Happy Hogmanay!

It's the last day of the year - or Hogmanay as we call it in Scotland.

Time to think about the things you wanted to do in 2008 but never quite got round to doing - like tidying out all the drawers in the house. Yes, sad as I am, that was one of the things I thought I'd do in 2008 and, yes, I didn't do it! I wonder if I should put it on the list of things to do in 2009? Naw, maybe not. Sometimes you just have to learn not to put pressure on yourself. :oD

I was reading so-called celebs' New Year's resolutions for 2009 and one of them said his was the same as it had been since 1985 - to learn to speak French. 1985?? That's been your resolution for 24 years? For peep's sake! If you haven't done it yet, I doubt you're going to manage it in 2009. What a numpty!

Happy New Year to one and all! :o)

smile please!

I totally stole this photo from Debbie's blog. I think it's so cool, it's worth showing here too. Debbie managed to grab it as we iChatted with her.

After all the years of holding in my stomach, pulling my shoulders back, pushing my chest out and throwing my head back so far I almost put my neck out all in the name of trying to look good in photos, this photo proves that none of that is necessary. I mean, we look F-A-B in this! LOL

not much going on

Today has been one of those days where nothing much happened. Jo and I didn't go to Tesco's this morning as we have plenty food left over from Christmas to see us through until Tuesday when we'll go and get some fresh things to see us into the New Year.

We walked to the paper shop and bought the Sunday paper as a Sunday without doing/attempting the crossword would just not be right. We got it all except for about 8 clues without looking things up - not too shabby!

We went along to mum's in the afternoon for afternoon tea. She force-fed us more chocolate - yeah, that's a lie. She put the chocolate biscuits on the table and, weakling that I am, I ate one. But I only ate one - that's good - isn't it? :oD

visiting

Today we went to visit Douglas's mum. We took lasagne and garlic bread with us to save her slaving over a hot stove and she provided the pudding - black forest gateau and/or fruit salad.

Whilst we were still drinking our after-lunch coffees, Jim arrived with Vicky and Gillian and Vicky's dog Ruby. Rosie does not like Ruby. Actually, that's not fair. Rosie doesn't like any other dogs - it's not a personal thing about Ruby at all!

We admired Vicky's engagement ring - very different with 14 diamonds on the top and one ruby - for Ruby - on the underside. Very nice! Good luck to Vicky and Stevie! I hope they'll be very happy!

The day flew by and it was soon time to have afternoon tea - more food! - and then time to come home. Thankfully the traffic home was much quieter than the traffic on the way there. Apparently the people in Glasgow do go shopping on the Saturday between Christmas and New Year! Nutcases, the lot of them! :oD

tablet

Angela asked about tablet so I thought I'd give the recipe. The photo is not that great but it was the last piece in the box - which I ate after I photographed it! :oD

And here is a photo of a brand new trayful. It didn't last long either! :oD

TABLET

½ cup milk
1lb sugar
2 tbsp syrup
knob of butter - about the size of a walnut

Put in pan and melt SLOWLY until sugar is dissolved. Bring to boil and boil until it reaches “soft ball” on a sugar thermometer. Remove from heat and beat with an electric beater for about 2 - 2½ mins. Put into a greased baking tray. Cut while still warm.

This is kind of a hit and a miss recipe. I’ve been making it for years and it still sometimes won’t set. I just scrape it all back into the pan and reheat it to the right temperature and do it all again.

If it sets before it even gets out of the pan - no worries. It still tastes good even if it looks ugly! LOL

Christmas Eve

Well it's Christmas Eve and Joanna and I had to peel all the vegetables without Debbie's help. She is chief sprout peeler and crosser - as in cutting the cross at the top - but she was missing. Not here. Still in the land covered in snow and ice.

Joanna did the sprouts but told me she'd never done them before as it had always been Debbie's job. How amazing is that? That, through all the years since they've been old enough to help with the veg preparation, Debbie always did the sprouts! I don't know why it surprises me but it does!

And now all the veg are in the kitchen ready to be cooked tomorrow. The turkey is in the utility defrosting and the meringues for the "maybe pudding" - ie we'll have them if we have room for pudding (which I doubt very much) - are in the oven drying out. I MUST remember to take them out before I fire up the oven for the turkey!!

So, we're all ready - or as ready as we'll ever be. Now we just have to wait for Santa. We've been following him on the Norad site - so cool!

And, finally, just for laughs, I saw this Irn Bru ad on telly today and it made me giggle - as usual. It shows the Scots sense of humour perfectly!

I don't know if I'll blog tomorrow so to anyone reading this - have a very Merry Christmas.

coming to terms

We're sort of coming to terms with the idea that Debbie won't be home for Christmas. I have no doubt that Joanna and I will cry a lot - at the drop of the proverbial hat - but at least we have homemade fudge and tablet to try and cheer ourselves up with. (Note to self - make more tablet tomorrow to replace the stuff we cheered ourselves up with today!)

I suggested to Debs that she should wait and come home in February for her dad's birthday and I think she might go for that. She even went as far as pricing the flights and it's about 1/4 of the cost in February. So we'd get her home, more presents, more food, another Christmas and it won't cost as much! My kind of plan!

In the meantime, we'll chat to her on the iChat - she looked much better today after a l-o-n-g sleep than she did yesterday - and we'll eat her share of the turkey and trimmings and try to get through all that Coke. I don't think I'll step on the scales for a very long time!

not coming home :o(

It looks like Debbie isn't going to be home for Christmas. The flight out of Halifax was delayed then cancelled then reinstated then delayed - and so on and so on. Debbie was so tired after being at the airport since Sunday evening that she could almost not string 2 words together on the iChat.

She asked us to tell her what to do. How do you tell your child - she will always be my child no matter how old she is - that she should go back to her place in Halifax and stay there for Christmas? We want her here. She wants to be here. But oh, she was so upset and so distraught that we had to tell her to go to back to her room and sleep.

I know the friends she has made in Halifax won't let her be alone on Christmas Day. In fact, I suspect they'll be fighting to see who gets her at their house. That makes it slightly easier to bear - but only slightly!

Part of me is still hoping that she'll be here but the sensible part of me - no matter how small that is - is telling me she won't be here. It's going to be so hard for all of us.

LJ - I don't have your e-mail address so I hope you read this!

cancelled - but maybe not!

Debbie is still in Halifax. At the airport to be precise. The flight has now been cancelled but they might be able to get one out tonight - weather permitting. Debs has now been awake for 32 hours - I hope she's snoozing as I'm typing!

We're still really hopeful that she'll make it home but there is always the possibility that she won't. Who's going to drink all that coke if she doesn't get here?

Come on weather - play the game! Come on Air Canada - get your act together! Come on home, Debs! :o)

she's delayed!

Debbie is supposed to be coming home today. Her flight out of Halifax was meant to leave at 11.45pm last night but it's now 7.30am her time and she's still there. Her new departure time is now 12 noon her time (4pm our time) so we'll keep all fingers and toes crossed that the weather holds up or improves to let them out of there.

After she gets to Heathrow, we have no idea what's going to happen. Her flight up to Edinburgh will have left Heathrow before she even leaves Halifax so let's hope there's room for her on another flight!

it's all sorted - nearly!

I just got back from another visit to the chiro and that's me sorted. My back is all aligned as it should be and now I have to do some exercises on my own to strengthen some muscles - I can do that.

To be able to move without pain is amazing and, if doing 3 sets of exercises 10 times each once a day is the way to keep that happening, then I'll be lying on my right side lifting my legs at every opportunity. Okay, maybe not, but you know what I mean. If being pain-free is up to me, then I will do it!

As I was leaving the chiro's office, the receptionist called out some words of wisdom - "get someone else to take the turkey out of the oven on Christmas Day". Good plan!

I can move!

I've been to the chiropractor twice this week and she has, yet again, worked a miracle. Oh, I'm still not pain-free but I can now move without groaning!

I can fasten my bra without wishing I was flat-chested and didn't need to wear a bra! I can tie my pinny strings behind my back without wondering if I could manage to cook the tea without making a mess of my clothes.

And I can reach the top shelf in the kitchen where the chocolate biscuits are kept.

Yay! :o)

going back!

I decided to go back to the chiropractor to see if she can do something for my back. She completely sorted my glute muscle so I'm hoping she can do something for me again. My back has been giving me jip the last few days and the idea of spending Christmas in agony is not my idea of fun.

I hate worrying everyone about me being in pain but I can't keep it to myself when they see me hardly being able to stand up if I've been sitting for a while. I'm also stubborn - really?? me?? surely not!! :oP - and won't ask for help and so end up hurting myself even more. Taking stuff out of the oven or reaching up to a high shelf are my biggest stubbornnesses (!!) when I end up regretting not asking Douglas or Joanna to help.

So, to stop the Christmas turkey ending up on the floor, I'm off to see the chiro on Wednesday. Fingers crossed that she can sort me out - again! :o)

Bath

Joanna and I went to Bath, Somerset, England last weekend. She wanted to see the Georgian parts of the town - the Jane Austen era type stuff. Here are just a few photos that I took whilst we were there.

Bath Abbey - outside and inside.

The Assembly Rooms where the members of the ton gathered in Georgian Times for entertainments.

And this is the Guildhall which was also a popular place for entertainment in the Georgian era.

These next photos are of the Roman Baths. Aqua Sulis, as Bath was known to the Romans, was very popular because of the waters. Yes, that's steam - the water was 40ºC when it flowed into this pool! If you see any bubbles in the water, it's not heat, it's gases. I thought we'd be able to smell sulphur, but we couldn't - thankfully! :oD

Pulteney Bridge

Royal Crescent

Royal Circus

Some doors.

And finally - a couple of strange ones. This is not a statue. It's a real person dressed up like a statue. The pigeons kept landing on him so he had them fooled!

And Joanna wanted to try on a corset - who knows why? And the funny face? Again, who knows why? Good for a laugh!