General Chat

Yes Morrisons in Bideford. I looked over at aunty's house on the way in as usual.

Its been dull and dreary here all day but was a bit brighter in Bideford and then on the way home it got all dull again. We have had a little light rain in the air too.

Frank I just wondered if you have a mouse without a lead? If so perhaps the batteries have gone? or you hav'nt got it plugged in completely. I don't know what set up you have or pc. If you have a laptop it could be something different.

I asked about those bit cut outs they have when they advertise a new dvd coming out. They have the star wars figures in Morrisons and apparently if you see them and put your name and number on the back when they are done with them you can have them. Two little girls and their mum had the Paddington one in their trolly which I why I asked.

I think cleaning a cats teeth could be a bit of a challenge Jane!!! Cas is very good, Millie was not!! I could do her front teeth but not her back, and it was the back that caused the problems, also Millie couldn't have bones as they made her sick - Cas loves a marrow bone and is not sick!!
Oh Jane that is SO sad about Chris's childhood. How tragic his mother dying and for his sister to have that responsibility at such a young age - I expect she felt she just couldn't cope. Ian's childhood wasn't that good as their father basically deserted the family when he was 11, and left their mother virtually penniless. When they came back from Eritrea, he stayed with his current lady friend, and they saw very little of him after that. Granny picked up school fees till they were 16, and then it was into work, Navy for Ian, QA's for younger sister, where they both worked their way up, younger brother stole a car, crashed it and only just escaped Borstal!! I sometimes can't believe how lucky I was, and I'm sure you feel the same.
That steak was delicious!!

Liz as I have said many times I feel one of the luckiest being adopted. My life would have been so different and not in a good way had I not.I know one of my B Brothers is still so angry at almost the age of 70 as he had no answers as to why he and the other siblings were put into a Children's home .I think in part it was due to the fact I was next in line to be born and with 5 other ones then my B Mother was deemed not able to look after so many children when living in almost poverty . Whether they were taken away or given up I don't know. But then after I was born and given for adoption (thank goodness) she then went on to have 2 more !!! and neither of them had a good life . So that was 8 of us !!.
Chris never talks about his childhood . He has a dreadful time up unttil the age of about 10 when his Dad remarried .Chris then had a happy life :-D :-DHis Step Mum was the nicest lady and she adored him.That was his MUM :-D She was wonderful .I loved her.

Mel I always think my Aunty Betty's house up there on the hill had one of the most wonderful views over the River Torridge( Is it the Torridge?) I think so. I loved staying there with her looking down at all the boats.

I think a lot of life is luck! If my mother hadn't gone out for a drink with her parents (she nearly didn't!) she wouldn't have met my S-father and goodness knows who or where we might have ended up!! It was our lucky day for sure!
Watching 'Spring on the Farm,' it's ok, perhaps a bit jolly for me!! I love the Yorkshire Vets though who are in it, so we'll go on watching!!

Morning all,

Dry but a bit cloudy this morning.

I have a job getting on here in the morning now too. I have to jump through the pages to get here.

I need to do some housework today to catch up on some ironing and do a bit of washing.

If I get some done I shan't feel guilty about having a play with my felt. I hav'nt done any since I sent you the pic of the hare staring at the moon.

Slept like a log last night thank goodness and feel a lot better for it. Hope Frank had a good night too.

O Jane did you hear from the plumber?

Good Morning to all my lovely FRIENDS.

Another miserable morning here. Rain and wind. You can't call it April Showers either.

Just seeing your posts, Jane and Liz. how lovely your stories are. I really don't remember too much about my bringing up, other than it was TOUGH. What with my Dad and two eldest brothers and sister tied up in the WAR, Leaving Mum with five children age one to eight at the start of the war. It must have been so difficult for her to feed and cloth us on wha money she was getting from DAD. I will always hold her in the highest esteem for how she coped, as did many women at that time. There was always a plate of food to eat. Not always what you liked either. Cloths on our backs, shoes on our feet. Sometimes with CARDBOARD inside to keep the rain out and try to keep your feet dry.BUT most of all The lovely clean bed to get into at night, in our warmed "sleeping Suits" which we always called our P. Js. I don't remember cuddles or the words I LOVE YOU. but God bless her. She had so much to cope with. Can you imagine FIVE children and Mum sleeping under the ANDERSON SHELTER in the "back room' waiting for the next bomb attach. Birthdays were never celebrated with cards and presents, nor Christmas. She always said "IT'S JUST ANOTHER DAY' I think this is why I tried to give my children birthdays and Christmas and Holidays that they still remember. I have gone on a bit, haven't I ???

Carolyn and John came back from Hastings yesterday instead of today because of the weather. She rang Ros this morning, and you can guess where they have gone. ;-) ;-)

She is making a very good job of painting to cupboards doors, one end of the kitchen is finished and looking good. Now she has to do around the cooker and extractor hood, which is bound to be greasy, and need more preparation. I try not to let her do too much in one go. It's no sense in me trying to do it, I would more than likely fall of the steps.

Have you got your roof fixed now Gill. ?? You will need to keep your eye on it, in case any other tiles are loose.

I shut down my MacBook last night, when I opened it this morning it was just the same. So will have o call on Jonathan again, to see if he can fix it.

Didn't have a very good night again. We had a Lasagne last night, which didn't really fill me up. So after being at the pub, I came home and had a Ham and Mustard Sarnie, with another beer. I was soon in bed after that, and suffered with the JOLLY old Indigestion. I was too comfy and lazy to get out, and have some Galveston, So it was entirely my own fault.

Off to read my book, in peace and quiet. and I might make a coffee.

Stay good today girls and enjoy what you have to do,Whatever it is. H.W. Ironing, which I know you all love (NOT) ;-) ;-) ;-)

Not at all Frank, it's nice to hear your story! From what you say your mother had a very tough time; how she managed with so many of you is nothing short of miraculous! She deserved a medal!! Perhaps you all did!!!
I think it can be easy to criticise parents or whoever, but unless or until you've walked in their shoes it can be difficult to understand exactly what they were up against. It's easy to be a good parent when you yourself enjoy good circumstances both emotional and financial, not so easy, like Ian's mother, when you don't!
Murky old day, so apart from fish for supper, nothing else going on here!!

Afternoon all

A bit of a dull day but no rain so Sandra and I have been putting the Tulips in the border. That's the fun of having pots, you can re-arrange the borders to suit the seasons. Sandra had a great time doing it and said when the Tulips come out properly she wants to take some photo's.....bless her. OH has gone to see his mate for the day so we're having some mother, daughter time together. Going to watch first dates soon, Sandra is just getting some lunch, I'm not hungry, so have decided to change the bedding as it needed doing.

I rang the fella who is doing our gate and fence this morning, he should of rang me two days ago but said he stayed in France a bit longer as he missed his flight on Monday. I'm a bit concerned as I thought he was going to do the gate this week, but he said if he's in the area and finishes another job he'll do it then and that it might be the end of the month. Poor Sandra is concerned in case he wants to come on the 28th April as that is her birthday. I think I might ring the other fella and see if he can do it now. We didn't get a quote off him but I'm sure he'll be cheaper and hopefully quicker.

I managed to find the roofer's number so rang him to this morning, I explained that we had a leak after he moved the slate tiles to which he said he wouldn't of caused the leak. He's coming back on Friday 13th (not a good date) and said it wouldn't cost us much to put a couple of new slate tiles in........so more expense as Frank would say. I don't think OH is going to be to please with having to pay out again, but we don't really have much choice as there is quite a bit of rain water coming through the roof that OH has to get rid of off the plastic he's put in the loft, which obviously we can't keep doing. So all fun and games again.......not.

On a positive I managed to get on here first time today, I couldn't get back on here yesterday, kept getting the error page so I gave up in the end.

Sorry to hear Ros has another water infection Frank, it must be getting her down now as she seems to be having a lot of infections one after the other by the sounds of it. I hope the operation date comes through quickly for her, then like you said, she can finally lead a normal life.

I had to laugh Mel when you said you were listening to your OH talking in his sleep just to keep yourself occupied LOL ;-) I had a conversation with my OH once when he was talking in his sleep, he didn't remember a thing in the morning, it was quite funny :-) Pleased to see you had a better nights sleep last night.

How cute that Cas let's you brush her teeth Liz. You're lucky she lets you, she is good and it will help keep her teeth nice and healthy.

Sorry to hear about Benjy Jane, the poor thing, he'll be in a lot of pain for a while now. At least it wasn't broken so that's good. No one was hurt in the house fire thankfully. Our neighbour across the road came banging on our front door, my sister and I were in bed and the fire was in my parents bedroom. We had wall heaters and the curtain had gone in front of the heater and caught fire. I could smell the fire but it was only faint so I didn't give it much thought until all hell broke loose, by the time my sister and I were running down the stairs the fire brigade were running up, we went and sat in our neighbours house then the two of us stayed at our grandparents for the night. We had to go to school the following day from there so didn't see all the mess until we came home, it stank to high heaven, I'll never forget it.
Yes I remember you telling us about the shopping bag catching fire, at least you put it out before it got out of control. Poor Chester must of wondered what was going on when you chucked him outside.
I don't blame Chris for not wanting to contact his sister, he must of felt so alone with both his sister and mum gone. At least he's much happier with you and your children now and had a lovely step mum too. It sounds like you were very lucky too in the end. It's nice to have happy endings isn't it?

I hope the day has brightened up for Liz and Frank as we have the sun out here now and its reeally quite warm.

I need to go and clean the big girls out so I may just do that and then get the dinner on and maybe have a little time to have a bit of felting.

Well it's dry at the moment Mel, but still very overcast.

Carolyn is here stitching up the "TWIDDLE MUFFS" she has made, Ros is showing her how to do it. I believe she has made 4 or 5. Martine isn't doing anything at the moment as she is still sorting out all her MIL things from her death. By what she says most is now been taken away from her house, to either charity shops or the TIP.

Estate agents are buzzing around looking for the business of selling it. It's an old Victorian Terraced house with three bedrooms, kitchen, bathroom and two sitting rooms. Valuation is around the £160,000 mark. So they are going to be quite well off, once it's through Probate and the house is sold. There is also 50% of Brians Uncle George's house when he pass's away. Roa said they are thinking of buying a static holiday home on the East Coast. I expect they will spend a lot of the summer time down there.

Rib Eyed steaks for tonight. While Ros was out with Carolyn I did the chips, mushrooms, onions and made the peppered sauce. So it's just the cooking to do later.

All my dogs over the years, always had a marrow bone. They loved the marrow bone jelly, and chewed on the bone to keep their teeth clean and sharpe. Even the toy poodles had one each. ;-) ;-) ;-)

I have bought Alexander an inflatable Dinasoure . (sp) He is so much into them, so Kerry said. We will also give him some money towards a Garden selection of slides, ropes, sand pit etc. He will be three in May. Such a lovely little lad.

Are the "girls" able to get around alright again Mel, has the water dried up ??

That's not good news Gill, how would you or the roofer know how or who is responsible for the leaking roof. I would have thought he would check it out for you F.O.C. and then discuss a price, if work needs carrying out. I hope also, that you find someone to get your gate and fence done. It seems some people just don't want work !!!

Ros has just found a tablet on the floor, that I should have taken this morning. NAUGHTY BOY !!!!

A sparrow is showing interest in the bird box, which seems unusual, as usually it would be tits.

Well it's dry at the moment Mel, but still very overcast.

Carolyn is here stitching up the "TWIDDLE MUFFS" she has made, Ros is showing her how to do it. I believe she has made 4 or 5. Martine isn't doing anything at the moment as she is still sorting out all her MIL things from her death. By what she says most is now been taken away from her house, to either charity shops or the TIP.

Estate agents are buzzing around looking for the business of selling it. It's an old Victorian Terraced house with three bedrooms, kitchen, bathroom and two sitting rooms. Valuation is around the £160,000 mark. So they are going to be quite well off, once it's through Probate and the house is sold. There is also 50% of Brians Uncle George's house when he pass's away. Roa said they are thinking of buying a static holiday home on the East Coast. I expect they will spend a lot of the summer time down there.

Rib Eyed steaks for tonight. While Ros was out with Carolyn I did the chips, mushrooms, onions and made the peppered sauce. So it's just the cooking to do later.

All my dogs over the years, always had a marrow bone. They loved the marrow bone jelly, and chewed on the bone to keep their teeth clean and sharpe. Even the toy poodles had one each. ;-) ;-) ;-)

I have bought Alexander an inflatable Dinasoure . (sp) He is so much into them, so Kerry said. We will also give him some money towards a Garden selection of slides, ropes, sand pit etc. He will be three in May. Such a lovely little lad.

Are the "girls" able to get around alright again Mel, has the water dried up ??

That's not good news Gill, how would you or the roofer know how or who is responsible for the leaking roof. I would have thought he would check it out for you F.O.C. and then discuss a price, if work needs carrying out. I hope also, that you find someone to get your gate and fence done. It seems some people just don't want work !!!

Ros has just found a tablet on the floor, that I should have taken this morning. NAUGHTY BOY !!!!

A sparrow is showing interest in the bird box, which seems unusual, as usually it would be tits.

Well it's dry at the moment Mel, but still very overcast.

Carolyn is here stitching up the "TWIDDLE MUFFS" she has made, Ros is showing her how to do it. I believe she has made 4 or 5. Martine isn't doing anything at the moment as she is still sorting out all her MIL things from her death. By what she says most is now been taken away from her house, to either charity shops or the TIP.

Estate agents are buzzing around looking for the business of selling it. It's an old Victorian Terraced house with three bedrooms, kitchen, bathroom and two sitting rooms. Valuation is around the £160,000 mark. So they are going to be quite well off, once it's through Probate and the house is sold. There is also 50% of Brians Uncle George's house when he pass's away. Roa said they are thinking of buying a static holiday home on the East Coast. I expect they will spend a lot of the summer time down there.

Rib Eyed steaks for tonight. While Ros was out with Carolyn I did the chips, mushrooms, onions and made the peppered sauce. So it's just the cooking to do later.

All my dogs over the years, always had a marrow bone. They loved the marrow bone jelly, and chewed on the bone to keep their teeth clean and sharpe. Even the toy poodles had one each. ;-) ;-) ;-)

I have bought Alexander an inflatable Dinasoure . (sp) He is so much into them, so Kerry said. We will also give him some money towards a Garden selection of slides, ropes, sand pit etc. He will be three in May. Such a lovely little lad.

Are the "girls" able to get around alright again Mel, has the water dried up ??

That's not good news Gill, how would you or the roofer know how or who is responsible for the leaking roof. I would have thought he would check it out for you F.O.C. and then discuss a price, if work needs carrying out. I hope also, that you find someone to get your gate and fence done. It seems some people just don't want work !!!

Ros has just found a tablet on the floor, that I should have taken this morning. NAUGHTY BOY !!!!

A sparrow is showing interest in the bird box, which seems unusual, as usually it would be tits.

Afternooon Al
It is so foggy here now. It was like this at 5.30 am when I let Thomas out but then by 7 it was absolutely tipping it down. James isnt going to have a pleasant drive home this evening. I hope he takes it steady. Fog is the thing I hate most when driving.
I will have to ring the Doctors in the morning as this pain in my back is worse than ever today. I am fine when I am sitting or lying down. I did go into town this morning to Holland and Barratt to get some Vitamin E Oil to see if that might help my nails and finger skin (after effects from the Psoriasis).I didnt have to walk far but kept having to stop and pretend I was window shopping as my back was so painful :-S
I am taking an old friend out at 11 for a brunch tomorrow ,but if I am lucky and get a morning appointment with the GP then I shall have to cancel Brunch

Frank, little Alexander will love his inflatable Dinosaur :-D. I remember William was soooo into any kind of Dinosaur when he was about the same age.Little boys just love them :-D and the money for play things in the garden will really go down well :-D :-D
I love 3 year olds :-D. Fitz's Grandaughter Ottilie will be 2 next week !!. She is a right little cutie :-D

Gill, I do hope you aren't going ot have to fork out much for the roof tiles again. It does seem a bit mean to charge you more for what is most likely the roofers fault .I suppose there is no proof. Also fingers crossed you can get the gate and fencing done asap.
It wasn't Benjy Gill who fell down the stairs. It was Bently (my Nieces French Bulldog)
The names do look very similar don't they :-D
The house fire you had when you were young sounded so very frightening . Thank God you were all ok.

Girls all nice and clean now Mel? I think the weather down your way has been much better than here !!!. I see we could be getting temperatures of 21 degs next week !
I shall be looking out the fans LOL

The card I ordered has arrived today. It really is so pretty. It is hand made. I will send a pic again. Frank I will send yours separately as you dont seem to get emails from me when I send a group one.
Beef Stroganoff tonight. I have done it ,so just rice and Green Beans to do now.

I am not sure if the pic of the card has gone through. Can you let let me know if it arrives..

The card was lovely Jane and I'm sure they'll treasure it..
Listening to the news :-( it gets more scary every minute!

Evening all,

What a dreary foggy old day it has been ,i don't think it has cleared all day .

Frank little Lewis loves Dinosaurs too ,he has them on his bedding and has lots of toy Dinosaurs .
Money to go towards the swings and play things for the garden is a good idea ,with hopefully the summer coming he will have plenty to play on outside .

Jane that card is really pretty i think they will love it ,definitely one for them to keep .

Gill that fire must have been really scary at the time for you ,how easily these things happen though and thank goodness no one was hurt .
Perhaps you should get the roofer to check there's no more cracked or broken tiles while he's up on the roof , it could be a costly job to keep having him out .

I had to ring Vax today as i noticed that the rechargeable batteries i have for the hoover have turned black near the terminals and the plastic has melted .
I told the chap i don't know if it's the batteries ,the charger that the batteries go on or the actual hoover as the terminals on the hoover are black too .

He told me it was bad news as the batteries for it are out of stock and the bit on the hoover that could be replaced is also out of stock , but the good news is he's sending me one of the new Vax Blades :-D :-D
The Warranty was for six years on the old hoover but this new one has only a two year warranty , but as it's a replacement the warranty from the old one will continue on the new one so how good a service is that .

Colin had to take his big saw back today as that had stopped working ,he got a replacement so it's been a good day all round ,i wonder what will be next !!!

Well I am afraid to say that the big girls did'nt get cleaned out as planned. I was having a nice tidy up in the uti room when oh came in from mowing and decided he wanted his hair cut!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was so long as I have been saying I would cut it for ages but it was never a time he wanted it done. To tell you how long it was I cut off 6 inches!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! yes I did say 6 inches. It has'nt been that long since we were first together and he let it grow long for me. After I had cut it he said it was my turn next....

I did'nt finish the uti room but did empty a box and put all the sewing stuff away in my sewing set of draws. Then he wanted a coffee and scone so we had that and then I washed all his clothes as he had been mowing and had got all mud up his legs. He saw me doing it and said I only put those on clean this morning. My reply was "well you can put on clean ones tonight too". Both lots were washed today and the first lot ironed this afternoon after I put the second lot out. I also did the dinner which is lamb stew. Just have to put some spuds in it now.

So you have all had a miserable day by the sounds of it but I am sorry to saay we've had sun all day and its been quite warm too. Its just clouded over now.

Good evening all

Jane the card looks lovely and the beautiful words make it even more personal to Hannah and Gareth.

We had a rainy morning again but it did clear up later .

Keep getting the error message again so have given up several times to get on here.

I agree Liz the news is so horrible at the moment with all the dreadful killings and threats from Russia and America.

We had Chicken Kievs with new potatoes, green beans and cauliflower cheese for dinner tonight .

Morning all,

Misty and murky this morning so it looks like being another day like yesterday .
Off to see the nurse soon for tablet review and results of my blood test.

I meant to say yesterday you should see my foot where i had the cramp the other day it is all black across the top of my foot now and all down the inside of my foot too, never had that happen after having cramp or perhaps it wasn't cramp and i had some burst in my foot .