What are you all up to
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It’s actually far more than 3 posts. Some folk wait a month to be approved as we often see when new posts from newbies appear weeks late which must be disheartening for them. Still, it’s always possible to contact Rowena.👍🏻
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Actually, if you contact Ro, she will probably sort out a continuous posting remit when your Membership lapses. This is what she kindly did for me when we took a break during COVID. Worth asking👍
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Now that I have finally caught up on what you have all been up to in the last week or so, I can report back on what we have been doing. It has been a busy week.
Sunday 13th was when DD and I went to the craft fair to see if we could sell some of my turnings and release some cupboard space in the house. We had moderate success, easily covering expenses, but not making much impression on the cupboard problem. Nor, unfortunately, enough to have to report to HMRC.
The stuff is again meantime spread out on the dining room table, and, looking at it all, OH asked if we were sure we had actually sold anything!
We will be going to another craft fair on December 3rd, hopefully that will shift some more stuff.
We had dinner at DD's on Sunday, then were there again on Monday afternoon as the other grandparents had gone on holiday, and there on Wednesday and Thursday as usual. Wednesday morning we did shopping for her first, quite a long list yet again.
Monday morning we had smart meters fitted.
Friday, DD and the boys came for lunch and we reviewed which items had sold well and what I should make more of if I have time. And on Saturday we were back on GP duty at her house as they had tickets for an afternoon theatre performance, with lunch first.
Yesterday we visited DS and family down in Ayrshire for lunch and a good catch up, not been down there since August. We had planned to take them a load of logs, but it was so wet that we decided not to get soaked loading them up, and just went in the Smart instead.
Grandson (16) actually emerged from his room to say hello, he has not half shot up over the summer! Granddaughter (12) came and ate some lunch with us, she is as tall as me now, not that that is difficult.
We have finally heard back from the builders who are to come and revamp our upstairs bathroom. Still waiting for the bad news on the cost, but they may be able to start as soon as the 28th. OH is sceptical and thinks it will be later, but we will need to make preparations by this coming weekend.
I have a toilet cistern enclosure to make, as it is a "back to wall" toilet, and an off the shelf cabinet from Ikea to alter to fit above the toilet, it is currently too deep. Once I have those sorted, I can go back to making a few new small items for the next sale.......spurtles, snowmen, Christmas Bells and sets of 3 tea light holders all sold well.
It has been very wet this last week, and overnight it has turned really cold, so we will need to start having the heating on more. The new gas meter is meantime refusing to communicate with the outside world, so we will be unable to watch the bill mounting!
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Kj said:- It has been very wet this last week, and overnight it has turned really cold, so we will need to start having the heating on more. The new gas meter is meantime refusing to communicate with the outside world, so we will be unable to watch the bill mounting!
We initially had a few issues with our gas meter communicating with the Smart Meter. The electric side was fine. You may have to have a word with your energy supplier to see if they can connect remotely if it persists. Even now our Smart Meter will lose connection occasionally with the meter and its only about 5 feet away, albeit on the other side of the wall! We are with Octopus Energy and they have a handy App which you can use on your phone to track energy use. It's not real time so you can only see backwards from the previous day.Mind you, whether it's a good idea to be able to see your minute by minute consumption I am not so sure especially at today's prices!!!!
David
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I didn’t want the Smart Meter but OH thought it was a good idea. Now I have a Smart meter watch obsession! Everything that gets turned on I check it. I know exactly which of our electric items cost the most and on which setting. The chest freezer was badly iced up and we spent some time chipping ice off and defrosting it at the weekend. That has made a difference, and it is now almost empty, so hopefully it will perform even better when it gets filled tomorrow.
I did accidentally forget to put a few things back so we had a strange combination dinner last night. The packet of minced quorn which also got left out will be made into a spag bol for tonight.
Granddog got picked up this morning. She is such a dear, love her to bits, but she is hard work. She has separation anxiety and can never be left in the kennels. She will stay alone in her own house but not here. While her ‘Mum’ isn’t here she follows me everywhere, literally, and sleeps next to my bed. When she went it was nice to be able to go to the loo alone!
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DD had smart meters fitted several months back and her gas meter is still dumb. She does however have her electricity meter in a cupboard near the front door and her gas meter outside of the side door at the other end of the house (about 15metres away, it is a sprawling ground floor flat) and has very thick walls.
Apparently the gas meter needs to talk to the "hub" which is fitted to the electricity meter, and that is presumably too far away.
In our case, both meters are in outside boxes right next to each other, but still not on speaking terms.
Today OH checked our account and could see the new electricity meter had been added, but no new gas meter. She phoned our supplier (Outfox the Market) and asked where the detail of the gas meter was so we could add manual readings for this month if necessary as our bills are made up in 4 days time.
Took ages to get through, but eventually spoke to someone who said they would request gas meter details to be added to account, but had idea how long that would take. On the matter of the readings not showing up on the IHD, he said to unplug and let battery die, then plug in as close to meter as possible.
I have already unplugged several times, it makes no difference, and the battery being in or out of the machine does nothing for it either. No idea the purpose of the battery, presumably as a back up, so removing it should be the same as it dying? Anyway....the screen goes blank, then when plugged in again is the same as before......no data on gas. The fellow was however most insistent that "the battery had to die" !
OH is getting fed up with me looking at how much electricity we are using, and is threatening to confiscate the IHD!
Not entirely happy with performance of new CH boiler, now we are actually using heating, but it may be we have debris in system, despite it having cleaner added and afterwards flushed through. Lounge radiator is not getting as hot as before, or as quickly, so OH is feeling cold, other radiators seem OK.
The flow does not seem as good as previously, and I am not sure what temperature we should set the boiler to. Or what speed the installer set the pump to. HW seems fine. I think I will need to do some research, or contact installer for advice.
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Got a missed call left message,from NHS on journey this morning,seems left and right hand did not communicate,staff sickness (covid) can we come at 1430 today as they had a space?
So went home picked up mail and did some shopping with my coop discount vouchers had lunch in staff restaurant at hospital curtacy of my carers status
Their have referred OH back to GP as her problem with unable to grip with her right so cannot use any aids to get her walking again is beyond their expertise
their have made another appointment for her with another specialist but I was told she may not be able to help
So it goes on ,this has all come about because of her immobility while in hospital and rehab unit ,as she was using mobility. aids before her hip accident and was walking,but now she cannot walk as cannot. Grip walking aids with her right hand and she is/was right handed
Ps just to round off the day after a horrendous journey back to FM managed to back into steps and bend beyon repair that OH uses to enter and exit with help the camper
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Sorry to read of all your problem, JVB, hope that you and your OH's doctor are able to get her mobile again.
Mixed day weather wise, with a dry morning but a very wet afternoon and evening. At least it meant I couldn't do any work out in the garden after lunch and was able to watch the England match instead without feeling guilty. Great result, and sparking performances from the young team members.
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A glorious bright day. Blue skies and sun.
The usaul early start to the day. Onwards and upwards!
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Best wishes for some sort of solution JVB.
Mrs WN ordered some paint brushes from a specialist supplier on Sunday. Free postage. She's just had a look at tracking. A van from Northampton picked them up from the suppliers premises in Keighley and took them to Yodel hub in Warrington, who 3 hours later sent them to Luton, who a few hours later sent them to nearby Hatfield, who "processed" them and sent them back to Warrington, who hopefully will deliver them to us here in North Wales. What a palaver!!! Still, as it's free who are we to comment on their convoluted handling procedures?🤷♂️
Nice and quiet this afternoon as MiL out at her craft class.😂
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Ah deliveries. I've decided to give Amazon Hub a go, one less van journey and I can get some walking exercise picking up from our local PO.
Had a trip out to a local garden centre today and a nice wander round their Christmas displays, by chance we met up with the group of learning disabled adults who visited us last year. They were really enjoying all the Christmas stuff and were doing some "pocket money" purchases.
Both of us have acquired sore throats from somewhere so glad to be home now.
Hope you are progressing well WN,
JVB sounds like you have some friendly help on site and I hope the steps get sorted.
Goldie, contentment reigns in your photo!
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Yes, Brue, things progressing well thank you very much.
At the moment it's good to see an improvement, albeit a small one, each day. Had a strong session today with shoulder and arm control and quite pleased with efficiency of both. Physios back on Thursday again.
Really excellent service from a Health Board that I have criticised in the past. Think JVB's OH could do with some help that way.
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Glad all going ok WN and with improvements every day.
Sorry to hear about your sore throat brue it is that time of the year.
Hope things improve with your OH JVB and the step gets sorted.
Wel we have had about 30mm of rain yesterday and today combined and much cooler here 8C today brr.
OH put a few items for sale on a local website so a generator has gone over the weekend and today our older tv has gone just a couple more things to go, inside chores today and tomorrow more work on the bathroom with trim to go around the one wall to cover up waterpipes and one piece of trim down the one side of the shower cubicle as one side was done yesterday which will look better when all done and then 1 wall and and part of another to put second coat of paint on and hope to get that done in the next week as forecast does not look good for awhile but we do need the rain help top the Aquifers.
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Very cold today, but reasonably sunny, so OH did washing and drying with the power from the roof, and we circulated the heat from the south facing sun room by fan, to heat the lounge and kitchen, so no need for the CH to be on till after 5pm.
Managed to finish adapting and assembling the Ikea wall cabinet to fit above prospective new back to wall toilet, so next is to make the concealed cistern unit.
This uses 2 x 800x200 and 1 x 600x200 Ikea drawer fronts, plus 1x 600x600 door, and a few internal pieces of white chipboard to fix it together, plus a larger piece at the back to hang the cistern on. The 2 front pieces are clipped or slid into position using special clips, and the whole thing sits a few mm off the floor on small plastic feet.
The top will have a cover to match the other counter tops, in this case solid Iroko.
DD had the idea of making these units after buying one from Ideal Standard for her first bathroom renovation, and realising how simple it would be to make, and how much less expensive it would be! This will be the third one I have made, one for DD and 2 for us.
She still has 2 more bathrooms she has not altered, so I may yet get more to make.
Also made a few new wooden items for the next craft fair, and DD tells me she has sold 3 items via facebook.......every little helps.
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Bit of a boring day for us. Shopping in Tesco, had a £5 off voucher. Then to Iceland to partially re-stock the freezer. Bought some Christmas food, a couple of nice deserts. Saved on a couple of the 3 for £10 and also oldies 10% off day. The cashier insisted on seeing my proof of age, which made me smile, we are both well over the 60 qualifying limit but I suppose they have to. Then I ordered vouchers for Zizzi from our Tesco saved club card points. We are going to a Christmas market later in the week and the vouchers will pay for a meal out that day. I’m getting quite good at shopping around and saving here and there.
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Site manager has just knocked to advise the damage to the steps is to bad for him and team to safely repair,but will dispose of them for us
So we will have to try and source some from elsewhere as OH is to nervous with the on loan step that is without a hand rail she can steady herself ,so she is confined to camper for now
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How did the assessment to with the cooking of a meal? Hope you passed with flying colours, and didn't poison the assessor in the the process.😁
Good to read that you are providing well with the physiotherapy, and have been able to get a walk or two in as well.
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Really sorry to read of all the problems, JVB. Hope something can be sorted really soon... Get well all those who are poorly at present.1
Thing are getting really busy now, here with the usual 'cert/ practices' run up to Christmas.. No more caravan outings now until after Christmas.... but we'll be out in early January, no doubt....
David
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Thanks for info,OH is unable to grip with her right hand we had a session with occupational health on Monday but it was admitted that the condition of her right hand is beyond their expertise, we have been given another appointment on 16th Dec with a much higher level specialist to have a look but they think an operation is the only way it will be improved,,,so it will be down to our GP who they have also referred us to
One small help has come to light today contacted a firm in Birmingham who make access steps ,and spoke to a very helpful and knowledgeable, gentleman in their company ,who understood OHs difficulties,and what was needed,,rather than have a standard type camper steps,and will have some ready and be delivered to our home address next Tuesday,could have had them delivered to this club site by Friday, but I did not want to ask if it would be OK as they have been so helpful already with deliveries for us at this site despite the couriers not following the instructions given to them
Ps the steps are VAT exempt for OH as I was told when I came to pay
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JVB, it’s so often one step forward and two back with disability hospital/GP appointments if things are complicated, as we have learnt with our granddaughter over the years. Glad that you have got some suitable steps sorted. Disability items rightly should be VAT exempt, no one wants to have to buy them.
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The big problem seems to be actually trying to find out what is OHs entitled to and how to access it,
It is only because I contacted the company who makes the steps the gentlemann I spoke to told me we aare able to buy them VAT exempt as I was going to buy them via Amazen which would have been with VAT
It was some months ago that an Adult Services lady in passing said what attendance allowance is your wife on I found out about that
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JV, have a read through this, it might help. You should be able to get VAT relief I think.
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/vat-relief-on-certain-goods-if-you-have-a-disability#do-you-qualify-for-vat-free-goodsAlso, if your OH gets Attendance Allowance, then as her Carer, you should be able to get Carer’s Allowance. Worth checking out. Good luck.
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I'm spending the day confused, a few weeks ago my credit report slipped a few points (though still excellent) and one way they said I could improve is to show that I can manage my debt (which is difficult as I don't have any) and one way was that I should use 1% to I think it was 30% of credit card. So as an experiment I did just that getting it to exactly 1% and guess what, I'm back up to the max???
How can this be right? Has the world gone mad?
Anyway I'm expecting it to slip again as I've just paid it off.
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We are back in France, the weather is better than we've had since we left the Algarve.
Today we left a very wet and muddy Burgos, had a good drive through the mountains where we could see blue skies ahead.
Currently on an aire less than an hour south of Bordeaux.
I've never seen so many Redkites as we've seen in the last few days, buzzards to, even had a stag walking up the side of the road next to us at one point.
Wonder what tomorrow will bring.
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Been very wet here again today Tammygirl so hope it is drier where you are, we also saw good numbers of Redkites last week all in one day in the space of 4 miles so they are moving more south as we usually get quite a few around here in the winter.
OH been busy in the bathroom installing some trim to cover the water pipes as there has been a temporary cover for about 4 years as other chores were waiting to be done a bit more to do tomorrow then the trim one side of the shower area and that will be it this year for bathroom and then next week a bit of painting to do.
Off to friends next Monday for lunch and will be good to catch up as they have had a few personal issues recently and now feeling more like their old selves but still more things to be done and will take awhile.
I have been having a clear out of old magazines in the hall cupboard gosh why had I got so many gardening ones and have no one to pass onto so will be a trip to the local poubelles recycling area.
Looks like we may get a dry day tomorrow but it has been warmer today 16C.
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Hope your homeward bound journey goes well TG, sounds like you've had a good trip.
Horrible weather here, wind and rain. OH has been painting a cloaks cupboard that we have never tackled, it's fairly small and we ram all sorts of stuff in there, it's having a "makeover!" Don't know what I'm going to do with all the "stuff" I've pulled out though....
Hope your projects are going well KJ, ours just limp along.
JVB, good luck with the new steps, just keep the car away from them next time.
Have decided that doing Christmas cards, ordering presents etc etc is just too much like hard work but must get on with it...enjoy your day folks.
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Good luck with the makeover brue, OH says she knows what you mean about all the "stuff ".
It is just over a year since the makeover of our en suite started, and we were unable to move back in until August, due to holidays and a broken arm, but very little has been put back as yet, only some towels, toilet paper, and a few bottles of soap, shower gel and cleaning stuff.
OH is determined to have a good clear out of all the other stuff that has accumulated, so it is meantime in boxes in a spare room, and has now disappeared behind all the stuff brought in from the caravan for winter. She was just saying that as we have not missed it, we obviously do need it all.
There will be towels and more "stuff" to remove from the upstairs bathroom once we know the builders are coming, but at least it is not as much as from our en suite.
Projects are definitely taking longer to complete as we get older!1
