General Chat

Afternoon All

I haven't jumped ship but have just been quite busy the last couple of days. Out for lunch yesterday, out today and it will be out again tomorrow!!. We are going to a pub near Graffham Water tomorrow and then Hannah can drive on from there back to London.

Poor OH sounds like he has been in some pain Gill after having that tooth out and it being broken in the process too :-S. Tinned Semolina sounds gross LOL School dinners come to mind. At least your Chilli con Carne and Rice will be nice and soft for him tonight.
Hannah is cooking to night !!. I will be staying out of the kitchen :-D :-D

Frank,I am sure Lewis will find the right place to invest his money.He has been so sensible in saving so well, and with your money that you have been putting aside fo him too he will be well set up :-D

I would have loved to have seen you and OH Gill at 3am cutting back the branches from Mr Grumpys trees :-D. But if they are overhanging your side you are entitled to cut them off,no matter what he says about it.

I spoke to my ill friend last night and today she was going with her Daughter to sort out her own funeral :-( :-(. Obviously not a date but to choose a coffin and go through how she wants things done. Honestly It is so sad to think she is having to do this . But she was very matter of fact about it all,and I suppose she feels in control about it . It also means everything will be planned so her Daughter will not have the worry and have extra upset when the time comes.

I know I must have missed loads of posts again as I wasn't here yesterday. Sorry.

So I probably wont be back again now until tomorrow night .

I saw on the TV recently that if you transfer your money to

Nat West they will give you £140.00

Evening All,

No wonder your hubby has a sore mouth Gill after the tooth breaking while the dentist took it out. The soft food will be much easier for him to eat for a while. My hubby likes the tinned semolina sometimes as well and he would definitely polish off some corned beef hash!! lol. My dentist had to go looking for some root bits to pull out with the last tooth I had out and I was amazed how long they were. I would like your apple crumbles best! No I didn't find a top in Primark after all. I liked 2, but they were an open weave and too easy for the insects to sting through. I've heard that the chemist has been inundated with people asking for sting and bite cream. I did chuckle at the thought of you prowling around in the garden at that ungodly hour with your branch choppers! lol

Mel, was he sensible with the mowing and didn't overdo it this time? Have you spilt anything today? I spilt some yoghurt on my handbag the other day and moving my little craft table to clean it spilt some of my glass of water. Then you don't know which to sort out first! I slept like a top last night which was lovely, but had to be up early to take my car in for a service and MOT. Thank goodness I don't drive into the city to work anymore. It takes twice as long with all the traffic and if there's enough room to barge in front of you, they barge in front of you. I went to my old garage now the car's out of warranty and had a good chat with the mechanic who did the work on it. Everything was ok and it passed the MOT, but he said it was strange in the air filter box as it was full of leaves and FEATHERS of all things?? He's cleaned it out and put a new air filter on, but I wonder if mice had climbed in somehow and started a nest? It gets driven around 5 days a week so you wouldn't think so, but what else could it be?

You are so right Frank, when you say you can't have too much advice where money is concerned as some places have a vested interest with commission in mind for what they sell. At least speaking to different advisors you get a more balanced view to help you decide. That was very lucky you didn't fall, but I bet you have wrenched yourself though. It's the wheels on the supermarket trolleys that will be the death of me!! I'm always stubbing my toes on them as they are too far back.

It was good your ill friend was able to speak to you Jane. What a sad task for her but a help to her daughter at the same time.

Morning all,

Sunshine this morning and clear blue sky. Slept late so I must have needed it and now I have missed the morning.

Oh is out mowing already so I hope he dos'nt do too much today and crease himself up for the rest of the day.

Gill hows hubbys sore mouth today, I hope it feels better for him. Yes you are quite within your rights to cut off any branches that over hang your garden from next door and there's nothing Mr Grumpy can do about it.

Housework today I think and I must remember its library tomorrow.

Hope Frank had a better night last night and that Vera has now recovered from her migraine completely.

Good morning all, Another lovely day out there today.

I am feeling a bit down again this morning, I was awake a lot last night with CRAMP in my right leg. Plus my back and shoulders, are not feeling that good. I think I need to be put in a BIG SACK and a good shake.

Ros has changed the bed this morning, so I have just put the line up. I picked up a small basket of windfalls. which I will peel and core, they will stew down ready for the freezer. I think these are the last of the apples, unless there are more at the top of the tree, that I can't see.

I had a voucher from Toby Carvery yesterday, 30% off food until Friday. So I have booked a table for 5.00 pm this evening, another evening without cooking. I'm getting use to this. !!!! Getting like Anne and G. lol lol

Ros has Julia's G'daughters birthday present, sitting on the table. She doesn't know if Julia and Harvey will be seeing her before her birthday next weekend. If not, then she will have to post it. It is a box of pencils,crayons and bits and pieces. Normally she buys cloths, but when Sophia opens her present she says "NOT CLOTHS AGAIN" so this will be a bit different.

Jane, when I worked at Croyland Motors at Rushden, it was by th river and lakes where Rushded lakes are now. I must admit I have never been back that way since it was developed. Ros and Carolyn go over on the odd occasion for a change.
I loved taking mt two children to Grafton Waters on a summers, sunday afternoon. If mt thoughts are right, Hannah won't be far from the A 1, so easy to get back to London from there. I hope you enjoy your day there.

Biggles has just arrived, Anne and Alan are going to Heathrow to pick someone up. Ros told her we will be out from 4.45 till after 6.00 So to work around those times to pick him up. It's better he comes here for the day, rather than be at home ALONE.

Ros has just laid into me about my drinking. What bought that up I don't know. With her being out all evening I sat and had 6 small cans, about THREE PINTS. I can se nothing wrong with that, when I see men drinking 8/10 pints in the pub. Whatever I do will never be right. !!!!

Poor frank getting told off by Ros. Frank if you get cramp get Ros to get you some tonic water. We've always got it in if oh gets cramp he always drinks some as it has Qinine in it.

Afternoon all

A little overcast here now after a sunny start to the day.

I've been making a start wiring the screening this morning. Sandra helped me stretch it to size but she wasn't quite strong enough so I'll ask OH later when he comes home from visiting his friend. Poor Sandra, she did her best to help....bless her. At least it doesn't need stretching to much more so shouldn't take OH and I long to sort out, then I can wire the bottom bit. They'll just need hanging and screwing into place then, which I'm hoping to do before the bad weather returns next week.

I'm pleased the American website is going to be of some use to you Ann. I've come to a stand still on it, as it keeps repeating the same names. I just need to work out where they all go on my tree now. Yes, it was quite funny cutting the branches off at 3.30am in the morning, I was trying my best not to laugh. There are two more to cut off, but I need to move my pots out of the way first and we'll probably do them at night to, so that should avoid an argument with Mr Grumpy. Even though we're aloud to cut them back he'd still complain and the job will only take five minutes as it's only two cuts. It'll take us longer to move the pots out of the way and put them back again. What a shame you didn't find a top, hopefully you'll find a suitable one soon.

Sorry to hear you're feeling low again Frank, hope things improve for you soon. at least you have Biggles to keep you company and you have tomorrow to look forward to, lets hope you have a decent nights sleep tonight so your'e not to tired. I don't think 3 pints is a lot ,but then I don't really drink except for the odd one here and there and one when I have my Christmas dinner.
Did you see the Martin Lewis programme last night, there was some good advice on Money that Lewis might find useful? If you missed it you might be able to watch it on catch up. It was on ITV.

How sad your friend organising her own funeral Jane, it must be hard for her. At least her daughter won't have to worry about it when the times comes. I've heard of a lot of people organising and paying for their funeral's in advance. The elderly lady, who is now 100 years old, did it when she lived next door to us. It's becoming more and more common nowadays. It sounds like you've been busy going here and there lately, enjoy you time out today, hope you have the nice weather and it's not raining.

OH's tooth is much better today Mel, he's taking painkillers which are helping and he's at his friends today so that'll take his mind of it. Having a decent meal last night helped to, he could only manage soup the day before and then ended up Grumpy because he was hungry. He's in a much better mood today. I hope your OH doesn't over do things and hurt himself again. Having the hot tub must be lovely if he's achy. I could do with one of those myself sometimes :-)

Going to do some more screening now, it won't do itself ;-) ;-) ;-)

Hi all

Just going to have lunch so will BBL but had to come on and say how I had to laugh at the picture of Gill and OH tiptoeing down the garden in the early hours. It would have made a good silent film :-D

Gill, of course you can cut off overhanging branches back to your boundary but did you know you have to offer the branches you cut off back to Mr Grumpy as he legally owns them? Good luck with that! We regularly cut bits out of our neighbour’s tree but luckily we get on well with them and always have a laugh when we try to give them their branches back.

If we'd of given him his branches back Vera he'd of known it was us, we are hoping to blame it on the wind if he asks, although it wasn't windy that night lol. I smiled when you said it was like a silent film. We've still got two more to chop off, so that'll be another night of tip toeing around. :-D :-D :-D :-D I just hope the neighbour on the other side doesn't spot us on his CCTV camera, how would we explain ourselves then? lol.

You should see the state of my living room, I decided to wire the screening in here and with it being bamboo screening there's bits of bamboo everywhere. Sandra is helping me pick it all up but I still have plenty more pieces to do so it's going to be an ongoing job. I'm really not in the mood to do it which is probably why it's taking me so long. I keep stopping for cups of tea. Never mind each bit I do is a bit less to do tomorrow.

I have the space to do it while OH is out, otherwise with him sitting on the sofa the other side of the room his feet would be in the way. The screening is almost the length of our living room. I fold it in half to make it thicker and it's also easier to screw into place as I turn it around so the bamboo goes side ways rather than up and down (the normal way). It also makes the ends thicker so it's easier to wire it into place and it gives a nice straight line at the top which looks neater.

I think I might put a movie on TV so we can watch it as I'm wiring, that'll make it less of a boring job.

Yes it would make a good silient film Vera especially the bit about giving the branches back!! Ha ha ha.....

Just going to have lunch and watch Doctors. Oh has a giant cornish pasty and I have a pie so nice and quick to get out and make some soup and not a lot to clear away afterwards.

I cut the Hydranga back this morning as it was hanging over the end of the decking and I have oil comeing soon and the man has to walk down there to get to the tank.

I forgot to tell you ,Sandra informed me two days ago that it was 100 days to Christmas. She heard it on the radio and couldn't wait to tell her dad and I........bless her. :-D :-D :-D I guess the countdown has begun with her now. We've been talking about the Garden centre we go to each Christmas, so now she's looking forward to that to. I'll have to put my thinking cap on as to what to make this year, I always try to make something Christmassy for her room or the living room every year, but have ran out of ideas. We also try to make things together.

Do any of you have any advice on what we could make? It needs to be something that can be made easily and quickly so Sandra can help. If it could incorporate lights she's love that. :-) We only have 98 days to go to the big day lol :-D :-D

You did make me smile Gill, ONLY 98 days to go !!!!

The apples are all stewed and cooling down, I will put some in bags, and make a crumble with the rest. We still have half of a Bread and Butter pudding to eat, that I made yesterday.

Washing all dried, I have the iron and ironing board out, so Ros will get that done before we go out. I just bought the basket of washing in and tripped over the leg of the ironing board, and blow me, if Ros didn't do exactly the same, when she came in.

I can see I will be looking at the WEBSITE, for the Company, that supply their Cornish Pasties, by post. You have me hankering for one Mel, now that you mention them again, you are naughty. !!!!

Beautiful sunny afternoon here again, I have shave and showered, and sitting in shorts, until I get dressed later.

Biggles is lying around, we don't know he is here, such a good boy. Ros said he did follow her out, when she got the washing in.

Eos spoke with Harvey this morning. They got home about 3.00 am this morning. He was just sorting the truck out, and loading all his tools back into it, ready for work tomorrow. As it's his first day back to work tomorrow, hew will be working later than normal, so will go straight to the Chinese in the evening. Good old Lewis has got the Birthday cake, Strawberry Cream sponge, so it's something, both Conrad and Hrvey can eat in moderation. ;-) ;-) ;-) Like most things sweet, I can take it or leave it, I much prefer savoury, a nice piece of STILTON is more my cup of tea. lol lol

Did you enjoy your day out with Hannah Jane, ?? you picked a good day to do it. Sorry your weather was a bit overcast Gill. It's like a SUMMERS DAY HERE. ;-) ;-) ;-) The sun shines on the righteous lol lol

I have noticed that the lawns hardly need cutting. If they stay like this Barry can leave them, and do some more, with the Wisteria, and anything else that Ros. needs doing.

Have a nice evening all, xxxx

Finally got on here. The morning was spent doing the last two loads of washing, OH has ironed the first two lots although some of that didn't need ironing. He finished off a bit of ironing then went out and cut the lawn and tidied up a lot of the shrubs The garden is not looking too bad now although some of the hanging baskets have finished. Not bad going as they were hung out in May so have been up and flowering for five months. The sedums are looking lovely now and the dahlias are still flowering, it is mainly the petunias that have gone over.
This afternoon we had the monthly U3A meeting the talk was by a member entitled A childhood in the blitz, it was accompanied by film and was very good.
Tomorrow is shopping day.

Had to chuckle with the others Gill and could imagine the mood music as you crept over to chop off the branches. It was funny on holiday as we could check the house on the web cams and also it just picks up the cars next door so we could see when they went out. They do know and are just happy that we can watch their cars as well.
What have you made for Sarah's room before Gill for Christmas to give us an idea.

Jane, I emailed you about the photos and, as I said it does look a lovely place to visit. Hope you have enjoyed the remainder of your time with Hannah. I am envious not seen ours now since June and with them moving etc not likely to see them until Christmas. At the moment they are touring in the States, just been to Grand Canyon , Lake Powell, Hoover Dam and Bryce Canyon etc. So thank goodness for the internet.

Jane the pictures of the lake are lovely and you've taken some good ones there. It looks so peacefull with the sun on the water and I think those light white fluffy clouds were just posing for you to take the pic.

I put washing in the machine this morning and then forgot to turn it on!! It would have dried nicely today too.

Gill you will be pleased if you carry on with the screening and get most of it up as that will be another big job out of the way. Its nice Sandra is helping you.

I have had a little craft inbetween doing other jobs like washing down the window frames in the bedroom. The flies had messed all over them so they are nice and clean now. When I woke up this morning I could see a brown blob on the ceiling. It was a huge spider so that went up the hoover and the one who was hiding behind the curtain. We have the window open all night and he has the tv on and I think the light brings the flies and moths in.

AnnG your daughter sounds like they are having a great time going to all those lovely places. They'll have some nice photos to look back on.

Now what am I going to get for dinner tonight???????? Think I will dive in the freezer and see what I come up with.

Evening All,

It is our 16th wedding anniversary today. I can't believe how fast the time has passed. I got so fed up trying to find a card that didn't have a beer mug, football, yacht or golf clubs on and just 'Happy Anniversary ' inside, I ordered one online that I could have my own message and his name on.They do lovely cards and messages for wives so why are the cards for men so abysmal! Someone's missed a trick there!

I got a shock when the postman came as I got not 1 but 2 winnings with my premium bonds and it's been years since I got anything at all. Only the small £25 ones but I'm not complaining. :-D

We did the wet felting today at class. I shall have arms like Popeye with all the rolling of it to get it to mesh together. :-) It is drying in the conservatory at the moment.

We had our flu jabs this afternoon so that's another job done and I remembered to ask if I need a measles jab as I never had one as a child. They checked my records and there is an alert to say I can have one. I was thinking since I came away that I have already had mumps and it will be an MMR jab, so wouldn't think I need the mumps bit, but can they give it without?

I'm still puzzled about those leaves and feathers the mechanic found when he serviced my car.........will whatever put them there come back and do it again to partially cut off my car's air intake? :-S

With your easy lunch have you had time to do some of your crafting Mel? Edit......just saw your post and you did! lol.

Gill you will have to make yourselves some camouflage net to drape over yourselves when you chop the other branches off. If he's noticed, I bet all his webcams are pointing at that tree now so pick a really dark night to finish the job!!

Frank I know I would be under the table with 3 pints of beer. :-D :-D lol. I am a lightweight! I think I would like Sophia's present myself.

Hope you enjoyed your meal out Jane and yesterday looked nice at Rushden Lakes. I must go once the knees are sorted.

AnnG my Petunias haven't been good this year and are almost over now, yet the Million bells are a mass of flowers again. Your family's tour of the States sounds fantastic.........if only I was happy about flying!! Your U3A talk sounded very interesting too and I would have enjoyed it.

Our million bells are good as well Ann they are such pretty colours too.

We have covered the places daughter is going to plus an extension as we did it in two trips, We would not have missed the Grand Canyon or Bryce Canyon for anything or, in fact Yosemite and Death Valley where they are heading next. It is a wonderful trip and the first view of the Grand Canyon is breath taking.

I would love to see some of those places AnnG and we could easily afford it but neither of us like flying. I had a penfriend in California who was my age when I started writing to her at age 17. She'd answered a query about a saddle I'd bought and we kept in touch till she died aged 89. Anyway she used to go to Yosemite and other places and was trail riding into her 80s and would send me some lovely photos of the scenery........still not the same as actually seeing the real thing though.

I have a few sedums too and don't the butterflies love them.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY Ann and OH. I hope you have had a lovely day. Ernie must have known it was your anniversary and so sent the premium bond prizes specially :-)

The photos of Rushden Lakes are lovely Jane. It really looks an attractive place. I hope you have enjoyed your time with Hannah. Like AnninG I am a bit envious as I don't get to see my two nearly as often as I would like. We last saw son and family in May and are hoping to see them end October/beg November. I don't see my daughter very often either although she is only about a 45 minute drive away. Never mind, we keep in touch with texts and phone calls. You must find it very hard to think of your sick friend making her funeral arrangements but it may bring her comfort to do this last thing for her family and facing her end may give her an inner peace. My thoughts are with her.

Now Frank, don't be falling out with Ros over a few pints of beer. She's only nagging because she loves ya and is concerned for your welfare. As for those fellas drinking 8/10 pints in an evening.....they'll be the ones in hospital with liver failure before too long. I hope your meal at Toby Carvery went down well. You don't seem to have had much luck with meals out lately so I hope tonight was better.

Gill, you do work hard. I wish I had your energy. I'm glad OH's mouth is a bit less sore now. Tell Sandra I do not want reminding how many days there are till Christmas. I refuse to do anything about it until after December 1st. The tree and a few decorations go up less than a week before Christmas Day but I do love Christmas when it comes and It's lovely to hear that Sandra gets so excited by it.

I am pleased your garden was still looking reasonably good when you got home AnninG. I think it has been a good year generally for flowers. There's lots of stuff still blooming and now all our purple asters have come out and are looking particularly good this year, as are a couple of sedums we bought last year. I don't normally like petunias but I did buy some of the Million Bells sort this year. I wanted to fill a couple of troughs and bought a box of white ones and they have bloomed non-stop. I'll certainly get those again.

I had a lovely day out with three women friends yesterday. We left here in one car about 11.30. We were driving to Bury St Edmunds and stopped at a very nice coffee shop-restaurant place en route for an early lunch. I had a toasted English muffin with scrambled egg and smoked salmon. I thought it would be a few chopped up bits of salmon in the scrambled egg but one half of the muffin was piled up with egg and the other half had a great pile of smoked salmon on it. It was delicious. Then we drove on to BSE, parked in the cheapest car park in town and strolled through the Abbey Gardens in lovely sunshine to the little cinema where we had tickets for Downton. I really enjoyed the film, much more than I thought I would. When we came out we decided to go for a cup of tea and a cake before going home. I got back about 6.15 and to finish the day off my brother rang with some good news from his latest hospital visit to see his consultant.

Over an hour ago I told OH I was just going upstairs for 5 minutes so I had better put in an appearance downstairs before he comes looking for me. Hope you all have a good night's sleep.

Just signing out and noticed it was your Anniversary today Ann.

<3 <3 <3 HAPPY ANNIVERSARY <3 <3 <3

Hope you had a nice day.

I'll catch up with the rest of the posts tomorrow
Night Night

Morning all,

I hope you had a lovely day yesterday Ann and happy belated Anniversary for yesterday.

<3 <3 <3 HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROS <3 <3 <3

We are all dying to know what was i the BIG BOX and I do hope you have a lovely day and I know Frank will spoil you rotten. XX

Nice morning here again so far today with plenty of the yellow stuff and a clear blue sky.

How did you get on with the screening Gill? Did you manage to get sosme of it up?

I have been meaning to say that when this nice weather started we had 9 dragonflies and damsel flies around the ponds one day. There were two pairs of damsels joined together and the rest were Dragonflies. The Damsel flies were laying their eggs in oh's pond bless them but they will never some to anything in there with his big fish and filters.