General Chat

Evening All,

The rain here started last night, but we had a real downpour after lunch and it was so dark! All the snow on my car has gone now ready for me to go out in it tomorrow!

That's a nice gift you made for Sandra Mel. I see you had used some stem stitch on it. The natural wreath is lovely and I can see why they wanted another one this year. Nice pic of the deer too and good that they are helping to use some more of your apples for you. They must really love them.

That was a lot of snow your SIL had Anne! It must be a worry for people who need to rely on help when it snows like that. It's lucky they managed. I had a look at the website and saw some weaving and quite fancied having a go! It looks a great place and Steven must enjoy himself there. They make some nice things.

I had a panic yesterday when I couldn't see my credit card in my purse. I went back to the last shop where I bought something and they didn't have it, but when I searched the rest of my purse I had put it back with a discount card I'd used that was the same size! Phew! the relief!

They had put us on a table away from the noisy parties where we ate today which was good of them. They also came and told us ahead of everyone else when the carvery was ready so we didn't have to queue. :-) One table had all come in Christmas jumpers which was funny. One had a Christmas tree on with flashing baubles! I thought I bet Sandra would like one of those! :-)

Jane I'm keeping everything crossed for you!! I hope everything gets sorted tomorrow and that you are toasty warm again.

Gill that's naughty the roofers not making things waterproof for you. Hopefully they will finish your side next. I'm glad Sandra liked the stickers and thought she can't have too many with the card making she loves to do. :-) I seem to remember my log book took a few weeks to come when I bought my current car as I was beginning to wonder whether it was going to come or not. Your cakes sound lovely and I could just fancy a slice now!!

Frank, I think Ros is doing so well with her weight loss, and she can expect the odd blip like this. I know myself how disheartening it can be though. Is the onion roll made with suet? I haven't watched the prog and yes, cheese at night might not be a good idea! A friend of mine has come off statins too because of side effects.

Anne I had a look on FB and saw weaving and all sorts of wonderful things going on. Not sure if I saw Steven . Does he have glasses?

Ann, what a relief to find your card. Was it Christmas jumper day today? .There are some great sights . But there is no way I could wear a Xmas Jumper . I would be far too hot and probably feel ill LOL

It is pouring with rain here now.Thomas is in and put himself to bed,so now I can go :-)

Hope you enjoyed your Burger and Chips Mel :-D.. There is something I often really fancy and that it a McDonalds Cheeseburger and Chips !!!!!. I havent had one of those for years . I will probably dream about that tonight LOL
Night Night x

Morning all

Very wet everywhere today as we lots of rain last night.

Well, the cakes went down well, the chocolate one has already been eaten and there's only half of the other one left. It's the first time I've made cakes since the first ones I made when we got the new cooker. If you remember they didn't turn out, so I'm pleased the last two turned out okay. Now Sandra and OH want me to make some more. I can't make any today as I've ran out of eggs, so the next cakes I make will be for Christmas. None of us like Christmas cake and prefer sponges, so I'll be busy in the kitchen again soon.

What time are BG turning up today Jane? I really hope they can sort your boiler out and you finally have your heating back. I'll keep my fingers crossed it all goes well today. I read online that we're going to have more snow and really cold weather, so we may have a white Christmas this year. Hope your home is toasty warm for you by then <3

What a shock that must of been Ann not being able to find your credit card, you go into a sort of panic when that happens don't you? It's so easily done though, I've put my purse in a different part of my bag before and it's not a nice feeling when you think you've left it somewhere. I'm glad you found it in the end. Those jumpers sound great fun. That was nice of them to let you know the carvery was ready before letting everyone else know and to sit you in a quieter spot away from all the noise.

I love the pic of the wreath Mel, it's really pretty and looks like you worked very hard on it. I'm sure the couple are going to love it. The pics of the deer's were really good, I like the one of them looking straight at you.

What a shame Ros put a bit of weight back on, but I'm sure she'll lose it again Frank. How is she feeling now after her illness? Hope she's feeling her normal self again.

Morning Gill and all,

We have rain and big hailstones this morning. The ground is so wet the water is laying on the top making it very muddy. The chickens are paddling in mud too.

Had a very strange dream last night about being on stage showing people something but I don't know what it was. I moved it from the middle of the stage so people could see it better. I think it was in a matchbox!! Then oh woke me up. I was late getting up today, 10.30am.

I hope the boiler men don't keep Jane waiting around all day again and her boiler is done today. Then she can be nice and warm again. Good luck. <3

Morning to you all, evening Kim,

Last night Ros had cheese on toast, while I had a tray of MUSSELS with pepper and vinegar.

The boiled onion Roll consist of Suet Pastry rolled out, on it she puts, stewing meat, chopped up potato's onions and carrots, a good sprinkle of BISTO and OXO All rolled up in a tea towel and tied up. It will go into a saucepan of boiling water for a couple of hours. It is delightful. We have a job to eat i all these days. When the boys were home she made very large one, as they both enjoyed it. !!!

I have replied to your email Mel. xx

I was going out last night, but Ros said everywhere was a sheet of ice, so I decided against it.

I have just put a bit of BLUE TACK on me letter "T" and is't holding in place and types each time I want it. PROBLEM SOLVED. I hope. !!!

You and the family certainly love your cakes Gill. ;-) ;-) Nearly two finished in a day. (you little piggy's) LOL LOL.

Just spoken to the doctor. The statins I am taking are for high cholesterol and to stop me having another STROKE. So they have got to stay in my tablet intake

Jane I hope your BG man arrived and is sorting your heating out. There is nothing worse than being cold moving around the house. How is Thomas behaving himself ??

I haven't been out this morning, but it looks freezing. We have the heating on (just ticking along) I know the forecast isn't great for the week ahead, but just hope it's fine for us to get over to Ros's M & D grave next week and the trip to Devon.

I have been in touch with Jean across the road, to see if there is anything she needs, and to let us know if she does. She's in her 80s and quite frail.

I have a guy coming between noon and 4.00 pm to fit a smart meter. I hope he won't want the Gas and Electric off for too long.

Stay warm everyone, see you later.

Why are we waiting. After 2.00 pm and no sign of Meter Man. !!!

Ros is back from having her nails done, with a flea in her ear. !! The girl said she had waited too long to have her nails done. She would say that, wouldn't she, extra money for her the more times Ros goes. Cheeky woman.

Ros bumped into a woman who worked for us when we had the shop 1986 when we sold. Her husband has had a heart attack and was taken to Kettering Hospital instead of Northampton, as Kettering is more superior in treating Heart problems. I didn't know that.!! The trouble with that is it's a good twenty miles to go to visit and she doesn't drive. He should be home in about three days.

It's freezing out, I don't envy Ros going to the church for choir practice tonight. It's a cold place at the best of times, so you can imagine what it will be like on a day like today. (WINTER DRAWS ON) LOL LOL

Our dear neighbour Val has just hung out a line of washing. It will be frozen within minutes, what a silly thing to do.

She (Ros) has just rang Val,(Sids wife) to see how she is, as she has been lain up with a cold all week. She isn't going to the church tonight, which is quite sensible feeling like she does.

COT time, see you later.

:-D :-D :-D We have heat. Fingers crossed it stays on now. I dont know what the trouble was but the man changed a motor on the pump and did something in the boiler .I shall be keeping the heaters handy though still .
Frank we have a smart meter being fitted next week I think.He said the electric will be off for about 30mins
Fitz dropped in earlier on his way to Northampton. He said that a couple of days ago his next door neighbours 22yr old lad was killed in his car :-0 :-( :-( :-( What a sad Christmas for them !

Chris has just walked in .He has been out for his lunch with Sue .No cooking for him tonight :-) Just ready meals for me and James.Will catch up on the other posts in a bit. I am going to put the lights on the Box trees now but want them to switch on and go off at exactly the same time so I need Chris to press the button on one when I do the other.

Evening all,

Another chilly day here but no frost this morning ,i looked out the window last night when we went to bed and it was snowing ,great big flakes too ,but it had all gone by the time we got up.

Thanks Ann for your card another one to put with the GR ones .
I bet your heart skipped a beat when you couldn't find your Credit Card yesterday ,it's so easy to get them tucked in your wallet one behind the other .

It's going to chilly for Ros in the church tonight Frank she'll need to wrap up warm ,we had Lacey's nativity in the church yesterday and it was freezing in there you could see you breath .

Jane that's good you have the heating all working again and no expense of a new boiler just before christmas .
That poor lad his family must be devastated ,there'll be no christmas in that house my heart goes out to them .
Did you get your outside lights sorted with a synchronised switch on ?

Gill the sponges went down well i see :-D how's the roof coming on next door ? hope none of the rain you had last night made it's way in .

I bought a few more presents today but Jake is the one we're stuck for though so i had to ask son and DIL for some ideas .

Mandy ,I remember cold breath at many Churches Nativities. There never seems to be a warm 'old church'. I do love to see little ones though in Nativity plays.

Yes I think we got the synchronised lights :-D.

WELL I just had the BEST NEWS ... The bungalow next door is not going to be demolished and a road put in.The road is now going to be a few doors further down the road . I feel like cracking open a bottle of champagne LOL .This has been on my mind for so long. I have been dreading it. I think this has to be the best Christmas present :-D :-D.I feel on cloud 9 :-D :-D

That's great news Jane , go on have a celebratory drink why not :-D :-D

It really got to me yesterday when the little ones sang Away in a Manger i felt myself welling up .
Lacey was an Angel and wore the dress that her sisters had worn when they were Angels so it's a well worn costume ,also the checked tea towels were out in force for the shepherds LOL

Mandy ,I hope you had plenty of tissues :-D I can never keep a dry eye .Stripey TTowels must have been used now for YEARS for the Shepherds . I have a pic of James as a Shepherd with one of my old TTowels on is head when he was 2 years old.I dont think I have any stripey T Towels these days.They are all from places we have visited.How nice for Lacey to wear the same dress as her sisters :-) It will be nice to see photos of all the girls wearing the same dress for their Nativites :-)

No Champagne ,but a nice bottle of wine going down here :-D :-D I can't tell you how happy I am about this news. :-D :-D

What a great day you've had today Jane. you have your heating back, the lights are coming on at the same time outside and now no access road at the side of you. Brilliant, I'm so pleased for you, this is going to be a Christmas to remember. :-D :-D :-D :-D

I think some of the rain maybe coming into our roof space Mandy as the ridge tiles are just sitting on the top of the roof with a few gaps, but hopefully it won't soak through to the ceilings before it's finished and sealed. The boss is coming round tomorrow to give us a quote for our roof so OH is going to ask him if he can put something waterproof over it as it rained quite heavily last night and again this afternoon.

How lovely to watch the Nativity, shame it was so cold in the church though. I used to love watching our girls and remember the time when Sandra's star fell off the end of the stick it was on as she waved it around, she was an angel too. My mum managed to get a before and after photo and we still smile at the look on Sandra's face when she realised what had happened. LOL.

Yes, we're been little piggy's with the cake Frank, we've just finished the last one. That's the thing when I bake, the cakes don't last very long. ;-) ;-) Did the meter man turn up in the end? Good idea to use Blue Tack on your letter "T" is it still holding?

Evening All,

What a good day you have had Jane, heating now on and the bungalow next door is to remain!! :-D :-D I wonder why there has been a change? Won't the neighbours affected now fight a road next to them as well? Like you I can't wear jumpers either and there are some lovely ones that I'd like. What awful news Fitz's neighbours have had losing a young son so tragically. Christmas won't be happening for them this year.

Frank, I'm surprised you are having a smart meter fitted now and not waiting for the new upgraded ones that are supposed to be available some time next year. The new ones will enable you to switch suppliers without any problems when you look for best deals . There are several makes of the current meters and each is only compatible with certain suppliers. So if you then switch to a supplier that isn't compatible they don't work and you are back to sending in manual readings. It looks like the STATINS are here to stay then, but it was a good idea to speak to the doc. My friend hasn't had a stroke, but she does have high cholesterol, but gets a lot of muscle aches with statins.

What an odd dream you had Mel! Unusual for me, I had a strange dream last night too, well it was 2 dreams really. In the first I was trying to drive someone else's old car away from a lonely house in woods and a woman was chasing me on foot. The driveway to the house was about 2 miles long and I couldn't get away from the woman because I couldn't change gear to go faster as the gearstick had been tied to something. She was trying to break the car window with pieces of branch. Then I was in another dream and woke up tied to a chair in scrub at the edge of a field. A farmer was driving a tractor with those long arms that spray pesticide on crops and it was going to spray right over me! I was glad when it was time to get up!! :-0

Gill, fancy the cakes going like that, they must have been really nice! :-) I hope they get your roof waterproof with something tomorrow, even if it's just temporary.

I think 'Away in a Manger' is lovely to hear little ones sing Mandy! It's their clear little voices that get to you. <3 It's good that the angel dresses you made are getting some more use! I think we all must have some of those shepherd style tea towels, I know I have!! lol.

We went to near Oakham to that garden centre with the lovely restaurant this morning. The snow had all gone here and OH went across country thinking it would be the same, but the roads were awful!! No gritting had been done, even on the main A47 and we were held up because of 1 accident, more a shunt really. The outside lanes were still covered in snow and there was frozen slush and black ice in places. When we turned off down the lanes it was worse still and some fields were still covered in snow. It is very hilly round there and the lanes go up and down with twists and turns so we had to be very careful! The Christmas part was even bigger than before with some lovely things so I am going back when the sales start.

Now I am trying to decide what to wear to go out for the meal with my beading friends tomorrow. :-S

A doublely good day for you then Jane. Its good to know you are now nice and warm. Its great too about the road going further down from you noow and the bungalow will stay next door so you won't be troubled by the building right next to you. I'm so pleased for you.

We have a smart meter. It tells us how much leccy we are useing in a day or at a time during the day. How much we have used in a week etc.

What a terrible time it must be for the family who lost the 22 year old boy. My prayers go out to them all. It must be devastating at most times of the year but at Christmas it is always going to come back to them. How sad.

Its not been so cold here today but just after I got up we had hail and thunder. I hav'nt got onwell today and just played really trying something a bit different and that always takes a long while to get right. I still don't know if it will work properly. Its a half moon door hanging. I cut one of my rings up to make it. When it is completely done I will take a picture so you can see what I mean. I hav'nt put any yellow stuff in it and have added a few larch cones as they seem to stay open even when it rains or is very wet. I also used some pine I picked up at aunty Joy's as she has Chuidleigh fort opposite and a big line of long needled pines that have huge cones.

I would love to see the children in a nativity play. In fact I bought two crowns incase the boys were in one and they were one of the kings. They are up in my wardrobe at the ready if needed. Or if you should need one Mandy I could always sent you one.

The house is a tip and I still have washing in the machine I did this morning so I better get it out and in the dryer!!!!!!

Good morning all,

We have wall to wall sunshine this morning and blue sky with a couple of very thin white clouds to the north.

I shall be taking the special ring to Shebbear today and shall go on past the shop to see if they have sold any. If they have I shall ask if they need anymore as I am not making a load they don't sell. I shall probably do some small arrangements instead.

Morning Mel, morning all

Lovely and sunny here too. We had such a downpour of rain last night that it flooded the garden. We were so worried that it might have come into our loft so OH went up there to take a look and was surprised that nothing had come through, that he could see or feel, so that was good. He's still going to ask them to put some waterproof membrane over the ridge tiles though just incase the rain has dropped into the insulation.

The car is in the garage today having a few jobs done to it, OH took it just after we bought it for a service and there are a few things that need doing, so that should be done in a few hours.

The roofers seem to be turning up later and later each day at this rate they'll be doing afternoons only, I can't see it being finished before Christmas if they carry on at this rate. They started off with four people including the boss and yesterday there was only one man to start with, then a second one turned up later in the day. Each time it rained they stopped, which was quite a lot yesterday.

OH has just finished cleaning out the gutter along the kitchen where the mess had fallen from the ridge tiles when they took them off, so that's a job out of the way. It's the second time he's had to do it, but if left then the rain might start running down the walls, so it had to be done. I was busy brushing all the access water off the patio down the drain, it had collected and I was worried if it went really cold we'd end up with a big sheet of ice. We go in and out of our back door so would of had to walk over it if we went out, knowing my luck I'd of been the one to slip on my bum LOL I'll have to keep an eye on it as it's all the rain water coming off the garden so will probably need doing again at some point.

That's a good idea Mel to check how many rings they have sold, you don't want to be making to many if they're not all going to sell. It sounds like we've had similar weather to you as we had thunder and lightening last night and boy did it rain, it was like a monsoon. I had to run OH a bath at 1am this morning with him checking the loft, as he was covered in bits, it helped him sleep so that was good as he still had this nagging cough, even after two lots of antibiotics.
He was like a baby, bottle, bath and bed, although he didn't have the bottle LOL ;-) ;-)

It sound like some of you have had some strange dreams, are you eating cheese before bed? :-S :-S Hope you all had a better nights sleep last night.

Are you nice and warm now Jane? It must feel like luxury having your heating back. That's awful news for Fitz's neighbour, 22 is no age at all, what a shock that must of been and so heart breaking. I doubt they'll feel like Christmas this year.....how sad :-(

Afternoon all, I am not stopping, as Pam and Denis with Tracy have just left. We are going over to M & D grave now to tidy round and leave a wreath and more flowers.

See the posts later.

Still fiddling with this new door hanging.

Its come over a bit grey now out the front.

Oh has put my solar daisy lights up under the new roof outside the kitchen. I know they won't work much at the moment with it being so wet and cloudy and short days but once the nights start drawing out they should work from the morning sun at least. The back door faces east so its quite sheltered from the west wind.

Morning All,

We had a lot of rain in the night (not as much as you Gill!) but it's dry and sunny now. I've had horrid gripping tummy pains since last night and the last thing I want today is the 3 course meal with my pals so I stayed at home. :-S I think it must be a bug as OH was the same last weekend and spent Sunday in bed. My tummy feels sore now but the pains are getting less.

Mel, it does take ages to find the best way to make something new. I can fiddle with something, starting again several times before I'm happy! Good idea to check whether the shop has sold all your wreaths before making more. I bet your lights will look pretty in the spring. I'm expecting my wreath sucker either today or tomorrow. I noticed yesterday that a few bungalows in the close have lights up and one has a small, real Christmas tree lit up with white lights that looks really nice.

Gill, we had a neighbour diagonally opposite a few years ago that had icicle lights all across the front of their bungalow that pulsed and flashed! It was a nightmare trying to have an early night as they shone through the blind and the curtains and it was like being in a disco!! They would leave them on till midnight as well. They did stop the flashing and pulsing after a while as I think the neighbour opposite them was having the same trouble as they are usually in bed early. I think they may have said something. They have far prettier multi coloured lights now that just twinkle. :-)

Hope you enjoy your nibbles with the neighbours Frank!

I need to order OH some books now.

What a nice surprise! Gill will you thank Sandra for the lovely card she has made! The cats and fish and butterflies look lovely as do the super roses and she has written a very nice message!! <3 <3 It has perked me up! :-)