Don't Kill Snails with Salt ... Creme Eggs & Toasted Teacakes ... Biscuits & Bench Stories, Life, the Universe, & Everything! Showing 2,551-2,600 of 9,227

[P]

Val wrote: "And those of us with northern hemisphere ancestry still (rather stupidly) try to recreate that traditional Christmas. Turkey, roast potatoes, Brussels sprouts, Christmas pudding etc. Our house will..."

My last remaining uncle from what was a large family, lives in Toowoomba, Oz, Val. Always seems strange wishing him a sunny Christmas.

[P]

Our tree is now up - we are perhaps the last in our street!

[suzysunshine7]

Is it me? - or do Christmas Decorations go up and come down down earlier these days? - just like they tend to do in the Shops.

Our Tree won't go up until sometime next weekend and it'll stay up until Twelfth Night as usual - but our Neighbours have had their Trees up for around a fortnight now and they all tend to take them down again the day after Boxing Day.

[Craig White]

we have a regimented system that runs like a german train timetable! that is put them up when we can be bothered, down soon as is decent!

[suzysunshine7]

I often leave my pretty little Fairy Lights up until February or March - they brighten and delight my Heart when it is so cold and so dark most of the time ;o>

They nicely frame my Bedroom Window overlooking the Back Garden and so I don't think that any of the Neighbours ever notice them.

[Val]

P wrote: "My last remaining uncle from what was a large family, lives in Toowoonba, Oz, Val. Always seems strange wishing him a sunny Christmas..."

Very tropical up there. I'm not a fan of humidity but I suppose you can get used to anything. Queensland seems to be having its usual summer of bushfires alternating with floods. And they get cyclones there too!

[Val]

suzysunshine7 wrote: "Our Tree won't go up until sometime next weekend and it'll stay up until Twelfth Night as usual - but our Neighbours have had their Trees up for around a fortnight now and they all tend to take them down again the day after Boxing Day..."

Not just you Suzy. Our tree is being delivered on the 14th. Because of commitments, we probably won't get round to decorating it until the 16th, and it will definitely stay up until Twelfth Night.

[suzysunshine7]

The Lady next door to us takes her Tree and Lights down on Boxing Day night?! - as she tells everyone how much she hates Christmas ... which always makes me wonder as to just why she bothers at all then every year without fail as putting a Tree and Lights up isn't a compulsory thing?

I like to think that she is secretly hoping that Santa really will come one day ;o>

[[deleted user]]

suzysunshine7 wrote: "Oooh, I am missing my Grizzlygrump Breakfast Trays ...

It's entirely his fault that I NEED a Bacon Butty as a comfort! - LOL!!! ;o>"

As you asked so nicely;-

I am, at this moment, knocking together some BMTs - Bacon, Mushroom and Tomato ( not got any lettuce) served in rolls straight from the oven :)

This will be washed down with a large glass of cafe latte flavoured milk as I haven't got time to wash it down with something alcoholic (after a day like today, it would have been nice!) as I'm due back at work in 11 hours!

[suzysunshine7]

Oooh? - and I went and missed those yummy Baps while I was just off sorting out Laundry! ... I've bought the little Hairy Woofers some brand new Box Duvet Mattresses to replace their two now rather flattened ones - and so all of the old Outer and Inner Covers needed stripping off and washing and drying along with the new ones.

Windyway Animal Sanctuary is going to do very well out of us this year as M&D will take anything that we don't want or need anymore (now all freshly laundered) up to them tomorrow ;o>

[suzysunshine7]

WOO-HOO!!! ... M&D have bought me a Gingerbread ...



... I'll go halves with you? - do you want the Horns or the Chin? - or should I snap it straight down the middle from top to bottom instead? ;o>

[[deleted user]]

Not so keen on gingerbread these days;

When Mrs Grizzly used to deliver for Morrisons as well as Ocado, before we moved here, she used to have to give out gingerbread Santas and snowmen (I think it was both, could be mistaken) to customers along with their shopping. As not everyone wanted them,she used to bring home any that were left over when she had finished.
Gingerbread almost every day throughout the Christmas period - it gets a bit much :)

Right - bedtime.
Santa might well deliver all the presents, but he sure as hell doesn't deliver the groceries to the stores - he leaves that to me! :)

[suzysunshine7]

Well, don't all excitedly rush at me at once, will you?!! ;o> ...

I shall have to eat it all by myself then! ... and in fact, I already have! ;o>

[suzysunshine7]

Grizzlygrump wrote: "Right - bedtime.
Santa might well deliver all the presents, but he sure as hell doesn't deliver the groceries to the stores - he leaves that to me! :)"

Nighty-Night x Sleepy-Tight x and very Sweet Dreams x

[suzysunshine7]

;o> ...

[suzysunshine7]

All being well, we might be able to get out together to go to see our favourite Brass Band for their Christmas Concert tomorrow afternoon - so I've been trying to remember all of the lyrics to as many Christmas Carols as I can think of today.

M&D and the two little hairy woofers were all safely out of earshot and so I was tidying the Lounge whilst halfway through the Chorus of 'Angels We Have Heard On High' when I suddenly became aware of Rufus, one of our Neighbour's BIG hairy woofers, who was seemingly 'singing/howling' along with me?!!

When M&D got back home again and were unloading the Car, Nick (Rufus's 'Dad') came over and just happened to mention (and apologise for) all of the noise Rufus was making earlier ... "I've no idea what it was that set him off but he was just sat there howling his Head off and I couldn't shut him up?! - not even with the promise of a Dog Treat!"

I'm now thinking of going on Tour next year with Rufus as my Backing Singer!

Hee, Hee, Hee!!! ;o>

[Lez]

If you can get (the lovely) Rufus as your backing singer you will let me know, won’t you? ;-)

[suzysunshine7]

Sorry, Lez Lee ... I'm talking about an enormous very handsome 4 year old Rhodesian Ridgeback with an incredibly loud and booming Bark ;o>

He will always let you tickle his Tummy in exchange for a Bonio though?

[Lez]

Oo-er!

[suzysunshine7]

If only Rufus Wainwright was just as obliging, hey? ;o>

[suzysunshine7]

Well, we decided against going to the Concert this afternoon which is a little bit sad as it's the only thing that we really wanted to go to and we usually go every Christmas - but we just didn't feel too happy about leaving Tia home alone (except for Mitz of course) for what would have added up to being about 4 hours.

Tia-Maria is amazingly pretty much her usual self most of the time, which makes knowing her to be terminally ill seem rather surreal, but she does tires easily and we know that, any hour of any day, she could suddenly show signs of being extremely ill.

I didn't manage to get to Bed until gone 4am last night and then I was up at 6am ... because Mitz was crying out for rescue and sanctuary in the Hall over Tia refusing to accept her 'Barleys' and continuing to repeatedly chase her all around the Lounge and Dining Room and standing over her and holding her down so she could duff her up! ;o>

Before anyone ever feels sorry for such a poor little Mitz then you really should know that it is almost always Mitz that starts all of this play-fighting off by rolling over and smacking Tia in the Face first thing in the Morning! - and if that doesn't get any reaction then she progresses to prancing and dancing around Tia in between play-biting Tia's Legs!

However Tia is the more persistent and the much stronger one of the two of them and so she soon regains the upper Paw and then she refuses to stop even when Mitz has quite clearly said 'Barleys' and has more than had enough! - LOL!!! ;o>

It is just SO wonderful to wake up first thing every day to the sound of them racing around being such utterly daft Pups together ... I just wish with all my heart that it could go on and on and last forever ;o>

[suzysunshine7]

Chunky Breaded Fish Fillet Butties for everyone for Brunch ;o>

[[deleted user]]

suzysunshine7 wrote: "Chunky Breaded Fish Fillet Butties for everyone for Brunch ;o>"

Not for me, thanks - not long had a thick pork chop with roasties, tomatoes, mushrooms, peas and carrots.
Couldn't possibly manage another bite ............ yet! :)

[suzysunshine7]

Oooh? - that sounds yummy! ;o>

It's such a really lovely mild bright and dry day here today ... are you on Days Off today? - or off to sleep soon and back at Work tonight?

[[deleted user]]

Days off?
Days!!

No such luck - just worked four, got tomorrow off then working another four before getting a whole weekend off.

I was lucky to get finished by 11:00 today as my truck developed an air leak - I felt the truck dragging between gear changes so I stopped to see what was wrong. Turns out that where the airline connects to the trailer, the whole thing was shearing on a joint resulting in the air leak which was slowly applying the brakes. Had the joint actually snapped, the immediate air loss would have locked on the trailer brakes - not what you want on a motorway!
Rather than call breakdown and wait 60 - 90 minutes for someone to come out, let alone fix the problem, I managed to do a temporary bodge which allowed me to get back and leave the trailer at the workshop.
If I hadn't done that, I might only just be getting home now!

[suzysunshine7]

! ... thank goodness you realised what was happening!!! ;oO

I do worry about folk out there on the Roads at this time of year. It seems like there are double the number of idiots out and about and a lot of them are also often under the influence as well ;o<

[[deleted user]]

I've encountered a similar problem before from an air leak on a brake booster chamber - resulting in some VERY hot, bright orange brake discs!

Idiots on the road?
I thought I'd seen it all, until the other day. I'm used to the amount of people who seem to suffer from B.T.T.S. (beat the truck syndrome - they've just got to get in front of you) so wasn't surprised to see a Transit van trying to overtake me on a slip road not much wider than the truck to join a dual carriageway. As soon as the van could, it drove across the white lines and straight out into the second lane of the dual carriageway.
I looked across as the van drew level with my cab to see who this latest idiot was but never did get to see the driver - my focus was on the baby in the unrestrained carry cot on the vans' passenger seat!

[suzysunshine7]

O . M . G . ? ! ! ;oO

As someone who was very sadly not fortunate enough to have been blessed with the precious gift of children of my own it never ceases to shock and distress me as to how many times I get to see and to hear of things like this! - how utterly careless and complacent much more fortunate folk seem to be with theirs?!! ;oO

[suzysunshine7]

[[deleted user]]

When Mrs Grizzly got home last night, she gave me a right telling off along the lines of "What are those chocolates doing out here? - Don't tell me you've opened them already when you know they're for Christmas!"

"Well dear," I replied, "As you put up the tree early this year, (it went up a week ago Thursday while I was in bed - blurry picture on profile) I presumed we were doing everything early. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!"

With that, Mrs Grizzly tucked in to the chocolates herself so I reckon I've been let off, if not totally forgiven :)

[[deleted user]]

I'm already seeing Cadburys Creme Eggs advertised on some of these Goodreads pages!

[suzysunshine7]

Oooh? - pass them round! - LOL!!! ;o>

[suzysunshine7]

Grizzlygrump wrote: "I'm already seeing Cadburys Creme Eggs advertised on some of these Goodreads pages!"

WHAT?!! - we don't tend to see them until Boxing Day around here! ;oO

[[deleted user]]

suzysunshine7 wrote: "Oooh? - pass them round! - LOL!!! ;o>"

No chocolates until you've had your breakf........ (glances at clock) .....brunch! :)

[suzysunshine7]

Ohhhhhh? - not fair!!! ;o<

(I bet you've already eaten them all, haven't you?!! ... HA HA HA HA HA!!! ;o>)

[suzysunshine7]

4am Bedtime with barely more than just 2 hours of repeatedly broken sleep after that anyway ... YAWN!!! ;oO

Okay, well I'm almost up? - although it's clearly gonna be a stay-in-my-PJs day today - plus my Body has loosened up and settled itself and I've caught up online.

It seems that Brunch has also passed me by though? ... so it's LUNCH TIME! ;o> ... (*wanders off to see what there is to be had in the Kitchen*) ...

[P]

Val wrote: "P wrote: "My last remaining uncle from what was a large family, lives in Toowoonba, Oz, Val. Always seems strange wishing him a sunny Christmas..."

Very tropical up there. I'm not a fan of humidit..."

Sounds a bit like life here in the UK, this year, Val. Only, substitute for 'cyclone' - 'wind's getting up a bit, innit?'

[P]

suzysunshine7 wrote: "Is it me? - or do Christmas Decorations go up and come down down earlier these days? - just like they tend to do in the Shops.

Our Tree won't go up until sometime next weekend and it'll stay up un..."

There is always so much to get through in December that anything done early lessens the load and resultant stress by leaving it until later. Past 2 years I determined and succeeded in getting our cards and any letters written in November so they could be posted 1st December - one huge job done. Get so many "Oo, yours was our first card." However, the satisfaction of knowing it is done is great and allows you to relax and concentrate on other tasks and lets you enjoy the build-up to the festivities.
We've never attempted to put decs up in November, yet, though! They always stay up until 6th Jan, as well.

[P]

Just bunged some stuff out for the birdies. Usually, the wood pigeons try to beat the maggies for it, and we get a couple of squirrels appear, too. However, just went into our kitchen and discovered a large, well-fed fox who decided to slink away with a backwards glance to check me out.

[suzysunshine7]

I really like the humour here oop North when it comes to the Weather ... 80 mile an hour Winds? - and you get ... "Careful, lass, it's a bit blowy out there today" ... ;o>

[Val]

P wrote: "There is always so much to get through in December that anything done early lessens the load and resultant stress by leaving it until later. Past 2 years I determined and succeeded in getting our cards and any letters written in November so they could be posted 1st December - one huge job done. Get so many "Oo, yours was our first card." However, the satisfaction of knowing it is done is great and allows you to relax and concentrate on other tasks and lets you enjoy the build-up to the festivities...."

That is always my aim too - cards in November - but somehow it never seems to happen. I send about 50 each year and most require an update of what's been happening Chez Nous, so a longish hand-written letter (I'm not a fan of the one-off computer-generated family newsletters) . I did get all my overseas ones done by Dec 7 so I'm counting that as a win. Now I just have 5 left to post within Australia and 5 which I will deliver by hand to neighbours. Next task is Christmas cakes - 3 small and 1 family size. I used to do this in August! Those were the days! I've got all the tins prepared, all the fruit soaked/cooked in cider, and all the ingredients measured out so I hope to break the back of that tomorrow before the weather warms up again. That leaves the icing for next week plus some more baking for gifts and a group lunch. Looks like the tree and some decorations will be going up Friday.

[suzysunshine7]

WoW, Val?!! - you know exactly how to get organised and really rock your way to an absolutely fantastic Family Christmas! ;o>

We have been taking it slow here ... well a bit too slow this year really, although to be completely honest, there is so little to do being as, apart from doing all the Cards to friends and extended family we never see anymore, there is only really M&D and me here to plan for and to take care of.

It certainly makes it a Hell of a lot easier on me ... but I'd be a liar if I didn't admit to sometimes wondering as to what it would be like to have more family and friends in our lives at these very special times of the year?

I've always felt completely comfortable in my own company and am pretty much at my happiest in being a quiet little home bunny, and even more so now that severe disability has greatly reduced and limited my life to what it is now - but still? ...

I was watching some TV adverts the other day showing groaning Tables full of all different kinds of interesting-looking Canapes and yummy-sounding Nibbles and I suddenly realised that I have never actually been anywhere with any fancy Party Food all laid out like that - or bought anything like that in for just the three of us?

And I must admit that I did sort-of feel a bit left out of something that I'd never known I might be missing out on - even though I know only too well that I'd always be the one hiding out in the Kitchen keeping myself busy and useful with all of the Serving and the Washing Up rather than in socialising because I really am an incredibly shy and very ordinary kind of a Girl in real life - LOL!!! ;o>

[Val]

The other side of the coin, Suzy, is that the three of you get to do exactly what you want to do and when you want to do it. You can get up on Christmas Day at any time, wear your PJs all day if you wish, eat whatever you choose to get in and indulge yourself with food/drinks or not, if that's what you feel like. Time to stock up on the treats that you all enjoy. You can choose whether to watch TV or a DVD or play a board or card game, or read a book. There's a lot to be said for quiet Christmases and for resurrecting or instituting your own traditions. You don't have to fit in with anyone else.

[suzysunshine7]

Yeah, and it really IS a HUGE bonus that we get to be just like that ;o>

It's also a time of several heartbreakingly sad Anniversaries that just have to be got through somehow - and not having to be the life and soul of any Party for anyone else's benefit certainly is a rather blessed relief! ;o>

And we three still have each other - plus our adorable little hairy woofers too! - and that's more than enough for me to always be so extremely grateful for ;o>

[suzysunshine7]

I've just remembered the Christmases when I was a little Girl we used to have all of the family at our House (usually about 20 up to around 30 of us!) and they would be here all day and often right through most of the night too.

I used to hide away in the Kitchen even then and be busy helping 'Mummy' set up and carry a seemingly never-ending parade of Plates in and out again ... then when everyone was into talking and watching TV, Kids included, I would often sneak off upstairs, climb into my Wardrobe and shut the Door, and read a Book by Torchlight! ... HA HA HA HA HA!!! ;o>

[[deleted user]]

There will only be the three of us this year on Christmas Day, but, as always, we will end up overdoing it on dinner (we ordered a 12lb goose a while ago in case any family were coming over) so there will probably be enough for everyone on here plus a doggy bag each! :)

We are doing the rounds this weekend to go and see all the Grandkids and drop off Christmas and Birthday presents (our youngest Grandson will be 2 on December 20th), the reason being that this is the only time we are both off work before Christmas and, as it stands at the moment, I only have Christmas Day off so will have to be in bed by 4 P.M. in order to get up for work on Boxing Day. Will only be able to have one drink as well.
On the plus side, when dinner is done I won't have time to help with all the washing up :)

[suzysunshine7]

Awww? - I wish that you and and your beloved Mrs Grizzly had much more time off to be together this Christmas, Grizzlygrump ;o<

I shall wish very hard for all of the Trucks in your area to suddenly all mysteriously break-down on the afternoon of the day before Christmas Eve and not be in action again until the afternoon of the day after Boxing Day! ;o>

[Martin]

Right! Two weeks to go......
Tree up - check.
Wrap presents, errr, ran out of paper..... and sticky labels!
Cards - stuff 'em! We never see anyone from one year's end till the next, very rarely get any back so not bothering anymore!
Food - as I am working part of the 24th through till 25th Mrs O' is in charge of cooking but there's only the four of us, so things will be kept small and simple. Just hope she will be well enough to cope, if not it'll be egg and chips!
Some booze to wash it all down, moan about the rubbish on telly then to bed. Roll on Boxing Day!

[suzysunshine7]

You've all inspired me to get our act together on Christmas ;o>

It's taken a bit of doing ... but I've managed to get up into the Attic and handed down the Tree plus all of our Decoration Boxes and Mum's Christmas Card Box too.

And now Mum has realised that she has quite a few less Cards than she thought that she had - and so M&D have just headed off to a large Tesco on the other side of Stockport where she saw the other week that they had lots of Boxes of a particular Card that she had seen and liked very much last year ;o>

[Derek]

no cards - check
no presents - check
never owned any decorations - check
no tree- check
Christmas pudding, home made, 1 off - check
safely out of the country to avoid the UK Christmas hysteria - check