Hobbies and Crafts

Have a fabulous time Ann, the Carribean........ Just give us a thought or two in the cold and rain.

It seems our celebrations are to carry on a bit longer. Tonight we are having a meal in a very nice restaurant in Porlock Weir, just up the road from us. It has been paid for by my Husbands brother and sister in law. Yum yum.

As I walked in the house yesterday I was faced by another load of balloons, I had forgotten there were some here as well. I can't get over them all staying up for so long.

There is a little bird fluttering around the windows, he won't stay still for long enough to let me identify him.

Vera, sounds like you have had a right old spend up, my type of girl !!!!

M.

It looks like something could be brewing here now.Just been outside and the atmosphere feels a bit strange :-S.Not too many birds singing either ,and they normally go on until at least 10 these nights.maybe they have all hunkered down .I think I will do that now :-D

I hope you and OH have a brilliant time on the cruise Ann. It sounds amazing!

Vera, your granddaughter is sure to be over the moon with your 18th birthday gift.

Maryanna, you must be so relieved to have chosen a new carpet at a good price.

Jane I agree also that the Robin is a good choice for our National Bird.

A good day weather wise today but forecast to be a rain/windy weekend!
Usually our garden birds hide away when this sort of weather is about... ....
sensible birds, methinks.

Ann have a wonderful holiday.Nice to be given a freebie (even though as you say it is still costing you a fair bit LOL).It sounds wonderful.A balcony too is a real bonus on a cruise :-D Sounds like it is going be quite luxurious.

He found he was unable to take it vera and he also paid to upgrade the stateroom to a balcony one. We are at a premier Inn now. Traffic is horrendous out on the M4. :-)

That was nice of your son to give you the holiday he won.

A lady I know has just come back from a fly/cruise holiday that was paid for by her friend's boss as a retirement present for the friend. He paid all the costs, apart from spending money, for the two of them. There are still some nice people around :-D :-D

I am sure you enjoyed spending that money as it all sounded like things you really liked. Wallpaper is probably worth the extra too as if you are like us it has to last a while. Nice having days like that when everything falls into place.

we are flying to Miami and cruising the Western caribbean, not a holiday we'd choose but our son won it and gave it to us. Of course it has cost us a small fortune in extras!!! So not a cheap or free holiday. I am sure we will enjoy it once we get through all the beaurocracy and actually get on board. :-D :-D

Have a lovely time Ann. Where is your cruise taking you?

I think we might be going without holidays this year though I am still hoping for a last minute autumn break. Our garden work starts next Monday and is going to cost the GDP of a small country.

Then yesterday we went out to buy a cheapish piece of jewellery as a keepsake for granddaughter, 18 next week. We are giving her a cheque as her main present. Ended up paying more than planned as we saw the perfect piece for her. Then OH saw a very large round clock that was perfect for a blank kitchen wall. While in that shop I saw an odd chair that was just right for a spare bedroom and then we found a kitchen table and four chairs that was just what we wanted to replace our tatty old set! The final thing was looking for some wallpaper to do just one wall in the dining area of our kitchen-diner. Looked at all the cheaper ones in B & Q and ended up paying £52 a roll for one made by Sanderson that had to be ordered. Good job we only needed 3 rolls. Oh well, it's only the kid's inheritance we're spending :-D

It's an expensive month anyway as 4 of my 5 grandchildren have birthdays this month.

Your carpet sounds lovely Maryanna and at a good price.

Off now to make yet more fat cakes for the birds.

Sounds lovely and light. It will look good and spacious.

I am chasing my tail this morning trying to get everything done before going away. Go to Heathrow this afternoon to stay in a Premier Inn, fly tomorrow, Cruise sunday. Back 21st. Not putting it on general as too many people read that, don't like broadcasting it.

We are having a new front door put in at the beginning of July so not until after that is done, just in case.

It's a sort of deep cream. / Light gold colour with a very slight fleck, it will look a bit different to the terracotta we have at present.

The old carpet matched the old wallpaper we had but when we decorated after the rain came in last Winter, we went for a more cream and caramel colour scheme.

Not too much furniture to move, a couple of chairs and side tables a wooden chest and a bureau. The study need doing desperately but moving that lot would be as bad as moving house. Books to the ceiling on three walls, desk, filing cabinet......

"Luckily " upstairs , well the bedrooms, were pretty much all done after last years rain damage as well.

Back to Somerset tonight, catch up with the goings on down there. It's funny not doing the weekly commute any more but it makes it more special going every other week or so. Not sure what we will do when I retire next month.

M.

Big hole in the pocket then Ann :-S.But at least you know now all is done and hopefully running like a dream :-D

That is a good deal then Maryanna.When will you be having the carpet fitted? It is always such an upheaval though.When we had our bedroom one fitted the new bed arrived at the same time.But luckily the fitters had almost finished and were just clearing up.
Oh Vera underfloor wouldn't suit me then especially if it takes a long time to cool down.I can't stand being hot.

We have lots of Goldfinch about at the moment...They are lovely little birds .
Yes the bell seems to be working so far.Fingers crossed it continues that way :-D

It was nice to see that the Robin has been chosen as our National Bird :-D

Ooh so you are getting a nice new carpet and not having to go for cheaper. That is great Maryanna. What colour?

Carpet update........ We had another local firm in to quote, I told Himself it was a waste of time as the carpet was £8 sq m.more than the other one.

However, it just goes to show, and I have to admit that ( For once ) I was wrong.

Different carpet widths, obviously a different way of measuring and a bit of jiggling, a seam where it doesn't really matter and it was nearly £900 less !!!!!!

I really can't see how it can be so much less for a dearer carpet but they don't charge for laying or taking up and disposing of the old one or delivery like the other place did.

Himself went straight down and booked it, before they change their minds.

Loads of Starlings here too, we didn't have any at all during the Winter, saw a Red Kite again earlier too and there were some little fluffy Blue Tit babies on the feeders.

M.

Kandj it was several fairly big jobs, the car is 13 years old - I have had it for 7 and haven't spent much on it up unril now. I was sort of expecting it.

Yes we have the fledgeling sparrows too, sweet arent't they?

Wow Ann, I hope you were sitting down when you were presented with that bill....!!

Vera, we also have lots of starling here and they are very greedy too.
What is nice for past couple of days though is the fledgling sparrows come often to the window feeder and it's wonderful to see these tiny bird feeding all on their own now.

The bell for Thomas seems to be working well Jane in warning the birds of his approach

Maryanna that does seem to he an over the top price for carpeting your hall, stairs and landing......... back to the drawing board perhaps for a more reasonable quote?

Ouch, I think they have rebuilt it underneath. £438 including parts and MOT. still it seems to be running better for the oild change at least. I just wish they would get the potholes fixed.

Oh dear Ann, I hope the work on your car doesn't prove too expensive. Cars are wonderful when everything is going right but the old bank balance certainly gets hammered if anything goes wrong.

Jane, there's nothing really wrong with underfloor heating but it's not very flexible. It takes a long while for the whole floor to warm up and a long while for it to cool down. Our neighbour has his timer set for going on and off during the day but it is never a comfortable temperature in his house. We've found by experimenting that the best thing is to turn it on in the autumn and leave it on till spring. We have room thermostats and our heating is in different zones so we can set the main living room, the kitchen/dining room, the hall and the downstairs bedroom to different temperatures and in theory the room temperatures should stay as set. The problem is in the changeover periods in spring and autumn when you might want heating on for an hour or so in the morning and evening.
We had to invest in some fan heaters for those times.

Still, I'm not really complaining. At least I can afford heating when many can't and the gas we use in this house is a lot cheaper than the oil we were using in our last place.

I've been out most of the day and came back to find the seed feeders had suddenly been emptied and all the fat balls had gone, so something has been around....probably those dratted starlings again!

Oh Gawd Ann.I hope it isn't going to be too costly.That is the trouble with cars .Nothing is cheap is it :-S

We have had a Moorhen in the garden today.The first time for a couple of months now.
It was taking it's life in its hands though as the cat spotted it and gave chase :-| :-|
I wonder if it will be back.
I also saw a Red Kite today and haven't seen one of those for several weeks now.
Maryanna we have a big roll of carpet left over from the bedroom.I know we will never use it.It just seems such a waste.

Vera why would you not have chosen underfloor heating? I always imagined that it would be nice to have it.I guess though if something goes wrong it means the floor having to come up :-S
Window feeder needs refilling.I try and do it when Puss is not looking lol

Something has been throwing the seed out of one of the feeders, a wood pigeon I expect. All over the lawn, I guess he tipped it when he landed. Saw one picking up seed from the lawn so maybe it is easier to eat that way.

Today Is not a good day for my poor golf, she failed the MOT and is having work done. (I blame all the potholes!). Spring missing, some pipe or other corroded, failed emission test, something else (can't remember and she was speaking on the car phone speaker), oh and windscreen wipers. So they are working on it and it will be ready tomorrow. Probably need to take out a mortgage to pay!!!
:-( :-( :-(

As usual I seem to be running Starling Hotel. I know they have to eat too but I wish they would leave a bit of food to attract the other birds. A couple of days ago we did see two bluetits and one goldfinch but these sightings are few and far between. Even our little dunnock seems to have disappeared.

What's more I can't even put an emoticon to express my annoyance because the system seems to have gone haywire and everytime I click on an emoticon everything I have written disappears!

We have underfloor heating in this house (wouldn't have it from choice) and I have discovered one advantage to it. We are advised not to put a thick, quality carpet on the floors so we were able to get away with quite a cheap one in our sitting room and I won't feel too bad if I want a change a couple of years down the line. Most of the rest of the downstairs is tiled. I hope you find a carpet you like at a sensible price