GOOD FRIDAY

[FussyElmo]

I hope that most of you have finished for the Easter long weekend :)

i become a mum to an 18 year old tomorrow i feeling very old at the minute. Those years went in a blink of an eye.

We celebrated last weekend so it will be a relaxed day tomorrow with a family meal out but we will be down one as ds1 is on a cadet camp and doing his senior leadership course. Hope he is doing okay as it wount occur to him to text me :laughing::laughing:

Have a lovely weekend everyone - dont eat too much chocolate :laughing::laughing:

[Hebs]

Today will be spent doing my uni assignment 😖 I have to submit it today!

Hope you have a lovely weekend celebrating x

[Maza]

Wow Fussy, that's certainly a milestone! You've almost got through the teenage years with one child! Hope you have a lovely day.

We are so far having a very lazy day. I'm feeling a bit achy so not particularly enthusiastic about anything. We've just been chilling out and reading/watching TV. Off to a local Easter egg hunt at some point today. I have to wash my hair first though - I do miss the Winter days when you can just wear a hat to conceal the chip pan on your head! (It's not that bad yet!)

[Mouse]

I've set this weekend aside to blitz DDs bedroom. I'm hoping that by the end of today I'll be able to see the carpet again - I think I've forgotten what colour it even is!
I told her I was going to be starting it at 11am, but she's not even out of bed yet. I'll have another cup of coffee before I go in armed with bin bags and room freshener :panic:

[loocyloo]

I hope that most of you have finished for the Easter long weekend :)

i become a mum to an 18 year old tomorrow i feeling very old at the minute. Those years went in a blink of an eye.

We celebrated last weekend so it will be a relaxed day tomorrow with a family meal out but we will be down one as ds1 is on a cadet camp and doing his senior leadership course. Hope he is doing okay as it wount occur to him to text me :laughing::laughing:

Have a lovely weekend everyone - dont eat too much chocolate :laughing::laughing:

Congratulations!

We've been away for a few days and celebrated DDs birthday. On our way home and have relatives on their way to join us! Planning a few days of not doing much before starting work Tuesday morning :0)
But first this afternoon I need to make assorted Easter cakes and brownies :0) ... saw some brownies somewhere made with mini cream eggs ... must find recipe as need to make them!
And also have a large bag of washing to do from being away. DH is already muttering about needing to get awning hung up to dry and that garage is too full of buggies and car seats! We'd use the conservatory usually but DD got a ballet bar for her birthday and that's where we've set it up. Can't go give it to her and then say 'but you can't use it'!

[FloraDora]

Celebrated good Friday then spent the day in the garden until it rained. I've sanded down a table in prep for spraying a slate colour tomorrow to sit on the slate patio area hoping it will look good. This will be the 6th respray and I am rather thinking out of the box this time, we have had the table for nearly 40 years and I think about replacing it every time , but then respray, as cheaper. If it works I will have a brand new table for £8.50.
Bought 'Lightroom' this afternoon, a photo editing software, so have had fun editing our Lake District photos tonight and eating mini dime eggs - they were meant for the simnel cake which will now have to have little marzipan eggs instead.
Very quiet Easter weekend for us, usually host a big extended family gathering headed by MinLaw but I didn't volunteer this year as this is the first Easter without her and I wanted to break the habit, sons will be arriving tomorrow so it will be nice to be just 'us', but very strange as there has been no preparations, bed organising and major baking sessions, I was almost at a loss today.
Oldest has just got a new job, his dream step up, so a bit of celebrating to do.......

[FloraDora]

Went out early this morning and met an elderly lady we see daily with two small dachshund's. It was 5.45 am.
Stopped to chat and enquired about her early stroll ( I was out with the camera to see what I could get ..sunrise, lake, a bit of mist.) She told me a tale of not sleeping, long days and loneliness.....this weekend is the same as any other for her, both her children live in Australia, husband died, no family, most friends have died.... she stops to talk to the children when I am out with them and some days I go another way if I see her in the distance as she would like them to pet her dogs and I have a strict , look, enjoy but don't touch dogs you don't know well with the LO's. I have explained this lots but she tries to override every time.......our daily hello's must mean a lot to her so I now feel guilty!
I have this urge to invite her to lunch tomorrow, she just lives around the corner. But I invited an elderly chap under a befriend for Christmas scheme years ago and we were rather taken in by him and a meal became a life commitment, he moaned a bit about the food, then didn't want to leave and then I felt I should stay in touch, the boys cut his lawn for years but he never thanked them outright, he was a really grumpy but funny gentlemen who we got to know, enjoyed, moaned about and were so sad when he died.
DH is going to raise his eyebrows, but the the thought of someone being so alone, when we are all enjoying our families and Easter Sunday dinners......

[BallyH]

You've got a good heart FloraDora. Recently whilst out walking with my DH I commented how many older ladies I 'run into' on both school runs daily, am and pm. Always with their little doggies and always wanting to stop and chat. I also have a 'no touch' rule but am now thinking that I've noticed that they are seem eager for their doggies to extend their little leads and come right up to the mindees to sniff or whatever. Maybe this guarantees the owner a stop and conversation, some human contact for the day. They do love the interaction with the mindees. It's sad isn't it.

[Mouse]

When I think back to the days when I used to do school runs I realise how many elderly people used to be out walking at the same time every day or would always be standing in their garden as we walked by. I used to think it was just coincidence or that they had a routine that meant they were out at the same time every day. Now you've said that I wonder if they were actually waiting for us to walk by. I'm glad I used to take the time to stop for a chat!

[SYLVIA]

I went to see my ex MIL yesterday. She's such a sweetie and we have always got on well. Over the past year she has started getting confused and forgetting things (she is 81 in July). So her 4 children have got her to sell her house and move to a bungalow very near to the daughter. The bungalow is lovely but it's been built at the end of a culdesac and nobody will ever pass her front door and the back gardens have high fences so she won't get to speak to neighbours either. I just don't think this will help with loneliness or keep her mind working

[Maza]

I know what you mean Sylvia, sometimes it's little things that can make a big difference. Technology doesn't help either. Nowadays we scan our own books at the library and scan our own food at the supermarkets, use a machine to get our cash - fewer opportunities for interaction and chit chat with librarians, shop keepers etc. Sadly, I have noticed that more and more bus drivers barely acknowledge people as they swipe their own bus passes, and passengers don't bother to thank the driver when they get off the bus. It makes me sad.

[FussyElmo]

You do have a good heart Flora.

It does make you wonder if the people do time their walks out so they get a bit of conversation. Im trying to teach my children it doesnt cost anything to say Good Morning.

Though there is a old woman who keeps coming out to show me new photographs of her great children. i dont have the heart to tell her shes mixed me u and I have never know her granddaughter.

There is another neighbour who we have given up telling her my correct name as she always says Claire. Even the kids just come and gets me if she asks for wheres Claire :laughing::laughing::laughing:it a true Only Fools and Horses moment.

[FloraDora]

Update: Family supportive and I invited her, but she declined Sunday lunch. She did come for a morning coffee after church though. Ate some simnel cake, gave my youngest some good advice on an interview he has this week, showed me how to prune my rose and off she went with a smile. It made me feel better. Issues of visiting family in Australia is the dogs it seems, who are her babies so we might think of offering to dog sit, once we get to know them more.

Had a lovely Easter, house looks like a bomb has hit it, I've eaten too much chocolate, but it has been a treat. They are all out boarding whilst I prepare lunch and then they'll be gone....I have a nicely sanded out door table ready for painting so going to focus on that once I wave them off.

[BallyH]

Update: Family supportive and I invited her, but she declined Sunday lunch. She did come for a morning coffee after church though. Ate some simnel cake, gave my youngest some good advice on an interview he has this week, showed me how to prune my rose and off she went with a smile. It made me feel better. Issues of visiting family in Australia is the dogs it seems, who are her babies so we might think of offering to dog sit, once we get to know them more.

Had a lovely Easter, house looks like a bomb has hit it, I've eaten too much chocolate, but it has been a treat. They are all out boarding whilst I prepare lunch and then they'll be gone....I have a nicely sanded out door table ready for painting so going to focus on that once I wave them off.

Ahhh, I bet she felt 'loved' again. Well done FloraDora!

God I feel sad about getting old.

[BallyH]

You do have a good heart Flora.

It does make you wonder if the people do time their walks out so they get a bit of conversation. Im trying to teach my children it doesnt cost anything to say Good Morning.

Though there is a old woman who keeps coming out to show me new photographs of her great children. i dont have the heart to tell her shes mixed me u and I have never know her granddaughter.

There is another neighbour who we have given up telling her my correct name as she always says Claire. Even the kids just come and gets me if she asks for wheres Claire :laughing::laughing::laughing:it a true Only Fools and Horses moment.

I get everyone's names wrong now so there is no hope for me in 30+ years. Let's hope they still keep showing repeats of 'Only Fools & Horses' for their 'alright Dave' moments so people think it's funny. I may have to start calling everyone Darling - I think I read somewhere that Zsa Zsa Gabor use to call everyone 'Darling' because she couldn't remember their names. Although I may have to glam up a bit to get away with it like her.