General Chat

Yes Liz I could do with a sewing machine, just a basic cheap one to start with I think. It's our anniversary on the 10th January so I might ask OH for one, it would save me a lot of time like you said. Although I wouldn't of been able to use it to do Sandra's coat as it was to big and bulky so probably wouldn't of gone through the machine, OH's coat on the other hand would of been done in no time.

Sorry to hear the stairs are giving you jip Frank, you'll be glad to get back to your bungalow, I remember the problems you had last time you had to deal with stairs. Just be careful and take it slowly we wouldn't want you to have an accident.
The restaurant sounds lovely I bet you're really looking forward to going. Enjoy your walk, hope it doesn't rain.

I had a lovely bath but left my hair to dry on it's own, I now look like a lion LOL as it's gone a bit frizzy, so I'm going to wet it and dry it properly now.
BBL

That sound ideal Gill, I'm sure you'd learn to use it very quickly, and it would make no end of difference. No good for the coat as you say, but for things like hems and zips it would be just fine. I bet you'll be wanting a more sophisticated one in no time!!!!!
We're off for a walk in a minute, I think it's getting cooler!

Cooler !!! Liz it is really cold here now.I can't believe how much colder it is now than just this afternoon.We have a very clear sky too.I wish we had lit the fire now.But the heating is on and I have cranked up the thermostat :-D.
I bought a couple of things in M&S sale this morning.A pair of nice ankle boots for me,a lovely Cardi for Chris's birthday (at the end of Jan) and a pair of trousers for James.They will be an extra present for his birthday on the 9th .He has just been home to pack his things ready for Paris.He and Jess will go down to hers tomorrow and then their Eurostar train is at .5 50 am on New Years Eve from St Pancras.

Hannah has arrived in Bangkock and is shattered lol.No doubt a bit of a nap and a shower before the next leg of the journey to some Island for New Year.

Gill did Michelle manage to find a Pharmacy? Bronchitis is nasty.I hope she soon gets over that.She is lucky her flat is not on the ground floor .At least she knows that all her things will be fine from the flooding.I had forgotten she was in Leeds.
I am pleased that you are feeling a lot better now.Just don't try and do too much just yet until you are completely recovered.

Frank,I remember you saying about the stairs being difficult for you last time.I am not surprised you needed a lie down after having to go back up them again.
Your meal that you have booked sounds like it is going to be a really good one.You were lucky to get a booking for New Years Eve !!

I slept well too last night Mel.Chris didn't.......all his own fault I think .Too much Cheese and Port before bed.He has been rather quiet today and keeping himself to himself :-D
Suits me :-D :-D...Not doing much for dinner tonight.Just finishing of the Ham,with Eggs and Baked Beans.Maybe a few chips or potato wedges.

I think a basic sewing machine is a perfect present to ask OH for Gill for your Anniversary :-D :-D.Just think what you could do with that.

I am hoping my Sister and BIL might come to us one of the days over New Year.I bought a 3 Bird Joint for half price in M&S which I thought might be nice to have.I think it is Turkey Chicken and Duck with a Pork and Spicy Plum stuffing.Sounds tasty.

Mandy I meant to say how lovely that was of Katie(I think it was Katie) to say how she loved coming to you for lovely meals and being with all the family :-D :-D.That was so sweet.

It was so busy in Holsworthy today I could'nt believe it. I did manage to park in the square after doing Mole Valley for chicken corn and cider. Restocked with wild bird food and fat blocks too.

Bought oh a new pair of speakers for his pc as I said I would buy them for Christmas and never did so he got them today as an After Christmas Present.

Needed a few bits in Waitrose, I like their bin liners with the tie tops as they fit our bin better than Morrisons. Some toms and a soft lettuce for me a couple of Lasagnes for dinner some big pots to do jackets a loaf and some wraps for oh for his lunches.

WEll just done the ironing of the things I washed this morning as they have had a good cold blow on the line today and they smelt lovely. So they are not added to the pile now...........................

I remember you complaining about the stairs before too Frank. Poor you, you'll have to try going up and down on your butt like we did as children. I could only do that when we went to my aunties as I have nearly all my life lived in bungalows. Only 8 years in the cottage which had steep funny stairs.

We used to go to Mole Valley in South Milton Mel, when we lived in Somerset. Like you we bought loads of things there and really miss it now we live up here.
Spent the afternoon in the garden doing a lot of weeding and checking on bits and bobs. O H turned out and tidied up the woodshed, putting this year's logs to the front, next years behind and the uncut timber right at the back! - very methodical!!!
We're having ham in white sauce, smashed spud and purple sprouting for supper, not to much work or clearing up!!!
We're now watching the history channel which we both enjoy. The main channels are such rubbish, thank goodness for sky!!
Jane, how on earth do you manage to buy clothes for the family?!! Whenever I do, it's always the wrong colour, size or style, and has to go back!!! These days I give money as it has been a real hassle in the past!!

Hello Frank, take care, would you and Ros not benefit from a stair lift.
Because of your age and health you may get financial help.

When Irene, my MIL died, about 8 years ago she had 2 sewing machines. I gave them to Relate Charity Shop Ashington, they sold in days. I donated her clothes Scope Charity Shop at Blyth. I think I gave FIL's clothes to the arthritis shop.

Their house was haunted. Both Ellen and I and my brother saw and heard things there, unexplainable in an empty detached house.

Hope Gill and her family get well soon.

David, Frank and Ros live in a bungalow. The problem with the stairs is where they are staying over Christmas. Once they get home Frank will be ok again!
Have just taken Cas for a wee, and it's quite cold now, and the wind is getting up!! Tomorrow Cas and OH are going beating so, a day to myself - Yes!!!!!

:-D :-D.David Frank and Ros live in a bungalow .They are in families house at the moment down in Torquay (which is where the stair problem is)

I rang my Sister and she and her OH will be coming up to us on Sunday for the day :-D
so this 3 bird Roast wil be done then :-D

I remember ages ago David you saying about seeing ghosts/Spirits.I have never seen anything .But when I was about 5 years old (I have said this before on the thread) we had a friend of mine staying with us for about a month while her Mum was in hospital.
One night my Mum woke up after hearing what she thought were footsteps in the hall.She got out of bed to investigate and found the front door open and also my bedroom door (where my friend was sharing my room)....The next day my parents were informed that my friend's Mum had died ,and it was at the time Mum heard those footsteps !!!! Spooky or what !!!!...Mum never believed in anything like spirits or ghosts,but did wonder if that was my friends Mum coming to say goodbye to her.
I have an open mind as I cannot say whether this happened or not.Who knows :-S
It is a mystery.

Evening all,

We've had a lovely sunny day here but it does seem a bit colder today .
We have treated ourselves to a new 42" television today and son came to set it up for us ,we wouldn't have a clue were to start doing that but he did it so quickly .
This afternoon we started on the jigsaw :-S 1000 pieces and it took us ages to just do the outside edge , the jigsaw came with the jigsaw roll it is a picture of old cars parked at a race course an oldie worldie picture ,we did it on the table in the conservatory but had to give up as the day light went it was harder to do with the light on so i think i will have to get the daylight bulb light out , it makes my back ache too as i tend to stand over it rather than sit down as i find i carn't see across to the other side of it .

Gill it would certainly make life a lot easier if you had a sewing machine, hand sewing is ok but it does make your fingers sore pushing the needle through the material and it's so much quicker with a machine .
I'am sure if you talk nicely to your OH he would treat you to one :-)
Hope your both feeling better today

Mel thanks for the emails they are all such cute little things to make ,i'd love to see yours when you've finished them.
I thought of you today when i picked up the Womens Weekly there's a knitting pattern in it of a pair of hedge hog mittens to knit.

Frank i remember you saying you had trouble with the stairs last Christmas weren't they the stairs you slipped down and ended up all bruised ?
I bet it was nice having the walk along the sea front today .

Jane that would be nice for your sister and BIL to have a day with you over the new year ,is she enjoying her retirement ?
I see you have been to the sales getting the bargains :-D we have Lewis's birthday next on the 15th January well i think it's the 15th i'd better check with DIL next time i speak to her ,goodness knows what we'll get him no doubt some Thomas the Tank Engine thing as he's really taken to him .
Yes little Katie is just a sweet heart she comes out with such lovely things , she's the little helper what ever you ask her to do she does it with no moaning , Chelsea on the other hand !!! :-0

David ,Frank is staying with family thats why there is stairs ,Frank lives in a bungalow so no stairs at home for him .
A haunted house :-0 i don't know what to believe really ,i do smell perfume sometimes when there's no one there ,and it's not a perfume i have !! i ask hubby if he can smell it and he says no !!

Family are coming here for new years day so i think i will cook a piece of beef ,just need more fresh veg when i go shopping .
Thursday we're off to the Panto ,oh no your not ,oh yes we are !! :-D got to practise my booooing :-D :-D

Jane, I don't really believe in that sort of thing either but I did have a peculiar experience when I was at school. We were in bed and I was unable to get warm, so a senior said that I could borrow her hotty. She then, as I thought, came from her bed, stood for a few seconds at the end of mine, went to the sink, and disappeared! I asked where she'd gone, and she replied, give me a chance, I haven't got out of bed yet!!!! Spooky or what! Also I immediately felt warmer! I've never experienced a anything like that before or since- so, who knows! It was a strange encounter though!!

I do apologise Frank, Jane and Magpie, I didn't know that. Take it easy anyway Frank.
You're right Jane, I did, I wouldn't make that up about my own parents.
Ralph had never been in my in laws house. He was there on my invitation to help himself to whatever he wanted. (the effects were being auctioned off before sale of the house} He could have had the cooker, or the refrigerator. Instead he just took some crockery. While I was driving him home he asked who was the man in the corridor? There was only us in the house. Ellen saw her Father in the back garden after taking his ashes all around his house, including the bathroom, scene of the accident. She put his ashes in his back garden. Stood up, turned around and there he was. A younger neatly dressed version of her Father. We stayed over in the house one night having worked until late. Tried to sleep on the settee and arm chair. We couldn't settle. Someone was walking back and forward above our heads in their bedroom. We both heard it, yet the house was empty. We couldn't even say it was next door as the house was dethatched. One 2 occasions I saw something I cannot adequately describe that scared me out of the house.
Etcetera :-0

Good Evening everyone

Just been reading the posts re ghostly happenings I mentioned a while ago about working in a haunted house, it is well documented on the web site "Ghosts Of South Hill Park " Bracknell, but a lot more then that hasn't been written about.

When Peter's cousin lived in an old house her son who was only about 4 at the time told her he had been woken up by a man dressed in funny clothes tickling his feet when he described how he had been dressed it sounded like the uniform of one of the Royalist soldiers, there had been a battle on the ground where the house was built.about that time.

We don't take our decorations down until 12th night due to an old custom.

Colin,my brother should be in Madrid now he is there with a group, lecturing , he will be there over New Year, so will miss Hogmanay as he lives near Edinburgh when he is at home.

David's [ one of Richard's friends from school] mother died on Christmas morning, she was in hospital after suffering several strokes He is an only child and his parents were separated, .so he and his wife will have a lot to do this week.

Gill you may be able to get a good 2nd hand sewing machine if someone has had a new one as a present for Christmas.

Just finished watching a recording of "And then there were none" the ending wasn't what I expected.

Morning All
I have been up doing this blooming puzzle for a couple of hours.I was woken by my phone buzzing.(forgot to turn it off).It was Hannah messaging that they were now at the Beach Hut on the Island.Lovely pic of beautiful blue sea and the beach.I had to get up just before 6 as Chris was beginng to grumble :-S
So now on my 3rd cuppa.It is still so dark outside and it's almost 8am!.The wind is blowing but no rain .. I see Storm Frank is going to cause havoc today up North.
I hope our Frank is not going to cause a storm down south :-D ;-)

Morning all.
Very windy here on the south coast.our annexe has a flat roof and skylights so
You can really hear it in the bedroom.
One of the panels on the back fence is almost down this is the neighbours fence. Alan has been out and tried to fix it with another piece of wood can't have 5 dogs escaping

Still trying to get our new tumble dryer sorted. Just doesn't work properly. Had to wait for a week to get an engineer out then another week for the report to go back to the place we bought it from trom Christmas got in the way. It doesn't take the water out
The seller now has the report but the engineer told him we refused to let him repair it. We are just going round in circles. He was the one who refused to do anything with it and advised us to go back to the dealer. We never had a tumble dryer in the old house but my daughter has 3 children so a lot of washing. We have only had it a month it has been very wet this way so can't line dry.

Just caught the bit about the stairs Frank. Take care on them

I just had a quick scoot though some posts. I hope everyone who isn't feeling100 per cent feels better soon. We are now waiting for arg*s to collect our micro wave and replace has started to go rustie on a seam inside. We could only by this one on line. A swa* one.I will have to boil my milk for my breccie now

Off to work in the charity shop after lunch. I already have done a shift since. Christmas it was open on the 28 th for some reason which was strange because it was classed as a bank hol and all the other shops were closed. My eldest son is a football fan and his boys they came down to watch Luton play Portsmouth on the 28 So I managed to see them over the Christmas period my daughter and I sorted food out for them after the match. She hadn't seen her brother for years. I saw him before we moved but this was the first time he had been to my new annexe

I wish you all a happy new year. I don't suppose I will stay up to see it in. Off now for another cot. Lol. Bye

Slept until 8.40 this morning. Didn't even hear the alarm. All the these broken nights catching up on me.
I've talked a lot of what may seem to some rubbish this year, if it seemed that way I apologise, too time on my. Five dogs Pat? I haven't got as many cats :-D

Pat, I'd go back to where you got the tumble dryer talk to the manager and if you can't get any joy tell him/her that you are totally fed up and will be reporting the matter to trading standards, and will let them sort it out! I think you'll find that this will galvanize the seller into action! As I understand it, the place of purchase is responsible for repairing, replacing faulty goods. OH had a similar problem with his laptop a few months ago, it suddenly wouldn't scroll properly, so back it went to place of purchase, who shilly shallied a bit, then caught the glint in OH's eye and sent it off for repair with alacrity!!!!!!!
What a wind here this morning!! OH is out with Cas for the day!!! Have had a good clear up, and now I can relax without any nonsense about looking at something, cups of coffee, ridiculous questions about this and that which require my opinion and
other such rubbish!!!. Bliss!!!!

Morning all,

The rain has been hammering on the bedroom window this morning so it sounds like someone is chucking buckets of stones at the glass. Why is it we seem to get a sort of decent day and then another bad one right after?

Hope Frank managed the stairs ok yesterday and this morn ing. NOthing worse than being stuck either up or down and I bet the loo is upstairs too.

So Ann and Mandy you like the Wee Folk I found to make? They are the kind of thing Gill could sew too if Sandra would like to help and make a Fairy Garden. Gill if you would like to see them let me know and I will send you all the details.

O Liz I missed your post as mine came in the same time. You did make me laugh. It was the last few lines that really got me. I have just done the coffee bit. Now he is back in his study but I am not blessed with a day on my own as you are.

Afternoon all

Fine rain here today, but storm Frank is on his way, so I expect it will get worse later on.

Yes Jane Michelle managed to find a pharmacy in the end, her boyfriend is starting with something now and feels terrible. They managed to get to her flat, must of found another route. Michelle wanted a bath and her boyfriend only has a shower at his place. He slept in her bed while she had a soak. Apparently if he takes time off work he'll lose his job as he had lots of time off earlier in the year when his dad wasn't well, his dad is in a home now, so he'll have to go to work feeling under the weather. I'm chatting with Michelle online at 2pm today so will find out how they are both feeling then.
It sounds like you got some nice things on your shopping trip yesterday Jane. OH got me some lovely ankle boots for Christmas, black Swade with tassle's on the side.

I had a look at the sewing machines online yesterday and found one half price at Argos, it should of been £179.99 and is now £89.99, it looks just what I'm after and can manage thicker material like jeans too which will be handy. I just hope it's still that price on Thursday when OH is off work again. Mum's said she'd give me some money towards it for our anniversary, but then realise it might not be the present OH would like, so I'm not sure what she's doing now. OH said he didn't mind as I'll probably use it for repairing his clothes anyway, put I can see mum's point, it's an anniversary so really should be something for both of us :-) :-)

Yes my fingers are quite sore Mandy, if fact my thumb and first finger are now numb, so a sewing machine will be ideal. I had one years ago and used to make all our curtains and bedding, but then it was cheaper to buy those items so I stopped making them. Given how much things are to buy nowadays it's the right time to buy another sewing machine plus I need some clothes and can't seem to find much to fit me in a style I like, so I'm hoping to learn to make my own clothes too.

I mentioned the Fairy Garden to Sandra Mel and she'd like you to send me the details, thanks.

Sorry to hear you are having problems with your dryer Pat, hope it can be sorted soon, I have one and it's great when the weather is wet, plus sometimes things don't need ironing too. I like to use the dryer for my towels as they tend to go a bit hard on the line, using the dryer keeps them soft.

Sandra's just woken up and wants to tell me something, so I'd better go and see what it is
See you all later