Rambling towards a long weekend

Three days off. Excellent news.

I'm behind on chores because last weekend was a bit of a skive so it will be good to catch up. Plus I can catch up on my blog reading. I really miss that when I am silly busy.

Tomorrow we have plans for a trip to the Asian supermarket, to buy a new lavatory, to the DIY store & ordinary supermarket shopping. I cant remember the last time we had a proper shopping session, we have been living on freezer and cupboards for weeks. I don't spend much on food shopping anymore but we sometimes have a takeaway once a month for a change. My husband also has to visit the hospital for a check up of his eye and the doctor for his swine flu jab. We will also visit friends for a couple of hours but not too long as work at the house beckons.

My husband has gone caffeine free. It is fantastic. He is a different man. Sleeping all night, like a baby (okay, without the crying) & waking up early to meet the day. He is go good humoured. I hadn't really realised that his caffeine tolerance had decreased over the years. He has had difficulty sleeping for years. Who knew the answer could be so simple. I don't have enough caffeine to know if it reacts the same way with me but oh my god, I wish I could sleep like he does. I feel mine might be more menopause related.

Any other plans? Curtains and rugs as its beginning to feel pretty cold around her. and some knitting, that always warms me up.

I'll staart my days of pleasure with a nice warm bath and warm the bed up by watching a DVD in bed until the old fella comes home from work.He should be home by ten so it wont be too much of a wild night.

Winter Crafting Evenings

Winter is on its way. Dark evenings keep me indoors just as summer evenings lead me to the garden or to walks. Being kept indoors leads to crafts as I quickly get bored with TV and eventually get bored with computers. I have a partially knitted bag to continue with, a part complete piece of embroidery, 3 half finished pieces of cross stitch. I detect a pattern.

SO I have plans to make something completely different! I have had this picture for a while and have been trying to collect corks to make it. It just doesn't seem to be possible to acquire enough corks to do this though. Bottles are often screw top now, even the quite good ones. A friend has been collecting corks for me as well, but upon inspection they are all plastic and don't have interesting variations. Have I just left it too lat for the particular project. I wish I had tried it in the 90s when corks were cork!

English Weather

I know its very typically English to complain about the weather when on the world stage our weather never does anything very exciting. It is very wet and quite cold at the moment. Enough for the weather men to say that the country is flooded. I quite like living in a country so small that one weather forecast fits all, at least most of the the time. I don't really want to put the heating on so I am leaving the internal doors open as I bake and use the tumble dryer. No point in trapping the heat where it isn't wanted.

This week I made coloured sugar. I made a bit more than i know what to do with but it seemed like a good idea at the time, so sugar topped cookies are on the plan now.
Otherwise it is just the usual cooking, cleaning, laundry..... But no complaints. I am on my own today whilst my husband is working but it gives me time to get everything else done.He is cooking for us when he gets home so I don't even have to worry about that. Bless. I Did miss him when he wasn't here for 10 days. I also noticed how slim he is now looking. He must have lost 20 kilo since this photo was taken. I should probably start listening when he gives me diet advice.....

Home, then Winter, then Christmas.....yaay

Just phoned the old man in Syria. In one hour he leaves for the airport to come home. He sounds ready to come home too. He loves to visit family,no mater where they live, and he loves holidays but he is more English than the English and best of all he loves to come home. He even likes warm beer (real ale). Truly an English soul.

Just as he leaves 3000 miles away, I will settle down for bedtime. After a nights sleep I will go to work for a few hours and the after a meeting I will drive to the airport to get him. Seems like it will be a bit easier for me.

So then, we can prepare for winter.

I need some thermal curtains for the conservatory. I am thinking of investing in two new rugs. We have hard floor everywhere down stairs and it would be more warm and snuggley if we had rugs. There is a man at the local car boot sale that sells rugs which are slight seconds at a ridiculous discount. Its not my favourite place to visit but I will make an effort

On top of that it is also time to start preparing for Christmas.

We only do presents for immediate family & there is a £10 upper limit per person (presents should be second hand, home made or otherwise weird and different!)so its more a matter of time to be spent than cash to be spent. Also, as a close family, we supply and prepare food between us all for the holiday period, so my expenditure isn't that bad. I don't do Christmas cards except for people I wont see and cant email. I also allow myself only one new Christmas decoration every year, so again. maximum cost £5. So all of this needs a bit of planning with the rest of the family.

Great fun.

Quiet Day

I have a few plans for my weekend but I am expecting it to be pretty quiet.
It is cold but sunny, which is lovely as it has been raining all the week.
My husband is still away until Wednesday. Mum & Dad are away on a trip to France with Sue & Steve (my sister and her husband). Eldest son is working all day and has a bonfire party tonight. Youngest son is here (but asleep) and has an 18th birthday party tonight. It was supposed to be a sleepover afterwards but now he has asked for a lift home at 11pm. That's fine with me as I don't seem to sleep so well when I am the only one in the house. I hear noises which are really not there. When we still had the cats I slept just fine home alone but somehow the cockateil doesn't give me the same sense of security apparently! (plus he is a bit of a nervous wreck himself).

So todays plans are keeping busy with chores. And there are plenty. We have lunch planned & as it is just the two of us there isnt much cooking, so I can really concentrate on house work. Also without my husband here I can re-arrange furniture if I want to. He seems to be able to put up with it better if he isnt here for the actual act of moving.

So I guess I had better get out of my lovely warm bed and get on with it.

Home alone

I don't mind being on my own. Of course not. I spend most of the day alone on a Saturday & Sunday, so I'm used to it. Hmmm. Well its actually a bit different tonight. Husband is still in Syria, obviously. Eldest son has left home but pops back all the time, but not today because they have started a new boat. Youngest son is normally taking care of his mama but tonight he is away with the college, camping out in the wilds. Hope he isn't too cold and wet & he is enjoying himself. I got home from work at around 5.30pm, did some laundry, had leftovers for dinner, watched an episode on Bones on the laptop. Now its 8.30 and I have just phoned my husband, now I am ready for bed!

I always thought I would like to live alone but now I don't think I do. I am going to appreciate everyone a lot more once they come home.

Edited at 11pm to say, just as I was going off to bed my eldest son arrived with his girlfriend & we watched TV together for a couple of hours, with plenty of laughter. It is still bucketing down with rain. He offered to go pick up his brother from wherever he is being washed away but I explained we dont know where he is and anyway its good fro him!!!