Little Italy 23

[BananaGio]

Siamo qua!

EC I hope youa were not too ill to enjoy all.Well I must say I had a totally wacky day- I will rant to you all as I have to make myself feel better!
DH made no effort at all this year with regali . We do 'stockings' from father christmas and the dd have one big thing under the tree from FC and the rest are from parenti. The few pathetic (mircofibre cleaning cloths, olive dish and picks ...I don't like Olives,) oh and the 2 good - (silicone spatula and silicone cake moulds) he wrapped with the dd so I had to rapidly back track when dd said she helped daddy wrap it and why were they in there if they were from santa ! I had a few other things that my mum put in but his was as usual done with thought and care. Then under the tree he had - a leather jacket, a puzzle container ( so you can do them in stages and store it). A mug and photobox calandar ( Italian) from the dds . I had drum roll - a massage from a place on Lido . In 11 years we have been together I have had 1 massage in Thailand. I hate them - they are not for me as I hate my body and cringe at the thought of anybody rubbing my fat the wrong way! Plus it is on the Lido and when will I have the time to take a boat 35 mins there and back - I have wanted to have my hair done for the last 2 montsh but not had the time. Nothing from the dds- not even a picture I adore anything 'home made' ZERO!
Then we go to MIl for pranzo. Antipasti garlic bruschetta, volauvents with pate di olive and verdure sotto aceto- I knew she was doing pasticcio - bene I said it is adatto x i bimbi? si was the reply. It was good but oh boy was it pesante with funghi etc - DD non mi piace , Minirosa basta mamma. SO they had a cracker each dd1 with some mortadella. She then did - Brasato which had a bloody strong red wine sauce. Vitello Tonnato , cold roast potatoes and freckin cipolle. So dd had some patatine and minirosa helped herself to Kinder Santa from the tree.Then dates with mascarpone and zia brought a tronchetto . However that had alcohol in it so the dds had a banana. No ice cream or pandoro or anything for the dds. Nipotine the elder one ate some but the younger one aged 5 was in the same situation.
Oh and we agreed that the cuginis regali we ould all open together but somehow my dds regali from them had not been wrapped up so they were there plonked under the tree.
Mai piu ,Mai piu, Mai piu - My family in the Uk had a great family day lots of laughs, good food adapted for all .... I still feel like shit but just have to be thankful for what I have !

Oh no Rosa, you poor thing! I agree that dh should have been more cooperative and that he's been thoughtless. I'd go the most expensive hairdresser in town just to retaliate

Sorry it hasn't been a perfect day

Ours has been hectic but good, and the children have been really happy wityh their presents, especially dd who was over the moon about the bunk bed etc and they loved playing with their older cousins etc.

The only blip is that - apparently- my brother wasn't happy about our present, so I am both sad but also

I have minirosa asleep on lap ( she would't settle in bed) so slow typing. I spent £118 on M&S sale last night !! Didd't even say what I was doing.
Glad you all had a good time. dds did enjoy presents and have being playing lots .I have yet to discuss with dh he knows I am upset but I bet he is thinking I am just missing my family.( which I am )
What did you get your brother?

Oh Rosa, sorry to hear you had a bad time, and it's all somehow heightened when you miss your family. It was after such I miserable xmas I had one year I vowed always somehow to make it back! £118 in the M&S sale sounds like a good start to cheer you up.

So what did you get your brother then Franca? Presents are a minefield really arent they? My family generally make wishlists these days, which is really boring but at least avoid the problem of unwanted stuff. Mind you, I asked for some nice Finnish plates this year (to be sent straight here to avoid the luggage problem) to replace the Ikea ones we got for 35 cents each which are chipping, my sister declared this much too boring, which is true of course, and got me something infinitely sexier: a kettle, which I don't actually need. Oh well, not complaining though.

Anyway, we are back already, weighed down with playmobil, books ad excess stilton and xmas cake. Heading out of Rome tomorrow to prepare our house for the hoardes of 20 something partygoers, eek!

Hope everyone else had a good one :)

SOunds like you had a good time SPut....I have eaten Xmas cake for 2 days and have had enough so not sure what to do with it now !
SO party casa Sput for new Year. Well I am cooking my xmas meal on NYE and don't give a monkeys if Dh is here or not !!! I have 4 parsnips and I will be roasting all of them !
Am looking at flights for May as dad is 80 but crikey they are expensive already. NOt sure what July will be like then !
I DH still not even asked whats up with me well the befana is giving him his voucher back he might get the hint by then. Now what else can I get on sale ?????

Sorry to hear about your Christmas Rosa. Hopefully DH will get the hint when gets voucher. I was over the moon with DPs present but he had bugger all to do with it . He wanted a mini amp for his guitar, I wanted a Kindle so we got our own. I also ordered a DVD fromm ds for me and billed dp!. Decided was far easier....I think because my Dad never had a clue what he had got us for xmas and birthdays and my Mum did everything I accept it as being ok .DP loves my Dad-he paved the way....I have loads of Christmas cake as well Rosa, think going to freeze it

Well yes party casa Sput but I will not be here! We are renting it to the son of a friend and his mates. Everything breakable will be packed up. I figure whatever they get up to it won't be as bad as what I got up to at that age. It's atrial run for when we try and rent it out properly next spring, and an impetus for us to get things a bit more ready.

We will be in Toscana at SIL and BIL's place, but they won't be there, by a bizarre train of events we are spending New Year there with some school friends of DH and their friends we don't know, it should be fun!

This is assuming we get our caldaia fixed, as we arrived today to find some burst pipes, I think it must've been really cold up here when we had the cold snap, as a pianta grassa died which has always been fine under the porch. So no heating, we've had to turn the water off and can't even use the termo camino as it's all connected. So about 9° here, they are coming to fix it tomorrow, hopefully. Thank goodness for electric blankets!

Giving him back the voucher, excellent idea. Practice your cat's bum face.

It was cold Sputnik ..sorry to hear of the burst pipes hope you get it sorted and it snot too costly. Due to the humidity we have had to have the underfloor heating machine back on ( thanks plumber) to try to help dry the house out.We have had the windows in and now it is sweating a bit. I have been trying to get the plaster dust up and I can't basically its a night mare and we can't find an industrial hoover to rent ( not using my dyson). Am going to get sawdust as have heard thats good in helping to catch it but we have to get it all up before we can lay the flooring!
Kitchen in on wed- Thing is there is still soooo much to do I can't see the end in site !!!

not obviosuly !!!
NYE in Toscana sounds like fun. We will be solo soletto me thinks taht is unless dh goes out with his friends......

Plaster dust, what a nightmare, good luck. My best solution was to mop about 15 times,but still not that effective. Do you have a Leroy merlin near, they rent stuff out but not sure about vacuums.
The guy came to fix the caldaia, he was 2 hours early and charged 40 euros :)
So we are on again for NYE, our guests came up today to drop off some spare beds they'll be using and some shopping, the place was still a complete tip, was a bit embarassing. I have managed to tidy quite a bit though and tomorrow have to clean the place top to bottom, fun! Plus bunk beds to assemble. The DC's room will look a lot better after all this is done, it was a nightmare before.

Glad you got it sorted and what a bargain plumber ! Have tried Leroy merlin but they don't rent the kind of thing we need. I found a bidone that you attach to your hoover for EUro 39 from Unieuro but I am going to try and see if I can find a mega cheap hoover and then throw it out afterwards. DH was there this morning and he said he swept up lots of dust as well. The kitchen apparently looks nice but he made a mistake in getting them to put a unit centre between the windows. It was supposed to be off right so that I could put a couple of shelves at the other end....We had discussed this as well ......Its up now and I can't move it so never mind !
Minirosa got sent Elefun froma friend ..It only lasts 2 mins and bloody butterflies go everywhere but she loves it !!!!

Good idea re the hoover, we have a bidone aspiratutto for yukky jobs, cleaning the car etc. Will you have a cantina you can bung it into when you've finished, or a relative maybe?

Bloody hell, I have spent all day cleaning, packing stuff away, moving things etc, and I'm still not finished. Literally only sat down to eat all day! Hopefully we'll get it all done in time to leave after lunch tomorrow, Dh will be helping. However I am quite pleased, I managed to chuck out all the stuff eg 10 year old moisturisers etc in our bathroom cabinets, plus more clothes. We will have a nicer more managable house after this, next step is to create a bit more storage in Rome to put the remaining stuff once we begin to rent it out seriously, and finish the final room that needs rewiring.

Happy New Year all...Auguri Hope that Toscana was good and your house survived its first rentals.
Our evening was quiet but the turkey was good along with the parsnips. I have 3 left and I am wondering if I can chop them and freeze them in sticks or are they like potatoes and don't freeze well? DH went out and bought a EU40 hoover I said go to Leroy Merlin and Castorama he went first to the SME nothing under Eu70 and then to Panorama. AFter buying the Eu40 one he went o Leroy Merlin and hey presto a bidone one for Eu47....He had already taken the Eu40 one out of the box and destroyed the box Silly man. SO as a result the EU 40 one will pick up the stuff round the edges but with the handle and the base is crap. Plus you can only have it on for 10 mins as the engine gets a bit hot !!!! Oh well better than nothing.
THe cement is taking ages to dry out and we can't put the wood down until it is 100% dry we have a machine making the underfloor heating work but its just not drying..Arrrgghhh
Happy NEw Year and may it be a good one for all on Littel Italy xxx

Oppe Little Italy !

Happy new Year my dears!!!
Sorry I disappeared, but it's been busy
Our friends from the UK visited and only left this evening. It was so lovely to see them. Ds has been in tears afterwards, missing his little friend.
It's also been nice being tourists in Milan, we've been to quite a few places we haven't been in ages and finding that the city is not as bad as our daily perception of it

Happy new year!!!

Buona anno a tutti!
Down with the flu and febbre so not going back to london. Wish i was well enough to enjoy time at home. But all i want is to lock dc in their room for just one day or half [shocked]. I feel exhausted and crap!

Buona anno a tutti!
Down with the flu and febbre so not going back to london. Wish i was well enough to enjoy time at home. But all i want is to lock dc in their room for just one day or half [shocked]. I feel exhausted and crap!

I know that feeling, my DC's sat down quietly [gasp] and did some colouring today for an hour or so, it was almost like a holiday in itself.

Our New Year went really well, we had a great time in Tuscany, and the kids we rented our house to were really good, didn't break anything and cleaned up after themselves. They did have the heating up to the max though, I have never known it so warm! They also left assorted stuff behind, such as coffee and chocolates [yum]. So all in all quite happy.

Excellent Sputnik . Are you at your mountain place now? When are you back to R?

Euro, oh no, how awful. I hope you feel better soon.

Rosa???

Back to work here too. Had a very lazy Christmas with no major problems and limited activity: bliss! What the doctor ordered, really. DD is quite bored now and I think she is looking forward to asilo next week.

Rosa, I am sorry to hear about Xmas - at least it was one day and you could go back to your own flat. Euro, lots of people still off sick here too...

Am here ..Euro sorry to here you are sick the Uk sounds terrible loads of people off sick flu and strange virus kind of things.
Minerva glad to hear you had a nice quiet xmas. I am just spending every day cleaning the flat more and mors dust - I can't get to the bottom of it. Friday we test the dryness of the cement and then maybe they can start to put teh wood down but only if I get all the dust up. DH is going to go tom as I am dusted out!
I have invited MIL and SIL for lunch on the Befana. SO mixed antipasti hot and cold ( hot will be puff pastry things). Francas Radicchio and pancetta lasagne.Roast Beef , yorkshire puds, roast pots and 2 veg. Then am thinking some kind of chocolate pudding . I will also do some breaded chicken for the children who don't like the beef !!! NOthing like finishing the Celebrations properly !
Thing is my dishwasher has died ...It must have known that it was on its last month so there will be one hell of a lot of washing up ....

mmmmmmmmm Rosa, can we come too? I'm sure it'll be delicious.

Hi Minerva, sounds like a good relaxing Christmas you had.

I can't believe there are only a few days left until schools starts back again, ds still has lots of homeworks to do!

Franca for a teglia di 6 how much radicchio - like 2 big bunches and then a carton ( supermatrket size ) of pancetta affumicata?
Onion and beschamella ....Anything else that should go in there?
Thank you ....Madonna its cold....

Sounds like a good menu Rosa.
Yes I am in the mountains (well hills really), still a bit of cleaning and washing to do, much easier now as it's actually tidy!
I think we'll be back in Rome tomorrow, then back up here again then Rome for the weekend as we still have to do xmas with the ILs. The back to school and taxi driving.

Auguri da la regina della broom...to all the Befane on Little Italy.
Well finished the feste in style ..how it should be done. Great meal , then a great afternoon - food for all ages and fun by all.Only problem are the left overs and the diet !
Well reality hits domani and am off to take the tree down !