General Chat

Brr, what a difference. It is cold and cloudy today, I have even put the heating on. I think we were taken in by the lovely weather last week.

Esme is back from her residential trip, she seems to have enjoyed it and not caused them problems overnight

I took the opportunity to have a good sort out of the cupboards while she was away. I had lots of good quality clothes in storage from when I was much larger, so I bit the bigger and took nine large bin bags to the charity shop.

My daughter’s house move is going from bad to worse. The chain collapsed when their buyer lost their cash buyer. My daughters buyers now have a new first time buyer but they have offered less money My daughters buyers are now saying that they can’t buy the house unless my daughter reduces it by 20k. They have to decide what to do, if they accept that it means they won’t have the money they need to buy new furniture. If they put the house back on the market they will have wasted three months with this buyer. As apparently prices are falling, they may not get as much with a new buyer. It looks like they may end up losing the house up here which they are supposed to be buying. It is all such a mess.

I hope that you are feeling better Florence now the antibiotics have had time to work

Hello girls.
What a difference indeed Linda, it was sooo warm yesterday I had to take OFF my jumper, lol, today I have had to put ON a 2 woolies, it is that cold & rather windy,

I had planned for my grandaughter to come over today, she was going to slap some paint on the back of the shed, I can't get in the space myself but she can, lol, but because the wind is blowing directly at she shed we had to cancel.
I wasn't gong to bother about the back but it's about 2 years since grandaughter last did it so it needs doing, we left space originally to get at the back but I was much thinner back then, lol.

I am still waiting for my recent order of plants to be delivered, should be this coming week as I have had a message to say they are on the way.
Hope the weather warms up again so as to get them planted up.

Joan.

Linda, I bet you were relieved to hear that Esme had a lovely time on the trip, being away from home like that can be a bit "worrying".

That's such a shame about your daughters house move, it is a nightmare when there is a chain involved it seems to happen a lot now. 20K is an awful lot of money to lower the price by though. I do hope something gets sorted soon for them.

House prices are rising by us I was looking at a website and was really shocked at the prices of just a small 2bed terrace in the area. Rents have sky rocketed how young people manage I don't know.

Well we have sunshine but it is quite chilly still but washing will dry outside which is good.


Have a good weekend all.

Ginnie

Afternoon all
Well what a change in the weather! After a beautiful sunny & warm week, today the tempo has nosedived, the wind picked up and it is really chilly. So no outside for me today.
Glad I got all the bedding done mid week so washing fairly up straight.

Oh Linda, sorry to hear about the sale not going through but asking to drop £20k, thats a lot. Could your daughter negotiate say £10k? Its a loss but half what it would be.

Its a dilemma as if they wont take of £20k and lose the sale, they may have to wait ages for another byer and lose the other house in the meantime. I hope something works out for them soon.

Joan, yes its brr here, am thinking about putting the heating on but its been off for a week and so that has saved some pennies but I think we will manage without it, just put a cardigan on. Hope you get your plants soon as well and its ok to put them out.

I have ordered some small coloured double planters to hang over my dividing fence between my garden and next door. You get 4 for £24 in 4 different colours. Its will brighten up the little fence too. probably put lobelia or something similar in them.

JustGinnie, i don't know how young people can get onto the property ladder anywhere. They need at least £50K for a deposit and who can save that these days? Rents around here for a 2/3 bed house range from £500-900 depending if you live rural or town.

Well got me Tesco order earlier with lots of goodies so off to decide what's for tea tonight. Going to make some spicy chicken wings tomorrow with a red cabbage coleslaw and Tzatiki with naan bread. Something different. I bought various spices and sauces to make a marinade. Hopefully will turn out ok.

Im also going to attempt to make crumpets. I found the recipe used for the Warburtons ones online, cant wait to see if they work.

Hope everyone ok and well

Florence in the hebrides

I will be interested to hear how the crumpets turn out Florence, the girls like them but they are not good for my diet, 5 syns each ( slimming world) so I don’t have them.

I made a mince based curry and Bombay potatoes for dinner. The others had popadoms, but they have too much fat in for me. I usually make side dishes, but didn’t bother tonight. I still did home made Tzatziki , not a traditional curry accompaniment but they love it loaded with garlic.

The rain has passed here and it is much lighter, it was dark enough to need the lights on this afternoon. OH has managed to get out in the garden and finish off his last bit of bird proofing. The girls have a trampoline and Esme has a large triple frame with a disabled swing on it and a nest swing. We have a huge number of wood pigeons in the trees and the things sit on the top of the trampoline and swings and leave their calling cards, which is a real nuisance. OH put pigeon spikes round the top and it has stopped them thank goodness. He was just short if one length, so had to order some more to finish it off.

I made gluten free crumpets before one could buy them I don’t remember any complaints.
One does need rings, otherwise they spread out too much - would that make them like let’s?

I have a recipe for ordinary and GF and yes I have a range of ring sizes.

So I am gonna try the ordinary ones first!

They are loaded with carbs but i prefer them to toast for my breakfast or sometimes for tea with either peanut butter or marmalade or cheese spread and marmite mmmn

good morning all. booster vaccination for me this morning so nothing else planned.

As I was pre-diabetic (almost) with my last blood test, I am now, before my check up in October, going to try the diet that helps to keep daughters sugar level down. I won' do it as strictly as she does but will try. she is on a no carb diet and it does work. she has an arm patch and a meter on her phone that monitor the blood sugar level. Luckily she can afford to do this as although the first two patches are free, the subsequent ones cost her £100 a month!!

Anyway for me that means no bread, biscuits, cakes, potatoes rice, pasta and a host of other things. and a list of things I can eat if I cook them myself using almond or coconut flour. It sounds draconian and she is very good at sticking to it. Her main reason was to get herself off the drug that regulates blood sugar levels but caused her constant stomach problems for years. I don't have to be as draconian as she is (she is Type 2 and has been for 10 years now). just reduce my carbs as much as possible. I will see how it goes. First step will be to go in to town this week to buy Almond flour.

Well the chicken wings went down well, they were delicious. The coleslaw made with greek yoghurt and a dash of lime juice was so tasty, daughter said to make it again :-D

I did not make the crumpets today as was just too busy and think I will wait until i have finished the shop ones in the bread bin.

AnnG, I was borderline pre-diabetic last year so to keep it down, i made a few changes but nothing drastic. I switched to sweeteners instead of sugar, sugar free volvic flavoured water instead of fresh orange juice.

Reduced my intake of bread, pasta etc. I dont eat many cakes anyway.

if you cut out carbs altogether, you develop key tones which isn't healthy. We all need some sugar in one form or another otherwise we would have permanent hypos and that would be dangerous.

Everything in moderation i say.

What a horrid, cold wet & windy day today. Its like we have gone back to winter!

I started filling my albums with mums photos from her life after sorting roughly into years. Helpful nanna put dates on the back because bless my mum, she never wrote anything on any of them! I have 2 albums left to do and thats another job all done and dusted.

2 weeks tomorrow and my bestie from down south will be here so i am a tad excited as the last time she was here was in 2000!!!

Right dishes are calling me

Florence in the hebrides

Morning everyone
Well I'm feeling better but still chesty and to my surprise, got a delivery of more steroids yesterday. Apparently they had shortened my prescription as was out of stock so I have another 28 tablets. I'm glad as they do me the world of good so shall take 4 a day for 7 days and hopefully clear my cough once and for all.

Been quite busy in the house tidying and sorting out things ready for my friend coming. My new plant pots arrived and some ceramic rectangle kitchen dishes too which are lovely. Just right for individual crumbles or lasagne or for dips/chips etc

Just my cast iron casserole dish to come and then I can make my veggie hotpot, its actually a bit lighter than cast iron but looks like it.

We had some hail/snow yesterday but didn't come to much however the temp is down even with the sun out. The high temps we had last week have long gone.

The DWP have concluded their investigation into mums estate and no action to be taken as it would appear everything was in order, so that's a relief.

Hoping the estate Agent going round this Friday to value the flat.

Hoping everyone is well and ok.

off to sort some more laundry for the drier now.

Florence in the hebrides

Morning all.
Well I had a very sleepless and worrying night!

My daughter fully recovered from Covid decided to go and visit her elderly nanna who has become very frail so much so that the aunty has come home to look after her for a bit.
Yesterday afternoon, daughter went out for a walk. She took her insulin around 4.30 but then.....when she was having her food did she not take another 24 units by mistake so 48 units in less than 2 hours!!!

So, panic stations set in. She rang 111 and was in the queue for an hour. She then waited an hour for someone to phone her back. So that was 2 hours waiting in which time her sugars had dropped loads and had to keep eating and drinking to avoid a big Hypo.

The aunty is a qualified nurse thank goodness, so 111 decided she was best placed staying at the nannas house for the night with aunty/nurse checking her sugars all night every 1/2 hour.

I never slept a wink worrying whether she would end up in A & E. I checked her Whattsapp and she was last seen at 6.15 am and not heard a word from her. I guess shes probably sleeping if she was up all night.

When she has a Hyper(high sugars) its actually easier to control by givinng insulin to reduce the sugars but when its the other way around, its much harder toi get the sugars up to a stable level and probably will take a couple of days to get back to normal levels.

Just when I thought I would have a couple of days to myself, peace and quiet and then it all goes pear shaped...what next.

Hope all is well with everyone. The sun has made a comeback today..yayi :-D :-D

Florence in the hebrides

Hope your daughter has recovered Florence. Good that you are able to progress with the sale of the flat, hope it sells quickly for you.

A dry day here as well but still a bit chilly .

Not been doing much except the usual tidying up. OH has been pottering around the garden . The cherry tree has some beautiful blossom at the moment.
Hope everyone has a good day.

Ginnie

Just had a phone call, daughter is ok and sugard stable but she waiting to hear from the Diabetic nurse at the clinic to chat about tonight's doses. Phew!!!

I can now relax a little this afternoon.
I have ordered 2 small trellis and 2 planters for each side of the front door.

Cant decide what climbers to plant in them?

Anyone know of a good long flowering climber i could get? Something colourful.

I am glad that your daughter is OK Florence, hopefully you will both get a good nights sleep tonight.

I am going to look like a pin cushion by the end of the week. We keep getting invites from the doctors to take part in trials, I guess they get money for drumming up custom.

OH is currently doing a heart monitoring one. He has a little device he puts his fingers on and it takes a reading which is automatically sends. He has to do that four times a day for three weeks.When he finishes that, I will do it.

I signed up for a second NHS one called Our Future Health. Apparently they are trying to get data from five million people. I had to go to a nearby town where they had a mobile centre in a supermarket car park. They did, height ,weight, waist circumference, blood pressure and heart rate. They do a finger prick for cholesterol levels ( which was fine), then a blood sample. If anything is wrong, they tell you of course, so I am expecting to hear from them.

I had already arranged this when my doctors arranged an appointment for my annual, review which involves a blood test, so,I had that done in the other arm earlier this week. I always have low abnormal results for all the ones to do with white blood cells and platelets, but this time they are especially low, so the doctor wants to repeat the test. I will do that on Friday, so will have had three blood tests in a week.

I am hoping that it will be OK as all these low things are signs of infection such as lupus or bone cancer. Best not to read about it, as there are too many nasty things. I will just ignore it for the time being.

It is quiet in the house today as the girls are at school, but Esme has tomorrow and next Tuesday off because of the teachers strikes, so there will be no peace for me tomorrow

Linda, when my daughter was 6 she had an aggressive cancer and of course the Chemo destroyed her iron and platelets so she had to get regular infusions .On average you should have 350 platelets give or take but if they ever go as low as 20, you would need an infusion.
Is your iron level a bit on the low side as well?

My you will be like a pin cushion with all the tests!

Im sure your GP will do all the usual, FBC, LFT U's & Es etc standard practice if yours are below levels.

Im sure whatever is the cause can be resolved. If its your iron level, have a beetroot sandwich everyday and that will boost your levels very quickly without the need for iron tablets.

Well its been a beautiful day and quite warm. I managed out and about for 15 minutes and enjoyed the fresh air. I have just hung out 3 bits of washing and im sure it will be dry as there is a good breeze now.

Morning all, what a cold horrid day brrr.

Its so cold, i may have to put the heating back on and it hasn't been on for a week or more now. I think snow is forecast in the highlands as well. Hope you don't get it Joan!

Daughter all settled back into normal regime thank goodness so I did sleep better last night.
Father is off to Corfu no less with his friend tomorrow for 2 weeks. 86 and still loving going away, I do worry though about his driving!

So with mums photos all now sorted and stuck in 3 albums, today is all about restarting my besties family tree as I have been neglecting it recently and she will be here soon.

I have written out 4 A3 sheets this morning so just having a quick coffee break and then back to it. As I'm home alone, I can spend all day writing up without interruptions as daughter will be back tomorrow.

Hope all looking in are ok today.

Joan haven't seen you all week so hope everyone ok with you and hubby.

So quick read on the news and then back to research etc.

Florence in the hebrides

Good morning all. 12 degrees here so far (0730) but a bit misty/grey looking so maybe rain later,
Pleased that your daughter is ok now Florence. Goodness your dad is obviously still fit if he is happy to travel these days. Last holiday for me abroad was 2019. I am not sure if we would be still going abroad if OH was still alive, the airports are the problem these days. Maybe he can fly from a less busy airport. Good luck to him anyway.

AnnG, hes flying from Gatwick but this year, he decided to pay for a taxi there and back from his house and hang the cost! Both him and friend have sticks and will get special assistance with wheelchairs so will help them both.

2 years ago, he insisted on walking himself and promptly tripped on the escalator and a pile of people fell on top of him!!! He managed to recover and was only his pride that got hurt. He laughs about it now that wherever he goes, he seems to cause some trouble :-D :-D :-D

I shall be looking at the live webcam later to watch the plane land hopefully.

I slept for Scotland last night as only woke at 9am!!! So all behind now and need to carry on with writing up this tree before daughter back this afternoon.

Sun is peeping through the clouds but its chilly outside.9 degrees here

Right off to be busy

Will look in later on.
have a good day all

Florence in the hebrides

Afternoon all.
Lovely sunny day but chilly in the breeze. Got a load of washing out and drying nicely.
Dad arrived an hour late in Corfu but had a pleasant trip with no problems. he got his Nisan Micra delivered to him today for the next 13 days and has gone for a short drive out somewhere this afternoon.

My garden trellises arrived today with the 2 rectangular planters. They are 6ft x 1ft and are perfect. The planters were such good value and very sturdy, so have ordered 2 more but am going to plant beetroot in 1 and carrots in the other as they are deep enough.

Just not sure how to fix the trellis to the wall. I'm thinking of banging in a few nails and can then tie the trellis to the nails?

Joan, I haven't seen you around all week so hope you have either been busy in the garden or elsewhere. Hope your hubby is doing ok?

I have made chicken tikka for tea with rice tonight and cant wait for that as smells delicious.

Well off to be busy and check on the washing as should be nearly dry.
Hope all ok with everyone else looking in today

Florence in the hebrides

Florence you really need to drill a hole and use a rawl plug to put a nail or screw into the wall otherwise it might just crack the brick and fall out. Unless you are puttingg them onto wood when you could use a screw.