Happy Birthday Bernard! Happy Birthday Bernard!

Well we didn’t get a phone call from the m-i-l about the card but look what B got when he called to see her yesterday…

one picked by me and one by his brother.

Our visit to the GP this morning resulted in blood test being sent off with results to them evening, things getting prodded and stethoscoped, blood pressure being taken (with B asking if he could have his done! cheeky monkey). As my temp was down to 37.4 this morning, I felt tired rather than ill and the thought that more antibiotics may not be a good idea without knowing exactly what the root cause was we are waiting and seeing.

And I may have mentioned once or twice before that I love our GPs well now I love them just that little bit more.  I am under doctor’s orders to take it easy this weekend – how fantastic is that!

Thinning Thursday

After a comment I made over at Lorna’s (and Mike’s) blog and although I normally do Creative Space Thursday (my creative space is filled with a couple of Myeloma Buddies I can’t show yet) I intend to herewith start Thinning Thursdays.

So every Thursday (hopefully next week along with something creative) I will pop on the post how much weight I have lost in the last week.  Feel free to lose along.  Lorna is preparing for some sort of big event – I think they may be opening a branch of Selfridges in Wolverhampton in about 18 weeks, well either that or a Home Bargain.

I on the other hand just have a lot of back side, front side and side side!  When I was telling a friend about the dentist last Friday saying I had fat cheeks she said I should have asked him how he could tell as I was sitting down.

So as I didn’t we-hay myself last week I’m going with the figure from my last blood clinic appointment even though the nurse said we could keep it between ourselves!

If you do participate you don’t have to show your actual weight if you don’t want to – you can just show how much you’ve lost!

And if you want you can do the whole Slimming World meeting thing – ‘I don’t know why I’ve put 3 pounds on I only had 6 Baileys at the weekend and they were in half pint glasses and I only ordered REGULAR fish and chips THREE nights and I didn’t eat the lemon wedge and that piece of green stuff. So I just don’t understand it.  Although I may need to change my washing up liquid as the one I squirt onto the kids’  unfinished meals to put me off eating them is actually better than my cooking.’

So in the past 4 weeks I have lost 2.8kg or 6lbs through my own hard work – WHAT!?!?  I’ll have you know it had nothing to do with indulging at Christmas so that came off easily or a stomach bug or the temporary cleansing effect of the second lot of antibiotics.

And I am not afraid to show my original weight.  It’s right there in the middle of this piece of paper…

AND Happy Birthday to B today and also to Tim, Denise’s husband!

I think personality wise they are similar in their laid back way. My Dad’s birthday was the 2nd and he took laid back to a whole new level – I must remember to tell you about the firey pan incident some time. (Handy-man wise, wait have I been censored over that?  Mmmmm – no – I just can’t say that B can’t make milky coffee and he has learned to make cheese on toast after slapping a ban on me saying he couldn’t do that.  So handy-man wise Tim has his own flooring company and B has a gutter on the garage that’s been dripping about four years and this winter the bradish came off half the shed roof – I don’t think I need to add to that.)

And many happy returns to my temperature spike, tired on Monday put down to not being over two busy days, more of less okay Tuesday night after mid afternoon dip then last night I needed an hour’s kip when I clocked off work – two friends were calling round and one wanted to know why I was in my pyjamas – I said at least I was awake.  Then this afternoon shivery, took two paracetemol because I decided not to join our little Italian/American Dr Frankenfurter in her new extreme sport.  An hour later is was 39.1 (note to self remember not to put smart ar, um aleck comments on other people’s blogs, Sean’s, about temperatures because they come back and try to bite you on the bum).  My temperature is now resting comfortably at 38.6.  I spoke to our GP’s and the Blood Day Ward at the Royal because I was scheduled to go for Zometa tomorrow.

Bascially  the lovely receptionist at the GPs said I can ring in the morning for an appointment, due to the computer she physically couldn’t book me in today for tomorrow (keep up), per the Day Ward I need to ask them to do blood counts, and check out if it’s still my ears or wherever and give me more stuff.  Then if I’m not feeling better by Monday I need to ring the Day Ward again and they will look at getting me assessed somewhere!

And because I have the common sense of a stoned lemming I had to wait until B got home to have it suggested to me that maybe it wasn’t a good idea to go to Liverpool tomorrow with my friend, Chris, anyway for lunch!

Sometimes though it’s hard to locate that fine line between seizing the carp (to quote Ruth) and having it whack you in the kisser with its damp fishy tail! Ugh!

Mother in Law Calling (as in ringing – what else!)

Two weeks ago, on the Tuesday, the m-i-l rang and I ignored it.  I listened to the message to make sure she hadn’t fallen and couldn’t get up.  Then the m-i-l rang again and yet again I ignored it but again listened to the message.  And then the third time – this was all in the space of about an hour and a half – so quite spread out really for when she wants something – I answered it.

M-i-l:  ‘I’ve phoned twice!’

Me:  ‘Oh yeah.’

M-i-l:  ‘Have you been out?’

Me:  ‘No.’

M-i-l:  ‘I don’t understand what you’re saying.’

Me:  ‘I’m saying that I haven’t been out and yet, due to the wonders of caller display, I didn’t pick up the receiver and say ‘ello.’  Well you and I both know I didn’t really say that I just thunk it, and as it happened I didn’t get chance because the m-i-l didn’t pause for breath and carried on…

M-i-l:  ‘I need some Voltarol.’ (anti-inflammatory pain cream)

Me:  ‘Don’t you get that on prescription?’

M-i-l:  ‘What do you mean?’

Me:  ‘You get it from the doctor.’

M-i-l:  ‘Oh, no!’  Now I know full well that she has indeed in the past had a huge tube on prescription because I saw a dispensing label on it and I’m sure you would need a second mortgage to buy a tube that size without a prescription.

Me:  `Well’ and bear in mind this was the Tuesday after the stomach bug weekend so I couldn’t really be ar… fussed ‘could No 1 Son not pick it up for you with your shopping?’

M-i- l:  ‘Oh, yeah.’

Pause

M-i-l:  ‘Actually, I wasn’t ringing you for that.’ I had to admit I thought she was ringing to instruct me to get her a birthday card for B.  ‘I need a birthday card for Bernard.’  Woman’s institution still working then.

Me:  ‘Okay.’

Well with one thing and another I haven’t really been in a position to get one from either of us, without a significant effort which I didn’t feel like making, until yesterday.

So I bought our cards and decided the simplest way to get the m-i-l’s the four miles from ours to hers was to post it!  Look some things are better left to the postman – he gets paid for it.

I popped a note and the card in an envelope and sent B and Bud off to the post box on the way to their usual walk.

Now I knew this wasn’t gonna be straightforward and fully expected at least one of the following…

The m-i-l to ring and say that she has got her cleaner to get the card when she goes for her a pie!!!!!!

The m-i-l to ring and say she had had a note through the door saying they couldn’t get something through the letterbox

The m-i-l to ring and say £1.69 (I left the price sticker on and it’s not like I included a SAE and remittance advice) was too much for the card and if she had gone for one herself she would have gone to the cheaper card shop

The m-i-l to ring and ask how was B gonna get the card

What I didn’t anticipate was a stumble at the first hurdle.  Ten minutes, if that, after setting out I heard B and Bud return.  Thinking something dire must have happened I whizzed downstairs.

B:  ‘It wouldn’t fit in the post box.’

Now to be fair the post box in question is set in someone’s garden wall and does have a small slot however with some skill and manipulation its surprising what you can get in.

Me:  ‘The card doesn’t fill the whole envelope, fold it over and then if it wedges, stick your hand in and give it a tap.’  I am always a little dubious about this I must admit, since I read about someone sticking their hand in a post box that had some short of anti-take back your post device and they and the post box got to know each other quite well over the course of the next five hours.

B: ‘But…’

Me:  ‘It will fit.  I used to post survey reports in there, you just have to be creative.’

B:  ‘But…’

Me:  ‘IT WILL FIT!’

So now I just have to wait for the phone call from the m-i-l when she gets back from her Wednesday club – I’m betting it’s going to be…

M-i-l:  ‘Whose Birthday is it?’

Me:  ‘Bernard’s.’

M-i-l:  ‘When is it?’

Me:  ‘Tomorrow.’

M-i-l:  ‘Oh, yeah!  I need a card.’

Nelson Mandela nearly made me miss my post a day!

Well we got through the whole month of January with a post every day and of all the days that it was a close thing – even more so that the days I was so sleepy I could’ve nodded off at the keyboard – yesterday cut it the finest and it was Nelson Mandela’s fault!  Well not completely obviously – Bud was also partly responsible.

Yesterday afternoon I started flagging again and decided that I would take a late lunch when B woke up and we could both walk Bud.  Basically because it was one of those fine line times ‘Will I feel better for an hour’s kip or some fresh air?’  So I figured if I got too tired I could just come home and leave them to it.  However this was the right decision to make and I felt perkier when we returned.  Earlier in the afternoon, yet another boring report had nearly got me nodding off.  I actually took one of my breaks in the  middle of it because I was becoming unable to make sense of what the surveyor wanted particularly when he was saying things like…

A precautionary inspection of any (relevant housey bit)  is recommended as part of ongoing inspection.

Electric storage heaters are provided elsewhere.  Okay but then instructed me to go back and take out ‘storage heaters’.

And used the word functionalability!

So after some fresh air and then a perkifying bath with some ‘upper’ essential oils I got tea and then as B was getting ready for work, and this is where Nelson Mandela makes an appearance, I started to watch Invictus whilst making up Daniel and Danielle.

Now this is so not my type of film for two reasons – sport and politics – I ‘watch’ some sport, Rugby League, because I don’t really have a choice at home or if we go to Auntie Ann’s and there is a match on – I may have said this before but in the off season for our Super League this can include anything, the Billabong Bandits vs the Coolangatta Service Mens Club – anything!  And if there is no League on then Union is a poor, but acceptable substitute.

I used to go and watch my two nephews play Rugby Union – I didn’t understand it but I went anyway.  I think I’ve picked the rules up to Rugby League by osmosis over the years, goodness knows I can’t ask B anything when a match is in progress, but Union! I’d be staring at a bunch of lads pushing to and fro and then a player would ‘appear’ 50 feet up the field running with the ball!  It wasn’t rugby it was slight of hand.

And politics – I avoid as much as I can – I only end up shouting at the telly something like ‘Just say yes or no!’

So I figured I’d watch it until B went to work and then find something else to watch.  However I popped it on pause when B left at 20:20, then did some ‘chores’ and settled back down to watch the rest at 22:30 because I needed to watch the rest.

It was truly gripping and Nelson Mandela seems such a genuinely lovely man. Almost too  good to be true – maybe some dodgy past like time in jail – I don’t know.  I was choked and teary a couple of times – I did manage not to cry, even when Matt Damon took his rugby shirt off.  Now in my book he is ‘easy on the eye’ no more, no less however he seemed to have acquired quite a set of pecs, delts, biceps and any other muscle above mid torso – I think they may have been digitally enhanced the images since I’m assuming I’ve seen him without his shirt on before and I don’t remember thinking ‘Wha!’ and having to ask someone to kick my eyeballs back.

Anyhoo I suddenly realised we (Bud snuggled down to keep me company) had to be close to the end of the film, and I wasn’t wrong, but it was 23:50!  I grabbed The Dans and headed upstairs to stick on their paws and get their pictures taken. Popped my post text on wordpress whilst waiting for the glue gun to warm up, glued felt pads on, took photos, downloaded photos and then Bud indicates that he needs to ‘go wee wee’.

Now sometimes this can be a ploy to get a treat but on this occasion he wasn’t being abiguous and couldn’t have expressed it better if he had had a neon flashing sign in his possession that said ‘I NEED TO GO WEE WEE NOWWWWWWWWWWW!’.  It was 23:56!  I have to admit that I did actually toy with the idea of carrying on uploading the pics and clearing up the puddle later – then I realised I was actually considering letting my carpet smell of doggie wee and my little Bud Bud feel guilty for weeing in the house.

So I… pushed publish, rushed downstairs and opened the door, Bud shot through his pet flap like a rocket, then I rushed back up stairs and added the pics and then went back down and let Bud back in – it was only a minute or two but yes, he did give me a ‘You left me in the garage when I’ve been a good boy’ look!

The only thing and I apologise on Nelson’s and Bud’s behalf for this is that I assume that those of you who receive an email didn’t get the pics, even though the original post and revision were timed at 23:57 I don’t think wordpress would say ‘Hey, Paula wanted pics with these they are fully embedded we should just hang on!’

Oh and I forgot to say that I cheated and crocheted the ears rather than knit the loop stitch.  And is it just me or does Danielle remind anybody else of Matt Lucas?

 

 

 

 

 

Sometimes I just don’t learn

Friday I felt much better and we did stuff, Saturday I felt okay, bit tired but okay and we did stuff.  By Saturday evening at my Auntie Ann’s I could barely keep my eyes open.

And yesterday I was too tired to move.  So I knit all day, for fun, these…

And the pattern is from here.

Faux Pawx

I have said before that we can be quite lax about dining etiquette in our household however it is still considered a faux pawx to walk into the lounge and brazenly lick the jam on someone else’s toast without permission.  This applies regardless of it having been sitting on the plate on the floor so long it could almost safely be assumed it had been abandoned.

Bud has now got over it and B has promised not to do it again!

Plastic bags are so versatile!

Because

1)  I didn’t have another basket handy and I didn’t think I could do much with the foliage to hand and a plant pot

2)  It was cold outside on Thursday night and surprisingly dark

I decided to go with a variation of the plastic bag Christmas wreath for my Mum’s plot.  So courtesy of Tesco for the background and Billabong for the flowers here it is.

Because I didn’t feel up to rummaging in the glory-hole for a small embroidery hoop (let’s face it you have to be in the mood for that short of thing) I decided to use two pieces of cardboard – not one of my best ideas, it eventually tears so I ended up sticking the torn hoop, with cool glue gun glue (I wouldn’t like to deal with a hot one), to a cardboard background and then  sticking the remainder of the strips in a continuation of the circle and popping just a few in the middle to fill it out.  It’s only dinky about 8″ across.

To  finish it off I made some flowers as per this template here and glued them on too.  I have made these flowers before from fabric and they are very simple and very effective especially if you bunch them together like a mini bouquet and you can always throw in a leaf or two depending on the look you want.

Things I learned – it takes more glue than you think to stick plastic to cardboard and do not under any circumstances mix plastic bags with a lap top.  The strips and more importantly little off cuts become so staticy they stick to EVERYTHING – you, your jim jams, the floor, the desk, each other, the door frame and the small furry family member and thus migrate (even though you think you have got them all) to the landing carpet, downstairs and the bed!

Oh and because the Hetty (vacumn) was downstairs on Thursday night and I didn’t want to risk carrying it up to hoover the landing I had one of those moments that you normally only see in comedy programmes with a friend yesterday.

We were going to take Bud for a walk – Chris isn’t completely settled with him yet but getting better – so after we’d been to the dentist, a retail park (rug – no, dog food – yes, a foot pump – yes), B&Q quick bite to eat (I realise this doesn’t count as going out) and some light bulbs not the ones we went for because even though B knew exactly what we wanted when faced with all the choices – he didn’t!  After two furniture shops on the way home where we bought two settees (we’ve had the others about 15 years so I think we’ve had our moneys worth) we arrived home to find Chris had been outside for about 10 minutes.

B opened the garage, Bud went crazy, we’d been out three hours, and then B went crazy as Bud had chewed some more door frame.  We went in the house and left Bud and B ‘discussing’ it.  Chris nipped to the toilet.  When we were out walking she said…

‘Er, I think Bud might be in extra trouble.’

Me:  ‘Why?’

Chris: ‘Did you see the state of your landing carpet, with all those bits?’

Me:  ‘It was like that before we went out!’

Chris: ‘Oh, I thought Bud must have done it while you were out!’

 

 

Say no to ONJ

I am pleased to report that following my trip to the dentist today I apparently have fat cheeks (on my face) but no ONJ.

After enquiring how my dentist was settling in, having only qualified last summer, Dr F asked what he could do for me.  ‘I’d like you to tell me I don’t have osteonecrosis.’

Dr F:  ‘Someone been on the internet?’

So after me explaining about temp spikes, ear infection, sore mouth, Dr F had a good old poke and prod about and established which bit was sorest.  Apparently the point of ultimate soreness is exactly where a whole buncha nerves meet up and party.  Having checked the outside of my jaw and then the left compared to the right – they match – there is no sign at all that it is ONJ.

However I do the mouthy equivalent of a bruise because I have chubby chops. Because I have had my top left wisdom tooth out the bottom one has nothing to press against and is a little longer than it would otherwise be (I just realised that as well as saying I had fat cheeks the young whipper snapper also told me I was long in the tooth) and the fatty deposits in my cheek are being accosted by said tooth resulting in quite a lot of redness and a bit of whiteness which was the ‘bruise’.  I just figured the redness was a result of the sore bit.

I got to look at this myself with the aid of a mirror and do you know how unflattering an angle it is to look at yourself whilst laying down with your mouth open – you can see up your nose and everything, well your nose.

So Dr F asked for a second opinion from Dr T, whose practice it is and who has been dentisting for about 25 years – so I had the best of both worlds – newly pressed dental knowledge and the wisdom of experience.  Dr T concurred and apparently I am a grinder as well so that could exacerbate the problem with the fat cheek.

So the outcome was no ONJ and if my fat cheek doesn’t settle down in seven to 10 days I can go back and they’ll do something – I don’t know what, maybe put it on a diet!

Creative Space Thursday – Foliage

My creative space this week is a bit of an unusual one for me.  I normally, if at all humanly possible, steer away from anything remotely close to arranging flowers.    However the one exception to this is when we make a trip to the cemtary on my Mum and Dad’s anniversaries.  I did used to buy flowers or wreaths but then I hit on the notion that it was nice to take something out of the ‘garden’ so whatever has been available has been bunched up, ribboned and  transported for a number of years.  Since said anniversaries are December and January I am sometimes a tad lacking in suitable candidates.

So yesterday was my Mum’s 19th anniversary and my father in law’s 2nd, so I decided to apply this rule to B’s Dad too.  However with the snow and our lack of ‘garden’ I didn’t have as much to work with so had to put more effort in.

Yesterday morning I trimmed some foliage and then with spending an hour and a half out at lunch time I didn’t get time to do anything with it.  The GP I saw yesterday is notorious for running late – which once prompted an old lady finding out by hook and by crook who had what time appointment in front of her, then complaining about the delay and then saying that said GP was very thorough and very good!  A bit like the mother in law saying she wasn’t going for her flu jab if she had to wait like last time!

So as neither was going to get to the respective plots after B went to work last night and I didn’t feel like it I left them until this morning before work.  Well so far I’ve only done one.  I managed to find some oasis and a basket that originally held a begonia (never give me a begonia I don’t know what I do with them, I certainly don’t over water them but they tend to break off at soil level when moved about a millimetre). B took his Dad’s this afternoon.

It contained conifer, ivy, some sort of dryish berry (I have no idea what) and some lavender…

I think it may have looked better in the flesh, or rather foliage as B thought it looked good and he doesn’t exactly pull his punches with his opinions.

Other creative spaces can be found here.

Go stick it in your ear!

I feel like I have spent the last 11 days moaning – I feel sick, I have a headache, I’m cold, I’m hot, my back aches, I’ve given myself whiplash from nodding off at my desk, I don’t wanna eat that, I don’t know what I want to eat, I’m melting no, I mean wilting AND I have a spot!

Well not just moaning there has also been a lot of time sleeping, a huge amount of time in the bath and well that’s about it – with work all the whingeing didn’t leave room for anything else.

However I went to see one of our GPs today and by the end of the week I will be remarkable, no wait, I should feel remarkably better.  If I don’t I need to shriek and they will squeeze me in Friday afternoon without an appointment.

I have an ear infection or two.  That is I have an infection in both ears, I don’t know if they know each other or not.  Maybe one liked it and recommended me or found it ran out of room in one and expanded to the other or two separately thought my lug holes made a des res.  Apparently in non-children (I don’t think I qualify as a grown up) ear infections can be present with no earache.

The GP checked applied pressure to my sinus regions still nothing.  I however mentioned this bit of discomfort at the back of my jaw and it could be that that is the same thing.  I said that the only time I had a tooth infection it was ragingly painful and he agreed where this definitely isn’t.  However I am to keep my dental appointment to get it doubly checked out.

As you know I love our GPs (general practitioners, not global positioning satellite) and even though I can shriek on Friday if not better, and can shriek basically any other time I feel the need and I get wool from the receptionists, they let me down today – there were no newsletters!

So roll on remarkable – hopefully by Friday I will be able to open a box of medication without busting the box.  Hey I’ve never had a box of tablets that opened like a box of maltesers before.

What do you mean it’s back to front – this is my phone’s idea of ‘cool’ which I can’t stop it doing!

Oh and to put the top hat on it this morning B got himself dark instead of milk Kit Kats – What a catastraphuf.