General Chat

Good morning all. We have SUN! and 10 degrees. maybe this is our summer! Bet it doesn't last long.

Ann it is one thing after another for your OH. T used to say once the doctors/NHS get their teeth into you they don't let go,

Mel I have a couple of lap trays standing by different chairs. Depends what time of day it is where I sit. Breakfast is where I can look down the garden from my chair and so is lunch usually. Evening meal is where the light is behind my chair. I read while I eat (I know bad habit and I didn't when T was alive.) so plate and book both rest on the tray, easier for my back. I also use them for writing notes, letters, lists. sometimes card making. If I am really bored for colouring in books. For anything really and I don't have a lap top.

May I ask where you've seen the tiny miniature potters wheel Annx?

Still not seen BIL think I better give him a ring to make sure he's ok. I do wish he'd just give me a ring each week but he never does. A lot can happen in a week and its now two weeks since I have seen him.

When I had the pet shop I used to sell those plastic beans to refill dogs cushions. If you spilt any they were being swept up for weeks. I did'nt have a hoover down there. They came in a huge polythene bage and I had to make them into smaller amounts. I made a paper cone to fill the bags but it was a two person job. I've never had one of those knee tray thing or a laptop holder as Iv'e never had a laptop.

Little and often Vera for oh. Its good he wanted to fil the bird feeder another little step nearer getting back to normal. Sorry your back was hurting did the pills work?

Talking of famous people in ones tree. I do have a William Shakepear but I don't think it was the playwrite. I have got a pikeman who was in the Armarda.

Evening All,

What a miserable wet day and so blustery our waste bin went flying this afternoon. It was lucky you managed to dodge the showers after the hairdresser AnnG. I hate it when your hair is looking good and you have to go out in the rain or wind. I think I will get the small hooks for the curtains. I must admit it's ages since I took curtains down and I had forgotten about the different kinds of hooks!

OH had a result back to do with his eye that had all the lasering before. There is something else now that they need to monitor. He had the result of his blood test today and the extra tablet the surgery prescribed after halving his statin is fine and not causing a problem so that is good. This morning he got a text to arrange more blood tests at our surgery and he doesn't know if these are ones the surgery wants or the ones the hospital wants that he's waiting for a form they are sending. I'm surprised he's got any blood left. Poor chap it seems relentless with one thing after another keep happening.I watched him on youtube at a council meeting last night and he was so articulate and on the ball you wouldn't think anything was wrong to look at him.

Yes it was a surprise with the FH, and I hope it's right, but on this particular FH branch I have found a few Sirs and surprises with a few individuals living in stately homes by managing to go a long way back, but not as far. The wife they found that's furthest back lived in an old manor house in Derbyshire that is NT owned now, but has been added to and only a small amount of the original stone house is left. The church is next to it in the tiny village and has alabaster effigies of some of the family. I must see if I can find the connection. Typical isn't it that I cancelled our NT membership a day or two ago. Our old cards don't run out till April, but when I checked, the Manor isn't open till May! OH said it is only about an hour's travel for us. Curtseying must be a no with our backs on here Mandy! :-D lol.

Vera that was good your OH just filled the birdfeeder. It's made him feel useful and given him a change to be outside for a few minutes. Baby steps as you say. It's good you managed to stretch your legs and deliver the card for the lady who will be 94! She will appreciate it I'm sure. What a nuisance with the laptop cushion. I bet they went everywhere as well.

Mel have you seen those tiny potters wheels for doing miniature things? I didn't even realise they existed. Yes it must be very fiddly getting things out of the moulds. These sound like they are figures you are making now. It was a good idea to hand Stu the meal to take and save him cooking. You don't want to risk catching another cold just now and it helped him as well.

Vera we use to have a bean bag for the children and it needed a wash but it didn't have a liner in it .......well ...... we managed to get most of the polystyrene balls in a bin bag but after a while you got static and as fast as we were trying to fill the bin bag they were all sticking to our hands ,it was a job and a half and I can only say we'd never do it again ,those beans get everywhere and you still find them weeks later .

Dry here now after some rain and there's very grey clouds about ,they did say we might get some thunder but I haven't heard any yet.

Yes that was a nice find for Ann ..... cursty :-D

Mandy she will be too posh for us soon!! exciting though.

Vera baby steps then. good OH did the bird feeder. that will start to make him feel 'normal' again.

I must admit I have looked at the lap tray and wondered what would happen if it split. Now I know, you will be finsing those little balls for ever now.

Afternoon all,
When we first got up I didn't think it seemed as cold and we did see the sun for a while but it didn't last long and now its raining it seems to have turned colder again, we have the fire lit so that makes it nice and cosy inside .
I hoovered through this morning and then got sidetracked doing a bit of the jigsaw ,we've nearly finished it and then we'll start another .

Anng thats good you managed to dodged the showers on your way back from the hairdressers .

Vera just little jobs is probably enough for OH but I'm sure once he has had the rest of his antibiotics he'll start to feel better ,Hope your back eases with the tablets ,take things easy .

Mel your little things must take some getting out of the moulds ,so disappointing if its nearly out and then a tiny bit breaks off ,I think I'd say a few choice words .

Ann I love the gypsy names and a 14th cousin to Elizabeth :-0 will we have to start to curtsey to you :-D

Afternoon all

It’s warmer today but there is still a cold wind so it feels cooler. Dry so far but I think it’s going to be raining again soon.

OH has been cooped up inside for a week now but today he did step into the garden and refill the bird feeder. That was enough for him but all these little steps mean he is making progress.

I got half an hour in the fresh air as well and it was good to get out. I took one of my migraine painkillers as doctor said I could also take them when my back is bad, put a heat pad on my back and went to pop a birthday card through someone’s door. This lady will be 94 tomorrow and physically is getting quite frail but her mind is as sharp as ever.

I hope it stayed dry for your hair appointment AnnG. Invite me to lunch when your potatoes are ready. They have a different flavour when they are really fresh. I like Charlotte pots but don’t think I know Jazzy.

Typing this on my iPad on a lap cushion and the leatherette stuff holding the filling has suddenly torn away from the edge, covering me, the couch and the floor with those little polystyrene balls. Off to get the vacuum cleaner.

I bet you are glad your back home in the warm now Anng. I am just going to get something to eat. I have been taking out my new moulds this morning. They are so tiny in parts I'm glad I did'nt knock any heads or arms or hands off.

And in that short time it is not RAINING and windy.

No sun here 11 degrees but really windy and showery. I got wet walking round to the hairdressers but managed to dodge the showers coming back, Not too cold out of the wind. Glad I am home again anyeay.

suns popped out not for long I suppose.

Morning all,

Dull and grey here this morning but dry and its 9 degrees with afternoon rain. Something to look forward to even if its not different.

Need to do some ironing today and pop the hoover round.

I ahve some new mods to take out too but I don't know if I am going to be able to mkae these anymore as they are really fiddley.

Good morning all, very grey again and 5 degrees. Dry so far. Hair appointment 12 o'clock today so hoping it doesn't rain. Otherwise nothing planned. I did get three letters done yesterday and have a couple more to do so maybe that is today's project.

Mel last year I grew Charlottes, Jazzy and Maris Piper. I didn't grow pink firapple (not heard of that one).

I had to go back and check I had not noticed I had put chatting instead of chitting. Made mechuckle too so I left it. But they are not in the conservatory Mandy they are in the spare bedroom.
Ann I think most of my curtains are on the small hooks, although it is a long time since I have taken the curtains down to see.

Yes Vera if it is not muscle pain the gel probably won't help. what about heat pads do they help.

Gosh Annx thats interesting. I'm back to the 1500's too but can't seem to get any further back. Trouble is with a name like Hannabuss there are so many spelling of it.

I too laughed at the potatoes chatting, it put me in mind of the advert on the telly saying people throw away about £80 worth of food a month they buy and don't eat. Where the strawberry is going bad and it says " sorry I can't help it".

I did'nt grow potatoes in my bags last year but I may have another go this year as Anng did the pink firapple last year and oh and I used to grow those and they were a favorite out on the barrow when we sold the veg by the road.

Yes I did do the chilli for Stu tonight but somehow I had put my phone on flight mode and I could'nt make of recieve calls or texts. Stu had rung me to say James had a bad cold and Abi too and he thought he may be coming down with it so I told him not to come but siad if he had'nt eaten he could come and get a take away which he did I just passed it to him out the front door and he went off happy knowing he had'nt got to cook for himself after all.

Hope you al sleep well tonight and that Annx foot is better and Vera gets more sleep and her oh is improving still and he still has quite a few days on antibiotics.

It turned cold this afternoon again so I too stayed in the warm. I was going to clean the hen house out but decided not to.

Afternoon All,

We have had the fine drizzle much of the day too and it's been very cold. We were going to go to Morrisons at Hinckley to get a few things and have some of their poached eggs they do so nicely, but when we got up to do OH's first eyedrop at 8.00am we decided against it as he'd had a bad night with his head pain he gets at times and had needed to take the stronger painkillers and I wasn't keen and was still weary too. We went back to bed and then the landline rang, so up we got again only to find it was a scammer!! OH even got a scam on his mobile later, supposedly HMRC. We got up then and I went to the shop while OH walked into the village for his walk and to collect two CD's he'd ordered online.

We had a chicken and mushroom stirfry for lunch. I cooked the skinless and boneless chicken thighs in the slow cooker yesterday so they were really tender and hadn't realised till I looked it up that you could use quite small amounts of liquid in the slow cooker. Once they cooled overnight, the fat solidified and I scooped it off today.

Thanks for the video Mel and it will certainly stop me wanting any more although I mostly have the 90% sort now. I did have a small box of Ferrero Rocher at Christmas but won't be having more of those! I did see a programme a while ago that said some cocoa was contaminated as they dried the beans next to busy roads with all the pollution. What are you cooking for Stu?

AnnG it is good to try out a few varieties of potato like that and have them in different containers too as I would be bound to get them mixed up. We have a Dunelm at Hinckley where we may go tomorrow now, but I have a dilemma as I'm not sure if I should get the pinch pleat or pencil pleat wire hooks instead. I still think the little plastic ones may be best though as I can adjust the curtains up or down a bit depending what row of thread I hook them through which I can't with the big wire ones with prongs.

Vera I'm sorry your OH still has pain but hopefully the antibiotics will soon bring more improvement and it's a shame your back is playing up now too so I hope you soon feel more comfortable with the wheat bag. Good news on the car though and the car will be nice and clean when you get it back.

The sewing up of all the clothes for the Rabbit must take a while Mandy, but we'll be looking for a handbag now! Yes the foot isn't right yet, but is far less painful thankyou. I'm still using the gel inserts as they make such a difference. You've reminded me I had a chuckle at AnnG's chatting potatoes too!

Rootstech sent me an email the other day showing two famous people I am supposed to be connected to. They have one ancestor different to what I have, it is a different brother and I wasn't sure which was right myself but the ancestry going beyond is the same anyway. My father's family history is very unusual as there are gipsies with fancy names like Ambretta and Spizella on his father's side and industrious business owners going back to Sirs on his mother's side. It is this side that links me to the late Queen Elizabeth 2nd with shared ancestors in the 1400s making me a 14th cousin. I had only got back to the 1500s so must look up these other people.

Evening all,

Oh it's been a cold day again ,we went shopping a bit earlier this morning as there was no school traffic ,we did wonder if the traffic would be busy though as our new Lidl opened today but it was quite quiet ,the old store is near our Tesco's and we had to go there to get petrol , and they were stripping the old Lidl's out already , Aldi was quiet so we soon got our shopping and home again for a nice coffee to warm us up , it's one of those days we're I can't get warm .

Vera I hope your back soon eases with the wheat bag ,your OH might not feel the full benefit of the antibiotics until he's had the full course of them and the sitting about probably isn't helping his joint pain if he's use to being more agile.

Ann that was good OH's chest xray was clear and most of the blood tests were OK too hopefully once hes had the next test it will help them sort out his treatment plan .
Is your foot better now .

Mel enjoy your meal with stu tonight ,did you make the chilli .

Anng I did have a giggle about your potatoes "chatting " in the conservatory ,I had a vision of them saying to each other are you going to be mash or chips lol , goes to show how one letter in a word can change the whole sentence and I type words like that all the time ,or this tablet does . :-D

The wind came up after lunch and we have that very fine rain that blows everywhere in the wind making everthing wet.

Can't get motivated to do anything at present just sitting here dozing.

Got up once in the night and it was still dark so went back to bed but just lie there awake till8.10am when I got up but now I could just throw myself on the bed and fall asleep but I can't cos Stu is coming.

I expect others are busy Mel.

We haven’t had any heavy rain today but lots of drizzle and it’s still very cold.

AnnG, I have offered to walk to our nearest chemist and get something like Ibuleve or Volterol but Mr Independant said no. To be fair to him his back problem is more to do with a joint that was damaged donkey’s years ago and the rub in creams work best for muscle pain. More of a problem are other pains in his body which are caused by the infection. He thought all the antibiotics might have eased them more by now. The pain is slightly better and he still has antibs for another 10 days.

The car is sorted out at last. The company are very busy and are having problems getting 2 drivers available at the same time. The car is out of the workshop and in a compound and they are happy to keep it there until we are ready to collect it. We’ll get a taxi there which they will pay for. We’ve told them it will be a couple of weeks and they said if we can give them a few hours notice they will bring it back to the workshop and give it a good clean ready for us. So that’s another worry out of the way.

Would you believe my back is giving me gyp at the moment. OH is watching the Winter Olympics and seems settled so I am going to lie on the bed with some pillows and a wheat bag against my back.

I hope you are all OK and enjoying whatever you are doing.