What are you doing today?

[Horus]

Great stuff keep abusing the hospitality

[LovelyLadyLux]

I had an exciting morning today. I went to the DUMP! AND to make it even better I found a super nice small wooden table that I've now cleaned up and have sitting beside my chair. 24"H x 13"d x 18"w - perfect size. I've been looking for a small table since forever and have been using a metal wire short round plant stand.

I LOVE going to the DUMP Always a fun time scrounging the junk for treasures.

[Horus]

At our dumps or as they like to call them 'recycling centres' we have large skips into which we are supposed to put our separated rubbish, timber, cardboard, metal, rubble etc. Once placed into the skips it is illegal to remove anything from them and you would have to be actually standing there as someone arrived and ask them if you could have the item before they dumped it, but as our 'recycling centres' are fairly fast moving affairs with one vehicle space being vacated and another taking its place, then it is not conducive to standing about waiting for an item you may fancy having to turn up.

[Ruby Slippers]

Today, I've been trying to quilt a quilt - for the third time! It's been a catalogue of disasters from the start! In the end, I walked away from it and hopefully I will have a better run at it tomorrow!

[LovelyLadyLux]

At our Dumps aka Recycle Centers EVERYTHING is sorted. Furniture, like my little table, is kept out and stacked. If you want it you have to go and find somebody to give you a price. You pay for it and then can take it home. Inside the warehouse they have sections for clothes (all you can shove into a grocery bag for $5 (or maybe $3), housewares (all sorts of chipped plates/mugs & kitchen stuff), books, ornaments, paintings etc etc. Outside there is a section for kids bikes, plastic toys, garden pots. You can wander about, collect what you want and then ask for a price.

I've bought a couple of plant pots over the years but this is the first time I've purchased a piece of furniture there. Works really well for me though as I've been looking for a SMALL table for a long time and have refused to pay the absolutely ridiculous prices they want in the furniture stores here. $400+ for a small table is nothing I'm ever going to pay.

On that note of high furniture prices - I was thinking to buy me a bedroom set of furniture. I've never had a SET but have had pieces. I gave the daughters the pieces I had when I left for the USA and there I only ever purchased pieces too. They all looked similar and 'fit' but I sold them prior to returning here.

Anyway - to make a long story short - HERE to buy real wood matching bedroom set furniture: Headboard, high chest of drawers, wide chest of drawers with mirror and 2 night tables......is a RIDICULOUS expense!!! The main wide dresser or bureau average $6000+, the tall chest of drawers (and just a plain chest of drawers) $4000, night tables $2000 each and I can't actually remember what the headboard was and depended on if you wanted a bedframe underneath that had drawers in it or just legs. You could easily hit $14,000.00 + 12% tax on top of that. And we're not talking mattresses, linen, blankets OR the few hundred they want to deliver and set up. I'm also NOT talking about high end furniture. I'm just talking about regular normal so-so ok furniture.

I have no idea how young people who are starting out and just making their home can afford prices like that. I'm content living with all my pieces and bits - it all kinda sorta matches (just like the rest of the house).

Today - I became a blonde again And am now 'on call' to maybe have to pick up the twins at school as their Sister is breaking out in spots. Her and Mom went to the walk-in clinic who have diagnosed her as having a "viral rash" but don't know anything else.

The plan for today was for the oldest twin to come and see me as he has now read his 100 books, gotten his money and would be showing me what he has decided to purchase. If that doesn't happen today it'll happen tomorrow.

The other twin is approximately 10 books behind. In his rush to read it has been discovered that he needs glasses! They're just waiting to pick them up any day now which will hopefully less the headaches from eye-strain from squinting to read.

[Horus]

Wow that is expensive LLL, we can certainly furnish a bedroom for a lot less than that and it would be decent quality
Good idea about the way you can purchase recycled items, our lot are a long way behind, just dump it in the appropriate skip and away it goes into general rough recycling such as glass, timber, metal etc. no attempt to maximise it the way your place is doing.
Good idea to persuade RS and MD to join the challenge

[LovelyLadyLux]

I hope MD (MAD DILYS) and RS (RUBY SLIPPERS) - just in case they suddenly don't get the hint should be reading this now and writing "amaryllis" don't on their grocery list so they can join the grow off AND enjoy the lovely flowers at Christmas time.

Am also thinking that MRS Grandad MIGHT want to join in although I'm sure "I don't have green thumbs" Grandad won't want to join in - but maybe.......be nice if he would and am sure he'd LOVE the flowers once they're out too.

[Ruby Slippers]

Me??? You must be joking! House plants take one look at me and keel over! Family and friends NEVER buy me pot plants because it would be cruelty to the pot plant!

[Mad Dilys]

I'm up for it! I haven't seen any bulbs for sale yet, but I've got a few in the garden - if the snails have left anything of them. I'll have a look later.

By the way, my Kalanchoes which I bought in early May onwards are all blooming merrily outside still. It appears that the slugs and snails trimming the big leaves they started with has had a remarkable affect on their blooming. Oh, I forgot I did bring one in for the house and trimmed up the lengthy flowering stalks. They go on flowering above the first flowers for about three or so flushes, then the stem dies back if left and new ones coming from lower down take over - weird. Reminds me though of the way Hoya plants keep the base of their flowers and flower again and again form the same stub. When I first grew them I dead headed and found I had hardly any flowers.

Hoyas are not very popular these days, but my mother shoved a cutting into a pot of clayish garden soil and it flourished for over 20 years until I gave it to an old friend - as far as I know it's blooming still in spite of being severely neglected at times. They smell strongly of honey, the blooms last for ages, they are evergreen, tough and the only drawback is that they may drip honey sometimes. Love them.

[Horus]

Sounds like a good plant for the Butterfly's and the Bees

[LovelyLadyLux]

I love hoya too. For 10+ yrs had a big one grow in the USA but I couldn't bring it back here to Canada. I have bought another one - variegated and it is only doing so-so after 4 yrs of growing. Am looking for a plain old green leaf hoya to neglect. Their blooms are gorgeous when they finally agree to bloom And you can go away for months and never water them and they don't seem to mind.

Today I bought my Amaryllis. Just getting the soil or growing medium (looks like dried out coconut husk or something like that - it definitely is not soil)

And RS - you don't have to GROW Amaryllis. They're prepped to grow. All you have to do is put them into a pot, give 'em a shot of water and stand back!! You'll be rewarded with the most fantastic blooms of all time

[Mad Dilys]

Go on RS. give it a try!

[Grandad]

I have an Echocardiogram appointment at 2 pm to see if my heart condition has changed from last September. Then I will pot my Amaryllis and water and talk to it nicely.

Oh, forgot to mention, yesterday we did a big clear up job on the patio and filled our garden waste bin with leaves, chestnuts, and thousands of acorns. Many more leaves to drop over the coming weeks.

[Mad Dilys]

I'm so glad I don't have acorns and chestnuts dropping in my garden - I'd be potting them up and/or planting them in odd places when I go out. I wonder if they would grow in Ibiza? Never seen them there, but some really beautiful conifers that I haven't seen in the UK.

I must get sorted out on putting pictures on here - I used to do it via Picassa years ago on the blue side, but apparently that is no more. I have lots I'd like to share.

[Horus]

MD, try this link for a Free Download of a photo resizing software package.
http://www.nchsoftware.com/photoeditor/index.html
Go to the linked page, BUT!!!!!!!!! only click on the link in the text below the banner where it says “download the free version here” and it will save as an exe file in your downloads. After you have downloaded it a simple click to open the file will install the program.
I have downloaded it myself so that I can talk you through the procedure if you get stuck.

PS, if you do try it out, just keep ignoring the 'nag' that pops up saying "did you like the softtware" keep clicking "ask me later" its just an attempt to get you to buy the full package.

[LovelyLadyLux]

Off to the pottery studio this morning to be creative and give the Great Ones a run for their money but it is torrential rains out there so decision time. Do I go (yeah I like going) BUT it is TORRENTIAL with a capital "T" rain with the possibility of the "S" word starting this weekend.

[Horus]

It has gone quite mild here at the moment after all the wet weather, all my leaves have blown down now so a big garden clean up is on the cards.

[Ruby Slippers]

This afternoon, I had the (dubious) pleasure of my grandaughter for a couple of hours. She brought her Segway which was bought for her 9th birthday in September. By God, she's good! She was dancing on it to Gloria Gaynor 'I will survive' and she honestly knocked spots off a person twice her age!

[LovelyLadyLux]

Today am doing NOTHING (much exciting) as it is SNOW sideways!! AGH! Always with the first few couple of snows the roads are really treacherous as they're not sanded or in any way prepped for the weather so I'm basically sitting here today.

On another note - so far have washed all the towels, all the sheets & blankets off two of the upstairs beds and am thinking about starting the last bed.

Watching TV in the mean time and "thinking" about what I could be doing .... but not feeling the urge to actually DO it.

[Mad Dilys]

Well, I was going to go to the Garden Centre today to get an Amaryllis - but I had a common sense check.

If I get a bulb now, it hopefully would bloom well before Christmas going by the ones I had last year. I have the family coming for the festivities and a plant in bloom would look better than a pot of leaves.

Already we have members with various bulbs which will hopefully be early, so I thought I'd like mine a bit later - it might or might not be instructive.

Last but by no means least, it will cost me over £20 for a taxi to the Garden Centre, two bulbs at £9.50 so that will be a total of over £40 if I don't get tempted by the lovely lunch in the café!

If I get them from Tesco and they are anything like last year there are several types and at about half the price of current bulbs. If the Tesco bulbs are £1 more than last year that will be £7 each including pot and compost. I won't have to make a special trip and I could get more bulbs for my money.

I had 4 last year - two very tall pink ones with two stems, one very short red one with quite different small flowers and two stems and finally a pot of huge long leaves and no flowers at all!

So I think I'll be a bit later than you guys, but I aim to have flowers over Christmas and the New Year - Inshallah!