The OS Doorstep - a helpful and supportive thread in these tough times

silvasava

Wonderful news Fuddle - so pleased for you that its not RA,I second Mrs L & hope they can get you sorted & more comfortable soon.
Mrs L - Have a fabulous time with Zebra - I know you will. I think the time you spend with grandchildren is so rewarding as day to day stuff intrudes so much with your own children.
I'm really chuffed with myself - lovely sunny day,light winds so decided to take my little dinghy out ON MY OWN. Was feeling extremely trepidacious to say the least & nearly bottled it but another couple were sailing their dinghy & kept an eye on me so I did far more than I thought I would & its really helped my confidence. Not bad for an old bird pushing 70!!!

fuddle

silvasava now that's rock and roll! Hey, I wouldn't do that myself at 35. Well done! DH is wanting to save for a fishing kayak to use around the harbour. I'm scared to bits but itching to have a go! We shouldn't ever let a bit fear stop us eh? I bet you won't sleep for the buzz it's given you.

Hey Pooky I wouldn't thank you for a nightclub and any attire not stretchy is far from off my agenda. I'm having a glass of wine while DH and I watch rubbish TV and I'm rather looking forward it. Bring on the candles, I fight the spotlights too!

Lyn Snuggles with zebra while you give the opportunity for dinner dating... that's win, win eh?

Yes I am relieved it is not RA too. I have kept it quiet but I have been assisting an amputee these past few weeks. She had her lower leg removed due to the ankle being shot with RA. It has been playing heavily on my mind... mind you a super, super determined lady and very much an inspiration.

monnagran

Terrific news Fuddle such a relief, I bet you felt euphoric.

Silvasava: I'm impressed! I bet you don't feel anything like pushing 70. What's 70 anyway? Says she who passed it years ago. It's only a number.

Pooky: A cosy evening in, an early night with a good book. Heaven.

Lyn: I am sooooo jealous. Haven't seen my Mia for 7 weeks now and although she shouts down the phone at me it's just not the same. They can't go into Ryde now because she thinks she is going to see Monna and GG and they have an awful job getting her into the car to go home. We are going to set up Skype when we can so we can see each other. We are visiting them in 4 weeks time. I can hardly wait. Enjoy your time with Zebra.

Has anyone ever tried freezing pears? We have this big pear tree and although the pears are small and pockmarked they have a lovely flavour. I have been poaching them and wonder if I could freeze them once they're cooked. It works for apples but I've never tried it with pears. I'm not wasting them!

The first of many cauliflower cheese lunches today. Thanks for the tip about cauliflower rice, I'd never heard of that and I love trying new things.

Hope you are all enjoying this beautiful Indian summer.

x

Jazee

Monna, you should be fine freezing your pears. Worth a try anyway.

lucielle

Hi Unlurking to ask you wise peeps a question. I've got lovely black dress to wear for a posh do. Where the material is ruched near the zip it is difficult to do up. Has anybody got any tips for making the zip easier to do up?
Many Thanks
L

FairyPrincessk

Hi Lucielle,

If it is difficult to do up because the ruching gets caught in the zip (pretty common) then an extra pair of hands will help. If you can get someone to hold the material flat while you zip it should be easier.

If the problem is that the zip is hard to move, then try rubbing it with a bar of soap (keep off the fabric obviously!) just a bit should make it slide more easily.

Just a wave to the rest of you--still ill, seem to be getting worse, hopefully a quiet weekend will sort it out!x

Pooky

FP - Hope you feel better soon.

Lucielle - running a pencil along a zip helps too - no idea where I read that but it works.

Been scrubbing floors and doing niggly jobs all morning (replacing the felt on the bottom of the dining table and chairs to stop it scratching the floor being one of them that's been on the list for ages). Thing is, as fast I do one job I find about 8 others (replace missing screw from one chair, wax the table, wax my desk ((put a cup on the top without a coaster -oops!)) It's never ending.

Possession

Phew what a day. Have done kids' karate, taken to a party, sorted out hundreds of books for a secondhand seller coming on Monday, viewed 2 houses. Which brings us to a dilemma - one of the houses is pretty much what we want, in the same area, but we would mean we still had a (tiny) mortgage. The other is much cheaper, under the stamp duty threshold, in a nice area but away from where we are now and a longer walk to the train station, and needs LOADS of work doing to it. At least £25K of work and total redecoration. We could walk to school and into town though. DH likes the other house loads better. But we'd eliminate the mortgage. If only we had time machines and could visit the results of our decisions!
Just sitting down for a cup of tea now before more sorting and cleaning. The owners of the cheaper house could do with doing the same quite frankly. And one of the bedrooms absolutely reeked of young male!

Pooky

Possession - How urgent is the "loads of work" property....Could you move in and do it bit by bit or is it major stuff you'd want doing straight away (and would you have access to the funds to do it straight away?) Have a play with the mortgage calculator and see what the smaller mortgage payments would be - it might make it a lot clearer.

Hope the book buyer buys loads on Monday - sounds like you've got a few to get rid of!

We used to have hundreds and hundreds of books but after moving a few times they got thinned out. There's now maybe 20 paperbacks on the shelf and 20 or so hard backed (most of those are craft related). We have a book scheme in the village hall where you drop off unwanted books, they pop them on the shelf and you can pick up as many as you like for a small donation (they suggest 5p a book) so that's what I do now - soon as it's read it goes in the bag to go back to the hall. DH uses his e-reader and borrows them electronically from the library. Haven't missed a single book that's gone.

Possession

Well Pooky I'd have to put new carpets in immediately. I could barely bring myself to walk on them (yes, that bad). And the windows and doors are rotting away, it needs completely new which is a large chunk of the budget. The conservatory (which counts as the back door) also needs attention although not sure what - too much and it would make it a no-goer anyway. It needs a new bathroom fairly urgently. The rest is cosmetic or small stuff. But every room needs doing so put together it's definitely not small stuff. In the main bedroom they've obviously redecorated, but only on 2 walls!