Manipulate

im back from the world of gardening the weather having stopped play , still decorating but the end is in sight for the big bedroom , though i hope to continue on in bursts through the winter , plus cash flow permitting .

 I think im near saturation on the grocery front , even i know i dont need to buy tomatoes or any sort of bean till the spring ..lol  weird spot of the week , who shrunk the Andrex toilet roll? not something i usually buy as our eco loo tends to get bunged by it , but i was doing the check the price per sheet check in Tesco and noticed they had become dolls house sized for the same price , same price per sheet but the width of a till roll .  Everything is being miniaturized hotdogs in a jar have shrunk to 5 , biscuits are more packaging than biscuit and dont even get me on mince that now comes with onion and carrot already added for the same price as plain mince .

 But i did manage this week  to find the unicorn of groceries a Lidl £1.50 veg box , never seen one in the wild before , it had 4 baking potatoes,  cherry tomatoes , melon , 2 packs of nectarines , loads of large onions and 2 aubergines . The aubergines were the big failure i sliced and fried them and other half commented they can go in the compost , plus i was up all night with an upset tummy ...ho hum

Now on the political front , what can you say ? its all totally baffling , though im appalled that the government has been bigging up the prime minister and brexit on schools whiteboards  at primary school level . what does a 5 year old need to know about the sorry mess we are in at the moment surely the only thing this will promote is anxiety .

Up and About

This waking up at silly oclock is proving a bit of a bind now i have empty nest syndrome , usually if in up at 4am the munchkin gets up at 5 for a cuppa and a biscuit , now its just me and the cats , ive done my kitchen chores by 5 , the washer is ready to roll once himself surfaces . then im on the puter do a few bits  there then find something on pirate tv to watch while i do a bit of crocheting , currently working my way through 13 series of Supernatural and noticing how much like a Wendigo Sajid Javid looks .

The decorating continues slowly, so far ive only reduced myself to Quasimodo status once reaching up to paint the curtain rail supports of all things , then crunch i was squealing , so three days off due to injury. Useful son is here this weekend so he can help his brother to move the big furniture at the far end so i can finish the painting at the bottoms while he does the tops  , just need this wretched fish tank gone . Another gripe was the one coat gloss i got from Wilko its usually really good, this time its rubbish im having to use 2 coats and its taking days to dry.
At least im busy, i think once the weather turns i will have my usual cabin fever and climbing the walls season, but i may continue on with my slapping emulsion around  plus im informed ive a busy weekend they want  to go to Stickney but were usually home for 10 and ive just spotted a not very well advertised Jumble Sale Washingborough, 1.30 Bowls Club  usually a really good one.

Profit of Doom

So the cat jumble was another good one , tons of weird and wonderful stuff you never knew you needed..lol  3 items of clothing a cat watercolour that may be worth a fortune and more books for the winter reading heap . Theres another jumble at the same location next week

Linkage jumble sale, 21st september 2019. Birchwood scout hut. 10am-12pm.

Never attended these ones , so we will see..lol 

This mornings feelings of doom havent been helped by reading the news . Trump seems determined to start a war with Iraq , but then theres a lot of money to be made from war , my view is that we are all cattle used by our leaders and so called betters , lots of people will die over oil yet again , it seems we just go in endless circles over this .

Ive made the effort this morning and spoken to Anglian Water , i seems we were on the wrong tariff hence the scary bill i got , thats all sorted and they have put on the Priority Services Register , which was all a rather odd conversation about in the event of their being problems in the drinking water supply they deliver bottled water to people who are disabled , i did ask the question if this is Brexit related , no it isnt its just a safeguard for customers .  Worth bearing in mind if you have a disabled or elderly family member its industry wide they tell me .
Then that call going well ?I thought i would tackle good old British Gas , i had tried online the other day but got someone who did try but whos English Grammar was a tad odd . Found out that priority services have a UK call center then discovered that I had someone with a heavy Birmingham accent that i struggled with , but we got there and we sorted that as well priority services registered , application for grant sent off , we are only £2 under the grant limit so we have to wait and see .  Warmhome is also available to those who get pension credit as well as those on low income that means if your working you can try for this one and it is £140 a year .  All the big suppliers have these schemes but you do have to apply for them now and it does take a few months to be processed .
So its back to decorating time...bye for now 

Whos Bright Idea

So its season of major decorating chores and endless garden jobs , ive barely turned on the computer this week , do loads come in sit with hot water bottles and a paracetamol or two, snore in chair , you know the routine ...lol
Nearly killed sarcastic son and an inquisitive cat , by throwing half a wardrobe down the stairs as he stood their sucking his teeth going no that still wont fit ....it did fit
Now painting has started with sarcastic son doing all the tops and me doing the bottoms , hes not to pleased that i found a tin of unopened dulux paint in the garden from 10 years ago that id been using as a gate stop to emulsion his bedroom , he has informed me that its now the colour of diarrhea, yes i know , thats why i didnt use it when i bought it , got the money for more paint ?  Goes looks at paint sees the cost these days , has now decided he can live with it...lol
I do buy lots of 50p plants that take my fancy from the car boot every summer then they sit in pots till this time of year for me to plant them , so ive started to plant another border patch , its a really dry bit where the main sewage pipes run so its dig a hole with a pickaxe kind of ground which is why i never bothered before , his lordship has suggested that i bring one of my cold frames into the front garden to save the trek around the back , valid idea , so once ive finished the chainsaw maintenance of the front hedge that can go on my list , somehow i dont think the whole list will get finished before the weather breaks , its a very long list ..lol
Im up doing todays pack up for fishing , his lordship is trying to do 2 days a week till the end of the season, his brother takes him for one and i endure the other , this is leaving him in a right state , hes on the industrial painkillers and cant drive , but it helps him mentally so i force myself  . Hes in return humouring my Jumble Sale habit . I ended up doing two trips to the car last week , big pile of books , stuff for sarcastic sons new bedroom etc etc etc . just to make it better theres another cat one this week .

• 14 September Autumn Fayre @ Birchwood Scout Hut,Woodfield Avenue 11 til 1.30

Wish Me Luck

So this empty nest lark is sort of strange , just sarcastic son at home now and hes unlikely to go anywhere , dont know ive got him most of the time but hes going into his sisters big bedroom that still has loads of stuff shes abandoned  at the moment ,shes taking more each time she pops in , though i will be glad to see the back of her smelly fish tank , needs decorating badly but its going to be on a very limited budget . So far i won a really posh double brass bed for £20 on ebay that we fetched yesterday , buyer collect items often dont fetch much on ebay if theyre rural . I also ordered 2 big boxes of mixed colour recycled carpet tiles from a social enterprise on ebay that have surprised me by the quality and they were 2 packs for 1 . Greenstream flooring on ebay i would recommend them . Just all the painting to do and the mold to try and remove now, hes not fussy abount paint colour so i may mix all the odd bits of emulsion i have kicking about and he can have beige of some shade ...lol . Curtains he can pick from the pile in the airing cupboard .  We acheived getting the huge 50s wardrobe apart nobody wants it not even charities, everything has to be modern and from Ikea it appears, so on to the autumn bonfire it must go . other smaller furniture can be rehomed at the local car boot . we can deliver locally.
Todays chore of horror is a visit to the Council about the housing benefit , wish me luck .  I spoke to our caseworker about the bedroom tax business and she says i must stand my ground and refuse to go on to Universal Workhouse , that this is just a change of circumstance not grounds for reapplication . Im taking Mr Bah Humbug as an unreliable witness , but he looks good ..lol

One for the pussys this weekend

Jumble Sale 
Birchwood Scout Hut, Woodfield Avenue, Birchwood, Lincoln 
Saturday 7th September 2019 
10am - 12 o'clock noon 
30p Entrance 
Jumble ~ housewares ~ soft toys, children's toys and books ~ books, DVD's, CD's ~ bric a brac ~ furniture (when available) ~ refreshments and cakes 

Please come along and support your favourite Lincoln Cat Charity. 
Registered Charity no. 1150145

Price: 0.30p

Indifference

So ive spent the weekend in a tent with my pet cripple and useful son,  another endurance test ive passed with flying colours , but i must admit im glad its over with.
 Kustom Culture , americana fest, a sea of hotrods , amazing dresses , millions of pounds of tattoos, rockabilly bands it was great , thoroughly enjoyed it . Bleedin freezing at night but i went prepared and spent the night sleeping in so many layers i looked like the michelin man , a little surreal , got up to go to the loo in the night only to find a six foot clown in full costume staggering around the toilet block but what the hell if it made him happy..lol 
Best disabled moment of the weekend , i got the help call from the disabled loo to go and assist my pet cripple hed got there and couldnt get back to his chariot cos hed dropped his crutches bless him . Then when we got back to the tent i had one strange conversation with him , the disabled loo was built into the corner of the ladies loos but the petitioning didnt go to the ceiling so he could hear everything in the ladies. Hes now telling everyone that women fart when they go for a wee and we chat to each other while on the loo , information that no man had a need to know . Pointless trying to censor him the joys of a mental condition that has turned off any discretion he once had and makes him repeat stuff over and over  , im just hoping we have no visitors of importance this week .
So this morning its try to dry a pair of dripping tents because of the torrential thunderstorm just as we were packing up and tackle the cleaning and washing mountain , a womens work is never done.