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!

244

Happy Rudolph Day

There was a game show in the main atrium , Maria Carey ( AIWFCIY) was played to much "wwhhhhattt its April !!)
Ah but in eight months...?.😂
I didn't say anything, I don't want to swim the last miles ....

Yey! Rudolph Day, almost Christmas 😂

Not quite ....pace yourself to avoid burnout/fatigue/The Twitch 😂

Happy Rudolph Day!!

Think you're right about the PTA Firefly.

70 maybe they did it for Rudolph Day or maybe they're just nutters? (Like us)

243

No Christmas preparations here today, DS has been at a birthday BBQ over lunch and I am just getting ready for bottomless brunch to celebrate my birthday last week and hoping nobody will mention the smell of BBQ in my hair

Your hair will make people feel hungry, even though they probably won't be able to work out why they can smell BBQ! 🤣

I really need to do a bottomless brunch. I feel like I'm missing out by not having done so.

I've been viewing retirement flats for the parents today. Such an exciting use of my time! Think we're sorted now though.

@NoWordForFluffyI will be glad once they move so we can stop dealing with it all.

I have done some cleaning today as I was working yesterday. No Christmas prep for me, I have bought quite a few things already.

Me too, Why! Let's hope we can move FAST now!

I haven't done any Christmas prep either, other than moved my usual monthly savings into the Christmas account! I do need to make mincemeat though, as I have the ingredients. Maybe tomorrow.

242

I am back on my proper laptop where I can do things like Poncy Fonts and bold
Hurrah and a for good measure .

I have never thought of bottomless brunch as AFAIK they're mainly booze not brunchy food , though I'd be limited how much brunchey food I could eat .

Washing on, now ( I think this is load 3 ) and the Aim For Today is to get as much done as possible without turning the house into a laundry !

Welcome home 70 🏠

We are home too and you were all correct, DiggerLand was great! LO enjoyed it almost as much as we did 😂 although I was completely rubbish especially next to farmer DH who is an expert

Weather was lovely here so I've done 2 loads of washing. Will do the last half load and the bedding tomorrow.

Used my Rudolph Day to pick a cross stitch card for both my parents (pics).

Firefly unfortunately the nearest Guillivers is a few hours away from us.

Fluffy I'm not a fan of a bottomless brunch if the booze is limited to Prosecco as I'm not a fan however, a little pub near my friend does a 'pick your drink' one from a selection. Only catch is that you can't alter the drink once you've chosen.
When we went I had mojito and friend had wine. Was great but the hangover was horrific 😂 Probably a good thing she lives an hour away really! 🥴

I've never been to a bottomless brunch either. These days - two drinks and I'm twatted 😂

241

Lovely day here today, in the main. Not as nice as the rest of the week is forecast to be, mind. I was off today and had an unexpected trip into town so treated myself to lunch out.

I've only just managed to be productive and clean the kitchen, mind. The mincemeat hasn't happened!

Woolly, I'm not sure a bottomless brunch would end well for me either, but I'm willing to try it out! 🤣

240

Morning!

Isn't this weather glorious, hopefully a taster of a beautiful Summer to come.

I painted the walls in the guest room over the weekend, decided the midnight blue that I did in lockdown madness wasn't really for a tiny attic room! I ended up painting the walls Magnolia!! Its a bit 80's but I really love it.

Just got to do the ceiling white now coz I also painted that midnight blue 🙄

239
Into The Two Hundred And Thirties .

Magnolia when we painted the downstairs loo (I say "we" but Dh painted , I chose the decor and DS helped me clean first) I really wanted french navy . The floor tiles are white/blue so it would've looked lush.
DH was "hell no" and TBF it would've been a difficult task and even more difficult to paint over ! Also it;s a small room with no windows
So , white . ...white gloss . white walls .
Except the skirting boards and door have gone cream .

238

70 I wish your DH had been here with a "hell no" when I opened the midnight blue tins a few years ago!!

Another glorious day. I believe we are getting up to 27 degrees which is fun when on a beach in the Med but not so much fun in a non air conditioned school.

DS GCSE's start today and I'm also invigilating (not his school obvs) so its all very exciting.

Morning!

Beautiful day. Smells very farmyard-y round these parts, however! Plus it's a high pollen count, so multiple assaults on the nasal passage!

We are only getting to 22° apparently. Though I think it's almost there now, so wouldn't surprise me to see that go up.

I have cheated with plants this year as I've bought 3 different tomato plants from Dobbies and 3 different chillies online one of which grows penis shaped chillies, apparently. Snigger! They're currently enjoying the weather in a mini greenhouse.

Afternoon. I think we’re getting up to 26° and I hate it, I have fair skin and get migraines in the head and brightness. I’ve taken to wearing sunglasses in my house as a preventative measure 😎

Fluffy I planted 4 tomato seeds with LO but I don’t think they’ve germinated. I’ve had to essentially abandon them in the greenhouse as we’ve been busy 🙄

I’m not having a good day. LO now has their free childcare hours so (once I factor in travel time) I have just over an hour and a half home alone every day.
The whole house needs a deep clean, cupboards need sorting, I have a pile of clothes that need mending and I don’t know what to do first. All I’ve managed so far is the day to day ‘putting the house back together’ and clearing washing and all I want to do is sit and watch crime stuff 🙄

My tomatoe seeds have done the Square Root of Diddly Squat too meeces

I'm going to throw in the towel and buy some plants ( then the buggers will grow no doubt <sigh> )

Fluffy IIRC you painted navy in your house didn't you ? It would look majestic in our loo , I might wait till he's on holiday and buy paint ........

Save yourself the pain of disappointment re seeds: buy the plants! Ours are going great guns in the sunshine.

Yes, 70, we have blue in the hall and our downstairs loo is a thing of beauty now!

237

I have tomato plants ( bought some this morning after dropping DD at work - the Friday Tradition of buying her a croissant )

Once I am galvanised I'll give them some water and decide if they need to go in the greenhouse or can go out . (Might wait till Monday as I need to pressure wash the patio )

Load 1 of washing out
Load 2 to go in

I'm clearing out my fruit cage so I can replace it with a greenhouse.
No tomato plants here because I start the seeds in the dining room that gets loads of sun, but it was full of stuff from the lounge, but that is nearly finished. Just some wood panelling to go up.

Fluffy your blue is lovely - my mistake was painting the ceiling too - sloping attic ceiling so felt very hemmed in. I've still not got the paint for the ceiling so its on my things to do over bank holiday weekend list.

My tomatoes are coming up lovely. Having a competition with DH who is growing chillies and he's a bit grumpy coz they're quite slow.

236

Morning!

Partly sunny, partly cloudy, with the wind picking up here. Not sure what the day is going to turn into really! (Other than not scorchio, like earlier this week!)

Magnolia, does your DH have a heated propagator? Chillies much prefer a warm bum to get going!

I just can't be arsed with seeds these days. Traumatised from my 5 years with an allotment! I'm quite happy to outsource the germination / early nurturing elsewhere.

235

Morning!

Fluffy he doesn't have a heated propagator but i'll suggest it so thanks for that.

Had a painting mishap. Bought some undercoat for the midnight blue ceiling. Poured the undercoat into the tray and thought "Hmmmmm that's very thick and smells very strong". In tiny letters on the back of the tin it said "for wood and metal". Grrrrrrrrr so that was £30 down the drain.

Went to our lovely local DIY store and he said you don't need to buy undercoat to cover dark paint just use any spare light colour you have in the shed (its called a mist coat). I didn't have any spare so he gave me 5 litres of apple white for £5 that was in the sale. I was delighted. So now my ceiling has two coats of apple white and will get the white top coats today. In hindsight should have just bought 2 tins of the white!

So my day will be painting and ironing.

I went up to London yesterday ( I know , BH Saturday !) but it wasn't as busy as I feared .
Nice to potter about in the sun - mainly Oxford Street and Regent Street , loads of Union Flags flying for the VE Day celebrations .

Quiet day today of washing ( as always ) making a chilli for later ( slow cooker ) and going to wander round the garden tidying then wash the patio .