General Chat

Evening all.
Well I typed quite a long scree earlier today and in the middle of it the internet went off!!!!

So anyway Joan, what a nightmare for you & your daughter. I thought there was law that states if you fail to properly stock proof your animals and they escape and damage your property, then you have the right to sue them? I'm sure this doesn't only apply to cattle?

Glad you got it sorted in the end.

Its been a beautiful day here, no wind and quite warm & sunny so I ventured outside to get plenty fresh air and walk round to inspect all my pots.
I have a carnation in bud, roses with a full set of leaves and new ones growing. Lobelia that died off and doesn't normally grow the next year has reseeded and green shoots have appeared.

Tulips are about 5 inches above the soil level! Even the fuchsias that didn't do that well last year, all still have foliage.

It's bonkers, it's still January :-S :-S :-S

Mind you, just seen the weather forecast and the rain and gales are heading this way tomorrow just in time for the weekend, so back to normal lol.

Chicken pasta bake for tea for daughter but i had a French bread baguette with cheese, onion & lettuce, was delicious.

Hope everyone else ok.

Florence in the Hebrides

The cow didn't leave anything behind - just the big holes in the lawn!

The fate of the dishwasher is in the balance. It's not the inlet valve, but three other separate faults. Three spare parts required - if they're still obtainable, as the machine is 13 years old.
The very nice man is going to investigate availability and prices ,and will let me know. Then I can decide whether to have it repaired (if he can get the parts), or whether to get a new one. Oh dear!

You'll be looking forward to all those car outings in May, Florence! The weather's usually good then, too.


EDIT 30/01/23:
Well, it's going to mean a new dishwasher. The parts for the old one are obtainable, but the cost of them plus labour comes to very nearly as much as a new one at the lower end of the market, which is all I need - just a basic dishwasher, no bells & whistles required. As the old machine is 13 years old, it doesn't make sense to spend as much as that on a repair.

Afternoon everyone
Awful day here, very windy and heavy showers too, so another day of being stuck indoors.

However I cleared through several drawers today and my wardrobe. Made a pile for the charity shop and plenty of cardboard and paper for recycling. Daughter made a pan of lentil soup for herself as I didn't fancy it. I'm having jacket potato, grated cheese and baked beans,

Glad the sheep have gone Joan, they are a pain when they invade ones garden.

AG, a wondering cow is a pain too especially if they leave their "mess" behind.

My washing machine makes a thumping noise sometimes when it spins. One time it was the feet under the machine that had come loose and just needed tightening up.

Have to say, I use to pay for car insurance, TV and everything else by monthly d/d as I simply couldn't afford to pay in full when the bill was due. But still a nuisance when everything comes at once!

My bestie messaged last night to confirm she is coming for a week in May! Last time she was here was 2000!!! So long overdue, We are going to hire a car and share the costs and she says she will take me out everyday bless her.

So with brother coming in April and bestie in May, its lovely to be able to look forward to things for a change.
:-D :-D

So very quiet here today and even the traffic seems quiet too.

Off for a cuppa now.

Florence in the hebrides

Wandering sheep are a real nuisance.

A couple of nights ago a cow escaped from a nearby field - and now I have a lot of 6-inch-deep holes in my soggy lawn, which I'll have to get round to filling in again.

This afternoon there's a repair man coming to listen to the thumping noise my dishwasher has been making, and (hopefully) to fix it. He thinks it may be something to do with the inlet valve, but can't tell until he hears it. I hope that's all it is!

Don't want to have to buy a new one at present. It's been an expensive month - car insurance renewal, TV licence renewal, dentist - and in February there will be Ancestry sub renewal.

You shouldn’t have such delectable plants in your garden Joan, they are obviously a magnet for the sheep.

I made Hoisin pork with egg fried rice for dinner tonight, it was a hit, although I knew Eve wouldn’t touch the pork as she hates the texture of meat. I gave her some smoked salmon to go with her rice. The school egg fried rice is her favourite lunch and she said this rice was nicer than the schools, so I will make it again.

Good afternoon folks looking in.
Its not a nice day here, windy and showery and feeling chilly again. managed to get blue bin out just in time and then got it straightaway and put back in its place.

My meeting last night was just over an hour and really didnt learn anything new. Was just an update on whats happening etc.

Not sure what to have for dinner tonight as we had baked salmon last night and dont feel like another cooked meal so maybe beans on toast with grated cheese.

Not done a huge amount today but paperwork!!! Yes plenty of it needs my attention just now.

Well Joan, you have been a busy bee in the garden. How interesting watching a hare run around. I love watching my pigeons and the seagulls fighting over the bird seed but the seagulls always lose lol.

Had some lovely news earlier, my little brother and sil plus wee nephew are coming again for Easter for a week and we managed to find a holiday home just a mile up the road so perfect for them . So I am very excited for that and looking forward to seeing them again.

Well my fingers are cold typing so I think I need a coffee to warm up.

Joan, don't over do things and careful outside.

Hope all is well with everyone else today :-D

Florence in the hebrides

I am glad that you are eating with no ill effects Florence.

I have just come back from the supermarket again! I forgot to put Apple juice on the shopping list and we are nearly out of it. Esme drinks lots of it, so I buy a tray full of twelve large cartons at a time. I was going tomorrow, but going this afternoon got me out of going swimming with them.

On Sunday morning, I always spend an hour with Eve doing her multi choice English homework. This term is Romeo and Juliet. The book she has has lots of little explanations on the side of the page. It works best if I read it out to her, then explain all the side notes and what is going on. She does the multi choice answers on her computer as we go along. She quite enjoys it when we do it that way and does understand. She is only in year eight ( second year in old times), but it is a GCSE text book. The English teacher really seems to push them, but I guess that is why the school gets such outstanding GCSE and A level results

Afternoon all
Well at last the gale has subsided and all is calm. Damp and showery but the sun keeps poking through which is a welcome sight.

I have just finished a basket of ironing and done 2 loads of washing so as my knees are aching, i'm now sitting with a coffee.

I have an old school friend coming round at 11am for a coffee and catch up as haven't seen her for at least 4 months! It will be good to get some new news for a change.
In the eve at 7.15, my neighbour is taking me to a meeting. Its members only as there is something going on with the charity that I hope isn't bad news!!

Mum's flat is getting nearer to be going on the market. Just the sockets to replace and then the estate agent can revisit and do a proper valuation. We heard that prices are going downwards so hence the need for a quick sale.

Well my chicken curry was lovely last night and no side effects so my tummy is fine now.

Not sure about tonight's tea, something light as still quite full, maybe toasties, cheese and onion.

Hope everyone having a lovely Sunday :-D

Florence in the Hebrides

I forget to say, I found another recipe for my scones but with gluten fee self raising and not plain which I would normally use.

Well they turned out fab and are almost like my "normal" scones. Was so pleased I shall be using this recipe again. Daughter thought they were delicious too.

Linda, i remember when daughter was about 4 and she got a nurses outfit plus a hammer to check your reflexes and like Esme, she could wallop quite hard lol

I'm feeling ok and trying to think Ann 48 hours ago but I had only crumpets on Thursday eve. Was just one of those things I guess but hoping, i never have another episode anytime soon!

Oh dear Florence, I hope you are feeling better. OH had several long stints working in India, so quite often had an upset tum. His golden rule is to fast for twenty four hours after such an event to give it a chance to pass through your system. I can never do that as I always feel hungry.

Argyll Gran, the first of my snowdrops are just opening up in the garden, they are just outside the patio doors, but the rest of the spring bulbs are only just starting to poke through the soil

I have been entertaining Esme while her mum had a rest. We played schools with her dolls for a long time, then she got her medical kit to check them over. She checked us as well. Apparently my heart is not good and I need to take pills every day. Poor OH has a bad heart and is going to have a cardiac arrest. She performed an operation on him and he is fine now. Part of her check on me was to check my reflexes with a plastic hammer. She doesn’t half wallop your kneecaps :-(

glad you are feeling better Florence. I think with food poisoning you can go back 48 hours to find the culprit

Afternoon all
Well the wind has been blowing all night and all today but the temp is 10 degrees and was the warmest place in Scotland yesterday.
It has also been raining hard too so pretty miserable outside.

Plenty to do indoors anyway. I have just finished making our chicken tikka curry for tonight with basmati rice, naan bread and poppadum's plus I made my fav Tzatziki dish too. Really cant wait for that after being ill at 1am!

I went to bed around midnight and then woke at 1am. I felt a twinge in my ride side and decided to head to the bathroom. Well within minutes, my tummy was, well ,"very upset" and then whilst sitting, the room began to swirl, the sweat was dripping down my face and I felt terrible.

I managed to stand up, turn around before being violently sick!!! I have never been so ill in a long time. Eventually after 1/2 hour, I went back to bed all shivery.

I can't for the life of me think what I had eaten to cause this as only had a light tea last night??

Anyway, i feel fine today but my stomach is sooo empty so curry will, "kill or cure" lol
Linda, I remember Ker Plunk when I was a child and in my local schools we also played with it, great fun.

Daughter is getting a new 6 drawer chest and selling her small one, so have been busy clearing her room for when its coming, just not sure yet(its local not online)

So all in all a busy busy day but now sitting as I'm well due a cuppa lol.

Happy weekend all

Florence in the Hebrides

It warmed up during the night, here on the west coast.
When I went to bed last night the garden was white and the paths icy.
This morning I awoke to the normal green and brown garden, with no sign that we'd ever had snow.

Unfortunately it means we'll soon be back to the usual rain.
The frosty weather brought sunshine and blue sky.

No snowdrops in bloom yet, but many just about to burst forth. I can see the white in the partly open buds.

I thought it was supposed to be getting warmer this weekend, but it is zero degrees and everything is white. The birdbath hasn’t defrosted all week.
It is chilly in the house even though the heating is on. I have just been playing monkey kerplunk with Esme. The original kerplunk game has marbles, but this one has little plastic monkeys instead, they have hook tails, so catch and dance on the sticks which makes it more fun. Luckily Esme likes it when the monkeys fall down and she thinks she wins if she has more than anyone else. Having them here means that I get to play all the childhood games again

Hello all. Like you Joan we have a nice day here, not exactly warm, 7 degrees but lovely sunshine and blue sky looking out from indoors it is so much better than those horrid grey skies.
I have not done a lot really, just several outstanding small jobs like emptying the airing cupboard and putting clothes away, made some left over veg soup which was very nice for lunch and did my Tesco order for tomorrow. Then, like Joan I went down the garden and gathered up a lot of cuttings I had chopped off of a large old honeysuckle that had blown away from its fixing on the fence in the gales. The garden bin is now almost full.

Hope all are ok on here and enjoy the fish and chips Joan.

I am different and hate using the ordinary conveyer belt tills. We have the scan and shop system at my Tesco branch. I spread my bags out in the trolley, then zap the items as I go along. That way I can put things in the bags the way I want them to make them easy to unpack. I just go to the self service till, point the hand set at the screen and pay. It is far quicker and easier, I don’t have to take everything out of the trolley onto the belt, then put in all back into the bags again. I hate it when I have to go to a supermarket and they don’t have the scan and shop.

It has been very cold again today, but it is now three degrees, so getting warmer.

Not all AG, i hate the self tills too as they never work for me lol.

But I had unloaded half my trolley and then was packing a bit but didnt expect someone to to stick their hands in my trolley and unload. i too have let someone ahead of me when i had a big trolley and yes others have done the same for me.

But I have a system when i unload to the conveyor belt, i start with tins, then fridge, freezer stuff, light things, veg. Its then easier for me to put it away when i get home. What he was doing was throwing it all together which i didnt want. If he had asked me did i require some help, that would have been different but he was in a hurry and let everyone else in the queue know about it!

I hate self-service tills!
They always seem to come up with an error message for no apparent reason, and anyway, I'd rather deal with a person at a till - and help keep them in a job.

I avoid them at all costs. Even on the odd occasion when I have only a couple of items, I'd rather go to a manned (or womanned, more often) till and wait patiently in the queue .
However, I find that on those occasions, the person ahead of me with a trolleyful will usually offer to let me go ahead of them, which is very kind.
I always accept gratefully - and I do the same for other people when I'm the one with the trolley.


EDIT:
Oops! that sounds as if I'm criticising you, Florence! I didn't mean that at all!
You had obviously started unloading before the man came along.

Aw Joan, how rude of this woman to do that to you!! What right does she have to push you along with her trolley, honestly. i have had that happen once when a man who was also in a hurry decided that whilst i was packing my shopping, he decided to empty my trolley onto the conveyor belt without asking me.

The checkout lady had made me look at him and i said,what do you think you are doing with my shopping? he said it would get him to the till a bit quicker. I was furious and told him to leave my shopping alone, and he had no right! He continued then to grunt & groan as he only had 2 items and my trolley was full.

I said to him, why dont you go to the self serve tills? There is noone at them. But he stayed at my till.

The supermarket is the worse place on earth for rude people, they have no patience but its a shop and you have to queue, thats life!

i hope you dont have bruises on your legs joan?

What a shame about the fuel pumps not working and losing the voucher, just typical eh!

Well I made gluten free oven scones using the xanthan gum and gluten free soda and they are ok. A little drier than my usual as i find the flour is a bit gritty and not as fine but they will pass lol

So off to try one with some jam :-D

Florence in the hebrides

Good morning everyone looking in.
Last night about 9.15, I heard the sound of a car boot shutting so I peeped out of the window as was a bit late for visitors.

Shock horror to see Tesco van and the guy with 2 crates walking towards my front door. i panicked wondering if I had forgotten I had placed an order???? Was I having a huge senior moment???/ I opened the front door and said to the guy, are you sure this is for me as i had a delivery last week and im sure I haven't ordered anything else? He asked if this was no 1 and I said no 2 doors up the way.

He had the wrong house and was a new driver!! Thought I was going mad.
But whilst the door was open, my neighbours cat who constantly sits on my window ledge meowing to come in had infact run into my house lol

So I started calling the cat to come and no sign .All of a sudden the cat appeared out of my bedroom and made its way into my lounge. Well, it had a look around before jumping onto my computer chair and then curled up :-D :-D :-D

I looked at the cat and said, cheek of you! I tried to get the cat to follow me out to the door which it did and then i quickly shut the porch door but the cat jumped up on 2 legs and tried to push the handle. He is a big cat i might add.

Anyway by this time with the front door open, a snow shower was coming inside my house and it was freezing. The cat was not happy with me trying to put him out but after 20 minutes, i gently nudged his behind and out he went before shutting the door.
within 2 minutes he was at my window bless him.

I do like cats but he lives next door!

After a busy day out and chilling in my lounge, this wasn't quite what i had in mind late at night.

Anyway a letter was waiting for me when I got home and its for my brain scan. I had to change it as it was at a mobile unit on the mainland and i cannot mount stairs. So the helpful lady rearrange for my usual hospital on 20 Feb at 10.45 which fits in perfectly.This brain scan will only take around 30 minutes and not the full 1 1/2 hours I had previously but that included the spine as well.

Anyway good i havent had to wait too long,
Daughter returning today so I guess, washing machine will be on all day and my tidy house will become a bomb site :-D :-D

Have a good day all

Florence in the hebrides