General Chat

Good morning to one and all, Evening Kim,

I have just crept out of bed. Ros bought me a COT before she went off to meet Martine. I drank that and turned over. I feel like a barrow load of manure. :-( :-( :-(
I ache all over and keep sneezing . and going HOT and COLD. I have put a big jumper on and the heating.

I did the most stupid thing yesterday. I super glued a top on a little decoration and got some on my left index finger. I sat last night picking at it, and I have picked about half inch of skin off the tip of the finger. It's so sore to touch, and it's always the finger that get caught in your pocket, when you go for your tissues.

Not bothered to shower this morning, all I want to do is curl up, and shut the world out. I hope Harvey doesn't need an extra pair of hands this afternoon, as I can see me either, spread out on the sofa or in bed.

The weathers sums up how I feel, DARK AND GREY. It looks Bl@@@y cold out there too.

No promise about calling in later, I will see how I feel.

It sounds like you have what I've got Frank, drink plenty and keep warm, hope you start feeling better soon <3 <3 <3

Thanks Gill, YOU TOO.xxx

Afternoon All,

Dark and dreary here too and there was a bit of drizzle as soon as the washing was on the line! :-S

I have sent an email with the baubles in Mel. OH is tickled pink with them! lol. You are getting into the swing with your wreath making now. It is something I have never tried to make, but you are quite lucky being able to find a lot of the material to do them around where you live. I bet you wondered where the singing was coming from this morning! lol.

Oh Frank, you don't sound well at all and neither does Gill. Both of you need to rest up a bit and keep warm. I hope you both soon feel a bit better. I've noticed a lot of people sniffing and coughing the last few days so it must be going around. It's a shame your BIL can't have his last chemo Gill, but I expect he will have it as soon as he's well enough. It's good your new car doesn't leak. I had a new car a few years ago that used to leak and get puddles on the passenger seat. They did fix it but it was a shock the first time we noticed!

Afternoon all,

Cold here today but the sun keeps trying to peep through .

Hope the poorly ones soon feel better ,there lots of bugs about ,we called in this morning to take the childrens fruit and son had been sick last night he said he felt a little better but i hope it doesn't go through the house.

Gill i should think they are old ones of Kirstie's Home made ,but just to let you know a new series starts on channel 4 on Tuesday at eight o'clock.

Ann the baubles are so good you clever old thing ,you just need a tail on the back LOL

I have a turkey breast with stuffing cooking in the oven ,we went to Bernard Matthews shop yesterday to get some Turkey Crowns but they had sold out so we'll try again next week ,i did get a big turkey for £12 so I'll fall back on that for christmas if we can't get a crown ,the crowns were £8 .

Let's hope your son doesn't have a tummy bug Mandy. Your DIL won't want all the children coming down with one of those. More bargains with Turkey I see. It was a good idea to get a whole Turkey in case you need to fall back on it. I read somewhere recently that there may be a shortage of turkeys this year because of bird flu last year. I never thought of putting a tail on! lol. I was going to attach a bit of collar with a small bell from The Works, but when I went to get the bells, they only had huge ones! I noticed the new Kirstie this morning and have set them to record. I like Kirstie and some of the ideas are really good.

Well Harvey is here, arrived about 2.00 pm. He has fitted the top over the garage door that got blown off last year, so that's how long we have waited. He has also changed the halogen bulb in the security light outside the conservatory. That's been out for over 12 months also.

The dog walker hasn't arrived today, So I don't know if she thinks he doesn't need walking at weekend !!!! He had been out in the garden, so he's O.K.

Those Turkeys sound cheap Mandy. It's a pity we don't live closer so we could use the shop.

Jean, who lives across the road, has rung to say she in unable to get to the Salvation Army tomorrow, so they are sending four musicians to play carols outside her bungalow, at 12.30 tomorrow. So we will be able to sit and listen to them.

My head is still thumping away. Much worse than this morning, so I am going to take more co-codemal to see if that helps.

I only had a sarnie at lunchtime, and at the moment the last thing on my mind is food for tonight. Roa is just the same, so it might be we won't eat again tonight.!!! We will see later, how we feel.

Ros has bought a lot of "nibbles" for Simon and Sally for tomorrow lunchtime. If we have those, I can see we won't want dinner tomorrow night. Some are pastry and others need cooking. Cocktail sausages, pigs in blankets, and a couple of other things.

I see it's almost dark now, and it's only 3.30 pm. Roll on the 22nd then we start to get lighter nights.

I hope you all have had an enjoyable Saturday. I look forward to seeing you all again tomorrow. Ros posted all the cards today, and present for Lara's daughter in Cornwall. Harvey will take their cards and presents home with him later, plus Julia's birthday present for the 12th,

Advent Crown is up the church and in place in the sanctuary but I forgot my camera to take a pick of it.

Ann a collar with a bell would look good on the cat baubles ,you could also bling them up with some sequins :-D

So you've got all you jobs done at last Frank ,hope your bad headache has eased .
It will be nice to listen to the carol singers tomorrow ,will it be about the time Simon and Sally will be at yours ?

What a shame you forgot the camera Mel ,i would have liked to have seen the Advent Crown in the church.

Evening All
Poor Frank and Gill. I hope you both feel better tomorrow ,and mandy's son too.I wonder if he has the sick bug that Hannah had the other day. I think the sickness was a 24hr thing.

Ann,your Cat baubles are brilliant :-D :-D :-D. Was this your idea or did you see it somewhere ?. They look great.

Mel you have been a busy Bee with your wreaths.You will have to remember your camera next time you go to the church so we can see what you have done :-D

I have only been able to hobble today.The pain in my right buttock has been excruciating :-S. Chris said I was a pain in the backside anyway :-P.
I think I am going to have to ask him to get the dinner as I just can't stand properly. I have done Sprouts with Bacon and Mushrooms ,but I think he can manage to get the fish and chips out of the freezer and in the oven :-). Not too much to ask really.

What a great bargain those turkeys are Mandy !!!! You are lucky to be near Bernard Matthews.Hopefully you will be able to get a few more Crowns.I am not surprised they have sold out at that price.

Hannah and Gareth walked 12 miles along the coast to Hastings (I think from Rye) today. It looked beautiful but lots of steep bits which looked a bit wet and slippy underfoot. There was not another soul around from what I could see.
She sent me a little video clip which I will forward (you need the sound up to hear the seagulls). Anne I will send to you but I dont think that you are able to open the videos.

I think that is me done now here for the day so I will say tatty bye and see you all in the morning. Try and have a bit of something to eat Frank.You dont want a rumbling tummy in the night :-D

No I can't take credit for the idea Jane, as I have seen baubles with cat and other faces on, also I had seen something similar some time ago, but I tried to make mine a bit more realistic! I was going to paint some baubles with Robins last year but never got around to it as is often the case with me!

Mandy, OH said I should make them Santa hats!! lol. :-D

What a shame you forgot your camera Mel as I would love to have seen a pic too. You should have asked Alexa to remind you! ;-)

You do sound poorly Frank. I hope you get some sleep tonight and feel a bit better tomorrow. I hope you don't pass it on to everyone. You are lucky Harvey can do these things......even if you do have to wait. My first OH could do most DIY including electrics, plumbing, building, mend the car etc but the trouble was he would do everyone else's jobs while we had cupboards with no handles for years!! lol.

Sorry to hear you're in pain Jane, hope it's eased a bit now and that Chris managed the evening meal for you.

Sandra and I love the baubles Ann, you are so clever. Yes it was a bit of a shock when we first noticed the rain had come into our old car, pleased we don't have that problem anymore.

I noticed Kirstie on channel 4 too Mandy and have been recording them as well as the other ones I've found. Like Ann I love to see what things people make to see if I can pinch a few ideas ;-) I watched one of her Christmas programmes the other day on her decorating her home in Devon, it said it was one of three but I couldn't find the next one anywhere and I went through the whole week on Sky. It didn't give a series link either, but like I said she has quite a few programmes on at the moment so we'll carry on watching those.
You did well with your Turkey, I paid £11 for a Turkey crown last week, I wasn't going to buy it yet but Tesco's only had three left so I bought one and popped it in the freezer. It's always nice to have something on standby just in case, lets hope you can buy the turkey crown you wanted now, £8 is a very good price. Hope your son is feeling a little better now and hasn't passed anything on to the children.

It looks like Harvey's been busy fixing a few things for you Frank, that was nice of him. Sorry to hear you're still feeling under the weather, I'm exactly the same as you and have got worse as the day has gone on, I had a sausage sandwich early this morning and haven't fancied anything else since, all I've done is drink as I'm very thirsty. At one point I had two mugs of drinks by me, one mug of water and one mug of tea, then after that I had a mug of coke. Sandra said we had some hot lemon drinks in the cupboard (Beechams) so I'm going to take one before bed tonight to see if that helps.
I feel like one of Mel's hedgehogs is hibernating in my throat. OH thinks I've caught a chill at the funeral the other day as I started feeling unwell the morning after.
I never got round to writing my Christmas and birthday cards today so will do them tomorrow if I feel up to it.

What a shame you forgot to take your camera to the church Mel, it would of been nice to see all your hard work.

Going to get a cuppa now, I'm still very thirsty.

Morning all,

Its dull and mizzley this morning and so dark we have the lights on.

I have to clean the chickens out today and then go and find some moss for the wreaths and some other bits and pieces and that takes ages. Then there is the cutting up and wiring which seems to take ages now.

I think Ann's baubles were really great and the expresions on their faces are just right. What paint did you use on them Ann?

Hope Gill and out Frank feel a little better today and the throats are not as sore this morning. Keep warm and keep having those nice hot drinks. Lemon and honey drinks are good for the throat or some honey on toast or bread.

Yes as Mandy said the new series of Kirstie is on this week on channel 4 Tuesday at 8pm so I shall watch that on catch up as oh can't stand her!!

Morning Mel, and all, eveningKim.

I have been slogging away in the kitchen since 10,00 am this morning cooking all the nibbles. Enough to feed an army. But everything is the sort of thing you can go back to at anytime.

We had the worse Chinese ever last night. The Sweet and sour sauce was like RICE PUDDING. you could stand a spoon in it. We threw most of it away, and I rang to complain. Their excuse. WE HAVE BEEN VERY BUSY !!! I won't put on here what I said in reply. Needless to say we won't be eating here again. :-| :-| :-|

Simon said he will ring when they are leaving, I expected him here about now. So no idea what's holding them up.

Both Ros and I could really do without any company today. I didn't hardly sleep last night. Was as sick as a dog over the Chinese, and clocked watched until 5.30 am was awake again by 7.30.

Simon has just rung he will be here soon. I think he is on the road.

Roa still isn't up to the mark, he back and legs are very achy and still has this vertigo if she moves to quickly.

Not had time to read the posts, but hope to catch up later. I trust you are all well.

Have a lovely time with Simon and Sally and don't eat too much and overload your stomach.

I have cleaned out the big girls so they are happy now and have a nice cabbage in their feeder to keep them quiet all day.

First the bantams were in their bedroom when I went to feed them so I shut them in there and cleaned out their run. So they are nice and clean downstairs. I shall see if I can do their bedroom this afternoon after lunch.

I am just having a COC before starting to cook as I was so dry from doing the chickens.

Afternoon All

James and have just got back from the Garden Centre with the Xmas Tree,Poinsettia ,some garden clogs(for Chris),bottles of local beer for Gareth . They are called Pot Belly and made here. James got a couple of stocking filler things for Jess. It was heaving there ,everyone trying to find a parking space. We got a Noble Fir which I do like .While James was parking I went in to have a look at the trees and spotted this one .James agreed it looked a good one so we didnt look any further.It will need the trunk thinning a bit to get it in the holder and some bigger bushy branches taking off the bottom. But for now it will stay outside probably until next weekend as I dont like having the tree up too early.

Frank I expect your visitors will have arrived now and you will soon be tucking into all the nice Pigs in Blankies and all the other goodies :-D

Gill, I hope you still dont feel like you have one of Mel's hedgehogs stuck in your throat !. What a great description :-D. I know what you mean . Touch wood I have not had a really sore throat for a good few years now.

I bet Hannah will be suffering today after yesterdays jaunt.I dont think I have ever been to Sussex .The coast line just looks beautiful.

Chooks all nice and clean Mel? How often do you have to clean them out?I know when next door kept Hens they NEVER cleaned them out and it used to stink. Poor Birds. :-(.. I am so glad that they no longer have them.The conditions they were kept in was disgraceful :-S :-S

It seems to be getting quite dark here now.The air feels a bit strange too .Quiet , if you know what I mean. It is not cold enough for the fire yet ,but I might light it later.

Full up. :-D Just having a little sit down before going out for moss.

We have been watching the program about all the grand prix's.

Afternoon All,

I hope your hip's eased off a bit today Jane. Chris's comment is the sort of thing OH would say! Hopefully it will get less painful once it gets used to the new exercises! I wouldn't be surprised if Hannah feels a bit stiff later today after that walk. The video bit showing her was on quite a steep slope! It sounds like you have sorted a good Christmas tree. Did you manage to shut the car doors with it in the car and have the trunk between you and James? lol.

It's a shame you weren't well for Simon and Sally coming Frank, but I'm sure they would have been just as happy with a few crisps/biscuits without you needing to do any cooking. You must feel shattered after a bad night and that awful takeaway. The only takeaways I have ever had was a veggieburger once at a concert I went to or F&C. I hope you and Ros soon feel a bit better and have a rest later.

Gill I thought Sandra would smile when she saw the baubles! lol. I love your description of your sore throat.......it's spot on for that scratchy, prickly feeling! I hope it soon goes. I like the lemon and honey Mel suggests.

I just used acrylic paint for the baubles, the same as I use for painting pictures Mel. You could use any really though. I wondered whether to varnish them with some watered down PVA glue but I'm scared that might fetch the paint off!! I think the expressions were the trickiest part to get right. With working in wood, my first OH would bring the car home loaded with sacks of free shavings that he'd transfer to my car and I would take to work for a friend that bred guinea pigs. I also used some for my canaries, but found old newspaper with a sprinkle of sand was better for them and easy to change. Cleaning the chickens out for mum and dad was usually my job and it could be really smelly. I think we used straw in those days as dad would use the manure on the garden after.

We were going to get the Christmas decs out of the loft this afternoon, but didn't feel like it after lunch so OH is watching the footie on tv and we've decided to do it first thing in the morning. I need to pull both settees out and clean under them properly before we put the tree up anyway as it will be in the way of doing that.

Hi all, Simon and Sally have just left. Simon and I went to the pub for a couple of pints, and he meet all th locals, who thought we were from the same POD. I am so pleased that he has been over. They ate what they wanted, and there is stacks let over that we will eat during the rest of the day. I can't see us having a roast tonight.

We are now going to sit and relax for the rest of the afternoon/evening. "BIGGLES" has just been out, the first time since 10.00pm last night. He has had a big dish of dog food (meat) and biscuits. just waiting now for he girl to come and take him for his walk.

Hope you all had a nice day, whatever you were up to. It's ben so mild it's unbelievable . What's it like everywhere else ??

We had the sun pop out to say Hello this morning but now its cloudy over and there's that dreadful light stuff that gets everywhere. It has stopped oh doing any more to the gazebo roof and he was getting on quite well before our breakfast. I think he has slunk off for 80 winks and the bar of choc I bought him has gone off the kitchen table. I may go for moss now while he's asleep I can go and have a nose over the forest at the back of our field as they have cut a lot of branches off some of the trees and I may find some fluffy stuff there. It would save me driving down the road to the wood.

Did I tell you that when I went down the church which is next to the big house, the people staying there had two hot tubs on pavings that have a cover over them with the big pillars and there were loads of peeps in the tubs.