General Chat

Morning all ,

Nice and bright here and I can see lots of blue sky and there's loads of planes about leaving trails in the sky.

I haven't noticed any snowdrops yet ,I can see some bulbs poking through I think they are daffodil bulbs , I have a rose in flower with three more buds showing and I still have a fusha flower on the bush .

Oh Mel I meant to say there's a new series of ten Father Brown's starting on Monday after doctors I think ,I know you like them.

Thanks Mandy yes I do watch both. Not bothered if I miss a doctors on Tuesday as I soon pick it up again. I do like father Brown though and save them to watch in the evenings when oh has gone to bed.

The front sky cleared to blue but now its grey again. Can't make up its mind this morning.

GOOD MORNING MY SWEET THINGS,

I hope you are all well.Nice bright morning here also, and Mandy I looked out of the window to see THREE planes leaving their trails across the sky.So there is plenty of people on the move.

Peter Newcome paints mainly STILL LIFE. He sends us Christmas cards every year, which Ros frames and changes or puts around the bungalow. The painting that Conrad bought is of a TREE, and the details are unbelievable. Oh to have a talent lol lol. I envy so many of you with all yours skills.

Just after getting into bed last night I had HIC CUPS I stood it for a few minutes, then got up. Ros held a pint glass of water to my mouth, while I blocked my ears and nose, and drank the whole glass full. Thank goodness it cured them, and I was able to get to sleep. I had another good night, and slept until 7.15 am.

I spent two hours yesterday trying to renew my RAC breakdown with Tesco vouchers. I got the voucher number and the code from Tesco. But for the life of me I CAN'T get it to go to the RAC. I had this trouble last year, and Jonathan had to come and sort it out. I will ring him, to see if he will do so again.

SQUIRREL PIE for lunch then Jane. Let me know what it's like as I have never tried it. :-D :-D :-D :-D Little devil, yes,he was lucky he didn't get bitten. !!!

We had a nice bacon Sarnie this morning, so I won't need any lunch, and with a Takeaway tonight, I won't be cooking. Tomorrow we have a nice piece of beef, I will do the veg. and make the pudding in the morning, and eat in the afternoon as usual.

Have a nice day all of you. BBL xxxx

Afternoon all. a grey day here again and it is turning quite cold. We just nipped round to the shop for a few bits and then cleaned up after putting the tree back in the loft. everything is put away now and all back to normal. It does look bare though.
I am not keen on still life paintings but I do like trees so I would like that one.

So frank you have a tree of life painting now too. Sounds lovely and I like pictures of trees.

Went to Em's with a dozen eggs and then on to the shop and just as I left Em's it started to rain. Came out of the shop and the sun was out but still raining and there was a nice double rainbow to my left which was there all the way home.

Still taking the decs down so see you later.

Afternoon All,

A bit of nice sun today but it's gone now.

Frank I just googled Peter Newcombe and saw some of his work which is very good and detailed like I wish I could do. It's a good tale how you got this last painting. When I was sorting my picture frames out I found one that matches another that I put a painting I did of our Bradgate Park in. I always meant to do another of the park with one of it's old trees in it and now I have the frame I will do the painting to go with the other. It will be good to get back to a bit of painting as I haven't had my brushes out for over a year. How many paintings of his do you have? Perhaps it's because there's nothing to report with your sister that they haven't thought to contact you. You still need to know that though and they should really be keeping in touch.

Thank you Mandy, I think it's the variety of what you can make that keeps me interested in making these things. :-)

Mel you asked the colours I was doing the necklace in? I sorted out some darkish reds to go with the turquoisy coloured tila beads. I'm fed up with not having enough things to go with my blue tops, so am trying not to just make things in favourite beads and and colours and think more about what I need instead.

Sorry to hear about the poor puss having to be put to sleep AnnG, but at least the poor thing wasn't distressed for long.

We have a few boxes for the loft now and I took all my cards down today. We never did discover who the 'nameless' card was from! OH will sort his cards when he's back from footie as he likes to save the ones with notes in from his old work colleagues so he knows what they said when he does his cards next year, I've put my little light up candle bridge heart than came yesterday ready to go up in the loft too. OH hoovered through yesterday so it doesn't look too bad at the moment. My next jobs are cleaning the oven door and the microwave.....maybe tomorrow! :-D

Glad you are ok Jane and just needing some rest. Fancy Thomas catching a squirrel as they are so quick usually.

I hope Sandra is feeling ok now after the scare in the bath.

Afternoon Everyone
Oh AnnG I am sorry to hear about poor Luna. :-(. It is always so sad when you lose a beloved pet and so suddenly like that too.Was this the cat that went missing some time ago? I seem to recall you saying something way back.

No Squirrel pie for us Frank.Not sure I could get that one down :-D. I am going to try Macaroni Cheese tonight.I seem to be doing a lot better with eating just not really managing meat other than thin chipolatas. The Chemo must have shrunk the tumour as things are going down much easier at the moment. My next lot of Chemo is on the 21st and then the scan.

I have wrapped James's birthday presents ready for thursday as he is out this afternoon so they are hidden away now. Nothing very exciting but his main present is a second hand set of Golf Clubs which he has found on EBay. Gareth has a set of clubs so when he and Hannah move back James and G will be to have a good bit of Brother In Law bonding on the golf course . James has never played before and it will be good for him to be out and doing something a bit physical.

Started taking the decs off the tree but I got too dizzy so have sat down and the rest can come down tomorrow.Just having a nice cuppa now and a Mr Kipling cake slice.

It's been a lovely sunny day here, though with a real nip in the wind. I have to remind myself that it is January and it should be cold. I've just been stood at the window looking at an amazing sunset.

Your tree picture sounds great Frank. There are some very talented people out there, some of them on this thread. I would love to have a talent of some sort but I'm so fumble fingered that I'm useless at arts and crafts and I love music but can't play an instrument or sing a note in tune, so I am pretty all-round useless. I hope you get the business of the RAC/Tesco vouchers sorted out. It can be so frustrating when you can't get the computer to do what you think it should be doing.

I'm glad you had a good night last night Frank. I had a better night too and I hope Mandy did as well.

A squirrel Jane!! I thought my little cat Molly was a hunter but she never managed to catch a squirrel. I hope the chemo isn't leaving you feeling too drained this time. Thinking of you as always <3

Sandra must have been frightened when the hot bath water made her feel so rough but I expect a bit of TLC from Mum made her feel better and she will have learnt a good lesson for the future.

That was sad about Luna, AnnG. It's always hard to lose a pet but she was obviously in pain and if the vet couldn't help her it was right to let her go.

We had a nice afternoon at the 90th birthday yesterday but I had terrible indigestion all evening. I only had a very small piece of a sponge cake so I don't think it was that, but I did have a large glass of dry white wine and it was very acidic so I expect that was the problem. I had to finish the glass didn't I - you can't waste good wine lol.

I took all the cards down this afternoon and cleared away a few bits and pieces of decoration that I had put around and I will do the tree tomorrow. In our family twelfth night has always been 6th Jan but a lot of people say it is the 5th so I decided to google and see which is right. Apparently they both are, depending on whether you count Christmas Day or the following day as day 1. I'm not in the least bit superstitious so it doesn't matter to me when I take the decorations down. I just do it when it's convenient, though I usually leave the tree till about 5th or 6th Jan as it looks pretty when it is all lit up.

Well, I had better go and sort out some veg to go with the meat pie we've got tonight. I like to do a few different veg as I don't do potatoes. I find potatoes and pastry together is just too much for me.

Jane and Ann, you posted while I was typing so I missed you. I like the sound of the dark red and turquoise beads Ann. Take your time Jane with anything you do - we don't want you getting dizzy and falling. The jobs can always wait till tomorrow.

Morning all

Lovely warm day today and I was up before the birds, it was lovely to hear them all wake up a few at a time and see the sun rise.

We decided to start taking the decs down yesterday, I was so busy with it and the living room looked like a bomb had hit it I couldn't get anywhere near my laptop so couldn't get on here. I've just been moving all the furniture back in place and the big house plant that I'd put in our bedroom. We tried putting the two lamps on last night and both bulbs went, luckily we had more, but for a moment I thought there was something wrong with my electric. All seems find today so it must of just been the bulbs ready to go, we've never had two go at the same time before, so no wonder we'd thought it was something else. Our living room looked so cosy with the tree lights and other bits and bobs lit up, so I decided to put an extra lamp in here, the shade is a bit dark so I'm going to ask OH to swap it for the one we've got on our main light, it'll match the one on the other lamp and being a cream colour will make the living room a little brighter as it's quite dark at the moment. All I need to do today is put the Christmas tree away and finish the cleaning. There is dust everywhere and having a snow tree it looks like it's snowed in here, so I'll have to run the hoover around before sorting out the roast. So it looks like another busy day for me again today. At least there isn't as much stuff around so I can finally come on here.

It's great to see you can eat a little better now Jane, that must make you feel better. I'm keeping everything I've got two of crossed for you and hoping the Chemo works and get's rid of that nasty tumor. You sound really positive which is a good thing. I'm so pleased for you and hoping things keep heading in the right direction.
The golf clubs sound brilliant for James and I'm sure Gareth will show him what to do on the golf course when they have some male bonding time together :-) :-)

Yes, I think Sandra has learnt a valuable lesson where hot water is concerned Vera. She didn't feel well for quite some time and I don't think she ever wants to feel like that again. She's like me and can't take the heat which is why we don't go out much in the summer when it's really hot. OH loves the heat and if we all sit out in the garden Sandra and I are in the shade and OH is in the full sun. Luckily our patio covers both those things so we can all sit together in comfort. We noticed a nice sun set last night to, although we can't see it all anymore with the big extension next door :-( :-( We used to watch the sun go down most nights and Sandra could see it from her seat on the sofa, but now she has to go into the kitchen to see it.

Sorry to hear about Luna AnnG, what a shock that must of been for everyone. When we had pets (3 cats) it was like losing a family member when they passed away, I still miss them now and even said to OH should we have another cat? We're thinking about it but haven't mentioned it to Sandra yet in case we don't.

There was a meteor shower on the 3rd and 4th January Mel, OH and I were hoping to see it but it was to cloudy. I got another book on stargazing for the whole year 2020, if you remember Sandra bought me one last year for 2019, it tells you whats happening every night of the year. I noticed what looked like a bright star the other night, so checked in my book and it turned out to be VENUS. I love stargazing and OH bought me the book and DVD on the programme "The Planets" I watched earlier in the year, so that's me set up for a while ;-) ;-)

We still have a few flowers Mandy, but all our Fuchsia's have gone now, you're lucky to have one. I think this winter has been quite mild and today was quite warm when I went out to feed the birds.

How is your sister Frank, did you hear anything from your nephew on FB? I hope Jonathan can help you with your RAC, I remember you telling us you had the same problems last year. Maybe you could ask Jonathan what he does and write it down for next year.

Going to get Sandra's painkiller for her now then put the tree down and clean up. It should all be finished today.

Oh I forgot to say, I've taken all your advice on migraines, I've eaten better, less chocolate, kept away from bright lights and gone to bed when I'm tired rather than staying up to long. I even went to bed before 9pm last night as I was shattered, unfortunately I kept getting hot in the night so it wasn't a peaceful sleep, but enough to make me feel better and today is the first day in I don't know how long I've woken up pain free. So thank you everyone for all your help. I actually feel normal :-D :-D :-D I think a day away from screens helped to, maybe I'm watching the TV to much or on the computer to long, so I might cut those back a bit to.

Morning Gill and all,

Not such a bright morning here this morning and we have grey skies and no sunshine at all so send some down here please Gill.

Took me all day yesterday to get the decs down and put away and oh said he would take the tree apart today and put it back up the loft. He has'nt done it yet!! Back to the dreary old kitchen now but I still have Sandra's thank you card on the pc and her Christmas card which I must put away safely with my others from her.

I am going to do some more baking today of sausage rolls and maybe a quiche for tomorrow. I have cheated as I bought the pastry. Oh bought me one of those rolling pins with the rings on the end that you can roll the pastry out to certain thicknesses. Its huge and won't fit in my drawers unless I have a good chuck out of my baking tins.

Good afternoon all, we went for a run out this morning starting in Cheltenham Saisbury's for coffee and a loo at their sale stuff. OH bought a sound bar to use with his computer and I bought a baking tin half price, quite a solid one but small and square. Then I managed to find Aunt Bessies dumpling mix, Tesco seems to have stopped stocking it and their own is not as nice, we next topped up with petrol as we had used some travelling home fro the LD.. Had a quick look round Hobbycrafte but nothing I needed/wanted. Next on to The Range where I did get a few bits for my card making and OH got some bird seed and a shelf, then came home.

Gill sounds as if youa re doing all the right things now. TV and computer, both screens that flicker although you can't see it so good to limit your viewing and stop looking at screens about half an hour before bedtime. Don't forget to eat a small lunch and to drink plenty. Glad you are feeling better anyway. <3 <3

I've sent the sun your way Mel, it should be with you soon lol :-D :-D :-D

Have you posted the purse clip yet, Sandra's been asking and looking out for the postman. I did say you might not have posted it yet, but I'd ask you today.
What a shame you can't put your new rolling pin away, will you have to change everything around in your drawers so it'll fit somewhere now? OH wants me to make him some sausage rolls when I mentioned you were making some, but I don't have the right stuff in to make them and after all the work I've done these past few days I'd like to sit down and relax this afternoon. So he'll have to wait a bit longer. I'm sure he'll cope lol :-D :-D :-D

I've just finished putting everything back and I'm like you now Mel, it looks very bare in here, but also very clean. I haven't been able to polish properly for over a month and I could almost write my name in the dust it was that thick, especially under the garland on the fireplace, so that's all clean now. OH helped me change the lamp shade over for one of the ceiling ones as I couldn't quite reach to do it myself.

Missed your post AnnG, it sounds like you've been busy yourself today, you got a few nice things while you were out. Yes my head felt normal this morning although I do have a bit of a headache now because I was balancing on a bouncy bed with my head tilted back taking the lamp shade off that I needed for the lamp, OH put the one off the lamp back as I couldn't quite reach to hold it still enough, but I don't think the bouncing up and down did me any good, so I'm going to relax this afternoon and do nothing. I'm drinking plenty and even had Sunday lunch an hour earlier than usual as I was feeling hungry. I'm eating much better than I've ever done and it's making such a difference, so maybe missing meals or going to long between meals was the main thing causing the migraines. Time will tell, but so far I feel much better and not like I've got an ever lasting hangover. I wouldn't mind but I don't really drink and only had one all over Christmas and New Year and that was with the Christmas dinner, I also feel more relaxed now, which can only help.

Sandra's just asked me to mention to all those who watch "Vera" it's back on Sunday 12th January on ITV at 8pm to 10pm. She knows some of you watch it so thought you might like to know when the new series starts.

Jane you asked about Luna, no she was not the one to go missing, that was Lucas, they were acquired at the same time from the rehoming centre so were like brother and sister. And now they have both gone and daughter just has the young cat she got as company for Luna (Molly).

No Gill I hav'nt sent it yet with all the Christmas stuff going on and I can only do it at the post van which is'nt there for very long early in the morning for a couple of hours. I also have to find something to post it in as its needs a bit of protection. It still has its price on it from when mum bought it years ago. It was £1.24 !!

We've had our big breakfast so I am hoping to have a look at my craft stuff this afternoon inbetween doing the chickens etc.

I am sorry but I don't understand why people buy dumpling mix when its so easy and cheap to make your own afterall its only three ingredience, flour, suet and water, and maybe a bit of pepper or mustard if the mood takes you.

Each to their own Mel. I find it useful when I don't want to get all the stuff out and weigh it etc. and it is as easy to buy and use the mix as it would be to buy (or remember to buy) the suet and mix. I rarely have suet in.

Afternoon all,

Not really with it today. I woke early with headache, Neck and shoulders, right arm and right side of body feeling very painful.

I did manage to prepare dinner for tonight, apart from that I have been right out of it. Ros has, and still is working her socks off, getting the trees down and all the decorations, I was able to get the cards down and ready for disposal. I went outside with my stick and managed to unhook (using my stick) to get the outside lights down and took the wreath down off the door.

I had a message from my Nephew today, to say my sister has CANCER in her bowel and stomach. The doctors have given her SIX MONTHS. So providing I survive her, I will be the last of 10 children, which seems strange, as I was the youngest in the family, born 20 minutes after my twin Jean.

Sorry folks, I am feeling SO LOW, I will cook dinner, but whether I will eat any is another matter.

Ros just gave out a SCREAM, What's wrong I called. A BALL OF WOOL had fallen out of a bag, and she thought it was a MOUSE. Thank gawd it was that and not a mouse. lol lol

Hope I feel better in the morning, I have been thinking of going to bed all day, so it won't be a late night for me tonight. xxxx

Afternoon All
Sorry you are having such a rotten day Frank and I am sorry to hear about your Sister.
I hope that you manage to eat some dinner tonight and have a good night and that tomorrow you will feel much brighter.

I always buy Aunt Bessies Dumplings.Not that we have then very often.I dont think I have ever actually made my own . James is doing Steaks tonight for him and Chris.I am going to have Pizza.I seem to have demolished a lot of Maltesers this afternoon after a bowl of Mushroom soup so am feeling a bit suffed right now.

Thomas has started going out and staying out all night .I don't know why. But at least he is not waking me to be let out at some ungodly hour. James said there were 3 Squirrels on the patio yesterday morning !!!!!!. I wonder if they were looking for the one that Thomas caught.

I got up really late this morning as I am still so dizzy when I stand up ,and when I came downstairs the tree had gone and all the decs been put away. I just don't know if things have been put away in the right boxes :-S They are back in the loft now so it is too late for me to check.So it is all back to normal once again.

My Brother in Law Larrys Mum passed away yesterday afternoon.So Janice and Larry have to go up to Leeds to clear out her things from the Nursing Home and arrange funeral etc.It is a relief for Larry as his Mum has not been well for ages.I think she was 97.
Time to draw the curtains as it is pitch black now.The fire is roaring away even though it is not that cold today.I shall be stripping off in a minute :-S.

Call the Midwife tonight. Chris will no douby have the tissues at hand. I dont know why he always gets emotinal watching this programme. Silly old softy :-D

Sorry to hear about Larry's mum Jane, 97 was a good age. Sorry to hear you're feeling dizzy, take it easy and rest up, your body has been through a lot lately and needs time to settle down again. That was nice of Chris and James to put all the decs away, I'm sure they'll be okay and you can always sort them out next year when you are better. I like Call the Midwife to, when you said Chris was getting the tissues ready I thought he was getting them ready for you. It made me smile when you said they were for him :-D I'll be recording it though as no one else likes it in our house, so I'll watch it on my own later in the week. Maybe Thomas is out all night because it's so warm. I was just saying to OH before how we've had a mild winter this year as it's snowed the last two years. We'll probably have snow now I've said that :-) :-) Sandra will be thrilled if that happens and will want us to help her make some snowmen.

Sorry to hear about your sister Frank, I don't blame you for feeling the way you do. Try and eat something it will make you feel better. I tend to skip meals if I'm down or stressed, but have realised it just makes you feel worse. I took advice off all the women on here as regards my migraines and have now worked out hunger is mainly what causing them, so a bit of food might help your headache. I hope you have a better nights sleep tonight as that will make you feel better to.

Thanks for letting me know you haven't posted the purse clip yet Mel, I'll let Sandra know. I had already said you might not have posted it yet. Could you let me know when you do post it so I can let Sandra know, she likes to keep an eye out for the post and is very disappointed when it's just junk mail or bills. Mind you aren't we all lol ;-) ;-)