Wednesday 30 November 2011

Oh I Love a barain!!

We decided if the weather was ok that we would go over to Ormskirk today, and when we woke up it was nice and sunny so we did.
I decided to take back a pair of slippers that I had bought from bon Marche because the soles had come loose. browsing round the shop I spotted a really nice jumper reduced from £16 to £10 so i thought I would exchange the slippers for that. When I got to the till I was told I only had to pay £2 so I was well pleased. Then leaving the shop I spotted another really nice jumper also in...Purple...reduced from £18 to £10 so i tried it on and it fitted perfectly so I took that to the till The girl then said it is 40% off today if you buy two items. i said that I had got enough then she pointedout that if I bought their magazine for 45p reduced that my jumper would be 40% off. So i ended up paying £6 for my jumper.What a bargain..£8 for two lovely jumpers in my favourite colour too.
Vin did his bits of shopping and then we went to Morrisons for our coffee. their coffee is really good. proper yellow cups or mugs and decent biscuits and £2.75 the cheapest coffee around actually. Got some bits and pieces of shopping including chicken for the cats and made our way home. lots of kids around, the result of the strike I suppose, kids with Mums. Parenmts and Grandparents.. and a real touch of Christmas everywhere too. Morrisons even had Christmas trees outside..real ones too. A bit early i think for that.Might put ours up next week i think. I love the house decorated for Christmas.
Got home to find the post had been. i got a little envelope from Horlicks. This was a responnse to an email that I had received about a horlick website and I had sent them an email enquiring about their little blue scoops that they used to give away with their packs. i have had mine for years and it is just about giving up, I think the handle is about to give up the ghost any time now, so i was wondering if they had any spares. that was a few days ago, and lo and behold I got a letter with two replacement scoops in it today. made my day actually..that was so lovely.I do love my Horlicks, have a small mug every night to get to sleep with..the light one made with water..a girl does watch the calories you know. So, thankyou little Michelle from horlicks customer services for my new scoops. Must remember where I have put them now.
Tonight we are having:
Pasta bake with tomato and mascarpone sauce,
A bit of garlic bread and parmesan,
Some veggies to go with.

Tuesday 29 November 2011

What a Day!!

Good job we didn't go anywhere today. We had planned to stop in though, i had the ironing to do and Vin had a few bits and pieces to do so we did that this morning. he got the ladders out and painted the bathroom window, he said it was a bit blowy and looked like rain, then came in for his coffee a bit later and the Heavens opened. A real storm too it's now mid afternoon and as black as night with the wind blowing the trees outside. Quite a horrible night actually.Feel sorry for anyone out in it. one of the joys of being retired is that you don't have to go out in nasty weather if you don't want to.
When I had finished doing the pile of ironing I went upstairs to do the changeover on my debit card. Since my card was cloned I had to cut my old one up and I got another within a few days. that meant that I had to re-enter my number into the exsisting accounts that I use for card payments. Fortunately there are only a couple of main ones..QVC of course, and Amazon. the QVC site is so user friendly we did the entries in a matter of minutes, problably less than five. Amazon however, was very different. We entered all the details then couldn't find a submit or confirm button so assumed that it had gone through. No ! tried again and got the same result, went on to step two this time and still no submit button to click on to. Lunchtime by now so gave up in a bit of frustration. Vin said he would have a go on his little netbook, which is a smashing little machine I do have to say, Typed in all the same details then he discovered that you have to click the EDIT button when you have done that, then Hey presto it completes the procedure. Why don't they just put a line underneath where the details go telling you to click the edit button when you have entered them? Vin is really good on computers and even he took a bit to work it out.I have just checked it now and it is right. well done Vin.
Sent off the Secret Santa bauble swap this morning too. i have had mine for a few days now so thought i should get mine off. It was supposed to go to a lady in South Africa, but she is coming to the UK for Christmas, so have sent it to the relatives address, which has saved a bit of money too. Some of the overseas ones can be a terrible postage price these days.
Tonight we are having:
Not a clue!! One of those days when we look in the freezer and then decide.
Maybe a pie with gravy
Small potatoes and mixed veggies. I'll see what Vin fancies tonight. Sometimes you just run out of ideas.

Monday 28 November 2011

The Signs...

of Christmas are appearing. Slowly but surely. There is a big Christmas tree in the entrance of Waitrose now..one of those tacky plastic ones covered in fake snow with red baubles attached. looks horrible actually. I lke tasteful Christmas things, our house has decorations all over the place but they have been collected over the years before the Chinese tat started appearing in the shops. We seem to have been flooded with Chinese stuff in recent years, no wonder the bentley's are flying out of the showrooms in China, there must be an awful lot of money going into their factories there.
Just listening to the radio as I do this and they were discussing "Strictly" vs X Factor and apparently "Strictly" is doing better than X at the moment. Doesn't surprise me at all, the X factor this year is dire..terrible judges and even more terrible contestants. i was really sorry that Anita Dobson left on Sunday, i really liked her enthusiasm and obvious enjoyment. I suspect that Harry Judd is going to win it, but would like to see Jason Donovan there at the end as well. Don't think I'll vote any more after Anita, not really bothered about the rest.
Went to Waitrose this morning for our veggies. I do like that shop, but you do need a deep pocket to go there really,their products are far more expensive that the other stores. Good quality though. I tend to get a number of different veggies then mix and match them for our evening meals. Got a couple of nice bunches of asparagus today so that will go with a pasta dish later in the week. They were on offer so not too bad. Home for coffee at midday so got round there very quickly.
Vin has been doing the fire and then off recycling which he does most days. Most off it is plastic packaging, tins or papers and magazines . I wonder what we did before the advent of recycling bins? our bins must have been full to overflowing. Luckily the recycling bins are over the road by the station so handy for him, bless his heart.


Vin made a fantastic pizza last night. he used pesto instead of tomato as the base then mostly mushroom courgette and yellow pepper for him. We have half on a Sunday night between us and the rest on a Monday for our lunch. very tasty this one was too. Well done Vin..I taught you so well!!
Tonight we are having:
Escalope or a Kievv
Baby baked potatoes 8 oz between us
Chanterelle carrots and fine green beans,
Mushroom sauce.

Sunday 27 November 2011

Another Weekend...

I notice that the new neighbours next door have their Christmas tree up in theiur Conservatory. Bit early for me I think, maybe start thinking about it in early december. Funny thing is that it is a tree with blue lights all over, and jan next door, the lady who had to move from that house used to hang blue twinkly lights up in the window of the conservatory as well.
Not a lot happening this weekend,Vin wentt to his usual haunts yesterday and today, and said they were fairly busybut the parking was ok. i was trying to get a bit of a letter going to John and Ann to go with their Christmas post parcel.
We did our crosswords this afternoon quite quickly today and for a change there weren't any difficult ones that are hard to find.
Last night we were going to have:
Thai curry with stirfry vegetables and rice, but we forgot to take the coconut milk out of the freezer so in the end we had:
Chinese diuppers
plum and ginger sauce
stir fry vegetables and 1/2 a paxck of fried rice.

Tonight we are having:
Pizza with pesto for a change, mushroom, pineapple and courgette
Egg and potato salad
potato salad for moi and sweet chilli noodle salad for Vin

Friday 25 November 2011

What Day is It?

Woke up this morning convinced that it was Saturday. Might have something to do with the fact that Rusty was jumping up and down on the bed and on my hip at about five thirty!! I don't know what she expects me to do because we don't move till much..much..later. Got up to go to the bathroom at around six thirty and fell over a chair coming back into the bedroom. Well it was pitch black! Didn't seem to wake Vin up though. He got up later made coffee and came back to bed. Didn't have much of a chat this morning either because i was still dozy..no change there then!
We had planned to go over to the Aintree Sainsburys this morning,and I was quite surprised how blowy it was this morning. Still very Autumnal though, with a few showers and sunny patches. The ditches in the fields were quite full this morning too, it must have been raining quite heavily overnight.
Did our usual shopping and got a few extra things for the storecupboard,had to use another debit card because I am still waiting for a replacement. However...when we got home it was on the doormat in the post. That's quick work from the NatWest. I can use the same PIN number so no problems. The only thing that I will have to do is change the numjbers on a couple of my accounts where I use it. I'll do that tomorrow when I have a bit more time and can concentrate.
As usual we took our coffee with us and had it in the really quiet part of their carpark. Very pleasant sitting there in the sunshine with a good cup of coffee and a shortbread. Beats teaching anyway!!
jane has just rung up on her way to work. She could talk for England that one! but I love her chatter. She says she has a sore ear at the moment so is dosed up on ibuprofen, hope she takes care of it. She said it was a miserable night and raining now as well. She's having trouble with a Physics teacher at the college she is at, who isn't teaching them properly. Won't answer their questions because she doesn't know the answers, so they have a little Physics group that go to the library and teach themselves. I hope she gets there in the end though.

Tonight we are having:
Pasties from Waitrose..Vins favourite
Rice pudding from Waitrose as a treat.

Thursday 24 November 2011

Quick trip...

We had to make a quick trip out somewhere to get the cats some chicken or they would have lined up in the kitchen as they do every day at around half past one and they would have been chickieless!! that woulodn't do would it.
So, it was one way or the other, could have been Crosby or Formby, both are around the same distance and time to get there. Vin decided Tesco would do, but I think that had more to do with the fact that Waitrose is about five minutes from there and we could go in and get his favourite pasties for tea tomorrow night!! So that is where we ended up.
From there we went along the bypass to the garden Centre at Ince so we could get our free coffees for the month. had a good look round, they have an excellent gift shop, one of the best in the area actually, and I wanted to get Bauble for my Santa bauble swap. mine arrived yesterday, so I need to get a move on I think. Very hard to choose from their selection, I had a look round Dobbies last week, but theirs were really tacky, however, the ones over the way are really nice. It must take the poor assistants absolutely for ever to put them all out and take them down again..What a job..don't envy them that. I ended up with a really cute little robin in pottery, flat with a painted face, and a very pretty lady fairy with a material skirt and a belt if you can call it that of red beads. Couldn't make up my mind so got them both.
All we need to do now is pack them and address them, should go in a jiffy bag nicely.
Went for our free coffees then and the restraunt was absolutely heaving, people everywhere scoffing lunches..it must make a fortune that place. Found a table which was quite noisy, then i spotted one over by the window which was being cleared so we moved there. much better for the noise point of view, and at least we could have a concersation. Home for lunch and l;ittle cats waiting for their chicken!
Gosh the nights are drawing in as i type this it is 4.15 and it is all but pitch black out there.

This is jane and her Dad, Jane needs a hair cut here. She rang up yesterday and wanted her Dad to solve a Physics calculation for her, so he got some paper and pen and was kneeling on the floor working it out. Maths is all Greek to me, i feel quite happy if I can work out the numbers on Countdown!! Vin is very good at Maths though for a seconday Modern school kid he's good at most things! Wasted talent there if you ask me!!
Tonight we are having:
Toad in the hole with quorn sausages
butternut squash and sweet potato
gravy.

Wednesday 23 November 2011

Funeral of a Neighbour...

Today we went to the local church ( C of E ) to the funeral of ur neighbour Mrs lambert.
Vin dug his dark suit out and I ironed his good white shirt, and very smart he looked too. he said he couldn't remember when he last wore a suit!
The funeral was at half past two which i thought was a bit late, but apparently it was something to do with the Vicar and the times she could offer. Very jolly woman but I couldn't hear a word she was saying. She had a microphone on but the sound was terrible for me anyway. I must check if these aids have a hearing loop. Heard the organ though that was loud enough. There was a little old man hunched over the keyboard and I thought he had gone to sleep till he woke up and started playing to the hymn.
There weren't any extra readings, i thought someone would have spoken about her, but the vicar just gave a resume about her life. She was born in france which i didn't know, quite exotic. i will remember her for her love of cats and her garden which was a lovely cottagey garden at the front. It's a good age 99 isn't it and a long time in the village. there were a lot of locals there, of the "old" village,in fact someone came up to me afterwards and started talking and I hadn't a clue who they were!!! I think I know, but not certain, and she didn't give me any clues either. Mystery!
The other thing that happened today was that I had a phone call from my bank the NatWest to ring them back about my debit card. Apparently there had been a transaction made in japan TODAY for an amount of £500 in local currency!! So their first question after they had gone through all the security measures was to ask me if I was in japan! Then she asked me about recent transactions that I had made Like ASDA and Sainsburys and the one I made yesterday for £47 to the dentist. So clearly my card has been cloned..and I have had to cut up my present card and wait for a new one. What a pain!! The only trouble is that I have no idea where it was done. most of my shopping is in supermarkets, a few shops on the high street that I use and Internet ones like Amazon and the Book People and QVC. Vin has looked it up on the Internet and apparently petrol stations are a common one. We use one in Formby which isn't a main chain..it is a BP one but an independent one. Wonder if it was there? I am always careful how I type in my pin number and cover up my hand,so we will be extra careful in petrol stations in future.
Tonight we are having:
pasta with a pea green bean and asparagus sauce.
A bit of garlic bread
A bit of grated parmesan
A few mixed veg to go with.

Tuesday 22 November 2011

Numb Gumb....

Biggest thing today was tghe dentist this morning, so we couldn't go anywhere today really. The dentist is two doors down from our house and whatever I do it's still always a rush to get there on time! Odd that, when I go to appointments at the hospital we are always really early, but going to the dentist I'm in a rush!! Filling at the back so a numb gum, lip and tongue, that is only just wearing off as I type this at a quarter past four, and it was done at twelve twenty.
Vin went to the garden centre while i was in there, he wanted to get some small plants to fill up some pots that are empty and he came back with some pretty little violas. It's gone really dark now at half past four, so he came in a while back. Jane rang up from Manchester, she has been in college all morning and was just going to do a shift at Ticketmaster till ten O'clock. it's an awful long day for her, she's a real grafter is jane. Taken a while to get where she wants to get to but I think she'll get there this time. She is having a problem with the physics teacher, who she says isn't teaching them. So, they have a little physics club and they go into the library and work things out amongst themselves. Seems a shame when someone is getting paid to tutor them.
Got my weekly copy of Best magazine this morning and it is a double Christmas issue!!!! seems a tad early to me..and the television magazine that we get had two pages of up and coming Christmas things too. Apparently there is a new Poitot which we really enjoy, A Christmas special of Downton Abbey..Hooray!! a BBC new adaptation of Great Expectations which I'm sure will be good. So looking a bit better this year.
It does all appear to be starting earlier and earlier each year though, there were things in the shops well before Halloween. The Christmas tree is on the village green and the lights on it, but it isn't lit yet, they generally do that about the first week of December. Plenty early enough.
Tonight we are having:
Minced beef style pie
Mushroom gravy
Potato croquettes
Mixed vegetables.

Monday 21 November 2011

Season of Mists...Etc..

!Quite misty today, a real Novemberish day. the sort of day that you remember when you were a kid after firework night and the smell of smoke was in the air. You don't really get that these days though, the mist is a sort of clear mist.
We went to crosby this morning to Sainsburys to get our weekly stuff, and the road through Little Crosby was quite misty..not fog though, it all looked very pleasant on the field.
Got our usual selection of veggies for the rest of the week, hurried round there since we hav half an hour free parking then you have to pay.Vin went off to get a few things he wanted so I had free rein..not that there is a huge amount to choose from, it isn't exactly a big store.
Jane has just rung up from the middle of Manchester, she was on her way to work, and about to go into Boots to get a meal deal for her lunch/dinner. She says you get a sandwich, a drink and a bag of crisps for £3 which isn't bad actually, and she gets a veggie wrap with beans and cheese in it instead of a sandwich. One of the troubles with being Vegetarian is that there isn't a big choice of sandwich selections, unless you like egg and cress or the cheese ploughmans you don't have a lot of choice. It was nice having a chat with her, she has her exams next week so is revising for those.She seems to be ok for this year touch wood! and at least there is light at the end of the tunnel for her.
As I type this the cats are both in the room with me. Doesn't matter what noise there is, I have the radio on or the small television sometimes and they just get settled and curled up and stay there. What a life. Bobby is on the bed all curled up in the middle and Rusty is curled up in her basket in front of the window................. Very calming and peaceful. In fact when the telephone went it made me jump!!

Didn't bother the cats though!
Tonight we are having:
Escalope with broccoli and cheese,
Mixed vegetables with a mushroom sauce
Small baby potatoes baked ans squashed.

Sunday 20 November 2011

Weekend Witterings...

Very quiet weekend this Saturday and Sunday. We both did the crosswords fairly quickly this afternoon so it left me a bit more time than usual to get this done. i usually have a mad scramble to get it done before we go and get the Pizza done. So it's nice not to have to hurry. Not that I can think of much to say today relly.
Everywhere seems to be quiet at the moment too, very little news on the television or in the papers for that matter, there seems to be a lot of fillers in the papers this weekend, nothing to get yur teeth into.
Yesterday Vin went over to Maghull and he said there was plenty of parking for a change, maybe people are doing their Christmas shopping early. Not having a family to speak of we don't really have to do any shopping as such, it must be terrible for some people these days especially those who are strapped for cash. Thus us such a material world too, it is hard to cope without money, and people spend so much at this time of year. I notice the CD adverts beginning to appear on the television , and then of coursse there are the furniture adverts..buy now for delivery at Christmas rubbish..and "Hurry sale must end Monday"..
Watched strictly last night..and voted for the first time for Anita Dobson. I like her and felt really sorry last week when she was in the last two. Beginning to be tired of Russell grant and his antics, time he went I think.
The cats have been in mostly this weekend, haven't been out much at all.Bobby id upstairs on the bed in Janes room, she is in a basket which is much too small for her, and is spilling out of it, but she looks so comfortable. Must take a photo of her.
Last night we had:
Chinese Dippers Quorn, with a Plum and ginger sauce
1/2 a packet of fried rice
Stir fried vegetables.

This is our pizza, one of Vin's works of art...
Tonight we are having:
Pizza with our tomato sauce Portobello mushrooms pineapple red pepper for Vin and courgette for moi.
Egg and potato salad with baby yellow tomatoes avocado
Rice salad for Vin and potato saladf for moi.

Friday 18 November 2011

Gutted!

No not really, well not yet anyway. Vin heard some banging outside this morning quite early so got up to look. it was the man who had come to fix next doors gutter, well replace it actually, so he went down to have a word.He said that once he had done one he would have more of an idea of the lengths of guttering he woulod need, so would give us an estimate then. (He rang later at lunchtime to say he would put an estimate through the door)More house improvement on the way.
We went off to ASDA this morning, haven't been there for a few weeks, and they are good for topping up. I am always surprised when we come out of there how little the bill is compared to some of the others. Got loads of stuff as well, including a big bunch of flowers for £4 with %50 free, I really like ASDA, but it's just that bit too far away to go more often. Don't like their coffee shop though, horrible little plastic beakers, so we usually end up taking our own . real tightwads we are!! Not that much Christmas stuff out yet however, but I did get some nice wrapping paper, because we shall have to send John and Ann's parcel off soon.

I would love a house overlooking water, as long as there was no danger of flooding!! and a house with a wrap around porch so you could have a rocking chair on it..Lovely..
Children in Need day today, and this afternoon as I am doing this on the computer, they are playing some excellent music. just played Peggy lee's "!Every time you say Goodbye"..beautiful.
Tonight we are having:
Fishless fingers
Mushy peas for Vin and green beans for moi,
Chips..treat for the week..200grms between us,
tartare sauce.

Thursday 17 November 2011

Little Mooch...

We went over to the M&S store in Aintree this morning for a little look round. it is quite a big store on the industrial estate by Aintree racecourse. parked very easily today not far from the entrance. I had a look round while Vin walked down to the tile store and the pet store. he is looking for some new cat baskets but they were a bit dear there he said.
i wandered round the clothes..nothing caught my eye, and the gifts and cards etc and nothing caught my eye there either. I was actually looking for a nice bauble for a bauble swap, but I thought the ones they had in Marks were very tacky, and nothing at all that I would want to send to anyone. I did see some nice cards though, and they were on a three for two offer which was good, so bought 2 boxes of cards and a magnifying glass with a light that was in effect free.
Had a nice coffee upstairs, Vin had a medium and I had a small which was still large. There was a woman sitting at a table with sofas just opposite us and we both couldn't help but smile. It was a real "Does my bum look big in this" moment, except it wasn't trousers it was her top. it was a sort of beige and very very clingy, and she was a biggish woman. if she could have seen herself from the back she would have died, it was a real muffin top garment. Now I'm not small but no way would I have worn that top.Aaaah!
Went round the food then, but had to get a move on as it was getting near to One O'Clock.. Got a few things to store foor Christmas, We have a box upstairs that we put nice things in, sort of treats for Christmas. Building up quite nicely now.We have stuff like nice cheese biscuits, Christmas coffee , decent shortbread biscuits jars of good cranberry sauce, chutneys etc. most of it will still be there at Easter!!!
Very quiet party next door last night. Didn't hear anything and didn't disturb us at all. great big poster on their window..Happy 50th Birthday Tommy. Vin would go beserk if I did that!
Home to little Rusty waiting at the door..for her chicken probably, and Vin's other two premium bonds. he won 4 X £25 ones this month which was quite good.

Still some Autumn about so here's another picture from the new new england photos.

Tonight we are having:
Cheesey kiev
Small potatoes sliced and sauteed
mixed vegetables.

Wednesday 16 November 2011

Bits and Pieces...

We stayed in today, mainly because there was supposed to be a man coming to see about an estimate for doing the guttering at the front of the house. Up to now he hasn't been yet. Typical. Time yet though, but it is going dark already.He should be doing next doors and ours and an estimate for the next two houses along, so effectively doing the row of the terrace. nice little job for someone that actually.
Vin went out to Formby mainly to get the cat's chicken from tesco, but also to get some fire cement. i stayed in to do the ironing which has been in a pile looking at me since Sunday. I spent the morning doing that and was just about finishing when he came back. He had also gone to the Post office there to get my parcel which could not be delivered yesterday because we were out. It was the Downton Abbey DVD series two which I am going to send to John and Ann for their Christmas present. While i was in the Susan Boyle CD also arrived of her latest CD, so am sending that also. I have heard some of the songs on the radio, and she is truly blessed with a wonderful voice. her version of Lilac Wine is gorgeous.
Vin arrived back in time for coffee..typical.. and then he did the fire cement, mending a hole which apparently will help the fire to draw better. He said it is a company that has been going since 1893 !!fancy that, all that time making fire cement!!It is sold in plastic tubs now, I bet it came in lovely tin boxes years ago.
This afternoon we have done our own things, he has done his finances etc and I have fiddled about up here.

This is off some of the later New England photos that I haven't put on here yet.Some gorgeous scenery.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzgpeLFf4z4&sns=fb
This is a video that Jane sent to me via email. It is just the most lovely cat and kitten video you have ever seen.

Tonight we are having:
Pasta bake with tomato and basil sauce
A bit of garlic bread
A small pack of mixed vegetables to go with.

Tuesday 15 November 2011

The embers are Glowing..

Oh yes last night, one beautiful fire with glowing coals heating up all the radiators. Yes the brush did come out of the top of the chimney, Vin had to dash out to see if it was there. He said he was quite surprised that there was as much soot as there was. It is a different colour to the old coal soot and bearing in mind that we burn smokeless fuel, we weren't expecting much really, but there was.
Mrs Lambert's funeral next Wednesday in the local church, we shall have to go to that and pay our respects to a really nice lady.
Next door neighbours are partying tomorrow night. He is 50 so they are having a do, and asked us to go. vin explained that we are not really party animals and declined gracefully. Well it's true, we don't "Do" parties, I used to hate social things at school, it's so difficult when you are deaf, you can't hear anything in the way of conversation, plus we don't know their friends and relatives. Nice of them to ask though.
We went out to Formby this morning to get our veggies for the week at Waitrose. Vin wanted to go to the TSB bank so that fitted in fine. He went there and I started round Waitrose. Oooh let loose on my own in Waitrose...What a treat.HaHa... He soon caught up with me though, just in case I forgot anything. The only thing we didn't get was the cat's chicken which would have been too expensive from there anyway. Waitrose was quite quiet actually although the car park was busy. They don't charge for going in there so it tends to fill up with people going to the village rather than the store. Beginning to get the Christmas stuff in now, and the decorations are out. very tasteful snowflakes on the windows.

I do love pumpkins!! and they seem to have disappeared now. Wonder what happens to them all?

Tonight we are having:
Escalope with baby baked potatoes
Carrots and green beans
Mushroom sauce or bread sauce not sure which.

Monday 14 November 2011

Sooty and ?????

Sweep of course. We had the chimney sweep this morning, well afternoon really at 2 O'Clock, and he came on time too. We had recommended him to someone we know down the road, so decided we'd get him as well. Cleared everything out of the way, and covered the furniture with dust covers and plastic sheets, but there was no dust at all. There was soot, and in actual fact it is four yearssince we last had the chimney swept which is a bit naughty really, you should get them every year apparently. Actually you would hardly know he had been, apart from a smell of soot in the house, but that will go off with a Yankee candle or two. £40 for 1/2 hours work..not bad.
we did the floors this morning, bound to rain now and the cats will come in with little paw prints, is what usually happens. They stayed out of the way when the sweep was here, normally they come and have a nosey to see what is going on, but they are fast asleep on the bed at the moment. What a life!
Quick sandwich for lunch, instead of our leftover pizza, so we'll have that tonight.
Beginning to go dark quite early these days, it's 4.15 as I type this and it is going dark now the lights are on everywhere.
Autumn is fast going, but it is a very mild November though.


A little Autumn picture to keep us going..
Tonight we are having:
leftover pizza with
Egg and potato salad, avocado and baby plum tomatoes
Potato salad for moi and sweet noodle salad for Vin and a Nutty rice salad for us both.

Sunday 13 November 2011

Rememberance Weekend...

Poppy day today with the ceremonies in london. Always quite emotional to watch, and it seems to get more popular if that is the right word every year.
Saturday brought some sad news. mrs lambert who lived in the road about four doors down from us had died at two O'clock early on Saturday morning. She was 99 years old, which is such a good age, and she lived in her house until the last few months really. A couple of months ago she went into hospital because she wasn't well, and then was transferred to a nursing home where she was for a very short while until her death. She was a lovely woman, and i can remember herfor ever, doing her garden and chatting with anyone who went by. her husband was a sea captain, and he died a long time ago. End of an era..R.I.P. Mrs Lambert.
Didn't do much over the weekend actually. Vin did the cold water tank in the loft today, and went to Formby to get our salads etc., because the chimney sweep is coming tomorrow.
Last night we had:
tacos, and very tasty they were too. Quorn mince to make a chilli, and then the toppings...
Salsa, soured cream, lettuce, and grated cheese. All in the taco trays.

Tonight we are having:
pizza with our tomato sauce, portobello mushrooms,pineapple and emmenthal cheese
potato and egg salad
potato salad for moi and sweet chilli noodle salad for vin

Friday 11 November 2011

What an Odd Day...

Started ok, blustery and grey but not too bad. Vin rang up a credit card before we went out to see why his card had expired and he hadn't received a new one. He said the bloke on the end of the line, went into a spiel about extra financial services that Vin could get as a valued customer. Then he had a look at the account and found that it had been closed because it hadn't been used!!!Hang on..if he is such a valued customer why did they close the account? He thought that was very funny...
We went over to Aintree way this morning to the Sainsburys. Vin wanted to go to the Wickes store to get the tank cover for the loft. because the insulation means that it will be colder up there, he wanted to get a tank cover to keep the new cold water tank warm. So we went there first,I sat in the car and listened to the radio whiloe he went and got that. He must have found it quickly because he came out sharpish.
We then went to sainsburys to get our weekend things. Odd when we came out because it was really really dark and black, you would have said that we were in for a snowstorm or blizzard, it was like five at night. But...nothing happened and it went a bit brighter. We went over to the back of their car park and had our coffee...very nice too. Home for lunch and the cats waiting for their chicken.
So all in all it has been an odd day, and quite cold too
Tonight we are having:
Cheese and onion pasties from waitrose,
And
Rice Puddings from Waitrose.
Better than a take-away.

Thursday 10 November 2011

Ear Ear...

Since I had an earlyish appointment at the hearing aid centre this morning we got up fairly early.We were in Southport for a quarter past ten, my appointment was for half past, so arked in Sainsburys car park. I wanted a couple of things from there anyway, so in effect you get free parking.Went in quite quickly, and Steve took my hearing aids for checking. He carries on talking to Vin about what is going on on the screen, and I am left in my silent little world wondering what they are talking about. So they were both checked, and he tweaked them slightly to compensate for the noise when for example there is clapping from an audience. i have found this quite difficult when for wexample we are watching "Strictly" Glad Lulu has gone, I'm not a Lulu fan at all and her partner brendan Cole is so full of himself. Not sure who I want to win..I think Anita Dobson is doing very well..good for her. Sorry Anton Du Beck went out, maybe one day he will get a decent partner..
Called in at the Sainsburys, outside it was like the revenge of the wheelchair scooters..four of them all in a row! Then went from there to Dobbies to get our coffees and do a bit of browsing. i wanted a really nice Christmas Bauble, but didn't see anything at all. The decorations are so TAQCKY..allmade in China and it shows!Nothing that I would want to send for a Santa bauble swap. I shall have a look at the one over the road and see what they have their things tend to be better. I wish we had been to America, their things are beautiful, a lot of hand made things and really pretty and unusual. i have some lovely decorations from there.
Vin bought two lovely Yankee Christmas candles one white and the other a beautiful deep red colour. He got those at %20 pff so a good saving. i didn't get much today just a few biscuits and a fruit for cheese which Vin likes.
Back in time for lunch and meithering cats looking for their chicken!

Another Autumn picture because I like em!

Tonight we are having:Cheesey Kievs
Sliced and sauteed potatoes
Mixed green medley of vegetables
Maybe a bit of sauce to go with.

Wednesday 9 November 2011

Bits And Bobs..

A bit of everything today. We had to stay in because we were having a delivery of smokeless fuel today sometime. We didn't know when and in the event it came at about three O'Clock. 5 Bags at £90. We shall have to see how long that lasts, but Vin says that it has filled the coal bunker anyway.
He had planned to do further work in the loft, and he did the weedworm treatment, and got the two enormous rolls of top up insulation up there. In between that just before lunch he put the touch up colouring on my hair on the roots, where itis beginning to go grey. i am now a lovely dark brown all over my hair again! Isn't he a talented boy..is there no end to his talents..
I just did mundane things, cleaned the cooker, and did the brasses at the front of the house which have been neglected and needed a good polish. I have a brass keyhole fob, and letter box and a brass name plate for the house, and when they are all done they look really smart. it's one of those things, you come in with shopping and think.."I must do the brasses" then you shut the door behind you and don't do them, not until you get ashamed of looking at them.
Gorgeous bath this afternoon with my book, and all the candles on and Crabtree and Evelyn Patchouli bath foam which smells fantastic, but I don't think they make it any more..Deep Sigh!!
So we are all smart. Hair is done, all bathed and the house is presentable with a spanking renovated loft..
Tonight we are having:
Pasta with a spinach and ricotta sauce,
Vegetables and a few sautted mushrooms,
A bit of garlic bread and a bit of grated parmesan.

Tuesday 8 November 2011

"Deja Vu"

Well, a misty morning and damp out with a real feel of Autumn..season of Mists and Mellow Fruitfulness...
I wanted to go to a Bon Marche shop today because they were offering %30 off everything and I had seen some nice long sleeved nightdresses..like a shirt in a blue tartan warm for the winter. Spotted them last week in Ormskirk but didn't want to go that far, so went to the one in Maghull instead. it's only a quarter of an hour away, so went mid morning. Got my nightshirt, and a pair of slippers. Vin got a few things in Home and Bargain and we came home. When I got home I found that I hadn't got my %30 off !!!! What a pain! Vin of course finds it very amusing and will no doubt remind me of it for months to come.. kept looking at me through lunch and smirking..
Anyway since we wanted to stay in tomorrow he offered to run me back to maghull this afternoon to get my money back, well it was worth eight pounds saving!So can't complain. That is where the Deja Vu comes in..the return journey. Quite misty and manky too this afternoon, trees very Autumnal colours, a real misty and going dark very quickly afternoon. Got my refund, was apologised to very profusely, twice, and came home again. Cats still asleep where we left them! What a life.


A nice Autumn picture..I like Autumn pictures. Another from New England.
Tonight we are having:
Moussaka made with assorted vegetables..Quorn mince in the middle, and a lovely cheese sauce on the top.

Monday 7 November 2011

A Touch Of...

Something in the air today. definitely colder, and Vin had the heater on in the car today as well, for the first time in ages. he rang the chimney sweep this morning and they are coming next monday at 2 O'Clock. At the moment he is lighting a small fire which is the first one of the Autumn/Winter. first of many I suspect. Up till now we have exsisted on small electric heaters, but the fire is nice and does make a difference because it heats the radiators that we have.We use smokeless fuel these days since we had quite a bad chimney fire a few years ago, so Vin reckons there shouldn't be much soot. He has ordered some more coal this morning too so we will be set for the Winter. The cats love the fire anyway.
We went off to Waitrose this morning to get our weekly things,mostly a selection of veggies and a few other things that we had run out of. Didn't go to Crosby because there are roadworks on the road that we use, so we wanted to avoid those.Makes a change to go the other way anyway. Big new garage opened up in Formby on the main road. That's unusual these days, with so many closing down. This one is a Texaco and has quite a big Spar shop with a Greggs and a Costa shop as well. Maybe try it next time we buy petrol.
Meant to put in yesterdays entry that Vin found a bigt rocket in the garden yesterday, must have come from the Hotel's firework display. just shows how far they travel. Seems like the firework display from Taunton Rugby Club is somewhat responsible for the huge crash on the motorway at the weekend. Lot's of investigations going on and some sad stories coming from the names of the people who were killed. I suppose they are looking for the cfauses now.
Tonight we are having:
Escalope since the freezer is full of things that need eating up!
Small potatoes sliced and sauteed,
Carrots and green beans
mushroom sauce.

Sunday 6 November 2011

Bonfire Night..

Last night it was Bonfire night. We were a bit concerned about the cats, but in the end they were fine. the Hotel over the road has a firework night every year, and it is a big one with some extremely big rockets etc which little Rusty hates. Generally it goes on for about three quarters of an hour but it didn't seem so long this year. The two of them were in the middle room fast asleep so we left the television on while we had our tea, and they didn't move at all. In the past poor little Rusty has hid under the table in the corner out of the way, but fine this year thank goodness.
Otherwise quite a quiet weekend.Extremely bad crash on a motorway near taunton, seven people killed and many injured, motorway still closed. They are looking into the possibility that a bonfire and firework display near to the motorway may have caused distraction and smoke, but I should thin k there will be an inquiry.
Today again quite quiet with nothing out of the ordinary happening. Did our crosswords this afternoon which were trickyish, but we got them done in the end, a bit late, so this will be fairly short.
last night we had:
Chinese sweet and sour sauce with Quorn dippers,
1/2 a packet of fried rice
Stir fry vegetables.

Tonight we are having:
Pizza with our beautiful home made tomato sauce,
Portobello mushrooms pineapple courgette and pepper
potato and egg salad
Potato salad for moi and a noodle salad for Vin

Friday 4 November 2011

Busy morning!

One way or another it turned out to be a busy morning. We set off for Ormskirk sort of mid-morning.Nice sunny day and no traffic along the country roads. Pleasant drive in there. I wanted to park in the car park outside M&S which is in the centre of the town so it would save time, but...we went round and round the park and no joy, so gave up and decided to make our way to the Morrisons car park instead. That was as bad..goodness jknows what was going on today. eventually we got parked, and set off for the town. Called in at the bank to pay some money in for jane to help her out a bit. That is it for spending this month now..need to catch up a bit. Holland and Barratt next which was also busy, but they had three packets iof fishless fingers left so got those before they sold out! Split up then. i wanted to go to Superdrug and Bon Marche and Vin wanted to go to Waterstones. He spent two book vouchers that have been around for ages on a book about Windows7, so he was pleased with that. I got slippers reduced to £6 , I seem to be going through an awful lot of them at the moment, treading the backs down, and they don't last.Got some stuff at Superdrug then we met up again and went to M&S. Big disappointment..no egg salads or potato salads either. At least they did have, but they were on their sell by date. What is it with that shop? Hopeless for salad stuff. Did buy some christmas things though, an offer three for two. Christmas ground coffee a cranberry and port sauce and a spiced damson chutney.
Ended up in Morrisons for our coffee. i was wilting a bit by then, combination of blood pressure drugs and insulin I think. Vin was feeding me glucose tablets. he says he knows when the blood sugar is low because I go "Vacant"...Cheek!!!
Coffee perked me up together with a nice shortbread biscuit, so we then went round the store. Heaving busy today..just what is going on? Got everything on the list, but had to hurry round a bit because the car park time was running out, and the couple in the queue before us were so sloooow..always the way isn't it.
Vin offered to go and get some egg salads from Formby on the way back, so we went back via there. Parked in Waitrose..right outside, and he was FOUR minutes, from parking to getting back to the car. Single minded he is.
Home for a late lunch, and I don't think the cats had moved, they were still in the places we left them! lovely life.

Just an Autumn picture from New England to cheer the blog up. I wonder if their snow has gone by now?

Tonight we are having:
Fishless fingers
Chips..200 grms between us
Mushy peas for Vin and green beans for noi
tartare sauce and a baked tomato.

Thursday 3 November 2011

Tales of the Unexpected! The Banking crisis...

Our own banking crisis that is! We have our own money, Vin has his money and I have mine. that is the way we have always done it, and it works very well. However..we do have a Household Account with the Nat west that we both contribute to each month equally. With our lunchtime post, which arrived at around a quarter past one!! we got a statement about this account, and I repeat I got a grotty letter to say that we had exceeded the agreed overdraft amount so would be charged £6 a day unless we put it right!! So off we went hot foot to Formby again to the bank where i drew out £250 from my account to pay in. At least we are now fine, and there will not be any more trouble with losing £6 a day!
A few things about this...
1. If we had got our morning post at breakfast time instead of lunchtime we would have saved petrol since we had just come back from Formby!!
2 We need to set up Online banking for this account so we know where we are with it.
3. We need to watch the bills, they are all creeping up, and therefore so is the amount going out.
4 We probably need to increase the amount of money that we put into this account each month.
So a bit of a wake up call all in all.
We had been out and about today doing bits and pieces. Vin wanted to return a roll of insulation material to Homebase and look for some woodworm fluid. So he did that, but their woodworm fluid was £18 a tin..look for that somewhere else. i wanted a couple of things from tesco which is opposite Homebase, so we went in there. Only wanted a couple of Quorn things and ended up spending £36 !! Hate tesco's and never go in there but they do have a couple of things that none of the other stores sell.
Then we came bck along the By Pass to Ince Blundell to the garden centre. The other day we had bought some lovely "letters" an A and J for John and Ann and a J and V for us. Unfortunately the J that I bought for the Australia parcel doesn't stand up ! typical..so we took them back for a refund and replacement. big snag..there weren't any more J's. Typiccal!! Why is it always me?So got our refund and came home for coffee. Then the banking letters came, so we had to make a quick dash back to Formby. Did kill two birds with one stone though because we parked right outside the bank...VERY unusual but it was lunchtime, and then went into waitrose car park so Vin could go to the little hardware shop opposite that sells everything. He got his woodworm fluid there for £5. So that was OK.

Bit of a story to this picture. Vin has loaded some more of our new England pics, and we came across this one from sturbridge Village. It is a fantastic place with old buildings and workplaces that are inhabited during the day and is used as a tourist attraction. unbelievably well done. This is the Oxen man who was driving the oxen to their shelter. later on that evening, Vin had gone to the liquor outlet to get a bottle of wine, and came across the "oxen man" working there! He said Hello to him and the oxen man said Sssh don't tell anyone!! Two jobs to make ends meet I suppose.

Tonight we are having:
Cheesey Kievs
squashed and baked potatoes
Mixed green vegetables.

Wednesday 2 November 2011

Isn't It A long Day When...

You get up early!! We had set the alarms because i had a Dentist's appointment at 9.30. Not a long journey, he is only two doors down, but the funny thing is that it is often that one that you are in a rush for. The cat woke me up about sixish, I think it was Rusty, balancing on my hip.Anyway it got us going. Vin went down for our coffees, I have a tiny little cup and he has a mug full.
Went in for my appointment which was a filling so I had to have my gum numbed. Funny how it affects you, it was a back tooth and the numbing was my back jaw, my tongue and lip.I was supposed to have two done, one either side but he decided to do one as it would be too uncomfortable to do both, so its back at the end of november for the next one.
While I was in the Dentist, Vin went to get his haircut in Formby. he said he wasn't waiting if there was a queue,and there was a bit of a one, so he went to another he knows. There was a bigger queue there though so he went back to the first one. I got back first at about ten past ten and he came back around twenty past.
He decided to do some more work on his loft, and did the rest of the first layer of insulation. He also wanted to get the old tank down which was a bit of a palaver..(I love that word) Didn't work the first time, so he went for Plan B. He said he realised that the ladder was in the way, so when that was moved the tank dropped down.

Quite abig size to get through a smallish loft hole!! Well done Vin !!
The original cause of the problems was a leak in the front bedroom ceiling, which the plumber thought was the ball valve. It wasn't..which was when vin decided to do the replacement job of a new cold water tank and the pipework. Anyhow as it happens, when he eventually got the tank outside, he said there was a crack in the bottom right hand corner of the tank, so it was that which was causing the leak.
So all that was a good morning's work for him.
Quite cold and blowy today, neither of the cats have been out much, they certainly aren't stupid cats aren't.
Forgot to say that Vin found a bit of woodworm at the top of the loft hatch, which he says will need a bit of treatment. he decided against going to get it because he says that if it's been there for thirty years another day isn't going to matter!! Funny!!!
Tonight we are having:
Pasta bake with mushrooms and tomato and mascarpone sauce.
A bit of garlic bread and a bit of parmesan,
A few carrots to go with it.

Tuesday 1 November 2011

Hares and Rabbits..Again!!

Aren't the months flying by! November already and it will be all systems go for Christmas now I suppose. Very Autumnal today actually, quite a nice day with a bit of sun and no rainy drizzle for a change. The new neighbour next door is burning loads of stuff in a Pagoda-ey thing he has in their garden and there are clouds of smoke going up in the air. reminds me of my Dad's bonfires round about this time of the year, and burning leaves.
We have had quite a busy day today, there was a pile of ironing on the chair in the extension looking at me, so i made a start on that, that took a couple of hours with the bedding and the clothing. We also did a big batch of tomato sauce that we use for our pizzas on a Sunday. We used:
4 cans of Heinz chopped tomatoes in sauce, they were on offer somewhere,
1 finely chopped red onion slightly fried till soft
A good slug of garlic puree,
A very good slug of tomato puree
A couple of teaspoons of bouillon powder
Seasoning, salt and black pepper
A couple of teaspoons of mixed Italian herbs.
Method is simple. All in the pan once the onion has been sauteed and leave to simmer till it has halved in amount, and has gone thick.
it makes the most beautiful sauce which we freeze in little plastic pots and will last us about ten weeks.

These are the little pots of sauce, freezes beautifully.

Vin is up in the loft again finishing off his insulation. he went out to Sainsbury's Homebase this morning to get the remainder and the top up stuff, which is in huge rolls.So he is up there getting the topping ready.
We posted a letter to John and Ann this morning too. That was the one that I had to redo because the one that I had been writing had gone with the last computer, never to be seen again, floating around somewhere in cyberspace I suppose. Anyway this one has gone at a cost of £2.02, which i didn't think was bad really.
Tonight we are having:
Toad in the hole
With quorn sausages and a mushroom gravy.
probably a few mixed veg to go with.