General Chat

Good morning all

11 dregrees and very mild out .

I did'nt wake till just after 10am and had to get to the post van with two little parcels so thats why I am late this morning.

I left a big note out for the recykling men for a green bag for the papers and they did'nt leave me one but took the plastic bag I put papers in so still not got one.

Is it today Anng goes off? if it is safe journey and hoope you have a lovely Christmas.

Gill card arrived this mroning thank you very much.

I'm glad your boiler is fixed AnnG and at no cost. Your meal sounded good value for money and very filling. Once upon a time I would have eaten the lot and probably had plenty of wine as well. These days I have to choose between a starter or a sweet as I can seldom manage both.

You're right about Roys having some nice decorations Mandy. As a little extra I got one of my granddaughters a lantern with a father Christmas inside and gold flakes swirling around. It runs on batteries or a transformer and it wasn't very expensive at all. They do seem to have gone upmarket with their clothes. In the past I've bought quite cheap shirts and jumpers for me in there but now it's nearly all well-known brands that are more expensive.

Yesterday I heard of the death of the husband of an old school friend and today the wife rang me. I actually knew her husband before she did. I spoke to her a couple of weeks ago and she was near exhaustion with caring for him since he had a stroke 7 years ago. She was very calm and composed on the phone. I think it hasn't really hit home yet. I suppose these things are to be expected as we all get older but it still comes as a shock. In the last 6 weeks or so we have learnt of two deaths and two people who have been told their lifespan is very limited now. It's all very sad.

On a happier note our son rang this morning. He said next year's diary is already getting filled up with work commitments, family commitments and holidays booked so he had decided to make space in his diary while he still can for a visit to us. He and dil won't be coming till March but it's firmly in both our diaries so that's something to look forward to.

I don't know what's the matter with me lately but I hardly slept again last night. I got up at 7.30 am and felt so groggy that at 8 am I went back to bed for a couple of hours. This put me all behindhand and I've been playing catch-up all day. We normally have our Sunday dinner around 2 pm. Today I served it at 5.30! Now I can't stop yawning but it's too early to go to bed. Oh well, I'm still sort of functioning so I must be getting enough sleep for my needs though I'm still keeping my fingers crossed for a few more hours tonight. I hope you all sleep well too.

Its goodd the heating fixed for you now Anng. I hav'nt had mine on this afternoon but its getting chilly in here now so I may have a blst for a while.

Boiler is fixed, it was a simple job with just a couple of things needing pressing and turning but as I am going away and he only had a short time he couldn't say why it had happened so that will have to be a wait and see if it happens again. And he wouldn't charge me for his visit. So heating is on again now.

Afternoon all,

Sunny here but really chilly out as itx quite windy .

Anng that meal sounded very good value ,I'm not sure I could eat three courses now ,we used too but very often I'd finish with ice cream as that would just slide down.

Vera hope your tree turns up for you ,I think Roys had some nice decorations this year ,when I cut through the wire on the outside lights I got some new ones from Roys
Son mended the old lights he soldered the wires and they work OK now so i could have saved a bit of money .

Mel you'll have to sort your new washer out ,it can't be good for your hands doing hand washing ,are you spinning them or drip drying .

Got the cakes marzipan and iced so another job out of the way .

Gosh that sounded a great meal for the money Anng.

I have had a bit of a sweep up where the builder sawed all the wood up as there was sawdust and chippings everywhere then I decided to have a handwash but got sidetracked by something else so now I am going to do that and then perhaps wash my hair.

good morning all 10 degrees here so not too bad and hopefully Oliver will be here this afternoon to see what is wrong. I hunted high and low for the boiler book when it first stopped. I couldn't find it anywhere to see if it would help. I also looked every where in what was T's office with no luck.tidying away some stuff into the safe this morning I found a folder that had a lot of outdated house stuff in. No boiler book but plenty for recycling bin. As I went to put on the shelf the empty folder with a load of other empty ones, I noticed one with paper in. took it out and lo and behold there is the boiler book. So annoying as there is at least one other thing that I could have tried. According to the booklet, I could have tried to turn the temp control off and on. I will see what Oliver does.

Lunch yesterday was excellent, much too much. Huge Prawn and smoked salmon cocktail with large pieces of cucumber and tomatoes and two pieces of brown bread. Turkey, roast potatoes, stuffing, pig in blanket, yorkshire pudding, and a large selection of veg to choose from, broccoli, carrots, sprouts, cabbage, red cabbage and beans, then a large (too much but really full of lovely apple slices) apple crumble and custard (Or Christmas pudding). All for £25 I thought that was excellent value. The place was heaving.

All I had last night was a cup a soup and a slice of bread and marmite. Slept well anyway. (weighted down I guess :-D)

Morning all,

Not nice here today its really dull and miserable its 9 degrees and pc says cloudy.

Em popped in last night for eggs and brought me my Rich Tea fingers and Branston small chunk which I can't get from Asda. The pickle was on offer so that was good it worked out 30p more for the large jar against the small jar.

I must wash my glasses I don't know why they are so dirty as I was'nt cooking yesterday with BIL getting hot pasties and mince pies and cake and I had homemade sausage rolls in the evening with a bit of salad and I washed them after cooking the sausage rolls as the oven always seems to blow out greasy stuff.

BIL was fine with me going to Em's Christmas day as I said I could come home whenever I wanted to and Em's parents will be there too as well as Ed's so a full house and an extension needed fro the table.

Gill your kitchen is going to be lovely when its finished and then you can get in the garden inthe spring and summer.

It's a shame your evening with neighbours had to be cancelled AnnG but I hope you enjoyed your lunch today. I'm glad your boiler man can get to you quickly and hope he can speedily fix the fault. You are very good not to have your heating on much during the day anyway. I would be turning into an icicle without the heating. I know I have said it before but it is more efficient and cheaper anyway to leave ours on all the time. Mind you, that only apples to downstairs. We are hardly heating the upstairs at all. I'm sitting at the computer with a fluffy dressing gown over 2 jumpers and a pair of heat holder slipper socks over my ordinary socks. My hands are frozen!

I bet your Christmas cakes will be delicious Mandy. My brother always made our cake which was a very rich, fruity and boozy confection. We didn't marzipan or ice it. When he was too ill to do it he gave me his recipe and I made it one year but now we just don't bother with Christmas cake.

We went to our nearest garden centre this morning to look for an artificial tree. They had a beautiful one that just looked exactly like a real tree but, at near enough £200 for a four foot tree, we decided it was out of our price range. I got a couple of small bits and pieces there and then we went into town.

OMG, I have never seen so much traffic or so many people in our little town. OH managed to find a space over the back of the car park and managed to back into it. I wouldn't have been brave enough to try as it was really tight. It's a good job we're both slim as we could only open the doors a little way. Making our way back to the car was a nightmare having to walk past cars trying to back out into the general scrum. OH and I both separately nearly got hit by cars backing out of their parking slots. Luckily they were having to crawl out so I managed to jump out of the way of my car but OH had to bang on the bonnet of his and the stupid driver stopped a couple of inches from his legs. She just hadn't seen him. They were all getting so cross and frustrated that it was getting dangerous.

I did a bit of shopping in Waitrose and got a nice box of crackers for half price which I'll take to my daughter's on Xmas day, then we went into Roy's. They had a few artificial trees at a sensible price. I still didn't like them much but they were better than the one we've got so we decided on a particular 4 foot one. There was a notice on it that said we had to ask for Tree 52. The chap who was looking after us said our store didn't have any more but he went into the computer system and came back and said there wasn't even one left in the warehouse but there was just 1 in another of Roy's stores. He put an order through to reserve it before it was sold and, as long as the store gets the order before someone else buys it, it will be delivered on Wednesday morning. At the rate we are going we might have it by New Year's Eve.

OH wants to invite the neighbours in our Close for Christmas drinks but I've said I can't cope with any more before Christmas. Then I felt a bit mean so I've done a little note inviting them for "post-Christmas drinks and nibbles" on 28th December.

Now I must get on and sort out what food I am going to take as my contribution to a Club Christmas evening on Monday. It's just a finger buffet but so many people take sausages on sticks, sausage rolls or mince pies that I like to do something different. I've got to wrap our two Secret Santa presents as well.

Enjoy the rest of the day folks and sleep well tonight. Probably "see" you tomorrow.

Sorry to hear your boiler isn't working AnnG you were lucky to have someone to check it for you this close to Christmas. I hope it's up and running soon.

We've been doing some more of the kitchen today although it's been a bit slow on the work front, so not much done. We bought some wall units to use as base units because they are smaller in depth and we didn't want units going over the window. OH has screwed the 1000mm to the 500 then everything came to a standstill. We'd like to put the units on wheels so it can be moved without having to empty it if we need to get to the trap in the floor, but we're wondering if the units may tip forward so we're trying to figure out how to stop that if it happens.

We won't know until the doors go on and everything is inside so we've decided to put a small amount of plinth along the front just a bit higher than the wheels so it can still be wheeled around and will also stop it falling forward, plus it'll give us some space for the doors to open without them dragging on the floor. I also want to put some wood underneath to strengthen it so the floor part of the units won't warp. OH is in work tonight so those jobs will be done either tomorrow afternoon or Monday when OH and I will have a bit more time.

Because the units are lower than normal base units it can be moved around the kitchen and put under the window without blocking the window, plus it's easier for me to bake on as I'm only around 5 foot and normal height worktops can be to high for me to work on. So more planning than working today ;-)

Yes we have done a few more things Mandy since the last time I was on here, although we can't finish boarding the floor in the kitchen until the old sink comes out as the metal poles holding it up are screwed to the floor. We also thought we'd wait putting the unit doors on as well so when they need taking out of the way they won't be as heavy to move. One double cupboard is next to the sink and we don't want it damaged which is why it needs to come out when that job is done.

I think along with finishing the floor the wall is going to need filling or plastering as the sink is stuck in the wall somehow so that'll be a messy job as well. Nevermind at least we have some unit we can use in the meantime until Christmas is over and we can find some workmen to do the sink and worktops. although we haven't found any worktops we like in the right size yet, so this job is going to go into next year. I'm looking forward to it being finished though, then we can start again on the garden when the spring arrives.

I have but hopefully won't need it. I have a blanket for my legs and extra woolies. I don't normally have any heating on between 10am and 4.30 anyway. Just keep moving.

Yes I noticed the price increase to Mel but then everything's gone up .

Anng have you got a hot water bottle you could use ,good job it's not icy weather .
At least you don't have to wait to long for your chap to check it over ,hope it's something easy and he can fix it quickly for you .

rub it in Mel, why don't you :-D No Mandy I pressed the reset button on the boiler and it still didn't come on. rang my boiler man and he will come out to me tomorrow afternoon after his ex wife picks up his twin sons. So still no heating and even though it is 11 degrees my hands are cold I am out to lunch anyway from 1215 so by the time I get back it will be nearly time to draw the curtains and shut all the doors I was fine yesterday evening with a blanket over my legs.

Morning all I forgot to come one here this morning earlier as I had emails to answer. Its 10 degrees here but still feels cold in the house so I have the heating on for aa while.

Mandy has'nt the rolled out icing gone up this year? I always bought that as we only had icing on the top of the cake.

There's a shoot going on over the back this morning as I could see a man carrying a gun just now but now I can hear it going off. Perhaps its just the house owner and as they have thinned the trees out the back I can see much more through the trees that are left as they have taken off a lot of the lower branches.

Must go and get dressed in case BIL comes today.

Morning all ,

Oh nice to see you back with us Gill fingers crossed your laptop is OK now .
You have been busy in the bungalow the last time we heard from you you were boarding the floors so you have got on well .

Oh no Anng is your boiler not on this morning ,hope its just something simple and you can get it going again .

I have ironing to do this morning and I also want to get the bedrooms dusted and hoovered I was going to do them the other day but got sidetracked doing something else , I have the Christmas cakes to marzipan ,and I've cheated this year and got the roll out icing to go on .

good morning all. up and dressed early as, as soon as it is light enough I need to go out to the garage to see if I can sort the boiler out. Luckily the house is not too cold and it is 9 degrees outside which helps. Half a night's good sleep half tossing and turning.

We haven't done as much as we'd hoped in the garden AnnG but we did take a few more trees out which we're going to replace with conifers. They should give us a bit more privacy and stop the high winds in the winter, also they won't loose their leaves like the ones we took out ,so that'll save us a job of getting the leaves out of the gutters and grids. We did make a start on putting up new fencing which we're hoping to finish next year. The neighbour at the bottom to the right of our garden had two massive trees taken out, unfortunately one of the fence panels we put up got knocked so that's a bit wonky now. It didn't blow down in the high winds so we've decided to leave it as it is as the conifers will cover it anyway. Sorry to hear your evening out has been cancelled.

Pleased to see your car is okay Mel, let's hope it stays that way for you. OH had problems with his car and had to rely on friends and neighbours to get him to work. The battery kept going dead so he bought a new one, but again it went dead. He had someone check the alternator and it wasn't that. In the end he called an auto electrician to take a look at it and it turn out to be a faulty catch on the glove box which was triggering the bulb to come on. All he did was take the bulb out and the car has been okay ever since. Apparently the latch on the glove box is a fault with the way the car was made and because of the age of it there's nothing OH can do other than take the bulb out. At least it's sorted now but it was a nuisance having to charge the battery all the time or rely on others for lifts.

I'll keep an eye out for the Christmas card Vera and let you know when it arrives. Thank you.

Hello Gill good to see you. I hope your laptop can keep going now so that you can stay with us and keep us up to date with the bungalow, it is starting to sound as though you are well on the way with it now. Did you get anything at all done in the garden?

Vera pleased that you had a nice time with your friends yesterday. I expect M felt better for it too.

Well I had just cooked my lunch at 2pm so that I don’t need a meal tonight, when the door bell rang and it was the young fellow from the house of the get together. He was sadly having to cancel the evening as his wife is I’ll. so not going out after all.

Good job I have mince pies left over from yesterday. I won’t starve.

Lovely to hear from you Gill and know you are OK. Your bungalow will be great when it’s all done and I expect you’ve added a lot of value to it. I only got my last few cards posted yesterday and I think yours was amongst that lot so I hope it arrives before Christmas.

I hope your car is OK Mel. We had a similar problem 3 or 4 years ago. The engine didn’t want to fire up if we had only stopped for a few minutes to pop in a shop or something. If we waited a little bit longer it would start again. That turned out to be the starter motor. Perhaps your car man could at least check it for you. You don’t want the car letting you down when you are a long way from home.

I saw the National and local news as well Mandy. That poor lady’s family, they must be distraught. We shouldn’t speculate but I do wonder what will come out at the inquest. If she accidentally fell into the water she wouldn’t have been able to take off her rings and glasses and lay them with her coat and phone. It’s just so sad.

Our friends came to lunch yesterday arriving about midday and staying till after 4 pm. We had a really enjoyable time and M didn’t stop talking. I think she needed the break as she has had such a stressful time over the last few weeks.

Today we got the Christmas decorations out of the garage. The artificial wreath I bought last year still looked good so that has gone up on the front door and the cards are up in the hall. We have about 30 so far which is about half the number we usually get.

We put the artificial pre-lit tree we bought last year on a low table in front of the window in the lounge and I still hate it. It’s not the sort of tree you can hang baubles or anything on. I’ve put clusters of red berries from an old garland in among the little branches but I’m not happy with it. Up till last year we always had a real tree but I think OH wants to stick with artificial now. However he has said we could go out tomorrow and see if we can get a better one. We have some outside lights that we just string along the eaves so OH will also put those up tomorrow.

Time to start cooking dinner I think. It’s meat pie tonight. It’s a shop bought one but heating the oven and cooking it from frozen will take an hour so I’d better get the oven on. I’m going out to the kitchen anyway as it’s now wine o’clock and there’s a nice bottle of rose in the fridge with my name on it.

Hi all

Pleased to see the Christmas card arrived okay Mandy, I sent everyone a card so maybe the others will arrive tomorrow.

Yes my laptop kept having a blank screen and with being so busy paying for all the jobs that needed doing I couldn't afford to get it fixed. Luckily OH's friend offered to take a look at it for me and now it's fixed. He said he just restarted it and the problem fixed itself so I hope it stays working now.

We're still plodding on with all our jobs and have our bathroom floor being laid 8th January, we were told to leave the bath panels off until the floor is done so once those two jobs are done our bathroom will finally be finished.

We had our kitchen delivered today so have been busy making a start on putting that in. It looks so different now we have some units in there. We only had one 500 unit with no door and a built in sink which is stuck to the wall and supported with two metal bars. We can't put the units in where the sink is until the old sink is taken out, but all the other cupboards are now in place, we'll finish them off tomorrow with the doors then all we need to do is buy some worktops and have the new sink put in. The worktop I liked didn't come in the extra width I wanted so we'll have to try and find another one.

We need the extra width worktops so we can put cupboard doors in front of the washing machine and dryer which will make the kitchen look much better. I don't like the built in machines as they are to small so hiding our own machines behind doors means we don't have the expense of having to buy new appliances which wouldn't be suitable.

I haven't had a chance to read the posts yet so I hope everyone is okay.

Take care :-D :-D