Spring cleaning in the summer!!

 It is swelteringly hot here and we're keeping cool inside with the A/C at 18C. We bought this portable unit, 3 years ago and wondered if perhaps we had spent our money without thought, but we've really appreciated it in all this heat. I'm really appreciating it. happily watching the tennis, which I love. Our outside weather station says 29.4C and that's on the northside of our bungalow, round the side. On our west facing back, our thermometer is saying 32C!!

Dh has been busy painting our little pantry!! It is on the north side of our bungalow so cool in there. It measure about 4ft x 4ft and as we've been here 4 years it had been scuffed by tins, broom handles and the shelves we'd put in there, so the cream walls looked like they needed a freshen up.  He emptied it over the weekend and we found tins and packets well out of date! Foods we fancied, but never got round to eating, so I expect that would have been me!

Anyway in all this heat my lovely husband having decided it'd do it over the weekend and beginning of this week, he's carried on regardless of the heat! It seemed washing it was not really worth it, so as the paint was there in the garage, Dh decided to paint it.. he wouldn't let me take a photograph of him togged up to paint, because he had on an old shower cap to do the ceiling!! 

Tomorrow I am going to sort out the spice drawer and then the drawer with the kitchen bags, papers and cake bits like the rolling pin.

So then we need to do a deep clean in the cupboards and the under sink especially..        The window cleaner has been today so that means we should do insides too? 

What an exciting week we'll have!!

Chrisxx

Air rain!

 

Yesterday was a miserable day and the drizzly rain lasted for most of the day, I call it 'air rain!'  We did not go to town or the library. We've plenty of books to read. as we bought the Spring choice of Richard and Judy book club. We've decided not to buy any more till we've read them all.

I read faster than Dh so I usually read them and get them finished first.

I choose this one first as I like Tim Weaver books.

It started really well, but some how in the middle it lost the original story and I struggled to read it.

I did finish it, but I didn't think it was up to his usual standard and it was really long! So a bit of a disappointment for me.

I needed a lighter read after it. so I'm reading a free kindle book about a couple who have bought a wreck of a farm house in France, and its not brilliant. but an easy read and funny.

Why would you buy somewhere with out electricity inside the main building and water only an outside tap? Outside toilet, non flushing, no bath or shower and a loft bedroom only accessed by a ladder. Actually the bed room was just a bed and some boxes for their belongings.  The main rooms are earth floors and a leaky roof. I could not live like that, even if you paid me! Especially as they have no spare cash.

This bungalow was clean and decorated, albeit magnolia through out, but it was desperate for a new bathroom and kitchen although perfectly usable, but we had them done as soon as we could get the workmen organized. So to buy somewhere that was a wreck, they must have a lot of faith. I shall find out more as I read it,  I'll let you know...Its my bed time read...

I like reading my kindle in bed as its easy to hold!

Chrisxx

A new week!

 Everyone complimented me on my hair cut at SW! Well everyone I knew and the scales were nice to me after my eating on Wednesday, I maintained my weight, so not even 1/2  pound gain!

We came home and sat outside admiring our garden, with a cup of tea and then had our lunch out there.. Cooked perfectly by Dh, a flat omlette, with grilled bacon, baby toms and cheese grilled on top. It was delicious, made the Mary Berry's recipe of adding water to the eggs not milk and it is so lovely.. then a huge bowl of fresh fruit with Greek yoghurt and a teaspoon of honey and we were sated!! 

We actually won the raffle which is better than the basket for slimmer of the week! There was loads of fruit, potatoes, sprouts! broccoli, red onions and a nifty Tupperware container divided into 3 and a measuring jug.. so that was a bonus! We were delighted and came away smiling.. I need 2 1/2 pounds to get into the next stone down! So back on plan with strong ideas to lose that weight this week. 

And I phoned the surgery and wonder of wonders I have a physio appointment next Friday afternoon! So that's sorted which is now not worrying me, ( Yes I was worrying, just a bit|!)

Our Friday evening meal is nearly always cod and chips cooked the SW way. And so we've resisted the Friday cheat day, as the weighing is behind us!

A new week starts on Fridays for us

Chrisxx

Not my best day!

 I've had one of those days.. everything was wrong or it seemed that way to me. I was telling someone how excited I was that a plant we'd had four years had buds at last. It can take up to eight years and more to get to the flowering stage from seeds! I bought the plant with me from my Suffolk garden and it had taken four years there to flower too. 

Angel Fishing Rods, Dierama so pretty and delicate. 

 Of course she had loads in her previous garden.. couldn't she have just had said, 'thats nice?'

It took the wind out of my sails and I felt deflated.

The surgery are supposed to be phoning about some physiotherapy checks,  because I've reapplied for my Blue Badge which allows me to park in designated spaces nearer to shops etc.. having been told I would hear this week a while ago, I'm still waiting, by the time the appointment comes through, my Badge will have run out!

I went to my regular hair dresser for a tidy up, because I'm growing my hair into a loose Bob style.. he was chatting as usual and I reminded him I didn't want my fringe cut short. Before I could say anything else he'd cut one side of my hair, I stopped him to remind him I was growing my hair, because I didn't want the short fussy style.  Too late,  he had to cut the other side to match and then my  hair at the back short too..  I said no to lacquer and came home and brushed it straight. Actually it looks clean and shiny and not too bad, but I was upset at first. I won't go back there!!

I rarely complain about Dh cooking, but last night we'd arrange Bacon Carbonara. A favourite of mine and we save our cheese allowance for. He decided to look at one of the Pinch of Nom recipe books and followed that one and instead of a lovely cheesy taste it had a 'zing'... he'd added balsamic vinegar. I didn't like it, but ate it, because tomorrow is SW weighing day, any other evening I'd have wolfed down toast instead.. I think he thought it would be nice for a change. So the end of my day was like the beginning, deflated. 

But all said and done, I still have that gorgeous Dierama, the physio will get in touch eventually, my hair grows quickly and I have a lot of it, and I'm not hungry!! So not too bad after all!

Chrisxx

A garden group having fun.

I had,.... 

3 small triangular shaped salmon and cucumber sandwiches with  brown bread.                                                                                               1/8th of a pork pie, I know it was an 1/8 because we took it and Dh cut it.                                                                                                      Some crisps and those tiny salted biscuits.                                             A very small pasty, short crust pastry and some sort of meat, quite tasty... made by Kay

Then 2 small scones with jam and cream,  very small.                           3 small finger size chocolate eclairs, (they were the ones Tesco have in their frozen section, Dh saw the  boxes they had  come out of.)                   A Mr Kiplins pink French Fancy little cake.

There was a lot more food there, cakes, Strawberry Eton Mess, Trifle, salads, dips, pies, more sandwiches, and strawberries and fruit, 

There was wine there too, but I don't drink it anymore so had 2 cups of tea.

And as I am dieting, even though it all looked delicious, I restrained myself, sort of!!!

And a heap of laughter and chat and photographs of gardens on a big flat screen TV.  The photographs were run as a slide show and were of the members' gardens. A very enjoyable afternoon at our U3a garden group monthly meeting. The bring and share food was to celebrate 30 years of the U3a in Porthcawl.  

We talked and laughed, I heard all about Caroline's Jersey holiday, now I want to go! It was a lovely, lovely afternoon.

Chrisxx

The sad side of strokes!

 If this hadn't happened to me I wouldn't believe it. People who have strokes change and some change totally.

Last year I had a phone call from an acquaintance, which was very strange. She was very upset and kept saying she was going to be arrested. I managed to get our of  that she had been able to access the 'dark web'  and that she by chance had come across some videos, that were of children being abused!

If they find out I'll be arrested she kept saying. Because she lived quite a long way from us. I phoned her brother and his reaction was, that his sister was always messing up using her computer and not so very long ago had tied herself up to an American firm, who were charging her £70 a month for a beauty cream.. anyway I did get him to go to see her, because she had phoned me again, saying that she was afraid that Social Services now know and that she was expecting the police to arrive at any moment.

When her brother arrived at her house she had more or less barricaded herself in and he had trouble getting her to let him in. He got a Dr to come to see her and she was diagnosed with some small strokes, which had affected her brain! She also had some appointments with a psychiatrist for a short time after, although she nor her family admitted to that, but a friend of her told me.

All sad and odd, why did she phone me? We don't communicate much these days. because she is still convinced that her laptop was the cause and so she won't use it any more, but she still uses her phone to access the internet!

Ah well as the saying goes...' There's none so queer as folk!'

Chrisxx

Do dogs go to heaven?

Lots of people, who have lost a dog like to think they go to heaven, and are waiting there for their owners. Its a lovely idea when the loss is very raw. When my little Mari died I arrived in work wearing dark glasses to hide my red eyes, because I had cried all evening and had hardly slept. I started to play the piano for Assembly and started to sob uncontrollably, I carried on to the end of the hymn, but then the Head came to me and said 'go home!' She was the dog I got after a miscarriage and she was almost like the baby I never had. And then we had to say good bye to out lovely Nell, I was heart broken when we had to say good bye to her, she was such a love.

Recently I've read an article where a little girl in a Sunday School class asked the teacher to pray for her dog, who had recently died. Her distress was obvious from her teary face and the Sunday School teacher said a short prayer with her for her doggy friend. But of course the Christian beliefs don't encompass animals in heaven, as they don't have souls.

What is your idea of heaven? A place of gold, somewhere where you'll see Jesus face to face, or where you'll meet loved ones, who have died, or the verse in Revelations, 21.4 'There will  be no more death or mourning or crying or pain.' No matter what the picture we see, our minds are limited to imagine something of God's.  Even our best guess of the joys that heaven holds can't come near to what it will be really like.

Because of the Christian belief that only those who believe and have a soul can enter heaven, so proves to the Christian that our animals don't have a place in the heavenly abode. 

However if you look further into the Bible, in Isiah it says animals will be in the new heaven and new earth.. 'the wolf shall dwell with the lamb and the leopard lie down with the young goat and the calf and the lion and the fatten calf together and a little child shall lead them.' There are several more verses about animals, but not dogs and cats. So do they go to heaven?  We can't imagine what it would be like.

I like this quote from Billy Graham speaking about his dog in heaven, ' I think God will prepare everything for our perfect happiness. If it takes my dog being there in heaven I believe he'll be there.'

We don't really know till we get there what it will be like. or whether our beloved dog will be there, but one thing we can be assured of is that, there'll be no lack or longing, because God's presence will be enough. 

Chrisxx

Worrying!

If you were to meet me face to face, I wouldn't appear to be worrier, but I am. It manifests itself physically by my insomnia. I can be awake night after night for no apparent reason, although not one that is obvious to anyone else.

The last few nights I've been awake worrying about a self seeded Ash Tree, well not the actual tree, but how to get rid of it, that is dig it up. It is growing between our fence and a neighbour's to the side of us.

Its on our land, as when we had the fence put up, we had it sited inside our boundary, so difficult to get to the tree from our side, as it is a solid wooden fence, they have a wrought iron one.

At the moment the tree is about 3m high, but growing fast, it could grow to 50m plus, so must come out.

Then I realised we could pay some one to do it, Prise some panels off the fence, and cut the tree down. We have a regular hedge cutter firm so not a problem.. If the fence panels get broken, we'll just have to have them replaced.. Problem solved, now I can sleep!!

Chrisxx

Gremlins

 Do you get frustrated with the ever new technology? I do and what I don't understand is how things changed in my own accounts, but its not me who's changed it!

I have several bank accounts to keep my money separate.. eg. one is solely for bill payments. So money goes in to cover our energy, phones and internet, Council Tax and water bill and anything left over is transferred into what we term the 'House' account, for repairs or replacement items. Food is paid from a different account, which is our joint account and with that Bank, we both have individual personnel accounts. To us it is simple and we know each other's passwords, although mine are changed more than I want, because there are times when my passwords don't work, but they are all written down!

I can't believe it when I get a the polite message,  ' Something is not right' and I can't get into my account, I'm inclined to loose my cool!

 When I had to phone a bank the other day I had all the ' to make sure its you' questions.. and you've guest it, I kept getting them all wrong! It was so long ago when I opened that account, years ago! In my frustration I asked the young woman to ask me a question I knew! Then I remembered when and where I opened that account, it was a three weeks after we were married, so I was able to convince her, it was me.. Anyway I added, if anyone wants to access my account to pay my Credit Card bill please let them. She didn't laugh,  Dh came to help me write down all the new passwords, which I hate, because I'd had what I thought were correct for years and I liked them and I thought I knew them! Grrrrrrr technology!

Chrisxx

HOT!!!

For the last six years of my teaching I worked part time in a school near to where I lived.. I was on a three day contract, but sometimes worked  more if the school, needed a teacher. One year I worked full time as one teacher was off on long time sick. And after that year the Head Teacher asked me if I'd like to apply for the higher teacher award. I wasn't keen, what I was earning was enough to keep me going, it was my son who pushed me to apply. I did and I got it, and it was considerably more money than I thought!

But that school was a doodle compared to some schools, where I had worked. A well organised school with a good Head teacher and I had 20 years experience, the last 8 as a senior teacher and Deputy. Also the parents were very educational conscious and took a big interest in their children's learning, so worked with their children at home.

I never forgot I had been a senior teacher and still behaved like one, so never let a child get away with anything, down to telling them to tuck their tee shirts into their trousers or skirts, when I saw it was needed. I was treated with a great deal of respect by the children and the staff.

The one summer it was hot, as hot as some days now.. on the Friday I struggled into work and even before the day began I was hot. It had been very hot all week, and I had also worked the Monday and Tuesday as extra days. When my friend phoned the night before, we laughed that here I was 63 and still working. She had retired at 58, but I really enjoyed it.

So Friday morning I was wilting, but when the Head teacher popped into my classroom, as I was writing the date on my board, I smiled even when she told me I was to have 4 extra children, as two younger teachers had phoned in sick. 'How are you faring in the heat?' she asked. I did admit that I was ready for the weekend and also I was giving my class an easy afternoon doing activities they enjoyed, while I listened to them reading their books sitting comfy in my chair, by the open door. I cheekily said , 'I hope I'll be having an afternoon cup of tea,' as she always arranged for one on a Friday afternoon.

I then said, that I hoped the two teachers weren't too bad and be alright after the weekend. She said 'I think they will as they've said they have heat exhaustion.' Without thinking I reacted with 'What??' I added that perhaps us older teaches know how to pace ourselves to keep up our stamina, or she said, 'Perhaps older teachers are more committed.'

I'm still in touch with that Head teacher and have note from her, in her Christmas card every year, I had some lovely gifts when I left and beautiful flowers too.

Chrisxx