The Toy Cupboard is Full

I think I have enough toys in the cupboard to keep small visitors busy. These recent car boot finds will be the last I'll buy for now. First picture from a couple of weeks ago.

Wooden clock and shape lift out puzzles and toy phone, nursery rhyme book and another Little Grey Rabbit book. The baby brush and comb set ready for the October baby and a book for me to add to my WWII collection (what a good thing I typed out the list of all my WWII books so I knew I hadn't got this one). Total spend £5.20p

 Next photo from Needham Market's Huge boot sale on Bank Holiday Saturday

 Wooden bricks and opposites puzzle £1 each. Very old wooden puzzle 50p, bag of pavement chalks 50p (these are very popular with children at other beach huts for drawing on the prom!). The Clean and Green pack on the right are a large pack of table mats that can be coloured in, looked like fun for the future. For myself I found some card blanks, a kit and several pieces of Aida for cross stitch for a total  of £1.60 and 20p for the Wilko make-your-own Christmas gift tags- which is something I usually do anyway using last years Christmas cards - the lady had loads of these packs and I was curious to see what they were. I might make them or they could be put away for the future. 2 old crime books were 25p each and finally if you see a new pair of socks for 50p with your daughters name on then you have to get them even if she is 36!

So having decided NO MORE TOYS for the toy cupboard (obviously books are not toys!), I called in briefly at  a car boot on the way to Crowfield church. A regular Sunday one that I've not been to for years, but it seemed to be dealer type sellers with lots of tat, won't go again.
However I still parted with £1.70p (last of the big spenders!). A piece of Christmas fabric for 20p, 5 new  Hairy Maclary books at 10p each.

I treated the cat to a new bowl for 50p as one of hers is a bit chipped. And finally the brand new boxed set of book and Kipper toy. The box inside is like a little bed where Kipper can sleep with his own blanket. This will make a lovely Christmas present for a small person so not for the toy cupboard but into the Christmas cupboard instead and only 50p, didn't need to haggle on that one! The joy of boot-sales is that there are still a few people who just want to clear stuff out, and of course I looked on Amazon to see the proper price and there were none available because they were first sold in 2005 (where had someone kept this for 11 years?) So looked on eBay where the only one for sale was from the States for £60!!

Hopefully by the time our grandchildren are old enough to need trikes and bigger toys we will have moved to somewhere bigger. I saw a Playmobil (or Fisher Price not sure which) Noah's ark and animals for £5 but decided there was just nowhere to keep it. Still looking out for Duplo (large Lego) with no luck. We have some ordinary Lego stowed away, but the Duplo we had was given away a long time ago. I'm glad we kept a small box of Brio wooden railway, I hope to be able to pick up more bits for it when Jacob and Dot-the-bump are a few years older.

We Think, crossing everything possible, that Colin is finally on the right track. The only problem now is getting his platelet levels (they're the part of the blood that make clots form) to climb as they are not building up as they ought. This has happened after each chemo session all the way through. He is still absolutely exhausted but the doctors are happy with progress.

Many thanks for all your good wishes for him and also welcome to Nagini and Kate who are new followers.

Back very soon
Sue

A Hidden Church

This is one of the ways I kept myself busy this weekend.

If it hadn't had signs for the Flower Festival I would never have found this little church tucked away in the Suffolk countryside, not very far from Ipswich.

All Saints Crowfield, a church without a tower but with a timber framed chancel. A tiny church well over a mile from the village and up a track hidden behind big trees.

My reason for visiting? They had books and jigsaws for sale as well as the flower festival.

Amongst all the boxes of books I found lots that I'd already read or owned so only bought 3. Two Christmas stories for children and the "Year of Wonders" by Geraldine Brooks. No idea what it is but it's set in 1666, the year that the Great Plague reached the village of Eyam in Derbyshire. The villagers made the decision to put themselves in quarantine, so stopping the spread of the plague but resulting in the death of 260 people.

 The jigsaw of beach huts had to come home with me obviously!

 Then I had a cuppa and a piece of delicious chocolate cake and a quick look round the flowers inside.

Sorry no pics of the lovely arrangements - it was so crowded inside - because what their ad in the East Anglian  newspaper failed to say was that they were having a service at 10am after which all the people at the service had coffee in the church which they carried around looking at the flowers, making it difficult for anyone else to get around!

THIS is what I would have seen if it hadn't been full of people and flowers.

Home through darkening skies which looked as if we were going to get big storms but only produced a small shower.

Thank you for all your prayers and kind thoughts for Colin. I shall be popping to see him later, he was feeling a bit more "with it" on Saturday.......thank goodness.

Back in a trice
Sue

The other C word

Walking past the magazines in Asda - not buying - I noticed Cross Stitcher Magazine had a Christmas kit for the free gift on the front. Christmas Aaaagh!

Better get started on the hamper gifts then.

When we moved from the smallholding I was very worried that without all our fruit and vegetables there would be no hampers for the 2 sisters and brothers-in-law this year. So I made a list in the front of the diary of things I could think of that didn't involve buying items that were too expensive. What I didn't know about back then was that Aldi had special offers and I would be walking under an overhanging Bramley apple tree on my way to the shops.

First make has been Mango Chutney. The recipe is on the separate recipe page, you don't have to scroll down too far. Yesterday I adjusted amounts to use the 2 mangos in a pack (on offer at Aldi) and the apples I picked up under the tree (had to add one more from the Greengrocers)
Made just enough for 3 jars

BTW hexagonal jars are the most annoying for filling as air bubbles get trapped in the corners and then you have to sterilise a spoon handle and slide it down to release them. I bought a big box full of these jars years ago when I was making chutney to sell and lots are still around, even though I keep giving them away.

Weather here much warmer today than forecast and less rain overnight than forecast too. I went to the beach hut again and then back to visit Colin on my way home, over the last two days he has become very poorly, they are doing more tests to try to find out why he has high temperatures and spells of shivering every day. There must be an infection somewhere. He was about to be wheeled off on the bed  for another chest Xray when I left. He's not eating but drinking plenty so that's OK and has no energy at all, even sitting up to drink a cup of tea wears him out. The doctors said infections are more of a threat than the stem cell transplant. Just have to hope it hasn't affected his heart.
A worrying weekend ahead. Need to keep myself busy.

Back Soon
Sue

So that's what it was!

It is good when you see something and wonder about it and then find out on the news exactly what it was.

When I was taking our youngest home (or it might have been when I picked her up) on Tuesday, we saw this HUGE plane coming into land at what's left of the runways at the old RAF Woodbridge.
Then at the beach hut, there it was again circling low inland from Felixstowe, disappearing from sight and everyone saying "what on earth!"

Watching the Anglia ITV News on Wednesday I found out

An Airbus  and  Here too 

or maybe HERE
or there might be a video below

Depending which link actually works!

Great excitement for plane spotters

Mentioning our youngest reminds me that she has written her story of surviving cancer HERE. Colin has shared her story with several women coping with ovarian cancer that he's bumped into (not literally obviously!) while staying on the Oncology ward and he says it makes them smile. Seeing it all written down I realise how much I'd forgotten or wiped from memory. Our youngest had already moved out from home and it all seemed to happen quite quickly without her ever being really ill. She even moved flats during that time too which is a strange co-incidence with us and our house move in the middle of Col's treatment.


Back soon
Sue

What's Happening at Number 9

I loved watching the Olympics on TV this year. Despite our TV, with it's built in Freeview, being too old to get Red Button and my lap top connection too slow to watch on-line, I still managed to watch a little of most sports and more of others. It's puzzling that we don't play handball in this country, it looks a pretty simple sort of game, not a lot of equipment needed. Or maybe it is played here - who knows.

Now it's back to normal viewing for a couple of weeks before we get another dose of sports with the Paralympics, after that there is Strictly to look forward to. I do hope Col is home before the Paralympics start, things were looking hopeful but another blip with the line (inserted in a vein in the chest for the stem cell transplant) makes me wonder if he'll be stuck there for weeks more. They decided that the line had been in too long and he had to go down to surgery to have it removed, under local unaesthetic. All the time he has been having high temperatures, that come and go randomly and they can't find the reason so it was probably the line. It was January when we first knew what was wrong and here we are nearly at the end of August and this time he's been in hospital for 3 weeks already. Some days I wonder if we will ever get back to normal then I have to give myself a kicking!

 After sorting out all my craft papers, odd bits of fabric, spare curtains and pictures over the weekend, I found enough to fill 4 bags and took them round to the charity shops yesterday morning. Then, because her OH couldn't get away from work early, I picked up our youngest and brought her back to Ipswich for another ultra-sound on dot-the-bump. However the small unborn was laying in such way that she is still not 100% sure that Dot is definitely female so we still might be in for a surprise in 8 weeks time, and the sonographer said she couldn't get a good photo either. We then went up to Col's ward to visit him before I took her home through awful traffic.There seem to be roadworks everywhere round Ipswich and East Suffolk at the moment.

 Today, according to the local weather bloke on TV, was the hottest day of the summer so far. Luckily I was down at the beach hut having a swim to keep cool. The worst thing was getting in the car at the hospital after visiting Col on my way home........Phew

 Has anyone else been watching "Britain's hardest workers", it's all about low paid jobs, an eye opener. I wouldn't want to work for Approved Foods for a start, or on any of the other companies featured. (Just editing in to say that its on all week I think so look for Mondays programme first)

That's what's been happening here at number 9. Not a lot really.

Thanks for comments

Back soon I guess

Sue

English?

Why have so many words had 'ized' added to the end?
So casual workers are now casualized workers.....really?

And when did "gonna" become part of the language .......it's "Going to" "GOING TO"!

Feel better now :-)

Back Soon
Sue

Getting Better + Library Book Photo and Book warning!

What a difference a day makes :-)
All your positive vibes, kind wishes and prayers have worked and our little fella was able to go home, he is now feeding well and not being sick. Col is still feeling exhausted but is drinking more and eating again so that's the first step on the road to recovery.

 My Penny Pincher pen-friend S said she really misses the library book photos, when I would bike home from the library van once a month with a lovely bag of books I'd ordered and take a photo for the blog.
So specially for S I waited a few days before going to the library so I could pick up several of my requested books rather than just one or two at a time.
Here they are

From the top down - Mrs Miniver to re-read after reading the other Jan Struther last week.
The Lanimer Bride by Pat McIntosh, the 11th in the crime series set in 15th Century Glasgow.
Ruth Goodman - she of odd clothes on TV! - How to be a Tudor - A Day to Dusk guide to everyday life in Tudor Britain. I Think I borrowed How to be a Victorian, also written by Ruth a couple of years ago but can't remember reading it so maybe I didn't.
Josh Spero - Second hand stories. Not sure how I heard about this, it's about a man who tracks down previous owners of his second-hand books.
Signal For Vengeance by Edward Marston, the umpteenth book in his railway detective series. They are becoming  a bit same-y so I might read it or not.
Sandlands by Rosy Thornton. These are short stories inspired by the "sandlings" - Suffolk's coast and heaths Area of Outstanding Natural beauty, which we lived on the edge of for 23 years.
The New Homesteader by Bella and Nick Ivins...............see below.............


I soon looked through this book and here is the Book Warning! -
Only read this if you are a wishing for a smallholding/ homestead and have pots of money!
Lovely new book, Gorgeous pictures, but Oh My Goodness, this Self Sufficient family are not short of a penny or two.

Here's the description from the library website -

Ten years ago, Bella and Nick Ivins left the city behind and relocated to Walnuts Farm, high on the Sussex Weald. Inspired by the Modern Homesteading movement, they decided to embrace self-sufficient way of life. 'The New Homesteader' tells the story of their family life on their home farm and provides all the knowledge necessary for anyone thinking of embracing self-sustaining lifestyle and starting their own homestead or urban farm - or even just tending their own little plot to provide a supply of fresh ingredients throughout the year.

Reading this could leave you green with envy.
We had the smallholding but never had the spare cash, now we have the spare cash and no energy for a smallholding!

Such is life :-)

You need a £20 note to buy  this book but if you are hard up borrow it from the library and spend your £20 on something edible, like an apple tree for instance, for the smallholding or garden!

Back Soon
Sue
PS welcome to 2 new followers - Elizabeth and Kitkat
Extra PS Our youngest has started a blog HERE, Wonder if she'll have time once Dot-the-bump arrives! :-)

 

Not a fun week

Our little grandson at 11 weeks old had to have an operation to correct a narrowing between stomach and intestines. We thought things were not right when they stayed a few weeks ago and H has been back to the doctor with Jacob several times in the last few weeks and finally got referred straight to their local hospital for tests. They then had to wait for nearly 2 days for a bed  at a bigger hospital.
 Apparently quite a common problem for babies, mainly boys, and is quickly sorted. But another thing to worry about and being a distance away makes things worse.
And how do you tell an 11 week old that he is nil-by-mouth!
He should be able to go home in a day or two and fingers crossed that will be the end of it and he will start to feed and put on weight properly.

Meanwhile Colin is still not feeling any better, he has been on constant drips of saline, blood , antibiotics or platelets, one after the other or two at a time.

I'm just trying to keep on an even keel and not fall off the tightrope - mixed metaphors there but you know what I mean!


I think I will be glad to see the end of August
Back Soon
Sue

Half of August gone and links to old posts

August days are creeping by and Col has now been in hospital for 2 weeks. We hope by the end of this week  a lot of the nasty chemicals will have worked their way out of his system and he will start to feel much better. As well as not sleeping, stomach ache, sickness and diarrhoea, he now has sore mouth and throat and not even enough energy to write on his Facebook page. So  it's one thing after another just as the cancer nurses told us - they've seen it all before.
He's been trying to avoid infection by keeping all visitors, except me, away, but a text from him this morning say's he has a temperature so it will be antibiotics and all their nasty side effects added into the mix now. No wonder this is the worst part of the treatment.
 I've been plodding along at home trying not to worry and watching lots of Olympics .

On Friday the beach hut tempted me away from the TV and I spent over 4 hours down there including a swim in the flat calm sea. I read most of this while I was there.


Jan Struther is more well known for her book Mrs Miniver, but this is a collection of very clever and witty essays and sketches. Although written in the 1940's by a "upper middle class, lower middle age woman" the humour in the stories hasn't dated at all. You just have to love the writing of someone who says ".....and there are people to whom making lists is an end in itself, a pure, abstract and never failing delight". Oh yes!

Saturday saw me biking to the library, but going the long way round so I could call in at the  Emmaus Charity shop where I  found a pack of 3 Pairs of M&S pants - Col's Size - for £2 - handy. ( Question - in the States what we call trousers you call pants so what do you call the items of underwear that we call pants? )
Then I spotted this for £4,

  I'm a sucker for baskets,( I wrote about baskets when we were still at the smallholding) as long as they are cheap, I have no idea why I'm so tempted and the problem is .....................now I've got it what the heck do I do with it? I already have a smaller one with dividers for 4 bottles that I used to use standing in the upstairs bathroom for cleaning stuff etc........here it's in the kitchen holding shoe cleaning bits. Then I have a small hamper that I begged from Col's brother after he won it in a draw last Christmas. That's standing on the TV unit holding all the chargers and other bits and bobs. 2 big storage baskets are up on top of the wardrobes holding shoes and winter wear. My favourite from that old blog post is in the kitchen holding potatoes (on newspaper and covered over with black fabric to keep out the light).
I'm really an idiot for buying it as we are so short of space here and a bargain is only a bargain if you actually need it! I'm thinking it would be more useful if I took a pair of secateurs to the 6 canes holding the dividers in place and made a nice big oblong basket.

Sunday I did a bit of tidying in the garden, re-potted the thyme, shopped at Asda, visited Colin and watched more Olympics........ even the finalé of the golf was exciting!, then in the evening things got more and more enthralling with medals being won all round. Andy Murray's tennis medal was real fight.

Yesterday apart from a visit to Colin, I took a few more bits to the charity shop and started on unpacking and sorting another box from the shed. I didn't find anything we needed indoors but chucked a couple of bits in the dustbin and others into the charity shop bag and re-packed most into a sturdier box.

Thank you you for all the interesting comments about housed deeds and house prices. We've always been so lucky with buying and selling houses. I wrote about all our house moves HERE.
So many house moves in our married life, I can't imagine staying in one house for life like many people did in the past and a few do now I guess - Col's Dad is 85 and has only ever lived in 2 houses!

Back Soon
Sue






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Deeds

Finally - after 4 and a half months - we've received all the deeds and land registry stuff back from our solicitors. The hold up due to the Land Registry Office being really busy because of so many people buying and selling during March before stamp duty changed. It's fascinating to see old house deeds and just like Fareacre we have deeds going back to the nineteen-thirties. The odd thing is it seems that this bungalow was built in 1955 exactly the same at Fareacre, but using better quality building materials.
 We've got maps with all the field sizes before this huge estate was built bit by bit over 80 years and I guess still on going, as a house and bungalow down the road both sold off part of their garden to make room for a new bungalow just last year.

There is even an old Building Society Book to show where a mortgage was paid off in the 1970's.
 What did surprise me is we seem to be only the 3rd people to have owned the bungalow. The original owners had it built and then the lady lived on here after she was widowed until she died aged over 90 in 2011.

Now how things have changed - no more deeds with beautiful copperplate writing, tied with ribbon and sealed.............. just a piece of paper telling you your property purchase has been registered with the Land Registry.

  Looking through everything I came across the survey done for the people who were here before us and it mentions all the ceilings were covered by polystyrene tiles - Thank Heavens they were removed before we got here!

Back soon
Sue


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Sorting boxes and cheering up the living room.

There were about 15 boxes of possessions out in the shed with no room for them in the house and many of the boxes were third-hand, rather tatty and  more tape than cardboard.  After a sort out indoors I managed to make an empty drawer in the dresser and then found a sturdy box in the garage so I've begun to empty some of the flimsier old boxes, re-packing what we want to keep, bringing one or two things indoors and putting some things in a bag ready for the charity shops. Three tatty boxes have been so far been squashed into the recycling bin, several more still to sort.
In one box I found my Poundland fairy lights and they've gone around the hatch between kitchen and living room which was the only place  near enough to a plug.

I've avoided charity shops and car boot sales all week but treated myself to a bunch of Freesias from Aldi.
  They are lovely, but not many in the bunch. So I bulked them out with a few bits from the garden (I'm a shove them in a jug flower arranger!)

So with the bunting, fairy lights and flowers the living room looks much cheered.

 By the way if you are looking for some cheap fruit bushes Aldi had all sorts for around £3, that's one heck of a lot less than the seed company catalogues so probably worth a try if you have room.

The nasty affects of the chemo have caught up with Col, he felt really rough yesterday. Just wanting to lay resting with eyes shut.  This is not unexpected and his 'obs' are all OK so nothing to worry about. Just a matter of time.

Looks like we are in for a sunnier and warmer day than yesterday - the beach hut beckons - if I can tear myself away from the Olympics, where they seem to be doing pretty well - loved the track cycling last night.


Back in a day or 3
Sue

Back Soon

This and that..........and books

Thank you for so many comments. Hello to Bridget, good to hear from you and lovely to see you back blogging and thank you to Pat (hope you are still recovering well). Thank you to everyone who's reading Col's Facebook page, there is a smiley Jacob as his page header now.

We don't feel particularly brave dealing with Non Hodgkins, just getting on with it day by day and looking forward to the end and full recovery when we can decide what to do next. Whatever we do it's got to involve growing fruit and vegetables in a bigger garden, as I'm really missing it.

Col has now had all his nice clean stem cells back, we might be at the end of treatment, just waiting to see
  a.  what effect that last chemo session will have,
 b. how low his blood readings will go
 c .how long he will take to recover
 d .if he can avoid  infections while his immune system is almost nil.
He isn't in complete isolation, I've been everyday and he's had a few other visitors but he's asked people to check how he's feeling before they visit. The cancer specialist nurses encourage a bit of walking about - down the corridor, not into the ward, - to keep muscles working

The phone was sorted on Tuesday afternoon - ahead of predicted time, blimey - well done BT (no-one says that very often!) I'm struggling on with the lap top - it's slightly better than it was - but I don't want to take it in to the 'puter shop until Col is home with his lap top.

According to the weather forecasts we are in for a heatwave next week. I've found the electric fan from the box in the garage and given it a clean ready to take in to hospital. His room has been very warm some days so temps in the 30s will be horrible. The windows don't open very far - presumably so that no-one hurls themselves out in despair at the quality of hospital food!

I'm still loving the Olympics, I've watched all sorts of sports never usually seen on TV. There are just 2 things that don't appeal - namely water polo which just looks like a whole load of blokes(or girls) playing ball in a pool and beach volley ball - more blokes(or girls) playing ball on a beach!
I watched the Gold for the 3m synchronized diving, well done them and  better than Tom Daley who I've always  thought was a bit too pleased with himself.

Read this book the other day, got to the end and decided I must have missed something as I was lost, didn't get it. I remember this feeling when we read The Gun by C.S Forester at school when I was 12!

I haven't bothered to re-read The Gun and I won't be re-reading The Other Mrs Walker either.
Instead I have a pile of Large and Heavy (weight not content) library books to get through, couldn't decide which to read first so choose instead another Angela Thirkell off my own shelves and read most of 'Cheerfulness Breaks In' while at the beach hut last Sunday.

 Other book news
 I think this is the first of the British Library Crime Classics that I've not got into. Too silly.

I'm not sure if I can cope with this book. It's huge and scholarly. Having read many of the war time books published from Mass Observation. I was interested to see the history of the organisation set up to record what ordinary people thought, but it's a bit dull so far.


Col read this a couple of weeks ago although it was one I had requested from the library after hearing about it somewhere. He wasn't sure I was going to like it and I've not tried it yet.


Also I must finish the Beatrix Potter diary, started it weeks ago and got put off by the weight of it! ( perhaps I can see the benefits of an e reader for a book this size).

Back Soon
Sue

Not our problem

Do you remember all the things that were not working last week?

Well, Son brought his phone and plugged into our socket and that didn't work either. So the problem is outside the house and will be sorted on Wednesday (don't hold your breath). Could also be the reason why the computer is sluggish. It's driving me nuts as I get about 10 minutes before it seizes up (so apologies for hardly doing any commenting)

and the kettle has returned to switching itself off..............sometimes.

I had a good day at the beach hut on Sunday, got down there by 8.45 and not a soul around. It got busier and sunnier as the day went on and it was lovely to see so many children having fun in the sea. I thought about a swim but got well into a book and before I knew it it was time to pack up and visit Col on my way home.

He has had the 6th and nastiest chemo session today. Loads of fluids in and they carefully measure everything out again! They even provide ice-pops which help to stop sore mouth problems. He gets his clean stem cells back tomorrow and Wednesday.

Thanks for comments and I have never been to Ikea either or Matalan or Bon marche or TK Max or that other one I can't remember...... maybe  HM?.

Sorry to people who don't like sport ( not really - hard cheese!! you're stuck with it for a fortnight).

Back next time the lap top is behaving
Sue

Saturday 2pm

I've already been to the car boot sale, Tesco and Poundland and filled up the car with diesel. I've visited Colin and delivered him some fruit and clean underwear. I've had my lunch and washed up.
 Now I can settle down to see the first Olympic events. The men's cycle road race has just started and they have 6  HOURS in the saddle ahead of them. The thought of it makes my bum hurt!

Here's another selection of car boot purchases - total spend £6.70p. Best bargain was the Union Jack bunting which is un-opened M&S labelled up £7.50. I would have paid a couple of pounds but she only wanted 50p! I'm pinning it on my dresser to celebrate the Olympics

The ink cartridges (£1) are a good find although I've only just bought some new a few weeks ago, but as they are vacuum sealed they'll keep. Other things pictured are another basket for a hamper, a couple of small Xmas gifts, more baby nappies and some 3D Christmas decoupage sheets for card making.

I seem to be always showing pictures of car boot buys.
 Can you guess  why I never take photos of all the things I buy for the house from John Lewis, Next, Dunelm, The Range, etc etc , etc?
The answer is simple.............I don't go in any of these shops. In fact I've Never Ever been in John Lewis or Next Home. I try to avoid buying new if I can. So only electricals, carpets and wardrobes have been bought new for the house in the 5 months we've been here.

Back Soon
Sue

I'm ready

Got this yesterday, really looking forward to watching everything. I shall ignore all the politics that crop up every 4 years and just enjoy the sport.

Also "donated" £1 to the Oxfam charity book shop and was given these.

Once again I shall blame Scott at Furrowed Middlebrow blog for his overwhelming list of WWII authors. Without his prompt I would never have thought about reading childrens books written at that time.

I've just emptied the boxes containing my collection of WWII books and made a list of what I have = 80 books and that's not counting any relevant fiction on the living room shelf. I'm going to type them up in small print so they'll fit onto one sheet of paper, then I can keep a copy in my bag. Sadly, I then had to pack them all back into the boxes again.

Colin is keeping a diary of his hospital stay on his Facebook page and wants me to link in HERE.  for anyone who's interested in all the gory details!

Thank you for comments and thanks to Sadie for the computer shop info. I have resisted all prompts to change to Windows 10 so it's not that causing the problems.
Welcome to  new followers Happy at Home and Chris West and possibly someone else too. It was once possible to find out if new followers had a blog of their own but this is yet another thing Blogger has changed recently, so let me know if you do.

Back Soon
Sue

Falling apart

No, not me or Colin, but things around the house.

The home phone ........I can't ring out and the phone isn't ringing, but is displaying a notice saying "Line cord error, please check". So I unplugged, fiddled about, plugged in again and it still says the same thing. Mmmm, only bought it in March. (Can't be outside the house as we still have WiFi).

The kettle............ has stopped switching itself off

This lap top.......... needs a serious sort out, I think it's clogged up with bumph or a virus is creeping in. I lost the touch pad curser completely earlier and it's always seizing up and telling me I have an unresponsive plug in. I wonder if there is a small computer shop around here like the one we had in Leiston. There's no way I'm going anywhere near PC world!

Meanwhile I went to the Wednesday car boot sale and bought these things. Another wooden toy (shape sorter house) for the grandchildren cupboard for £1 ( I realised that I broke my self-imposed  £1 limit with that teddy-dressing- puzzles-in-a-box last month Tut Tut!)

Basket for a Xmas Hamper 50p and the 3 tin plant pots on a tray also for Christmas also 50p. The First aid tin was £1 - that's for the beach hut. The Summer Chintz coasters were also £1 and the children's books were 10p each.

Thanks for comments. Colin isn't in complete isolation, but visitors have to be free from illness and clean! he has 6 days of different types of chemo then the stem cells are replaced. By then the Chemo will have reduced his immune system to nothing which is why he is in one of the en-suite single rooms in the hospital. He will also be feeling pretty rough and won't be let out for three or four weeks until immune system and platelets have built up again. Hopefully he will then recover to give us up to seven years in remission - that's when we will be visiting all the places on THAT LIST (searched through half of last years posts to find it!) and probably more.

Elise asks what I do for cooking and eating while on my own.  Lunch is always salad and something followed by a big bowl of seasonal fruit. That's what we both have anyway. For dinner I always start off with good intentions and have several one portion home-frozen meals in the freezer or I'll make a stir-fry with mini veggie pancake rolls ( Asda freezer). Or a piece of Frozen fish baked and eaten with coleslaw. I'm very happy to avoid "meat and two veg" meals and will probably not eat a single potato all the while that Col is in hospital! Toast and an egg (fried or scrambled) is my standby for when I can't be bothered.

Back shortly
Sue

It turns out that all I needed was ...............................

...............a couple of weeks off to catch up on a few things.



And Blogging Mojo returned. Phew! - I do miss writing.

While I was absent................

The inner pockets to hold the lavender in the cross stitch sachets have been finished.

I read several books, which have been added to my 2016 books read page

We visited friends in Essex (where I tried to give away 3 books but my friend already had them!)

We both went to a car boot sale ( first time Colin has felt well enough this year) where I found these

 I love the dressing teddies puzzles and always wanted to get one from The Early Learning Centre for our youngest years ago, but could never afford it, so thank goodness for carboot sales as this was £2. 'Little Grey Rabbit at Christmas' was 50p and 'The Brontes went to Woolworths' by Rachel Ferguson - A Virago Modern Classic was just 20p

We had a couple of lazy days at the beach hut.

The cross stitch picture of a standard fuchsia is  finished. Threading the beading needle to sew on the seed beads was the most difficult part! It has been mounted in a dark green aperture card and will be a birthday card for Col's Dad who lives in " Fuchsia Cottage"

 I wrote a few letters

We spent a Sunday afternoon in a very civilized fashion ......listening to The Suffolk Concert Band in Christchurch Park. Here they are settling into their seats and warming up.

 And IF this video works, you might be able to hear them.We both love Brass band music. Its always a happy sound.

Now I shall have a quieter than usual 4 weeks as Colin has gone into hospital for the final part of the treatment for Non Hodgkins Lymphoma. He has taken the small camera and his laptop to keep a diary for his Facebook page.

Horrible grey drizzley weather here today, I'd better do the ironing.

Back in a day or 2 providing my lap top keeps going, its got rather slow and temperamental recently.
Sue