If this is Tuesday, it must be England #152

 

This is the time of year when I would love to have plans to spend ten days in London.  These popped up on my Instagram in the last few days, the 2023 Christmas Lights in London and London Christmas Markets.

This also popped up - the Union Jack Club, the famous central London military membership club and accommodation exclusively for serving and veteran enlisted members of His Majesty's Armed Forces, where we were thrilled to find that they have a reciprocal agreement for members of other nations' armed forces.  I can't wait to stay there, I only wish it would be on December 11th!

There's a fascinating series of You Tube videos that document the formation of the original Military Wives Choir.  You can find it here and make sure you have some tissues handy.

If you didn't get a chance to book a flight, here's an online shopping resource for you or any royalty fan in your family, the Christmas Collection from the Royal Collection Trust Official Royal Gift Shop.  I hope Santa drops a few of these items in my stocking.

Hello Monday - October 30, 2023

 

I'm linking up with Holly and Sarah this morning for Hello Monday and a weekend recap.

I ran out quickly on Friday morning to pick up a postage due package at the post office.  I signed up for a weekend virtual scrapbooking retreat and the package held all my supplies!  I missed the mailman on Thursday so I had to grab it Friday before the retreat started at 12:30.  I also made a quick stop at the grocery store for a few chili fixings for Saturday night and a stop at Starbucks for a PSL to enjoy during the crop.  Vic stopped to pick up a pizza on his way home from work.

Pepperoni, sausage, olives, mushrooms, onions - yummy!  I put it on my perforated pizza pan and popped it into the oven to keep warm while Vic took Malone for a walk and I finished up the retreat.  Pizza and a Hallmark movie, what's not to love?

Saturday morning, I fried up the ground beef and put the chili in the CrockPot and then headed out to drop a load of appliances that I hadn't used in at least five years at the charity shop.  Vic continued working on the living room floor.

The photo on the left is the remains of the half wall that was just inside the front door.  It really was getting in the way of the living room furniture configuration we wanted so it need to come down.  In the right photo, you can see the strip of flooring that was underneath the half wall.  The blue tape marks various boards that would have to come up in order for Vic to re-lay boards to cover up the gap.  Fortunately, we had had the same flooring in the kitchen and we saved all the boards when we had the new kitchen flooring put in with the kitchen remodel.  Saved a pretty penny, I'm sure, as flooring is expensive!

Time for chili (which I forgot to photo) and Hallmark and I worked on the overnight scrapbook challenge, putting together a layout with one peek a boo pocket, three patterned papers, two colors of cardstock, four mats, two embellishments, and four stickers.  It was quite a project to get it all in.

I decided to do a two-page spread of February 2017.  Vic and I were living in Norfolk, Virginia, and in February we had a cake decorating class, my birthday, our anniversary, and Vic's first crack at cornhole.  The peek a boo pockets are on the top right of the left-hand page (three photos of the cake decorating class) and on the top right of the right-hand page (three photos of our anniversary afternoon tea).

Off to church on Sunday morning and then home for more retreat for me and more flooring work for Vic.  Malone alternated between lying on the chair in the office with me or on a floor mat in the living room with Vic.

It was barbecued Korean ribs and rice for dinner on Sunday and more Hallmark.  We're watching the Christmas movies as fast as they turn them out!

And that was our weekend...

I can't close this post without a mention of the tragic news of the death of Matthew Perry, so sad.  I confess I never really got into Friends but Sophia is a huge fan.

Friday Favorites

  

Linking up with Andrea and Erika this morning for Friday Favorites.

If you haven't discovered chewy.com, check it out for amazing savings.  After being quoted $218 for a six-month supply of flea/tick/heartworm medication for Malone, I found it on chewy for $188 plus if I signed up for autoship, my first purchase was 40% off, another $72 savings.  A quick search of Malone's other prescriptions yielded significant savings on each one.  The process is so simple at the chewy pharmacy - I simply added the medication to my cart, selected Malone's vet from the drop down box, and that was it.

We have a variety of streaming services and this popped up in my suggestions recently so I thought I'd have a nostalgia watch.  It starts with Season 2 on Freevee, not sure what happened to Season 1, but anyone who's never watched Dallas can pick up the story line right away.  I found it pretty hilarious - oh my goodness, the fashions!  And the hairstyles, shades of the Farrah Fawcett flip, and honestly, could J.R. stop with calling every woman "darlin'"!  I had to laugh when Pamela Ewing took off her blouse and skirt and was wearing a full-length slip underneath, does anyone wear them any more?

Christmas is coming and that means new Erin Condren planners for Sophia and me.  Sophia is faithful to the coil-bound version but I'm sticking with the softbound lay-flat version I bought last year.  Do you use a paper planner?

If you haven't tried Godiva's Molten Lava Cakes, they are amazing.  They come in a pack of six (or more if you buy them at a big box store like Costco or Sam's Club) and I love that you can just make two at a time.  Perfect for dessert for us.

And finally, Season 2 of The Gilded Age airs on Max this Sunday.  I LOVED Season 1 and can't wait for more.

And just in case this hasn't hit your Facebook or Instagram yet, here's week two's line-up in the Countdown to Christmas on The Hallmark Channel.  If you love la belle France, I'm sure Sunday's feature won't disappoint.

Have a great weekend!

Monthly Musings - October 2023

It's the last Thursday of the month and tht means it's time for Monthly Musings.  I'm joining Patty and Holly for some Thanksgiving prep. 

1.  What are your Thanksgiving plans?  Unfortunately, this year I'm having knee surgery the week before Thanksgiving.  Sophia only has Thanksgiving Day off and it's too far for her to come home and go back in one day so we'll be having a FaceTime Thanksgiving.  We'll have dinner at home (TBD if I feel like cooking or Vic does it!) and Sophia will cook for herself and her roommate who has a shift at work on Thanksgiving Day.

Thanksgiving at Sophia's in 2021 when Vic was in Maryland - he spent the holiday with friends from his former command

2.  Favorite Thanksgiving dish?  Please share recipe.  I'm very much a semi-homemade cook so many of our Thanksgiving recipes are super easy.  I do make green bean casserole every year, it's Vic's favorite, and I change it up by using Cream of Mushroom with Roasted Garlic Soup, adding a can of mushroom pieces and stems, and holding off on the onions until about five minutes before the casserole comes out of the oven.  That way, they are crisp and golden and not mushy inside the casserole.

3.  Best food prep tips.  I do as much as I can the day before.  If we're having guests, and multiple serving dishes will be involved, I put Post-it notes on each one to remember what goes where.

4.  Favorite Thanksgiving traditions?  Watching the parade in the morning while playing Parade Bingo and decorating the tree as soon as the turkey platter goes in the dishwasher!

5.  Turkey?  Ham?  Other?  Both?  Turkey, usually a boneless breast that goes in the CrockPot.  We never ate turkey at home so my experience cooking a turkey was limited.  I did it once and it was a disaster.

6.  Apple pie?  Pumpkin pie?  I love pumpkin and Vic loves pecan so we usually have both.

7.  Football or family movie?  Family movie while we're decorating, probably one of these as there will be plenty in the DVR.

8.  Stuffing or dressing?  Dressing because I don't have anything to stuff.  We still call it stuffing though!

9.  Turkey trot or Thanksgiving parade?  Thanksgiving Parade.

When we lived in Rhode Island, we took a bus trip from the base to New York for the parade.

After the parade, we strolled around sightseeing until it was time to meet the bus.  It was nice not to have to drive or park.

10.  Have you ever done a Friendsgiving?  One year we invited an Italian sailor who was stationed on Vic's ship so I guess that qualifies as a Friendsgiving.

Hello Monday - October 23, 2023

    

I'm linking up with Holly and Sarah this morning for Hello Monday and a weekend recap. 

Malone and I had a quiet day on Friday - a couple of loads of laundry, this week's episode of The Great British Baking Show, setting up the DVR to record The Hallmark Channel's Countdown to Christmas movies for this week.  The Pacific show time is just about Malone's walk time so I set the DVR and we just watch the movie later in the evening.

Checkin' It Twice was very cute - it made me want to move Idaho Falls, such a charming little town.

Vic walked Malone when he got home and did a quick sweep of the backyard with the pooper scooper as the gardeners were coming on Saturday morning and we didn't want them to end up with any nasty surprises on the bottoms of their shoes!  They really are so wonderful this time of year with all the leaves falling everywhere.  After the yard sweep, we headed out to dinner - fish and chips for both of us - and came home to find Malone did just fine in the laundry room.  He had a couple of accidents in the house (on the wood floors thankfully) which we weren't quite sure were due to a stomach upset or just a form of separation anxiety so the laundry room is a better option.  His crate is in there with the door open and a comfy crate pad so he can lie in there or just on the floor.  If I know him, he probably lay two inches from the door waiting for Vic to return!

On Saturday, I headed out for a busy day while Vic worked some more on figuring out why the big TV is not working.  He bought and downloaded the service manual on Friday to go a little more in depth with the electronics.  I headed out to meet my lunch bunch group which is always lovely.  My food ended up coming out when everyone else was just about done which was a bummer.  We ended up chatting for about two hours.  I left there to head to my manicure/pedicure appointment and came home with this color on my toes.

It's Essie In Stiches which I love but I kept my fingernails clear as I broke one pretty badly and will wait until they are all about the same length before going with a color.  Anyone else do that?

After my nail appointment, it was off to the gourmet bakery for bagels and a breakfast bread for Vic, then to World Market for a little browse.  Do you buy Advent calendars for your family or for yourself?  There is an amazing selection - chocolate, shortbread, jams, cocoa, and cocoa bombs as well as tea, coffee, and even noodles.  Some are the traditional 24 days, others only 12.

I headed to Ulta for some makeup sponges and The Body Shop's Advent calendars are out too. There are three versions this year, this is the smaller one.

Last stop was Hallmark where I returned an ornament.  I always fill out a Wish List each year and they call me in July and October to pick up what has come in.  Somehow an ornament I thought was coming in in October came in early so I picked it up a few months ago and then picked it up again in October.  The refund was an easy process and I resisted buying anything else!

By the time I got home and Vic got back with Malone (he had been for a flu shot, a haircut, and a quick trip to the commissary for me while I was gone and Malone stayed in the laundry room without incident), we felt a pizza would be the best option for dinner so we loaded Malone into the truck and headed to pick one up.  Pizza and a Hallmark movie, can't beat that!

Sunday we visited a new church.  We've visited a lot of churches over the 30 years we've been moving around and each one has always given us some sort of new visitors' gift.  It's usually a gift bag with current flyers, information about the church, and a coffee mug.  This church's gift was similar but the lady that gave it to us also gave us a second coffee mug which was lovely since there are two of us.  We came home to enjoy coffee in our new mugs along with bagels with cream cheese, smoked salmon, and capers for brunch.  Forgot to take a photo as usual but it was delicious.

Vic returned to the TV while I made chocolate cupcakes and chopped up some cherries to soak in my version of kirsch (brandy with cherry juice) for Sunday's dessert.  It's another salute to a liberty port from Vic's deployment, Germany this time.  I made Hunter's Schnitzel, spaetzle, and red cabbage with deconstructed black forest gateau for dessert.  We completely skipped the appetizer because I forgot all about the pretzel bites and found them in the toaster oven when dinner was over!

Table décor, menu card, Hunter's Schnitzel and spaetzle

Red cabbage and deconstructed black forest gateau (split chocolate cupcakes with kirsch brushed on the bottom layer, then soaked cherries and whipped cream on top, with chocolate frosting piped on the top layer)

The sauce was made with Maggi's Hunter's Schnitzel seasoning mix which was delicious.

And that was our weekend, how was yours?

Wednesday Hodgepodge - Volume 523

 

I'm joining Joyce over at From This Side of the Pond for the Wednesday Hodgepodge.  Click on the photo above for the link.

1. What's something small you tend to sweat even though you know you shouldn't? 

The dentist,.  Even though I've found an amazing dentist and hygienist who specialize in cowards, I still sweat every visit.

2. October 17th is National Pasta Day...do you like pasta? What's your favorite? Cooked at home or eaten in your favorite Italian restaurant? How often do you make/eat pasta? 

I LOVE pasta, any shape, in any form, any sauce.  Spaghetti, lasagna, manicotti, fettucine, you name it, I'll take it.  I cook pasta about once every two weeks as Vic's not as much of a fan as I am.  We have a nice Italian restaurant near to us as well as the local Olive Garden where my lunch bunch meets occasionally.

3. Do you consider yourself a spontaneous person? Explain.

Yes, absolutely.  When we lived in Virginia, I happened to see that very day was the last performance of The Lost Colony, a symphonic drama under the stars on Roanoke Island in North Carolina.  It was an annual event but we would not be there the following year.  I asked Vic if he wanted to go and when he said yes, I said let's go.  He's not spontaneous at all and he didn't realize that I meant that day!  A little coaxing and we dropped the dog at the kennels, hit the road, and had a great time.

No photo of the two of us together, I don't think we knew how to take selfies at this point!

We took the backstage tour which was awesome

I keep telling Vic that if he gets a post-Navy job offer in England and calls to tell me the news, I'll have my bags packed by the time he gets home!

4. Who are some of your heroes? Tell us why. 

My Mum, an amazing role model, my rock, I miss her every day.  My sister, who fought for children in crisis, she was an amazing wife, friend, mother, and sister, her loss was so hard.  Anyone who fights for the rights of children and animals, world leaders who strive for peace, and anyone who mentors the youth of today.

5. Let's wrap it up with something light...Taylor Swift...are you a fan? On a scale of 1-10 how much so? (1=who's Taylor?, 10=a true Swiftie, seen her in concert more than once). If you're a fan what's your favorite T. Swift song?

I've been to a Taylor Swift concert, I took Sophia and a friend to Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts in 2010.  I guess I'm about a 4.  I like her song about Romeo and Juliet - had to look it up, it's called Love Story - it's my favorite because it was in the movie Letters to Juliet which I loved.

Gillette Stadium is the home of the New England Patriots - the crowd went wild when Taylor came out in a Patriots jersey but it was too dark at that point to take a photo

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Any Outlander fans?  These are adorable.