General Chat

Mel, it's raining here now and washing it all away again. :-S I wonder if Gill still has her snow? OH said it was awful driving on the way home, the flakes were that thick he could hardly see, especially on higher ground, so he came home a longer way sticking to the main roads. Did you open your other pressies today? I meant to ask if you had a Bellringers Dinner this year?

I think I will be off to bed soon to watch Downton I feel so tired. Tomorrow morning we want to get a scart for the blueray player, so no lie in as the sales shoppers will be out in force down at the retail park.

Evening all

Still snowing here, every where is white, Sandra is having kittens (so to speak) and is hoping it's still in the garden tomorrow, She wants to make a snowman.

Sorry Mel you might still get some yourself, then you can make a snowman too :-D.

Looks like everyone is having a "SMASHING" time this Christmas lol, I hope no one is hurt by any glass. Even when you think you have cleaned it all up there's always a few shards left behind, so make sure you all have something on your feet before you go into the kitchen, and definitely no sitting on the floor ;-) ;-).

Just about to watch "Birds of a feather"
I'll try and get back later <3

It's still not fair that Gill still has snow. I hope it does stay for Sandra to make a snowman and we want to see a picture if she does please?

Is it me or is Birds of a Feather not as good as it used to be or am I just getting old?

We have opened more presents but still have three each for tomorrow. Had a smashing pair of socks from oh. Welly socks with robins on the tops. I love socks....

Don't think the snow will still be here tomorrow, it's just started with light rain which will probably wash all the snow away. Sandra will be disappointed :-(.

I tried looking for my camera before but I can't find it anywhere, I packed a few things in boxes because of the bungalow being on the market and put them in the loft and I've got a feeling the camera might of been one of the things I packed.

I was hoping to take some photo's of our tree, the village scene I made and of course the snow. My hubby's phone isn't very good at taking photo's and my phone is so old it doesn't take photo's at all :-( :-(.

Your Welly socks sound very Christmassy Mel. That's a nice idea to have a few presents over a few days, it's nice to keep the surprises going.

We managed to open our presents, on Christmas day, we were going to open them today, with OH working yesterday, but Sandra couldn't wait. So once mum arrived all four of us opened our presents together, but then OH had to go straight to work. Sandra got her dad a new work's bag, so she was made up when he used it for the first time yesterday.

I think your right Mel, Birds of a Feather isn't as good as it was years ago, but still quite funny. I watched through the keyhole with Keith Lemon, I like him. I never used to like the program till he started presenting it, now I love it. He's such a funny little man, a bit rude sometimes, but funny with it.

I've recorded Call the Midwife so might watch that tomorrow and Sandra and I have still got Strictly to watch. We watched both the dog rescue programs, but the way some of those poor dogs are treated before ending up in Battersea is heart breaking. It's so nice to see them end up in a loving home.

We lost our signal on Sky earlier, so OH went and knocked the snow off the dish, then the signal came back, just in time for our soaps.

Liverpool John Lennon Airport was closed earlier, due to the snow. 5 planes were diverted to Manchester Airport while snow was being cleared from the runway at Liverpool. It said on the news it's heading for the Midlands next and they've put the weather warning up from Yellow to Amber.

I'm off to watch a program on the TV now. Hope you get the snow you wanted Mel ;-) ;-) ;-)

We hardly ever get snow. I think the last time we had it really bad was 2009. I have pictures of the garden in the snow.

The wind has really picked up here and gusty too.

I'd love to see the pictures Mel

Hello all,

Christmas came and went very fast didn't it? I didn't do any cooking - so strange, but nice. The best part for me, was Christmas eve, and I went to visit everyone with their presents. I hope to be able to do that every year now.

I went to my sister's for dinner, and she cooked a super meal. I brought home a big plate of leftovers and a plate of desserts, and then went off to youngest son's house and spent time with the little ones. Got many presents including several gift cards. I make it difficult I know for the kids, because I always tell them not to buy me anything. I have everything I could want, but they do it anyway.

Today, I was almost as bad as Mel - it was 10;30 when I woke up. After I'd had lunch I got started on the Christmas decs. and took everything down and packed away. :-( :-( I quite honestly can't stand clutter any more. There was a time when I wouldn't have dreamed of taking them down until after the 6th Jan. I left a tiny Christmas tree which is on the coffee table and has cards all around it. That can stay indefinitely.

We had a beautiful sunshiny day, but when I went out after dark to see the space station go over, it had turned very nippy.

I hope Frank's visit remains good and that the weather improves. How fortunate to be able to walk along the sea front. When we lived in Suffolk years ago, we weren't far from the sea, and we all loved it there. We were in a little place called Framlingham - very happy years for us all. The kids often talk of the freedom they had there.

Your poor fella Jane :-D He looks as though he's afraid of being scolded! Bless his heart. Have you noticed how much these men love their sausage rolls. My boys go crazy over them :-D

I'm now going to watch something on Netflix, so tata for now,

Morning All and evening Kim,

Well I am not so late this morning Ruby.

You know I said last night that the wind was really really strong, well it has blown my Red Robin tree over. Oh will have to cut it up as it is laying flat on the ground over other shrubs but not yet because the ground is much too wet for him to go on it.

NO SNOW..............................................

Gill had you still got snow this morning?? for Sandra...... <3

Can't do any pictures at the moment as I don't know how to on the new pc and oh has'nt loaded the pics off the old pc yet. We have been too busy playing with them for now. He just got me on my thread so I can keep in touch with you lot but I just tried to download my camera and it said something I did'nt understand so I unplugged it quickly!!

morning/evening all

just typing one handed while i am on hold on the phone sorting out the new glass for oven .so please excuse no capitals.

ruby talk about clutter .we have plenty lol .james and i just had a bit of a sort out here in the lounge but it doesn't seem to look any different :-S

no snow here either .just a smidgen last evening.but my goodness didn't it get windy in the night .

gill .sandra will be so disappointed if all the snow has gone this morning.but did i see your area might still have some today.
hannah is back in london and chris on the way back home.she somehow wheedled the old dyson out of us :-S..its not that old just maybe 3 years.but we got the new one the other week. i actually am not too keen on it as it is cumbersome and a bit awkward.i think i will just use it downstairs and get a lighter weight one for up.

i am still on hold in a queue .the music is very boring :-S :-S

the turkey bones are simmering for stock and smelling quite nice :-D.we are having sliced turkey in gravy,mashed potatoes and lots of veg tonight.just a nice simple meal.
tomorrow i think my sister and bil are coming for the day.so i have a lovely pie in the freezer.it is chicken and pancetta with rosemary in a sherry and cream sauce.we will be having that.

still on hold 25 minutes now :-S..i expect there will be lots of claims going on for broken appliances over xmas lol

i will give it 5 minutes more .can't hang on much as i need the loo :-S :-S

"IT'S A BOY" Good morning all evening Kim,

While we all sat around yesterday evening, we all wrote on a piece of paper what we thought it was going to be. 60% said boy. Kerry sent her sister and Ella out of the room, and gave Jan an envelope which contained a print of the SCAN and a note saying she was having a GRANDSON . Nothing was said between Jan and Conrad. Then she called in her sister and did the same thing. We all toasted the new baby.

It was a wet old day here yesterday, as Mel said. I went to find a pub where I could watch Chelsea and West Ham playing. The pub I found was very clean and busy. They had SIX BIG SCREENS so I plopped myself down at a table, close to the bar, and the barmaid kept me supplied with beer without me moving (THAT'S WHAT I CALL SERVICE) we lost 2--0.

Nice bright sunny day here now after a couple of early showers., so I am off out for my daily constitutional down the sea front.

The others can catch up with me if and when the want to. Most are still in the dressing gowns.

See you later. Glad you all had a nice SMASHING CHRISTMAS. Poor old Chris !!!!

Afternoon all

A BOY, how nice and what a lovely way to let people know, with a picture of the scan in an envelope. Did you guess a boy Frank.

That was nice of the barmaid to bring you your beers, how thoughtful. Pity your team didn't win. Let's hope they win next time.

Did you sort out your new glass for the oven Jane, how long were you on hold for, or did you give up in the end. I saw the picture you sent, poor Christ, he's lucky he wasn't hurt.

The wind must of been very strong Mel to blow your Red Robin Tree over, if the roots are undamaged you might be able to re-plant it or if it's small enough pop it in a pot, they are very good plants so should carry on growing. How big is it.

Still got snow here but it's starting to melt, the sun has been out briefly and we've had a few rain showers, so Sandra can't build her snowman. The snow is just to wet and thin to make even a small one, so she's hoping we get a bit more snow before it goes dark then she can go out and enjoy it.

When I first got up this morning most of the grass still had snow on it but there wasn't any round the edges and a blackbird was looking for worms without any success, so OH went out and put a plastic takeaway box in our large apple tree and tied it onto a branch with some garden wire, he then filled it with bird seed, the blackbird was happy eating the seeds, along with so many other types of birds.

Sandra loved watching them and when the birds had finished a squirrel came along and started taking the seeds and burying them around our garden where there wasn't any snow. It wasn't Rosie, but was a lovely site to see.

The rain is coming down quite heavy now, so I can't see the snow lasting much longer, it's absolutely pouring down.

I woke up quite late today, probably because of being so busy with two Christmas dinners to make, then I had a lovely hot bubble bath, so now I feel all relaxed.

Sandra and I are going to watch Strictly and then while she's watching Top of the Pops she recorded for herself, I'm going to watch "Call the Midwife" I've seen you all mention it's a weepy one, so the tissue's will be close to hand.

The rain is coming down really heavy now. It's gone so dark I've had to put the light on. The snow is still there though, for the time being.

Off to watch strictly now
Try and get back later

Afternoon all,

Rainy old day here ,yesterday we went to my sisters for the day and during the evening it snowed quite heavily but because it had been raining it didn't lay .
We played a few games at sisters ,i'am not really one for games but i quite enjoyed them ,the first one was called Logo answering questions and looking at pictures on any thing from chocolate to cereal, football to flowers.
The other one was Articulate ,reading words on a card and having to describe what the word was ,that was fun as it was against the clock .

Been to Te*co's to get odds and ends as sister and BIL will be coming for the day tomorrow .
In Te*co's they had reduced lots of veg ,most only 5p a bag !!! not that i wanted much , but some people had loads in their trolleys ,so i suppose they were freezing them .
I did get a large luxury Christmas pud for £3 ,we had one last year and i liked them because they have lots of nice nuts in them , this one had a good date on of April 2016 so it will do for next Christmas , i shall store it away and no doubt forget where i've put it . :-D

Have you still got the snow Gill, i bet the first thing Sandra did this morning was look out to see if the snow was still there .

Did you all have the email from Kim ? she was saying that she had read on faceb*ok that Sheila's daughter had said that Sheila was in hospital after having a stroke ?
Oh dear Jane ,poor Chris having a smashing time ,at least the turkey was saved :-D
I remember one year at Mum's ,the gravy was keeping warm in the oven and hubby went to get it out and pulled the tin forward too quick and the gravy slopped forward all over his slippers :-D dinner was a bit on the dry side as there was not enough gravy to go round !! :-D

Having a lazy day today ,fires lit as it's quite chilly here .

Oh Frank that's lovely news, a dear little boy to look forward too , we're looking forward to our little grandson coming next month .

Had some lovely photo's of Kim and Sophie ,she looks a little dear .

Hello :-D,

Oh a little boy Frank! Do they have any idea of names yet? You are doing well with all these walks and plenty of fresh air. You'll be like a new man when you get home! :-)

I'm HOME ALONE as OH has gone to a match at Alcester near Stratford today. He was surprised they were playing after the snow and frost yesterday. I am quite happy to have a restful day today. I tried to watch Downton 3 times last night and kept snoozing and waking after it had finished. lol I ended up rewinding again this morning to watch the end.

Some of my wool arrived this morning for the triangular scarf. It is black and has silver sequins in it. I've never knitted wool with sequins in so that should be interesting........I just hope they won't scratch my neck though. I might start it tonight once I have dug out my needles and found the size I need.

Jane I bet places are inundated with calls today. At least you have the big oven still in operation till it's fixed. He hasn't broken a third thing yet has he?? Glad you mentioned hoovers.....the filters on mine need washing out.

Ruby if it was up to me I would get the decs down sooner too, but OH loves them so we compromise and take them down straight after New Year's Day. He would leave them to the 6th I know!! I know I took them down Boxing Day once when I was renovating my previous house and we wanted to get on and knock a wall down!!

Mandy, I hadn't heard of those games but they sound good. We always play Scrabble at Christmas, just one game each day after tea. We are still trying to master the rules to Ticket to Ride! We have played that at Christmas for about 3 years but the rules are so complicated, we forget them by the time we play it again.
Yes, Kim's little grandaughter is a little sweetie isn't she. Sad to hear Sheila is in hospital though. I hope she makes a good recovery and takes it easy. :-S

Better do a bit of that jigsaw now while the light is good.........BBL

How lovely to have scan pic of the new little Baby Boy :-D.I bet there will be a lot of shopping done now for things with blue in :-D :-
Yes I did get the email from Kim about Sheila being in hospital following a stroke.I hope she makes a full recovery and is back home again soon.
Kim's little Granddaughter is a real cuties with those big dark eyes :-D

Gill I hung on the phone for 30 minutes and then gave up.I will try again tomorrow.I don't actually use my top oven for cooking ,just keeping things hot after I have taken them out of the main one.I don't know if I should use it or not really.The highest temp I turn it up to to keep things hot is just 90 degs.I just worry it could maybe crack the glass door.Any ideas on that please?????

I'm sorry Sandra has been disappointed with the disappearance of the snow.Especially after getting so excited.I'm sure we will have more before the winter is out.It is a clear sky here and its blooming cold.

Mandy those games sounded fun.I'm not really a games person either but do like Charades .I think the last time we played that here was one year when Mum was with us.She was hilarious :-D :-D and hadn't a clue what she was supposed to be doing.

On Christmas day I had some crackers with wind up Reindeer in and we each had one and raced them on the table........Mine won
:-D :-D.It was Donner.You should have heard us all .It was like being at the dogs lol
The puzzle is on the coffee table .Not an awful lot done :-S.I can still see it being there when Hannah next comes home on the 17th Jan !!!!!
She will be busy packing now I imagine.She did look grim when she left this morning.I felt so sorry for her.Hopefully one more good nights sleep and paracetamols and Sudafed will improve things by the morning..One of the other girls she is going with is on Day and Night Nurse....What a healthy bunch they will be setting of on a holiday of a lifetime. :-SI can't wait now until I know they have arrived in India safely.

I have bought the hoover but it was out out of stock so will have to wait a few days or so for it to arrive.Cur** was heaving .Loads of big TVs etc being taken out to cars on trolliys.Nex* was next door so I had to nip in there to return 2 shirts I bought James for Xmas as they didn't fit properly.I will give him the money and he is going to order a couple of his own choice on line .It was crazy in Nex* too.
After I did that it was Tes** for a dessert and some more veg for tomorrow when Janice comes.It was fine in there.....Mandy I didn't see any bags of veg for 50p !!!!!Maybe they had all gone
:-S

Must put another log on the fire now .Why am I the only one who seems to be keeping an eye on it!!!!!

It's a boy and they are the best. I only wanted a boy and thats what I got.

We had a small shower of ballish snow this morning but it only lasted about 2 mins. It was'nt really hail as it was too white.

It's getting dark here now but we have had sun for most of the day.

Gill the red Robin tree was about 12 foot tall and it's gone right at the bottom so no saving of it this time. Oh has already had to cut half of it off as it was a twin trunk and one bit was blown over a few years ago. It looks funny up there without it though and oh said he will put the hydranger and the gold flame bush by the wall which will make it easier for him to mow. If he had his wasy he would have all the bushes out the west lawn.

I also heard from Kim today.

Jane what does the temperature dial go up to on your small oven....that might be a clue? I know when I had a double oven it didn't seem to cook as evenly with things like cakes. I think in the end I mostly used mine for keeping things warm as well. Now I just have a big oven and warming drawer, but for just 2 of us the convection oven in the microwave is big enough and gets used most. What is your jigsaw picture? This one of the Dales I'm doing is all browns and greens. :-S

That was lucky you got a boy then Mel! I like little toddler boys as some little girls can be very spoiled, but by the time my brother was aged about 6 he was an 'orrible torment!! Luckily me being 15 years older than him he took more notice of me than he did my sister.

It goes up to 240 deg Ann !!!!
I was just thinking I could keep food hot in there if I keep the drop down door open.Surely though the glass on the outside should be strong enough though to cope with 80degs ??? That isn't that hot.(is it)?

The Jigsaw is of Waterloo Station Half the jigsaw is of the station in 1848 and the bottom half as it was in 1948 !!!!! Not an easy one to do :-S......Chris's choice :-D :-| :-S

Jane is your top oven a grill as well? cos you can keep food warm under a low grill as thats what I used to do. I have had my top oven up to 200 on the old one and 220 on the new one. My new one with the top oven is a grill if you leave the door down and an oven if you shut it. Most peculiar (sp?)