Coffee Out Today...

Grey wettish and dismal looking weather today. it has been a Christmas of the same this year, not at all wintry, no snow at all, or frost even. very disappointing really. I read in the papers that the retailers are worried about sales of clothing particularly and they are being left with lots of winter coats and the like.  Just isn't cold enough really.
We ventured out for a while this morning to get some things for the week. I fancied a trip to Waitrose so off we went there. That does have its advantages of getting a free coffee and also a free newspaper so that saves 60p to start with.  Quite wet when we got there so Vin dropped me off at the door and went to park. Caught me up in a few minutes at the cash machine with a trolley. I can get round well with a trolley to hold on to so that helps. Quite busy in the store but got round fine. Bought what we needed on our list plus a few extras, well more than a few actually, including a box of cat food for Tootsie. Hope she appreciates Waitrose cat food!

She did come to greet us at the door when we got home which is nice.
We got our free coffee which was nice and then did a bit more, then home. It had cleared up but the fields are very very wet.  The news is terrible at the moment.  floods all over the place, it will take some peaple an age to get straight again.

What a Surprise!!

Well it was! A huge one. We were sitting watching "Luther" which we had recorded in two parts, so we were getting them back to back, and we were about ten minutes or so from the end when the phone went. It was around ten to twelve and it was Jane. "What are you doing?" watching the end of Luther says I. Is my Dad there? from Jane,  I need help parking> Puzzled we said Why? I'm outside from Jane. Outside where? us. Our house.. she had driven from Manchester and was indeed outside the house. Total surprise because we had thought she was spending the day with Jo her friend. Apparently she had been to work come home tired and then had a sleep and  decided to come home.  I think she had come home to see the cat!

Our Tootsie.  What a treat! Totally made my Christmas, It turned what was going to be a very quiet day into a really lovely fmily day. 
 She had her phone with her which has a really good camera on it so she took loads of photos,and before she went back late on Christmas Day, she put them on the computer for us, so Vin transferred them on to "Pacassa"  this morning for me to use on the blog. We had a lovely dinner and she had all of her favourite things too.

I did a nice "meat loaf" with a burger mix which I cooked in a loaf tin and that proved to be a hit so we had that with gravy and Yorkshire puds. As long as she gets crispy  roasties she is happy. :) The only  thing was, I had cooked some lovely parsnips in honey and some stuffing balls from a Jamie Oliver recipe and plated up the dinners and left them in the oven!!! Stupid woman, and no-one nooticed either. 
After a nap in the afternoon she went back around 8.30 and was at Aintree about twenty minutes later, then Manchester a short time after that. Well done Jane and thanks for coming home it completely made my Christmas XXX

  Thank goodness for the cracker hats which covered my horrible wispy hair. !!! This is one of Jane's selfies. :) 
The headlines today have all been about our weather, which has been flooding alerts everywhere, especially in Cumbria. Just awful. The fields round here are absolutely soaked all the ditches full and over-flowing. The ground is so sodden it can't absorb any more water so it hasn't anywhere to go. Not what you expect for Christmas weather at all. 
So in the end we had a really really lovely time. Thanks our Jane and Vin for making a good family holiday, and Totsie  for being here with us. XXXX

It's Christmas!!

Well not quite, but it is Christmas Eve and if it isn't bought by now it won't be, and if it isn't done by now it won't be done either.  I had an appointment at the dressings clinic at 1.30 at Litherland and just about got there on time. The nurse was actually waiting for me so I went straight in which was a bonus. I was her last patient and then she was done. Happy Christmas to all the wonderful N.H.S. staff who have dealt with me this year and are still dealing with me for that matter. 
It has been a bit of a rubbish year this year really so we are very much looking forward to a nice quiet Christmas together and enjoy our lovely little new cat Tootsie. I wonder where she was last year? We are convinced she had a home somewhere brcause she has settled in so well, and behaves like she is used to doing things around a home. She came and sat on my knee last night which is a first, and she plays with toys too, really funny to watch. Very different from our other cats, but they are all different with their own characters. 
Not very Christmassy weather I do have to say. Still very wet and weather warnings everywhere especially in Cumbria which has had it very bad. Supposed to be storm Eva due. At the moment they are playing Frosty the Snowman..no chance.
So, Happy Christmas everybody. XXX

Bwest Foot Forward!

Yet another wet rainy drizzly day, although it has cleared up a bit now. Gone blowy through and apparently we are in for a storm due. 
Today we got up early which meant getting the alarm clocks going, we aren't used to getting up early these days, not really having any need to ! I had an appointment at Aintree at the podiatry centre for a foot check and dressing change. We left on time for a change, we are usually quite rushing round last minute, and we went along the new road and were there in twenty minutes. It has made such a big difference that new road,I wish it had been there wheen I was teaching in Kirkby.
Vin dropped me off at the door then went to park the car, i only waited a few minutes and was called in, by a podiatrist who treated my other foot when the toe was removed ten years ago. Lovely woman who happens to live in our village so we swapped tales of how our respective children are getting on. They are all grown up now, one is a pharmacist and the other is working for a law firm and married, and ours of course is a radiographer. Gosh they aren't babies for long are they?
From Aintree we went over to M&S retail park, for a very nice coffee. I had a cappi. and Vin had a latte and we shared a packet of shortbread biscuits for £1.10p that you can buy a box for downstairs in the food hall!!Ah Well!Then we did a bit of food shopping downstairs where it was heaving so Vin wasn't  too keen on that. :) He followed me round going "What are you looking for?" all the time Haha. Then home  and greeted at the door by our Tootsie. Isn't that lovely, she really is a little sweetie.

Vin has just spent the last quarter of an hour looking for her! She had vanished so he was getting worried, looking under beds with a torch, checking all of her usual hiding spots, like the backs of sofas etc., no sign anywhere Eventually he found her, tucked under a throw on a sofa in the front roomk.. Thank goodness! 

Getting Ready,

Everyone getting ready for the holidays. We were thinking of going out today but in the end decided that we were actually quite well stocked so Vin went off to Tesco to get some soft drinks. he went off with a small list of things that we were getting short of and he got some yorkshire puds and roast potatoes which are other things off the christmas day list. The only thing we have to get now really is the fresh veg.
Yesterday i had an appointment at the vascular clinic afternoon at 2 O'clock.  That went fine, and after going for a blood test we got out about 4ish. Then because we had missed our lunch we went to the retail park and the Costa and got a toasted sandwich between us and a cortada coffee which was lovely and just enough. Then over to the M&S to get a few veggies for the weekend. and I wanted some pot-pourri from their christmas range which is beautiful, smells really christmassy. 
Little tootsie is going from strength to strength,  she is finding herself little spots to hide in and has settled down so well it is amazing to think she has been here only just over a week.

She came on the bed this morning which is a first. I didn't know she was there, but Vin ssaid watch out she is on the end of the bed or i would have kicked her when I turned over. Aaaah. She is playing quite nicely now too, and will chase a ball in the kitchen and chase a little furry toy that we have on the end of a rope/ribbon that all of our cats have enjoyed. We definitely love her she has stolen our hearts. 

Ring Ring..

We seem to have been besieged with phone calls these days. yesterday we had the podiatry man come to the house to do my toe..the one that had been amputated, and I don't know whether it is the antibiotics that Vin has religiously been giving me or the constant care and dressings but it does appear to be healing up now. So that's a good sign. I have an appointment at the vascular clinic in Aintree tomorrow afternoon, and he thinks they will be pleased. 
After he had been we went off to the Lidl in Maghull, I had been dying to go there for some macaroons and other bits that I had seen in their catalogue. Must admit I was quite impressed, a lot of their things are fairly cheap, especially compared to some of the other supermarkets, and we picked up some different items that we haven't seen in other shops. Plus I got my macaroons too..hooray! 
Came home with two bags full of items and the bill was only £22 which I thought was very reasonable.
Went back along the bypass to Tesco in Formby to get some Tassimo pods,and we got a nice coffee there before Vin ran round to get the things off his list. We had stopped off at the garden centre over the way  to see if they had a nice holly wreath for the front door, but thought they were a bit dear and we wonderedd if Tesco had any a bit less expensive. They didn't have any actually, so we went back to the garden centre and bought one from them. It's nice too.

Our house all lit up for Christmas. We have an advent arch in the front window, a tree in the bay window downstairs and the wreath on the front door.  It is a little block of terraced houses and they really look nice all decorated for the season,
We have stopped in today and only had about four phone calls, yesterday afternoon the phone was hardly off the hook as they say.  So it was nice today. Out again tomorrow afternoon.

What a Performance!!

Well it was actually quite a performance..having a shower that is.  Two legs bandaged up to the knee, does tend to make it a bit awkward to shower, let alone quickly.I had one "Limbo" which is a cover that you put on your limb to make it waterproof, and the podiatry centre last week gave me a script for two to be given me by the G.P. The chemist only had one however, so I had to use my6 oldish one and the new one. Trouble was that the old one which we used on my left leg seems to be a bit leaky so it has made the bandages damp to say the least!! now sat drying out my leg in front of a heater HaHa.. What fun..
 "Tootsie" is still settling in and is proving to be quite a character. I think she is a keeper.

Jane and me on the sofa during her "early Christmas"

This is our Tootsie on one of her favourite spots on the bacck of the sofa,I suppose she can keep an eye on what is going on from up there. Her markings are really pretty, and we are getting used to her now.

I think she likes it here!

Jane is off to see Madonna tonight so she will be excited about that. Then tomorrow she is going to the Ticketmaster Christmas party which she has never been to yet because of placements and working weekends or exams et., so it will be lovely for her to finish her time there with a last party. She will be very tired this week though!!

Did the Christmas cards last night, just have the neighbours ones to do and that's it. Quite organised this year thanks to Jane's early Christmas in November. She did us a favour there really.

Kettle, Cat and Coal..

Quite a day yesterday. We got our new cat, new electric kettle and a delivery of coal, the first for the winter. 
Started off with going to tesco by collecting our electric kettle to replace our old one that had become cracked from their click and collect scheme.  We shoud have been getting it tomorrow actually but we got aqn email to say it had arrived on Tuesday so deecidd to go and get it before we went to colledt Tootsie. Also got some cat biscuits and cat food and some veg for the rest of the week. Then we went along the bypass to the animal rescue centre to get Tootsie. Vin went in to get her because my toes are a little bit sore at the moment.He wasn't long before he came out with her in our carrier.
She was very quiet on the way home, we let her out as soon as we ggot in the house and she had a really good explore of the house, and settled in really well. She has already found a few favourite spots.

Very pretty colours black, white and ginger. 

You would think she had been here all her life. She is quite like Bobby in what she does but is different in colour.So far we are very pleased with her and I thinkshe willenjoy living here.

Getting Nearer!!

It is..getting nearer to T Day..or Tootsie day, and getting quite excited now. A lady rang up last night to say that she was a volunteer for the rescue centre and would it be ok if she came tonight on her way back from work, so we are expecting her about 6-30 to 7-30. So we have got the house cat friendly again. Cosy fire going, tree lights on etc., etc., just have to wait and see now.
 Started off this morning by having a visit from the podiatrist from maghul, he did the dressing again on my foot and was very pleased with it's progress. Apparently the wound is closing up quite nicely which is good news.  I have an appointment at the diabetic podiatry clinic in Aintree tomorrow at 2.o'clock. I haven't been there yet, because I had to cancel the last one due to illness. Fingers crossed for this one.
Vin has been doing some cliearing up today, and also posted the parcel off to John and Ann. hope that gets there on time, it's a bit later than usual. Hope they like the things too. Now I need to get the cards done and a little newsletter done. 

Well done sweetheart..all that hard work was worth it.

I'm Slipping!!!

Oh dear! It has been a while since I have been on here. Mainly because I have been backwards and forwards to appointments for quite a few weeks so squeezing a few min utes here and there to do my blog has been a bit awkward. The main priority has been to get John and Ann's letter so we can send their parcel off to Australia.The traffic reports on the radio at the moment are terrible. Flood warnings and road closures all over the North of England and Scotland, terrible ones in Cumbria with rivers bursting their baqnks and people being evacuated from their homes. The Forth Road Bridge is also closed due to faults in the structure. This will cause a 50 mile detour!!!! Those poor people who will have to make that will suffer for the next goodness knows how long.
Well for the first time in a long time we are extremely well prepared for Christmas trees ready, decorations up and most of the dinner things bought. It's actually quite nice to be all ready.

This is my Christmas present from Jane, I LOVE hime, he has such a beautiful smile and when he is lit up with a night /tea light he is gorgeous. It is a Yankee candle one and she also bought us a Yankee candle Advent calendar which has a different "flavour" tea light every day that you open. 

Getting Christmas dinner number one ready and very nice it was too. At least Jane got her bread sauce which she adores and her roasties. Her and Vin had a celebration roast, and I did a meat style roaqst which in the end we all shared and the Yorkshire puds to go with it.  I'm going to do thaat again for CD number two.
Very sad news this last week, Jane rang us up on her way home one night to say that one of her group of friends from Uni, who she would have been working with at M,R.I. had died. She was a lovely girl a few years older than Jaane, and we had met her at the graduation in July. Jane has a lovely photo of them together really lovely smiley photo of them in their caps and gowns. She had a smiley husband and two absolutely gorgeous little boys, only small about six and seven Jane thinks. That poor family over Christmas. Their group is just devastated.They were a very close group and all looked after each other. 
Anyway, I shall make it my business to keep this up better this year, I admit I have been a bit lax the last couple of months, not through my fault totally.