A finish and a rant.

I have finished knitting this shawl, it's a lovely size, I stopped because I was running out of the main colour yarn. All I have to do now is sew in the ends from 10 colours, and also a knot which was found in the middle of the ball of yarn, which I get so annoyed with, as I don't like to see knots in my work. 

These photo's show the true colours, which I do love, and because I have 2 pairs of gloves in these colours, I will keep this from myself, it will look good with both my winter coats. It's great to use some of my stash to make things, I don't have a huge stash of yarn, I will have another look and find something else to make.

These shawls are designed so well, both in the making and the wearing, so simple to make, other colours I have made can be seen here , here and here , this I think is the best. 

George is not well, he has a really bad cough, can't sleep too well as he needs to be raised, daughter has raised his cot mattress, but he wriggles so much in his cot. This little man has so many issues with his chest, but not normally in the summer months. 

On Monday morning I popped over to sit with George and Molly whilst mummy popped to a hospital appointment, I spent most of the time cuddling him, mummy called her doctors late morning, who suggested she call 111, after a long wait, they told her because of his age, a doctor needs to see him, call her surgery. The automatic answer service said she was caller 19 and should go to 111, after a very long wait, she was informed a doctor would call her back. 4 hours later the doctor told her she would have to take him to A&E to be seen by anyone, this being at 5.35pm.  A&E bless them, checked George over fully, sadly they had to take a covid test as he had a really bad cough, which really upset him, happily it came back negative, they came home just before 10pm last night.  What is happening to our local doctors surgery, this was a normal doctors appointment, get his chest listened too, make sure it's nothing to be worried about, as he is under 2 and has Downs Syndrome, daughter has popped him to the surgery before with the same issue. Daughter does not ring the surgery often, both boys gets loads of cough and colds, which are dealt with at home, George's notes would show he has issues which before has resulted him staying in hospital to be treated, but the surgery could not see a sick toddler. I find this worrying, I have heard other stories of the difficulty in getting to see a doctor, how can hospitals manage, when they are dealing with hopefully simple things which should be sorted at our local doctors surgery. 

I love our NHS, our local hospital, QA at Portsmouth is brilliant, as a family we have had to use it on many occasions, sometimes planned and other times not, and always found them so caring and hard working. BUT our A&E is not there to replace our local doctors, I have read the doctors are far too busy, there is a lack of GP's, but this has always been the case, and I know covid has changed so much.

Getting to speak to anyone at our surgery is almost impossible, they want you to fill out online forms, which are poor in their questions, twice when I have need to speak to a doctor in the past year, I have completed the questions, only to be told to ring 999, this because I have an underlying issue, ( I did not ring 999), when asking the surgery about their online, the answer is yes we know it's not right, but.....

Sadly our NHS needs someone who understands the medical side to control it, rather than a MP or a finance lead person. 

Foggy Friday

Interesting

Promise

My wool arrived and I am so angry with myself, for some reason I only ordered 1 ball of the navy wool for Will's jumper, how stupid am I, enough to finish one jumper.
I enjoyed a wonder around town on Thursday, a change to the plans, but it was fun, I was on my own so I was able to browse where I wanted to. I purchased nothing, I did see a couple of jumpers, but passed as I have loads at home, so feeling pleased with myself. I spent another hour on the interweb thingy, looking at weaving, I really want to find out as much as I can before I start. Plus with the cold weather I have promised hubby I will knit him more socks,
I have a shoot on my Amaryllis, this one is inside, but I have noticed another bulb in the greenhouse has a shoot, I have missed these flowers this year.
This morning I took my car to a not so local out of town dealership for it's service and MOT, they only offer lifts home to our area on a Tuesday, a day when hubby requires the car, on 3 occasions I asked if I could get a lift home, this morning I refused a car, and got a taxi home. On speaking to the garage, a condescending woman told me , they give out cars just in case I want to go to the shops.  After speaking to the manager, they are now going to return the car home to me, using 2 people, it would have only taken 1 to collect me. My issue was the staff (3 phone calls and 1 on service desk), do not listen to the customer, they shove their policies at me, I was ignored, so whilst the manager said he gets few problems, I said that's just because people accept your changing conditions, for an out of town location, you need to be working with your customers. Don't you just hate poor customer service.

Our weekend

 This came in the post, later coffee and read.

I subscribed in the summer when they offered 2 years at a highly discounted rate, for their 50th anniversary. I am saving each copy as I won't buy another subscription. 

We popped to Monkton Elm yesterday, it was mobbed, so I walked around their craft section. I love these colours, the cost has been added to my stash list. 

Thinking ahead to Christmas, from Asda. 

We have been home again to Somerset, staying with my brother in Cannington, we all went for a family meal Saturday night, at a local pub, The Malt Shovel, Blackmore lane, just outside the village. Another great meal, my only criticism, was why do places serve such huge portions, when almost everyone was not able to eat everything served for their meal, almost every plate served whilst we were there was piled too high. The cost of the food was good, and it was all cooked and served well, we all saved money as no-one could eat a dessert. My sister was not happy to have a wooden block for her main meal, preferring a plate.
We popped to the local Asda, it's a much smaller shop than at home, and picked up PJ's for Christmas, a matching pair for everyone including baby Will. We also stocked up on loads of bit's and have enough toilet rolls for most of next year. We do like their own brand, quilted shades.
I love the garden center at Monkton Elm, it was full of Christmas stuff, all of which we walked past, I have no plans to get anything new from local places. I did linger longer in the craft section.
Sunday we saw our lovely Taunton boys, Logan and Finn, both are so much taller,  but still full of fun and laughter, an afternoon inside playing together. Later an adult evening with mummy and daddy sharing a nice Pizza.
My niece has a new baby son (6 weeks old), so we had cuddles, he is tiny compared with Will, how quick all our grandsons grow.
We stayed an extra night and traveled back this morning on much quieter roads, we enjoyed the extra time with family and a much better drive, not so many cars whizzing past us on the A303.

Brr, back home

Will helping us choose wine to bring home

 French wool shop window

 I always bring back these tea bags, I got 3 boxes for 5 euro's

So why on the English site of this English blender are they £3 per pack. 

I read this book in France, it was the first book in the series, 

I read it last, but it was still  a great book, I have not yet found a book of her's which is not good.

Hubby purchased all the Sue Grafton A-Z books on my iPad, I'm not a fan of reading from the iPad, but the set was cheap and it saves me taking books on holiday. I read 3 of the titles whilst away and on the ferry home. 

 I asked Dawn if she could make me a pocket for a cushion I am making Will, she chose the colours and it looks brilliant, once added to a cushion front, plus a book inside it will go in his reading wig wam.

 This is a partial screen shot from my blog, I have just passed a big milestone.

I started my blog in 2009 not thinking in regard to where it would take me. I have always used it a my diary, each year I put all my post and photo's into a book. Therefore the blog has always been just as I like it, I had no thought's about followers, who would be interested in the thoughts of a middle aged woman. On the other hand I love all your blogs, you are all so interesting, you give me ideas, show me what is currant in your lives. So my milestone, I have now had 5001 comments through the years. I had decided to reward the 5000th comment with a small gift, I did not say anything before, I do not try to entice followers, I hope you are here because you want to be.  

So Tania, Frugal in Essex, please get in touch, I would like your address.   

We decided to try one of our bottles purchased in France

2.99 euro's each, and lovely glass of red.

I will blog some photo's of our break next time, we are having a lazy Sunday morning, laundry is being sorted. It's a sunny blowy day here, but cold, I checked and it's only 10c outside. Our weather in France was slightly better than here, we had rain 5 out of 7 days, but by lunch time it cleared, but it was much warmer.
PS I don't know why blogger is showing an old post from 2011, Christmas Tree cat, as the most viewed post, I does have the most views, but my list has been set to show post in the last 30 days.

Comfort point

We all have our own little world where we feel safe and comfortable.
To most of us it's simply home, after the daily attendance at your place of work, we come home to a warm and cosy place of our making.
The level of comfort often is dictated by how much money we have and our age, which often dictates the level we have reached. Young and starting out is often a lower level, empty nester's often are in a great place, and then some slip when in retirement income is reduced.
How we spend our income also plays a huge part, consumerism keeps our economy running, our government would struggle if every one stopped shopping.
Our pace of living is fast, on the go all the time, we are bombarded with all the latest must have stuff, the rental business of storage space is huge, 30 years ago it was unheard of and not required. Rather than throw something out or pass it along, so many hide it in rows of lockups and pay rental.

Do I own a car to get me to work so I can earn money, 

or did I buy the car because I earn money.

I read a good post here, where Phil talks about a cashless society and how easy it is to wave plastic and spend without realizing just how much loads of small amounts add up in a week. In the past couple of years I take a cash sum each week, in the beginning it was just enough to get me by, now every week I have cash left over, which I save and when I have enough I have a bigger treat. Could be lunch with daughter's, something for my craft stash. I have never increased the amount I take, I just stopped spending on frivolous stuff.
It has been hard work persuading my hubby this was a better way of life, bit by bit he has listened to my mad schemes to simplify and enhance our world.
We have changed our way of thinking, how we spend money and on what, we buy what we need, ignoring all the sales, discounts and hype. Everyone's lifestyle is their own, we now enjoy a much better way of life.
We enjoy lovely weekends at home, we do not go into town each weekend to shop, our weekends are now lazy enjoyable time at home together. The main thing we have noticed how much more time we have together, take away the rushing about and our time slows down to an enjoyable level.
This week was a success in our house, our internet/TV/phone rental was £62 per month, hubby wanted to cancel the TV to save money, I suggested he call another provider and get costings, which was £11 less for a very similar package, he was all for changing supplier. I suggested he call back our supplier and tell them we could go else where and save money, he got them to match the other cost, plus we also keep a 5% discount which made it cheaper. So a brilliant saving without have to change anything. Hubby is really pleased with himself.
I get an email from Martin Lewis, Money saving expert,  each month and use his site often, he has loads of tips on how to play the big corporate's  at their own game.
We are not as savvy and loads of bloggers I follow with your clever way of saving money, I would love to be self sufficient, but that's my dream not hubbies.
How have you made a good saving recently, as they say every little helps.

Sunny Saturday

This is growing 

I am pleased with the fourth colour

 Up close, this is so pretty

and enjoyable to stitch

 What do you see in the photo below

it drives me mad, I find this all the time

our lovely dishwasher below the worktop, and a couple of dirty mugs!

why if you take the mugs out, would you not pack them inside of the dishwasher!

sorry but this drives me crazy, what sets you going.

I had a wonderful catch up with Ann yesterday, we chatted for over an hour. I am sad to see how tired she is becoming, it is hard (even with the full support of everyone else) for one person to suddenly do two peoples work. They took away a couple of roles, but now are trying to  give her extra work.
Today is bright sunshine again, and I have plans, soon we will be out in the garden, hubby wants to check the wood supplies we have for my raised garden, we are hoping we have enough for the front and one side, which can be viewed from the garden, then we have to purchase more wood for the other side and back, I am hoping for about 18" to two foot high.
I want to then spend loads of time in the garden, sort my greenhouse and start some seeds, I really can't wait any longer. Every where is tidy, I have done odd 30mins each day, so it's just work at the back end in my growing section.
Later, when it is dark, we are going out with our photography club, we are going to a local high beauty spot to try and catch the night sky and stars.