General Chat

That sounds lovely, Linda.
It's amazing what a difference a bit of paint can make.

When I moved here almost 20 years ago, all the room doors were dark brown - so gloomy. I painted them all in a light creamy shade which lightened the whole house .

I also painted two horrible orangey pine wardrobes which the previous owners had left behind, plus a pine bedside table and two mismatched chests of drawers, all in light cream . It made such a difference.

A few years later I painted two coffee tables. They were 1960s era - orange and brown patterned tiles on top, with beech surround and legs. I painted them, tiles and all, the same colour as one of the living room walls.
It's a strange colour called "pebble beach", which can look either grey or lilac-ish depending on the light - but improved the tables a lot!
I noticed the other day that the paint is wearing off a bit in places; I'll need to give them another coat.

That is a very good sum for the charity AG, you must be tired though after all your hard work.
I managed to lose 2lbs this week, so have only 1lb to go to get back into my target range. Hopefully I will do that this week, but then Christmas will scupper it and I will be out of target again :-(

I went to my daughters this afternoon to get Esme off the school bus as her mum had an online meeting at 3.30 and her daddy who normally would look after her when her mum can’t be disturbed had to go out for a hospital appointment. Esme was perfectly happy that I was there and we were happily playing “schools”, but as soon as her mum came out from her meeting she started using Makaton to sign “ Grandma finished” , so I got to come home early.

OH has finished painting the bedroom drawers and the fitted wardrobe doors. I must say that they look really good, a great improvement on how they were. The three sets of drawers are oak and the long run of wardrobe doors are white melamine. He has painted them a greyish colour, but the tops are still oak. He has put new handles on and the end result is excellent. I am pleased because the three sets of drawers were very good quality, much better than the build you tend to get these days. Also of course, it has saved a lot of money.

Wow! That's a good sum of money raised isn't it. Fantastic AG and yes glad you are resting now you deserve that, well done :-D

Lunch went very well, thanks, Florence, and everyone enjoyed it.
£625 of donations for a local charity were collected, and I know there's a bit more still to come.

Now I'm off to put my feet up, with a cup of tea.
I won't need much to eat this evening!

Afternoon all

Flat calm and dry here but...very very cold!

I have been busy catching up with the pre xmas spring clean, stripping beds, laundry, dusting etc. Obviously chores will get done again before xmas but generally a good declutter and put things away not being used over xmas.

i have reorganised the freezer but have a small delivery coming on Saturday and daughter managed to get a slot on the 20th which is great.

ArgyllGran, hope the lunch went well today and everyone enjoyed the dinner. Sounds wonderful!

Andysmum, you had me in stitches reading all about your new fridge. Instructions were hilarious :-D :-D :-D Hope its working ok?

If there had been a little breeze i would have put out the washing but no wind at all so the laundry would just hang and not dry as its soo cold.

I made some mince pies but already they have nearly gone! I have given some to someone I know who loves them, my son. :-D

We have not had any post for 2 days now and the postie was back at his house by 1.30pm. Quite hard to believe as at this time of year, you would think he would have been busier unless, its not filtering through from the mainland sorting offices!

But I sent a load of parcels last Friday at 12 all second class and do you know, people in kent mess to say, they all arrived first thing on Monday!! :-S I find that quite amazing as 2nd class parcels would normally take 5 days at least? 19 cards received so far.

Well better crack on.

Joan if you are looking in, hope you are keeping ok. Just pop on and say hello sometime.

Right lunch over so better crack on.

Take care and keep warm everyone

Florence in the hebrides

Hard frost here yesterday and today, but dry and mostly sunny. Every frosty twig sparkling in the sunshine.

But SOOO cold!

Tomorrow we have our village Christmas lunch in the village hall - a two-course meal all cooked by local volunteers. As usual, we'll be serving about 50 people.
Turkey and all the usual accompaniments for main course (plus a vegetarian option), then a buffet of several lovely puddings also made by local volunteers.
We (about 6 of us) set up in the hall this afternoon, which didn't take us long. We've all done it so often before that we hardly have to think about what needs to be done!

Evening all
Sorry i have also been out last 2 days for hospital appointments. I have now seen the eye consultant and finally on the surgeons theatre list although wont be for 4-6 months grrr. I waited a whole year for todays appointment and now probably be may before i get the op!

Made mince pies this afternoon and some mini vol u vents all which were very tasty.

Calm day here again and no wind or rain brill.

Andysmum, I trust you have your diving gear ready for accessing your fridge.
Surely some things would float away :-S

I'm probably as far south in UK as many on these boards and I can assure you it's not at all mild :-|
We've been enveloped in a lingering dampness all day, which makes everything dank and dismal and very chilled. All my friends were saying what a horrible day it was.
Thankfully, I've been so busy all day, that I haven't had time to bother about the weather too much, as I hurried from one place to another.
Had a fun morning with older primary school children helping them to sew the items they had prepared and cut out for design and technology. They did quite well really, especially as for most of them, it was a first attempt at sewing. Some were over eager pulling the threaded needle through the material and we had to do a lot of re threading, but they soon got the hang of it and worked hard.

I hope you are all having better weather than recently. Down south it seems to be fairly mild but here it is thick fog and very cold. I had a new fridge delivered today and the men altered the door and unpacked it in the garden - Brrrr!

After they had gone I read the instructions - half a page on how to use it and pages on health and safety, including vital things like not climbing on top of it in case you fall off!! The oddest item though was the one which said it should be used at 2000 metres below sea level :-S :-S The mind boggles :-)

I hope that everyone is OK. I have been busy for the last few days, so haven’t been around.
I put the Xmas decorations up at the weekend . After twenty years in the previous house, I knew where everything went, so it was easy. Nothing is the same here, I gave away my very large Xmas tree and have bought a much slimmer one. The lights I usually put in the windows won’t fit because of the blinds, so I have had to buy new ones as well.
I have had a blitz on Xmas presents over the last few days, so don’t have too many to get.
I had a soup making marathon this afternoon, so now have fourteen mugs cooling to fit in the freezer, I may have to do some rearranging to get them in.

sounds like a good job done Florence. And a clean drive.

Afternoon all
A cold but calm & dry day here and so daughter & i managed to shift the rest of the soil in under 2 hours. She has now hosed down the parking areas and the pathway to get rid of the soil scattered about.

So glad its all done now.

I'm off to the shower now as need to get my hair washed and get all the dust out!

Hope everyone ok today and no more storms.....for now!

Florence in the hebrides

I don’t think that the bad weather will have tempted people out to visit craft fairs Florence.
This weekend was supposed to be the two day Xanax market with over sixty stalks and lots of craft fairs over the two days, ending with a fireworks display at. 4.30 pm on the Sunday.
It was cancelled because of the storm and moved to next weekend, but most of the craft fairs were going ahead. Sadly I doubt if many people went to them . I was going to go to one on Saturday morning, but the weather was horrendous, so I didn’t go out. We had to go to my daughter’s house, so OH could help them with some DIY, we noticed that the roads were really empty and no one was walking around.

We survived unscathed apart from the sliding door on the greenhouse. It had come off the runner at the bottom and was lifting up. OH out a large rockery stone in front of it, so it couldn’t move, he will fix it once the storm has passed.

Afternoon all
Hope everyone in the thick of the storm survived safe and well and without much damage.
On this occasion we escaped the worst of it but it was still very gusty here last night.

I had 2 very busy days. Fri was out in town all day and got rid of all my parcels for the mainland and so chuffed for that. was £13 cheaper than last year too, so that was a bonus!
had a lovely lunch as per, was in several shops and bought some nice bits & pieces and then lastly to the supermarket where I did a big pre xmas shop of non perishables etc

Saturday of course was the last fayre but it was very slow in the morning and a only a trickle of people throughout the day until the last 1/2 hour and I made some last minute sales.

I heard today that at another craft market in a different area, theirs was very quiet too so that made me feel a little better. I guess, people just don't have much spare cash to buy anything extra but..... these things are free to go in and it costs nothing to have a look round, have a chat with people and maybe just grab a coffee . if you would otherwise be indoors, its a nice way to spend an hour in the afternoon maybe.

So today a big clear up in the house!! The kitchen has nearly been restored to normal and so has the lounge but we still have boxes in the porch and a hall cupboard to clear and make some room for other things! But we are just doing it gently and not rushing, we have all day and night!

Mel, so sorry for your tree, how awful to lose an apple tree. Hope your chickens are ok and the hen house didn't suffer any damage.

Its a calmer day here but is very cold outside only about 4 degrees or less.

So better crack on now coffee break over.

Stay safe everyone looking in

Florence in the hebrides

Well, that was a wild night and it is still very windy this morning. It is still too dark to see if any trees have come down in the wooded area to the side of the house, I suspect that there will be some. It is a shame about your tree Mel.
I had to be very careful when I went to Aldi to hold the car door when I opened it I was worried about it hitting the car in the next parking space.

I'm in the Wild West and it is still wild at the moment. Iv'e lost a lovely old tree, a Russet in the orchard which was a favorite. There's still gusts but I think it could be a little less gail force than it was earlier this mornng.

Need to go and feed the chickens if I can get there.

Hope everyone in the Wild West ( wet and windy) are ok as is everyone else.

Relieved to say our guttering was replaced yesterday and the bit of repointing done. The big test is if the wind with rain changes direction but it all seems ok at the moment.

Just a couple of drainage jobs needed now, hopefully next week.

Hope they manage it safely Linda. It is such a shame that these storms are spoiling so many events.

No, I would rather hear Frank Sinatra sing it.

You wouldn’t want to hear me sing Ann, I am tone deaf :-D
My daughter got back with no problem, but we are babysitting again tonight while they go to a music concert in Leeds. They probably won’t be back until about midnight and by then the weather looks as if the storm will be bad, so I will be worried until they get back

Good morning all. We are certainly getting a lot of these storms now with events cancelled. I suppose it is what we have to look forward to now.
I hope your daughter eventually got home safely Linda. I had to smile at your opening sentence as my brain immediately heard the song Frank Sinatra

Oh, the weather outside is frightful
But the fire is so delightful
Since we've no place to go
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow… :-D :-D :-D