Thursday 27 December 2012

Returning to normal mode ...

Hello Everyone

Hope you all had a good Christmas and managed to relax a little. Ours was a good one, spending time with DS. & FDiL. (who both needed to de-stress and did so), plus S. and M., their two lovely working Springer Spaniels.

We managed not to over-indulge on the food line, all gave and received some wonderful presents (the best of all was having time with them), and got in some great if wet walks. I don't think the dogs have done such sustained daily walks. Overall, we must have done around 15 miles and they were 'plum-tuckered' out (for a few hours!).

The house is slowly returning to its normal mode but we hope to go up to see them in the next couple of weeks or so.

They went back earlier than planned as DS. has to do 2 days work in the holidays (for which he will be paid well no doubt), then they will be travelling down to see FDiL.'s parents and family for the New Year celebrations.

We all decided we need (and want) to cut back on present buying plus food (even though the food side was already cut back we still haven't used up the few extra's we baked) so more trimming can definitely be done there. DB and I, for a change, indulged them more than usual with things they needed as we had a small money raffle prize before Christmas. We are going to do a freezer and cupboard stock check and see if we can live off them until next pay day (apart from the odd fresh food buy). I am aiming to spend no more than £20 in that time:0)

All in all, a good time. Hope yours was as well.

7 comments:

  1. Glad you enjoyed your Christmas DC and like you we're getting back to normality now. We had a great time with our family and loved being with them all but I think all the hype beforehand, lovely as it was, has left us in chill-out mode today and it's wonderful doing just nothing, apart from glancing at some lovely books. Enjoy your normal mode too.
    Patricia x

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  2. We too cut back stringently on the food front....but still have stuff in the fridge and on the kitchen worktop that we could well have cut back even further on! Next year I shall be trimming back a bit harder!

    We need to clear our fridge and shelves considerably as we shall be away for a month soon....so no food shopping for me for a while! (Baked a loaf this morning.)

    I miss our Springer Spaniel, he certainly ensured we got plenty of execise! I'm feeling the need of a brisk walk, but fear I shall only manage a slow stroll! A Happy New Year to you and yours...I think that's the next 'biggie'.

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  3. Did not indulge too badly on the food line. Four of us went out for a slap up Chinese on Christmas day and had a home made buffet dinner that evening. The buffet left overs are still feeding us on occasion, with enough buffet things still stored in the fridge for New Years eve. I had managed to buy a largish pork loin joint just before Christmas (in the reduced section of Tesco for £9) and cut this into 4 to put into the freezer. These will provide plenty of Sunday roasts for some time to come, as we don`t have a roast every weekend. Not much shopping to be done in the New Year, and we still manage to live off the freezer content, and shall carry this on until well into February. Plans are afoot now finally to reduce our meal portions as DB eventually admitted to having put on far too much podge since he gave up smoking 2 years ago. We will also curb his addiction to take aways and I hope to be reducing some meaty meals during the week, too. Just hope DB`s good intentions don`t all fall by the wayside halfway through January.
    Have a Happy New Year!

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    1. And the same to you Sarina. Glad to hear DB is now on board!

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  4. Glad you had a good time - we did too, including an unexpected phone call from Paris on Christmas Day, which was just wonderful - they were having a fabulous time.We have nothing left over - the mushroom Wellington was a big hit both hot and cold and the profiteroles were finished off yesterday.J went back to work this morning, and the decorations will come down tomorrow ready for Bold's arrival on Saturday.

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    1. We are planning to take down our decorations at the weekend. Finished cleaning up after the guests but will need to have our carpets washed. (Nothing to do with the dogs, the carpets needed a good clean before they came just decided to wait until after they went! Mushroom Wellington sounds great, any chance of the recipe?

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  5. Glad to read that you have a lovely time with your family. Just what the doctor ordered. Methinks we're going to have to some paring down here at Peapods too!

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