Memorandum Monday - I learnt it today

It has been a quiet week in Lake Wobegon ... sorry in Our Street.

Mr M has been in work, Youngest Son is settling into his new job and Miss Boo is very glad to be in school and no longer having to play with us adults.
Did I learn something new this week? well, yes I did. I now know exactly what these TV cooks and chefs are talking about when they say "add a little Kosher salt"
To paraphrase Inego Montoya in The Princess Bride
"I do not think it means what you think it means"
I'll let you search T'internets yourselves, always good to do your own research.
My health is improving in leaps and bounds - I even managed a little leap or two of my own this week, and as long as I remember to moisturise every day I seem to be keeping the eczema well under control. I am totally off the topical steroids - and there's a subject for research if ever I saw one - and for the first time in several years I think I am free of their pernicious influence.
My advice to anyone with eczema is to step away from the steroids ( with medical supervision) and never go near them EVER again.

My thanks to Sian at FromHighInTheSky for inventing this way of keeping me blogging
See you all next week

Memorandum Monday - clearing up

The clearing up of my late Father-in-law's house kind of took a back seat to the cellulitis before Christmas so on Saturday we all agreed to meet there and do a bit more.
Big Bro took on the shed. He is very much of the opinion that anything we don't want should go straight to the tip and that would have been the fate of most of the contents of the house. "Nobody would want that" he kept saying, almost like a mantra to keep him going and that's when I learnt that this is just as painful for him as for Mr M and this is how he copes.
Mr M took up station outside the shed and let Big Bro pass things out to him where they were examined and then thrown in the box for the tip.
Mr M's sister is having the most difficulty with this. She is the youngest and until now had never had a Christmas without her Dad being there. She moved with the parents when they went to Hampshire and had them all to herself for nearly 20 years so everything in the house has meaning and she gets quite exhausted with the decisions she has to make. We worked hard sorting and packing stuff for the charity shops and for the night shelter and then we went to Paige's in Cwmbran for a meal to celebrate F-i-L's birthday - yes that was another anniversary they have managed to get through. We paid for the meal with the money made from selling F-i-L's boxed sets of DVDs on ebay. Everyone thought this was a good way of sharing the money.
There is still a lot to be done but until Probate is proved we can't do anything about the house except empty it.
I have learnt a lot about my in laws and found it more than interesting to observe how grief is dealt with by those closest and by those who, like me are one step away.
My people watching skill are still sharp and the curiosity that the old medication prevented has returned.
My thanks to Sian at FromHighInTheSky for inventing this Monday Meme to keep me writing perhaps I will pick up the camera again for next week.

Me on Monday - Still laughing

This is my man in his earthquake slippers

It's been a surprise outing with the Bluefunnels, shopping in an outlet, wholefood and rain, back out for trousis and a flat tyre kind of a weekend.

Did I learn something new? Yes, I think I did, but I'll get to that in due course.

The Lord Admiral and Lady Bluefunnel asked if we were doing anything on Saturday. We said no so they picked us up at 8.30am and we had breakfast at Jo's Place on the A48 at Whitchurch. The laughter had begun before we had left the end of the street because Mr M and I we still in bed at 8.15am. I failed to notice that the setting for the alarm was weekdays only so it didn't go off. We were woken my the text message from Lady B saying they were on the M4. We were only three minutes late.
After breakfast we drove the few miles to Ross-on-Wye and went into Labels. I have never been in there. They have a Bon Marche shop so I was delighted. The men went to the left where all the mens clothing stores were and we went into Bon Marche so that Lady B could buy some winter trousis.
We met up again and headed upstairs. Mr M said that he hadn't bought the trousis he tried because "You don't do sewing anymore" He can't get his head around it when I say that shortening trouser-legs is not real sewing. We then headed for Cheltenham - the pretty way - because they wanted to show us a fabulous store. It was nice. loads of stuff for people who are into cooking. We bought some Chinese five spice and a new pepper mill because I killed the old one, oh and some sourdough starter.
Then it started raining again. By this time we were heading back towards home so we stopped in Henley's Farm Shop for a little late lunch and the chance to buy meat and veg.
When we were back at home I told Mr M that if he wanted to go to Labels and get the trousis that fitted him except for the length then I was happy to go with him. He nodded.
On Sunday He asked if I felt like going so we did. When we got there he took me to the rack and said
"These are the ones I tried on yesterday, see my handkerchief is still in the pocket".
I promise I did not laugh out loud in the shop. I have done every time I have told my children about it.
We came home from there the pretty way and after a stop at Oakchurch Farm Shop we headed home.
We were within half a mile of our house when there were strange noises and the car felt like it was driving over bricks. We had a flat tyre. Now neither of us are the right shape for lying on the floor to seek out the jacking point on the car and so I called the AA. they seem to be busy on Sundays. There was an hour waiting time. Mr M walked home for a wee and came back just as the nice man in the yellow van arrived. He took over the conversation and I then walked home and had a wee and leaned against the radiator to warm... the cockles of my heart - shall we say.
A very eventful weekend. where everything turned out right in the end.
My thanks to Sian over at FromHighInTheSky for inventing this way of keeping me blogging

Memorandum Monday - Late but still walking

This is the first Monday of the year and Sian over at FromHighInTheSky has suggested that we should try to include one new thing that we have learned.
Having written that I realise that it has to be a new thing doesn't it, you can't learn an old thing that you already knew, so it must be new to you (make mental note to improve quality of written English this year instead of waffling on).

So it's been a strange weekend. Our visitor, Wicked Uncle Cliff, Arrived on 30th December and I stayed up WAY past my bedtime because we always have so much to talk about and never enough time.
How is he related? oh..... well he is an honorary Uncle to Miss Boo. We have known him since 1984 when I opened a games and figures shop with my cousin and Cliff worked for one of our suppliers. We talked on the phone once or twice a month for four years and then he came to a games convention that we ran.
We have been friends ever since.
He brought chocolates and laughter with him and he took Miss Boo out to buy her a present. She asked if they could go to Waterstones because there were books she liked. Cliff is a great reader so he said yes. She said "I have a long list of books Uncle Cliff how many can we choose?"
"You can have all of them as long as you read them."
Isn't is wonderful that a ten year old thinks a book shop is paradise and a library is heaven? She is on first name terms with the librarians in our local library and visits every saturday morning after her swimming session.
I don't think I did learn anything new this weekend. I am still consolidating the improvements in my health now that the cellulitis has been beaten back. Six weeks of antibiotics has played havoc with my immune system and my digestion. My children are the greatest thing that I have ever achieved and I cannot describe how proud I am of all of them. My grandchildren are shaping up to become amazing adults and my great grandchildren are beginning to develop into delighful and interesting little people.
I still prefer children and teenagers to babies and seeing them from the time they are around three years old, learning every moment of the day and increasing their language and skills makes me have hope for the future
The urge is upon me to write another Murder Mystery freeform game and the plot is thickening in my brain as I write.
So Happy New Year to everyone and let's hope it is a healthy one eh?