Slow Today..

Computer is so slow today, i seem to be waiting ages for every site to show up at the moment.An aawful lot of wasted time really, you want to look at something then you have a long wait while it loads up. pain.
We decided to go over to ormskirk today because we are going to Walton way tomorrow to my eye clinic.
Stopped off at the Vets on the way into ormskirk, to get Rusty's thyroid tablets. £31.50 !!! Good grief! but they keep her thyroid levels right so are necessary. And, she is such a sweetie you just get them. ormskirk was actually really quite busy,a couple of shops closed since we were there a few weeks ago. The Currys/Dixons has shut, and a small sandwich bar has sut and become a rather weird looking dress shop called Papperatzzi.. That won't be there long. Got some stuff in the centre shops, and went round to M&S to get our salads for the weekend. No egg and potato salad!! what a shop!! couldn't believe it. Didn't buy much there only spent about £8 which is very low for us. So, disappointed we went down to Morrisons for our coffee, 95p for a good cup of coffee in a proper mug. it was absolutely heaving..never seen it so busy, but it is a good value cafe. I sat next to a little woman who spotted me yawning and we had a bit of a conversation. They were staying in Pontins Southport,saw the Morrisons and had come in for a meal. Sweet little friendly woman with a lovely round smiley face.
We were running out of our parking time so we nipped round the shop quite quickly, got everything we needed and set off home.
lovely run through the rural countryside that is round Ormskirk complete with manure smells and all. The trees are beginning to really turn now and there are lots of leaves about.
Tonight we are having:
A crustless cheese abnd onion quiche,
A few chips..well it is Friday!
Small tin of spaghetti between us

Ear..Ear!!

Had an appointment today at the hearing aid centre that I go to, usually every six months. Should have been yesterday, but they rang and changed it to today..didn't matter.The appointment was for 11-45 but we cut it a bit fine really, just about got there. Parked in the small Sainsbury's car park which is just over the road, and you can have 11/2 hours free if you spend a fiver in the store.
Had quite a long examination with the dispenser..Steve at the David ormerod shop. i have been going there for years and have had a number of different dispensers, you just get used to one and they go..typical.
Anyway, Stevdid a hearing test on me this time since it was about a year since I had one done. The hearing in my left ear which is my "good" ear is a bit worse, which isn't good really, and means that my aid isn't really powerful enough. The aid in my right ear is broken anywayapparently and would cost an arm and a leg to repair.Out of warranty for a long while now. I've had these for about 6 years so they don't owe me anything..but I didpay nearly £4000 for them then. He came up with some better ones for me.He said the technology is much better now, and I could get more powerful ones. I need them for conversations and speech really, when our visitors were here on Sunday, I really struggled to hear them and it does make life hard. They are a huge part of my life and if I can have better ones then I will get them. These will have a volume control again, and will be £1895..a lot cheaper than six years ago!!!
He did the impressions of the ears, and now I wait to hear from them.
Our time was nearly up in Sainsbury's so Vin ran in and got a few things that we needed, and we left for home. I felt very guilty because he missed his morning coffee which was a shame, he loves his mid morning coffee break.
Got home in time for a later lunch. Vin was trying to make an order online for something he wanted just before we went out, and it froze just as he nearly finished the order..what a pain ordering online is sometimes. So after lunch he used his Netbook to make the order again, and this time it was ok. Not easy ordering online. He was saying, tyhe trouble is there is no-one to ask you have to work through things on your own.
Lovely day here today, the sun is shining and it is really a nice sort of Autumnal day.


OH to be in new England now that Autumn is nearly here...
Tonight we are having:
Escalopes
Babay new potatoes baked and squashed
Mixed vegetables,
White sauce.

Quiet week....Not..

in the end it is proving to be a busy week all round. Today we decided to go out for some fresh air since we were in all day yesterday. So we went over to Dobbies to use up our vouchers. Found them in a state of re-arrangement, all the summer stuff is put away, and the shelves etc are getting ready for Christmas things. I don't think they bother with Halloween things there, probably isn't worth it. Vin spotted an Orchid stick to support the still flowering absolutely beautiful Orchid that is in our kitchen on the table.

There are so many flowers on the stem that it is bending over, and they are really beautiful, so this is a tall spike made for Orchids especially,and you fasten the stem onto it. very clever.of course it is a beautiful purple to go with the pot and the flowers.
We had our free coffees, Vin had a "Flat White" and I had a plain black one. Had a bit more of a look round after,I bought some more after dinner mints, some reduced smoked cheese, a pot of damson cheese and a box of shortbread biscuits. He didn't buy any bulbs in the end he said it was still a bit early for them.
Home for lunch and Vin did a bit of his sorting out. he has a man coming a bit later on to take some rubbish away, the old fence panels and posts etc., so he has been getting that organised this afternoon.
As regards my Saturday appointment that I wrote about yesterday, it seems that it is fairly normal in certain areas of london, but not oop here in t'north! the other thing was that I only got the letter on Tuesdaay and it is for this Saturday..bit short notice that is..
Tonight we are having:
A version of macaroni Cheese with my gluten free pasta, a tub of four cheese sauce
Some sauteed mushrooms
mixed green veggies.

Appointments!!

Well this is a first! I got a hospital appointment this morning. Nothing new there given the number of clinics that i go to..But..this one is for my eye clinic, and it is for a Saturday Morning!!!
All the many years that I have been going to appointments, I have never ever had one on a Saturday before. Has anyone else? is this a new initiative or what?
very odd I wonder if they are trying to meet targets, or if it is a new initiative. Still very strange, and what is more it is for the Saturday after next. Bit short notice, bu t it doesn't matter really. Ah well, I'll find out when I get there.
Stopped in today. I did a load of ironing, all the sheets that we had washed yesterday instead of Sunday, and Vin did some bits and p[ieces. He had bought some stuff from Home and Bargain called Stain Stop, which is supposed to cover up any damp patches on your ceitlings etc. We have a patch on our bedroom ceiling which is left from when the tank in the loft leaked. So he did that this morning.He was laughing actually, because he said some Muppet in Home and Bargain had put it with the Laundry stuff instead of the Decorating stuff!!!Aaah Bless!. Anyway it has worked and done the job, and the ceiling no longer looks like it is damp. So, mr Fixit strikes again.
Out somewhere tomorrow, then he has arranged for someone to come and collect some rubbish from the garden and shed in the afternoon. So that's tomorrow sorted.
Tonight we are having:
Not sure actually. One of those days when I shall look in the freezer and decide.
Small potatoes sliced and sauteed and mixed vegetables anyway.

Tooth Hurty!!

No not really..I have a back tooth that is filled to capacity, and every now and again the filling drops out like it did last night, and I was only eating an after dinner mint! So, before we went to Sainsbury's this morning I nipped into the dentists to see if they had an appointment. They are two doors down from us and we've known the dentist for years, since he opened the Practice in fact. The receptionist said that there was one free on October 6th but then she looked at the book and said there was one at 2.30 this afternoon, so took that.
Then went to Sainsburys for the weekly shop, the veggies and suchlike. I whizzed round while Vin went to the do-it-yourself shop to buy another length of copper tubing to finish the water tank. We now by the way have a roof leak, but that's a whole nother story.. Caught up with me in the store, which is useful because he remembers the few things I had forgotten..like the cat's chicken.God forbid we forget that!!
Home for coffee and time for Vin to start his work in the loft. He really has done a sterling job up there.
The house is still lovely and clean after our visitors..it's so lovely to see the stairs without something on each step!!

This is him outside his childhood home.He was thrilled to be able to have a look round. I'll bet it seems small to them since they have a ranch house in Texas.
Went to the dentist at the appointed time, and got the tooth done. No injections or anything it is just an empty tooth case really. Had a tickle in my throat at the end, so made another appointment for a check up on 11th October. Will pay the bill then..get it back off MediCash though. That is a terrific organisation, you only pay a small ammount each month and you get money off dental treatment, glasses, in patient stays in hospital, day case stays and so on. Wellworth joining. I've been in it for years, joined at work and just kept it on.
Enjoyed Downton Abbey last night..what good television that is,
good writing and very good characters. i can feel myself getting into that again very nicely. Excellent Autumn/Winter viewing. And, a Christmas special too apparently..Lovely!!
Tonight we are having:
Cheese and Broccoli escalope,
Baby new potatoes squashed and baked.
Mixed vegetables with a white sauce and mushrooms.

Visit Day...

Finally arrives..the house is looking spotless..well almost, and all the clutter is out of the way. Don't like to think what would happen if you open some of the cupboards though!.Everywhere is clean, and all ready for Christmas which is only something like 98 days away!!
Our American visitors said they would be arriving early afternoon, in fact it was about three o'clock. We had been hanging around for ages, didn't know whether to have any lunch so we did eventually,we did all our crosswords while we were waiting too. In fact they were quite easy today, apart from one clue that I got wrong on Vin's one. The clue was ..Who pplayed Miss Marple for 12 episodes? I said it was Joan Hickman, in fact it was Joan Hickson which meant one of his intersecting clues was wrong. He got there in the end.
Our visitor used to live two doors down from our house,and he spent quite some time talking about Old Hightown and the things that went on and some of the people he remembered. The only problem was that I had a job hearing him I have to admit. He is quite softly spoken actually,so it was hard to catch the drift of the conversation.God, it must be lovely to have good ears..if I had three wishes one would be to have good ears, aniother good eyesight..don't know about the third, I'll think about it.
Vin gave him the photos that he had done for him, and the disc that he had had scanned of the other three , and he seemed really pleased with those.Our next door neighbour had said that he might like to look round his old house, so when they had finished with us, Vinknocked on her door and she took him through to his old house. Then Vin took him round to one of our neighbours who still lives here, and who had supplied the photographs. They chatted for a while then they left to go up to the Lake District area. I should imagine it would have been a lovely trip back in time for him, seeing his old family house. So, all in all a successful visit!
Vin and I had a bit of a row last night. Jane rang up to say that we were to keep the 12th of October free. When pressed she said that there were three tickets to see Peter Kay in manchester. 5 Rows from the stage ..Well Vin got all crabby, grumpy, cross and everything else as well. He started waving his arms about, and said he wasn't going..he didn't like peter Kay and so on and so on..he wasn't driving to Manchester in the dark, and then coming bacck late from there either..etc., etc.,. it ended up with us having a fairly long argument, which is quite unusual actually. I told him to ring Jane to say that he wasn't going..which he did, so she was annoyed and will probably sulk for England now. What a performance.Went to bed cross...not a good idea. Seem to be ok today though..
Tonight we are having:
pizza with tomato sauce,Oops forgotten to take it out of the freezer,
potato and egg salad with avocado pear and baby plum tomatoes
potato saladd and a pasta salad for Vin.

V Day minus One!!

Another dday of sprucing up the house. One of the problems is that I can't see the dust these days so things get left. We did our net curtains this morning with the GloWhite, haven't used that for years. I was considering getting some new ones, but they have come up beautifully actually, look like new again. So they can stay for a whiloe longer. I'm not a huge fan of net curtains, but they do stop people looking in through the windows. The new neighbours have had vertical blinds installed which don't look great either, I think it makes the house look like an office or a dental surgery. Not sure what the answer is really, the trouble is that there is only a small front garden so people walking past can see in easily, so you do need something. Hence Nets..
Weather wise a very funny day, rainy and d5rizzly in parts and now clear and sunny but cold. I have decided to put my sandals away for the cooler weather , it is getting a bit cold for them now.

Vins newly painted wall looks really lovely in the sunshine, it is a creamy light yellowy colour called clotted cream which is what it says on the tin. Very pretty and cottagey. Maybe we will have to stick "Cottage" after our house name too like some of the other incomers have done..but there again maybe not!
Sad story in the news about the four Welsh miners who have lost their lives in a mining disaster. Terrible for the families. There was an item in the paper about the loss of life in mining disasters since the beginning of the nineteen hundreds..massive numbers actually. One mine in 1934 lost 435 miners!! you just can't imagine the devastation that must have caused on a town..and then there were many others with huge losses. Terrible price to pay for coal. You don't expect it these days though.
Tonight we are having:
Cheese pasties from Waitrose..well that will please Vin anyway,
Rice puddings from same store..
Easy tea tonight.