Barmy Blue's Bland Blog

Ah, another Sunday. Another shopping trip. This one was rather rushed though because we decided to get the tree too (We'd have got it yesterday if Tom hadn't turned up).
Like I said, shopping was rather rushed. Thankfully, no rude women with bottles of wine (See last Sunday's entry) bothered me when I was putting the shopping into categories. Mum mixed them up a bit but I can't blame her. The only way I can pack the shopping perfectly is if there are two of me (One categorizing and one packing). Most of it went in the right bags though. As soon as the shopping was done it was off to get the tree (Homebase is very close to Tesco, so there wasn't much disruption to the usual routine). We were going to get a trolley but Homebase would bee closing soon so mum said she'd carry it (A decision she lived to regret). Outside we came across a tree that had fallen over. We picked him up and straightened him out (I always like to personify our trees for some reason). I suggested we get him but mum didn't think he was small enough. We hunted for one a foot smaller. Then I pointed out that mum wasn't planning on using the usual method of tree standing that we do (A big black bucket full of bricks) and that she was planning on getting a new stand for the tree, so he might just be small enough. (Earlier I did feel the need to point out that the last stand we'd had was a total disaster. It was a plastic put with five legs and little screw like bits that you tightened. The tree that year ended up with a bit of plastic in the stump because mum struggled to get it in and couldn't get it out (It was required to have that bit of plastic in). So I was reluctant at first. But when I saw they stand she had in mind, I liked the idea.)
So, we decided to get that tree that we had seen before. He sure proved to be troublesome. He wasn't in a net (As the fallen ones never are) so we had to get him netted in the white plastic netting (Which always makes me think of fishnet tights ). Mum had to lug him around Homebase (She hadn't counted on us getting a 6 footer instead of a five) She wanted to get some holly lights that she had seen but they were sold out. i picked up some ribbon (Two. One red with glittery green spots and one red with gold poinsettia on it. A change to my usual silvery, glittery patterns) I was also lugging this heavy stand around too. We got to the till when our troublesome tree struck again. He didn't have a tag on, so we didn't know his height and, therefore, his price. The woman at the till eventually found out his price and we were on our way. The next problem was putting the tree in the car. While mum was fiddling with the seats I was trying to slip the tree into the old duvet cover cover that we transport our trees in. Again we had a problem because mum had arranged the seats wrong, not putting mine forward but back instead. So the tree could get in but I had nowhere to sit. Eventually I decided to take the only free space available, which was on the back seat which had been put down, behind mum's seat. This meant that not only was I resting my behind on the shopping in the boot and on a folded down seat but I had no seatbelt, because it was under the back of the seat, which I was sitting on. So I had to hold mum's seat and hope she didn't crash. After that things went as normal.

In the end we named the tree Magnus (From my Latin dictionary, meaning great, large etc.) Which is a change from our previous ones, all called Spiney

Today’s chocolate was a gingerbread man (I was hoping for a Christmas tree for irony. Oh well )