soop's kindly kitcheners and pampered pets...

Here's a video for the ahhh factor. A surprise baby alpaca.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGPU2dLmQv0

PS I never thought I would read the words dream and M25 in the same sentence!!

Grrrrreat!! One of the loos has decided not to flush, or at best half heartedly provided you press the button in with just the right "jerk"! Fortunately it is in the en suite so nobody will have to trail through our bedroom and fortunately there are 2 others so even at 16+ children we should manage. How did we cope in the days of one loo in the main bathroom? Must have had better bladders. And don't start me on going down the garden,

NandG I'm so glad that everything was well with your car, I bet you feel very relieved now.
kitty hope you recover quickly, take it easy won't you? I'm feeling a bit queasy myself today but I think it's tiredness after sharing my bed for most of the night with Savannah, who has a right arm like a lobster claw!
Anyway, hope all you kitcheners are not too exhausted/ill to enjoy the day tomorrow.
Eat drink and be merry

A very Happy Christmas to you all.
Safe journey to all travelling and a speedy recovery to all under the weather.
Huge thanks to all for support so freely given to me and anyone else who has needed it throughout the year.
You are a lovely supportive group and I wish you all that you wish for yourself for Christmas and the New Year.

Just popped in to say Merry Christmas to you and yours Soop, and anyone who is enjoying the hospitality of the kitchen this morning. I'm off now - anyone know where I can find a taxi?

Good morning all !!

Amazingly , everything went off swimmingly yesterday. the M25 was a dream, my car was ready - and the handover was fine. I met the lady who caused me so much grief throughout the process - turns out she is also the dealer principal so I have no idea how THAT dealership continues [smiles]

But all's well that ends well I guess. We swung past my daughters house so Jackson could check it out. He came outside wearing a head torch and mini mechanics overalls and proceeded to switch everything on and off and I KNOW you will all be relieved...but the car came with an engine !!!!

How lovely soop that your gift will have a good home and will make one little girls Christmas. We saw a request a few weeks ago for a little boy with cancer who just wanted lots of cards for Christmas . Thanking god that our lot are healthy we sent one off. This morning on the TV it was reported he got thousands - I hope it made his day a little brighter.

I'm intrigued by the turkey leg in the slow cooker idea Charley .I'm sure Grampy would like that. What do you put in with it?

Kitty get well soon !!! We have a Christmas Eve brunch today and half our family will be missing. The bigger grandkids are both down with tonsillitis . It seems that both or my daughters families have been ill for weeks and no sooner does one get better than the next crashes.

Well, I just want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Its been my pleasure to be part of your virtual lives and it makes my day to read of your families, your grandchildren and your tales of 'daring do' !!

Here's to the next year xx

Nice to see you Marelli!

I'm feeling slightly better today and am meeting my brothers at mum's home to hand over my presents and a cake for the staff. I won't go in - I'd hate to add flu as they have just got over the norovirus. We had all intended to visit mum together but she will be happy to see her boys and won't miss me too much!

I hope you are still 'with' us soop and don't have any damage! I'd like to add my thanks to you for establishing this kitchen as a place of peace and harmony and cake!

NandG, I hope your car situation was sorted satisfactorily.

Charley, Your turkey curry sounds like a great bargain and tasty additions to your freezer. That's the sort of meal I like! And, after all this time, surely you know that cleaning is always there so there is no hurry! The same for you callgirl and I hope you have the best Christmas possible.

Corner, you are obviously a lovely person who cares for her friends a lot - i hope you have a lovely Christmas and a good rest.

WB, let us know which prison to visit!

Also peeping round the door -are we all well? Are the sprouts on? Is there any sherry left?
Hope our new acquaintance "Barbara" has packed up and gone and left less devastation behind her than a visit from the grandchildren !
Wishing you all a stress free and untroubled Christmas Eve x
???????

Just stuck my head round the kitchen door to wish you all a lovely Christmas! Keep the hatches battened down, soop! I can picture the view from your living-room window this morning. It'll definitely be a case of 'I see no ships.....'!

To soop, MacSporran, and all you lovely kitcheners, all good wishes for a peaceful, happy Christmas.

soop, you are such a force for good, both here and in your wee village, look after yourself especially in this dreadful weather, a person could get blown away!

On a serious note I just want to thank all GNers for welcoming me this year, especially Soop and those who visit the kitchen. It's always uplifting here and I feel as though I'm among friends. I will be around but while I have peace I want to wish you all a happy festive season - especially those who are under the weather or have sadnesses in their lives, and those whose daily struggles will not disappear just because it's Christmas.

To those who are travelling I wish safe journeys and to those away on holiday I wish I was too! To those in the path of Storm Barbara I wish continued electricity supplies and no floods. To wobblybits I suggest you get yourself a cap and muffler then tour the local nightspots to taxi drunk folks home and earn a few bob to pay the fine for nicking that cab!

Might not be popping into the kitchen tomorrow as I will have to work out the cooking times and rota for my Christmas dinner it will probably still end up as a burnt offering!

kitty sorry to hear you are feeling poorly, I do hope you feel much better soon. Thank you for your kind thoughts concerning my brother and his stay in hospital. He has somehow made a miraculous recovery and was sent back to the care home this afternoon, much to the surprise of all concerned. Not that he knows where he is anymore but it's nice to think of him 'home' again.

wobbly you really had me there for a minute .

Happy Christmas to all the kitcheners.?? Big ((huggs)) for those who will find it a difficult time. ?

Hope the storms do not cause a problem for you and MacS soop ☃️☃️. Thank you for the warmth of the kitchen.

Think I will follow Mrshat and wish you all peace, good health and happiness. ??

(P.S. Have left a large supply of indegestion tablets in the cupboard for all those who over indulge ??????)

I had my turkey curry- lovely and including that meal I have managed to freeze 5 more, not bad for £2.25 and I have frozen the other leg.

I sat down to watch "Saving Mr. Banks", managed 20 minutes and decided to have an early night. Tara came home resembling a drowned rat but she ran upstairs to bed so will be snug and dry on my clean bedding now. I have some uses it would appear.

Sitting here with feet up and a welcome glass of red. DGS was collected about 9pm by his parents, after spending 8 hours with me. He was here about the same yesterday and as he left said he'd see me tomorrow after breakfast! DS must have seen my face as he laughed and said don't worry , he won't!

I love him to bits but he was very hyper today with Christmas so close and I need a rest! His parents have finished all their shopping now so will both be home tomorrow and can look after DGS between cleaning their flat Me? I'll be hanging my cards again after the darling pulled them all down today!

A Happy Christmas to all the Kitcheners and wishing you and yours peace, good health and happiness for 2017.

Last visit before Santa comes

Yes, charley, sit down and chill out. You will soon meet yourself coming back . Flu is just wrong at Christmas kitty, exactly as daphne says, it's the only way to go.

That story made me smile wb, couple of difficult phone calls earlier with struggling friends, needed a smile so thank you.

I'm sitting with a glass of chilled white and my feet up. Christmas has now officially begun! Thank you soop for space in the kitchen, I was feeling very lonely earlier in the year when I ventured in.

It's so unlikely I will be able to to pop in tomorrow so I am wishing you all the very best for Christmas, I know it's not easy for all but hope everyone can have moments of peace and contentment.

Please try not to get blown away wherever you are, stay warm, dry and well.

Popped in for a bit of light relief after a busy day of Christmas prep and there was that post from wb - perfect!! Just about to have nice glass of rose, cheers to all in the kitchen , oh and hope you recover quickly kitty

Oh kittyl no!!
Early night, hot toddy and then Boots Flu and Cold Relief for the big day ???

Ha ha! WB.

I'm really pigged off - all that preparation and both DH and I have flu. Hopefully it won't last too long as we've both had the jabs! I've spent today under a blanket!

wb nice tale!!

charleygirl will you PLEASE sit down , pour yourself a glass of something nice, stroke poor neglected Tara and chill!

You ned to relax, if there is nothing on TV maybe a nice box set and some "me time"

Gners – please be careful during this time of celebration!

Yesterday I went to a Christmas party. You know the story; I had a few drinks – a couple of beers. A scotch or two. Or three. Ending with a Brandy or two. Maybe. It gets foggy.

Well anyway, you get the idea – I was pretty drunk. Still I did have the sense to know I shouldn’t take my own car home. So I did something I never do: I took a cab home.

Sure enough, on the way home was a police check. Fortunately though, I was in the cab and so they just waved it through. I arrived safely home without incident.

Which was really a great relief – and a surprise since I had never driven a cab before.

I don’t even remember where I found it.

It is safely hidden in my garage – which brings me to my point: does anyone have any advice on how I should get rid of it?

Lona the problem today was that I was sitting down too often and for too long. I have washed the floor in the lounge area and even stripped and made up my bed, also had an early shower so I suppose there were a couple of minutes when I was not totally idle. The washing machine is on and I will be having supper within the hour.

I have tomorrow to myself so I will do a little more then.

I do hope that any high winds die down. I know that awful weather will be making its way to London around Christmas or Boxing Day- what have we done to deserve it?

I am having a rest from this machine.

That little girl will be thrilled to bits with her doll Soop, I know I would have been many years ago.
I was all set for washing my kitchen, lobby and bathroom floors this afternoon, but then one of my grandsons turned up for a visit, so sat down for a chat instead. Couldn`t do it after he`d gone, as it entails leaving the back door open whilst it all dries, and I aint doing that in the dark! So the floors will have to wait till morning. The very small pile of ironing has been banished upstairs till after Christmas, as I REFUSE to put the ironing board up again!
I hope the weather doesn`t get TOO rough for all of you north of the border, it`s bad enough here, and I know you`re supposed to get the worst of it, so I hope it doesn`t disrupt life too severely for you.