Monday's Just Arent The Same

 

I had hoped to have my own car back this morning, but as I hadn't had a call from the garage, it was off to Morrisons with the courtesy car.

Mondays are just not the same at the moment....not going to see my Monday Recycled Teenager, not thinking what promise from the Scriptures to take her, not plating up a dinner for her....all those little things I really miss.

Her daughter sent a text to say she is now officially unconscious so it wont be too much longer now I guess.

Grandma wanted some bits and pieces she couldn't buy locally, so I was glad of the company when I went to Morrisons, but Grandma and I shop in very different ways!

We made the usual "see you at the tills" arrangement, where there is a seat either of us can sit on if we are waiting, but as its a small store, we did cross paths a few times.

I couldn't help but notice Grandma had two small bags of sugar at 60p each, and I knew the equivalent weight in a larger bag was only 88p....but when I suggested replacing them for her to save some money so said no, as she preferred the small bags!

However she was very pleased when I showed her Walls had their frozen sausages on offer for £1, she has been complaining she hasn't had a good sausage in a while so hopefully she will enjoy these.

 

 

For several years Teen Two has been using Lidl's shower gels.

At just 33p a bottle they are excellent value and smell good too.

A few weeks ago he came down after his evening shower complaining his face felt tight and we could clearly see his forehead was very red.

We didn't know why of course, but when the same thing happened two more evenings on the trot we knew it had to be something in the shower gel.

So he switched from the blue one to the green one ( both of which he has used before)

Once again, there was  the same reaction.

Yesterday he used the orange gel ( which smells lovely!) and all was fine.

I emailed Lidl this morning asking if they had changed the ingredients, adding that he has not had any issues with any other product before, but has recently had allergic reactions to nuts.

I was very impressed when they sent an email this afternoon asking for LOT numbers on the bottles.

So we shall see if maybe one of the ingredients was changed, otherwise we have no idea why this should happen.

 

 

Teen Two ran a couple of errands locally for me and then had his usual play with the gerbils...

 

 

...as well as their weekly weigh in!

He was a little concerned one of them was getting lighter a while back, so I suggested he weigh them regularly so we can establish a pattern and pick up if anything changes, I suspect there is a spreadsheet for such things!

 

 

The washing machine seems to have been going non stop today, and to add to the usual laundry loads, I decided to  wash the sofa cushion covers....having spotted a little yellow stain, which I guess was courtesy of dear Flora Bunny a few weeks ago!

We did hand wash her little mishaps...but the lovely sunshine streaming through the windows happen to show up this stain, which thankfully didn't smell ( yes I did the nose test!) but didn't look too good.

I covered the bare cushions, to keep them clean and Milly instantly jumped up....anything new or clean she just has to christen!

The covers are now back on, looking so much fresher and giving a lovely aroma to the living room too.

 

 

Teen One was cooking dinner tonight and we both were lacking in inspiration for what to have, so we went through my stash of recipe books and found this one I bought a few years ago at The Works for a couple of pound.

I forgot how many interesting recipes there were!

 

 

 

We went for Sweet and Spicy chicken, which only required marmalade, chilli powder and chicken.

After the allotted cooking time the "sauce" was very watery, so we added some cornflour which made it a much more acceptable consistency.

Even using just one teaspoon of chilli ( the recipe said 1-2) it was still a little on the hot side, so we added some greek yogurt...much better!

She served it with brown rice, peas and broccoli, it was very tasty, but we felt the addition of onions would make it even better.

We are going to rate each recipe we use and add any notes for improvements.

 

 

Last year we went to Longleat's Festival of Lights and really enjoyed it.

We had also visited Winter Wonderland in London and vowed never to return....I cant think of many places I would never want to return, but that was definitely one of them!

We had left it too late to book Longleat through Tesco vouchers last year, so this year when Teen One saw the theme of the lights was Fairy Tales, she was eager to go.

So this afternoon I went online and booked with the Tesco vouchers, making a trip that would have cost £122 in cash, absolutely free!!

I have to say, it was rather a work up though, not one stage was straightforward, but never mind, an hour later I had achieved my goal and we now have a lovely day and evening out to look forward to Christmas weekend.

 

 

With some housework out of the way I decided to tackle the Friday Club Christmas presents.

I had a box full of spare presents from last year, and had hoped I could marry up some of them to this years kids.

I had the forethought last year to make a note of what I gave to who, which has meant no angst on my part of "did she get this last year?"

However there are still as many presents to buy, if not more, so I will have to start looking around to see what I can get on offer.

That's my task tonight I reckon, last year I did well with Hawkins Bazaar and The Book People.

Don't you just love armchair shopping!

 

 

 

The chilly weather has meant the wood burner is now on most evenings, which means marshmallow toasting for the Teens!

We have a lovely supply of free wood which I hope will see us through most of the winter, and some coal to pop on when we are going out and don't want the fire to go out.