More shopping.

My son has dropped the furniture he's giving me at my daughter's house. This means I now know what size bed I have, a standard double, so I've ordered bedding for it.

Steve went out this morning and didn't get back until 4:30, he rushed straight over to the summer house to ensure I hadn't had too much fun in his absence.

I went over at 3 o'clock and left just before Steve arrived back, I usually only stay for a very short time as, when Steve is there I can't talk to anybody as he talks over me. It was so nice to chat to people, I don't cope well with isolation. 

I've not been feeling very well for the last week or so but there are a few social activities I can join in with when I move. I think it will do me good moving to somewhere where I can have some sort of social life.

Some in some out.

This morning I visited a local  charity shop, I was surprised that Steve let me go on my own.

I took some clothes that I no longer wear and bought some things for when I move.

I bought a craft kit of crochet Christmas baubles on a string, I also bought a bag of assorted baubles in an mixture of colours. I bought a black dress to wear to Betty's funeral, a set of four table mats, three dessert spoons and two china tea plates.

Steve has agreed that I can take half the cutlery and crockery etc but we only have three tea plates and  three dessert spoons so I bought some extra.

When I returned home Steve was stood with Beano waiting for me at the bus stop. He wasn't happy that I'd taken so long, nemmind!

Random ramblings

As I was walking Beano through the park y'day I noticed the ground was littered with twigs and branches that had blown from the trees.

When we lived on the boat we had a wood burning stove to heat it. When I walked Beano I used to collect the twigs as kindling and the bigger branches to use as fuel. Upon my return towards the our boat I would look for boat where there was already wood stacked for fuel and leave what I had collected beside that boat. There was no point me taking it to our boat as Steve refused to use collected wood in our wood burner, he considered it to be dirty and would only use wood he had purchased from a marina!

I keep seeing adverts for dog beds, all sorts of dog beds and occasionally I am tempted to buy one. Then I look at Beano, he is either asleep beside me on the sofa or if I'm in bed he's asleep on the pillow. There would be little point in buying him  a bed. I am however considering buying him a set of steps to enable him to get on the sofa and bed as he's getting older now an less nimble.

Having said that, its cold this morning and everywhere is white with frost. Beano loves frosty mornings and so we had a double length walk at double quick speed, we galloped along the whole way round.

Parsnips at last.

During the summer I have a salad for lunch most days, during the winter I prefer soup, home made soup. 

Sometimes I make soup to a specific recipe sometimes I make fridge debris soup. For the last three weeks I've had a yearning for some curried parsnip soup.

For the last three weeks I've added parsnips to our supermarket delivery, unfortunately for two weeks no parsnips arrived.

I just assumed they'd been missed that is until Thursday when out supermarket delivery arrived. I was in the kitchen putting some of it away when Steve walked in grimacing and waving a bag of parsnips.

He's noticed them on the previous orders and cancelled them as he does eat vegetables and so couldn't understand why I'd buy them. I explained my yearning for curried parsnips soup Steve pulled a face and announced that I should have bought tinned parsnips soup rather than waste time making it.

And that attitude is just one of the reasons I'm leaving!

My head is spinning.

Birthday lunch today with my oldest daughter and youngest son. 

My daughter is a powerhouse!

No sooner had I told her that I was struggling to cope with Steve's behaviour than she has organised a solution. She is buying a bungalow in her village, it's in a small group of five clustered together. She made cakes and took them to my prospective neighbours and told them I'm moving in with a small, quiet dog. 

She's arranged a work party amongst her friends to clean the bungalow and mow the lawn front and back as the place has been empty for a while.

She has also arranged visits from a decorator and a gardener to quote for any work I want doing.

My youngest son is moving soon and is giving his furniture and white goods to me.  This means I will have very little to buy when I move in.

I had decided to manage with the bare minimum as I didn't want to cause any added expense and then expect my daughter to pay for stuff.

She has told her children that I'm moving to.her village and the older ones are clamouring to visit on a regular basis, I'll stock up on juice and snacks.

I could jump for joy, I'm blown away by her kindness.

Twitchy.

Steve is very twitchy and suspicious, this morning the supermarket delivery wasn't showing on the app, he seemed to think I might have cancelled it.

He hasn't noticed the bags I've packed, they are hidden in my wardrobe.

Out with Cass tomorrow, it will be great to get off site, I'm going a bit stir crazy and just keep thinking/hoping "not long now". Hopefully there may be some more information about my Where Next.

Storage bags

The storage bags I bought are huge, so far I have filled one with my summer clothes, a duvet and some spare bedding. 

I've started filling the second bag with the contents of one of the kitchen cupboards, mainly plastic boxes and bakeware. I also have a small stash of tinned food, sardines, mackerel and tuna. I like to keep my food cupboard well stocked in case of emergencies, I'm not talking about an apocalypse, just a day when I don't want to go out or something similar. I always used to do this but Steve won't hear of it, he likes to keep the bare minimum in stock for food. Beer is different, he keeps six boxes in stock, each box contains 18 cans. Mind you, this is only a week's supply.

The crochet blanket I made is on my bed, between the top sheet and the duvet, that way it stops Beano catching his claws in it. It's keeping me very warm, I still wake up during the night but I wake up warm, not cold, so it's easier to drop off again.

A little spending spree

I went through the kitchen drawer and decided to treat myself. 

I ordered a potato masher, potato peeler and 3 wooden spoons.

I have a drawer full of other stuff that Steve will never use, measuring spoons, cookie cutters,  etc. All of these I shall take with me when I move. But I will leave the equipment that Steve will use.

The cupboard under this drawer is full of cooking equipment, there is a small food processor and a hand mixer, mixing bowls, cake tins and plastic storage boxes, these I will also take. I'm hoping to start cooking and baking again when I move.

I've ordered a pack of large storage bags,they should arrive today, I shall start filling them and stash them in my wardrobe.

Steve has stopped me doing many things that I enjoyed cooking and baking, socialising and leaving site to name but a few. He likes me in the flat watching TV and that's it, unfortunately I can't watch TV for long before my eyes get sore and we have so few channels, there is very little on that I want to watch.

Finished blanket.

The finished blanket is very heavy and should make a nice warm cover on cold nights.

Unfortunately I'm now bored out of my brains and need to find something else to do.

A message for Cindy

 Hi Cindy, I'll let you know as soon as I know.

One tin at a time.

Y'day I shopped in Dunelm I bought a tin opener, two pillows, a Christmas bauble and a mattress protector, a thick one that I can sleep on, in case I move before I've got any furniture. Any furniture I buy will be second hand, there are a couple of charity shops that sell furniture that I will visit, but I need to know where I'm going first.

I'm desperate to leave here so I will move as soon as I can even if it means having no furniture to start with. Apart from Beano and my personal effects all I'm taking from here is a mirror, coffee table and bedside cabinet.

I'm also stocking up with tinned food, every week I order one or two tins of food with our supermarket delivery. I have plenty of pasta, rice, pulses, oats, herbs and spices. I will organise a supermarket delivery when I move but I'm not sure how long it will take for me to arrange an internet connection.

Gout!

I'm suffering from gout, it's something that flares up now and again.

It's painful and inconvenient and it's made worse by Steve  regularly shouting at me about it.

Steve can't bear anyone to be ill or in pain as it detracts from his need to be the centre of attention.

He keeps telling me to go to the Dr, I did when I first started getting gout. The Dr said that gout was self limiting and to take paracetamol if I found it painful.

Obviously Steve also developed gout short!y after I did, he also went to the Dr, he was given medication for the gout and  co-codamol for the pain!

Keeping busy.

 I'm keeping busy by making a crochet blanket, I'm using the yarn I purchased at the Jumble Sale for 50p. So far I've used less than half the yarn. The blanket may be ugly but it will be warm, I'm going to back it with a flannelette sheet.

Fireworks.

Beano couldn't settle y'day evening, there were fireworks being set off and they were bothering him. He kept pacing, whimpering and looking towards the window every time there was another flash or bang.

He's never bothered about fireworks before but he definitely seemed unsettled. 

There have been fireworks going off for some time round here staring with Diwali on 20th October. Beano took no notice of them or the fireworks this evening. I wonder what it was about y'days fireworks that upset him.

When I returned from walking him this morning a neighbour was packing her car. I stopped to chat to her as she had her two dogs with her and Beano likes both of them. She told me they were going to Bournemouth for a week to get away from the fireworks. Don't they have fireworks in Bournemouth?

Blanket

Its been noisy here today, Betty's family have been making a start on clearing her flat so there has been a lot of banging and crashing. I know Betty kept a lot of cash in her flat so they were probably looking for that.

I went to the summer house this afternoon, Steve was out which means I get chance to talk to people. Unfortunately Steve arrived back in site whilst I was still chatting to the neighbours so he's now sulking, still it means it's quiet!

I've made a  start on turning the yarn scraps into a blanket, a lot of the yarn is very thin, probably 3 ply. Because of this I'm doubling the yarn as I work so it should be warm and it's growing quickly. There is a lot of white yarn so I'm using one strand of white and one strand of colour, it won't be a pretty blanket but it will definitely be warm.

I might back it with a brushed cotton sheet to stop any cold draughts creeping in.