General Chat

A quick visit to say bye ............. we leave in a few hours to go visit the new grandson.


I'll be back about April 24 or 25th



Take care everyone





sylvia
xxxxx

just come back from Birmingham Jewellery Quarter. Managed to find a Christening present for my sister's grand-daughter.
Thanks for your advice Ann and Sylivia. Will tell you more after the Christening, want to keep it under wraps at the moment.

Your hols. sound marvelous. Ann or as I used to say, when in my teens "Fab!"

I should really be doing some housework, before I get buried under the rubble.
Have a great time visiting your new grandson, Sylivia,
my five year old grandson recently told me that my kitchen in messy! (He is right).
So rather than just hang my head in shame, I feel that I really must do something about it.
Difficult really, when there are so many more interesting things to do.

I will be back.

Tess

Hi Theresa, I'm not normally on this thread, but had to chuckle re your kitchen. Everything, but everything happens in my kitchen, so there is always plenty of 'stuff' about. My computer is on the kitchen table ontop of a table cloth. Underneath is a jigsaw. There is always one on there. My printer is behind me on the worktop, next to the bread bin and the tea/coffee/sugar jars. The window sill is crammed with plants in various early stages, aswell as germinating seeds, a jar of hair combs, make-up purse and bowl of minature daffs. In the other window is another large plant. The worktops abound with a bird cage (two love birds) who make a mess, container for bird seed, radio, breadmaker, Kenwoodchef food mixer, fruit basket and a basket full of alcoholic drink and glasses. The saucepans have to live permanently ontop of the cooker as I have nowhere else to put them. If it is a cold day, I set seeds on the work tops in trays. However, I can always manage to find my way to the kettle. And that is what is most important LOLOL
Julia in Derbyshire

Hello all, not been about much due to a very hectic past 10 days, glad to get back to normal :)
Been a lovely sunny day and been out planting gooseberry bushes and raspberry canes plus the onions are all in.
I have somehow manage to throw my passport out so house been turned upside down, always kept in my bag but needed a copy so used printer in craft room. Put it down without putting back in bag :( Stuck in France now :))
I have five weeks to get one sorted and luckily can use a Manx online form so will send via daughter as need photo signed by someone we know in the bank. Bet I will find it after sending forms off but cannot risk waiting as booked to visit UK and Isle of Man in five weeks.
Hope everyone is keeping well

xJill

Tess, out of the mouths of......... Lol!!!
Julia, so pleased to hear you have clutter in your kitchen, I always imagined it would be immaculate!!
Jill, passports are a worry aren't they. When we are away and carrying them for ID it worries me to death, I am always scared I am going to lose the thing. And it is worse now they are so small. I bet yours turns up as soon as you post off the form.

Ann, I always keep mine with me as France did away with our ID card ages ago, now waiting for the new photo ID french health card to come to this region then passport can be put away until needed for travel.
Again its a lovely sunny day over here but will be indoors as taking a craft class.

Have a good weekend :)

xx Jill

Went to the Christening of my sisters grand-daughter on Sunday. It was colder than on Saturday, but nevertheless a good day.

Following advice from Ann and Sylvia, I went to the Jewellery Quarter and bought a silver Charm Bracelet, plus a Charm - a little handbag.
The Bracelet is adult size, so she will be able to wear it when she grows up, if she wants to.
I could have picked a teddy charm or other "baby-like" things, but chose a hand-bag as I thought it unlikely that anyone else would have got her one! Little girl was a star, was cheerful all day, smiling at everyone and lapping up the attention.

Re my messy kitchen, I was never very tidy anyway, even when in good health. Now I have to save my energy for important things (family history research, eating etc.),

Last year I had some alterations done at home. A new downstairs toilet, with a wet-room (shower), plus a small utility area (laundry). This meant that I lost my pantry and outside store room.
Have had to find space for all the things that I had moved, and hadn't quite finished the job.
So all sorts of stuff kept in the kitchen waiting for a home.
As well as that, one of the skills I DON'T have is the "throwing away" skill. I tend to keep all sorts of things, just in case they come in useful someday, so everywhere is rather cluttered.
As my teachers used to say, "must try harder" but breaking a habit of a lifetime is difficult.
It just might make things more easy to find though. So saving time and energy in the long run.


Tess

I was reading an article on the Zero Waste web site where it says set yourself a target to declutter by getting rid of a set number of things a day. She set herself 5 things a day, try and avoid putting into land fill but the 'things' can include a piece of paper. If you break the task down into small bites it is not so bad. So charity shops, recylce, freecycle ebay etc etc.

Meant to say glad you enjoyed the christening and the handbag charm sounds nice.

Maybe I should start on this declutter lark - we plan to move in a couple of years and we can definitely not take all that we have hoarded over the years.
I am another one that keeps things just-in-case and I can guarantee if I do throw something out that will be the thing I want several months further down the track.
I am good on keeping our recycle bin fed though.
But the kitchen - I like a clear/clean work top - but the bloke I live with thinks it is a receptacle for spilt milk, spilt tea, crumbs, and food that somehow manages to fall off plates etc. It has taken me years to stop him from leaving kitchen drawers open - I am not partial to having bits of food on my cultery before I use them.
Today I cleaned out the fridge so have my halo on straight for once.

I like the charm bracelet idea - I usually give a photograph album - with the years, achievements etc in it. I have napkin rings that were from my mother's christening - one of them beautifully engraved - but when you think about it what child uses a napkin ring.

Persey

I try to have a clear-out once in a while and take things to the charity shop. Trouble is, when I go I keep seeing things in need of a home.

As you say Persey, if you throw away something that you have held on to for years, you will suddenly find a use for it.

When I used to go on holiday with my Mum, the sizes of our luggage were in contrast. I had a case filled with stuff "just in case" and she had a much small one holding only "the bear necessities" She got away with it becuase she could always rely on me having all the little extras she suddenly found she needed. Frequently asking "have you got --------?" and I was usually able to say "yes"

After a few letters to my blank-blank neighbour, I am pleased to report that those darned walls are coming down!
need to put a bit more in writing to make sure that he repairs my fence and gate (that he damaged) plus other things he needs to put right.
Will be sending him a (witnessed) letter in the next couple of days, giving him a time limit, to do all the work.

The sun is shining both literally and figuratively in the West Midlands, U.K.

Tess

Well done tess, hope all goes well with the walls.

I am pleased to hear that you have had a win Therese with your walls. I can't understand (from down under) how he could have been allowed yto start on a project like that. We have to have a building permit from the council to do anything. Having said that there are a number of buildings on our property that we didn't tell the council about, my garden shed, a nice big chook pen that I don't use now and the donkeys shed and adjoining feed shed. Technically we would have to remove them if they bothered to come around for an inspection.

What a good idea getting rid of 5 things a day Ann. I have already taken one box full to our local R.S.P.C.A. op shop. Need to take quite a few more though.. I put newspaper, glass and tins in separate bags into the the rubbish bin. We have to take our rubbish to the local refuse tip as we are not in town. At one time they had separate bins for everything but now everything goes in together so I suppose they just use it for landfill.
I have a Bokashi bucket for vegetable waste and meat scraps I throw out for our local fox. I shouldn't feed him but at least he keeps the rabbits down.

Hi Ann and everyone


Tess


great to come back to hear that your not-so-neighbourly neighbour is being sorted out!



We got back home at about 10 am yesterday (Saturday) morning after a great trip home by train ........ 6 days and 5 nights, and great convivial congenial company for the last 4 days on The Canadian from Toronto to Vancouver.


MJ is fine, now weighs about 11 lbs and .................................... he began to focus his eyes 2 or 3 days after we arrived, so he was really watching and studying your face by last weekend. He also began to smile ............ I got one of the first tentative ones, and then he gave a full bodied grin to his aunt last Sunday ........... just before the Baby Shower began.


That is another story ....... and an experience I would be quite happy not to repeat!


He did cry a lot as he has a gastric problem of some sort .......... not colic! ............................ but I turned out to have the ability to a) soothe him, thus calming him down, b) put him to sleep, sometimes in less than 5 minutes!, and c) keep him asleep. This of course necessitated me sitting in the armchair for long periods with him in my arms, rocking him (in a non-rocking chair). They are now going to accept a rocking chair from J's sis-i-l.

J was happy for me to do this as she got a lot of things done, and didn't have to worry if he started to cry as she knew I was taking care of him.


He did throw up on me once (as agaisnt spit up!!) ..................... all down my front and into my lap!!




I really had not intended to wash that skirt or sweater while I was away!!!!!




Unfortunately, he began to cry every time OH tried to hold him, so he didn't get much cuddle time!





Meanwhile, OH was working in the garden. A very large amount of clay had been removed from under the basement last November/December, and piled all over the lawn in the back garden. The pile then slipped and fell over the beds all around the edges of the garden .......... they hadn't realised that wet damp clay would do that.

Many plants were buried ..................... so "dad" was asked if he could please try to find at least some of them, including a Coral-bark Maple that we gave them 5 years ago in the "old" house, and which had been very carefully transplanted to this one. OH succeeded ................................ after 2 days of searching!

But the poor wee tree may not survive. One branch had been removed in the fall by a landscaper who chopped it off by mistake (!!!), then another obviously broke under the weight of the clay ............. OH transplanted it to the front garden, and J will provide some TLC in the hope that it will recover. OH did the transplanting and planting of new shrubs and perennials last Saturday.



It snowed on Sunday



we left the next day ........ still in snow!





sylvia
xxxx

Sylvia, that sounds like a holiday you will remember!

Glad you enjoyed your break, seeing your grandson and the train trip Sylvia. Also glad that you got home safely.

Hello to you all from a lovely and warm Maine et Loire.
Veg garden is doing well with onions and potatoes all coming up and runner beans planted out yesterday. Every where looks so pretty with the lilac all out and all the fruit trees in flower.
We are having a trip to see my parents on the Isle of Man but managed to throw my passport out so biting nails to see if new one arrives in time. We can always change our dates so not the end of the world, we will have to pay £25 per flight per person to change tickets plus extra as will not get one as cheap but could be worse if we were booked onto a proper holiday.
Perhaps if I was to do the five a day declutter my passport might be safe :))

xx Jill

Oh dear Jill, it didn't turn up then? How annoying, I hope the new one comes to you soon.

Thanks for the good wishes re my neighbours wall. It has not been all plain sailing. He had said something to me about 'anything underground doesn't matter'
I have checked this out, and found that even if some things related to his building ARE underground, they DO matter and he must remove them.
(He has put a concrete base under my path, and it is quite deep). Anyway, I thought that his builder was there on Friday (he seems, so far to have only worked Fri,Sat, Sun.)
Went out with a photo of said concrete under my path, only to find that it was my neighbour and his friend, (seemingly knocking down one brick at a time!).
He spoke to me, so I showed him the photo and told him that I had taken advice and had been told that he must remove every part of his building that was on my land.

Well he got quite abusive, told me that I was unreasonable and I was costing him a lot of money.
I won't say what the rest of what he said, just that he wished me and mine harm, if I still insisted that he remove the concrete!
So I have been rather upset for a couple of days, and don't want to let the family know.

This morning there is a digger on-site digging up the concrete etc. I really hope that he sells the house, as I don't want such a nasty person living next door to me.
Of course, all the extra cost involved is all his own fault, he should have done the job properly in the first place.

MOAN OVER!!!!

Besides that I am quite well. My football team is moving up a division to the Premiership.
Saw my son and grandsons on Saturday, we all went to see the European Gymnastics Championship.
Afterwards son and fourteen yearold grandson went to a CSI event.They had to solve a crime, using forensics.
I bought the five and six year olds home on the bus. An adventure in itself. They are not used to buses, so a new experience for them, especially as you have to stand up and move down to the front of the bus while it is moving.

Sylvia, you must have needed a holiday after the holiday you just had!

Jill, Maine et Loire sounds lovely. I hope that your new passport arrives in time, so that you don't have to alter the arrangements.
Have a good time on The Isle of Man.

I'm off to water the Bamboo plant to the garden.

Tess

I hope that everyone in the U.K. and Ireland has a good Bank Holiday.
It will be "May Day" holiday here tomorrow! One of our newer bank Holidays.

I see that it is Cinco de Mayo in the USA on Wednesday1 Anyone know anything agout it? (or should I Google).

Next Sunday is Mothers Day in the USA and Canada. Here in the U.K. we celebrated Mothering Sunday on 14th March. I think that it is always on the middle (or is it the third) Sunday in Lent. So it moves around a bit.

Weather forecast here is not very good (quite the opposite in fact), I won't be going away, might try to check my last (three) batch/es of Hot Matches.

Been for a walk in the local Park this afterboon. The flower beds are very colourful. A little bit of food for the soul.

tess