Ho ho ho...here we go round again! Countdown to Christmas 2025, thread 1

[NoWordForFluffy]

365

Evening!

I'm tired after today, but the buffet was a success. Tomorrow it's dinner!

Everyone seems to love their gifts, which is always good. 😊 Bed soon as it's all go again from the morning!

253

Did you get uour tree Meeces?

When we get back I can cast a scornful eye over the garden ( it might be OK, I have the DC on watering duty . They have been doing but they aren't keen on any other gardening which is fair enough)

I don't think about plants till after May Bank Holiday, my tomatoes seeds are in the mini greenhouse and hopefully the sweet peas are doing something resembling growing 😄
I do like the idea of trying new plants but I don't have the energy to fight the clay soil ( it has its good points though) and there are some plants I really don't like (geraniums,lavender,honeysuckle) so they're a "nope"

Afternoon!

The weather is dire here today, and I've put the heating back on, as I refuse to be cold!

I'm not growing anything this year, I don't think. The tomatoes were so disappointing last year, I can't be bothered!

We had very windy weather and I managed to get 2 loads out before I took DD to her friends then kept anxiously looking at the sky on the drive home as it looked like it was going to chuck it down. I managed to run in and get it all in just before it poured down and that never happens so thank you weather gods.

I made my simnel cake today and its bloody sunk in the middle so I'll have to turn it upside down to decorate.

Can't decide re the tomatoes this year. Last year I had loads but they all went rotten after some very wet weather. Maybe I'll just do a small pot.

No tree 70. I really want an acer which will have some form of colour all year but the size I want is more money than I’m willing to spend.
Came away with some ideas to research though (the corner I want it for is north facing and only gets an hour or so of sun per day) and I’m fussy as I want something evergreen that isn’t going to look dead every winter!

Similar story here with the weather Fluffy. Heating came back on yesterday and again today. It’s bloody freezing!

LO really likes the garden and flowers so we’ve got a few planters with random mismatched flowers in. I also have established lavender and rosemary (my sage died) in pots and a lovely evergreen something that flowers in the summer (no idea, I bought it last year and forgot what it is) and strawberries in planters that seem to be coming back to life so fingers crossed for those.

To keep LO happy I’ve chucked a few tomato seeds in a tray in the greenhouse and we’ve plonked some random flower seeds into trays to see if they grow but I’m not hopeful!
This year the focus is on the process rather than the results because LO is definitely going to kill most of the flowers by falling on or over watering them 😂

Completely predictable but I didn’t crochet anything yesterday so am going to start that tonight. DH is out so I’m home alone anyway.

252 more number symmetry ( I'm not a maths person but symmetry is pleasing)

We wentto some beautiful gardens today, obviously I don't have a cats chance of growing anything like those lovely specimens, I have trouble upkeeping what I have !
I do love ornamental ponds but they'd be a bit rubbish in my garden - I've got a solar powered water feature (those little stacked bowl thingies that tumble water down) it sounds quite soothing.

Hopefully Easter weekend is good for everyone

251

Morning.

70 are you still cruising and have you done karaoke yet?

DH, DD and I went to RHS Wisley yesterday, the tulips were beautiful and i got lots of inspiration. There are tonnes of acers there Meeces, you might see a type that works. We bought some tomato seeds and strawberry plants which I planted in pots when I got back but we have loads of slugs so Ill have to net them.

Yes to still cruising no to karaoke.
I have the singing voice that will bring seagulls to the deck 😳

I haven't watched enough this trip to gauge the competition

When are you back, 70? Have you left instructions for your kids where to find their eggs if you won't be back?

It's not great weather here today, sadly. Thankfully it didn't rain on me while I was out with the dog, but I'm not sure DH will be as lucky later!

I utilised the Woolly loo cleaning tip yesterday, and now also have sparkling loo seats! Might be unreasonable to ban the family from using the loos going forward, mind. 🤣

Oh yes they know where their Easter eggs are Fluffy 😄 DD sent me a mesage to ask when she could start on hers.

So what's the loo cleaning tip? As long as it doesn't involve putting it in the dishwasher...... intrigued..?.

70 it's using Pink Stuff paste and scrunched up tin foil to clean the toilet seat. It's very effective for ahem yellow stains and fake tan marks. It was a tip on a FB cleaning group and I used it as a last resort before replacing the woeful, cheap toilet seats installed by the builder.

Drumroll:
250

I'll try the loo seat tip thank you Woolly
Our downstairs loo seat would need a contortionist to remove it so it needs cleaned in situ.

249

Morning!

It's bloody glorious today. Absolutely stunning! ☀️☀️

We have the in-laws coming for dinner this afternoon, and I'm going to sit on the balcony until I need to be productive!

I have some local saltmarsh brisket in the slow cooker and I'm doing a topside joint in the oven later on. The food miles are negligible and it tastes amazing!

248

Happy Easter!

Had a lovely day yesterday, I was at church at 5.30am for the Easter vigil which was done by candlelight and was really lovely. Had to have a disco nap in afternoon though.

Didn't stop eating really but managed to drag everyone out for a long walk in the afternoon. Then we watched Conclave which was brilliant.

Gone a bit damp today but going to try and get some weeding done.

Hope you're all having a lovely break.

Fluffy that slow cooked saltmarsh brisket sounds amazing.

Hi folks. It was our wedding anniversary yesterday and we went to Hunstanton for a slow meander for a bit. We got home and had a Chinese takeaway which was lovely. The weather was sunny but quite chilly. Today is a complete contrast as it is grey and gloomy. I am at work though so doesn’t bother me. I did manage to lock myself out of my laptop by putting in my password wrongly which was extremely annoying.

Morning!

Urggghhh, it's wet out there. We slept in and I've only just got back from taking him out. If I'd been up earlier, I think we'd have been much drier on our return! 😩 I also had a right-footed dunk in a small brook while we were tracking a cat which wasn't great!

Magnolia, the brisket was gorgeous! We will definitely do it again if we get brisket (you buy a box by weight, 5, 10 or 15kg, and get various cuts in it, so don't choose).

Drank too much on Saturday but loved seeing the Red Roses playing rugby.
Yesterday had a really lovely lunch out with friends at a very rural pub.
Had my first chocolate since Shrove Tuesday.
Today I feel rough which is unfortunate as I’m having a big clean prior to big family BBQ this afternoon. Unfortunately weather not good so I’ll be doing all the food prep and cooking inside.
Can hangovers be delayed????? Or is it a chocolate hangover?
Anyway, onwards and upwards. Just the toilets to clean, vacuum and mop downstairs.

247 Morning! We are on a caravan holiday (one of the Sun cheapie ones) and it's actually really nice. Kids entertainment is awful but I don't think I'm supposed to enjoy that.
We're going to a little seaside town half hour away today to mooch about, go to the beach and have a chippy lunch. Fingers crossed the weather holds up for us 🤞🏼

Fluffy Your brisket and topside dinner sounded tasty!

We went to DMs for Easter dinner. She went all out with lamb, beef and chicken (sounds OTT but there were 9 adults and 4 kids 😳).

Belated happy anniversary why

Same here @caramac04 too much wine and too much chocolate now I'm feeling grumpy that have to deEaster the house and clean before back to work tomorrow. How can it get so bad in 4 days? It was spotless and I had empty laundry baskets on maundy Thursday now I've got tonnes of laundry and the whole house is covered in chocolate. I just want to sit on the sofa watching Chateau DIY eating creme eggs.

Meeces the holiday sounds lovely, I always found a big glass of wine helped with kids entertainment.

Belated happy anniversary Why.

How was the weather today Meeces?

We went to the beach yesterday and have the traditional photos of the kids in coats digging sandcastles in the driving rain 😂

Happy belated anniversary why.

246 Beautiful sunny day today.

Have done some work, then managed half an hour on the allotment digging out bastard thistles. The plan tomorrow is to get some of the peas I have started at home in the ground, along with some salad.

I'm still getting 'tenderstem broccoli ' from the 16 Brussels sprouts plants I accidentally planted in the front flower beds last year, so it's been worth the funny looks from the neighbours 🤣 They've actually been a better crop than the sprouts!!

Time to get next year's in!

245 Morning!

Magnolia I'm not a big drinker generally but I've been starting the evening with a rum and DH has been having a pint - definitely makes the entertainment easier to cope with 😂

Firefly The weather generally held up for us. We had a sprinkling of rain while we were on the beach and had to run to the chippy for lunch as there was a heavy shower as we were on our way but it was bright aside from that.

Oh and 😂😂 at your 'sprouts'

We had a chilled day yesterday, spent the morning using the site (swimming and park) and the afternoon in a closer seaside town. LO has decided boats are the second best thing ever.
Best things ever are any type of digger/tractor etc which is why we're going to DiggerLand today 😳

Diggerland is the coolest ever. You can ride and operate them!

If you've got one within an easy drive, Gulliver's is a good one for under 10s, lots of rides and I don't know if all of them do but the one near Rotherham has an indoor bit with mini diggers and an outdoor bit with big diggers you can operate with them.

Diggerland is indeed cool 😄

DH and I are on the way back , couple of sea days ( these ships are slow)
We had some sunbathing weather today which was nice .
Tomorrow is Rudolph Day number 4

I did see some glass bauble decorations but Cats=No Tree+Glass is a Hazard so didn't buy

Enjoy your journey home 70.

Also loving the "sprouts" Firefly. I'm tempted to grow some.

I entered a marmalade competition at DDs school and won!! There were 3 winners and we each got a christmas pudding 🤣 so I'll put that in the Christmas cupboard and job done for Rudolph Day.

🤣 someone on the PTA is obviously a secret MN Christmas board lurker, Magnolia!

This year, we have sprouts again, a red variety this time, two types of broccoli and kalettes. DC were fascinated with the cabbage white caterpillars and were quite happy to help me pick them off and put them in a grow home thing. We sent some to our friend, some to nursery and some to preschool. DS also learned first hand about parasitic wasps 🤢

Even though they were pretty decimated (the weather didn't turn cold for ages, we still had caterpillars in December!) we managed a good crop of sprouts and the flower stalks are still appearing so I'm definitely getting my money's worth out of them! The ones at the allotment which were netted didn't do half as well!

I like brassicas because they're dead easy, really. Apart from caterpillar -picking I've not had to do anything to them since I planted them.