Help calm me. House buying and selling stress

That is exactly what I thought this morning yogi, the birds probably chucked them out of the guttering

So inflation is skywards, that makes me very glad that I have a huge stash of fabrics, fibre etc, for my very enjoyable and productive hobbies. Better than interest on savings

I had such a nice cycle ride yesterday, had been dreading the hilly bits but I seem to retain some fitness. The insects and bumble bees are troublesome, they fly at my face and I cannot cycle strenuously without my mouth open. Several years ago, out cycling with my husband, a bumble bee flew into my mouth and stung me. Last week, one flew hard onto my cheek. I cycled home very fast that day and quickly took an anti-histamine, I always carry them with me now

I bought some tutu net and will cobble together a mouth cover today. Bumble bees are out early in the morning, later on you also get the flies, that is why I like to cycle early

I am expecting another 70 ground cover plants soon, only two types sedum and hardy geraniums. I saw a programme, he said that he covers everywhere with ground cover. If it gets too much later than they can simple be dug up. Good advice. I sat out with a drink just now, the birds are investigating my garden at last, going from tree to tree. I am happy with all that work over the 3 years

I am using my rotary line today, that was another very worthwhile project. I put a big gravel square around it. I remember struggling with the hole and a post borer. putting the rotary tube in and putting a tall round thinner post into that, using a spirit level and somehow bracing it not to move. Actually putting the 2 bags of dry concrete in and pouring water was the easy bit. I am very happy with it, it has not moved at all and is dead straight. It can take very heavy loads

Nice pottering stuff today, a bit of de-cluttering in one kitchen cupboard

Shandy hopefully the bits off your new roof are just the remanence from the workman fitting it. I'm sure they wouldn't bother to gather them up. When my son did our shed roof there where lots of odd bits from him trimming it, he just left them where they fell and I gathered them up when I noticed them on the floor.

I have been working on some electricity savings. I paid just under £6 on a microwave steamer, that will save about 2/3 on electricity, for cooking vegetables, compared to using my pan on an induction hob. I did the maths wrt specific heat capacity. It is a pretty easy way to be saving on energy

Also have started using the eco setting on a full dishwasher, I never liked that setting because any plastics would always remain wet but I have decided to do the plastic by hand as I always wash my green plastic veg bags, as well as any other decent freezer bags anyway. Eco dries and cleans my pottery and cutlery very well, the door comes open and I just leave it until the following morning to empty. That is working for me

Tv licence money has gone out today, that was in my plannng book, then I noticed that july is quite heavy and june is not but july is heavier than most months. I had to transfer a small amount from ns&i savings account as paying my cc bill does not leave a comfortable enough amount in my current account. More costs come out this week eg council tax, energy bill, internet etc. I don`t ever like to sail close to the wind, one of the reasons I have a savings account as a feeder account, I will replenish it over the summer

I need to wait in now, otherwise would be out on my bike, there are hills to climb. Parcel is coming with some sewing stuff. I shall be making some warm woollen winter skirts by september

oh no, that is sending a pit to my stomach. How much more can a person take

Oh Shandy!!…. I really do feel for you ???

Morning all, another miserable one. Doesn't feel like May, it's 46 degrees.

I had a marvellous murder mystery for my birthday, I remember my husband driving miles to find a 'white' jacket to wear for it. Everyone made a great effort dressing up.

I had to go out with the torch last night as I had noises and was upset to see lots of little pieces of black roof on the gravel, they shone out with the torch. Either crows, or it is disintegrating. Give me strength!

Have a good day everyone

Yes I've been to a few murder mystery evenings Fran. Also went to an Xmas 'Faulty Towers' meal, where they come in and act between courses, very funny.

I don't eat red meat because of the animals. I do eat free range chicken & fish once per week, only just gone back to eating chicken the last few months since living here.....phoning ringing...

I do not and never have agonised over what I eat. I do enjoy food, nearly any food. I do not have any moral feelings about eating other animals - human beings always have done so. Yes, I am concerned as to welfare of farmed animals, but provided that is clearly and carefully covered by good laws, then I am happy to eat whatever is put in front of me.

My main problem is that I enjoy food too much - when I was younger, had to be a little careful - but led a very active, sporty life so worked off calories. Not so these days. It is fortunate that my love of foodstuffs extend to all salad, so that is my normal main meal each day along with some protein like fish or chicken.

I am very firm believer (or perhaps it just me being lazy) that a good, balanced and very varied diet is the best. Anyway, the way I eat has kept me going for nearly 81 years, so can't be too bad!!!! No way would I ever go along either vegan route - find the majority of their foods are either highly spiced and contain so much salt AND often have horrendous mileage.

Would not even be a vegetarian - I love chicken and adore eating fish. Do enjoy some meat on occasions. I will stick with my varied diet, of meat, fish, vegetables, fruit, salad, etc. etc. which takes me little time or involvement in preparation each day.

No 2 daughter has just been in touch with all the family about arranging her 50th birthday celebrations next November. She is looking at a lovely hotel with a spa, etc and the evening meal is a murder mystery one. Sounds great. I have recently discovered this wonderful form of entertainment. She and I went to one last year, locally and have now booked to go to another one in August They are such good fun, brilliant entertaining actors, and people attending are all friendly as you have to work together with the other people on your table. Mind you I am terrible at solving these.

2nd May today - really is about time Spring arrived properly - not really warm. This afternoon, I am planting into pots some petunia small plug plants. They and Impatiens (Bizzie Lizzies) are the only real flowers I have on my patio balcony.

yes, distilled water has no taste at all. I use a water filter called zero and the water tastes lovely. I had a water filter installed on my sink last house and the two houses previously but don`t appear to have enough room here

Lamb is also a good meat, lambs don`t live in barns eating grain but that thought, eating baby sheep, is too much for a thoughtful person. Your son seems to be a sensitive soul in many ways

No he doesn't eat mushrooms Karmalady so I suppose that's why he doesn't like Quorn. He says he can instantly feel what is going into his body, even vitamin supplements.

My son was a vegan, then a vegetarian, now eats chicken & fish, same as me. He once made some distilled water, put it in the fridge and then when cold asked if I wanted to try it, it was awful, like drinking petrol, He said he was going to drink that from now on, but actually didn't. He only drinks water, nothing else at all, no coffee or tea, or fruit juice, definitely no alcohol.

I never eat quorn, the thought of it. A great mound of slimy pink fermented fungus (mold), formed into nuggets. That to me is not food and can cause serious allergic reactions in some people

oh crossed posts yogi. Is your son averse to those textures yogi?

yogi it does sound as though you are settling now, it was a traumatic start re the parking. I hope your son is feeling well

Karmalady my problem is that my son cannot tolerate any oil and also Quorn or the none meat alternatives. The only thing I get away with is roast potatoes, but I blot them on kitchen paper before serving. I cooked stir fry veg the other day, but put a tiny knob of good quality margarine in, instead of the oil, but he wouldn't eat it.

A trip to newcastle on the last day sounds perfect. I remember spending some of my student grant in fenwicks.

I don`t have grass and my sedum ground cover is growing very well but I have decided to put more down, also hardy geranium ground cover. I ordered many more plants this morning. I need to cover the soil to prevent weeds and hide the round rubber stepping areas

I agree that a full-on keto animal flesh diet is not at all good, bacon, sausage etc. I have known (studied) for a very long time about smoked foods, preserved foods and nitrates and the cancer causations. Hence my mainly veg food, not even many fruits, particularly the lovely ones like juicy peaches, bananas, papayas etc all extremely high in sugars. I don`t eat them but do have berries every single day and one apple a day

Oh yes re the estate agents, I remember the wishful thinking and looking, when holidaying in a lovely place. Price does matter to me, if the house value is up, then I need to be sure that my house insurance covers it, which it does as it is a saga insurance. House values are up generally, I suspect that most are undervalued wrt insurance. ok until something happens

Bit ungrateful of your aunt Shandy she must be a bit colour blind. Yes that mash Karmalady mentioned, does sound good, I'm sure I've bought similar in Tesco, ready made. Still need to empty inherited shed, not really seen much more than the entrance from the door, so that will be interesting. Think I will put my dinning table in the new shed and buy a new smaller garden table now.

Enjoy your time with your daughters Fran the trip through the woods to the beach sounds idyllic. That Keto diet is bad for your health, so you're doing the right thing on doing your own, well done on losing 2 stone!!

Morning all, drizzly today as per usual on a BH Monday!

I wonder how many people that do look in EA windows actually move here. When we were moving up here my husband found the station featured in the Evening Standard newspaper! I walk my dog through a new estate and a couple were moving yesterday, going back down to Yorkshire. The estate was built on a field on the outskirts of the village, the field adjacent is no doubt earmarked for future development, they've probably moved just in time. So lovely to hear the skylarks.

How nice your optician recognised you Franbern. You've reminded me I must go, I seem to need these cheap reading glasses more and more, might be time for proper glasses.

My friend is coming in a few weeks and I'm completely stuck on what to do on our last day, which happens to be the anniversary of my husband's death. My driving nerves do limit what I can do as public transport isn't great - I think I might take her on the bus to Newcastle, the local dog walker might be free to help with my dog.

Have a good BH everyone

Must just tell you about an experience I had this weekend making me realise how small our world really is,.

When I got off the bus at Sand Bay on Saturday - where I had arranged to meet my daughters. I sent them a text to say I was there. Not sure where they were. This is a very small, out of the way place. Few tourists ever go there - nothing there for them- just a small tea room!!!!. Then this man and his wife approached me and addressed me by name!!!! I am not good on recognition and he started off by saying 'Do you recognise me?'

I assumed he was someone from one of my WsM groups = but then he laughed and told me how I knew him. He had been (for very many years), my optician in Chingford, London!!! Felt slightly unbelievable. Turned out he was in WsM for bowling competitions, decided to take a few days there for a short holiday and hotel had mentioned Sand Bay as a nice, short drive to have!!!

Karmalady - just to say that visitors looking into EA windows does not indicate that they are thinking of moving. I must admit that EVERY TIME I visit a new town, I spend ages looking into the EA windows at finding out about the prices there. Just out of interest!!!!

TBH, I have no interest as to the value of my flat now. The next time it will be sold will be after my death, there is no reason whatsoever, that I will move out of here. It is totally future proofed for me, in terms of being able to stay here if I became further disabled, or unwell. Our oldest flat owner here will be celebrating their 104th birthday this year, and we have several others in their late 90's, and many in the late 80's I often feel quite a baby when we stand around and chat in the entrance foyer.

As soon as my daughter left yesterday I did bring up my packng boxes from my garage and have emptied one cupboard (taken off the very nice handle of the door). Plan to do one per day and see how it goes. Next Monday it all begins!!!

Spent part of yesterday having a battle with the very large shower head over the bath in the guest bathroom. This was only put in a couple of years back, and has been used rarely. I think that is the problem. I foolishly had the idea that as it was rarely sued it would be fine,. My daughter told me that only just of half the nozzles were working. We are in a very hard water area. Suppose I should have turned that on every few weeks to help keep it clear. Could not find a way of taking it down, so I had to clear it all, by standing on a small folding stool in the bath!!!! It is nearly all working now and I will run it every month for a few minutes in future.

Franbern days such as that, so memorable, gentle and sunny with family. Lovely, saturday was glorious

Thank heavens for constant gentle rain yesterday, the ground is now thoroughly watered to a deep level. I had watered slug nematodes all over on saturday, they need damp to get them into the soil.

I shall be taking a lid off one of my water butts later, to look inside, doubt they will both be full. They are garantia columns, very attractive to look at. We had them at the last house and I had to leave them, as good after 10 years as when we bought them. Those were about 7` tall. The ones I have now are grey and 5`3 tall as I have a garage gutter above. From now on I will only use this rain water for my ericaceous plants, it seems that we will have three scorching hot months ahead. Looking out now, the filling plastic pipe is black, so it is time to detach it and clean it and also the filter. Tip for getting a hose or pipe on is to dip the end into very hot water, then I use a pipe clip to keep it on the outlet

Thankfully, I had a most lovely satisfying day yesterday, sewing and knitting and watched a film and generally pottering. Perhaps similar today. I don`t particularly like cycling on damp ground, nor with holiday traffic buzzing.

There were more people in my little town on friday and I noticed several standing looking at estate agent windows. Population is about 5000 and there are only 9 properties for sale. 6 are new builds on a proper estate out of town. House prices have rocketed here, mine would sell for 30% more than I paid, a neighbour had a valuation, identical house but my position is better.

It paid to be decisive, it would have been snapped up but I dived in before the open day, the house was still in process of being finished. I remember looking up the home phone number of the old builder, the estate agent would not let me look at the house until open day. I found his number and the builder showed the house to me that very day, then I drove and I paid a deposit to the EA, who was a bit miffed. I was the first buyer here on this close so my solicitor did the donkey work, re section this and that

Thanks for the keto recipe karmalady, enjoy your sewing, wet here too. I've given my tall skinny waterbutt to my neighbour. It was supported on four separate linked together plastic 'poles' and the wind blew them out twice and it fell, luckily not taking the gutter with it. I bought another base but it's for a fat butt! and it was still far too wobbly. I've had to tie the connector pipe down to the upright gutter so it drips down into the drain, and will buy another butt soon.

Glad you had a lovely day Franbern, safe journey to your daughter. Glad you are packing for such a happy reason!

Had a really happy day yesterday. I do love travelling by bus. So daughters went off on their walk, then I went out - caught first bus, met someone I knew and had a chat. Got off that, crossed the road to wait for second bus, another (elderly) lady came along and we had a chat about running out own cars!!!

Bus ride was interesting - High up alongside the coast. Alighted at the end, gloriously warm and sunny. My daughters were sitting outside at a lovely tea-rooms. Joined them and they bought us home-made scones, cream and jam. Sat, gossiping, enjoying them in the warm sunshine.

Eventually went back home, where we sat on my patio balcony with cold drinks. Decided to go out for meal and managed to book early tale at a Thai restaurant. Amazing how we still managed to find so much to talk about - just the three of us.

It was one of those wonderful days, that - for me - will stay in my memory for a very long time. Daughter leaves this morning to return home and I will start the packing up of my kitchen things.

Rainy this morning - which I am sure the farmers and the gardeners will appreciate.

It is so dull today, feels cold, I decided to get dressed in woolly jumper and fleecy comfy trousers, better than getting cold hands. No need for buying anything today, I was tempted to drive a round trip for a few things, would have been a silly use of petrol

So I have to embrace today, radio and sewing and later a film and knitting. I bought two box sets the other week including lark rise to candleford, which is easy to watch while knitting

I am still feeling joy at having had the whole interior painted, knowing that it will be good for very many years. Perhaps a bit bored right now but will soon overcome that once I concentrate on my sewing. It is gently raining now, I am hoping for more later, my water butts are too depleted for this time in the year

That was the most wonderful and filling comfort food.

I used two aubergines and 2 long courgettes and I added mushrooms to the layering sauce. I was standing up for a long time while I prepared it all, fried the aubergine and courgette slices and they took up a lot of olive oil. Luckily I had two medium square aluminium trays and so I made two. 12 meals in all wow, I really am happy and loved it. The topping is unusual and soft, lovely

I also made two pizzas as I had two spelt bases in the freezer

Now I have ordered some lamb as I am going to make a tagine next week, which will do four to six meals. All this food is purposeful, geared to the food that really supports my blood group, which is AB+. The keto/vegan is because it is lovely and healthy and keeps me satisfied for longer

I have a lot of foil trays with lids and have used them to divide the lasagne. I am so pleased to have bought a large freezer, having all these ready meals is twofold ie I eat better and it frees me to pursue my hobbies, the spin off is that my winter excess weight is on the move

I remember now, looking at a house with absolutely no-where to put a large upright freezer and identical fridge, it was a deal breaker