Sudokuaholics Anonymous 7

Hi Becky! Toy shopping is so much fun! :)

Judy, I am more than happy to do it.
My older girls are the same as you, don't really like the taste of alcohol. That's why they drink those revolting lolly waters!

Hi Judy. We bought stocking stuffers and were thinking about getting a few older kid things. The local firefighters have a toy drive every year for kids who might not get anything for Christmas.

Hi Gail, is Alice White any good? A local wine store is now carrying it.

Young at heart, hey Julie?

The weather here this weekend has been very unpredictable. One minute hot then as soon as the sun hid behind clouds, the temp dropped quite sharply! The cardy (cardigan) was on and off again all day!

Hey Becky, it's a good excuse to play with the toys! ;) They do seem to have really nice ones now-a-days. We have just had a new baby added to the family tree and all my daughters are excited about buying toys for the little guy.
Gail, I've done my best to try alcohol, I don't mind a little bit of some of them, but on the whole I'd rather drink fruit juice, so I think: why bother?

To be honest with you Becky, I have never heard of them! Just looking up their site now. Can't put a finger on exactly where they sre, but apparently it is in this south eastern corner of Australia, not specifically sure if in Victoria.

BTW The young at heart comment was meant for you Becky, about being in the toy store!

Hubby was funny. Would pick up something, look it all over, then ask if it was ok to get. Had to tell him not to get anything that could be drank or looked like food and nothing that had real small parts.

It's weird here in Ohio. You can buy all kinds of imported wines, but hardly anything from a surrounding state.

Rob (hubby) drinks wine quite a lot - or quite a lot of wine! - but I don't think I've seen Alice White in his "cellar".

Thanks Gail and Judy. Just thought I'd ask. One of these days might pick up one.

Every once in a while, we'll split a bottle over dinner.

Will have a look out for it in the shops here Becky, I am curious now.

Hubby and I went to the shopping centre on Friday with the intention of starting the Christmas shopping, probably the fillers first. I bought a pad and pen and we opened it to start a list...looked at each other and left the shopping centre there and then!
The week is already filling up with a something each day, and as I have enough trouble coping with doing one thing, I can't seem to add Chrissy shopping onto any day.
I am getting to the stage again of not leaving the house if I can avoid it.

Did the grocery shopping yesterday for the fortnight leading up to the Christmas week. We are a week out of kilter now but it suits me better this way. Will have another 'shop' before the big day.
The menu for this fortnight is a bit of pot luck, using up some of the meat we have in the freezer.

I don't mind buying the stuff. I get tired of the crowds and traffic. Yesterday every driver seemed to be in slo-mo.

I take it that there's been a lot of get-togethers and school activities.

Twice a year I empty the chest freezer to clean and make a list of everything in there. You inspired me to start making menus again.

http://www.alicewhite.com/aboutus/

We have a new fridge/freezer to go in the new kitchen - some day I'll tell you the saga of the refrigerator - not now: the wounds are still too raw! (sob!)Anyway, we still haven't filled it up yet (I mean, there is still room to squeeze a few more things in) Shopping for the Christmas goodies must begin soon, or we won't be having Christmas dinner, and some people might not be happy. (They're sick of gruel - already!)
Noticed that glace cherries are already gone from our supermarket - oops!

No Becky, not a lot, just still a bit out of whack. Been a big couple of weeks and a few things all ready coming, plus a few things on our minds.

My sister insists on having all the holiday dinners at her house. I just bring a couple of side dishes and desserts.

She buys the Thanksgiving turkey and we take the Christmas turkey up so that she has it way before it's needed.

Oh Judy no, please, not fridge woes. You poor darlings, my deepest sympathies.
In fact, my neighbour has just put their 'shed' fridge out the front for the hard-waste collection!
A sad demise.

I have to say I'm really glad we don't have to cope with another big get-together/dinner so close to Christmas - do you get sick of turkey?

I think you've got my addy, you're more than welcome to vent.

I do know what you mean, tho. There's been so much going on with friends and family, that there's been days I don't know which way is up.

It has just been us and the kids for the longest time. It's the way we like it. I hate being in the car at that time of the year. My sisters and I tried the combined thing a few years ago but we love each other more at a distance!
I don't put any pressure on the kids either, if they have other places they'd rather be, then that is ok too. I'm all for the stress-free thing.

Becky, thank you.

No Judy, there's 8 adults for the meal and if there's any leftovers, we divide them up. I usually take half of what I bring home and make something. The rest goes into the freezer and 2 weeks later, make something else.

In fact, I asked son whether he and his girlfriend had plans, and his answer was "I think so, but I can't remember"! So proud!
He said he would ask her because she was the events co-ordinator!
So, already we are two down from the seven.
D#1 has said she may not be here either, so there goes another one.

That's one of the reasons hubby and I only buy for each other and then it's only small things. With the nieces and nephews are all grown, no kids, I sat down with my sister and we decided no presents. We each bake different things, exchange those and also take gift boxes of the stuff to our brother, aunts and uncle.

We're getting to the stage where people have other places to go - boy-friends and fiances' families. My middle daughter tries to be here for the dessert part of dinner! Explanation: for the last couple of years I've realised that people are - like the turkey - completely stuffed by dinner time, so instead we've gone for one course per meal time. So snacks, cheese and dips etc. midmorning, big dinner around 2.00pm, and desserts around 6.00pm - we probably don't eat less, but we do spread the damage out a bit! :)

Hubby's family used to get together on Christmas Eve, leaving Christmas open for the spouse's family. It's hit-or-miss now.

I wish we could spread it out over the day, but we have a 100 mile drive each way and hubby usually has to work the next day. Plus, around here the weather is so iffy.

What a brilliant way of doing it Judy, I love it!
I think I will introduce that here!
We usually start the day with croissants, then a huge lunch and that's about it.
I think we will start the same way, eat some nibblies while getting things ready for the latish lunch, and dessert for dinner.
Brilliant! Thank you.

Oh geez, just looked at the time. Way past bedtime and we're taking dinner (chicken caccitore and garlic bread) over to SIL tomorrow.

Thanks for the chat and hope to catch you later.

Night, night.

That's exactly what I have tried to avoid Becky, the long drive both ways. An hour in the car, across the city, is not my idea of fun!
One year, one of my sisters booked us all into a restaurant for lunch. We pulled out, the menu didn't excite us and the cost was prohibitive with my seven! There was nothing on the menu that resembled anything I would choose to have on Christmas Day!

Have a great day tomorrow Becky.
Lovely to catch up with you.

Still there Gail? Sorry to run off and leave you - feeding time! Nothing high class here -pies and pasties tonight! (Disgusting I know!) Oh well, healthy food tomorrow!

After the lunch we were served up today, no food flinging necessary here tonight.
No worries about ducking out, I had ffuts to attend to anyway. Got distracted of course and ended up doing a recyc water transfer, instead of getting D#3's uniform out of the wash!

Real life stuff does tend to be pretty boring, doesn't it?
We seem to have the place to ourselves - is it usually this quiet?

Others must have a life!
Hubby is watching a DVD so I am in here for the duration.
You will never guess...D#3 just asked what is for dinner!

I just asked her what she might like, and she said NOT toasted sangas! Well, there goes my first suggestion!

Her suggestion is ice-cream...sounds reasonable to me!

Going to serve it up now!
Back in a mo.