General Chat

Morning all and what a day!

I didn't sleep well at all and got up around 7.30. Daughter left the washing out last night as it was a nice evening but oh my.....

I opened the blinds to find a force 8 gale blowing, clothes lying on the grass etc. Not a happy bunny. It was also raining/misty low cloud.

Anyway, I quickly threw on some clothes and grabbed my stick and ventured outside. Crikey, was awful. I was trying to snatch the clothes off asap but getting blown all over by the wind.

Finally got back in the safety of my kitchen and looked like a drowned rat!

So clothes had to go in the dryer, so much for "free wind" to dry them.

Decided to pull out a family tree I started long ago to see if I can fill in some gaps.
This is my grandmothers side of the family and its another huge one as 1 had 14 children!! Perfect day for it and I am def not venturing outside again. Only upside is, the plants have been watered as long as there are all in one piece.

Hope everyone is well and ok today.

As for our meal tonight....choices choices so much in the fridge to choose from lol

Florence in the hebrides

Ah well, all became clear once she unpacked. 24 tins of pepsi because there was a deal! ,2 bits of reduced sirloin but still £6 each. Various gluten free stuff that was sooo expensive, chocs for a friend £5 and many other little things that added up to a hefty bill.

So its use up week from now on as I have a salad drawer of a large sweet potato, carrots, swede, onions red and white, cucumber, lettuce, red and white potatoes so a veggie soup/soup needed and a green pepper.

Oh the lenor for 83 washes was £4.75 as I was completely out of it. 2 packs of crumpets which I didn't need, so they went in the freezer. Also I needed batteries for the door bell and they were 4 for £7.50! So you can see how the bill went up.

Yes we shall now be living off the fridge/freezer and cupboards for as long as possible as me purse is empty as they say!

A nice evening here but windy but daughter got all her clothes washed and they are on the line drying nicely and that will save the dryer.

Florence in the hebrides

Oh my goodness Florence :-0
I can't remember when I last spent that much in Tesco.
I hope you receive some useful items.

We are on a 'use it up' drive and have had some 'interesting' meals this week. We still had eggs and milk left, so all manner of things have surfaced from the depths of the chest freezer or back of the cupboard, but we have managed to clear and eat some items that had been hanging around for a while.
We need shopping now, as we are all-but out of bread and have no fresh veg. apart from one enormous sweet potato and a few small ordinary ones.
I will expect to pay under £50 though.

Enjoy your coffee Linda :-D
Daughter tel from Tesco and I gave her a small list of essentials. Tf some money and then she says," mum I need more money its gonna be over £100!!!"

It was £133.00 and goodness knows what she has bought, my mind boggles.

I always say, "do we need it or do you just want it?" There is a difference.
I guess for my Tesco order next Saturday, it will be quite a lot cheaper though.

So waiting patiently!

Florence in the hebrides

Your daughter will be please d to get home Florence, hospital beds are not the best to sleep in.

I am sitting in the garden enjoying the peace while I have a coffee. Esme will be home in an hour and it is half term next week- Oh Joy :-( :-( :-(

Morning all.
Im up early today as daughter is coming home and her lovely friend offered to bring her back from hospital. She's fine and looking forward to eating something more than custard and clear soup bless her.

Its overcast here and looks like a heavy day so think it's a day indoors.
I boxed up a load of trinkets yesterday and also threw out a few things so less to put back.

So off to the shower etc and then basket of ironing needs my attention.

Have a good day all

Florence in the hebrides

Edit: Roll on next week as looks like we are getting brilliant weather for a change!

Good afternoon all
Has my neighbour pop in for an hour on her lunch break for a quick coffee which was nice(she works from home). Broke up the day.

Spent most of the morning on the phone to estate agents trying to understand the contract!!! Oh my, mentions Auction this and Auction that etc which shocked us.
Eventually the woman tel me back and we went through it again. This new "jargon" is ridiculous. So when 2 or 3 people bid against each other with their offers on the property, this apparently is called an "auction", very misleading to say the least.


All sorted now but so much wasted time with lack of communications etc Finally settled and brother arranging the photographer to come.

My head was fit to burst with all this extra stuff but glad we've sorted it.

Linda in my hydrangea pot, there are loads of Marrigold plants growing???? It is outside the back door and no Marrigolds in sight so have no ides how this happened?

It is dry here but still very windy and i have to water the plants today as they are quite dry.

Daughter ok but not home until tomorrow bless her as the bathroom is her fav place apparently!!

So i'm sorting out the paperwork and have a basket for shredding at the weekend. I also boxed up all my trinkets on my chest of drawers, just being organised for when I have to move things.

Hope all's well with everyone looking in.

May be back later on

Florence in the Hebrides

What a change, it was really sunny this morning when I was busy inside. We had lunch outside and in the end, I had to come in because the top of my head was burning, I need to get my sun hat out.

It has clouded over now, but is still warm. I finally planted my tomatoes and staked them up. I have a half barrel full of herbs. Lots of mint, so the roots are solid. Some rogue flowers from the garden had grown in as well, so I attempted to dig them out with a hand fork. I managed to bend the fork very badly :-( OH is going to have to straighten it in the vice.

The bottom of the garden has lots of Welsh poppies in flower at the moment. They all came from seeds which Tec from the Welsh thread sent to me. He was such a lovely man, I was lucky enough to meet up with him twice and we used to often talk on the phone, I do miss him

The litter is only going to get worse because we have a MacDonalds opening in a week. I already pick up MacDonalds stuff and the nearest one is at least fifteen miles away. I pick lots of vodka and wine bottles which have been thrown out of car windows from the verges. This week there has been a noticeable increase in the small polythene drugs bags.

Gwyn, I actually asked my neighbours either side as I know they only have rugs but tbh, you can see the tramlines all over. However,single man said, he was waiting on getting grey carpet throughout but thanked me for asking. Lady other side said ty but no ty.

For my polytunnel, I do have 2 small rolls plus some lino left over from when it was first fitted, so will be using that in the polytunnel.

I shall ask a couple of friends if they have any ideas or know someone that could make use of it before as a last resort it goes .It might find a new home yet and do someone a favour hopefully.

When I was working in the local school, we had an annual village clean up. If you could have seen the amount of bags collected from a 2 mile circle, you would be shocked. A rural village yet, whisky bottles lying in the drains, tins of juice, crisp packets, all sorts of random rubbish like flower pots, a jumper lol, gloves, the odd wellie boot. The only good thing i found one year was a £10 note with 1/4 missing. So I took it into the bank and they gave me a new one back.

Children decided to put it in the lifeboat donation box we had inside the front door as that year, they chose to fundraise for the RNLI

I think people are just so lazy and throwing rubbish out of car windows is awful!
We were brought up to take our rubbish home with us if we couldnt find a bin after a day out at the beach or the forest etc. We didn't dare drop a lolly wrapper or risk a thick ear!

As the carpet is not that old, there might even be someone who would be glad of it before they could afford a new one.

Our nearest Freecycle group sometimes has people asking for carpet to cover bare floorboards of a newly rented place.

Sounds like Joan and Florence are going to have very pretty gardens if their plants thrive.
Joan, I hope your granddaughter soon heals. That is a particularly painful injury, that she has. I wish her well.
Linda, ..You do so well with your litter-picking, but it must be disheartening that it needs doing so often.
I can't help noticing litter at the sides of the road, particularly near roundabouts.
Do people just have a good clear out of their car / lorry cab, while they are waiting for the lights to change? :-|

A beautiful sunny day here and so warm. The local children on their 1st week of half term break have been lucky with the great weather.

As the carpet is not that old, there might even be someone who would be glad of it before they could afford a new one.

Our nearest Freecycle group sometimes has people asking for carpet to cover bare floorboards of a newly rented place.

Sounds like Joan and Florence are going to have very pretty gardens if their plants thrive.
Joan, I hope your granddaughter soon heals. That is a particularly painful injury, that she has. I wish her well.
Linda, ..You do so well with your litter-picking, but it must be disheartening that it needs doing so often.
I can't help noticing litter at the sides of the road, particularly near roundabouts.
Do people just have a good clear out of their car / lorry cab, while they are waiting for the lights to change? :-|

A beautiful sunny day here and so warm. The local children on their 1st week of half term break have been lucky with the great weather.

Using the carpet in the garden is a good idea. When we had the allotment, I had a very large fruit cage. I used old carpet in that to keep the weeds down, it worked well.

Are you still planning to have that big poly tunnel? You could use the carpet to kill off the current growth. Friends are always happy to have old carpet for their allotment to put down over winter.

Afternoon all
Not a nice day here at all. Showery and very blustery wind. I will have to venture out a bit later and water all the new pots as didnt do that yesterday.

Daughter has gone off to hospital as shes having a wee procedure tomorrow and had to drink some awful medicine just now.
She said it had lemon in and made her feel sick, so they put blackcurrant juice in it and she managed to get it down poor thing!

She should be back on Friday bless her.

Joan, you made me chuckle with "skippers" on toast. Hope they stay still long enough for you to eat them lol.So glad for you that hubby had 2 lots of soup, you will have to make some more lol

I can't keep the carpets in the house as the hallway is simply not big enough. The only thing I can do if I cant find anyone to take them away other than the council, is get bin bags and wrap the carpets and secure with tape so they wont get wet outside.

Linda not all in one go as couldnt manage that. No, 1 room at a time a week apart. Daughter has managed to empty all her bits and pieces into plastic boxes and they are now stored behind the sofa! She only has 2 chest of drawers and a single bed so the easiest room to empty.

I have had 2 days of greek yoghurt but today need a hot meal so making a veggie stir fry with some rice. had plenty of veg in the fridge needing to be used.

Anyone watching masterchef ? Semi finals were on last night but its not celebrity just ordinary folk. A few good ones among them particularly an Indian gentleman who is an accountant.

Well enjoy the rest of the day ladies, id better get on with some tidying up.

Florence in the hebrides

Afternoon everyone.

Fine & dry for us today, the same as yesterday, a bit of wind, not much sunshine but comfortably warm.
I haven't been outside much today, just at the back of the house so far to see how my new plants are doing, they are coming along & pleased to see they have taken.

I did a bit of weed killing yesterday & still a bit of a gravelled area to do today, safe enough even with the wind, nothing to damage in said area.
I heed to fill up the bird bayjs as well, will get a lot of exercise doing that as there are several of them around the garden.to do. .

I made Lentil & Bacon soup yesterday & hubby really enjoyed it, so much so he is going to have the portion that was left over, hoping he will enjoy it again today, it's such a relief to see him eat something with great relish !

Just a light meal for me today, after eating 2 large portions of soup yesterday my stomch needs a bit of a rest, lol., so I'm going for Skippers on toast, delicious,

Enjoy the rest of your day.

Joan.

Well so much for my lazy day, I decided to do a litter pick and collected a whole bin bag full. That is the second one this week. I have a modified trolley to fit the bag on because I can’t carry it. Even so, I am shattered, so I will sit with my feet up while I have lunch

As far as "bulky uplifts" by Highland Council (my area) is concerned,
anything which is likely to soak up water - carpets, soft furnishings, mattresses, etc - has to be covered to protect it from rain while it waits on the roadside for the pre-booked uplift.
That's not so easy, if it's something really big such as a lot of carpet.

Linda's right - a man with a van is much more expensive - but at least he would presumably collect the item from inside the house, if it can be kept indoors until he arrives.

It is a glorious sunny day here,it has been warm for a few days now. Summer is finall here.

I hope that you had a nice time with your daughters friend Florence. Are you having the carpets done in one go Florence? I think at one time you said you were going to spread them out. Getting rid of them is a problem, you can probably hire a man with a van to take them to the tip.There are lots of people like that round here, but it would probably be far more expensive than waiting for the council to take them.

My daughter has gone down to London this morning for a work meeting, she got the 6.30am train and will be away over night. That means daddy is looking after Esme, she is not pleased about that obviously

I don’t have anything on the calendar today, so I will have a lazy day. The only thing I need to do is to transplant some tomato plants which the neighbour gave me into a grow bag.

Good morning everyone.
Daughter announced that her friend who has recently passed her driving test is coming over today for a visit!

She has not been here since we moved, so daughter is quite excited she is coming and i was thinking, oh no what will i make for her lunch?? So late last night, gave her a list to get in Tesco lol problem solved.

Its a very grey and overcast looking day with low cloud so might plump a shower or 2.

AnnG, the carpet chappies have said we wont need to move the sofas as they can work around them and move them for us which is a huge relief. The only other heavy items are our 6 chest of drawers. The computer desk is fairly light and the printer station on wheels, so thats easy enough.

But the problem is afterwards as to what do I do with all the defect carpet as they wont take it away? I shall have to ring the council and ask as they do a service where they will uplift 5 things for £25 just not sure how that works with carpet although 3 large rolls plus the hall is 4 items isnt it? So maybe it will be ok.
Except, its over 3 weeks so the old carpet will have to be put outside and possible get wet? And where will it go, lying on the front lawn? Hmmm!

Hope everyone else looking in today is well and hope the sun shines on you all.

Better crack on, get a quick shower before daughter's friend arrives at 10.30!
Bonus of the visitor is. she can take daughter to local PO and post a few things for me including friends family tree....sorted

Florence in the Hebrides :-D