General Chat

Mandy I have all my cake making things in little plastic draw kind of things with a handle on the end and they are great for food colourings, bicarb, baking soda etc.

I could do with bigger ones of those for the little cupboard and all the polish, soap powder and bottles of cleaning stuff. Its just seeing what the sizes are and if they will fit. I do have my tins in larger plastic boxes I can pull out but oh pinched a couple of the ones thatfit the cupboard so I shall have to see what he has in those and get them back.

A lot of the plastic boxes now are not as strong as they used to be so really need to see them and feel them to see if they will do the job.

sh and the lasagne

It playing up again.

I am trying the chicken hot pot tonight from Asda but am going to do more veg with it as it dos'nt look very big and won't fill me up. I have also bought the steak and ale with creamy mash and the lasagne. I'll let you know what they are like. they cook in the micro and can be frozen.

Yes Mandy I have a sparkling clean oven now it was really bad before as I find it one of the hardest jobs to do now. I will mainly ise the air frier now so hopefully I can keep it clean. I thought it was worth every penny of the £60.

Afternoon all,

Raining here ,I managed to get a bit of shopping from town, I went into the butchers ,Iceland, paper shop ,boots for our tablets and got a big cabbage and some oranges from the market and got home just before the rain got heavy .

So how is the washer going Mel ,sounds as if your having a good sort out in the cupboard, I put all my cleaning bits in plastic baskets so I can just pull the basket forward and get out what I need it makes it a lot easier than stretching to the back of the cupboard each time and you can be sure what you want is always at the back .
I'm thinking about getting some for the tinned food cupboard as it's a devil to get to the back and new tins get put in front of the old ones especially if Colin puts things away.

Anng is your oven nice and clean now .

Ann you asked if the neighbours daughters dog was a young one ,yes he is ,he's not a year old yet ,he is a miniature one of those that they are banning the American bully .
My neighbour goes to walk him during the day as her daughter is a receptionist at the vets ,I think he gets bored as he is in a crate ,sometimes my neighbour brings him home and if he's out in the garden Max will say hello ,neighbour has a rescue dog from Egypt called Chito he's a lovely boy like a big Collie .

We have finished the second jigsaw and we're now going to give the Cludo jigsaw a go ,don't think this one will be as easy.

No we did'nt see Vera yesterday. I hope she has not got problems with the internet again and that she is ok.

Just having a sit down as I have all the things out of the cupboard next to the washing machine. Its where I keep all the cleaning stuff. Putting bits in other bottles and found a emptyan of fridge freezer defroster. So far I have put 5 plastic bottle in the recycling bin so I should have more room in the cupboard now. Hooray. Trouble is I am finding it hard to get to the back of the cupboard as if I kneal down I won't be able to get back up and I am not sure my knees would take it anyway.

Waiting now for the oven cleaning person. Always difficult when waiting for trades people. don't like to start anything in case they arrive.
Did we see Vera yesterday? I hope all is well with her and with gill too.

Happy washing day Mel.

Its conected and they have gone.

They're here but can't get the 33 foot lorry down here but have had to ring to ask permission to leave the lorry up the top and bring it down on a sack barrow.

Good morning all good luck with the washer Mel. very dark here this morning and 8 degrees pc says cloudy!!

Oven cleaner person due late morning so better get on now.

Morning all,

Currys rang just after 8am to say they will be here in half an hour so I'll let you know later how it goes.

Pc is saying afternoon rain but its so very dark here this morning it may be before then.
Its 9 degrees.

You're certainly right there Ann. My husband had his own minicab business but before that he earned £9 a week in a furniture shop. I had £5 a week housekeeping and I bought a joint of beef for £1 for the Sunday roast and the rest bought everything else we needed but I was working with mum then too and took my son with me to work at mums. We sold ladies dresses from her house so £4.15s came out of my wages for rent.

Glad you're feeling betteer now. I have a cold at the moment which is not a pleasent one. Had a nose bleed yesterday.

Can't wait till tomorrow now to get this new machine. I have a brimming linen basket!! I shall be washing for the week I think all the things that have been needing a good wash like a pile of towels and bedding. I shall have to get all the airers together but may put some in the dryer. I try not to use it too much just for the quilt covers mainly. and a bit of a blow to soften the towels up.

Been playing a bit today making tiny Tudor belt bags. I keep having to walk away when my fingers won't do what I want.

Yes I'm fine now thank you Mandy, but you will see below that we chickened out of being up early and lay in bed longer instead. I did have a quick look in the garden centre as I was olnly a couple of miles away after I'd been to the shop, but it was a small place and they didn't seem to have much yet, not like the bigger garden centres. You are good repairing the neighbour's dog's bedding and I hope he doesn't see your handiwork as a challenge and do it again! Is it a young dog? I know they chew anything when they are teething.

I got married the first time in 1969 AnnG. Our bungalow then cost £3500 and we paid £500 deposit. First OH's apprentice wages were £14 a week gross and he paid his mum £3.50 board money. I was left with £2.50 after mum took half my wages as board, so it wasn't easy saving that £500 deposit. At that time a wife's wages weren't considered when we applied for a mortgage, just your husband's so what you could borrow on a mortgage was based on just the husband's wages and if I remember right your monthly mortgage couldn't exeed your husband's weekly pay. First OH was an apprentice on poor pay till he was aged 21 and an apprenticeship was 5 years in those days not about 3 years like now. I think some youngsters would be shocked to hear how things were then.

When I got married in 1969 my mum and dad had bought a house and dad being a builder had made it into two flat. I had the bottom flat and garden all 175 foot of it. My nan bought us a twin tub washing machine, a cooker amd a drying cabinet and a fridge. Mum and dad bought us carpet for the lounge and lino for the kitchen and we had one of mums old carpets for the bathroom. . My grandfather gave us £200 as a wedding present so I went to Ilford and bought a double bed and a kitchen table and four chairs. When son came along I got his cot off the green shield stamps and his high chair later on and a little sort of chair to feed him when he was tiny that fitted on the kitchen table. Mum had had a new suite for the lounge and gave us the Ercol chairs and the settee that I used as a bed when at home. Later on we had the couple in the top flat spit up so we bought their harris tweed G Plan sofa which went into a double bed and the G Plan coffee table.

We lived in the flat for 4 and a half years when mum and dad bought a bungalow just four doors up from theirs and we moved into that and then eventually bought it from mum and dad. Lived there for 10 years and moved to Alphamstone in Suffolk in 1983 and lived there 8 years and moved down here.

I remember washing the bedding by hand or with a burco boiler and spin drier. once we moved to our new bungalow. Before that, before we moved we used to go to a laundrette. after a while in the bungalow we found a laundry that collected and delivered (ironed), sheets, pillow cases and T's horrid thick white RN shirts and detachable collars.

I didn't have a washing machine until early 1969 then it was a twin tub. I had been married 8 years by then and had two children.

We too didn't have any new furniture when we got out first bungalow (£2600 in 1962. we didn't have fitted carpets, we had Marley tiles and carpet squares so the surround had to be mopped. The only new furniture in the bungalow was daughter's cot bed which T's Dad bought for us. Some of the furniture was almost new but second hand including bed and mattress. I had a friend who worked in an estate agents and somebody whose wife had died who had moved into a new house wanted to get rid of all the furniture so we had G plan table. chairs and side board, bed and mattress, hardly used as only slept in a couple of times. Our three piece suite was T's Mum's and was sent up from Devon by his Dad after his Mum died and his Dad moved house, there was also a coffee table from him as well. we hired a TV, had my Mum's old cooker when she got a new one and the fridge was already in the house. We were just pleased to have bought our own house. By now I was not working as we had our daughter so the mortgage was just on T's salary, thank goodness for RN pay at the time.

Morning All,

We decided not to go for brekkie and lay in bed a bit longer instead. It blew our front gate off the latch last night and was really windy. It was making me glad we'd taken the tall tree on the front down a couple of years ago and also that the roof had been checked and pointed last year. Now it is rainy, sunny but calm.

I popped to the shop while OH went to his meeting and put washing on when I got back. We both reported new sets of 3 way traffic lights in new places and I was held up with a farmer cutting hedges on a brand new tractor.

Mel when I was first married and until we had saved up for a washing machine, I remember treading the bedding in the bath in soapy water at first till I found a laundry to take it to. You must be looking forward to loading up your new washing machine once it is installed.

Thinking about when I was first married, after saving for 4 years we managed to buy a new 2 bed detached bungalow and paid for fitted carpets, mostly from remnants, but could afford little else. We had no table and chairs till first OH built a drop down table in the kitchen, we just had a clothes rail till he built in wardrobes to go with the dressing table we made. No coffee table till he made that. We did buy a 3 piece suite and a 3 ring electric cooker. My parents bought us a bed and his parents bought us a fridge. I made us a heartth rug out of a Readicut kit and made all the curtains from material I bought from the market. We had bare bulbs in the rooms at first and an ancient B/W TV. We just wanted the home we set our hearts on first and didn't mind going without the rest for a while. I think we appreciated things more by having to wait for them or make them as well. .

Morning all,

Nice bright sunny morning here, we didn't have that much wind overnight and its just a bit breezy now .

It sounds like the new washing machine will be kept busy for a while Mel .

Ann hope your feeling better now and both enjoyed the breakfast this morning , good idea to have a good browse round the garden centre while it's quiet .

Hope you manage to find some seed potatoes Anng its nice to dig a few new potatoes up when you want and they have a better taste than the ones you buy.

Had a bit of sewing to do for my neighbour ,her daughters dog had chewed its bedding ,the zip was chewed so I had to take that out and sew a smaller opening ,I put some poppers on it ,I told her the best thing was to put the stuffing in and then sew up over the poppers just loosely so the stitches can be cut when it needs washing .

Better get a coffee and have a quick look at the jigsaw .

so calm here. The calm before the storm maybe. I have changed and washed the bedding from the spare bed. the window cleaners have been and I have given the kitchen what my Mum would have called 'a spit and a polish'.
I have also done some admin on the PC bringing my ever growing list of books read up to date.

Morning all,

We have a brightish morning here and the horrid strong wind of yesterday has gone but pc is saying strong winds later on and it 8 degrees.

Must have a tidy round today as hoping the shopping and the new washing machine comes tomorrow. I have a bin full of washing to try it out and will even change the bed today so that can go in too. Just as well I have loads of bedding as I could'nt wash that by hand but there a bath load to wash now. May even have to put the dryer into action if I do too much.

I was really scared last night as the wind was blowing a hooley and I was glad the trees had no leaves on them.

Good morning all 7 degrees here and, despite storm warnings there is not a breath of wind the trees are uncannily still. not sure if that is good or bad news.
I slept really well last night and woke just after 7am. spare bed sheets etc are now in the wash.
Nothing planned this morning but, if the weather is ok a quick visit is planned to a very small nursery/garden centre in an adjacent village is planned as they are the go to place for seed potatoes. I only want a few but they usually have more varieties of second earlies.
I guess I had better get round to tidying the kitchen as tomorrow I am having my oven cleaned. Not sure what it involves but as the oven is in the kitchen I guess they do it in there. :-D