General Chat

I need to clean the bathroom floor again now, but at least we have a working toilet, I just need to remember to flush it now and not put litres of water down the loo lol.

I've been decorating the spare bedroom AnnG so my place looked like a war zone with beds and furniture in the wrong place and don't get me started on the dust, I think it all came from the dust sheet, it mustn't of been shaken last time we used it, so it needed sorting. Everything's back in it's right place now and looks much better.

I got some tomato plants yesterday and OH has just nipped out for some compost, so I'm going to plant them up and put them in the greenhouse. I was going to re-pot some plants but it's far to windy, half the compost would be blown away, so I'll do that when the wind dies down. When I've finished the tomatoes I'll mop the bathroom and kitchen floors, then everything's clean and tidy again. I quite like housework, it makes me feel good seeing every where clean, although sometimes I'm not in the mood so things pile up and it becomes a bigger job.

Going to do the few jobs I've got to do, then I might have a sleep, I had a terrible night last night and I'm so tired now.

Good afternoon to you all,

Another iffy night last night, I woke at 2.30 for the loo, then laid awake for ages. By 7.00 am I was ready to turn over, but got up instead.

Ros put a Charity Bag out last night and this morning it had gone. She thought it had been stolen during the night, (which happens round here) But, she saw a Van collecting the bags that had been out this morning. She spoke yo the driver about her bag, and he said he was round before 7.00 am, and was now doing a re-run. So all was O.K. He also took a lot of boxes, that Carolyn had dropped off as no-one calls at her house.

Those face masks, Ros found out how to make them through U TUBE. They take you right through every step of how to make them. At the first signs of COVID, she made well over 70 face masks for friends and relatives. In fact she had a request from Roger and Sue, if she could make some for them, which she did, and dropped them off yesterday.

When I close my right eye, I am completely BLIND IN MY LEFT EYE. Even the computer screen is just a complete BLUR.

We are having problems with a company regarding an order that we didn't make, and we do not have a credit/debit card ending in the number quoted.

Well, I am going to sit quietly had listen to the radio or T.V. as Ican't read my book with my eyes like this. If I don't manage to see to type tomorrow, you will understand why I am not posting. Boy oh Boy will I be glad when the hospital sort this out. xxxx

Gill yes a bit windy for compost, it is really gusting here.

Frank, it must be horrible with your eye so fogged. Much better to rest it but it will be boring for you unless there is anything on the radio to listen to. Ros has done so well with all her makes, she must be doing them in her dreams as well.

I have just put the photos of our roses and my hostas on the photo blog.

Afternoon all,

BORED to death, sitting around with nothing to do. T.V. is on, and I am squinting at the screen, to try to watch ROAD WARS. I can't read, so that's all there is to do.

Ros has been in the garden all day again. She never seems to rest. No matter how many times I tell her to rest a while, she just ignores me. It reminds me of a very old JOKE " MUMMY, why am I going round in circles. ?? SHUT UP, or I will nail the other foot to the GROUND" The old un's are the best. lol lol

Pork ribs in a garlic and herb sprinkle tonight, with chips and sweetcorn. Must say a few chips (home made) make a change from Roasts and Mash. Quite looking forward to it.

How is everybody today. ?? Feeling a bit cooler in this breeze, I expect. We didn't see the rain they promised,so I expect I will water everywhere again this evening.

Going to try to get Ros to pack up for the day. Well I can a least try. !!!!

Don’t know about breeze Frank it is blowing so hard we have just taken all the hanging baskets down. Never had to do that before.

I've not long woken up, I had a terrible night's sleep last night and having to get up early this morning for the plumber I've felt shattered all day, I settled down to watch a programme I recorded but kept falling asleep on the sofa, so I'm going to grab and drink and watch it again.

I planted up the tomatoes, but it was a quick job with the wind the way it is, it was quite scary in there with the greenhouse shaking all over the place. My screening is blowing back and forth, so I hope that doesn't fall down.

Well, so much for me mopping my floors, the mop head fell apart, mind you it was very old. I managed to get the bathroom floor done and most of the kitchen floor. OH's nipped to the shops for a new one, so I'll re-do the kitchen floor later.

Can you get hold of those talking books Frank, like the ones Mel has? You could listen to them then and it would save you being bored. I see Ros is as busy as ever, does she have a big key in her back that you wind up every morning lol. Home made chips, I haven't had those for years, I really should treat myself to one of the air fryers then I can enjoy some home made chips to, not that I eat chips very often, but every now and then would be nice.

Love all your plants AnnG, I've checked our front garden and all the lovely Tulips I had the heads have blown off them in the wind. They were going over, but it was nice to see them lasting so long. It's times like this I'm glad next door put a 5 foot fence up between us in the front, it stops all the rubbish being blown all over our garden. Apart from the Tulips, which were on the corner by the end of the drive, everything else seems to be okay. I can't say the same about the back though, some of my pot plants have blown over, we've picked them up a few times but have decided to leave them until the wind goes, or we'll be in and out all evening.

Going to grab a cuppa now and watch my programme again, I can't remember any of what I watched with falling asleep and waking up again, so it's easier to watch the whole thing again, it's only a half hour programme, then I can sort dinner out.

Evening all,

Very blustery here today we sat out for a while this afternoon until i started sneezing and my eyes felt all itchy so we came in .

AnnG i noticed all the petals from the roses flying about the garden and coming in the back door too.
Lovely photo''s on the blog thank you your Hostas are looking good i have a few in the front garden in pots and this morning i made sure they had some slug pellets round them as i noticed one had a few tiny holes in a leaf .

Gill your place must be super duper clean with all your cleaning lately i must admit i don't dust as must as i use to but on the other hand it doesn't seem to get that bad .
That's good you've had the plumber in to fix your loo it's not some thing you can do with out .

Ann i saw the lady on you tube making the face masks with a pipe cleaner threaded through the top so you can nip it in across the nose .
I made a mask a few weeks and now i can't find it any where so goodness knows where i've put it ,so i'll have to make another one .
The band from a milk carton sounds a good idea ,i had seen some crochet bands with two buttons stitched on to hold the elastic .

Oh little devil Thomas Jane :-D :-D i bet he scared James half to death coming in through the window like that ,he can still climb well then considering he had that op on his leg .
Oh you don't want to be sharing crisps :-0 but the thought was there bless him .

Mel now you have me wondering what will be coming in the post :-D

Jakes birthday today he's 15 :-D son and DIL bought him a computer which will help with his school work so we bought him a new desk to go in his bedroom ,i usually buy clothes for them on their birthdays but its not so easy now so we put him some money in his card .
We went this morning and saw him through the car window,we left the card on the side and he came to the door and opened it ,he brought the box out with the desk in so we could see the picture on the box as son had ordered it and it was delivered straight to theirs so we hadn't seen it .

Oh your poor eye Frank i hope they can soon get things sorted for you at the hospital so you can read your books again ,have you got any CD'S you could play i know you like the radio some times with the old songs perhaps you could get the songs on a CD.

Still rough outside i laid the coffee mugs on the table this afternoon and Colins got blown over because the pvc table cover blew up in the wind so coffee went every where ,i got the hose and washed it off the table .

Morning all,

Still very windy here with sun ,I've got one load of washing just spinning and another lot to go in and then the job of keeping them on the line .

What's everyone up to this bank holiday ,gardening and staying in that's about all we can do .

Washing all spun so I'll go and hang out ,I come in with my hair all over the place with the wind ,looks like I've been dragged through a hedge backwards :-D

Good morning once again Mandy and All, I posted earlier and lost the lot. As I was saying before being rudely interrupted . We woke this morning to the noise of the radio BLEEPING. When I tried the radio, it didn't come on. The electricity had tripped for some reason, so it had to be re-srt. Me being me, I went into the conservatory to get the steps, on coming back in, I tripped over the step and went a blinder down the dining room/lounge. I managed to grab a chair to stop me flying into the glass cabinet. What a mess that would have been.

It's raining here at the moment, it started soon after Ros set off to get a few bits from Tesco. So hope she doesn't get wet, going from the car to the store.

I am still as blind as a bat in my left eye, and my right ear has the OCEAN running through it. WOSH< WOSH. I rang the nurse yesterday, she is ringing back Tuesday. If it's no better she will arrange to call and look at it. With this shut down, you can't go to the Surgery.

We had a real DOWN POUR a few minutes ago. but stopped now, and the sun is back out, with blue sky.

My screen keeps going BANANA'S. The printed page, disappears then comes back.
So I will close before I loose my posting. See you later. xxxx

Morning All,

Blustery wind here too! The sun is shining now but we had about 5 minutes of rain earlier, all dried up now and you'd never know there had been any so it didn't do much good.

Before I forget I will email you the measurements of the milk carton band and do a little sketch of it later on AnnG.

We did our 3rd trip to the new chemist to get the last of my medication this morning!! The medical side of things need to get their act together as well if we are still adding to our risks by having to keep visit pharmacies like this.

I managed to twist my side under the ribs yesterday. Don't know how I did it but I took a hot water bottle to bed to lay against it. As I lay down and before I moved it into position I felt wetness!! Heck I thought, the stopper must be loose and leapt out of bed again, hurting my side more, as the bottle was really hot and I didn't want a scald. Well it wasn't the stopper, it had had gone thin and stretchy in a patch near the seam at the side and a small hole had appeared!! :-S I have never had a problem with a hot water bottle before unless the stopper was loose and chuck them out after a couple of years. This one is only about a year old!! Anyway, at least with a waterproof mattress cover on it hadn't soaked the mattress, so I mopped the bed with a towel, put a big plastic bag over it with a bath sheet on top and slept on that! I leave the bed turned down in the day anyway, so any slight dampness that was under the plastic bag should dry out now.

I hosted a zoom meeting with my beading buddies yesterday and we had a really good natter as they don't limit your time on a first meeting.

I haven't read all the posts yet, but a belated HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Jake and a good idea to get him a desk Mandy. It will help him with his schoolwork to have his own desk.

I have my Asda order to finalise later, ready for tomorrow's delivery, after I check what room there is in the freezers....what a job it is!

Lunch to get now

BBL

Morning all

Bright and sunny but the wind is still blowing, it blown all the dust away from my patio, saved me a job of brushing up, all we need now is a bit of rain to water the plants and I can have a day off lol.

Happy birthday to Jake for yesterday Mandy, it'll certainly be one to remember, did he do anything nice, not that there's much you can do is there? I hope he had a nice day what ever he did. Good idea to buy him a new desk to go with his new computer. Nothing planned for the weekend, it's to windy to do the garden and all my housework is done, so I'm going to take another look at my family tree. I got stuck on the bit I was on, so I'm going to see if I can find another branch I can do instead. Yes, it's nice to have a working toilet again, you're right it's not something you can do without.

Not a good start to your day Frank, be careful, you were lucky you didn't fall into the glass cabinet. Can I have some of your rain please, our garden desperately needs it, it's to windy to get the hose pipe out, the wind would blow the water all over the place and onto me. I hope your computer screen stops playing up soon for you. It sounds like you need your ear and eye seeing to, I hope the nurse can do something to help.

So Thomas has decided to keep James company of a night time Jane, getting in through his window, what a shock that must of been for him the first time it happened. Cat's can be quite funny sometimes can't they?

Going to take a look at my family tree now. Hopefully I'll get a bit further than the last branch I tried.

I missed your post Ann, sorry to hear you have a sore side, that was the last thing you needed with the hot water bottle, I hope you are feeling a little better today and your bed has dried out. It sounds like you need a new hot water bottle. Nice to see you had a good chat with your beading friends. I wonder how many people will keep Zoom and the like, going after lockdown. It must be nice for people who live on their own to have a bit of company like that, it would be a shame if it stopped when things go back to normal.

Going to get something to eat, before I take another look at my tree.

Well, we had a tremendous downpour about an hour and a half ago. It must have lasted about 20 minutes so will heave well watered the garden. We then had quite a long break of completely blue sky and sun and now we have a stormy looking sky again. Not a day for the beach today.

OK Ann thanks.
Oh dear, I hope your pain doesn't last as long as mine did. I am sure it is because we are not fit with being in the house so long without much exercise. Our muscles seem to have seized up.
So pleased you avoided being scalded. We don't have any hot water bottles I am a bit wary of that happening. Will be even more so now.

Frank that could have been nasty, maybe you should not try to do too much while you can't see properly.

Good luck with your search gill, kock down some more brick walls.

Mandy hope you didn't get our rain or any like it if you had washing out. It was so sudden you would not have had time to get it in. Belated birthday greetings to Jake. I bet he is loving his new computer.

Oh crikey Frank you were so lucky you didn't fall into the glass cabinet ,it might be as Jane said with only one eye to focus it's throwing you off balance just be extra careful when you get up and move about .

Oh dear Ann i thought you had cracked it with this new chemist although i think you dd say a while ago that there wasn't the queues like the other one you went to .
You were lucky with the hot water bottle that it didn't just suddenly gush out it could have given you a nasty scald and now you've twisted your side even more with jumping up quickly ,i hope it soon feels easier .
That was nice having a chat with your beading buddies yesterday are they all still finding time to do lots of crafts ?

Gill they had a BBQ for Jakes birthday tea and they had made a nice chocolate cake with Kit kats all round the side and Peppermint Aero balls on the top .
Hope you can find a few more new branches for your family tree .

AnnG i just happen to look out the window and saw a few spots of rain on the window so we both hot footed it out side and managed to get it all in before it came down ,it didn't last very long and the washing was all dry .

We might go and do a shop tomorrow in Aldi as they are having some Harry Potter Fat quarters in and the girls would like some bunting made for their bedroom .
I'm not going in though if it's busy ,i usually go in on a Monday when it's always quiet so will have to see as it's holiday week end i think it will be busy .

Quite late yesterday evening I did a long post on the iPad. I did it in Notes so that I could c&p and not risk losing it but when I got to “paste” my post just disappeared into the ether. It didn’t get on to Genes but the odd thing is it disappeared from Notes. I then spent a frustrating 15 minutes trying to find it. I looked in every folder I could think of but it had gone AWOL. I was too tired to start all over again so gave up and went to bed. I am now working on the desktop PC and typing this in Word so I shouldn’t lose this one.

I’m sorry to hear that you are still having trouble with your eye Frank and that you have had yet another fall. Missing that glass cabinet was lucky. It could be, as others have said, that not seeing much from one eye has unbalanced you a bit and makes it harder to judge things like steps. I hope the doctors can sort that eye problem out soon but in the meantime you will have to take extra care when you move about.

I’m glad you got your toilet fixed Gill. That’s one thing less to worry about. I’m pleased you got hold of some tomato plants as well. It’s a pity you don’t live nearby as I have tomato plants to give away.

Jake must have loved his birthday gifts Mandy. I bet it’s difficult for his parents to get him off the computer at the moment. The desk was a good idea as teenage boys are so difficult to buy for.

Lovely roses and hostas on your photo blog AnnG. Some of the hostas look similar varieties to ours. It seems to be a good year for hostas. I’ve got 9 very large pots of them that came with us from our old house and they are grouped in 3 lots of 3 up a side of the house where there is just a dreary path going up to a side gate that we seldom use. They’re not really in view but make the path a bit more interesting if anyone does use the side gate. We also have lots of hostas in the garden and some are going to have to come out next year as we have too many. We split some this year and potted bits up for my daughter but with lockdown I haven’t seen her to pass them over. I also miss my lovely roses I had in the old house as we don’t have any here or anywhere in the garden where they would easily fit in. I think I’ll have to do as Mandy suggested and have a couple of patio pots of roses.

What a performance with your hot water bottle Ann. Good job you weren’t scalded but it’s a shame you have twisted your side. I hope it isn’t too painful for you. You were lucky to get a hairdressing appointment. I haven’t heard a thing from my hairdresser about re-opening. Perhaps I’ll give her a ring as I expect she’ll be monitoring her phone for messages.

Mel, we have very few animal places nearby who might take my paper shreddings. There used to be an alpaca farm just down the road but they moved elsewhere a couple of years ago. There are a few livery/riding stables a few miles outside town but none that I pass by to drop stuff off. OH says that he is allowed to put the shreddings in the cardboard container at the tip. A friend volunteers at a cat charity place so she takes all my newspapers for lining litter trays etc.

I hope you are managing to eat a bit more now Jane. Complan will keep you going but I expect you would love to eat a nice meal. I see Thomas has taken to joining James in the middle of the night. Thomas is such a character but I bet James isn’t too thrilled. Has he been able to visit his new workplace yet or is he still having to cope with working on his own at home? You might have seen in an earlier post that I did manage to order my pants. I like Sloggi which are sold in lots of places. My voucher was for 20% off and free delivery with Artigiano and they had Sloggi at a sensible price (£25 for a pack of 3 – they are usually anywhere between £24 and £30). I’ve never got on with M & S undies. If I buy the size for my hips the pants tend to be a bit baggy round the rear and I do like a snug fit to my drawers, lol. I love Artigiano clothes but they are SO expensive. I have three pairs of their pull-on trousers which fit me perfectly in width and length but they are around £120 a pair. I only buy when they are in a sale or I’ve got discount vouchers but I still usually pay around £60 for them which is more than enough.

I have more to write but this is getting a bit long so I think I had better post this and then do another one. I can hear your groans from here…

Part 2 – I bet you are thinking “OMG How much longer is she going to go on for?” I told you I can write for England – if there were an Olympic medal for rambling on I’d get the gold, lol

Today has been a bit cooler but still fairly warm and still very windy. We did have one downpour at lunchtime but it seemed to dry up very quickly so I don’t think it has really done much for the garden.

I am typing this and yawning away non-stop as I had another lousy night. I wish I could work out why I don’t sleep. I wouldn’t mind being awake half the night if it didn’t leave me feeling so droopy and tired and grumpy the next day. I am also now finding this self-isolation a bit strange. The first 3 or 4 weeks I was making the most of the extra time and having a good old spring clean. Then the enthusiasm waned a bit and I had a couple of weeks of feeling frustrated at not being able to go out, but the last couple of weeks I’ve started feeling that I don’t want to go out again. That worries me a bit so I’ve decided that when I safely can I must make myself go out.

With that in mind we went to our nearest small garden centre this morning. I told OH that if there were queues to get in as there were when they first re-opened I would not stay and I went with masks, hand sanitiser, wipes and kitchen roll in my bag. In fact it was a doddle; not many people there and very well organised with routes in and out and distances clearly marked out, sanitiser for hands and trolleys provided and a good system at the pay desk. The assistant stayed at the desk behind plastic while the customer pushed their trolley in to a marked space and then retreated behind a line, the assistant then went to the trolley and scanned everything and went back behind her plastic shield and called the customer forward. Customer paid, card only, no cash and took their trolley off to their car. We bought a couple of large, rigid plastic plant troughs on wheels so I can move them around. They were a bit pricey but look very good quality. OH replaced our hose pipe and we got some plants to give me a bit more colour. There was nothing very exotic but some trays of busy lizzies and some pots that contained white and yellow peturnias and another little white flower. I am not sure what that is. I was glad I made myself go. I feel happier now I have been outside the house.

The alternator on our car is playing up so the battery is losing power quite quickly. Luckily OH had hung on to his old charger and so makes sure the battery is well charged up before we go anywhere. The car was booked for a service and MOT for 31st March and of course it couldn’t go ahead. The MOT was extended to September but the car hasn’t been serviced. The place we take it rang a few days ago to say their workshop has reopened and they can book us in again but they can’t provide a driver to collect and bring back the car, which is what usually happens, or provide us with a courtesy car. OH can take the car in himself but then he can’t get back. The workshop is about 15 miles from us and there is no direct public transport link. Normally we would have asked friends to help us but don’t feel we can do that at the moment, so the car is going to have to wait a bit longer for its service.

Granddaughter phoned last night to say she has now officially finished at uni. She has been back home since lockdown, of course, and has had to try and do all her finals dissertations and presentations from home. Today was the deadline for getting her last piece of work in and she sent it off via the computer last night so she is now finished. She said it seemed very odd because there has been no real end to her 3 years at uni; no going out celebrating with her friends or having fun. I feel so sorry for the youngsters who have had all this to cope with.

Well, I had better end or I shall just carry on typing for ever. Please, please tell me if my long posts are boring you silly. It’s just so nice to be able to come on here and chat away with friends.

Mandy glad that you managed to catch the washing without it getting wet.
Vera, I really love your long posts please continue. So pleased that you made yourself go out. Your garden centre is acting exactly like ours which I felt was very comforting and took the worry away.
Those troughs on wheels sound interesting don’t think I have seen them. What will you put in them?

OH’s car is overdue it’s MOT and service too

Vera love your posts please keep them coming ,the troughs on wheels sound a good idea as they can easily be moved about .

Where's our Mel i hope she ok as she didn't post yesterday either .

Yes I enjoy your long posts to Vera! I know what you mean about going out. I have only sat in the car and we have only been to the pharmacy since the lockdown. Hubby just got his car repaired before then. We have been for a few short drives since the easing, but neither of us are craving to go out which is strange considering we used to go out almost every day. We took my car today to go to the pharmacy and I drove through a few villages after to keep the battery topped up. I think since the lockdown and then easing everyone has either taken up jogging, cycling or horse riding! There were people along most of the quiet lanes.

OH's car just has the extended MOT and the service due light is flashing now. I need to sort his insurance which is also due, but how on earth do you estimate what your mileage will be at a time like this?

Yes, I counted myself lucky I didn't get scalded on the bottle. It is a risk with them, but with never having any trouble before and renewing them regularly I never thought they could just go like this one has.

Not much beading going on Mandy. One friend who lives on her own has been busy with her allotment and long garden! She also looks after someone's horse. I think we have all been doing our gardens and another has made tops for her nieces and is still doing some work, but on line now. Aldi do such a variety of those fat quarters and keep bringing out new ones. It's a great idea to make some bunting! :-)

Frank you really must take more water with it! You were very lucky to miss the glass cabinet when you fell and your eyes as they are mean you will have to take extra care till you ca get them done. You don't want anther black eye stopping you from seeing the specialist.

That's great you can flush to your heart's content again Gill. :-D Nothing worse than being without your toilet. I hope you have made some more headway with your tree.

Goodness I had not noticed that Mel didn’t post yesterday or today. Mel where are you, hope you are both OK. Maybe the internet is down. Hope that is the reason.