Our New Life in Devon

 Finished it after tea tonight and it only took half an hour. OH spray painted the thistles and pine cones as I have lung disease so paint fumes won't do me much good. I'm quite pleased with it as I'm not known for being great at crafts. Infact the one time I made a Snowman there was more glue and cotton wool on the children and walls than on the actual project lol. The garden Christmas tree is all lit up ready for family visiting at the weekend. I feel so much happier now everything is organised. We received our first Christmas card today but probably won't get many as most people don't send them any more. Going shopping Tuesday for the turkey and beef we've chosen for this year's Xmas Dinner. We don't usually bother to buy a shop Xmas cake as nobody really likes it, but I will get a chocolate yule log. My mother used to make lovely Christmas cakes for my sisters and I  every year. She was a brilliant cook. I also need to buy bottles of booze to put wit...

       cups and plates from years ago                     Ready for Santa!                   Tidy at last tg!  Everything wrapped, sorted into bags, cards posted, office tidied up (was a real mess with bits of paper cuttings and bags everywhere) Cards were posted in a large envelope for each family to save on postage. UK postage is very expensive here. I know they will all see each other over Christmas. OH has put lights on the tree in the front garden and on the front window. Christmas cups and plates all washed and in the cupboard ready. Just the Christmas ornaments to put around, bottles of booze to buy for the adult children and Christmas food. On the subject of Christmas ornaments I still haven't started the table decoration I'm making yet! Must get on with that as daughter and granddaughter are arriving Saturday!! Had a nice afternoon in Teignmouth last week list...

 Spent most of yesterday writing Xmas cards and wrapping Grandchildren's presents 🎁 so that's done towards Christmas. Hope they all like what I bought.                            I say "I bought" as tbh OH has never been interested in Xmas shopping or buying presents. Don't get me wrong, he always contributed financially to the cost, but it was as much as a surprise what everyone had to him as the recipients lol. He does trim the tree, carry bags or boxes of presents and deliver them, put up decorations, post the Xmas cards for me and even cook the Christmas Dinner. Although we usually eat Xmas Dinner a week before as he doesn't like it on Xmas day. Used every card I had left from last year so need to buy a small packet incase I've left anyone out. Actually, extended family members that I never see, hear from or don't even know where they live I've deliberately not bothered with this year. Will just wish everyon...

                  Not Yet lol Finally started the Christmas shopping last week but having problems finding tins of biscuits! We always give tubs of chocolates and fancy Christmas picture tins of biscuits to the adult children but this year they are all in cardboard boxes. It's the same biscuits but once you open the box they need an airtight tin or container to stay fresh, which is why we've always bought tins. I've tried 3 supermarkets but no joy yet. Granddaughter sent me a picture of a necklace she would like for Xmas as I asked what she wanted. Cue, two and a half hours searching for one with a short chain as she's quite small for a 10 Yr old. Eventually found one almost the same with an adult choker chain 14" She saw it on YouTube so couldn't find the original shop lol. There were cheaper versions on Amazon but they had bad feedback for breaking in a week. Sold quite a few things this week on eBay which will help son and daughter. I alwa...

 Several parts of the country had snow yesterday but no such luck yet in South Devon. Have never had snow since we lived here, apart from a few flakes which disappeared almost as soon as it pitched a couple of years ago. South Gloucestershire had some, where we moved from, and granddaughter had fun playing snowballs in the park with her friends. I really love walking in freshly pitched ❄️ snow - there's something magical about it. OH lit the log fire the other day. First time this year and it was only lit 6 times last year. This house holds the heat as it has cavity wall insulation. First house we've had that has this, and it's really noticeably warmer. Anyway, he lit the fire and the room slowly started filling with smoke! Despite him assuring me it would soon clear it became worse. Much worse! I'm coughing worse. Both our smoke alarms went off in tandem, so we opened all the doors and windows and I sat shivering in the garden until it stopped lol. We let the fire go o...

 Decided to take the dog to the vet as she keeps limping on and off. Started 2 months ago just once a week, then ok. It's been gradually increasing but most of the time she's walking and running completely normally. She didn't limp at all at the vets and showed no sign of any discomfort at all - typical!! So they prescribed an anti inflammatory and pain medication liquid and will review in 2 weeks. Aren't vets expensive now - £60 to see the vet and £37 for a small bottle of meds! And if it gets worse it's a scan starting at £2k upwards. She is insured tg. On a plus side she's only limped once since - perhaps it was the manipulation examination of her legs that helped. Went to Morrisons as I'd seen online they had a special offer on the round plastic tubs of chocolates for £2. They were marked £6 when we got there. The catch is you have to spend £45 to get 1 tub at the special price of £2. Didn't say that online. So as we had already started scanning our ...