General Chat

I don’t blame you going back to bed Joan, it is the comfiest place to be on a cold day.
It has been cold and rainy here today. OH was out with the Ramblers, but didn’t enjoy it.
Esme was sick throughout the night, some doubt my daughter got any sleep. She hasn’t been much better today. Thankfully they got all their money back from the conference hotel. It is a great shame though as it is good to get together with other families who have children with the same syndrome.
On Friday, they were going over to Chester for a couple of nights to see Grandpa. They can’t get the money back, but as it is a Travelodge, they can swap it to a different weekend. Unfortunately next weekend is fully booked.

Hi to all.
Oh Florence, I feel for you re your tooth, I hate the dentists, all my days I have had various problems with my teeth,& contsantly worry about what might happen next, & being 77 now my teeth are on there last legs,.I'm surprised I still have any left at my age, LOL.
Hope things have beeen sorted for you.

Linda, what a shame about your grandaughter, especially having missed out on some fun things.
I hope you are ok & not over doing things in your run up to selling, buying & moving house.

Well the power was off today, purposely switched off, I was up early to make hubby some breakfast & to fill up HW bottles & flasks, & to make sure hubby was comfy etc

I then went back to bed as I couldn't face sitting in a cold house looking at 4 walls, I managed some sleep & was very surprised to find the power back on by 12-45, what a relief.

It's not a nice day here, rain & some wind, very dreary, I really do need to get out & clear more leaves but too wet today.

Take care girls.

Joan.

Oops Florence, I have edited my last post as it didn’t make sense. My daughter had to waste her ticket to Manchester and buy a one to home instead.
Poor Esme started being sick just after I posted, lots of times :-(
She managed to get my jumper, so I was pleased to get home and change. Anyway mummy is back now, so she will be much happier.
Oh dear, you have had a disaster with your tooth, you are lucky to get an appointment so quickly.
One of my wisdom teeth had a large root filling and one day it just sheared off at gum level. The dentist decided just to leave the rest of it in the gum as it would be too difficult to get out . Luckily, it wasn’t too jagged.

Guess who has had a disaster? I was sucking on a soft mint and suddenly felt a hole where a tooth was. I quickly took the mint of out my mouth and then went to look in the mirror and all became clear.

3rd tooth along top left had had root canal treatment twice before some years ago but wasn't giving any problems. I could see that the front and back of tooth had cracked in half but the hole is huge! There are jagged edges too pushing against my top lip. I looked in the soft mint and found the tooth bit. I washed it and have kept it as I managed to get an emergency appointment after much discussion.

The receptionist was actually tbh very helpful and usually you have to tel at 9am for an emergency appointment for that day but they gave me tom at 11am. I had message my good friend who works part time and she is coming at 10am to take me there and back for which I am extremely grateful. I have to remember not to take my blood thinner in the morning!

I shall repay the kindness next time we get out for lunch and treat her.

Just when I was having a fairly quiet day and finishing my knitting, then this happens....whatever next.

Tesco is coming tomorrow but thankfully, daughter will be at home so thats a relief.

She got milk and I am now enjoying my first coffee in days but its a little strange drinking it with the tooth missing but enjoyable none the less.

Linda, oh dear me, what a disaster. How couldn't daughter get a ticket? Was the train full up? Hope Esme feels better soon.

Oh my whatever next!

Florence in the hebrides

Gosh, I hope that your heart is OK Florence, hopefully the doctor will sort an appointment out soon.

We stayed over at our daughters last night and she set of at 6,30 am for her day in London. Esme didn’t look well when she woke up, but she went to school. They called just after lunch to say that she was ill and needed collecting because she had a temperature and her tummy was hurting. She is very snotty, we gave her some Calpol and she has picked up a little bit, but you can see by her face that she is not well. Of course she is demanding mummy every thirty seconds and she is not here.
The worst thing is that after school, SIL was supposed to be driving them to Manchester and meeting up with mummy who was getting the train up from London. They were staying in a hotel for two nights to attend the biennial Costello Syndrome conference. Then they were driving over to Chester for two nights in a different hotel so they could see grandpa. Instead mummy has had to buy a train ticket to come back home tonight. Non of the hotel fees are refundable :-(
They will stay here tonight and reassess in the morning , but they can’t take her near other disabled children or into a care home. We are staying until mummy gets home, then will beat a hasty retreat.

Afternoon all

The day started off bright and sunny, a bit breezy but chilly but overall a nice day.

However the sky is clouding over, sun has gone and very windy...again!

Not feeling energetic today as a bit wheezy so needed inhaler which I havent used for ages. Dr tel for daughter and whilst she was on the tel, i asked her about getting an echocardiogram as still not had it and its overdue. She said she would chase and see if she can get me an appointment asap.

I have been getting breathless if I move too quick or bend down to pick up something, all symptoms i had back in 2019!! It's just worrying me that the heart repair may not be working as it should or its come apart. Either way, I need some reassurance so hopefully my GP can work her magic!

Hope everyone's weather has settled now and noone flooded.

Joan, hope all ok with you and you are sleeping better. Have you managed to pick up the bird baths?

Hows everything going Linda, all certified now lol

JustGinnie, I have a special red linen tablecloth I use at xmas with a sparkly runner. Special mats, glasses etc and red dining candles. Like the tree, the table is a work of art as well even though there will probably just be me & my daughter, just a tradition but i love doing all the prep and getting organised.

We havn't had any milk since Saturday when it ran out. The ferry didnt sail and on Monday, there was no milk in the shops!! Daughter had managed to get some today but wont be home til nearly 5pm. So looking forward to a coffee :-D :-D

Hope all ok with everyone

Florence in the hebrides

When we had a tree it was green with red, gold and silver baubles and mini bows but we haven't had one for a few years . I put the cards up and a couple of wreaths and some ornaments on the mantle piece and window sill. We used to do lots more when the gr/children were small but they are all adults now and doing there own thing.
Still love Christmas and have the table set and some nice extras that we like just have to have ones that suit our different diets.

Busy time for you Linda with so much to do . Hope all goes smoothly with the sale and the new kitchen .
Take care all

Ginnie

My tree is always silver and red baubles Florence, I don’t like a messy tree either.

I hope you have managed to rescue your clematis Argyll Gran. It will probably be too difficult to untangle, but pruning it back will make it come back agin.

I see we are due for lots more rain tomorrow, I am not planning to go out until after dinner, so hope I have an easy day. We need to go to my daughters and stay over on Tuesday night as she has to leave very early on Wednesday morning to go to London.

We had a bit of a long day today. We had to drive forty minutes to near Leeds so I could be certified :-D Or have my identity certified at least. While we were there we also filled in the forms to do with buying the new house, so got that out of the way.

We then drove forty minutes to Howden, to the factory of Howdens kitchens. They have a massive showroom there, much bigger than the average kitchen showroom. They were having a special expo event this week, so even though it is early days, it made sense to go as putting a new kitchen in is going to be a priority in the new house. The current one is so badly designed that it is seriously lacking in storage space. It was excellent to be able to see such a huge range, it isn’t the same when you see things on line or in catalogues.

We have been agonising over what we could do with the layout, so it was good to be able to spend time with a designer I took the floor plan and my iPad as there is a 3d tour of the house on the estate agent website. She was great and we now know that we are on the right track. We may not use them of course, but it was a really useful day.

Then it was an hour and a quarter home, some am tired now.

What a shame about your tree Argyll gran, I hope the clematis etc can be rescued.

Linda you have got plenty to do even though you had already started on clearing the house of things you no longer wanted, but you will get there.

I was outside just now to shut up the shed, whilst outside i took a walk round the "best" bit of garden at the front of the house, sooo many branches have come down during the storm, not thick heavy ones, just thin but quite long, plus lots of shorter twiggy bits lying all over the place.

A job for the grandchildren maybe, 10p a twig do you think, LOL.

Joan.

Afternoon all.
Hopefully I wont lose this message as the last one disappeared because the internet keeps going off so 3rd time lucky...better keep it short lol.

Joan, daughter some times changes twice a day but she has OCD and she did strip her bed. her fluffy duvet cover fills the whole machine so that was a load in itself but your comment about a "chinese laundry" made me laugh
:-D :-D

Linda I bought fairly recently a new tree in a sale as the old one was 6 years old. This is 6ft tall and yes opening up all the branches does take time but I love doing the tree. When I have finished decorating it, it is a work of art. I think I must have some OCD too as the tree is symmetrical all round with alternative coloured baubles in just 2 colours. This year it is teal & silver for a change instead of purple and silver.

Was always my job when I was younger as my dear mum just threw all sorts of tinsel and decs on, in no pattern and I hated that so when I was about 14, I took over the job.

Joan so glad, you managed outside and sorted out your seat. At least its still in one piece. Im sure there are thousands of leaves to keep you busy too,

Linda, is this new house much smaller? When i moved here, i had to be ruthless in getting rid of things but now, I just have things i need and use and not things buried in boxes in the wardrobe or hall cupboard.

Florence in the hebrides

A lovely calm sunny day here, making all the autumn leaves glow - those that are left after the gale, that is.

While tidying up in the garden this afternoon I discovered that a small tree has blown down at the far end of the house, at some time this week.
Not a very tall tree, but bushy, and festooned with lots of clematis and honeysuckle.
That's going to be a big job, cutting up the branches and getting rid of them - as well as trying to disentangle and salvage as much of the clematis as possible.
It just missed my clothes line, but I'll have to clear most of it away before I can hang any clothes out.

Linda, it's only when you move house that you realise what a lot of stuff you have!
It's good that you've already got rid of a lot during your marathon deep-clean.

I am glad that things are better for you Florence and Joan.
There is no flooding near here for a change, it is mainly in South Yorkshire. There is some in York of course, but that is just normal.

Today, I decided to do the first bit of packing. I have a typical cupboard under the stairs where in the small pointy bit, I keep the Xmas decorations. They were in five smaller cardboard boxes and some carrier bags , but in the new house, they will have to go in the garage. I had one very large plastic box, so bought a second one. I thought that they would all fit in there, but had to use another smaller plastic box as well. They are now out in the garage, it is odd because the volume of the three boxes in the garage looks huge in comparison to when the contents were under the stairs. I will have to have a good prune at Xmas because we can’t possibly need all of them.
I am going to give away the artificial Xmas tree as well and get a much smaller one. We always had real trees, but when the children left home and we started going to hotels to have the extended family all together, we stopped getting a real tree. One year I bought what had been an expensive artificial one in a sale just after Xmas. It is very large :-( It is incredibly realistic though, it takes ages to put it up as I have to spread all the tiny twigs out to make it look real It takes up a lot of room which is fine here, but won’t be when we move

You & your washing Florence, are you sure you are not running a "chinese" laundry, at your house, lol.
A MUCH better day here today, the sun has been shining all day, not much of a wind a bit chilly first thing but not too bad now.

I did manage to get out & clear some leaves off the drive & around the Potting shed, I filled 3 garden sacks, hoping to lift some more tomorrow from the front garden if a dry day.

I managed to get the garden seat/glider upright, it is a steel one & quite heavy & was starpped down with 4 trampoline starps, the fittings were deep into the ground & still the storm up turned it.

Joan.

Afternoon all.

Finally the wind has def abated as it was up again last night but now, sun is shining and I slept like a log!

We have had a very busy day here. Daughter decided to change her bedroom around....major job. It is already full with an "Aladdin's cave" of goodies lol Anyway, she had been beavering away and it's nearly all sorted.

I seemed to have 4 loads of washing today as with the bad weather, we didnt do any last 2 days. It was dry enough for an hour so we managed to get 3 full lines out and dried before a shower came but it was nearly all dry which was fab.

I have made salmon fillets with new pots for tea and peas plus small salad. There is some soup left from yesterday to finish as well so that's the eve meal all sorted ready for cooking.

After vacuuming and tidying up, the house is looking a bit more respectable as last night daughter had all the fayre stuff out of the boxes all over the lounge floor!! But she condensed from 4 boxes to 2 boxes so less carrying on the day.

So now, i'm having a well earned rest with me coffee and catching up on emails, news etc.

I hope Joan, your wind has gone down too and you are having a better day?

Your plants will recover i'm sure, they always seem to somehow.

Hope everyone else is ok as I saw parts of Derbyshire under water too and Yorkshire I think. Linda are you near any floods?

Take care

Florence in the hebrides

Hi to all.
Another wet & gale force winds with us uvernight, the winds haven't abated at all here, & so another night of next to no sleep, the constant noise from the wind hitting the house has been just dreadful.

It doesn't look like things are going to get better any time soon, it's still raining & trees & palnts are getting a right battering, & still on the dark side.

Joan..

Morning linda et al.

Yes all ok up here as wind has finally abated although its still raining but not torrential.

Having a lazy morning as still tired from lack of sleep!

However, have written a list of jobs to do for the coming week and would appear, the list is growing arms & legs lol. With birthdays and xmas parcel for Australia, these need to get posted asap.

I saw the storm warning was also for mid country and not just for the highlands so if anyone in those other areas, take great care or stay at home if possible.

Right need to get busy and horse on with me chores for today.

Florence in the hebrides

Just checking in to see if those of you up in Scotland had a better night and those in the midlands where it seems very bad as well of course.
Things have calmed down here, the wind has dropped and it is just damp and drizzly

Florence I had an 8kg Beko condenser dryer £260 . My old one only had 2 programmes hot and gentle dry but this one has several and should be more economical to run.

Oh my goodness Linda, sounds so stressy!!

Ooh, we put n an offer on the house this morning and stressed that we needed to move quickly and were worried about the vendors not having started looking for a house etc. their estate agent has just phoned back and said that if we pay 5k more than our offer they will take it and they have agreed to move out to suit our timescale. We of course agreed as we had been prepared to pay the full asking price if need be.

So now I can start fretting about the actual move and then about all the work we want to do in the new house. Knocking out part of a wall and a new kitchen and utility room are top of the list and to be tackled asap after we move in :-D