The Garden Fence - proper Old Style support and chat!

pollyanna_26

Catsacor said:

grandmanerd said:

Mouse houses
Minatures can be very expensive, so I'd probably go down the 'Blue Peter' route and cobble together what I can - eg toothpaste tube top for a wastebasket and then ask for special bits as gifts. Will it be strictly for adults or will it need to be safe for visiting children? Start by working out what is to scale for the mouse - some doll's houses are for Bar bee type dolls (I hate bar bee) and some are for smaller dolls/ animals/ peg people. There is a Maileg toys do a whole range of mouse sized accessories- it might be worth looking at their stuff to get some ideas. But a simple bed could be made from a 'cook's matches' box. Duvets, sheets and blankets can be made from scraps, a padded type headboard wouldn't be difficult. What skills does your friend have - woodworking, sewing, crochet? Magazine or catalogue pages can be used for backgrounds and pictures for the wall.

Someone on the OS threads used to do doll's house stuff but I can't remember who (greenbee, Angie/ thriftwizard, someone like that). They used to go to special meet-ups to trade/ swap with other fans - whoever it was specialised in flowers and window boxes. Etsy have plans for sale for furniture and even whole dolls houses but pinterest has lots of upgrades of basic houses (the big Swedish firm do a good one) or if she's planning a whole village of mice in houses wooden boxes from hob-e-craft or the worx could be used. Most of the upgrades involve buying a mass produced second hand house and replacing the lurid array of pinks with  a more tasteful scheme. Some people use lolly sticks to make parquet floors.

I'm planning a dolls house for my grand-daughter but it will either be the basic one (many can be used a s bookshelves when she outgrows it) or put together from strong cardboard boxes. The one thing I have bought (she was only born in July, this will be for when she's about 3 yo) is a wooden greenhouse (with raised beds, cold frame, little vegetables and other accessories - watering can and wheelbarrow) complete with a little 'grandma' doll with grey hair in a bun. It was very expensive but I bought it at sale price, a new customer discount, free delivery and I looked at it several times until they upped their offers. It's something a bit different, both baby's mum and myself are gardeners and I want to take it out and play with it now, even though I'm not a dolls house kind of person.

Superheroes
Not a new thing. My brother climbed up onto the toilet/ coal hole roof when he was about 4 yo (he's 60 now) and jumped off - he was being Superman and expected to fly. My sons once warmed up jelly cubes in their hands and then attempted to 'Spidey' walk up their bedroom wall. They were partly successful because the jelly handprints nearly touched the 9' ceiling and they were sensible enough to do it where their beds were so they hit the mattress when gravity took over.

Cats and snooker
DS1's cat used to sit on top of the tv and try to catch the balls as they moved - we had some video games where balls travelled down the screen and you attempted to match them before they landed on the others and he liked that one as well.

Still ill
I have a hospital appointment tomorrow at Salford. I'm still not better but I really want to go - it's over 3 years since I've been (pandemic and then them trying to catch up - they were probably diverted to COVID wards during the pandemic). My favourite CPAP mask developed a rip 3 weeks ago and I'm using an older different model so would like a replacement plus some consumables if they have them. No point in postponing the appointment because I'll have got better and been floored by another bug, so I'm doing it.

Thankfully today's meeting with my brother and niece got called off as both myself and my niece have 'bugs' and my brother could die if he spends time in the same room as us. You asked why I needed to see him polly. I don't really, we're just trying to keep his anxiety levels down. He's obsessed with how much he will get from mum's estate and if he'll have enough to get through to retirement (only a year 3 months and 8 days for me now, but 6 years, 4 months for him) as he will lose his UC.

He's already fretting that they won't renew his PIP (which he will keep as it's not means tested) next year. He was involved in an accident with a car and a motorbike when he was 8, the doctors told my parents he'd be in a wheelchair by the time he was 30. He's broken a lot of other bits since then including elbow, ankle and pelvis and when he was working at an all night garage he was held up first at knife point and then about a year later by 4 men with shotguns so his 'nerves' are shot too. 

He also has no idea about his pension entitlement. I tried to talk him through his working life a while ago but it was like wading through treacle. So niece added that to our to do list. His laptop isn't working atm. Last time I saw him he didn't know whether to buy a camper van or not and also talked about investing in gold. He doesn't really want to share mum's lodger (because it will make things complicated when one of us dies - not that he'll be doing any sorting). The best thing he could do IMHO is to take full responsibility for mum's lodger - he'd have the rent as income and retain the house as an asset. Mum's lodger has been in grandma's house for nearly 30 years so he's not going to stop paying the rent now. However I'm wary of saying that because he's likely to jump the other way out of sheer cussedness. 

I only know I have an appointment because of a text reminder - don't know if the actual appointment letter has gone to mum's (I only recently checked that they had my current address and phone number). I was planning to try to go there but now thinking I can manage with my dob and other info I can recite off the top of my head. May just go to pick up a timetable from the bus station, see if there are any strikes, pick up my puzzle book (shop at the back of the bus station) and buy sandwiches and drinks to take with me tomorrow (the hospital franchise prices are horrendous) and get me through the next couple of days (I want toast, preferably toasted teacakes). Then I can come back and rest more in preparation for the trek. planning to go early because of the morning rush and don't know how long it will take me to negotiate my way across the hospital - at least it's not Manchester Royal.

Thanks for that.
Yes, she's thinking she'll have to make a lot of things herself as she doesn't know much yet - but is in a position to be able to buy all the bits ready made if she can, cost not an issue (🫤 )

I had a look online and there are books online giving instruction on small things all the way to dolls houses. There are a number on the big river site some very cheap others more expensive however cost doesn't seem to be an issue.

If she is lucky enough to have a traditional lending library rather than a few shelves in our arts centre our big beautiful library was reduced to I often saw those sort of books in the big library as along with other subjects I always spent a lot of time in the arts and crafts section.

GMN Sometimes in the last few years the hospitals here were either phoning or texting not a single letter. We just had the most recent letter they had sent and it was just name, date of birth, address and GP which youngest answered and were shown where to sit.

I hope your journey to Salford is trouble free and proves to be worth the effort. For goodness sake take a taxi not a bus. If you return thinking you;ve picked up another bug I shall shout at you. Not something I normally do.

Still cold here but the sun is out so that's good to see and I hope it may get warmer as the day goes on.

Hope everyone is ok whatever they're doing. I'm trying to come to terms with the news our NW weatherman  is returning to his native Wales to be on BBC radio.

He cheered my days through lockdowns or not often doing the forecasts from inside his home where he showed us his cats or in his lovely garden on sunny day.It was impossible to feel down when Owain appeared with his numerous differnt coloured three piece suits a different   colour for every one,pretty embellishments on each   and the woes of  his ever lengthening hair during lockdowns.

He appeared when our long time weather girl died young will cancer something she'd  never mentioned.Peter Kay was one of her greatest fans and sometimes he'd appear beside her during a forecast and have her and us in fits of laughter as she tried to get through the forecast

After the news broke he and us were heartbroken , Peter said she brought the sunshine.She was a hard act to follow various presenters were filling in until a permanent NW presenter was appointed then Owain appeared  After his forecast he;d head for the end of the red sofa the news presenter was sitting on and start talking of his woes always beginning with hair then he was concerned he;d chosen the wrong  shirt to  to go with that days suit,

A while ago looking for something to watch on TV I came across a new series called Freeze The Fear and was run by someone who'd had something tragic happen when younger and the memories traumatised him over the years.

He decided to challenge himself to be stronger than the fear and suceeded,

The programme I began to watch was set high in the freezzing mountains of Italy with glaciers and deep snow

There were a number of well known faces who'd had some trauma in their pasts unresoled and still affecting  their lives .Alfie Boe was one a very successful singer who sang George Best  to his rest with a beautiful rendition of " Bring him home"

Owain was one taking on the challenge which didn't seem at all his sort of thing.

I and many others were already aware Owain was gay  and had a husband. Growing up in a tough Welsh village he was the only gay in the village and was horribly bullied by both youngsters. and adults especially the men.

He was trying to face something extreme in an attempt to wipe out bad memories. Some of the participents refused many of the challenges although health and safety were there.

Two very extreme challenges were to launch yourself on a rope off the top  of a very icy mountain backwards and to my surprise Owain did that which surprised him as few took that challenge.

They would return each night to a warm building to get warm and chat about the day. The most extreme challenge was to immerse themselves in deep icy cold water for a set amount of time, They were being monitored in case it went wrong. Owain was one of the few to accept that challenge shivering and complaining about his by now wrecked hair . It seemed to really help him to face the fear and do it anyway.

It was interesting to see events from the past and the things that had resolved long held memories and fears By facing a very odd fear unreated to the past events

polly

grandmanerd

It's okay polly, I took the taxi - I have enough stress in my life without adding to it. I made it to my appointment on time, despite the girl on reception taking more than 10 minutes to process me. I wore my mask except when eating and drinking. Good compliance with using the machine, I have a new mask to replace the one with the rip, a new hose and lots of extra bits. Spent £40 in m'n's (tiny outlet) mainly meal deals on offer but bought some carrots, tiny toms and mushrooms to eat raw and have tea cakes to toast. Was going to buy some fair trade bananas but they were only available singly to go with meal deals. Resisted luscious but bad for me desserts.

A long wait for my taxi home but easy journeys both ways and now back on the bed with supplies (back needs stretching although I did what I could during the wait).

pollyanna_26

I'm glad you got to the hospital and back safe and sound .Managed to get a positive outcome with the machine and find the teacakes you've been craving. You should  enjoy those.I've been buying fairtrade bananas for years they're eco friendly and the growers get a fair deal. The thing I like about the COOP is they try to source ecofriendly goods.Lots of things are from the nearby farms and are fresher  and taste nicer than imported goods that had to go through all the stages including in queus of lorries  at ports or on the roads to get in to the UK. All those fumes as they wait in very long queues are drive along the roads to their various desinations are never going to help save the planet quite the reverse.

Fuel costs now are just going inflate prices even more. I'm aware we may neverbeable to meet the demand here but apart from bananaa and a few other things many things normally grown aboard were  being grown here on large estates or stately homes where the gardeners had provided the right conitions to do so.

More people are using taxies now and demand is greater for the ones from decent firms so sometimes does requireq quite a long wait but no longer having a car of my own I see it as the best way to travel.Spacing out when I go out means I'm not constantly paying fares.

Try to rest today,we've found there are quick and helpful porple on reception as they are at our vaccination hub. In both our hospitals some take a couple of minutes to  point us to where need to sit having quickly confimed details .There are others who ask pretty well everything bar our shoe sizes while having all the information on the screen in front of her; no idea if she's still there but there was one in Ormskirk we used to dread it was like watching paint dty she'd break off from what she should be doing to have a quick chat with someone or rush to answer a phone when there were other staff not busy. The hospital is quite a journey from here so we were already tired. It was a relief when nurses began to phone for updates  and only iwice did we have to go there rather than every few months/

Take it easy today no must do this that or the other. You have food and have probably already eaten the craved for teacakes.. Just rest you should sleep  better now you're back to a fully functional mask.

pollyx

grandmanerd

I stayed on the bed, eating, reading, finished watching last week's Bake Off as well as more of my current serial and also checked for new films (it's been mostly Korean Cinema and super heroes) and started on the Great Debaters (first black American debate team to compete against white colleges but set against the racism of the 1930s - very good but need to leaven it with 'fluffier' stuff).

Having struggled with last month's puzzle book I whizzed through a quarter of the one I bought yesterday. I also bought an extra one - a large print edition has a lot of different puzzles I like in usable format but isn't always in stock. the puzzles are simpler than ones I used to do but it's more about following through a logical process. When my MH isn't great, or I'm feeling wooly headed because of bugs, I can't concentrate so it's another way of keeping track of my internal workings.

Books are the same. like you I love Rebus and a lot of other detectives, but I've recently discovered the Beaufort Scales cosy mysteries - dragons the size of large dogs who've made friends with the elderly but feisty members of the WI in a small Yorkshire village. If I'm ill, things like that and the Stephanie Plum novels by Janet Evanovitch are an easier, entertaining read. When I'm too ill to read - eyes watering, nose running etc - I'm really in trouble. 

Whilst I was hunting out things I needed to take with me, I discovered my pinsentry machine (missing for 2 weeks) so I looked at my bank account. I drew cash on Thursday and was pleasantly surprised by the balance (very pleasantly - I've been frettiing about running out of money) but needed to look at my bank account to see what I'd received from where and whether I needed to chase anything up. I also did a food delivery order to be delivered on Sunday evening (I always go for the cheap slots) as the bank have been insisting on verifying every purchase - the only people who will take my money were just-eat which is far from ideal. Last week I asked Beloved to do a limited order through her mum's prime account and the week before that I used the little infirmary bus to go to the doctor's to pick up my blood test forms and then went to the other end of the line to do a couple of bags Morries shop (an all day ticket will bring me back to the main road side of the town hall and then I only need to get round the corner and across the car park (having a rest on the benches in front of the town hall, of course). When even getting to little Arseda is a problem, I'm ill.

I love the co-op. I used to be on the regional members committee in the late eighties and early nineties (it's like a board, we had input into decisions made by the actual board). Keeping shops open in co-op deserts is a deliberate policy. Our department store shut many years ago (I bought my 2 le crew say pans in the final sale) with the little banking nook on the top floor and our large SM closed some time in the late nineties. There's still a smaller store on a 1950's estate on the edge of town and a couple I can get to by bus (I used to get members vouchers every six months) but it needed planning. 

Last time I went in one I went in was coming back from my aunt's funeral in Abingdon. Got off the train at Piccadilly, new co-op had opened on the slope down from the station (stocked up on own brand cider vinegar and other condiments and salad and deli stuff so I could spend a couple of days recovering from the funeral and the travelling) then walked a little further down the slope to catch the free city centre bus, to a point where it intersected with the bus home. 

Co-op has always had good ethical policies (it was founded to break the mill owners monopoly on their workers' food purchases). I've always bought fair trade bananas and still remember how strange it felt when we switched from boycotting S African fruit to actually supporting it (I used to send Nelson Mandela a C card each year through a TU organised group - his sacks of cards filled several cells which were so many less to put people in). 

I remember someone asking at a meeting why the co-op didn't have 'dolphin friendly tuna' on the shelves. The answer was that no-one had dolphin friendly tuna at that point. The other SMs had put the slogan on their labels but catches couldn't be properly sourced all the way back to their origins and the co-op needed that proof before making the claim. In my obsessive label reading days (when my boys were small) the co-op often had better nutritional content than many more expensive brands (no traffic light system or clear labelling then - you had to hunt for the information). 

I'm only just breaking into the tea cakes then I'll read and rest a little longer and then plod on with this room. I used my handbag yesterday and some of the EA and solicitor stuff was in there (more bits to enter in my accounts).

MrsFarmer19

Morning all!

Sunny here atm, been some very heavy showers already this morning though.  Just taken a batch of buns (cupcakes to you modern folks ha!) out of oven, had some left over buttercream and some decorations from a birthday cake I'd made yesterday so going to decorate them and take some to my other halfs best friend for his birthday tomorrow.  I'm sure he won't mind the spiderman/hulk/ironman decorations hehehe!
Dog happier after vet visit yesterday, she seems to be improving very slowly so will take her on a nice walk today in between the showers.
I'm building up the courage to tidy the whole house (it's very small) as I have a guest staying from Thursday for a family wedding, never met him before so  I'm hoping he's "normal" like me!  Need a good tidy up and have to sort the spare room as currently you can't see the bed for all the ironing on there!
Hope everyone is doing ok!
Jx

pollyanna_26

MrsFarmer19 said:

Morning all!

Sunny here atm, been some very heavy showers already this morning though.  Just taken a batch of buns (cupcakes to you modern folks ha!) out of oven, had some left over buttercream and some decorations from a birthday cake I'd made yesterday so going to decorate them and take some to my other halfs best friend for his birthday tomorrow.  I'm sure he won't mind the spiderman/hulk/ironman decorations hehehe!
Dog happier after vet visit yesterday, she seems to be improving very slowly so will take her on a nice walk today in between the showers.
I'm building up the courage to tidy the whole house (it's very small) as I have a guest staying from Thursday for a family wedding, never met him before so  I'm hoping he's "normal" like me!  Need a good tidy up and have to sort the spare room as currently you can't see the bed for all the ironing on there!
Hope everyone is doing ok!
Jx

I'm glad your dog seems lot better after seeing the vet. It's a lovely idea  to use the cakes as a gift. I'm sure many still have fond memoories of those Superheroes  and if he doesn't he will welcome cakes .A very MSE gift.

There is a thread on the OS Forum 2022 Decluttering Campaign run by Mrs SD- the name is the shortened version of her username. Mrs Salad Dodger which really made me laugh imagining her  dodging lettuce and other salad stuff in shops.

It covers everything from doing a good tidy up to dealing with tackling extreme hoarding and there are lovely people there and Mrs SD is very gentle and supportive no judgement  just good advice. It's very chatty too and there are lots of interesting posts on other subjects. A while ago Mrs SD was on holiday with the oh and was posting amazing pictures and talking of some of the wonderful places they'd seen I had always longed to visit Yellowstone but never did' But it was on the thread in all it's glory witth Mrs SD describing what they'd seen and I felt as though I had been there.

pollyx

pollyanna_26

I posted on  Hesters blog earlier . I 'd written the name down in case I forgot it again. They're still waiting for moving day. i told her many on the Fence remembered her and asked if she'd post on her blog if she was changing the blog name. now she's no longer hardup hester afloat  will she mention  it on her present blog.

The sooner they can move the better it's difficult doing thing like getting their prescriptions as they don't have an address. The cottage they rent is in the back garden of a house so no address.

She said even Beano the dog is exhausted with all the walking!

Hope everyone's ok..

Trying to persuade myself to go to bed but I'm watching something I don't often watch Political Thinking with Nick Robinson. A young born in Manchester member of the Labour Party with a party role. She's talked about her life from childhood and the subject of levelling up which wasn't a part of life for her and her family .

She's very good at putting her point over and has a wicked sense of humour..

Well it's just finished I've trawled through the news channel but no mention of the guest. GMN will probably know who I'm talking about but the little grey cells are failing me.

ETA Lisa Nandy no info on the Nick Robinson programme tonight.

So did the obvious thing and looked up the shadow cabinet.

She's Shadow Secretary of State for Leveling Up , Housing . and Communities and talks a lot of sense.Very clear and no blustering.

pollyx

MrsFarmer19

Morning all!

Feeling quite positive today, have spent half an hour sorting washing & putting things away, my bedroom is now tidy & it just needs hoovered/dusted/windows cleaned tomorrow.  Then I'll start on the spare room I think - much bigger job as that's where everything that doesn't have a home goes to!
Heavy rain again overnight, was worried about my daughter getting home from work last night as the roads are quite flooded here, anyway a nice young lad had spotted her in her car contemplating going through a big flood on the road and he'd got out of his car and guided her through!  She's only been passed her test for a month so still just learning and now it's dark when she's driving that's a whole new experience for her. 
Nice and sunny here now, the doctor did mention the lack of sunlight where I work as there's no windows in the hospital basement so for my 10 hour shift I get no natural light at all, I'm soaking it up now though 

Hope everyone is doing ok!
Jx

pollyanna_26

MrsFarmer19 said:

Morning all!

Feeling quite positive today, have spent half an hour sorting washing & putting things away, my bedroom is now tidy & it just needs hoovered/dusted/windows cleaned tomorrow.  Then I'll start on the spare room I think - much bigger job as that's where everything that doesn't have a home goes to!
Heavy rain again overnight, was worried about my daughter getting home from work last night as the roads are quite flooded here, anyway a nice young lad had spotted her in her car contemplating going through a big flood on the road and he'd got out of his car and guided her through!  She's only been passed her test for a month so still just learning and now it's dark when she's driving that's a whole new experience for her. 
Nice and sunny here now, the doctor did mention the lack of sunlight where I work as there's no windows in the hospital basement so for my 10 hour shift I get no natural light at all, I'm soaking it up now though 

Hope everyone is doing ok!
Jx

Weak sun but cold here today,  It's nice there are nice helpful people who guide someone through a flood without even being asked . A relief for you and your daughter.

Do you take Vitamin D? Youngest dd is immunesuppressed and on bright sunny days has to wear big sunglasses to prevent damage to her eyes along with her other prescribed meds Vitamin D and others are   are on repeat..

She does stay out of the sun as much as possible but at times can't she'll go in the garden for a while wearing the sunglasses but isn't getting the natural sunshine vitamin and the supplement provides that.

Ten hours in a basement without windows sounds odd no wonder you soak up the sun when you can though winter isn't so sunny.

pollyx

grandmanerd

Lisa Nandy is the MP for Wigan polly, but I don't think I've met her (I'm so old I've changed the nappies of some of the Councillors). I thought it sounded like Rebecca Long-Bailey, the MP for Salford - I like her. She's the one who was patronised by a tory MP sneering at working class pursuits and their ignorance of Opera. Her reply was that she had been at Glyndbourne the previous evening, as a guest of one of the singers, a friend from childhood who also came from a [poor working class background.

Tried to post earlier but it had locked me out of the forum.