One of the pitfalls of moving to the city!

Being close to everything is great. Unfortunately, that means we are closer to people. And it is cold and flu season, and yes, I caught a really bad cold, and then my poor husband caught it from me.  This was inevitable as we are 'joined at the hip.'

So I have spent a lot of time resting and watching TV.  Today I am feeling a bit better, so I caught up with some chores and cooking.

We postponed our Thanksgiving meal until Sunday; hopefully my husband will be well enough by then to enjoy it. If not, we will postpone to the following weekend. 

Here it is in situ!

 Here is the dresser we bought for a TV table.

 Such an improvement. Very happy with how it fits right in.

Trying to find some Christmas spirit!

I am at that time of year again when I need some Christmas enthusiasm.  I am like this every year and then I usually find some inspiration from somewhere.  So far it isn't happening!

Maybe it is because we have the house almost sorted now and I want a break.  I don't want to mess it up by getting all the Christmas stuff out.

Tomorrow, if all goes to plan, we will be purchasing a beautiful oak dresser that we will put in the living room to put the big TV on.  We let our other one go when we moved and have the TV currently sitting on two bedside tables.  This actually looks okay, as we have a nice little table sitting between them, and it kind of resembles a unit, but it was only meant to be temporary.

I found this oak dresser on Marketplace, and it is beautiful.  In it's day it would have cost a fortune, as it is a very expensive brand.  Their current furniture prices are astronomical!

It is just the size we need for our TV and the drawer space will be very useful. It will hide all the cables and speaker wires behind it, unlike the existing setup.  

This era of furniture may not be to everyone's taste, but we love it, and it complements everything else in our home.

The cost is very reasonable but as we don't have a means to pick it up we have to hire 2 guys and their truck to pick it up and carry it into the house for us, bumping up the price.  But we are still very happy.

This will be the last thing we buy for the house for a while.  It is finally beginning to feel like home.

Although, after looking at the existing picture, I think a new doggy mattress is in order, the camo just doesn't go in this house lol.

what are the odds????

It has been 9+ weeks since the move.  It has been a very stressful time but we can now see a light at the end of the tunnel.

The actual move was disastrous.  We did not choose wisely when it came to movers and a lot of furniture got scratched or damaged and some things never even made it here. We went for cheap rather than quality, our own fault.

But we have gotten past that now.

We needed a couple of bookshelves to replace our old ones, which we had discarded before the move.

I found a set on FB Marketplace that I could get in the back of our vehicle so I went and bought them.  The problem was they were from a smoking home so we had to leave them in the garage for several weeks to keep cleaning and polishing them to get rid of the smoky smell.  Then we bought them inside but, alas, we had too many books for them.

I had been keeping a lookout on Market place to see if I could find a similar set to go with them.  Nothing was showing up until Sunday night when an identical bookshelf came on sale. And very reasonably priced.  I messaged straight away and asked if they were from a smoke free home.....and they were.  I went first thing Monday morning to get them.  

I couldn't believe my luck!  What are the odds of finding two identical bookshelves in the same city?

I am happy!

Still alive and kicking…….well maybe not kicking lol

 We are still here. Moving has been very stressful. But we are very slowly getting unpacked and set up.

Will post more soon, just wanted to let you know we are still in the land of the living.

Hope all is good in your worlds.

XXXXX 

It's all go here

Haven't had time to post lately. We are in process of selling our property, buying another house, clearing out 20 years of clutter because we are downsizing and all in the heat of summer.

I will be back at some point!

Back in the hospital

 My husband had another neuro crisis and is back in the hospital. Recovery is slow this time but he is improving.

No news on the property sale yet.

We are hoping it will be third time lucky

Yes, we have done it again. Listed our property for sale, that is.

The mowing has become too much for me to do as my husband is no longer able to do any.  Plus the weather isn't helping.  So much rain so the grass grows thick and quickly.  I can't keep up.  Last time out I beached the mower.  We were lucky it was in a place that we could get the vehicle nearby and tow it out.  The ground is so soft from all the rain.

The travelling back and forth is also becoming a real chore.  A 300-mile round trip in a day for a doctor's appointment at the VA hospital is just too much driving for me now. We need to live much closer to the hospital.

So let's hope third time is a charm.

Please send us good vibes.

I am reading blogs just not able to comment

I read my Blogger every day to keep up with everyone.  I do it on my PC.  For some reason or another, I can not comment.  It drives me nuts.  I can comment on my phone but where we live we do not get good service, so unless we are out, our phones are not much use.

So please know I think about you all and feel it when things go wrong for you.

When we go out I am the driver so not able to use the phone and we do not go out that often anyway so time to post comments is really limited.

The fault is with Google on my PC, when I try to comment it tells me to sign into my Google account.  Which is very annoying as I am signed into it! It just goes round in a loop and keeps telling me to sign in. And when I go to sign in, it tells me I am already signed in.  aarrgghh!!!

The excitement this week was our wedding anniversary.  We drove 90+ miles to get some good battered cod and on the way back we took a tour of The Fantastic Caverns.  It is a huge cavern system that you can only tour in one of their Jeep and trailer thingies.  There are only 4 caverns in the world that are big enough to do this type of tour so we are lucky to live reasonably close to one of them. My husband got to ride shotgun and I am right behind him.

We are enjoying the current milder weather, it is lovely to see evrything outside spring into life.

Take care everyone. XXXXX

Unfortunately, since then my husband has been having more heart problems.  He is scheduled to see his cardiologist later this month so hopefully they can get it settled down again.

For Ivy of the blog 'The Happy Wisk"

 In my last post I mentioned the folding pet stairs we bought for our dog Maggie to be able to get in and out of our vehicle.  We got them from Amazon. The brand is Petruna.

They are perfect for us as I am the one who has to set them up for Maggie to go in and out and they are easy and light for me to be able to do that.

I also picked up the two tires on the rims yesterday complete with inner tubes, so hopefully they will stay up now.  I hope to have them put back on either today or early next week.  We really need to mulch the fallen leaves.

Still very warm here and today is very windy. It is warmer than it should be for this time of the year. It is going to cool down a bit for a few days then warm back up into nicer, more moderate temperatures.  The daffodils have come up and I noticed the flowers coming out on the forsythia bushes this morning.  Spring has arrived!

Have a great weekend everyone. XXXXX

Lovely weather finally

We are having some really nice weather right now.  Such a change from the long winter cold we had.  I believe we will still have a few cold days to come but not many.

Had a lot of hospital and doctors appointments between us but other than a scare when I had to go back for a repeat mammogram, all is good.  The first mammogram had an 'artifact', their word, but it was perfectly clear on the second one.

We try to keep as busy as we can with our limited mobility, and having the aide come in has been a great help for us.

Our dog Maggie turns 10 this year and she has always been a very strong athletic dog.  She is an American bulldog.  We noticed, however, on our last trip out with her that she was having difficulty jumping into the vehicle.  We purchased some fold-up steps for her made specifically for dogs and vehicles.  She was a little hesitant at first but with a few treats as bribes she is getting the idea.

We got some help to take off a couple of wheels from my riding mower and our little pull-along trailer and we will be taking them in to get new tyres and/or inner tubes put in them.  Mowing season will soon be upon us.

After we get these ones done we have a couple of other tyres to have tubes put in on the bigger riding mower.  They do manage to stay up a while though unlike the ones we will be taking in tomorrow.  They are as flat as pancakes!

That's about all our news for now.

Hope all is good in your lives. XXXXX

Snowed in and bitterly cold

 We had a big snowstorm and now we have a good 8-10" of snow on everything. It will not begin to go away until the weekend because the temperatures are frigid.  Tonight it will be -9F, that is -23C.  Brrrr!  Even with the heating on full blast there is a chill in the air.

We have a parcel out for delivery by USPS but our mailbox is at the end of our driveway which is 1/3 mile long.  I will have to venture out when it is delivered. But at 5.34pm it is still saying out for delivery and the current temperature is 8F or -15C.  If it gets much colder I will not go out tonight.

Our vehicle is parked under the lean-to, which is away from the house so I have to wade through the snow to get to it. It is not crucial to get it tonight. It is too far for an old lady to walk so I go to the mailbox in the car.

It's been a funny few weeks!

The past month has been strange, for sure. First of all, this winter has been very, very cold, and we were snowed and iced in for a week or more. 

We had to go to the VA hospital twice for appointments, both days it was freezing.

Some not-so-good news, the central apnea my husband has is getting worse.  There is talk of tracheotomy tubes.  My husband is vehemently against that, so we have to wait and see how it goes before making any decisions.  He might qualify for an implant that makes him breathe but further tests are required to see if he does.

The breathing problems are taking a toll on his heart, and he now has heart block on top of all his other heart problems.

My health is not doing so well either and my right hip is giving me a lot of problems, but I am putting off seeing the doctor.  I can't face another surgery right now.

Now for the good news.  VA is providing an aide to come in for 10 hours a week to help with bathing and chores.  The guy has been a godsend, and it helps lighten my load.

Overall, life is what we would expect of two folks our age, so we are grateful to still be around to enjoy it.

Santa arrived in England very early January, although he was late to the party the great grandsons loved him.

Hope everyone is doing OK and it warms up a little soon.XXXXX

Time to hunker down!

We are forecast to have a nasty winter storm with lots of icing!  That's the worst thing because it downs power lines.  We just managed to get the tractors moved so we can park the car underneath so it doesn't get covered in ice and snow.  One last trip up to get the mail around 5pm (our postman doesn't deliver until late in the day) and then it will be time to hunker down.

I hope we do not lose power because we haven't been able to bring much wood up from the woodshed and we don't have a big stack anyway.  Our ability to cut and split wood is no longer viable.

We have enough for about a day up by the house.

The power supply is fully charged, so we should be able to run my husband's bipap machine for a day or two.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it doesn't turn out as bad as they say. The car had already started to ice as it was parked just outside. Now, it is underneath the lean-to, and the icing has been cleaned off the front and back windows.

We have flashlights and candles and the gas grill we can use to cook on outside if necessary.  Today I made a big pot of beans with smoked sausage and veggies and lots of cajun seasoning.  I will cook a big batch of rice and we can eat that over the next few days.  I can heat that on the side burner of the grill if I have to.

Yesterday I got all of Christmas put away, that was a bonus.

addendum:

We decided to bring up a bit more wood, now we can have a fire for a couple of days if need be.  Hopefully, we will not lose power and can continue to run the heating.

Hope everyone will be able to keep safe and warm.

XXXXX

Days 21 to 24

 Well, the big day is almost upon us so I wish my blogging friends the best Christmas ever and a Happy and Healthy New Year.

XXXXX

Click the link below to se my Christmas card to you all

Merry Christmas everyone

Days 19 and 20

 I know it is cheating to do days at a time, but it's this or nothing, as my days are very busy.

I am still not fully feeling the Christmas vibe, but I am trying, I really am!

Yesterday I had to go for a follow-up appointment to my dermatologist.  All is good right now.  No precancerous patches and no excema. Great news. 

I also had a urine test and no signs of the UTI, so more great news.

Most of the presents are wrapped, just have a couple more to do.  Trying to get all the jobs done so I can enjoy Christmas and the days after.  Having the aide come in is really helping.  

Christmas baking will get done over the next couple of days.  Fingers crossed I don't need to shop again until after Christmas as I picked up a grocery order yesterday while I was out for the hospital appointments.

Hopefully back tomorrow with some baking photos.

Hope you are all getting sorted and are feeling the vibe.

Off to watch my favourite Christmas music video, that does help

Drifters I'm dreaming of a white Christmas cartoon video newer version

And here is the original version:-

Drifters I'm dreaming of a white Christmas original cartoon version

Grateful thanks to the creators of these videos.

Today's photo.

Blogmas Days 16, 17 and 18

The young lady aide is a godsend.  She helps out with anything we ask.  Today she did a bit of housework and then we sat down and wrapped Christmas presents. She helps my husband shower too.

She did a great job on the Christmas wrapping.  For me it is enjoyable to have some female company for a change.

My husband is in the middle of writing another book, so is pretty much up in his office most of the day.

The procedure on Monday worked and for now his heart is back in normal rhythm. I am so glad for him.

Yesterday I made a big crockpot full of ham and bean soup with corn muffins.  Plenty left for today and there will be some to freeze too.

This guy went off to England with Santa in his sack.  Hope it makes it in time for Christmas.

Blogmas Days 13, 14 and 15

 It has been an interesting few days.  My husband was recently assessed by the VA for some home care which was approved, and the first visit from them was Friday, day 13.  A very pleasant young lady who will help him with showering etc. and will do some light housework.

Day 14 was the usual Saturday type day of watching some sports on TV and meal prep. Nothing Christmassy happened. I took Maggie to the boarding kennels as they do not do intakes on Sundays.

Day 15, today, we are packing up to go to the VA hospital.  We will go today, stay overnight and he gets the procedure done tomorrow morning, which hopefully will work and put him back in regular rhythm.  

The young lady will come next Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.

It is doubtful that I will be posting tomorrow as we will be in the hospital part of the day and on the road for the rest of it.

Today's picture is Christmas tree photo ornaments of the grandkids through the years. There are another 2 on the other 2 corners but you can't see them in the photo.

Blogmas Day 12

 We were contacted by my husband's cardiologist yesterday as he has a loop recorder implanted in his chest which records his heart rhythms and transmits any bad episodes to them.  We have to go on Monday for them to shock his heart again to try and get it back in rhythm.  Last time they tried that they did it three times and it didn't work.  Then he had the ablation surgery and that lasted 2 weeks before the afib came back.  They say there is more chance of success this time because of the recent ablation.  We will keep our fingers crossed. We have to be there at 7.30am on Monday so we will go the night before and stay in the Fisher House.

On the Christmas front, not much done today.  Yesterday I ordered gift vouchers in little gift tins to be sent to all my family in England.  Today I am scouring Amazon for ideas for the family here in the US.

We received a very nice fruit cake in the mail yesterday from one of the family, so that was appreciated.

No need for lights on when the sun is shining on the Christmas tree, it glistens in the sunlight.

Days 10 and 11 combined and ho ho ho Santa is on his way!

Day 10

Tuesday was a better day, I completed the online form and took it and the parcel to a different Post Office.  The clerk was a heavily pregnant young lady who really should have been home resting but she was a treasure.  I gave her the parcel and the form, and yes, you guessed it, she said you have to fill out this customs form here and handed me the form I had requested at the other Post Office yesterday.

I told her about my visit to the other PO and it seems that person just didn't want to process the parcel.

Day 11

Today, I have to do some online shopping for gifts.  Thank goodness for the likes of Amazon and Walmart who deliver to the recipients.  In the good old days I used to buy, wrap and deliver or mail the gifts myself.  That is not cost effective anymore.

Bit of a late morning today, we slept in.  It's going to be quite cold today so I am glad I don't have to go anywhere.

We are up to date with our chocolate advent calendars and I just opened the Jacquie Lawson ones for today.  I have three of them on the go, 2022, 2023 and 2024.   I had no idea you could reset them from previous years until I read it on another blog.

Day 9 was a disappointment

I took the parcel with Santa in to the Post Office today to send to England. The post-person asked if I had attached the customs form. I said “No, can you give me one please and I will do it.”  To which she replied “You have to do it online, and print it and attach it then bring it back.”

I was gobsmacked, I have been mailing things to the UK for years and always got the form at the post office. Not to mention the 70 mile round trip to go to the Post Office. What would happen if I didn’t have a computer and printer?

It wasn’t a total wasted journey though as I picked up some groceries and my medication.

I also got some more lights for our Christmas tree.

I will be back tomorrow….

 

Day 8

I made it back for day 8, and I have written my Christmas cards and packaged up the new Santa to send him off tomorrow. I did not send any cards to my Canadian friends and family, though, as they are in the midst of a postal strike. Even if it gets resolved, they will be so far behind that there is no chance they will get there in time. They have been on strike for several weeks, apparently.

Elfie showed up on our Santa's lap, I guess he has a wish list too. The smaller Santa is one my mother in law made many years ago.  He comes out every year too.

We are up to date on our Choceur advent calendars; the chocolate is very nice.

Going to make a big pot of chile next, which will be most welcome in this cold weather.  We will eat it for a couple of days, then freeze the rest in single servings for other times.

We are enjoying the cheery lights, Christmas tree and decorations.

Be back tomorrow.....

Day 7 of Blogmas

I made it to day 7! Go me!

Every year I buy something Christmassy in the Boxing Day sales for the following year.  A decoration of some sort, and usually cards if I haven't made any.  And this year I have not made cards.  Things have been too hectic with our health issues and slowing down due to age.

My 90% off purchase last year was this Merry Christmas bunting.

Not sure if bunting is the correct word as the letters are actually metal.

Be back tomorrow.....

Day 6 and I am here to post!

 I am pretty amazed I am still posting and only missed one day.

And,🥁🥁🥁🥁🥁, tada, I finished Santa last night.

He will fly to the UK in the next day or so, hopefully arriving in time for Christmas. My two great grandsons will love him, I am sure.

We got the lights up completely yesterday around the room.  Now we have our cheery lights back.

I put up the tree, it does not look as good as I remember from last year.  I still need to work on it.

Will be back tomorrow......

Day 5 and here I am again!

Yesterday we got the outside lights and ornaments up.  It was a bit warmer.  Today it is bitterly cold.

I have another tote of Christmas decorations etc. to bring down and sort through, I am looking for a new set of lights I bought last year.  The sticky hooks are great except on two of the walls which are log-sided, and the hooks do not stick to them very well. They were stained and I guess the adhesive on the hooks just doesn't stick to it. We compromised and strung the lights around the curtain rods and paintings.  I was a little disappointed but it's OK.

Today I hope to finish the inside and bring down the tree.  

Then maybe I can start on cards......

Day 4 and yay I am posting!

Well, day 4 is here.  The antibiotics are kicking in and I am feeling a bit better.  Yesterday, between us, we managed to get the sticky hooks up on the walls.  Today I will hang the lights.  I hope I have enough as I broke one set when I took them all down earlier this year when we had the house up for sale.  I may have an extra new set stashed somewhere.

This guy will make an appearance today:

It has warmed up a little and I will put up the outside decorations and lights.

The Santa I am knitting for my great grandsons is near completion.  All the knitting is done and I have started sewing it all together.

Christmas cards are running late.  That is unusual for me.  I may not be sending any to Canada this year as they are in the midst of a postal strike and they are unusually slow at the best of times, even when they are working!

I can pop some of the English ones in the parcel when Santa is finished, and it shouldn't take long to do the rest.

So Christmas is now underway here, albeit a bit behind.....

Not a good start

 Well, it is day 3 so not a good start eh, missing day 2.

I have recently been diagnosed with chronic kidney disease. It seems I have had it quite a while. A recent test indicates a UTI so I am on antibiotics. I haven’t been at my best but hoping the meds kick in soon.

So yesterday I had to go into town to pick them up and I also found some stocking stuffers, so some Christmas things done. Today I will try and get some decorations out.

I am even 2 days behind opening my Jacquie  advent calendar.

Not really having a good start to the season.

Upwards and onwards!

Can I do Blogmas???

 Can I do a post every day?  Not likely, but I will try.

Christmas is my favourite time of the year. For a few years, I was a tad disillusioned because my husband didn't enjoy It, but over the years, my enthusiasm has rubbed off on him, and now he quite enjoys it.

Today, for the first time in our twenty years of marriage, we started on chocolate advent calendars.  I opened the Day 1 windows, and we each ate our chocolate treat.

He has not been very well for some time.  Nearly three weeks ago he had another heart procedure to try and stop the Afib.  The first one worked for about three years before it came back.  He was on the table for 4 hours this time while they scarred his upper chambers to try and prevent it.  It worked for just over two weeks!  He has been back in Afib for a week now.  Last night he had a really bad session but it calmed down eventually.  It doesn't go away but it gets to a tolerable stage. This surgery really took it out of him, it would have been worth it had it worked. 

When we put the house on the market last year, we took down our Christmas lights, which we had strung all around the living room. They were hard for us to put up, so we left them up year-round, and on dull, dreary days, we would put on the 'cheery lights'. This year, I have bought some sticky hooks to put around the top of the walls, and we will be able to put them up and take them down much easier now.

Well, that is it for Day 1.

More tomorrow, hopefully....

Ceramic Christmas trees

I do not usually shop at Aldi.  For some unknown reason recently, an 'Aldi Isle of Shame Community' popped up on my Facebook feed.  Why, I have no idea.  However, I decided to follow it and saw folks posting about the Christmas things that Aldi was selling this year and one of the most sought after items seem to be the retro-looking ceramic Christmas trees.

I remember these  from years gone by but was never a fan of them and never bought one, despite being the Christmas lover that I am.

People posted photos of them and said how fast they were going off the shelves.

Our localish town has an Aldi and has just built a bigger store just across the road from it, which had it's grand opening today.  I was in said town yesterday for a hospital appointment and to pick up a few groceries so thought I would drive by and see the new store and noticed it was actually open.  Curiosity got the better of me and I went in.

There on the 'Isle of shame', (not sure why they call it that!) sat some of the Christmas trees.  Three traditional green ones, three pastel pink ones and one pastel blue one.

The girly girl in me wanted a pink one so desperately, the practical girl in me said 'don't be daft it won't go in our house'.  The practical girl won out and a green one was placed in the shopping trolley.  I was just about to move on and I spotted a mini pink one.  Well, the girly me grabbed it so quickly and it went into the trolley too.  It was the last mini pink one.

So, here they are in all their glory.  I have decided to leave them out until after Christmas to enjoy them.  At our age we have no idea how many Christmases we have left so I will enjoy them for as long as possible.  They have a timer switch on them and use batteries, so no need to find an electrical outlet to plug them in. The green one is about 15" tall.  

They really are delightful.

It doesn't take much to make me happy!

I think the treatment is worse than the darned Covid

My doctor did prescribe Paxlovid for me and I started taking it Monday afternoon.  From the offset, I felt weird.  Good job I got home before the effects really kicked in.  It upset my stomach and I almost passed out.  I didn't take the second dose.  Yesterday I took both doses and today I have taken one so far and my stomach is still upset, it leaves a horrible taste in your mouth and the nausea comes in waves but it is not as bad as it first was.  I will persevere because I want to get this virus out of my system and I don't want Long Covid.

We have our son coming in on Sunday for my husband's 80th birthday next week.  He is fully vaccinated and just recently had a booster so he feels he should be OK.  He has also had Covid so has some natural immunity too.  

To make things worse our Microwave gave up the goat yesterday. Thank goodness for Amazon, a new one is currently in transit. You don't realise how much you use one until one is not available!

My husband is doing OK, the steroids have kicked in.  It is only a short regimen though so only a few more days of taking them for him.

So we are just plodding on here the best we can until we test negative.

Onwards and upwards!

It has been quite the month!

 My husband has atrial fib, he goes in and out of it and his last episode was quite severe so they took him in and gave him cardioversion.  They shocked his heart three times and it made no difference so home we came.  Whether it was delayed reaction or he just went out of it, we don't know but he came out of it and so far so good.  He does, however, have to go back in for ablation surgery again on his heart next month. They will keep him in overnight to monitor him; if all is well, he can come home.

But!, that flipping word again!

He contacted Covid, we assume from when he was in the hospital for the cardioversion.  Last week he became quite poorly and after being told by his primary care physician, I took him to the ER on Thursday evening.  We didn't even think it might be Covid but he tested positive and had pneumonia.  Because of all his problems they admitted him and gave him Remdesivir infusions and steroids.  I stayed with him Thursday evening in the room but I came home because if I stayed I couldn't leave the room and I was beginning to feel a bit rough.  Joy oh joy, I tested positive with a home testing kit on Saturday.

On Sunday they said he could go home so I had to drive three and a half hours to pick him up and three and a half more to get home.  I was on adrenaline. We got home safe and sound and crashed for the night.

I called my doctor this morning and she has prescribed some Paxlovid so I am now waiting for the pharmacy to call and tell me it is ready.  Hope they can bring it out to the vehicle.  I do not want to infect anyone by going into the store.  I can open the back of the vehicle and they can throw the pills in there.

Not bad for a couple of oldies!

Last Friday my husband and I set about assembling the grill.  I can only remember seeing it done once before many moons ago. It was  complicated back then, even for a couple of mechanically minded young men.

Bearing in mind I am 76 and my husband will be 80 in a couple of weeks I was a little reticent to embark on this challenge.

But slowly and methodically, following the reasonably good instructions it came with, we got most of it done on Friday and finished it off on Saturday morning.

We now have a beautiful fully functional BBQ grill with side-burner sitting on the cooking pad on our screen porch. 

We were very proud of ourselves and hardly any swear words were spoken in the process.  We could have got it done all in one day but it got quite hot outside on Friday afternoon plus we were both worn out.

We tried it out Saturday night and grilled a couple of burgers and some hot dogs.

Off course, it being new I was a tad fanatical about cleaning it afterwards.  I quickly realised that I should have lined the tray underneath with foil.  After I cleaned it and dried said tray, I did just that, ready for next time.  I know in time the cleaning frenzy will die off as grills are messy things by nature but the foil should help and I can just replace it when necessary.  The burner tent covers also got quite messy so I cleaned them too then made some foil covers for them also.  It was a lot of work for 2 burgers and 3 hotdogs lol.  I liked the old-fashioned grills where there were briquettes over the burners that heated up and the fat just burned off on them.  Much simpler!..... After a little investigation it seems you can still get lava rocks for grills.  You have to get another set of racks to sit over the burners to place them on and you take off the burner tent covers.  More research needed but I am leaning towards this idea.

Anyway, it is ready again for our next cook-up.  It also came with a heavy griddle tray that sits on the grill, and using that will be a lot less messy. 

Weather wise, (us British are known to talk about the weather lol), it is still very hot here and very dry.  We are in desperate need of rain.  Usually by now we have had a lot of rain and the grass shoots up and we are mowing like crazy.  This year we just can not mow as the grass is all but dead.  I am hoping for some rain soon to save it. 

Onwards and upwards!

XXXXX

Wednesday was a good day!

 Tuesday, I went to get some groceries and some potting soil and pebbles.  Whilst looking for the pebbles and soil I noticed that the pavers we have been buying for our front porch were getting really low and we needed another 30 or so to finish the job.  I could only get 4 in the vehicle as I already had groceries in the back.

I came home and put the groceries away and we put the 4 pavers down.

I said to my husband that we needed to get the rest of them before they were all gone so yesterday morning we set out quite early, got breakfast in McDonalds and went over to the Ace hardware store to get the pavers and to see if they still had the birdhouse feeder they had advertised in their flyer.  They had sent a flyer with their sale items and 2 x $10 coupons if you spent more than $50, even if it was on sale items.  Well they only had 21 pavers which didn't come to $50 and yes! they had one birdhouse feeder left.  Original price was $44.99, reduced to $29.99 in the flyer and I had my $10 coupon so I was so very happy.

This birdhouse feeder is supposed to be squirrel proof and I believe it will be better than all the others we have tried.  

It is solidly made from all metal and the perch for the birds is spring loaded so if anything heavier than a bird gets on it it will close the entry to the bird food.

So then we went to Walmart to get some bagged compost and went in to pay and we saw this magnificent Cuisinart grill on sale.  Reduced from $492 to $178 dollars.  We couldn't believe our luck.  We have been looking for some time for a new grill as our existing one is over the hill.  3 out of 4 burners do not work and all the burner covers have corroded away.  In fairness we have had it a long time and it has been well used but it was time for it to be replaced.

But the prices had gotten so high we couldn't really afford to replace it, but when we saw this we couldn't pass it by.

The old one is in the background.  Externally it looks great but the workings are shot.

Just waiting for a cool day so we can assemble it and use it.

Hope all is good in your worlds.

XXXXX

A bit of this, that and the other

Things have been a bit hectic since my last post. I had a birthday, my husband has had two surgeries and we are still trying to get things done on the property. Not quite in that order!  

We spent five days clearing up then power washing the screen porch. That seems like a long time but it has been so hot we can only work outside a couple of hours first thing in the morning.  Our screen porch is quite large, 35’ x 15’. It is a delightful space. We have our grill, a table and chairs and some chairs to relax in out there. We had recently replaced a couple of the screen panels and patched a couple of holes and put a new screen door on it. It had got quite dusty out there as we hadn’t power washed it for a couple of years. Now it is nice and clean and a joy to sit out and relax with a cup of coffee and watch the wild life. We have a family of turkeys who nest nearby and we see them most days pecking away. We have a young buck whose antlers are coming in very nicely and he is usually with four or five does and fawns. They usually show up most days. The birds are always very active.

I had a birthday and got some card making supplies. I have not been doing anything as I am trying to keep my craft room neat and tidy but as there has been no buyers so far, I decided that I was going to carry on with my hobbies. I got a new paper cutter, one of those with the sliding blade. I have been using our old fashioned one with a large pull-down blade, but it doesn’t cut very well when just cutting one sheet. This new one is much nicer for card making and doesn’t take up a lot of space on the desk. Also got one of those little gizmos that makes nice rounded corners and a set of greetings die cuts.  I also got some summer clothes on close out. It will remain hot here for a couple of months yet so they will come in handy. 

My husband has a neuro stimulator implanted in his back. That involved two surgeries.  The surgeries were straight forward but when he was on the operating table for the first one they left a lead with a round terminal attached to his chest. He had to lie on his stomach and the lead and terminal dug into him and dislodged a rib which was extremely painful. He has been in a lot of pain but thankfully it has started to subside a bit now.

Today has been the first day I have been able to chill in nearly three weeks.  I watched some YouTube videos on card making and tried an outlet of new techniques. It was fun.

Still struggling with the streaming tv process. They keep moving sports around to different channels. Very frustrating when you expect to be able to watch a game and it’s somewhere different!

Still having problems with blogger on my PC.  It might be the browser I am using.  I will try it on another browser.

Started this post yesterday, Saturday.  This morning, we sat on the screen porch at 7am and had a cup of tea and shared a cinnamon bun. The temperature was a cool 69F (21C).  It is already 81F (27C) and it's just past 11am!

Hope all is good in your worlds. XXXXX

Unable to comment on blogs!

I am in despair because I can't leave comments on blogs.  I am always signed into blogger, that's how I access my blog. But! (that darned 'but' word again) when I try to comment it says 'sign into google'. So I click on that and nothing happens.  Very frustrating!

I read the people on my blogs list every day and often I want to comment but can't.

Nothing new happening here.  Had a serious discussion with the realtor and told them we were disappointed in their lack of attention.  She came out and took more pictures now the season has changed and the place is looking magnificent and we reduced the price but still no interest.

We had another ER visit in June for my husband which has escalated our need to be closer to the VA hospital.  His primary care physician told us that when these episodes happen he needs to be seen by a neurologist straight away.  Our local ER  hospital doesn't have one and neither does the VA hospital but it works hand in hand with the University hospital just over the road from it so if he went to the ER at the VA hospital they would bring over a neurologist or transfer him.

At the last episode he was in the local ER for 18 hours waiting to be transferred.  

So we really need to move to the city where the VA hospital is located .  Also, we need to reduce the distance we have to drive.  The older I get the less I want to drive.

Hoping my next post will be more positive and that all is good in your worlds.

The baby blanket was mailed last week and received yesterday in England.  My grand daughter loves it.  She had a baby boy in June, my second great grandson.  He is adorable.

Still around just super busy

Just checking in.  We are trying to get all sorts of things done to improve our house and land so that it is more appealing as so far there has been little to no interest.  We knew some things needed doing and so priced the place accordingly.  Now we are trying to do those things just to make it more appealing.  I don't think it will get us a better price and it is costing us a lot to do them, both financially and emotionally.  Not to mention the tole on our aged bodies lol.

Last weekend was Memorial Day, whilst shopping I found the closest thing to English cooking apples.  They were giant Granny Smiths.  So I bought 3 and made an apple pie.  It was the best apple pie I have had since leaving the UK almost 30 years ago.

It was very tasty and lasted us 4 days for desserts.  We do not eat dessert very often these days as we are both diabetic and keep it under control with diet.

We may have found someone to help us out with the harder manual jobs.  An enterprising young man left a note by our mailbox saying he was looking for work during the summer holidays.  We contacted him and he came and did 4 hours work.  He was very fast and efficient.  We asked him if he could do 4 hours a week as that is as far as our budget allows and he said he could.  Just remains to see if he comes back this coming week.

I have nearly finished the baby blanket I am hand knitting.  My latest great grandson is due on Tuesday so I've got to get it finished pronto!

Hope all is good in your worlds. XXXXX

A frugal post albeit it a tad boring!

I am a frugal type of person, always have been but as I get older I have become slower and less able and less inclined to be so.  One example is 'bologne'.  Not the really cheap and nasty stuff but a good brand beef bologne.  We would enjoy a sandwich or bun with bologne, lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise now and then.  A packet weighs 1lb and has 16 slices and I would split it into packs of 4 slices and freeze 3 and use one that day. But when the price went up recently to over $7 for said packet I said "No more!" 

I can buy  half leg of ham on the bone for $20 and so I did just that on Monday. Today I cut it up.  I got out my meat slicer, (the one I got a couple of years ago from a local swap meet) and cut off 4 big pieces that would fit on the slicer and sliced away.

We ate ham for lunch today and I wrapped and froze 8 packets of ham for sandwiches, 4 packets of thick sliced ham for breakfasts, a big packet of ham chunks to go with scalloped potatoes and the bone which had plenty of meat left on it with some more ham chumps for soup. The dog also got a lot of ham scraps.

The soup will give us 4 meals as I use a large slow cooker, the ham and scalloped potatoes 3 meals, again I cook in the slow cooker so with todays meal and the sandwiches and breakfasts we will get 20 meals from this piece of ham so $1 a meal for delicious ham on the bone. Can't beat that. So long bologne!!!

Now it took a couple of hours to process all that and clear up afterwards but well worth the effort.

We have had an awful lot of storms and rain this past week or so with more to come but the local lakes were beginning to get low and the aquafers will also benefit. The trees, plants and flowers look magnificent now and the grass has gotten so tall and we had already started mowing it.

I have started knitting a baby blanket.  My grand daughter back in England is expecting again.  She has had a bad pregnancy and has had to stay off her feet so she doesn't go into early labour.  Her first baby boy was born at 28 weeks so they have kept a strict eye on her this time.  She has gotten past 32 weeks now which is absolutely marvelous and they are having another boy.  Her first boy is now 3 years old.  Time flies.

I have my machines all packed up ready for when we sell the house so it is a hand knitted blanket this time.

Hope all is good in your worlds.

XXXXX

Nary a movement on the house

 Asides from the one potential purchaser that turned up and couldn't get in due to a lock box problem as mentioned in my previous post, there has been absolutely no interest in our property. Nada! Zilch!

We got some more 'not' good news last week.  His pulmonologist told us his muscle loss is affecting his ability to breathe and wants him to use his bipap non invasive ventilator even when he is awake. He uses it when he sleeps and even when he lies down to rest, he isn't ready to be using it full time though.  He will fight that as long as he is able.

He has been pretty poorly but the last two days he seems to be a bit better so fingers crossed this last flare up is abating.

Plodding on here.  The leaves are coming out on the trees and everything looks so much nicer.  Grass is growing too so will need to start mowing soon.

Feeling a bit in limbo right now!

Our house is on the market

 Our house is officially listed for sale.  Not much interest yet.  There was one debacle yesterday.  Our agent said another agent wanted to bring someone to view the house yesterday between 3pm to 4pm.  We have been running around like headless chickens to get it looking as best we can so we left it looking the best it has in years.

We went grocery shopping.  The phone went while we were in the store 40 miles away.  It was our agent.  The other agent couldn't get into the lock box, did we have any keys hidden outside?  Uh no! we gave her the keys we had hidden outside to put in the lock box! She didn't offer to go to the house herself to let them in and I was disappointed with that.  The people were disappointed they couldn't get in and went away. I would have too.  I dislike incompetency especially in professionals.  We did our part, our agent didn't do hers.

Onwards and upwards!

Home and house hunting

We are home finally.  12 unexpected days away from home was a tad stressful.

We realise that we really do not have any option other than to move closer to VA healthcare facilities so are looking in earnest at selling our place and finding something a lot closer.

My husband will be getting 5 sessions of plasmatheresis every couple of months henceforth and that is just too much travelling for us now. Not to mention the many other appointments he has to attend for.

So the whole house selling/buying thing has begun in earnest.

Not that excited about it all to be honest but trying to be positive.

Hope all is well in your worlds.

Husband is in hospital

 We have been at VA hospital for a week and a bit. Had to take my husband to the local ER then they transferred him to MU hospital then to VA hospital. He is midway through a course of 5 plasmatheresis treatments which will be finished on Friday so then we shall be able to go home. I have been trying to keep up with blog reading. He is out of danger now but his disease is robbing him of the use of his legs.  While we are stuck here I have been looking at properties around this area. Will blog more next week.

Nicer weather so far this week

 So far this week the weather has been very pleasant.  I think though we may be in for some storms overnight.  We are off to the VA hospital tomorrow for an appointment for my husband so I hope it eases up for the journey.

I was pondering on buying some more die cut salutations for my cards eg. Happy Mother's day, Thank you, With Sympathy, and so on.  I searched online but couldn't find exactly what I wanted without spending more money than I wanted so I decided on just buying a set of the alphabet in both upper and lower case.  They arrive today and I might have, sort of, perhaps, possibly, added a set of rectangular nesting frames to the order. 😊 Looking forward to getting them later on in the mail.

I had forgotten that I had made a 'Thank You' card too but I had also forgotten to take photos of it before we sent it off.  So, nothing to see here, moving on, as they say.

Spring bulbs are beginning to sprout up, we are always a lot later here than back in the UK.  It will be nice to see them.  It will soon be time to get the mowers running again ready for when the grass takes off.

Having some problems with my knee lately.  Saw the doctor and got it x-rayed and everything looks OK so I am thinking it must be the tendons.  It is OK right now so I am happy.

We are still on the shelf about moving.  We know we should but it is hard to make the decision plus there are not any houses that we really like on the market right now.

Time for morning coffee, hope you are having a good day.

 

Made a few cards

The weather has been a tad weird this year so far.  Right now it is very cold but by midweek we are having at least one day in the low 70'sF.  We had some snow earlier this week which is still hanging around a bit as it hasn't warmed up enough to melt it all.

The beginning of the year is a busy one for cards.  I have only made 4 so far.  Two Valentines cards and two birthday ones.  I make our valentines card and we each write our verses in them for the other.  It's a win, win.  I enjoy making them and it saves us money.

Just realised I didn't take photos, will be right back!

This one is both new and recycled materials.  I used the front of a notelet card which must be at least 20 years old and glued it to the blank card and added the bow and the 'LOVE'

This one was all my doing

I also stenciled the envelopes

The birthday cards are for my daughter and our daughter in law.  They do not read my blog so I can post them on here.  They are currently in the mail on their way to them.

On these cards I tried a new technique of shading using the brushes I bought last year.  The pictures make the colors look darker than they actually are, they are nice subtle pastel colours. I wish I was a better photographer.

I have quite a few more to make but at least I have made a start on 2024 cards.

These are the brushes, they are lovely and soft with very fine bristles and not at all expensive.  I paid less that $6 for 5 of them.  They wash very well and dry just like new.

I hope things are going well in your lives and Spring will soon be here.