Chitchat thread #24

[mothhawk]

Thats a nice looking toaster MH!

Yes, but I certainly wouldn't shell out over £100 for a toaster! Not unless I won the lottery, then I might be tempted. My toaster is put away in a cupboard as I rarely eat bread any more. I do keep a H/M loaf in the freezer for those "just got to have a slice" moments though.

[Nicos]

I wouldn’t be tempted either MH…it’s not red…

[Armorel]

I'm another soup fan, today its a Jerusalem artichoke soup using some hiding in the freezer from last year. I've not tried blitzing lentils i usually add them to stews but will give it a go.

Hi Bren, I can highly recommend bacon and chestnuts as a brilliant combination in soup with Jerusalem artichokes, especially smoked bacon. We were given some Jerusalem artichokes many years ago by our milkman (who didn't tell us they were taking over his allotment!), planted them out and ended up with a perennial Jerusalem artichoke forest. We found various recipes to use them but the soup was the best and we gave a lot of our annual harvest away .... The green lentils were a bit 'bitty' in the soup the other day but hubby ate it without complaint so it must have been OK.

Oh rary I really feel for your OH. Sciatica has blighted me for decades and it can really mess up your health and mobility. She has my deepest sympathy and I hope she makes a good recovery. I bent to straighten the rug about a week ago and went into spasm but it does seem to be easing now. I don't think I could sleep on a board but I do prefer a firmer mattress and a memory foam topper is also useful. I hope your hand is improving now and I expect you are looking forward to having the stitches out. Just don't go overdoing things!

I've been talking to the Spinal Interface Clinic today following my second whole spine MRI a couple of weeks ago. It was a telephone consultation supposedly 8.30-9am but it got to 10am and I had to phone. They promised she would call me before 11am because I had things to do. In the event, she didn't call until about 2.30pm which was very frustrating and I may have been a tiny bit terse....

It took some persistence to get them to actually GIVE me the MRI report but it needs a lot of studying because it seems to be written in 'latin' and will require some research/translation. I find it intensely frustrating to have a medical specialist trying to discuss something with me that I don't have in front of me. So now I'm in limbo for at least a week while she raises questions with the Radiologist and Spine Consultant about things brought up by the MRI.

Hubby made a delicious Chinese-style beef and red pepper stir fry for lunch because he's out playing for a home table tennis match this evening. They played the D team last week and lost fairly comprehensively. This week it's the C team from the same club and he left gloomily forecasting that they would be drubbed. So I need to make sure there is a nice tot of whisky and some dark sea salt chocolate ready when he comes home.

Hubby encouraged me to put laundry on the whirligig this afternoon but it really wasn't sunny or breezy enough to dry it. So it will stay out overnight and hopefully the sun will come out a little earlier than forecast at lunchtime tomorrow to dry it. We have a fancy Lakeland covered heated airer which does a good job of finishing off the drying/airing but I really REALLY miss my big walk-in airing cupboard on Scilly, almost the size of a small single room, with two static clothes horses. It was a real luxury

The harvest supermoon was beautiful last night and clearly visible from our garden in Cornwall. The weather was pleasant enough to just stand outside and enjoy looking at it before I came indoors. Enjoy your evening, everyone!

[Nicos]

Rary….I always thought the board goes under the mattress to make it firmer?

[greenishfing]

Good morning.

Oh, the absolute joy of 5 hours of totally uninterrupted sleep. I think I might just try and add a couple more hours to it.

[Nicos]

Mornin n’alln’all

I noticed I slept better hugging my hotwater bottle GF…one top up at 4am…might be worth a try?

A couple of appointments for me today - typically in opposite directions an hour apart …and a quick grory hop ( hopefully something will accidentally jump into my shopping trolley) Anyone want anything whilst I’m out?

I see you have flu and Covid vaccinations already available in the UK…our first day is Tuesday so I’ll be there bright and early! Apparently they are both surging locally- particularly the Flu.

OH has been playing with his weed burner again. Let’s hope it makes a difference as I seem to have spent days re weeding the driveway this year. Normally it’s about three four hour sessions twice a year but this year it’s been about 5 sessions and just not sustainable time wise for the future.
He’s happy zapping with the double burner. Me?…well I’m looking forward to getting the shredder out again!
It looks like we still have a few dry days ahead so I’m really chuffed to be playing and pottering around outside!

Have a great day peeps…the smiles were doing a bit of a jig as they flew over…. was it porridge for breakfast Snoop?

[mothhawk]

Good morning all.

The weather's doing nothing much outside, but the heating came on earlier so it must be cooler today. I have to go and pick up my new spectacles this morning, then I may pop into the GC on the way home to have a look at the decorations. I need some glittery gold string for my fir cones.

[Florence Fennel]

Good Morning All Dull here again. It's a Frank day today. Just hoping he arrives before Lord Ginger appears! Have a good day

[Nicos]

MH…have a look online at Hobbycraft- they may have more selection and be cheaper!
I think these days they will deliver too?

[greenishfing]

Well, I was so happy with 5 hours unbroken sleep, but I snuggled down again and managed to add another 3 hours to my tally. I just asked Mr GF how he slept. When he replied really well I told him I knew, as I had too. He did not manage to wake me up at all.Nicos, I would be too hot for a hot water bottle at the moment.

Another grory hop is due this morning between 10am and 11am. I better make some room in the freezer.

[Snoop Puss]

Morning all.

rary, I agree with Nicos: board under the mattress, not on top of it. I presume you know and are just teasing us. But I don't want Mrs Rary to suffer or you to get told off and have to remake the bed at bedtime. So better to make sure you know now rather than you find out later.

Hope you manage to get your laundry dry today, armorel. Not much chance here, as it's a very dull day.

Covid and flu jabs available here in a couple of weeks. Will be signing us up for those when appointments become available.

What kind of shops are you visiting today, Nicos? If a patisserie, I'll have one of those delicious French apricot and custard tarts.

Whatever it was set the smiles off also set Jack off. He's been chasing around like a mad thing. Definitely not porridge, though. Not sure what's on the cards for us for brunch today. In fact, I'd better go and check the cupboards and fridge for inspiration.

Have a great day, everyone.

[Bren In Pots]

Morning

A Grory hop at some point today not sure after that.

Armorel if you're wondering a Grory hop is a Grocery shop its been called that for at least 5 years here on the vine. From what i remember it started with a typo and just stuck.

enjoy your day

[greenishfing]

I know they say to put a board under the mattress, but the first time that I had a prolapsed disc, in my 20s, the doctor told me to sleep flat on my back on a hard floor. It was actually the one position where the pain abated somewhat. One morning, a couple of weeks later, I held my breath to roll over onto my side, to get up, waiting for the pain to greet me ..... it was more or less gone.

Mr GF seems to have no ill effects from his Covid jab. I think I'll take him to the chemist in the next week or two for his flu jab, as they said that if I park outside, in their little car park, they'll come out and do it while he sits in the car, no appointment necessary.

I'm just waiting for the supermarket van now. I usually hear his reversing beepers as he approaches.

[rary]

Good morning, like GF I used a hard surface to sleep on when I had a sore back, so I put the board on top of the mattress along with a memory foam topper and a 13tog quilt, in the days of the metal sprung frames and 4in deep horse hair? filled mattress, yes I could understand the board below, under a 10in deep mattress resting on wooden slats I just cant se e that making a difference, but I will give it a try, and yes I had to remove it a one o'clock this morning, though I was sound asleep and had to be woken up. Nicos is the burner that OH is using, a gas burner, I have never found those to be successful, unless its a high pressure burner which reaches a higher temperature, I found the paraffin burner which can be pressured up better, but a mix of salt, vinegar and a little liquid soap added works great, suns out, OH having a sleep, I think I can get some work done, so enjoy the day and I am passing on some smiles for you so please pass them on

[greenishfing]

rary, in the days of the bedframes with squeaky metal springs, I know people who put old doors on top of the frame and under the mattress, otherwise getting into bed was akin to falling into a black hole. Even worse was a feather mattress which started the night all fluffy and pillow like and ended up as a thin solid layer through which you could feel every spring.