General Chat

Good afternoon to all looking in.

Overcast day here but dry and just as well as it was recycling bins and organic bins today. Thankfully the wind has abated too.

Well I set to task making the bunting and found some extra thick A3 card. So I traced round the triangular template and cut out several. Found some birthday wrapping paper and covered a few until I ran out. But I had lovely sheets I use for crafting and they were perfect for covering both sides. Hole punched them and strung together with bright ribbon.

Next task I created an A4 picture with balloons etc and some text. Printed that out and laminated.

I 've put up all the things on the kitchen wall already as she's not here, so one less job to do later on.

Apart from that, did some laundry and tidied up so now sitting with a coffee for a break.

I had no internet at 8am and its no long come back. I switched off the router box and scanned the PC but was still off and then suddenly PC came back to life. Had to go on 4G on my phone although I have 13GB to use up so didnt matter.

Hope you are getting on well Linda with all your decluttering.

Joan, hope all is well with you too.

have a good day all

Florence in the hebride

I am shattered with my decluttering Florence. We started at nine and have on,y just stopped, so I have given up for today.
I finished off Eve’s bedroom, then we started on the study. All the furniture has been pulled away from the walls, it is amazing how many cobwebs were behind them. We have been absolutely ruthless and got rid of most of the books and all manner of other stuff which is now all packed up ready to go to the charity shop.
We then moved to our bedroom and again cleaned behind all of the furniture. We have fitted wardrobes across one wall and they were full. Have moved all the coats, dresses and skirts back into the wardrobes in Eve’s bedroom which is where I used to keep them before they moved in. That means I have much more room for all my trousers and tops. There is a bank of shelves inside the wardrobe, so I sorted those out as well
Tomorrow I will start by giving the bathroom and shower room a deep clean. After that I can move downstairs and do the whole of the ground floor :-(

Oh my Linda....goodness you have been busy. You need to have regular breaks though and remember to eat & drink too!

When I recently had new carpets fitted throughout we had to shift all the furniture from room to room, so each room got a spring clean which means not another one til Spring next year lol

It has turned out to be a lovley Autumn day with plenty sunshine. Not hot but very comfortable for being outside but.....with no wind the midges are lurking. I went out for 5 minutes and felt them around my eyes so hastily trotted back indoors.

Yesterday I made an old favourite for tea. Cheese and potato pie with grated carrots and finely chopped onion. Delicious. My fav bit is when the grated cheese on top goes crispy in the oven. Well there was a little left so having it with a fillet of fish dusted in lemon and black pepper and baked beans.

Daughter tel just now to tell me, she got up on a chair to clean a cupboard and promptly banged her head but shes ok because she was able to phone me! She said, "don't think I have concussion because i'm using me mobile....what is she like :-D :-D

Knitting infront of the TV tonight watching me soaps.

Goodness me Linda you should sleep well after all that cleaning. It's amazing how much dust gets behind furniture.

Well I have done very little today as have been waiting for GP to phone me . Was not expecting a call and out of the blue had a text saying he wanted to speak to me about bp reading. It turned out he wanted to tell me the same as the other Dr had told me in a text about 2 weeks ago , No changes needed. Why both needed to tell me who knows.

Hope your daughter has a lovely birthday Florence.

Ginnie

Ticking boxes JG!

I envy you your easy day Ginnie. I just realised that I am having my hair cut tomorrow morning, so that us a thirty minute drive away, so I will get some time if as well.

We are having our flu jabs on Saturday morning at the local auction mart. It actually works really well. You drive in, roll down your car window and they stick a needle in your arm and you drive off, all without getting out of the car It is much better than having to go to the surgery where there is no parking.
Having said that we got a text today to arrange for our Covid jabs. They will be in October, at the surgery, but we will walk there and laugh at the silly people vying for the half dozen parking spaces.

Good evening, I hope everyone has had a good day.

I have had an easier day today. I pottered in the morning, then went to get my hair cut. After lunch, I did a really deep clean of the bathroom and shower room, I was finished by mid afternoon, so took it easy after that. The shower in the en-suite is raised slightly, you step up into it. That means that OH can get to the pipe work underneath.He took the trap off and extracted a huge amount of hair, all from my daughter and Eve, how they aren’t bald, I don’t know. It does have a hair trap on the drain and I clean that out every week, but obviously lots gets past that. He last did it six months ago, when it was draining very slowly. He extracted a huge hairball then, it looked like a dead rat :-0

Good morning all!

Well ,what a night that was. Oh my the wind got up to about 70mph and kept me awake all night. Banging and crashing outside.

So when I opened the curtains a wee while ago, i could see plant pots strewn across the garden, some of my neighbours. A tarpaulin lodged under others neighbours front wheel. The wheel trim I was going to tie to the fence has vamooshed but cant see it anywhere.

I braved the elements of the wind to go outside and retrieve some small pots and was nearly blown away. At the back door my beech tree was upside down but ok.

When this gale goes down tomorrow and daughter is home at the weekend, we shall gather all the small pots with plants that are nearly finished and move then to the shelter for the winter.

The ones with bedding plants that are also nearly finished will get emptied and then I can store the pots for next year,

Honestly, it said around 45mph last night so was taken by surprise when it whipped up a lot stronger.

So after hardly any sleep, i am tired today so not much housework for me.
No ferries either and I have a Tesco delivery on Saturday!!

Oh well better get used to the gales again.

Hope everyone else looking in is safe and ok

Florence in the hebrides

That sounds to have been a bad night Florence. It is noticeably cooler at night here. I took my thin summer duvet off the bed and put the heavier one on last night. It has been a glorious sunny day here and my outdoor tomatoes are finally ripening

This morning I reorganised the two freezers and I made four different types of soup, so the freezers are full again. I went to Tesco and managed to spend lots again. I thought it would be much cheaper now they have gone, but I have done two large shops this week.

This afternoon, I gave the lounge a deep clean. I just need to clean behind the grandfather clock, but as OH was out with his ramblers, I had to leave that. I thought it might tip over if I tried to move it myself.

Nasty night for you Florence I hope tonight is better for you.

We spent yesterday afternoon tidying the garden and cutting back some overgrown shrubs and dead heading the roses . The squirrels have been burying acorns from a neighbours tree in our garden by the back fence, they run up and down so quickly and across the sheds and tops of fences .

Been for our flu jabs today next one is the covid one when the Drs get the supplies in. OH managed to get his blood test done as well. He only asked for an appointment and the nurse said I'll do it now . So another thing crossed off the to do list.

Jacket potatoes for tea tonight with some salad and Oh will have chicken as well .

Linda I admire your stamina in doing all that cleaning in a short time .

I hope Joan and AnnG are both ok .

Ginnie

We are having our flu jabs in the morning, then will go to our daughters new house in the afternoon, taking a massive pile of stuff with us.

Today has been kitchen day. I have emptied and cleaned every single cupboard and drawer and again turfed a load of stuff out. OH took out all the bottom drawers, so we could clean underneath them as they hadn’t been done for two years. It has been hard work, but worth it. I am just having a rest and a coffee, then I will go and wash down the outside of all the units.

So that leaves, all the paintwork and doors in the hall and landing, the utility room, the downstairs loo, under stair’s cupboard and the dining room. Then the whole house will have been done.

I have another ton of stuff to take to the charity shop,but that can wait until next week. OH needs to have a good go at the garage as well, now that he can get in it. :-)

Afternoon everyone looking in.

Its a lovely sunny, Autumnal day here but perfect to work outside with no midges!

We emptied all the small flower pots as the lobelia as died off now. Transplanted a rose that doesnt have any more buds on it and emptied the wooden planters outside the door as well. So a good mornings work and although the garden looks a bit void of colour now, it looks tidier.

At least if we get another gale, courtesy of Hurricane Lee, the pots left are big and quite heavy so wont move anywhere.

Im waiting on Tesco coming in a bit so have made a pan of lentil & veg soup for tea today as tomorrow with it being daughters birthday, I shall be making a buffet but we can use up the rest of the soup too. Just felt like a soup day today.

Linda, oh my goodness. You will explode I think if you don't slow down a little. However you certainly have spring cleaned nearly the whole house and there is nothing more satisfying than doing that, so well done you.

How are they getting on in the new house with all the unpacking etc?


What has everyone else been up to today?

Florence in the hebrides

Hi all. You ask what I have been up to. Well I did the second lot of holiday washing and drying. Then we went to the local garden centre. Daughter and SiL are here until tomorrow they wanted some plants. I got some compost while I had someone to carry it. Then we had a huge job. My large freezer had not been defrosted for five or six years properly so we spent three hours doing that. All the drawers were in the Bath covered up and stayed absolutely frozen solid. It was sparkling clean when we finished and is slowly coming up to temperature. I am so pleased that we have done that now.

Linda I hope the family are settled in the new house now. Sounds like you need a holiday after all that cleaning.

Eve all.
AnnG, you have been busy too but a good job done defrosting the freezer.

At 5pm, it felt quite chilly so......I put the heating on as it was only 11 degrees. It hasn't been on since Mar/Apr and I needed to make sure it is functioning ok after being off for months.

But within 1/2 hour, I could feel the carpet getting warm so I am pleased all is working fine. I switched each room off at 7.30 and they are still warm.

Tesco came and everything was there today with no subs, so very happy with that.

Watching strictly and the Casualty so that's sat eve tv sorted.

Florence in the hebrides

Defrosting a freezer with huge chunks of ice on it brings back memories Ann, it is very satisfying when you break off a huge thick section of ice. I don’t have a freezer in the kitchen, just a fridge, but a door from the kitchen opens into the double garage. I used to have a chest freezer, but I got rid of that a long time ago. I have a tall drawer freezer and a second tall one which is half fridge and half freezer. They are just through the door into the garage, so very handy. They are both the frost free type, so no defrosting needed.

I had a busy day yesterday. We had our flu jabs in the morning, then came back and I washed down all the paintwork on the landing and in the hall, eleven doors in all. I also did some of the utility room. We then went off to our daughters. It is absolute mayhem there, an unbelievable number of boxes everywhere. SIL was putting a door camera on the front door, it took him all afternoon to do that and set it up. I brought him the hoover and shamed him into clearing up all the mess he had made.

My daughter was hoovering out the boarded loft, so OH helped her to put up a huge number of IT boxes, just boxes full of IT bits and pieces which will never see the light if day again. They also got all the empty suitcases up there as well.
I played with Esme to keep her occupied and managed to unpack some more boxes of her toys.There is not much more I can do in the playroom until they buy some storage.

They have a very large galleried landing, but you could hardly get on it for cardboard boxes and polystyrene.from the beds and new all singing and dancing sitting/ standing desk SIL had bought for himself. So we set about flattening all that and lots of boxes from downstairs. We filled our car and my daughters car, so she can go to the tip this morning.

My daughter was trying to build a bed and bedside cabinets for the spare bedroom. No divan types for her, everything is flat packed and had to be assembled :-( So we built that, it is very nice, but the divan type is so much easier.

I was glad to get home to a clean tidy house :-D

It was very cold last night, I think I will be soon joining you Florence in putting the heating on.

I am having a lazy morning, OH has gone off to the tip with all the cardboard. I am going to sort out the cupboards in the utility room which won’t take long. I will then clean the downstairs toilet, not much to do in there apart from take down the wooden Venetian blind and give that a good clean. That will do for today, I am counting it as a day off :-D

Oh no, my daughter has just send a photo of a positive Covid test. She said that she didn’t feel very well last night and is much worse this morning. I felt really Ill last night, shaking with cold, but put it down to my flu jab. I have a horrible headache this morning, so had better do a test as well. I did one sometime last week because I didn’t feel well, but it was negative.My next door neighbour who I see often got Covid about ten days ago, so we were expecting it. Eve had spent a whole afternoon with her doing craft work when she was at her most infectious, but she is fine so far

Fingers crossed it is just the flu jab and exhaustion from all the work you’ve been doing.

How on earth is the SIL going to cope, after all, he must be worn out after putting up the door camera ;-)

I did a Covid test and it was negative, somI took some paracetamol for my headache and finished the utility room :-) I am the sort of person who doesn’t give in to illnesses, I just get on with things until I can’t.
My daughter works in London once a fortnight and she was there the day before they moved, so with a long train journey and an office full of people, she had plenty of exposure. I hope the girls don’t catch it, but they probably will :-(

Afternoon everyone.

Oh gosh Linda, I hope you don't get Covid. But probably with all the cleaning and moving you have been doing, you are probably a bit run down and now need a rest. Hope the paracetamol eases your headache and just rest now.

Cant imagine if your Sil gets it lol Oh my it will be the end of the world no doubt. But I hope the girls manage to escape it, such a worry.

Well I am now sitting as been up since before 9am and in the kitchen cooking, baking and prepping food.

Cake all made and decorated and now in my bedroom out of site until later. All other food in dishes, fridge or on the table. Just the spiced wedges to do about 5pm. I made cupcakes as well and a summer fruit strudel which looks delicious.

I sliced up a cooked chicken, made a bowl of salad, dish of indian snacks, 2 dips, prawns, tuna vol u vents plus popcorn and sweetie snacks.

The table is so full, you would think I'm feeding a dozen people not just 2 lol. But there will be leftovers for tomorrow as well.

Daughter had a headache so went for a lay down and is currently sleeping. Quite good in a way as I got on far better without her wanting to see everything!

Anyone watch the double episode of Casualty last night? Oh my, left me in tears as was a very emotional episode. Wont spoil it incase some haven't seen it yet.

Joan if you are looking in, hope all ok with you and hubby.

I have an upright fridge freezer and thankfully never needs defrosting but back in the day, I had a spray which helped to speed up the defrosting process as took an age to do.

Well, coffee time now :-D

Florence in the hebrides

Hello to everyone looking in.
Goodness me so many of you have been so busy recently, especially you Linda, your house must look lovely after all the cleaning & de-cluttering, & then all that help you have given to your daughter during her move, time to take a back seat now & put your feet up for a wee while at least.

It been quiet here for most of last week, the guttering etc is finished & the problem we found re some slipped slates has been sorted, man has to come back to finish off one of the down pipes (was short of a turning piece for the bottom) & that will be it completed.
It all looks very smart, just have to pay the bill for it now !

Our eldest son came over yesterday with his lady friend, he lit a small bonfire within an old metal drum that we turned into an incinerator, so handy, we burnt some bits & pieces, small branches & bits of old wood from a broken gate & seat & a couple of bags of his own rubbish that he brought with him, LOL.

Not done much in the main garden this week, the borders are quite tidy, & still lots of the plants are still in flower so not touching them just yet.
However the leaves are starting to fall from the trees, & I have swept up quite a few in the past few days.

Well that's it for this time, need to get the pots washed etc, not a favourite job !

Bye for now.

Joan.