A new 'tougher' thread... and so it continues

Kittikins

Coming out of lurkdom to say to SDG31000 that I don't think you can combine the vouchers at MrT's, I got a £4 off £30 spend this morning and it says that it can't be used with the Helping Hand ones. Hth

GreyQueen

Penny-Pincher!! wrote: »

Can anyone help me? I have a hand knitted wool throw and want to wash it. Its quite heavy. How do I wash (what cycle?) and how do I dry it?

Thanks

PP
xx

Hi PP, nice work with the milk, btw; most excellent thrifting.

I'd be very wary about washing a woollen item in a machine. Can you tell us a bit more about it (size, thickness, does it have any laundring instructions) so that I/ we can give some sensible advice?

Bucketting down with thunder here at the moment. It's been raining for days, but the heaviest downpours today have co-incided with my time undercover, so I've avoided a soaking. Took my pushbike into the repair place for a new rear tyre and tube and collected it after w*rk. £20 altogether and as the tyre alone was £12.99 I consider that very reasonable. It's a wee sidestreet place, a son and his old dad. I always use places like that for my cycle requirements. My last repair man was an almost identical setup elsewhere in the city, but he went and emigrated to live the Good Life in the south of France.:p

Bet it's not raining there! Anyroad, he cautioned me that my rear wheel will need a new rim next time. It got badly buckled several years ago when I crashed into a mahoosive pot hole on one of the main roads in the city (an A road ) and I had to have the wheel beaten back into shape. My then-bikeman told me that if it'd been a racer rather than a sturdy ole bike with a 3-speed it would have been a new wheel job then.

Cost me £10 to get my wheel walloped back into shape a decade ago, and I did try to get the Council to compensate me for that but got nowhere despite having a receipt. Bu88ers. Then my front lamp fell off and smashed (think the holder was jarred loose by the crash) and now it's looking like £45 for a rebuild. New rim and spokes, he says the hub is fine and a whole new wheel would be £85.

Back when I had a cr*ppy old car, I used to get a completely unexpected bill for £80 most months, now it seems like a humungous amount. Still, can't whinge too much as mostly go from one year's end to another without spending a penny on the bike. I like having a shabby old one as it's less likely to be nicked.

Came home to find a Police Incident happening. Cars on both sides of the block and the Plod in pairs hunting up and down on all the floors. Did some earwigging as I passed them: "Two white males.......Shoebox Towers........It's a maze down here......." Didn't see them cart anyone away but summat was going on. Hope it's not another blessed mugging or holding-up another convenience store at knifepoint. Honestly, you'd think this was Lunnon Town some days, not a dozy little city-let in the sticks.

Hope everyone has a warm room and a full belly tonight; I'm :D:D as I have CHOCOLATE. :D

Laters, GQ x

ETA VJsMum, your friend who brought up a child on her own from 1 week old is a much more impressive example of womanhood than me. Travelling alone as a woman is something a lot of us fear, unnecessarily, IMO. It also gets easier with every passing decade as older women can get away with a helluva lot more than a youngster in her teens or twenties. I know women in their 60s and 70s who'll hike all day, have a shower and a drink, go en masse to a restaurant (and cheek the waiter-lads to make them blush) before drinking, singing and dancing half the night and then getting up to do it all again. And they have the BEST stories. I'm hoping to be mad, bad and dangerous to know when I'm a senior. Better start praticising already. I've got the dirty laugh down pat, just need some more silver hair and laugh lines and I'm good to go.

shegar

Hi... Ive been hiding the last few days, well im trying to do what im supposed to do and thats rest but I find it very hard to sit still.........Ive still got this terrible cough which is so deep that I cant stop wetting myself...:eek::eek:....not a happy bunny...:o......Well we really have had some rain the past day or two so im just as well to get as much rest as possible cos when the sun do shine there will be so much to do outside.............

On the point of getting the washing dry , ive got washing line under cover , well its a porch about 10 foot by 10 foot so I put it out whatever the weather it get plenty of fresh air and dries pretty quick, and plus never gets rained on:D.......I can hang duvets etc in there as well..........

Where as the spring gone already?..We are soon into May.....Ive got 1 blue tit nesting, 2 seperate wrens nesting, 1 great tit, and 1 robins nest in the garden , so its nice to sit and watch all the comings and goings to the feeders, also got loads of greenfinch about.........Plus 3 beautiful goldfinches feeding loads of times a day............My pond is full of newts and frogs so im very happy with the wildlife here............

Hope you are all okay and not struggling too much , as today they say that we are now in a double dip reccession, I think weve been in it for the past 4 yrs.......................take care ...

SDG31000

*burps in a ladylike way* Pardon me. Dinner tasted good thank goodness, although DH is wondering why everything I'm cooking contains chilli at the moment. I think it's the fact that I'm so bunged up due to hayfever that it is the only thing I can taste. ( I use Dunn's All Purpose and Chicken seasonings in my fahitas and chilli. They taste good and work out much cheaper than buying those sachets of spices. I get them in the world food aisle of my local Mr T )

You're welcome mardatha. Do we need to start sending you emergency Ark building supplies and packets of Kendal Mint Cake?

Thanks for answering lizzyb and kittikins And welcome to the Mad House kittikins. If they put up with me then you are more than welcome to join in. The bar is in the corner, just watch out for my homemade Sloe Schnapps. It tastes good, but is hangover inducing.

Rosanna79 I do get where you are coming from with regards to Adult Education Classes. We don't qualify for any discounts, so despite there being very good Adult education in Leicester, I don't have the money in the budget to do any of the ones I want.

shegar I hope you are feeling a bit better and carry on improving ((((((((hugs))))))))

GreyQueen I know just the sort of lady you are talking about and I too plan on being one of them I'm working on the laughter lines but all I can say is that nothing is funny enough to account for mine.

Byatt

GQ I'm sure you're right about woollens and machines, but I always use the machine. Too lazy to faff about in the bath or whatever. Not had any major disasters yet.

Hi Shegar, sorry about the coughing. Hope you are able to rest. Is OH home now?

As for the DD recession, I heard the headline on the news, they said it as if we should be surprised. What they don't realise is we don't believe the stuff about how things are getting better because they obviously aren't. What with the rain and the recession, it all seems a bit glum.

edit, is there no sense of accountability at all? I have spent a good part of the day trying to get answers to simple questions from government depts, and also A$da. So far I have been given incorrect info and have been unable to find anyone to talk to as a follow up about it. All that seems available are call centres, people who are not sufficiently trained, and people who can't be bothered to find out if what they are saying is accurate. Now having worked for the govt I am aware that you get a mixed bag of people, but now, there is no named person (or one you can speak to again even when they give their name), so no come back in any form; no continuation. The milk company I am with is the same. A call centre (in the Phillipines!) and no degree of beiing dealt with on a personal level. No customer service in the real sense. I am ready to scream.

GreyQueen

SDG31000 wrote: »

*GreyQueen I know just the sort of lady you are talking about and I too plan on being one of them I'm working on the laughter lines but all I can say is that nothing is funny enough to account for mine.

LMAO. It's not my laugh lines which bother me; the eyes only crinkle-up when I grin and I don't have any frown lines. What's really bugging me in my late forties is the saggy chin. :eek:

Fortunately, I was never much of a looker so haven't got too much to worry about with the ageing process. Considering I'm not pretty, rich or influential, I get away with a lot. Someone who knew me well did once say that I've got more front than Southend * but as I've never been there I really couldn't say.

Byatt wrote: »

GQ I'm sure you're right about woollens and machines, but I always use the machine. Too lazy to faff about in the bath or whatever. Not had any major disasters yet.

Yup, you can wash a lot of woollies in the machine but, depending on the size of the thing, wool absorbs a lot of water and is thus heavy and can lump the drum around when you go to spin cycle. Without knowing what PP is trying to wash, I wouldn't like to say if it's something I'd do myself.

* He actually said Sarfend, but he was from Essex, so I'm translating for the rest of us. I would've clocked him one but a) he was my landlord at the time and b) he's 6 inches taller than me.:rotfl:We still talk, sometimes.

shegar

Byatt wrote: »

GQ I'm sure you're right about woollens and machines, but I always use the machine. Too lazy to faff about in the bath or whatever. Not had any major disasters yet.

Hi Shegar, sorry about the coughing. Hope you are able to rest. Is OH home now?

As for the DD recession, I heard the headline on the news, they said it as if we should be surprised. What they don't realise is we don't believe the stuff about how things are getting better because they obviously aren't. What with the rain and the recession, it all seems a bit glum.

edit, is there no sense of accountability at all? I have spent a good part of the day trying to get answers to simple questions from government depts, and also A$da. So far I have been given incorrect info and have been unable to find anyone to talk to as a follow up about it. All that seems available are call centres, people who are not sufficiently trained, and people who can't be bothered to find out if what they are saying is accurate. Now having worked for the govt I am aware that you get a mixed bag of people, but now, there is no named person (or one you can speak to again even when they give their name), so no come back in any form; no continuation. The milk company I am with is the same. A call centre (in the Phillipines!) and no degree of beiing dealt with on a personal level. No customer service in the real sense. I am ready to scream.

Yes hubby came home Tuesday, the carer comes in each morning so that helps me so much, cos while shes here I can do breakfast, or jobs etc etc..............

I know I dont need extra work while im trying to re couperate but its really nice to have him home, its nice to be able to have a conversation with him:D.........Bless him he is only 52 yrs old and its such a shame that he as to go into respite so that I can have a break , but he knows how my health is and that a caring role is very demanding so he doesnt mind going into the care home to help me along..................You have to do whats best for both of you in these circumstances, we get through okay......But I do miss the old hubby I once had, but at least ive still got him, theres people out there that have lost their husbands and so they dont have a choice................

VJsmum

shegar wrote: »

But I do miss the old hubby I once had, but at least ive still got him, theres people out there that have lost their husbands and so they dont have a choice................

Yes, but you are allowed to mourn the hubby and the life you once had. Look after yourself.

Well, Waterloo road was a pile of pants but it passed an hour while I knitted.

My result today was making the kids hoover a lounge each - you should have seen their faces when I told them to do it - :shocked::huh::question::eek:

:rotfl:

kidcat

Oh Shegar I so know how that feels, (TMI alert) try crossing your legs and bending into the cough - its a finely honed method!!

Well, I was very pleased with myself today, I got kids to school, had a bite to eat, got some washing done and then slept rest of day. Picked up kids, managed to cook, clean up kitchen and more washing. Also helped DD with homework and generally house looked ok.

OH came home from work, walked up two steps and fell over, screaming in agony. Being the kind sympathetic soul I am, I waited a few minutes then wandered down to find him screaming that his leg was broken - so dramatic! Autism definitely hones the oscar winning performances I find.
Called ambulance who announced that as it wasnt life threatening it would be at least an hour - I did point out that if I had to listen to his screaming for an hour it would definitely be life threatening - they werent amused!
Ended up calling my mum and dad to come sit with kids and getting neighbour to help shift him to car. Off to A&E, where I wait half an hour for a porter to come help get him from car!
After major faff moving car to car park etc, three hours later - turns out all the porters are in xray dept watching football! DS is at home having major meltdown, OH has strop when I say I gonna leave him there to come home and deal.
Finally doc looks at xray and announces not broken just sprained!!!!

Luckily I am feeling fairly good humoured about it all - even the fact that my dad decided to put the basket of wet washing (I had left in kitchen to go on airer) in the dryer, trouble is it was all the stuff that cant be tumble dried and is now ruined!! Most of DD pyjamas, sofa throws and DS t-shirts all ruined!

Vjsmum - I saw the middle of Waterloo road at hospital before someone turned football on - seemed very weak to me.

Shegar - I think you are amazing, having had just a few hours of taking care of OH I have had enough. I could not do even a fraction of what you do long term. My hat is well and truly off to you.:)

BitterAndTwisted

Penny-Pincher!! wrote: »

Can anyone help me? I have a hand knitted wool throw and want to wash it. Its quite heavy. How do I wash (what cycle?) and how do I dry it?

Thanks

PP
xx

Do you have a gentle silks, wool or hand-wash cycle on your machine? I'd use one of those and switch on the "rinse & hold" programme if there is one and then just pump the water out rather than a spin, so as not to risk it stretching and getting pulled out of shape if it's really big. If it's not huge, personally I'd be putting it on the slowest spin but I'm a bone-idle risk-taker. Then I'd dry it flat, probably on a towel in the bath until it was less sodden and could be put on an airer to finish off.