General Chat

So much going on with this thread and I can't do as well as Carole either so apologies for those I miss out.

Caz, I am sorry I upset you with the info about the chickens. There are lots of them being given the chance of a second life nowadays not just this lady, so feel happy that the more publicity given, the more can be saved from an untimely end, and they will grow more feathers and look great, the jumpers are just to keep them warm till the new feathers come through, then they are returned for the next batch of chooks. Imagine a washing line full of little chicken jumpers lol Doesn't that bring a smile to your face?

I will try and call you today Monday or Tuesday to say hi and have a chat and Carole, I think I pm'd you to say let me have your number so I can try you and will leave my number then, it's hard to take calls this week as he is home every evening, doing different shifts to the usual ones :>((

Gail, you take care of yourself, and ignore your brother, I do mine. I emailed one yesterday to say was he economising or was he poorly as had not had a card, he sent back a very brief email saying he sent one so it must be lost in the post, don't think my son got one either, and they stopped doing gifts a while back ... used to get a poor relation goody bag of wine, chocs, biscuits but nothing in the last two years. I had said when my son was young that I never seemed to get the right gift for them, my son would phone to say thank you for the shirt or something equally boring, lol, and they would say, Oh thanks for your present, we haven't opened ours yet but I am sure it is lovely, but I would never get any feedback later on so in the end decided it was silly, I was spending money I couldn't afford, being a single Mum, and they were loaded as no kids and both high paying jobs, so said would they maybe just do my son a small gift and forget about me and I would stop giving them stuff I didn't know if they liked or not! Following year, son got gift, I got calender and then next year I got goodybag and gift voucher and son got money and so it went on till two years ago by which time they had stopped sending son money and then stopped the goody bag. Strange folk! Other brother hasn't bothered for years and used to send printed cards to all, this year they sent hand written ones from Sainsburys lol Maybe life is harder for them now but they just bought a new house a year ago, half a million pounds and my bro has his own double glazing business so shouldn't be too badly off. I just think Oh well, don't have to say thank you! Try not to let it upset you.

Maximary, hope things have calmed down now and you aren't working too hard for your last full time shifts. You will surely enjoy less pressure on you with fewer days to work, and may be able to get on top of things at home. I hope so as I know how stressed you feel sometimes, I know I will be glad when o.h. is back on proper shifts and out of my hair a bit more. His scrounging son has gone back to America for his free holiday, the girl who paid for him must be daft! At least he is out of the way for two weeks but he will never take responsibility for himself if he keeps getting carried through life by his Mother and Father and silly girls who he charms his way round. Last year's one got fed up with him pd1 and threw him out, wonder if this one will lol

Take care folks, and learn to put yourselves first sometimes, we all need some tlc and if no one else gives it us, we must take a little time for ourselves and treat ourselves kindly.
love and hugs,
Lizxxx


Betty, good to see you back, love.


Jude, glad things went well with your son.

Thank you for your PM and input about Brother. I still feel stupid though.

Okay, someone asked about grandson.

He is 5 3/4 months old and growing like a house on fire, is in size one in clothes. Grew out of his large bassinet so we brought him a cot for Christmas. Daughter tells me he is all over the cot and never where he is put down, badly needed the extra room. He is going to grow into a very big boy. His mum is very tiny, lucky to be 5 ft. She got all the short genes. Had loads of health problems when young as was a premmie and has heart murmur. On my dads side, his mum was 4 ft 9 inches, his father 6 ft 6 inches. I think grandson has inherited tall genes from both families, his dad is only about 5 ft 5 inches, there are very tall people on his side as well. All dads uncles were over 6 ft 2 ins.

He is a beautiful little boy and very placid and lovely nature. Far too pretty though for a little boy.

Love and hugs to everyone.

Gail

Gail, he sounds delightful and will bring lots of joy I am sure. Hope he continues to thrive.

Kathy, hope you are ok, and all those I didn't mention in previous post.

love and hugs to all, and a Happy New Year in case I miss anyone later!
Lizxx

Liz it wasn't you who upset me, I have a very weak spot for hens and the pictures upset me, the poor things with hardly any feathers on. I'm glad you put the article up as it showed there are people who care for them and they have a happier life now. As Gail knows I used to look after my uncles hens and got a whole shilling a week for a wage, a lot of money for a little six / seven year old in 1947/8. I loved 'my' hens and could always be found in their hut with them if I was upset or anything, heaven was being surrounded by hens.
I meant it when I said if I could hold needles I would spend my days knitting for them, I can't hold the phone for long now as my hands, full of pins and needles all the time now, go dead and I drop it. I think I am falling to pieces slowly.

Love and hugs to all

Caz xx

Caz have you thought of putting Skype onto your computer then with a mike you would have a hands free phone.

Ann
Glos

Ann you have reminded me that our phone has a hands free set up. Trouble is the base is in the hall and I am usually in the back room with one of the handsets. The people who ring most are my doctor and Macmillan nurses and they keep it short. The others are friends and family and I have trouble then if it goes on more than 15 minutes, I was talking to Dutch the other day and I swapped hands, she thought I had gone because I covered the mouthpiece up unknowingly lol.

Caz xx

Caz I have a hands free phone, I have a head piece and slip the phone in my pocket, for me it is a must.

Also, as you know I have loads of chickens and do breed them and very fussy who they go to. You can rest assured Caz that not everyone is the same and mine are well looked after. As I put on Liz's thread, some of my hens and one rooster are well over seven years old. Their life span is usually only 5 years. I do not eat my chickens either. How could I, they are my pets. I have chickens hatching next week. Well I hope so, we had thunder storms today and this can stop them from hatching. I only have one very cranky hen, she is a nasty piece of works, she is also a good layer, so her place is well secured in the hen house. I just have to watch her as she will try and peck me every chance she gets.

My lovely crab apples have been going missing, and today I found out where they are going. A flock of King Parrots has been eating them. I walked right up to the tree and they just sat there still eating and having a wonderful time. So I have left them with the purple apples and have covered the red apples so can make some jelly when the fruit ripens. OH said that was a fair thing to do. The tree the King Parrots have is also the bigger tree, so hope they are happy.

Thinking of every single one of you and hope the New Year brings you joy.

Love and hugs

Gail

Hello all, well I am fed up, I just typed on here for 20 minutes and promptly deleted the lot, because I hit "reply" again instead of 'submit. So . . . . here I go again.
We survived Christmas, with all 4 children having a tummy "bug", I won't get too descriptive, but suffice it to say there was an awful lot of laundry again.
Christmas Day I received the email message that my uncle had died which added to the damper already on the day. I finally managed to get my cousin in NZ on the phone yesterday, and was so glad to hear her voice. Mercifully her 2 daughters had come home for Christmas, one with husband and 2 small sons (6 mos and 2 years), so it was wonderful that their grandfather was able to see his 2 great grandsons before he passed. the funeral was held on Saturday in order that the whole family could attend before returning to Auckland for one, and Queensland the other.
We are tired and sad, but we've survived.
The turkey was good, for those who could eat it.
Yesterday there was an horrific windstorm throughout the province of Ontario, still 120,000 without elec power tonight and may not have it restored for another 48 hours. Quite mild actually, because the wind arrived after 2 days of near solid rainfall, only a few small patches of snow now left on the ground. My daughter spoke this afternoon with her father in BC, where they have 3 feet of snow apparently. So we are OK. The wind created a lot of damage locally, especially the old cemetary across the road, where several headstones from 1850-1873 were smashed by falling branches and uprooted trees. Round the corner, 3 cars in one driveway had a tree fall on them, one had scratches, one had the hood/bonnet crushed and the third had the windshield/screen smashed. We had 2 huge branches come down beside our house, found a few roof shingles on the lawn, but basically we are OK. I'll have to have a tree surgeon deal with the big tree in the spring, as the 2 branches which came down were rotten. My house was built in 1880 and apparently this tree has been beside the house ever since, it's believed that my lilac tree, which is now listing at 45 degrees, is approx 200 years old, so it' s surprising it's still standing after that wind.
So on we go, I should get my first Canada pension cheque this week, officially an OAP now LOL, can't figure out how it's happened so quickly. Parts of me are still young, just getting harder to find LOL.
The next 3 days will be really busy here, so I send all best wishes for the New Year, if I don't get a chance to be back on here before friday.
Blessings,
Mary

Mary how nice to read your news. How anoying to write a lot then click the wrong places and loose it all. I have done it myself. Pleased to know you all survived the tummy bug the snow the rain the storm.

It was minus two c here last night I got wrapped up well to walk Coco. I couldn't sleep, so slept in this morning. Sat about now waiting for the heating to warm the house again. My hands are very cold.

Eileen thanks for the card which arrived today. It's great fun to see a foreign language on a card like yours. Makes me realise how lucy I am to have friends all over the world. And the stamps I love the stamps and can't resist tearing them off I have a small pile of them in a drawer! Holland, Japan, Canada, Australia and America It's a little of my strange behaviours to save them. Goes back to my childhood of stamp collecting.
Hope you are keeping okay Eileen.

Anyone heard from Joyce (Toby's gran)? Hope she is okay.

Liz pm'ed you a load of C+++ and now feel sick about myself!

Claire also sent you a pm.

Betty I'd love to hear from you when you have time.

Dawn you too. Please let me know how you are

Joyce the Dutch one! Hope you are coping over this sad time for you.

Caz Y skype is free and a bit of fun to try. Hope you are keeping your spirits up

Deanna Allan thinking of you

Going to get my shower so will look in later love to you all xxx

Hi Everyone

Just popped in to see how everyone is,

Got my daughter and grand daugther comeing back from Scotland tonite, So tomoro having another christmas day, dinner and opening gifts, Grand daughter dont know she has still got a load to open here, So be nice when she gets up in morning to see them.

I yet again gone down with another cold and got cough with it this time. But there you go.

Happy new year to you all. Lets hope its going to brings lots of good things to us.

(((((((((((((((HUGS))))))))))))))TO EVERYONE

Also want to say a big thank you to everyone on here that have wellcome

Carole don't you dare say tearing stamps off envelopes is "strange", cos I do it too - LOL. And my stamp collecting didn't end in my childhood, I have 8 albums, of course I no longer have time to work on them, but I save every stamp that comes in the house. The multiples of local stamps end up in bags of common stamps I make up for kids and list on Freecycle. the others are waiting to go in my albums. It got too big to handle when so many countries changed names and I got confused, so now I concentrate on Canada,and the Commonwealth. Have a pretty fair collection of the USA also, but there are so many it's a bit overwhelming.

I'm good at overwhelming LOL

Last night my daughter was helping me search for a document which apparently I should have (but have no recollection of) to do with my Canada pension. This document is from 1951 - anyway, together we were digging in my "collections of stuff" and it led to photos of me, my parents and brother on the deck of the Queen Mary, sailing out of Southampton, Dec 28,1950, laughing at my 'posing' for the photographer in the dining room of the ship, so like my granddaughter Emlyn. memories flooded back, quite emotional. Now I realise I must sort the 'stuff" so as not to leave it for my kids. The digging also led to finding a register of burials copy which took up the next 2 hours. gosh I get side-tracked, spend my life on tangents!!
OK I'm off to visit the office of the Member of Parlaiment, hopefully they can help.
have a Good day everyone. See I wasn't going to be back on here till friday, it's an addiction, can't stay away.
Hugs to those who need them,
MAry

Liz


How dare you wake my baby at 4.15 pm yesterday !!!!!!

Poor mite was still in his pj's when I struggled in the door at 5pm with my ten bags of shopping !!!!

Could you please phone again now as it is after 2 and the lazy sod is still in his pit having promised to hoover the house for me today !!!!!!

Why do we have this stupid superstition that houses must be clean to bring in the new year ??? Is it just here in Scotland or world wide ??

Off to dust the cob webs off the hoover

love to all

Kathy xxx

Hi

I am feeling a lot better now. I have rid of all these doubts and I am totally convinced of my genealogy findings. Also some people probably arent bothered about other family tree findings and dont always listen and some probably dont read the whole story.

I am thinking of publishing my story to a FH magazine.

Ben

nearly 3 weeks after going to the doctors i finally get a letter to say that i have been accepted for counselling and am now on the waiting list!! but I am determined to try to get my self sorted out and lay some of my ghost to rest i have waited 40 years so dont suppose another few weeks will make much difference.

The medication has kicked in and i am feeling a lot more positive in general and having had lots of long chats with my hubby i know that i have his unquestioning support.

Got rid of the kids down to their dads fro 4 days yesterday so today we took ourselves off to Crewe so i can now cross that of my list of places i have been to in Cheshire lol

Years ago I had a GP refered to depression as cerebal retardation.

He was either insensitive or trying to be precise

Even doctors get depressed

Hello David, haven't seen you on here for a while.

Ben, glad you are coping better, you stick to your guns and believe in yourself and your research. You are doing so well, I really should make more effort with my lot!

Kathy, good to chat with you last night and text me when someone needs an alarm call lol don't forget tho that I don't do mornings lol

WhiteNancy, good that you have a date and that the medication is helping, stay positive and I am sure this time next year you will feel lots better. Don't get too impatient tho as counselling lists are often quite long! I speak from experience.
Haven't heard from the magic carpet nlp chap since he cancelled way before Christmas - will chase it all up next week but not sure it was for me anyway.

Mary, I too am hooked, can't keep off the boards lol and I too tear off stamps, even got o.h. doing it too lol I will make a saver out of him yet!

love and hugs to everyone for the New Year and beyond, must finish in a mo as nearly time for the ships to pass in the night, o.h. will be up for work soon.
Lizxxxx

One of my many tools for coping is not a magic carpet but same logic.

Shhhh this is my secret so do not tell anyone.

I imagine my self floating in a lagoon enclosed by a coral reef, so no nasties get in. The water is tepid, tropical fish beneath me, many colours. A white sandy beach with palm trees and lovely colourful parrots and a soft breeze blowing. Not another soul around. Then I let myself drift away. Favourite time to do this is in the bath. In times of stress have learnt to do this at any time and is enough to calm me down.

As my favourite thing is water I use that, choose something that you love. Another of mine is to imagine eating a bright red, crunchy apple and just focus on that.

This also helps if I feel a panic attack coming on. It takes a bit of practice to be able to do this, I think it is because you are focusing on something else at the time of stress and takes you mind off the stress that makes it work for me.

Love and hugs

Gail

PS: Not wise to do while driving

Hello my friend Gail, what lovely ideas, I will try the water one once we get a heater in the bathroom, at the mo it is too cold to stay there more than the time necessary to get clean lol

My nlp man wants me to go up on the carpet, look down on my life, at my future and my past, but it is a difficult thing to do, I have never been good at visualisations especially when it involves confronting the very painful things like the birth and death of my daughter. Will see if he makes contact for further appointments, he did mention hypnotherapy so will see if I can get a message to him.
Gail, could you do me a favour and send me a big pack of sunshine please? It's freezing cold here!

Better go to bed now, he will be down shortly, I will keep your secret
Have a good New Year
love
Lizxx

I used to do that Gail and it worked, but mine was a big rock with a flat top at my favourite place, I used to feel so relaxed when there. I go back to it in times of need, it is harder now though as I have so many problems it doesn't always work.
I came on to wish everyone a very Happy New Year, 2009 has got to be better than this year has been. If it isn't, at least we have each other.

Caz xx

Sending loads of Sunshine to every one of you.

More difficult to cope in winter as aches and pains are usually worse then with the cold. Mind though our summers are very hot. I do love summer though. But spring is my favourite of all.

Happy New Year, and a better year for everyone.

Love and hugs

Gail