Monday, 26 May 2008

Water, Water, Everywhere!

 

Ugh, what a wet and miserable day it`s been, it`s not stopped all day and today being Bank Holiday too. I feel really sorry for working people who have today off with their families as it`s unlikely that they`ll be able to enjoy a day out as they would have hoped.

As I guessed yesterday, work was a complete washout. We are supposed to be really busy at this time of year and at Bank Holidays we should be rushed off our feet. Instead we were sitting around after doing our usual daily tasks waiting for the customers to come through the doors. They DID come but mostly the ones who wanted cheap discounted plants and the ones who didn`t quite know what they wanted so left empty handed. I can tell you, I was really happy when 1pm came around and I could come home again. My poor garden has taken quite a beating from the wind and rain and it has seen off the last of the Spring flowers that were vainly hanging on to their fading petals.  The Clematis are hanging on to the trellis for dear life and I can only hope they don`t get blown down. One of my roses was so battered that I`ve tied twine around it hold it up, it looked so sorry for itself despite its many flowers. Jim was going to finish digging over the new flower bed but of course he had no chance today, anyway, the poor bloke had to go to work himself at 12am so at least he could have a rest before he went.

Kerry was coming down with Roman tomorrow but she hasn`t been feeling well and has called it off. I don`t blame her either, she hasn`t been right for some time and I wish she`d go back to the doctor as I know something`s not right with her, you know these things about your own children don`t you?  Danny was here overnight as he went to Twickenham to watch the rugby sevens yesterday. Like before it was a corporate do and it didn`t cost him a penny. When he came home a little worse for wear he told me that the hospitality there was wonderful, the food the drink ;o) and of course, the rugby...lol!  I didn`t see him this morning and when I got home he`d gone home but I`m sure he`ll tell me more about it another time.

This morning on the way to work there was a fallen tree lying across the main road, I found out later that it had only fallen down just a few minutes before I got there. I did notice other overhanging trees looking just that little bit lower than usual and I must admit to being more than a little nervous, somehow being crushed by a tree isn`t something I relish, nor, as it happens did I enjoy being hit by a tidal wave after a car that was driving much too fast, hit a deep puddle. For a split second I couldn`t see a thing and where it happened the road is very narrow. I wish people would adjust the way they drive to the weather conditions, it could save their lives one day....grrr!

Right, I`m off now, time I put something on for my evening meal. I hope you all had better weather and have enjoyed the Bank Holiday. I hear the weather in Scotland and in the North is lovely today so to my friends there I say, please send some of it here...lol!  :o)

 

 

Sunday, 25 May 2008

A Day Old and Broke

 

 

What a weekend!  I can`t believe how much has gone wrong and what has gone right the last two days.  On saturday I slept in and woke with a start thinking it was friday and I was late for work... I do hate it when that happens. Once I was awake I decided to read in bed for half an hour but it was no use, I couldn`t concentrate so I got up. The morning was really nice so I got my housework done and decided to go to Homebase as I`d seen some really nice ornamental grasses that would look really nice in my garden. While I was there I saw a very reasonably priced (cheap) edging knife, just what I needed as Jim and I are in the process of changing the shape of the garden and digging out a new flower bed. I went home with the grasses and the edging knife, very pleased with my purchases.  We did lots of work in the garden in the afternoon with Jim putting up a large trellis panel behind what would be the new flower bed. I`d made a list of garden jobs to do so I got on with those.  Later on I was cooking dinner when there was a loud bang......I screamed and almost frightened the life out of Jim!  We don`t know what happened exactly but it was the cooker that did it and everything seemed alright at least for now. (something tells me that it will soon be going to that big scrapyard in the sky so watch this space.)

This morning I was just beginning the ironing (my favourite....not!)  when the iron started making funny noises and switched itself off. Oh dear, not another electrical problem thought I.....well not those exact words but you get my meaning. ;o))  After a bit fiddling around I managed to get it going again and hopefully it will stay that way. Now what on earth could go wrong now I wonder.  Well I didn`t have long to find out.

This afternoon it stopped raining after a horrible start to the day. Jim was digging out the new bed and I was cutting the edges with my brand new toy. I was almost finished the edging when SNAP, it broke in half. Just one day old and as useless as a chocolate teapot!  That meant when we finished the flower bed and had taken all the excess turf to the council dump it was back to Homebase to change the edger for a new one. Luckily there was no trouble with the exchange but I decided on paying more for a much better one. This one carries a ten year guarantee so I can safely say it will last a bit longer than the last one.

I just looked out of the window and it`s getting very gloomy. No doubt it will rain again as is forecast....of course it WOULD be miserable because it`s a Bank Holiday AND I`m working tomorrow. I just hope it`s not too bad tomorrow or we won`t have many customers and it will be very boring. Mind you it was really busy on Friday and there was one woman I could have cheerfully throw out of the shop. I couldn`t believe how rude she was to me through no fault of my own. You would think the lovely sunny weather would bring out the best in people but some of them were probably just born miserable. It will be interesting to see what tomorrow brings through the doors...lol!

I want to say thanks to all of you who expressed concern about me not being around for a couple of weeks, it`s lovely to know I wasn`t forgotten. Now I will carry on reading journal alerts until I catch up with them all, even though I won`t be able to comment on them all for a while yet. Take care all of you and have a lovely evening. :o)

 

 

Tuesday, 20 May 2008

I`m Back!

 

 

 

Oh my goodness, I don`t believe it, AOL has given me an `add entry`....at last!  I`ve been trying to post an entry for almost two weeks and there were no edit or add entry buttons all that time.

Anyway,  I`m here now so I shall begin. I`ve had a hectic two weeks with the lovely weather we had. Work has been frantic with everyones thoughts turning to their gardens. My garden has been keeping me busy every day after work, what with planting and weeding and generally trying to make it look beautiful!  Now I have my greenhouse up and running I have quite a few plants that still need to be planted. My tomato plants are growing really well and I`m hoping for a bumper crop.....well, I`ll be happy with a few if I`m honest, I don`t know much about them but I think I`m doing the right thing...lol! I`ve also become Sandra the Slug Slayer, not exactly Buffy I know but I`ve done too much work to let those slimy creatures eat all my efforts. I`m sure they know I`m coming, armed with salt and a plastic spike, because I don`t see many of them, just the leftovers from their feasts on my dahlias and petunias!

Roman is doing really well, he is getting so tall and so grown up. He never stops talking and at the weekend he was telling all about the garden table and chairs that Kerry bought last week. " It was too big for mummy`s car so they had to take the wrapping off" he told me."  "Did it fit then?" I asked  " Yes, but I got squashed"  he said....he does make me laugh!  Sunday was my Danny`s birthday, he`s 31, how did he get that old?  He`s my baby!  Jim and I bought him a laptop for his birthday as he`s been so helpful to us lately and as he was away on holiday for his thirtieth birthday last year we decided to get him something special a year late.  Anyway, on Sunday we all went to Kerry`s and we had a BBQ in her garden. Despite the cold wind we had a lovely time sitting at the new table, even though birthday boy was inside watching football on TV, as unsociable as ever but I still love him...lol!

In the last few weeks I`ve had a bad cold, got rid of it and am suffering from a bad throat again.  I`ve had a flare up of arthritis in my hip, knees neck and fingers and a trapped nerve in my shoulder. My shoulder is on the mend but I`m being very careful how I move it, just in case it gets trapped again. When it first happened it was so painful I hardly slept so I don`t fancy going through all that again.

I`ve not read many journals the last fortnight either but have started to catch up again. I just hope my journal is fixed now and I`ll be able to post my own entries also. I did ask the journals editor if there was a problem but he didn`t get back to me, oh well it doesn`t matter now. I do want to catch up with what my journal friends are doing, it seems strange not to know what`s going on.

Anyway, that`s it from me today, so much has happened the last couple of weeks and my mind has gone blank, either it`s a senior moment or I`ve forgotten completely.  I think I should`ve taken notes so I could write a better entry.  Bye Bye for now and take care all of you. :o0