Taken the decs down yet?

yes loopylou, no excuse here for not finally sorting out the spare room, still full of 'stuff' now the youngest and her partner have (finally) moved out. Mind you, the dogs need a long walk, the bird feeders need a tidy, shall I put the fleece back on the camellia and I haven't yet re-stocked the food cupboards……..

Love having the house clean and tidy but boy, is it quiet...... No excuse for not getting on with studying now

Here you are jings and phoenix you can both have a piece of my Christmas cake. No marzipan or icing as we don't like them but it's very moist and fruity. Goes really well with a although I usually have it with I hate taking the Xmas lights down. Place looks so bare without them.

A couple of weeks before christmas I came home to find the outer glass door of the main oven in smithereens on the floor . The chap from the gas board has just fitted a replacement

No fan in the top oven here glamma (thank the lord - in case I find I can't do fan ovens!)

DH can do the clock bit. He loves putting the microwave clock right. (drives me mad )

As I said up there, mine is 10 years old, but I still can't get the hang of the clock and have to refer to the instructions every time the clocks change or we have a power cut!! The instruction page is easy to find though as it's really spattered!!

jings best of luck with the "distructions" manual it took me ages to get mine right,I thought I was good enough to fly a plane after I had read mine lol.It took me a while to realise that the fan in the top oven continued to be in use after you switched it off !! enjoy your reading

Yes. It's orange light is blinking at me at the moment. When I press the buttons, it rings. Will try to ignore for a while.

Just getting your head round sorting out the clock on the cooker will take most of the bar, I would have thought.

Aww, thanks janer granny-a, and*kitty. Cooker is here. Just managed to get DH out of house with his aeroplanes so I can get on with returning kitchen to normal. Then I will look at the user manual. Just drinking coffee and eating bit more of OH's choccy first. Need my strength don't I.

jings I am so sorry you feel so low - round about now is when I start to hit the St. John's Wort usually, this year it doesn't feel quite so bad, perhaps because I have DS to keep me company for another couple of weeks and he is good company.

My outside lights have lost their top layer too, and DBH has always resented the cost of keeping them alight until when the clocks change. So I bought a long length of outdoor solar powered LED lights and DS and I had great fun getting ourselves tangled up in them just before Xmas, putting them on the top of the weeping cherry in the front garden. They don't match at all, aren't as bright, but as far as I am concerned they can stay on all year. I am going to buy another set when I'm not so broke.

In the meantime indoors, I have taken to lighting a couple of tealights, to replace the tree lights, where I can just see them when I sit here, and I have a big tall candleholder in the fireplace. I light them all at dusk or even earlier, it really helps. IKEA do big bags of them.

jingl (((hugs))) but think of the new cooker. I have a Rangemaster too, GA, and ordered new knobs on line as I was just turning and hoping!! Mine is only 10 or so years old though.

I took all our decorations down yesterday and was so whacked at the end of it we had to go out to eat (good plan!!)

Unfortunately, the lounge looks worse because I can't move the leather chair back into it's normal position on my own. And, now I look at the room with fresh eyes, it might benefit from a 'little' rearrangement!!

Hi jingl - hope today is an improvement on yesterday. Has the new cooker arrived?

I did all the decorations this morning and they are now back in the shed. I did keep all the lights indoors though as DS2's GF will be thirty later in the spring and I thought they might like to decorate the house.

Thanks for the Xmas clock link, Stansgran. I actually clicked on it thinking it would be a link to numberplease's clock that chimes out carols every hour.

I really, really want one of those!

Took my decs down today - a family tradition - and spent an hour unravelling the fairy lights. Felt tempted just to throw them in the box but knew that I would be mad with myself next year.

It's round about now that I wish I had some Christmas cake

I don't bother because Mr P doesn't like it, but I do remember the first Christmas after I left exDH, the lovely family that used to come to the resort where I worked, and always brought (and donated) a beautifully iced and decorated home made Christmas cake had heard about the split and in addition to the "big one", brought a small cake just for me! I could never fancy cake over Christmas, too many other things to enjoy, but once we are into January, I do fancy a slice with a cup of coffee mid morning!

Note to self: Buy a small one next year and hide it away for when the decorations are down, you're feeling a bit flat and time-of-yearish, so it is a little treat.

I'm going to go and look for that recipe rosequarz. I might make it, in my new oven. If I don't ice it, it will be a health food really.

Yeah. Thanks for that Stansgran.

I will send you a very large piece of Christmas cake, jingls, complete with marzipan and royal icing. It is Janer's recipe without the nuts.

(That 2,000 fewer calories left for me!!)

Just finished - all down now.

www.xmasclock.com/

Don't cry Jingle there'll always be another Christmas. In less than three hundred and sixty days.

Yesterday I took down 'Christmas' and began on my annual spring clean. I am sooo happy to be back in my own house with life returning to normal. I have remembered all the reasons why I love my home - I even think my forty year old kitchen is looking good today after a little rearrangement. Might post a photo later.

You're right there soon. Everything electrical is blowing up!