General Chat

Afternoon all,

Lovely bright morning here don't know if it's cold out as I haven't been out ,I am up today but being very careful how I sit and stand as my side is still not right .
Hope everyone's back ,arm and teeth are easier today .

Ann how on earth did he think he would get away with taking the card when there's cameras every where ,I was going to say perhaps he thought he could use the card and then put it back but as he was only there for the day he couldn't have done that ,at least she knows who did it ,that's his job gone .
Sounds as if they are giving OH a good check over with blood tests and an xray .

Love to Jane hope this lot of treatment doesn't leave her feeling so bad ,I feel awful having a moan about my side when she's having to going through all this .




Mel I will take a photo of the bits I've crochet but I need to stitch the pine cones up first .

Morning All,

A mixture of sun and showers here.

That's a nuisance the acrylic lifting like that Mel. Are they painted before baking or is it after baking? I was thinking if it is after baking you could perhaps experiment and seal a bit of spoilt clay with a clear varnish and try painting on top of the varnish. I don't remember seeing any mistletoe makes?

I hope all the backs and neck and arm are easier today and that Frank has been to the dentist and is out of pain now.

I have had my hair cut so that feels better now. OH was at the docs and chemist for over 2 and a half hours this morning! He said there was a huge queue waiting for the surgery to open and then again at the chemist. Following the hospital dentist's query, the doc has stopped the osteoporosis alendronic acid he was taking and has put him on calcium tablets instead. For his cough she has upped the strength of his acid reflux tablets to 40g, he has to go in for blood tests tomorrow and I need to drop him off at Hospital tomorrow afternoon for a chest xray and he needs to see her next week for the results. I am at the hospital on Monday and seeing the doc again on the following Friday so we seem to be having a medical time just now!

My hairdresser has had her credit card stolen by a member of staff who came from one of the other salons to assist for a day! She did well with her detective work as there was a fuel transaction she hadn't made on the card, that was on the way home for the person who stole it. She went to the garage and they found him on cctv as she had timed the trip to the garage and knew what time he left work so knew when he would have been using her card. The salon's cctv also showed him going through her handbag which was right under the security camera on the ceiling when he took the card!!

We are off for lunch soon so I'd better get changed and then OH will try to make some headway getting his work up to date. He was at a meeting in Birmingham yesterday and saw his first masked person in the street. I hope to be finishing my applique later.

Morning Vera abnd all,

I was'nt far behind you this morning Vera. We have sunshine but I also hav'nt been 9out yet to tell you what its like. I can see by the trees that there maybe a gentle breeze this morning and the sky's blue with white clouds.

Vera did you get a better night last night? and how's the back this morning?

AnnG is the arm still painful? Not long now till the 11th March I think thats when you said the stitches come out. I bet you'll be glad to see them go if they catch on things.

Ann I have been painting my dragon eyes. The one on its own and the journel cover one. The thing I don't like about painting with acrylics is that they seem to take a long while to dry on this clay. If you go over something again it take the first layer off. Did I send a pic of my mistletoe pendants?

Love to Frank hope he has that tooth sorted by now. XX

Mandy we want to see what you have been crocheting out of your book please? How is your back today? better I hope.

Thinking of Jane and hope she dos'nt get too bored today and the treatment is kinder to her if it is a little less. Sending Love <3 <3 <3

Good morning all

At the moment it’s sunny but cold looking. I had a good night and woke early but I had a cup of tea and came back to bed with a book. Now I had better get up and have some breakfast and get showered and dressed.

Anyone doing anything interesting today?

Evening All,

A nice sunny day here, if cold, for my drive through Rutland to the Retail Park. I did a little detour and took a few photos but haven't checked how they have come out yet. The car was covered in frost first thing and all sparkly. I got it washed when I came back so I'm expecting rain tomorrow. The top and 2 pairs of trousers I got will have to go back, but I'll leave it a couple of weeks so they will have more new stuff in by then. I was hoping to find nice birthday cards for OH but no such luck. I did get a nice tiny silver photo frame though, so I might do a little painting to go in it as I have another with a painting I did of snowdrops.

That's great news about your scan Jane and good that they can help make things better for you with the chemo. It's good they spotted the blood clot too and that the injections will dissolve it. I hope tomorrow passes quickly for you as it must get a bit boring after the first couple of times.

OH is off to the docs in the morning as he is still coughing even though it's less and his throat is very dry. I have a hair appointment at 9.00am so he will go on his own. He'll need to go there when they open and then go back unless he gets one of the first appointments.

Gill, I don't think your OH would get taxed on a refund. If they send you one through the post it doesn't get taxed and not all payments that go through a payroll get taxed. I hope his tax code comes through quickly and that they are able to sort it soon. If his P45 was over a year old it might not be helpful in sorting it quickly. I get lots of pocket lining sewing to do too and the 'wallet pocket' inside jackets. It's good you are keeping busy.

Oh Mandy, now you with a bad back. I hope the rest gets it better quickly. Poor Max missing his mummy. :-( When you said one good person could be made from all of us I was stumped trying to think which bit I could contribute that isn't 'faulty'! :-D

That's good his neck is getting better Vera, but it seems less pain hasn't improved his mood! As you say we all get a bit grumpy after being in pain for a while. That's good your spine seems ok and if it is muscular will hopefully improve soon. I thought last week that the shop shelves had a few gaps and wondered if people were panicking.

That's good you have your tellys sorted AnnG. It's funny how our tv watching habits change over the years. OH watches the big lounge telly most of the time and it usually has sport on as he has Sky Sports. We often watch a recording together in the evening, but I watch most tv in bed or the study on the smaller tvs! He does always say I can watch the lounge tv instead if I want and he will watch the tv in the bedroom but doesn't get tested on this! We have Sky boxes in the bedrooms too so I can watch everything that's on the lounge tv and any recordings and Sky has some apps like youtube which I often watch.

I wonder what you are making now Mel? It's quite exciting waiting to see your next make! :-) I can just imagine you struggling not to laugh at your OH and the zip! lol. :-D

Better get to bed as I need to be up before 8.00am.

Vera thats what he says to me why men are better than women. I told him I could stand up and w** if I wanted to but there was no response.

Well, I have been prodded and poked, questioned and blood pressured, and the verdict seems to be that a large muscle running down the right hand side of my back has gone into spasm. My spine appears to be OK but I am under instruction to call them if I get pins and needles or numbness or other unexplained symptoms. I am to take up to 8 a day of the strong co-codomol I already have for my bad heads (with a laxative if required!) and to contact physio for exercises. Doctor wants to see me again if I am not better in 4 weeks.

I did like the doctor I saw today. I hadn’t met her before . Our practice is very large with lots of doctors and 5 surgeries, two in town, one on the outskirts (our nearest one) and two in outlying villages. We can go to any surgery we like and ask to see whichever doctor we want but if you want a particular doctor you might have a wait for an appointment. I try to stick to my favourite doctor for my migraine and bowel problems as he has treated me for those since we moved here but will see anyone available for things like my back pain. There is only one doctor in the practice that I really don’t gel with and my heart sank when I saw he was one of the two doing the surgery. I went and asked at reception who I was booked to see and was very relieved it was the other one.

I hope a day’s rest has helped your pain Mandy. Bless Max, he wanted to check his Mum was alright. He’s a very loving dog.

I wonder if Frank has got his tooth sorted. I am sure he would have been seen somewhere on Saturday if he was in pain. I do hope he hasn’t just put up with it.

Your poor OH must have been frozen working outside on the gazebo Mel. I did have a little smile at your description. You are absolutely right - some men just can’t be told. They can be really clever and highly qualified and still lack a bit of plain old common sense. I remember some years ago OH came home from work and said “Look at this question my colleague’s son had in his 11+ exam. We’ve got the answer now but what do you think of that for a ridiculous question in a child’s exam”. He then showed me how they arrived at their answer, 3 foolscap pages of algebraic equations! I scribbled a couple of figures on the back of an envelope and came up with the same answer. It had never occurred to these two Chartered Engineers that if it was in an 11+ paper it was capable of being solved by an average 11 year old so look for the simple solution.

I think perhaps I was being a bit mean about OH earlier. Pain and being a bit overtired has made both of us a bit grumpy. He does tend to sit with the remote in his hand and flick through the channels a bit but he will often ask if there is anything I want to see and will usually turn over to what I want. I’m glad he’s not a big football fan so I don’t usually have to watch that and I don’t mind a bit of tennis, athletics, formula 1 or even cycling. That used to be his sport when he was younger. The two sports that really bore me stiff on television are golf and snooker.

I’ve just taken down my birthday cards. I had a lovely lot of cards so thank you all again for yours. One of my friends makes lovely cards and I thought you might like to see the one she made me this year so I have attempted to photograph it on my phone and will email it to you later.

I was only going to write a few lines and as usual I’ve got carried away so time to stop I think. Hope you all have a good night. Sweet dreams.

Oh dear Vera they do have the ability to be irritatingly controversial don’t they. Mine has his argumentative days when he is definitely right. Mostly he doesn’t overule me where shops are concerned. And he watches TV upstairs in my craft room Monday to Friday Saturdays we watch together, and Sundays too. I have the remote, sport is banned and we agree what to watch.
One of the reasons for being pleased with the new TV is that we can actually read the questions on Pointless.

Gill good idea to keep yourself occupied with mending/needlework.

What time does OH get home.

Oh has been fiddling with the gazebo as one of the sides with a window in it split on the window so he ordered new sides in a stronger staff to match the roof. When he got it on there and the new door the door bit only had one zip on it so he decided to take a zip off the old side and put it on the new. You can't tell men can you I had told him he would have to do it from the top but men know best because they stand up to do a wee and we have to sit down. It did'nt work did it?? I siliently laugh when he could'nt see me. So in the end he has put it on upside down and at least its zipped up and he has three pegs on the bottom holding it together. He came in a little while ago very very cold and said he could'nt stay out there any longer. I made him a nice hot drink and gave him some ginger biscuits.

Vera did the doc give you anything for your back pain? It was nice of oh to take you so you did'nt get cold walking there. The breeze here is freezing today even though the suns out. We have had two hail showers though and the suns been out too while the showers were coming down.

Hope Mandy's back is easing up a bit. Keep up with the pain killers and give that lovely dog a kiss from aunty Mel. xx

Hope our Frank has his toothache sorted today. I bet he won't go to the dentists.

Gill I hav'nt seen all of the last Repair Shop's yet let alone the new ones. You should have made the pocket the same size as the old one and popped it inside and sewn it in and a patch on the old pocket on the outside which would have made the whole thing stronger.

I did do a little painting of my clay this morning between washes and then this afternoon I did some ironing which came off the line and it smelled wonderful as it was out in the cold wind.

Corned the chickens and naughty Mona was already in the nest box so I turfed her out and I have put a piece of wood across hoping it will put her off from going in there. I'll take it out when I shut them in when its dark so they can get in there in the morning when they want to lay.

Getting a little gloomy now so I better bring in the sheets as they won't dry anymore today and the damp will be coming down. May just iron those too.

Oh I am pleased the pills are working for your OH Vera, now all you need is something to help you, I hope the doctor can prescribe something for you. Your OH sounds similar to mine, I normally end up going to the shops he wants, luckily for me though I normally find what I'm after, so it's all good in the end. That was nice of him to drive you to the doctors to save you walking in the cold.

I've finally finished the washing, OH has a hole in his jeans, his pocket has a hole in it to. It's where his keys have gone through, so I've fixed the hole in his jeans and have just made another pocket slightly bigger to put over it so hopefully he won't lose his keys now. I noticed his keys sticking out the other day, so it's a job I had intended on doing anyway. but didn't realise how bad it was. All I need to do is sew his pocket and add the extra bit I've made then that job's out of the way. I'm doing it all by hand as it's fiddly to do on a sew machine, so it's taken me quite a while so far, never mind it gives me something to do.

I still haven't caught up with any programmes yet AnnG. OH likes "The Repair Shop" so I might leave that one to watch with him. You're right they're very skilled especially the young man who does the carpentry, he can do so much at such a young age. I'm going to watch something else while I'm sewing his pocket, after I've had a cuppa I've just made myself.

Sorry to hear that you are now crocked up as well Mandy. We’re a right bunch aren’t we? I hope your pain eases very quickly. Take things slowly and let Colin pamper you a bit.

My OH’s a lot better today and, far from having a pain in the neck, he is being a pain in the neck. Everything I say is being contradicted and he is being generally irritating. I said I was going to drive to Sainsbury’s so he insisted on driving me to Tesco’s :-S. When I queried it he said he wanted to put the car through the car wash there but I think he was just being contrary.

I think people are beginning to panic buy or else the shops aren’t getting all their deliveries on time. Lots of the shelves were half empty. I wanted another bottle of the Milton anti-bac hand gel which is kept with the baby products and there was a notice saying they were out of stock and would not get a delivery till 5th April.

It’s good that your OH has got your TVs sorted AnnG. We have a smart TV in our lounge that is at least 10 years old but as we only use it to watch terrestrial or freeview TV programmes we won’t bother changing it. We have another TV, even older, in our conservatory which I watch a fair bit in summer but it’s too cold out there in winter. When we’re in the lounge I end up watching what OH wants. He hardly ever used to watch TV, now he’s Mr It’s-My-Remote.

Gill, you asked if OH will be seeing the doctor about his neck. He saw him last Thursday and was prescribed more pills which seem to be helping. My appointment is at 4.30 today. I need to be there a bit earlier as I have agreed to see a final year medical student first so I had better get a wriggle on. Luckily this appointment is at the surgery nearest our house and OH said he’ll drive me so I don’t have to be out in the bitterly cold wind we have at the moment. It only takes a couple of minutes by car, 10 minutes to walk.

I enjoyed what I saw of the repair shop this time. Those people are so very skilled, I admire them.

We had a snack lunch at the community centre while out, a pot of chips and a shared pasty and a small container of salad.

OH has more or less sorted the TVs now. the one downstairs (the new one) was up and running last night. The one from the lounge which is still a good smart TV but is 5 years old so doesn't have many apps on it is now in this room replacing a much heavier chunkier and small screen TV that was in here. So he is happy now that he has a bigger screen fo watching sport in here. We now have to get rid of the one that was in here so might offer it free on the local site.

Mandy hope you are right and the pain will soon ease, meanwhile enjoy being looked after.

Gill, If the tax refund is from an overpayment I am not sure that your OH will be taxed on it. It will probably be set against the emergency tax somehow. If he has handed over a P45 there is no excuse for him paying emergency tax for very long. Is he working for a private company or the local council or equivalent.

Mel, has your pan arrived yet? Twice recently OH has ordered something from Amazon and it has come two days early.

Vera have you seen the doc?

Jane, that was excellent news. I’m still smiling. It’s good they can now adjust the chemo to ease the after effects but at least you know that all the horrid sickly days you’ve had are worth it as the chemo seems to be doing it’s job. It’s a shame about the blood clot but they have found it and it is being dealt with so that’s good.

OH has just brought in some lunch so I’ll post this little bit and come back later.

O bless him Mandy he wanted to know where his mum was..... :-) :-)
They don't like it when the routine is changed do they? Is he not aloud upstairs?

Two lots of washing on the line and it keeps coming over cloudy and then the sun comes out again.

Jane that's brilliant news you must be so pleased ,that's good too that you can have the chemo drugs changed so you don't feel quite so bad after, so bag packed for tomorrow and will that be the last lot ?
That's good too that they picked up on the blood clot and handy having Chris to do the injection if you can't do it .
Did you have a nice weekend with Hannah and Gareth ? how is Gareth getting on with the commute to work each day ?

Colin is fussing like an old mother hen ,I keep telling not to keep up and down the stairs if I want any thing I'll soon call ,poor old Max can't make out what's going on I can hear him keep whining so I slowly walked to the top of the stairs so he could see me and he seems happy now ,he's definitely a mummy's boy bless him.

O that is good news Jane but not so much the blood clot. Will Chris do the injections for you or will you be able to manage those yourself?

Mandy like you say if we all mixed ourselves together we may have a good one between us. Hope the pain eases and its just a muscle thats been pulled and if you say you have had it before and it just needed rest I hope that works. Keep taking the painkillers.

Nice to see you posting Gill. What are you up to today. Is oh's pay monthly or weekly?

Oh has had a go at vacing the pond this morning but said it very cold on his back so he packed it in for now and may have another go later. I am about to put the sheets on the line.

Brilliant news Jane :-D :-D :-D

Just off out for coffee but great news Jane.