Help

These are the squares I've made for my blanket, I need to do an extra row or two on each as they are all different sizes. They are all done using Stylecraft DK, all on the same hook and the centre two rounds are all the same size, so it isn't a tension problem. It's the other colours, they vary a lot in thickness, they feel different to work with.

I'm not bothered by the assorted sizes as I usually work with oddments of yarn and it happens a lot.

But, what colour shall I use to edge and join them, any suggestions?

How fortuitous

DGS stayed last night, this morning he got dressed into his new tee shirt & joggers and I've washed his school uniform ready for Monday.

Every morning when I go to help with the school run, chaos is caused by everyone's inability to find any clean clothes to wear.

There is a heap, about 5 ft wide & 4 ft high of clean clothes, and it's a mad scrummage to find what people need.

This is why I have bought stuff for DGS so he can have uniform to wear to school, he is at secondary school and so he HAS to have the correct uniform.
The girls are at infants and junior school where things are more relaxed.

Once we'd dropped off DGS home so he could go and play football and collected DGD we went to the DIY shop to get the bits we needed for DD1's plumbing.

We got to DD1's house, she was out getting the children's eye test done, we let ourselves in, the dogs were really pleased to see us and DGD loves dogs as she has one at home.

Hubby first started to plumb in the dishwasher, only to find that the washer needed to stop water leaking was missing.

So hubby turned his attention to the washing machine, this had a mismatch of fittings but as we had an assortment of bits and pieces hubby managed to get it plumbed in.

The waste pipe had been attached with carpet tape, so next he turned his attention to securing this properly.

Whilst all this was going on 2 men and a van turned up delivering a new fridge and freezer.

Hubby stopped what he was doing to help them, they asked what he was doing and he explained and told them about the missing dishwasher washer, it turned out that they had some on their van and gave hubby two, so he was finally able to get the dishwasher plumbed in correctly.

By this time DD1 had returned home and told hubby that two of the showers weren't working so he went to have a look.

They were the same as ones he'd fitted a few years ago when he was working on a new house build, so he got both her showers working.

We then returned home with DGD, she had salami and banana for lunch, her banana and some of my salami and coleslaw.

She also ate a couple of satsumas and drank some milk and water.

SIL collected her about 3:30 and now I'm about to do tea for hubby, I don't know what, but there is lots of stuff in the freezer.

Thank god it's pay day

Well actually I got paid a few days ago, so far I've bought DGS:-
2 pairs of school trousers £11
1 pair of joggers £7
1 tee shirt £5
A 3 pack of boxers £5
A 5 pack of socks £3
Hopefully this will make it easier when I collect him in the morning, if he is missing anything, I will have a replacement.

A phone call

Ring ring

'Hello, is that Hester?'

'Yes'

'Hi. my name is John and I'm phoning from your mobile phone provider. Today we have a very special offer, it's only for certain very good customers. Today we can offer you an extra phone, top of the range, for only an extra £5 a month. When would you like to receive the new phone?'

'I don't want an extra phone, I already have 2 phones (mine and hubby's are both in my name) and I only have 2 ears so I wouldn't be able to use a third one.'

A few moments stunned silence...........

'Ok, well how would you like both your phones upgraded to blah de blah, and all the pictures and web sites you view will be in high definition'

'My husband is blind in one eye and I have cataracts, we don't have high definition vision, so I think high definition pics would be wasted on us'

A few longer moments of stunned silence................

'I see, well we could offer you free roaming so you can make calls when you are abroad and....'

'I'm sorry, we neither of us have a passport, so we aren't likely to be going abroad'

Slightly hysterical laughter............

'Well thank you madam, enjoy the rest of your evening, goodbye'

Overload

If you look carefully at my ears you will see something dribbling out of them, it's probably my brains!

I think I've reached overload, I'm now just swanning along smiling, it's not that I don't know what's going on, it's just that I can't cope with anything else so I'm just refusing to think about all the crap that is going on that I can do nothing about.

DD1 has moved into her temporary home, hubby and I are going over Saturday to help with plumbing in the washing machine.

Hubby has decided not to get involved in the problems with his mum's will. There is no point throwing more money at the situation. Many years ago when hubby had his own successful business he  paid out in excess of £10,000 helping his mum when she was alive. This was supposed to be repaid when her property was sold, it's not mentioned in the will and there is likely to be nothing left once the vultures have finished have finished fighting, so we will not be throwing good money after bad.

I have 26,292 documents to print by Friday but unfortunately the powers that be won't sign off the order for the paper needed, hey ho, no doubt I will be getting moaned at because of it.

DD2 is having her medication changed every few weeks and so she is dealing with a constant barrage of side effects!

Oh my poor back

Too much lifting and shifting at the weekend helping DD pack ready for the move.

Mind you, sitting on the kitchen floor with a nine & a half stone staffy sat on one leg and a small boy on the other leg, whilst simultaneously reading a story and lobbing Tupperware into a cardboard box probably didn't help.

DGS came round after school, he'd heard me telling someone what I was cooking for tea.

He tucked into roast lamb, roast potatoes, mashed potatoes, peas, broccoli, carrots and gravy, with ice cream for pudding.

I'd defrosted the lamb intending to cook it for Sunday lunch, but I was too knackered after a day packing, so I did bangers and mash on Sunday and the roast dinner tonight.

Food for the soul

I love the drive to DD's house and today will be the last time I do it for a while.

I love the windy, twisty roads, today the banks were covered in snowdrops, there were yellow and purple crocus around the base of the trees by the bus stop. Daffodils in groups nodding in front of the church and even a few patches of primroses in sheltered spots.

All this with classical music playing on the radio is bliss.

It is less blissful when hubby is in the car, I always drive too slowly, apart from when I drive to fast. I always drive in the gutter, apart from when there is oncoming traffic and then it seems I'm driving in the middle of the road. Potholes? I drive straight into them, unless I try and avoid them, in which case I'm weaving all over the road like a maniac. Oh and don't get me started on roadside puddles!

Move update

DD has found another property to rent, the LL is a letting agency, she has paid 6 months rent up front, we are going to help pack today, she is moving Monday!

The never ending tale of DD trying to move

You may remember this happened to DD1.

DD1's house purchase has fallen through 3 days before moving day.
She has decided not to pass the bad luck on down the chain and has found somewhere to rent.

This was all going to plan until Friday morning
She hired a van from Thursday for a week as they had signed the contracts and she was due to collect the keys at 8:30 Friday morning.

When she arrived at the letting agents to collect the keys she was told that the LL had requested an extra 3 months bank statements from DD and her joint account with her hubby.

DD went home, collected them and took them to the agents, the LL pondered for an hour and then said he wanted 6 months of DD's husbands statements, he does online banking and he was at work, DD had to wait for him to get home from work to print them off.

DD offered to pay 6 months rent up front, over £12000, if this would speed things up, the LL agreed, DD transferred the money to the Letting Agent's account, so it is recoverable.

The LL decided that he would still be worried about any following rollover months, so he still wanted to see the extra bank statements.

DD took her husbands statement to the agents she then sat there until 7:30 in the evening when the LL finally admitted he has someone viewing the property today with a view to buying it so he doesn't want to rent it out until these viewers have seen the place and made a decision!

The property has been on the market for 2 years and is way over priced, but he is happy for DD to rent it if these viewers aren't interested!
This morning DD went to look at another property, hubby & I were back on standby to foster her dogs for 6 months if the LL of this property didn't allow dogs. On the way to view the second property DD got a phone call from the agents phone about the property from yesterday, the viewers had changed their minds about looking at the property so did DD want to collect the keys!

Ye gods and little fishes could it get any more stressful or complicated!

dip dip and phone sex

I just love the things kids do and say, my littlest grandson is 18 months old and already knows he has me on a butty. He wandered into the kitchen, went up to DD and said 'More, preeze' She said 'What do you want?'
He obviously decided she wasn't quick enough on the uptake so he walked round to me and said 'More dip dip preeze', he sounds like a cat purring when he tries to say please.
I got an egg cup out of the cupboard and squeezed a little bit of ketchup into it, I lifted him on to my knee and he sat there dipping his little spoon into the ketchup and eating it. And yes I know ketchup is full of sugar but he had a scant teaspoon of it and it took him about 20 minutes to eat it.

Later that same day my eight year old granddaughter came up to me and asked 'Nana, what's phone sex'.
I was speechless for a few moments, then I said 'Why do you want to know? You don't have a phone'
She looked a little puzzled. 'It's written on this bottle' she said passing me this.

I was greatly relieved to only have to explain why we used this in our fish tank, rather than trying to explain the complexities of phone sex to an eight year old!

Taggsie

Saraband, this is a taggsie, fleece on one side, cotton on the other with loops of ribbon securely stitched around the edges.

Sunny days

We've had two sunny days but I'm still drying my washing over the maidens. The garden is like a quagmire and I can't get to the washing line.

I've bottomed out the kitchen and cleared a couple of the cupboards that were getting cluttered, the downstairs floors have been vac'd and steamed.

The rest of the time I'm making crochet squares and making a taggsie.

I'm also making a dress by sewing a skirt I can no longer wear on to a plain white tee-shirt.

Recipe book clear out

Before I take these to the charity shop does anyone want them?

Vegetarian Kitchen old and battered,

The Cookie and Biscuit Bible, not very old, but not had much use

Frozen Assets, I used this book a lot when the family were young and I was working long hours  running my own business.

Slow Cooker recipes.

The Austerity Cook Book another one that is old and battered.

Slow cooker book, hardly used.

Two copies of Easy Cook magazine, dated Summer 2008

Not recipe books but still kitchen related, 2 poach pockets from Lakeland.

Blanket

I was going to make 64 squares, but now I'm making 81, nine each of nine different colourways, 27 done.

Another ten started.

Brrrrr

It's been between 3 and 4 degrees here all day, and it's rained, all day.

Still, I've kept busy, I collected DGD Eileen from school yesterday and then took her to dance yesterday, I swapped Eileen for Norah at 6:30.

We collected my L&M from work at 8, got Norah into bed by 8:30 and she was asleep in 10 minutes as she is usually asleep by 7ish.

We got up at 7 this morning, had breakfast and then took my L&M at work, it wasn't his shift but one of his team had a family problem and couldn't work this morning.

After dropping him off at 8:25, I drove to DD2's collected her, dropped her at work for 9.

Norah and I then went to the butchers to buy 6 Beef Wellington, I also got some cooked ham, burgers & bacon.

We went to the bakers to get some soft rolls and local Co-op, I bought the £5 deal for DD1 as she doesn't have a Co-op anywhere near where she lives.

I dropped 2 Beef Wellington to SIL for him and DD2, she'd left her phone and keys at home so I took those back to her.

I was going to drive over to DD1's with the freezer food and 2 Beef Wellington, but she phoned to say she was coming over this way so would drop in.

Norah and I got home just before 10 I made up my L&M's packed lunch and took it up to him, Norah and I came home and did some sewing, she likes to make clothes and bedding for her toys.

At 10:20 SIL phoned and asked if I could look after Suzy, she is 15 months old and he was coaching DGS's football team and it was too cold and wet to take her with him.

DD1 arrived at 10:30 with Molly who is 10, Neal 9 and her 18 month old twins. SIL arrived at 11 with Suzy. We did some more sewing/crafting, I managed to do three loads of washing and cleaned the cooker and I did a picnic lunch.

DD1 collected my L&M at 2, she left at about 3ish and SIL collected Norah and Suzy at 3:30ish.

I did burgers in buns for tea and I've chilled on the sofa with my crochet since then!

Valentines Day flowers

Crochet pic

I forgot to post this pic earlier, 2 baby cardigans finished and given to a friend with a new baby.

Bargains and whims and payments

I've made another extra mortgage payment, another months interest paid off, another month off the mortgage term.

I popped in to the local Co-op and bought their £5 deal, a large cheese pizza, wedges, chicken goujons, garlic bread & ice-cream, it's all gone in the freezer for when I have the DGC next week, there was no veg with this deal, but I have plenty fresh & frozen.
As hubby is on late's this week I've been checking out the yellow stickers in the supermarket I pass on the way to collect him, so far I've picked up 2 mixed bags of cauli/broccoli & carrots for 17p, 2 bags of courgettes, 3 in a bag, 22p and last night I got a large ham & mozzarella pizza for 27p and a punnet of plums 10p.

We have a very complicated system at work for ordering consumables and stationery etc. Every order goes through 6 people and through one person twice.

This leaves a massive opportunity for error.

Added to this, at any stage, any one of these people can decide that the order is too big, can wait a week/month or isn't needed at all so can be cancelled.

This makes it very difficult to keep in reliable stock levels, now when someone complains that something they need is out of stock I've taken to pointing them in the general direction of the person at the top of the tree with the comment 'Do I look like I'm important enough to make decisions!'

Tete-a-tete

My little Tete-a-tete are in flower and in front of them a few little crocus. No snowdrops, despite planting them in the green last year.

Hopefully the grape hyacinth will bloom this year.

Comfort food

I had boiled egg and soldiers for my tea, cheap, cheerful, comfort food at it's best.

As you can see, nothing in my kitchen matches.

Reeling in the tether

As Sheila commented a few posts ago, I am reaching the end of my tether.
I took some time to light a candle and hold some palm and thumb stones.
Trying to find some inner calm, I felt better for a while.
I'm just waiting for the next storm whether it be an emotional storm or a weather storm, time will tell.

Comments and a catchup

I am now completely recovered from my cold and it doesn't seem to have left me with a cough
fortunately, my L&M managed to escape catching it.

Anna, sorry to hear you were also married to a bully.

Trishwish, I always have a silly grin on my face, I find it the best way to worry people.

Thank you for all your kind comments about DD losing the house, she is moving into a rented house in a couple of weeks, she and SIL are hiring a van and moving themselves over a few days. WS, she loved your comment about fleas. Unfortunately the contracts were signed but the seller didn't exchange though DD thought they had been.

I've found a solicitor who is happy to act for me with regards to chasing my ex for more money. I have a list of documentation to find and then we will go over it together to see what can be achieved and for how much money. I will make an appointment for half term.

On googling the phrase it seems that 'Bent as a nine bob note' was used in the 50's to describe someone who was gay. Angela, I loved the comment about going straight.

I had an extra blitz on the housework yesterday to make up for everything I didn't do last weekend. Today has been a lazy day as I babysat last night until 12:30. the children were very good so I sat and crocheted with the dog on my knee.

I'm now off to the kitchen to make a batch of jam and a banana loaf, to use up some leftovers.

Boozy jam made, I made 7 jars in total, but gave one away immediately

My L&M doesn't want a roast dinner today, he wants burger in a bun, who am I to quibble, it's an easy meal.

Bargain

What a bargain, £4 from a charity shop.

Changes

I bumped into an old acquaintance last week and commented on how well she looked, it seems she's just realised, at 42 that she is gay, better late than never I suppose.

My daughter had a similar experience whilst shopping last week when a woman approached her and asked if she'd gone to a local primary school, when DD said yes she had, but didn't remember the woman, she said, I was a boy at primary school.

Politically correct words

I was having a conversation with someone about my attempt to get money from my ex husband.

I said 'It might be easier this time as his previous accountant was bent, the one he has now isn't'

Them 'You can't say bent,'

Me 'Why not, I'm not making an accusation in court and I'm telling the truth'

Them 'Is his new accountant straight?'

Me, puzzled 'No, he's gay, but what's that got to do with anything'

'But you said his previous accountant was bent!'

Me 'Yes he was'

Me, with the light finally dawning 'His previous accountant was crooked financially but straight sexually, his current accountant is straight financially but gay sexually'

Ye gods, that got complicated, I wouldn't refer to someone who was gay as being bent, I would feel that was inappropriate, to me, bent means legally crooked.

House sale fail

DD1's house purchase has fallen through 3 days before moving day.
She has decided not to pass the bad luck on down the chain and has found somewhere to rent.
This is going to involve her in much more driving to and fro to get the children to school.
Lots of expense, legal fees, survey cost etc, but the biggest crisis was that if she hadn't managed to find somewhere to rent quickly her foster children could have been returned to care as they have now reached the age when they are too old to share a room.
As DD also has dogs it was difficult to find a rented home where the dogs could go to, faced with the choice between losing the dogs and losing the children, there was a possibility the dogs could have been put to sleep, they could not be rehomed because of their age and breed. DD was praying hubby and I would agree to foster the dogs to avoid this.
The estate agent explained all this to the house owner but to no avail.
Still I'm sure the homeowner who withdrew her house from sale at the last moment so she could sell privately is very pleased that she saved herself the estate agents fees!!!

Work

I managed a full day at work today I wasn't sure I would manage it but I did.
It was a fairly quiet day so that helped.
The Tena Lady sneezes have stopped thankfully, I'm a bit congested and almost stone deaf, I can cope with that.
I am feeling well enough to crochet, always a plus.
I'm meeting up with DD1 tomorrow evening, I'm really looking forward to it, we can chat and put the world to rights.