General Chat

I have a Miele washer Ann. It was expensive but it is a very good machine. It has only tiny holes in the drum which don't seem to make marks on your clothes. It also has the 20min wash which I think is great. The only thing is the other washes nearly all take longer than 2 hours except the dark colour wash. It has that guarantee too.

O I did'nt mean to do that. I was going to say that my machine sticks out past the other cupboards.

Morning All
It is a cold and frosty morning again.Brrrrrrr!. Up early as I need to go to town and get home quickly as we are expecting parcels and Chris is going to Cambridge.
I just need to go to 2 shops.M&S and Waterstones .

Ann I like those chickens in bags.I always find that the meat is always lovely and moist.

Gill, I am sorry to see that your Mum is in hospital. Hopefully she will be well enough to go home as soon as possible.It is bound to be a worry for you.I am sure you will feel less worried once you have been to see her today.As you say just talking on the phone is not the same as actually seeing your Mum when you know she is unwell.

I had better get myself washed and dressed.I will have my bath or shower later.I just don't want to get caught up in the school run traffic and M&S opens at 8 .30 :-D

Morning Jane and all,

So who's an early BIrd this morning then. Its so nice to see someone has posted on here when I log in in the morning. I know its a busy time of year but I miss my morning fix of a post from one of you.

How do you feel today Jane? I hope your better. Sending wishes.

Everywhere is white out there today and the sun is shining its head off. We've had three deer in the orchard and oh saw a hedgehog at 6 this morning heading towards my shed after sniffing around the bowl. There was some food there but it was frozen solid.

I need to feed the wild birds too. I have got them out a fat block and a fat ball or two and a pot of seed but their favorite are the sunflower hearts. Trouble with those is they come to the feeder outside the kitchen window grab a seed and fly away. Sometimes the Greenfinches stay on there and the Siskins do too, one either side but I think they may have moved on now because I hav'nt seen them for a while.

I have to go and wire some fluffy stuff and holly this morning and do some bows and wire some flowers. If I can get the advent ring done today I can moss some rings.

Done some washing and its on the line. cleaned three chicken water drinkers, cleaned the sink and washed up filled all the bird feeders and given them clean water as all the other water is frozen.

Going to put a second lot of washing in now.

Afternoon all my little fairies !!!,

What a cold old morning it is, I am pleased I am not a IRON MONKEY lol lol
Ros and I started the Christmas cards last night. I read out the address's while she wrote the cards. She had to get more out this morning, as we ran out. I hate to think what the postage will be, We have so many that are overseas,

Her hand writing is far better than mine, being left handed it looks like a spider has crawled over the envelope.
As a child my Twin Sister who was right handed sat beside me in junior school. Her hand writing was so perfect, and mine a complete disaster. The teacher even tried tying my left hand behind my back, to make me use my right hand. Needless to say it didn't work.

Where have you been poking your nose Jane, ?? somewhere you shouldn't. That is a very large tree that Fitz has got. Surely he wasn't safe to drive all that way with it in his car. Good job he didn't get stopped by the police. !!! I trust you got your shopping done before the "SCHOOL RUN" Round here it's best to stay at home until 9.30 am plus. The cars fill all the surrounding streets, it's the same again at 3.30 pm on wards.

Sorry to hear so many of you are suffering with these horrible headaches . My eyes seem to be getting worse. Double and blurred vision, I know it's the cateract's, and will be glad when I can get the operation. I am finding I can see better without my glass's when watching T.V. I can hardly read a book or paper now, as I can't focus on the print.

Football tonight. West Ham V Man.Utd. in the cup. COME ON YOU "HAMMERS"

Yes Frank "Up The Hammers"

I'm not getting on very well....................I have cut up some fluffy stuff and then got lunch and now thats over I am having a COT sitting here at the pc.

Good on you Mel, the way you work, you deserve a bit of time off.

Pam our neighbour has just called in to ask us for Drinkie poos on the 17th December at about 11.00 am. No doubt there will be other neighbours included. I will be able to tell them we are away on the 20th and to keep an eye on the place. You can't be to careful.

Ros has just gone to post the overseas cards and get 7 dozen stamps for all the GB cards. The rest are local, so we will pop out one morning and deliver those.

Spag. Bols. tonight. I got it all made this morning, so just needs warming through while I cook the Spaghetti this evening. Mustn't eat to much, as I need to leave room for my beer. ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-)

Beautiful late afternoon SKY. Sun rays just poking through the little clouds. I bet it's going to be a cold one again.

I might try walking back from the pub after the match. That will save Ros having to clear the screen before coming down for me. Anyway it's me that want's to go out, NOT HER.

I have been sitting eating Chocolate raisins, one of my favourites. I don't eat a lot of sweet stuff, much prefer nuts and cheese.

Everywhere is lite up and nice and warm, so will watch a bit of tele. for an hour or so. See you later.

Thanks Mel for your lovely Xmasy Xmas card :-D..That's 2 now .
I felt fine this morning when I got up,So different than yesterday. Well by the time I got away from the house this morning it was 9 o clock.It took me so long to de-ice the car and also all the windows on the inside were thick with ice !!!! :-S..Chris says to make sure I close the air vents tonight.I had to come in and get my window cleaner wiper thing and a cloth for the insides !

7 dozen stamps !!! I thought I had to get a lot at 60 something .I have done all the abroad ones now.

Fitz's car is just a normal length estate ,and no I am sure he wouldn't have been safe driving as he couldn't see out the left hand side windows !!!!. There must have been a fair bit of tree too hanging out the back of the boot.He is a nightmare really.He said he still has to get another tree for the sitting room.But that will be about 5ft.

Chris has just noticed that I have popped the spot on my nose.I just couldn't help myself :-)..Just hope it doesn't come back twice as big now especially as I have the hairdressers tomorrow :-S..Nigel would probably have some comment LOL..He will get a thick ear if he does :-D

We had a box of wine delivered earlier.The man said I was lucky it got as far as the front door because as he was carrying it up the drive he heard a pop and the sellotape on the bottom of the box had given way !!!!!!!.Luckily he grabbed the bottom and stopped all the bottles crashing out.Can you imagine the mess it would have made!!!!!
and what a waste ;-)

Frank you be careful on any icy pavements tonight..We know how accident prone you are ;-) ;-).

The sun was so bright again today, and Thomas for the first time since we had the new suite got up on one of the settees and lay in the patch of sunlight.I was so surprised.
I didn't have the heart to move him off as he looked so comfy.Chris would have shooed him off. I took a pic :-DWill send it.

Well Jane has just said what I thought when I read your post Frank. The pavements are going to be very icy again tonight so be carefull if you are walking home and make sure you have a pair of shoes on that won't slip easiley as some soles can be like that.

WE just had crumpets and tea for me coffee for him. I bought them in Morrisons and they were square crumpets so went in the toaster nicely. I hav'nt seen square ones since I lived in Suffolk. Wish I had bought two packs now as I did'nt see them this week.

I must get the rest of my washing in. I put three of my fleece jumpers in the dryer just to finish them off as they felt damp. The other things I iron so they don't matter so much.

Glad you liked your card Jane but I can't remember which one I sent you now. I expect it was mostly red and green!

Evening all,

What a cold frosty day it's been but the sunshine has been lovely and the sun set tonight was beautiful .

Gill i hope you got to see your mum today and that's she's feeling better , did you get the Christmas tree up today ? i bet Sandra was excited .

Frank you be careful tonight walking home from the pub ,i can see the sparkle out on the path now and it's still early so it will be worse by the time you need to walk home .
Gosh that's a lot of stamps !! at least now they stick on so there's no licking them anymore ,you'd run out of lick with that lot :-D

Thanks Mel for your card ,another pretty one ,i've had three now ,yours ,Kim's and one from my cousin in New Zealand .

I'd have loved to have seen Fitz and the Christmas tree all wedged in the car ,did he have to travel very far like that ?
Lovely photo of Thomas laying in the sun , he knows where to get .
How lucky was that ,if the chap hadn't heard the sellotape pop all the bottles would have dropped ,your right what a waste :-0 :-D

I saw Nicko today ,had quite a chat with him , seems he is staying with family but he's sleeping in an out building and he said it was minus seven last night how can family make him sleep out in this cold !!!!
He said they were moaning about him putting to much water in the kettle when he puts it on to boil ,he's still trying to heat soup over a night light , it took seven hours to heat his soup as the building was so cold .
He was priority on the housing list ,since he told them he now living in an out building he's come down the list !!
It makes me so angry to think family can treat him like that .
He thanked me again for all the food i cooked for him and how he appreciated seeing a friendly face too bless him.

Evening All,

Thanks for the pic of Thomas Jane.........he does look comfy with the sun on his back. I couldn't help but think it was a good job he didn't still have his dirty BUM!!!! ;-)

I do hope they get Nicko housed soon Mandy. Fancy him having to spend such a cold night in an outbuilding. It's very hard to understand his family isn't it. At the very least they could have hotted up his soup for him. Still it's good he is so appreciative of your kindness. It must have meant such a lot to him.

Well I was on the phone sorting out the washer first thing this morning. Cancelled the one from Curry's and bought it from John Lewis. It will be coming in a week on Wednesday afternoon. Phew!!! Mind you, the payment wouldn't go through for John Lewis and I had to miss out on my points by using another card which is annoying. I rang my provider and they said it was because of the two large payments being made, yet I'd cancelled the first! I had plenty of credit on my card but this was 'suspicious' activity according to the bank! Anyway they've unblocked my card now.

This afternoon I was at a meeting at the hospital about a study. It will be about 6 months before we know if it will go ahead but it looks interesting to do with diet and it's one I would be interested in taking part in. :-)

It was cold this morning and my car seemed a bit delayed in firing up. Maybe it's because it is a bigger engine than my previous cars, but it was a bit disconcerting when you are used these days to them starting straightaway. :-S

Frank you take care now with the pavements..........think of your knee!!!!

Thanks for your card Mel.......it's really lovely!! I have 2 now with the one from Kim. <3

I hope Gill's mum is ok and that she's managed to see her today. Is Liz back yet only she seems to have been gone a long while?

Evening all

It's not been frosty here today but it's gone very cold now so I expect we might get a bit of frost in the night.

Yes, be careful tonight Frank, we don't want you to have a fall. Hope West Ham win, I'll keep my fingers crossed for you. That's a lot of stamps wouldn't it be easier to send everyone an e-card, it's going to cost you a small fortune buying all those stamps.

So you've got your washer all sorted out now Ann. I remember ordering a wardrobe online once and I had a text from the bank asking me if I had ordered it, once I said yes I had to wait a few minutes then try again to order it, it went through the second time, but it was nice to know that the bank wouldn't let the first payment go through without checking with me first.

So you nearly lost all your wine Jane, I'd love to have seen the delivery man's face when the bottom nearly fell out of the box, good job he heard the pop and reacted quickly. Pleased to hear you feel better today. I love the pic of Thomas, he's not daft is he? LOL.

Aren't some families horrible Mandy, fancy letting a family member, or anyone for that matter, sleep in an outhouse, surely they could of let him sleep on the sofa if they didn't have a spare bed. I don't know if being in an outhouse is better than sleeping outside, it's probably just as cold. He sounds such a nice man too, he doesn't deserve that.

Sandra says thanks for her Christmas card Mel, it arrived today. She's sent you a little something in the post today.

I didn't go to see mum today as they have moved her to a different ward which is on the 3rd floor, I have a really bad fear of heights so wouldn't of been able to get up there, we spoke on the phone and she said she didn't expect me to go, I felt bad but I know I would just freeze on the spot, that's if I even made it up there. Last time she was in hospital it was on the 2nd floor and I was terrified she could see how bad I was when I got onto the ward and I couldn't even look anywhere near the window, she said all the colour had drained out of my face and I looked like I was going to faint. It's a horrible feeling being so scared of something like that.

OH is going to hospital tomorrow for an assessment on his back they might do the operation tomorrow so he has to take an overnight bag just in case and he can't eat anything after midnight tonight. The problem is what you said the other day Jane, it's written on the doctors letter to the hospital. He had to go back to the doctors today but couldn't get in to see the original doctor, the woman on reception wasn't going to give him an appointment until I explained that he had to see the doctor to book an appointment for an operation and still she wasn't happy at him going as there were only emergency appointments left, she then asked was the problem was to which she didn't seemed bothered. So now I'm worrying about mum and OH, needless to say I've still got my migraine and sickness. I feel like crying now with it all, but that would probably make the migraine worse. To top it all off I couldn't put the Christmas tree up for Sandra as there isn't enough room with the sofa's being bigger than our old ones. I have had a thought of putting the 3ft fibre optic one up that she used to have in her room, at least that way she'll have something to look at.

Well, I'd better go and put the big Christmas tree away and see if I can find the smaller one. I've suggested to Sandra that we make some things for the room using some of the fairy lights we have, not sure what we're going to make yet, but I'm sure it'll look pretty what ever we make. We both like lights. so we'll have to put our thinking caps on. I've put the advent calendar I made her up and she had fun filling the 25 pockets with sweets of her choice and then of course eating the left over sweets from the bag ;-) Good job I got two bags of sweets.

I have just brought my jeans and t shirts in off the line and they were as stiff as a board.

Gill I can't stand and look over if I am in a multi storey car park. Oh taught me how to do it. He told me to stand sideways to the drop and it is much better. My legs just go like jelly. Even if its something on the telly like someone standing near an edge my legs go sitting down or standing up.

Looking forward to the post tomorrow now...... <3

I still only have one card from Kim but it is a smasher with a wreath and two Robins sitting in the bottom. and a very glittery surround that sparkles in th elights.

Mandy I wonder why Nicko is not really welcome in the house?? It makes you wonder about some families, dos'nt it. Why can't he heat his soup indoors in the micro or on the cooker. Perhaps they don't have a micro! When he is such a polite chap to you and he sounds like he is well educated what could have gone wrong??
We used to have twins live a few miles up the road to us. Their mother, when she was alive, would'nt let them in the house . They lived in it when she died but they were really weird because they used to cook on firelighter and people said the house inside was black with the smoke from the lighters. They used them to boil thier kettle. The other thing I wanted to say was that you should'nt boil or heat soup in the can so I was told. We did it when over the humps and bumps when young, my friend Lynda and I over a fire we made. Thought it was great doing it in our camp. I have three camping stove type gas cookers I only wish I could send him one as I never use them.

I think its going to stay cold as my thumb split open today. I have been putting vasaline on it.

I made a good start on the advent ring in the end. Did all the fluffy stuff on the outer in green and yellow evergreen and the holly and the ivy so now I only have to do the bows and flowers o and the holly berries recover the mound in the middle for the central candle wire it to my stand and take it down the church.

I meant to add that I remember once being told to keep night lights in the car and if you got stuck in the snow you could light an 8 hour night light and it would keep the car from freezing.

Mandy have you seen these heater they make out of a tin can and a candle?

Morning all

Dry here today with a bit of sun, no frost so that's something.

I'm the same as you Mel, I can't watch anything on TV to do with heights, my hands go clammy and my heart races. I don't know why I'm so scared of heights. I can hold a snake or a spider and that doesn't bother me, but heights just scare me to bits.

Well, OH has gone to the hospital, my tummy has butterflies in it and I feel sick. I've hardly slept all night with the worry, I know it's only a small op but I'll be glad when he's home safe and sound. Not being able to see mum isn't good either. I'm so stressed at the moment my head is really hurting, it's been almost a week now and I feel terrible. I just wish mum and OH were okay then I can stop worrying.

I'm going to have a sort out of some of my stuff today to take my mind of things, I've been meaning to do it for ages so that should keep me busy for a few hours. Sandra is still asleep and if I just sit here doing nothing I know I'll worry more.

What is everyone else doing today?

Morning all,

Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone.


Suns out but everything is white with frost. I have taken a few pics. Its not been sso frosty for ages.

O Gill I really think you should go to the docs with this had of yours. Sorry you are worrying but Glynn will be ok and home with you soon and you can fuss over him.

Hope all goes well for him and that your mum can come home soon so you can see her. I am sure she understands about the heights problem and why you can't visit but you have been on the phone to her so she knows you're thinking about her and wishing her better soon. <3 <3

I have the library late morning.

Morning All,

I agree with Mel Gill and think it might be an idea to see your doc about the headaches. They can prescribe stronger medication for migraines. I can quite understand why you and Mel have problems with heights. I'm not very good with going up ladders and high buildings. I remember having to do a visit when I worked to the 27th floor of a building........I was so glad to get out of there! OH has worse problems like you both do. He's the same as you Mel with heights on the telly, even worse at the cinema at times. He hates crossing bridges and sometimes can't climb up old castle steps. He had an office on the 9th floor of a building once and didn't like it at all as it was a narrow building with huge windows. He was fine as a youngster, thought nothing of the big wheel at the fair and went up Blackpool Tower ok. Your mum and hubby will be fine and taken good care of and I know it's not easy but try not to worry too much. <3