General Chat

Morning Brenda ,very glad the holiday went well for you both ,and it's nice that the weather isn't nearly as cold as expected on your return ,lol,it will give you a little time to get used to it again.
I carried on with the Christmas cooking after the duck too ,the turkey was cooked in the microwave tow days ago ,on the convection oven setting to save energy and time ,far quicker than using a big oven because it heats up far quicker ,and holds the heat being a smaller cavity.
I sliced it up and put it back down in the freezer yesterday giving us five portions of breast meat ,two meals of curry in the legs ,and the wings can bw heated in the mic when i fancy a nosh on the bones ,he he :-).
The carcass i broke in half last evening and boiled it up with a carrot ,onion and a chopped potato for extra flavour,let it go cold overnight ,and made a hearty broth with it ,carrots ,leeks ,two smallish turnip ,lentils, another onion ,more potato, barley ,peas, and a few other goodies ,all the veg apart from the peas ,out of the garden ,;lol,i even tore some cabbage into shreds and threw those in for good measure .
Plenty of salt and pepper ,both fresh ground ,and now the missus has shoved two nice dumplings in for dinner ,lovely ;-).
for the table Christmas day i will cook the big chicken up so that there is some fresh cooked poultry on the table ,and of course ,i have a leg on my plate he he ,Christmas ,i have to have a leg to chew on ,the wife's legs getting a bit chewy these dsys ,lol,[ouch] :-(.
My new desk top arrived this morning and is now under the laptop ,,comfortable to use and looks like a great idea,and the legs will be handy if it's needed on the bed at any time.
Time to go already ,din dins is ready ,slurp ,catch you later troops ,Fred.xxx ;-)

Hi Fred,wow,you make me feel dzzy just reading about what you have been doing.
Must get my self organised.Bought a large chicken today and intend to do aroast meal with the breast and a curry with the legs and then a soup/broth with the carcass,Might not get the dumplimgs but you never know.!!!! Last time I did any they took over the pan and nearly the stove.LOL
Been back to the pain clinic today ,the injection I had did not last long ,so now I am having another one,but do not know when,It might not work either but I have been told that it will be more likely to work as the first one worked for a while!!!
I am having my medication increased in the meantime. So I am waiting and seing again,
Better get on with the tea and then do a few christmas cards,posted the bulk of mine today aand then got two from people I had not heard from for a few years and in my married name. !!!
Got yours yesterday ,many thanks.
Take care Brenda xx

Morning all ,huh ,a bit more of the white stuff overnight ,and bitterly cold up here ,but it is supposed to become milder during the day ,and get even better by Friday ,so roll on ,i may even get my coffee Sunday on the patio with my furry chum if i am lucky ,lol .
I am having a day off from cooking other than doing todays meals Brenda ,i treated myself at Currys yesterday and got the new windows 8 pro disc which io am going to put into my Spare Toshiba laptop ,so that i can do a long trying out process of getting used it before i have to buy a new computer with it installed as the base platform. :-).
It looks to be a minefield to anyone on earlier versions of windows for us older people [the kids will take to it like a duck to water] but there is a distinct advantage to the system ,over the earlier ones in that all of the settings ,the security systems ,the updates are automatic ,you only need to sign in ,and sort out your apps and emails,that sort of stuff ,so there are are no worries about screwing the system up at all. :-D.didn't think the upgrade was bad price wise either £50 for the pro version ,but i bet i have a hell of a job at first sorting out where everything is ,he he. :-0.
Have to go to B&M tomorrow ,lol,my mother in laws gas fire lost it's back wheel yesterday so it has to go out ,can't afford to have it tear the carpet as it gets moved to do the cleaning :-( a pity though it's been a good'en ,40 + years old ,and still passed the latest safety test,bet the new one dosn't last nearly as long,but i may need one in the future in case of a power failure,then it would be the only means of heat on the top floor ,no good for the missus.
Think we are more or less done for the goodies for Christmas too ,only the little bits like the buffet sausage rolls ,little chicken bites ,party mini pies ,mini sausages ,that sort of thing ,the only thing for teas i will make are sarnies ,and our little pizza's that i make from muffins having sliced them in half and lightly toasted that way i can control the fat content in them ,so simple to make ,and the grand kids love them ,with no stodgy dough as the base :-)..
Time to start the dinner ,a few roast bits such as a red onion ,two roasties each and a couple of pieces of parsnip .to go with the chicken and sausages in the little casserole that i knocked up yesterday,.that ,some cabbage ,and mash will do us well,AND i can use the mash left over ,with the leftover cabbage to do a bubble and squeak for the tea,with a couple of veggie patties.
Catch you later all ,take care ,and stay warm ,Fred,and the two females he he xxx :-D

Morning all.hope you manage to get your coffe on the patio Fred,you could have it here now but not sure about later when its lighter.been up since 6 and awake since just before 5.So have been catching up on emails and roamimg the boards ,let my membership to bluemountain go a while back and can.t find a good free ecard site ,any ideas?/
Treated me and John to some steak pies from Morrisons yesterday for lunch,we really liked them,but boy did they keep coming back to let us know we had had them,!!!Will be a while before we have them again.
Made a nice salad for tea,not the weather I know but I wanted something light.I had tuna and John had cornbeef,(sorry Fred from a Tin),with a bit of chedder and onion.I also had some roasted red peppers,from a jar as I have nevr cooked peppers like that ,but intend to try them,/
John was busy cleaning the carpets yesterday and did really well.he was shattered when he had done!!
Having a go at the two sofas today well doing one today and then one on Tuesday to give us somewhere to sit while the other dries.
Then I will get the tree and decorations up.
Still have a couple of presants to buy and lots to wrap up,need to get them done and delivered soon.
Just need the fresh stuff on christmas eve foodwise ,but not getting much in the way of nibbles as I had to throw away too much the last couple of years,
Not buying ant drinks apart from a bottle or two of diet tonic for the odd Vodka We have loads of tins of larger in the shed,and bottles of other stuff in the cupboard that never gets drank !!!
time to get the washer on now I can hear stirrings upstairs,
Take care Brendaxx
David was up in Newcastle yesterday for the City /Newcastle match.
He had a very early start as it was a lunch time kick off.but was back home by 7pm.

Morning Brenda,yep i think i may well get my coffee outside this morning ,a bit chilly out there at the minute but sunny and dry ,my jacket will suffice to keep me warm,no need for trousers ,lol,the shorts will do fine.
WASSAT ?corned beef ,from a tin ? never heard of it he he,'orrible greasy tasteless mush ,yuk,and far worse for you than those steak pies with the fat content in the pastry far too high.
that's the problem with growing older ,our bodies and digestive systems can't cope with all the additives in bread and pastry that get shoved into food these days .
I used to love Gregg's pasties and pies ,but these days they too ,have gone daft with all the gunge they stick in the pastry ,and i stopped getting them because the indigestion was not worth the result of a good nosh ,lol :-(.
We have cut down a lot on stuff For Christmas too ,we went to Iceland yesterday and got the last of the party food in,but not a lot of it because we get no visitors these days,and as you say ,it lands up getting thrown out.
I am now getting used to Windows 8 ,and it's fine for older people once you get your head round the operating system,most things like defrags ,virus deleting ,and automatic upgrades is all done by the system ,and all you have to do is browse, great stuff.
Think we are just about there with the food ,parcels for family ,and everything else apart from delivering it all ,so we are relaxing a bit more at last :-).
Hope John is feeling okay today ,sounds as though he may have overdone it a little with all that cleaning yesterday,i usually do that sort of caper over a couple of days ,compensating by starting the job a couple of days earlier ;-).
There are plenty of free e,card places on the net ,just have a browse,on yahoo ,or google for them ooodles come up in seconds.
time to start dinner now ,chicken lattice pasties ,new potatoes and veggies ,and for tea ,i think a jacket tattie may be on the cards. :-).
Catch you later ,have a good day ,Fred xxx :-D

Evening all,well its been rather mild here today.but iys going to be different tomorrow,
We are in for rain and high winds.Hope you have been ok with the weather Fred.
Back at the doctors tomorrow to get the increase in my medication,which I am really hoping will help me .
Trying to finish the christmas shopping has been a nightmare with the pain.
Was given a leaflet by the pain clinic last week which is ok for pain from arthritis etc but not the nerve pain i get.But will use some of the ideas and see what happends.
Glad you are getting used to the new windows ,it will be a long while before I get any upgrade s need to spend some money on more jobs in the house and garden,Have even been thinking of getting a car for myself again as I am finding it very frustrating not being able to just go out when and where I want.,but buying it and running it are two different things !!
Have been looking at the ecard websites and will be joining one in the next day or two.
Take care Brenda x

morning our Brenda ,and anyone else who happens by ,including Santa Claus if he is about :-).
hope the new jab works for you ,it must be terrible when you have a pain that some sort of pain killer won't work to some sort of degree,i have a few extra ,extra strong ones for use for when my hips get really bad ,but so far i havn't had to use any of them The people from social services came out yesterday and brought the missus one of those perching stools for use at the cooker ,the kitchen benches and table to help her with veggie preperation ,and also looked again at the stair rail and said they had the go ahead to put a full rail in ,so that they could in the future if needed ,put a stair lift in.
Best of all ,when asked if there was anything else they could help with ,the bathroom came into the conversation ,and they asked me if i could manage a bath okay with my hips being pretty bad ,so i said no ,i couldn't sit down because i couldn't get up again ,which is why i put the shower in ,last year.
Asked if that worked okay i said ,at first yes ,but now no, as i could no longer get my leg over,lol,which caused a snigger or two ,but i said i could no longer lift the legs high enough to get in the bath without a lot of pain ,and would only attempt it when i was desperate to clean myself up.
The upshot is ,they are going to get us a grant to have a wet room put in with just the shower moved to the back wall ,and a new sink and cupboard put in ,making things much easier for us both.
Turns out that as we are getting a council tax rebate ,we may only have to pay a couple of hundred pounds towards the grant,so i said ,yes please ,go for it,and try to get a grant for the lift too ,because we will need it very soon.
The rain and gales are due to hit us here by tonight so we are going to the metro centre after going to the doc's this morning to get the last of the Christmas shopping in ,lol,time is getting short.
Made some lovely mushy peas last night ,so fish and chips are on the menu this evening ,yum..
Hope you have your boat handy down there he he ,i am thinking of borrowing my sons fishing boat iof we get much more water up here ,lol, sigh ,bang goes our white Christmas again grrrrrrr.
Catch you later ,take care in those wellies Brenda ,Fred,And the two females xxx :-D.

Morning Fred and anyone else looking in,this ismy second attempt to post my message,perhapsthe other one was a little long ,so will keep this one short in case it gets whipped of somewhere as well.So pleased about the help you are getting with the shower and the stair lift,my mam would not have been able to get up or down stairs with out theirs It was taken out after she died as dad said it was ti painful to see it there, It would have been great ten years later when he got ill,!!!
They were going to put one back ,but he died before they could agree which sort ,the stairrs bend twice and so it needed to be done special,
He had a sort of bench for the shower which he sat on in the shower which was over the bath,but would not have been able to use it for much longer I know my friends parents wer over the moon when they had one done.And I am sure you and Liz will get many years from the shower and stair lift.
I start my extra medication today ,have to go slowly on the increase and see what level of relief I get ,I decided when I am getting enougth relief. and if I get enougth with the meds might not need the injection again.!!
Got a few thing to get yet and the fresh stuff but theres not much of that to get anyway.Might get up early and go to the supermarket at 7am on Monday when they open!!.
Have to deliver parcels today and tomorrow,so that will free up some room in the dining room ,looks like a jumble sale with all the bags ready to be taken.
Well better get a move on Take care Brendax

Morning Brenda ,huh ,it must be that time of year with the outages ,lol,i was in the middle of a longish email to friends in Oz and Canada last evening at 5 pm when Virgin went off line ,and i lost everything ,T V the broadband ,and the phone ,not impressed at all ,and it is the last straw for me and i am going to have the T V and Phone service terminated after the new year.
It's bad enough loosing the broadband for three hours ,but for anyone reliant on the landline phone with no mobile it could be catastrophic if there is illness in the family.
If there is any hassle i will tell them to get the lot out including the broadband .
I have two mobiles in the house ,and can buy an Orange dongle for £17 a month .with unlimited usage ,so loyalty to virgin has gone out of the window.
I already have free view in both bedrooms ,and have a spare box to fit to the big L G in the front room :-D.
Getting on to being ready for the big day ,we are there ,everything set ,freezers full of goodies,and all the heavy cooking done ,just seperate portions to get out of the storage ,and thawed in time for the meals we isssss organised he he.
Quite a wind last night into this morning ,two urns over in the front garden ,which i will set right when the wind drops ,in the back i have one bucket to replace after a brick was taken off the B B Q cover in a gust ,and smashed the rim ,and one broken trough with the carrots in ,smashed by another brick ,lol,could be a lot worse ,and we are still dry ,so far.
We have burried the hatchet with our oldest daughter after many years due to putting three of her children into care without coming to us to see if we could help ,which we could have ,of course.
Any way ,it's our oldest grandson Seran who asked us if we would welcome a approach from our daughter who thought it time to get things sorted out.
We forgave her years ago but didn't know where she was ,or how things were :-(.
Any way we met up with her two days ago ,with her and a grand daughter we have never seen at the metro centre,and are taking things from there ,but it looks very promising :-),and things have come to light regarding physical and mental cruelty on the part of her ex husband which has left her with mental scarring and no self esteem.
The grand daughter we met ,is living with her mum ,and is giving her moral support.and the two of them are conversing with my other children ,and are getting back together,all in all the best Christmas i will have had for many years ,lol,i feel so much lighter in myself,so i think this situation has been at the back of my mind for some time.
Think it's about time to get the dinner on ,have a good day Brenda ,and Watch your self in these winds he he ,we would like to meet up again ,but not as a result of being blown up here by the gales ,he he.
Catch you later ,Fred,Liz and the furry pest xxx
:-D

Hope you had a good christmas Fred and I am pleased you and your daughter are looking forward to a better relationship with each other.
We had a nice quiete christmas and New Year will be the same,but we are not into noisy times anymore.!!
Been out to the theatre this afternoon,went to see White Christmas at the Lowry Theatre,it was really good.it was a bit expensive for the tickets but we enjoyed it so it was worth it.
Weekend will be quiete as well,and then back to normal.what ever that is next week..Did well with the food we bought and have not had to get rid of anything and we did not stuff ourselves daft!!!
take care Brenda x

Hope you had a good christmas Fred and I am pleased you and your daughter are looking forward to a better relationship with each other.
We had a nice quiete christmas and New Year will be the same,but we are not into noisy times anymore.!!
Been out to the theatre this afternoon,went to see White Christmas at the Lowry Theatre,it was really good.it was a bit expensive for the tickets but we enjoyed it so it was worth it.
Weekend will be quiete as well,and then back to normal.what ever that is next week..Did well with the food we bought and have not had to get rid of anything and we did not stuff ourselves daft!!!
take care Brenda x

Morning our Brenda ,and anyone else who decides to look in ,glad you have had a nice Christmas and didn't do the overbuying of food bit ,lol,as it turns out we did he he :-)
We were invited out at the last minute to tea ,as well as dinner Christmas day and then out to dinner and tea Boxing day ,so the meats i cooked and put down in the freezer are still there ,.and ditto all the party foods ,frozen down as well .still ,they will come in handy for weekend meals and Sunday teas ,no waste at all . ;-).
I couldn't sleep and was up at 3am ,so i set too ,and went through all my bills and paper work from the last two years ,and have sorted it all out ,with two thirds in bags awaiting the shredder later today,by the time i have finished that i think the shredder will be bu**ered he he :-D ah well ,a new one is on the cards anyway ,the shredded paper will go into the compost so will be recycled the proper way.
,I think now that i am feeling tired ,i may even get to sleep for a couple of hours so i am going to give it a go. :-).
Catch you later ,Fred.xxx :-D

Hello all.hope the weather is being kinder to you all than it has been lately
Hi Fred, you lucky thing all these invites out and to lunch and tea.!!
I was only thinking the other day and could not remember the last time we got an invitation out for any sort of a meal at someones home.
We have gone out for meals with people ,paying our share ,apart from once when our friends treated us .
Hope you get to enjoy all the fruits of your labours soon.
We are a bit drier today and tomorrow is supposed to be the same,so John is hoping to get a game of golf ,not had one for over a week,
I am of to Bury with my sister she has to return somethings. there is no market on but i am not needing anything from there at the moment.
Take acer and have a good new year ,if I do not get back on before hand
hugs Brenda

Hi All,had a "funny" day really started badly with weather stopping Johns golf.
I had a great morning in Bury with my sister.Nice chat over a coffee, Then it was downhill from there little thjings going wrong,and to top it all my sisters battery went caputt on us in a Tesco carpark,just as it started to bucket down, !!!!
It was just one thing after another,any way alls well as she has now got home and had a cuppa.!!
Should be having a bit of a clean up but am shattered !! so having tea and the seeing how I am.
Wishing you all a very happy,and healthy 2013,
love and hugs xx

Happy new year to you Brenda ,John ,Dorothy ,and anyone else who looks in.
Sounds as though you had a pretty lousy day what with one thing and another Brenda,and hope it was the battery that went ,and not the alternator [much more expensive to replace.and a lot harder ],but at least you got home again in one piece ,lol.
John would have needed water skies to play golf this last week,i know from the water we have had up here he he ,it would have been interesting though allowing for ball drift in the winds we have had.
Maybe he needs a birthday present this year of an indoor driving game or putting green he can while away his time with ,i am dreading the start of my gardening season if the weather dosn't improve :-(.
We are lucky lass despite it all ,i read on the internet this morning that the island of Jakarta in indonesia ,is sinking 10 cm's a year,it dosn't sound much ,but they say that by 2030 most of the island will be inundated by sea water,hope if that happens here ,London sinks first .lol.we will get our pals to build a large wall to keep the Londoners down in South yorkshire ,the Tykes would love that he he.
Off to The sons for dinner today ,but will be back for tea time ,maybe see you then,Fred Santa hat still on ,xxx :-)

Happy New Year,we had a nice quiete night ,a few drinks and nibbles ,bit of a change for us .but we enjoyed it.
been over to see my sister (not the one I saw yesterday) and her grand daughter,who has the chicken pox,she is not that uill with them but definatley not her bubbly self.
Had a drive down to a local retail park which was really a lot quieter than I had expected and a few of the shops were not open,which surprised me.
David at the match ,John watching a film on tele.and when I have done this I am making us a ploughmans lunch ,mainly to get rid of shome cheese and crackers.
Hope you enjoy your sons and that we all see some drier weather soon.
Take care
Brenda

This is the second time I have tried to send a message.So will keep it short.Had a good new year and hope you all did.
Weather still wet ,hope its dry on Saturday as we hope to get up to Bury
market,
Having a big clear out after we take down the decorations and the tree,which will hopefully give us more room.
Loved Freds picture on Facebook.good to see Liz as well.
Need to get to grips with the new camera and get some pics on my lap top.
Take care Brenda x

well I am starting to feel like I am on the Marie Celeste!!! or \Billy Nomates hope everyone is ok ??? no messages from Anyone
We are not going to Bury tomorrow We did not really need anything and
so we are going to start the decluttering ,starting with the top boxes in the bed
room,they are too high for me ,and I would have to get the steps.
Going to visit my friends parents next week,before they go over to see her in I Australia,I have a little gift for her ,which her mother takes for me.
I am also going to have lunch with an old friend on day and I also have an appointment at the hairdressess another day,so I have a very busy week next week,thats one reason we want to do the top boxes tomorrow.!!
Hope any one reading this has a good weekend.
Brenda

Soooooory our Brenda ,lol,been so darned busy this ,and last week ,but at last i can have a sit down for half an hour while the dinner is cooking. :-).
Baking this morning for tea at the sons was a hoot ,baking with ceoliac pastry for the first time was nearly a disaster because the pastry felt funny and kept faslling to peices as i tried to pick it up to line a tin ,grrrrrr :-0and it took a phone call to the son to find out that it needed to go into the fridge for two hours to rest and stiffen. :-S.
Even then you need running shoes to get it rolled ,stuffed and put on a baking tray before it warms up and falls apart on you again ,he he what a carry on . ;-).
Any way ,all done now ,cooked and on cooling racks ready to go down to the sons for the party tea.
Everything else is in the freezer and just needs to thaw when we get down there.
Poor old australia and canada ,getting the hammer again with the weather,canada freezing cold on top of a quake ,which sounds quite nasty ,but with no high seas as a result ,and Oz with the bushfires and hotter than ever summer temperatures. not nice for anyone ,so i will need to find out how all my friends are getting on in both countries.
We found out last night how to transfer films from the kildle fire onto the big teve screen and watched one film last night ,with six to go before the end of the month ,which is a good idea seeing as how virgin are now repeating old films over and over ,i think the virgin t v will shortly be going the journey with us going totaly free view.
Time i was away ,the dinner will be burned if i don't .back this evening or tomorrow morning if the grand kids wear me out this afternoon.
Take cre all ,catch you later ,Fred xx

Morning all,glad to hear from you Fred and so pleased you and Liz have had such a great time lately.
We have not done much at all since the holidays.
went to the local retail park on Saturday and got a few bargains in the sail ,will make ai a few good birthday presents.
Had a coffe in the Simple foods Marks and Spencer there,was really good and did not go for any thing to eat!! Back in diet mode!!.
Have got back into a bad habit of coming om lap top before doing any housework ,so need to get back to normal otherwise nothing gets done.
Take care Brenda