General Chat

Morning all,

Well the sun is shining here this morning and its a beautiful day so I hope Anne has the same weather for picking up her new little family member. Won't it be nice to see some new pictures of little Ruby?

Oh is trying to fit a new grill to the cooker at the mo. He ordered it online and it came yesterday. So I have the cooker out in the midle of the floor.

Fun and games at yours then Mel. Will it take OH long to fit the new grill to the cooker? How are you getting on with your crafting, is it almost finished, we haven't heard anything about it for a while?

Sandra is still asleep and OH is in work so I'm sitting here with another cuppa. I might take another look at my family tree, I've still got lots of loose ends to sort out and it'll give me something to do until Sandra wakes up. Hope she's feeling better today, I'm sure all the sleep will do her good..

What is everyone else doing today?

Good morning all, Evening Kim,

I HAD A GOOD NIGHT LAST NIGHT. I stayed up until 11.00 pm and dropped of almost at once. Got out about 4.00 am for the loo. Then slept till 8.00 am so feel a bit more lively this morning.

Ros has gone shopping alone. She is going to call round to see Martine to see that she's O.K. Brian her OH has been doing everything for her this week.

Wee Anne will be at Hastings or might even be on her way home with Ruby. xx I hope they have a comfortable journey and Ruby isn't sick.

How nice to have the whole family round the able for a meal Jane. Like us it doesn't happen very often.

Glad Sandra is feeling better Gill, Not good feeling sick at any time. !! Martine got to the doctors, and I think he gave her something else for the cough. Dos will tell me more later.

We tend to get the police helicopter around this way quite a lot. I think they are tracking the movements of certain cars on the M 1 It's only 2/3 miles from us. I get notices from the police re:- break ins robberies, Stolen cars etc. Lately I am getting 5 or 6 a day, all in local villages. So wheather they are local toe rags or from out of Town I don't know. I always make sure all doors are locked at all times, as you never know who's around.

Not sure what we are going to get regarding the weather. No Sunshine or breeze, but doesn't look cold out.

Have you got your cooker back in one piece yet Mel.???

Think I might take a walk to the pub for the match, and have a pint or two.!!!

I'm so pleased you managed to get a good night last night Frank it makes all the difference.

Yes cooker all back up and working and looking nice and clean as the grill door was off I could clean it by the sink instead of having to bend down to it and get backache.

Suns still out and oh is mowing. I am just about to go up the shop before lunch and deliver Em's eggs.

No I hav'nt touched the craft for a while. I have one more bit to do and its always the same when you are nearly there you forget about it with other things to do. I will get there though and may do a bit tomorrow. I just have to work out a pattern for this last bit.

I wonder if Anne is back with little Ruby yet. Sandra is really excited to hear and so am I <3 <3

So your cooker is back in situ now then Mel, it's always nice to be able to clean things easily and it sounds like you have with your door. I'm sure your craft will be lovely when it's finished, can't wait to hear what it is and see a pic if you take one.

Pleased to say Sandra is back to normal today and feeling better. I think it might of been lack of sleep as she tends to have a lot of late nights. She slept for almost 12 hours last night which obviously has helped. I will read the rest of the book to her later as she wants to know how the story ends.

Just going to watch Monty Don's Big Dreams Small Spaces first, I recorded it last night as we like that programme.

Afternoon all,

Lovely sunny day here ,we have had the three little ones here today as son and DIL were helping DIL's parents to move , they have all gone home now so we are having a rest ,they keep you on your toes .

Lovely to see little Ruby home thanks for all the photo's Anne she's a little darling .
Did she travel ok?
Hope you have a good first night with her and she settles , i remember our first night with Max he was so very vocal :-D

I haven't even thought about what we will eat tonight , might be chinese .

I'm glad Sandra is feeling better today .

Afternoon All

Anne,the email came through but no pics !!!!!!!! .Mandy can you forward me yours please :-D.Can't wait to see Ruby.

Thanks so much Anne for your message this morning about the article of Johnny's Happy Place and his Mum in the magazine.I bought it and was thrilled to see the double page spread !!!!. I think Johnny's sister must have nominated her Mum for this.
James is going to dinner with Denise(Johnny's Mum) on Thursday with another couple of friends...I would not have known about the article if you hadn't said.So a big thanks :-D :-D

I think it is chilly so the fire has just been lit.Bit late in the day but I will soon warm up.The heating is on too !!. I had a very disturbed night last night with strange dreams and even getting up for the loo 4 times !!!!. That is most unusual for me.Twicw maybe but never 4 times.I think the dreams kept waking me and then I thought I needed to go. The main dream was that I was somwhere abroad wit hall the family including Janice and Larry and i lost them all.There were in a little boat on river and i was on the river bank.I kept calling to them but they just kept floating further down river even though they could hear me calling them.I was then running around this town shouting to everyone I had lost my family and no one took any notice :-( I didn't like this dream :-S..So I am feeling a bit pooped after all that LOL.

So maybe staying up a bit later did the trick Frank as you had a much better night.You will have to do the same again tonight.
Busy day Mandy with the Children.You can put your feet up now they have gone :-D

Im glad Sandra is feeling so much better today Gill.Hopefully whatever it was has cleared from her system now (and no-ne else picks it up)

Mel why are you having the new grill in your cooker?.I thought it was a new cooker n ot so long ago.

Hannah has just gone out .Another friend's birthday .Her old schoolfriend Hannah picked her up so she hasn't needed to take my car.

I must post this as I want some pics of Ruby please :-D :-D :-D

Afternoon All,

Not much sun here today, just more gloom! Thanks for the pics of Ruby Anne. She seems to have made herself at home already!! I expect she may find it hard tonight though without her mum and litter mates.

Like with you I expect the motorway a couple of fields away at the back of us is the reason the helicopter was out Frank. We have 2 other helicopters within a mile of us though. There's a helipad at the NEXT HQ the other side of the village and EVERARDS brewery and HQ next to the retail park has one. It has it's own little hangar. The last time the police one was out a few weeks ago it was to look for that local man that was missing.

At last you got a good night's sleep!!! I bet you do feel a bit more lively. I know after several nights of poor sleep I feel like a zombie!! You weren't counting backwards in sevens were you?

It's good Sandra is feeling better Gill. Maybe it was just a bug. It's nice she is enjoying her camera so much. We watched Monty Don last night and the garden was one I would like in a small space if it was well sheltered. I made our garden quite tropical when we moved here and we had no blue or white flowers. It gets so much sun though and looked so hot I couldn't bear it outside for long!! Now with more greenery and some blue and the little waterfall it feels a bit cooler!

Yes, 'a typical male' as you say Mel!! They can always manage to do what they fancy without complaint can't they!! lol. :-)

I'd better go and get changed now and carry on with some paperwork! We got OH's DNA test results yesterday. He is more British in his DNA than I am and despite him having a surname most common in Ireland he is a lot less Irish than me!!

Jane I have forwarded Anne's email but you have to scroll down a bit to see the pics.

I had a new grill element as the one in there had bent down both ends and I kept bashing the grill pan on it. It was also glowing very red on the left hand corner so I knew it was going to go at some point so when oh looked at it he ordered one straight away. Can't be without a grill for our Sjunday big breakfast now can we?

We have had a good clearout of all the cardboard boxes today. When you order things from Amazon they always come in great big boxes and oh saves them up till we have loads then we have a good clearout.

Is'nt little Ruby just a peach? So nice to see all those pictures of the little mite and nice to keep to see how she is growing. I think she was the best marked of the whole litter. Such a pretty little girl. Thanks for sending them Anne.

I have also cut down all the old clematis off the arch in the orchard and then oh came and said he needed a MOC so I did that and we had cakes with it.

Ann you popped in just before me. Was G disappointed not to have so much Irish as you? I can't remember what else you said you had in your DNA.

Thanks Mel for forwarding Ruby's pics
Ahhhhh! she is so tiny still Anne . Looks quite happy with her chewy bone and nice soft blankie :-D :-D.I do hope you manage to get a decent night sleep tonight.You will have one ear open .Will Ruby be in with you?

I did realise that the pics were there on the email ,but there was a big blank bit and i just needed to scroll down further .

So no exciting surprises with OH's DNA then Ann. At least you both know all your roots now :-D..I did mention to Fitz about having his done ,but he didn't sound too bothered.Maybe when we meet up you can have a go and try and persuade him to do it :-D

I've an Irish great grandmother Ann on my paternal side. She came from County Cork, came to England when she was an adult and married an Englishman. Her name was Margaret Toomey. I think that the three of us would be entitled to an Irish passport which might be useful when we leave the EU!
Another busy day in the garden, OH has finished sawing and splitting logs (he has a saw bench and log splitter!!) They now need stacking, but son will help do that when he comes on Thursday which will save me!! I've done a load of clipping and of course weeding! Glad Sandra is better Gill, that's a relief for you.
Hope all went well with Ruby Anne. I expect you're glad to get her home!

Good evening all

As you can tell by the photos Ruby has arrived, about 12.30 actually a good uneventful journey with no puppy accidents. This is the 2nd post lost the first one.
The two cats aren't impressed with their new sister although they are both bigger than her. She's fast asleep on Abbie's lap at the moment but has been fed and had a good run around. I hope she sleeps tonight but I have a cage in my bedroom for her also one in the kitchen when I need to cook and when we eat.
I hope everybody got the photos and not missed anyone out. I haven't got round to reading any of the posts yet.

Pleased you managed to buy the magazine Jane, I realised straight away that it was Jame's friend when I read I it last night in bed.

I have just showed oh the pics of Ruby. He said she's lovely.

We've just watched Pru and hubby on the canals. Some beautiful scenery they went past. We like that program.

My toes ache tonight. I get this every so often when I have done a lot of walking about.
I'm pleased Sandra feels better after her nice long sleep. She must have needed it.

Taboo in a minute, last one next week! Testament of Youth on BBC 2. Saw it years ago and it was excellent so we shall watch it on catchup tomorrow. We watched all the canal progs Mel, they are really lovely. Unfortunately poor Prue is quite ill now.
Hope you have a good night with Ruby Anne!

That's a good start if Ruby travelled well Anne. I can just picture the cats' withering looks!!

Mel, OH thought he had no Irish ancestry the same as me. It was only when I showed him where the greatest concentration of his surname was in the world on publicprofiler that he saw how likely it was that he had. His test shows he has a small match with countries around the Mediterranean which seems to fit with his mosquito resistant blood!!! lol. He made me laugh this afternoon. When he saw that his DNA covers a larger area of the world than mine he said that on the 'ethnicity' bit of forms now he will be ticking most of the boxes!!! :-D

I see it is 'all systems go' for the big breakfast tomorrow now the grill is replaced!! It was a good idea to give the door a good clean while it was off and easier to do.......something my OH wouldn't think to do!

Liz that is interesting you had an Irish gt grandmother. I don't know where my Irish ancestry comes from for certain, except that way way back I had ancestors in Yorkshire where there was a family with the same surname that were known as the Irish Vikings!! I just haven't been able to make the connection yet though..........a brick wall!! I feel I must have other Irish ancestors somewhere as my test shows more Irish than anything else. You've got a lot done outside today, but it does help that it has been warmer. I didn't realise Prue had got worse, silly really as it is a progressive illness, but what a shame these things happen.

Jane, when we meet up I can tell Fitz how the test has helped me to locate rellies. I didn't fully understand it's uses till I did it. Once he knows that he can have a think about it can't he. They have put the article on Johnny's Happy Place on their FB page too Jane. I hadn't realised they had one till I looked! It does look a nice cheerful place to go and they seem to do lots of things there.

The pictures of Ruby are lovely Anne. She's so adorable and still tiny. It looked like she was worn out on the last one, all curled up asleep.......bless her. I hope she settles tonight for you. I've finished reading the book to Sandra and she loved it. It was really funny had us both in stitches.

So more gardening today then Liz, you'll have it all done by the spring at this rate LOL. At least you'll be able to sit out in the nice weather if we get some.

So your cooker is up and running again Mel, all ready for your big breakfast in the morning.

Signing out now, see you all tomorrow.

I have been looking at my family tree and found out something strange.

You know mums name was Biddy and I have traced a few Biddy's back in time to the 1700's. Well My 3 x gt gran was Sarah Ann Chignell 1837 Essex. She had my 2 gt grandad base born and his sister Christiana then married John Sadler so I put their children on my tree. One of the children was Biddy Sadler and her birth is registered under that name but when she marries she is Eliza Ann Biddy Sadler and on the census past the marriage in 1892 she is Eliza Ann B Carder. Funny thing is she has a child Maud Biddy the same names as my gt gran?????????

I just needed to get it off my chest thats why I am posting this.... :-S

Morning all,

Bit dull here today but brighter than a really grey day and its not raining.

Slept like a log last night but we had wine with dinner so I expect thats why.

If it not too cold I shall do a bit more inthe garden today and if it is too cold I shall try and finish my craft.

Morning Mel morning all

A bit overcast here today but dry and reasonably warm. OH has just finished cutting up the apple tree trunk and is now on his way to the tip. Sandra has gone with him to help. He's cut it up quite small so it won't be to heavy for them to lift up. The Robins were all over the area wondering what was going on and there was a very confused squirrel around the trunk the other day, much to Sandra's amusement. The squirrel was running around and around with such a puzzled look on his face trying to work out what was different. Sandra had a good laugh at him and couldn't wait to tell her dad when he came home from work.

So you've got lots of Biddy's in your family then Mel. I've been taking another look at my tree this morning. Ancestry have got all their UK records open for free until tomorrow, so I'm taking advantage of it.

Going to prepare lunch now while everyone is out, I'll get it done much quicker that way.