Hello, are you feeling cheerful? If so, I need all the help I can get this week, I’m in complete panic mode! If you’ve been visiting Planet Penny for a while you will remember I made a huge effort to take the stress out of Christmas last year and it worked, and this time I’ve failed miserably. For good reasons, because lots of exciting things have been going on, and I’ve been really busy, but when I was in Marks and Spencer’s this afternoon hyperventilating over my Mother’s shopping list I was not a happy bunny.
So please, please…if you have something to share which will make me smile, I neeeed it…for medicinal purposes!
I’m off to our Knit and Stitch group this evening with the sausage rolls and mince pies, so this will be a short post, but I’m not completely without Reasons to be Cheerful of my own to pass on.
My dear husband, who is not terribly domesticated, offered me a cup of coffee this morning and I gratefully accepted. It was a bit milkier than I normally have it, but I put this down to not being able to get our usual semi-skimmed milk, only the full fat version. I sat at the computer, sipping the coffee and dunking my chocolate biscuit and thinking “This tastes odd, maybe cos it’s a bit creamy”…sip,sip, …dunk dunk… “no, it’s definitely strange…but familiar….hang on it tastes of….chicken…CHICKEN?” Leapt up, went to the kitchen and yes, Bisto Chicken Gravy granules….!!!
Well you’ve got laugh, really!
Higgins has been helping with the Christmas wine list…
We’re ordering a case of this apparently…
The fact that it tastes very good, as well as having a great label makes me very cheerful indeed!
And I was able to get the January edition of ‘Making‘ magazine while I was in the City, which is never available out in the sticks! Lots of good things in there, but no pictures yet alas because I’ve lost the light for today…
So, do join in with some cheerfulness, either via the Linky below, or in the comments column. And if you are looking for more crafty inspiration, pop over to Silverpebble and the ‘Making Winter’ bloghop, there’s loads to see!
This will be the last ‘Reasons to be Cheerful‘ post until the New Year. I think once January gets here we’ll need it more than ever!
See you soon xxx
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Sorry you’ve been feeling stressed – I can commiserate, I keep waking in a panic! The thought of chicken gravy coffee will keep melaughing though :-D. I bought some supermarket own-brand lime cordial the other day which looks almost exactly like a bottle of vegetable oil (right down to the bottle they’ve used) – I’m anticipating some kind of mix-up in the next few weeks!
Oh dear, the poor man must not have been concentrating. Made me laugh…
I must find out where to get that wine.
Look at that fantastic sky!
How rubbish you’re feeling stressed, you have not failed I’m sure, I know I have definitely felt a little overwhelmed by the huge list and the ten(?) (ouch!) days left. I am crocheting like mad and hoping for a miracle!
Your chicken drink sounds bleeauugh, how many sips did you take is what I want to know? The bottled drink looks like the safest option if you ask me! I will post my reasons for being cheerful tomorrow.
Oh dear. I feel your pain. And your stress. My problem is that it’s not enough for me to MAKE gifts, I feel that I have to DESIGN them as well. Why can’t I use an established pattern? What’s wrong with me? So December becomes rather frenzied. Luckily I have to mail most of my gifts across the country which means that by Monday or Tuesday next they’ll be done and out of my hair. I love deadlines.
What a fantastic wine label. And the chicken coffee story is wonderful. Especially the dunking part. How many people can say they’ve tasted a chocolate biscuit dunked in chicken gravy?
Will post my Reasons tomorrow.
Hee-heee! I love your bisto-coffee story 😀
The arrival of the carol singers for their after-singing party on Friday has been the catalyst for me to put up decorations and clear up two very junked-up rooms. The rest will happen… whether I’ve stressed about it or not.
While clearing the piles of stuff from 2 house clearances over the past year, I ‘found’ my fave winter cook book, 2 dining chairs I forgot to reupholster and the piano!
Stay in there Penny… Higgins will help!
Celia
xx
My sympathies over the “coffee”. a long time ago my middle son (quite young at the time) kindly offered to make a cup of tea for me. Unfortunately he used a sachet of bouquet garni instead of a teabag (interesting taste but at least I hadn’t sacrificed a chocolate biscuit in it).
Lovely picture of rhe sky – ours is full of cloud today so not much cheer on that front. Keep smiling – you’ll get there by Christmas. We always do in spite of the panics (and to paraphrase wonderful Delia, “Just enjoy it – it’s never going to be perfect”).
Chris
xx
Oh poor you…chicken bisto AND chocolote biscuits……Blech!
I find the little snow falls on your blog cheerful and very festive as we don’t get that here in the tropics.
That wine label is gorgeous and even better if it tastes good too 🙂
have you passed your fine dining discovery on to celebrity masterchef yet ? a small sprig of chervil would give it added depth , i expect .
i don’t believe you’re as behind as you think …. i expect it’ll all be as wonderful as ever on the day !
You know a glass or two of that Longue-dog could certainly go a long way toward ‘medicinal’ therapy. 🙂
Penny! You’ve made me laugh, so even if you’re not feeling 100%, you’ve made me feel very happy! That’s so funny about the gravy granule coffee!!!!!!!!!! That has to be a classic one! So nice to see his royal highness, and his lovely little tummy, and that wine label is BRILLIANT! What a great post. I think this weather doesn’t help with coping does it? If it’s sunny, you can cope with anything. I was feeling stressed today, a tight feeling in my stomach, and I stopped, breathed a few deep breaths and told myself, one thing at a time. That probably doesn’t help, but I suppose it’s an on-line version of a friendly hug. Take care Penny, and don’t over-do it. Love Vanessa xxx
Oh my gosh, Penny, the story of the chicken coffee is so funny. And I can just feel the thinking process as you described it. Perfect! And anything that makes us laugh is so good.
Higgins looks like he has been doing some tasting of that nice wine – either that or he’s wondering if Longue-Dog is also on the ingredient listing! I’ll be posting my cheerfulness shortly and will come back to link here.
Lovely Penny, my motto in life is I am what I am and I can do what I can and this is best for me to remember at this time of the year. We fortunately have very simple Christmas’s here so there is never too much stress. I am just pleased to have got all my parties out of the way and now I can consider buying a few gifts this coming week :0) Tim is very funny with his choice of hot drinks :0) and I just love love the sausage doggie wine label, how very Higgins indeed.
Sorry i havent got round to doing my reasons to be cheerful this week but I have been so busy and very few photo’s were taken. I am sure I will have plenty to do in the new year, lets hope so anyway.
Sending you lots of joy and peace and love and hugs, Penelope xox
I did a very cheery thing today – see my blog – and went to see the baby seals at Horsey Gap.