General Chat

Sorry to read that great grandson is unwell, Ann. Poor little chap.
I can imagine how you feel being away from his family, but it sounds like he is in the best place to get the right treatment to hopefully soon be home again.
Good idea to rest your leg today, so that you can enjoy tomorrow with your friends.

So pleased it was last weekend that we arranged to go to Hampshire. This weekend would have been so very cold, if it was anything like here.
When tending family graves in the churchyard, we got chatting to another lady who was doing the same. I noted the surname on the plot where she stood and I told her that I'd known a family of that name with a daughter named Veronica, when we were young.
"I'm Veronica", she replied.
We hadn't seen each other since youth club days, when we were teenagers :-)

A dull, damp start to the day here, but it looks more promising now that the sun is shining brightly.

This week will probably be the last 'normal' week at school, as they usually get the Christmas tree for December 1st, so I expect the staff will decorate their classrooms, after school finishes for the day on Friday.
Traditionally, the tinies perform a Nativity play. I sometimes go to watch a dress rehearsal.Always lovely how well they respond to their teacher and manage to achieve impressive results, even though many of them are still only 4 years old and only started school in September.

Well that is the sock drawer and main wardrobe sorted. Summer socks away and winter socks out. and summer tops up to the top rail and winter tops and sweaters down on the lower rail Using a small stool just to get stuff up there. I really think I have enough sweaters now. Now I can see them all together.

a bit drizzly this morning so I am please it was yesterday I had the walk from the clinic to the bus station,

good morning all. 4 degrees here, quite dark but dry. An indoor day today, my achy leg is playing up after the walk from the clinic yesterday And the poorly left leg is sore from the bit of 'poking'. So mostly a rest day I think. tomorrow hopefully lunch out with friends who are picking me up. These friends I only see once a year as they live over on the edge of the Forest of Dean, (when they are in UK). Much of the year they are at their house in Italy.

From the test swabs they took he seems to have a variety of nursery viruses plus the chest infection. He is on a second lot of antibiotics and oxygen. You feel there is something you should be doing but can’t as they are so far away.

O I did look up oh's dads old air gun and it seems it is quite rare. Its a German hand air gun but this one is in bad condition and dos'nt seem to open to load. I may have to soak it in WD 40 and see if I can release it. Its about 1912 and could be worth something. Ones in good condition sell between £175 to 275.

Iv'e had quite a nice sunny day today although its very low in the sky now. It started raining about 7.23pm and is quite steady now.

I do hope they can fit you in before you go away Anng.

Aaron called in about lunchtime and asked if he could go and cut up the fallen tree in my little wood. I told him to have a look on his way out and to come and do it any time he has a moment. He did say he may cut down the trees in the top garden that are on the other side of the wall to my border. Thing are growing out because of them.

Put two more bits on Ebay today but not done much else but it is Sunday.....

Ann, as Annx said none of us like to hear such news but you were probably expecting it Now it's confirmed they can get the treatment underway and hopefully will be able to fit you in before you go away. We'll all be thinking of you. Oh, that poor little boy - it's horrid for him and a worry for his parents. I hope whatever treatment the doctors give him gets rid of the problem very quickly and he's soon home again.

You are nearly there with the blankets then Mandy. How many squares is that in total you have made? I'm sure the girls will be delighted with them. Your house must have smelled lovely with the Christmas cake cooking. Once upon the time I made puddings for everyone and my brother made a big Christmas cake and halved it between us. He didn't marzipan or ice it as none of us are keen on that but he would make it early and then keep "feeding" it alcohol so by Christmas it could be quite boozy. It never seems worth making one now just for me and OH. The rest of the family aren't cakey people.

I will have a look at Appliances Direct Annx. Thanks for mentioning it. I did look at AO.com which Mandy mentioned and there were one or two possible cookers on there which will be worth a second look if I can ever find the time. Sometimes I wonder if I am being silly looking for a new cooker at my age but I've been moaning about the existing one for some time now.

We had a lot of rain overnight and this morning. It made me think of a song my children used to sing at primary school about a little boy who came to live here from a warmer, drier country. The refrain running right through this song was "It's raining, it's raining again". It did stop and a bit of sun peeped through for a while so OH popped out and planted the rest of the bulbs. We've never been so late planting them out. I'll be lucky if they are blooming before I want to lift them to use the pots for summer plants.

Afternoon All,

It's been sunny but quite windy here today. I have done some admin and ordered some things online and am now waiting for the food order which seems to come almost an hour later that usual lately. OH did a walk up to the village while it was sunny.

Not news that surprised you AnnG, but it will be good if they can fit you in to remove it before you go away, fingers crossed. The poor little boy getting RSV. It's one of the things I was invited for a vaccination for and went and had this year. I hope he soon feels better and can go home again.

Oh the delicious aroma of a Christmas Cake cooking now then Mandy! Lovely. It won't be long before the blankets are finished now then. I bet the girls often want to know if they are nearly finished!

Vera we both said the same that we would struggle to do the eyedrops on our own with the tiny, hard to squeeze bottles. I bought a small plastic thing from Boots that cups over your eye and holds the bottle in place for you to do your own but haven't tried it yet. As a child under the age of 9 I needed eyedrops once and did my own with the oldfashioned bottles without any trouble.

Just waiting for the food order now. No pasta salads again, so the chilli filled sub can go back, another sub I will keep and the cottage cheese was out of stock.

Hope they can get you in before you go away Anng ,I suppose these doctors strikes don't help ,it pushes everything back .
Oh poor little boy I hope he can get the stronger antibiotics to help him in hospital .

It's been sunny here and the clouds are now a lovely pinky colour as the suns going down .

That is a bit worrying my youngest Great Grandson (14 months), is in hospital with RSV.Poor little soul apparetly had a chest infection that antibiotics didn't cure.

Well I have just got home. Cynth dropped me off and she would have come to get me but I walked and caught the bus home. Very cold wind but nice and bright for walking.

Went in 11am and was on the bus in the bus station at 11.50.

Nice nurse says yes it is almost certain that it is Squamous cell carcinoma, this is a bit more serious than the basal cell but is not usually life threatening.

I told a little white lie and said I was going away on the 10th. (not the 18th) She is putting a request in for removal hopefully before the 10th but if not, after the 5 January. So now again it is wait and see.

Morning all

Hope Anng gets on ok today at the hospital and there's not to much waiting around .

We got up to heavy rain which has gradually eased up and now its dry with weak sunshine .
I have a christmas cake in the oven and there's a lovely smell coming from the kitchen .

I have Laceys blanket all stitched up and crocheted round the edge just the tassels to go on , then Chelsea's to do , I think I have about five more squares to do so I might get one or two done later ,I have been watching Downton Abbey again which i recorded ,just got to the one where Sybil has died ,as fast as I'm watching them its recording some more ,I think there's another four to record today .

You will be at the hospital now AnnG. I hope everything is going well. Thinking of you <3

Morning girls,

Hope you don't have too much waiting around this morning Anng. We'll all be thinking of you. <3

Its 9 degrees here and not raining at the moment but pc is still saying rainy days ahead.

Once again I can't get into my emails this morning so I shall have to take alook on the tablet.

Nothing planned for today so will just take it as it goes.

Good morning all 7 degrees here and wet. Slept off and on last night which was no surprise given the visit this morning. appointment is at 1105. wonder how much waiting around there will be. BBL.

I got distracted, then it was time to cook and eat so I’ve only just got back to the post.

That was good getting a refund for your fish AnnG. I find Tesco staff are generally helpful like that, and Sainsbury’s aren’t bad either.

You made some good savings as well Annx. I’d read of the book about the Martin Bashir interview with Princess Diana. You’ll have to let us know what your OH thinks of it. I didn’t think I had Maxidex drops as the front of the box they are in has another name but I now see that on one side it says Maxidex 0.1% w/v. Your poor OH, having to put them in 8 times a day. In my case I think they are meant to prevent inflammation rather than cure any that’s already there. Thankfully, so far there is no sign of inflammation.

Yesterday morning we went into town. I wanted fresh veg and salad and milk and I wanted to stock up on a bit of fish from Waitrose. I like their fish but it is expensive so I get it on a Friday when it is 20% off if you have a Waitrose card. I got several pieces of salmon and smoked haddock and just 1 piece of tuna. I already have a small piece in the freezer that’s enough for me. I decided to do all my shopping while I was in Waitrose rather than go to several shops but it all seemed that bit more expensive than anywhere else. Still, I got cashback at the till which was handy as the nice cashier sorted me out plenty of coins that I can use in the town car parks and it saved me having to queue at the inefficient post office.

We left the car at Waitrose and walked along to the library, not far away, to buy Christmas cards at the pop-up Cards for Good Causes shop. In the afternoon we went round to our friends M & V for coffee and a chat which was very pleasant.

Today I started by freezing all the fish I bought yesterday and did a bit of general tidying. Then I managed to write 10 Christmas cards before my hand got too shaky, so I’ve made a start there. We had 2 parcels delivered this morning, one by Royal Mail and one by Evri which pleased me as I hadn’t placed the orders till Thursday. So that’s the start of my Christmas present shopping. After lunch I fiddled about setting up a Tesco order for delivery on Tuesday. I had hoped to deal with the other trough of geraniums that are sitting in the conservatory and pot up a few cuttings which are sitting in water but by the time I got around to that it was getting dark and I didn’t feel like working in an unheated conservatory or a cold garage.

Well, almost time for OH to do the next lot of drops for me. I don’t know how I would manage them if I lived alone. I hope you all have a good night. “See” you tomorrow.

Evening All,

Well it's absolutely poured with rain most of today so OH and I got soaked going to the shop. Then we came away without the orange juice he came with me to get!

Neither of us felt like doing much so have had a lazy day and OH soon decided to give footie a miss with the weather! as it was.

That's the trouble not being able to see things before you buy them nowadays Vera. I want a nice pen for Christmas and OH sensibly said I ought to try before I buy, but I was surprised to find we have very few stationery shops locally now and most just sell batches of a dozen cheaper pens.

I hope DIL gets you a bargain dishwasher Mandy. It's a good idea to get a new one if the existing one is old now. Years ago I found Appliance Direct on line very good. I bought all my kitchen appliances from them at the time. The kitchen fitter was going to supply them, but said the prices I could get with them were better than the discounts he could get. It might be worth Vera having a look for a cooker.

How are your arms after the jabs Mel? I asked if you were doing the Advent ring this year the other day. I've never seen a black Pheasant. It must have been a surprise. We are sure the trio of Magpies that have been looking in the flower beds and under the rocks for food are the babies we had this year. They are very confident and even watch us through the patio door at lunch time.

That's good you got the refund on the fish AnnG, but can still use it later from the freezer. It sounds like you must have quite a lot of presents to take with you to your daughter's if great grand daughter's are anything to go by, but of course adult's gifts are often smaller packages.

O Anng that was good you got the refund on your fish. I hav'nt had one like that for along while.

Vera I think when I lose posts I catch a fingernail on one of the keys at the bottom of the keyboard. No its not that as I have just tried while I only had one sentance up.

Not done much this afternoon just watched a bit of telly on iplayer. I have been watching Tennant of Wildfell hall. I watched some last night and then with a late lunch and will watch the rest tonight.

I did go down the shed this afternoon and unpick the advent ring, came in with the flowers and washed those so thats a start.

I also watch Wartime Christmas on youtube.

Its getting a bit chillier here now nearly time to turn the heating on for a bit.

Good Afternoon everyone

It’s so dark I feel as though I should be saying Good Evening. It’s been a cold, wet day. It’s still about 6 degrees but with the rain and no sun it feels a lot colder, and apparently the rain is going to get heavier in the next hour and be set in for the rest of the evening.

Your stew sounded good Mandy so I decided we’ll have a stew tomorrow with enough for Monday. OH likes his roast but he can go without this Sunday. I’ll do enough for 2 days in a casserole in the oven tomorrow, with roast pots and a crumble or pie to make the most of the oven heat and Monday I’ll reheat it on the top of the stove and chuck in some dumplings. It’s warming me up just thinking about it. Did your dil sort out a dishwasher for you? I still haven’t found the right cooker. It’s really got to be a range style in order to fit in the existing space. I want a decent grill and a reasonable sized oven and I don’t want to buy it without seeing it but I may have to. Hardly anywhere keeps more than 1 or 2 on display. My current cooker hob has 5 burners and a plate warmer, which is more than I need anyway but a lot of the ones of the right size have 7 burners. What on earth do I want 7 burners for? I’ll just keep on looking online whenever I get time.

You did have a run around this morning Mel. I hope your arms don’t ache too much from your jabs. I smiled at your black pheasant as it reminded me that we had one in the garden at our old house years and years ago. OH got a photo and sent the picture to one of the ornithology organisations. They said they thought ours or its parents originally came from overseas and had either escaped or been released from a private aviary. There is also a gene mutation that results in a black pheasant but they normally have a greenish tinge. We’ve all lost posts Mel so you’re not alone but you do seem to have lost a few recently. When you lose one can you think what you were doing immediately before it disappeared? I know last time I lost one I think I was correcting something and instead of deleting the incorrect word I managed to delete everything in front of my cursor.

My hands are getting too cold to type so I’m going to post this bit, go and do something warm downstairs for a few minutes and then come back and continue on a fresh post.