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! 🎄🎅🏻🎄🎅🏻🎄🎅🏻

240

Morning!

The dog had a lie in this morning, so everything has got confused with timings and order! I'd normally walk him at about 6.30, but he didn't get up until gone 7, and then he wanted breakfast, so I shall walk him in a bit. Then I'll be really baffled as to what's going on. 🤣🤣

Might go to the allotment later and get it done for the weekend. It's all about planting stuff out and weeding at the moment! Need to sow my leek seeds soon too.

The baby starlings are VERY loud and poor Firework Boy looks VERY harassed, poor sod! We're putting extra food out for everybody at the moment, give the chicks a fighting chance!

240

I got woken up unreasonably early by the sound of buzzing , I thought it was outside the airvent but no- it was flying around my bedroom , about a kilo of winged fuzzyness bumble bee . I opened the window had made a hasty retreat ,

No idea where it is now , I've given the cats a stern warning that yellow+black = stingy . Leave well alone felines !

Eh? my laptop didn't show your post fluffy which was a full twenty minutes before mine !
I think bloody Alexa has infiltrated it .........

The Alexa conspiracy...

I threw four very large and disoriented buzzy bumble bees out downstairs a couple of weeks ago when it warmed up a bit. Wondering if they'd sneaked in and found somewhere to hibernate!

Despite appalling forecasts, it's been warm and dry here, a lovely spring day! Fingers crossed it stays that way for tomorrow as we have plans with friends outside.

The Alexa conspiracy...

Is that one of the Bourne films?! Love me a Bourne film!

It's been lovely here too. I've painted most of my shed at the allotment today. It looks very nice (other than the fact I need to re-felt the roof)!

239

Morning.

It's wet. Very wet. I'm wet. The dog is wet. Our walk was wet.

I was going to paint the fourth side of the shed today. It can wait until tomorrow now! As can all my other bits of allotment work.

I need to pop to Aldi today for a few bits and then do some cleaning.

I ordered a new TV cabinet yesterday, so we going to be moving the furniture round, probably next weekend. Which will be weird after 8.5 years! 🤣

It’s sunny again here today. On Friday it was so warm I took my jumper off 😱 Dh is actually NOT working today or tomorrow, can you believe it?! I’m dragging him food shopping with me today as I’m the one who does it every single week without help (it makes sense for me to do it as I do all the cooking but it’s so nice to have someone else to pack and carry the bags..). I then need to do more uni work, final slog with two assignments due in a few weeks I really need to get on with it.

When dh isn’t at work he always has all these ideas of the things he can do when actually what he needs to do is help with the day to day stuff and spend some time with the dc. And when I say I have assignments to do he says ‘oh I’ll take the dc out for you’ er no, if you’re going somewhere nice I want to come, I need you to do the housework!

Fluffy I love moving the furniture round!

Can't believe I didn't know there was a Christmas chat on here. These are my people!

I'm sorry excited for Christmas 2023. Last year was the first year we spent it just us, so me, DH and our two boys. We have a small holiday home at the coast and spent it there and it was lovely. Hoping will do the same again this year.

I recently bought a vintage Christmas tablecloth and matching napkins on eBay which I'm very excited about.

Plans for the bank hol are at the coast again. We enjoyed breakfast in our local cafe and a long bike ride on the seafront. Similar plans today as getting DS used to his new bike.

I've been shopping in just a t shirt and jeans all week, I thought it had been really warm 🤷‍♀️🥵 It's probably my age (DH still has a jumper and fleece on - he's nesh).
It was nice here earlier, but it's now chucking it down and GirlCat has abandoned her comfy post-lunch nap on the sofa and disappeared upstairs (to snuggle with her bro probably).

I transplanted the sweet peas on Friday, they seem to still be alive 🤞 and looked fairly perky this morning when I did some deadheading.

DH is nodding off after an early lunch🤞😂. Some complete Arse let off one massive rocket/firework at about midnight and woke us up...and there's a well-worn traffic cone🤔arrived out front in the "field", someone else can deal with that!

fluffy I forgot to say - yes. I need popcorn 🍿 it's 55" which is huge compared to the old 42".

70 Did you pot up your plantars or planters? You've been looking at feet for too long.

It's been nice outside here. Warmer than where I work inside, I reckon! Yesterday was the nicest so far.

Not nice today though!

Yes I did pussycat
I had some nasturtiam seedlings , put them in the big pot where my last year cleamatis has basically given up (Nasturtiums are unfussy little plants thankfully )

Some sweet peas seeds for a second wave (I've already got seedlings doing well)
And some runner beans , mainly for height to fill a space and red flowers , if I get beans then bonus .

The only feet I've worried about this past couple of days are my own , I epilated my legs and thought shall I do the tops of my feet and toes but decided against this as it stings a bit . Not getting my feet out for while so I'll wait .

I'm a big fan of moving furniture around, Wreck. Hopefully it works well!

I finally got some tomato seeds!. I’ll start planting tomorrow but I got a hanging planter to save some space. According to the reviews it’s very good so we will see. It might turn out horribly wrong.

The gif made me laugh fluffy. DH had a similar moment last week when we had quite heavy rain on his walk home from work. He came home absolutely drenched. Enjoy your move around! Our place is quite small so there’s only really one way of furniture being placed but I loved moving my bedroom around as a kid.

The vintage tablecloth sounds exciting BMrs, I do love vintage christmassy things.

Good luck with the assignments, wreck. I hope your DH has done some housework.

Yesterday I painted the wall the tomatoes will go against, it gets the most sun. Today the tomatoes go into their new tomato planters (thanks Lidl), we got these on sale. The plastic circles should hold the plants up (they are in the background)

238

Afternoon!

Granny, how many tomato plants are you putting in one pot? I'm intrigued by the circular bit of kit!

My allotment neighbour gave me loads of tomato plants and I've nowhere really to put them! They looked a bit ill when I got them, so may not all make it. 🤞🤣

The ones I'm growing are an outdoor, blight-resistant, type. Hopefully they do well.

Nola, I didn't think the furniture could go another way, but after a think about it (and buying an extension cable!), it should work!

I went to the allotment first thing (after walking the dog and putting the shopping delivery away) and finished painting my shed. I also put 10 dwarf bean plants in the ground.

I then had to go into town to get the bits which were substituted on the delivery and pick some dog snacks up. Exciting day!

@NoWordForFluffy there are 6 plants per pot.
I have just done the first 2 so here they are in place. Looking a bit sorry for themselves but hopefully they will perk up a bit.

Plants always pretend to die a bit when they get transplanted. I think it's the law! 🤣 Hopefully the contraption has the desired effect!

😂 I transplanted my tomatoes and cucumbers today, and they were laid down. Such drama queens 🙄

I've also tried putting some beans in a jam jar with kitchen paper in a last ditch attempt at getting the buggers to germinate, otherwise it's off to B&Q! I've got sweetcorn and squashes growing as I was hoping to do a bed of 'three sisters'.

Granny are yours a determinate variety? I usually only manage to get 6 plants in a 6x4 greenhouse (and they fill it!). This year I'm growing Pink Brandywine (a heritage beefsteak), ola polka (yellow cherry) and black opal (black cherry), and then moneymaker because you can't go wrong!

Has DDog been 'helping' in the garden again Fluffy ?

@FireflyGirl I'm just growing gardeners Delight this year. Found it hard to get hold of tomato seeds. With careful pruning they should be ok

I would love to be good at gardening but I am deathly afraid of worms, worst part is i know they cant hurt me and how good they are for the garden!

went to next outlet yesterday and they had l o a d s of good christmas bits marked way way down, I had to be v restrained!

can anyone answer me why my children would walk over broken glass to spend 20 minutes with their grandma on a non work day but when I have to take them there for child care its like i have suggested setting them on fire 😑

Costco has some lovely Lego kits at the moment. Got a Ford GT kit for £85. There are also some slightly smaller car kits for around £40.
Put it away for Christmas. feels good to start the shopping.

236

Oops, no countdown yesterday!

It's a lovely day here already. I was walking the dog and the sun was shining; it was glorious! ☀️

My tomato seedlings are doing well in the greenhouse still. Despite many gardening blogs saying it's not possible to grow them in an unheated greenhouse really. I do cover them in about 8 layers of fleece overnight though!

I've more beans to go out too. I might go later if I can find time / motivation! 🤣

My sweet peas seem to have survived being transferred - that's a win!
We've cleaned the windows, DH went to tesco for litter (although I'll be going elsewhere as the price has shot up for what is essentially smashed up plasterboard) then went for a walk while I hoovered.
We moved the sofa yesterday to hoover under it, and found 3 fluffy malteasers and a hole in the carpet.
There's a spring poking thru the base and it seems to have had an attack of the munchies. 🤦‍♀️

Afternoon. Very quick drop in from me as life is crazily stressful here right now.
To try and help my MH I've been trying to potter in the garden daily.
My poor lemon tree appears to have an ant infestation so has been banished to the garden. Google tells me this is likely a result of some sort of bug living on the leaves so I'll be picking up insecticidal soap in the next day or so.
On the plus side, my tomato plants are shooting up, onions are doing well, broccolis were moved to their final big planter the other day, the strawberries are starting to flower AND the birds have finally found my new bird feeder.

Now if I could just sleep for a week while a fairy gets on top of the wash basket and housework and switch the world off for a bit that would be great.

And finally, as this is the Christmas thread, I bought a Grinch colouring book off eBay yesterday. Youngest nephew is currently obsessed and keeps asking people to draw a grinch or a gingerbread man so he can colour it in. As I want to encourage the Christmas love I'm going to give him the book when it gets here, and can always get another if he loves it that much (it's £2.50 and he is under assessment for autism).