General Chat

Oh i meant to say there's some thing coming in the post for you Mel ,it was posted this morning :-)

Morning everyone

Dull morning here with a bit of snow which won't really lay as the ground is so wet.

I was going to say Gill couldn't you use the concrete base of the garage for the summer house it would save breaking it all up ,and you know it's nice and solid to build on .
As you say it might be worth looking to see if you could use the panels from the garage to make a summer house ,you could then have it cladded and that would make it warmer too.

Oh i have just look up and it's really snowing now ,big flakes :-0

Or perhaps you had the coated stuff which is safe David. Being an ex fireman oh knows a lot about things like that.

When I moved down here and mum owned the bungalow I was going to have the potting sheds at the top of the garden made into a dwelling for myself and hubby. The potting sheds are 95 foot long and they had asbestos tiles right the way along them. We had them taken down and a new roof put on and it cost thousands.

Or, you could consider renting it if it has access from the road?

Asbestos has killed people who didn't know of its existence. I owned a house for 23 years a lot of asbestos. The garage ceiling was asbestos, all the trunking of the ducted air warn air heating system was asbestos, I serviced the gas fired warm air system every 6 months, still here to tell the tale. Perhaps I'm lucky?

Gill, it sounds as if you have decided to stay put with all the ideas you are having? Or will you just see how things go and make your plans accordingly?
It rained like mad during the night, today is very sunny but windy! No frost on any roofs here or anywhere else come to that so I'm planning to clean a few windows as the sun shows up every mark and they are filthy!! Apart from that we are just pottering around!

Morning all,

Not up to much todayGill. Will just have a hoover and dust and then fiddle with my little dolls.

Suns about at the mo but on both our car rooves there are frozen solid hailstones. They look like frozen bubbles.

Morning all

Yet more rain here last night, so more puddles on the patio this morning, even the grass is starting to get water logged. Hope the rain stops soon so the garden can dry out a bit.

That's okay David. You actually gave me an idea when you mentioned selling my garage. I might have it converted into a summer house. I'll still have the asbestos roof removed as that can be dangerous, but with the garage being made up of panels, we could have some removed from the side which goes into our garden and replace it with double doors, then we can have the garage door removed from the front of the garage which faces down the drive and have a window put in there.

It's quite a large garage so would give us a good size room and would probably cost us less. It's also quite close to the bungalow so there shouldn't be a problem getting some light and proper electrics in there. I might look into it. Then when it's all done we could have it clad with something attractive. It would look like a little bungalow once it's finished and it would save us having to much mess as well. You never know it could end up being quicker doing it that way too.

The advantage of having panels is we could move the garage back a bit so we'd still have the space for an extension in the future should we want to extend the bungalow. All we'd need to do is put the first two lots of panels from the front to the back, thus moving it back about 6 foot. We still need to empty the garage so that's being started this weekend and next Monday as OH has three days off on the run and we don't know if he'll have that much time off together again for a while.

I'm not keen on starting a job and not being able to finish it straight away, so this way, hopefully the garage will be emptied in one go. I'm sure mum won't mind if we need to pop a few things into her garage for a short time until the roof can be changed as we haven't bought a new shed for the lawn mower and garden tools yet.

I cut the material for my sewing machine cover yesterday so I'm going to get that finished today. Mum is coming round in an hour for a cuppa and chat so it'll be after that. I've got some hoovering to do as well as there's cotton bits everywhere, but apart from that I've got a quiet day.

What is everyone else up to today?

You're correct again Mel. Excuse me Gill and Annx

Yes Mel I will be contacting the council to have the roof removed with it being asbestos. I rang them just after we moved here almost 8 years ago and it cost around £300 so I'm hoping it hasn't gone up to much since then. When I phoned the council all those years ago the woman said we could take it down ourselves, just to give it a soak, but I know how harmful asbestos can be, especially if it was to break, so I'd rather get the experts in to do it.

I can help OH to take the rest of it down as it's only concrete panels. I have however, asked OH to ask his friend to help him remove the top ones as they are a bit to high for me and also have glass windows in them. I wouldn't want to drop them on my head. The rest of them I think will be low enough for me to handle, so long as they're not to heavy. We're not sure how the concrete posts are put in, they maybe just sitting on the concrete base, so we'll have to take a look at that. Once the garage is down we will contact someone to jack hammer the concrete base, so we can use some of it for the summer house foundations and the rest can then we thrown away into a skip.

I did smile when you were saying about gathering rocks in laybys Ann. I don't blame you, hard core isn't cheap so why not find things that have just been disregarded. It sounds as though you are a lot like me, recycling anything and everything. I hate seeing people throwing away perfectly good stuff just because it looks a bit tatty. All it needs is some TLC and you've got yourself something quite good. I'm also one for collecting wood and have even made fences out of old pallets that we have got for free. Things cost so much nowadays it's worth thinking outside the box. After all pallets are wood, you just need to take them apart and you can make all sorts with them and not only that I enjoy making things, so win win I say :-D :-D ;-) ;-)

Off to bed now, I've had quite a few late nights and it's starting to catch up with me.

See you all tomorrow
Night Night

David you mean Gill not Annx.

Gill you will have to be careful with the asbestos roof as you have to have specilised people in to take it away unless it is the sealed type and even then you must'nt break it up.

Annx, you could maybe save yourself money if you advertise it free to whoever dismantles it and removes it. Someone might be glad of it?

Evening All,

Yes MEN, they drive you mad at times don't they!! Is it their mothers spoiling them and not making them do these things as they grow up? I use the sink in the en suite and OH uses the bathroom sink, but it's just as you say, mess everywhere and toothpaste dobs about and fingermarks all around the knobs on the mirrored cabinet. Five minutes after you clean it, it looks as if you haven't!! lol.

The appointment for hubby has come through very quickly Mandy. I hope they can do something that will mean he isn't in pain like he is now.

Anne, your old G Plan furniture as well as Ercol furniture is making a comeback and in much demand now as the retro look has become fashionable!! There are adverts asking for it in our local paper. :-) How brilliant to get your furniture at cost price when you set up home! Our longjohn coffee table and bedroom furniture were home made and the rest was bought mostly in sales.

Fingers crossed he likes the suite Jane. What colour is it and what will you do with your old one? I bet Hannah found it chilly when she got back.

Sounds like you have your appliances sorted Pat. It must be hard to keep floors clean this weather when you have 8 little paws trotting over them. It sounds like you are settling in well now with your extra shifts at the charity shop and getting to know people. The last time I went to IOW was in 2003. I remember because I'd had a hysterectomy a couple of months before and I thought the IOW would have roads that were smoother for me, less roadworks and potholes etc. How wrong I was!! They were so bumpy for me I was hanging on to my poor tum when we went out. I remember managing a slow walk along the top of the cliffs on the south side and then having to lie flat on a bench for quarter of an hour before I could face the walk back. While I lay there I didn't see a little dog that rushed up and gave me a wet kiss!! lol I would like to go back some time.

Gill, where do you get your energy? I want some. :-) It's good your machine is starting to pay for itself already..........has Sandra made any requests for things you could make for her yet? When we redid the back garden a few years ago and filled the pond in, we used to pick up any bits of rock or bricks that we saw that were dumped in laybys as we drove by if there was no-one around! I was always concerned that someone might think we were the dumpers!!!

Can you use a picture card in your camera Mel? I find that so easy to download my pics. It would be nice to see the pom pom persons. :-)

Jane I don't think there is much room in the shower for oh to clean it up or thats his excuse anyway. Men just don't think about these things do they? Same when he cleans his teeth. Toothpaste slashes all over the taps and up the wall and its never wiped off.

The sewing cover is for me Mandy, then I've got a pile of clothes that need altering. I'm going to read the book OH got me for Christmas on how to make and alter clothes then tackle them. I've been taking a look at them and I've got quite a lot to get through........should keep me busy for a while :-D :-D There is a shop nearby, but like I said I'm going to be busy for a while, so I won't be putting a card in their window just yet.

I'm hoping the weather doesn't get to cold here at the weekend as OH and I have decided to empty the garage as we want to take it down. We thought if we were going to get a summerhouse that we might need some hard core to put under the flag stone base, so will use some of the concrete from the garage floor to save us some money. After all it's going to be broken up and thrown away anyway, so we might as well put some of it to good use.

I'll be so glad when the garage has gone as it's so ugly and has an asbestos roof, plus it's the only thing you can see from the kitchen window and it takes up such a lot of room. It's very long over 20 foot, but is only about 7 foot wide, so not big enough to put a car in to, so it's just being used to store junk, most of which we don't need. So I thought I'd buy a small shed to put behind the greenhouse to store the garden tools and lawn mower and the rest of the stuff can go up in the loft or down the tip.

I really want to get rid of the garage before the spring gets here, so I can plant that area up and make it look nice for the summer. I'm hoping it won't cost us to much to get rid of the garage with it being winter, as I should imagine builders will be in need of the work, so we should get a good deal......well, hopefully, anyway. Once the garage is out of the way, it will free up the space we need, should we decide to have an extension build as well as I'm only going to plant up the bottom end of the area and leave the top end near the bungalow free.

The appointment for your OH's X-ray came through quickly Mandy, lets hope something can be done so he's no longer in as much pain, or better still, no pain at all.
Good luck to him for Friday.

So you've done your bathroom now Mel? If your OH is anything like mine it won't stay clean for very long. To be fair my OH does try to clean the bath but always seems to miss bits, so I have to re-do it.
How he manages to make such mess in the first place is beyond me :-S :-S..........MEN ;-) ;-)

Mandy that was quick and I hope they can find something that will be to Colin's advantage re the pain he is getting.

Steak and kidney stew for us tonight with nice dough boys and it will be very welcome in the bitterly cold weather. My hands were frozen when I came back from corning the chickens. First I picked up a metal scoop and then the cold rain fell out the sky so I stayed in the garage but then the scoop was so cold in my hand I had to hunt around for a plstic one which was'nt much better.

Been making more pom poms this afternoon after getting the dinner on. Think it will be a soft green dress and mauve hair on this one.

Afternoon All
Well I don't know where today has gone .It seems to have flown by.Mind you Fitz came up for lunch so that was about 4 hours !!.
Crikey it has turned really cold now and seems like it might be colder tomorrow.

Pat we have not had any big amounts of rain here and certainly no big puddles in the garden like you have had.That will be nice to have a holiday over on the I O W.It does seem a hefty price for the ferry considering how close it is to you
Would your knee benefit from Keyhole Surgery? My James had this same trouble with his knee 'locking' and the pain was indescribable.Twice he had to have an ambulance.
Once when he was at school on the second floor and he had hooked his leg around the school chair leg when it 'locked'.The second time he was here at home .Two lots of Keyhole to remove most of the cartilage and touch wood he has been fine since.Just lacking about 80% of the cartilage around that knee.

Mel make sure OH cleans the shower after him :-D...I just had to give our shower cubicle a good cleaning today .Chris never thinks to do it :-S :-S :-S

Just had a call about my new car.I will pick it up on tuesday.

Tomorrow I will drag Chris along to have a look at the suite I saw yesterday .


Just had a call from Hannah.Back home safe and sound and had a wonderful holiday in Thailand :-D..She is desperate for sleep and has stayed awake all day so that she can drop into bed shortly hopefully to wake up fresh in the morning for work !

Afternoon all.

Been a nice dry day but by golly it's cold out there now , the windscreen on the car looks quite misty as if it's now beginning to freeze .

Gill that's good you have more little sewing jobs to do , a few more and the machine will have paid for it's self , is there any little shops where you could put a little card advertising for little sewing jobs ,i'am sure there's lots of people who would be glad of a service like that .

You sound as if your really getting settled in now Pat ,i bet the dogs love the beach even in the cold weather ,not so good the garden being so muddy though with two dogs who need to go out in it .
Have you been getting any bargains in the charity shop ?
Hope you soon hear some thing about the physio appointment to help your knee must be awful when it locks up like that .

Hubby had a phone call about his xray for his hip ,it's this Friday at 11 o'clock so that was nice and quick.

Oh so you've done the bathroom then Mel , i don't know why but hubby seems to splash water every where when he showers and shaves .

Sausage and mash for us tonight nice and easy .

Finished the bathroom!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! All nice and clean and shineing now ready for oh to have a shower and muck it all up again......................... :-( :-D :-D

I've just replied to your PM Liz

That's a shame Mel, I thought your OH had managed to fix the problem, is there anyone else who can fix it for you? All your hard work too, it would of been nice to see it. How's your knuckle now, hope the Vaseline eased it a bit for you <3

I'm just starting to make my sewing machine cover now :-D