The days are darker now and Christmas is 72 days away. Advent calendars are being released and I bought one!
It’s from Moth, it’s cocktails!
I’m a big fan of bribing myself through hard things and autumn/winter is hard and I can’t do my traditional winter hibernation so bribery is the answer!
Happy Monday! It’s officially going to be dark until next year
I’m 52, when I look in the mirror I wonder who the old person is! I don’t actually have a problem with aging but my middle aged skin doesn’t bounce back like twenty or thirty something skin did.
I’m dealing with a lot at the minute and it’s all showing in my face, what I’ve been using wasn’t quite hitting the mark but I wasn’t sure what would help.
I had seen the ads for this and thought about it. Then a similarly afflicted friend said that she was using it and that she loved it. I bought a bottle, then I bought a bottle for when I’m at Mum’s. About four weeks into using it and my skin feels great and the look… not younger but a bit fresher.
Good enough for me!
Happy Friday!
I’ve seen courts hand children back to their abusers. Today that horror finally ends
What Happened in Gaza Might Be Even Worse Than We Think I think it’s exactly as bad as I think.
‘Smash, grab, melt it down’: how material value likely motivated the Louvre heist
Grooming gang survivors risk becoming pawns in a political game that is no place for vulnerable people. It’s really hard when you’ve survived something to understand that while you are an expert on what happened to you, you maybe lack the capacity to be rational about it.
Could this ‘brutal and restrictive’ therapy cure my intense insomnia?
If it was up to Mum, she wouldn’t eat much at all. This is what happened in August, she wasn’t eating enough, fell over and wasn’t strong enough to get up.
While we both know what’s coming with the PSP, Mum would like to stay at home for as long as she can. I’m more than happy to support that, but I need to be confident that if she falls (and she will fall) she’ll be able to get up.
So I make sure she has food and Mum eats the food. I try and make things that Mum likes to eat and Mum loves a pie.
So I bought some mini pie pans and pies it is!
I can make good shortcrust pastry but I buy puff pastry, so all I really need to do is make the filling. This one is chicken and bacon, I used the fat from the cooked bacon to make the white sauce. I’m going to try mushrooms next!
I thought that this week was the week I was doing to finish the paths. Reader, I did not finish the paths!
I got side tracked by the state of the front bed and the amount of plants that needed to go in the ground. So I weeded the front bed, I dug up one of the day lilies and moved the cola plant. In weeding I found a bunch of bulbs which I relocated to around the tree. I also mulched the area around the tree with woodchip and while I was thinking about it weeded the blackberries and mulched with woodchip.
Planted in the bed were the cotton lavender plants, a lavatera clementii ‘Barnsley Baby’, four tarragon plants to add to the two already there (one French, one Mexican and two tolergon which are supposed to be hardy), two leucanthemum ’banana cream’, and three lily of the valley. I have no idea what I’m doing so let’s hope it looks nice next year!
Then I decided to sort out the spare bed of tomatoes which I’d set up in the summer. It had been semi successful, but it was time for an autumn tidy.
As I was doing this and weeding around it, I found a bunch of rooted strawberry runners and I had five asparagus plants left over from buying too many in the spring. So I put them in there.
Then it was time for more woodchip. I’ve done up to the table but I still haven’t tackled the two side paths and the area in front of the table, I am close but it was raining by this point and I still had plants to situate
It was quick growing salad collection, some chard and lettuces, I had given Sue a collection for her small garden but there was quite a lot left. The salad mostly went into the polytunnel but the peppers aren’t ready to leave yet so it was a bit more crowded than I anticipated.
So they went into a couple of other beds around the plot
That done it was time to tidy up and take the weed bin home and get out of the rain!
I’ve always had plants in this flat. The rule is that they have to be okay with some slight neglect because I’m terrible at remembering to water them.
When Tina and Charles left St Leonards Road I was ‘gifted’ some plants, a lemon scented pelargonium, a couple of begonias and they survived, In fact the pelargonium has spawned many offspring, and I currently have another one in the living room.
I acquired a spider plant, I now have two (they have also spawned many babies)
Then came the orchids. I currently have three.
There is a small collection of succulents too!
Finally, the new addition is the lemon tree. Which takes a lot more care than the others.
The only real problem is light, I live in a flat with no windowsills (the bathroom does and the kitchen has a counter but plants need light and while I do have a grow light set up for the allotment having that up all year round would drive me crazy.
So I need to stop adding plants, before it gets out of control!
I hate all housework that has to do with cleaning floors. I loathe it, I can explain how poorly my mum is at the moment by explaining to friends that I’m hoovering and mopping the floors in her flat.
I just hate it. So why did I buy a new hoover this year?
Because it makes it easier and quicker to hoover the floors and so I do it more. I can now hoover all the floors and the stairs and then mop the floors with the mop attachment in about 30 minutes and I don’t have to deal with plugs and leads. In fact, I think it’s using the cord free shark at Mum’s that lead to my need for a cordless hoover!
I’m not an expert on hoovers but this one does the job without costing a fortune.
So if you hate hoovering with a burning passion, then I would recommend this hoover!
Happy Friday!
Israel and Hamas trade blame over truce violations as tensions rise over return of hostage bodies. You just have to look at pictures of Gaza to know that this was going to be an issue.
What Lies Ahead in the Middle East Isn’t Right vs. Wrong. It’s Right vs. Right
A leaked memo, a Maga-style hat and a trail of broken pledges – it’s Labour’s great housing betrayal
How elder care can rupture sibling relationships: ‘I didn’t have much choice’ It’s tricky and Ben and I have had our moments, at base though, Ben and I are quite similar and we have talked more in the last couple of months about how we’re going to handle it and we do agree on the important things. We are also helped by Mum being very clear about what will happen and how she wants me to handle it, she’s made it really clear to Ben so we are all on the same page about how we will handle most things. I think it’s really important to remember that we are both struggling and doing the best we can.
The hidden cost of ultra-processed foods on the environment: ‘The whole industry should pay’
‘I carved until my fingers bled’: inside the baffling world of pumpkin obsessives I love winter squash and this time of year (and especially this year with my complete winter squash growing failure!) I tend to buy some and turn them into puree which I use for pancakes, cake, and savoury things. But never pumpkin pie which I’m not keen on at all!
The Filter is one! 50 things we loved this year, from a sleep mask to the perfect pan. And Christmas is coming!
The nine best electric blankets and heated throws, tried and tested to keep you toasty for less Mum has the Silentnight Heated Throw and loves it, it’s been really useful as she’s become more or less glued to her chair.
Nic Dempsey 