To ‘Nearly’ Done List

I’ve nearly done by ‘To Do List’ along with some additional things.  That said when my sister in law rang yesterday afternoon I got panicky thinking it was the hospital and I hadn’t finished it.

In addition to the list I’ve cancelled the laptop insurance for our lost laptop, changed energy supplier, got a better deal on the house phone, added some yarn that’s been lying around to my yarn index, made a dressing gown that was too much of a bargain to leave on the rail into a cardigown and knit/crocheted this…

Some assembly still required

I had two units of blood today so I fully expect to finish my list tomorrow and I’ve told B that with this haemoglobin boost and once I’ve caught up with my sleep tonight he better brace himself as I’ll be so full of beans.

Now usually, although I’m not shy with my opinion, I’m not one to force advice on people but I’d like to finish today with a little bit of marriage guidance for the ladies.

When one’s husband says that the district nurse was at his mother’s tending too a sore on her bottom he may not appreciate it if one responds with ‘A pressure sore?!?  That’ll be because she’s sitting on her arse to much.’

Sometimes you just want a good night’s sleep

 

One of the things you look forward to when you get home from hospital is a good night’s sleep.  I didn’t sleep too badly but since I was attached to various antibiotics/flushes for the previous three nights I did get disturbed a few times even though the nurses are very quiet.

B got home early on Friday, came straight to bed at which point I proceeded to have a coughing fit so got out of bed to avoid disturbing him and sat on the settee for an hour eating an ice lolly.  I then went back to bed and snuggled down for a few more hours sleep.

8:22am the phone rings until it goes to 1571 (answer service) and then it rings again.  B got out of bed and checked the number – it was his brother.  While B was checking who had called – the b-i-l must have called a third time and left a message unbeknownst to us at the time.

At 8:22am when he knows B would be in bed (not that it’s the first time he called at 7:25am two Friday’s before) and what he thought I would be doing I don’t know.

When I did get up – after not falling back to sleep properly just doing that dozing thing (that I don’t like) when you have funny dreams there was a message.

‘When did you last go to my mum’s?  I was there at ten past nine last night and the fridge freezer is broken.  It’s leaked on the floor.  We need to get another one sorted ASAP so that would be today or tomorrow.  We can pick it up either in your car or in mine because I have an estate.  (DER!) Can you go and look at Currys or check it out on the internet. (Statement not question.)  And we need to decided if the carpet tiles can be dried or if they need replacing.’  All in the tone of an emergency – to quote an old boss of mine – ‘it’s an emergency if something’s on fire or bleeding profusely’.

When B got up he sorted lunch out while I had a tootle on the web, found an ideal small fridge freezer, B gave it the stamp of approval, I ordered it and it was available for free delivery on Saturday.  Job done – well you’d think so.

It was an open delivery time (8am to 7pm) as that was all that was left.  The b-i-l wanted a number to call about this – well yes, because the m-i-l has such a busy schedule – and I’m sure if they had any timed slots available they would have been more than happy to charge us £21 for one.

Further phone calls asking whether B was going to go and sort it out on Saturday and then it turned out that when the b-i-l had called at the m-i-l’s at 9:10pm on Thursday he hadn’t emptied the freezer as he didn’t have time – I mean what five minutes – bin bag to bin!  So B went and cleared it out and wiped it down.

Saturday the fridge freezer was delivered at some point in the afternoon, they took away the old one and set up the new one and then we got a call from the b-i-l saying it was there, it needed to stand for four hours and then be switched on and was B calling round.  Now we’d had a little trip out to the butchers and green grocers to get supplies for a hot pot because that was what I was craving (it smelled gorgeous but I didn’t enjoy it) – I’d been reluctant to go but felt better for the fresh air but then needed an hour and a half’s sleep after making the hot pot and we’d decided that a little trip out to Auntie Ann’s would be nice for us so he’d see what he could do.  When he did call round at 8:30pm the m-i-l was upstairs going to bed and the fridge was switched on.  (She did shout down a request, well probably more a demand, for a cup of tea but B told her that since she was already going to bed she didn’t really want one!)

And then yesterday I went for my MRIs.  I am somewhat claustrophobic and my biggest concern is having some sort of screaming hissy fit part way through and I think it is just the thought of embarrassing myself that keeps me from doing it.  I was in there ages – at least 50 minutes to an hour and I rested by hands palms up and concentrated on my breathing (as per armchair yoga teacher’s relaxation).  I opened my eyes prematurely on the way out from the last one (lower back) and I wasn’t all the way out so I snapped them quickly shut again.   Now I hadn’t given much thought to the head MRI which was just as well.  Chris called round last night and she has always said that if she ever needs another one they will need to sedate her as it was truly awful (turns out she didn’t close her eyes from the get go).  I’d always said it wasn’t that bad, eyes, closed, relax, don’t think about the fact that you’re in a tube.  Last night I said that she is never, ever to say to me how awful an MRI is until she has had one with her head in a plastic cage.  ‘Just pop your head in the hole.’ In this plastic brace thing.  GULP!  Surely they won’t put anything on top I thought and didn’t quite close my eyes in time to avoid seeing it close in.  I don’t think I’ll ever be able to watch The Man in the Iron Mask again without having hysterics.

I am overall feeling better, temp seems to be a bit high in a morning, and there has been a little bit of knitting going on – Friday there was about three/four rows and then Saturday a few more.  I put the shawl to one side for something easier and decided to do the pyjamas for the one of the bears I’m knitting.  This is how it’s going so far…

 

 

 

 

Scrappy Squarey Doh!

In answer to Fiona‘s question from yesterday as to ‘WHAT HAPPENED’ with the m-i-l and B at the doctors.  I didn’t know at the time I popped it on my blog as their appointment was only 16:00 so I was on tenterhooks as to the outcome. Well the GP ‘lol’ed at the note, and then B asked for it – so I was confronted with B extracting the note from his pocket and reading out ‘Bernard has the retention quality of a distracted three year old unless it involves pretty women.’  To which I said ‘Hey it could have been worse I was going to say Page 3.’  Needless to say it was the running theme of numerous comments between then and him going to work.

With regard to the m-i-l, my behind is safe from being exposed to shoppers, as the ‘fungal infection’ was a just a big fat nail that needed filing.  {smug expression}

So to my creative space this week – it’s a bit of a tip, but better a creative mess than neat un-productivity (or something like that).

On the ironing board is a backing for a quilt whilst on the window ledge is 83 Share a Square squares…

Which brings me up to 149 with the total requested from any participant being 150.  I had a bit of trouble with my 150th.

Its one and one quarter rounds short of a full square – I must have been over generous with the tails on the last batch.

Fortunately I found this novelty yarn and with some creative usage (and a tail of about two inches left of it – phew) I managed to finish square 150.

The quilt backing is for some scrap quilts I must have started at least three years ago.  I did finish the top for one…

but since I had all these left from dresses I’d made years before (my Great Auntie Bet always told me to save excess material just in case the garment needed a repair in the future – what I don’t know – but she was alive during WWII rationing and so on numerous occasions was able to show me that a pattern positioning was wasteful and if I did, this, that and that I’d have plenty left over) and since they are in the main lovely crepes I’d hung onto them, even past the expiry of some of the dresses.

All I managed to do yesterday was fill the 3′ x 4′ backing with pieces…

Yes I know they need a serious pressing but they have been screwed up in a box for a long time.  I thought if I could get them finished this weekend they could go to South Africa with the other stuff I’ve given to our GP’s receptionist.  We’ll see.

I have an appointment at the Royal this afternoon regarding the numbness in my forearm, that’s still there, and I also have a numb bit on the right side of my chin and an intermittent numbness to the pad of my left thumb!  I’m going with a friend and I forgot to ask if there’d be eating out involved.  Doh – I must get my priorities right!

Other Creative Spaces can be found here.

Dear Doctor

You may remember, and if not –why not, that the last time we saw the Prof at the Royal he referred to me as ‘intelligent’ (or, as per accompanying friend’s recollection, very intelligent) however it would appear that B’s brother finds me incapable of recording and passing on a message.

B’s brother rang on Monday to ask (tell) him if he could make an appointment to take the m-i-l to her GP’s as she had a fungal infection in her toe nail.  So I rang up yesterday morning and after taking the second appointment offered, B then rang his mother and then rang the GP’s receptionist back and re-took the first!

At 12:05 today B’s brother rang and asked if B was up.  I said no, whilst resisting the urge to ask what the heck would he be doing up at noon on a work day and that he would be getting up at 14:30.  (I mean he only gets in at 07:50, after food shopping, and had missed breakfast to get to bed earlier than usual to ensure he was up in time.)  So B’s brother started to tell me what he wanted B to say to the GP (along with the toe thing) and when I asked questions (we all know how unlike me that is) he decided he’d try and ring back to speak to B before he left to pick the m-i-l up.  He did but our phone is dodgy (really it is, really) so he left a message that was so complicated I couldn’t have passed it on (despite doing shorthand).

I asked B if you wanted me to do a note to the GP and he said yes.  I wasn’t too sure he was serious or not, but it turned out he was when he asked for it just before he left – so I drafted a quick letter and decided to share it with you – basically, so you know the reason for my impending sudden disappearance.  I would point out that I have met the GP they are seeing and he does have a sense of humour, it was in a sealed envelope and B has strict instructions not to open it before they get in and certainly not in front of his mother!  So I’m completely at the mercy of the GP as to whether they find out what was in it!

Dear Dr S

Bernard’s brother asked if he could bring their mum to see you re a fungal infection on her toe nail (he didn’t say which one).  He also asked if, as she was housebound, the district nurse could call out daily to administer treatment. 

He rang us today to ask if Bernard could ask you to register that she was housebound so that any attention she needed in future could be carried out by the district nurse at home.  I understand she has been going to the walk-in centre for a dressing changed on her leg following a fall and he wanted this to be carried out by the district nurse (as it’s only been convenient to do this because our nephew has been home from Uni).

Despite 103 hospital appts with me this year (okay slight exaggeration) Bernard has the retention quality of a distracted three year old unless it involves pretty women hence this note.

I have no idea if Billinge still has a district nurse or if so whether they would do this sort of thing.

Yours sincerely

Paula Kilgallon (darling daughter in law)

PS – I have told Bernard that if it involves Mary’s big toe this may not be a fungal infection as the last time I took her to the chiropodist (last year) this was discussed and they said it was the result of an injury to the nail bed and filed the nail down.  (I did also say that if it was a fungal infection I’d show my ar… behind in Woollies window* so would be grateful if you could bear this in mind in arriving at your diagnosis. ;D)

*  An expression used only when you felt quite safe that your rear end wouldn’t ‘end’ up on display to passing innocent shoppers.

Don’t wag your ass!

I have no creative space this week.  I was planning on showing off the dress I finished yesterday.  It was about time I started it last August.

I have no photos of me in my dress as I’ve been out today to Liverpool – for pleasure this time, not that I don’t have fun going to the Royal – and I’m pooped.  A friend and I went holiday clothes shopping and surprisingly came back with what we wanted – one pair of trousers and a gift in Chris’s case and all sorts of goodies in mine – more of them to follow.

So in lieu of a creative space I thought I’d share the creative conversation B had with his mother this morning when he called to drop her shopping off and which he couldn’t wait to share with me when he got home.  To save my fingers BBCW stands for BBC weatherman.

BBCW:  ‘…and that’s Friday’s weather.’

M-i-l:  ‘What day is it?’

B:  ‘Thursday.’

M-i-l:  ‘He’s just said it’s Friday.’

B:  ‘No, he was giving Friday’s weather.’

M-i-l:  ‘No, it must be Friday.’

B:  ‘It’s Thursday.’

M-i-l:  ‘I don’t think so.’

B:  ‘I tell you what Mum why don’t you ring S and find out.’ (The m-i-l has got into the habit of ringing B’s brother at 6:30 in a morning to ask what day it is.)

M-i-l:  ‘You ring him.’

B:  ‘Mum I’m not ringing him to ask him what day it is.’

M-i-l:  ‘I’ll ring him then.’

B:  ‘You won’t.  It’s Thursday!’

B then displays a page of teletext (I have no idea how this translates across the oceans/seas but basically it’s pages of written information on the TV like news, shares or weather! accessed via the remote control) and says…

 B:  ‘What does it say there?’

 The m-i-l then reads the content of the page.

 B:  ‘No, what does it say at the top of the page?’

 M-i-l:  ‘Thursday.’

 B:  ‘There you go then.’

 Minutes later…

 BBCW:  ‘And that’s the weather for Friday.’

 M-i-l:  ‘See!  It’s Friday!’

 B:  ‘MUM!’

I nearly wet myself!

 In closing I would like to share a tip, it’s okay it’s free of charge – When you have a small furry family member that wags his tail when pleased/happy and wags his tail and whole body when he’s really pleased/happy ie, when he gets up and comes downstairs to find you in the kitchen all of 10 minutes since he’s last seen you, it’s not a good idea to wag your bum back when you’ve had a bone marrow biopsy two days before.  NB – This may only be relevant if you have a fat ass!

Creative Space Crochet Club 2011

 

The craft project of choice that I took on my surprise ‘get a bug in your blood – get a free holiday’ trip was the Crochet Club 2011 Mystery Blanket – basically because it was to hand and was in a little storage box.  B loves putting things in carrier bags when we go anywhere so was slightly put out when we left for the hospital and I wanted to keep my crochet box au natural.  (I loath to admit it but he gets it from his mother – ‘Do you want a carrier bag for your knitting?’ ‘No.’ ‘It would be better in one.’ ‘I managed to get it here without one.’ ‘We’ve got this one, it’s a nice one!’ ‘NOOOOOOOOOO.’ – well you get the idea fortunately B has learned not to be so insistent but the urge to bag things still lingers.)

Now I didn’t feel like I got that much done considering I was in for six and a half days but with popping our for a wedding, visitors and general chatting with fellow inmates, I mean holidaymakers, in retrospect I don’t think I did too bad..

I had real trouble with one of the half circles and had to undo several rows several times.  When the second one was a doddle and I analysed the first it turned out that the problem was me, I had five spokes in the centre instead of four.  Since the outside measurement was the same, due to some severe tweaking I’ve left it.  (The old adage about it not being spotted by a man on a galloping horse applying.)

I waited to do the outside of the semi circles until last Friday when I was feeling more compos mentis as I thought it was doing to be really, really hard – it turned out to be so simple and the string of interlocked circles just curved round with a simple row, mostly of double crochet (single crochet – US) either side.

On Sunday when I came to block the pieces before sewing another two strips together I encountered a problem.  I believe it’s spotable even to the non crocheter…

After checking the measurements of the straight piece and the zig zag it transpired I was only 1 cm out so after contemplating re-crocheting the zig zag I bascially stretched it until it fit – it would have to have been stretched a tad anyway so I just made it a tadddddddd.  This resulted in these…

which brought me up to the end of May’s instructions.

We have now entered into the realms of June…

and am up to adding to the second semi circle…

and this would be why I don’t do much knitting intarsia (colour knitting but not true fairisle which by law only has two colours on one row).  I find it really, really messy.  I’ve tried these…

I’ve tried wrapping it into tiny balls and even wrapping it round my thumb and little finger into small skeins that pull out from the middle and solve all this but nothing works well other than cutting the yarn off into lengths that you can just pull out of the surrounding mess but as you don’t know how much you are going to need that’s not really a viable option.

But hey, it looks like I will get it finished before the end of the month – famous last words!

Other Creative Spaces can be found here.

WOO HOO!

We have a fully stuff flushable toilet! And the shower tray/enclosure didn’t have to come out to do it.  Unlike normal mornings when I get up before B comes to bed this morning of course B got in bed and I turned over for five more minutes while I came round only to hear a van pull up outside the house.  Doh!

The original installer of the shower tray and toilet (someone else did the bath and basin) no longer worked for the company.  The young chap this morning put a hole in the wall and fixed it through that.

The tilers were coming back to tile tomorrow but Bud and I got back from our walk to find they had knocked B up and were doing this…

and this…

However some of the plaster came off so a plumber has to come back in the morning to plaster.  Yes, they can do small areas, B queried it.  And the tilers will come back tomorrow afternoon to pop in the missing tiles and grout.  It was either this or next Tuesday.  Since the shower would obviously be unusable during this period we settled for tomorrow.

Having it finished tomorrow however provided us with a bit of a dilemma.  Cycle three starts tomorrow and includes a clinic appointment and it will be the first time ever that B hasn’t been with me to an actual see a doctor appointment. Obviously I saw the docs on my own during my surprise holiday in February and declined their offer of speaking to my family when things were pointing in the direction of the myeloma staging a comeback tour but I’m really disappointed and this really surprises me.

I was only saying to a fellow patient I met at the hospital but saw at the Blood Support Group on Tuesday night about B and the questions he asks and apparently it’s not just B, her husband does it too but it would appear that I like him being there anyway.

Oh, and the other thing is that at the last but one and two appointments B has asked about my paraprotein level and the last but one doctor said ‘What the hell lets measure it next time.  Its a little earlier than we would normally check so don’t put too much store by it but overall your blood counts are looking better and you feel well’ – bit of paraphrasing there.  So last time we went they took a sample for measuring and we, I mean, I find out tomorrow and the agreement between the doctor and myself was that if it had stayed the same or gone up it was B’s fault for asking so much – as he did last time we went.  Both the doctor and I explained that ‘Yes it was being ‘measured’ that day but WE would only find out the results in a week’.

Oh, oh and yet another thing – who am I going to go for a mocha and an Eccles cake with while we I wait and wait to be seen in the clinic – as some of us know it’s not so much a guaranteed appointment time as a raffle.  AND what about my Friday lunch out – ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

AND last thing I promise – as it my week hasn’t been crappy enough (boom boom), wait I guess it’s actually been very uncrappy (thank goodness for medication related constipation) I had to speak to the mother in law today.  DOUBLE ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

The general con-census

Yesterday I did have a breakfast of apple crumble from Rustic Fruit Desserts – well actually the recipe was for Rhubarb Crumble with the crumble containing oats, dark brown sugar and pecans.  However mine was apple crumble containing oats, light brown sugar and pistachios – about half the quantity needed because there is a limit to the number of pistachios you can shell in one go.

It was very edible.  And I did feel better as the day went on.

Yes we got cake, not chocolate, but still cake is cake, unless it’s Black Forest Gateaux then it’s blah!  One lovingly bought from M&S…

and two made by a neighbour who is 11 with our initials on.  How sweet is that?

I got flowers off a friend who became a Nan again yesterday – what a great date to be born on…

and they are pre-arranged so I didn’t have to worry about doing them justice after getting them in a vase.

Here’s the card made by my very talented sister in law, Gill (who’s married to B’s brother), who cuts the shapes out on one of those fancy newfangled shape cutting machines.

Anyhoo Gill’s parting words confirmed the consensus that the last thing I should be fretting about is the m-i-l.  So in the interests of my self preservation I’m going to maintain my stance of having nothing to do with the m-i-l and not feel guilty about it in the slightest.  If she wants to be happy being miserable and stuck in the house that’s her business.

B suggested he take over doing the m-i-l’s shopping from his brother.  Gill reckons that the b-i-l will have to interfere, I mean get involved, because that’s the way he is. B had suggested doing the shopping before but not necessarily to his brother – as this is the way they are.  Apparently the m-i-l was being a particular pain in the backside at the moment mithering over my card and then the census form.

So if anyone sees or hears a news article about a pensioner turning up at A&E with a census form stuck where the sun doesn’t shine – we know nothing! Okay?

 

It’s my blog and I’ll whinge if I want to!

My first thought on waking this morning, well it was barely morning – it was barely light, wasn’t ‘Hey Happy Birthday to me.’ it was about the m-i-l.  Well actually my very first thought was ‘Ahh cramp in my left calf.  Stretch it!’ followed by ‘Ahh, cramp in a thigh muscle I have no idea how to stretch.’ Both cramps were minor and I’m pretty sure the Velcade side effects list mentioned cramps.  (Yes it does along with painful limbs – mmm, not too sure what that entails.) I have tonic water in the fridge.

Anyhow you better look away now and come back tomorrow if you don’t want to read a MAJOR whinge – exacerbated by the fact I got up at 06:55 as I couldn’t go back to sleep.  (I have got an apple crumble in the oven currently as I needed to do something even though I felt slightly queasy.)

I see my Auntie Ann about once a week.  I see my Auntie Eleanor less frequently than that.  I see both of them because I like spending time with them irrespective of there always being some sort of cake/treat involved from both of them. (Lovingly homemade by Auntie Eleanor, lovingly bought from M&S in the case of Auntie Ann).  My Auntie Eleanor is slightly older than the m-i-l at 84 and when I was in the Royal she came to see me twice – a 12 mile one way trip on the bus and she gets travel sick.  She had to be talked into accepting a lift home from B and then Auntie Ann because she doesn’t want to inconvenience anyone.

Whereas although I went to the m-i-l’s and did stuff for her it wasn’t because I wanted to or I liked doing it it was because she’s B’s mum and some sense of duty.

I don’t mind how many times B goes to this mother’s or what he does for her but I don’t want to be involved.  From friends I know this happens in lots of households, the husband deals with his mother.  In an ideal world I would have a mother in law that I wanted to spend time with, that was pleasant to be around, that wasn’t so demanding but obviously we don’t live in an ideal world.

After the m-i-l tried to finish me off in August I said to B that ‘If the only way I didn’t have to see his mother was to leave him I would.  This sounds really dramatic now but at the time it totally summed up how I felt, although I did have to tell him twice!  I still made about 10 phone calls to get the physiotherapist out to her and bit my tongue when all but one thing they subsequently delivered went back.  And I shouldn’t get started on the fact that she won’t do the exercises that the physio gave her.

As we know she never goes anywhere or sees anyone (even when she does) but has been offered numerous clubs that she could go to during the day.  Cooking is an effort but neither her or B’s brother thought that the hot meals subsidised by the company she use to work or having them delivered frozen on a weekly basis, which would have cut down on the shopping that he does, were a good idea.  The subsidised lawn cutting and a cleaner were non starters too, although she does now have a cleaner and finally agreed to the subsidised hairdresser.    She doesn’t now go out of the house on her own, even though she was offered a ramp in place of the steps in front of the house, so she could use a walking frame with wheels, she didn’t want one.  It frustrates me that she’s been offered a lot of assistance but doesn’t want it yet has asked if we’d like to live there and presumably wait on her hand and foot.

If squeamish you may want to look away now

She’s not had a bath for 12 months because she wouldn’t use the bath seat that was provided after she got stuck in the bath – so really that can’t be good can it and I’m pretty sure she doesn’t wash her hands with soap after going to the bathroom.  Just the sort of company you need with a compromised immune system.

Squeamish bit over so you can look back now if you looked away

And the one thing that drives me completely crazy is when she says ‘I wish I was dead’.  I got to the point where I couldn’t hide my annoyance and we had the following conversation after me telling her that I didn’t like it when she said that.

m-i-l:  ‘I wish I was…’

Me:   ‘What, Mary?’

m-i-l:  ‘Have I vexed you?’

Me:  ‘You know I don’t like you saying that.’

m-i-l:  ‘It’s just a saying.  Lots of people say it.’

Me:  ‘No, they don’t.’

m-i-l:  ‘Don’t you ever say it.’

Me:  ‘Considering what’s wrong with me, no, I never say it.’

And now I need to go check on my apple crumble – having taken an anti sickness tablet I may even have some for breakfast it might perk me up.

 

Velcade, beading and %&*$£”@ outlaws

Off we toddled today to the Royal for cycle 2 of Velcade and Doxorubicin.  I remembered to wear trousers, that’s not to say I went without them last time of course, but that we had the incident with the bum bag full of Doxorubicin stuck up my dress.  This time I thought it looked hardly noticeable tucked under my T-shirt until we had lunch in a restaurant that had a full length mirror in the toilets and it seemed to stick out like a sore thumb.  B advised me it didn’t plus of course people wouldn’t know what was in it so any mugger would have been in for a surprise.

I opted to crochet while we were at the Royal and started on the February patterns for the mystery blanket.  The beads were quite hard to photograph, hence the listing angle, I’m tired but not yet so tired I’m keeling over.

I have to say I liked crocheting the beads in.  It was so easy.  I once knitted a cardigan as a birthday present for a friend, fortunately she loved it, and that had beads knitted in – which was not as easy as the crocheting of beads.

So all in all not a bad day until just when I’ve been the cause of Bernard’s brother putting the phone down on him.  I answered the phone and was asked in more detail than usual as to how I was doing little realising this was pre-emptive of his conversation with B.

Apparently B should do more for their Mum and it would be nice if she came round to ours for her tea sometimes.  B said no on the basis that this wasn’t agreeable with me.  He then went on to say how we did a lot for her after his Dad died but that in the end I’d given him the ultimatum that it was either his Mum or me – at some point B’s brother had put the phone down.

I feel guilty even though B has told me not to and I know that I just couldn’t cope with having her in the house.  It’s not often that I cry and she managed to reduce me not only to tears twice last year but to near hysterics.

And yes I have felt remarkably well the past week and a half but I’ve been able to take things at my own pace without being under pressure to do anything at all if I didn’t want to.  B probably wouldn’t have been thrilled at getting his own tea every night but would have done it if he had to, is more than happy to walk Bud if I don’t even after doing the shopping, the hoovering and cleaning the bathroom (even though apparently the shower enclosure is not in the same space/time continuum at the point in which he cleans the rest).

The bottom line is I just couldn’t cope with the m-i-l being in the same postcode as me, let alone house, on a regular basis especially since she could give lessons in being relentless to the shape shifting terminator from T2 so why do I still feel guilty!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!