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Sound the Trumpets - A New Blog for the Older Brigade has Arrived!

Tis The Season of Goodwill!

The season of goodwill is upon us!  The shops online and in the High Streets are buzzing with Christmas fare.  There are 3 for 2 and 50% off, etc, enticing us to spend our hard-earned cash.  But I have become more savvy over the years.  I now make a list and stick to it with self-inflicted discipline to keep myself from going overboard.  I learned my lesson the hard way years ago, and now I am one step ahead of the crafty retailers’ advertising. Seriously, write a list. I do mine around the beginning of August (yes, as early as that).  And, bit by bit, I find out what the grandkids have their little hearts set on, except George, who is 7 and will chop and change from one week to the next and start putting money aside when I price things up.  The older grandkids all want money, so that is easy, and I begin to put money away for them from the beginning of the year; believe me, you don't notice it so much. Around October, I look at my Christmas decoration...

The New Bed!



Well, this morning has been quite the epic saga—think DIY meets comedy of errors! Over the weekend, we welcomed a brand-new bed frame and mattress into our home. Exciting, right? That is... until the old bed base decided it wasn’t going down without a fight.

Thankfully, my hubby had assembled part of the new frame yesterday (hurrah for preparation!) or we’d still be tiptoeing through a minefield of screws and mystery metal bits. But the real drama began when we tried to evict the old bed base. Let me tell you, some of those screws were defiant—as if they’d signed a pact to keep that base firmly rooted in our bedroom forever.

Cue the tools: Allen keys, pliers, and finally, the mighty wrench. The battle was fierce. My poor hubby—who,  81, has traded flexibility for wisdom—was huffing and puffing like the Big Bad Wolf himself. Honestly, I half expected the whole room to come tumbling down around us.

At last, with one final grunt and a victorious twist of the wrist, the final bracket surrendered. The new bed was in place! I rolled up my sleeves and got to work on the rest: vacuuming, dusting, and taming the chaos we left in our wake.

Now, after being on my feet since 5 AM, I’ve just sat down for the first time today. And you better believe I’m on my  6th cup of tea—strong enough to revive the dead and reward a warrior.

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