🦞 The Lockdown Gang still chatting 🦞

Naughtyneine where are you?
Are you OK?

Hi All. We are having a few days at the Norfolk Broads. Yesterday was glorious wall to wall sunshine but today has started off with the usual cloud and slightly damp feel. We are off to lunch at one of our favourite slightly posh pubs later but before that we are checking out a possible little holiday home for the end of the month. We are in a very old and quirky cottage at the moment the quirky bit being there is a step up or a step down into every room! Well thats ok inless youve had a stroke! Ive got a phobia about steps but all has been fine.
Tomorrow we are meeting up with Nfk for coffee/lunch/alcohol and a lot of chattering at a favourite spot for us all. Fingers crossed for some sun!

Have a lovely day NfK and Jan

Notspaghetti how interesting. I’m not surprised you haven’t parted with the gloves. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a pair of evening gloves in real life. On screen of course. I too love the glamourous era

Jan DS 2 and family are heading to Norfolk next weekend.
So pleased you’re meeting up with NfK how lovely. Have a great time.

What fun to be meeting up Jan and Nfk
😊

I remember my dad's shop selling ladies evening gloves and the beautiful fan of them at Christmas time in the shop window. Lots of different colours in a sort of colour-wheel peacock tail.
The arm and fingers had cardboard inside making the satin flat and shiny and the fingers look like feathers...

In my little girl mind I feel that this was every Christmas - but obviously as an adult I do know it almost certainly wasn't.

I remember being in trouble for inviting a friend home when my DM was out and trying on her fur stole and high heels possibly long gloves too.

She had a Dior dress too but we didn't dare try that on.

I was more of a tomboy and preferred jeans and casual clothes but dressing up occasionally was exciting.

I think my love of (beautiful) fabrics is from my childhood.
How lovely wicked to dress up in your mother's finery!

I wasn't allowed jeans!
What did I buy with my Saturday job money???

... they were the sort you wore sitting in the bath of course.

I inherited, by default, several pairs of long evening gloves, each in their own dedicated long box with original tissue paper. They were my great grandma's, so around the turn of the century, but worn by my grandma and my mum for her wedding. Elbow length white kid, others a sort of mink/buff colour, with pearl buttons along the palm and wrist.
In a nod to Cinderella, try as I might I couldn't get them buttoned up at all. One pair went to a local costume museum, the rest to a thriving AmDram society which has a keen children's and teens' section, where I guess there are slimmer
paws than mine!

A favourite as a child was my mother's full circular underskirt made from parachute silk. A dream for dressing up, bridal wear.

I was never allowed not jeans but trousers with a fly front. 🤷‍♀️
University and independence soon out an end to that😆

Hello from the Norfolk Broads! To all the Lobstars desperate to know if Nfk Dumpling and Jan I can tell you we very definitely did!! We did have my DH with us as well but couldn’t find anything else to do!!! Think he was a bit bored listening to two ladies chattering away!
Anyway we met at one of our favourite places- Ranworth which has food and drink on tap at 1030 and reluctantly split up at 1430!! The lovely Keira came too and was sooo good but she did say “Remember Mum I dont like prawns!”🦐 we left with promises to meet up next year. A very good afternoon!! Have a good weekend all!

Oh, that's lovely to read, Jan! Pleased you both had a great time.

How's your sorting going, Grammaretto?
Lots of support on the Decluttering thread. We Grans are never short of a tip or too - or solace when needed!

Did your buyers want to keep any of your furniture? If so, I hope it was helpful and not too sad for you.

Grammaretto your mother sounds very glamourous. Men used to look so nice going out in their finery.
ixion those gloves sound lovely. I do hope you kept one pair for yourself,
Jan and NFK so pleased you met up again. How lovely. And you got to meet Keira too. An added bonus. So glad you managed it.
Been to lunch today and ate too much. Nice meal though and good chat. I think the restaurant was glad when we finally left. We were sitting chatting for ages.

My DM wasn't glamorous but wished she was. She was little and a bit plump . She longed to be tall and willowy a favourite word of hers

She spent money on nice shoes. When she died my DSis and I had to give away her beautiful shoes as we were like Cinderella's sisters 😅🤣😂 she took a size 4

Well here I am trying again. I did write a screed some weeks back but I can't find it so it's probably still somewhere in the ether bit like my head. I've been having a few wobbles hence the unauthorised absence for far too long. I am so envious of Jan and NFK meeting up as I know if I'd been able to meet up with you all I'd have been sorted out in no time. Way back when I was negotiating the end of a long marriage, a full time job and foreign students arriving and leaving every few days ( that required breakfast ,pack lunch, dinner and drop off and pick up) I reached a point where I couldn't stop crying....and eventually had no choice but to go to see my GP in the hope it was some hormonal deficiency...his words still echo round my head...Mrs E ( as I was then) I've been waiting for this to happen , you have been coming in here for years with Mr E and all his problems ( a lot caused by alcohol) and now your mind and your body can take no more. He suggested medication but I didn't want to go down that route and in the end it took me a year to' get better'. At the time I couldn't accept it a a sort of breakdown ( I'm far too sensible and practical for that thought I) but it was and in the end it was only driving myself round huge swathes of Oz and NZ that finally got me back on track. I deliberately stayed in Airbnb so I'd have to talk to people unlike here where I'd only see people I really had to ...and my girls who totally understood and wanted their strong Mumma back. My twin Grandsons and their little brother put a smile on my face and I never lost being able to have them for sleepovers. On all other levels I merely functioned and set my one task a day and if I achieved it fine...if I did more then great and if I didn't then that was also fine too. This for a person who was used to juggling all the balls in the air ( Ex was not a practical person and sadly not a hands on Father either , his Father was 50 when he was born so he'd not had that experience growing up and his Mother was a very strong person physically and mentally and as he was the only son out of 5 was very shall we say ...spoilt and I sort of at 20 tried and mostly succeeded to take over her role of managing everything that needed doing, swapping spoiling for caring but only so far ...when after a week of marriage he asked if I could wash his hair as his Mother used to do it, my immediate response was...Why ? Have you hurt your hands? and unless you have broken both arms then No.) was a really tough time but I did get back to 'normal' again and life went on and 5 years later I met DH and life changed for ever in the most wonderful way. So what brought me to the edge again a couple of months ago who knows but I found myself teetering once more and I hated it am hating it. Yes I know there have been some very rocky roads to negotiate over the past 7 years but we 'locked on and drove' through them all....the sadness of not seeing my 'girls' and 11 GC is immense but I try not to dwell on it but pray daily for their happiness and wellbeing. Looking back I realise I wasn't ready for the very sudden decision that DH made about retiring...a working man on Friday and retired on Monday. I think I felt that it was something that was going to happen in a few years time and would be a gradual working towards thing and anticipated and my working life would gradually come to a natural end too. Stupidly I still want to feel that I'm in the late summer of my life ( in reality age wise I'm probably in the Autumn) but the suddenness of his retirement in my eyes put me in the Winter and that scared me and instead of my mind letting me grab the wonderful opportunity...it's paralysed me. I am still doing my supporting of the little family and others and but doing my swan act...calm and serene on the surface but paddling like mad underneath it all. There....you have it all... I've bared my soul to you....I know none of it makes any sense and my guilt know no bounds just now...My DH deserves better.

If I'd read all of the above on another GN site I'd have thought...you need to get a grip girl....

Love to you Naughtyneine ❤️
You are doing the best you can and Naughtytide will know this.
X
Sending gentle hugs.

Also,you have been doing a LOT of "getting a grip"
No wonder you are so wrung out!

Oh goodness Naughtyneine : it's definitely time to stop feeling guilty. You have had plenty enough to put up with.

❤️

I've been just keeping head above water.
I was really tired today but got through.
The various sales went well and I was telling every caller in turn, about my house move.

My cousin came quite late yesterday so we talked family history for an hour or two after dinner. Today was Quaker Meeting followed by DD and family arriving to clear some furniture from her old room.

They left about an hour ago. Cousin left me a bottle of wine and chocolate. I've begun both.

Oh NN what a brave lady you are to write down exactly how you feel, You’ve been coping with so much so long.
Can you identify what you’re so worried about. Is it having your Dh round the house all day? The thought of giving up work yourself? Doing new things or spending too much time together. Missing your work colleagues?
Are you able to carry on work part time. Spend some time together but keep working for a while? Hope you can sort it out ok,
You’ve had a busy day Grammaretto lots of visitors. Hope you made some good sales.
I’ve been for lunch with my BIL and his wife, nice of them to come and visit me.

Oh my goodness NN you really have been "challenged". I think you were more than entitled to say the magic words (b***er it - a friend told me them), and go walkabout to find yourself. I've been known to walk around the house chanting "big girls knickers" on many occasions. (I do find I talk to myself rather too much of the time.) But what you went through sounds awful and a bit of a relapse periodically when something unexpected rears its head is only to be expected. It will pass but don't hide it. Let those you care for care for you for a while. You may well find they actually like doing it.

It was a really lovely day meeting Jan and Mr Jan and thank you so much for treating me - and Kira. I can't believe how picky this spaniel is though - fancy not liking prawns! Next time it'll be on me. I'd forgotten how much I liked sitting at Ranworth. It's a shame though that they now have people ashore helping the boats moor up. It was much more fun before!!

And, Grammaretto, you've done it! Well done! When we downsized we went around the house sticking big red dots on all the things we wanted to keep. Not the other way around as it would have meant too much temptation to hang on to Stuff. Then, with a plan of the new place, I arranged the furniture and where to store the stuff we wanted. It meant pruning a lot of red dots! Then everything else got sorted and sent to the local auction house. Not a profitable way to get rid of stuff as they take a good cut but certainly the easiest. Probably things went which we should have kept but I can't say we actually missed any of it. How exciting it all is!

I'm now off to walk Kira, she's padding round on the wood (effect) floor very noisily, letting me know that it's a nice day and she wants to go OUT! It's one of the reasons I wanted her so I can't complain. but I'm dressed in old tatty clothes resume battle with the oxalis. It's got in the grass now. I wonder where I can go where I won't meet anyone!

I have such a lot of BIG furniture none of which will fit into a normal sized house.

I have tried and failed to get a charity to collect books. I've just posted a few chairs on Gumtree.
Who needs 3 log baskets?

DD was giving me advice yesterday telling me what to do

It's so all consuming. I must be the most boring person on the planet.

Your day out with Mr & Mrs Jan sounds such fun Nfk. How rude of Kira to reject prawns!

I have invited a friend to supper but don't feel like cooking. I could make an omelette but that sounds a bit mean. Maybe I will get us a carry-oot. Not the chippie though. I was always told to avoid fish on a Monday as the boats don't go out on Sundays.
Traditions must be kept! 😅

I hope life becomes easier for you NN . It sounds as though it has been really hard for you

Doodle I am glad you had a good visit from your in laws

Grammaretto i expect the prospect of getting rid of so many of your possessions is quite daunting. Good idea about the red dot system. .
Are there any local charities who might want some of the items.
Do you have a date for your move yet? Can you put some things in storage if you don’t have time to sort it all before you move?
Hope you had a nice evening with your friend.
NFK have a nice walk with Kira. Are you close to the beach?
Car passed its MoT hurrah.

Have you considered this method of selling some of your books, Grammaretto?
(I haven't, but have bought too many from them.
Looks like you scan bar code (are your books all vintage?🤔), a price is given there and then) and you get a free pre-paid label- and home collection to boot.

sell.worldofbooks.com/en-gb/how-it-works?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=21891283356&utm_content=174482978081&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=21891283356&gbraid=0AAAAADsPV2UlC6SWXIxTGi6Dc-l_Z7JyW&gclid=Cj0KCQjw5P7UBhDaARIsAOSlS1NUgGqAVrGL558eIreAsWDnzdhI4eoLN6T9i219UcW08-EVKiV8iCEaAqLIEALw_wcB