Val's Cafe

Well I managed a bit of bass playing. I think I am tipping in favour of bass again. I sway between guitar and bass but I absolutely love playing bass and it’s what I played in the last band for that famous drummer. My dad was a professional bassist so i guess that’s why it’s in my dna.

but the head and neck are just too bad to carry on. Everything is still on in the bunker so I haven’t given up, just hoping half hour rest will be enough for it to clear.

I broke another one of Loanda’s Halloween mugs loading the dw so im not really doing so well so far today 🙄

hey dachshund, I 3/4 cook the pasta in a pan. Put the bacon bits in the casserole dish whilst the oven is warming up just to brown them a little. I do the cheese sauce in a separate pan with a spoonful of whole grain mustard. I do my own croutons on a baking try with some olive oil then everything gets thrown into the dish and baked. I added a bit extra milk yesterday as the sauce was a bit thick and even then it was drier than i like, i put tomato sauce on Hooli’s so he would eat it. I have to do as much prep as possible sitting down at the table. When Anda’s dad put the kitchen in I had him make the work tops as high as possible but even so I can’t use them for more than a minute or it hurts too much.

i also wish we had gone for a high level oven with a slide out of the way door but it wasn’t possible with the space we had, but we starting to consider moving house now so maybe in the next one ………

Hi all 😊

The Parcelforce man has just been (taking out not putting in frog; the big parcel) and so has the RM postman in a van, the RM walking postman, and the evri man 😱 too many people! but none of them did want to see a person so that's useful knowledge in future for Parcelforce. Until they all stop coming altogether, anyway 😬. Vary much happier now they're all gone - yes there were still doughnuts, (this is true), sugared ring doughnuts Sleek & I had them this morning to cheer us up, warmed in the oven, with a nice coffee, so the kitchen smelt very nice 😀. Enough to go round for Tommy too who has been good as gold. What a nice little van! 🚚 and you can fit a surprising amount in there. Someone will be eyeing up your new washer won't they 😊 now that you've done such a lovely job of Penelope and there is a free slot, though not today this minute, if you are enroute to pick up the Scargo, or on way back maybe. Sorry you had a bad night, I have PMd you a couple of snippets, not that you can't do your own research ofc but at least advice from experience might be handy - though your innards aren't my innards, of course). Sorry not many birdies for you either. Hope you have had a good round trip and have a good rest of day 👍️ :) xx

Hello joan, yes it would never surprise me that RM deliver even less often than that again 😔 it is very sad but it has been a continual vicious cycle of less people using the post and prices going up, although parcel sending has gone up rather than down so you would think that would be enough. It's like the banks, I was reading about one of the big ones again saying they will be having a 'shakeup' which basically means shutting lots of branches 🙄. I don't have a branch of mine no wonder they say fewer people use them, when often it's not even an option. My parcel has gone thank you and the internet is behaving, so far so good 👍️. Have a good afternoon :) xx

Hi bosh, good post last night I was too tired to respond much - well done resisting the cheese and hope your day (and stomach) going ok so far. I have done my best with the nosegay potions, & concocted you something with 3 parts energy, 1 part assert dominance over HDs extract and 1 part monster-snake reversing elixir 🐍👍️. I resisted adding in any salted caramel even though it seems to be the compulsory flavour for everything these days! I did try salted caramel mini twixes but I didn't expect the salty bits to be quite so much like little chunks, quite hard & crunchy, think I'll stick to classic MTs. This is all by the by, haha. Happy late birthday meal to your mum, hope it all goes well🤞. Have a good afternoon & evening :) xx

Hope the neck has settled enough for you to get back to the standby bunker 👍️ glad you didn't do anything worse, better to break a mug (shame though, can you still get them?). I got rid of my oven at one point as for the amount of cooking I do I realised a tabletop is ample for me, not quite eye level but not bad and v quick because no pre-heating etc. And a nice bit of space back. Don't suppose you've got room for one of those as well? Ooh, house moving maybe, cool 😀 even if it is just the thinking stage. Have a good afternoon 👋 :) xx

Hi to Emma, Gadgetgirl, Charlestown, Julie etc etc hope all as well as poss 😘 xx

Hi @Charlestown , didn't see you over there in the far corner of the cafe, I was still typing and didn't refresh before posting. Yes tiredness is a pesky nuisance and not much you can do about it which is v annoying 🙄 pacing/resting is not something you can really get your teeth into as a therapy is it. Well done getting your odd fiddly paperwork jobs done anyway 👍️. x

Glad the meal went ok bosh and hope your mum enjoyed it too, even if you now have to sleep off the after-effects it sounds nice 😴 have a good rest. x

Any cake updates SK? 🎂 x

Honey cake, count me in please.

Hi Toni

nice mushroom breakfast there

l’ve not had enough time to get my thoughts organised today

but I’ll attempt a scatterbrained post lol

mums bs is ok 👍

but she said she thinks she’s coming down with a cold

The meal was lovely but so filling we didn’t eat that much so I wonder why, I guess it’s the oily noodles, oh well it’s not an everyday occurrence, I had green tea ice cream which tasted like pistachio flavoured and was lovely but did have a slight bitter aftertaste that grew stronger on the way back but then I had some gum and it was fine.

sorry your stomach is hurting, I remember when I took iron tablets, the doc changed the type of tablets after I complained of the side effects, I think the last type I took was ferrous fumerate, these were better than the previous ones but still upset my stomach so I think in the end I didn’t take them on and around methotrexate tablets - time or if I was going out to eat somewhere, that kind of thing and to be honest during the last month of tablets I just took them whenever I could brace myself for the stomach issues, as it were. Maybe go back to the GP and ask if there’s another type of iron tablet that might be better for you? Or ask him / her about half doses? (My mum had intravenous iron infusions, but that’s not a good idea for you the needle phobia.

LA and BR were indeed ecstatic to see mima, bless them

LA said that Hulk - he’d made a scary Hulk mask - was “basically a monster who eats people for breakfast, but sometimes he gets bored and eats apple and pear sandwiches” (accompanied without by the ubiquitous cheese sandwiches, he later added).

Also baby dragons eat Mimas apparently, just so your aware.

LA is attending so many birthday parties that my sis has downloaded a special Party schedule for her phone to accommodate the social butterfly, I had to silently laugh at that lol, this weekend he’s got one party after the other Louisa the bully and a gentleman baby, I didn’t quite catch his name, My sis says he can skip one soirée if he wants especially as he likes the mystery gentleman baby even less than L - oh dear😱

his reaction was so funny, he sighed and then said, “I suppose I’d better go to them both”, he was in the verge of saying perhaps, “I’d better show my face” lol, those face - showing parties, I remember those well, like office birthday parties, they were horrifying inventions, but I’ll try not to go off on a tangent - again 😂

Thanks about the mini ode 🙏

my stomach did settle thanks, but the oracles haven’t spoken tonight yet, also HD tomorrow, so if the stomach problems start again just before torture by mxt spray - sorry hairspray - I will be in very foul mood as I’ll have to eat very little and endure the meaningless chit chat and neck torture/ shampoo basin on an ascetic breakfast and walk home with somewhat exercised legs but no “fuel” as they say, oh well, will just have see what happens, at least the mane will be tamed 👍👍

I’ve been living on clips I even tried to “reverse French plait” my hair, but alas I’m no stylist, once long ago I asked my sis how to French plait hair and she looked at me as if I were asking, “does Hulk eat tuna sandwiches?” or something like that lol

my goodness it’s later than I thought plus gas company is coming tomorrow

ok BR thought I was a cobra super enemy from the Lego based cartoon he watches, because of black fake fur in my hood, but only for a second haha

ok i should stop there have a nice night Toni tc

👋 SK I hope Sucre has a nice birthday

👋Toady thanks for the potion, meal went well thanks, though my stomach did feel like “holly” filla for a while lol have a nice night

Good night also to toady SK, C, Joan xx

Hello everyone!

Hi Joan my knee was quite a bit more comfortable in bed last night so hopefully on the mend now. How are you and Sue though? You so rarely complain. It's very windy outside if Sue is walking the dogs tell her to wrap up! Take care ((())) xxx

Morning Reshmi I hope you are well and your Mum is too.

oh dear me good luck for today. I will be there in spirit along with Toady and Sleek and anyone else who can some along.

It will be ok and then done for a long time I hope. Now I can/could maybe? do French plaits on Lucy's hair! I got quite good at it. Less so on Charley's hers is wilder like mine. It's windy here I hope it's calmer your way don't want your hair ruined.

Aww I knew the boys would be so happy to see you. I understand BR's theory now if you had a furry hood on your coat! That explains it!

Gosh I rather suspect our little social butterfly wants to be at all the parties! He is so popular. Imagine your sister having to download an app to keep life under control😮

That meal out sounded lovely I am glad you finally celebrated your Mum's birthday. Green tea ice cream sounds rather nice to me😋 Fingers crossed the gastric oracle was kind to you. My stomach has never tolerated iron meds well unfortunately Toady has made some suggestions, but ATM all feels so so so much better without! 💉 wo! Hopefully it won't come to that. If it does you can all come with me.

Take care ((()))

Morning Charlestown how are you today?

Yesterday sounded quite busy for you. I am so pleased you love the Fig. I do too. I wanted one from the day i saw my first which was around 30 years ago. My husband bought Penelope after much searching for a pink one in 2020 so yes she is a lockdown baby!

It's super windy out there (bin day so have had to venture out) so be careful.

Morning Skinny K

I was in Stowmarket yesterday i could almost see you!

I have the scargo and will take some pics when daylight hits it was dark by the time we got home. Already though motorcyclists were eyeing him up. I love that affinity with bikers us 'odd car' drivers have😊

I do hope you are feeling ok today? Well done walking to the library even if it didn't work out for you as far as printing the stuff off is concerned.

Did you get over to see Hooli with his birthday cake yesterday? I hope you did that boy loves his Daddy Ah I see you got there and he had a slice. You yourself got a day off of cooking too and nannie's good you deserved it. Sorry you felt flat at home but see - it's already Tuesday they'll soon be home.

Yukky neighbours and their dog 💩 hopefully having their own small person will motivate them to be less gross. Where are you thinking of going? Any ideas? Single story living maybe?

Morning Toady

Thank you so much for the tips you PM'd me between you and Reshmi I am hoping I will be ok at least until I see the GP on the 8th. It would be good to see what she thinks too. I am sure our meds is the cause, but never mind.

I am very glad to hear all of those delivery peeps came and went without the need to hassle you. Good to know for the future that.

Sleek is raving about warm doughnuts now. Honestly! She reckons they are better than herrings and that says a lot. I bet your kitchen smelt delightful😋 Tommy is a sweetheart now he's grown up a bit I think and is now a doughnut convert too I hear.

My own fault re the bird watch I was really too early, but at least I took part. As my mum used to say 'it's the taking part that counts'😁

The 'snail' is on the drive outside I promise to take some pics in the daylight today.

Next time I get the car washy thingy out I'll save some soap for your scooter Sleek can bring it over in her van.

Take care and thanks for the tips.

Good morning everyone wppl x

Flash the 🐌

I wish I’d known I would have met you both in Colchester just to say hello.

Morning Dachshund, I have had it since my 30’s but on diagnosed about 12 years ago. I am 54 now. It’s been more difficult since Sucré here as I can’t do to much with him and I miss out a lot, and now travelling is so difficult it also stops me doing stuff with him.

the ride home last night was particularly uncomfortable and I didn’t sleep at all due to pain and I maxed out on all my pain killers to try and get off to sleep. I think i finally nodded off about 5am.

but no point moaning, there’s nothing can be done. I have tried the injections and they didn’t work. No surgery options, so it is just pain killers.

Sorry I missed your post earlier Toni.

Funny story about that train station, but I’ll save it for another day.