What I did today.

what good idea Jainainsworth you have to relax when retired!!

I manged one client, only have about 5 regulars, and felt well enough also tidied bedroom!!

We have had a really busy day - had our chimney swept and a pile of logs delivered - so they needed to be stacked. That job fell mainly to me as DH helping the artisan putting the stone cladding on the other chimney - all done ready to be pointed and looking good. Fire now burning beautifully so lovely and cosy in this neck of the woods.

Don't they like a humid environment? I think the only succes I ever had with an African Violet was when I kept it in a goldfish bowl [don't ask me how it ended up in a goldfish bowl, though; it probably seemed like a good idea at the time. I have even less success with house plants as I do with goldfish ].

crimson two points, put the plants in a pot, and goldfish in a bowl, although a tank is better.

Hope this helps.

I knew I was going wrong somewhere....

I have just got back from the most dreadful choir rehearsal ever!

There are 5 weeks to our Christmas concert and we have been given a new piece. We still need to work on the stuff we already have.

This is a community choir with only a few experienced singers.

It is complicated to follow the parts on the page and it is transcribed in a way that makes getting the timing right difficult. I don't know what the conductor thinks he is doing.

After nearly wasting the whole two hours, trying to get this right, we have all lost the will to live. Let's hope he will give up on it.

It was so awful I had to come home and eat a piece of the Aldi Moser Roth Orange Mousse au Chocolat I bought today for presents. Mmm.

I feel a visit to Aldi coming on. Meanwhile

NellieM

i used to have a lovely family of african violets years ago, but I was spitting feathers when they got this insect horrid little tiny white bug so had to get rid of the lot!!
they do not like over watering and I used to feed them with special stuff, cut back excess foilage. now only have the odd one, we seem do loads better with Orchids!! have even put pics on facebook they flower for ages then I put them upstairs in study or spare room cut back, leave on window cill and usually them come back brillian again!!!

sorry this should been on gardening thread!! still got cough so no acquacise, OH\ NOT great either, we going pop out Morrisons yippeee!! and send my shoes back ordered some Ecco suede ones, lovely but they not comfy like used to be, squashed my toes, downside have to pay postage for returns!! they going back to Sweden, strange, and were made in Slovakia!! seems all wrong somehow.

Yesterday we drove to the Peak District for a break. Last night DD3's keys were taken and her car stolen. On her key ring were keys for our house and post to her which still comes to our house. Cue, panic drive to get to our house before potential burglars.

Hope you get it sorted Kitty. There's always something. isn't there.
I was given a beautiful dress by my godfather recently, a black silk Chinese cheongsam with embroidered flowers curving down the front. It belonged to his late wife. He thought it would suit me[v flattered emoticon]
Just been down to a local dressmaker who thinks she can work a miracle, and I am hopeful that I'll be able to squeeze my thighs, bum and boobs into it when we are on the QM2!

Oh kittylester - what a panic you must have been in. Hopefully your own house insurance will cover the cost of new locks etc? Also hope your DD will get her car back unscathed.

kitty you must have been frantic, it is an awful thing to happen. My friend and her DH had their car keys stolen from the house and both brand new cars stolen off the drive. They were victim to the stick through the letterbox. I had my letterbox fitted into a brick wall and post falls into a cupboard in a locked porch, as a direct result of friends robbery.

We are now back in the Peak District having had new locks fitted and a quote for alarms!

We had alarms in our old house but they seemed to me to reinforce a feeling of living in a society which is basically bad, which I don't think is true. However, I'm prepared to reconsider - not society but the need for alarms!!

harrigran my husband locked himself out of our house a few months ago and hooked the spare keys out of the 'keypot' on the chest in the hall with a garden cane. We thought we had solved the potential problem by moving the keypot to the other end of the hall, until the locksmith told us that he could actually retrieve keys from the pocket of a coat hanging in the hall, and tell you what else was in there. This piece of kit is freely available!

He suggested that we all take our keys to bed with us!! But, I had a friend who did just that and woke to find a man, in her bedroom, going through her handbag looking for the car keys!! Apparently, burglars don't bother with stuff like TVs and DVD players etc they just go for jewellery and cars!!

My letterbox is actually at the bottom of the door; can they still use this gadget from there?

I should think so crimson - think the instrument they use for keyhole surgery! Scary!

Today I sat through a 2 hour staff meeting at CAB, getting increasingly depressed by the 'welfare reforms', particularly the benefits cap which will penalise not only the work-shy which is the intention, but those who just cannot find work that will take them out of benefits. Housing Benefit has already been tightened and Council Tax Benefit will now be set by local councils, with reduced government funding. I have been thinking of quitting, now my mind is made up - regretfully, but old dogs, new tricks...
Then I had a hairdo, which cheered me up, and went to a talk at U3A on Christmas traditions. Well done, with good visuals.

Crimson.....Cobs mainly, I rode Pippa 3yr old ...Lovely mare..and such a good girl.

Nonu....I know what you mean, I have sacrificed much over the years to keep horses, cant imagine life without them....Treat yourself and go and have a riding lesson/hack....

Would that I could , Jules , mind you her Maj, still does .

I had a card last Christmas from a dear friend who has taken up riding .

I just feel maybe a bit old !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! x

Jules bye the bye just scrolled backed and realize you are a new member ,

Welcome and enjoy .

I had a Welsh Cob for fourteen years and she was a dear. Didn't ride her [no sense of balance, me] but we talked a lot! Been gone for quite a few years now and I couldn't cope with all the work involved, but I do miss being with horses and just standing by the field watching their lives go by; their little routines and their friendships. I can still hear her whinny to me when I called her name. They're like a drug, horses.

I used to teach riding, and do the odd bit of competitive dressage, but haven't been on a horse for over 14 years!

Today I bit my tongue over a rejection email for a part time job I had applied for. The person used "thankyou" twice, so it wasn't just a typo!