Mmmmm!!

Having had such a lovely day Sunday, I came down to earth with a bump yesterday. Why this happens I have no idea. Its the part of the 'Black Dog' I really hate, its a bit like riding a roller coaster, good days your up positive motivated, bad days your down can't get going etc. What I do know is when I am doing this I am getting better, its a process I have to go through. But it does makes you see how bad you are on some days!!!!

Anyway it got me thinking, remember I helped 'Gramps' out last week, well his daughter returned from the States and arrived on my doorstep loaded with 'cheap' biscuits & chocolate over the weekend. I returned all her keys, as she does not like me having any and the way she spoke to me confirmed my suspicions that she doesn't like me!! (feelings mutual, she is very arrogant) Do you know she has still not said the words, 'thank you'!!!!! Sad really when living as isolated as we are that 2 words are so difficult to say!!!

I did have a reasonably busy social week booked this week. My friend L was coming over for lunch yesterday, we have a great friendship I have known her since Tori was at primary school. Her husband has 'OCD' Obssesive Compulsive Disorder. She is the lady responsible for getting me into genealogy. She often has to break are engagements but we have this understanding. Anyway sadly she called it off as she has a dreadful ear infection. So I hope she recovers soon.

Then last night H rang, I was due to have M her daughter for 1/2 hour today and a couple tomorrow so she could do some beautician work, but the poor little mite has chickenpox!!!!

It is currently dry but the wind is bitter, I may stick my nose out and see if I could do any work outside, but I think it is going to be a bit chilly!!

The house is really cold, with the wind being from the north. The cottage was built about 1860ish and the eve's are our weak point when it comes to insulation. Once not too long after we moved in the pipes all froze in the attic room because they where totally open to the wind, we have since poured insullated under the floor boards to protect the pipes but the wind still comes in so when I was changing up there this morning, the floor is like walking on ice!! So I am quite worried! I should really light the front fire as that helps but we are so low on coal! We had been trying to 'eek' it out. I can't believe how much coal we have gone through this year, we where trying to work out what we had done differently, I don't think we have, theres been alot wind and that always affects us!!

Blow it I will have to light up at the front, I am frozen to the computer chair!!!!!!!!

Storms, Seedlings & Socks!!!

I was woken by thunder and lightning this morning!! The wind and the rain have been awful too!!! As you know wednesday is cleaning out chickens day!!! Well not today, sorry its too wet! So I went down and put arm bands on them to make sure they floated just incase it got any worse!!
Then dashed straight back inside!!

Just look at the sky...



This was at 07.00 this morning! and this was the next lot coming over...



and it has been like that all morning!! Now I was supposed to be preparing the new chicken run area this week, ready for the move at the weekend, but it is just so wet! I have some large shrubs that need to be moved before it gets too warm but that will have to wait because its a quagmire out there, or will be if I start digging!!

Everything in the propagator is coming along nicely, from there they get moved to the windowsill, where I wrap some cardboard in foil which helps reflect the light and stops the seedlings leaning so much...




These 2 photos, where taken at 07.30 this morning without the flash which is why they are quite dark!! But you can see nothing is straining for the light! I have Tomatoes Gardeners Delight, Black Cherry and Roma Plum, also Peppers, Chillies and some Basil.
Upstairs I have this lot (this was taken about mid-day)



the ginger for the Pip Challenge



the Dates..



and something called a Sensitive plant which looks like this



but after you've touched it does this..



they are still tiny yet. Tori grew some a couple of years back and it grew quite large, then she killed it by forgetting to water it!!!!

I'm getting 'stir crazy' being in all the time! I don't know how you people in Canada & USA cope with all that snow and being stuck in? Theres only so much housework you can do, but lets be honest who wants to do housework? Not me!!

I am knitting something for my little nieces birthday in April! I need to find something else to knit, but haven't been inspired yet! Someone suggested I knit socks?? Mmm! Not sure about that! I think I would be very upset if they got holes in, cos my lot are quite hard on socks!!

More rain and my bargain!

Rain, rain, rain, rain!!!!!



this is the water running from the roof onto my flat roof, and the next one is the huge puddle at the end of the flat roof being battered by rain...



so as you gathered I have not done alot, except boring housework and ironing. But I thought you might like to see the bargain I got yesterday...



3 packets where Free and should have cost £5.37
the other 11 packets should have cost me £17.26 so the grand total would have been £22.63!!!
I paid £8.63!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Not often I'm in the right place at the right time!!! But when you are doesn't it make you smile!!!
Now you will notice that there are alot of flower seeds in this lot, well once upon a time before I had chickens my flower garden used to be gorgeous. When I had a look at Ruths garden photo album and saw the beautiful flowers and mix of colours, cannas etc. etc I thought I want some of that as well! So little does she know I'm moving in next door to her................. no not really, but it would be so nice to have a like minded person living abit closer!! So watch out Ruth you could very well be bonbarded by e-mails!!!!!!

Other peoples blogs!!

Just a short post for now! Will post more later!

I woke early so decided to upload my photo for the photo a day!! Then went off trolling round other peoples blogs............. whilst there I always have a look at their favourite blogs! It usually gives you an idea of the type of person they are! My goodness there are some odd people out there..... I'm glad I'm not alone!!!!!!

2nd Post Today!!!

Do you remember the days when the postman delivered twice???? Such a long time ago! My postie never gets to me till gone 14.00hrs, so maybe I don't have a first post!!!!
Anyway this is nothing to do with what I'm about to write

Tori and I have been out playing!!! I took her to the hairdressers, so she could see where she was going when she goes back to school next week! While she was there I went round the shops!! Look what I got!!



2 trays of dates for 50p,1 hand of ginger 79p both from a specialist veg shop! Some Lavender Joss Sticks £1. 2 x 100g balls of cotton £2!
Well we all know what I am going to do with the ginger! The dates Mark has to eat (I don't eat them!!!) The joss sticks have already been tested and are my favourite! Now the cotton, I couldn't leave it on the shelf, could I, well not at that price!! So what shall I do with it, I suppose I could make some dish cloths, they would be bio-degradable, wouldn't they? Let me know if you have any other ideas!
I tried to get 100% wool so I could have a go at felting, they had some but I didn't like the colours, (fussy)so will have a look elsewhere!!

Then we went out on a photo trip, to one of the most picturesque villages in Wiltshire! But I can't tell you cos that would spoil the surprise on the Daily photo! But there are a couple to that are seasonal and would look odd in February!!!

This was in a court yard,isn't it lovely!



I saw something similar to this on another blog, but they had wreaths on the windows of a log cabin. This is definately different for round here, very in keeping I think!!



That last photo may have given it away, but look who I got in this one..



He! He!

We went on and did an 'Orange Wednesday'! If you are on the Orange Mobile network you phone the number 241 from your mobile phone, you then recieve a text back which has a number on it. Then you go to a particpating cinema where you can go and watch a film at '2 for the price of 1'. This is only available on a Wednesday though! Tori wanted to see 'Eragon' a story about dragons and dragon riders!! Very enjoyable!

Lots done, but unfortunately I can't tell you what!!!!

I have been so busy today and I have had alot of fun doing it. Unfortunately theres a certain someone who reads my blog that will be the recipient of what I've made and I am determined to keep it a secret!!!! So I will have to do something else, won't I.

I am currently knitting, but I can't tell you that either!!!! Also I am doing a cross stitch %$%***** which is also for Christmas.

Bah humbug!! this is really hard, so much going on but I can't tell you any of it!!

Shopping, Slimming and Thanks!

Well a successful day so far, went to Swindon to get myself some trousers, well jogging bottoms actually! I kept losing my trousers on my 2 mile walk to the garage yesterday and it was really annoying! I decided on jogging bottom because they have elastic in and should last a bit longer!

This was me before I lost weight, at my sisters wedding 2005! I think I may have put on some more after this photo.......

but look at this (to do this I worked out how to use the timer on the camera, cool hey!)

I think you may notice a slight difference LOL!!!!!!!

Anyway now I can fit up here now......

its only small but boy do we pack stuff in, in our loft!! I had to go up to get decorations for Kathryn, I have boxes of them, I'm always changing the colours so I got the lilac, purple and silver down for her plus a couple of sets of lights! All she will need to get is a tree, she has a Homebase nearby and a new boyfriend who I hope will be kind enough to carry it for her!!!!!!!

Now a BIG Thank you to Mrs Nesbitt who has saved the day and made me a very happy person! If you recall I was not happy with the hamper I had done for my mum and partner Bruce! So I did as suggested by Mrs Nesbitt now lets see if you all think it is an improvement!!

So from this.....................

to this..................

I think its a great improvement!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A Round about trip and two iced cakes!!!

A fair bit of driving today. As you know I'm going to my mum's this weekend, well the washer on the Peugout had stopped working, so I booked it in for today, Wednesday as Mark is usually off ! But no not today, Mark is Corperate Project Manager for a well known Building Society and his project is due to go live (what ever that means!) on Friday. So he has been working all hours, came home last night to get the car to the garage, cos we knew we couldn't get it there this morning, then went back into work again!!!
So this morning I was up at 5.30am getting ready to take him to work, now I know he has a bike and yes he could have used it, cos it wasn't frosty or anything! The problem is the getting ready, putting all the clobber on, getting to work, taking it off and doing the same again when he came home. He needs every minute of every day at the moment and I would have worried about him concentrating whilst riding, so I decided I would drive.
So woke Tori at 6.30 left for Swindon, back by 7.30. Left for Chippenham at 8.00 to take Tori to school! Left there about 8.20 and drove to Melksham again!
I was in Melksham yesterday and its not a place I visit alot. They have a certain Building Society Branch there and its the only one around the area except for in Swindon so this is where I put my Christmas money each month! I can't borrow!!!! it, because it is so out of the way, I have to plan a visit. Anyway when I was there I always troll around the shops and see whats new etc. thats when I saw this DVD (can't say which one) on very special offer, it is one of my most favourites and I only have it on video, I nearly bought it, but decided to be good and wait!!!!!! I spoke to Kathryn yesterday and she was trying to think of something she could get her Nana any way to cut a long story short we decided that this DVD would be ideal, so after school yesterday Tori and I went to the Chippenham shop but of course they didn't have it hence the visit to Melksham again! So this very reasonable present is turning out to cost alot of travel miles!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
From Melksham, I had to go to Calne to collect a prescription before finally making it home by about 11.00!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I so rarely go into Calne since they introduced a traffic calming system that involves me (because I live on the south side) using the by-pass and driving an extra 3 miles to get to the Free Parking (thats just one way!!) I can easily park on the south side but I have to pay 50p for 4 hours and I only want to pick up a prescription!!!

Later I have to walk to collect the car, then collect Tori, or could be the other way round! Then later still collect Mark from Swindon!!! Can't keep a good woman down Hey!!!!

So since I have been back, I have tidied up a tiny little bit, hung the washing on the airers, cleaned out the chickens and given them some greens

and iced 2 cakes!

Simple but effective I think!!!!

So what now, I did a thought about going to a card making workshop, but I have had a very serious talk to myself about that becasue it would mean more clutter and I honestly have no where left to store anything!!!!!!

Oh by the way my next new project ingredients have turned up, I can't say what they are because a certain person reads this blog and it needs to be kept a secret!!!! But I will start next week!!!

Busy, but nothing gets done!!!!

I seem to have been really busy the last 2 days but nothing seems to have got done!!!! Apart from boring house work, blah! I had a go at drying apples in the bottom oven but I don't think they came out right, so I chucked them, I will have to ask Lottie... should they come out lightly browned, slightly leathery on the outside but soft in the middle????????????????????? Then what would I do with them????
But today well I have to get organised because I am going to have a go at making my own soap!!! I have had to buy one or ten things! Its all those ladies on the Potting shed forums fault, they made me buy ' the handmade soap book' by melinda coss. Which I picked up on ebay! My goodness does it have some beautiful ideas aaahhhh! So if you know me, guess what your getting for Christmas, haha joking!
Also in the post I recieved my wool from the yarnyard, which I am really thrilled about the colours are gorgeous, so I need to get started on that as well.
I have been faffing around the rest of the day, so now I need to shift up a gear cos I still have to put the chickens to bed, switch on the heater in the greenhouse, iron some shirts for Mark, cook tea for Tori as she has yoga at 7.30pm, cook tea for Mark when he gets in, take a parcel to my neighbour that was delivered here, do rayburn plus all the other bits I haven't done!!!!!!!!

Not alot happening at the Mo!

I have sweetcorn to harvest, I have at least 4 large marrows which I need to decide what to do with.... more chutney or ?????????? but its chucking it down and I'm pooped!
To be honest I have been driving round the county getting Mark to hospital and also visiting him, collecting or taking Tori to school, getting the other car to the garageetc etc. Anyway he is fine and home now but very tired, the next step is ... he needs a lung scan and has to wear a heart moniter for 24 hours. I think the scary thing is Mark gave up smoking in 1976 just after his father died of lung cancer and the specialist who put the camera said to him ' you used to smoke' now that is 30 years ago and he did not smoke for long yet it has obviously left it's mark!

Busy Day!

Thursday 21st September
Did a batch cook of Vegetable lasgagne, Butternut Squash and Sweet Potato Soup and Quorn Curry for Kathryn, ready to freeze and take up on Sunday! My back is killing me, standing in one position does me no favours!!! Went to the Eglu got 2 eggs, I have an awful feeling that the chucks have Red spider mite. So providing my back is better tomorrow I shall dismantle the eglu cart it up to the patio, jetwash it, cart it back down again, put it back together! Then when the chucks have put themselves to bed I shall shut them in and cover them in Red Spider Mite powder and hope it works.
Also doing battle (again) with Tori's school- it appears they may not have informed us of the closing dates for her Science GCSE re-takes!!!! My goodness will they be in for trouble if they have!!! She has set her heart on achieving A -A* which she is well capable of, but because of the problems she had last year she will need to do re-takes.............. to be continued.

I found it at the bottom off my daughters bag buried in her bedroom. So I took a pic. My daughter sold her car today, because she is off to uni in 2 weeks and can't take it with her, she is very sad.

Missing digital camera?

I've been busy down the garden building the new chicken run, chopped down a few things and lobbed them into where the chucks are currently, they where so funny, mountaineering chickens, so dived inside to get the camera and its ............ gone.......... disappeared into thin air...... I have hunted high and low. The girls say I was definately the last person to use it mmmm I wonder????? I'm off to hunt some more!!!!

28th August 2006

I lit my Rayburn today, no I haven't gone totally bonkers, just the chimney sweep is coming tomorrow and it helps dry out the chimney.
Then went out into the garden where I am having to create a chicken run because the chucks are decimating the flower beds. At one stage it looked like we may have to move the greenhouse but whilst we sat down drinking tea in the afternoon, my wonderful hubby came up with a super dooper solution and saved the day, so major hedge trimming began.... this will be finished (hopefully) next weekend.

I have just seen a trailer for 'Who do you think you are?' on BBC. OOOOoooo I love that programme..... can't wait!!!!