OS DAILY 5th APRIL

elona

mioliere

Sorry if I mis spelled your name.

I have had a nagging cough and congestion for ages now and heard that a "commmercial" elderberry extract was very good for coughs, colds and flu so though that I would try it.

A bottle of 120 mls was about £9!!!

I got home and googled for suppliers of dried elderberries and also googled for recipes and decided to make my own.

I did not want to name the product in case I got the site into trouble.

Sory if I confused anybody - the preserving jars are full and look very impressive in the top shelf of the cupboard- out of the light.


Moggins

If you put a solution of warm water and a few drops of tea tree oil in a spray bottle - then spray it around - it scents the air - very good for detering pests lol!!!

lil_me

Evening all, sorry not had chance to catch up yet on the thread but hugs to those who need one today.

Busy day, housework then sorting the garden, then off to my sisters for a walk with her family and half the streets kids. Fun but tiring and her DP likes doing mystery tours, so me and mine are covered in stings, thorn piercings etc. DS2 decided to roll down a hill to find a pile of nettles so he's stung all over, he's in bed now with some cream on and piriton.

DP having bad night at work, quiet and stressful. Big section of Durham inc where the taxi rank he usually works from been closed since about 5pm as someones been attacked, possibly reopened now. He said wished he'd stayed at home. He's been told stabbed by someone who was there at the time, but nothing on news yet. Shocked me, especially at that time on an evening, there would have been kids about etc. Just got to hope whoevers involved isn't too badly injured.

Right off for catch up, ttfn

dlb

Evening all.
What a beautiful day it has been, sunshine all day, kids been playing in garden, got all my washing and ironing done. Sorted budget out and dh broke up from work for 11 days!!(bar tuesday!)
I have just cheated for tea and called at iceland on way back from kids footy training and bought pizza, but at least i didnt order a take away!!

GB- You are so the nicest person, i love reading your posts, and just to let you know things are going ok with my mum, she saw the kids this week for the first time in years.
Scuzz- hoping you get lots more kisses!!!
Mrs Mix- well done on 3 stars.
And hugs to everyone else.
Have a good night all.
Donna
xx

donny-gal

Thanks Pen-pen I intend to try to enjoy rainy Spain.

GB You sussed out my secret (but with diet coke) but on antibiotics so have to be careful. ergghhhh!!

Dare I say it, home for 5 weeks then off again!

Hardup_Hester

Hi All
The controlled crying my dd used was as follows.
Put baby to bed but with no story or singing, place baby in cot making no eye contact & repeating in a monotone 'go to bed, goodnight' go to bed, goodnight' 4 times. If baby doesn't sleep go back in after 5 mins repeating 'go to bed, goodnight' again in a monotone & with no eye contact,go back repeatedly extending gap between visits to 10, 15 20 mins etc. If, when baby is sick through screaming, clean baby up & go through same routine.
I make no comment on my opinion of the system, each to their own, it is a system recommended by some health visitors. I did check with the healthvisitor who recommended it to my DD, she was my age mid 50's & had no children, I did suggest to her that to insist it was to be carried out in a household of 7 people 5 of whom were working full time, 3 of us who had to be up at 5:30 was little short of lunacy, but she felt she had far more knowledge than I!!!!
Hugs
Hester

lil_me

Too many mentions to mention. One things stood out and that's poor Kyle's lack of sleep.

I'm also one of the 'no sleep' sufferers. My DS1 from 14 months old slept 4-5 hours ish a day including naps. He now at 8 has a diagnosis of ADHD and Autism, but still sleep is an issue. He sleeps 7-8 hours max now, mostly less. I have given up a long time ago catching up, in fact if I get more than about 8 hours now I feel a wreck, just not used to it. Occasionally pop back to sleep when they are at school but that's about once a month or so. Just wanted you to know, you're not on your own.

Looks like the rumours are true about the stabbing, one serious, awful and scary, even more so during the day. Seems to be full of sad news up here at the minute, the youngest of the 2 soldiers killed in Iraq was the nephew of the lovely lady who has moved into my sisters old house, 18 years old, just a kid.

stefejb

Evening all
half day at w**k today - woohoo! and then came home to deal with the usual kerfuffle that is dd's social life. She and a friend had arranged to sleep over at middle dd's tonight starting at about five. Well at 12ish friend and friend's dad turned up at dd's to take little dd back for the arranged sleepover at their house - on the way home i got a call from little dd to fetch her toothbrush and skates over as she was definitely sleeping over at friends - got there and the dad said that he was going to drop them off at middle dd's for the sleepover - baffled! I said enough was enough, that middle dd had made other plans now and that the girls were not to make any more plans between themselves. I decided to take dd home with me as the friends dad can't be relied on to bring her back at a reasonable time in the am and this sort of confusion happens all the time. In any case they live on cheesy chips in that house and dd is always ravenous when she comes home. Grrrrrrrr.
exdh went to the dump to buy some compost which was advertised at 1.50 for 70 litres. Well they gave him some bags which were smaller than 70 litres and he filled them himself. Because he was feeling hot and lazy he only half filled the bags which were charged at 2.00 anyway - they were also very twiggy but it all smelled delicious when i spread it on my new veg bed. I'm going to the garden centre tomorrow anyway to order some more reliable compost. when he came back I had fallen asleep on the lounger in the sun so i expect I'll have a brown face tomorrow.
Disgruntled i went to see middle dd and dgs which was lovely - she has been doing something that sounds like that controlled crying malarkey and at 8pm he put himself to bed - albeit with his clothes on - so it must work. Tomorrow I must plant some seedlings, start some others, clean the house from top to bottom and decide what I'm going to give everyone for easter lunch and then I'm going out to dinner with a dear friend and her son at an all you can eat chinese - that means that i've been out twice this week - after dark and everything - get me!
Moggins the best of luck with the PITA but do tell me about the new job - when do you start? what are you doing? and did you buy the clothes yet?
have a good evening

Psykicpup

Kyle
I remember staying over at my mums when DD was small - she usually slept fine (except for that button they have in thier backs lol) - she just wouldnt settle.......
mum asked if she was hungry -NO
'wet?' - NO
need a burp- NO
need a cuddle - NO I've cuddled her for an hour I snapped
'then go & have a cup of tea ' said mum!
it took a good hour I guess to get her off to sleep I guess but it worked

in the morning mum explained that as long as all the obvious needs where seen to then just reassuring & walking away is the best .........
do bear in mind that my mum didnt agree with 'timed' feeds etc & thought if a child cryed it was prob for a reason

my own advice would be no 'naps' after 3pm & try to work out when LO is sleepy : ie not too early so she wakes in the early hours but not so late she is overtired

((((((hug))))))

mioliere

Hi to everyone - have a lovely day today!

Amie - hope you had a good night's sleep - mine wan't too bad - only ONE trip to the loo and I went straight back to sleep! Spent all day yesterday - well, apart from being on here, cleaning and baking ready for my guests who arrive at lunchtime today so I think I wore myself out! Going to the Co-op today for my 'big' shop then a quick tidy up before they arrive! I have noticed that since I've changed my shopping habits re: buying more fresh stuff, less cleaning products etc., that the rubbish I throw out seems to have gone down by about half so that's another good side-effect of MSE. Even DH has commented about how empty the wheelie-bins are! I forgot another thing about sore hands! My hands get sore in the winter anyway so I always wear gloves out of doors even for driving but the other thing I discovered last year was french soap. They have soap called Savon de Marseille which you can order on the internet, buy yourself in bulk if you ever go to France (their supermarket own-brands are just as good as the original!) or ask someone you know who goes to France to bring you some back. It is hand-made soap which contains 72% oil. They do different types such as olive oil, glycerine and so on and they are wonderful to use becauses they don't dry the skin out. They are also not too dear - the last lot of supermarket-own I bought last time we were there worked out at about £5.00 for ten bars! Original brand is about £3.00 for three bars! Anyway, I have found that this has really helped my hands.

donny-gal and Penelope Penguin - have brilliant trips. Hope weather is good!

Kyle - good luck with baby and, to you and lil_me - they do grow up, I promise! My DS2 was an absolute nightmare from the word go and nearly drove me mad; I thought I'd never see the point to anything ever again because my life seemed to have been completely taken over by this alien being (and he was an alien compared to my near-perfect DS!!) but he did start to become what I called 'more human' and he's wonderful now! He has a good job, has just bought his first house with his GF and he is full of affection with a great sense of humour! I would never have thought it possible when I look back to his early years and remember how desperate I was for him to go to sleep! One good tip that Psykicpup said is no naps after 3.00 pm. I sometimes found it really hard to keep him awake until his tea but that always did help make him more tired when it came to proper bedtime!

Scuzz - yes, go on, have fun!

Elona - thanks such a lot for the reply. I have had an unexplained cough for years that no GP seems to know what to do about so I'll try anything! Thanks as well for the tip about Tea Tree Oil. I have just bought some because I'm going to have a go at aromatherapy massage for my DH's backache and it's one of the essential oils they recommend!

Well, I'm going to have another cuppa, jump in the shower, take DH his cup of tea in bed and remind him that he's on vacuuming-and-kitchen-floor-washing duty and not to use the 'looking-at' towels in the bathroom (you know, the ones you get out when you have visitors!). Lemon Chicken for dinner tonight - found it on here and it's great when cooking for large numbers and tastes as though you've spent all day on it! We'll have that with salad and baby new potatoes and strawberries (which have been marinated in balsamic vinegar and a little brown sugar - don't all gasp - the vinegar, about two tbsps to a large punnet - really brings out the flavour) and - yummy - clotted cream for pud! Hope you all have a great day today and a very Happy Easter - don't think I'll have much time on here until guests have gone on Monday but I will try and catch up with the news here!

Love and (((hugs))) XXXXX:T :beer: :money: Happy Easter to Martin - our hero! :easter: :EasterBun :easter_ba :wave: :grouphug: