A Veggie Life with Jenny nine-toes

Monday...Getting to The End Of January..

2012-01-30T07:48:00.000-08:00

Doesn't time fly really. here we are nearly in February already. Only seems like a few weeks since we were getting ready for Christmas. Now the shops are full of Valentine's Day things. Then i suppose it will be easter.
Dry and cold today, but doesn't look like snow or anything else yet. We took ourselves off to Sainsburys to get our normal weekly provisions. for us it is either come out of the village and turn right to crosby and Sainsburys or turn left and go to Formby and Waitrose or tescaw where we do not go very often. Today it is Crosby.
Very quiet on the car park so we parked easily, and just got a half hour ticket. That's free so if we whizz round and just get the things on the list plus whatever veggies we need that's just enough time.Then we are home for coffee which pleases the Lord and Master!
No post to speak of these days. Today we got two bits and one of those was a Lakeland Catalogue. That firm must spend a fortune on those.This one is all about cleaning things..getting ready for Spring Cleaning I suppose.
Tonight we are having:
Mozzarella and pesto escalope
Mixed vegetables
Mushroom sauce
little baked potatoes.

Sundays Musings...

2012-01-29T12:37:00.000-08:00

just typing this after having a really lovely Pizza for tea. The house smells gorgeous, all sort of bready and tomatoey. very tasty.
vin went out this morning to get an egg salad and some other bits, and said it was very cold. maybe we are going to get some wintry weather after all.
We did our crosswords this afternoon, it's a lovely afternoon, sat by the fire working away on our two from the Mail and the Express magazines, and then the Big Sunday general knowledge one from the Mail on Sunday. We do them mostly from our own knowledge, plus the little crossword machines, and then as a last resort with the help of the Internet.
just enjoyed Dancing on ice. This week they were skating in couples as a competition and the judges could give one couple immunity from the vote at the end of the show. Andy Wyman who is Kirky in Corrie is our favourite and he was skating against rosemary Conley. The judges..two of them went with Rosemaryso we voted for Andy at the end of the show. hope he stays in..he is so lovely.
Tonight we had:
Pizza with our tomato sauce,
Portobello mushrooms pineapple and courgette and pepper for Vin.
Potato and egg salad with avocado pear and baby plum tomatoes
Potato salad for me and sweet noodle salad for Vin.
I do have to say it was a really gorgeous pizza too. well done Vin.

Interesting Conversation...

2012-01-28T05:07:00.000-08:00

This morning we had a very interesting conversation in bed while enjoying our pre getting up coffee and cow biscuit.
vin had been reading an article in one of his magazines he was going through, and came across one about "Wartski". He said Wwhat is the link between Bond Street and Llandudno?" Then he explained.
It was to do with the Marquis of Angelsey who liked to spend money on extravagance and jewels etc. He died at age 29 bankrupt by the way. Anyway he got a chap called Wartski to set up a shop in Bangor and then Llandudno to sell Russian wares and in particular Faberge. Then they opened up a shop in Bond Street which is still going today. I have just had a look at their website actually which is Wartski.com. and everything on sale is Price on Application!! Whish kind of says it all.
He has gone off to Maghull to do a bit of mooching this morning and I am fiddling aroundon here a bit. Dry today for a change, but the weather forecasters say that we are due for a Siberian month soon! Wonder if they have got that right?
our new neighbours are amusing us at the moment. Last night they had a sort of disco ball in their conservatory flashing red and green lights all night. This is presumably to go with the silver disco ball hanging up, and the red berry fairy lights festooned everywhere.
Tonight we are having:
Tacos with quorn chilli mix
Lettuce, grated cheese and tex mex dips.

What is it With fridays?

2012-01-27T08:17:00.000-08:00

Last week it poured. This week it was drizzly when we left the house, then when we got to Sainsbury's in Walton the Heavens opened. Horrible sleety hailstoney stuff. Cold too, the car was lovely and warm, you didn't want to get out really. It's been like that all day too,grey, nearly black skies full of something nasty.
Had a quick look in the Next store but didn't see anything. Their clothes are terrible quality now, they used to be good clothing, but now they are cheap and tacky looking and the cotton so thin you can nearly see through them.
Then went to sainsburys two doors down. Got most of the things on the list, didn't get an egg salad for my lunch, thought it was a bit cold for a salad, so decided to have a toastie instead. Vin has Quorn sausage rolls and a tin of baked beans..he loves that. No Iceberg lettuce!!!! What sort of store doesn't have iceberg lettuce? we wanted that for tomorrow night for Tacos. Vin will get some tomorrow when he off on his mooches. Apart from that we got everything else.
Went back to the car in between showers and went to a quiet part of the car park to have our coffees. Lovely Millicano coffee..it is an excellent instant coffee and smells and tastes like ground coffee. Then home in the rain.
The cats hadn't moved i don't think, but came down in time for their chicken though! i think they smell it on the breeze. Wonder what gets them going..is it some sort of internal clock I wonder. Rusty wakes us up every morning round about the same time. Vin said yesterday she got on his chest, then he felt a little nose pressed up against him, and she miaowed..right into his eardrum. Well that's going to work isn'tit.

Tonight we are having:
Cheese and onion pasties from waitrose
baked tomato and a small tin of something saucey
rice puddings from waitrose.

"Nothing Day"

2012-01-26T08:43:00.000-08:00

Did absolutely nothing today, not of any note anyway. No phone calls, no post, we could be dead and buried today!
Vin went out this morning very quickly for a haircut, to the barbers next to the Police Station in Formby..£6 a lot cheaper than mine I have to say! And,that was it really.
Lovely long hot bath this afternoon trying to finish my book..didn't quite get there but will finish it tonight i think.
Cats very quiet today too, both haven't moved much at all. just come down for their dinnertime chicken then disappeared again.
nights are beginning to draw out a bit now too. Went quite windy this morning but still mild for this time of the year.
Tonight we are having:
pasta with a sauce
A bit of garlic bread
Butternut squash to go with it.

Hunt the Slipper!!

2012-01-25T08:05:00.000-08:00

Vin's slippers are on their uppers. They have got to the stage where they have totally come apart, and are dangerous, so he has been looking for a replacement pair for a while. We decidid that we woud go to the Ocean Plaza in Southport this morning because we weren't doing anything else. There is a brabantia shop there and a Matalan, a Pet Store and a Dunelm Mill. So that's where we went. Surprise Surprise the tide was in at Southport..which is something you don't see very often, and it was quite high too. No wonder Southport people are called Sandgrinders!
Free parking for two hours which is good. He went into the Brantia store and looked for slippers. lots of old men types, but he normally wears the backless sorts, he's had some great German ones which are the ones that have given up the ghost. Spotted some on the end of an aisle on sale £3 a pair! not bad.. looked good so he got two pairs which will tide him over till he gets some leather ones that he likes.
Then went along to the Pet Store and bought Rusty a lovely new red collar, to go with her red tag, and Bobby a blue collar to go with her blue tag. very pretty they will look.Felix cat food at two for £6 so got those and put them in the car. Walked along to Dunelm Mill shop. we were looking for tablemats to go with our new red tablecloth, but didn't see any. they were all the wrong colour and too big. Our table is only small. Went and had a lovely cup of coffee in their refurbished coffee shop, sitting on comfy leather sofas..very nice. Then had a wander round and Vin spotted salt and pepper balls, our salt one has broken and we have been looking for a replacement for an age, so that was really good. then he spotted some red tablemats in a range of homeware called poppy, that weren't with the other tablemats. So bought four of those. Excellent. Job done.
One of those days when everything went right..and we got everything that we were looking for.
Tonight we are having:
Moussaka with vegemince and a cheese sauce on top.

In not Out...

2012-01-24T08:17:00.000-08:00

One of the photos we sent..of our Christmas pudding, the Hazelnut meringue cake.
Stopped in today. We wanted to get John's parcel organised and posted off to Australia so he would get it for the 2nd of Feb.

it packed up nice and flat, and Vin is such a good packer of parcels. (Is there anything that man can't do I ask myself!)
He had a big jiffy bag, and in it went:
A card and a letter, a bit rambling but got there in the end,
A new Motor Cycle Magazine that I hope he will find interesting
A DVD od the Christmas Downton Abbey,
Some photos of our Christmas things and New year,
A newspaper article about Woolworths and a cartoon of cats that was funny,
And a Hamish McBeth book.
Made quite a nice little parcel, well not so little actually, cost £9.08 to post!!!
By that time it was nearly coffee time so we had that, then did the kitchen floor, which hasn't been done for a bit. Sorting out this afternoon, Vin has taken the recycling over, we seem to get an awful lot of it! and got the fire ready for later.
So that is the exciting day in our household.
Tonight we are having:
Mushroom and ale pie from Waitrose frozen section,
Squashed potatoes
Butternut squash and sweet potato
Mushroom gravy

Brighter..

2012-01-23T08:16:00.000-08:00

Actually a lot brighter today, noticed that a few of the bulbs that Vin planted in the barrel outside our front door have started to come up. hope we don't have a frost now to do them damage.
We went into crosby this morning because we wanted to get some photos printed off at the photo shop there. Vin took the card with him, andand we selected some of the ones that have been taken over Christmas and new year and some of the loft that he had been working on last year. got about 14 done and that was around £3.30 not too bad. We then had a look in Martins because I wanted to get John an up to date motor cycle magazine so he could compare it to the old one that we sent for Christmas. Got that, then went to Sainsbury's for our weekly veggies. Quite quiet actually, so we got round quickly for a change. Got everything we needed and were home for a coffee as usual. So, we have now got a good selection of things for John for his birthday and if we post them off tomorrow they should get there in tim e for his birthday on Feb 2nd. At least he should be having a nice warm day over there, hope it isn't too warm.

My orchid plant that Vin has carefully been tending has sprouted another shoot. When it finished flowering last time he cut it right back to the first codule and it is growing a little bit more each day. What a Star!
Tonight we are having:
gruyere cheese escalopes
Mixed veggies,
baby baked potatoes
Mushroom sauce.

Beautiful pizza!

2012-01-22T12:45:00.000-08:00

My husband makes the most beautiful pizzas. We have just enjoyed a pizza Sunday night tea with our salads. very tasty. He is a whizz at making them now, good practice over the years, and he has it off to a fine art now. well done vin it's better than any you could buy. bespoke as well.
Actually Sunday afternoon is very pleasant, a nice coal and log fire, the Sunday crosswords from the papers and a couple of railway journeys on the box. Very pleasant.
Vin says our new neighbours next door have more lights up in their conservatory, he likes them, they are like little red berries, I'm sure they will go very well with the glitter ball that they already have in there. it must be like a disco parlour...
Watched Dancing on ice, i really enjoy that, it's a highlight of Sunday when it is on. Always vote for Andy Whynam who plays kirky in Corrie. he's so lovely, and tonight he was done up wioth a grease style hairdo. very fetching.
Tonight we had:
Pizza by Vin..
With pepper for him and courgette for moi, portobello mushroom pineapple and it was gorgeous.
egg and potato salad from waitrose with avocado
Potato salad for me and a fruity cous cous salad for Vin.

What a Miserable day!!

2012-01-20T08:05:00.000-08:00

really truly horrible miserable day. drizzly rain all day turning to heavier at times..usually when you are out in it. We had decided to go to Ormskirk today because there were a few things we wanted to get from the shops there, and if we hadn't I would have gone somewhere nearer. it's a bleakish place at the best of times, but at least it was quiet.
We were going to park behind M&S which is in the middle of the centre, but it was full, and after going round a couple of times we gave up and went down to morrisons, which was full as well. got a space eventually..it's getting more and more difficult to find parking these days.
Walked through the centre to the shops dodging the puddles and the traffic and the dripping rain. I have a little umbrella which was looking like it was going to turn inside out, and Vin has a bigger one from Head, which is sturdier but going rusty. I think we need an umbrella revamp.
We nipped into Holland and barratt to get our fishless fingers..in lkuck one packet left! then over to Bon Marche, where I usually have a look around. Bought a top reduced in the sale and a pair of trousers just in case they do close. Fingers crossed that they don't, I love that shop, always get something in there. Then into Superdrug to get bits and bobs, bit annoyed because I forgot to get my nail varnish! Then, brave the weather again and trudge back to the car park. Morrisons for a nice cup of coffee. really good value, £2.75 for two good proper cups of kenco coffee and a packet of shortbread biscuits, and a pile of yellow serviettes..they do a very good serviette do Morrisons.
Got most of our weekend things, but didn't get plum tomatoes or an egg and potato salad, they didn't have them. Slipping. Came out of there, and if anything it was greyer and wetter than ever, so ran to the car and home for a nice broccoli and Stilton soup lunch.
It really was one of those days that if you didn't have to go out you wouldn't bother. the cats have the best idea..stop in and cat nap all day and just get up for feeding occasionally.

Good job the little ginger cat from next door has a good new home, it would have hated being out in this, it didn't like the rain.

Tonight we are having:
fishless fingers,
Chips! 200 grms between us,
green beans for moi and mushy peas for Vin.
tartare sauce.

Rude Awakening!!

2012-01-19T08:43:00.001-08:00

Phone call this morning before we had got up. "Is that Mr Jennifer?" Some Indian woman. "Jennifer is a woman's name" replied my husband.Indian woman hangs up. Now that's rude. No manners at all. We still get a lot of these calls, sometimes you pick the phone up and it is a silence at the other end, sometimes they introduce themselves with an obviously wrong name. The last one was Nicky!! I wonder what sort of training school they go to?
Didn't do a lot today. At least i didn't. Vin took the old cold water tank to the tip. it had been sitting in the corner of our front garden since he had done the loft, and he hadn't got round to taking it. So that was a good job done, whilst he was out he went to get some light bulbs for the landing light fixture. Some light bulbsd are getting really difficult to get hold of now that we are supposed to be going to energy saving ones. The ever resourceful Vin has a good stock of them though.
Tonight we are having:
freezer fodder,
Maybe a toad in the hole with Quorn sausages and gravy,
Remaining vegetables from the fridge.

Better Today...

2012-01-18T07:48:00.001-08:00

Thankfully, little Rusty is a changed cat today, much brighter and perkier and not running in and out today. So we seem to have caught it early thank goodness. Eee we do suffer us poor women, she must have wondered what on earth was wrong, so it was a good job we took her.
Today we went over to Dobbies mainly because we didn't want to do the Ormskirk journey again, and Vin wanted to get some more hardwood logs. They have oproved to be the hit of this winter, burn beautifully and don't spit.A great find.
We had a good look round, they have bits of Christmas stuff but it is very tacky stuff and not what we go for. Vin spotted some garders soap that he fancied and i had a look round the food hall but no bargains there. However Vin did spot a box of crackers for cheese that were half price so got those for the weekend. Had our free coffees, Vin had a caramel latte today and I had an Americano. Very very quiet in there today, the cafe area was nearly empty and the tea room section where they have comfortable sofas and chairs was empty. Total waste of space that is. I think they should loet people who are just having a coffee go in there, at least it would make it look busier.
Came home via the terrible Tesco's which is on our way home. I wanted a loaf and a couple of other bits so we got them and home for lunch.
very mild today, not as cold as yesterday, but they are predicting snow for the end of the week. Noticed loads of snow shovels in Dobbies, they are going to be stuck with them this year., and it looks like our show grippers aren't going to be used!.
Tonight we are having:
Pasta Bake with butternut squash and mushrooms.
A bit of garlic bread.

Change of Plans..

2012-01-17T08:22:00.000-08:00

Today was going to be a stay in day, for one reason that it was cold and frosty and for another we had bits and pieces to do.
i wanted to get the bedding ironed out of the way, and vin had stuff to do.
Then little Rusty changed thaat. Vin took the bin round to the front as he usually does on a Tuesday, green bin this week! and little rusty normally follows him round. today he noticed that she wasn't following hom, and was trying to have a wee a couple of times. he came back in quite quickly because it was cold and there was no sign of the errant cat, so he went looking for her. We tend to get over worried about her since she was the one who went missing about six years ago now, and that was n a Tuesday! He spotted her on the big patch of ground at the back of the house that everyone calls "The Plot" still trying to have a wee. So, alarm bells rang, and we kept an eye on her. definitely something wrong, she was running in and out of the house like a yoyo, so he said we'd better call the Vet. We got an appointment for 3.10 this afternoon, so we had our lunch then it was off to Ormskirk.Got there a bit early but soon got seen. very nice vet..Vin thinks his name is Steve, and he had a really good look at her and wxamined her all over..took her temperature which wasn't raised and decided it was Cystitis. Poor little thing..it's a women thing I said in the car on the way home. He suspected it anyway because he had looked on the Internet. So he gave her two injections of anti inflammatory drugs and said she should start to be better within an hour or so.
Got her home, and she actually does seem to have settled down somewhat. She'll probably sleep all afternoon now.Good job we took her, she is well worth the £32 it cost..she is such a sweetheart that you don't want them being in trouble.
terrible news yesterday on the news, that peacocks who own Bon Marche are going into receivership.!! Can't believe that Bon Marche are in peril.. i love that shop. Where will I get my gear if they close down? Report in the Daily Mail today though suggests that Bon Marche are close to finding a buyer. God, I hope so. Ormskirk won't be worth going to if there isn't a Bon Marche...and Vin said, "Where will I park you if that shop closes" Big fingers crossed that it doesn't.
Today we are having:
Sausage rolls Linda McCartney
Something tomatoey
Sliced and sauteed potatoes

Another weekend Gone By...

2012-01-16T07:50:00.000-08:00

Main news at the weekend full of the large cruise liner The Costa Concordia which ran aground off the coast of Tuscany on Friday night. 4000 people on board the majority of whom got off safely, just six dead and some injuries. The captain seems to be blamed for going off course and also for leaving the sinking ship before the passengers. Quite a lot about that on the news and in the weekend papers.
Saturday and Sunday relatively normal for us with Vin making his usual trips out, and crosswords etc., passing a pleasant afternoon yesterday.
Today Monday the 16th is the anniversary of our ex neighbour's death in Chichester where they had been for Christmas. it hardly seems a year since that, and what a year that poor woman had. not only losing her husband at such a young age, but also losing her home, moving into a flat and then having to let her cat go too. Thinking of her today, it must be a difficult day for her.
We nipped out to Waitrose today to get our weekly veggies etc., and vin bumped into a colleague from where he used to work. They come a long way to this Waitrose because they like the store and the quality of the goods. i suppose we are really lucky to have all the major stores within easy travelling distance. They travel a total of 40 miles to this one.
I must admit they do have a good selection of veggies which is quite important to us since we don't buy meat or fish like most other shoppers. Didn't get a huge number of extras so the bill today wasn't bad. We had to then go to tesco because we needed some chicken for the cats!! spoilt little pussies they are! but they're worth it.

Bobby is looking very smart at the moment because she has a brand new collar. She has been without a collar for the last few weeks becaus it had made her neck really sore for some reason. it's ok now though so she has a nice new reflective collar to show off in.
Saturday night we had:
Chinese..spring rolls and dippers, fried rice and stir fryu vegetables.
Sunday we had:
A beautiful pizza Vin created.
Portobello mushrooms on a pesto base with crumbled blue cheese on them
Egg and potato salad with avocado, potato salad for me and a pasta salad for Vin.

Tonight we are having:
Cheese and leek escalope
mushrooms in a white sauce
mixed vegetables and baby baked potatoes.

Quick Trip..

2012-01-13T07:53:00.000-08:00

Quick out this morning. Last night when we were deciding where to go we thought we would just go to Waitrose to get a few things on the list that we wanted for the weekend. Ha! As usual, we didn't have that much in the trolley but still spent £57 !! Fatal shop to go into though, you never come out of there withoutspending more than you planned. Got some nice things though.
Quite quiet today, and parked right outside which is always a bonus.
Watched anew programme the other night on Sky Atlantic called Cloudstreet. Looks really good and very watchable. Set in Australia in the forties fifties and sixties, it portrays two families who share a house at Number 1 Cloudstreet in perth, and how they develop. Excellently done and very good acting. Six in the series so going to be a must see for the next few weeks.Funny John and Ann haven't mentioned it.
Vin got his Marmite rice cakes returned in the post today marked addressee gone away!!! hello... this is Unilever and he used the address on the pack. Anyway, there was a telephone number on the pack so he rang them and got through to a very nice chap, who said it was a misprint, and he would send abag to return them so we shall see what happens next. Watch this sace!!
Typed most of this with little Rusty perched on my knee Bless her..she is such a sweetie. Just stands there purring away fit to beat the band as they say.

This is how she sits on Vin's chest at night just perching there while he reads his book. Aaah.
Tonight we are having:
Chees3e and onion pasties from Waitrose
Baked tomatoes and a few green beans.
Rice puddings.

Your M&S...

2012-01-12T08:10:00.000-08:00

No I don't think so really. It was a nice day today so we decided to go over and have a look at the M&S in Aintree. We haven't been near the sales so wanted to have a mooch and see what they have.
Vin went off to look at Halfords and spend his £2.50 voucher. he actually got a large bottle of screen wash for that. I had a bit of a look round n my own in the M&S. The women's clothes were very mixed up on the many sales racks so couldn't be bothered looking at them much. Wandered over to the handbags which were huge!! what is this thing for having massive handbags? jewellery has moved and nothing shouted out at me there either. Went upstairs to the kitchen and home dept and and spotted a table with oddments on it. Picked up a really really cute little monkey soft toy which we will send to Jane. She likes monkeys.Should have been £15 and it was reduced to £3 so that was a huge bargain.Vin wandered over to the men's dept and had a look there and then we went for coffee. he had a card for a free one. No biscuits!!!! what sort of shop doesn't have biscuits. i found a table one of a very few it was extremely busy, and discovered it was under one of those fan thingies that blow out cold air!! typical. Vin came with the coffees. massive great cups, more like a soup bowl!! i could only drink about half of mine and he finished the rest off.
had another look at the mens section again, and he bought two shirts. onelong sleeved one for £6 and a short sleeved one for £5. Good bargains there. I picked up a double cotton fitted sheet for £9 so we did quite well really. Food hall then and we got some bits there, then off home. Went via maplins and Curry's because he wanted a new memory card for his netbook to make it quicker, but no joy.
In this afternoon. The cats seem very quiet today, sleep all afternoon..what a great life.
Tonight we are having:
pastawith a tomato sauce
A bit of garlic bread
Butternut squash to go with.

Drizzly and grey

2012-01-11T08:26:00.000-08:00

So we stopped in today. i had a lovely morning getting the ironing done, and then i caught up with a letter to John and Ann. Felt a bit guilty because one from them had arrived thanking us for the Christmas presents, and i haven't done the same yet.So i've written three pages, mostly just chatter.
Vin nipped out in the back garden in between drizzles, and got the outside Christmas lights in, the white ones that were on the fence outside the back window. They have been lovely, twinkling away all Christmas. He also planted the primroses that we bought yesterday at the garden centre, and they are so pretty against the back garden wall that he painted last year

He made a terrific job of that wall and it looks really good now.Especially with the Spring flowers against it.
I think the nights are getting a weeny bit lighter these night, it is now twenty to five and it isn't completely dark yet., even though it is drizzly again. The little cats are on the bed behind me both all curled up and fast asleep. that's the life!!
Tonight we are having:
No idea whatsoever. probably something from the freezer. we'll see what Vin fancies.

Hair-Do at Last!!

2012-01-10T08:04:00.000-08:00

This one went on my pillow as soon as I got up this morning and didn't move till we came back from the garden centre!!
Up earlyish this morning because I had an appointment at the hairdressers in Formby at 10 O'Clock.Since little Rusty had been doing her balancing act on my hip since very early and dark..I was dozing anyway. But Vin had set the alarms anyway so we got up in time.
got a nice hair-do this time, she just did a bob with a bit of a feathery fringe which was just what I wanted.The last time she did it she layered it a bit much so it went straggly when it grew out, but this time will be ok. So I'm £30 poorer and a lot of hair lighter. lasts quite a number of weeks anyway, so worth it. jane has just rung up on her way to work, and she said she pays £5 at the students hairdresser, but she gives them £5 extra becuse it's too cheap.She says she is properly grey too..don't know where she gets that from, i'm not very grey yet apart from my roots, and Vin didn't go grey till just a few years ago. george Clooney is grey anyway and it suits him fine.
While I was getting my hair done Vin went to waitrose and got our pasties for friday, and then on to Homebase to get a flourescent tube for the kitchen, so he did well in that time.
From there we went to the Garden centre in Ince to get our cvoffee for the month and see what they had in the sales. Answer was..not much really. The gift section didn't have anything in the sales at all really, and the Christmas decorations were half price but we didn't buy much. I bought a Noel sign and a box of Christmas cards and Vin bought some very pretty primroses in a lovely buttery yellow colour for the hanging baskets outside the kitchen window.Funny thing was, when we were having our coffee we were trying to decide how many hanging baskets there were on the back wall and we settled on two. When we got home there were three!! Funny how the mind plays tricks.
Quiet afternoon and will possibly stop in tomorrow, don't like getting up early!!
Tonight we are having:
Sausage Rolls, Linda McCartney ones
Small tin of something tomatoey and some sauteed mushrooms
Sliced potatoes done in fry light.

That was The Weekend...

2012-01-09T07:46:00.000-08:00

Every scrap of tinsel gone...
Didn't do my blog yesterday because I was engrossed in "Dancing on Ice". Voted for kirky off Coronation Street and he got through so well pleased. he was quite good but needs more confidence. Mind you speaking as someone who has been ice skating but never got off the barriers at the side I can't talk.
Saturday was a normal day, no Christmas stuff and things getting straight again. grey and drizzly in general.
Sunday vin went off to Crosby to get some stuff and again grey and drizzly
Saturday night we had:
green thai curry
1/2 a packet of rice
stir fry vegetables,
Sunday we had:
Pizza again..yum yum. Our tomato sauce,
portobello mushrooms, pineapple pepper for Vin courgette for moi
egg and potato salad with avocado and baby plum tomatoes
Potato salad for moi and sweet chilli noodle salad for Vin.

Monday dawned..yet again grey and drizzly but not too bad. had to go into crosby to the bank to pay some money in for the Hopusehold account and a Hundred pounds into Jane's account to keep her going. Sainsbury's was really quiet,so we got round very quickly. We had a free half hour parking, and did the banking, and all the shopping in that time, good going really.
Got a lovely letter from John and Ann today, posted on the 4th Jan and arrived on the 9th jan. that's pretty good by anyone's standards. They loved the Downton Abbey DVD, so i must get the Christmas one for them maybe send it to john for his birthday on feb2nd. The motor cycle magazine which vin found in the loft fromj 1955 he really enjoyed, and the funny thing was it was a Christmas issue as well.Sounds like they had a nice christmas, but in her words it is "Stinking hot" there. Can't imagine a boiling hot christmas.
Tonight we are having:
Cheese ande broccoli escalope
mushrooms
Carrots and green beans
Squashed baked baby potatoes.

All Gone!

2012-01-06T08:19:00.000-08:00

All has now been cleared away for the next eleven months or so. The tree has gone from the village green too, it was really nice this year, all covered with blue lights.Well done the council.
We took ourselves off to Sainsbury's walton this morning. noticed that the Walton Hospital where I have had many hospital appointments is now completely flattened. i assume they are going to build houses on the site.
Sainsburys was quite quiet which is one of the reasons why we go there, at least you can get around unlike the Crosby store which is so crowded you can barely move with your trolley. had a look in the next clearance store next door, the clothes are dreadful, really tatty these days and totally no quality to them, but I always look at the jewellery and the home section at the back. Spotted some LED tea lights which I thought were quite cute, and were priced at £4.50. Thought about them then put them back and Vin caught me up. I mentioned them to him and he seemed interested so I went back for them, and took them to the till. Good job I did because they turned out to be £2 !!! which was a real bargain, and he was pleased.
Got all our stuff ion Sainsburys then, it's a very good store for having stock so got a few things that we had run out of, plus the things that we wanted for the weekend.No bargains there though! Had our usual coffee in their car park at the back, very nice too!
Weather has calmed down a lot today, but the ditches and the fields round the village are waterlogged, with little mini lakes in some of them.

This years christmas Pudding! I do the same one every year..it's a sort of tradition now!
Tonight we are having:
Fishless fingers
Chips!! Oh yummy a treat,
mushy peas for vin and leftover carrots for moi
A couple of baked tomatoes.

So Bare!!!

2012-01-05T07:46:00.000-08:00

Well..all the Christmas decorations are away. Vin is just putting them in our store cupboard as I type. It is the best part of the day taking the trees down and putting the ornaments in their boxed. Then the wonderful Vinpacks it all away in the boxes and a big suitcase wekeep for the purpose, then they go in a cupboard that we have over our wardrobe in our bedroom. All away for the next eleven months.It's now ten past four in the afternoon and he has just popped his head round the door to say the last of the decorations are going away. Well Done Vin XXXX
Finally the winds and gales have ceased here, it was very bad last night we could hear the winds coming down the chimney. Then mid-morning it seemed to slow down and finally settle down. The cats haven't liked it at all, I think it unsettles them and they don't go out as much because the windy weather makes them jumpy. They are both fast asleep on the bed behind me as I type this, and bearing in mind that little Rusty has been on my hip doing her balancing act since five O'Clock this morning, she must be tired.I love her dearly, but that is a bit early!!
Tonight we are having:
Black pepper and lemon escalope
bread sauce and cranberry sauce
A few roast potatoes left over from Christmas,
Carrots and a few roast parsnips.
It is a sort of christmas dinner to use up things, and make the most of the tablecloths and decorations etc. Then they all get washed tomorrow!

It's A Blustery Day...

2012-01-04T08:37:00.000-08:00

Feels like a line from Winnie the Pooh!It is a blustery day indeed, so no ormskirk again for us. not going there when it is weather likethis, it's up on a hill and worse there somehow.
We went out to Dobbies instead to have our free coffees for the januaary. I just have a black one and Vin has a flat white which he said was lovely so we can go twice in a month if I pay for mine. We had a good look round and bought a few things. I did see a nice bauble half price that will do for next year's bauble swap, and Vin got some marmalade that was on offer quite cheap, and two bags of excellent logs, then we braved the winds and held onto the car door and wended our way to Tesco's in Formby for chicken for the cats.
Saw a few things that we needed and a few things that were on offer, and came out of there having spent too much again. never mind it's all stock.
The plan is tomorrow to stay in and do the Christmas things..take them all down so tonight will be the last night everything will be lit up. The house looks terribly bare when it is all gne, I like our little house decorated. We got it just about right this year, and had around a month out of them. Didn't buy anymore this year, resisted the urge, and didn't buy any more Christmas cards either, got too many.

The front of our little house with the candle arch in the upstairs window and the tree in the bay window. All gone tomorrow!
Tonight we are having:
A pie, country vegetable with mushroom gravy
Potato croquettes
Mixed vegetables.

Thar She Blows!!

2012-01-03T08:11:00.000-08:00

One little contented cat!
Very blowy today, the trees outside are going like mad. Quite creepy when you see the bare branches waving in the wind, they look like they are going to come down any minute.
We were planning to go out today, but took one look out of the window this morning and decided against it.So, we stopped in, at least being retired you can do that unlike the millions of poor unfortunates who have gone back to work today.
I did a pile of ironing nstead so at least all the bedding is done, if the wind has gone down tomorrow maybe we will go out then. Vin took the bin round, and little Rusty followed him, so he said he picked her up and carried her round with him. Everywhere he goes outside she will follow Aaah Bless her. Then we made up jane's bed again just in case!! And it is still blowy! The traffic reports on the radio sound quite bad, with roads shut all over and lorries turned over etc.,Just listening to the reports as I type this, and it is really horrendous, Thelwall viaduct closed which is not far from here and would be a nightmare. Pity help the people involved in that.
Tonight we are having:
Pasta bake with a bit of garlic bread
A little bit of parmesan and
mushrooms.

Bank Holiday...

2012-01-02T08:29:00.000-08:00

losing track of the days here..it doesn't seem like a new Year bank Holiday. We got up late as usual, must start going to bed a bit earlier..trouble is the cat tends to jump on the bed early, while it is still dark, so you tend to turn over and drop off again, and that's it, before you jknow it it is ten o'clock and late. never mind. Doesn't matter.
Went off to Sainsbury's this morning, to get some fresh veggies and bits we had run out of. car park was quite busy but plenty of spaces, so we got our half hour free and whizzed round. Saw a few bargains, but the idea was to get the veggies really. Home in time for coffee , and to find the garden gate open. Vin said maybe we had a delivery, leaflet or some such. he said that yesterday there was a slimming club leaflet delivered but he didn't show me that in case I accused him of calling me fat!!! Funny !!!
We still have our Christmas things up, and will probably take them down about Thursday. The house will look terribly bare then I love all the Christmas things. We got it just about right this year,put them up in the first week of December.

This is one of my favourites, i bought it in America in New England, and thought it was lovely and cheery. it was quite expensive at the time, but we have had it for a number of years now. The spray under it, vin bought from a fair at Tatton Park and they go beautifully together. Always feel Christmassy when they go up.Tonight we are having:
Something normal!
Escalope with broccoli and cheese
little potatoes sliced and fried in fry light
Pack of mixed vegetables and a hollandaise sauce.

Happy New year...

2012-01-01T11:06:00.001-08:00

This is us at the stroke of midnight..well in truth a little bit after because the batteries had run out on the camera. We take a photo every year, in the same place, with our drink to toast the upcoming year. Bobby decided to join us but little Rusty stayed in her basket.

Last night we watched "The King's Speech" which was excellent, we both enjoyed that, which finished just before twelve so good timing. had a drink then went to bed by around one O'clock.
Today..new Year's Day dawned very wet and rainy, so Vin didn't go anywhere. He went down to the shop for the papers so we could do the crosswords this afternoon, we missed them last week.
Tonight we are having:
A sort of buffet with bits and pieces. Cheese pieces, indian snacks and some dips and things.

Mingy With The Maple Syrup!!!

2011-12-30T08:02:00.000-08:00

Today..friday we thought we would go to Waitrose in Formby since we didn't need a lot of things, and it is quite near. Plus it is a nasty day again, drizzly rain and grey.
Parked right outside the front door which is always a bonus,thought it was going to be busy with the new Year approaching, but it wasn't. Another bonus. Got our groceries and everything on the list, then mooched around for anything reduced in the sales. I did get a box of crackers (the pull kind!) which were half price, and a really nice box of very posh chocolates again at half price. Since we didn't have that many treats for christmas i thought I'd get us those. Bought some Covent garden soup for our lunch one which we hadn't had before..carrot and maple, and a tomato and basil because they were on offer. 2 for £3.00
Home for coffee so Vin was a happy bunny.
Lunch then was soup, Vin had a toasted Marmite bageland i had some of my bread. When i served it up, i took the jar of maple syrup out of the fridge and put some on the top of the soup bowls. vin got a bit tetchy at this, and said Whoa..it doesn't float you know!!!!! Uh yes..i did know. can't believe he was being so mingy with the maple syrup..which incidentally I buy!! and he pours liberally over pancakes, and crumpets and the like.So..I had a mega sulk, and he tried to pass it off as a "joke".
Terrible television at the moment on daytime. After lunch we usually sit down and have a small espresso and watch Doctors that we have recorded, but it isn't on at the moment.Be glad when everything gets back to normal again. can't be doing with all the repeats.
we did enjoy the "Great expectations" that has been on for the last three nights. Very atmospheric and good acting, apart from Pip who was a bit effeminate for the part really. ray Winstone was excellent as Magwitch. Didn't Charles Dickens have fantastic character names. Enjoyed the series about Living with the Amish as well and it was the last of those last night. Not as good as the others though. The first one was my favourite, they were a lovely couple and he had the most wonderful narrative voice. i could listen to him for hours.
We had a very interesting chat with our coffee this morning..well it was more of a monologue really. Amongs other things we talked about jet engines, motor bikesand fossil fuels. he has a butterfly brain my husband, and is actually very clever. i wonder why his brain wasn't channelled in the right direction at school. Shame.
Tonight we are having:
Cheese and onion pasties from Waitrose, been in the freezer,
Rice puddings from Waitrose also from the freezer.

One of Those Dark Days...

2011-12-29T08:23:00.000-08:00

Very very wet dark and miserable here today. raining pretty much all day, and really raining too with it lashing down the windows and looks like some sleet with it too. So, needless to say we didn't go anywhere today, we stopped in and did bits of things. Vin has spent the morning going through papers so he has a pile now that he has read, and another that he hasn't gone through yet.
Next door came to the door this morning, they are off to Scotland, and they are welcome, driving up there in all this rain too. it's horrible driving on motorways in the rain with the spray, and the traffic , must be worth it though. She is Scottish, so I judge it must be to relatives.
At least Vin doesn't have a little cat to look after, he has looked after the little ginger one from next door for years, and he still misses it. I hope it had a lovely Christmas over on the Wirral.

Sad day on the Delia site today, it is the funeral of one of the really well known and lovely members, down in London. She will be sadly missed on the site. She wasn't old either, and it was all quite sudden really. It's odd how you get attached to someone you have never met or spoken to, but she was a popular member of the site. Always had a sense of humour and sharp wit, and we shared a love of cats, which she adored. R.I.P. "Squeaky"

Tonight we are having:
Cheese and leek escalope
Potatoes gratin
baby carrots.

Back to Manchester...

2011-12-28T07:55:00.000-08:00

Took the prodigal daughter home today back to Manchester. We left at around 10-15 and got there at around 1135 which was good timing. Traffic was quite light, and Vin cruised along and made good time. We had a bit of a breather when we got there, and Vin put some light bulbs up for them in the overhead lights. Doesn't appear that jane has forgotten anything, in fact she seems to have taken quite a bit of stuff from our store cupboard and fridge, but that's ok. It was too early for our lunch so we had a good coffee and a biscuit to put us on, then left at about 12.30. Traffic along the motorways was quite light for us on our side, but it was really building up on the other side, Loads of lorries and cars going in the Manchester direction, and some slow moving stuff. Good job we left this morning when we did or we would have been caught up in that.
Left on a good note..Vin gave Jane a coat he had bought from the Claire House Hospice Shop, which is a Nike brand, weatherproof and never been worn..a bargain at £3.50!!! Jane was thrilled with that, which is good because she is very finiky over her clothes.So that will be great for her when she is coming home late at night in the bad weather.
We got home at 2 30 with the best travelled sandwiches known. All the way to Manchester and back again, we enjoyed them when we got home, and the little cats hadn't moved I don't think, but they both got up for their chicken though!!
So...it has been an odd Christmas with her here.. Not too bad all things considered, and at least she was pleasant.
Tonight we are having:
Pea and courgette quiche,
Something tomatoey spaghetti hoops maybe..
A few chips to go with..well it is still Christmas!

happy Christmas...

2011-12-27T07:30:00.000-08:00

Well it's all over for another year!
daughter came home and well..slept a lot! She did have a Christmas meal with us though. We had quite a nice Christmas actually,Vin bought me a little book to put books in, and i bought him a book of The kings Carols with a DVD to go with I think.
Funny thing was, he bought me a voucher fror Superdrug..and i bought him one!! great minds eh!!
We had a nice christmas meal with Chicken style Roast from Holland and Barratt, Roast potatoes, sweetcorn, baby carrots and cranberries and Roast parsnips. gravy, bread sauce and cranberry sauce.
My traditional Christmas Pudding is my Hazelnut gateau which Vin helped make this year.

Well it's all over for another year!

daughter came home and well..slept a lot! She did have a Christmas meal with us though. We had quite a nice Christmas actually,Vin bought me a little book to put books in, and i bought him a book of The kings Carols with a DVD to go with I think.
Funny thing was..I bought him a voucher from Superdrug for £10 and he bought me..a voucher for Superdrug for £10!! We had a laugh about that.
our Christmas meal was:
Chicken style Roast from Holland and Barratt with gravy,
Roast potatoes, Yorkshire puddings because Jane wanted them..
Sweetcorn, baby carrots with cranberries and Roast parsnips,
Bread sauce and cranberry sauce.
We had our traditional Christmas pudding which is a Hazelnut gateau

Jane is going back to manchester tomorrow, the little cats have been very good really. I thought they would have been more timid, but even Rusty who is normally very timid and wary has been good with her.
Good Christmas television over the period, especially christmas night with the Downton Abbey episode which was really excellent, and a Poirot last night wghich is always worth watching. ITV definitely had the best of the bunch this Christmas.
Tonight..(Tuesday) we are having:
Quorn broccoli and cheese escalopes,
mushroom sauce
Potato croquettes
mixed vegetables.

Christmas cards...

2011-12-23T08:23:00.000-08:00

This morning whuile we were having our coffee before getting up we had a bit of a discussion about Christmas Cards. We now have quite a few and more arrive each day. You cn tell a lot from a card..sometimes they have a bit of a noite in about the family or circumstance, sometimes nothing but the names. I get one every year which has a sort of "Newsletter in it, and it is always the usual perfect family. Vin and I have a laugh about it and swear that one year we will do a spoof one. The one we get is where they have a perfect family, the children all get top marks in their exams, top First class degrees and top jobs. Then they get maarried and have the perfect babies so perfect grandchildren... They are now retired and have been just about everywhere this year. Just makes you tired reading it.
One card we got this year is from a friend who has two children and last year the partners name was on the card, this year it isn't..wonder what happened there. Then there are the missing cards, the ones you send but don't get a reply to..where have they gone? mysteries.
Jane continues to do her sleeping course..if there was a degree in sleeping she would have a first with distinction! The poor little cats have been displaced from their room so are wandering round looking for somewhere to set up home.
We went to Waitrose this morning to get our vegetables for Sunday, and a few other bits and pieces. Luckily for us, as soon as we pulled into their car park a car was backing out so we got a space. The car park was heaving with cars going round and round, not pleasant in the pouring rain either.
Waitrose was absolutely heaving..I have never seen it like that. You couldn't move with people filling trolley's like they were laying in for a seige. Mad really isn't it. We just got the things on Vin's always useful list then made our way home. Guess who hasn't moved a muscle!! got it in one!
Vin made me really laugh this morning..i saw a post it note on the bedroom door, and said "What's that?" He said it says..Keep out, Aged parents asleep!!! he's a scream that husband of mine. I love him!!
Tonight we are having:
Fishless fingers,
Chips 200 grms
Mushy peas for Vin and green beans for moi.

The Prodigal Daughter...

2011-12-22T07:27:00.000-08:00

Home for Christmas...weleft home at 1037 precisely, and Vin negotiated all the motorways over to manchester. Got a tiny bit lost when we got there, but he sorted it out. we ended up in Mill Lane cemetry which was a bit up the road from Janes, so he looked at his map and worked out where to go. Got to her house at about twelvish which wasn't bad considering the traffic. No hold ups though.
Her house is quite nice in a little estate, and she has a room with its own bathroom and bedroom so all en suite which is good. After we had some lunch and Vin had a bit of a breather we left at around 1'OClok to come home. never seems as long coming home as it does going. Arrived home at 2'15 so made good time.
The whirlwind has thrown all her stuff in her bedroom, fed herself, cheese on toast, and is now lying on her bed watching a video.
The cats seem unfazed really, I did think little Rusty would have run off because she is normally timid where strangers are concerned, but she didn't. good for her. Bobby wasn't bothered at all as long as she gets her chicken she is ok!.
Seems strange to have the bedroom occupied once again. Plus point was that it was good weather today, in fact it was quite mild and sunny,I had to use my sunglasses today which was the first for a bit.
Tonight we are having:
pasta bake with a tomato and basil sauce,
garlic bread to share
A bit of parmesan to go with.

Getting Ready..

2011-12-21T08:44:00.000-08:00

For the visit tmorrow. This morning we went off to Homebase first to see if we could get a rug for jane's room. The one that is in there is very drab, and I wanted to get something a bit brighter, but to no avail. They really only had one type and that was brown, coffee and mushroom oblongs, not very bright at all. So what we have done in the end is to swap the rug from our room and put that in there.
Then we went to Tesco's which is just over the road. Vin had a coupon for £2 off £20 so that was an incentive. Armed with his list, and some idea of what she wanted us to get her, we fought our way round a very busy store. I hate that Tesco's it's so cramped and people everywhere, but we seemed to get most of what we wanted, in fact everything we wanted. About half way round we bumped into an old school colleague, who I taught with at All Saints, and had moved to be in the Art Dept., of the school that our Jane went to. She is lovely and we had a good chat, catching up on her family. She has a daughter who is a senior registrar in London at the moment for a while, and another who is working for AQA in Manchester, so they'v e done well. She is retiring in July after 20 years at that school, I couldn't believe it was that long since she left my school. Doesn't time fly!
By the time we left her still shopping, it was getting on so we had to whizz round and get the other things, but we were all right in the end. At least it wasn't raining like the other day!!!
Vin vacuumed Jane's room this afernoon, so at least it is nice and clean now ready for Madam..
Tonight we are having:
Something from the freezer, quick and easy,
Maybe a flan and something tomatoey to go with.

Preparations...

2011-12-20T08:13:00.000-08:00

For the Royal Visit..Jane is coming home on Thursday as far as we can tell anyway. She has just rung up to ask if we had a spare timer switch so they can rig it up to one of their lamps because there will be a couple of days when there is no-one there. At least she is thinking of security. That is a good thing anyway.
Didn't go out today we stopped in to try and get her room sorted a bit. Did all the bedding so that will be nice and fresh, and the quilt, because the cats unfortunately treat that as their private bedding too, so that is all fresh and nice. She has just rung up actually on her way to work, then she is off for about ten days which will be a lovely break for her. I only hope her and her Dad don't start arguing, they are terrible when they get together, similar personalities I think. And..Stubborn!
She wants a Physics text book for christmas..How sad is that! but it is about £30 and she says she usus it all the time. She has a copy from the library which she keeps renewing, but if someone requests it she is snookered, and she says she will use it next year on the radiography course.I've also saved some pound coins for her in little pots so that will help a bit too I think.
Vin was going to vacuum her room, but the cats are in there so that couldn't be done, he can see the cat hairs, I can't, and miss them. I just did all the ironing, at least I can see that!
Tonight we are having:
leek and cheese escalope
Mushroom sauce,
Baby baked potatoes
Mixed vegetables.

Tipping Down..

2011-12-19T08:40:00.000-08:00

What a horrible miserable day it was today! really manky and wet. We had decided to go over to Ormskirk to get some of our Christmas things and it was just light rain when we left, then when we got there the Heavens opened and it was tipping down. i suggested we park in the little park behind M&S because we were going there anyway, and after going round once a bloke pointed to a space so we were lucky there. Poor Vin got soaked just going for the ticket.
Anyway we got there in the end..there was a market in the middle of Ormskirk today too which we weren't expecting it's usually Thursday or Saturday, but they were all there today. Didn't bother with that though it was too wet. Got Jane a card from tesco with some money on it so that will help with her shopping for a bit, and we got our chicken style roast from Holland and Barratt plus our fishless fingers. Ended up in M&S and got some Christmas stuff there, so we did really well today. Got back to the car and went down to Morrisons. Vin went for the ticket and came back to say that the machine hadn't given out tickets but had taken the money..that didn't please him..anyway there was no sign of the parking man but a woman uinside said go to the customer services and he got his money back there..so fair enough. Well done Morrisons. Had a really nice and welcoming cup of good coffee and a shortbread, only £2.75 for all that..2 big mugs of coffee and a packet of biscuits..best value in town actually. Proper mugs too.
Then we started to go round there. We got loads of things for Christmas, including a really nice carton of "Merry Christmas" Soup..Covent garden which is mushroom, stilton and pearl barley and some of the proceeds goto the sally Army too. We had that for our lunch when we got home and it was lovely. Got a trolley full of stuff, especially some things that Jane had said she wants, and paid with our saver card which has £49 on it, and if you spend it in December you get another pound so it was £50..I only had to pay eight pounds for all our shopping!
Still tipping down and we were late getting home, but the soup was lovely.
A few Christmas card on the mat,they are coming in quite slowly this year.
Tonight we are having:
Our leftover pizza from last night,
Salad with egg and potato,
All the remaining salads from last night.

The Weekend Again...

2011-12-18T10:04:00.000-08:00

Iwoke up this morning at five O'Clock with a little cat balanced precariously on my hip. bit early that is rusty!! Got up at six O'Clock to go to the bathroom, and then got back into my nice warm bed. Could I get back to sleep..Could I thuimp! All sorts of things going round my brain,mainly the state of the middle room where Jane will be sleeping wnhen she comes home. There are quite a lot of boxes etc in there because it's become something of a storage room since she left home. Vin says he has it all in hand and it will all be sorted. I believe him.
Yesterday was a bit rainy and cold, Vin went out to Maghull to get some stuff, but was back as usual for his coffee! he wouldn't miss that!
Today he went off to Crosby because we had forgotten to get the cats some chicken which would never do would it! They line up in the kitchen every day at around half past one so how could you tell them there isn't any? Mind you when Jane comes home they are going to have to find new spots to sleep on because they both are quite often to be found on her bed in their baskets.
Vin said Crosby was quite vusy with a lot of the shops that aren't normally open, trading today..Boots for example and the jewellery shop etc., Very unexciting place to go though it really wants bringing into this century with a vengeance.
Spent a pleasant evening last night watching the final of Strictly..What a good series this has been this year! I voted for Jason but he was voted off as third despite a wonderful show dance. Harry and Chelsee were left with Harry eventually winning and deservedly so.Very polite and nice young man too. Thought Brucie was going to blow a gasket at the announcement because all of McFly surged onto the stage to surround him, and he was batting them off with his cue cards..hilarious.
We then watched a film on Sky called "Black Swan"..not the sort of film we would normally watch, but my word it was a cracking film. I can see why natalie Portman won the best actress Oscar award last year for her portrayal of the main ballerina. Excellent film.
Jane rang up just before on her way to work, and she said it was freezing and the pavements were lice glass. They seem to be colder in Manchester than we are here, and she was a bit iffy about leaving work tonight and driving home. Hope she's careful.
Tonight we are having:
Pizza with our tomato sauce,
Portobello mushrooms pineapple, pepper and courgette.
Egg and potato salad with avocado and baby yellow tomatoes.
Potato salad for moi and pasta salad for Vin..

See Amid The Winter's Snow!

2011-12-16T07:39:00.000-08:00

Woke up this morning to a very dark, grey day. Looked like it was going to do something, then it started to rain. We had decided to go over to Ormskirk to do our shopping, and I got my slap on ready to go. Now I have a back tooth that has beenfilled so many times I have lost count, and last night some of the filling came out, leaving a hole where my tongue kept finding..you know the way your tongue finds the hole. Since the Dentist is only two doors down, I nipped in before we left for Ormskirk, and the girl said they had a cancellation at 12O'Clock, but i said we were just going out, so she gave me an appointment for next Thursday. Went back to the car, and Vin said you'd be better taking the cancellation and he would go to Waitrose instead to do the shopping. So that's what we did. I went back in the house, Vin made a list, and went off to Formby. He rang up after about ten minutes to say that it was snowing there, and was coming down quite hard.In the end it was a good job we didn't go over to ormskirk because it is quite high up there and no doubt it would have been quite snowy.
I was about twenty minutes in the dentists and Vin came home soon after me with two big bags of shopping.
What a good litttle shopper he is, he had everything on the list and some more useful Christmas things as well. Not long after he came in it started to snow here, sort of sleety at first, then a spate of those lovely big fat snow flakes, looked really pretty for a while, but it's gone now, and everywhere just looks grey again!Vin has just come in and said that he had been down to the coal bin for lighting the fire, and everywhere is quite icy. He says that there has been a drop in temperature since lunchtime and it has gone really cold now.
Jane has just rung up on her way to work, she says it's freezing cold but not really snowing there, just wet. At least she has her new shoes, so her feet won't get wet!!
Tonight we are having:
Cheese and onion pasties from Waitrose, Vin's favourite..I think that's all he went for!
baked tomatoes to go with,
Rice puddings from Waitrose..so Vin is a very happy bunny..

"Gathering more Winter Fuel"...

2011-12-15T08:12:00.000-08:00

We were going over to Maghull this morning because I wanted to have a look at the Bon Marche shop..they have a %30 reduction today. But...decided that I have enough stuff from there so we went out tto Dobbies instead, to finish our free coffees for the month. Vin wanted to get some more of their bags of logs which have proved to be excellent, they don't splutter and burn really beautifully. They are specially seasoned in a kiln so are totally dry and safe for use in the chimney. So he got two bags of those.We now have..coal..peat bricks and wood logs. So if we have a cold Christmas wer'e ok!
Had a bit of a look round there too, Vin saw a book that he wantedso I got him that for Christmas, and we chose some nice treats from the food hall, like pickled walnut chutney that he likes, and little thin cheese wafers that I like and go well with a drink. The box upstairs is now overflowing with goodies, gleaned over the past few months.
Had our coffees and a good chat in the spacious restraunt areathen home for lunch.
We did most of our Christmas cards last night, didn't do a newsletter this year, mainly because we get some terribly naff ones that we laugh about, but..my writing is getting very shaky these days so will possibly do one next year, simply because it is easier.
Watched the Royal Variety performance from the Lowry theatre in Salford last night which was a really good show we thought. lovely to see Tony Bennet singing his heart out..what a voice. And Leona Lewis who was a big find from the X factor but we didn't like her new song though.
Bit mournful.
Funny weather today, it was really wet on the way to Dobbies driving through Woodvale there were huge puddles at the side of the road, but dry here where we live a few miles away. Odd country this.
Tonight we are going to haveQuorn chicken style pie,
sweet potato and butternut squash
A few boiled squashed potatoes
Gravy to go with.

When a poor man came in sight..Gathering Winter Fuel...

2011-12-14T08:48:00.000-08:00

Fuel that is..you would be poor if you were paying for fuel these days. Coal delivery this morning £100 for five bags of smokeless fuel, mind you Vin says that has filled the bunker andwill last about six weeksish. Then there was a delivery of Peat from Hortex, two bales at £10..So the "Old man of Good King Wenceslas would need a deep pocket indeed. Mind you he would have his Winter fuel Allowance of £200 between us, it was £250 but this government took £50 off it!! I blame David Cameron..I bet he doesn't have to worry about the heating in his flat or houses!
Vin nipped out to Crosby this morning to get the cats their chicken because they had run out.
Jane has just rung up..a much happier bunny, because she has a new pair of trainers, she got them from the sports shop..Adidas and they were only £25. so at least she hasn't got a hole in her shoe tonight!
Quick note tonight because I was late starting..
Tonight we are having:
Pasta with a pour over spinach and ricotta sauce
Vegetables to go with it,
A bit of garlic bread.

Miscellany..

2011-12-13T08:10:00.000-08:00

Of things happening today. we had thought of going over to Ormskirk to get some stuff from Holland and Barratt, including our fishless fingers, but Vin rang them up to see if they had any in stock, and they didn't so that stopped that idea. Added to that, it is a fair journey over there, and it is very blowy and cold today, so saved us a wasted journey really.
So, in the end we stopped in. Vin mended the ceiling outside the bathroom door which has been letting draughts through.Now it doesn't. Mr Fixit rides again. i cleared out the fridge, and washed that down, loads of jars with well gone sell by dates..and half jars of jellies or things that were decidedly dodgy looking. They get shoved to the back of the fridge shelf and forgotten. So now we have a lot more room. We were going to do the bedding but little Bobby was asleep on my pillow and we didn't have the heart to move her, so left that. by lunchtime she had moved though so we did in the end.Just after lunch we cleared out the freezer too, got rid of lots of bits of things that have been put in there and never used, and some stuff that was freezer burnt or out of date. So that has cleared a lot more room for Christmas things now.
Oh what an exciting life we do lead!!!All sorts of gale warnings today on the weather forecast, and the trees outside are really blowing. Vin's draughtproofing will be tested tonight I think.
Jane has just rung up a bit happier because the biology assignment that she had handed in with a page missing, she got a merit for. She thought she would have failed that,so she was good about that. She is on her way to work still with a hole in her shoe, and hoping it wouldn't rain tonight!!
Tonight we are having:
Quorn chicken and mushroom style pie.
Potato croquettes
Carrots, and beans.

And Another Week Starts...

2011-12-12T08:08:00.000-08:00

two weeks to Christmas isn't December flying by, and I haven't started my Christmas cards yet either. Must get them on the go asap.We have all the decorations up though so not too bad.
Went into Formby this morning to get our weekly veggie fix. So Waitrose it was this morning. The thing is..you come out of our village, and you turn right and you get to Crosby and Sainsburys, or you turn left and you get to formby which is Tesco or Waitrose. Since we never go to Tesco it is Waitrose this morning.Nice store but so expensive, and you are tempted by things that you see all round the aisles, so that encourages you to spend more. Spent £45 this morning and didn't get that much either. Did get a few bits for Christmas though, so not too bad. I do miss the Morrisons that used to be there.
Vin has ordered some coal this afternoon which will come on Wednesday, 5 bags I think it was, and he ordered some peat last week but that hasn't come yet, seems to be delayed.
Jane rang up yesterday, very annoyed because she had left one page of her biology assignment in her bag, and not handed it in. She reckons that the tutor is a bit of a split personality and won't accept it. kids..there's always something.I certainly didn't think that at 28 she would still be doing assignments like a college kid.Funny thing as I was typing this she rang up. On her way to work, and she said it was freezing, but she has layers of clothes on and a hole in her trainers! Oh dear, she sounds like a bag lady!!!No money for new ones till she gets paid again. She had to pay her rent and the bills first.
Must say i don't envy her going out in this weather in the dark and the cold.
Tonight we are having:
Mozzarella and pesto escalope,
Small baked potatoes
Carrots beans and broccoli with a mushroom sauce.

Christmassy!

2011-12-11T10:36:00.000-08:00

just had our first Carol Singers at the door..afraid we din't answer the door to kids who tend to stand there sing one awful verse of "We wish you a merry Christmas" then go....straight to the sweet shop up the road! Cynical in my old age!
The new neighbours next door have a Christmas tree in their conservatory which snows!!!!! I can't see it , but Vin says he spotted it this morning snowing. Well that's a new one on me. Don't think we will be getting ne of those somehow.
Quiet weekend really,must think about doing the Christmas cards since time is getting on now. Vin was saying this morning that it is only two weeks till Christmas Day, then it will be all over. thankfully we don't have many presents to buy, not having any family, it must be a terrible time of the year for those who are in debt or don't have nmuch money.
Vin went to Formby yesterday to get a few things that we had forgotten then over to Maghull. just about dodged the rain which was very patchy yesterday. The bag of logs that he bought from Dobbies has proved to be excellent, they are hard seasoned wood and burn beautifully.
Watched the Strictly last night and voted for jason again, but fear that he may be one of the ones to go tonight. We shall have to see. Also watched the X Factor, but not impressed at all this year, and it is the first year we haven't voted for anyone. Goodness knows who will win that.
Today he went to crosby for a few things,said it was quite quiet,but he likes a wander round and a mooch. Did our crosswords this afternoon, which weren't bad. mine had a theme of "Just a minute" the radio show, which I haven't listened to ffor years. Ah well we got there in the end.
Tonight we are having:
Pizza with our tomato sauce
portobello mushrooms pineapple, pepper for Vin and courgette for me.
egg and potato salad with avocado pear
Potato salad for moi and sweet noodle salad for Vin.

Gales a Blowin...

2011-12-09T08:20:00.000-08:00

scotland has had it bad over the last few days, the Forth road bridge closed which is a bad sign. the pictures on the news last night were aawful with great big lories being blown over on their sides. seems to have calmed down today, but the weather forecast for this region is icy patches tomorrow. well, it is December!
jane rang up at lunchtime just as we came in from the supermarket, she is shattered but told us that she has fot distinctions in all of her exams, so that will keep her going. Good for her!
We went over to Walton Sainsburys this morning for our weekend things, very blowy there too. i had a quick look in the Next shop two doors down while Vin went into Poundstretchers to look for cheap fairy lights. I don't know whuy i go into Next..the clothing is just terrible. Thin and flimsy with no quality to it.I used to quite like their jewellery but even that is dreadful these days, and the Home ware section is tacky these days. What has happened to Next/ it used to be such a good store, but a lot of stores have gone like that now, cheap imported stuff from...China!!
Got quite a lot of stuff from Sainsburys. They seemed to have a few offers that we use today. No ripe pears and no potato salad..what are they playing at? The pears are all like turnips and need about a week to ripen, not like the pears you see them using on cookery programmes when they are lovely juicy things.
We went to our usual spot in their car park for our lovely coffees..it's a huge car park, and very few cars use the back of it, be a good place to learn to drive.
Tonight we are having:
Pasties from waitrose, vins favourite and the ones he went out of his way to get yesterday!
Rice pudding from Waitrose.

Imagine!!

2011-12-08T08:09:00.000-08:00

Picture the scene..A school Nativity Play..then two parents have an argument, ond one man ended up biting the finger off another! poor little kids, i nly hope that it wasn't in full view of them.Vin was telling me this as we were going to sleep last night, apparently it was on the news on his in the ear radio. Somewhere in middlesboro i think, at least it wasn't liverpool!!!
Absolutely horrible day here today, very cold and miserable and wet and blowy. vin dodged the showers and went to Homebase to get some foam to draughtproof the extension. he says there is a draught where the ceiling meets the brickwork, so he is fixing that. Mr Fixit is off again Bless him.

The bit he is doing is the top of the bricks where they join the ceiling. these are my Clarice Cliffe plates (reproduction) which I love.
of course on the way back he went into Waitrose to get two of his favourite pasties for tomorrow night!!They didn't have any yesterday when we went and he saw that as a tragedy. he does love his pasties...vegetarian of course.
Jane rang up this morning too, she was on her way home to do her biology assignment which is due in, and she said that she had got %86 on her Physics exam which was a Distinction and the one she was really worried that she had failed. So although she was tired she was a happier bunny.
Posted john and Anns parcel yesterday and it was £16 to post! We sent a card and letter, a calendar Thomas Kinkade one.. a DVD of Downton Abbey the second series, and the latest Susan Boyle CD. A little christmas ornament and two Hamish McBeth books. So, quite a haul. i wonder how hot it is over there/ probably in the nineties. can't imagine Christmas in all that heat somehow, but I suppose it's what you are used to.
Tonight we are having:
Something out of the freezer
A pack of nmixed vegetables
8oz of potatoes between us squashed.

Blown Away...

2011-12-07T08:24:00.000-08:00

nearly..wewent out for a run this morning to get a bit of fresh air. very breezy here, you have to be extra careful with the car doorsWent over to Dobbies to get our coffees, and have a bit of a look round. Did spot some lovely crackers for the Christmas table which were all red and gold, very pretty and only £6 which I thought was very good so bought those.Vin was more down to earth and bought a bag of hardwood logs for the fire, and two pots of fruits for cheese from their food hall. I got a jar of peaches in brandy, we always have those at Christmas as a treat.We have a box upstairs in the middle room which we keep treats in and it is getting quite full now. Enough there till Easter I think.
had our coffees and Vin decided he wanted to go in the corner again! I said it feels like the naughty corner! i think it is because he doesn't want anyone to see us eating our own biscuits really!
Very sad news on the Delia website that I am a member of yesterday. One of the members of the site has passed away early yesterday morning suddenly in hospital. The thing about the site is that you do get to kniow people on it really quite well and they do become friends if you can call it that. She was a lovely witty kind woman who has gone too soon, only in her early fifties i think. She leaves a sister who will be devastated and a mother who is in a nursing home and has dementia, and who she looked after for years. everyone on the site is thoroughl7y shocked and saddened at the news. Always seems worse at this time of the year too. RIP Squeaky which was the name she used on site. Very sadkly missed.
Tonight we are having:
Pasta with a pea asparagus and green bean sauce
A bit of garlic bread and a bit of parmesan
A pack of mixed green vegetables to go with.

Oh Christmas Tree Oh Christmas Tree!

2011-12-06T08:14:00.000-08:00

Today we have spent the best part of the day putting the Christmas decorations up in the house. Vin does all the heavy work getting the trees down and hanging stuff up. and I do the fiddly things like decorating the trees. We have three altogether. one in the extension, one in the middle room and one in the front room in the bay window which can be seen from outside, and looks really nice with the candle arch in the upstairs window.I think we have put them up earlier than last year so we will get longer out of them. We have collected decorations over the years, and have some really nice ones now. i love the trees when they are up.
Jane has just rung up on her way to work, she says it is raining and freezing cold there and she is shattered. She's been doing an assignment, has had a full day at college, then is doing a full shift at Ticketmaster. Good news though ...she has passed her Physics exam which she was really worried aboutso that is good. her next lot of exams are in January so she has a bit of leeway now, but she has two assignments to do over Christmas which is a shame. never mind, like she says it isn't long now.
Parcel arrived from Australia this morning, so we need to get theirs posted soon, probably tomorrow.I hope they like what we have got them I think they wuill enjoy the Downton Abbey DVD series two that we got. There is a two hour special on Christmas day of that..wonderful. And, a Poirot on Boxing day so that's good viewing. looking forward to those. Vin got the big Christmas TV mag this morning when he went for the paper..costs a fortune too.
Tonight we are having:
Lamb style grills done in the oven in a gravy,
Little boiled potatoes or maybe mashed ones
Carrot batons

What a day..

2011-12-05T08:53:00.000-08:00

hailing as I type this. jane has just rung up on her way to work and said it was freezing there.She has had to walk further to another car park because the one she usually goes in was full and the next one was £4 instead of £2..so she walked to a cheaper one.Hope she doesn't get wet on her way home poor little kid.
We went into Crosby this morning and just about dodged the rain etc., went to the bank and paid some money in for her at least that will help a bit.
Sainsburys was quite busy actually, but the car park wasn't. Odd that, must be a lot of people from buses use it. there's always a lot outside waiting for taxis at that one.
got our stuff for the week, so sorted out for evenings. Home in time for his coffee and Vin to do a bit of draught proofing. his latest project which is to go round doors and windows to put strips on so they will be draught proof.
Short and sweet today..ran out of time because Jane rang up..but I don't mind that.
Tonight we are having:
Escalope with a mushroom sauce
baby baked potatoes
Carrots and beans

Weekend Wotsits..

2011-12-04T10:28:00.000-08:00

All sorts of bits and pieces this weekend. Vin went off to maghull yesterday to get his bits and bobs that he wanted, said it was fairly busy, but the parking wasn't a problem. jane rang up in the afternoon sounding really fed up with her exams and money worries. She was on her way to work for a five O'Clock shift, horrible night and really cold..don't suppose that helps. She said the Chemistry and Biology was fine but she was very concerned about her Physics. they are having a lot of trouble with the Physics teacher who isn't teaching them properly, so the exam questions were very hard.Hope she passes that one. She is also poverty stricken not having any money and asked me for a loan.Vin and I discussed it and decided that wasn't the answer, what she needs is a drip of money going in to help with the rent etc. her outgoings are more than her incomings at the moment and that is what is causing the problem. We'll try and get her sorted a bit.
Enjoyed watching the Strictly last night and voted for jason since Anita has gone. Thought his singing in the rain the best dance of the evening. terrific.Last night we had:
Chinese Quorn dippers with a plum and ginger sauce,
stir fry vegetables
1/2 a packet of fried rice.

Today (Sunday) is a horrible day here. cold and rainy with the odd hail shower too. vin went to crosby to get some things and came back with a beautiful new bed for the cats. he said it was for Rusty but it is big enough for bobby who is a big cat. he put it on the sofa but it is a bit big there so he has put it on the bed upstairs and Bobby has gone straight in it. She looks really lovely and we must take a photo of her. He said he was dodging the hail in Crosby which he says is a horrible place..like an Eastern european town..bare and lifeless.he passed three cyclists on the way back from there and said they were getting soaked in the hailstorm. can't for the life of me imagine what fun there is in cycling in this weather. hailstones hurt too they sting like mad.
Did our crosswords quite easily today, Vin's had one or two he had to look up on the netbook. That has proved to be a really good little machine, and means we don't have to trawl upstairs to use the one in the bedroomisn't technology clever these days. Don't like all these phones that do everything though, i've seen people using them and looking mindless, touching the screens and working away like they were toys.
Tonight we are having:
Pizza with our tomato sauce,
portobello mushrooms, pineapple, pepper for Vin and courgette for me,
Egg and potato salad with avocado..I hope they are ripe!
Potato salad for moi and a rice salad for Vin.

out and About...

2011-12-02T07:58:00.000-08:00

This morning we were up and at em quite early. I had an appointment at the Hearing Aid centre in Southport at 10-15 so we had to leave the house fairly early.Even so, we are always still in a rush on the last minute, there always appears to be last minute things to do. Left the house at 9-45 and were in Southport byabout 10-07 which was good going. Went along the Coast Road which is traffic light free and you get a clear run there.
Steve, the hearing aid man tweaked the sounds somewhat because I had noticed that the tone on the higher frequencies was very crackly and a bit tinny..the sound of clapping on Strictly for example sounded like someone rustling crisps in my ears. We shall have to wait till tomorrow night to see if that has improved.I hope so.Next appointment is in June which is six months off.
We had parked in the Sainsbury's car park which is just opposite the centre (shop) so we had to spend a fiver to get the parking free. We wanted a couple of things anyway that we couldn't get in ASDA so that is ok. Got some egg salads for the weekend and a stirfry and their magazine then came out.
Off to ASDA which is only five minutes up the road. Quite busy but parked near the ffront, when we got out of the car we could hear the dulcet sounds of....Christmas Carols..already and it's only the 2nd of december. The Southport Rotary Club had a float in the entrance with a Father Christmas waving to everyone. very jolly. Put some money in their box anyway, and then had "Little Donkey" ringing in my ears all round ASDA.Not my most favourite carol, but never mind it's for a good cause.
Vin went off down to the Range shop and I had a mooch round ASDA on my own, didn't spot any books that I fancied or any clothes..don't like their clothes anyway..very badly made
Thought my blood sugar was getting a bit low so went off to the Pharmacy to get some glucose tablets. Chewed two of those and was caught up by Vin who said "What are you eating?" told him and he said I can't leave you for two minutes!! What a fusspot..nice though.
Completed our shopping, then went to a quieter part of the carpark for our coffees. Spotted a car park attendant looking round a red car nearby , looked all round taking photos of it as well. Then wrote a ticket out and put it behind the wiper blade.So someone isn't going to be a happy bunny when they come back to their car. Silly really because you get two hours, and you get the money back in the store, they could have come back and got another ticket too. Vin said it is a £70 fine if you go over the time. makes a very expensive day that.
Last night in the end we had:
A crustless cheese and onion quiche from Morrisons in the freezer,
Two potato croquettes each
A small tin of spaghetti rings.

Tonight we are having:
Fishless fingers with tartare sauce
Chips 200grms between us
Green beans for moi and mushy peas for Vin.

Hare4s and Rabbits...

2011-12-01T08:41:00.000-08:00

I wonder who else sys this on the first day of the month for good luck.We always do, there is a race in the morning to say it first in our house. Vin usually wins because I don't come round quickly enough to think what day it is never mind the date and month!
Stopped in today, I wanted to get a bit more of John and Anns letter done so we can send off their parcel, and Vin was mooching about outside. he got his long ladders out and was painting the bathroom window giving it the last coat. he said this morning while we were having our chat.."Guess where the paint came from?" then he said Woolworths! it's a tin of gloss paint he has had inside for a while. Poor Woolworths, it is still a shock that they went, and so many shops as well.Most of the Woolworths round here are now either Iceland freezer centres or Poundland type shops, which seem to have taken over the High Streets. Those and the charity shops, in Formby village centre there are about six assorted charity shops now, supporting all sorts of causes. We do tend to go to the animal rescue ones, but the Roy Castle one has some nice things. Haven't seen any Clarice Cliffe or moorcroft yet though!
Wonder how Jane got on with her exams this week, she hasn't rung up yet so maybe they went well. She'll get in touch before long.
Tonight we are having:
Something from the freezer, haven't a clue what.
Maybe an escalope, we haven't had one this week yet.
Or maybe a quiche and something tomatoey.

Oh I Love a barain!!

2011-11-30T08:09:00.000-08:00

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.

What a Day!!

2011-11-29T08:20:00.000-08:00

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.

The Signs...

2011-11-28T08:04:00.000-08:00

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.

Another Weekend...

2011-11-27T10:52:00.000-08:00

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

What Day is It?

2011-11-25T08:03:00.000-08:00

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.

Quick trip...

2011-11-24T08:04:00.000-08:00

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.

Funeral of a Neighbour...

2011-11-23T08:12:00.000-08:00

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.

Numb Gumb....

2011-11-22T08:16:00.000-08:00

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.

Season of Mists...Etc..

2011-11-21T08:15:00.000-08:00

!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.

Weekend Witterings...

2011-11-20T10:09:00.000-08:00

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.

Gutted!

2011-11-18T08:17:00.000-08:00

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.

Little Mooch...

2011-11-17T07:57:00.000-08:00

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.

Bits and Pieces...

2011-11-16T08:12:00.000-08:00

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.

The embers are Glowing..

2011-11-15T08:12:00.000-08:00

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.

Sooty and ?????

2011-11-14T08:04:00.000-08:00

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.

Rememberance Weekend...

2011-11-13T10:58:00.000-08:00

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

What an Odd Day...

2011-11-11T07:56:00.000-08:00

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.

Ear Ear...

2011-11-10T08:09:00.000-08:00

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.

Bits And Bobs..

2011-11-09T08:43:00.000-08:00

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.

"Deja Vu"

2011-11-08T08:25:00.000-08:00

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.

A Touch Of...

2011-11-07T08:18:00.000-08:00

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.

Bonfire Night..

2011-11-06T10:50:00.000-08:00

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

Busy morning!

2011-11-04T09:13:00.000-07:00

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.

Tales of the Unexpected! The Banking crisis...

2011-11-03T09:12:00.000-07:00

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.

Isn't It A long Day When...

2011-11-02T08:57:00.000-07:00

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.

Hares and Rabbits..Again!!

2011-11-01T09:21:00.000-07:00

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.

Halloween...Oooh Spooky!

2011-10-31T09:49:00.000-07:00

Well we have the black cat..nearly, she is quite dark anyway. What a difference a day makes! it is now a quarter to five and it is getting really dark already. Surprised to see reports on the news about heavy snowstorms on the East Coast of America, there was one lovely picture of a large Pumpkin with all snow on the top. Aaah. I love Halloween over there, es[ecially in the New England area, they really go to town with their decorations. Massive big pumpkins on their porches etc. Ghosts dancing round trees and very inventive decorations. Its lovely.
We went to Crosby Sainsburys this morning, to get our weekly things. Called in at the garden centre over the by-pass on the way home to get our free coffees for the month, and had a good look round their gift centre. The garden centres these days have really excellent gift shops, and this one is particularly good. Vin spotted some lovely letters with writing on them in the french style, white and gold with brownish lettering. I bought a J and V for us, and a J and A for John and Ann. Really pleased with those, till we got them home and found that one of the J's wouldn't stand up. So that will have to go back. Typical. We should have stood them up in the store.
Vin has been up in the loft this afternoon, finishing off his pipe lagging and measuring the rest of the floor for the insulation. I wonder if we will get any trick or treaters this year, we haven't been having them for a good few years now, just the odd one or two.
Tonight we are having:
gruyere cheese escalope
A little pack of vegetables
Some squashed baby potatoes
Maybe some mushroom sauce.

Clocks Back!!

2011-10-30T11:45:00.000-07:00

And doesn't it make a difference too. it was going dark at about five tonight, and I suppose it's all downhill from here. So far we haven't had a real fire, existing mainly on heaters where we go, but I don't think it will be long now, especially at the weekends. Nice to have the extra hour in bed though this morning.
Yesterday and today have been pretty normal, vin went out to get his last two rolls of loft insulation yesterday, and today he went to get the last of the pipe lagging. he reckons he will have it finished by this week. he's done really well, a new cold water tank, fully plumbed in and installed, and loft insulation over all the loft floor. He is going to put a top up on that which is only £3 a roll and subsidised by the government so that will bring it up to the high specs. Well Done my Vin XX
Did a pile of bedding today, so that will be ironing next week, never mind it's lovely going to bed in thise cotton sheets, all warm and cosy with the blanket on.
Vin hung the quilt cover out this afternoon, but it hasn't dried much too cool today I think. it must have been dreadful years ago doing the laundry and trying to dry things. i can well remember my Mum drying things in front of the fire, and the occasional hot smell when they got a bit close. Monday was wash day in ur house though not Sunday..that was for church and Sunday dinner. how things have changed in our house.
trying to make the most of the new computer. I keep doing things wrong, but Vin is very patient, and comes and explains things or puts them right. Haven't quite got the hang of putting photos on the blog yet though.

It worked!! by the looks of it. yesterday I was playing around but it wasn't working. Hooray, we are getting there.
Tonight we are ahving:
pizza with our tomato sauce. ( Need to make a batch of this next week)
Portobello mushrooms, pineapple, courgette, and pepper for Vin, not me I hate them!
Potato and egg salad with avocado pear
Potato salad for moi and sweet chilli noodle salad for Vin

Technical Things!!

2011-10-28T08:33:00.000-07:00

Went over to the Sainsbury's Walton this morning to get our weekend things. lovely morning too bright and sunny and really nice to be out. Got round the store really quickly today, wasn't busy even though it is half term. Of all the ones we go to it is actually one of the best to get round. Got everything we needed and didn't seem to have a huge amount in the trolley, but i don't think we forgot anything.
had our coffee in their car park, at the back where it is quiet. Sitting nursing our coffee mugs, we were watching a man walking up and down speaking into his mobile phone. Quite amusing to watch him actually, speaking away and gesturing with his hand obviously to make a point. Then he was jopined by another young man who was also walking round the car park where we were. is it a man thing I wonder??
Noticed a big road diversion on the way there which would have caused problems, but we were planning to call in at PC World on the way back to collect our monitor which has arrived. Vin found a really really quick way back, which savved us minutes. So the diversion did us a favour in the end, we will use that way in future. Collected the monitor and were home in our usual time.
Then Vin tried connecting it. No problem with that, but the monitor itself is very bright, too bright for me to read properly.He tried looking at the screens which came up but its all very technical and needs a while to sort out. Definitely not a simple thing to do. So, in the end he attached the old monitor for me so I could do this, and a few other things for a little while and he will have another go at it when he has more time.
he'll get there in the end, he's very bright is my Vinny.Tonight we are having:
Spinach and Ricotta flan,
Small tin of spaghetti for the tomato sauce
A couple of potato croquettes.

Lofty progress!

2011-10-27T08:44:00.000-07:00

Stopped in today, Vin wanted to do some more work on the loft. he has put down eight rolls of insulation now, and reckons he needs one more roll to do the bits and pieces he has left. he will probably finish it next week now since we are out tomorrow and he won't do it at the weekend. He's really worked
I spent the morning finishing off my letter to John and Ann so got that printed off this afternoon. I'll get that posted, then start their one for Christmas. Bit stuck for ideas this year for their Christmas parcel. I have a really nice Thomas Kinkade calendar, but nothing else yet. I need something personal for Ann and something for John, but they need to be light, given the cost of postage which is really high these days.

Pumpkin time of the year. Saw an advert for them two for the price of one at tescos yesterday. bet they don't look like these though!
Vin rang the P.C. World place yesterday to see if the monitor had arrived. When we bought the new computer last week, we got everything but the monitor. The base unit id HP and so is the keyboard, but they had run out of the monitor which was Samsung 20". Anyway, they have one in with our name on it, so we will get it tomorrow. We were going to Sainsbury's in Walton anyhow, so it is just a little detour on the way back. Kll two birds with one stone as they say.
Tonight we are having:
Haven't a clue...No idea whatsoever.
Will have to see what we have in the freezer.
Pack of mixed vegetables to use up
Some potatoes to use up too.

Cool Nip..

2011-10-26T08:31:00.000-07:00

In the air today. The weather forecasters all said that we were going to have rain today but that hasn't materialised. Quite sunny actually. i put my new reactions glasses on and they darkened up very quickly outside.
Vin decided that he wasn't going to do any of the loft today, and was going to have a breather, so we went out to Dobbies. I wanted to have a bit of a look round for Christmas things but didn't actually see anything that took my fancy. Vin got some nice Mandarin marmalade and i bought some shortbread and some after dinner mints to have in stock. Maybe the garden centre over the road will have something better for Christmas.
We had a lovely coffee in their busy restaurant. What a difference the half term makes, there were kids everywhere, and a lot of grandparents with kids attached, there must be an awful lot of Parents in this country who rely on Grannies and grandads to do their childcare during the holidays. We never had that because all of Jane's grandparents had died, she didn't have the pleasure of those relatives. Mind you i didn't know any of mine either so it must run in the family...
Called in at Waitrose in formby on the way home because the cats needed their chicken for tomorrow, and got a few other things for the store cupboard. At least they were quiet.
Vin spent the afternoon washing his car, while I fiddled around up here, so a mixed sort of day really.
Tonight we are having:
Chicken style pies
cauliflower cheese
A few baby potatoes squashed.

Ooops nearly forgot...

2011-10-25T08:51:00.000-07:00

Nearly forgot to do this, and I've been on here a lot today. out of the way really, because Vin has been in the loft most of the day doing the insulation. he has nearly finished it, and says that he has to do fiddly bits now. It's lovely stuff, bright orange on one side, and a soft foil on the other. he says it is made in St. helens, from recycled glass bottles, which is good. He went out this morning to get another four rolls. he seems to think that he has enough now, but might need another one.
I have been on here most of the day doing a letter to John and Ann to replace the one that was lost on the crashed computer. The one click hard drive save arrived this morning so that will solve the problem of losing things in future we hope. It has been quite difficult trying to think of what I had put on the original one, so I think I have mostly written chatty rubbish. Never mind.
Jane rang up before and said she has got a bit of a block of time over Christmas so she might come home. That will be a wonder, she hasn't been home in an age. I think the cats will have forgotten what she looks like!
Vin has just had a nice bath he says, and the bath water was filthy..from all the dust up there. Well Done again Mr. Fixit.
They have just said on the News that a two week old baby had been recovered from the earthquake in Turkey, and the Mother and grandmother. little miracle there.
Tonight we are having:
Pasta with a Spinach and ricotta Sauce,
A bit of garlic bread
Some parmesan cheese.

Half term...

2011-10-24T07:38:00.000-07:00

I used to love half terms. A whole week to myself to do what I wanted. No early mornings unless i wanted to, and no school work to spoil the weekends and evenings. Now, half terms mean an annoyance of children in the shops, running round where they shouldn't be and I can't wait for them to finish. We tend not to go anywhere when it's half term these days. funny how things change.
Went to Sainsbury's this morning to get our weekly things and whizzed round there while Vin went off to get a free bottle of Lucozade..coupon in the paper. Not much halloween stuff evident in the shops, i wonder if the interest is waning a bit. There is however a lot of christmas things appearing and the adverts have started..Buy your furniture now and it is guaranteed delivery for Christmas!

Not like these Pumpkin displays anyway!
As i type this, with some difficulty because little Rusty is on my knee, and I am trying to keep her off the new keyboard..Vin is up in the loft getting ready to start putting loft insulation up there. he has it all planned out, and has bought four rolls to start with. That was all they had in stock till they get some more in at Homebase. he has just come down to say how hot it is up there, yet it isn't a hot day. maybe he will be the one needing the Lucozade!
Tonight we are having:
Mozarella and pesto escalopes
baby baked potatoes
Mixed vegetables with a mushroom sauce.

Working Well!!

2011-10-21T08:16:00.000-07:00

This new computer is so fast it's unbelievable. Pages appear as if by magic,and it logs on in seconds.
Vin spent quite a lot of time yesterday setting things up, and he has got most of what we had on the last one. Thankfully the AOL is the same, so all my favourites etc haven't changed.Our old computer hasn't produced anything at all, and the man who was looking at it rang today to say that he couldn't retreive anything off the hard drive..it's totally kaput. The one thing that I was most annoyed about was losing the letter to John and Ann which I had been writing since August!.They are going to think that I am very rude not replying to their last letter and present etc., but couldn't be helped.
Funnily enough on QVC last night the "Today's Special Value" is a one click system that saves all of these problems, so I have ordered that, and since it works on both this computer and the Netbook it seems a good buy.
We were up early this morning because I had an appointment at the Hearing Aid centre in Southport. It was a check up after two weeks of using my new ones. Nothing much to report actually, other than I am very pleased with them. I think Vin is finding that the television isn't so loud, and I don't think that I am saying "What" to him so often. The poor man has spent so long repeating things that he has said I am amazed he has any patience left.
We parked in Sainsbury's so popped in there afterwards for a few things so we got the parking free, then we went over to ASDA which is only a few minutes away. Very quiet, still quite early I suppose. Vin wanted to have a look at their glasses so I had a look at clothing and the books. Didn't see anything at all that I fancied, and Vin caught me up to say that he wasn't impressed with the glasses. he has had glasses from there before, and thought they were quite good. I got one pair and didn't..mine were quite flimsy and the eye test wasn't up to much. Soon went back to Specsavers. My new glsses from there are great now the arms have been altered a bit, and the reactions lenses are great.
Went round and got our weekend things, plus some other stuff as we always do, and had our coffees in their car park out of the way.

This is by way of being an experiment since I haven't posted a photo on this yet..but it seems to have worked just fine!

Tonight we are having:
Fishless fingers and tartare sauce
Chips 200grms between us,
mushy peas for Vin and green beans for moi.

R.I.P. Poor Little Computer!

2011-10-20T12:14:00.000-07:00

Today weheard the tragic news that my computer could not be repaired. it had been in the computer hospital with a little man for a couple of days, but he rang Vin up this morning to tell us that is was beyond repair, or it would cost an arm and a leg to get spares. In his opinion it wasn't worth it. So it has gone to the great computer heaven or wherever they end up. The only thing that I was a lot sad about was that I was in the process of writing a long letter to John and Ann in Australia , it was about six pages of typing, and that has gone .. Bother or words to that effect! I shall have to restart that one..God knows what was in it as well. Never mind, worse things happen at sea or so they say.
So, this afternoon we went over to the P C World in Aintree and bought a new one. This is a hewlett Packhard "Pavillion" and is so fast I am amazed at its speed. We have bought all our computers from there, the first one we bought for Jane when she was doing her exams, and cost £1500 ! The second was more for me when I retired and cost about £600 plus a lot extra for a warranty, This one cost £500..Is loads faster, has more of everything and is a much better computer. So welcome to the house new computer.
This is a short and quick note today because I am trying it out.
Tonight we had:
Linda McCartney red onion and cheese plait,
Roasted butternut squash and sweet potato.

Bereft!!

2011-10-19T13:32:00.000-07:00

Iam ding this on Vin's little Netbook, so there will probably be some errors, to say the least! I feel quite bereft without my big computer which is presently in the computer hospital being repaired. That should take a few days apparently. Can't wait...
Mr fix it is at it again, he is now doing loft insulation, and has been to Homebase to get four rolls of very attractive insulation to begin with, until they get more in. He needs another five rolls he says. The loft is going to be pristine when he is finished!
Haven't done a huge amount this week so far. Went to Formby yesterday to get my glasses adjusted. The earpieces were rubbing into the back of my ears, and the nose pieces on my nose. Quick bit of adjustin g and they were done. Working fine now and very comfortable ton wear. Then went to Waitrose to get a few veggies and of course the cat's chicken.
Monday I had an appointment at the Nephrology clinic in Aintree. This was at 11.30, and we just got there on time having to park on the 4th floor in the open air. Got the initial tests done quite quickly, then the long wait. Must say I noticed a lot of nurses and assistants standing roun d not doing anything yesterday. Got in to see a clinical nurse eventually, who just increased the ArNEST TO ONE INJECTION A WEEK INSTEAD FO EVERY FORTNIGHT. i ALWAYS FEEL A BIT FOBBED OFF WHEN i SEE HER, RATHER SEE A CONSULTANT WHEN YOU'VE MADE THE JOURNEY THERE. Home for lunch then that was the day sorted.
I seem to have done some of the post in shouty letters but can't be bothered redoing it son it will have to stay..
Tonight we had:
Burger Puffs
A few sliced potatoes done in Fry Light
Spaghetti in tomato sauce.
Very tasty actually.

Well..that took a bit of effort...but we got there in the end!!

Emergency

2011-10-18T08:59:00.000-07:00

Tragedy...main computer has temporarily fallen victim to a nasty something or other. Vin worked on it all day yesterday and didn't get anywhere. He got a little man to collect it who luckily was in the area this morning,so he has collected the base unit for removal to the computer hospital.
Normal service will be resumed as soon as it is better.

Weekend Again...

2011-10-16T10:46:00.000-07:00

Don't they come round quickly! With monotonous regularity it seems. nothing unusual to report the normal Sunday washing of the bedding which means a load of ironing on Tuesday or thereabouts.
Crosswords this afternoon, I always enjoy those, it's a nice peaceable time working out the answers. The ones we do are general knowledge types so they can be tricky. There is a big one in The Mail ON Sunday which can be very testing, but with Vin's little Netbook we can always finish them.
He went out to Crosby this morning to get a few things for tomorrow. I have an appointment at the kidney clinic at 11.30 which is a pain of a time, breaks into the whole day. So that's another trek to Aintree and the car parking which is a real pain, but never mind.
Enjoyed watching "Strictly" last night. We record them and then fast forward all the boring bits such as the training etc., you can cut it down by quite a lot that way. It is quite a long programme otherwise. Thought Jason Donovan is proving to be a really good dancer, and fear for poor Anton this evening..time he got a decent partner i think.
Jane has just rung up with steam coming out of her engine. Wants her Dad to solve it and tell her what's wrong. As if he could tell her over the phone without looking at it! He got annoyed because she hung up on him..she is very impatient and wants things solved yesterday..and he loses patience with her. What a pair!!
Last night we had:
Chinese..Vin had Spring Rolls and I had some Quorn dippers
lemon peking sauce
Stirfry vegetables
1/2 a pack of rice.

Tonight we are having:
Pizza with tomato sauce, pineapple, courgette mushroom
potato and egg salad with avocado and baby plum tomatoes
Potato salad for moi and sweet chilli noodle salad for Vin

Weekend Again..

2011-10-14T07:55:00.000-07:00

Looming up , another weekend.They come round very quickly, the days just flashing by in a mist of routines etc.,
This morning we went over to Walton to the bigger Sainsbury's. Opposite it there used to be Walton Hospital where I had to go for most of my appointments. I now go to Aintree which is just up the road. We noticed as we were going past this morning that they are beginning to knock it down, getting it ready I suppose for housing units. it's quite a large plot of land actually, goodness knows how many houses, apartments etc are going to be built there. Vin noticed that the house at the other end of our road is up for sale again. It is a semi and has they say four bedrooms. On sale at £250,000 or a pound under that. Don't know why they bother with the pound. It's been very carefully photographed so that you just see the house and not the Post Office right next door. The blurb also says it is opposite a "Park" I wonder when that became a "Park"? it has always been our village green..funny how estate agents make things sound much better than they really are.Like our little terraced houses suddenly becoming cottages!!Well my house isn't one yet!!

The "Park" in the snow at the beginning of the year. The house that is for sale is the right hand one next to the Post Office!.
And so to Sainsbury's, which wasn't too busy, it never is actually, which makes it a pleasant shop to go to. Went round and followed Vin's list which was really useful today. Got all our weekend things and also a few other items we had run out of. Went round quite quickly then had our coffee in their car park at the side which is empty. Very pleasant. I had my new reactions glasses on but wouldn't you know it, no sun today, so didn't see whether they went brown quickly or not, and vice-a versa.
Not drizzly or blowy today though, in fact Vin is in the garden as I type this, getting rid of weeds, i think I can smell the weed burner. Still very quiet in the block, the neighbours haven't come back from Dubai yet on one side although I think they are due very soon. The ones on the other side are due back at the weekend or early next week.
Tonight we are having:
Cheese and onion pasties from Waitrose,
Baked tomatoes to make a bit of sauce,
Rice puddings also from Waitrose. Vins favourite!

Quick One

2011-10-13T08:49:00.000-07:00

Today a quick note. I try to get my blog finished before 5pm so that we can go down and watch Countdown and DOND. We record these on the Hard drive and then fast forward the boring bits. You can watch them in about 1/2 an hour then. We have a lovely mug of freshly brewed filter coffee and a tiny cake. It's a sort of treat for the day.
Vin went out to Formby this morning to look at loft insulation but had a look round Formby as well. I wish I had known he was going there because I would have gone to Specsavers..my glasses are rubbing the side of my head somewhat so need adjusting. Have to wait till next week now. No matter.
Very quiet day otherwise..had a lovely long bath this afternoon with my book and candles and a Crabtree and Evelyn Patchouli bath foam. It's gorgeous and scents your whole skin, a real treat. haven't much left though.
Tonight we are having:
Sliced potatoes sauteed and fried in Fry Light,
Cheesey Kiev
Any veggies that I have left over.

Eye..Eye..

2011-10-12T08:05:00.000-07:00

Should have gone to Specsavers!! Well I did. Went to the one in Formby this morning to collect my new glasses. Two pairs nearly £200. Both pairs with bi-focals and one pair with the reactions lenses which go darker in the sunlight. Very pleased with them actually, they are a complete change from my last pair which I had got tired of anyway, and then when the Consultant at the eye clinic said I needed them changing that decided it. I got two pairs this time so I would have a spare set just in case. One pair is called Alana and the other Savannah ! I wonder just who sits down and thinks of names for glasses??
Nipped into the M&S to get some pasta sauce and we got the cats some more chicken. Their shopping costs more than ours!!
From there Vin went along to the Holland and Barratt to collect his free vitamins. Vitamin D today, Then we went to Dobbies for our free coffee for the month. Had a good look round there but didn't see anything that I wanted to get, but Vin bought a candle or two.
Last week I saw a lot of geese flying over the house. We are on their flight path, and you see them every year as the Autumn progresses. My Mum and Dad always used to say that they were a sign of bad weather coming, and lo and behold after all the warm unseasonable weather we have had along came the blustery winds and gales of the last week. Well today Vin went down to the Post Office and came back to say thathe had seen hundreds of them in the sky, going South West. So be warned..bad weather on the way alert!!I wonder what is in store? Funny some of the Old Wives Tales about weather that I have had from my parents..Cows lying down in a field means rain, the smell of the sea outside the front door means stormy weather, and the geese of course. Come to think of it, not many foreseeing good or sunny weather.

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Just put this in because I like pictures of pumpkins and it cheers up the blog a bit.
Tonight we are having:
pasta bake with mushrooms
Carrots
A bit of garlic bread.

Appointments!

2011-10-11T08:29:00.000-07:00

Today was going to be a busy day wiuth quite a lot going on. I had a dental appointment for a check up at 11 0'clock according to Vin, but when I went into the surgery Judith the receptionist said we have you down at 11-45! So home I went,not a problem as we only live two doors down.. We were going to Formby to get my glasses after the 11 0'clock, but with it being later we have put that off till tomorrow. So no new glasses yet, get them tomorrow instead.
Vin woke up early because I have a delivery of my Aranesp injections, and they often come early, but there is a phone number you can ring, and they said between 11.30 and 2 O'Clock. If we were going out he would have left a note on our door to take them over to the chemist, but in the event we were in, so that was sorted.
Jane rang up before, she was walking from the car park to work. She said it was tipping it down there in Manchester, and really horrible. She's been in college all day and then goes to Ticketmaster to do an evening shift. Bless her, she is a grafter. She has always had jobs to pay her rents and expenses, it's a struggle for her, but I'm sure she will get there in the end.
Tonight we are having:
Chicken style pies
Squashed potatoes
Mixed vegetables.
Mushroom gravy.

Get Up and Go..

2011-10-10T08:16:00.000-07:00

Vin will be full of get up and go now. There was a voucher in today's paper for a free tub of vitamins from Holland and Barratt, so we went to Formby for our weekly things because there is a branch there. He was quite pleased that he got them..ABC vitamins, but a bit miffed that they had Senior on them!! HaHa..
Blowy again today,and wettish and drizzly. Waitrose was fairly quiet as is usual, and I got round quite quickly before he found me again.I remembered pretty well everything that we needed plus a few extras. I did pick up a pack of Union State Pretzels that was a limited edition for Halloween, which I thought looked good, till Vin pointed out that there were spiders all over the packet..Put them back pretty quickly!!
They do have a good selection of veggies in there even if they are on the expensive side. Home in time for coffee, the cats hadn't moved of course and were where we left them fast asleep. They know what to do on a rainy Monday!
Tonight we are having:
Escalopes from the freezer,
Mixed vegetables with Hollandaise sauce
Baby baked potatoes.

Getting Used To Them...

2011-10-09T10:12:00.000-07:00

The hearing aids I mean. Poor Vin is often being told to Shhh! After such a long time of having to speak loudly I am having to tell him to quieten down a bit. Also he is quite often telling me to turn the television up a bit instead of down. I think the trouble is that I have a volume switch on these so it is a case of twiddling them a bit until we find a happy medium.
Quite blowy today but not rainy like yesterday. Vin went out this morning to get some cat food and their chicken, but wasn't out long and was back for his coffee at about the right time. Did our crosswords after lunch. I always enjoy Sunday afternoons and the crosswords, it's a nice peaceable time for us. Having just said that it isn't raining today, it has just started to pour down and is looking quite wintry out. The nights are drawing in quickly now it is beginning to get dark and it is only a quarter past six.

Nice Autumnal scene..
Yesterday no-one went anywhere it was too nasty a day really, even the cats stayed out. Little Rusty did venture out but ran straight to the hut and stayed there for a while then ran back in again!.
Last night we had:
Chinese dippers with sweet and sour sauce
1/2 a packet of fried rice between us
Stir fry vegetables
Vin had some sauteed red peppers..he's welcome!
At the moment on the radio they are playing a Beatles medley. Paul McCartney is marrying his third bride today..wish him every happiness with this one.
Tonight we are having:
Pizza with our tomato sauce portobello mushrooms courgette and pineapple
Egg and potato salad with avocado and baby yellow plum tomatoes
Potato salad for moi and a pesto pasta salad for Vin.

Hear..Hear...

2011-10-07T08:10:00.000-07:00

I knew what to call todays post. We were up early this morning because I had an appointment at the David Ormerod Hearing Centre at 10 O'Clock. Parked just opposite there in the Sainsbury's car park which means you get free parking if you spend £5 in there which we were anyway.
New hearing aids in both ears, at a cost of £1.895... Spent a lot on the old plastic debit card today, that plus £40 for petrol on the way and £40 in ASDA afterwards.
Fitting the aids is weird..they are attached via wires and a little tube down the ear, andthen Steve tunes them in. Nothing at first then a series of extremely loud booms and squeaks and rattles and whistles till you then get speech. Since he was softly spoken to start with , there was a difference I could get immediately. Vin was wsitting on my "bad" side and I could hear him on that too which is good. This is easier in the car when he is naturally on my bad side. When we are out walking he always walks on my good side so that I can hear his speech. These aids have a button that you press for various functions. You press the button and a womans voice says "One"..or "Two"..or "Three". Really odd takes some getting used to. I have a volume switch on these too for an extra boost.They will take some getting used to and will settle down also apparently, so I have a follow up appointment in two weeks time.
Went from there quickly into Sainsbury's to get a couple of things to spend the £5, then on to ASDA which is only minutes away. I like ASDA I always come out of there thinking that I have got good value for money. Took a top back that was to big, and spotted a very nice nightshirt in brushed cotton with long sleeves all cosy for the colder weather. Vin forgot his list but we remembered all of the things on it anyway.We are having Chinese tomorrow so it was things like stir fry etc.,We have it off to a fine art in there..I walk round with the trolley and Vin goes off to collect things! Tannoy quite noisy today..I wonder why??
Moved down the car park to a quieter spot and had our coffee. ASDA sell a really lovely vanilla milk which is gorgeous in coffee. Normally I have my coffee black, but the vanilla milk is lovely. We sit there in the sun with our flask, coffee and biscuit and it is really pleasant. Pity there isn't a nice view though..HaHa.

Pumpkins Anyone?
Tonight we are having:
Fishless fingers and Chips..200grms worth
Mushy peas for Vin and green beans for moi
Tartare sauce.

I Think Autumn is Here!!

2011-10-06T08:39:00.000-07:00

Really blowy today, the trees at the back of our house, and the horrible sycamores at the front are waving about like mad things today. The weather people on the North West News today were spot on..they said wtch out for gales and branches coming down. We've already had that this week with the lopping of the massive conifers way over in the distant house!
Didn't go anywhere today, we had a day of mooching about doing bits and bobs. Vin had some paperwork he wanted to attend to and I moved some of my money from a savings account that I have to my bank account to pay for my hearing aids tomorrow.
I'm getting quite excited about those, I'm hoping for a miracle really, but if my hearing improves enough to make mine and Vin's life easier it will be worth it, even if they are two thousand pounds!!
Couldn't do anything outside today because of the weather, but it was nice just being inside with the cats. Mind you they sleep most of the day really. It's a lovely life being a cat..I think I will come back as one..except for the cat food..don't fancy that! Had a really lovely bath this afternoon..all my candles lit, my book, good bath foam and a tiny little Toblerone bar as a treat. Bliss!
Tonight we are having:
Pasta with spinach and ricotta sauce,
Sauteed baby courgettes
A tiny bit of garlic bread and a little bit of parmesan.

Odd Weather...

2011-10-05T08:31:00.000-07:00

Woke up this morning to a blowy and very dull morning. i asked Vin if it had been raining it was so dull..it hadn't. I had to go and get a blood test done at the hospital, the one that I have done before my Nephrology appointment in two weeks time. So we set off for there. Car park was dire..round and round, until we eventually gor right up to the top..4th floor which is on the roof. never parked there before, but it did us a favour actually because we parked next to the lift, went down to floor two..walked the long way to the Elective care centre, and thus to the blood dept. Walded right in..the girl was really good straight into the vein, not like the last chap at the Formby clinic who had about three goes digging around then gave up and used the other arm. Came out, did the reverse lift journey, got my £2 out ready to pay at the machine and because we were less than 1/2 an hour it was free!! Excellent.
Decided to go to M&S because the cats needed chicken, and we could have a bit of a look round since it is a bigger out of town store. Vin wanted to go to Halfords which is two stores down so I was left to mooch in M&S while he did that. He caught me up a bit later by the jewellery..Wonder how he knows where to find me!! HaHa..Didn't buy anything there though not this time anyway. Went for another coffee upstairs which was really nice, but too busy, it was quite hard to find somewhere to sit down. Had a look round and i bought a cute little magnifying glass with a light made in guess where...China..but it has a lovely pinky purple handle, and will be useful upstairs in the bedroom when I am reading. Got a few things from the food section including the cat's chicken,and left for home. Great parking too for a change right outside..funny how some days it seems to go right.
Gone very blowy now, there was a gale warning on the North West news for tomorrow.
Tonight we are having:
Mushroom and ale pies
baby potatoes squashed
Mixed veg and a mushroom gravy.

If its Tuesday it must be...

2011-10-04T07:56:00.000-07:00

ironing day..Mostly there is the bedding to get on with. While I did that, Vin sorted out the cupboard in the corner which is ubnder the kettle area. It is a large corner cupboard which we put all our dry goods. Surprising what you turn up actually. It was a good day to do it because it is our black bin day tomorrow. We found packets of CousCous, why on earth did I buy that? dated from 2009!! Loads of assorted packets of pasta, which is not needed these days because I use the gluten free pasta which is excellent. A number of Mexican meal kits which you think you will use but somehow never get round to it.Before he knew it there were a couple of carrier bags full. Good clear out in the end which has cleared up loads of space. Now let me see..what will we fill it up with???
Vin was sorting out the Medi Cash forms this afternoon, it's quite a good deal really, you get money off glasses,dental treatment and all sorts.I joined when I was in teaching and they were doing a promotion, and it is a terrific scheme. I am getting £80 off the cost of my glasses so that reduces them quite a bit. i will also get some off my hearing aids, and my dental work next week. it's been an excellent scheme to be in actually.
Gone quite blowy this afternoon, still can't get used to the new outlook from the back of our house with the very large conifers gone. Makes a huge difference, and will let a lot more light into our garden in the late afternoon.
We are stuck in the middle at the moment. Our new neighbours have gone off to Turkey for two weeks, and our neighbour the other way is off to Dubai tomorrow, to stay with her daughter who works out there. So, too is her next door neighbourwho is her "boyfriend" and they have adjoining houses.
As I am typing this the radio 2 is playing "Everybody's Talking" by Harry Nilsson..What a record and what a voice,One of my most favourite records second only to Without Her..that is my most favourite record in the world. The only trouble is that Steve Wright ALWAYS starts yapping before it finishes..drives me mad!!
Tonight we are having:
Cheese and Onion Flan
Potato Croquettes
Small tin of something tomatoey/pataish
Mushrooms sauteed.

Should Have Gone to Specsavers....

2011-10-03T07:39:00.000-07:00

Well we did! We both had appointments this morning for eye tests. One at 11 O'Clock the other at 11>20 O'Clock. Vin went in forst while I had a browse around the shop at glasses. Oh My..what an array of different glasses to choose from. I wanted to get two pairs because I wanted a spare pair this time. The glasses I am wearing are my only ones, and that has always bothered me, so I knew they were doing different offers, like %25 off for over 60s, or buy one get one free. I had a good look round, some of the frames were plainly on the cheap side, and some I thought were over expensive..these were the designer ranges on the whole. i think often you are paying for the name, and they started at £125 before all the extras..bi-focals and reactions and so on. Settled on the £85 range which were good glasses, but then ..Which ones? While Vin was getting his eyes done I picked up a couple which turned out to be very similar. He came out and helped me then. You do need someone else when picking them because they can tell you which suit you better. He found a lovely pair actually that I had missed, with little sunbursts on the side of the frames, really nice. So i discarded one of the frames I had picked and got those instead. Measured and details taken and all done. One pair with bi-focals and reactions and the other with just bi-focals. My eyes had changed a bit according to the very nice chap who did the very thorough eye examination, so did the prescription and paid and went. Bac a week tomorrow to ge6t them. £199 for two pairs and then I get £80 back from Medi Cash so a good deal I thought.
Vin didn't see any he fancied..he was looking for something different he said but nothing caught his eye..HaHa.
Time getting on, we had been in there about an hour, so we went over the road to Waitrose where we had parked to get our weekly things. Very warm and sunny, although it has gone really blowy now. Treated Vin to a coffee in Waitrose which was about £5 !! a bit dearer than morrisons, but it was a nice coffee. Did our shopping then home in time for lunch.
Funny thing this morning..Little Rusty was having her usual piece of toast with my Dairylea light cheese spread and a scraping of Marmite on it, and she turned round to look out of the window with a start. We thought that there was a cat in the garden, but Vin noticed some large branches being lopped off from some horrible conifers way way over in one of the gardens at the back of our house. Nothing wrong with her eyesight then!!
Tonight we are having:
Lemon and black pepper escalope,
bread sauce and cranberry sauce,
baby baked potatoes
Baby mixed vegetables.

What a Difference a Day Makes!

2011-10-02T10:46:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was lovely and warm all day. bright sunshine, but today is totally different. Dull, overcast and a bit drizzly in the afternoon.We had forgotten a few things on Friday, and also the Sainsburys we went to didn't have some things we wanted so Vin nipped out to Formby to the Waitrose to get them.
I always have the radio on while I am doing these, Radio 2 of course, and at the time of typing this I am listening to the Paul O'Grady show. he is playing the new record by Susan Boyle which was from her new album which is being released on November the 6th. Wow..what a beautiful voice that woman has got. Really powerful and beautifully sung. Nice to know she is still doing well..Good for Her.
The cats have been very sleepy this afternoon, I wonder if it is the weather affecting them? Nights are drawing in rapidly now. it is only seven o'clock and it is getting dark already. I suppose the clocks will go back in a couple of weeks.
Our crosswords seemed to take much longer this afternoon, both Vin and I had problems with them, although the big Sunday on in the Mail didn't prove to bad.
Last night we had:
green Thai Curry which was gorgeous.
With 1/2 pack of rice and a mushroom stir fry.

Tonight we are having:
Pizza with our tomato saucve
Courgette, portobello mushrooms and mozzarella cheese.
Egg and potato salad with avocado and baby plum tomatoes
Potato salad for moi and pasta salad for Vin

Lady GaGa...

2011-09-30T08:13:00.000-07:00

Oh my Goodness...yesterday when I was leaving the house to go out, Vin said..that's a very nice top you have on..the only trouble is that it is on inside out!!Well I didn't spot that..
Today we went over to the Walton Sainsbury's to get our weekend things, and when I got there I thought that my Navy Blue trousers were a bit odd! Walked around and did the shopping and when Vin went off to get the cat food, I tried to get a tissue out of my pocket. What's this..pockets wrong way round? Think for a moment and then light dawns..the trousers are the wrong way round. The elasticated bit was at the front.. Very embarassing to say the least. So left Vin with the trolley and went off to the Ladies to change them round. That's better!! No doubt he won't let me forget that in a hurry...
Sainsburys was a bit annoying actually, quite a few spaces on the shelves, especially the salad things..no egg and potato salad for our tea on Sunday. No potato salad for me either but Vin did get what he wanted. He treated himself to a vegetable sushi for his lunch, which he doesn't deserve because he has been horrible over the Peter Kay show. Jane has got three tickets for five rows from the front and only £35 a ticket, and he refuses to go. He says stupidly that he will drive me there and wait somewhere..Crackers..As If..I could go and he would be waiting around. Sometimes he makes me so mad...
Peter Kay was on our North West News last night, because the anchorman is retiring after fifteen years. Gordon Burns is very popular and has done some terrific interviews over the years, including many Prime Ministers. He will be sadly missed on the programme.Tonight is his final programme so I expect there will be a rew surprises.
Another scorching day here today, Jane rang up before and said it was very warm in Manchester. The news said it was 28degrees there.That is a bit warm for this time of the year..What's going on?

Wouldn't mind being here...
Tonight we are having:
Cheese and onion pasties from Waitrose
A few baked tomatoes
Rice puddings from Waitrose too!