Help calm me. House buying and selling stress

Found my tin Whiff, cake now cooling on the bench and a most glorious smell is wafting through the house.

Shandy don't take any notice of that woman. Also how does she know your offer was accepted? That information is private.

Hope you find your tin Spice. Great news about the pool. You will soon feel like a new woman.

Glad you found your secateurs Shandy it is so frustrating when you put things down and cannot remember where.

Christmas cake didn't get made yesterday as, having found he recipe, I realised I've no idea where the tin is.

Yes Ellianne we are at an exciting time of the house buying process but it is also very stressful and I'm sure my blood pressure is suffering.

Day 10 of zero covid cases or deaths, just need to get rid of the masks before the hot weather comes along - although it is here today and tomorrow.

Good news for me is that the hydrotherapy pool opens later this week. Only 20 people at a time are permitted but I have booked in for my first session in 8 months on Friday. Life is slowly getting back to normal.

Shandy- might just be sour ?. If the damp was so bad why did she want the bungalow?

I've just bumped into someone in the village who also wanted the bungalow.

She congratulated me heartily, then said, 'I hope you can find the source of the damp'. I thought she was joking at first, but she wasn't. Seems she thought the smell 'very strong near the chimney breast' - although her boyfriend didn't notice it. Ha ha, I'm a damp pro after living with my plaster falling off every time a train went past, nothing can be as bad as that! Let's hope my surveyor's nose is as sensitive

Hey, guess where the squirrel put the secateurs?

Safe out of the rain in the wall mounted letterbox, that I leave open for fat parcels! I remember closing them and thinking I should dry them, but it's a blank after that. So glad I don't have to ask permission to search the neighbour's garden!

Elliane surely you remember that the secateurs will only turn up when Shandy doesn’t need them!

Exciting times Spice it would be lovely if you got the property.
Our shed key is on a big cork key ring the type they use on boats. We bought it years ago because we had a key to unlock the gate to the pool and didn't want to drop it in the water! That was 17 years ago. Hope the secateurs turn up Shandy.

Shandy you losing the secateurs reminds me of the time I lost the key to the shed in my previous house. I had dropped it on the lawn somewhere and I started to panic because all my garden stuff such as watering can and lawn mower could not be got at. This was in the middle of Summer so garden tools were needed almost on a daily basis.
Told a friend of mine in passing what had happened and she sent her husband down with his metal detector. Thank goodness the key was quickly found.
I'm sure you could do with a metal detector at the moment.
I hope you found the secateurs soon as good ones can be expensive to replace.

Shandy love the picture you paint of a squirrel running off and burying your secataurs . Made me smile. If all goes well with the survey you should be in your bungalow long before March.

Morning all, post fireworks smoky/misty here this morning. Eerily quiet too, the birds aren't singing.

Very exciting Spice101, fingers crossed for you - although I am sorry you will have to enter into sealed bids. I was unsure how much 'extra' to offer to secure my bungalow, but the EA said 'could you offer a few thousand more' - so I offered 1%, rather than 'picking a number'. The extra £2,350 is around the amount I will save on the stamp duty holiday, if we do manage to complete by March 31st. If we don't, I'll just have less to live on in 2021. When I exchange I will post the link for you all to see, don't want to jinx it.

So, another Sunday. I do miss cooking the big Sunday lunches, I used to spend a lot of time in the kitchen on Sundays. My husband would be at golf and the kids would be doing homework (I think - I wonder if they were on their gameboys now!). I generally just miss the buzz of family life and being 'needed'.

Whiff, I'm tidying up the garden again today - I started on it yesterday and somehow lost the secateurs. We have horribly huge brambles here and I was chopping them up into tiny pieces and putting them into the wild weedy nettled area over my fence - I suspect I dropped them somehow. Been through it all with the rake, I think a squirrel has stolen them and buried them somewhere!

Enjoy your day

Spice that sounds encouraging. Hope it works out for you.

We had the second viewing yesterday. We are still very keen although it does mean I compromise on my biggest issue - steps-. OH says we can work out a lift system to overcome that.
There is a lot of interest in the property and I think we will have to pay considerably more than the asking price to secure it. The property would be great for tradespeople who want to work from home as it provides excellent workshop facilities. I suspect that is where most of the competition will come from
We cannot do anything until the necessary paperwork is available and when we have that we will have it checked by or conveyancer and if all is good will put in an offer.

Our COVID results are really encouraging. Victoria, after our severe lockdown and restrictions (some of which we are still living with) we have now recorded 9 days straight without any new infections or deaths.

I found my cookbooks among the still unpacked boxes and today is the day to make my Christmas cake after having the fruit soaking in brandy for several days.

Whiff another rose with a great perfume is Blue Moon.

To all of those with pets that are not well I hope they are now on the mend.

Shandy did have a printer when my husband was alive but it broke never saw the point of replacing it. My daughter has one and a scanner so I can always use theirs.

I had lots of fun planning my garden still a work in progress. Made mistakes but I a novice gardener. If anyone wants a highly scented rose Gertrude Jekyll is a must. Had it as a bare root plant earlier in the year it has flowered 4 times.

Had my Christmas card for my grandson come today from not on the high street. It came with 2 free post cards . After the day I had yesterday they cheered me up. One says " you are loved" and the other " when you can't find the sunshine be the sunshine" . Words to end this post on.

Thank you for that maytime2. Very helpful. I too live on the coast, white might not be a good idea.
I have a worse problem though, I forgot my cats would use the gravel or indeed slate chippings as a lavatory!
Back to the drawing board, round 3.

Whiff, I waited a week for the station survey, but that was a lot larger. I'll let you know as soon as I receive it, fingers crossed no 3's.

Have you got a printer now? I bought an HP £37 cheapie as our large one with a scanner broke - I wish I'd spent more and got one with a flatbed scanner again. Luckily I can photograph things like my driving licence, upload the photo to my laptop, and then print out. Renting the cottage was a printing out nightmare, they wanted copies of my bank statements, passport, driving licence etc. Then the auction sale, and now the sale - I had to print out all of the solicitor's documents.

Looking forward to what you think Spice, hope it has most of your 'must haves' and some of your 'nice to haves'.

Elliane. I'm sorry that I have not replied sooner to your question. Yes, I do mean the lack of sunshine because a north facing plot will not have much of it during the winter.
I live on the coast in S.West Wales which gets a lot of rain, that together with the lack of sunshine causes things to go green. I find that garden slabs can be kept "clean" by throwing a mixture of water and bleach on to them weekly, but it would be difficult to treat gravel in the same way.
I had this problem in my previous house so did not want to go down that road again.

Oh Shandy what fun to start thinking of planning your garden!

Shandy glad your dog is better. How long will it be before you get the report following the survey? When mind was done it was emailed the same day. Pages of it. I read it through 3 times and made notes. I phoned the surveyor the next day and he answered all my queries. I asked for a paper copy . I had it the next day. I don't have a printer. I read through it again to make sure I didn't have any more queries. I hope there will only be a few 2's mostly 1's and no 3's on your report.

Spice hope the second viewing is success.

Very cold here but sunshine. Have a good day everyone.

Shandy you are the glue that binds this thread together at the moment. Keep being positive.

A good example of why your decision not to uproot yourself was so wise, Shandy. Sounds like a lovely encounter. Glad the dog is better - one thing less for you to worry about.

Morning all! A better morning, it was foggy last night and I lost my tv reception for a few hours.

Woke up late again, I must be more tired than I realise. I've started taking my dog across the field in my pj's with my coat over, there's no one around and I can relax a bit before the beach walk. I do wish he'd go in the garden. He is finally better, I just need to make sure he doesn't get the cat food.

I'm wrapping up my best friends' gifts to post today and I am all fingers and thumbs, plus the boxes I have aren't the right shape, sigh! One of them is going to lose her candles, luckily she won't know! She always wraps her gifts beautifully, I just don't have her knack. I might write my Christmas cards too, I don't send many.

I've just popped in to say I was walking my dog last night and bumped into the vicar who was very kind when my husband died. When I asked to have a place in the cemetery in 2017 I was very upset to find his spot was a few along from my friend's much older Dad - early grief is so irrational - and she came round to the house to see me. So nice of her to stop, she looked exhausted from the Remembrance Day prep ready for the video. Her husband was also my accountant when I had the self catering, they are a lovely family. She said she will pray my purchase goes through, which is so lovely.

Enjoy your day whatever you are doing

I think you are right Ellianne, it will be like the bloom on a pond won't it. Will look forward to you uploading your choices! If the bungalow does come off, I'm going to copy a garden I saw in Exmouth - a little bit of Devon in Northumberland!

I think maytime might be talking about the effects of the sunshine? Can someone enlighten us?