General Chat

Hi Everyone,

That's more sad news then Kim, someone else with an upsetting time.

I really enjoyed Downton last night!! I hope there will be more!! I was still hacking and coughing at 3.00am, couldn't sleep so OH went and got me a cuppa. I got an extra pillow and took some Beech*ams and was asleep within half an hour. I have a bit of a cold with it now and I think lying down irritates the back of the throat. Chest creaking like an old ship too. I nipped off to Grantham this morning a bit later than I intended and got a silvery grey coat, some bras and some cards. I have never seen it so busy there and an assistant told me the car park was full BEFORE they opened. The garden centre there was open too and it has always been closed through till after the New Year before.

On the way there on the A46 where they have been widening the road for ever, at the side was a group of birds of prey with a kill or some carrion on the verge. I think they were Buzzards, but I did not know they hung out together like that?? Maybe it was a family.

Jane, there is usually a 'tantrum' here when I want to freeze some of the Turkey.......OH thinks he will eat it all!! lol We buy about half the food we used to, but some still gets wasted.........not so easy to cut down when you have guests though as you don't know how much they will eat!!! I must say I am not hungry today, just had cereal this morning. Luckily a lot of the sausage rolls can stay frozen till the gammon and pork pie have reduced a bit!! Glad Sarah was ok.

OH asked me if I liked my new beading book yesterday and I told him I'd seen just the thing I could make for him..........a beaded 'ZIP PULLER' !!!!! lol :-D :-D He was speechless! lol

Frank, are you being 'Little Jack Horner??'.

Go on Ann .make him a 'zip puller' ;-) ;-).I don't like the sound of your Creaking Chest Ann :-S.Would a little WD40 help?.No I'm only jesting ;-).I do hope it clears up soon.
Fiona ,I'm sorry about your ex next door neighbour .There will so many people sad this Christmas losing loved ones.

No-one want's any food!!!!!!!!.Anyone for Turkey,Ham,Cheese,Quiche,Salads,....I could go on and on lol.My 2 fridges are still full
:-S :-S :-S

HI I WISH EVERYONE GOOD CHEER THIS BOXING DAY AND HOPE YOU ALL HAD A HAPPY CHRISTMAS.

I cooked dinner for thirteen people the mind boggled after dishing up so many sprouts but managed to get it all sorted and the local vicar came to dinner about 3.30pm after the Queens speech.

Everyone was scared to do much at first with the old vicar residing over us with a stern dismal face he lost his wife last month and me feeling sorry for the old boy decided to invite for Christmas lunch. Ryan said Sheila why invite a vicar we wont even be able to burb or do any other body function with him in the house. I said where is your Christmas spirit and he said inside of me thats why I dont want a vicar around.

Lunch was fine until Ashley mentioned that at the prison he had to reside over a group of Paedafiles who went to the chapel escorted by my son and the first carol they sang was AWAY IN A MANGER. This seemed to throw a spark of life into the old vicar who collasped with laughter which sent a relief aspect round the table at least the old boy had a sense of humour. Sophia was asking will anyone pull the wish bone with me and when I finally said yes she had eaten it and was choking her head off.
It took glasses of water and a pat on the back to stop her choking.

The dinner was lovely after we dished it up it went down very well luckily
we had extra turkey supplied by Sophia who rolled up in a Mrs Christmas outfit .April said Oh you look so silly Sophia and Sophia who had downed several glasses of sherry before arriving said so do you April and she went off in floods of tears. I thought great. what else. Then my ho opened the asti for lunch and the cork shot and hit Michelle on the nose she got up and went running out of the room saying first my perfume is broken then you whack me on the nose with a cork dad. It all calmed down later.

Michelles perfume I bought her the refill was broken although the perfume DAISY was fine .the dogs coats were too small little tartan jobs and would not fit there fat tummies. April fed them mince pies and they were not to good poor loves there were grumbling sounds coming from there tummies all day. I dropped a plate while serving the turkey and
Michelle turned the oven up after I removed the potatoes and when she opened it she nearly choked us to death out of the oven poured loads of choking smoke. So we had to open all the windows. Jessica was proudly showing her new bright pink suitacase to Mohsen and she knocked the ashtray heavy glass onto his bad foot. He said a few choice words.

The old vicar bless him said later on I think we should thank the lord for this peaceful day. I said you must be joking peaceful. He said well we have Christmas food most have none. Ryan said vicar you will have me in tears soon that set Jessica off giggling and she had to go out the room

The christmas tree I told you fell over so we had a artificial one with white star lights and the massive amount of chocolate,presents and stuff that April loaded on the tree that the dogs knocked over were placed in a box underneath but Jasper devoured several chocolates.

The day was rounded off with carols sung by Ryan who had so much to drink his words were coming out all wrong and Jessie said for goodness sake sit down and shut up. I did enjoy my day in spite of thinking oh dear please let me DIE . I am still here and todays been so peaceful. the girls did lunch the vicars gone home and we all have been playing charades .I think the master piece was Ryans version of the empire state building we thought he was doing a demonstration of anything from a tree to a lamp post and much more when he declared what it was we all said well thats in AMERICA he said well my version of it was good. Why should it matter which country it was in . Jess said well we do not all visit or see the blooming Empire State building.

Beryl and Donnie came at 11am and Beryl told me on christmas mornng Larry the ex boyfriend arrived with a plant for Beryl and Donnie would not let him in Beryl went out of the back door and took the plant and took Larry into the kitchen in came Donnie and Larry was eating a mince pie and had a glass of sherry and Donnie grabbed him and shoved the poor man out of the door. Beryl was too shocked to do anything. Larry sat outside honking his car hooter for ten minutes and half the estate came out to see what the racket was all madam said was Oh well it needed something exciting to happen around our area.

Ive read all your lovely Christmas threads and it seems you all had a lovely Christmas day. Sorry about your MIL Ann and Jane the poor lady with concussion. THANK YOU FOR THE PICTURE JANE. I am now going to watch a recorded version on DOWNTOWN ABBEY have a nice evening
everyone.

Oh, Beryl the MINX!! Sends Hubby to the front door and lets her EX in through the back door!! She keeps her men on their toes doesn't she!! :-D Sheila, I hope you got lots of help cooking all those dinners and with the washing up, it was good of you to ask the vicar and good he had a sense of humour. We had a very serious vicar and his wife sit next to us at a wedding once. The waitress put his meal in front of him and as he picked his knife and fork up to eat, she whisked it away again to take elsewhere. OH looked at him, raised his eyebrows and said 'the Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away'. Everyone roared with laughter including the vicar who tried hard not to but had to get his hanky out and mop the tears from his eyes in the end. lol

Well, I could audition for Rudolph now.......and can add a shiny, red nose to my repertoire!! :-) :-) Think I shall be off to bed with my potions and hope I get a good night's sleep. I was thinking today how most of the years I worked, Boxing Day would be a workday for me, but no extra pay for it. I used to get twice as much done as the phones would be quiet.

Night, night xx

Just come on to say goodnight,
Hope you all had a good boxing day.

night night.
XXXXXXXXXXX

Hello all,

It is a dull afternoon here and looking like rain.

Oh is going through his paperwork trying to clear up the mess and I had 10 minutes on the treadmill at a very slow pace for the first time in months.

Ann I hope you are improved today. Stay in bed and rest if you need to.

Fiona sorry to hear about your ex-neighbour in Germany. Hard on her daughter and family over there.

Oh Sheila you had an all star cast at your place for lunch and a sketch from every comedy ever made. What a hoot ;-) ;-) I think it was very kind of you to have the vicar to lunch. You must have been exhausted by the end of the day!!!

And Beryl and Donnie had plenty of fireworks at their place too. I'm telling you it will be a best seller when that book comes out. Hope the doggies are ok after all that chocolate.

Jane I couldn't look at another mince pie or turkey or ham sandwich!!! Are you planning on cooking more food for your guests or using up some of the Christmas fare??? Hope Chester's digestion is coping ;-)

Mel, we bought our daughter a camera for Christmas as she lost the one belonging to OH. Good luck with your photos.

Off to have a cuppa and watch the early news. Wishing you all a peaceful and rested day (well for some of you). 4.57 pm DST

Morning all,

Back home at last. Got back about 10.30 last night.
The M 1 looked like any normal day. All lanes packed with traffic North and South. (Everybody going home)
We had a very pleasant Christmas, but like most far to much food cooked. Harvey's fridges are pack full. They will be eating Ham, Beef and Turkey for a week at least.
We allhad some very nice presents, Lewis didn't see the JOKE with one of his.
As you know he loves his bacon sarnies.

Ros bought him a CHELSEA santa stocking. and put in it a pack of BACON, tomato sauce, mustard, Lurpa# butter, and a loaf of bread, That had to be opened first. He said " Where's my other presents" In amongst those were a set of his own knives, a UNION JACK frying pan a Apron with his name on and a chefs hat. (HE LOVES COOKING) Tigether with mass's of TOYS, computor games, and things boys of thirteen like.

Glad everyone had a good time,except those who lost relatives and friends. You always hear about more of this sort of thing around Christmas.

Had an Email yesterday from someone who wanted to buy the Excercise bike, that had finished on Ebay on Christmas day. They wanted it and phoned this morning to arrange to collect at 10.am. All paid and done and dusted. Another thing out of the way.
I saw the neighbours over the road emptying their car this morning, BAGS and BAGS of groceries from Tesc# and there is only TWO of them.

Hope those of you with aches and pains, chills etc, feel better later today.

Morning Everyone.
Just popping in quickly now as I think Jess and her Mum and Dad will be here very soon.
Oh Sheila .Your Christmas could have been a great sit com lol.It sounded chaotic but all good fun :-D :-DI have just had such a giggle reading it all.

An I hope you are feeling a bit more human today and your Rudolph nose has faded :-S.I bet it is sore now :-S
Must go now .Back sometime this afternoon.Sarah catches her train back to London at 2pm.I might never see her again as she has to go back to Australia in June.Her visa runs out then.I thought it was earlier than that .She really wants to stay in this country.

I hope you are all having a good day.

Morning All,

So glad we al;l seemed to enjoy ourselves even though some of us had sad news. Keep you r peckers up we have a new year ahead of us now and better times for everyone I hope. That includes our Beryl and Donnie Wonnie!!

Such good stories Sheila and I am pleased you enjoyed your busy day.

Ann hope the cold thing is a bit better today and you are feeling more yourself instead of Rudolph.

What did Chester have for his present Jane????

Frank it was good that you got rid of that exercise byke after all.

Still fighting my way through the camera book but not really taking things in as I read one bit then the next and forget the first bit! :-(

Weather very mild and dull here today and not a breath of wind at present and I have just turned the heating off. Had it on twice but don't think we need it on at all today.

Don't know qhen the dustmen are coming this week :-| They usually come on Monday or the the day after when it is a Christmas holiday but they would have been by now and oh did'nt get it out. I may have to go and have a look up the top to see if there were any others with their recyling bins out as they come the same day. Perhaps there is something on the notice board on the vilage hall. Not sure if today is a holiday too or not as Christmas fell on a Sunday???

Still waiting for the visitors.They have got held up on the motorway with some accident :-S

Frank I think that was a fantastic things making up Lewis's stocking with all the goodies ,frying pan etc.Great idea.

Mel Chester had the noisiest squeaky toy .It looks like a tiny little space hopper.
I hate reading instruction books.I still haven't read the one I have for my camera which is a good few years old now.No wonder I don't know how to use it properly :-S :-S

Our Binmen are coming tomorrow.Normal day.I'm glad it's recycling bin day as there are rather a lot of bottles waiting to go ;-) ;-)Plus everything else of course.
I am supposed to be going down to see Fitz's tree sometime today.I'm beginning to wonder if I will actually get there.

I've been looking at holiday cottages in Alnwick again.Couldn't find the one we had earlier this year(have now realised that it is not for holiday rent as it is for normal rent.But have seen a couple of possibles.We need to make our mind up asap as they get booked up so quickly.

Oh well,Sarah has been fed and watered and is all packed and ready for the off.I will be sorry if I don't get to see her again as she is such a lovely person.
James wants to show me some shirts on line so I had better have a look .

Afternoon All

I hope you all had a good Christmas...Sorry to hear about everyones losses.We know how you feel as you know I lost m y grandson on the 30 of Dec last year...We came back from Dover(my youngest sons) late yesterday afternoon and will be back again on the 29 as it is my grandaughters 7th birthday,So we will be there for the 30 as well.

I have my daughter and family arriving soon they are staying over tonight as well..So we will have another xmas dinner tonight..

My eldest son is off back home to france today taking his 2 children from his first marriage.They will be there a week..My eldest granddaughter his daughter will be 14...She looked so grown up when she stayed here at christmas..lol..She is taller than me now..Im 5ft half and inch.. She kept patting me on the head

My fish are still surving sp hopefully..They have been attacking one fish,I think he has lost part of a fin as he wobbles about in the tank now...I didnt expect him to be still here when we got back..Catch you later

I hope everyones colds coughs etc clear up..My daughter is bringing hers with her lol

:-)

My daughter is caught on the M25 somewhere now;;Good job dinner is tonight :-0

Visitors should be here in about 5 minutes or so.Pat I hope your daughter isn't held up for long.


They are here!!

I'm held up with a few beers and an ARMCHAIR. !!!! BLISS :-) :-) :-)

Doing a small piece of lamb tonight, Harvey forgot to sent us home with cold meats. Never mind we will survive. Poor old things :-) :-) :-)

Had aall from our friends in Teneriffe. 30 degrees. Lucky beggers.

Hi everyone,

Nice to read all your posts and to know you all had a good Christmas. I had a nice time even though we were on our own. The family are either away or working (Caring) but hey, we were snug and warm, I didn't HAVE to go out so I could have a little drinky (or two (or more)) watched what we liked on TV and then rolled into bed when we were tired. What more could be asked.
(Maybe some children so I'd have an excuse to play with their toys!).
We had loads of gifts but we have come to the conclusion that folks think we are suffering from malnutrition! Half the stuff was choccys, biccys of varying sorts, choc nuts, a whole Christmas cake, a pack of apricots - and because I was going on wee while ago about them - DATES! The last time I had a date was when I asked my wife to go out with me many moons ago . . . . .
Anyway, we have had a trip to our local small town today where a handful of shops were open. There was a full scale seasonal blow-up in the card shop with the customer using very un-seasonal language to one and all. Glad I don't live next door to them! It was a leg stretch anyway so here we are back home in the snug and warm.
I'll have another story coming along soon but this is the first time I've touched the PC since Christmas Eve.
Meantime, enjoy your time, and I look forward to keeping up with you all on here.

Chat soon

Afternoon everyone,

Nice to hear everyone enjoyed their Christmas ,we have had the family here today ,they stopped for lunch and son and DIL drove home with Katie ,and hubby and i walked the other two home when we walked Toby ,
he made his self at home at sons ,jumped up on there sofa and went to sleep !!! little devil.

We had a walk round the town this morning , didn't buy any thing, it was just nice to get out and have some air after sitting in for a couple of days, lots of people about at the sales .

Ann, hope your feeling better today , rotten having a cold at christmas .

Well i suppose the next thing is what to have for tea !! beans on toast would do for me but i'am sure hubby will want some thing more filling ,so it will have to be gammon or turkey for him ,son gave us some of their turkey to bring home ,as it was a big bird !!

The washing machine is whirling away , where does it all come from with only two of us ,this will be the third load !!!

Weather still mild and dry here ,and yesterday was quite windy .

Hi William ,Frank ,Mandy and everyone else of course.
My house is a tip ,and I'm trying to do two different meals :-S :-S.I need to get Chris fed soon as he needs an early night as he is Duty Dr. first thing in the morning.So it is just Ham eggs and chips for him and me(can't be doing with anymore cold meats and salads and bits and bobs)
Another guest coming tomorrow .He will be staying overnight in Hannah's bed as she vacates it lol.His wife is too poorly to come.

I did get to Fitz's earlier and got a lovely photo of their tree.It is just amazing.Probably won't look so good in the photo as 'real'.
William ,am waiting in anticipation for your next tale :-D

Got hubby his meal cold turkey with a little salad and Croquette potatoes ,he ate just a little the rest went in the bin ,said he's feeling a little sick :-S
all this rich food !!
It will be plain and simple food tomorrow i think .

I find it's hard work feeding people when they come ,you have all that food from christmas left over ,but i feel i carn't really serve that up as i feel its like your giving them the left overs !!!

I will be shopping later in the week for New Years day, got to feed nine for lunch and tea !!

Looking forward to seeing Fitz's tree Jane.

Ohhhhh that's what i call a Christmas tree :-) :-) :-) :-) :-)

That's a beauty Jane ,must take forever to decorate !!
How many lights on it ? hope he has plenty of spare bulbs.

Mandy ,It's a corker isn't it.i think there are maybe 8 sets of lights on that one.
Maybe another photo to come!