Saturday 29 September 2018

Saturday This and That . . .



It hard to believe that we are already on the last weekend for September! Where has the month disappeared to??  I don't know, but it has just whizzed by almost at the speed of light!!!  Before you know it, it will be . . .  dare I say it  . . .  Christmas!



If you can believe it, already this morning, just shortly after 6 am, someone was shooting off fireworks, making Mitzie go crazy!  It gets earlier and earlier every year.  I really wish they would ban the private use of fireworks in this country.  They're dangerous and far too over-used, especially this time of the year. It might be alright if it was contained to one night only, Guy Fawkes Night, but people start shooting them off weeks and weeks in the run up to GFN and the insantity seems to go on until after NYE. For people with animals, this is so distressing.  Mitzie just shakes.  We daren't leave her alone at night.  She is so afraid of them and the noise.  



From Fireworks to Showerworks.  Our Shower is Kaput.  Over here in the UK, most showers are electric.  As those of you who have been reading me for a while know, a number of years back, they replaced our bath with an electric shower.  We actually had the  whole bathroom refitted with a disability grant.  Its been just lovely.  I do miss a bath at times, and I know Todd really does as he is not fond of showers, but having a shower has been a real blessing to me.  As you know I had toenail surgery about 2 weeks ago. I was not allowed to get the dressing wet.  So I fiddled around a few days with sponge bathing, but washing my hair (waist length) has been a real pain in the back to be honest, and the tangles very difficult to get out afterwards.  I decided to buy a boot that I can wear in the shower.  I got to use it exactly once and the shower cocked up.  It would go on for about 3 seconds and shut off.  Turn it on again, same thing.  No matter how many times you turn it on, it shuts off after 3 seconds.  We got an electrician in.  It worked fine.  So, there wasn't anything for him to do.  He leaves.  The next day I managed to take a shower no problem. (The boot works great!)  Next time I go to take a shower . . .  the same thing happens.  We have not been able to get it to work since.  We had an electrician out to look at it again yesterday and he says it is kaput, so now we are waiting for our Landlord to get a Mira Engineer out to look at it, and we will go from there.  In the meantime, it is back to sponge baths and trying to wash my hair in the sink.  *Grumble* *Grumble*  Hopefully it won't take them too long to get it all sorted. Since my toenail op, I have had 2 showers.  I will never take the blessing of being able to have a shower for granted again.  

Maple Cake 

Last weekend I posted this recipe for a fabulous Maple Cake.  Everyone who has baked is has raved about it.  Several of the younger sisters at church were ecstatic about it.  That makes me happy.  That is the whole reason I post the recipes I use, because I want to share them with others and I want them to enjoy them as much as we do.  I figure its a win/win!  




One of them shared this photo of her wee daughter helping her bake it with me.  Isn't this adorable!  I could just melt.   

  

And icing the finished cake.  She said it was the best cake she had ever baked/eaten.  High accolades indeed, and I was really pleased! 


Look who is two months old already!  I can't believe that Grace is already two months old.  She is growing like a weed.  Ariana and Jose stopped by the other day to pick up some Nesquick I had picked up for them at Costco.  Jose had Grace strapped to his chest and he was holding Dexter (their Lab) by the lead.  I said to him he had his arms full.  Oh but he is such a proud daddy! 

  

Every second day or so he is doing something like this on IG.  I think the Yes votes had it!  I voted yes of course.  You can see that delightful little personality developing.  It is just so exciting to have this week little princess just a few doors away and being able to enjoy her like we are able to.  I never got to see or hold any of my grands when they were this young, so this is a real God-send to me.  I am loving every moment of it.  I can't wait until they leave her with us to baby sit and I get to enjoy her all to myself for more than just a few minutes!! ♥♥♥  


I've been watching this show on Channel 4 called The Circle. I have to watch it when Todd's not around because the bad language drives him crazy. (Me too, but I tend to be able to shut it out easier.  I am gobsmacked at just how foul ordinary every day language has become however!  If they had the old fashioned bleep system in place we would only be hearing every second word! )  It is a game show with a Big Brother feel to it, that has a £50,000 prize up for grabs.

The premise of the show is that centres around a block of flats which  all the contestants will be moving into for the next three weeks. The twist is that they’ll all be staying in separate apartments – and they’ll only get to communicate with each other online, via the titular Circle – a social media platform specially created for the purposes of the show. And how the contestants perceive each other will depend entirely on how they’ve chosen to portray themselves online – whether they are themselves, or whether they present a different version of who they truly are. 

It’s a clever comment on social media and the risks involved – both based on trust and how fixated people can become with creating the perfect ‘Insta’ image. The most popular contestants become influencers and can block their least favourite contestant, meaning they leave The Circle immediately. The blocked contestant is then replaced with a new face, but not before they’re given the option of going to one of their fellow Circle players’ apartments to suss them out before they go. 

I am finding it really interesting myself, and am astonished at just how vapid most of these young people really are for the most part.  Its an interesting study on the social mechanics of a younger generation.   I know that it is in no way representative of all young people, but I really am amazed at how self-centred most of these contestants are!  I'm not sure how long I will stick with it, but for now I am finding it interesting. Some of the contestants really grate on my nerves, lol.


I did my own dressing change yesterday. It was soooo hard!  LOL  I didn't think it would be, but there are so many layers to it.  I hope I did it right.  Whew!  I have to do this one more time in about 4 days time, and then I move to smaller dressings and change them every day I guess. (Trying to remember.)  It all seems to be healing well, which is great!  Last night I dreamt about it, which is wierd.  

I was reading the other day and I read that when you are asleep at night, your body rests while your brain starts to compartmentalise everything you've seen/done/heard during the previous day.  Its all in there somewhere.  And that is why sometimes your dreams will contain some element of what you have experienced from the previous day.  

I am a really vivid dreamer.  I dream in colour and sometimes my dreams continue all night long, like one long ongoing episode, which is not a bad thing if it is a juicy dream, but if it's a bad dream, I often have to get up and read or some such to get my mind off it.  That doesn't happen very often thank goodness!  



I went to the shops yesterday morning to pick up a few bits.  I normally don't do shopping on a Friday.  Friday shopping is nightmarish.  The roads and shops are always super busy and traffic is crazy, second only to Saturday shopping, and that doesn't include Christmas, when it seems to me that every day is nightmarish.  Long queues, rude people, and traffic jams. Not pleasant.  I really wanted fresh fruit and veg.  Most of the veg looked manky so I didn't get any.  I wanted Cauliflower.  I read somewhere if you cook cauliflower and mix a potato in with it and then mash, then you can't tell the difference between that and ordinary mashed potato.  I really wanted to try it, but I could not find one cauliflower without brown spots on it.  I got  bunch of bananas and had one last night when we were watching the telly.  It hardly tasted like a banana at all.  Then I tried a nectarine and it tasted like nothing.  Blah!  Todd thinks it is because they are messing so much with the way they produce our fruit and veg today that they are taking the flavour out of everything. So disappointing!  I had one bite.  He had one bite, and we threw the rest of the nectarine in the bin because it was literally blah, blah, blah ... 

  

And finally, Ariana had beautiful looking eyelashes the other day!  She had eye lash extensions done.  The girl came to her home and it was only £20.  They were gorgeous and she didn't have any mascara on them at all.  So beautiful.  I am thinking about it.  One tube of mascara (I use L'Oreal) costs me about £14, so I am thinking about maybe having this done.   We will see.

A thought to carry with you  . . . 

° * 。 • ˚ ˚ ˛ ˚ ˛ •
•。★★ 。* 。
° 。 ° ˛˚˛ * _Π_____*。*˚
˚ ˛ •˛•˚ */______/~\。˚ ˚ ˛
˚ ˛ •˛• ˚ | 田田 |門 ★

 *
Empathy during agony 
is a portion of Divinity.
~Neal A Maxwell •。★★ 。* 。 


Easy Jam Hearts 

In The English Kitchen today.  Easy Jammy Hearts. Todd loves these! 

Have a wonderful Saturday!  Don't forget! 


═══════════ ღೋƸ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒღೋ ═══════════ ⊰✿░G░O░D⊰✿⊰L░O░V░E░S⊰✿⊰░Y░O░U░⊰✿
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And I do too!









8 comments:

  1. Good morning Marie. Baby Grace is adorable and she is blessed to have parents who love her so. Those eye lash extensions are fantastic.

    How I wish I lived nearer. I used to love doing dressings. There is something so satisfying about helping a person heal. I am quite sure that doing your own toe would be a fiddle.

    I have been grateful for our cooler days. today it hit 32 and I now hav a fan on. I felt hot yesterday but today I could not cope a second longer. There is a storm rumbling away but no rain so far. This week there have been storms. One was very intense and many roofs and gutters could not handle the water volume. So there are a number of soggy homes. Then there was a intense hail storm. That township looked like it had snowed until you saw the grape sized lumps. Ah Australia a land of extremes.

    Can I ask your readers to pray for those in Indonesia who have been affected but the tsunami and earthquake that happened not so long ago?

    God bless.

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    1. I wish you lived nearer too Suzan, and not because of the dressings! I am defnitely praying for Indonesia, and any in the world who are suffering at the moment. There are so many experiencing the negative affects of adverse weather at the moment! Love and hugs, xoxo

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  2. How wonderful you have that wee one in your life. They are so adorable, but it does make us realize more and more how fast they grow. They don't stay little very long. Cannot believe she is 2 months old already. I hope that shower gets fixed soon. We truly never appreciate the value of things until we no longer have them. Hope you have a super Saturday!

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    1. Well, the Engineer won't be here to look at it until the 5th of October Pam, so I have a whole week to wait before it is even looked at which has bummed me out a bit, but I guess it is what it is! Hope you have a Super Saturday also. It is sunny and warm here! xoxo

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  3. What a bummer...the shower!! Maybe your friends a few doors down could lend you theirs for a few days? Wish you lived nearby as I would lend ours!! I love being able to shower!! I loved baths too but our lady doc told me decades ago to not do that anymore because if you only shower, you are way less likely to get infections in the nether parts. So my girls and I started doing mostly showers then. Seems to have worked.
    The cake looks so yummy...might be worth changing out due to my allergies and diabetes so I could eat some too!! Do I NEED cake...heh, no...but sometimes we NEED such don't we? Well, hubby and I say chocolate is medicine and eat a bit each day!! Hope things are soon up and running well again and that your toe continues healing!!
    Elizabeth XOXO

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    1. And I would take you up on the offer Elizabeth! I think dark chocolate is supposed to be very good for you! Plus its a bean so, that's one of your five a day right? xoxo

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  4. Our Sammy hates fireworks too. He shakes and is very upset. We have alot of them in our neighborhood for a few days on the 4th, 24th of July and New years. It irritates me too.
    Oh my, not ot have a shower that is working; is the worst. Taking sponge baths and washing hair is not easy at all under these circumstances. When we first moved here our water heaters went out and we had to heat all our bath water for a few days. It was awful. I just kept saying to myself; at least I’m not a pioneer going down to the creek to get the water to bring back to heat on an open fire. How did they do it???
    I pray it get’s fixed soon because when you have something like your foot making it even more difficult; this is very bad.
    I must your cake; the recipe did look like such a yummy one. The photos of the little girl helping with it are so adorble.
    Oh, that little Grace is precious. I love th photos and I am so happy that you get to be involved with this family. I am sure it has helped to heal the saddness in your heart of not holding your own grands at this stage. Such a sweet blessings for you.
    Have fun with the series show. We have some similar but I don’t usually watch any of the sitcoms.
    I am so happy that your toe is healing well. I know that changing dressing can be a challenge.
    Your shopping visit doesn’t sound fun at all. I’m sad that the fruit didn’t taste good. I think this is worrisome. Price are high;; so it’s the pits when you can’t enjoy what you buy.
    Having Eye Lash extensions is very tempting. I am tempted all the time to do this; but refrained for now.
    I loved our conversation today! At least I look at it that way.
    Sening loving thoughts and hugs! Have a wonderul Sabbath Day!!

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    1. I don't know how the Pioneers did it either LeAnn, but every time I am tempted to complain, I remind myself of what they went through and I count my blessings LeAnn! I am so tempted to do the eye lash extensions, but money is tight and it would be a real extravagance! Yes, it always feels like a wonderful conversation. Love you. Hugs and blessings! xoxo

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