HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME! PINKTOBER 26

Before you wish me "Happy Birthday" or even rush out to buy me a birthday card then please don’t worry - it’s not my birthday for another two months - yes, on Boxing Day when I will be celebrating the 54th anniversary of my 21st birthday.

As you can imagine, having a birthday that close to Christmas is a bit of a nightmare for Mr. HCB - in fact, he used to look for a birthday card for me in about September, because there wasn’t that good a selection the nearer to Christmas we got.  It was the same with birthday presents - we're not a couple who goes OTT with presents, but it’s good to have something to open on the day, so we have a series of cryptic questions a couple of months before with Mr. HCB trying to find out what I would like.

Three weeks ago I was having a chat online with my Blip friend, Heidi, who has a Remoska oven that she uses in her camper van when she goes off on her little jaunts.  We have been thinking of ways to cut down on our electricity usage and this seemed like a good idea as it uses 85% less - even Mr. HCB was impressed when he heard that - because like most men, he is always eager to cut down on our bills.

After my chat with Heidi, we went over to Lakeland, which is a store within a local garden centre and chatted with the assistant - we were both convinced that it would be good, so I jokingly said to Mr. HCB that I could always have it as a birthday present, which would save him wondering what to buy me.  I have to say that clinched the deal and before we knew it we were walking out with a new Remoska oven, a rack to go inside and a cookery book.  We even got £10 off in a promotion, so all good.

I have to say that since we bought it I haven’t used my “proper” oven once because it does all that the big oven would do and as I said, uses 85% less electricity.  Heidi has been “waxing lyrical” about hers for weeks now, and I was able to have a Whatsapp chat with her that evening to say it was great and did all she had told me it would.  She asked if I was going to Blip it, but I told her that I wouldn’t immediately, but would find a suitable date and of course, there had to be something pink because October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

So here is my new Remoska, which has been used daily since 5th October, together with a lovely dishcloth knitted for me by another Blip friend with some pink in it, and this morning I received the beautiful card on the left, from the same Blip friend.  It was addressed to Mrs HCB, so the postman probably thinks that my husband has another woman!

We have been busy in the garden again this morning, before the rain came - planting wallflowers and collecting leaves and seeds from the Council Sycamore trees that are just outside our fence - and I have also made some Broccoli and Blue Cheese Soup, so time to stop for lunch. 

Please remember to click on this link so that those who cannot afford to pay for a mammogram may have one free.  Thank you.

“Sometimes it's the scars 
    that remind you that you survived. 
Sometimes the scars tell you 
    that you have healed.” 
Ashley D. Wallis