What I did today No.2

Well I was too late for the Good Morning Thread today.
DH brought me a cup of tea, but by the time I had read, and checked the bank, it was time to get up and get going.
We were going to out for lunch and a bit of a shop, but my hip was suddenly so painful, that I was going to stay in. Then as suddenly as it started, the pain went. It did this yesterday as well.
So we went out for a coffee, did a shop in the local Tesco, where we met a long ago neighbour, and had a good catch up. Thursday must be the day for Tesco, as we met/ saw loads of people we knew. On the way home, called in at Aldi, and I was going to buy an Air Fryer, but they are not on sale until Sunday. Came home, had a cup of tea, and read a magazine and fell asleep for half an hour. Drank some more tea and had a small piece of carrot and ginger cake.
For supper, we had paella, ready made courtesy of Tesco.
V. Nice, and now full up.
Put away some laundry, that had been drying on the airer.
Will try and finish a crocheted angel, later on. It needs me to concentrate, but last night DH kept talking to me when I was counting! and I had to give up.
I do hope that Gillybobs DH is still slowly improving, day by day. Best wishes to her.

Well, got up and had shower early expecting to go to the hairdressers, but a phone call at 8.30 informed me that my hairdresser had called in sick, and would I like a slightly later appointment with someone else. No thank you I said, as I had an early afternoon meeting and doubted I would get there in time. Anyway I was satisfied with the change of appointment to tomorrow morning.

Did a load of tidying up indoors, two lots of washing, and got to the meeting in time. It was very interesting. A skin consultant from our local hospital talking about living with eczema, psoriasis, and warning signs for skin cancer. Very informative and learned quite a lot.

Picked up DGD from school, walked home in the freezing cold. Got her off to football club, had dinner and now on here with one eye on the tv!

Today I had to travel to teenage-sit my two grandsons. I’ve done the journey many times. Today I ‘got lost’ twice and had to double back. So a two and a half journey turned into a four hour one. My nerves and confidence has taken a bit of a battering.

Yesterday : up ridiculously early to clear away Christmas wrapping detritus which was all over the place before DGSs arrived for breakfast. Even so they clocked a couple of items I’d missed ?. Took them to school then home to wait for the plumber to service the boiler. At mid day to a charity clothes sale in the pub in aid of Alzheimers. Some amazing bargains so I picked up a few bits for DD1 as requested. She spurned a beautiful dress (£3!) which I thought a bit rude! Will sell it on eBay where it'll make more & give the proceeds back to the charity. Missed lunch as I was late for my art group. Usual admin before I could get stuck in but managed to finish the boat on Dungeness beach. Had difficulty painting shingle so ended up splattering various colours which seemed to do the trick. Very messy business though! Spent the evening in front of a roaring log fire watching not very much on the TV.

Yesterday we decided to go shopping . We had tracked several parcels we were expecting and they were all due to be delivered today. Friday .Guess what? Half of them were delivered while we were out. Luckily our neighbour took them in.
This morning I made 2 Christmas cakes. They are in the oven now and smell fabulous. DH went down the garden to cut down some dead branches. He came in an hour later all pale and wobbly. Overexerted himself. He was fine after a coffee and has eaten all his smoked salmon and scrambled egg lunch. I expect he will fall asleep on the sofa. The rest of today will be quiet.

The thermal pools were marvellous. I got in a good swim before a huge school party arrived and began bombing, squealing and thoroughly enjoying themselves.

I moved to the 40ºC pool for a soak and then we all (61 of us) went for lunch.

This was a BBQ with many salads and 6 kinds of meat with mountains of bread and butter. Non-alcoholic drinks and a large selection of fresh fruits.

I could hardly believe what some of the young men put on their plates and then, astonishingly, went back for 2nds and 3rds!
On the way back by hired bus, some of them were talking about going for fish and chips for tea. Not one of them was even chubby, let alone 'overweight'.

It was a fun, sunny day and I'd been awake since 3am, excited to go to one of my favourite places, not visited for over 10 years.

Everyone was very kind, making sure I didn't slip or fall; getting iced water and fruits and generally looking after me.
And this wonderful day was all completely free. I am so lucky.

When I got home, Sia was waiting and tidied the kitchen, cleaned the bathroom and changed my bed creatively as usual, this time putting the sheets on sideways <sigh> .

So a very happy day for me.

We stayed in all day. The rain in Spain was of biblical proportions! It’s eased off now. Sunshine forecast for the weekend.

I’ve read, posted on GN and watched some TV. Spoken to both our daughters on the phone. They both have nice weekend plans.

It will be good to go out somewhere tomorrow. I think my husband is getting cabin fever in our tiny apartment!

Your day sounds wonderful BradfordLass and the photo is amazing - those colours!

Today was a Red Letter Day for me!

I’ve been getting up and dressed every day this week, but today I followed The Wonderful Man’s instruction to stay in bed until 4pm. Then I got up and dressed and he drove me to Ikea where we met our son, daughter-in-law and one year old granddaughter for a meal! It was exhausting, but I’m so pleased to be up and about. Apparently I looked so tired after we arrived that TWM nearly drove me home again, but fortunately he relented and we ate, but didn’t hang around. I haven’t seen my granddaughter, except once very briefly, for three months, but she knew me straight away.

I came straight home to bed and was asleep in minutes, but then got a long phone call from my daughter, which woke me up. I’d had a couple of hours sleep so now I’m feeling really tired, but also wide awake. Ho hum.

BradfordLass your day sounds really special.

I've had a lovely day - went out with several members of my U3A Art Discussion group to see a small but interesting exhibition of some of the private work of the illustrator and inventor of mad gadgets, William Heath Robinson, at the Museum in Pinner Memorial Park. Coffee before, lunch afterwards, lots of chat, all very enjoyable.

Home late afternoon, dinner with husband and then we decided to catch up with a serial we'd recorded several weeks ago: "A Confession", starring Martin Freeman, which I know was very well received. We've done 3 episodes tonight and find ourselves totally wrapped up in this true story. We'll watch the final 3 episodes tomorrow, and are prepared to be emotionally wrecked!

I was up at 5.45, got ready (shower, hair, make-up etc), put some washing in the machine, more stuff on the clothes horse. Vacuumed through downstairs, went to work until 12.

Met my friend at a garden centre, had lunch there and a good old chat, then I did a bit of shopping.

Got home at 3.30, did some ironing, watched tv for an hour, then made a curry from scratch with fresh ingredients. Loaded the dishwasher, read the paper, made a couple of 'phone calls, emptied dishwasher, watched a film on Netflix, had a bath, got my pyjamas on, did a couple of things on the computer.

grannyactivist I'm glad you were able to have such a lovely day with your family, albeit an exhausting one.

It's just struck me, reading all these interesting days, we really do keep the world going don't we?

You in your small corner, and I in mine.

Yesterday I had another estate agent to value my bungalow - so far I have had £450k, £430k and £465k. As I need to raise money to pay for OH's care I am hoping they are about right; as the property I wish to buy is a small new-build semi and will generate some cash for me. But will also cause the tiny LA contribution to be wiped out. Swings and roundabouts.

Visited OH over lunchtime - he is still suffering from paranoia - worse at night and during the mornings. Very weak today and I had to help feed him.

Set off early from nursing home to fetch 2 GC from school. Traffic in town is chaos just now and what should have been a 20 minute journey took over an hour - had to ring school and warn them that I was going to be late.

Lovely time with GC - we always start with me reading to them and we have just got to the end of a Womble book. These are beautifully written. About to start The Princess and the Goblin.

Helped children make sweets - marshmallow on a stick, dipped in melted chocolate and then sprinkles - they love them!

Realised with a shock that it is 56 years since President Kennedy was shot!
56 years I can hardly believe it.

The rain didn't stop so after my busy morning at the community cafe, baking, serving teas and lunches and eating the same, I retreated home to continue doing family history on-line. Rather a lazy day.
Does anyone else feel like hibernating at this time of year?
Not you BradfordLass. I know for a fact that NZ is getting the Australian heatwave from today - though hopefully not the bush fires.
Oh Luckygirl I do feel for you with all your worries but it is great that you have the children to amuse .

Various domestic tasks including the dreaded finance filing. I am gradually getting on top of this because DH had got into a horrific muddle and given up well before I realised what was happening. Not helped by the numerous take overs of various financial institutions so that some policies are now on their fourth owner, as it were, which makes tracking down the past papers tricky. Job for next week will be locating the policy documents and filing them with the other papers so that in a crisis the “children” can find everything.

Trip to local hospice shop with five bags of clothes which have been lurking in the garage for weeks, so I now feel something was achieved today. The sad thing is all those clothes which I really never will be able to wear again. Shameful.

Made vegetable soup and will embark on sausage and mash for supper shortly.

So far today....

Up at 8am, showered, washed my hair, dressed. Fed the cat, and next-door's cat. Put a load of washing in, took rubbish out, made porridge.

Went to son's house (he's away for the weekend), scrubbed the bathroom tiles, vacuumed the bedrooms and stairs, also the lounge and kitchen. Wiped round in the kitchen, took rubbish out, cleaned the bin.

Went home, vacuumed the living room and kitchen, did a bit of ironing, made an omelette for lunch, washed up.
Watched a film on Netflix, spoke to my brother on the 'phone, did a couple of crosswords.

Time for dinner (pizza with sweet potato wedges) then going to a pub with my friend, to watch a group play.

Your day sounds both more productive and more fun than mine, Salsa Queen!

Well, after yesterday's outing I had a dreadful night and so finally slept until 2.30pm today when The Wonderful Man brought me a cup of tea to wake me up! I've spent the rest of the day (such as it is) catching up on GN and not doing my expense sheet that is now many months overdue.

BradfordLass - 56 years since President Kennedy was shot! I was ten and had became very fearful due to the Cold War (in therapy many years later I learned this was a distraction from my own difficult family situation). I used to try to imagine living to be really, really old, about 60, but I was convinced that there would be a nuclear war and we would all be wiped out. I really thought that Kennedy's death would trigger this.

I got up at 1.30 am because I was in discomfort with my latest UTI, only hours after completing my course of antibiotics. Went back to bed a couple of hours later when it eased a bit.
Finally fell asleep but was woken up 8-ish when OH kicked me hard in the back. Not for the first time, I was on the receiving end of something that he was reacting to in a dream!

After a bit of toast and tea for breakfast, I started sorting out our spare room ready for the two eldest DGC to sleep in tonight. For the last couple of months, it has doubled as my craft room and the baby dgc's bedroom when I mind her during the week, and it had become quite a tip.
After showering, I put some washing in tbe machine and mopped the kitchen floor.

Finally, I found some time to sit down and do a bit of cross stitch, which I have longed to do all week.
At 1pm, I put on radio 2 and listened to some of the hits from 1976. I really enjoyed it - I was in my mid teens then, and some of my favourite records were played, bringing back so many memories.

The DGC arrived at 3.30, and we let them stay up past their usual bedtime, watching Strictly. It is always pretty full on when they are here, so now things are quiet. I've got my feet up and am enjoying a glass of wine and a bag of crisps.

Grammaretto Sadly, no heatwave has crossed The Pond yet. Still only 21 degrees here.

GrannySomerset It's not shameful. I bless people like you who provide 99% of my clothing. Wouldn't want me to walk about nekkid as a jaybird would ya?

SalsaQueen If I send you my address, can you spare a couple of hours at my place?

grannyactivist It was a very scary time for teenagers, I felt much like you, especially after the 'near miss' Bay of Pigs. Dreadful.
Hope you have a better night

Cleaned the kitchen, a daily task. Sorted out the winter clothing to pack away until June when it begins to get a wee bit colder.

Looked and looked and looked for the lost/misplaced green scarf which is part of my uniform. Cannot imagine where it's got to.

Moved the couch, chairs, bed and even opened and re-packed the winter woolies in case it had inadvertently been tucked in with them. Nothing

Wrote to a friend in the UK with whom I shared a house (in Bournemouth) for a short time. We have once-a-year catch-up at Christmas and it's astonishing to think our little boys are now in their 40's and 50's.

Email from my dear daughter-in-law who was very happy with her birthday voucher for the French pâtisserie, Vaniyé.

Maybe she'll take me? {grin]

Luckygirl such a shame that you have to sell the bungalow that you moved into (last year?) but a smaller house and garden will be less work for you in the long run, as well as generating the money needed.A sad situation for you all round.

A getting on with some housework day today, tackling the large ironing pile, polishing, and then wrapping some birthday and Christmas presents that had arrived in the post.
DH is ‘under the weather’ so looked after him, and cooked a casserole which we had earlier.

Under the weather today. No reason for it. Took Snowycat for her nails clipping this afternoon. She was weighed. Nearly 2 stones. No point in dieting, she doesn’t eat too much it is her build she is just big and tall to boot. Vet, please stop trying to sell me tiny cans of food at two pounds each. She is 14. Leave her alone !
I wish I could take her somewhere else but they are nearest and my neighbour takes us.
I have listened to the radio and enjoyed some games here.
My roof is leaking
I will worry tomorrow when I have had a sleep.

This morning I decorated some brown paper to make recyclable Christmas giftwrap. I used a holly stamp I have had for ages. I used it to wrap presents for DGD and baby DGS. I made some soup from odds and ends I had in the fridge, mostly squash and lentils with some chili flakes.
Did battle with the church photocopier which doesn't like the cold damp atmosphere in the vestry. I had had a dehumidifier on for 24 hours but it was still playing up. I left it and did the shopping, went home for a cuppa then went back and it behaved so I was able to take the newsletter to the other two churches in our group.
This evening DH and I went to a play by our local drama group. Now I'm going to catch up with Strictly.

Have GD staying with me, she needed a new pair of winter boots but has size 6 feet. She is no longer able to wear children's shoes despite the fact that she is only 10 years old. I buy the GC's shoes but was somewhat shocked at the price.
Went to pick up a cushion off GD's bedroom floor and leaned on the bed, the whole lot collapsed. DH and I spent the evening dismantling the bed, it was very heavy as it is an electric one, we placed the basic frame on the floor and put the mattress on top and told her she now had a futon.
I am absolutely worn out and having a brandy to steady my nerves.