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

ivyleaf

Lovely to hear the good news burtha

fuddle

I did hear the tops had a good covering of snow burtha. Stay warm!

Glorious day here. We have been to Studland Beach (free car parking as National Trust) and enjoyed a walk. It was f-f-f-f-freezing but really nice to be out in the sunshine. I am wrapped in my blanket at the moment though.

I was gifted A Girl Called Jack recipe book at Christmas and although I have had a browse I haven't used it for the purpose in which it was intended - planning meals and shopping lists round it. I will do that in a moment.

We have a little bit of lamb in the SC with some rosemary for our evening meal. DH is on to it as I'm out working a few late calls.

Electric bill is in and found that turning the heating off at night has not been a money saver so back to all rads on low. We have £62 left in credit to get us through the next few months (as well as our direct debit amount).

Floss

We went down to Star Gate beach this morning for a lovely walk to St Anne's.

monnagran

Hello there.

I've had a quick (very quick) glance through the tread for the last week and should have taken notes. As it is I can only remember a few things. Ivy has entered the menopause - YAY! Stilty's MIL has drifted into her last peaceful sleep - hugs and love to you all. Fuddle has started her great new post - well done that girl! Lyn has the builders in - shudders. Softstuff has her mortgage - all onwards and upwards now. And that is about that.

Nursemaggie: Mouth ulcers are horrible. If you can bear it, dab on some neat TCP. After the first stinging shock the sorness and pain gradually fades away, Bliss. If you dab some on when you go to bed you will find things much improved in the morning.

Back after our visit to my DB and SIL and strangely reluctant to pick up the reins of ordinary life again. Still, time marches on and next week we are promised a few days visit from our great friend on the Island. This is the wonderful lady who has terminal cancer and has confounded the doctors by still being here 4 years after they predicted that she would have gone. Everytime she goes for her regular scan they are freshly amazed that the situation has not changed. I have to say that she is the funniest person I know. Every telephone call and every visit leaves me weak and aching with laughter. She is coming to stay for 4 days so I will probably have to be carried about in a wheelbarrow after that.

It's cold but the sun is shining brightly here and the White Horse at Westbury is gleaming white through my study window. Having said that, I think my radiator needs bleeding, my fingers are frozen so I must track down the key and get busy.

.

stiltwalker

Evening all hope you all ok.


Happy belated birthdays, seems there are a few of us this time of year, it's mine today although due to MIL passing we have decided to have official birthdays next month instead (She actually passed on DH's birthday last Sunday). So my parents got me a lovely top from Phase 8 (I love that shop but can only afford the sales - and even then it's got to be a good sized reduction) but DH and the kids going to do me next month. We are treating ourselves to takeaway pizza from the pub for dinner though as only got back from my parents at 4.30 so no meat out of the freezer to cook tea with anyway.


Once the kids are in bed I'm going to have a play with my drum carder and make some batts to play with my mum's embellisher which I have borrowed for a while. I so need to do more creative things - I seem to spend my entire life immersed in the kids and all things SEND with my parent carer forum stuff, and if not that then it's my OU (got my essay back today which I sent off mid chicken pox outbreak so v. pleased to get 65) only got 3 more essays and an exam left on that now though so nearly there - so it is my new year's resolution to actually get some proper amount of crafting done.


Hugs all round X

chickens11

Mrs Veg plot...Im with you on them dam candles , had that happen couple a year ago in the hall , and its impossible to try and wash the walls and ceiling where they are gone black , and even harder to get paint to cover over it........If id have trimmed the wicks it wouldnt have happened , cos they seemed to cause" smuts " floating in the air and they stain all paint work..........:mad:...
Burtha.....So sorry about your DD, so not fair is it when young people get cancer, but really lovely of your SIL to be treated to a week in the sun, not many bosses do that , it will be lovely for them to get away in some warmth .......

Monnagran......Glad you enjoyed your break away , makes you feel better dont it,?, a break from the old routine is a must.......
Kezlou......I do hope the therapy works for you , depression is such a terrible illness to have , my DIL also suffers badly and so far she as had 5 weeks off work due to it , obviously she is under the doctor .......I have to take my 2 anti depressants daily or id also go under..........
Camelot....You will so enjoy a log burner if you get the chance to have one again, only trouble is they are so expensive to buy and fit from scratch , what with the chimney liner etc its all bucks, ive not got a burner because I find them very dusty , plus they tend to eat logs , where as my open fire burns slow and hot and it dont go through much coal or logs .......

Ive got a beautiful roaring fire on the go , its been absolutely freezing today, such a raw feel to the day.......And the temperatures here for the week are around 2/3/4 degrees daytime so it wont get much warmer this week , if we are going to get snow lets have it in Jan or feb so we can all look forward to a nice spring come March....But I do notice in the garden today that I have honeysuckle in leaf bud, thats always the first to show at this time of year........

I have a robin who is whistling his socks off from early morn to about lunch time in the garden , sitting in a tree for hours , he sounds lovely this time of a year........
Im watching "Countryfile" now, then its " call the midwife", then me thinks its bed at 9....Enjoy the evening , Sheila...

Pooky

Happy Birthday Stilty and well done on your essay! I don't know how you do it all x

It's been sooooooo cold here today but I've been beavering away at de cluttering - managed to persuade DH to get rid of the 2 shelves of books he's been holding on to and the 80 odd DVDs that aren't watched. Will tackle the CD drawers tomorrow. Have done a quick glance through some of the "we buy your old stuff" sites and there's potential for just over £100 from some of it - will get him on to that this week - it's all going in our "house moving fund".

DD1 was out last night (clubbing with uni friends and stayed over at theirs) so wandered home around 11am - she's not a drinker but only had a couple of hours sleep so she's been pretty much prone on the sofa all day, DD2 has been writing an essay and getting ready for her first big assessment at her placement tomorrow - she's so nervous she could barely eat her tea - I've packed her off for a nice hot, bubbly bath and she's got clean bedding on so she'll jump straight into bed and forget her stress (well that's the hope anyway).

Loads and loads and loads of washing done today - I'm playing the hokey cokey with it on airers in front of the fire...amazing how quick you can get a load dry if you keep turning it.

Found a pork joint in the freezer so we had that for tea with lots of roast spuds and fresh veg - very nice it was too - we seem to have had chicken so much lately that a change was extremely welcome.

There's a great thread on the main OS boards about Kondo'ing - a folding and decluttering method - I've been having a good read and my drawers are looking amazing - worth a pop over and a read.

kezlou

Fingers crossed for your dd tomorrow pooky

Finally dragged ourselves out today, went to saltburn and it brutal and that's putting it nicely.
Spent a couple of hours in a cafe sipping hot drinks and scoffing yummy food. It's quite cheap but also the atmosphere is lovely with jazz playing in the background and soft lights. Everything is locally sourced from the area so well worth a visit.
Place was full but we managed to a get a seat at the back.
Ds2 asked to walk along the beach, so we did, it was freezing beyond belief. We got completely soaked by a sudden wave. Instead we just laughed shivering in the cold. Then had a slow drive through a blizzard. Within minutes of walking from the van to the back door we were looking like snowmen lol
Then hot chocolate and marshmallows to warm us up.
Oh has decided to make pasta and sauce for dinner, so so I'm not cooking tonight

Boys have started merlin, its not too bad actually.


Honestly sq it was such a pleasure having a candle lit bath. Will definitely be doing that again.

Sheila it is truly a debilitating illness, healing thoughts to your dil and yourself

silvasava

Evening all- just skimmed through so Happy Birthday to SQ. Great news for Burtha's DD (Bio Oil is good for scarring) My Dad had a skin graft on the back of his hand over 50 years ago & it looked ugly to begin with but soon blended in & I'm sure the techniques were not as advanced as now. In fact they took skin from his thigh & that showed for years!
Kez - Do hope the therapy helps you - depression is so insidious & many people just don't appreciate how crippling it can be.
Had a lovely 'moment' today - DH & I were at the Sailing Club & I saw a flash out the corner of my eye. When I looked a Kingfisher was sitting on the pontoon looking for the minnows. I've never seen a 'live' one & couldn't believe how irridescent his beautiful feathers were-stunning!
DH has just made me a coffee so going to settle & watch Foyle
Hugs to all who may need them x

nursemaggie

Burtha Absolutely wonderful for your DD. The holiday must be the icing on the cake.

The thought of eating milk puddings apart from sago is so close to the pain of the ulcer I don't think so.

I have eaten eggs in various forms, all the cheese we did not have a lot. I found one of my LO chicken cottage pie concoctions which went down fine it hardly needed any chewing. I have some pate so having that on soft bread and putting the crusts in chicken cup-a-soup. That is very soothing.

I don't think you can beat salt water for cleaning out and soothing wounds. I have also been having teaspoons of honey yum that promotes healing.

As for TCP!! About 40+ years ago the NHS had a nasty outbreak of staphylococcus a fairly common bacteria that causes sore throats wound infections and lots of other things in many hospitals. It took months to find where it had come from as it was scattered around the country. Eventually it was traced to a batch of 1 litre bottles of TCP or at least the same stuff slightly stronger we used extensively in the post operative treatment of surgical wounds. The stuff was proved to be a good medium for growing most of the common bacteria.

The NHS has not used it since, apart from growing bacteria. Neither have I. It has since been found that most disinfectants can grow bacteria.

I understand perfectly Stiltwalker why you need to do something creative, which is why I have been busy making little tiny matinee jackets for premature babies. I think Ginny does them too.

Possession a lot of us have been kicking you up the backside since Friday so by now your bottom should feel like my left hip feels when I wake up in a morning. You ought to be organising the rest of them to do it. I found once I had taught DS to do it and kept feeding him things to wrap and pack we got on much quicker than me packing myself and nagging him.

The way to get round the "the kitchen stuff is yours" is to threaten to only take one cup and plate and only cook for yourself. I would start getting some estimates for moving from tomorrow. A warning. There are a couple of comparison sites for removals. They just send your details to hundreds of removers and your phone never stops ringing. I have to admit I did use one though. They came all the way from Eastbourne to near Chichester but they were good.

We still have snow on the ground so I am not going out until it goes except to the Drs tomorrow to get my prescription. I read in the local paper they has stopped the buses. We have all of an inch. :rotfl: