"Nothing Day"

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!!

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...

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..

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!

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!!

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!!

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.