) so I thought it was more pet friendly than spraying weedkiller around when we have the dog.

Hello all. Mind if I join your thread?

Welcome to our new Christmas People. Lovely to have you joining in.

Bit tired today (not unusual mind) got some sort of weird tremor/twitch set up residence in my right hand. Mainly my little finger though. No point going to see the Dr coz he will just say it is the fibromyalgia- sigh.

Why, that'll be the answer to everything now, won't it? 🙄

Crazy, yay for the clematis! My sunflower seeds are just starting to sprout, as are teeny tips of my sweetcorn. I have many beetroot seedlings too. Other things are a bit slower, but I'm sure they'll get there!

It's just me going to Portugal as DH is staying here with the dog. I did offer for him to go, but he's said no.

Tribe, you need to pull out docks / comfrey. Now they have ROOTS!

Welcome to Down! 👋

It will be the answer to everything now Fluffy and was when I saw that horrible Dr a couple of weeks ago. I am sure there is something else going on but never mind.

A weed burner Tribe? Sounds like a fun toy 🤔

Why I hope the twitch isn't doing your head in too bad.

Fluffy this gardening malarkey is teaching me patience.
Today I realised my tomatoes have shot up and have roots starting to grow out of the bottom so I've moved them into bigger pots and added them to the little greenhouse/coldframe - hopefully it's warm enough 🤞🏼

With the holiday, your DH has definitely chosen the easier week ,at home with just the dog for company!

Welcome Down - love the name!

Why dd has been having some horrible symptoms on and off since she had covid last year. Mainly: dizziness, palpitations, headache, sore throat, breathlessness/heavy chest, low grade fevers, exhaustions. She will be ok for a few days then go downhill again. I’m really quite worried as it’s having a massive impact on her day to day life.

Welcome Down.

Ds has enjoyed his first two days back at school, honestly a new teacher has made him a different child (in regards to school anyway).

Wreck, covid has totally broken me. I feel for your daughter struggling with the long term symptoms. Alongside the fibromyalgia I still don't have my sense of smell back properly, my chest gets tight quite often and I have headaches. Horrible illness.