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| Chit Chat this Month |  |
This page contains our November thoughts on fireworks, autumn decorations to save money and walks. Christmas Countdown Do you celebrate Christmas? Consider following our Christmas Planner for a relaxing Christmas break. If joining in partway through, just check back over the previous weeks and allocate necessary tasks between the remaining weeks. You may wish to keep your lists etc. in a Christmas planner notebook. This isn’t exclusive, so do read down as we may have not included something that is important to you. Week Beginning: Saturday November 8th 1) Plan your Christmas budget. Make a list of people you will provide gifts for and allocate your budget accordingly. Purchase gifts over the month. Remember to allow plenty of time for delivery on orders. Don’t rely on credit cards, catalogues with delayed payment plans etc. You will suffer well into 2009. Check to see if you have funds in old, forgotten savings accounts. Can you sell items on ebay? Could you become a representative e.g. for Body Shop or take a temporary second job in a restaurant or bar for a few weeks for Christmas? Could you make gifts, sweets, cakes etc. as economical but thoughtful presents? Offer a time pledge in an attractive Christmas card e.g. for babysitting, taking someone on an outing, DIY or similar. With children and teens, pick one thing they really want, don’t try to buy all eight! You can top up with inexpensive stocking fillers. Where possible, use voucher codes for a discount plus cashback sites if ordering on the internet and special offers in shops. Could you swop items e.g. toys for toddlers, with friends for gifts for your children? 2) Pick any flowers and branches you wish to dry indoors for Christmas. Pop them in vases to dry out for a couple of weeks, then spray with gold or silver canned paint (do this outside on a still day). 3) Book any restaurant tables required over Christmas and the New Year. 4) Check postage dates for parcels and Christmas cards abroad. Write them in your Christmas notebook. Saturday November 15th Order any meat required for Christmas. Write the order number if applicable with delivery/collection details in your Christmas notebook. Purchase your Christmas cake if required or buy the ingredients and make this weekend if you haven’t already. Oxfam sell Christmas cakes and puddings so you can buy your cake and help out too. Check charity shops for children’s toys and other gifts in new condition. Our local Scope often have great buys. Purchase Christmas cards and stamps. You are in plenty of time for UK second class postage. Check out: http://www.lovelychristmas.co.uk/ for ideas. Check the dates from which you can place orders and book delivery slots for internet grocery shopping for Christmas. Make a note in your Christmas notebook of the dates. Saturday November 22nd Write your Christmas cards out over this week. If you are holding an event for Christmas or New Year, plan dates now as you may wish to pop invitations in the same envelope as your Christmas cards. Keep one bag containing cards, stamps, list of cards, address book so you can access everything easily. If you don’t want a long stint, 15 minutes a day should complete the job without it becoming too tedious. Plan your Christmas menu. Make a list of ingredients required to order or purchase. Saturday November 29th Plan pre Christmas visits to relatives. Make phone calls to confirm dates and times. Over the week, pick one room a day. Spend 10 minutes de-cluttering that room ready for Christmas. Have a charity bag as well as a rubbish bag. Recycle when applicable. If you have children, involve them in a clear out of their rooms (no clear out and Santa won’t visit usually works). Keep it short, say half an hour. Make a point of cleaning unwanted toys together and taking them to a charity shop. Purchasing wrapping etc Post or deliver your cards from December 1st. Saturday December 6th Check the conditions of your Christmas decorations. Give unwanted, good condition ones to charity or give them away on freecycle. You may wish to make a few decorations yourself, especially if you have children to involve. (see the star on our Kids’ Keep Active page). Put up your decorations over the weekend or spend ten minutes a day putting them up over the week (excluding real trees as they may drop before Christmas). If you’d like to donate to charity, send your donation. Oxfam and other charities have gift cards as presents. Obtainable on-line, through catalogues and in some charity shops such as Oxfam. Make up a box with Christmas wrapping paper, tape, bows, ribbons, scissors, gift tags etc. so you have everything to hand. Begin to wrap your gifts. Try 15 minutes a day over the week. Consider pre-cooking, then freezing, a few dishes for use over the Christmas period. Saturday December 13th Continue to wrap any remaining gifts, 15 minutes a day over the week. Organise your Christmas tree. Wash any Christmas table linen and iron so that it is ready. Check your table decorations are ready. Ensure you have sufficient wine glasses, cutlery, plates, baking trays etc. Remember turkey foil, toilet rolls, milk and bread. Do you have an elderly or disabled neighbour who may need help with shopping or appreciate a pre- Christmas visit this week? Saturday December 20th Hopefully, there should just be a few last minute preparations left now. Ensure you have a couple of boxes of chocolates, gift vouchers, bottles of wine or similar tucked away for unexpected visitors who arrive unexpectedly with gifts or as a back up in case you have accidentally forgotten someone. Check over your Christmas menu. Ensure you have all the ingredients organised. Do you have non-alcoholic drinks available? Ensure clothing is clean and ready for the day. Spend time on you. Pamper yourself with a face mask, long baths, a hair do or whatever helps you to relax.
November Chit-Chat
November is upon us, we can no longer pretend there will be warm, late summer days. There’s nothing for it but to make the best of the the autumn. Fortunately, the season starts with a bang with Firework night. Having taught in primary schools, I know only too well how excited most children become, waiting in anticipation for November 5th. As a family, we will be joining in the fun. I love the excitement, colours and smell of the evening which bring back great childhood memories. Sadly, accidents can happen. We’ve added Firework Safety at the end of this feature as every year people become seriously injured as a result of fireworks. Remember too, to walk dogs early, keep the cat in and bring in or cover the cages of outdoor pets! There’s nothing like feeling creative and saving money too. Now is the time to look around your garden or another outside space for sticks, flower heads, seed heads etc. to use as winter decoration for your home. My hydrangea bush is wonderful for providing flower heads that I can dry off indoors, then spray to make them look festive. If sprayed outdoors with a gold or silver paint from a can (available in most stationers) these make fabulous Christmas decorations for very little cost. Ensure you do this on a still day as wind will blow the paint around. Bunches can also be used as inexpensive but thoughtful gifts wrapped in gift paper florist style with a recycled ribbon bow. Seed heads can give fantastic shape to add to your arrangements. The garden herbs are coming to an end. You may still have a few left, such as bay leaves. These can be collected and dried for winter provision and small gifts. I wash my bay leaves then lay them onto kitchen roll, leaving them for about a week to dry in a warm place. They can then be placed into empty herb jars for a gift or just popped into a bag for family winter use. Lavender is lovely pulled from the stem into little pieces and used pot-pouri style in a pretty dish. This is great for making your bathroom fresh. It’s free and has no unnatural chemicals.
November can be a busy month with preparations for the Christmas festivities. Take time out for yourself, no one can run on empty. If you feel stressed, try taking slow, deep breaths. You may find it helpful to make your exhalation a little longer than your inhalation. Long baths can be relaxing, as can lying on your back with a cushion under your head, your knees bent and eyes closed feeling the gentle rise and fall of your belly ( please do not do this if you are pregnant or have a heart or other medical condition where lying on your back is not advisable). If your head is buzzing with everything you have to do, you may wish to escape into an on-line Christian spiritual journey at: http://www.labyrinth.org.uk/onlinelabyrinthpage1.html Walking is great on crisp autumn days. Colours abound, trees take on their winter silhouettes Take time to wrap up warm and get out as much as possible on any dry days. Fresh air wakens up your lymphatic system helping you to feel less sluggish in the winter months and there’s nothing like the fun of kicking leaves.
Firework Safety If possible, attend a supervised, organised firework event. If you are having fireworks at home consider following guidelines:
Books for the Apple Season
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. X The Shack by William P Young
This book is a novel in which three of the main characters are God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. They are given human traits, a device that was difficult for me to accept, wondering if it was irreverent. However, this personalisation of the Holy Trinity allows the author to write about our relationship with God in a very accessible manner. The story is centred on a man, Mack, whose youngest daughter has been abducted. Evidence that she was brutally murdered is found in an abandoned shack in the Oregon wilderness. Four years after the disappearance of his child, Mack receives a mysterious note inviting him to visit the shack. Once there, he is faced with and forced to discuss justice and forgiveness. The questions raised are relevant to most of us. Even though I did not like the style of this book, I found the passages at the core of the story moving and helpful. I think that anyone who wonders how or why God allows wicked things to happen to the innocent would profit by reading this book. X The Right Attitude to Rain by Alexander McCall Smith
The key to contentment in the Scottish climate is the right attitude to rain. Or as those of us south of the border would say, ‘make the best of what you are given’.
This entertaining novel continues the small adventures of Isabel Dalhousie, part-time philosopher and full-time resident of Edinburgh. This is the third in the series; if you have not read the others it is perfectly possible to start with this one. To gain maximum enjoyment, start with ‘The Sunday Philosophers’ Club’.
The author, Alexander McCall Smith is probably best known as the creator of the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency. The Isabel Dalhousie books as just as enjoyable and deserve wider recognition.
All the main characters are appealing; it would be fun to know them. Open this book to step into a world where people have time to talk to each other, breath and enjoy life.
I describe these as ‘small’ adventures because for most of the book really big happens, but life moves on, with little changes that add up to a different direction for Isabel. This is an accurate reflection of life for many of us.
The city of Edinburgh is just as much a part of the story as the people. It is clear that McCall Smith is proud of his home city. This will add to the attraction of the book for those who know Edinburgh, and perhaps provoke a desire to visit in others.
An Island Preoccupied by Arthur de Caux Pat writes: Last spring I enjoyed a long weekend on the Channel Island of Jersey. While there I visited the Jersey War Tunnels, which tell the true story of the German Occupation of the island during the Second World War. I had been aware of the Occupation as an historical event, but had never given a thought to what the experience had been like for the people of Jersey. The visit prompted many questions about the impact on the lives of individuals, as well as making me wonder how I would have coped in such a difficult position. Shortly after my visit, I was given a copy of ‘An Island Preoccupied’. The author, Arthur de Caux, was born on Jersey during the Occupation, and grew up listening to stories told by his parents and others who had lived through those challenging years. The novel covers the few weeks between the decision of the British Government to leave the islands undefended, and the arrival of the German army. The occupants of the Channel Islands had only a few days to decide between evacuation to England or remaining in their homes. Either option held uncertainty and fear. The characters are fictional, but the historical events are all true. In my opinion, the people in the story are very convincing, but at times there was a too much historical or geographical detail. Despite the flaws, I recommend this book because it describes an intense situation that most of us will hopefully never experience. I felt drawn into the story and felt that it had given me a better understanding of Jersey in particular and the emotional impact of war in general.
Singled Out by Virginia Nicholson In the 1890s, and early years of the 20th Century it was commonly believed that a girl’s path to happiness lay down the aisle and into the arms of the man she loved. A fruitful marriage and supporting role to her husband would provide a full and happy life. The Great War of 1914-18 shattered the dream of marriage for a great number of young women in Europe. Before the war had ended, the long-term effect on the population had become apparent. In 1917, the Senior Mistress of Bournemouth High School for Girls announced to the assembled sixth form, ‘I have come to tell you a terrible fact. Only one out of ten of you girls can ever hope to marry…..Nearly all the men you might have married have been killed. You will have to make your way in the world as best you can.’ Virginia Nicholson’s book tells the story of how this generation of women went about making their way in the world. Some of them challenged convention, pursuing careers previously only held by men. Others campaigned to improve their situation, while many just coped with poverty and frustration. The book is full of quotes from diaries, letters, and autobiographies providing a well-researched picture of the era. The lifestyle of these women was in many ways different from ours, yet in many ways it helped to shape women’s current position in society. This is an informative book, and also entertaining because there is a strong element of story telling, with many first person accounts of experiences.
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Most people know that insufficient iron in their daily diet can lead to anaemia but did you know an iron-poor diet can lead to thinning hair? You can ensure that your iron intake is sufficient by maintaining a balanced and varied diet. Beans, Brazil nuts, almonds, dried fruit, whole grains (such a brown rice), fortified breakfast cereal, most dark green leafy vegetables (especially water cress and curly kale) are all good sources of iron. Surprisingly (to those of us brought up on Popeye cartoons), spinach is not a particularly good source, as it contains a substance that makes it harder for the body to absorb iron from it. Liver is a good source of iron, but if you are pregnant you should avoid eating it because of the amount of Vitamin A it contains.
A 50g serving of dried apricots (about 7 or 8) provides 2.1mg iron. The recommended daily intake of iron is 14.8mg for women of childbearing age, and 8.7mg for other adult women, and all men. Most people should be able to get all the iron they need by eating a varied and balanced diet. We do not recommend taking an iron supplement without first seeking qualified medical advice. C alcium is essential for strong bones and teeth, and also supports other vital body functions, including muscle contraction and sending messages t
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We’ve been reading…
Eating food that is rich in Vitamin C at the same time as you eat food with iron will help your body to absorb the iron.
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