No T Words mentioned at all - a fresh start

flowertotmum

Hi all..

Kate Well done babe..smarty pants ..

Candlelight..o you poor thing am hoping you feel better by now..so much illness going around at the moment..(((hugs))) for you..

Mlw..thank you..Fionna had her operation yesterday..all is good just have to wait for some test results to come back..but the surgeon is certain he got it all out..so fingers crossed. She is in some pain but is being a trooper..we sneaked in her house when she was in hospital and put flowers in a vase and some choccies on her bedside cabinet and a lasagne in the fridge..

Hoglet..glad your team won..aren't banks stupid sometimes..i have been with mine for 20 yrs now and somehow or other they have changed my first name..from Sxxx to Sxxxt..i keep informing them its wrong and they change it for a while then bingo i am Sxxxt again..i give up..

Well its been a hectic week here..Iris had a wonderful birthday and party..it started at 4ish and didn't finish til 9..obviously the grandchildren went home but Annie and her husband stayed to chat and play which was nice as we don't see them often because of work.

We had Wednesday off as both girls were mardy bums and its not worth trying to work with them..i tortured them lol..read poems and books to them all day..they were begging for work on Thursday. We had a thunderstorm and almighty rain too..didn't think it was going to stop ever.

Had a phone call from Heather and little grand-daughter has viral pnuemonia..so that would explain her being a bit quiet and clingy on Tuesday..and today Iris and myself both have headaches and we both shattered..Iris has a temperature and no appetite..i will be keeping an eye on her.

Today is also my eldest grand-daughters 7th birthday..Hollie..we got her the board game Operation as its what she asked for..she rang earlier to say Thank you and she loves it.

I got all my laundry done and dry today on the line..thats a bonus after all the rain we have had. I have picked all the apples now and 10 pears..so tomorrow i am making crumbles for the freezer..and some soups with veg that our allotment neighbours have grown and don't need.

So i am so looking forward to the weekend..a bit of baking and batch cooking and thats it..just hoping Iris is ok..she is fast asleep all cuddled under her blankets..

Right i am going to have a cuppa then off to bed..am shattered..
love to you all
ftm

candlelight_2013

FTM good to hear Iris had a lovely birthday, but I am sorry she isn't well now. There appear to be a lot of nasty bugs around at the moment, Himself is coming out in sympathy with me.

We haven't been able to see DD for fear of giving her this bug, but thankfully in good MSE style she has a store cupboard and freezer to rival any Asda store

It is good that Fionna has had her op, like me I am sure she felt she wanted it out as soon as possible, will she need any follow up treatment?

I hope your little granddaughter improves, it never rains but it pours. Try not to work too hard over the weekend particularly if you feel you might be going down with something as well.

LYN enjoy your time with the Zebra child and have lots of cuddles.

Sleep tight everyone

Candlelightx

flowertotmum

Evening all..hope your all ok..

Candlelight..thank you..Iris had a rough night..couldn't find her teddy and swore blind she was under the bed..teddy is female called Sara..so there i was at 2 this morning on my hands and knees under her bed..not there..so i asked are you sure..to which i got i think so..i looked on the bed under her blanket and there she was..i then got nasally assaulted by both girls..Fern poked her bottom out the covers and trumped rather loudly..and Iris as curled up did one too..smelly bottoms..but both found it hysterical this morning when i told them. Got back to bed and Iris turned up as my bedside wanting a cuddle..so in she climbs and trumps again..i rolled over after that and got a face full of hair..just dropping off and she is up and needing a wee..so off we went and bless her she fell asleep on the loo..had to pull up her pants whilst trying to hold her up..then put her back to bed where she stayed til half 8 thank fully. She has spent the day on the sofa cuddling her teddy and having Fern look after her..well kind of when Fern remembered..she has such a temperature but it seems to be going down now..if she still like it on Monday i will take her to the doctor..but hopefully she will sleep well tonight..i know i will.

Fionna is doing well..she is home and being totally spoilt by her lovely man..we are not sure what treatment they will give but she is glad its all gone.

Baby Emma is responding well to her antibitotics and had a good night last night..so Heather is not so worried today..

I had a busy day..did my soups for the freezer and crumbles too..had lots of fruit leftover so i stewed it with just a pinch of cinnamon..that will be lovely with custard..
I went to the CS this morning to drop off some bits and bobs..came home with a lovely red cardigan for Fern and a tank top for her too...i got a lovely jumper too..£2 for the lot..Sam looked after girls whilst i popped out..got home to find Iris all curled up on his knee and Fern laid next to them..so sweet..big brother and sisters..cuties.

I did splurge a bit today..i have been needing thicker curtains for my living room..so after i sold bundles of clothes on *bay i had enough money to buy some..i bought some extra thick thermal lined chenile curtains..£26..can't wait to get them here..when the wind and rain was lashing down the other day i could feel the draft coming through..so hopefully now it won't.
Right i have to go..am going to bed early..
Sleep well all
love
ftm

candlelight_2013

Morning all,
Really foggy here this morning, so not a lot doing. Have just done a load of washing but that will be dried in the TD. With us both having this cold/virus thing I don't want wet washing hanging around.

We managed to go out yesterday briefly to the SM. because DD hadn't had any fresh food since Monday. We got her fruit and salad, and bread and milk and left it in her kitchen because I don't want her to have this bug as well. She is due to start physio again on Fridayso hopefully there will be more improvement.

Himself will be watchng the Russian GP later, and after that I will be watching a Christmas film on one of the Sky channels. I love Christmas films and he doesn't, so it is always a compromise.

FTM the girls seem to be suffering, one way or another and I hope Iris shows some improvement today. What a lovely relationship they have with Sam, I think I have said before I always wanted an older brother, but I was the oldest of 3 girls.

Pleased Fionna is being looked after and spoilt a little she deserves it, and good news on baby Emma, long may it continue.

LYN have you had your last cuddle with the Zebra child this morning before he goes home? Was he a good boy for his Oma last night? I hope you had a more peaceful night with poor Docky, bless him.

Love and hugs to everyone and have a good day

Candlelightx

[Deleted User]

Oh yes he was such a good boy and mum got her night out with her friends too. She was a bit anxious as he's got a snuffly cold and is teething again and she checked in a couple of times to make sure he was OK. He cried a few times through the evening but only once for long enough to need picking up and I rocked him and he settled again. She came back at 11.30 having had a lovely evening, the first one out on her own since she had him and I got a lovely bunch of flowers this morning to say thank you. He was a good boy this afternoon too, he'd woken her in the night and she was tired so decided to have a nap after lunch before the drive home and bless him, he just played with his toys and with us, perfectly happy and all smiles, magic!

Docky had a better night last night but I think his nose is a bit out of joint with Ezra getting the lions share of attention and Docky refused to go for a walk this afternoon so I'm leaving him and hope that tomorrow it will be business as usual. Not looking forward to the firework season one tiny little bit though!!!

hoglet121

Morning everyone :-)

Lovely to hear all your news

FTM - Sorry to hear about Iris - hopefully she will be feeling better soon, and I hope you all get some good rest. Good to hear that Fionna is home now and being taken care of.

Candlelight - I really hope you are on the mend soon

MLW - I am dreading the fireworks season too - poor pets are always traumatised

We had a fabulous weekend with our visitors. The forecast rain never appeared and we had a weekend of glorious sunshine, the best in a long long time. We did quite a bit of touristy things with them, took them in Auckland city on Saturday and had a mooch around, did some beer tasting of NZ beers, dropped in to watch some of the Diwali celebrations in the city centre and then took them up the Sky Tower and had dinner up there too. The Sky Tower and dinner bit was a surprise and the looks on their faces when we walked out the lift and saw the view was fantastic.

On Sunday we took them for a long drive out, around a spectacular peninsular. Stopped off in some pitcuresque townships after a crazy drive along the coast and hills. We finally got to beach which I've been desperate to visit for years. You have to pick your way over rocks and then follow a path through the bush to get there. It didn't disappoint - certainly one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen.

They have one more day with us before they head off on more travels so I think they will spend the day seeing some more of the city.

As much as I'm absolutley shattered it's been fantastic getting out and seeing a new place or 2, we felt as if we were on holiday too. Good to remind ourselves what a beautiful country we're privileged to live in. Next week I definiately need to get on with my course tho!

Right that's about it from us, the cats will be glad that we've stopped galivanting!

Love to you all

Hoglet x

scottishminnie

Good afternoon all. Seems like yet another busy weekend for everyone.
FTM - Glad to hear Fionna is doing well so far and hope Iris will be better soon.


Candlelight - take it easy, sounds nasty!


Kate - well done and congratulations on your exam result.


MrsLM - enjoy your time with Zebra.


Hoglet - sounds like your visitors had a good time.


I'd forgotten about the upcoming fireworks - I have Halloween in my mind as a time marker but never Nov 5th is that makes sense. I think because I hate fireworks so much I just try to block it out.


We had a busy weekend here. We were having a small wall built in the garden so the bricklayer was here and I felt obliged to feed him - homemade soup, fresh bread and buttermilk scones went down well although they took up quite a bit of time.


I harvested some of my rooster potatoes although I'm trying to keep the rest in the ground as long as possible. I think we are on the last of the tomatoes now - maybe another week or so and I ended up with a grand total of 2 round courgettes from that planting! I'm tempted to throw them into some vegetable soup and then I think I should do a bit more with them as they were my only courgette harvest!


FTM - how do you prepare your crumbles for freezing? I still have lots of apples and although I've frozen masses for pies etc it would be good to have the entire thing prepared. Last nights pudding was apple and mincemeat crumble which was well received. I picked up lots of reduced mincemeat in January so I just placed dollops amongst the sliced apples in the crumble which made it very tasty.


I brought home a recipe for rustic apple tarts which has cream cheese in it - seems interesting so will be trying it out soon. I also had a slice of spiced apple cake in a coffee shop where the owner was good enough to share the recipe so that's another one to try - just need to pick up some cardamom as I don't think I have any.


I thought I would have run down the freezer before we went on holiday however I seem to have much more in there than I had realised so we still have a good few weeks worth of food. I need to take note of what's there but I'm delighted there will be some savings there.


Hubby caught me last night with several lists - one for October jobs - one for "before Christmas jobs" and one for "as soon as possible". He says I have lists for everything however I'm finding it's the only way to keep track of things. I only just realised that my electricity deal is due up at the end of the month so I need to renew that quickly.


I do have a question for you - I have two wonderful "down" jackets which I picked up at a great price in Costco - they are so lightweight and amazingly warm however they shed feathers like crazy when I wear them. I arrived in work last week and took off one of them to find my black trousers and cardi were utterly covered in little white feathers. I looked ridiculous and spent ages with sellotape getting them off. Any ideas as to how to stop the shedding would be most appreciated I did think about spraying the inside of the jackets with hair spray to see if it would coat the lining but not sure where I got that idea from ?!


I'm working from home today so my very late lunch hour is up now - speak to you all soon.


p.s Candlelight - Costco has an amazing display of Christmas decorations - so tempting. Very interesting to see that the current trend, both here and across the pond, is to display something in a glass dome/cloche type thing. I'm thinking it could be done fairly cheaply and changed with each season - I feel a craft project coming on!

candlelight_2013

SM good to "see "you.

Re: the domes/cloches, I have seen these on a few American blogs and really like the idea. You could use a hurricane lamp or something along those lines. I bought a gold and cream Santa
when we went to Cologne many years ago, and he looks lovely in an upturned hurricane lamp

I do read a few American blogs and I know they do a lot of decoration for Autumn/Fall, which looks lovely, but I think might be lost here at home.

Thanks for the good wishes, feeling better than I did, but it is a nasty bug whatever it is.

HOGLET sounds as though you have had a lovely time with your visitors, and the weather was good as well.

Weather here is dreadful, pouring with rain and gusty winds.

Lots of spam problems on the Forum today.

Take care all

Candlelightx

hoglet121

Mornign all

SM and Candlelight - I do like the sound of that hurricane lamp/dome arrangement :-)

Visitors have gone now - DH took them to the airport at half 5 this morning. They had a great time and already love NZ. It's lovely having people to stay but so nice to have your house back IYKWIM... No more early starts and late nights for a while :-)

A rather comprehensive salad for dinner last night - with boiled eggs, grilled chicken and diced avocado. First small harvest of chives to go on the potatoes too. Then I discovered several very questionable potatoes in the veg tin - I made 8 generous portions of chowder from them with 2 onions, a tin of sweetcorn, a rasher of bacon and some stock from the freezer. DH and I have a portion each for lunch, along with a couple of cheese scones I found lurking in the freezer.

Spring seems to be gathering momentum - first time I haven't needed a coat this morning, long may it continue. I'll be taking the electric blanket off the bed this weekend - that should guarantee a cold snap! Cats are slowly moving into pillow sharing mode rather than duvet sharing owing to the warmer weather. Very cute but not overly comfortable.

Hope the weather in the UK improves for you.

Love to you all

Hoglet x

katep23

scottishminnie wrote: »

Last nights pudding was apple and mincemeat crumble which was well received. I picked up lots of reduced mincemeat in January so I just placed dollops amongst the sliced apples in the crumble which made it very tasty

Sounds lovely!