Boxing Day

Did Christmas even happen if you don't put together a Leftovers Sandwich the next day? After doing all the cooking (and guzzling a lot of bubbles along the way) I wasn't in the mood to eat when the food was ready yesterday. I just picked at a few things in the guise of making sure they were cooked and left it at that. When I lay in bed later I knew I was hungry but couldn't be bothered to go and do anything. So early this morning I had my Leftovers Sarnie and it was fantastic. It just wouldn't be Christmas if I didn't have a sandwich stuffed full of turkey, cranberry sauce, cold roast potatoes and bread sauce. Bill was out in the garden so I grilled some bacon to make him a bacon sandwich and add to mine. Fantastic. Tomorrow Bill and I are having turkey curry with the leftover turkey, am also looking forward to that.

This afternoon my sister in law and Rosie Dog arrived to stay the night. I decided to keep things light foodwise as my SIL isn't a big eater. I served chicken breast that I'd cooked and left to cool, new potatoes, broccoli, gravy, and salad. I saw a salad idea on the Gram that I was itching to do, served to look like a festive wreath. So pretty. The cheese grazing board is for anyone who has the munchies and wants a little something.

For dessert I used a shop bought pavlova base, whipped some cream with vanilla and then studded with fruit. So pretty, and even though not exactly low calorie, feels much lighter than all the chocolate and treats we've stuffed down our gullets lately. Makes me crave light food with edible flowers and sunshiney days.

Another dry day, so Bill got outside early to do some more work in the garden. Along the side of our house we have had compost heaps for over 15 years. Because we don't want to speak to the idiots next door the decision was made to get rid of them and use that space for storage. This is the area the moron likes to chuck over downpipes and her garden cuttings, another reason for moving the compost. Now if she chucks things over there is more of a fall and will make more noise, hopefully giving her a bit of a shock.
Before and after.

One compost heap had been dismantled a few weeks ago, but this one was left until it could taken down without anyone peering over the fence.
Now it looks like this.

Amazing! Am so pleased with the extra space and the fact that it's been done while the clowns next door are away.

This is what we built on Christmas Eve.

This is the chair that came from Bill's parents garden. We've always had it along this side but since summer it came with the risk of being hit by a missile being flung by the crone . Then when she hacked the plant on the trellis until we'd had enough and removed it completely, it felt so open and exposed. We hated seeing her hair move along the other side, and the husband would peer over to nose or "chat" and we had to do something. So we sourced this open shed thing and bought it, it was exactly the right size to house the chair and make it safe to use again. We bided our time until they were away as I'm totally honest when I say neither of us want to speak to them again. Any neighbourly friendship has been ripped apart because of that woman and her spitefulness. She didn't like our plant and trellis? Fine. Have a hossing great wooden wall to stare at instead. It's been built far enough away from the fence that she can't possibly touch it in any way unless she climbs a ladder and reaches over, and that's something I would not let her get away with. Today we went through the gate on our back fence that leads into the park behind us. Something behind their fence caught my eye so I went over to take a look. It was a sheet that had been dumped over. It took a minute but I recognized it as the sheet they'd used to drape over their paddling pool in summer. Being a sheet and not a proper cover it sank into the pool so they must have just thrown it over the fence to get rid of it when it started going green. When I call her a flytipper I'm not joking, she sees nothing wrong in chucking stuff over fences. At least it didn't end up in our garden, but now it's left to rot on the park. Lovely people.

There is still a bit of a gap, beside the shed thing and the entrance to the side of the house where we removed the compost heaps. We can see their back door. But we have a plan. Where you see the door we are going to buy a plant that can stay in a pot. The plant needs to be large and leafy, preferably evergreen. It'll just screen out the door nicely. And we'll replace the hanging plant, again for something bushy to block them out. That way we still have access to the side of the house when we need it, we block them out, and it's all far enough away for old gnarly hands to not be able to touch. Perfect.

You can see why we need to get something to diffuse the door. Our little building does the job so well. It blocks out a huge part of where they could see in and we could see them. The fairy lights are just for Christmas, and we are in the process of painting it. I've got no doubt that I'll pretty up the inside for the summer months, but right now the main thing was getting it done while we had the chance. Can't even start to tell you how pleased we are to have got this done. Hopefully it gives the message loud and clear.

Hope you are still enjoying Christmas, and you were thoroughly spoilt.