Boiler Bliss!

 

This morning was rather chilly to say the least!

Hubby got up extra early to attempt to get some lukewarm water into the bath via an old electric shower.

We no longer use this shower over the bath, as the thermostat no longer works and the water goes from lukewarm to cold in zero seconds!

However, lukewarm was better than 100% cold, so with some kettles and pans of water he was able to cobble together enough water for us all to have a bath!

It was back to the old days of sharing water, and poor Teen One got the last bath as she was up last.

We did add some more kettles of water but she said it was still pretty chilly.

Whilst the water was an acceptable temperature for me ( hotter would of course have been better!) the chilly feeling once out of the bath took me back to being a child and stepping out of a lovely warm bath to a freezing bathroom...and no towelling robes in those days!

How I love my home comforts now!

 

After a quick trip to Asda for some basics, it was on with some much needed housework and endless washing.

There was no option but to tumble dry most of the washing, which meant endless walks down the garden path to the drier in the garage.

 

 

Teen One's throat was incredibly sore again, with a chesty cough to go with it....so Strepsils have been the order of the day along with a lot of warm fluids.

I really hope I continue to avoid this virus!

 

 

Grandma called round after lunch, to email her best friend in New Zealand.

Bless her, she spent well over an hour typing out 4 lines!!

I did offer to type whilst she dictated, and did explain if she saw a mistake further up, she didn't have to delete everything and retype it, but being the stalwart she is, she struggled on.

We had a cuppa and a catch up on yesterday, then just as she was leaving...

 

 

...my knight in shining armour arrived!

The plumber is a really lovely guy whose dad used to drive a minibus for our Holiday Bible Club many years ago.

I suspect the plumber himself is near to retirement  age, but we hope not too close, its hard to find tradesmen you can trust.

He had come straight from a funeral, and having heard about our powercut at the weekend was harbouring a secret hope we just had a fuse issue.

However, having checked the fuse it was obvious that wasn't the problem.

He checked here and there, scratched his head, muttered lots to himself, checked for more fuses again, then remembered we kept the manual on top of the boiler.

With an idea there was an issue with the pressure (although the light indicated differently) he read through the manual, not gleaning much information at all, but then had an idea....

 

...with a whack of his screwdriver the boiler kicked into life!!!

What a relief!

I could have kissed him....but resisted the urge!

 

He has said as the years go by it will become more and more unlikely we will be able to get parts....which we already knew having phoned Worcester about a decade ago and they said they no longer made parts for our boiler!

So, if we want a new boiler he has said to call him in February as he gets pretty booked up by the summer.

He likes to fit new boilers in the summer, so the boiler is all set for the winter.

I must admit I was getting a bit anxious this near to Christmas for the logistics of getting a new boiler and our plumber being free to fit it!

Thankfully we have some more borrowed time and hopefully will be able to limp through the winter.

 

 

I managed to fit in a bit of knitting whilst dinner was cooking and hope to finish this dolly cardi tonight.

 

I heard my aunt fell and broke her arm yesterday in Tesco, and although I had intended popping in before Christmas, I need to make sure I do it sooner rather than later in case she needs anything doing/buying before the shops sell out!

 

 

 

 

 

Pizzas and Pretty Cakes and Plummeting Temperatures!

 

This morning we were up bright and early, for a day in London.

What we hadn't anticipated was waking to a cold house, but even worse, no hot water!

It's probably fair to say our boiler doesn't owe us anything, we had it installed when we moved in 24years ago and it has served us pretty well, but has a small recurring problem that we know one day will be irrepairable.

Whether today is that day, or whether the two small power cuts we had last night did something, we don't know.

We called a plumber before we went out, he did leave a message, which we have responded to but are awaiting a further call back, I am hoping he can make it tomorrow, one day with no hot water is one thing, two days of back to washes in the sink is really going to be a bit of a trial!

How spoilt we have become over the years!

 

 

We were very thankful today was a bright and dry day.

It made walking through London really pleasurable.

 

 

Covent Garden street entertainers are always a highlight...

 

 

...and of course the market itself has some pretty and unusual shops.

 

 

 

Fire and Stone is our favourite pizza restaurant.....once again I chose Christmas dinner pizza...not a tomato in sight so if you aren't a tomato fan this is ideal!

 

 

Teen One ordered a very pretty Mocktail...blueberry smash, which had lemon, rosemary and blueberry in...perfect for her sore throat.

Sadly the sore throat and cough was a bit of a trial for her throughout the day, especially with the cold air, but she soldiered on.

 

 

Hubby chose a chicken tikka pizza, which came complete with popodoms, mango chutney etc

 

 

Teen Two chose the London pizza, which is basically an English cooked breakfast on a pizza dough!

 

 

We have been visiting London during the Christmas period for the past few years, today's visit coincided with a special Christmas BrickLive Lego event.

It was only a two hour event, so Teen One and I decided we would explore the Kings Road in Chelsea instead.

On our walkabout we came across the house where Mozart wrote his first symphony...at the age of eight!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By total coincidence, just a day or two ago I blog hopped onto a picture of this very pretty cake shop....which just so happened to be in Chelsea too!

 

 

 

 

I was a little disappointed initially not to see the pretty flowers cascading over the shop front, but the Christmas decorations were rather special so made up for it.

We had hoped to have afternoon tea in there but there was a queue out of the door and it was rather cold, so we just had a look round inside...

 

 

 

...which was delightful to say the least ( and rather expensive as you might imagine!)

 

 

We did however treat ourselves to a cupcake each and were thrilled with the pretty bag they came in...

 

 

...as well as the individual boxes the cupcakes came in...very princessy and made us feel very special!

 

 

We wiled away the two hours checking out the shops....some very pretty shops indeed, but all out of our price bracket of course!

Peter Jones department store however had some bargains in, which  has started off my collection of pressies for next year!

Soon enough it was time to meet the boys back at the Saatchi gallery.

We had looked round the gallery itself at the beginning of their session, but decided its not our kind of art!!

 

 

With the boys back with us, it was time to get the bus back to Waterloo....and what a thrill to see some of the buses with  the real Christmas message on the sides.

 

We were surprised to see the car needed defrosting when we got back to Hampton Court.....brrrr it sure was cold...as is the house now we are home!!

We do however have the woodburner in the living room, so Hubby has lit that and stoked it with coal, so hopefully there will be a bit of warmth when we go down tomorrow...but sadly there will of course be no hot water.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chocolate and Morals

 

A brief catch up on today...as you know Sunday's are pretty much the same in our household, with church starting and ending the day.

We still had eight for dinner, but "swapped" our usual three students for a close friend, her son and her mum.

 We had the usual roast, followed by apple and mincemeat flapjack, and something a little lighter, orange mousse.

Its so easy to make, whisking up a tin of evaporated milk then adding about half a pint of jelly.

I hadn't really put much thought into decorating it and was just going to serve it as it was, but this morning felt it looked a little lack lustre.

I suddenly remembered I had some Terry's Chocolate Orange bought on offer a while back and also remembered my friend had a funny story to tell about a Terry's orange, so I decided it was quite appropriate.

Her story was, she has no willpower when it comes to chocolate ( who has!) whereas her husband did.

She discovered one day he had a Terry's Orange unopened in his wardrobe, left over from Christmas.

One day, feeling "in the mood for chocolate" ( we've all had days like that!) she thought...

"If I just take one slice....he will never notice"

So,one slice she took.

Of course you can probably guess how the story continues...one slice one day, became another slice another day, and whilst initially it was easy enough to hide the missing slice....as the orange got smaller and smaller, there was no hiding the fact she had been indulging in something she shouldn't have!

It was at the time when Christmas was the only time the oranges were available, so there was no opportunity to replace it, she just had to come clean.

She has often retold this story to her own children, and others too....

...and the moral of the story is of course...

find a husband who will give you his last chocolate orange

give up chocolate

don't poke around in your husbands wardrobe

make a prenuptials agreement, all chocolate to be shared unless its yours

...be sure your sins will find you out!

 

Well we certainly had a good laugh at the story today, and of course were able to indulge in a sin free chocolate (sadly not syn free!)

To be honest...I am not a lover of Terry's chocolate, and particularly the oranges, but I did give one a go and it wasn't as bad as I remembered it being.

 

 

When our visitors left it was the usual game of Scrabble for Grandma, with Teen One being crowned winner today.

 

Tomorrow we are going to London for the day, so the evening has been spent planning the day and googling directions etc.

 

 

Mocha Sticks and Melting Snowmen

 

This morning I was looking forward to a lovely lie in, but like last week, I awoke early and sleep would not come back, so after lying there for an hour I gave up at 6am and came downstairs for a cuppa and some knitting.

I went back with a tray of brekky for Hubby and then enjoyed a quiet hour in bed catching up online.

 

 

It was such a beautiful morning, we decided to take a walk to a fairly new Costa for brunch....

 

 

...they do lovely Christmas drinks...which went very well with their bacon brie and cranberry panini.

It was a lovely relaxing morning and a perfect start to family festivities.

 

 

Unfortunately Teen One started to feel a bit lightheaded, so once home had a lie down on the sofa.

 

 

I pottered a little, knitted a little, then when Teen One was feeling a bit brighter we made a start on some homemade hot chocolate/mocha sticks.

 

 

Teen One had the bright idea of putting the lolly sticks in a piece of cardboard...

 

 

 

....so the lolly sticks stand up straight until the chocolate has set.

 

 

Next up was some snowman face making!

For Parent and Toddlers on Thursday I am going to get them to make "melting snowmen" cookies/muffins...depending on what time I have in the week...shop bought biscuits if I am in a rush and home made muffins if I have time on my hand.

All they will have to do is put runny icing on the cake, then add the marshmallow face to make it look like a melted snowman.

 

 

Hubby has been scanning in old photos, and painting the kitchen door frame which has been on the wish list for several years now!

 

All in all a nice chilled, take it as we find it day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That Snowball!

 

Today was busy, the usual shopping  (including "cracker" finds) tidying up, laundry...you know...all the usual stuff, but mostly today was about the Carol Service ...

....and THAT snowball!

We tried to work out how old it was and figure it must be about twenty years old.

Considering it is only made from paper mache and stored in a dampish church store room, it is amazing its still around and doing an amazing job of hiding all those presents for the Friday Club kids.

It is truly amazing how much the kids love this tradition, of pulling open the snowball and watching the presents cascade out.
Every year they ask "are we having the snowball again?"

In these days of high tech and glitz and glamour, who would have thought this rather rustic and not even snowball looking object would be so popular!

 

As usual I fret that no one will turn up, but thankfully, our little church hall was full to capacity.

For a very small congregation and even smaller number of helpers for the work on Friday, it is something to behold when we see all the seats taken up and standing room only.

 

Our students were amazed to see so many arrive through our doors and thought it was a lovely community occasion.

 

The children remembered the Bible verses we have been teaching them and all the songs as well.

The readers did well with their Bible readings, including one little girl who really struggles with reading, she was really keen to do a reading and gave us all little giggle when she innocently read about the "chefs" and priests ( chief priests)

 

All those presents I have been collecting and angsting about were hugely popular, especially those paper mache oversized letters from Hobbycraft.

The girls simply love love loved them!

 

I over estimated how many mince pies would be eaten, but managed to persuade some parents to take a some boxes home, so all was not lost!

 

With all that behind us, we can now concentrate on family time and enjoy the festivities.

 

 

Finally Enjoying The Festive Preparations!

 

Starting with last night, we had an amazing supper, courtesy of our Malaysian medical student.

It was a set meal for four, fed eight of us very well (possibly too well!) and enough left over for our dinner tonight...so no cooking for me yayyy!

 

 

This morning was Parent and Toddlers as usual and with Teen One with us we cleared up in super quick time!

 

 

Which was just as well, as we then had the task of filling the giant papermache snowball my late father in law made, with presents for tomorrow's Carol Service.

With each name ticked for the third and final check on the register I am glad that job is out of the way and will be relieved tomorrow when I can be 100% sure every child has a gift!

 

 

Back home, after a quick sandwich, Teen One and I retired to the attic to get cracking with the present wrapping.

It was pure delight for me to just pile up the various family member's gifts and then leave Teen One to wrap them.

We had quite a conveyor belt system going on and I also got to tidy up the room, which has been somewhat trashed for the past couple of weeks!

 

There are still one or two tricky folk to buy for...oh yes...and the "cracker" presents, but other than that things are looking presentably organised....finally!

 

Hubby has a day of leave to take before the end of the year, so we are thinking of going to London on Monday.

Lego Brick Live have a special Christmas event in the Saatchi Gallery, which of course he and Teen Two will enjoy, but Teen One and I are all Lego'ed out for the time being, so will explore the Kings Road Chelsea which is close by...hopefully I will find something unusual for those tricky folk!

 

 

With no dinner to cook, I was able to indulge in some mid afternoon knitting.

Using the left over yarn from the dolly quilt, I am using a preemie baby pattern to make a little dolly's cardi, and if there is enough left over a hat as well.

 

All in all the stress levels are starting to fall considerably and I am beginning to enjoy the festive preparations!

 

 

 

 

The Coffee's Are On Costa!

 

Last night was rather momentous in our household....

the two cats sat NEXT to each other!

Not even when Crystal arrived as a tiny kitten did she accept the motherly attentions of Milly!

As time has gone by they simply tolerate each other, maybe occasionally play rough and tumble, but mostly ignore each other.

So, last night was unusual to say the least!

 

 

Unlike the bunnies, who snuggle as close as they can!

 

 

Hubby made it to work today, with the energy levels being almost back to normal.

Teen One had spent all day yesterday finishing her last assignment and drove into Uni this morning to hand it in, so I had the house to myself for a couple of hours.

Having endured hours of snooker on the TV, with Hubby being home, I made the most of being home alone and had some me time in front of the TV whilst making a little pillow to go with the dolly quilt.

I had thought I had a scrap of white fabric in the stash box, but came across several sheets of white felt first so used that instead.

 

 

I embroidered the name of the little girl on the pillow ( they had initially wanted it on the quilt but as I had chosen granny squares that wasn't really possible) then made bows for the corners.

I sent a pic to my friend and she said her daughter will really like it, so that's a relief.

I am considering making a few dolly clothes with the left over yarn, hopefully they wont take long to whip up.

 

 

Grandma had asked me to take her shopping for some bulbs/planters, which like last year is her present to Hubby and his siblings/spouses.

Having the bunnies nowadays, means I put more planters out the front so this is a welcome addition.

 

 

Grandma suggested we go for coffee afterwards at the nearby Costa, my first Christmas latte this year so far!

Grandma went for a Black forest hot chocolate...

 

 

...whilst I opted for a gingerbread latte.

Grandma had wanted to treat me, but when I gave the assistant my rewards card she said there were enough points for both drinks to be free!

So Costa treated us!

Not only that but there is still £4 on the card!

I don't go for coffee very often so was surprised how the points had mounted up, it must be a couple of years worth I think .

So we enjoyed our freebies and were very good and didn't indulge in the goodies on offer.

 

 

We took a little detour on the way home, delivering various cards.

It used to be cheaper to post than use up petrol, but with the current price of stamps I figured it was cheaper to drive!

Back home I lined the hallway with the boxes of wrapped gifts, ready to take to church tonight.

After our Bible Study we will rearrange the church hall ready for the Carol Service on Friday, then load the giant snowball with the presents.

 

 

 

It was then time to tackle the ironing, which has been neglected for some weeks!!

Mid way through my late neighbour's son called in with presents to go under the tree...an excellent opportunity to take a break for tea!

Having caught up, he said his goodbyes and left me to that huge pile of ironing again!

Thankfully it is all done and even put away!

 

 

With a few other bits and bobs done, I feel I am finally starting to get somewhere.

Teen One has finished Uni for Christmas and has no coursework for the holidays, so she will be able to help me with wrapping up the presents next week....bliss!

Tonight our medical student wants to buy a Chinese takeaway as a farewell treat for us, and as they are all big water drinkers I have infused some water with festive flavours...

 

 

 

 

...I probably should have made it up yesterday, but am sure the orange and rosemary at least will come through.

 

Having found two large shoeboxes in Teen Two's room, from purchases earlier in the year, I am beginning to feel things are starting to come together!