Argggg

So another bright morning, load in the washer, almost finished and then a big bang!! So it looks as though my carefully made plans are about to go down the plughole with the washer water. Thankfully it had finished spinning and I was able to get the clothes out and on the line, its blowing a hoolie again this morning. So it looks as though the sitting room carpet is going to have to wait a bit longer......and I need to research a new washer!! Just waiting for the electrician to come and check the wiring, fuse etc.

Yesterday the sheets etc dried on the line, so laundry is ready for the ironing lady to pick up.

I am on the last leg with the bookmarks, should finish them today and be able to soak them and then hunt for bags for them. 

I have managed to loose my two Brother screwdrivers. so have ordered another one, I think they must have got swept into the wast bucket and throw away. Will have to find a way of keeping the new one safe.

Egg and chips tonight. No dessert.

Monday

It's a fine blustery morning, the bed linen is almost dry on the line, will be going out shortly to get it in and message my ironing lady to come and collect it.

Cleaner here this morning, so everywhere is nice and tidy, it will not stay that way once DB gets up after his siesta.

Chicken in the Ninja for supper, will thicken the sauce with cornflour and cream. Rice to go with it.

I am still doing book marks. 20 for the stall. Had a thought yesterday, they would be great as a small present for teachers. Hope itdoes not rebound andI end up having to make hundreds!!!

Sunday again

We had our usual Sunday brekkie and lie in, I have prepped all the veg for supper tonight and got the turkey out to defrost.

Its a brightish morning, we are supposed to have sun for the next 2 days, so hopefully I will get the bed linen out on the line tomorrow. First time this year.

Soaked the book marks and dried then, just have to press them and they are ready to go. Still struggling to find fabrics for the mats.

M came round yesterday and swapped over the bedroom TV, much better using the biggar one that was in the sitting room. I have put the other one on gumtree and also our local page.

Quote in this morning for the garden £850 so not as bad as I thought, will be looking at getting it done at the middle to end of March, we will then have a good idea what plants are going to come through that need lifting and potting up. 

I want to do a few more book marks for the stall, at £2.50 they are a cheapish present.

So supper is roast turkey crown and veggies, possibly ice cream for dessert. I need to do the menu's for next week, so I know what I am doing.

Finished

10 bookmarks, each taking about 35 minutes to sew out. With the Luminaire you can programme the machine to go on to sew a second bookmark without having to mess about resetting it. Very handy. It has been good to be able to leave the machine sewing for short periods of time. Usually the only reason it stops is because either the thread had broken or the bobbin has run out. So the book marks now need soaking and then drying off.

A sure sign the medication has done its job, I slept right through last night, it was 8.45 before I woke, so a slow start to the day. Nothing spoiling though.

We have had a couple of dry days with no frost, yesterday was a bit of  a grey day but this morning its much brighter and not so cold.

No plans for the day really, need to look at the mats my friend has asked me to make. Finding the right fabric is a bit of a bind, I have not been very lucky so far. Have something I think will work but need to make a mat and see what it looks like.

Girding my loins to get ready for the decorator next month, we are going to have to move the chest in the hall and the wall shelves are going to have to come down. I am hoping Paul can take them down and put them back up again for us. Fitting the carpet is going to be something else, espescially in the sitting room We can move the small stuff but the settee and chairs will have to be moved by the fitters.

Supper tonight sausage and mash, we have been having a scoop of ice cream for dessert.

Shopping

Yesterday we went grocery shopping, so the fridge is full again, and a bit added to the freezer. After lunch I had my appointment to get my thumbs xrayed, so a quick visit into Melton to the hospital.

No sewing done yesterday so need to get 'at it' today. I want to finish the bookmarks, just have the red to go. Waiting for fabric for the mats. I am going to give a piece if each of the fabrics to E she can send them off to her friend. No way am I starting the mats if she does not like the fabric.

Now to the garden, the herbaceous border is 50' long and at the widest 4' full of plants and bushes. All the plants etc have to be dug out and those I want to keep potted up, the the whole bed has to be rotavated and compacted. Weed suppresent fabric put down and the slate on top and levelled off. the lawn will also need re-edging The large pots will then have to be put in place and planted up. It will be 2 if not 3 days work. I have set a budget of £1000. I am waiting for a second estimate to come in.

Supper tonight is fish and chips. I have a piece of braising steak to cook for the freezer.

Wet and windy

No frost again this morning, although its wet and quite a strong wind. Weare off shopping this morning and I have an appointment this afternoon to get my hands Xrayed.

Spent sometime yesterday sewing out the book marks, I finished the green ones with just about a yard of thread left!!

I will explain about the garden later. The work sounds quick but in reality its not.

Salad for supper tonight. 

No frost

First morning for ages we have not had frost, none forecast until the weekend...hooray.

Chap came yesterday to look at the herbaceous border, is going to send me an estimate, expecting upwards of £1000 which will almost clean me out, especially as I want to get the sitting room painted in the autumn. Hey Ho.

Did manage to do 3 bookmarks yesterday hoping to get the rest done over the next couple of days. Waiting for fabric to come for the mats.

Supper tonight is beef casserole with veggies, no dessert. 

Bright but brrrr

lovely sunny morning, if you are indoors. Its freezing outside!! The forecast says we are in for more bad weather. 

I managed to see a Doctor yesterday!! am now on extra strength anti b's have osteo-arthritis in my hands and an appointment to get an xray on Thursday. I called in the chemist and collected my normal meds. I had run out of one. They would have been delivered if I had not collected them.

I have a chap coming to look at the garden today to see about taking the herbaceous bed out, hopefully in the autumn. I need the summer to identify the plants I want to keep in pots. By the end of this year hopefully the house will have been more or less decorated and the garden sorted so its a bit easier for us to maintain. Once the sitting room has been done it just leaves the bathroom and kitchen, neither of which will be long jobs. I hate mess, so its going to be a year of grumbling........

DB is in thrall to his family history, he has now got back to the 15 hundreds. I doubt he will get much further back, births etc were recorded in the Parish registers and a lot of them have been destroyed at one time or another. Record keeping was sketchy to say the least.

I have had an order for 12 book marks and 7 place mats. Almost £140 all told. I have to source fabric for the place mats......not easy.

Supper tonight egg and chips, no dessert, we finished the strudel last night.

Brrrr

Frost again last night, but not so heavy as before. We are forecast very low tempertures and freezing fog. Good job I have not got to go anywhere this week.

Supper last night was delicious, I air fried the chicken breast, it was nice and moist. Its a long time since we had strudel, so the apple srudel was a nice change for dessert.

Laundry in, will be drying it in the dryer. I am also hoping to get into the sewing room and do a bit more in there. No cleaner this week, she is not due until next Monday. I will shove the gtech over the carpets and throw the duster at the dust. Its the bathroom and kitchen that will really need going over, especially the floors.

Supper tonight cld chicken, jacket potatoes and tomato and celery salad. The last of the strudel for dessert. 

Cows tail again!!

 Almost 9am before I woke this morning, bright and sunny, then, but grey and wintery now. Usual Sunday breakers, feet hit the floor about 10.30am.

Veg prepped for supper, roast chicken crown, will do us 2 days for supper. I have an apple strudel for dessert, will do us 2 suppers.

No sewing yesterday, doubt if I will do any today either, will have to see. The sewing room faces west so get very cold when the heat is switched off, takes a long time to warm up.

Edwins memory is getting worse, yesterday he managed to delete a book he had not read. Each day there are a number of things he forgets just after we have spoken about them.

I am going to go through my designs and put all the Christmas ones in a folder, the same with things like bookmarks etc, ones I use a lot will go onto a usb with a label on it. I am going to put a label on the sticks. I have a number of usb sticks and I always have to go through them when I am looking to see if I have downloaded a particular design. I need to be careful I do not put too many designs on the sticks as the machine has a capaciity of fies it can laod at any one time.

Right ofski for now.

Its the weekend

Its a  bright sunny morning, currently -3c outside, so unless I have to I will not be going out.

I have decided that I am not sewing today. I have a load of fsl to soak the stabiliser off and dry. Once they are dry they will be put the packages and stored ready for the fair in November. Waiting for my friend to let me know just how many book marks her friend wants. Then I can get them done out of the way. I have also be asked to make  one large and 4 small table mats, like the ones I made for Christmas. Getting enough work to keep me going. All the money is being ploughed back in to designs, thread, stabiliser and fabric.

Supper tonight will be ADB. We were very late waking up this morning. DB woke me coughing in the night and I was unable to get back to sleep for ages, so it was 9.30am before I opened my eyes.

 

Brrrrrr

Two bright,sunny but freezing cold days. The frost lifts after lunch and by 8pm its back again. Glad I do not have to go out.

The gold thread arrived yesterday, so I managed to finish the last ornament. I also got 3 boomarks and three more ornaments finished. So on to something else today. Depending on the size I can get 3 bookmarks or 5 ornaments in the 8 x 8 hoop, saves a lot of messing about just sew one after the other. Then cut out the square they are in and replace it with a square made up from bits cut off other projects.

Fish and chips tonight. No dessert, I bought two donuts yesterday so we had them for dessert last night.

Sorry

forgot to post yesterday.

Coffee morning at the little chapel, I took 4 bookmarks with me, my friend had given someone one for Christmas and she had asked E to get her some more. I gave her samples of a couple of designs. She paid for  3 and another lady took one......so it was back home to sew some more in different colours. I had a sort of fail on Tuesday, I was sewing out 5 gold ornaments on Tuesday afternoon and ran out of thread half way through the last one....aarrgggg, it cost me £14 for a 1000m reel and I had to send off for it. Thankfully it came yesterday,  I can finish that set off. It will put the costs of the gold baubles up to £4.50 each.

We are still having very heavy frosts at night, but we are lucky, other parts of the UK have got really heavy snow. Manchester Airport has had to close. Scotland has it bad as well, reminiscent of 2010 when we were not able to get out for 5 weeks over Christmas because of the heavy snow and bad roads.

Supper last night was belly pork, we finished off the rasps in jelly. Tonight will be quiche, with salad.

Jack frost visted

We have a very heavy frost this morning, but count ourselves lucky, other parts of the UK are snow bound. The frost shows no sign of easing at the moment. I have to go to the Post Office later this morning, will have to deforst the car first. When I get back I will put the cover on the windscreen.

Got AB's from the Drs yesterday, so hopefully the UTI will be 'on the run' now.

I managed some sewing yesterday, have almost done 5 sets of the tree ornaments, so need to soak off the stabilizer, dry then and can then pack them up. I discovered at the weekend that the company I used for card and envelope supplies has gone out of business, so will have to look for a new supplier. I need to sort out sizes of bags.

Bed linen washed yesterday, have a coloured wash in, will have to do a second one with DB's track suit and jumpers in.

Supper tonight frittata and salad and more of the rasps in jelly.

Very dark morning

I was up early this morning, if you do not ring at 8am you do not stand a dogs chance of getting a call from the Dr, and even then it acould be one of the nurse practitioners who call.

Its a very dark morning, we are in for some more bad weather, snow and strong winds......glad we have not got to go anywhere this week. Bed is stripped, cleaner is due this morning.

I did manage some sewing yesterday, working on a set of 4 tree ornaments.

Chicken and rice for supper with raspberry jelly for dessert.

The North Wind doth blow

although the sun is out, I do not doubt we will get snow in the week. It has been forecast.

Usual Sunday brekkie, I was late waking again, so it was 10am plus before my foot touched the floor. I have prepped the veg for supper and also made raspberries in jelly for dessert.

Yesterday I made more bookmarks, have also found a cute snowman one which I will attempt later. Just now I am doing free standing lace snowmen. DB will be watching the snooker final thhis afternoon, so I will have some time on the machine then.

Not a lot going on this week, so a quiet week me thinks.

Nasty pill day tomorrow, I will get up to take it, I need to phone the Dr for an appointment at 8am. Need anti b's. I also need a quick trip to the post office.

So supper tonight pork steaks with veg and roast potato's. Raspberries in jelly for dessert.

That makes a change!!

I did not wake until DB called me at 9.15. I had been up in the night, my UTI has reared its head again, so I was up taking painkillers. Will have to ring the Drs on Monday morning.

I managed to do the santa coaster yesterday without any major problems, also  made another bookmark.

I managed to sort out how to get rid of the 'voice' on the TV. Various people gave me suggestions how to do it, my son in law told me to look at a you tube video..........success......

Its hissing down with rain. DB tells me it will be fine tomorrow, but we may well get snow on Monday........

No plans for today really. I might do some more sewing, see how I feel. Have taken the pork steaks out of the freezer for tomorrow, will do cold meat and salad for tonight.

Its Friday

Dry just now, signs of the sun trying to get through but the forecast is for 8 hours of snow!!! UUrrggg.

Yesterday I did get back to the machine, wanted to sew out a new bookmard design, sewed 2 out no problems, 3rd one was a nightmare, in the end I scrapped it. I Blog follower sent me some bags, the snowman coasters fit in just nicely. I now need to source some more, I could do with an assorted pack. I think I have some from when I used to make cards, I will have to have a look.

Nothing planned for today, the wall paper for the hall will come at lunchtime, so thats here ready for the painter.

No real plans, may do some more sewing I need to sew another Santa coaster, so might do that, then I have a list of things I might make for the stall at the craft fair. I will go through it and see whats next. I could do with getting 3 or 4 lengths of Christmas fabric in the sales to make the 'in the hoop' table mats. something to research.

Supper tonight, fish and chips.

 

A quiet day?

After the excitement of getting the new cistern fitted yesterday, we need to calm down a bit as well. The chap also came to measure up for the carpets as well...... the price went up a but because I wanted coir matting fitted inside the front door, so there was less risk of dirt being brought in. Mind you we will be using the back door to come in and out as far as we  can. We wear slippers in the house, I often go round in just my socks. 

I just might wander into the sewing room and start on some sewing. I am waiting to hear about an order for book marks.

DB is well into his family history, he got a special chart yesterday to map out the family tree, its not a fancy one, but one he can put names in until he is sure they are in the line he is looking for. It keeps him quiet. He also plays several word games on his tablet as well as solitaire.

Supper tonight will be sausage mash and beans.

Hooray

We now have a new cistern on our toilet. Chap came this morning, he was about an hour fixing it for us.

Made a beef casserole for tonight and then scotch broth. I used the bone from the shoulder of lamb we had at the weekend.

Yesterdays meeting was mostly for information, so it finished early. We had driven into town in pouring rain and the wind trying to make the car fly. We called in to see about the carpet. I have decided to have the sitting room one changed at the same time as they do the hall, so its going to be fun for a couple of weeks next month. I am going to see if the decorator can come in the autumn to do the sitting room. Then its the shower room, toilet and kitchen at some point.

 The rain had stopped when we left to come home, but started bucketting on the way home. We were glad to get in the warm and dry. Its dry just now but still quite windy and looking a bit grey.

We were up early doors, we knew the chap was coming to sort the toilet, he came about 9.30 and did a really good job.

So supper tonight is beef stew and veggies, no dessert, we had a cream puff each yesterday, so being good today.

Back to front day

We have a meeting this evening so will be eating at lunch time. I want to go to the carpet shop and see about the hall carpet, I hope they are still selling the same carpet as the bedroom. They need to come and measure up. I might also have the sitting room done as well possibly during the summer. It will be next year before the sitting room is painted, but I could change the carpet.

I have a small white load in the washer, thats the washing done up for this week. 

Its a very dark wet morning the wind is blowing a hoolie as well, hope it eases off before we need to go out.

DB has been spending quite a bit of time doing his family history, has got back to the 1600's. I may well have a go at mine at some point.

So egg and chips at lunchtime, will finish off the crumble as well.

Wash day

comes around with monotomous regularity. Washer is on, it will go in the dryer. Rain is forecast for later.

I am planning on doing an hours sewing today, ease myself back in gradually.

I was annoyed when the dealers insisted on me taking part finance on the car, yesterday, I transferred the last payment to clear the account. I have saved over £300 in interest, its better in my pocket than the finance company. Just making the last payment saved me almost £26.

I think it will be cold meat and jacket potato for supper, the crumble I made will do us another 2 nights.

 

Slow start

Our usual slow start to Sunday, made it up just after 10am. Veggies prepped for supper, need to get some fruit in from the outside freezer, going to do a rhubarb and raspberry crumble.

DB's problem is getting worse, he tried to get out of bed with the bed tray still over his knees, its a good job the coffee mugs were not on the tray!! 

It was sunny when I got up to get the breakfast, but its clouding over, so I guess we are in for more rain., there is no in between, the ground is either rock hard or like liquid clay. Its slippy as well.

I am reading the last of my books from the internet, thankfully the mobile library comes tomorrow, so a new injection of reading material. Its seems a long time since the beginning of December.

I made bread on Friday, I need to slice it, so a battle with the slicer again. I really dislike it. It was expensive, I wish now I had gone for a cheaper one like my previous one. Thought quailty was king!!

Supper tonight will be roast shoulder of lamb with veggies, the lamb had been spiked with garlic and is sitting in a red wine marinade ehich I will use to make the gravy. The crumble will be for dessert.

We didn't

Just after 3pm yesterday I phoned the council about the plumbers visit. This has been rumbling on ever since we moved in 8 years ago, they replaced a very corroded toilet, but left the old cistern. I cannot remember how many times we have asked to have the cistern replaced. On Dec 19th I was told it would be done a week on Friday. Of course it did not happen, the workers were on their extended Christmas break, returning to work on Tuesday, so I concluded that the work would take place yesterday!! I rang and was told that the toilet was not in stock but would be on Tuesday so the work will be carried out on Wednesday next week......... I can hardly contain myself.

Its a very dark wet morning, most depressing..... I just cannot wait for the lighter nights to kick in, I hate the winter. Snow is ok as long as I do not have to go out in it.

Friend called round yesterday, she bought 2 book marks to give to people for Christmas, one of the friends she gave them too have contacted her and asked if she can get more.......so it looks like I will be doing lace bookmarks....... they are one of the things I was going to do for the fair, so might do a dozen or so over and above what is ordered. I do need to try and source some cellophane bags to put stuff in. they look so much better than things just being chucked in a basket for people to paw through.

I have a shoulder of lamb I am going to cook tomorrow, So I need to put slivers of garlic under the skin into the meat and then marinade it in red wine. Cannot decide whether to cook it in the combi microwave or in the Ninja, I could steam roast it.

Supper tonight is bacon frittata and salad. We might have ice cream as a dessert.

Will we, won't we

get our new toilet/cistern fitted today???? We are playing a waiting game.

It is dry this morning, we had heavy rain yesterday, althoough it did dry up a bit after lunch.No sewing planned for today, I am gearing up to start next Monday, just a couple of hours. Will see how I get on.

Expensive shop yesterday, but hopefully I will not have to shop again for 2 weeks.

I have heard from the decorator, he is coming towards the end of next month, We just need to move the chest and the hanging shelves. I want to get the carpet ordered as well. It will be a case of using the back door rather than the front, to come and go.

DB is continuing to do some family research. We complained that the package he signed up to did not allow him to do research, so he asked for his money back. Obviously they did not want to do that, so they have upgraded him to the most expensive package for 12 months. I made sure they sent us an email with that info on it and he sent it to me, I have stored it.

Supper tonight is fish and chips, I need to take the shoulder of lamb out and defrost it, we will have it on Sunday, I need to marinade it in red wine, with the meat stuffed with slivers of garlic.

Shattered

This morning we went and stocked up with meat for the freezer, hopefully enough for at least 2 months. I am shattered. Today is one of the days when I wish DB was a 'modern man', and could work the microwave etc, unfortunately he is not, eveb if I write instructions down he manages to get it wrong.

I did have a better night last night, but am still exhauseted.

He was doing some family research yesterday, I caught him sleeping twice, he seems to be doing it more frequently these days.

So no sewing today I am too tired, hopefully they are coming tomorrow to sort the toilet......... we have a meeting at the council again next week. We have a screed of stuff to read before we go.

Supper tonight, sausage, mash and veggies, I have veggies to use up from the holiday. Possibly ice cream for dessert.

1st

Coffee morning of the New Year. It has rained heavily overnight, thankfully it has stopped, but the ground is waterlogged.

I did manage a better night last night, woke briefly a couple of times, but that was all, so feel a bit better this morning. If DB is asleep when I am awake I just leave him to it, but if he is awake he wakes me and then I find it impossible to get back to sleep for hours.

Yesterday we took the decision to cut the cleaner down to every other week. She was off for 3 weeks over the holiday and was going to be off next Monday, so as I managed to do a bit myself, I decided to cut her hours down. As it happened she was ok about it, her mother is ill and it gives her space to do more for her.

I ran into a friend at the post office yesterday, it was good to catch up with news from her family.

Today I am hoping to start sewing again, my last effort ended up in the bucket........... I need to find a box to store the Christmas decs in.

Think we will have mince and tatties tonight for supper.

The vertigo

seems to be ramping up again. DB was in bed for 3 hours yesterday. I am so tired trying to cope with everything........... my not sleeping has also reared its head. Hey ho.

We spent all day yesterday thinking it was Tuesday....... it was only when I looked at the TV chooice programmes I realised it was Monday.

We seem to have mastered the controls on the new TV, I am not sure how, at least I did not have to fiddle with the remote.

No sewing yesterday, I am really not in the right frame of mind, will leave it another day and then see how I get on.

I need to do a meat stock up, so we are going shopping on Thursday. After our last experience at the Melton Aldi we will be going to Bingham. Its not such a big shop, but we can get most things there. My friend told me there is a new large store in Grantham. Its a bit further away, but might be worth a visit at some point. We went there when we first came back to Melton, before they built shops in Bingham and Melton.

Another wash on this morning, coloureds this time. I did a small wsh on Saturday so not so much this time.

Supper tonight is cold meat and salad, possibly a jacket potato too.

Day 2

of the new year. Yesterday we did very little, I am wrestling with the new smart TV, at times I think its a bit too smart!!

A fine morning, not a cloud in the sky, but its still quite cold, I have chnged the bed and we now have the winter quilt on.......woe betide DB if he starts complaining that he is too hot.

The cleaner is here so the house will be clean and tidy, the laundry is in the dyer, I was going to put it out, but just cannot be bothered. My back is playing me up, I really ought to go to the Drs, but you have to jump through hoops to see one. The stronger tablets might affect me driving, so I am not too sure. I also want to see if I can come off the nasty pills, according to what I have read, you are only supposed to be on them for 5 years.

No idea what we are having tonight, might do egg and chips for a change, we seems to have been eating a lot of meat just recently.

I wish you all you would wish for yourselves, good health and happiness for 2023.

We were in bed by 10.30 and DB was fast asleep at midnight. No fireworks, the village was silent.

I woke just before 8am and we had our usual Sunday Breakfast.

I spent 10 minutes trying to find BBC2 on our new TV, its a steep learning curve. DB delights in telling me 'thats not it' I would like to see him try!! I foresee some heated exchanges until I master it.

I have started some of the work for the fair this December - seems strange saying that!! I need to work out how much felt I am going to need for quite a bit especially Mr and Mrs Claus. I need to sort out fabric to sew a nutcracker and see how it comes out, It might also be better done in felt.

We have quite a mild sunny morning, I have put the heating off, will put my fleece jacket on if I get cold. Whilst it is mild we need to try and save some gas.

I took a beef casserole out of the freezer, so thats for supper tonight, no roast today. Veggies all done, shortly I will get some rhubarb and raspberries out to make a crumble for dessert, it will do us a couple of days at least.