Moaning Minnie Strikes Again!

 On Saturday I took in a parcel for the chap next door.  It was medication and placed within an ice pack on a 24 hr guaranteed delivery, so why he didn't stay home for it I don't know.  He'd gone off on a bike ride.  In the afternoon he rang the bell and collected his parcel.  As he turned away he did the usual " I just want a word".  This time he complained that my Sainsburys delivery driver drove up the street 'far too fast' last week.  In my view he didn't, as we have his arrival on camera.  Apparently, Moaning Minnie opened his window and shouted at the driver who, apparently, ignored him (I don't blame him 😎)  After delivering my groceries, the perfectly nice and friendly driver drove off whilst (allegedly) 'gesturing' to my neighbour 😂  Minnie asked if I knew the driver's name (no), did I get the same driver each week (no) and who to contact to complain (no idea)  He decided to 'let it go this time'.

For goodness sake.  With all the horrible things happening in the world right now,  all the pain and suffering of ordinary folk...

WHAT DOES IT MATTER ?? 😡

I've got a delivery booked for April 1st so watch this space!! 😂

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The clocks went forward yesterday to British Summer Time.  I wish they would leave it alone.  I feel quite discombobulated.....

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Thanks so much for popping in and a warm welcome to my latest new follower.

Do stay safe and well wherever you happen to be,

Angie 💗

Too Good to Miss & Easter Veg Bargains

 

As I'm now moving to grocery deliveries every two weeks instead of weekly, we popped into the local Sainsburys for some fresh milk and bread.  At the checkout I was issued with a voucher for free delivery on a shop of £70 or more.  This was just too good to miss so I've placed an order for just over £70 for next week and have found that I can have a 1 hour time slot for free !

Not only that...the cheap Easter veg was showing on the website so I've ordered 2 bags of potatoes for 15p each, a bag of carrots 15p, parsnips also 15p oh...and a 15p swede.  Bargains!

I believe the Lidl veg will be 8p next week but we don't often visit them, Asda too will have the cheap veg.  Fill yer boots lads and lassies, well....fill your fridges and freezers anyway, 😁

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Thanks for popping in.  A big welcome to my new followers too.

Stay safe and well wherever you happen to be,

Angie 💗 

A Well Deserved Award & Old Ways Re-lived....

Firstly, thank you so much for all the comments on my last post.  It's so lovely to be told that you don't mind me writing some not-so-happy- posts sometimes.  It definitely helps to get things off my chest 😊

Last Thursday, we had a milder, sunnier day and decided to go to the Black Country Living Museum again for a bit of fresh air and exercise.  It was lovely to find that they have won the West Midlands GOLD Award for Excellence 2026.  The staff and volunteers work so hard.  It's well deserved.....

T

It had been advertised that the former library at Woodside had been removed and rebuilt at the museum and so that was our first port of call.  I remember it so well from when my sister used to live near it and I would pass it on the bus when I went to visit her.  I would be about 14 at the time.  They have done a splendid job.  It looks as good as new....

This would have been my first port of call when I was at school...Sci-Fi !  I still love it 😁

Crikey....who would learn Chinese in the 1940 -1960's ?

This SILENCE notice is a blast from the past.  Our library now is so noisy!

As you can see from the blue sky, it was a beautiful day.....

After 3 hours at the museum we were both pretty shattered.  My legs ached and I just wanted to sleep.  Age or B12 to blame?  I don't know....

What is your staying power like 🤔?  

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Thanks for popping in.  Stay safe and well wherever you happen to be,

Angie 💗

Trials & Tribulations, Battling The System....

I've been AWOL recently, I'm sorry, because I haven't been feeling well.  My sore mouth and tongue are back, possibly because I took my eye off the ball regarding taking B12 and eating properly ie food which doesn't cause me problems😟 and have been feeling generally off colour.  My sleep has suffered too, and I'm not the best sleeper at any time.  When I had my last blood tests in December my B12 result was this...

 

As it looked on the low side, I started taking B12 on the advice of my dentist to help with 'burning mouth syndrome'.  When the pain came back I asked Google the question

" is 64 pmol/L of B12 considered low" and this is what came back.....

The short answer is yes.  The ideal is 100-110 pmol/L so I was then on a mission to get some answers from the GP surgery.  After jumping through a good many hoops I managed to get an appointment last Friday and saw a very young GP whom I didn't know.  He hadn't heard of 'burning mouth syndrome', understandably I suppose as he's not a dentist, but didn't seem to understand my problem at all and dismissed me by saying something like "I'm sorry but I can't help you.  You should go back to your dentist "(sic) I asked if acid reflux could cause a sore tongue and he said no....(remember the answer...!)

 After a subsequent rough weekend of a painful mouth and a recurrence of IBS symptoms (due, no doubt to stress) I again went through triage online for another appointment.  wow! Miracles do happen.  I was offered an appointment yesterday (Tuesday) with a different GP.  This time I was armed with the above information and a notebook detailing symptoms of B12 deficiency, all of which I had!

Indigestion, loss of appetite, consistent tiredness, balance problems, headaches and SORE TONGUE 😠

This young lady GP was amazing.  She was calm, competent, asked the right questions and listened to me.  She has commissioned more blood tests and requested tests for thyroid function, diabetes, B12 & Folate, plus a full blood count.  While I await my appointment for bloods on 30th March, I am to take my blood pressure twice a day for a week and submit the details to the surgery.  My blood pressure in the surgery was through the roof because I was feeling so stressed.  She actually asked if I get acid reflux because that can irritate the throat and tongue... FFS 😒

 At the end of my appointment I was so relieved to actually get help that I burst into tears, making my GP on the verge of tears too!  She was so very kind and we actually hugged each other as I left.

Please God don't let the NHS knock the stuffing out of her 🙏

On her advice I'm upping my B12 as well as taking a standard multivitamin tablet while awaiting results.

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Now I need to sort out my eating habits:

No spicy food, no fizzy drinks, no vinegar- y stuff like ketchup or salad cream, no acidic fruit, no tomatoey sauces, less fatty food, no chocolate and no alcohol, not even ONE glass of wine 😭

Oh my gosh...but it will be worth it to get relief from pain.

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I do apologise to my blog friends if this is a depressing post, but I needed to get it off my chest. Thank you for 'listening'

The next post will be happier, I promise 😁

Take care of yourselves and stay safe wherever you happen to be,

Angie 💗 

What I'm Reading Now......and other snippets...

Thank you for all the lovely comments on my Mother's Day post. I hope you all had a lovely day.

I'm trying to read a bit more as it helps me to relax and I reserved the new Richard Osman book from the library.....

.....what I failed to spot was that I had reserved the large print version!  Now I can read it easily without putting the lamp on 😆....

Tuesday was our library day and we were lucky enough to get a comfortable booth .  There is a power point in there where you can charge your phone or ipad free of charge, whilst drinking free coffee and nibbling on a free biscuit.  I also collected another reserved book.....

I do love a good Veronica Henry.  Has anyone read this one?

Today (Wednesday) it's beautifully mild and sunny so I'm making sandwiches and we are going to the allotment to put in the onions.  Well...I say 'we'....Gray will be putting in the onions and I'll be running errands in the village whilst he does it.  Then we'll eat our lunch in the shed.  We know how to live it up, don't we!! ?

I'll drop another batch of cards into the shop while I'm at it, making 125 this year.  I'm happy with that....

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Thanks for popping in.  Do stay safe and well wherever you happen to be,

Angie 💗

Happy Mother's Day to you all.....

 

Today is March 15th and here in the UK it's Mother's Day.  I've cooked lunch, done three loads of washing and 2 loads of tumble drying (as it's raining), used up the stale bread and made bread pudding, made a rhubarb crumble with the first of the forced rhubarb, tidied up and put on the dishwasher (half price electricity until 4pm today)

  I want to say to all you lovely ladies out there whether you are a mum or not, YOU are the glue which holds family together.  You look after your family, feed them and keep them safe.

Today is your day...

Happy Mother's Day wherever in the world you happen to be,

🌹

Me? Now I'm off to eat a bit of bread pudding while it's still warm and then....

cardmaking for the Hospice charity shop 😁

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Stay safe and well,

Angie 💗

Blowing a Hooley & another kind of blow.....

Last year's basket 

Yesterday the weather was  absolutely foul.  It had been blowing a hooley all day and didn't let up at night either and it broke the main stem off my lovely Hellebore, leaving one slender stem remaining.  It might not survive for another year after all 😟 We went to bed listening to the wind howling and the spatter of heavy rain on the windows.  Despite the noise, I slept well for once and awoke to beautiful sunshine because the storm had blown itself out. It has been a day for ironing and flinging windows open to let in the Spring air !

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I keep putting off  writing a new budget.  I intended to do it today but, to be honest, I'm a bit scared to and keep procrastinating.  I'm just worried that the pension increase won't cover the increase in bills let alone food costs.

Sainsbury's has just dropped another spanner in the works too.  From April 7th (I think it is) the minimum order for home delivery will increase to £50 instead of the current £40, otherwise delivery will cost £7.50 (up from £7.00).  I can understand why they need to do that but our food budget is £55 per week and I really don't want to spend it all in one go.  I will need to shop more carefully and double  up the ordering of staples so that I can have deliveries every 2 weeks instead, and then we will have to drive to the store for the fresh stuff once a week.  There is always so much to tempt me instore. Aaarrggh 😒

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The one bit of good news is the car insurance which we managed to get down to £321.33 by going through the comparison site Confused.com  Once the policy kicks in, Gray will have access to a free Greggs coffee each month as well as a £20 shopping voucher.  If there is a Sainsburys one, he'll ask for that 😊 That's one thing sorted at least....

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Thanks so much for popping in.  Stay safe and well wherever you happen to be,

Angie 💗