Hello, everyone. Welcome to the 17th day of Blogmas; Just over one week to go - not that you need telling, I'm sure!
Yesterday was a busy day!
I walked round to school to watch the Infant Christmas Show dress rehearsal. There's a tradition that the rest of the school watches this dress rehearsal so everyone was piled into the hall, staff and all. Obviously, it was lovely. One of the wonderful Out Of The Ark shows, 'Lights, Camel, Action' and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.
A short while later, I was off out again, this time to the dentist. Not nearly so pleasant. It was a cracked filling that needed replacing, that's all. To be honest, the worst bit is almost always when the numbing wears off as it itches like crazy but it's too numb to feel any scratches. Most irritating! Do you get that too?
And finally - out to the Harvester to meet up with the Girls for a meal and Christmas celebration together. I have some photos but need to ask the girls if they mind first. We had a lovely time together, exchanged gifts (thank goodness they liked what I had made) and enjoyed the meal. It was Harvester so it was fine, nothing special but nice, all the same.
Today's Advent of Change is about a charity called Think Equal. Today you have given an early years teacher the knowledge and resources needed to help teach their class about kindness, diversity and empathy.
Today's M&S gives me some Ageless Throat and Decolletage Crème - for signs of aging on the neck and decolletage.
I'm laughing - I don't know what good they think it will do but - well, I will use it anyway for the 'pamper' feeling.
I haven't got time to do the jigsaw this morning - maybe later. My PC is definitely playing silly sausages. I have someone who can look at it after Christmas but, until then, I am doing what I can on it and then changing to my laptop for the rest. I'm glad I have the choice!
Remember I said I was playing around with my crochet hook (and knitting needles) - you can see the results in the photo. Really not great but cute and something I can work with and improve. Not finished either, I hasten to add.
Right - well, today is Groove and the walk there and back again, then I MUST do some dusting, etc , and this afternoon I'm jollying off in the coach to have fish and chips and then a coach tour of the London Lights. A really nice, easy outing, nothing challenging and I probably won't have any photos worth sharing but - well, we will see.
Have a lovely day, everyone. Signing off from my laptop! xx
Today's Advent music for you is a beautiful rendition of Silent Night, from Celtic Woman.
Morning, all. Another week starts and we get ever closer to Christmas.
I caught sight of this yesterday as I was walking past just as the sun shone on it. It looked nicer than the photo shows. :-)
This week is kinda busy but it's almost always nice-busy.
Monday: Infant Christmas show dress rehearsal, dentist and Girls' Night with Beth, Linda and Julia
Tuesday: Groove at the hall, off on a coach for fish and chips and a tour of the Christmas lights (REALLY looking forward to this and, thankfully, no nasty weather forecast) Wednesday: Circuits (moved from Monday), personal training Thursday: coffee and chat with Chris, Val round for a festive lunch Friday: Slimming World - taster and party (as much as you can party at nine in the morning), probably then a Christmas shop in Morrisons, seeing as I am there anyway
Thankfully, next weekend is free - apart from icing the cake. I decided to leave it until next weekend as it was free.
Yesterday was such a lazy day. Really lovely, though, it has set me up nicely for this week. I made fudge (delicious), wrapped a few parcels, read, knitted and, generally, had a thoroughly easy day.
Today's Advent of Change spotlights Farms for City Children.
'Today you have enabled a class of vulnerable children to enjoy an enriching week surrounded by nature on a heritage farm.'
Today's bit of the puzzle was by far the easiest so far!
The M&S offering today was some tinted lip balm. I will use this - since my cold, my lips have been very dry and the tinting is very light, hardly noticeable. Another useful one today.
Today starts with watching the Infants' Christmas Show dress rehearsal (lovely), moves on to having a cracked filling replaced (unwelcome and expensive) and finished with a lovely meal out the The Girls (three cheers).
In between, I would like to do the downstairs housework and a load of washing.
And finally, today's Advent Calendar music, another favourite and, yes, I sang it a number of times with the Chapel Choir at school.
Morning, everyone. It may be dull and damp outside but it's bright and sparkling in here, for sure!
I shall pop this at the top in a little while. I have three of these owls and I've had them for ages. Beth pointed them out to me, a long time ago, after seeing an advert. They are from Liberty (yup, arm and a leg type stuff) and I still have the lovely, purple boxes they came in. Each year, they are carefully placed back in their boxes until the following Christmas Tree Day and they are the first to be put on the tree.
Let's start with the advent stuff.
The Advent of Change today supports Baby Lifeline, a mother and baby charity. It says:
Today you have sent life-saving aid to pregnant women and their new born babies in parts of Ukraine affected by conflict.
M&S obviously thinks everyone is stressed!! They could be right, especially at this time of year.
It's another Cowshed product, a calming body lotion which, like the bubble bath, smells amazing!
And here's the puzzle.
Yesterday I . . .
prepped glazed parsnips and carrots and froze them
finished my scarf, fringes and all. I'm so pleased with it
finished the things I was making for the Girls' Night Santa bag - just as well as it is tomorrow evening.
I didn't get the roasties prepped because I didn't have enough. Ooops
I didn't ice the Christmas cake - that's for today.
Later on, I popped to Morrisons to get some potatoes and also to restock on carrots and parsnips and to indulge in a couple of foil trays for the various roastie things on Christmas Day. Hopefully, I can wash and reuse them but, if not, no worries.
I'm OK for the leg of lamb because I have a lovely enamel roaster which will be Just Perfect!
Wasn't Strictly brilliant?
I always get a bit tearful when they go over the finalists 'journeys' but last night was another level entirely. And that whole Chris and Craig thing - oh, my gosh. (if you watched it, you know)
I know Chris wasn't the best dancer but, equally, I know Dianne was the best teacher. She's got three - THREE - non dancers to the final (Joe, Bobby and Chris) and won with Chris. Absolutely fantastic.
And Chris totally and absolutely deserved to win.
On to today and I'm having a very slow start because I can!
I have a few things to do -
ice the cake
make the fudge
finish prepping the roasties - they are peeled anc chunked and sitting in water as I type so I just have to par boil them, etc. By this afternoon, they will be in the freezer.
I don't have any knitting or crochet projects on the go, given that I am leaving the jacket and the blanket until after Christmas, so I've been playing with my crochet hook, working out a pattern to make a wee gonk/gnome/troll thingy. Must remember to write down what I do because you always think you will remember and you never do!
And that's today!
On to your advent calendar and today's music is two versions of the lovely Carol of the Bells
Good morning again, everyone. Time is still flying past and there's really not very long now until Christmas Day. I have my Little List and I keep saying 'It is just one day' - because it really is. Christmas Eve will be me-time to finish prepping and to enjoy some down and pamper time and Boxing Day I'm round to Beth's. So it is just one day - and four people. Easy peasy.
Yesterday was Slimming World, of course. I had already decided I wouldn't weigh this week but the main event of the session was that the technology wasn't playing nicely, it wouldn't accept anyone's card and the queues were lengthening - in the end, Heidi phoned the online support and they sorted it out. I have no idea what they did but it worked.
Then it was a Morrisons shop and I was a bit miffed to see that they had half price legs of lamb that were less than the special price I got from Sainsbury's. I might walk round there today and pick up a couple for the freezer - I dearly love lamb but rarely get it because it is costly. They also had beef joints at half price and I did get one of them, cutting it into four smaller pieces when I got home so that's roast dinners for me and Alex when he's here. I'm happy with that!
Then it was just a case of getting things ready for when Dave and Anna came.
And it was a lovely evening.
It was perfume in box 14 this morning. Velvet amber, it is called, and it's nice. More of an evening perfume really, just as the earlier perfume is more a day time scent. I'm spoilt for choice with scents at the moment and I happen to know that Beth and Alex have bought me a selection of Jo Malone for Christmas. I dearly love a nice perfume.
Here's the jigsaw for today - cute, well behaved children on a cute, well behaved walk through the snow
That lad has obviously done some serious weight training!!
The Advent of Change today is about supporting young carers.
It says:
'Today you have ensured that an isolated young care leaverreceives regular supportive phone calls over the Christmas period, letting them know they are not alone.'
The charity is called Become and it supports children in care and young care leavers.
I have a Christmas cake to ice. Nothing fancy, just marzipan, icing and some little decorations to pop on top.
I have some fudge to make for Monday but I will leave that for tomorrow. I would like to get some of the Christmas veg prepped and into the freezer. Potatoes, carrots and parsnips can all be got ready and frozen to save time later.
I have some Christmas crochet to do today or tomorrow.
And I want to get my online Christmas cards sorted, 'written' and set to go out just before The Day.
I'd also like to get the various menus all written into my Christmas survival book. Once that's done, I'm well away!!
And, of course, it is Strictly final this evening. I will miss it very much -what with It Takes Two plus the show and the results show, there's been something Strictly every day of the week for the past three months or so.
I have found the recipe I want to use for the lamb and I have all the ingredients so that's good. It's a Jamie Oliver slow roast leg of lamb recipe involving garlic, rosemary and red wine and taking four hours or so. Basically, prep it, bung it in the oven and leave it. (let's hope we have sunshine on Christmas Day so my solar panels can take some of the cost away!)
I'll shut up now - I'm starting to ramble.
Have a lovely weekend, everyone. All the best and stay safe, warm and well. xx
Today's Advent calendar music is a very old carol, The Angel Gabriel, sung beautifully by the Beatus Choir. (and, yes, I sang it in the choir at school)
Morning, one and all, and welcome to day thirteen!
I so enjoyed yesterday, even if it was a disaster on the healthy food front. I had a nice, lazy morning getting the ironing done and then enjoying my crochet.
At around midday, Chris and I set off for Ego where we had the most delicious meal from their festive menu. We went for the two courses - I had starter and mains while Chris had mains and a dessert and it was all delicious, washed down with water and finished off with coffee.
I've never been there before but I will go again, for sure, at some point. Eating out is not cheap nowadays but we agreed that, for what we got and for the quality, the final bill really wasn't bad at all. The service was good too.
By the time we got home, it was starting to get dark and I had a nice, chilled evening.
Such a lovely day.
Today's M&S thing was a whopper. I don't think I have ever seen such a big box in an Advent thingy. When opened, it was some body butter, supposedly for overnight care (it says) when it 'works hard whilst you sleep to support skin vitality and renewal'. Well, I think it's missed the bus on that particular aim as far as I am concerned but it won't hurt and anything that smells nice, which it does, is worth using. A bit of pamper never hurt anyone, after all!
Here's today's puzzle.
And, lastly, the Advent of Change today is for Alzheimer's Research UK, a charity close to my heart because of Mum. It says
Today you have provided a set of ten slides for scientists to study samples under a microscope, helping them discover the causes of dementia.
(On the calendar, it says that the examples behind the doors have been supplied by the charities themselves and illustrate the ways they could use my donation. However, they will actually use the donations where they feel it will best support their work.)
Today I will be going to Slimming World as usual but won't be weighing!!
Then I need to pop into Morrisons for a few bits and bobs before coming home to housework and preparing dinner for Dave and Anna. Most of it is already done because I froze stuff after they had to defer a fortnight ago but I am changing what I had planned for veg to a more festive vibe with roasted parsnips and carrots and doing sprouts with bacon in the air fryer. Should be good!
Today's Advent Calendar music is one we all know. Two versions.
By the way, as usual I am saving all this music into a playlist and will post the link to that on Christmas Eve.
Morning, everyone! It's nearly eight o'clock, very late for me to be starting this but, for once, I slept in later than around five. It's just as well I don't have a 9:15 fitness class, isn't it? Also . . . no, I'm getting ahead of myself. Back to yesterday first.
We had decided to do a bit of shopping and shop trawling - I did have a Little List, mostly small gifts - as I've pretty much got all the bigger, family presents. First of all, I headed to Riverside to look round Home Bargains, Homesense and Matalan.
Yes, I found pretty much everything on my list plus a few things for me. Have you ever come across wooly tumblers? They look rather like tennis balls but made of 100% pure New Zealand wool (it says on the box) and you just add them to the tumble dryer with whatever you are drying. They're supposed to act as a natural conditioner and help items to dry faster.
Now, I rarely use my dryer but I do dry my towels in it and, when the weather is damp and my drying rack is full, I will sort out items that I am happy to dry that way. They really weren't very expensive and I thought 'give it a go'.
The other thing, totally unnecessary but seriously beautiful, was some really nice olive wood salad servers. I love olive wood and was looking at little 'chopping' boards in Homesense. Sadly, the one I really liked had a splash of glue on the top which wouldn't scrape off with my nail (the pads underneath were stuck on and I'm guessing that's how it happened) so I walked away and this pair of servers jumped up and into my basket.
Yes, they did!
The only thing I got in Matalan was some tights. They had lovely festive cushions but I already have festive cushions on every chair in the living room and they were way too expensive for the garden room!!
I then meant to drive on to B&M but got into the wrong lane so decided to go to Hobbycraft first and then backtrack. I'm glad I did because Hobbycraft had what I was looking for - some little gift bags - that were much nicer than anything I would find in B&M, made from sturdy brown paper with stars on and an absolutely perfect size.
I also picked up some yarn (you knew I would, didn't you); I have a patterns for a nice moss stitch cardigan that a friend in our SW group gave me. It takes aran yarn but it isn't actually traditional aran as such and I saw that the WI brand had some aran weight in a nice, dusty blue and - this was the decider - 400g balls and three for two. The patterns said I needed 900g but I want to make it a bit longer so I needed three balls but only had to pay for two. And I will have some left for a smaller project - a wooly hat, perhaps, or a cowl (or both!)
I've put them away for now - it's going to be my New Year knitting project to go alongside the Persian Tiles crochet project.
That feels really nice.
When I got home, I unpacked, wrapped, labelled and under the tree it all went, as you can see above. Really nice and relaxing!
In the afternoon, I pootled off to Lindsey's for personal training and then it was the governors' meeting.
Such a good meeting - lots of laughter but some very serious stuff too. I've taken something on (nothing too time consuming) too but will tell you about that another time. I had a really nice chat with Jenny (head) and Liz (chair of governors) after the meeting and, as I am not able to go to any of the Infant Show performances, Jenny asked if I would like to see the dress rehearsal on Monday. Lindsey is happy for me to go to Wednesday circuits rather than Monday's so that has made me very happy. Almost, I would rather see it that way. For years, I was in charge of the Infants' show so I know just how much hard work goes into it from everyone involved. They will have a very understanding and sympathetic governor watching, for sure. :-)
This post isn't half going on - sorry!
Today's Advent of Change is supporting the Well Child charity which aims to give seriously ill children the best chance to thrive at home.
Behind the door, it ways:
Today you have enabled a child to enjoy a fun arts and crafts session with their family when they are too unwell to leave the house. Isn't that fantastic?
The M&S one gives me a nail and cuticle serum with instructions so tiny that I dug out my magnifying glass to read them!
I needn't have bothered; you just rub it in - twice a day! No chance, but I am sure the occasional times I remember won't hurt!
I don't have troublesome cuticles anyway, they are very well behaved!!
And here's the puzzle for yesterday and today. It's half done now and I'm really enjoying it.
I have another one that I made up last year and I think I will get that out and do two a day during the Twelve Days.
Now that the Governor stuff is done and dusted, although I still have quite a busy diary, it's all fun stuff rather than responsible stuff. Meals out, friends round, etc. Lovely stuff.
Today, as there is no SET class and no chat with Chris, I am being very lazy. There's a bit of ironing to do and there's always housework, of course, but nothing very much.
There's no chat because Chris and I are out for lunch together. Mostly we do coffee and chat but occasionally - birthdays and Christmas, etc, we go out for lunch and today's the day. I'm really looking forward to that.
So that's today. How about you?
On to the musical Advent calendar and today's music is an absolutely beautiful selection from the great John Rutter, who writes such wonderful Christmas music. Enjoy!
Good morning, you lovely lot! How are you today? According to the Beeb, it's going to be a dull old day outside but it will be nice and bright inside, what with decorations and lights, etc.
AFter all that fuss yesterday, the Cyber training turned out not to be what I would call training at all. To me, online training is a whole load of info followed by questions to see if you have understood it - and if you haven't, you can't move on until you do. At least, that's what the annual Child Protections thingy is. This was 'watch a half hour YouTube presentation on cyber security for schools. Interesting but not brain aching, thank goodness.
The school visit was good. Obviously, no details in here about it but I got enough info to then get the report written and send off. It took a few hours to rite because my report writing brain retired at the same time as the rest of me so the sentences don't flow quite as easily as they used to.
It's a great relief to have got all that done and completed. Now there's just the governors' meeting this evening but that's not a worry. I have downloaded the paperwork, read through it and sent it to my laptop so I'm all prepared (I hope).
The day started with Groove, of course. It was damp and drizzly so we drove there - I was relieved as I'm still a bit chesty and breathless at times. And it was packed - there were over twenty of us and I don't think I have ever known it so full. Lindsey had put together a Festive playlist so it was all great fun 'dancing' and singing.
And, yes, I had time to sit and relax at the end of the afternoon. So nice.
Today's M&S offering is (and I am reading off the box) a water resistant inner rim liner. A what???
On the back it says 'use on inner upper lash line for maximum eye definition.
OK!
It may be fine for the Winkleman look but for me - hmmm. I might give it a go, though, just for a laugh!
Do any of you use eye liner? How do you find it?
The Advent of Change is one I have never come across before, Surfers against Sewage. Interesting!
Quoting from the Wiki page, it says:
Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) is a marine conservation charity working with communities to protect oceans, waves, beaches and marine life. It was created in 1990 by a group of Cornish surfers from the villages of St Agnes and Porthtowan on the north coast of Cornwall.
In 2012, Surfers Against Sewage was recognised as a national marine conservation charity focused on the protection of waves, oceans, beaches, marine wildlife and coastal communities.
In 2018 it was one of the seven charities nominated by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to receive donations in lieu of wedding presents.
So now we know.
The calendar actually says:
Today you have enabled a child to join Ocean School, inspiring them to protect our oceans for generations to come.
The first is Personal Training at Shimmy Studio - I'm looking forward to that.
The other is the Governors' meeting and I'm looking forward to that too. It's nice keeping up with things in my old workplace and now that I've done the necessary, I feel so much 'happier' again. It's starting half an hour earlier which means that it will finish half an hour earlier too because, if we're good at one thing, it is finishing on time. Two hours max. And there are biscuits!
This morning, I am planning to set out early (because of parking) and do a bit of a shop trawl to see if I can mop up the last of my Christmas gifts. And then a look round Hobbycraft, just because . . .
Have you ever come across Surfers Against Sewage? And what are your festive plans for today?
Have a good one and stay good and warm. xx
Here's your Advent Calendar music for today. It may be a very old, poor quality clip but I don't care. I think it is just wonderful.
Today's Advent music for you is a beautiful rendition of Silent Night, from Celtic Woman.
