General Chat

Morning All,

Oh how awful for you Gill. Just try to stay calm till you find out what's happening and why Michelle called the police. It's lucky that Sandra thinks she is having a holiday with her sister so won't be upset. As Jane says, make sure you look after yourself and remember those regular meals as you need to keep strong. I hope things get sorted quickly for you as it must be so worrying. xx <3

Morning all,

Gill I am sorry to hear about Sandra being taken away. Surely they can't just do that if you are her carer. I am baffled and completely speachless. Take care of your self and I am sure everything will sort its self out. Sending love and (((hugs))) <3 <3

Another quite pleasent morning here with sunshine blue sky and white clouds and the chain saw going off out the back. Yes he is still cutting branches off the trees and cutting some of them down.

Nice to see you on here this mroning Jane. Sounds like you will be seeing a nice lot of Hannah if she is that close to you, how lovely. <3 <3

Mel if the police get a report they have to move the child or vulnerable person to a place of safety when they are proved wrong as I am sure they will be, she will be returned. But it is a shock for you Gill so try and stay calm and hope SS will come and sort it, strange it has happened after your row with your Mum

Good morning to you lovely people,

Gill, I am so sorry to hear your news about Sandra. As everyone has said, Social Services will soon sort things out and you will have her back with you. WHY on earth did her sister call the police.??Surely it can't be to do with the words you had with your Mother. I would contact the POLICE and S.S. to see what they have to say.

So Jane has lost her wrinkles, I bet it makes you look a lot younger, and it's great you feel better for it.

Snowdrops look great Mel, I know they multiply year after year, but you have so many. !!!

How is Max doing Mandy. ?? How long have you had him now. If like my Labs, that I had many years ago,he will like his food, but not the walks, to keep their weight down. Ros and I have been talking about getting a rescue dog, but at our ages, we don't think it will be fair on the dog. Neither of us are good on our feet, so walking would be difficult on a regular basis. So that's on the back burner for now.

I don't know if I am on my head or my heals this morning. After my shower I got dressed as we are going for a bite to eat later this afternoon, so no cooking for me again.

Ros is at STITCHERY DO this morning, and at CHOIR this evening. So most of the day I will be on my own. At least no one with argue with me, lol lol. and I can do what I want, which won't be a lot.

After a VERY HEAVY FROST, it's a beautiful day, no wind, and very little cloud. I am going to put a warm coat on, and stroll down the close and back. I will take my new stick that Ros bought for me. It's much more robust than me usual one, and has a good solid foot, that will grip the pavement better.

See you later, xxxxx

Frank you sound chirpy today. I do hope you managed a little walk, even a few steps in the sun will do you good. Yes isn't it another beautiful day?

We have been to Dobbies and they have a lot of their basket tots in so we have got a few to pot on and keep in a heater in the conservatory. OH also bought a pack of seedlings to pot on for the heater in the greenhouse. This is much earlier than usual for us but they had a lot of the more unusual colours so I just had to buy them. Ah, I also got two books for me, two books for the boys we are going to see in March, a pretty star primrose (white) that is almost over so was reduced, hopefully it will come up next year and a book on crochet reduced in The Works that I hope will make sense to me. Oh and a bottle of Juniper and Tonic for our no alcohol days.

Mel, lovely snowdrops I bet they are a sight #in the flesh' so to speak.

They certainly are AnnG. As I said before some of them flowered really early so some are over now but the weather has'nt let me get a pic of them all before. There was a time when I lay on the grass to take a pic of them but its been far too wet for me to do that this year.

Enjoy your toddle Frank and be carefull. We can't have you falling while Ros is out.

All safe and sound, I only walked down the close and back.

Carolyn is here, she is getting some wool from Ros's collection, (she has three carry bags full) also to borrow some needles. They are now sitting nattering over a cot and biscuits.

Val Barker is coming out with us for a bite to eat around 4.00pm. We will go to our normal place, where we have always had wonderful service, and food. They were "HAMMERED" in the local press a couple of years ago, but we have always been completely satisfied.

Still a lovely day here, and quite warm in the sunshine. I expect it to be a heavy frost again tonight. Stay safe and warm. xxx

It's been a nice day for a short walk Frank and I see you are back without any trips! The fresh air will have done you good! Ros keeps herself busy doesn't she and I wish I had some of her energy.

What beautiful drifts of Snowdrops Mel! I love them. How much have they increased since you have lived there? Is your OH wearing a check lumberjack shirt for the sawing and chopping down he's doing. You made me think of that song that starts 'I'm a lumberjack and I don't care'. :-)

OH seems to have turned a corner with his chest infection and is still coughing a lot, but less than he was and is also feeling better today. He said he has never had anything like it in his life before where you get a bad cough but no cold or sore throat. I've been flinging the doors and windows open first thing the last few days to air the bungalow out a bit in case he's reacted to a build up of something. He came out with me to do some shopping this morning and collect our prescriptions. I got him some chesty cough medicine and then we nipped to the BIG CO-OP to get some essentials and the papers. I got some breaded Haddock to do for lunch and a selection from their salad bar, so that was very easy and tasty.

OH has flopped on the bed with his newspaper now so I am going to do some embroidering of my applique! I'd like to get it finished today so I can take it to show my beading friends tomorrow, the ones who don't do the craft class. I should be doing some HW, but that can wait till later. :-|

Your facial sounded blissful Jane and I like the sound of being less wrinkly!! lol. When the teacher at craft class was telling us about the bondaweb we would be using and said it fetched out all the wrinkles I was wondering if it would help my face. :-D

Annx my OH has had a couple of those types of coughs with no sore throat or cold. In fact he had one the end of last year, early December. Pleased that it sounds as if he is picking up now.

Frank, that is good that you managed to go for a walk. You should sleep tonight. I hope your meal is nice.

I have spent the afternoon making lists of the plants we need for baskets and the ones we bought tis morning. It doesn't look as though we will need many more. Providing all we bought survive!

The sun is still shining here which is lovely. Shame it is not going to last though.

Do hope Gill is OK. <3 <3 <3

Mel If I laid down to take photos these days I would need a crane to get me up again!! :-D :-D

Evening everyone ,

Oh Gill i'm so sorry your having all this worry i do so hope you can get it all sorted out quickly, try not to worry about Sandra i'm sure she's fine with her sister ,it does seem strange this has all blown up after your mums visit ,do look after your self and make sure you eat some thing ,sending love <3

It sounds as if you really enjoyed the facial Jane :-)
How is Fitz ? is he doing ok with the new hip ?

Frank you did well getting out today for a little walk i bet you sleep well tonight,perhaps you can do it again tomorrow if the weather is as nice as today has been .
Yes Max loves his food ,he loves his walks too ,not so much if it's a bit rainy he backs away from the door as if to say i'm not going out in that :-D
Hope you've all enjoyed your meal tonight ,your getting the taste for going out to eat :-D

Mel the snow drops are lovely even though you said they are getting over a bit now but they must look a real picture when all out ,i love to see their little heads bobbing in the wind .

That's good OH has turned the corner with his chest infection and cough Ann and getting out in the fresh air this morning as probably help a bit too

AnnG your getting ahead sorting out and making lists for the things you need in the garden .
I bought a couple of books on crochet from the works ,one was the Christmas wreath one and the other i bought was crochet bugs :-D there's some butter flies in there that i thought the girls might like in their bedroom ,there's also green fly ,lady birds and of all things Maggots !!

The boys will like the maggots Mandy, to frighten the girls at school.

So good to hear oh is on the mend with his cough Ann. Its funny the strange bugs we have about now. It must have done him good to get out for a bit today. Did you get the applique done Ann to show your friends tomorrow?

Frank too went for a little walk. If the wind comes up like they forcast you won't be going again for a few days. Hope the food was good tonight and up to scratch. Nice to take Val out with you too. We hav'nt heard about Tony's wife lately, is she ok?

Your way ahead with your planting plan for this year AnnG. I hope they all survive and make your garden as beautiful as it was last year or even better. Your bulbs look good on the blog.

Thinking of Jane and hoping Gill is ok too. <3 <3 <3

Michelle, thought Sandra would have a better social life in Leeds rather than here and offered for Sandra to go and live with her. The police said because Sandra's an adult she can make her own decision. The reason Michelle phoned the police is because she thought I wouldn't of let Sandra go with her. To be fair Michelle does have a point as her boyfriend and I don't get on, so I probably would of said no.

Sandra's been really missing Michelle so said she'd go with her. We didn't get a choice.

Michelle is right though there's nothing around here , no clubs or anything, so Sandra's stuck indoors most of the time which isn't a way to live.

We have to put Sandra first and think she would have more opportunities of a better social life and meeting people of her own age in Leeds than here.

We're both very upset ,but it seems we can't do anything about it.. Sandra can come back here anytime she likes according to Michelle, but I can't see that happening.

I went to see the doctor yesterday and he's given me something to help. OH is taking it badly.

I'll catch up with the post when I'm feeling a little better.

Morning all,

Still dry here and quite bright. We don't have as much sunshine as yesterday and the sky is not blue either. Its blue grey and white if that makes sense.


Hope Gill is ok today and has had some news about when Sandra can come home.The wood cutter is over the back still taking branches off all the tree over there. There 80 acres of forest over the back of us so its going to take him a while.

Hope you all slept well. I hope Vera is ok as we hav'nt heard much from her lately. Sending love and wishes Vera.

Thinking of Jane too, enjoy your free days. Do you know yet when your scan is?

Gill, pity that she had to involve the police and I am actually surprised that they intervened in what was essentially a domestic affair.

However, it remains to be seen whether or not Sandra settles after she has been there for a few weeks and realises that all her things are not with her and all her pink stuff in her bedroom are still at yours. I could understand if Michelle had made an offer to have her for a week or two a month or something but I hope she realises what a responsibility she has taken on.

In a way as you realise, she is right that Sandra has no social life where you live but it was a cruel way to do it. Have Social Services been involved at all?

You know you have been a good mum and Dad to Sandra to the detriment of you not having personal lives, you have devoted all your time to her. Maybe treat this as a holiday for you, you can't know how long Sandra will be with Michelle, she may well soon be back for one reason or another. A rest will do you good with time to just think of you and your OH. Maybe even go out for a day together.

It is a pity that you are not on speaking terms with Michelle because that widens the gap but just relax about it now and see where the next couple of weeks go. What sort of social life is she expecting for Sandra? What about all her clothes though? Did she take much with her?

Good morning all, a hard frost here this morning. OH has gone to golf but goodness knows what time he will have been able to start as they won't let them out if the frost is still on the greens. The sun is shining though so it looks nice, even if it is still only 6 degrees out there.

I have done a load of washing and dusted downstairs and tidied up. Also turfed a lot of old towels out of the airing cupboard to take to the charity shop.

Not sure what else I am going to be doing

I am OK thanks Mel. It’s just been a couple of busy days.

Gill, I am so sorry things have turned out the way they have. Try and hang on to the positives. The way Michelle did this is horrid but she clearly has feelings for her sister and is concerned about her. It will be good for Sandra to meet new people and perhaps get a little more independence. She is very reliant on you and your OH. God forbid that anything should happen to you but if it did she would need other people to help her. At the moment I expect she is all excited and enjoying her “holiday” but I am sure it won’t be long before she is asking when she is going to see Mum & Dad. Like Ann, I am surprised that the police intervened and I don’t understand why Michelle contacted them rather than Social Services. Could you contact Social Services yourself and ask them to check what provision is made for Sandra for when Michelle and her boyfriend are at work, and also ask them if they could set up some sort of regular contact between you and Sandra, much as divorced parents do? Just make sure you never make Sandra the piggy in the middle.

My heart bleeds for you but stay as calm as you can. You and OH must support each other now. Sending a big (((((((hug))))))) <3

I told OH that I would be ready to go shopping around 11.30 and he’s looking very pointedly at his watch so I must dash. Might bbl

Sandra took almost all her stuff with her AnnG. Michelle was helping her pack and with most of her stuff gone I think Michelle had no intentions of bringing her back. I've just phoned the carers allowance people to let them know what's happening or at least that Sandra isn't here and I don't know right now whether she's gone away short term or permanently so they've suspended my carers allowance until I know for sure what's going on. I need to ring them back then and they'll either back date it or stop it all together. They said I'm entitled to this weeks money so I won't owe them anything. I also gave them Michelle's address and mobile number so they're going to update Sandra's file. That's all I can do at the moment as the law states that if I'm not looking after Sandra for 35 hours a week I must let them know immediately or face prosecution, I didn't know this until I read the letter while I was in a queue on the phone, so I did the right thing at the right time as the next payment was Monday. So that's where we're up to at the moment. I'm just doing things as if Sandra's not coming back I can always reverse it later if needs be. I just hope Sandra is okay and doesn't get to upset when she realises she might not be coming back. One thing Sandra did tell me was Michelle told her that if she came back to us we would stop her seeing Michelle, which is definitely not the truth, we would never do that and I told Sandra that, but it sounds like they are trying to persuade Sandra to stay with them.

I was wondering what Sandra would do while Michelle and her boyfriend were at work too or do they work from home? Like they others I was suprised the police were involved with a domestic matter too. It will be good for Sandra to mix with younger people too if they get her involved with a club.

That is good Gill that you have stopped the allowance. Saves a lot of trouble. Oh I didn't realise that Michelle was actually with the police, I thought the police had removed Sandra on their own which is what I found confusing. From what Vera says, does Michelle work? That wouldn't be so good it Sandra was going to be left on her own for any length of time.
What would be good is if Michelle would keep you in touch with how Sandra is doing. It would be good for you to know that the right decision had, in fact, been made and that she was getting out and about with friends and enjoying life.
I am sure, once the shock wears off you will feel better. Do you think your Mum knew it was going to happen? Maybe that was why she was strange when she visited. Does that mean she won't see so much of Sandra as well?