The Garden Fence - help and support in tough times

milasavesmoney

ivyleaf wrote: »

mila Aaw, that's so cute I guess she's feeling very grown-up at the moment! What an unusual name she has. A Mexican name?

Ivy, her name is Sequoia but she calls herself Quoye so we all do too.

Hard_Up_Hester

Lol, I should have phrased that better JackieO, fortunately he only sits on my knee when I'm on the sofa.

Candy, Barney is ok when I'm in the shower, he sits on the landing quite content once he realises what I'm doing.

He seems to realise there is no other exit from the shower cubicle, with the toilet I think he's afraid that I'm going to disappear down the hole so he sits in with me to make sure I don't go anywhere.

Monna, another problem with stunt kites can be the spoonerism when an excited child tries to repeat the phrase too quickly.

I also think both dogs believe they must have gone deaf as DD now has 7 'kids' at home and it is so quiet here.

She has her twins aged 2, her foster children who are 11 & 12, her foster child Josh who is 18 no longer counts as fostered but still lives with her, Josh's older brother Jack, 19 who is also out of the foster system, so moved in with DD when his previous placement ended and she has Jack's son who is almost 2 when Jack's GF needs a break as she is only 17.

Confused? I am, it's like something out of the Walton's!

monnagran

Hester: my goodness! Our queer old Dean lives again.

Don't spoil the lovely mental image I have of you squashed into a small loo, sitting on the throne with a large farting staffie sitting on your lap. I have a happy smile on my face.
I was woken before 6.00am by our huge, stupid mutt who prodded me with her paw under the duvet. I let her out and being thoroughly awake by that time made myself a coffee and went back to bed. Ive been watching last nights Olympics since then.

I'm looking forward to a reasonably relaxed and lazy Sunday. Hope you all manage a bit of R&R as well.
Which reminds me (sorry) that in the olden days we used to sing a hymn in church that started, "Oh, day of rest and gladness." My mother absolutely refused to sing it and stood there looking determindly tight-lipped. She always said that for her Sunday was the busiest day of the week.

x

FairyPrincessk

Morning all,

Yesterday's walk was absolutely lovely. We took a small detour along the way to see an old church and croft. There was a walled garden with an orchard and benches where we had our lunch and then had a wander looking at gravestones going back to the early 1700s. Most of the walk was along a river in a bit of woodland so it was fairly shaded. We were back home in time to sit in the garden before tea and then we ate outdoors again. I added to my bottle border and did some knitting.

Unfortunately I've pulled a muscle in my chest. I'm not sure if it was my posture with the small rucksack yesterday or digging the bottles in. I've pulled this spot before and it was an absolute beast to heal so I'm hoping it won't be too bad this time.

The menu plan and shopping list are ready as soon as we are and then I have some chores to do this afternoon and it is round two of ebay listing. Unfortunately our first item doesn't appear to be attracting much attention, but hopefully it will get noticed today as the weather cools down.


Monna, I've always thought getting everyone suited and booted and out the door on time all while making sure there was a nice and more elaborate than usual dinner to come home to, that no one misbehaved and everything was ready for the coming week must have been a lot of work.

Floss

FPK your walk sounds lovely, where did you go?

FairyPrincessk

Floss We did a walk from Rose Hill Marple station. There are some great guides for that station that don't require many map skills--we did the first one here, but added on a bit to see Chadkirk by crossing the Goyt at the bridge near the old Ford.

http://www.marple-uk.com/walks0.htm


It is a great walk for dog walkers with a few places in the river where the dogs can have a paddle, and short and easy enough for children of school age--maybe five or six if they walk regularly, a bit older if not used to it? I don't walk much with children but I think my niece who just finished reception would just manage it with breaks, but with trousers and long sleeves as the brush does have thistles and brambles.

We'd like to try some longer walks but I'm still building up my map skills. I'm fine with city map reading but I still find OS maps daunting--one hill looks much the same as another in my mind!

FairyPrincessk

Money Thanks for the suggestion, although I prefer to leave comfrey well alone even topically. It does have a number of risks (particularly liver damage even when applied topically) that I think in my case outweigh the possible benefits. I use tiger balm red, hot and cold compresses, and NSAIDs when necessary to help with the pain and inflammation, yoga will help me rebuild strength when it heals, but time and some light physical therapy exercises will be the best remedy for this one. I get a lot of injuries like this because I have hypermobility. I've managed to improve it considerably over the past eight years but I still get the odd problem.

ivyleaf

milasavesmoney wrote: »

Ivy, her name is Sequoia but she calls herself Quoye so we all do too.

What a terrific name :T A wonderful thing to be named after!

Now caught up with the rest of the thread.

FPk That sounds a lovely walk! Sorry about your pulled muscle though I hope it heals quickly.

monnagran A week of peace, what bliss! though knowing you I expect you'll end up quite busy

Hester I too had visualised the dog insisting on sitting on your lap in the loo

DS was very busy yesterday putting a new gate and fencing up behind the house. It looks great, and I'm so glad to have a functioning gate again because it means we can get rid of the old radiators which have been in the garden for months - it was just too difficult to bring them all the way through the house to get them to somewhere where the council could collect them from, but now they can be brought down the alley between our house and next door.
They are very heavy though....perhaps we should borrow DGS1's skateboard to help move them along.....:D

monnagran

Mitstm: PLEASE be careful about using Comfrey for anything. I won't go into details but I have seen at first hand the devastating results of using it.
I would suggest that the judicious use of weed killer on your comfrey would be in your best interests.

x

FairyPrincessk

Evening all,

I'm just waiting for the tea to finish cooking. I worked on sewing the skirt a bit---attached a yoke to skirt perfectly bar one section being inside out...unpicked it and then had to re-do it twice to get it straight. Sigh. I decided to leave the zipper for another day as those are notorious for going wrong. OH is out one evening this week so I'll aim to work on it then, or make jam depending on how fed up I am with it by then.:D It really only has two more steps before hemming which I can do mindlessly in front of the telly.

Carrying the shopping home was difficult, but when I got back I planted out a few discounted flowers and dug in a couple of bottles I picked up on the way home and that actually seemed to ease things as long as I was careful. I'll get some advice on any particular movements that will help tomorrow and then take it easy in the mean time. My joint issues are one thing that will likely improve with age and the pulled muscles and sprains that go with them, as long as I avoid arthritis. That is part of my motivation for staying active.

OH and I keep trying to get some advice about our savings. We requested an appointment to talk about how to prepare to apply for mortgages from one of the main lenders (who we have our help to buy accounts with) and they acted as if we were barmy for wanting to ask questions before we were ready to apply. I see Which? give advice, but that also seems aimed at people ready to apply. We really want someone to have a look at our employment situation and our savings, let us know if our back of the envelope figures are on track and if our ideas of what we'll be eligible for seem broadly correct or if we need to re-think our budget/savings goals. Given my employment is so hit and miss and may continue to be that way for a few years we aren't sure if it is best to leave me out of it or not. We've read all of the MSE guides and all sorts online. OH is going to call one of our other banks next week and see if they'll give us an appointment. I must admit each step feels a bit exciting even if it is still about two years off.