The Garden Fence - help and support in tough times

ivyleaf

How frustrating S_Wales_ Saver!

I've got a problem with my laptop, which used to be really fast; it keeps telling me it needs backing up, but when I try to, it says it "can't find the specified file", so it's taking aaaaages to boot up.

DS used to be an IT techie and still dabbles, but he's baffled.

silvasava

Love a rainbow fence - sounds like a reflection of us all! I'll grab a high bit near a fence post to put my mug on and can I have a nice deep fuchsia colour please.
Burtha Old man's darling comes to mind lol
Got another boat cushion finished yesterday - 3 left to do, 1 medium, 1 small & 1 enormous! Helped DH put the primer on today - starting to look quite smart. We stopped earlier than intended 'cos there was a bitter east wind & very exposed on the coast & I was getting very cold so we came home, made a cuppa and lit the fire - bliss!

stiltwalker

Evening all - rainbow sounds good to me!


Well I had a very excited Little Miss Stilty today watching Justin's House as they did pick her clip and so she was on the telly box!!! Fine end to a particularly good week.


Take care all - x

burtha

Wow miss stilty....superstar in the building ...:):T:T
xx

Softstuff

GreyQueen wrote: »

I was having a rip-roaring great day, then had an unwelcome letter, then my mobile gave me a msg when switched on that the SIM couldn't register, then the kitchen lightbulb failed. Call that a low energy longlife bulb, that's only lasted 9.5 years, the slacker. Bunged one of my union freebies in. Tell ya, if all those three had happened yesterday on Fri 13th even a cynic such as myself might have been going ho-hum.

There must have been something in the air GQ. I incinerated a curry and we shattered the lid of my favourite pan. I was almost inconsolable, having waited nearly 8 years for a decent pan and more than 1 hob to use it on. Now we're mortgaged and skint with no furniture it could be some time before it's replaced. And it was my birthday pressie from my MIL, purchased on half price special it was still dear. I try really hard to take care of nice things when I do get them and had anticipated this lasting me decades .

Anyhoo, onwards and upwards. As for bulbs, we recently discovered that the new LED bulbs can now be used in ordinary light sockets. Over here they're only about 15% dearer than an energy saving bulb, but they use a lot less power, come on at full light instantly and are designed to last a lot longer (not to mention being a lot more environmentally friendly to dispose of). So we have 1 in our loo where the bulb died and will slowly replace the others with more of the same.

Today hopefully the cubby house will be gone. I'm just hoping our fence will remain in one piece in the process.

MrsCD

Stilty What a fantastic end to your week. Well done Little Miss Stilty :T:T:T and Well done Mum Stilty :T:T:T What an amazing family :T:T:T

MrsLW Sorry to hear about Docky. We've all come to love him as our own and we know you will do what's best when the time comes. Sending lots of slobbering hugs to Docky and when you need a hug we can all do a massive group hug for you too. x

I'm heading off for a few days, so will catch up when I can. Take care all.

GreyQueen

(((((softstuff))))))) bad luck with the pan lid. I have one glass-lidded pan and it makes me a bit nervy using it. Do you have access to a freecycle group and could you post a Want in case someone has ruined a pan and has a lid which would fit? I know it wouldn't be the same, but better than nothing.

Will the finances ease up a bit when your unit is sold/ rented; can't recall what you were going to do with it? Hope it gets a bit easier, anyway. Living like a student can get a bit tiresome when you're long past the age-group.

Anyway, I turned the mobile back on later in the evening and it effortlessly connected to the service, so dunno what that was all about. It's saved me a trip up the precinct to the shop where I bought it, anyway.

I'm drinking tea and slowly waking up. On Fri did 4.5 hrs gardening and yesterday just under 4. My poor muscles are so worked out that they've given up protesting and I'm feeling pretty limber. Will be doing some more gardening today, various domestic bits and visiting with a pal for a cuppa and a natter.

Interesting news about the LED lightbulbs. I have a boot-sized shoebox full of the regular low energy lightbulbs as there was a phase when the world and its wife were sending them to me for free. None of them were actually bought, and I noted on the box of the one I put in the kitchen yesterday that it came from UNISON in 2007.:rotfl:OK, I am a member, but dunno why they were doling out lightbulbs.

A chance convo with Mum a few weeks back revealed that she is down to her last bulb of this type, so I'll let her take her pick of the box as I change one of these bulbs about once a decade and at this rate, the shoebox full will last my lifetime.

Oh, and what's the quality of light with the LED bulbs? Now I'm officially middle-aged, I find I need brighter light than I did even a few years ago for reading and close work.

Softstuff

Thanks GQ. Freecycle is a bit non-existent round here. Hubby (who dropped it ) is going to try the manufacturer. I can likely get another lid that will fit even if it won't match. To be honest it didn't worry me having the glass lid originally, although I'm clumsy I've always had glass lids even on my old cheap pans, but have never dropped one. I'd give it more thought if I were to purchase another.

We're selling the unit, hopefully in about a week it'll be ready to sort out going on the market (I've been going flat out at the renovation) Then obviously it's luck and a waiting game. We owe about 40% of what we'll get for it to the father in law, most of the rest will go on the mortgage, but we're determined to use a little to make here a bit more liveable. It does feel a bit tedious student living at this age... it also feels a bit tedious to be decorating another place to sell it (it's not the first time I've had to it). We'll still have after all that what feels like a ridiculously large mortgage, but accounting for not paying the body corp fees, it's not that bad (that accounts for nearly 6 months of the mortgage payments each year)

We had a spate of free energy saving lightbulbs too, but didn't get what I feel was a long time out of them. Apparently they're good to be on constantly, but don't like always being turned on and off. LED by contrast, (apparently) don't mind at all being turned on and off. We find the quality of light better if anything with LED, they're at full strength immediately without a warm up and apparently don't suffer a deterioration of light over their lifespan like the energy saving ones do.

Anyhoo, curry night at a friends tonight, so taking Rick Steins dopiaza, my chickpea curry and some delicious homemade buttery roti. And a large bottle of wine as medication before the week ahead.

GreyQueen

Enjoy your curry night, Softstuff.

I have 6 lights in the flat; curly fluorescent tube in bathroom, 4 regular ceiling lights and an uplighter in the living room which I fished out of a rubbish pile and that does the bulk of the work. The block communal lighting enables me to wander around and use the bathroom without actually putting the lights on most of the time, and I pay for that via service charges anyway, so that's the ultimate in avoiding bulb-use in the home.

When the living room light went a bit feeble I swopped it for the bedroom light. As the bedroom contains a bed, and just enough floor to stand on, I don't tend to loiter there unless I'm sleeping. And yes, gentle readers, what my RL acquaintances feared is actually true - I do sometimes get dressed in the dark.:rotfl:

[Deleted User]

Happy Mothers Day to all of you, mothers or not, I guess the nation will go into collective spending over it so we've gone to ground and other than walking that hound won't come out until tomorrow when all the boxes of chocs and bunches of flowers and mugs saying Mother will be reduced to 1/4 of their prices today. I've had texts from both my girls and a homemade crepe paper daffodil with some cotton wool snow to go on it (once years ago I got a real one with real snow and it's become a family tradition in various guises!) which for me is worth far more than all the commercial merchandising on the planet. Whatever, have a nice day and enjoy your Sunday.