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!

168

Morning!

It's starting to warm up a bit today. Not to extreme temps, that's saved for the weekend. The mornings are starting warm though, which is annoying for the dog run / walk, as he gets warm quickly. I have to keep stopping him and enforcing walking / drinks of water.

How are everyone's tomatoes coming on? We have a fair few plum ones. The chocolate coloured and beefsteak aren't doing as well though. None are ripe yet. Soon, hopefully!

167

Loads of tomatoes here Fluffy but stubbornly green

I bought three MoneyMaker plants a while back and put them near the house wall to keep an eye on them. The leaves smell gorgeous .

Washing in the machine
Just going to pay my Vehicle Tax now - joy !

166

Morning!

I got up at 6 to get the dog out before it got far too warm. The forecast said 16° at 6 and 24° at 9! So we left here at about 6.30. If he'd only go slowly, he wouldn't get so warm, but hey ho!

Our tomatoes have a bit of growing to do before they can ripen. I really don't rate peat free compost for assisting plants in growing. I'm going to mix manure into the pots next year, see if that helps. Even the usually good seaweed feed isn't having the desired effect with this compost. My chillies are the same.

I'm sitting with a bacon sandwich in the sunshine. It's rather nice! I bought two sun loungers yesterday, so we're going to chill in the garden later on. ☀️ 🍻

Good morning, we are on our way home today. The weather in Cornwall has been fabulous. Warm sun but lovely sea breezes. Just looked at the weather at home and it will be at least 30 🫠.
So I have booked a trip to the cinema tomorrow when it will be hottest. Plus I found the melting emoji.

Glad Cornwall was nice Granny , it's a lovely part of the world but less so in the tipping rain < been there/done that>
It just needs to stay nice for the School Holidays , Scotland has already started , I'm sure they're 21/22nd July here .

Our cats don;t have the sense they were born with- jet black (so absorb heat) full fur coats , like to go out in the garden in the mid day sun.
Our boy finds a hedge or shrubbery to hide in so he can just Watch Things .
The girl sits on my DS windowsill in full glare
You cannot reason with cats either as They Know Best

My hanging basket tomatoes are going pretty well. Quite a few green ones on there and plenty of time for them to ripen.
My snack cucumber plant from the ‘I’m dying so I’m cheap’ shelf in B&M is also recovering. It looks terrible but about 4 new cucumbers have appeared in the last week.

Flowers are also doing well but I’ve overdone it, straight opposite the doors to the garden are so many pots/troughs of colour it looks a bit ridiculous

Still hating the heat here. Was so grateful we had LOs clubs in air conditioned halls this morning. We also went food shopping to keep busy somewhere cool then LO spent a good while in a cool bath which DH and I kept dipping our feet in.

I hate this heat, I have no motivation whatsoever. It’s taken way longer than it should for me to do the washing, tidy up etc. I just want to sleep.

165
We've had the infestation of ladybirds which are quite pretty even though they're beetles in pretty coats . As red /black dots bugs you go "Awwwww" . If they were shiney black you'd go "Urgh get off me"
Now we have the ants . Everything I lift up has a stream of ants under it , trying to track down where they're coming from.

Nice and quiet here right now , got laundry out and our bedding in the wash ,

Oh 70, don't mention ladybirds...I'm pretty sure Meeces hates them! 🐞

Ants seem to have quite a level of cunning, I think.

DH and I are a bit crispy today after spending a bit too long on sun loungers yesterday! I have housework to do today, so won't be making that mistake again today! 😬🤣

70 try the Ant stop bait stations from Amazon. I am a big wildlife lover but do so no to ants in the house.

Slightly cooler here today thank God. I'm with you on the heat hating Meeces, can't even think straight and so tired from poor sleep.

Got lots of tomatoes but small and green. Thinking about it though they may be cherry tomatoes.

I tried them Magnolia , have to make sure they're safe as our nosy cats would most likely consume them

They're an annual pest (the ants , not the cats , they are pests all year )

I have a cat that thinks he's a dog and will eat anything so I can vouch for the ant stop stations. 😊

Ladybirds are my nemesis. I'd move out if we were infested 70 🤢 They are the only thing that triggers my flight response <shudder>

We've had ants. Agree with Fluffy that they're cunning critters. We blocked their way in when we had them a few years ago but they found more.
We used the bait station things earlier this year and they do seem to have worked. Not sure I would have tried them when ddog was here. As it was we had to hide them under a slightly lifted shoe box to stop LO messing with them 🙄

We're just back from lunch with dm. We went to a pub with a park and tables all in the shade which was nice. Home now to the too well insulated house now though. Roll on autumn!

Mine is moths Meeces
When we're just about the shut the window and one flies in.
I do try the Trap'n'Release if I can find a glass and thin card before it sets off round my house . Or it'll land too high so I;m risking falling off whatever I need to climb ( and at my age those old bones don't bounce )

DH doesn't like me swatting them as they leave their powdery bodypart gubbins on the paintwork.

I do , however , like bats and it was lovely seeing them fly in the evening when we were feeding the guinea-pigs . (I;m sure the piggies were ver' ver' jealous ( or Well Jell as they were all Essex apart from one )
"Look , mice wiv wings" . Piggies were too tubby to even dream about being airbourne .

Windows closed now even though it is stifling as someone has lit a bonfire . God knows what they're burning . Smells like toxic waste'n'tyres

NoCheesesForUsMeeces ;I used to be able to hide bait stations between plant pots and the wall; however, my new rescue spaniel manages to dig them out and bring them indoors. So they've gone in the bin, and I'm looking for something she won't be able to snaffle.

164

Thankfully a bit cooler today although I believe it is ramping up later.

Work finishes this week yippeee although my supply agency have booked me in for some invigilating end July.

I made the hairy bikers white chocolate cheesecake at the weekend from their christmas book that Fluffy recommended - it was soooooooooo nice so i think i'll start doing christmas test recipes on Rudolph days.

Sounds delicious Magnolia

I used to make a baked pecan and toffee cheesecake, need to look it up again.

Rudolph Day Cooking sounds great !
I made some Chocolate Chip Cookies last week but I'm still having issues with them being a bit cake-y not crispy . I tried a new tub of bicarb and chilled the dough, did the take-it-out-of-the-oven-and-whack-the-tray to deflate them .....
Other half of the dough is in the freezer so I'll see if that cooks better .

Hmmmm, I love a white chocolate cheesecake. I made a Nigella one the other year. Maybe the Hairy Biker one is the way forward this year!

163

It was the sour cherry and choc cheesecake but I didn't have any dried sour cherries (unsurprisingly) so I used a frozen summer berry mix.

70 please link the pecan and toffee cheesecake, if you manage to dig it out, sounds delish.

I foresee a cheesecake month on the horizon.

162

Morning!

We're back to clammy today, though thankfully cooler. It was wet and windy yesterday (obvs for an office day!).

I have an almost-ripe tomato! I'll have to fight DH for it once ripe I won't, it's all mine!

That cheesecake sounds amazing, Magnolia. I bloody love cheesecake!

Hello lovelies, how is everyone? I don't think I've posted all year on here!

DS is FIVE in a few weeks god knows how that has happened

I was getting in the spirit at the weekend as mum and dads plumtree felled in the wind a few weeks ago so I made up some plum chutney - very early start on the home made goodies. But it reminded me of the thread and I thought I'd pop my head in - might stick around this year who knows!

161 ( another nice number pattern )

Hello there Hairspray how the devil are you ?

5yo are a delight at Christmas <glares at lanky DS who will be 26 in December and a total Bah Humbug unless it involves : Money , Roast Potatoes . Yorkshire Puddings , Chocolate )

Tomorrow is a hundred and sixty ...!

160

Hurrah

Morning!

Time goes so fast when you're into the 100s!

It rained on me this morning when I was out with the dog. Thankfully not for long though. I think we've got April's weather as it's forecast rain on and off for most of the day. Warm too though. Wardrobe dilemmas!

DD finishes for summer at lunch time. DS has to suffer until Tuesday!

I gave blood on Tuesday and the run with the dog is really hard at the moment. I always forget about the after effects until DH reminds me when I'm moaning about wanting to die on the run! 🤣

@70isaLimitNotaTarget we have been good - busy of course but I have found young children make life go past at 100 miles an hour! I can't believe we are in school uniforms already 😭Sorry to hear your DS is a grinch - I actually dread my kids getting to the moody grownup stage - toddlers were bad enough!!

Just about to re-mortgage and honestly its hideous no one warned me it was potentially worse than buying the house in the first place!

biggest news is I passed my driving test which has been a really really really long time coming!

Congratulations @HairsprayBabe