Mingy With The Maple Syrup!!!

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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..

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.