General Chat

Afternoon All,

Phew it’s hot now (25 degrees) but is supposed to reach 26 degrees here this afternoon. Most of the windows and doors are open as there is a slight breeze, but the blinds and curtains at the front are closed till the sun moves round. I slept well last night and woke at 6.30 am, but didn’t get up till after 8.00 am. For some strange reason my hip one side was achey no matter how I lay and hurt more if I pressed it with my hand yet now it is perfectly ok again, so I think it must have been how I lay in the night. I have a very hard mattress, which has been a boon for my back, but maybe not so good for my hips!

When I went to meet my friend they had closed the outside access to the café there used to be, (presumably to make everyone see everything in the shop first via one of those meandering paths that make sure you see everything, (including stuff you would never want to buy!) Not good for the walking impaired but not quite disabled! The shop was a large greenhouse once, so has a glass roof and then you walk through an attached kind of concrete floored very long polytunnel to reach the fairly new café building. Well hot is an understatement, no ventilation, even in the closed each end, polytunnel and by the time I reached the café I couldn’t have gone much further in the heat. Relief then in the airconditioning and after drinking a small bottle of lemonade from the fridge. I sat and waited and wondered if my friend was waiting in the carpark, (I realised I hadn’t got her number in my new phone) but I couldn’t face another heatwave walk back there and then she rang to say ‘I’m at the wrong garden centre aren’t !’ She was so apologetic, but I was just pleased to hear I’m not the only one that does these things.lol Everyone coming in after me while I waited was red faced and fanning themselves including my friend when she arrived. We were there about 4 hours chatting and had something to eat as well. She has found another little beading group with less travel being nearer to where she lives and really likes it and sounded as sounded as if she is learning some interesting new beading designs too which I hope to see. She’s like me and will sometimes go and try different things, or visit places on her own. She used to say to me she couldn’t do painting, but has joined a Botanic Art course, enjoys it and intends to carry on with another in the autumn. Chair yoga is something else she wants to do and I must look on you tube to see if it’s something that might help me to lose a bit of weight. She has sparked my interest in finding more things to join and do. Some in our old group now do knitting for the yarn bomb, so I’m not sure if the few left still do any beading. We talked about FH as she does it too and I showed her my recently discovered connection with Princess Di and Benjamin Harrison the USA president. We chatted a lot about our old friend and her kindness and generosity and who sadly passed away recently and the time just flew till they were about to close and started sweeping up.

OH just has a zoom meeting later so we are having a quiet day doing little today. All my plants in the pots are going beyond the point of no return now, yet the marigolds I haven’t planted yet still look healthy if a bit rootbound. If there’s any of the compost left I daren’t even spread it round any shrubs as a mulch.

Your new book of knitted dolls and accessories sounds really good Mandy and something interesting to make. The animal ones you did were brilliant. I wouldn’t have wanted to part with some of them. I'm amazed at all the poppies you have done. They will look so good tied on the railings.

I still have a few ready meals Mel, but AnnG is right and small doesn’t always mean low in calories or healthy so read the labels and check the traffic lights aiming for more green than red. If I’m hungry I hot up left over veg to eat with them or microwave some peas.

Better post this. I was going to cut and paste it and nearly lost it as I got into some editing screens that wouldn’t let me copy! I’m a lost cause with losing posts.

Karen has sorted all the cables. A bit stressful when we had to lift the tV off the table and she disconnected everything but she found one cable that can be thrown out and another set of cables she couldn’t work out what they were for. So they are in the office ‘pending’ everything else she labelled the plugs. Then we put it all back together to check TV etc was working.
Then she took away all the Wii stuff. If she can’t find a home for it they will take it to the tip.
And she might have got this phone handset working.

Morning all 20 degrees and cloudy according to the pc but the suns out and theres a very pale blue sky so they got that wrong.

Knees hurt like crazy this morning when I got up for the loo.

I sam going to have a nie shower now and then wash my hair I think. The midges got me a bit last night and I am all itchy.

Good morning all sunny and 14 degrees here now ar 0630. I slept very well last night despite the cold I only woke up once.
I contacted my friends who are coming so daughter can sort out the wires but they have decided to still come and risk the cold. so, if they catch it I won't feel guilty. I bet I know where Cynth caught this one. Last Tuesday she was at Cardiff to see Taylor Swift with her friends who live in Wales. So this is a Welsh variety. I am hoping that it won't last as long as the other one, maybe there is a bit of immunity from having had that one.

Yu are right about the heat in houses Ann, As I walk up the stairs I can feel the heat coming to meet me. Although this house is not too bad having had wall insulation put in some time back.

Happy birthday to Lacey Mandy a bit late, sorry. They are all growing up now aren't they?

Good job they found the trousers Vera, if they hadn't I suppose your OH would have had to start all over again looking for another pair he liked. Luckily T always found trousers he liked in M&S which was convenient. Many years ago when living in Bedfordshire we did have a friend who was manager of a mens' tailors and T used to buy blazers there.

Mel check those meals for one for what they contain. they may be small but sometimes they have a lot of salt in them and are high carb count as well which means high sugar. You do go on working into the evenings, I couldn't do that, I rarely do any work in the garden after 4pm. And keep drinking the water. I have to admit I am not good at that myself. I try to keep a half litre bottle filled with tap water to drink so I can see how much I have had. But still forget.

Ann, now I am looking forward to the meet with your friend saga. Ooh two garden centres to choose from!!

This hot weather isn’t helping us sleep as well as usual and it gets light so early as well. Our binmen were here at 6.30am this morning, the earliest they’ve ever been, no doubt so they would finish before it got it’s hottest. I’ve read a suggestion to sleep downstairs to be cooler if you live in house and hot air does tend to rise upstairs so there’s some logic there.

Happy Birthday to Lacey! I still think of her as a little girl too, but how the time flies. Well at least it sounds like the iron tablets started you on some weight loss Mandy! Your diet ideas sound much like mine when I lost weight during lockdown. Mainly fish and chicken and with mostly veg or a salad on the plate too. Green veg have less calories than the root veg so more of those is a good idea and eggs except fried ones. I am pre diabetic as is OH now and my next test is due in a couple of months, so it might improve those results. I must start using the slow cooker to make some soups too as there is a lot of salt in bought ones and not much veg in most.

I too have an old Wii AnnG and still weigh myself on it. I ought to still do some of the balance exercises too. They do have a tangle of wires as you say and we seem to accumulate more wires still with modern tvs and we still have an old dvd player. Ours were all tidy once after I squeezed them all into some of that flexible pipe, but when someone had to come out to the tv they pulled them all out and never put them back. I look at them, think how my back and knees will ache bending down and have left them for now. What a shame Cynth didn’t warn you about her cold. I hope it is one that clears up quickly too.

That’s good the trousers turned up Vera and I bet the shop was glad when they turned up as well as they obviously pride themselves in good service. What a shame you had that horrendous migraine. I think this hot weather can sometimes seem to bring them on. You did well to brave it out with tablets to watch the film and I hope the increased dose will help in future.

It’s very late for me now, but the bedroom should have cooled down, so I’ll wish you all sweet dreams and tell you about meeting my friend tomorrow. Things didn’t start well as she went to a different garden centre to the one I was waiting for her at!!

I'm pleased the trousers have come to light and I should think with ll the upheval he should get them shortened at a cut price. If they could'nt have found them what would they have done then?

Had a sweep and now I am tired but I hav'nt picked it up yet. I have a barrow load I swept up ages ago and BIL has'nt emptied that for me. He usually puts it in the big trailer and dumps it round the wood by the bonfire which I hav'nt had for over 18 months. I can't light it when the weathers wet and I don't lie to do it when the weathers nice as all the neighbour are in their gardens.

I think I shall do some fruit, just cut it up for tonight and have one of the meals for one out of the freezer. They are only small so with the fruit that should do me.

Sorry to hear you’re all snuffly again AnnG. I hope this cold gets better quicker than the last one.

All this talk about weight made me go and weigh myself and I was surprised to find that I’d lost a bit more and am now under 10 st. As I’m tall I wouldn’t want to lose any more and would feel more comfortable with about another half stone. And can anyone tell me why my arms are getting thinner and my neck scraggier but I still have a spare tyre round my middle? It’s just not fair.

I didn’t get back after my early morning post yesterday as within a couple of hours I had developed an horrendous migraine. Although the pain was everywhere it was centred, as always, on the left hand side of my head and face and was excruciating. Even my teeth on that side hurt. So the rest of yesterday was spent in bed with just a few sips of water. By this morning I was able to manage some porridge and a cup of weak tea.

As luck would have it I had a telephone review of my meds booked for this morning so I was able to tell the lady at the surgery how I was feeling and how the migraines are getting more frequent again. She is upping the dosage on my migraine prevention tabs and said if after a while on the higher dose there’s not much improvement I should see the doctor. I wasn’t sure what to expect as my review has usually been carried out by the GP and this lady was a clinical pharmacist but she talked everything through thoroughly with me and really listened to what I said and obviously is able to do some prescribing.

After that I had another hour on the bed and during this time the hairdresser rang to see where I was as she had me down for an appointment. I know I booked it for tomorrow. I wouldn’t have booked it for this morning knowing I had the meds review so I think she had written the appointment down for the wrong day. She can fit me in for tomorrow so I’ll still get my haircut.

After lunch I had tickets for the film One Life at the local theatre. OH wouldn’t go without me and I was feeling quite a bit better so I dosed myself up with painkillers and went. It was very good, quite an inspiring story and the air conditioning was great. You couldn’t hear or even feel it blowing but it was a comfortable, cool temperature. I was glad I went for that alone as it was more comfortable than in the house. It’s currently 27 degrees here and looks like another hot night.

Oh yes, OH’s trousers. For his birthday I had bought OH a gift voucher for a local men’s outfitters that he likes. He chose some nice trousers but they needed to be shortened. When after about 10 days he hadn’t heard from them he rang the shop. That was on Friday and that was when it was discovered that all the paperwork was at the shop but the trousers had gone AWOL. On Monday the shop rang to check a couple of details with him and said they would take everything off every rail and shelf in the shop and storerooms till they found them. OH wasn’t too bothered as they hadn’t taken any money from him yet. Today the owner of the shop rang to say they had been found in some obscure place and to apologise so OH will collect and pay for them tomorrow. I know something went wrong this time but the owner and staff of this shop really know the meaning of customer service. They are always friendly but very polite and go to endless trouble to find exactly what the customer wants. They have even let OH bring clothing home for me to approve before he buys anything.

Well, OH will be wanting some dinner soon and I haven’t even heated the oven up yet so I’d better get my skates on. Stay cool and sleep well. See you tomorrow.

Hope you've had a lovely catch up with your friend today Ann and it wasn't to hot for you both .

Oh no Anng that was kind of Cynth to give you her cold you'd have thought she would have told you she had one so you could have kept your distance from her especially when she sneezed.
The back of our tele is a maize of wires if it wasn't for son sorting things for us we'd be in a right muddle as to what goes where ,we have a plastic box under the spare bed full of wires and chargers ,I think some are to do with the video cameras Colin use to use on holiday and he had three different ones and its something else that really needs sorting out but we don't want to throw out something that might be needed for something to make it work.

I heard back about my ultra sound and they could see the gall stones ,I can have them looked at but she said there's a long long wait :-( she also said I have a fatty liver ,like you said Ann all to do with weight so I must try and lose some more ,I have lost over a stone since I had the trouble with the iron tablets which I don't take now ,I'm making sure I eat more greens and fish ,I never have been a meat lover and do eat veg,salads and all sorts of fruit and I've cut down on bread and potatoes.

We have been so lazy today just did a few jobs indoors and sat by the fan ,I did a few more poppies ,the count now is 48 ,I did get son to order me a new book of knitted dolls ,12 dolls to knit and over 50 assesories so that should keep be busy and give me a change from poppies .

I have been playing with the ponds today. I was determined to get the big one clear so I have had the air on nearly all day. I was ging to treat it with cloverleaf blanketweed stuff and thinking I had three tubs of it I opened the first one to get out what was in there and only two scoops so off I go to get a bucket of pond water to mix it in put the two scoops in and open the next bin only to find it is full of salt and then the next one was too so I only had the 2 to put in and I usually put in 10 scoops. I had to come in and go through all the adverts on Ebay to find the cheapest one and I ordered some so now I have to wait 2 or 3 days for delivery.

I have also had a scrape out the front again and am now going to go and sweep that up but came in for a glass of water.

I do have semi skimmed milk Vera and I had a big bowl of cornfakes at lunchtime and shall have a dinner tonight. I also have a nice lot of fruit now the shopping has been. I forgot raspberries but did get cherries,a pineapple, I took the pears and some lovely looking necterines all nicely red and I have two apples so I am going to mkae a huge fresh fruit salad to munch on whenever I wish. I'll let you know if it working after a couple of days and Vera you are very welcome to some fat off my tummy. I carry it all in the middle. I have skinny arms and legs so quite a throwback I think.

Right had my water and am going to corn the chickens and then sweep up the mess I have made right along the front of the bungalow.

I think this is definitely a cold not hay fever. Thanks Cynth.I usually used to get one cold a year until covid, then nothing for three years now two in five weeks. Not happy. Just hope it is milder than the last one.

I have a tickly cough and a bit sniffly. I was thinking it might be hay fever as the pollen count is very high, But Cynth has just told me she has had a cold which started Saturday. (she sneezed when we were at Norton garden centre and I asked her if she suffered with hay fever. She didn't tell me she had a cold. It is only a month since I got rid of the cold and cough I had on holiday.
24 degrees now and sometimes overcast. I did see in the forecast we were expecting 89% humidity.

Talking about weight. There is me who could do with losing at least half a stone, maybe more. And there is my sister who badly wants to put on half a stone. She is actually 3 stones lighter than me. and nearly 7 years younger.

Good morning

You were a very early bird today AnnG. I’m glad your leg isn’t too bad, at least during the day. Hopefully it’s now improving at night as well. I also got rid of a load of VHS tapes recently. Loads were recordings we made and they went to the tip but the commercial films have gone to the charity shop as they might get a customer who still has a working VHS player.

Mel, the clothes you have ordered sound ideal for your wedding. I hope they are a good fit when they arrive. I agree with AnnG about diet. Be careful to make sure you still get all the nutrients you need. I would change to skimmed milk but not cut down much (unless you drink gallons of it) as you need protein and calcium, but that’s a personal choice. If you want to get rid of excess weight perhaps you could send some this way, lol. I could do with a bit more. My arms are like matchsticks now and I’m going to need braces to keep my trousers up soon.

How can Lacey be 12 already? It was only yesterday she was a little girl and now she’s nearly a teenager. I hope she has a lovely day.

Enjoy your meeting with your friend Ann. I bet you’ll be talking away 19 to the dozen. When I met up with an old friend about 9 months ago we talked and laughed so much over the course of a day that I lost my voice for 2 days. OH thought he was in paradise, 2 days without anyone nagging at him.

I’m being called so I have to go. Might be back later in the day.

Nice to see you picking up your social life again Annx Have a lovely get together with your friend
My leg seems not too bad so far and it was not the leg that woke me up, I think it was the heat.

I have watered the plants on the patio as the pots there get very hot. The ones down the garden on the gravel I will do this evening.

The only thing I have to do today is to clear stuff out of the way for when my friend and her daughter come tomorrow. Daughter is going to disconnect the Wii and take it all off my hands. I had not realised how much stuff was connected to the thing.
When I turned out a drawer container that is inside the cupboard of the TV table I found about 10 videos. Old style VHS. They are now in the bin. Typically of course we do have a VHS player but not sure if it is working. It is upstairs connected to a spare TV. (actually this house is a bit like a historic branch of Curries.) I still have another small drawer containing VHS videos taken by us.

Morning All,

Sunny and 21 degrees already here. I slept better last night but took hours to drop off. OH was up at 6.00am to shower and smarten up as he has 3 meetings today and left early for the first to avoid traffic.

he did drop chocolate on the bed Mandy! lol. He managed to clean itoff with a wet cloth before he told me though. It wasn't the best of news with your scan then, but at least knowing about things often something can do something to prevent things getting worse. The gall stones won't have been helping and I think I read somewhere that people like me who are overweight may have fatty livers, which isn't good, but we don't usually know about it. It will be good to see what the doc says. OH has a similar phone chat booked with his doc following his scan. The result says satisfactory, but reading up what they suspected, it might be something that needs monitoring, but we'll see what his doc says.

You were awake early AnnG. That's a nice healthy breakfast you had too. How is the leg today?

I must dash and get ready to meet a friend at a garden centre now. we haven't seen each other since before the pandemic so there will be lots of chat. I was pleased when I looked online to see the cafe is air conditioned, but I'm dressing cool anyway and would rather be chilly than too hot. BBL.

O gosh Lacey twelve aalready.

Happy Birthday Lacey have a lovely day.

Its brightened a lot here now and its 18 degrees and pc says partly sunny.

Not done a thing yet but need to get the washing amchine on.

Morning all,

Gosh Anng you were about early it is hard to get back to sleep with the heat .
Alexa is saying its 19 degrees and should get to 26 so another hot day ,I got the fan in yesterday for the conservatory but I need to get the bigger one in for the front room it does help to keep Max cool as well as us .

I've stripped the bed and its all now spinning so I'll get them on the line ,they won't want long out there today .

Laceys birthday today she's 12 <3

Sun is shining here and pale blue sky 17 degrees now. Showered, hair washed Mail on line read now going to have breakfast. (yoghurt and raspberries.)

Morning all,

We've still got grey skies and its 16 degrees and not a breath of wind again.

I have five subs on my order today and most of them will be going back. They have sent the pears I can't touch with the rough skins, No Lamb and Colcannon mash to they sent swedish style meatballs and for the steak in ale they have sent sausage and mash, both I have never bought. I did order 2 of the lamb and see I have got one of them. Ham and mixed pepper pizza instead of the pepperoni one which I thought would be good for when BIL comes but I don't do peppers. I ordered Cherries and they have sent the cheap ones so I will look at those and may have them.

Don't know what else I shall do today apart from feed the chickens and clean the pond filters.

O I think it may be brightening up as I can see a faint blue inthe clouds.

very early morning here 0337 and 13 degrees, just dropped to 12. got up for the loo and couldn't get back to sleep so wandered in here. Nobody around of course so hope you are all sleeping well.

Mel don't cut down too drastically. cut down all carbs and eat fish, meat, veg, salad and fruit but some fruit is fattening. google for list of fruit that has carbs.