Doing a Hyacinth

I'm holding a soiree, a candle-lit supper next week, well nearly.
We have people come over for drinks & food, we have invited 3 couples though one couple may decline as the wives don't get on.
It will be a relaxed affair, I'm doing an assortment of food so there should be something for everyone. Although I know that one guest eats only chicken nuggets & mashed potato. I shall make chicken goujons, I refuse to serve nuggets at a meal aimed at people over 30 years old!

Lovely day

Both my DD's visited yesterday with 7 of the grandchildren, when hubby arrived home he went straight out into the garden to play with them & to help them pick vegetables. It was noisy & chaotic, but great fun.
I'd stocked up on fizzy drinks, sweets & snacks for them all.
I'd blitzed the kitchen & living room before they arrived & a quick swish & swipe soon returned order once they had left.
One DGD gave us a word perfect rendition of the song from Frozen, the twins were lovely & cuddly & full of smiles.
For tea I  boned some chicken thighs, wrapped each thigh round a piece of cheese & then wrapped a rasher of bacon round each thigh, I served these with HG potatoes, runner beans & carrots. Sausages tonight with saute potatoes & beans.
Hubby is now back on normal shifts for a few weeks so I get to cook proper meals for 2 weeks out of every 3 which I enjoy.
We have various grandchildren staying over the holidays, friends to catch up with & some entertaining to do. I'm really looking forward to all of it.

For Ann

And anyone else who want's to read my stories.

http://pollythepirate.blogspot.co.uk/

Jobs list part 2

I know I don't do enough housework during term time, I'm just too knackered, but I do enjoy catching up with all the jobs during the holidays.
Here is my jobs list for the next few weeks.
Wash doors & door furniture x 11 9
Clean downstairs toilet
Dust & tidy bookcase x 5 4
Sweep & mop all floors
Clear cobwebs
Trip to tip with TV,  toilet & jetwash
Move ottoman
Shop at Aldi
Wash bins
Thin carrots
Sort sprouts
Plant strawberry runners
Pick beans
Descale shower heads
Descale kettle
Descale shower door
Treat fish tank
Walk daily
Sort out hanging baskets
Wash door mats
Wash silk mat

Birthdays & Wedding Days

Tomorrow we are off to a family birthday BBQ, we are collecting MIL & SFIL on the way & we will leave when they get tired. Mil loves to attend family events, but the travelling is difficult for her.

We received a wedding invitation this morning, the wedding has been brought forward a year in the hope that MIL will be able to attend. 
We aren't having a holiday this year as we have purchased a car, but I have my pension lump sum due soon, this will be used to pay off the car loan. There will be enough left to pay for two rooms in the hotel, one for us & one for MIL & SFIL where the Wedding reception is to be held.  
I can't drive to & from the reception as I can no longer see to drive in the dark & the reception doesn't start until 4 o'clock & it will be dark by then.

Rant, rant, rant

 Some of the local schools broke up at lunch time yesterday & by the time I got home just after 3, the street was full of children playing, by 6 o'clock all hell had broken out. Two parents had fallen out with another group, all getting involved in their kids battles. It ended up with two parents knocking on doors asking people to take sides! I didn't answer the door & when they stopped me later to ask why I said I'd been in the garden & hadn't heard them knocking. I refuse to get involved, kids need to sort out their own arguments unless there is violence involved. Everyone round here is related to everyone else so if you fall out with Beryl next door, you then discover you can't get served in the local shop cos it's Agnes, her second cousin 4 times removed that serves in there.I'll be polite to everyone but keep my distance, I'll help if help is needed & then back off again.

We ended up with 'bouncers' patrolling the street, only allowing children who live in the street to play & sending others away! The said 'bouncers' being 2 squat, tattooed mothers, questioning all the children & anyone else they could see.  If they do it again I shall be calling the police I resent being questioned by a couple barely literate morons about my movements & allegiances!

Jobs list

I know I don't do enough housework during term time, I'm just too knackered, but I do enjoy catching up with all the jobs during the holidays.
Here is my jobs list for the next few weeks.
Wash doors & door furniture x 11
Clean downstairs toilet
Dust & tidy bookcase x 5
Sweep & mop all floors
Clear cobwebs
Trip to tip with TV,  toilet & jetwash
Move ottoman
Shop at Aldi
Wash bins
Thin carrots
Sort sprouts
Plant strawberry runners
Pick beans
Descale shower heads
Descale kettle
Descale shower door
Treat fish tank
Walk daily
Sort out hanging baskets
Wash door mats
Wash silk mat

Thank you Stephanie

Thank you for the link to the hand book, I didn't get a reply from Nissan, so my L&M & I are both extremely grateful to you.

It seems a lot of us have husbands who fiddle in the car, I try to be tolerant of my beloved fiddling with knobs & buttons as I know he really misses being able to drive.

Hand book

There was no hand book with my new car, I've looked on ebay but no joy, so I've emailed Nissan directly, this is what I wrote, I hope they can help.

I recently bought a 2nd hand 09 Nissan Note Tekna, I am absolutely delighted with the car, but there is one small problem.

The car did not come with a hand book & whilst I am gradually working out what all the buttons & switches do, my beloved husband is having problems. He does not drive as he had an industrial accident many years ago & is now partially sighted, but he is a very enthusiastic co -pilot when I drive & he is driving me mad. He is constantly asking me 'What does this do?' & 'What happens when I press this?'. It's like driving with a disruptive toddler in the car, I have driven through France & Spain with 4 children & believe me, that was easier. I have come to terms with never listening to a track on the radio all the way through as he likes to change channels, I can also drive without using the rear view mirror as he is fiddling with the interior lights. But although I love all  bells & whistles on the Tekna almost as much as I love my husband, his constant fiddling & questions are a problem. Please can you help? It would be a shame if such an otherwise kind & loving husband should die from being pushed out of the car whilst travelling at speed. 

Back on the frugal bandwagon

Not that we really fell off it.
I've not bought any veg for ages, thanks to my L&M's hard work we have potatoes, cabbage, carrots & runner beans to go with hot meals. We also have lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, chilies, beetroot & peppers for salads. We are sharing our harvest with my DD's so their food bills are also reduced.
I'm having stewed rhubarb & HM yogurt for breakfast every morning. This is saving us money on our food bills. 
Yesterday evening we had friends over, we sat in the garden & had a frugal feast, I bought 4 different cheeses, also hummus & some french sticks, all reduced. These were served with HG salad & the french sticks were turned into garlic bread using HG garlic. I also stretched half a bottle of white wine by spending 15p on a bottle of lemonade & serving spritzers.
If my L&M wants a roast dinner tomorrow, I have some cooked sliced pork & stuffing balls in the freezer. If he wants salad there is cheese left from y'day & some cooked sliced ham in the freezer, any cheese left will be grated & frozen.
We've taken out a short term low interest loan to buy a newer car, There is money due in 8 to 12 weeks which will pay this loan off, any extra will be paid off the mortgage. We could have waited until we received the money before buying the car, but by purchasing it now it means we are better placed to assist MIL if needed. This has made DD's life has been made much easier as she now has my old car. We feel we made the best decision for us at the time.
My DD's visited last Wednesday & we spent some time discussing holiday arrangements, my daughters do the same as I did when they were little. One paid activity per week, the rest free.
The free days out include, visiting Nana to cook, sew, play board games or play with Giant connect 4 or Jenga, trips to the park with a picnic, feeding the ducks, visiting the library, there are also various free activities on in the area listed on getreading that DD's will take advantage of.
Paid activities include bouncy castle £1.60 per child for 2 hours, face painting £1.60 per child for 2 hours. I've treated both DD's to a family ticket to Bekonscot. I try to pay for one day out each year, previously we've gone to Beale Park & Jakes Playworld.
That way the children have lots of good memories without spending too much money.

Nearly there

It's nearly the end of term & everything is reaching fever pitch, a lot needs doing for work & years of experience tells me that some staff will drop shedloads of work on my desk at lunchtime on the last day of term. I have 5 days of holiday work so I will have time to get stuff done then. Next year I'm not doing holiday work, it means another drop in pay, but I'm not that bothered, we'll manage.
I'm getting on well with my hearing aids & my new car, the car has a much better driving position for me & is more comfortable for me.
My L&M has been allowed to order new uniform, not only is it better quality than the previous one he has been allowed to order 5 polo shirts, at the moment he only has 3, so I can wash them all at the weekend instead of washing twice a week.
DD2 is feeling much better now she has my old car, she can get out & about with less effort, she is also able to do more work now she is mobile again.

Drowning not waving

What a week & it's not over yet.
My L&M has worked stupid amounts of overtime this week & is working the weekend too, even though it's his weekend off. The new team member had their start date delayed as the correct paperwork wasn't done, eventually, when a member of the management realised they would have stay late to lock the site, they were suddenly able to complete the paperwork to enable him to start.
I've collected my new car & I'm gradually getting to grips with all the bells & whistles. My DD2 now has my car so her life is being made easier too.
DD1 visited with the twins, they are 9 weeks old now. I held them, one at a time in front of the fish tank, little Ted was very interested and moved his head to try & watch the fish. Marla, on the other hand had a brief look & promptly fell asleep,
I've also had my hearing aids fitted, I don't notice I'm wearing them apart from the background noise being a bit loud.
Last night I worked until 10pm as part of my contracted 'holiday hours'.
Tonight, it's DGD to gym club, I'm not sure if she's staying tonight of if we are going out, my preference would be for an early night, but I'll see how my L&M feels.

Using it up night.

I have some leftover cooked new potatoes, some leftover veg & 2 hard boiled eggs. I have onions & tomatoes in the garden, cheese & more eggs in the fridge & herbs & spices in the cupboard.
I shall use the veg, half the potatoes, some onion & tomato & make a fritata. The other potato I shall mix with chopped hard boiled egg, some onion & mayonnaise. This will last me for a few days for lunch & dinner.

Done it

We have bought a new to us car, it's a Nissan Note, there were 2 for sale at the same place.

The showroom has a good local reputation but even so I got my son to look at both cars before I bought one.
We have taken out a bank loan to tide us over until my money comes through in September.
We did this for a few reasons, our bank had a low interest loan on offer, with MIL being ill, we never know when we might have to rush off, also DD2's car has been off the road for some time now and her SPD is getting worse, she borrows my car when I can spare it, but it isn't ideal. If she had a car of her own she could take on more babysitting work & more work with her other job and therefore save for another car quicker.
By buying a new car now I have been able to sell DD2 my car for £1, it has a years MOT & 6 months tax, it needs a repair that will cost £75 that I have booked to be done next week. I'm collecting my new car on Wednesday.

True Love

My darling L&M is very intuitive, he always knows when I want sex. Is it the look in my eye? Is it the way I walk? Or is it because I walk into the room wearing black high heels, black hold ups & feck all else!!