Melting from the heat, yet still Counting down to Christmas 2025 (thread 2)

[NoWordForFluffy]

OK, so you all went on a bloody posting frenzy!

Can someone add the countdown from today to make it easier tomorrow? Thanking you!

🎄99🎄 We’re in double digits

Nothing much to report here. I’m still under the weather as is LO. DH remains totally fine 🙄

Currently dealing with non stop torrential rain and sat in the train station as it’s my office day and the last few trains have been cancelled or delayed. If the next one doesn’t come I’m going home and will have to owe an office day 🙄

Making headway with my present ideas and am saving links etc but not bought much yet as I get an October bonus and like to do Christmas from that.
Am also moving forward slowly with my cross stitch card. Rabbit now has most of a face and about half a hat - just the other half of face and hat then a whole body to go 😂

Hope you managed to get the train Meeces

I'm not working today so having a clear out. I've found some damson gin still fermenting from last year so that's gone in the Christmas cupboard, also through various drawers/boxes/cupboards found 55 Christmas cards so I wont be buying any this year.

I happen to open the thread today to see only double digits left! Agh!

Im waiting on wool so I have enough to finish a cardigan - just the neck and edgings to do - but I don’t want to start other projects in the meantime.

Hoping I find a few
minutes to explore Copenhagen tomorrow (overnight trip for work), and maybe pick up a few presents.

Even the Holiday Grand Plan cleaning has to take a back seat this week…work is interfering again. But I did manage a couple of the more autumn/periodic jobs that I tend to associate with the HGP - like properly polishing shoes, cleaning windows, etc. and I emptied the ironing basket on Sunday and bought the stuff to wash and rewaterproof my raincoat before the weather changes. But it’s still low 20s most days and due to be 27 on Friday/Saturday! DH is complaining of cold and has already changed to heavier duvet at home.

Not Christmas related, but I just bought another birthday gift for dd for next week 😬

I've ordered some books for dd1 (her specific interest books) and a Rituals gift set for dd2.

Just had an email from Ocado saying I can book my Christmas delivery next week! 🎄

99?! It always goes crazy fast once the kids are back at school!

I'm waiting for Sainsbos to announce their slots. I don't normally need much, to be honest, as most of my stuff comes from various 'order in advance' places. It's the perishables like all the creams, milk to get us through the bank holidays and the veg which come on that delivery.

Meeces, nothing worse than train chaos. Is your line usually reliable? Did you get to the office?

Sainsbury's food to order is open! I've just ordered most of our dinner sides. (Not pigs, as pigs are from Booths!)

I gave up on the train and came home. The trains here are generally good but when they go wrong, it’s never just a bit delayed, it’s always ridiculous.

We still don’t actually know what we’re doing for Christmas dinner so no preordering here. My dm actually brought it up yesterday and I’m tempted to say we’ll go there.

I had my Christmas annual leave agreed today - I’m finishing on 19th and going back on 6th Jan Looking forward to that.

We're doing as we usually do and everyone is coming here. Twice! Buffet on the day itself, then dinner which will likely be on the Saturday.

My leave will hopefully be finishing on 19 Dec, then in for the 3 days in between, then off 1-5. I haven't got enough leave to go all through, and it's my turn to work, as I was off for the whole thing last year after my op.

Your train sounds like ours. Merseyrail is either running well or an utter disaster!

That's a lovely long break Meeces

Like Fluffy I do a fair bit of buy in advance and make ahead & freeze. I will be doing a butcher's order and I'll need to see what's what with our milk deliveries. They come twice a week and deliveries will depend on what days are bank holidays - if I'm unlucky they will try to deliver the entire week's milk in one go - it's easier to cancel it and get supermarket milk instead.

I'm away with DH for our anniversary and "happened" 😉 to find a Christmas shop today. This was my choice - we have travelled by train and I wasn't confident about keeping fragile baubles safe.

Fluffy Austrian trains are awesome. They run on time AND wait for longer than 10 nanoseconds before leaving the station. Although the sleeper train to get here was less Orient Express and more Stephenson's Rocket - I thought we were going to shake off the rails at some point.

That's a lovely nativity decoration @TheWoollybacksWife and Happy Anniversary!

@NoWordForFluffy do Booths do deliveries do you know?

No, they used to, pre-Covid now, I think. Amazon Fresh stocks some Booths stuff, but I don't know how much.

Woolly, lovely decoration. Not so lovely train journey...not sure that was much of a sleeper!

Woolly that’s beautiful!

I’m another fan of trains - looking at training to Berlin for a rock concert next early summer 😃 but aware how trains in the Netherlands and Germany can be, eh, not always dependable. Belgium is definitely much better.

Meeces I didn’t get your message cos MN systems don’t seem to like me, sorry, I’m not ignoring it.

Today I’m sitting at the airport on a work trip - I suspect there are another 10-15 of my colleagues floating around for the same plane but everyone is in the “find coffee and quiet” stage but we’ll start to gather shortly…it is a nice group and we are generally happy to travel together (and bemoan how we’ll need to mind our colleagues from home joining us, as apparently our group always knows what to do…we just talk to each other and figure it out!). Coffee was decent, for airports (I refuse to buy Starbucks anymore), and nearly gone, so shall go wandering very soon.

98

Biddy Belgian trains are the best! We were in Brussels in the spring and took the train to Mechelen - so easy to do. It wouldn't be the Metallica concert would it? DS is going to the London shows.

I haven’t used Belgian trains but years ago me and DH based ourselves in Prague for a few weeks and used trains to visit elsewhere from there (Vienna, Budapest, and Munich amongst others) and they were always great. On time, clean and cheap - plus one of them was like an old fashioned Harry Potter type train and we had a compartment to ourselves.

Happy Anniversary Woolly!
Salzburg is on my Christmas market wish list Is it beautiful over there?

No worries about the message Biddy and I hope you and your colleagues are enjoying your trip as much as you’re able to!

Today has been a bit chaotic as work was unexpectedly manic then I had to take LO to a birthday party after school (was supposed to be DH but he got stuck dealing with a serious incident at work). Decided at 9pm to just stop faffing around with the tidying and chill out with my cross stitch.
Too half is finally finished, save for a few stitches at the bottom that I didn’t start as I knew I’d end up being sucked into finishing one more section etc and my eyes were starting to burn.
Anyway, attached (when Mn approve it) is a photo of it so far. Not sure of her name yet (LO wants to call her Red) so any suggestions welcome 😂

97

Happy Anniversary Woolly

I have spent several hours on trains the past couple of days , nothing exotic though .

DH and I used the trains in Brussels a couple of years back , they were efficient !

Coming back to London yesterday , I thought "Yep back in London now"

A young man hovering by the ticket gates pretending to be on his phone so he could tailgate a passenger through the barrier .
Queues building at the platform, young woman just barges through "Never heard of queuing , love? "
And my bus home , four of them only going to the garage so I caught a different one .
<Sigh>

I did defrost the Fridge/Freezer though overnight . Win/Win

Yes indeed 70, welcome to London. I often think that when returning from miles away with lovely efficient trains etc then as soon as you make landfall in London its "delayed"...... hmmmmmm

Happy Friday everyone. Its going to be a lovely day today apparently.

I have no idea what our weather will be like, as Met Office and Weather Radar are at complete odds with each other! 🤷‍♀️

I am buying our tubs of Christmas chocolates today as I have £10 off a £15 spend on Just Eat groceries, and they're £5.50 a tub, so I'm getting 3 (2x Heroes and a Quality St). They come to just over £3 each with the service charge / delivery after the discount. Bargain!

Oh, I have another autumn signifier for you after today's dog walk: getting cobwebs across your face when you're minding your own business walking along the path! And then it's all you can feel all day, even when it's gone.

I've seen the tubs in Tesco and Asda at good prices Fluffy but Sainsbury were full price (no doubt they'll have offers at sometime )
Working out at £3 /tub is bargainous

I need to put washing on, it says it'll get to 25c on weather report , it doesn't look like ut at the moment !

Happy Anniversary @TheWoollybacksWife hope you had a great time.
We are supposed to have warm weather today as well so I'm washing bedding (rock & roll life)

Wow that looks really good!! The extent of my talent is latch hooking, I have a christmas one from last year unfinished but I am working my way through my Halloween one still (also from last year)!

We love Austria...we were there last year :)
Dh back from his work trip, car into garage tomorrow for a new tyre.
Got a few jobs to do...new mirror to put up, a few things to take to the tip rocknroll

The car read 28 degrees on way back from work!!! So DH is making pizza and we'll have a farewell to Summer bottle of rosé.

I'm keeping my eye on the choc tubs but not cheap enough yet.