Dang! Started a thread but it never loaded and now it's eaten my entire post! Grrrrr. What's worse, I typed it in Word, copied and pasted it, and now can't get it to paste.
Hope we don't get two new threads.
Anyway, have a nice Sunday everyone. Will catch up (again!) tomorrow.
Morning all: More showers during the night. :-))
Sorry, in all my excitement over the rain, I forgot to wish the north-of-the-border crew a Happy St. Andrew's day!
OG: Assume Daughter still is in limbo regarding her final living quarters or will she be moving back into the same house? Your day at the Festival sounds perfect.
Lindybird: The squirrel photo is a hoot. And your day with the family sounds perfect too! Bet the sausage rolls were appreciated.
dibnlib: My goodness, advent calenders have changed a lot since I was a girl. :-)
Heather: Perhaps you can extend Paul's remit to order your gifts for the entire family? How nice to hear from former colleague; do follow up on the threesome get-together. Hope Daughter will be able to get more guidance with the insulin pump; you'd think they'd have 24/7 support with such new devices. A shame about having to give up the job though. Do they know if Amy will be on the insulin pump permanently?
Diane: Oh dear, I forgot how to do posh links and gave up. The Poitou donkey looks like it got lost on the way to a pantomime!
Margo: Yes, I've been thinking of you too. Where are you? Out shopping again? :-)
Brenda: This is the first Christmas in several years that our family will be together too. I have sorting and shredding on the list for January.
OK, must start working my way through my to-do list, but one thing: A friend of my UK niece fell victim to what sounds like a very sophisticated scam last week. She was settling her late husband's finances and transferring funds - I'm not sure whether between banks or accounts within the same bank. Anyway, she got a call from someone claiming to be from the bank, saying there was a problem with her account. They told her that if she was concerned about the legitimacy of the call, she should phone the customer service number on the back of her bank card to confirm the alert was genuine. So she did, but the phone number had been taken over by the scammers and she consequently lost all her husband's funds. The CID got involved, were wonderful apparently, and told her she'd probably get the funds back - eventually. Not sure who said what, but there's a suspicion it may have been an inside job. The bank is a European-based one, but the caller had a Scottish accent.
Take care all.
Heard about that scam on a TV programme not long ago, Annette - everyone, beware! When you ring the number they give you, its just them again as they stay on the line and then they ask questions about your a/c plus pin numbers etc, which you should never give out on the phone.....
The sausage rolls all disappeared in double quick time so we ate some of the mis shappen ones today!! My d.in.law made a cake with some blue icing on it, I had to close my eyes to eat it as blue just seems all wrong for food, unless its blueberries of course!
Hi Everyone, Not long back from my bowls afternoon.
Annette, We have been warned by police leaflets delivered to each home, local papers and the village parish magazine, plus our bank and yet, one of our neighbours, an ex policeman, still fell for that scam. His bank did refund all the money. You are advised to ring your bank or the police, from a different phone number ( mobile phone, neighbour's phone) to that used by the scammers. Your niece's friend was obviously so vulnerable at the time. I am so sorry she had to experience such an ordeal.
Heather, What a trauma for your daughter and granddaughter. So worrying, that they don't have full 24hour cover.
dibnlib, I may have not bought my son's Christmas present yet, but I have bought his dog a new toy and stocking. My son did query, where he comes in the 'pecking order'. LOL
Linda, I am not sure that my OH would have been very happy, if I said that we had to return home for sausage rolls :-)) Sounded a lovely family celebration. Amber obviously doesn't enjoy crowds yet. Babies are all individuals. My son wouldn't go to anybody, when a baby, except mum and dad, but my daughter was the complete opposite.
Diane, Poitou donkey is so lovely. It must be a headache to keep groomed. It was interesting to read some of the comments.
OG, I hope you are not still aching today and your appointment with the dentist went alright.
Had to smile at LINDYS late arrival at sons. We travelled 380 from my Mums to OHs family. We had said ETA was roughly 1630 and we actually arrived at 1640. His sisters reaction was "I thought maybe I had the wrong day" I thought we had done pretty well at only 10 mins later than we thought. The journey back was delayed somewhat due to an enormous pothole near Sandbach. Apparently cars had tried to drive over it resulting in burst tyres. It was nothing compared with the 10 mile stationary queue southbound. Not too impressed with the driver on the A9 who decided to overtake a lorry aiming straight at us. Luckily OHs reactions were quick enough to take avoiding action.
Dibnlib - so glad to hear someone else buys doggie Advent Calenders for their dog - I used to buy one for Linnhe and she still looked for the goodies after Christmas Day!! Hope you had a good time away.
OG - do you ever hear from patriciat?
Good evening. Dealt with filing part of the paper pile, so my desk looks much clearer now, and I can see the things I need to do (I think that is good!). I have also run the draft Christmas letter past the other half and got approval – he can’t really not agree with it since I do the job each year!
Annette – so pleased that you have some raincoat weather at last.
Clare – this site is much more pleasant to use since this morning’s upgrade – with that and my faster broadband I am feeling really good about it!
Heather – sorry the transition to the pump has been a strain on Alison and Amy, especially the night monitoring with work and school the next day, but I am sure it will be worth it in the long run. I can understand them feeling apprehensive when there is no easily accessible support at night. We were also back to dark and miserable weather today – quite a surprise as both the sunset yesterday and sunrise this morning were stunning colours.
Diane – I liked the Poitou Donkey!
Linda – very good of your OH to agree you should turn back for the scones; mine would have insisted on continuing without them; but then, I would probably have a list by the door to check the loading of the car before we set off. I am glad it was a good, if tiring, day. I hope you can successfully download your photos. When we called at the art gallery’s “birthday party” a few weeks back, the cake had bluish-green marzipan as well as blue icing!
Brenda – so glad Penny will get a stocking and a present, but I hope you soon find something for your Son! Aching has been wearing off during the day – got to get the rest/exercise balance right, as I stiffen up if I sit too long! Dentist encounters were not good. OH has to have two old fillings replaced. I was fine until she did a scale and polish and disturbed a potential problem area around one of my teeth. I can’t tolerate their normal X-ray procedure, so am going for a full mouth X-ray on Thursday, which is convenient as I can have that done at the Dental Centre and then nip next door to my hospital appointment!
Dibnlib – I think that estimate of arrival time was excellent, given the distance and the actual roads you had to travel! I was also pleased to see you managed to visit your Mum on the way, too.
Liz – I haven’t heard from Patricia for several months: she suddenly sent an email, to which I replied, but she hasn’t written again. I will email her again nearer Christmas, as I don’t like to bother her.
Lunch out tomorrow at one of the garden centres, followed by food shopping.
Ospreys Rule OK, but Goldfinches come a close second!
Confession from me for LINDY
We got a taxi from home to the airport when we were going to Tenerife a few weeks ago. We were some way into the journey when I realized that I didn't have my specs on my nose. I had left them on the hall table. Taxi had to turn around and take us back home. Several pounds extra fare. OH coped surprisingly well,I thought!
Evening all:
Lindybird: I'm with you on blue food in general and I prefer white icing that's not sweet.
Lindy/Brenda: I hadn't heard of that bank scam here (but it's probably only a question of time).
dibnlib: I'm not sure what I would've said in response to your SiL's comment; that was brilliant timing if you ask me! Glad you made it back safe with all those problems.
OG: The full mouth x-ray sounds worse than the regular one where (here at least) they stick film on sticks in your mouth; I have a hard time with them. Do let us know how patricia is doing when/if you hear from her again.
Have moved all the plants out onto the patio again so they'll get a good soaking and get all the accumulated salt, etc., washed out. We have an electrician coming by in the morning to take a look at one of the undercabinet lights. It went out before - a couple of years ago - and we had to replace the ballast (?!), which required taking the fixture, still in place, apart and just about standing on our heads (we took turns) to get it back together. it took forever with lots and lots of sweary words and we aren't doing it again. :-)
Hope everyone is okay out there! Have a good Tuesday.