General Chat

That is why I have a dishwasher, OH said it was a lot cheaper than continually replacing the crockery. PLUS, I refuse to eat from plastic, yuck.

Gail

As Gail, Ann and Sharron say, in other words, most of us on this thead know all too well how it feels to be depressed.You certainly do feel alone, even with loving people around you.Can’t express how grateful I am to Carole for starting this great thread.Wonderful idea! Those of you who send me p.m’s, mails and add their support on this thread, have helped me cope a lot.You don’t want to burden your loved ones or good friends, so this could be called a life-belt when you feel you are drowning, as it were.
Ann, my daughter who lives in Brittany phoned me on thursday to say there’s an outbreak if scarlet fever at the school where my. G.daughter Camille’s two little girls go to.Rozenn is the youngest, she had high fever for a few days, the eldest, Maëlyss, is still distinctly unwell, which is not suprising as she is quite frail. We don’t know if they have s.fever. Three small girls who played with M & R at the wedding of g.daughter Muelle do have it though. Maybe I picked something up from them? G.daughter Indra (eldest) two little boys also came down with a myseterious bug, youngest is recovering faster than his older brother, aslo not sure if it is s. fever…I honestly thought this went out with the Ark…

Spoke to daughter Fiona (went to France with her) on the phone today. She says she is still feeling a lot better about the way things went, but, like her friend, it hits her hard when she least expects it. One good bit of news. The partner of her best friend is now lying in a coffin.This may sound odd, but he had no insurance whatsoever, so F’s friend couldn’t afford a coffin.He was laid out on a table, with F’s best table cloth under him…she had to giggle a bit when saying she doesn’t think she wants it back….of course she doesn’t.It’s the funeral tomorrow, hope her friend can find some peace of mind after this, also hope J, (Fiona’s friend) finds somebody else to drive the son back and forth to his school which is very far away, or put him on a local school. F’s is doing it at present…feels the strain already, with her busy life.Friend doesn’t drive.

Apparently, I won 49 pounds on last wednesday’s lottery.My old schoolfriend thought it was a tenner…only found out how much when she took old ticket back…I won almost the same amount some years ago, also during a holiday in France. Must go there VERY soon again, may come up in the biggie, third time lucky and all that.

Sorry for the length of this post.Will keep it short from now on.
Have a lovely sunday and a good night’s sleep.

Eileen

Eileen dont apologise for the length of your post!! It's good to see you so chatty! What beautiful names your family have. Sorry so much sickness about. Steve won on last nights lottery here. £10. He borrowed £3 of his mates money which he had given Steve to look after. So as he placed his money he said if I win I will share it with Mick. So Mick will be suprised to get £3.50! ( £1.50) was the cost of his share of the tickets!

Going to see my parents now.


Love to all xx

Eileen
I love to read long posts!!

I had a giggle too at the thought of F using the tablecloth later.... spooky... I hope all goes well at the funeral and that F is relieved of the driving. She will have to mention it to her friend when things settle down.

Scarlet fever is still around but I think it may be in a milder form, or maybe it is that we have more antibiotics to combat it. I remember in the 50s my sister had what they called scarletina which was very similar to scarlet fever but milder. It is very contageous I believe.

Morning - or afternoon dear friends. it's a sunny day but still chilly, I can walk again!! My cast is off the foot and I am on the move, will be much easier to paint my bedroom, up a ladder without the moon-boot.
Feeling overwhelmed with all that needs done. A quiet morning, Gareth is upstairs with Megan, and he's had his medicine so that's him somewhat sedated now, he was getting wild . . . C & E are away for the w/e at dance competition, last I heard, Em had won a platinum and a first, 3 more dances to go today. MiniMary is at a baton-twirling competition, gone to Toronto with her friend's family, last comp they were leggetty last, but as none of the kids have yet been twirling for a year, to me it seems positive that they had the confidence to get up on stage at all.
Sarah has gone swimming with her worker so all is reasonably quiet till Sarah gets back.

Sarah has trailed curry chicken sauce over all my papers which shouldn't be piled here on my desk anyway. She manages to make lovely messes when she raids the frig. The keyboard is a nice shade of yellow too.
I have managed to submit 6 short blurbs of humour from my nursing days for a book about humour in hospitals and other medical facilities. The girl to whom they were sent seems pleased with them anyway.

Maybe I will write that book one day, made lots of notes in the last 2 years. Wait for it . . . "Tales from the white house" . . .my house was built in 1885, which is old for Canada, white clapboard, with a wrap-around front porch, once used as a chapel, and it's home to our assorted peculiarities.

C has 2 days of classes left and she has finished 4 years of full-time university, now an 8-week work placement and she will officially receive the Advanced behaviour science technology diploma in June and her BA Psych degree in September.
I can hardly believe that we've survived the four years, never thought it would end. But it has and she should be very proud of this achievement. It has been exhausting for all of us. Thank you to so many of you who have kept me going through the stresses . . BTW the dogs should arrive later this month, I am anxious about it as we are still under-budget, but I know it will work out.
Colleen has applied for Grad school, to go for her Masters but still awaits acceptance of her app. The salary would about double with a Masters. She should be highly employable with the combined letters after her name!! The Masters programme is 3 years part-time, part-time meaning one weekend a month of intense study and the rest of the time at home, working hopefully. Much more stable for the kids. Yes it will take another 3 years, but being part-time will take a huge load off me.
Finding it hard to face all that needs done here, though we have already achieved so much, I find it easier at present to just sit and think about what should be done, than starting anything. I guess this is my off-day. I am down but not severely so right now. Just want to sleep though I had the best night's sleep last night, still want more.
Love and hugs to you all, there has been so much tragedy recently among the folks here, and in the world, hard some days to focus on the positive. be well.
MAry

Long posts! I for one love reading them, keeps me in touch with the world. Have also been in withdrawal with Mary not being able to post much. Now the boot is off Mary will now probably be too busy painting and climbing ladders to post. Just when I was thinking we had her back.

For those concerned with Gill, I have been in touch via PM's, hopefully soon will be able to post and keep in touch with us. We are all here to support you Gill.

For me today is a bit chilly, had to put a cardy on. Had to also put some shoes on when feeding the chickens, OH would be proud. So slippers and warm dressing gown for tonight, would love to just wear socks but too slippery and asking for another chipped bone, so slippers it is, but they are now purple ugg boots as last red/ruby slippers are worn out. Trouble is after a nasty fall, I tend to loose confidence for a while and get overly careful. Just starting to get back to my normal self, or whatever is normal for me.

Carole, hope the visit went okay, and Aunty is doing well, she seems to have settled very quickly, which you must be pleased about.

Ann, also had a giggle with the table cloth.

Love and hugs

gail

Edit: forgot to mention, we have a sulphur crested cockatoo that has been coming into the yard over the last couple of weeks, also in a flock of other cockatoos. Well I kept hearing a dog barking and an occasional wolf whistle and had no idea where the barking was coming from or the whistle. Then discovered it is the cockatoo doing the barking and the wolf whistle. If I have not filled the bird feeder it really makes a noise, once filled it brings in all the other birds to feed. Only thing I can think of is early in its life it was somebodies pet. It is a very funny bird.

Another sunny day here. Have planted tomato seeds which I harvested from special tomatoes last year, in those little sort of carboard pots.They are standing on the sunny, back window sill.Wish I had done this a couple of weeks ago though.

Yesterday, when taking my bedding in ( I always hang them out of the widow on dry days), was thinking yet again about the times I was woken up by furious buzzing inside pillow cases and duvet covers….due to bees and wasps lurking inside them. Am always careful to out the opening of duvet & p.cases towards the room, don’t want to encourage the little blighters.Anyway, when the window was closed, I heard the familiar, dreaded buzzing, it was a large queen wasp…swatted and killed it, felt no remorse whatsoever. Have had one large wasp nest in the pear tree near back window, one even larger one in the shed, one in the attic where I hang washing on wet/cold days, 2 underground bees nests, up to date.Had to call in an expert for the first one, i.e pear tree inhabitants, the others I disposed of myself-too expensive.Have had two baby sparrows flying aroound in attic a couple of years ago, no open window up there, so how on EARTH…..? Actuallt trod on and killed a blue tit longer ago, which was laying on the bottom stair of the attic. This made me feel dreadul for a long time.One of my daughters lives to doors down to me, but they have never experienced anything like this…have even been stung by wasps at without moving a muscle, so to speak.They sure have it in for me.Was bitten by a tick last year…jeepers, insects are drawn to me!!! Have heard they are attracted to rotten fruit etc, so what does that say about me.Lol.

Carole, when I feel very down, I don’t post at all….am only too happy to feel cheerful again.It IS funny to think of using that table cloth again…
Ohhhh, hope Steve doesn’t spend that 3.50 all in one go!!!

Ann, Scarletina, the Latin name, is used over here too, but s.fever is usually called ‘rood vonk’, meaning ‘red spark’….strange that you didn’t catch it from your sister back then.

Mary, you must do enough work etc.for 10 people…phew. Wish I was half as active.

Daughter will phone later to tell how the cremation went. It was planned for 12 noon today. Have spoken to many folk about the awful ‘limbo’, when their loved one is still ‘above ground’, as they say in Holland. When cremated or otherwise, they can really start to mourn…received two mails from the husband of s.i.l who died on the 23rd march, only two days after her cremation. He says the same as I do here.

Must try get some things done in the garden whilst the weather is so good.

Take care and be happy.

Eileen

whoops, only noticed my post was yet another long one!!!
Meant to add to what Gail said about loosing self confidence after a bad fall. Happened to me in dec. '98, when I fell from a high ladder and only broke a bone in heel...
Btw way, you are soooo lucky to see that cockatoo..had to smile about the wolf whistles and barking though. I heard the sound of a mobile phone coming from a tree years ago, when parking my car.It was a jay...lol.

Eileen, I love your long posts because it shows that you are happier. You made me laugh with the rotten fruit mention. I attract mossies, I get stung my other half doesn't. We foolishly went into a nature reserve in Florida once in T shirts and shorts, didn't realise how damp it was, I got really bitten, OH not a bite and we were together. I tell him I am sweet he is not Lol!!!
I feel a bit down at the moment because I have got shingles in my arm and it makes everything sooo painful, including typing. I am doing most of this with one hand.

Ann, do they have you on anti virals for the shingles? Do not take them lightly, they are a horrid thing.

Actually, even though the wolf whistles are from a bird, they are nice as have not had one for years. He really is a cheeky fellow, he sat on the bird feeder this afternoon barking and tossing his head until I filled the feeder up. One other poor cockatoo that has been around this time of year for a couple of years has lost a lot of feathers, around its neck and chest area and looks very old, he has one yellow feather at the top of its head, the rest is bald, they also have black/dark grey skin so he looks a sight. They can live to 70 years and older. I do hope the fellow that is loosing his feathers moves to warmer climes before the winter comes.

Have lite the fire tonight for the first time, only put one log on and turned it down just enough to warm the house. Temp is 8.5 at the moment so winter on the way.

Watched a very interesting programme today via the net on William Buckley, an escaped convict who lived with the Australian Aboriginals for 27 years, from 1803 to 1835 near where Melbourne is today. So the Oz saying you have two chances, Buckley's and None (Nunn) great programme. By the time he again meet up again with other British people he had forgotten how to speak English.

Must be the time for small winnings, OH won $40 twice on Lotto, had forgotten he had put it on the firs time and did it again with the same numbers. He did buy me a cream bun. :) as if I really need it, straight to the hips.

My OH must be the sweeter of us two as he also attracts mossies also grass fleas, bees and wasps. Bees usually do not affect me, although one last year did, but it was not a usual honey bee, but black. Have been stung by a wasp and the air was blue for miles with what came out of my mouth, now they really do hurt. We have to constantly make sure that our electrical meter box is free of the wasps or they will not read our meter, same with the water meter. Also is there is a nest near a window we have to make sure it is down or the chap that cleans the windows will not wash them. At least with winter coming on we will be free of them for a while.

Gail

No I am not on anything except grin and bear it. It was too late for anti virals by the time I went.

Ann, mykids thought I was exaggerating about the little nasties stinging me etc. until we were all sitting outside drinking coffee and eating some cake. I was being dive-bombed all the time by wasps, had to nip in smartly many times....

Gail, we saw those large. black bees a lot in southern France and Italy, but I only knew there were two tpes of black ones when reading about them in the internet. One types stings, the other doesn't. Can you see yourself asking them if they are the friendly 'fire' or not? Lol.

Will save the bit about cat fleas etc. for another time.

Eileen

Yes, right, excuse me bee do you sting??

Lol Ann,
Yes, first ask in a non-agressive way, mr Bee, are you the stinging type, then run for cover when he/she looks like business. Was not aware about two kinds of black been until two years ago…just think, we were blithely tripping along through the proverbial daisies, these large black furry things whizzing past…..

About the cat fleas: Years ago, when my cat was still a youngster, we all went away for a month. My s.i.l and m.i.l agreed to pop along now and then to water the plants etc. Cat was at a cattery for the duration…well, the fleas had a ball.We had sprayed the house with that horrible poison after vacuuming well, so didn’t expect any probs. Being a very hot summer, the eggs of the fleas lay dormant (they can do this for years!), but, when my in-laws came in, s.i.l was completely covered in fleas, m.i.l wasn’t touched….apparently, the eggs lay dormant and spring open when someone of an animal comes in the house…
Some years back, when same cat was getting on a bit, we went on holiday again, cat again at cattery.Came back to a houseful of unwanted guests, great larks Pip….my son-in-law’s mum told me to fill several shallow dishes with water and washing up liquid, place a candle (night light?) in the middle, then all fleas will be attracted to the light and drown. Little did she know they had passed their swimming degrees (what do you call this in English?) with flying colours, they were happily swirling around and around, not one dead….had to laugh at this.Lucky for me I am not usually bitten by the dear ‘friends’ much…mozzies just drive me nuts with their eternal zooming and dive-bombing at night, am only bitten now and then.

When my youngest was still stuying at uni in a place called Nijmegen, she was house-sitting for a woman who had advertised for this. Daughter went away with a friend, so asked me to stay there instead. Blinking heck, the place was hopping with fleas.She had a poor mother cat who had nests 4 times a year, she looked dreadful. I remember standing next to the sink with kittens crawling up my p.j leg, worst was, my case with clothes etc.and my person were literally alive with fleas…she had a bedroom down under pavement level, I refused to sleep down there it made me feel claustrophobic, so ‘slept’ on her couch upstairs…curled up like a shrimp-it was a short one….won’t do that in a hurry again…lol .

Yet another long message, sorry folks. It is true Ann, when I am physically fit and manage to put all the bad things that have happened in the last 8 or so years-REALLY bad, I am optimistic and cheerful, but the black times were simply horrible.There wasn’t much room in the deep, black pit, when all my demons tried squeazing in with me….threw them out one by one, until there is only a faint pattern of them showing now.

Eileen

Long may it last Eileen. Ugh!!! All those flees, I am itching now Lol!!!!

Had a short pm from Gill. Will contact her again soon to make sure she is okay.

It's great to have Mary and Eileen back with long posts. Shows real improvement for one reson or another!

Just a quickie,
Gail I have some purple Uggstyle boots, which I got last month in tesco sale for £5. I currently wear a grey pair from Bhs which are over a year old and were a Christmas gift, chosen by me, to use as slippers, they keep my ankles and feet warm in this draughty house.

Gill, you will usually find me around at night if you can't sleep, do feel free to pm me if you want and aren't ready to put stuff on the boards.

Eileen, glad you chucked those demons out, pity you couldn't send the fleas with them lol
I hated it when my cats got fleas, poor things got bathed and treated pdq I can tell you.

Love to all,
must do some emails,

Lizxxx

We have had a horrid year with our poor pets and fleas, have been using the monthly dosage tubes but they only last 2-3 weeks and the fleas are back. Two of our cats have allergies and fleas make it worse so they are also back on allergy meds. Apart from normal pet fleas we have had a couple of outbreaks of grass fleas, horrid little black things, they also get in the carpet given half a chance, have not had trouble with the pet fleas in the carpet. Now when we go on holidays we set of flea bombs in the house, which also kills roaches and spiders, works very well as the house is sealed off.

Our electricity prices here are getting out of hand, due to poor management, and lining of pockets by our government, no surprise in that. But we have been told that over the next 3 years it will be up by 62% That is not including the 25% we have already been slugged with. So we are seriously looking at solar power for our supply. Now I have found out this morning we will be slugged 10% Gst (like your VAT) for what we would have use, if we have solar power. Now how rude is that? I know we will be better off, but to get hit with a tax for something you have not used is beyond a joke.

We also got slugged with extra water bill this year, due to trying to protect our house from the bushfire. So more water tanks for us next year. But I suppose they will then charge us for the water we have in our tanks.

I do not know how you lot in the UK manage as I know it is more difficult there than here with the economy and price of fuel etc.

Gail

Going to work but had to see if Gill posted or sent a pm xx
Have a nice day

Do not want to think about my electricity bills next quarter,what with the old man doing the washing and putting it in the tumble dryer and running the builders cement mixer and jack hammers.think it might be the dockyard gate for me.