General Chat

Hello everyone, :-)

Today two men arrived to put handrails on the steps up to the front and rear doors. I am very pleased with them, and will find them very helpful.
They also wanted to extend the steps themselves, but I don't want that done as I thought it would disfigure the lovely old slate steps that we have..

Linda I can smell your credit combusting from here :-D You'd best put the laptop away now until after Christmas :-D

Congratulations to your son Sue in passing his exams so well. I should think he is mighty relieved at his results.
I hope that Drew will be better soon.

Sylvia you do sound very organised re Christmas - we are totally disorganised.
We do have "panic" buttons which when pressed go through to a central control who ring here first in case it's a false alarm. If no reply they then contact one of two local keyholders who will investigate.
It does help to put my daughters mind at rest.

Amanda, I hope very much that the spotty little people are better soon, and will be fighting fit in time for Christmas.
I agree the cost of postage on cards is shocking, and most people will have cut back, though that is difficult in itself.

Well, I am turning in early, so goodnight everyone

I hope Tec and the Duchess are OK

I've got the stuff to decorate the cake , just need to get the urge to so it .... lol
I expect Eve will enjoy helping her Granddad :-)

Hello Sylvia , I also thought that the DR was haveing a laugh the first time I ever heard of Hand, foot and mouth ( back in the 80s when my son caught it ) , I had never heard tell of it before then .

Hello Linda. Luckily the adults want gift vouchers. That makes shopping easier.

Hi Sue



Congratulations to your son. What a marvellous result. But he did work hard for it :-)


Amanda ................. I remember first hearing about hand and foot disease when my daughter was in school in the 80s. I thought it was a joke at first!



Linda ............... I keep thinking I must have forgotten something .............. it'll hit me on Christmas Eve :-D

My brother and his wife have had a nasty tummy bug for the last couple of weeks, it goes then comes back again. I am steering clear of them.

Poor Drew, I hope he feels better soon.

I bought the marzipan and icing for the cake yesterday, so will have to get that put on. OH always decorates it, but he is going to do it with Eve when she comes up. She should be able to make a better job of it this year, I don't know what they will do. Last year she did it herself, but we just let her put all the old plastic decorations on it, she covered it with Santas, sledges and Holly

I hope Drew is soon better Sue <3 Tummy bugs can hang around sometimes .

Your not wrong about the cost of postage Linda :-(

All in all the spotty ones haven't been to bad , Tommy suffered the worst , having two illnesses to contend with , he always seems to get hit the hardest , poor little man :-( Having said that , he bounces back quite fast :-)

Hello Amanda - nothing worse than bugs sweeping through the family :-( Poor Drew has had a tummy bug for the last few days. He seems to get over it and then it's back. He looks pale and washed out at the moment :-(

Congratulations to your son Sue, you must be very proud of him

Sylvia, I am sure you must have forgotten something somewhere :-D :-D

Poor Amanda, spotty little ones are not fun.

I have ordered most of the presents, thank goodness for the internet, I only have a few more little things to buy. I must knuckle down to the cards, the cost of postage is horrific though

Hello Sylvia , I hope you keep nice and warm in the Artic chill , we are forecast wintery showers in the next few days but hopefully it won't amount to much .

Hello Sue , very well done to your son on his exam results :-D He worked hard to get them and I'm pleased he is happy :-)

I have got most of my presents sorted , the fact I have five December birthdays to buy for as well just confusses the process :-| :-S
Posted the cards today..... phew
Still haven't decorated the cake yet .

Hello everyone :-D

You are very organised Sylvia - I am reaching mild panic at this point. I haven't done any Christmas cards or shopping :-(

My son has just received his Uni results. He has passed all his subjects quite soundly so he is very happy :-D

Hello everyone :-D

I hope that you are all well .

Tec , I hope your leg is getting better . It must be strange having people in and out , especially if you don't feel much like chatting . Perhaps you ought to " accidently " drop a bag of flour on the kitchen floor just before they arrive :-D

Linda , have you been creating some sort of modern at with your melted card ? :-S

I've just got back from eldest daughters , she had to take Daisy into town as she was singing in the school choir at the Hippodrome . Addison and Tommy have recovered from their spottiness , seems that Addison had the chicken pox and Tommy the pox and Hand Foot and mouth :-(
Their cousin Alice is erupting in spots as of yesterday but my son isn't sure which virus she has got .
I'm just hoping that the illnesses will have swept threw by Christmas .

Hi Sue, and everyone


it's very sunny here .................... but the Arctic chill has arrived! It was below 0C overnight, and our warmest winter jackets will be needed when we go out!


Tec ................ do you have the personal alarm system over there???

That could also help set your daughter's mind at rest, if she knew that you could call for help if unable to reach the phone.



I can't quite believe it ...................... but we seem to have Christmas all but sorted!

I gave my daughter a cheque for a rather large amount of money when she was here in early October to buy the 3 of them their Christmas presents ............... they all wanted rather large ones, and it seemed easier to do it that way. I do have a little pile of things to wrap and send ........... I like them to have something small to open on Christmas morning that is unexpected, or to put in their Christmas stockings.

I saw a great gift for my sis-i-l about a month ago ............... so bought it immediately!


OH and I are buying ourselves a joint present, a new pair of "opera glasses", if such a thing still exists, or a small pair of binoculars ............. he's in charge of sorting that out.

The other littlies in the family all get cheques, as I figure their mothers know better than I do what they want. The parents haven't received presents since they turned 21.


Then we just have the people we will actually see on Christmas Day, and we all have everything we need, so we exchange only small things.

OH has made almost all the jams that we give to his colleagues, my physiotherapist and his staff, etc. OH just has to make the rhubarb and ginger jam, and then I think that is all the fruit we've had in the freezer since the summer.

He made 3 Christmas puddings last year, and only took one over to Halifax, so we even have that done!

We bought 100 Christmas cards on Saturday (UNICEF packets), OH wrote a draft of the Christmas letter to go with the cards, and I edited it and added photos last night. So that will be ready to print off when needed.


We won't have a tree this year ......... actually, we haven't had one for a number of years. There seems no point when we are often away for 3 weeks at a time.

OH did buy a wreath for the front door yesterday, made by the volunteers at the Botanical Garden. I think we might actually hang it from the railing round the patio at the back of the house.


I don't quite know how all this has happened! I'm usually beginning to get into a panic right about now!



take care everyone




s
xx

I think the lump of molten plastic on the table used to be my credit card :-D :-D :-D

I have been hitting the plastic today :-D Then \I keep remembering other people to add to the list for pressies :-(

Then I remembered that I have totally forgotten about all the cards to send :-( :-( :-( :-( :-(

good morning Jemikins have a lovely day as always :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D <3

Just a Quick Good Morning to Linda and Mersey :-) :-)

Good Evening / Afternoon / Night to you all in whatever of the many GR Parallel Universes everyone else belongs to! :-D :-D

Hi Sue and Gang :-) :-)

Your so generous, I promise to waft it back :-)

If I give you my sunshine, it will be grey here then :-|

Oh, go on, I have sent it :-)