Shopping, Veganuary ... and Pyjamas

 

The final shopping photo of 2025.

I called to Sainsbury's and Aldi this morning for emergency Lemsip supplies for us both, and while I was in both shops I had a browse at their Veganuary offerings.  There were slim pickings in our little branches, but that wasn't really a problem as I didn't want to buy anything specific except some mayonnaise and I managed to get that in Aldi.  But I did buy a few extra things to pop into the freezer for those nights when I haven't the energy or the will to do much.

And the Apple Strudel called out my name as I passed by.  😁

So for January I will be taking part in Veganuary.   I decided a while ago that I would be going back to my vegan roots in 2026, and this seems like a good way to see if that really is what I want for the future.  Eating eggs and fish has worn thin with me, they brought me no visible or measurable health benefits and have just turned me into a lazy cook.

It's time to change things up a bit.

I'm signing off for the year now, so I will see you bright and fresh in the brand new, New Year.  

I would like to take this opportunity to thank every single one of you who have read along with my wacky, at times unexpected ramblings.  Thank those of you who leave comments, and occasionally suggestions and put up with my answering or not answering as time and whims dictate, and to say that I hope that each and every one of you have a calm and peaceful entrance into 2026.

I will be tucked up cosy and warm way before any bells ring for the New Year, so my party dress code is pyjamas.  😄

Happy New Year.

Sue xx

Days and Differences

 

That's exactly how I feel today.

Yesterday we visited Mum for the first time since way before Christmas, she hadn't even noticed that we hadn't been to see her.  Sometimes it's nice not to be missed.  😄

I'm taking a break to write a blog post because Alan has me choosing all my 'bathroom fittings' from the Wickes and the B&Q catalogue, while he's away at the bungalow taking the garage roof ready for demolition.  Wickes is not my favourite, so I have discounted all their offerings and stuck with B&Q for the few things that I want from there.  Alan is going all new and modern, with black taps, shower head, radiator, towel rails etc etc.  

That is not my way

Not a brilliant photo, the pedestal is not that skinny looking in real life, my camera angles must have been a bit wacky!!

I want to keep the sink and the toilet that are already in the bungalow and as long as the toilet works properly and we can get new 'innards' for it that is my starting point.  Where Alan's en-suite is going to be all black, white and sleek, I am chrome and original white.  The taps will be changed on the sink. but why would I want to get rid of such a brilliantly big sink.

My fittings will be chrome or stainless steel but the walls of my bathroom will be papered when I find  something suitably 'happy making' to lavish on at least one of the walls.  It will all come together eventually but Alan's way of planning it tires my brain, I had to disregard my little list and sit and write  code numbers into his spread sheet ... his rows are many compared to mine.

I think he despairs of my way as much as I despair of his.  We are a good match.  😄

My Christmas present to myself this year.  Once I've done this and added a shower tray and it's code to Alan's spreadsheet I think it's time to sit and have a coffee and a read ... I've earned it.

Sue xx

The In-Between Days

 

We're in those in-between days.

It's no longer Christmas although our homes are full of good food, decorations and gifts that have not found a home yet.  We don't quite know what day it is, let alone which of the leftovers to have for our lunch today.

The world seems to have tilted and left us slightly discombobulated, made all the worse if you are also feeling the after effects of illness of any kind.

We went out for a coffee and a bacon butty for Alan, and a coffee and a couple of crumpets for me at Booths this morning in at attempt to claim back some normality ... and drop off the misappropriated shopping basket.  We finished it with a detour to the bungalow to see if my befuddled workings out at fitting ensuites into both bedrooms is a viable plan.

Somehow having a few days away from the bungalow has ended up saving us quite a lot of money, as we have found a way of not having to build a porch on the side of the house or knocking part of one exterior wall down to fit new double doors.  This is the plan as it was before I planned the ensuites, less wasted space and a lot less doors.  It's all starting to come together.

I knew there would be some benefit to my brain taking a few days off.  😄

Sue xx

Not the Christmas That We Expected ...

 

We've not had the Christmas we expected, but we had a Christmas and that's more than some have.

Santa left us a dose of flu each.  Alan started on Tuesday and me on Christmas Eve, we did manage to pick up the Christmas food order from Booths, but Alan wasn't thinking straight and accidentally brought the supermarket's shopping basket home with us still carrying the food in the boot of the car.

  We will return it, sheepishly and apologetically when we are both thinking and walking straight.

We didn't forget the gravy ... we somehow cobbled the Christmas dinner together between us, and manfully and womanfully ploughed through as much of it as we could.  It was the one meal of the day we could manage, it's been leftovers ever since.  Thank goodness for fridges.

The best news of all, none of the Christmas chocolate or alcohol has been touched ... so it should be a good New Year.

I do hope your Christmases were good.  🎄

Sue xx

Blogmas Day Twenty Five - Happy Christmas to You All

 Wishing all my readers, friends, family and blogging buddies the very happiest of Christmases.  

May your day be everything that you want it to be.

And always remember the very best present we can give ourselves and our loved ones is time.

Take time for yourself at some point today and breathe in the wonder of the season, or just of a simple December day.  

However you celebrate, or chose not to celebrate, take part of this day for yourself.

Happy Christmas from Sue, Alan and Ginger xx

Blogmas Day Twenty Four - Christmas Memories

 

Christmas is the time of year that memories come flooding back.  Of good Christmases and bad, hopefully the good outweighing the bad.  We have had many and all of them hold a place in our hearts.

Our Christmas Piggies always used to make me smile when we lived in Wales, and this photo reminds me of the many family get togethers at Christmas time, with food being laid out buffet style so that there was no pressure for anyone to arrive at set times.

I saw this photo on social media and it reminded me immediately of the year me and my brother got a mesh stocking each in the mid-sixties.  The first year they were filled with the plastic toys that they had come with, which I thought was brilliant.  Then in subsequent years my Mum and Dad filled them with little toys and things that they had bought specially for the stockings.  But as a child I had loved the plastic 'tat' of the first year the best.  😄

Each year we would get a selection box, always a real treat to have all those lovely sweets all at once.  Oh how I loved Spangles.  Look at the prices in this image, we were obviously just into decimalisation!

Me and my brother posing with our presents in the late 1960s.  We opened everything in our bedroom and then later had to put everything under the tree for a photo opportunity ... my Dad loved his camera.  It also kept us out of the way while Mum cooked the Christmas dinner in the tiny kitchen/living/dining room.  

We lived in just three rooms for the first thirteen years of my life, while I think of them as reasonably happy years my Mum's memories were always very different.  But I do remember the stress she felt, the anger of cooking a full dinner and my brother refusing to eat any vegetables.  So when I had children of my own I always made sure that they shared the preparation in some small way and shared in every part of Christmas Day ... I do hope they have good memories of that time.

It's lovely to have time to think about Christmases past, be they good, bad or indifferent they were all a turning point in the year and a very special celebration.

A little smile for Christmas Eve.

Sue xx

Blogmas Day Twenty Three - Charity Shop Purchases and Homemade Goodies

 

I called to two of my favourite charity shops while I was in town last week.  One day I was in town to visit the dentist and called to the Age Concern shop and the other I was in town with Alan and nipped into the local Children's Hospice shop.

In both I got a book and a little something that caught my eye.  It's Christmas time and it's a nice way to support any charity, something for me, something for them and a 'please put the change in the donation pot'.

I definitely felt more charitable towards them than the dentist did towards me!! 

At home after putting away the new shopping that I showed on yesterday's post, I used the last of my old bananas to make a batch of Banana and Walnut cakes.  Half each for me and Alan and nothing gone to waste.

To make a bit of space in the freezer I also took out all the lemon ends and apple cores and made a little batch of Compost Heap Jelly.  Two of the little jars were then labelled ready to go into Alan's stocking.

 A bit of charity, a bit of frugality and a lot of satisfaction.  

Sue xx

Blogmas Day Twenty Two - Cheap Veg and Other Shopping

 

The supermarkets loss-leader vegetables are a brilliant way to make the Christmas dinner a very budget conscious affair.  Each of these vegetables, 2kg potatoes, 1kg carrots, and a red and a green cabbage were just 5p each.  

The 'supermarket wars' as they are known at Christmas time, have been going on here in England for quite a few years now, their main aim is for the supermarkets to get you into THEIR doors and not their rivals, and hopefully once there you will be spending lots of money on the other foods that they have actually increased in price in the run up to Christmas Day.  I guess it works sometimes, although some canny people do visit multiple supermarkets to pick up the various other vegetables on offer, before settling back in their favourite one to do all the shopping. 

It's being stressed loud and clear this year that it really is the supermarkets absorbing the price cuts and not the farmers ... I do hope that this truly is the case.

Anyway as soon as I got home with my shopping and my 20p worth of vegetables I set to, to make sure that they would last as long as possible.  First they were all left to 'breathe' for a while out of their plastic bags.  Then the carrots were checked over and laid on a  double layer of kitchen roll before being popped into a Stayfresh bag ready for the fridge.

The potatoes had a similar treatment.  I was not impressed with the quality of the potatoes at all to be honest, but hey for that price does it really matter!!

They are now all safely stashed in the fridge.  Just because these were cheap to buy it does not mean that anything will be wasted in my home.

I didn't pick up the other items on offer as I don't really like parsnips ... or those little green round bullets that are the food of the devil.

The rest of my shopping looked like this, including a few things that I really needed and a few treats for myself.  The Iceberg lettuce is an absolute beauty it weighs so much, I have never had a lettuce that heavy in my life ... another vegetable bargain.

My receipt for posterity.

Now apart from nipping out for some fresh bread on Christmas Eve that is my shopping completed.  Alan has an order from Booths to pick up that morning which includes a couple of little desserts that he has treated us both too, and then he also is all done and dusted.

Sue xx

Blogmas Day Twenty One - Will I Make It Until Christmas Day?

 

I already have so much of what I need, and these days there is little extra that I want to add to that, but consumables or usable things that I like to use regularly are always very welcome.

So every year for Christmas, almost since the year we met over twenty one years ago Alan has bought me a supply of my favourite body cream for Christmas, and occasionally for my birthday too.  Sometimes it's six tubs and sometimes it's three ... so I do get a surprise.  My gift comes in those particular numbers as very regularly this particular cream is on offer in Boots the Chemist on a '3 for the price of 2'  offer, and sensibly Alan takes advantage of this.

Why do I like this one so much, well it doesn't bring me out in a rash as so many scented creams tend to do, and almost as important I can remember the scent of it.  So with me still having no sense of smell I at least know what I smell like immediately after a shower.

Last year he bought me six tubs and I still had one left over from the previous year ...

 

... this is what I have left this morning.

Will I make it until Christmas Day? 🤞

He used to buy his Mum Fenjal products every year without fail, and I used to wonder if she was happy with that.  Now I know for sure that she probably was really happy, and Alan is happy that there is at least one present that he doesn't have to think too much about that he knows will always make me happy.

Sue xx

Blogmas Day Twenty - A Look Around Our New Home - BEFORE

 

I've been feeling guilty that when so many of you asked about wanting to follow the progress of the renovations of our new home, I was very uncertain if this was what I wanted to do on my blog.  Years ago you were let into all the nitty, gritty of our day to day lives, with maybe more access than I would dream of now.

But I have had a rethink, and maybe I mellowed slightly to the idea, after all it would also give me a record of things as they happen.  Then last week Alan asked me to video the bungalow as it is now, and then at regular intervals as the work progresses so that we have a record.

So why not share it with you, although for obvious safety reasons on the internet I will not be sharing the front of our property at all.

I thought I should start by sharing some photos of the kitchen, as rather weirdly I forgot to turn right after I came in through the front door.  We usually use the side door for access so coming through the front door for the first time I instinctively turned left and then didn't go back that way.  The front door is in between the living room and the kitchen.

So these first three photos show the kitchen.

Already it has changed massively, and Alan has managed to get all the wall cabinets and the tiles off the walls this week.  We are trying our best not to send too much of what we rip out to landfill, so wherever possible we are selling things really cheaply on Facebook Marketplace.  For instance someone is coming to pick up the fully working, but really needing a clean electric cooker for £10 tomorrow.

The kitchen while looking very good both in person, and in photos is actually not worth us keeping.  It has more years of life left in it, but not enough to see us out, and this bungalow is all about us future-proofing our lives.  So once it has all been removed, I will be photographing it and offering it for sale as well.

Below is my video of the rest of the bungalow, I notice that some of you have already found it on YouTube and left comments, thank you for those.  If you have any questions about anything you see please ask them on here, as I am terrible at responding on YouTube, I only use it as a tool to get films off my phone and don't even think to check back ... oops!!  😄

https://youtu.be/Ws9x9bvxh7Q?si=Aby89oJdQPfPbovU

Now I know that I am sharing any videos on here I will talk my way around next time, but this was just going to be for our use.  I know how much you all love my dulcet tones with my Mancunian accent.  😆

Happy viewing.

Sue xx

Blogmas Day Nineteen - Pocketfuls of Peace

 

Artwork by Ann Baratashvili

This Christmas...

You don't have to be full of joy

All merry and all bright

You don't have to force festive cheer

If you don't feel alright

No, you're not obligated

To be jovial and jolly

To string the lights and sing the songs

Or deck the halls with holly

Perhaps you're missing someone

And perhaps they miss you too

Perhaps you're feeling burdened

By how much you have to do

Perhaps the bleak mid winter

Leaves you feeling rather cold

Perhaps it's hard to drive

December's darkness from your soul

Perhaps you'd rather hibernate,

Let Christmas pass you by

But remember; it's not long ‘til you

Can bid this year goodbye

For now, don't paint a smile

Upon your teary, tired face

Instead, find quiet moments

Where this season gives you space

And recognise that songs

And decorations cannot hide

The flurry of emotions

Overwhelming you inside

Yes, find those little moments

Where the lights don't feel so bright

Where you don't have to keep pretending

Just to be polite

Where you can breathe in peacefully

Away from all the noise

Away from expectation

That you're full of festive joys

‘Cause when the day is over

And the lights are taken down

When it’s another year

Before next Christmas rolls around

Yes, when the joy is fading

And the merriment has ceased

You’ll be so very grateful for

Those pocketfuls of peace

Becky Hemsley 2023

Blogmas Day Eighteen - Making Space for Christmas Food?

 

I have been slowly and surely eating my way through the freezer drawers over quite a long time now, but have I been making space for Christmas food?

If I have I've failed miserably!!  No matter how much headway I make I quickly fill the gaps with random leftovers that I just do not want to go to waste.

There are some gaps, although looking at these photos you wouldn't think so.  I have been trying to eat the odds and sods that were in boxes taking up more room than they should have been, and that has been going well ... with some interesting results.

Three hash browns for breakfast must have been my most random meal, and one that I lived to regret.  All day long no matter what else I ate or drank I could still taste them.  It's put me off buying any more that's for sure.  Maybe I should have had them as part of a meal instead of the whole meal!!

But I did manage to throw away the box.  😄

I've done so much better at using up the things that are in the food cupboard.

Seen here from both sides of the dividing bar, as I can't step back enough to get a straight on shot.  There is so much more of the wood visible now than there was in my last photo taken in June of this year.

This was how it looked in June of this year when I sorted out the 2025 foods and those that were out of date.  I'm happy that some of the oldest foods have now been used and nothing has been wasted, but I guess I could have done a bit better.

Ah well, my not so little stash has kept me going nicely this year through my tiny pension payment months.  There are only five months until my State Pension now, or as Alan insists on calling his 'my old age pension'.

But have I made space for Christmas food ?  The answer really is no.  But then I don't have much to buy, and what I have already will fit easily into the new spaces in the cupboard.  I have two boxes of mini  mince pies, and one of some teeny tiny fairy cakes to take to Mum's on Christmas Day.  I have cheeses in the fridge and chutney in the cupboard, along with the little silverskin pickles and jar of beetroot that are visible on the bottom shelf.  I have stuffing in the jar on the top shelf and Linda McCartney sausages in the freezer, so for my 'main item' I will make a sausage and stuffing Wellington or plait.  

To compliment all that I will hopefully, be able to pick up some of the cheap supermarket vegetables to complete my Christmas lunch.  Alan has ordered his main item from Booths, I don't know what his final choice was as he kept changing his mind, he's also ordered a couple of  dairy-free 'cheesecake style' mini desserts for us both to have.

So that's it, we are pretty much sorted.

Sue xx

Blogmas Day Seventeen - Eat Them

 

There are very few shops in our area that consistently have a dairy-free option on the cake or dessert menu.  One such place is usually Daisy Clough Nurseries, so when we go there I try and support their wonderful endeavours.   😁

On this occasion we had already had a small lunchtime meal there, so I opted to ask for a doggy-bag for my cake.  I enjoyed it much later with a nice cup of coffee at home.

It was small but perfectly formed, but also quite expensive for what it was.  It reminded me that I must get back to baking in the New Year.

I apologise to Angela for the glaringly obvious error in this meme ... I didn't do it honest!!

Sue xx

Day Sixteen - The Christmas Tree Festival

 

  

It was our local Christmas Tree Festival at the weekend and as usual we went along to see the trees and support the local church and Foodbank, which they run from the church hall every Monday.  Admittance to the festival is a couple of items from the Foodbank request list, and we always buy a cup of coffee each and Alan has a slice of cake to support the church funds.

There were some very unique trees this year.

But I think that a lot of people had seen the 'book Christmas tree' on social media, as books were a recurring theme.

The Foodbank entry.

The one we both independently voted for, and which also won the friendly competition.  I guess lots of people could see how much work had gone into it.  It was called 'Fleece Navidad'.  😄

Lots of trees, and lots of colour schemes.

More books, but on a smaller scale this time.

A tiny 'booky' offering, I think this one is lovely in its simplicity.

A view of the stained glass window and the altar nativity.

We loved having a wander round looking at these trees and all the others, then we went onto a Christmas Craft Fair, where all we bought were a couple of old hooks for the back of our bedroom doors in the new bungalow and stayed for a sandwich and yet more coffee.  The stallholders all seemed really quiet and demoralised, it does make you want to support more of the crafters, but sadly there was nothing else that we needed.

We had left home at 9am in the morning for a meeting at the bungalow, and didn't get back until after 4pm, so we managed to get a lot fitted into one day, leaving Sunday free for visiting Mum.

Sue xx