Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in Alison Lees' LiveJournal:

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Thursday, February 4th, 2010
9:56 am	Happiness is a dishwasher I don't mind washing dishes, if the radio is on really loud, and there is someone drying the pots as I go, and I have nothing better to do, but this is rarely the case. Dishwashers are an excellent labour-saving device, because: 1) you can load them as you go along, and the dirty dishes are neatly hidden out of sight. 2) when the dishwasher is full, you just add soap and press the button, and then you can get on with your other things that you have to do. 3) When the dishes are clean, they will sit happily in the dishwasher, neatly hidden out of sight, until you are ready to put them away. 4) It is no harder emptying a dishwasher than it is drying the pots, and sometimes it is easier. 5) A lot of other things can be put in the dishwashwer more easily, so they are more likely to be washed. Some things are washed more efficiently: our lemon-squeezer jug had bits you couldnt' reach washing by hand, and it was never really clean until it went in the dishwasher. 6) The dishwasher temperature is much hotter than you can wash up in, so it is more hygienic. Current Mood: relieved (Comment on this)
Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010
12:37 pm	St Blaise Who is most famous for fishing a fishbone out of someone's throat: some places you can get a special throat blessing at Mass, to prevent coughs and sore throats over the year. Hooray for: ENT specialists Boo for: fish bones Food: fish (Comment on this)
Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010
9:52 am	Happiness is a helpmeet Which is not helpful if you haven't got one, but I can't be right for all the people all the time. If you are feeling tired, and there are huge piles of work to be done, and you are maybe a tiny little bit down, then you probably want to give yourself a break and go to bed early. But then there are still all those piles, and they are bigger, and there is more to do. If you have got someone who can do the dishes, and sort the washing, so that you can concentrate on the ironing, and then go to bed early, perhaps with the hot water bottle and hot chocolate that your helpmeet has thoughtfully provided, then in the morning, those piles won't be there, and it is easier to start again. Current Mood: loved (Comment on this)
9:44 am	Candlemas The day when Joseph and Mary took Jesus to the temple for purification stuff, in compliance with the Jewish law at the time. Demonstrates that Jesus begins life subject to the same laws as his fellow beings. For some reason, called candlemas because of a lot of candles being lit. Which on a grey gloomy day like today, was probably a good idea. Decorations: Candles, doves Food: pigeon Hooray for: old people Music: any setting of the Nunc Dimittus (Comment on this)
Thursday, January 28th, 2010
9:25 am	My birthday Today I am 39. When I was younger, I used to think that 39 was really old, even older (psychologically speaking) than 40. Then I got married to a man considerably older than me, so I never felt old again. 39 is okay, actually. Food: chocolate, cake, more chocolate. Did someone mention cake? Drink: your tipple of choice Party: as much as you like Music: whatever you like. Current Mood: happy Current Music: Happy Birthday, etc. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Wednesday, January 27th, 2010
12:35 pm	Mozart's birthday so time for a Mozart-fest. Current Music: anything by Mozart (Comment on this)
Tuesday, January 26th, 2010
12:31 pm	Australia Day Which I found on my calendar. I'm not sure what it is exactly, but it sounds like a good occasion to celebrate Australia. Try: boomerangs, didgeridoos Television: Dame Edna Everidge; Neighbours; Home and Away Music: Rolf Harris; Percy Grainger Food: Barbecues? (Comment on this)
Monday, January 25th, 2010
9:21 am	Burns night Poetry: anything by Robert Burns Food: Haggis, neeps, tatties, etc. Drink: scotch whisky, scotch beer Dancing: I would expect so. Current Music: anything scottish: or the works of Burns set to music (Comment on this)
Sunday, January 24th, 2010
1:55 pm	Week of Prayer for Christian Unity The fact that there are so many denominations of Christianity is, in itself, a scandal, and maybe we should do something about it. (Comment on this)
1:53 pm	St Francis de Sales which I remember because it was our school feast day. We used to have a big sung Mass, and the whole school was fed chips and meatballs in tomato sauce, and there would be a satsuma. Sometimes we watched Pollyanna, sometimes there was a treasure hunt, once there was a staff pantomime. Today, I just ate the satsuma. Current Mood: remembering (Comment on this)
Friday, January 22nd, 2010
1:46 pm	Happiness is a chippy tea My other friend, who admits to some sort of depression (I can say this, because he's acknowledged it publicly) was surprised to discover that his (or her, sorry) latest bout of depression was beaten off with a steaming hot plate of pudding, chips, peas and gravy. I am not surprised. A good meal of something you fancy, at the time that you fancy it, is heart warming stuff. Of course, a chippy tea is not going to solve all your problems, but it will make you feel better about the world and, therefore, more able to cope. (Comment on this)
Thursday, January 21st, 2010
7:08 pm	Mashed potato with pesto which I served with pork chops, spinach and baked beans. Hannah enjoyed bashing the chops and mashing the spuds, but would only eat the beans. Sam ate some chops and un-pestod mash, but wouldn't try the pesto mash. John and I really liked it. (Comment on this)
Sunday, January 17th, 2010
7:53 pm	Mashed potato with blue cheese which I used a couple of ounces of blue cheese that was lingering in the fridge; it may have been Shropshire blue, or Blacksticks blue. I made the mash, and John cooked pork and apple chipolatas and broccoli. Sam had the mash but without the cheese in it, Hannah decided to be fussy again. It actually tasted very nice. The cheese was quite strong; a little goes a long way, but it made an interesting variation. (Comment on this)
7:38 pm	The wedding feast at Cana Epiphany can be thought of in the sense of 'showing'. We had the visit of the Magi, then Jesus' baptism; now we have Jesus' first miracle; at a wedding party; turning water into wine, and good quality wine in generous amounts at that. Hooray for: parties, weddings Drink: wine. (Comment on this)
Wednesday, January 13th, 2010
6:40 pm	Mashed potato with added butter and warm milk. I served it with fish fingers, sweetcorn, baked beans, and ketchup. Delia Smith once claimed that microwaves took the soul out of cookery, but I find this is not the case. For example, it is much less faff warming four tablespoons of milk in a cup in the microwave than in a pan on the stove, and mashed potato is much nicer for it. Both children helped to make the mash, but Hannah declined to eat it. She seems to have taken Lola as a role model, as she says 'Lola is very fussy about food.' (Comment on this)
Monday, January 11th, 2010
10:16 am	Broccoli and Cherry Tomato cheese which I let the children help make. The sauce ended up a bit too runny, partly because of impatience, and possibly because I didn't drain the broccoli properly. I served it with macaroni, which it went very well together, making a very tasty simple midweek meal. Hannah ate a plateful of macaroni but declined to eat the actual other stuff. Sam decided that he didn't like the tomatoes, although he would probably have eaten them raw. (Comment on this)
9:48 am	Ordinary time Time to roll up our sleeves and get on with things. Colour: green. (Comment on this)
Sunday, January 10th, 2010
9:42 am	Cheese and lentil flan Which I remembered we had a proper flan tin, this time, so it worked better. I used bought pastry, and dried chives (we do have chives in the garden, but they're under a lot of snow), and I served it at lunch, so the children didn't have to eat it. It cooked into two layers, cheese custard stuff at the top, lentils and onions at the bottom, but it was actually very tasty, and John liked it enough to take some in his packed lunch the next day. I could get used to these lentil-things. Current Mood: relieved (Comment on this)
9:40 am	Baptism of the Lord Which we celebrated as the last day of Christmas. Music: Anything about John the Baptist, obviousl (which is why we didn't sing any of them), Shall we gather by the river (which I don't know, but comes in a very good joke), but also how about Holy Spirit hymns instead? Breathe on me breath of God, Spirit of the Living God, Come down, Oh Love Divine, that sort of stuff. Decorations: Time to take down the Christmas decorations, and clear up the rubbish. Candles are still good. Doves, also. Those little water features you get, that make you want to pee. Perhaps not. (Comment on this)
Sunday, January 3rd, 2010
11:05 am	The Epiphany officially on the 6th of January, but now transferred to a Sunday (which means that I don't have to decide whether to keep the children off school on the 6th; mind you, when I was at school, the term wouldn't have started until the Monday after the epiphany). Most obviously a day when we see that non-Jews were part of God's plan for salvation; that redemption is for all people, even the gentiles, or wise and clever people, or astrologers... Decorations: we can put the wise men/king figures in the crib scene now, and their camels, horses, etc. Also, stars are a good idea. Music: We three kings of Orient are, the First Nowell, In the Bleak Midwinter, I saw a star, What child is this?, Three Kings from Asian lands afar, Poetry: Journey of the Magi by TS Eliot, which Britten set to music. Hooray for: Gentiles, wise people, astrologers, astronomers? Current Mood: surprisingly non-pedantic (Comment on this)