A little Christmas shopping

I was determined to get out of the house today, so we set off for Northampton as early as we could. Our first stop was Jones's and although I was only looking for a pillar candle, I managed to spend nearly £60 on boring items such as poop bags, cat treats, gloves for Keith, lighters and kitchen cloths. I did splash out on a box of recyclable Christmas crackers, though, and some more stocking fillers for the children. I looked at the gonks they had on sale, but they didn't really resonate with me! However, it looks as if rats have taken the place of the gonks!

From Jones's, we drove to Lidl where we looked for saucepans in the middle aisle, but there were none to be had, just lots of Christmas tat. We bought dates and some chocolate as a treat... well, you just have to! Next door in B&Q I bought a lampshade for my Mum's beautiful Mason lamp which I thought would be lovely in her room:

Next door, in Aldi, we looked for saucepans but, again, there were none, so we crossed the road to Dunelm and looked in there, where we were spoilt for choice. Keith was worried we wouldn't have enough pans for the vegetables on Christmas Day, so we bought two. On Sunday, in Abraxas, I looked at the Le Creuset saucepans which were about £500 for a set, and told Sophie that Mum had bought us five for Christmas, shortly after Keith and I had moved in together. The set came with a wooden cabinet to attach to the wall. It looks like they don't do the cast iron pans any more, but my original pans came with wooden handles which, after a fair amount of time, used to get slightly singed!

I looked in vain for king-size pillowcases (can never find them anywhere), and we paid and left to go home, calling into Smith's Farm Shop to get something for lunch. Back at home, the cats were waiting for us in the conservatory and I think they were a bit spooked that we'd left them! They were able to get into the conservatory, though, and we'd left the door open so they could come and go, but they spent the rest of the afternoon on Sophie's bed!

Dinner this evening was a chicken casserole with dumplings served with mashed potatoes and vegetables. It was delicious, but near the end of the meal, when I ate a forkful of potatoes, I felt something gritty in my mouth... I spat it out and retched because I cannot abide anything like that in my mouth at all! Sophie was really worried as she thought I was choking but when we looked at the potatoes we discovered two shards of glass! How on earth they got there is still a mystery, but I was very glad it was me who had them in my meal! Can you imagine, though, if I'd eaten them? I was a bit shaken up!