Advent Calendar 24

'Tis the night before Christmas,

Now what have we here?

Christmas tree lit

To give Christmas cheer.

Presents are wrapped,

Decorations are hung,

Food is all ready

And carols been sung.

But all are not happy,

Sad, lonely, depressed.

Their Christmas is spoiled,

Their joy is suppressed.

From the story of Christmas

May love and peace

Flood though the world

Causing worries to cease.

Stay safe everyone.

xx 

Virtual Christmas Wreath making

It's started. I have succumbed. Made one last year and thought I would make one this year but couldn't see how. Last year I went to a Wreath Making Evening with a group of friends and we really enjoyed ourselves chopping and cutting and arranging but, of course, this year it was out of the question until ... I saw this site. My goodness I could order a wreath kit and then have my evening virtually. 

I ordered the kit and some extra Christmas stuff and logged in to the online workshop. Grubby hands, mucky floor but fabulous end result to hang on my door. (I feel another ditty coming along here.)

After a thorough soak I hung the wreath and ...

stood back to admire.

Yeah, Christmas has now officially started at this house. Next job is extracating the decorations from the loft.

Stay safe.

xx

 

Found a conker

Apologies to the song - Found a Peanut

Found a conker,

Found a conker,

Found a conker yesterday,

Found a conker,

Found a conker,

Found a conker yesterday.

Picked it up then,

Picked it up then.

Picked it up then yesterday,

Picked it up then,

Picked it up then.

Picked it up then yesterday.

Stroked the conker,

Stroked the conker,

Stroked the conker yesterday,

Stroked the conker,

Stroked the conker,

All my worries flew away.

I always keep a conker or conkers handy in a pocket in autumn and use them as stress balls or Baoding balls.

xx

3 times lucky

Found a penny in the garage.

Found a penny in the street.

Found a penny in the house.

3 times lucky - what a treat.

Oh my goodness,

What to do?

I'll go and spend them - 

Too da loo!

xx

Fifth pop in

When I started to go grey I dyed my hair first of all my own colour, a mousy brown. I got more adventurous and had streaks put in then decided to go a lighter brown, then even lighter still. There came a time when I wasn't sure exactly what colour was underneath. I knew it was going to be a grey of some sort so when I'd reached 'lightest ash blond' I decided that enough was enough and I would dye no more. Here's my 'normal' colour. I think it deserves a little ditty.

To the tune 'Go West' by the Pet Shop Boys

Come on, come on, come on, come on 

(Together) we will go our way 

(Together) we won’t dye today

(Together) with our own fair hands 

(Together) we will make our plans 

(Together) we will aim more high

(Together) tell dyed hair goodbye 

(Together) we will be so true

(Together) this is what we'll do

Go grey - life will be less stressful there

Go grey - it is only fair

Go grey - never pink or blue

Go grey - this is what we’re gonna do

Go grey, this is what we’re gonna do, go grey.

xx

Cleaning Routine for the week

To the tune of *'Today's Monday' with a little bit of Elvis thrown in.

Today's Monday, today's Monday.

Monday's Back Room Day.

Wash or iron maybe,

Thorough clean one spot.

DEEP CLEAN!

Today's Tuesday, today's Tuesday.

Tuesday's lounge or dine

Monday's Back Room Day.

Wash or iron maybe,

Thorough clean one spot.

DEEP CLEAN!

Today's Wednesday, today's Wednesday.

Wednesday's Hall and Stairs,

Tuesday's Lounge or Dine,

Monday's Back Room

Wash or iron maybe,

Thorough clean one spot.

DEEP CLEAN!

Today's Thursday, today's Thursday.

Thursday's Bedroom

Wednesday's Hall and Stairs,

Tuesday's Lounge or Dine,

Monday's Back Room

Wash or iron maybe,

Thorough clean one spot.

DEEP CLEAN!

Today's Friday, today's Friday.

Friday's Bathroom

Thursday's Bedroom

Wednesday's Hall and Stairs,

Tuesday's Lounge or Dine,

Monday's Back Room

Wash or iron maybe,

Thorough clean one spot.

DEEP CLEAN!

Today's Saturday, today's Saturday.

Saturday's FMH, (fridge, microwave, hob)

Friday's Bathroom

Thursday's Bedroom

Wednesday's Hall and Stairs,

Tuesday's Lounge or Dine,

Monday's Back Room

Wash or iron maybe,

Thorough clean one spot.

DEEP CLEAN!

Today's Sunday, today's Sunday.

Sunday's Day of Rest,

Saturday's FMH,

Friday's Bathroom

Thursday's Bedroom

Wednesday's Hall and Stairs,

Tuesday's Lounge or Dine,

Monday's Back Room

NO wash or ironing

Today's a Day of Rest.

xx

* Can't find my version of the song on the Internet but these are the words. We used to sing this song at guides.

Today's Monday, today's Monday.
Monday is washing day.
Is everybody happy?
You bet your life we are.


Tuesday is soup 
Wednesday is roast beef
Thursday is shepherds pie
Friday is fish
Saturday is pay day
Sunday is church

Dripping tap

This was one of the songs from my first piano book.

Drip, drop, drip, drop

What is that?

It's my leaking, dripping tap.

Drip, drop, drip, drop

All the night,

We forgot to turn it tight.

It reminds me of my nose at the moment! Constantly dripping. Plus the cough and I'm one sorry me.

Cough, sneeze, snively me,

Cough again and whoops a dee,

Time to exercise the floor

Just in case I cough some more.

Wheeze, gasp, snively me,

Get it up, oh deary me,

Take 3 breaths and try again

Coughs and sneezes are a pain!

Drip, blow, snively me,

Noz is red  - this cold is free

To anyone who comes in view

Here you are it's all for you.

Cough, sneeze, snively me

Sniff and splutter let me be.

Heading off to my nice warm bed

Hack, hack, hack, enough is said.

xx

Good, bad, good, bad

I do wish,

(It's very sad)

That when I walk

I don't see 'bad'.

Rubbish, weeds,

and smelly poo,

Empty cans,

Graffiti too.

I do wish,

I know I'm right,

To see the clean,

The fresh, the bright.

Any weather,

Cloud, rain, sun,

Seeing 'good'

Is much more fun.

xx

Strawberry ditty

One little, two little, three little strawberries,

Four little, five little, six little strawberries,

Seven little, eight little, nine little strawberries,

Ten little strawberry fruits.

Ten little, nine little, eight little strawberries,

Seven little, six little, five little strawberries,

Four little, three little, two little strawberries,

One little strawberry fruit.

Chomp!

Yum!

xx

Done and Dusted Ditty

To the tune of - When the roll is called up yonder.

Chorus

When a favour's called upon me,

When a favour's called upon me,

When a favour's called upon me,

When a favour's called upon me I'll be there.

Verse

When friends of Darling Son are wed and baby's on the scene,

And the time has come to take a present there.

When said friends admired the blanket made for DG number 1

Then another of the same we'd like to share.

This is my first Tunisian crochet blanket made for DG
(darling grand-daughter).

Here is the one for DS and DD-in-Law's friends.

Chorus

When a favour's called upon me,

When a favour's called upon me,

When a favour's called upon me,

When a favour's called upon me I'll be there.

xx

Happy New Year

May your year be just what you want it to be

May you achieve all you set out to do. 

Let problems all go walkies

Far away from you.

May happiness surround you

With family and friends

May 2017 be the year of

Luck that never ends.

May health and peace be with you

All throughout the year,

Surround yourself with laughter

And banish all the tears.

To all my bloggy readers

Regularly calling here

I send to you this greeting - 

Have a Wonderful New Year!

Solving problems

I like brown and he likes white.

Who's to say who's wrong or right?

Think a bit and use your loaf,

Then bake some bread that's a bit of both!

xx

Follow, follow

A very warm welcome to my new follower - I've been stuck on 349 for ages. I need to do more visiting, commenting and following myself but, of course, life gets in the way. The word 'follower' conjured up a 'follow my leader' image in my mind with one person leading and a tail of people following all copying the actions of the one in front. In reality we are all following our own interests with people who share the same so it becomes not just one long line but a whole network of people interacting with each other's blogs. 

I couldn't get this 'follower' word out of my mind and I kept on singing - Follow! Follow! Now which song has these lyrics? Quite a few it seems but I finally found the one here.

And here's my take on the tune.

Time to say thank you to all of my readers.

I look at the stats and see all the views there.

Time to say thank you to all of my readers

Who visit often and leave their comments.

Time to say thank you to all of my readers.

You're kind and sharing, warm and thoughtful.

Time to say thank you and if you're a mind to

Then follow, follow.

(Sorry about that - what a round-a-bout way to encourage more followers. Please forgive me.)

:)

xx

Little comments

With apologies to Leapy Lee.

I'm a mum, a little mum

Shooting posts out to the blue 

And I'm aiming them at someone

But the question is at who?

Is it for me, is it for you?

If you're reading this you're hit

And I know that you are reading 

When you comment a little bit.

You're there for me

Pouring out of the blue

Little comments for me, all from you.

You're there again and again,

You're there again and again

Little comments full of knowledge,

Little comments full of fun.

When you've a blog you'll find

Those little comments there from some.

Little comments that will give you hope,

Encouraging again.

Little comments that give hugs and kisses

Every now and then.

Oh, oh, oh ...

Thank you so much for visiting and just being there.

xx

PS - I've make some more jam - no stress!

Who reads my blog?

I've noticed that I'm getting comments from quite a few new to me readers during the last few weeks and I love going to visit them if they have a blog. I wonder how they found their way here. Did they blog hop? Had they typed some specific words into Google? What was their journey here? If you are one of my new commenters or followers I would love to hear how you came to land on these pages and if you are out there and read regularly and don't comment why not comment today just to say hello. I don't bite!

Hello to Mr Homemaker and Keith who commented recently. And to all the 'every so often' commenters, I'm so glad you popped by.

Hello to all who visit and don't have a blog of their own. Have you ever considered starting one? I'd love to visit you if you do.

My journeys to other blogs are through blog hopping and also typing my interests into Google. It's fun looking at similar lifestyles and gleaning tips and inspiration from others.



I'm a blog happy bunny today!

xx

PS - Ditty time.

Where did you find me?
Why do you stay?
Do you leave comments?
What do you say?

Rhubarb, rhubarb

Rhubarb, rhubarb?

Neigh, neigh.

Rhubarb, rhubarb?

Knot, knot.

Rhubarb, rhubarb?

Nein, nein.

Rhubarb, rhubarb?

Eye, eye.



Rhubarb, rhubarb

Diddly doo, diddly doo, do di do di doo!



xx

Drippy Dittie

(Chorus  - to the tune of the Galop in the Finale of The Overture to William Tell by Gioachino Rossini) 

To be sung with urgency, preferably out of tune. This ditty has particular impact when sung at speed!

(Spoken): Keep healthy - drink 2 litres of water every day.

Chorus: To the loo, to the loo,

To the loo, loo, loo,

To the loo, to the loo,

To the loo, loo, loo,

To the loo, to the loo,

To the loo, loo, loo,

To the looooooo, 

To the loo, loo, loo!

(Spoken): Go to bed, try to go to sleep, toss and turn and then - 

Chorus: To the loo, to the loo,

To the loo, loo, loo,

To the loo, to the loo,

To the loo, loo, loo,

To the loo, to the loo,

To the loo, loo, loo,

(Spoken): Before you go out.

Chorus: To the loo, to the loo,

To the loo, loo, loo,

To the loo, to the loo,

To the loo, loo, loo,

To the loo, to the loo,

To the loo, loo, loo,

To the looooooo, 

To the loo, loo, loo!

(Spoken): Before an important occasion.

Chorus: To the loo, to the loo,

To the loo, loo, loo,

To the loo, to the loo,

To the loo, loo, loo,

To the loo, to the loo,

To the loo, loo, loo,

To the looooooo, 

To the loo, loo, loo!

(Spoken): Pass by a public convenience.

Chorus: To the loo, to the loo,

To the loo, loo, loo,

To the loo, to the loo,

To the loo, loo, loo,

To the loo, to the loo,

To the loo, loo, loo,

To the looooooo, 

To the loo, loo, loo!

(Spoken): Sorry, have to go now!

Chorus: To the loo, to the loo,

To the loo, loo, loo,

To the loo, to the loo,

To the loo, loo, loo,

To the loo, to the loo,

To the loo, loo, loo,

To the looooooo, 

To the loo, loo, loo!

xx

Written with inspiration from Rachael Radiostar.

:)

Weather

And the weather today is sunny ...

… but cold.

Whether the weather be fine

Or whether the weather be not

Whether the weather be cold

Or whether the weather be hot

We'll weather the weather

Whatever the weather

Whether we like it or not.

xx

Ensuring a good crop for the future

I need to be prepared for tomorrow - it being Wassailing Day. Our apple tree has never borne much fruit. Last year it produced 4 apples - the most it's ever had I think, so I need to intervene. The Wassailing link gives me hope for the harvest yet to come. It's worth a try anyway so tomorrow I shall be outside wassailing the fruit trees. I haven't got any cider so perhaps a 'little bit of sherry' will do and I may even sacrifice some Christmas cake to spread amongst its boughs if that will help produce a bumper crop come September.

Now I'll need a song so this one will do.

Health to thee, good apple tree,

Well to bear, pocketfuls, hat-fulls,

Peck-fulls, bushel-bag-fulls.

Here's to thee, old apple-tree,

Whence thou may'st bud, and whence thou may'st blow,

And whence thou may'st bear apples enow

Hats full! caps full!

Bushel-bushel-sacks full,

And my pockets full, too, huzza!

Stand fast, root! bear well, top!

Pray God send us a good howling crop:

Every twig, apples big;

Every bough, apples enow!

I'll be happy with more than 4 - stay tuned!

A very warm welcome to my new follower.

Welcome follower
Fellow blogger,
Comrades all we be
Here's to thee
And one and all
Warm greetings
To you from me.

xx

PS Just getting in the mood!

Rain, rain and more rain

Rain

It's raining, it's pouring

But life is not so boring

I cook, I read,

I stir and knead

Take my time getting up in the morning!

Rain

Rain, rain, go away

I really want to go out and play.

And more rain

This one's an original from my Sunday School days. I've still got my music book somewhere. (Child Songs - Carey Bonner)

Down came the raindrops,

On a cloudy day,

Wetting all the pavements

Washing dirt away,

Waking little brown buds

Thirsty seeds aswell.

Right into the blades of grass

The tiny raindrops fell.

xx