General Chat

Good morning all

11 degrees at the moment and it looks as though it’s going to be another grey day. We’ll have to start clearing the lounge ready for the painter. We’ll push all the furniture into the middle of the room tomorrow night and he’ll just cover it over but there are two wall cupboards that aren’t coming down because they are simply too heavy. They contain good glassware and I want to clear them out just as a precaution against breakages. It’s the same in the hall which has a heavy sideboard with the best china in and a grandfather clock that doesn’t like being moved. Loads of pictures, wall sculptures etc to come down as well so it’s going to be a busy weekend I think.

I’ve been sitting up in bed with a cuppa but I’d better get up and get started. Have a good day everyone

Gosh Mandy, you’ll be having tomato soup for the rest of the year. All the painting will be in the same boring magnolia which is much the same as the colour we have now. I’d like a bit more colour but OH likes his magnolia so I have to put a bit of colour in with pictures, cushions etc. Last time he decorated the bedrooms he did agree to a pale green on some bits of wall as, with sloping ceilings and odd shapes, you can do some bits in a different colour

AnnG, I keep meaning to ask you if you know that Raynor Winn has another book out. I know you quite enjoyed The Salt Path and The Wild Silence. The new one is called Landlines and is the story of another long distance walk with Moth.

Mandy that was the dwarf one that I bought. It is a pretty one.

So best to have the flu jab in the left arm then.

Subject today Ann was landscapes I managed to get two good ones T the lavender farm we went to in July and one at Abbotsbury and I have looked at so many photos this afternoon that I can’t remember my fourth. We take four photos on a stick and they are shown up on a screen.

Evening all,

We had showers this morning but I did manage to get up to boots for our tablets and then to the vets to pick up Max's flea and wormer tablets .
I bought a Michealmas daisy from the market a pretty one called Little Pink Beauty .

Vera your decorator will be kept busy doing all your rooms ,are they all the same colour or do you have different colours in each room .

Katie came this afternoon from school she usually calls in on a Friday and then I walk over to the school and she gets a lift home with her dad ,son rang and said mum when you come bring a bag there's some tomatos here you can have .
When I went there was a box full of packets of toms and he said take what you want they will only be thrown away so I came home with about a dozen packs and there's about 10 toms in a pack , there was still loads left ,I think they must have over ordered this week , the children have them as snacks.
I now need to find something to do with them .

Might be soup on the menu tomorrow lol
I always do my soup on the hob and use a hand blender to blitz it .

Evening All,

Lovely sunshine here today and OH came with me to do a lap of the park, but his hip was playing up, probably after they were pressing everything for his Hernia assessment.

That's good you have your jabs booked now Gwyn. Ours were both done yesterday, we decided to have one in each arm although the nurse said they could do both in one arm! The tops of our arms felt a bit bruised today but nothing worse than that and the flu jab arm was worst for both of us.

Your soupmaker sounds good Vera. I find bought soup is usually too salty for me as I haven't added salt in cooking since 1969. lol. You can't avoid some in bought meals though and stock cubes are salty without adding more salt. I must admit they don't take as much room up as a slow cooker either. Another purchase to think about! Keep us posted when you get your daughter's review AnnG. Vera, we are in the same position re decorating as I have always done it before. I keep suggesting I have a go at the utility room but OH won't hear of it and says we should get someone in. We need to decide whether to have hard floors in the bedrooms though and I'd sooner get that sorted first if we are. The thought of lugging all the furniture out of rooms twice fills me with dread!

What was the topic for the photography group this time AnnG? Did you take some photos with you?

Mel did you just take each drawer to the shed or the chest as well? It would be quite heavy if you did I would think. I hope you had some success with the phone calls.

thanks Vera it was the one I was looking at anyway. I won't hold you responsible

No problem Ann. I didn’t choose mine as it was a present but I’ve been more than happy with it. It’s a Morphy Richards and is 1.6 litres. I forgot to say earlier that it’s really easy to clean unlike some machines.

I always worry when I recommend anything in case someone takes my recommendation and is disappointed so I can only say that’s what I think.

Vera PM me if you'd rather but what make is yours there are so many to choose from on Amazon. And one or one and a half litre?

thanks
Ann xx

I would have it more Mel if it was not so much of a faff. But I do have a packet soup almost every day for lunch (Cup a soups.

thanks Vera that is useful, looking at the DM comparison it does save money apparently.

I have one Ann and it’s been worth its weight in gold. I don’t like tinned soups much and with home made you know exactly what is in it. Mine makes 6 average size helpings so when I use it we have some the first day, some reheated the second day and a helping for 2 in the freezer. I don’t know whether it saves money on fuel or not but OH says it doesn’t use a lot of power. It does save time and effort. Once you’ve put everything in the soup maker you just switch it on and leave it. Mine takes 20-30 minutes depending on whether you are making your soup smooth or chunky. You can also make smoothie drinks in mine though I’ve never done that. I should add that I hardly ever made soup when I had to do it on the hob. My soup maker is 6 or 7 years old and still going strong.

You can tell I’m a fan can’t you :-D

Hello all,

I have got the stuff up the potting shed so thats out of the way now.

More people to ring today.

Anng do you have homemade soup a lot? If you do I suppose it would be worth getting a soup maker.

Good morning all, oops forgot to post first thing then got sidetracked reading the mail on line.

16 degrees here and sunny, there was a shower yesterday evening and the grass is wet so maybe overnight as well which is good news for the garden and the water carrier.

Photography group this afternoon so being picked up at 2pm. I have to note these times down because they are all different.

I hope your adventure Island is more exciting/pleasurable than the dentist, if not hope all goes well.

Has anyone got an electric soup maker.? Just reading that it is much cheaper to use one than using the hob to make soup which could be beneficial when the cost goes up for electricity. However they cost around £50 I think so I need to know I would use it. Daughter has just bought one so I am waiting for her review!

Morning everyone.
Sounds like you have similar weather to us Vera.
It's not at all cold, but I too won't be gardening because I am expecting a phone call from the medical team at the hospital and all they could tell me is that it is scheduled for a.m.
Yesterday was warm and sunny, when I walked to school to listen to readers. It's so nice to be back there helping.

Flu jab and Covid booster booked for weekend of 1st / 2nd.- One Saturday, one Sunday.
Not sure whether to have one sore arm or two. Does anyone know what's advised?
Sleeping won't be a problem because I can sleep semi-propped up on pillows if necessary. If I'm tired, I'll sleep wherever.

Morning all

Dry at the moment but we’ve had some rain so everything’s wet outside. I think there’s more rain promised so there’ll be nothing done in the garden today. Not sure what I’ll do. The upstairs is fairly clean and tidy and I’m not inclined to do much downstairs as we have a painter coming on Monday to paint the kitchen, lounge, hall, stairs and landing. First time we have had anyone in for decorating as OH has always done it himself.

Where are you off to Island. Is it somewhere exciting like the dentist or the local tip? Come on, spill the beans :-)

Morning Mel and all

It's dank here at the moment with full sun forecast for later.
I'm off on a big adventure - ooerr :-S :-D

Morning all,

Quite a bright morning and when I woke the sky outside my window was cloudy with patches of cornflower blue sky. PC says 13 degrees and cloudy but the suns up at the moment.

Hope you all slept well.

I missed you post there Vera. It's good your OH got done more quickly this time and you had lunch out. Ha ha, all that cake was too much of a good thing! lol. I would have fancied the bluberry sponge. :-D No, still no Michaelmas daisies at the village garden centre, but they had a huge range of Violas and Pansies, so I got a pack of 6 purple Violas for the front wall pots for £2.50. I'm glad your back has eased today and that would have been interesting to see a friend's new bungalow.

OH got back from getting his blood tests and walked in the bungalow uttering 'more incompetence!' Apparently the signage in the hospital is really poor and he took wrong turns several times finding where he should go, which is not like him at all, but he still arrived in good time for his appointment. Then the receptionist there expected him to have forms to hand in so he had to explain why he didn't need them. He was then told to sit away from everyone else and someone would fetch him. He said he'd been there nearly an hour when a nurse came round asking people to fill in a customer survey form. He explained that they wouldn't get a very good response in his case and explained why. Well it turned out the same nurse had been waiting for him for an hour and had decided to habd the forms round while she was waiting!!!!

After lunch we popped in the Factory shop but didn't buy anything this time. They had some air fryers but still no slow cookers so I might buy one online. I'm not sure what size would be most useful as I'd like to do double quantities and feeze half, but I've noticed the 'pot' inside some is quite heavy and then again a big one would take up a lot of space. I need to do some more research first I think. We then went and got our jabs done. We thought the carpark would be full with others having their jabs now, but there was just 1 space left. The 'booking in' screen seems to play up a lot and it was today with the people ahead of us, but the receptionist insisted we keep trying and then let those behind us book in at the desk instead!

That's good another bagful is going Mel. It's amazing what accumulates over the years. We seem to have a pile of cardboard boxes from online deliveries we've been hanging on to 'in case they are useful' like you do, but I think some could go now. That's good you have your booster and flu jab booked as well and only have to go to the doctor's for it this time. They have stopped giving out the cards at our surgery with the dates on this time. They said it is all on your NHS record anyway and that people can use the NHS app on their phones for evidence if going abroad. (obviously no good if you don't have a smart phone like us, but we don't go abroad anyway). They said it saves them time writing out the cards. Yes I seem to remember sending you a pic of that Michaelmas daisy! That's a nuisance the shower going. You don't have gas do you so is it an electric one?

OH still isn't back from his meeting. He says so many take far longer than they should as they are badly run and people turn up late as well.

It's been a warmer day today though there hasn't been a lot of sun. It's just poked through now and then. The computer is telling me it's 17 degrees and cloudy at the moment.

Your talk sounds fun AnnG. Was that with one of the U3A groups?

It sounds as though you enjoyed your portrait class Ann. I hope your OH got his bloods done OK and you both had your jab. Did you find Michaelmas daisies at your local GC?

You are getting lots of clearing out done Mel but now you have to get your shower fixed. What a nuisance. That's the trouble with houses, there's always something that needs doing.

I had quite a good night and my back is a lot easier today. We went to the hospital for OH's scan this morning and I sat in the car and read till he came out. This time he was in there for about an hour so quicker than last time. The hospital is a round trip of about 40 miles so we try to make the trip worth while by fitting in other things. Today we went on to Dobbies. OH wanted some electric gismo and some of the very large round trays to stand plant pots on. They didn't have either but it wasn't a wasted journey as we had lunch there. OH ordered fish, chips and peas for £10.75 and I ordered ham, egg and chips for £9.95 when I suddenly saw a notice that said over 60s could have a main meal and a cake on Monday to Thursday for £9.95 so we were able to add a cake to our meal. There was a wide choice of cakes. I had Persian lemon cake and OH had blueberry Victoria sponge and the pieces were a good size. I struggled to get through it but was determined to have it as it was effectively free.

When we left there we drove back and OH dropped me at my friend's house at 2.30. She moved locally a short while ago into a lovely retirement bungalow and it was my first visit to her new house so I had a good look around. I had a cup of tea there but turned down the offer of cake! The other friend that was there dropped me back home about 5.30. It's been a lovely day.

Now OH has just made a sandwich and guess what? He has put out some cake!

Washings on the line and I have cleared oout the last draw and it is all packed in black sacks. Now I haave to get the 4 draws up the potting shed.

My flu jab is on the 7th Oct and the boostet too so thats good I don't have to wait in a que again only at the docs.