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

GreyQueen

greenbee wrote: »

Good advice from GQ about mattress, ventilation and spiders so I won't repeat it. Keeoing things uncluttered with help with ventilation and give the spiders fewer places to hide. I wash my floors and woodwork with a lemon-based cleaner and wipe the window frames down with citrus oil and it mostly works. Filling in gaps/holes/cracks when decorating has also helped.

Miserable day here... Not sure whether to stay in and do housework or go out in search of a trashy novel and chocolate

Deffo set yourself up with trashy and chocolatey, that's my remedy for those days when I need something undemanding. I read a lot of non-fiction and some of it is a bit heavy and needs to be digested in small lumps. I use some trashy reads as a way of chilling out, much as a lot of people watch their soaps.

Still haven't got to the kitchen. Gonna set the timer and make myself do 15 mins. Anyone can handle 15 mns of h*usew*rk can't she?:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Byatt

GQ, thanks for all the excellent advice. I have many spidery deterrents but not yet tried the lemon oil. I have a plan, I will move my bed away from the window, (I have 2 windows) and then I can open it without getting a draft, and then smother it in lemon oil. I do turn the mattress, somehow manage it still, as it's not too heavy. I will try the standing it up and gently bleaching. I wonder if my electric blanket has made it worse?

It's taken until this year to come to terms with living here, as all my adult life I've lived in modern houses (not to say they didn't have problems, especially with condensation), but I haven't treated it with the love and respect it needs. Lots of decluttering and giving breathing room. My kitchen GQ, is full of stuff!

Anyway, back to the decluttering! Before heading to bunnyville and checking they are ok. Need to get them some carrots.

Penny-Pincher!!

GreyQueen. Thanks. I just wanted you to know that I use your blanket all day and every night to keep me warm. If you ever make another, please let me know as I'd be willing to pay for it, so I have a spare one when the other one is getting beaten outside:-)

Thanks again so much everyone. Im feeling so much better now. OH has got a new Oyster card as it cost £2.30 yesterday for a 3 minute bus trip and now with the card this will be reduced to £1 I think he said. We have a hospital visit in London in less than 2 weeks and if we haven't got a car by then, we'll have to go by train:eek::eek::eek::eek: It means that we have to get off at the stop before we need as theres no lift and not accessible by wheelchair:eek::eek::eek: and get a taxi to the hospital:eek::eek::eek: OH is going to ask whether we're entitled to any help with costs? We get a little working tax credit but don't know if this is a valid benefit for help with costs as we have never asked before. I get my travel free, but OH will have to pay and then the cab. I can but ask and if not, its tough titty for us:rotfl:

OH popped into Morrisons when he went to the PO to get the Oyster card and send the nasty man his papers about the car and got us a lovely piece of beef fillet off the counter for dinner for £6. Also got a few other bits needed for the next 3 days and total was £12, then he got a bus back. I think we're having the steak, cheddar mash with corn on cob for dinner...yummy! He's a good one my OH:A Ive told him to stop worrying and that I cried enough tears for us both yesterday with regards to the car and loss of money. There are many people in far worse conditions than us!

Will get a chicken out for dinner tomorrow and have a roast with stuffing, carrots, cabbage, roasts and parsnips.

Thanks again everyone.

PP
xx

lizzyb1812

CBA'ness has well and truly set in here as well. This part of the country has seen several lovely spring seasons in succession over the last few years so this constant wet is depressing. Broad beans and potatoes like it though and the early tomatoes in the greenhouse have got a few flowers opening.

Comfort food remedy - not a great choccy fan but have got dough in the breadmaker for home-made peperoni pizza - hang the calories - and have dug out the DVD of the BBC Pride & Prejudice :j

PennyPincher glad that you've been able to take some action and you seem to have cheered up as a result - well done. Re the blankie - if, as GQ says, it's likely to be mostly acrylic, you can wash it if you want now My own snuggler has been in regular use recently.

BitterAndTwisted

Smileyt: Damn you. DAMN YOU for mentioning that Jackie's Fabrics sale! I don't even have any needlework skills and I'm going to pay it a visit. I love textiles and have fantasies about what I could make every time I see something looking for a good home.

Byatt: You need to invest in a half-decent dehumidifier if one can be afforded. Your health could be at stake here. The only alternative to dehumidifying is a combo of heating and ventilation which would cost more. About a hundred quid new and they don't cost much to run. Perhaps there's one or two knocking about on Freecycle or Freegle now that the winter has allegedly past and folks think they don't need them right now. A British Heart Foundation store near you? One local to me sells electrical appliances for half of nothing very much. Hence the fifteen quid bread-maker I snatched not that long ago and they had two of them in stock at the time.

Honestly, I wouldn't be thinking about ditching the mattress just yet. Mould spores can't survive in arid conditions, so if you sort the humidity issue it should be fine.

This just living quietly business gets darn expensive, don't it?

Hardup_Hester

Byatt, a metre is 39inches give or take.
Hester

short_bird

Byatt wrote: »

Thanks for the mattress advice. It's not damp in the bedroom, but like you say Gardenia, condensation. I don't have thw windows open often, mostly because it's so cold anyway, but because of the spiders getting in through the windows. I know, I know...:o

I knew somebody would be along to say "is there enough ventilation under the bed".

Aren't conkers supposed to have spider repellant properties or did I make that one up?

silvasava

GreyQueen wrote: »

........GoreTex and fleece.:(

.

And a fetching combination of Wellington Boots & a plastic rain hat :rotfl:

GQ - Have you thought of a memory foam topper for your mattress? I got one off t'internet that was 4" thick & cheaper than the 3" ones. Helped my back no end - only drawback for me is it's REALLY warm so don't need my winter quilt on.

GreyQueen

short_bird wrote: »

I knew somebody would be along to say "is there enough ventilation under the bed".

Aren't conkers supposed to have spider repellant properties or did I make that one up?

I've heard about the conkers, too, so if it's an OS-type myth it's well-travelled.

My underbed storage is tins on wood and wire trollies so there's plenty of fresh air under there. When I get a can out, it's decidedly icy.

silvasava I have tried lying on memory foam and it freaks me out. Hard to describe why but I really dislike the stuff, although I do know people who swear by it. Thanks for the suggestion, tho.

Wel, just started in the kitchen and the phone rang and I was summoned to SuperGran's to have a cuppa and a gossip so I'm only just back, no tidying done yet and there is still the tea to cook. This is how life goes.........:rotfl:

ETA, if I ever make another, PP, I shall think of you. But for postage-only, natch; I just knitted them to save the yarn from going to waste and as a kind of meditation whilst the parentals have the TV on at theirs. I find TV soooo boring that I cannot watch it unless I have something else going on at the same time.

Counter now clear, fish and chips in the oven and I'm about to retrieve some tins from the underbed larder. I'm listening to Tom Lehrer on CD - his silliness is a good lift to remedy the CBA'd-ness. Poisoning Pigeons in The Park, tra la la............

BitterAndTwisted

Mattresses getting mould under them can be due to the unevaporated moisture accumulated from the body rather than the room being damp. If the room is cold and the air in it humid the mattress won't have a chance to completely dry out when the bed is aired. It's not always about having a decent flow of air underneath it. I'd be thinking about an electric blanket and turning the mattress over every time I changed the sheets if a dehumidifer couldn't be afforded or acquired. There's usually an answer if only we can just think hard enough.