HOUSEHOLD TIPS NOT FOUND IN WOMAN'S WEEKLY

[Stanley]

Short and careful steps are the order of the day when it is frosty, especially if you have a few years on your back! A fall and a broken bone can be very serious....

[Stanley]

If there is the prospect of something momentous happening curb your enthusiasm. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. As I have said so often, I have experienced disappointments in my life and I don't do enthusiasm or gleeful anticipation. I wait until I am sure. Not a bad rule to follow!

[Marilyn]

I am the same, Stanley. Others may find that odd
I never believe anything until 't next morning!

[Tripps]

If there is the prospect of something momentous happening curb your enthusiasm. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. As I have said so often, I have experienced disappointments in my life and I don't do enthusiasm or gleeful anticipation. I wait until I am sure. Not a bad rule to follow!

Was it in a buff envelope, and was the letter headed 'Honours in Confidence' ?

[Stanley]

If it was I'd bin it as junk mail...... I believe its a corrupt system.
No David, it's better than that! See Family matters.

[Stanley]

Taking my lead from daughter Janet..... If you see a chance of joy go for it!

[Stanley]

My head is full of you know what so today's tip is have patience and don't count chickens before they are hatched! (Easier said than done....)

[Stanley]

"Patience is a virtue. Catch it if you can. Seldom found in women and never in a man" I try to remind myself of this as I wait for news of Janet and do my watchmaking in the shed!

[Stanley]

If you have an exceptional day, do your forward planning, get all the ducks in a row and then go forward slowly and with purpose. Remember you are more vulnerable than usual to accidents and mistakes..... Then enjoy!!

[Stanley]

To paraphrase a favourite saying, "Love and honesty are like a baggage train to an army. A hindrance on the march but essential to the campaign". It applies in Spades to families.....

[Stanley]

Thinking about whether I should visit Janet next week.... There are times when we have to put our desires and even needs aside and consider other people. It can be hard! Not a bad precept to follow.....

[chinatyke]

Thinking about whether I should visit Janet next week.... There are times when we have to put our desires and even needs aside and consider other people. It can be hard! Not a bad precept to follow.....

What would Janet truly think if you didn't visit?

[plaques]

This is what they term as a 'no brainer'. So just disengage a few gears and set off. "You know it makes sense!".

[LizG]

This is what they term as a 'no brainer'. So just disengage a few gears and set off. "You know it makes sense!".

Absolutely Stanley. Think - "I'd rather regret something I did, than regret not doing something".

[Stanley]

We all have our views about these things. I learned a long time ago that the hardest thing to do was let go of a relationship but it's almost always right and the most loving thing to do. Janet and I had a long private conversation on Friday. She had an agenda and it was to clarify everything and draw a line in the account book. In my head I knew that was the last time we needed to do that and I have told them I am not going. Janet needs to concentrate on her own needs and she would completely understand. This horrible disease can't damage the 50 years we have put into this relationship.

[chinatyke]

Well said. I've also read your other posting and understand your decision. I wasn't meaning to be critical. You have a strong family and are right to arrange it together.

[Stanley]

I never thought you were China. As I say, everyone sees things from their own point of view. It's allowed!

[Stanley]

Never be frightened of following your instincts as long as you are sure they are founded on good principles.

[Stanley]

Sometimes when you are dealing with a delicate situation and intelligence is thin on the ground, the best thing to do is "wait and see". The biggest mistake is to jump in and say something just to relieve your own anxiety and doubt. This is invariably a mistake. When in doubt do nothing!

[Julie in Norfolk]

Would that the general population had a tenth of your wisdom Stanley.

[Stanley]

That's nice of you Julie. I've always been a thinker and particularly about myself, trying to work out how I interact with the world. It has never let me down. I don't know where I get it from but my daughters are the same but not to such an extent. I think it was Plato who said that the unexamined life wasn't worth living. ( I looked it up and found this.... "The quote "An unexamined life is not worth living" was published in Plato's "Apology." Sometimes called "The Apology of Socrates," this book contained Plato's recollections of Socrates' last speeches. Socrates was given two choices: leave Athens or live the rest of his life in silence". So it was written down by Plato but is actually Socrates)
If you work at it long enough you can get quite a good understanding and it helps. Funnily enough my most productive phase of self understanding, when I found the answer to some things in my life that had puzzled me for years, was when I wrote my memoirs for my kids. Suddenly, as I wrote it down, the answers appeared. So today's tip is that the truth is out/in there!

[Stanley]

An interesting corollary to the above is that when you start doing it there is no hiding place! If you aren't honest with yourself you can't do it. I think this is why so many people never go in there! They can't stand what they find. So today's tip is always be honest with yourself and try to be the same with the outside world.

[Stanley]

Almost every recipe for making a stew starts with colouring the meat in the frying pan. What I have found with slow cooking is that this doesn't actually make a lot of difference. The key thing is the long period that the ingredients spend arguing with each other. Mind you, I have just started a steak and kidny stew and might stretch a point and fry some cabbage later to put in it. Fried cabbage tastes slightly different and I like it.

[PanBiker]

It makes a lot of difference in the time it takes to get to a proper cooking temperature.

[Stanley]

Yes, but one of the delights about slow cooking is that it is just that and it's so quick to just throw everything in and leave it with enough time to do its thing.