General Chat

Sounds like you had a great day Fiona ,with that lovely lunch and then buying your new cushions .Why are cushions so expensive??.I bet they will look great on your new suite :-D.I have a spinning herb/spice thing.I love it :-D.Your Frank will love his too :-D

Glad you like the paint colour Mandy :-D..What would you do if you didn't???
I am so glad we aren't having any more decorating at the moment..We have a months breather before it starts again .

I didn't know that fox cubs are born in January Mel.Also I didn't realise that Foxes kill in the day.I just assumed it was more at night time.
We had a dead Badger on the pavement just up the road yesterday :-(..I have a horrible feeling that the Setts might be being disturbed now with the start of building in the top field :-| :-|
Wrap up warm then tomorrow Mandy :-D You need a bit of warmth round your neck after a haircut in this weather !!!! :-D

Afternoon All,

Congratulations on your anniversary. FIONA <3 That sounds quite a meal!!

Well the car is sorted and ordered so it is all systems go now with delivery expected at the end of March, early April. The paint we wanted and cost £780 extra is now free on the new model which we didn't expect. OH is still reeling at the savings!! lol.

Jane I'm not fussed about much ooomph these days either, as long as there's a bit of nippiness when you need it. It's not as if there's room to use much oomph anyway with the amount of traffic on today's roads.

Frank and Maureen, I'm in the same boat (7 year old car and only 37,000 miles, the least I've ever done in a car). But I still love it so there's no reason to change yet unless it starts costing a lot! . This morning I was admiring a slick Peugeot RCZ sports car parked outside the place we went to (as you do!) and OH liked it, even offering me some money towards it if I wanted it. (which was unecessary but nice of him........ but he's naughty egging me on!!). I was only standing there thinking it would probably scrape over the humps worse than the car I've got as well!! lol.

I did try soya milk once and found that was far too sweet. I've bought only skimmed milk for home ever since you could get it.. Before that I used to skim the cream off milk and first OH would have the cream on his cereal. Sugar in drinks Jane?? Not had that since I was age 13 and it was only half a teaspoon then and because mum put it in my tea. :-D She tried to make me carry on having it, then gave it up herself a few months later!!

The poor cockerel Mel. I expect with loose fowl, the fox will just wait his chance and will be back now. Will you be putting the trap out now? Davy Crocket came up because I threatened to sew a fur tail on OH's trapper hat!

That's good the colour turned out well Mandy. You can never be sure till it's on the walls and dry. It sounds like your hubby is getting on well with it. Yes, you'll want your scarf on tomorrow after your haircut. I wore mine at the cinema last time.

How dreadful and shocking that poor pilot burned alive in a cage............if the video is genuine.......what can we expect next?

I wonder how Gill is getting on with her viewings? We hav'nt heard from her today.

Glad you like the colour now it is up on the walls Mandy. I STILL THINK OURS LOOKS MORE BLUE THAN GREEN but I do like the colour. Sorry about shouting there but I can't be bothered to change it now!! :-P

I am not letting the bantams out tomorrow but don't think it will come back the next day anyway. We have seen it about lately hunting for voles and mice in the adjourning field and oh has fired a couple of warning shots to which it runs away.

No he has'nt set the fox trap I bought him years ago. the only thing we caught in it was a tiny hedgehog and next doors cat three times!!! The one I have been feeding.

He told me about a year ago to buy a tin of really smelly cat food to put in there which I did and it is still in the cupboard :-S

You had lovely meals and treats for your anniversary Fiona and I'm glad you both enjoyed your day and every time you lean on those cusions you will remember it. <3

I am now going to watch both Silient Witness so will say nighty nighty.

Frank, I heard from David last week. Both he and Ellen's knees are painful but he said hers is healing. He has a hospital appointment in the next few days and hopes to hear whether he will be discharged or they will able to do something for his knee.

Mel that's a long time to wait for an appointment. Ours usually try and see you the same day if you have any pain.

Jane, are they actually going to build all those houses where you are then?

Off to bed now too. Blood test for my thyroid in the morning first thing so it could be more scraping. :-S

Evening all

<3 Happy Anniversary Fiona and Frank <3.
Glad to hear you had a lovely day.

Thanks Jane for the info on the double glazing. OH rang a company today and they are coming to take a look tomorrow. He only mentioned replacement glass, so I'll mention what you said to them tomorrow as OH is back in work after having two days off.

Sounds like you've all had some snow, we have had sunshine for three days now and no sign of any snow. It's still very cold though.

Sorry to hear you lost your cockerel to a Fox Mel. :-( :-(. Let's hope he doesn't come back.
How is your tooth now. Any better ??

So the decorating's started now Mandy. Good job you like the colour ;-).

Glad to hear Ann, you got the car you wanted and in the right colour, for free. Bonus. <3.

We had a NO SHOW on the viewing yesterday. I rang the agent, who phoned me back today saying, the reason they didn't turn up is because they'd put an offer on another property at a different agent's and forgot to mention it to our agent. In other words they forgot all about us.

We also had feedback off the other viewing from Saturday, saying the property was over priced, so we've reduced it further, after having a chat with our agent about it.

Well, I'll say goodnight now as it's getting late and OH is tired.

Morning All, Evening Kim,

Been awake most of the night, Got up around 5.30. On my 2nd cup of tea. Memories flooding in my brain, so I thought I would get up and leave Ros to sleep in peace.

Had a drink for my DAD last night at the pub. Got Ros to pick me up as it was sooooo COLD. I didn't think I should walk home.

Morning all and evening Kim,

Not so bright here today but it may be a little early to tell. The frost has gone but the air is very cold today like it was last week. I think the sun is just about breaking through as I type.

The bantams are crowing but they are not coming out today so they will just have to lump it.

I should go and get a bit of shopping today but don't feel like it at all.

Morning all

Bright sunshine again today.

Sorry to hear you're feeling a bit low today Frank. My thoughts are with you on this sad day <3.

I don't blame you Mel, for keeping your bantams in today. Better to be safe than sorry.
There's nothing worse than having to do something when you're not in the mood, unfortunately the shopping has to be done. Pity it's not like ironing, that could be left until you're in the mood. Hope it's not to cold when you go out today. Wrap up warm.

I've got the window people coming round later, so hopefully the glass will be sorted soon. I'm hoping the Estate Agent rings today with some more viewing's, with hopefully people who actually want this place. I've got a feeling the Agents is just trying to get viewing's weather the people want this type of property or not, which just wastes everyone's time. I wish we could sell, it would be nice to move in the warmer months.

We've just reduced it 13k so if that doesn't work I don't know what we'll do. If we keep reducing we'll be giving it away and we won't have enough money to buy another place. I suppose we'll just have to wait and see what happens.

My mum's coming round for a visit today, so that'll be nice. I haven't seen her for a while. It'll be nice to catch up over a cup of tea.
BBL

Morning All,

Thick frost here so OH came out with his scraper to help me clear my screen before I went for my blood test. I was still warm enough with my cardie on so went in the doctors without my coat. A sweet little girl about 5/6 was in the waiting room with her mum. She was looking at the posters on the walls and said to her mum that some were scary!! I had a look myself and have to admit she was right!! The shingles one with the angry rash across the back would look scary to a child. I had male nurse on a supervised 'refresher' taking my blood today and as the needle came out blood spurted down my arm, on the chair and floor. All he did was wipe it off with a bit of tissue whereas I would have thought he would need to clean it off with some strong antiseptic stuff. The next patient in the chair could touch the same spot with an open wound, it didn't seem very hygienic to me, but what do I know. Then I just stopped him putting micropore on in time as I'm allergic!! I walked to the paper shop then, still in my cardie, then drove to the farm shop and got some fruit and veg, eggs, etc and a bunch of daffs. I did put my coat on to go in there though as it really is cold in there to keep the veg etc fresh.

That's annoying Gill when folk don't bother cancelling an appointment. Hopefully you will have more luck with the next viewings.

Must dash now.........OH is ready to go out!! BBL

Gill, Did you need to reduce the price by that much ?? Surely the Agents know the value of property in your area. They should have advertised it at the right price in the first place. Would it be a good idea to get other agents to come and value your home ?? They might value it a lot more than you are asking now. £13,000 is a BIG LUMP OFF. !!!

Gill, I am the same every year, Dads death hit me very hard, as I had nursed him for 18 months, and to see him go from a 16 stone healthy man down to 4/5 stone of skin and bone was not nice for a 17/19 year old. His birthday in August isn't quite as bad. but the 30th Jan and the 4th Feb are bad days for me. SORRY FOLKS. I know most of you know my history.!!

It's a pity you don't live nearer MEL, Ros has just gone off to Tesc#s . You could have gone with her for company lol

I am sure you must be feed up with Mr/Mrs FOXY. hanging around your hen houses. I think instead of OH firing warning shoots, he should do away with the pest. I know how beautiful they are, and all that. BUT, surely enough is enough.

Spag. Bols tonight. I almost fell off the chair this morning WHEN ROS said SHE WOULD DO IT. I said are you sure you would know how.?? Her reply to that was CHEEKY BUGG## I taught you how to make it. SHE DIDN'T but she likes to think she did :-D :-D :-D :-D

Clear bright day here, white clouds floating on the breeze. with plenty of blue sky's and sunshine, but still very cold

Morning/Evening All

it is a lovely sunny morning here but blooming chilly..The Bird Bath was totally solid earlier and i couldn't even chip the ice.The Red Kite has been flying overhead a lot already this morning and very low too.

Oh what a pity you had the no show yesterday Gill .That was bad of the agent not to let you know :-S.You have reduced the price a whopping amount !!! It really should attract more people now..Good luck with the window later.I hope it can be done and is not too expensive.

Frank I expect you will sleep better tonight.Trouble is you just can't help memories going around in your head.it would be nice to just have a little switch to turn things off :-D

Mel is that tooth still playing up? As Ann says it is a long time to wait for an appointment .

Ann yes the houses are going ahead but hopefully not for a long while yet opposite us.The first phase is starting soon but that is more behind where Fitz is .Frank you will know .Off the Warkton Lane where it joins Deeble RD there is going to be a roundabout with houses built in those fields.
At the top of my road on the right they are building a Primary School !!..Who knows when it will have pupils as there are no houses built so far..

I have just realised we are off to Northampton in a minute to go to the Cinema again and lunch....So i need to get a move on

BBL

Hi all

Mum will be here soon, so just a quickie for now.

How awful Ann, for that poor child, being scared by the posters. They really should think about children before putting them up.

Enjoy or film and meal today Jane. What are you watching, anything good?

So you're getting a night off cooking Frank. That will be nice for you. Today will be a hard day, but you know you have us all here.

The Agent wanted us to reduce 20k, then suggested 15k. I don't think he was very pleased when we only came down 13. I wouldn't mind but he said he would get more viewing's for this week and so far he hasn't rang us with any and it's been two days since we reduced for the second time in a week.

I've been trying to find something to buy on the off chance we sell, but there doesn't seem to be anything around here suitable that we can afford now, so it looks like we'll have to move out of the area. Not sure which area we are going to move to yet.
Need to sell this place first.

We have already been with other Agents Frank and they all gave the same valuation. I think they overpriced it to encourage us to go with them, but then, for what ever reason, didn't tell us to reduce. The only reason we've reduced now is because of the feed back off one of the viewing's. It was only then, after I asked the Agent what price should it be at to sell, that I was told 20k less than it was advertised at.

We had an offer 20k less, last year. I'm beginning to wish we'd said yes now. I suppose what will be, will be. At this rate we're going to end up selling, for less than we paid for it :-( :-( :-(

I was going to suggest you try different Estate Agents Gill but I see you already have I thought it was still a sellers market, I guess it depends what part of the country you live in. When we had my mum's house valued we had to get three valuations and the difference between the lowest and the highest was ridiculous more than £50,000 difference.

You had my mouth watering with your meal Fiona, I love Italian food, I would have had a job choosing.

The almond drink isn't made with soya Ann, it's just crushed almonds and water, they do a hazlenut one as well.

Glad all went well yesterday with the car purchase, is this car for G.

I'm glad you had a good anniversary Fiona - belated congratulations. <3 I LOVE calzones. You had a super meal.

I'm ready to go out and have checked my ear rings twice - just waiting for sis to arrive. I have tons of lovely shoes, but my feet start hurting just to look at them now. I'm going to wear my good old Clark's bendables. Not very dressy, but pretty comfy.

Gill, is your house listed on-line with pictures of the interior? I like to look at property for sale and check out the pictures, so if I were really looking to buy, I wouldn't bother looking at anything that I didn't like. I too, think that was a big drop in price. The realtor obviously didn't do the evaluation right to begin with. If you don't need to sell in a hurry, just be patient and someone will come along and fall in love with your home.

Jane, I lived on the west side of Fort Worth. In June, the weather should be good. Not too hot, and the worst of the spring storms should be over with, July and August are extremely hot.

Hang in there Frank and just think of the good times with your dad. Try to let those bad memories go.

My car is also 7 years old, and I have almost 40,000 miles on it. I'm going to keep driving it until one of us falls apart. I have a Hon*a
CRV which is higher and I don't have to bend to get in or out. I take it back to them once a year and they do whatever needs doing.

The other night when I got up to use the loo, there was a spider on the counter next to the sink, and I really think it was a brown recluse, which can do you damage if it bites you. They are brown with lighter brown legs, which it was. They also have only 6 legs and a mark like a fiddle on their back. I wasn't going to get close enough to inspect that, so decided "When in doubt, give it a clout" , so I gave it a whack and went back to bed, planning to flush it in the morning. When I got up, there was just a leg left there :-D No sign of the spider and I haven't seen it since. I check under the toilet seat every time before I use it, just in case it's waiting to bite me on the derriere. I think I should recognize it if it shows up, because it should be limping. :-D :-D :-D

Afternoon all

The window people have just been, but silly me forgot to ask them about the mist and whether they could repair it. They are going to ring me with a quote, so if I remember I'll ask them then.
They can't replace the window for over a week as it has to be made to measure and be toughened glass. So I expect it is going to cost quite a bit :-(.

The Agent rang just before the window people arrived, to book another viewing with me for tomorrow. The only problem is the woman has only just put her property on the market today and when I checked online it's not on there yet. I'm going to check again tomorrow as I think it takes 24 hours to show on rightmov*. She's selling with the same Agent as us. Poor thing ;-) ;-) If only she knew :-D.

The only reason I'm staying with this Agent for now is because I got a good deal with them. Their fee's are half the price of all the other Agents and we got a floor plan thrown in for free and their photo's are much better than the rest of the Agents as well.
I believe the stamp duty has changed now too, which also means another saving for us once we are in a position to buy.

Well, I'll just have to wait to see what happens with the next 2 viewing's. I've still got the woman from Oxfordshire coming on Friday so with a bit of luck she'll want it.

Off to watch Mr Selfridge now, I haven't seen any of them yet.

Sorry Ruby, I missed your post.

Yes our property is online with pictures and a floor plan. Also with the new reduced price. I'm hoping someone see's it at the weekend. I should imagine everyone's at work during the week, unless they are retired that is, so I don't expect much until next week sometime.

You be careful with Mr Spider. I am normally the one to get rid of the spiders around here. I'm ok with them unless they are the really big, black, fast, one's, then I run a mile.

I remember I saw one of those big black one's on our bedroom floor once, so I put a cup over it and left it there till OH came in from work :-D :-D :-D. I don't think I'd be as brave as you with spiders that can do you harm. You did make me laugh though when you said he'd be limping, lol :-D :-D

Did'nt g shopping in the end and this afternoon I was having a ciggy outside and looking over the fields for Mr Fox and could'nt see him turned round to go back inside and looked up the orchard and there it was, big and red and just staring at me. Tole oh but by the time he came out with the gun he had gone across the garden and oh opened the kitchen window to take a shot and he ran out the archway.

Later oh was having a ciggy outside and shot back in for the gun but he could'nt get a clean shot at it and it went over the field and far away. He was looking though so Iam glad I did'nt let the bantams out today and they are not coming out tomorrow either or any other day in the near future much to their disgust.

I cleaned the big girls out this afternoon after seeing the fox as I had another two out and another hole in the fencing bitten through by the rabbits. Then they spent most of the afternoon in the house having a good old scratch and dust bathing in the shavings.

Apart from that I have only done lunch and washed up a couple of times today so not extremly eventfull.

Been brilliant sunshine here today all day but the washing I did this morning did't dry right off. Mainly his polo shirts which are cotton.

Went up the shop for some milk and rolls and the sun was so low in the sky it blinded me on the way in so I had to stretch myself up so the sun visor worked. I must have looked funny if anyone ahd seen me.

Oh Gill it must be so frustrating for you with having to drop the price so much and not seeing anything affordable for you in your area.It must be becoming a bit of a nightmare :-S.

Mel old Foxy has the scent alright doesn't it.I suppose now he has had one he knows where to come for more meals :-S :-S.....and your pesky bunnies chewing more holes in he wire !!!...I suppose it is one of the downsides of living out in the country.

We watched a Rat earlier tootling along on the front drive and it went around the side of the house to the rat box.It went in the hole and then backed out with a cube of bait in it's mouth and then it proceeded to carry it back around the front and along to the hedge into next door..So that must be where the nest is.Chris put our second rat box down in the gap between us and next door.It did look quite funny carrying its 'poison'
Little does it know !!!!He probably thought what a good feast :-D

We went to see Testament of Youth.It was very good but it was so hot in the cinema.
Chris had to go out to strip off his jumper,and even then he was still too hot.The trouble when it is like that it means that I can't concentrate on the film properly,as I get fidgety and itchy :-S..Lunch was delish :-D..I had tomato and Mozarella with a nice lot of Basil leaves and grated Parmesan and then the Chicken and Mushroom Risotto.
Chris had The stuffed Portobello Mushroom and then a warm Chicken,Walnut and Avocado Salad.I think it had those Bortelli (??) beans in too.A glass of wine each and then he decided to have a pudding.It was a Pistachio and Olive Oil slice of cake thing with a scoop of Vanilla Ice-cream.I had a little taste and it was really really good.

The traffic was so quiet everywhere today(other than the A14) and even the restaurant only has 3 tables taken.Very strange.

So no dinner for us tonight.Yippee no cooking :-D