Just Gilly

  So this year, instead of the usual resolutions - lose weight, exercise more, drink water, drink less alcohol etc that fail in just a few days, I've decided to make resolutions for all the lovely people in my life!  Hubby - 2022 is the Year he wants to be more romantic. Though this is news to him. Romance is a foreign language and he has no clue. However, he does do Google! So I suggest he tries asking "Ok Google? How do I do romance?" I'm confident she can help him. Daughter - this is easy. She just needs to remember that one day she will be me!  Son - I know he can do full sentences so his resolution is to message with more than just fine/ok/good/I guess/no/yes. Also, he needs to be better at replying to messages in a timely manner and not wait all day! Libby - she's already doing a fab job of staying alive but I think it's time she didn't just stare at me when she wants a treat. Libby just ask!  The cats - only wee and poo in the litter tray if you...

  Last year we had to socialise outside and within 2m of others, so we spent lots of time in my nextdoor neighbours garden. To keep warm we had our chiminea lit, wore lots of clothes and drank mulled wine! This year (as you do) we decided to try all the brands. This led to a full survey with spreadsheet. We tried to taste them all (only Tesco was missed). The outcome was Asda extra special (£5 now £4.50) came top. Very closely followed by M&S (£5) and 3rd was Three Mills from Home Bargains (£2.99). (Very bottom was Lidl, sorry Lidl). Anyway.... .... A week past Saturday I was watching James Martin on his TV programme. He was poaching pears in mulled wine, and chatting to the woman who makes the mulled wine, on zoom. James Martin said it was the best mulled wine he had ever tasted. Soooo in respect of the above survey I thought I simply needed to buy some! I went online and purchased 3 bottles! After all, it is made by hand, using the finest ingredients and tastes the best in th...

Today is Christmas Eve! Don't worry you've not lost a week. We're celebrating a week early. My daughter and her partner are going South this year to spend Christmas with his family but we are all free this weekend instead! And it will be a proper fake Christmas (fauXmas as my clever son calls it), of which we've had many over the years. When hubby has been offshore, or my daughter away, we have a Christmas Day when we can. It's the whole shebang. And a fake one really feels exactly like a real one. And don't be thinking that we'll do it all again in a week! No no no that's not how it works. (Although one year we ended up with two (lots of mad last minute present buying for the second time) but that's a long story). Today I'll be baking and cooking and preparing and drinking all whilst dancing to Xmas tunes. And we'll watch Arthur Christmas (a movie - for those who haven't heard of it) and leave sherry and a mince pie for Santa. Tomorrow (...

  So get a cup of coffee, find somewhere comfy to sit, maybe popcorn, because I am going to talk! Yes more than usual. So I'm poorly. I got a cold when we were away. I did a lateral flow test, which was negative. It's just a cold. I spent last weekend just resting and taking paracetamol. But when I woke on Monday morning I realised that I wasn't fit for work (at the restaurant) so called in sick. I then called my other boss (at the Home) to warn her. On a Tuesday I run the staff PCR and LFT 'clinic'. She encouraged me to go for a PCR test straight away rather than wait until taking a staff one the next day. So I did. Went to the local drive through. It's fine, it's only a cold! I spent the day binging on Christmas movies. All day Tuesday waiting for the test result was a tiny bit stressful but it's ok it's only a cold. By Tuesday night, feeling rotten, I Google all things covid (like we don't already know everything) symptoms, symptoms after bein...

  Storm Arwen took out our electric at 5pm Friday! It finally came back about 11pm Sunday night. Better than some friends and colleagues. In fact one of hubby's work mates is still without power today. We were lucky, we have a log fire and an oil fired Aga. I also have lots of candles. Even the food in the freezer survived. We just kept it closed the whole time and it's in a very cold garage - so happy it wasn't the middle of summer. I got used to reading by torch light. And having a pee in a very cold bathroom, and my pee turning to icicles as I went (that's not true). The house alarm started to go off when the back up battery died. So hubby connected an old car battery. It worked though lol. My main worry was that electric wouldn't be back on in time for us leaving to go on our annual Christmas holiday on the Monday morning. I was feeling uneasy leaving the house that way. But luck would have it it returned just in time. Only for the forest lodges to call me as we...