? Making a change

I am considering closing my blog, it seems to me to be very mundane, everyday things, occasionally photos added.

As I said yesterday I am not feeling that great, not sure why, I caught sight of myself in the mirror yesterday and I do not look my usual self. Its a week since the fair and I should have got over that by now.

I think for the time being I am going to stop posting until the New Year and see how I am then.

So I wish you all the best for the festive period, will post my decision in the New Year.

Its down to zero

we are forecast a week of very low temperatures, so it wrap up warm time,, keep att the doors closed and corrie down.

The quote came yesterday for the garden, we nipped down and returned it, hopefully it will be done between Christmas and the new year.

Slow day yesterday and again today, I am not feeling 100%, not sure if its soome medication I am taking, so will lay off for a couple of days and see if I improve, otherwise its a trip to the Drs.

Mince and atties for supper tonight, cheese cake for dessert.  

Another cold, clear day

went out to the shed this morning to get milk in and found the freezer door open again........thankfully nothing seems to have really defrosted, no idea how it could be open......at least its not the worry it was before.

Its a very cold morning, the wind partially dried the towels, just finished them off in the dryer. I have a load of whites to do, will do them tomorrow morning.

We are waiting delivery of 4 2 x 2 slabs for the path up to the greenhouse, I rang and ordered them yesterday, there was a laod of coal due to be delivered to Hose so the driver has agreed to drop them off for us.

Not a lot to report really, life goes on, I finished the stars yesterday so they are ready for the coffee morning next week. The coffee moenings have had to be juggled about, its the over 60's lunch 2 weeks today, which meant the next coffee morning would have been on the wednesday just before, so it has been brought forward to next week instead.

Supper tonight is the usual fish and chips. We have cheese cake for dessert.

Bright

but brrrr very cold, the sun keeps coming and going. Yesterday was  very dank although the rain did keep off.

I am halfway through the last 2 stars, once I have finished will take the machine, down and clean everything out. It will then get covered up until I am ready to use it again.

Towels in the wash, might hang them out although they will need to go in the dryer when they come in. Tomorrow I have a load of whites to do, including the table cloth I used on Saturday. Its a king size sheet.

I need to sort out the bulbs and plant up the planters for the spring, I am looking to reduce the pots on the patio outside the kitchen door. some of them will get emptied on the new veg bed, some will also go on the front garden.

No idea about supper cannot remember, will have to look at the menu.

The tank is empty

I think I have been running on adrenaline for the past few weeks, I am so tired. Managed to sleep for more than 8 hours last night, so my sleep score is improving. It was almost 9am when I woke.

Its another very dull day, glad I do not have to go out. I started on the 6 stars that were ordered from the coffee morning, I had 2 left from the sale so just 4 to do, I need to watch the machine carefully, it was making a star using the gold thread that it jammed up.......watch it like a hawk whilst its sewing with the gold thread.

Its ding dinner tonight have a beef lasagne, so I think we will have that, although I might just cave in and do egg and chips, we seem to be eating a lot of pasta just now. I did cauliflower and brussels with the chicken last night, it was very nice, poured the dregs of a bottle of white wine into the pan when I cooked the chicken.

Such a dull day

We were awake drining tea till the small hours, so slept in this morning I am finding it difficult to get my body out of bed........feel as if I could do with a year asleep!!

We have had rain over night, very dull and damp, I have a dark load of laundry in, will do the whiltes tomorrow.........then it will almost be time to start again.......I am using the dryer, find it difficult to hang out.

Cleaner was here yesterday so everywhere is clean and tidy. I need to start on the sewing room, did manage to put the santas etc away but thets it. I have yesterdays bed linen to press, will do the pillow cases today, the sheet and quilt cover can wait till tomorrow. I also need a trip to take my script to the Drs and draw cash from the  bank.

Supper tonight, chicken with apricots and veggies.

Its Monday again

Back to some sort or normality, although I still have to sort out and store the stuff that did not sell at the sale.

I was so glad I had booked to go out for lunch yesterday, we always go for 12 noon, by the time we had finished the place was heaving, lots of people obviously had the same idea. We came home, DB went for his siesta, I think I dozed off for a few minutes on the settee.

We had recorded the big build on TV so we watched that. Almost 1000 volunterrs turned up during the build to help where they could, Amazing!!

Cleaner day, so the bed is stripped and the sheets in the washer. The forecast is for rain, so they will be going in the dryer. I WILL get into my sewing room and sort out the fabric etc and re -pack it. I will also find a place to store the un sold items.

I am still shattered, it will take me a while to get over it. DB did very well, I was iffy about taking him, but he managed very well indeed.

Supper tonight I think will be sausage, mash and veggies, we have some mince pies, will have one of those for dessert.

Thats that

Exhausted after yesterday, we were there at 9.00am and ready to roll by 10.am. The organiser had coned off a space for us to park, which was great.

The foot fall was quite slow whilst the Rock Choir performed in the foyer, they blocked the door to the hall so no one could get in or out for about half an hour. Once the choir had finished people started to drift through.....as we saw with the fair at C & C last year people were looking but not buying, quite a few people asking if the lace ornaments were ? knitted or crocheted, did not seem to be able to grasp the concept of wss.....I also had one lady who did not understand how the coasters etc were double sided.

E came just after 11am she stayed with us for  a while, went for a coffee and chatted with the stall holders next door. L came after lunch, she left with the grey mat.

We started to pack up around 2.30 and were back home at 3.30pm, most of the other stall holders seemed to decide to pack up too. I felt sorry for the lady opposite us, she had arrangements of dried flowers, she only sold one small one, she would make the cost of the stall back and a little bit over. There were 4 people who did not turn up. I think that as we did not have to pay for the stall 'up front' they decided not to bother.

Sweet and sour chicken and rice for supper, we were both shattered, managed to stay up to 9.45pm.

I must admit I slept....... not surprising really. My back held up quite well, although I did have to take painkillers with my lunch....at least my hip did not let me down. 

We are out for lunch today, we had our usual Sunday brekkie, fruit and crossiant. Table booked for 12 noon. Guess DB will be going for his siesta when we get back, me, I am going to tackle clearing up the sewing room and storing the left over stock somewhere.

Todays the day

of the sale......yesterday we had a quick trip out to find out where the hall actually was, right at the top of a small lane and car parking is up a hill, I will park as close to the hall as possible.

Yesterday afternoon I cleaned the crates from the shed, spent the rest of the evening in agony!! So tablets taken and I have put some in to take if I need them. So we have had breakfast will be getting the car to the door to pack it, DB said it was raining but it seems to have stopped, supposed to  be fine until late this afternoon.

All the bags and crates are packed, two flasks filled with hot water for tea and rolls for lunch, we will not starve. Just hope we get reasonable sales, hopefully the first few sales will cover the table fee. 

Supper tonight will be a ding dinner when I have enough strength to sort it.

Poets Day

push off early tomorrows Saturday!! Except we are no longer working.

Bright morning but down to 3 according to the weather forecast, its certainly rather chilly.

So yesterday I managed to do the mat I messed up on Wednesday, just one more to do this afternoon, then I have to clean off the stabilizer and price them, I priced 20 bags of tree ornaments last night, so I have plenty of those. We have decided to take the three models we have and set up a snow scene on the top corner of the table. Off this morning to have a look at the hall etc and where we are parking the car so we know for the morning. It will be an early start.

Fish and chips tonight, cheese cake for dessert I think.

fog

it was foggy going to Aldi this morning, so fog lights on, yesterday I took the car to the garage, the tyre warning light came on, so J checked all the tyres and filled them up, he also turned back the car computer so the same message does not keep coming up.

I had a bad afternoon, got two bits of the bowls done and then went and attaxhed to to the wrong place on the centre, so it in the bin, its impossible to undo it. So I need to try and get 1 1/2 bowls done today........

E's freind was delighted with the stuff I sent. I was right about the two bits I took to the coffee morning, 2 ordersof 3 each of the stars........so will get those done next week out of the way. Hopefully then I will be able to collect together the stuff for Santas sleigh.

Supper tonight is ADB, we will have a ding dinner on Saturday when we get back from the fair. 

Sunny

not been out yet, but there are signs we have had a frost overnight.

Coffee morning, I have the two last things I have made to take to show them, I have a feeling that I will be getting orders for at least one of them. I plan to do a quick couple of the bowls for Saturday, I did get a message last night from the lady who is organising the event. It is running from 11 - 4.

Yesterday was a bitty day, I finished the door hanger, the chiroposidt came and also the techie man, my computer is clean but I still cannot load the site I wanted to.

Supper tonight is sausage, mash and veggies, no dessert, we have some fresh fruit that needs eating. 

Arrggg

bad day, my lap top is having a fit day. Ever since I set up the Brother printer, I have had problems. I have a programme on my LT which shows all the designs I buy as a picture, so I know which ones to down load. It has stopped working, I unistalled and reinstalled it, could not get in, the programme would not accept the sign in. The programme is a free one offered by a shop I use. Various bits of correspondence beyween us, eventually the lady emailed to confirm she had taken the link off her site. It appears they may be coming out with a version for windows 11. Even so I have asked my techie to take my lap top and run it through to make sure there is nothing stopping the programme loading. So Monday was a bit of a write off. I did manage to do the sample door hanger, just have to do the edging.

I have sent for an external hard drive, I want to back everything up to that, would hate to loose any pictures. I went through them all last night and deleted ones I did not want to keep. The EHD shoud be here later today. I already have one which DB uses to back up his family history stuff, I do not want the stuff to get mixed up, hence the second drive.

Washing in, will dry it in the dryer, its very cold and overcast this morning. The chiropodist is due this morning.

Supper tonight is casseroled belly pork and rice, we are using up creme caramele for dessert.

Last makes for the sale on Saturday, a star for the tree and a door hanger reminding Santa to call.

Rain again

once we got home yesterday I was shattered. DB insisted on me taking the wrong road twice. In future I am going to use the GPS, he annot argue with that!!

I did manage to finished the credit cars holders, cleaned them off and packaged them along with a few packets if silver and gold tree ornaments, I have the stars drying. Today I plan to start the Santa door hangers, only making a couple, then its a case of 'no more'.

We ended up having a ding dinner, 4 cheese pasta, it was very good. Think it might be egg and chips tonight.

Home again

We arrived home in time for DB to watch the service at the Cenotaph. I do not watch it, it is not my scene.

The meet up last night was crowded and noisy, Jo did not have time to speak to us as a fanily until we were leaving, so it was a very few words. Alisons husband Andy was kind enough to help DB down the stairs to the car, which was very kind of him.

The Ibis was  very basic, no tea makings in the room, but there was tea and coffee available in the entrance lobby.

The bed was comfortable and I slept ok. We had ceral, toast scrambled egg, sausage and bacon for breakfast

DB almost drove me to leave him there as we left, twice he insisted I took the wrong road!! He is getting worse and it is getting very difficult to cope with him.

I doubt I will get any sewing done today, I really am not in the mood. If I do sew I will only end up making a mess, so better I leave it alone until tomorrow.

No idea whats for supper, it will be a case of freezer dip I think.

Is it winter?

nice bright morning, but very cold, there are signs that we had a frost last night.

Very late getting up again, its put us in a bit of a spin, we are going into Leicester later to meet up with my niece and the rest of whats left of the Daniell clan. I will do bacon rolls when DB gets up after his siesta as we will not be eating until later in the evening. We are staying in an hotel for the night so I do not have to drive home in the dark.

Yesterday I managed to finish 3 of the credit card holders, 3 more to do, no sewing today, might get an hour or so in after we get home tomorrow.

Gardener was here yesterday, he more or less finished painting the shed with preservative and cut back some more stuff. Next week we will empty the plant pots and plant up the bulbs for the spring.

So no supper tonight........

Back tomorrow.

I see the light

The light tree I bought from the garden centre.

Its a bright but very cold morning, We did not get up until after 9am, both of us still suffering from sleep deprevation, it was well after midnight before the light went out.

I have a coloured load in the washer, its far too cold for me to hang out, so it will go in the dryer and finish off on the radiators.

I managed to do 2 starts yesterday, soaked off some ornaments for the light tree, will put thread hangers on them and hang them later. I want to do 6 of the card cases, hoping to use a larger hoop and do two at a time, should prove interesting......watch this space.

Gardener due this afternoon, another week after this and I think he will be finished until March.

I need to nip to the chemist and the post office, I have to post the key back to Matt, I found it in the machine when we got home. I dare say he has mmore than one, but its no good to me at all.

Supper tonight fish and chips. No idea about dessert.

 

That was the day

 that was......we set off just after 9am, it was wet and windy but a reasonable journey, the dreaded roundabouts in Chesterfield were navigated wiithout DB's usual ranting, which was a relief. Handed the machine and arm etc over and set off for the garden centre where we had coffee and a wander. I saw a really pretty 'tree' with built in lights, I gave into temptation and bought one. Ir will do fine to hang some of the small ornaments on.

We left the garden centre and went to the Toby pub and had a carvery lunch. I rang Tim, the machine was ready, just being tested, so we were away from there just after 2pm. It was a piece of gold thread that had causes the problems. We called at B & M in Loughborough on the way home and I picked up some bits including the cloths I like for washing up etc. Home, exhausted, just before 4pm. We managed to get the machine into the house and back on its table.

I spent an hour last night finishing the star that caused all the problems, fiddling a bit, I managed to pick the pattern up where I had run into trouble and finished the star.

We were both shattered, my leg was letting me know that I had driven over 100 miles, so a double dose of painkillers. I did wake once in the night, my knee was letting me know that it too had travelled 100 miles, but it soon settled and I was asleep, finally woke just before 9am, so a quick shower, we had a grocery delivery due.

Yesterday was tiring, I hope its not a journey I have to make again anytime soon.

Towels in the washer, they will have to go in the dryer, rain is forecast once again.

Not sure about tonights supper yet, will see whats on the menu board.

Quick poat

machine and arm in the car, car parked outside the house overnight ready for a quick get away, weather is awful, windy and raining, hope the M1 is ok. Should be back late this afternoon. 

I do not believe it

its sunny again, I got my laundry dry on the line yesterday, just remembered it in time, it had started to spit with rain, so a quick dash to get it in and folded, I will iron it this morning.

The bungalow is nice and clean again, not that it will last long with DB about.

We need to prepare for the journey up to Sheffield tomorrow, my neighbour is coming round to put the machine in the car for me, I am taking the arm as well, the hoop I am using is stiff in one bit, have to give it a good shove to get it to click into place,  kill two birds with one stone, so to speak. It should just slide in.

Supper tonight is frittata and the remaining crumble, we will eat out at lunchtime tomorrow so it will be filled rools for supper when we get back.

Sunny again

but the forecast is not good for the week, it looks like I might be driving up to Sheffield in rain, the road under the bridge on the way to Loughborough is still flooded so I have had to work out a different route to get to the MI. I hate the road that goes to the junction further up, its very confusing and there are accidents on the A453 nearly every day.

I have the bed stripped and the sheets in the washer, I will hang them out for an hour to get a bit of sun on them. Cleaner is also due this morning, so need to  get the finger out and get going.

I have to admit the increased codiene in the medication I have been given is doing the trick, I take one at night and one in the morning, yesterday for the first time for ages I was able to walk without wincing every step. They do not seem to make me sleepy, so I will take one with my breakfast on Wednesday, before we set out.

Last night I sat and cleaned up the things I made before the machine decided to act up, I have also bagged and priced them. I want to do a few of the credit card cases as well. The last ones I made, I enlarged the pattern a little, made it easier to get the snap fastner in. I also need to finish the large stars and do a few more angels with golden wings.

Not sure about supper tonight, I cooked the lamb on steam roast in the Ninja, there is some meat left, may do cold meat and salad. The crumble was delicious, there is enough for another two suppers.

After the rain.......

some sun, but it has not lasted long. DB has emptied the waste bins and says its chilly out. Hopefully M will be round later to cut a piece off the pallet so it will go in the coal house and the boxes can be stacked on it.

Usual Sunday breakfast, up and showered, veggies prepped for supper and I am going to make a crumble rhubarb and apple, it will do us for dessert for 2 -3 days.

My back was very sore this morning, I did manage 8+ hours sleep last night, feel a bit ropey though. I have taken one of the new pain killers, perhaps it will help.

So supprt roast shoulder of lamb, roasted potato's Cauli and calebrease, with crumble for dessert.

More rain

Woke up to a very dull morning, its raining again and cold with it   uugghhhh.

I spoke to the Dr yesterday, he thinks I have strained my thigh muscle, so have stronger pain killers and also leg exercises to do. DB had had to up his medication to try and move things along.

The gardener was  very late coming yesterday, he has a new client who was not at the house when he got there and kept him talking for ages, it was 3.30 before he arrived, so he stayed for an hour. He will fit in extra hours during the week if we need him, his garden work is tailing off for the winter. I have enough to keep him going for another couple of weeks.

My machine has had a hissy fit, The needle will not go up and down,  I think there is thread stuck somewhere, so we have a visit to Sheffield on Wednesday to get it sorted, fortunately it looks as if its about an hour job, so we can wander off and have some lunch and then collect it and bring it home.

We will not be going out anywhere today, although I am not going to be sewing I will see if I can read the two books I have befire the library van comes Monday afternoon.

Supper tonight, pork casserole, DB wants rice with it. lemon cheese cake for dessert.

Awake

early thhis morning, dare not go back to sleep, needed to ring the Dr. for both of us. My right kknee and left hip are complaining loudly, plus DB's medication for his gut is not working, think he needs a depth charge!!

Shopping ok, quite a large load, I have not been to Aldi for 3 weeks, so needed quite a bit. Very wet and windy day, but not as bad as some people have had.....sun is shining this morning.

As long as it does not rain Gardener should be here this afternoon, plenty still for him to do.

I am now making more of the angels, I can do 3 in a hoop at a time using colour switching, so all the gold does first and then the white.

Usual supper tonight, I managed to get haddock in batter yesterday so we will have that with chips. Not sure about dessert.

Sorry

late to the table today, I had a visi to Aldi to do some shopping, ended up spending almost £90, but I have bought some stuff for Christmas as well as the usual groceries, we now have fridge full and are filled up with fresh veg as well.

The coffee morning was very well attended yesterday there were 14 of us, so plenty of chat. L the lady whose house wall collapsed was there. She is able to go into the house but is sleeping at her daughters.

All the special order has been posted off, so I am just waiting for the cash. I am making some extra stuff for the sale. Finished another 6 glasses cases. I am going to do the credit card cases next. I am enlarging them slightly, it makes it easier to put the popper in.

Supper tonight, sausage, jacket potato and beans, chocolate mousse for dessert.

Its Coffee Morning

and for the first time for weeks I am not taking anything round that I have made. E came yesterday and took the stuff I made for her friend, she is posting it off today. From now on I am just working on stuff for the sale in 16 days time!!

Message this morning from my niece, they all have arrived after a 24+ hour plane trip from Oz. They will be shattered. It is 4 years since they were last here.

I spent most of yesterday tied to the machine, I am bringing the stock up so I have 10 of everything I am taking for the stall. Once I have done that I will see if there are a couple of quick Christmas makes. The angels have dried out, so I will press them under a pressing cloth so they lay flat, I need to put invisible thread on them so I can hang them on the branch I am using for a pseudo tree.

DB is very much into his family history, he has now gone over to his cousin we used to go to in Ventura, US. He is finding lots he did not know about that side of the family. I wonder who he is going to look at next? His Grandfather and his brother went to the US many years ago to work in the mines, They came home after 2 years, although one of them, Henry, went back and lived in LA, his family are still there. The other brother and his wife came back with a baby girl who was born there, she was his cousins mother. Its a very long story!!

Supper tonight is cottage pie, peas and carrots, we will also finish off the rasps in jelly.