General Chat

Sorry Mandy, I missed you there. You’ve really been busy; the doll’s clothes are so cute. Lacey is going to have fun changing Dolly’s outfits.

Afternoon All,

That's good news about your eyes Frank. Hopefully you will be ok now. New teeth tomorrow too, you won't be recognised!

It sounds like you had a very nice lunch and get together with your U3A friends AnnG.

Mandy I am speechless at all of those beautiful little outfits for Lacey's doll!!!! :-0 :-0 So much to be sewn up as well as knitted. She is going to enjoy playing with them so much.

Gill, even with cavity walls that are insulated in the cavities as well and a more powerful fan than the builder put in, we still get a few bits of bits of mould around the window in the bathroom. Nothing seems to keep it at bay for very long. The magic pad sounds good and will be a nice surprise present for her. It does sound like you are going to have a bumper Christmas with all your presents! Sandra will be so excited!! :-D

Have you found his present yet Mel? Maybe it's with my lost flashstick! :-D I seem to misplace har more things than I used to these days. :-S I hope it has turned up now.

Vera it was good you managed to enjoy your do and it sounds like the cheesecake bites went down well........I would have enjoyed them! You came home with some useful gifts too.

I had the fence man come round at about 6.30pm tonight for his money. It was bitterly cold and OH was out at footie with his trapper hat on as well as long johns and I asked the chap to come in the porch to count his money in case I had given him too much!!! :-D lol. He wouldn't count it and stayed outside making the security light keep flashing on with waving his arms. He stood chatting for an hour and a half !!! :-0 He lives on his own and I think may get a bit lonely, so I hadn't the heart to hurt his feelings by unkindly cutting him short, even though I was shivering and freezing in my short sleeved T shirt! After he went the doorbell went 20 minutes later and I was convinced it was him coming back about the payment. I put the porch light on and was about to unlock the door when I noticed through the frosted glass in the door that there were at least 3-4 people standing outside. I thought better of it with it being so late and dark and being on my own and switched the light off again. They tried rattling the letterbox and thumping on the door but I just ignored them. I watched in the dark through the blinds in the front bedroom but couldn't see anyone calling at the other bungalows or hear any carol singing so it's a mystery.

I have to pop and collect a parcel they tried to deliver while we were out from the Royal Mail in the morning, then we are off to IKEA. I cut all 16 pads for the new chair legs this afternoon, so OH can start taking the old ones to the tip now. We also have to collect our prescriptions.

Off to bed now and hope I sleep better than the 2 hours I slept last night. :-S

I thought Frank was giving money to a charity this year instead of sending cards. He did say in a post much earlier.

Vera the food you took sounded nice with the grapes on top, just my kind of thing. Secret Santa pressies too! Lovely. What was the silly game you won the handwash on? Glad your feeling better now. x

Gill you will have to give Sandra presents every day over the three days of Christmas. Thats what we do over Christmas Day and Boxing Day. Another arrived in the post for me from oh yesterday and he gave it to me. It was a very fancy pair of those snips you can use with one hand. The handles have red and white silk covering them and he thought thye would trim my pom poms but I think they will be better snipping cotton on the sewing machine and hand stitching.

Is'nt our Mnady clever knitting all those lovely cloths for Lacey's dolls. They will all be unique too. I loved the hat to the duck egg blue set.

No I still hav'nt found this blasted present for oh and its really annoying me now. I have asked for it back twice now. We definately have borrowers in this house. When I lived in Suffolk we had borrowers there too. I used to leave the clean socks on the stairs till I went up and would take them with me then. If I had a new pair that had been washed ( I love pretty socks) and been put on the stairs they would be gone for a while and then turn up again later with others. It was very strange but the cottage was built in 1679.

Ernie Benny Hill song is where those lines are from Mandy.

You could hear the hoof beats pound
As they raced across the ground
And the clatter of the wheels
As they spun round and round
And he galloped into Market Street
His badge upon his chest
His name was Ernie
And he drove the fastest milkcart in the west
Now Ernie loved a widow
A lady known as Sue
She lived all alone in Linley Lane
At number twenty two
They said she was too good for him
She was haughty, proud and chic
But Ernie got his cocoa there
Three times every week
They called him Ernie (Ernie)
And he drove the fastest milkcart in the west
She said she'd like to bathe in milk
He said alright sweetheart
And when he finished work one night
He loaded up the cart
He said you wanted pasturised
Coz pasturised is best<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
She says Ernie I'll be happy
If it comes up to me chest

Good you did'nt need treatment on your eye Frank and you know what to do if it happens again. New set of gnashers too for Christmas. All I want for Chirstmas come to mind.

Have to go to Em's in the morning before 12 to drop the srocking off for the boys as they break up on Thursday and I want them there when they are out.

Tired now so saying night night and see you all in the morning.

Just been to put some paper in the dustbin and heard a noise and looked up and there on the frozen grass was a HEDGEHOG!!!!!!!! Took a couple of pics and threw it some dried food but it walked past the gate off the patio and into the darkness when I went for the camera.

Morning all,

Very hard frost last night but oh said when he got up this morning at 5am it poured with rain and it took all the frost away immediately. He said he had never seen anything like it. Its dry now and the sun is out a bit.

Have to go to Em's soon so I better get ready.

Did you like the Christmas Hedgehog in the frost?

Thanks for the cold Hog Mel, poor thing it must have felt confused, it should be fast asleep.
We had a hard frost here this morning but it went quickly.

Yes Mel Frank gave money to charity instead of sending cards but Gill was asking about the ecard which we had from him and she didn't.

Afternoon all you beauties,

Well it had to happen, I went to get out of bed at 3.00 am for the loo. My foot/feet slipped on the bedside mat and I went down with a right old bang. My head hit the bedside cabinet and almost wedged me between that and the BED. I let out a CRY for help, and Ros came round, it took ages to get me back on the bed. I still needed to get to the loo. So good old Ros helped me to the bathroom. I didn't sleep much after that.

We had a right old game, trying to find the Dental Technicians, It was No 17, but his place was on the EVEN SIDE of the road. Eos just happened to see a plaque with his name on it. I had been walking up and down on the odd numbers for ages. Anyway the long and short of it is. My existing teeth don't fit, this is why I have so much trouble with them. To have the two teeth fitted to the plate was going to cost £80.00. BUT that wouldn't improve the fit. So I am having a new set of GNASHES at the cost of £450.00 He took the impressions, and I have to go back at 10.00 am Saturday for more impressions. They won't be ready until the NEW YEAR. So I will have to make do with these until then.

We stopped off at B & Q on the way back. Ros wanted to get a none slip mat for my side of the bed. Of course it didn't stop there. ;-) ;-) ;-) She bought some more Christmasy things, and a couple of pot plants.. We then called at Tesco to blow up the tyres, for the journey to Devon next Monday. The machine was OUT OF ORDER. So I had to get out my inflator that runs of the battery in the car.. I have dropped a dust cap in the gravel and as yet can't find it.

Ros ordered a new set of STEPS from Coopers, which arrived last night at 8.30 pm. I wondered who the hell was calling at that time of night. There was no singing, so not Carol singers. The delivery guy said he still had loads of drops to do. So gawd knows when he got home.

The Hog shouldn't be out now, should it Mel.?? I bet his little feet were frozen. Bless

I can't understand why my Ecard didn't go through to Gill. I know I included her. It could be, I sent it to her old Email address. SORRY GILL if I did.

Time for a bit of lunch. and a sit down, I feel totally whacked out. Glad we have nothing to do for the rest of the day.

Stay safe and warm my loves, see you later. xxxx

Afternoon all,

Oh no Frank not another fall ,your going to have some more bruises now , maybe you'd be better with out the bedside mat .
Frank i didn't have the Ecard either :-( and i know you usually send one .
So you've saved on the cooker but had to pay out for new teeth ,it would have been a big expense to have paid for both .

Oh Mel poor little hog ,seems strange he's out in the cold you'd think by now he'd be all curled up for the winter .
Thanks Mel so it was the Benny Hill song ,i knew i'd heard it some where .

I wonder who they were at your door Ann you did right not to answer i wouldn't have answered it either .
We had the Round Table lot come round last night with Santa on his sleigh ,they come collecting every year and all the men have sweets for the children and have Christmas lights on their jackets and hats it's quite a sight to see
DIL had some one from the Well Spring Family Church round ,they were giving out
Selection Boxes for the children ,DIL said they were quite surprised when they asked how many children were in the family and she said five :-D so they all had a selection box each ,last year it was boxes of chocolates each.

Suns out here but it's really cold ,no frost here this morning ,we did some shopping ,called and got petrol and came home and had lunch now i need to get a few jobs done .

O Franky Boy what are we going to do with you. You'll have to get a frame which will make you steadier when you get out of bed and save all these falls. Oh uses one sometimes and he's a lot lot younger than you. Its better to be safe than sorry. I hope you don't have too many bruises or aches after the fall. Sending love.

Well if it comes to that I did'nt get an ecard either!!

The sun went about 12.30 after the wind got up and then by lunch time it fell out of the sky.

I did the Em delivery and then put up more decs before making some soup for lunch to go with the Cornish Pastys. Fish and chips tonight so a nice day to get things done. I still need to get some lights up on my ivy leaves over the lounge door so I may do that in a min and corn the chickens.

Evening All,

Very cold here today and a bit of biting breeze this morning. We didn't go to IKEA as we both overslept till gone 8.30am, so hope to go tomorrow instead.

Oh what a shame you slipped and fell Frank. I hope you don't have too many bruises. You really don't want mats that slip and Mel's idea to use a frame at night is sensible. We don't want you hurting yourself. I got your ecard and replied. It was lovely and I thought of those horses enjoying their hay!! :-D :-D. New Year, new teeth now then and aren't they pricey, but worth it if they are a much better fit.

We had a funny old day. We went to the carvery down the road so we could pick the parcel up from Royal Mail nearby then do some shopping at Sainsbury's. We were first at the carvery and are never slow choosing our veg, but one of the 2 ladies behind OH swerved round him and squeezed next to me on my left. As I moved right to the dish of parsnips she had swerved round me next and she bumped into me trying to beat me to the parsnips! 'Oh you push people out of the way do you' she said to me in a loud voice. I said 'it is you that is pushing in, not me.' She then started saying there was plenty of room for all of us in a lofty tone and I said 'yes so there's no need to be rude and push your way in'. 'I don't see your problem' she kept repeating there was plenty of room for all of us loudly and what was my problem so I said, 'well see the management then if you think a free for all is better than a queue.' I moved on then and she was still complaining and then in OH's way as she went after the parsnips again the same as he did. I heard him say 'get out of my way woman, you silly old bu##er' a couple of times, and I've never ever heard him speak to anyone like that before!!! :-0 The lady with her who was in the queue like the rest of us just ignored her. I was quite shaky when I sat down and could see her sitting a few tables away from us. When we were putting our coats on to go I saw her get up and start walking to our table and was bracing myself. 'I've come to apologise' she said, 'I was wrong and you were right. I was in a hurry, but shouldn't have done that'. She asked us to forgive her and shake hands which we both did and then said she hoped we had a lovely Christmas and to see us again there. Fair play to her to come and apologise, but the daft thing is if she had asked if she could go ahead of us in the queue as she was in a hurry, we would have said certainly.

After shopping, we went to pick our prescriptions up, but despite me putting a note in to ask them to put on repeat the cream the hospital said I need to use from time to time, they had neither issued it, put it on repeat or let me know why not. So I popped into the surgery next door. The receptionist was helpful but the upshot was I will most likely need to be seen before they will do it. (why don't they tell you though?). I had hoped not to trouble the doctor! I couldn't even book an appointment there and then as they are not doing any pre bookable appointments over Christmas.

Apart from a few perishables, we have all the food bought now, but I had to keep reminding OH that he will be eating most of the goodies because of my diet otherwise he'd be getting enough to see him through January and maybe February as well. :-)

My Christmas present jacket had arrived when we got home, so I tried it on in case it had to go back. I really love the colour but It is too tight round the middle as I expected, but I think a bigger size won't fit the shoulders so well, so it will be an incentive to shrink my middle!

It sounds like a lovely old cottage you had Mel. I think we must be suffering from 'borrowers' too with all the things we keep losing lately. I remember us doing the book of The Borrowers at senior school and was fascinated by the idea of a little family of people living secretly in a house. I even thought if I ever had a daughter I might call her Arrietty. :-) Did you see (I think it may have been on Countryfile) where they reckon extra litters of Hedgehogs were born late this year due to the weather and are too light to hibernate. A rescue centre was saying the public had brought more to them than usual this year.

How nice the children got a selection box each Mandy. :-D I would love to have read their little letters to Santa before they went up the chimney. :-)

Ann how rude was that woman ,some people just can't wait can they ,i've never seen any one push in like that when we've gone to the carvery everyone waits in line ,i'm not surprised you felt shaky being talked to like that ,i shouldn't think you enjoyed your meal after that either .

Ann i would have liked to read the letters to Santa too but some of the things they wrote were a bit ......well lets just say they knew what they had written on the list :-D :-D
Little Lewis is a dear little boy he hasn't asked for any thing much ,he's happy with any thing ,one thing he does want and it was on his list ,and you'll all laugh when i tell you this ......he said could he have some Man Perfume :-D :-D :-D :-D

It did put the dampers on my meal a bit Mandy and we have never seen anyone behave like that at a carvery before either. She must have rattled OH for him to tell her to get out of his way! Ah, little Lewis bless him, I had to laugh at the 'Man Perfume'. :-D The things they come out with at times!!

Made me laugh too he's a real little character Mandy. Bless him.......Man Perfume!!!! Did he mean cologne or aftershave?

Sitting here eating juicey jumbo raisins and yellow sultanas.

I don't think he would mind what the it was Mel just so long as it had a nice smell like
Daddy's :-D

I saw on our local news tonight that there are lots of young Hogs still about this year , all so under weight so they might not making through the winter poor things .

Morning all

Dull and damp here today. I was so busy yesterday I didn't have a chance to come on here.

Ann, you mentioned you have a bit of mould around your bathroom window, do you have painted walls there, or is it tiled? If it's not tiled and your paint is either white or magnolia, then why don't you do what we do. We have white painted ceilings and had a massive problem with mould and peeling paint on our bathroom ceiling, so we tried painting it with the exterior paint that OH used for the outside of the bungalow and it's worked a treat, no more mould or peeling paint.

It's called SANDTEX ULTRA SMOOTH MASONRY PAINT. we have the Pure Brilliant White one, it's got a 15 year guarantee protection and it's dirt resistant, breathable and the best thing it's waterproof, so if you were unlucky and still had a bit of mould you could scrub it clean and the paint doesn't come off. We've decided to use it instead of normal emulsion from now on and use it for interior walls as well. It's brilliant and well worth the money. Maybe you could try it. The reason I asked if you have white or magnolia walls is because as far as I know they're the only two colours the paint comes in. It might be worth giving it a try.

Also have you tried checking the seal around your window, you might need to put some silicone around there to stop any drafts, I had to take out the old sealant around our living room window. If you remember as it was letting the rain in and our wallpaper was getting wet, but we don't have the problem now I've re-sealed it.

I hope you solve the problem soon, as I know how disheartening it can be when you have to keep cleaning away mould all the time.
What a shame your jacket doesn't fit, hopefully it won't be to long before it does. I wonder who was at your door, good idea not to open it with you being on your own, you have to be very careful nowadays don't you?

I forgot to mention Santa came down our street the other week Mandy, full of lights on his sleigh and stopped almost outside our place, he stayed there for a while so Sandra was thrilled to be able to see him. It was went she wasn't feeling well, so it cheered her up. She's still doing the countdown to Christmas and eating her sweet out of her advent calendar. I managed to put all the presents in bags for each of us yesterday, it took most of the day to sort them out and put in the individual bags but it's done now so I can finally see most of the spare bedroom now as they have been put away somewhere else ready for the big day. You should of seen her face when she realised how much she is getting, she wanted to have a feel of everything but we said no she'll have to wait, she laughed and said it was worth a try......bless her. I was think this morning, in a weeks time Christmas will be over. I think this year has gone by so quickly hasn't it? Bless little Lewis, I smiled when I read he wanted man perfume, to smell nice like his daddy. How sweet.

Oh dear Frank another fall, I hope you're okay today and not to sore.

Love the pic of the hog Mel, but it shouldn't be out this time of the year, I hope it gets through the winter okay. Have you found OH's Christmas present yet?

Going to tape up a few boxes for the loft now, Sandra has made some room for her Christmas presents and packed up some of her books she has read.

Morning Gill and all,

WE had constant rain and high winds yesterday afternoon and evening but this morning the wind seems to have dropped but its still dull and gloomy out there with that fine rain that gets everywhere.

No not found the present yet. I am still so cross because its something he would use. I think he has just about every tool you could possible want in the workshop and in the kitchen where he keeps things he dos'nt want to go rusty with our damp climate.

His new pc arrived this morning and he's just about to turn it on after installing it so I better post this in case it turns the leccy off.

Afternoon all,

Typical December day here, overcast, damp, and it has hardly got light today.

Simon and Sally came over at 9.30 and stayed till 10.45. I was up at 7.00 getting all the "NIBBLES" cooked. There was a great selection. I told Ros I thought she had bought too much, but there is very little left to nibble on this afternoon.

Ros has gone to have her nails done, so will be home around 1.00 pm.

What A PAIN that woman was. I think your OH kept his cool, I would have had a lot more to say to her. It was a bit late to apologise, but better late than never. !!!!

I mentioned to Simon about my teeth, and it's the same place as he goes. His teeth cost over £500. 00 So I am getting mine cheaper. Looking at Simon, I wouldn't believe he has FALSE TEETH. So I hope mine look as good. Poor Sally is WORKING CHRISTMAS DAY 6.00 am to 2.00 pm. Simon will go to his Grandchildren to see them open their presents, then back to cook Dinner for him and Sally.

It's the Choir Christmas Concert tonight at the church. Not sure if I feel up to going. I have terrible shakes and twitching in my legs and body. I really do think I might be in the early stages of Parkinson's. So I might make an emergency call, first thing in the morning, and go and see a Doctor. I would hate to be taken ill, over Christmas down in Devon. If I don't feel any better by the morning, I will defiantly make that call. !!!!

Going to see if I can get a few zzzz. While the house is quiet. See you all later.

Did you all get a new E CARD today?? As I have sent one. xxxx

Yes thank you Frank I got the ecard.

Dull and damp here too. We have been to Tesco and I am trying to sort out the presents so they fit in the car boot. It is going to be a struggle. Presents for nine of us!! We need a trailer. Getting close to the longest day now then we can start looking forward (even if that included January and February.)

Afternoon all,
Nice and dry here today and it does seem a little milder , we nipped out and got some eggs from the farm shop and a sack of potatoes for DIL we dropped them off and had a coffee there and came home for a quick bite before the hairdresser came ,she has been and now i'm all itchy round the neck so i must go and change my top .
.

Sorry Frank still no Ecard here.
Frank you ring and get an appointment if you don't feel right as you say you don't want to feel unwell in Devon .

AnnG it sounds as though your having fun and games trying to get all your parcels in the back of the car :-D is it tomorrow you travel ?

I had to smile Gill at Sandra wanting to have a feel of all the presents bless her :-D

Afternoon All,

After such a downpour last night it was dull but dry this morning.

Got your lovely e card Frank thank you. They do some really nice ones don't they! :-) Your new teeth sound as if they will be really good judging by how nice Simon's are. I think it would be a good idea to mention your shakes to the doctor. It could be something like medication causing it that they could change.

Oh how frustrating you can't find that other present of OH's Mel. It's just the sort of thing I do, hiding something so well I can't find it. Keep looking, maybe it is with some of your craft stuff where he wouldn't see it?

We did get to IKEA today, but we set off a bit later than intended. It was still quiet when we got there, so only a handful queuing for breakfast. We both had their full breakfast, but I had vegetarian sausages with mine and OH had black pudding and mushroom extras with his, but with unlimited drinks it was still only just over £6!!! It's a good job we don't live any nearer isn't it. :-D Amazingly the very first computer chair OH sat in is the one he decided to get after trying others. He also spotted that they did big sheets of clear floor protector that I didn't know you could get, so we got 2 of those, 1 to go under each computer chair so the wheels don't damage the floors. It's carpet in the study at present but I want to change it to a hard floor the same as the others. The wheeled chairs don't move easily on carpet. I also found a nice wheeled plastic storage box that looks as if it will fit nicely under my fitted corner desk, so I can tidy my craft things, wool and fabrics away nicely in that instead of them cluttering up the floor and tops. :-)

That paint sounds a good idea Gill and worth a try. The paint I have used throughout the bungalow before was the scrubbable Dulux endurance which has been brilliant everywhere else even though it is about 10 years since it was last done. Some of the problem is that I have been unable to clamber up on steps to clean it off the last few years and OH is good at putting off these jobs for another day so it doesn't get wiped off often enough to keep it at bay. I'd like a new bathroom window really that has a wider as well as a narrow bit that opens which would also help. I bet Sandra was thrilled to see all her presents she is getting. Not many more sleeps now!

We are popping down the road in a while to get our free COT offer at the garden centre and a look at The Works in there.