Busy day. Woke late, had breakfast, did my Wii Fit + stuff, showered, dressed and went to Solihull. I had to return stuff to Next and John Lewis, take the insurance claim for the cat’s treatment to the vet for them to fill in, and go to Lakeland. Did everything, took it gently, had a cup of coffee in Drucker’s half-way through, but am still absolutely exhausted.Thank heavens I can go to bed early and just sleep.
Month: January 2011
Wednesday 26th January 2011
A wonderful day. Had my hair cut this morning by the inestimable James at Toni & Guy, then met lovely friend Fiona for lunch at spud-u-like. I used to work with Fiona at Solihull Council, and she still works there. We always have a lovely chat about life in general, including our cats and sexist football commentators, for example, today.
In between the two things, though, I saw a bagpiper in full regalia playing his pipes today outside Marks and Spencers, so put a couple of quid in the hat and asked him to play “Flower o’ Scotland”, the which he did, while I stayed and listened. As my mum is Scots by birth, I really like the lyrics of that one.
Next, met quite by chance a friend I’ve known for over 40 years now – my friend Kim. We had a really nice chat too, and she’s really happy now she’s changed some basic things in her life. Good to hear. Excellent news.
Came home, changed my coat as it’s cold today, went straight out for my small constitutional round the block which I’m doing all the days I don’t do the Wii Fit thing. Must lose this Christmas weight.
Then ordered some new shoes on line (they’re a style I have in two colours already and know what size fits me . . . how sad is that??) and read The Big Issue with a nice cup of tea and did the crossword.
Was very pleased to see Adele featured in their music section – YD had told me about her only yesterday, and I’d watched her sing a couple of tracks on youtube. Amazing voice, just amazing. Talented young woman.
Also, over the past few days, have made contact with a friend from years and years ago. My mum’s best friend at school married a Swedish guy, moved to Sweden with him and had three sons. They were always turning up at strange hours desperate to use our loo, and were great fun. We went over in 1970, I think it must have been, for a summer holiday, which was absolutely wonderful. Somehow or other we lost touch over the years, but I have always thought about them and what they’re doing now.
Well, thanks to facebook, I’ve actually managed to contact the middle son. Who is an airline pilot, no less, and lives in China! Oh. My. God. His photos look exactly like I would expect him to look, 40 years later. What an interesting life he has. A multilingual son, and a Swedish partner. The guy is bilingual himself, with an English mother and Swedish father, but I guess he must speak Chinese as well now. Blimey. Makes my French, Italian and Spanish look a bit pathetic really. But it’s not a competition, now, is it.
It is wonderful to have found one of them, at least.
And good news about the cat – she’s back on top form, now, but not quite so keen on biscuits as she was. I’m sure that will pass . . .
25th January 2011
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Less weepy and pathetic today. I have an appointment to have an ultrasound scan of my feet at the beginning of March (don’t ask!) and a physiotherapy assessment of my hand/arm/wrist next Friday, 4th Feb. Finally. It does feel like something more positive is happening about all my wonky bits.
We had a small drama with the cat on Sunday. She’d been eating grass, and we think a long stalk got stuck, and she couldn’t swallow it. She was gagging, but not vomiting, and couldn’t manage to eat anything. So off we went to the emergency vet (thank goodness we’re insured!) and paid £104. But she was seen immediately, thoroughly examined, and given an anti-inflammatory injection, which has done the trick. She doesn’t mind being examined at all, takes no notice of a thermometer being poked up her bottom, nor a needle stuck in her skin. Very sweet and docile. Also curious – she jumped from the examination table to the computer desk and started pottering around on there. Bless her.
Yesterday she could only manage soft food, today she’s back to top form and has eaten a whole sachet of soft food and some biscuits too. Hooray!
Am keeping up with the Wii Fit+ stuff and the 10 minute walk every other day. It’s good, not just for the actual exercise, but being outside is good too. Roll on gardening weather.
My friend Cas came round for coffee this morning – we used to go to school together, many moons ago in “nineteen hundred and frozen-to-death.” We drank coffee, chatted and ate home made double choc chip cookies. Yum.
This afternoon will be sleep time, after lunch which is going to be a bread roll with possibly ham, maybe cheese, then two little oranges and a banana. Also my lunchtime cocktail of pills (anti depressants and Bromelain – pineapple extract – supposed to help with the pain).
22nd January 2011
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Well, today I am officially a Miserable Old Baggage. I’m weepy and very fed up. Mostly with constant pain. So I’ve decided to keep on with the Wii Fit+ twice a week, and all the other days to go for a walk. It’s ten minutes round the block, and as well as the exercise, the daylight is good for miserable old baggages like me.
Just been for said walk in new shoes (with extra sock wrapped round the ankle they’re rubbing) and it was fine.
Thank goodness for painkillers and ice packs, that’s all I’ll say about my hand / arm/ wrist.
Yesterday I made a banana and chocolate chip cake with the left over bananas. Yummy. In fact, might treat myself to a small(ish) piece later on this afternoon with a cup of tea while I read one of my new books.
Paul O’Grady’s “At My Mother’s Knee”, Bill Bryson’s “Icons of England” and Alison Weir’s “Lancaster and York”, all arrived today. Hooray! Have just finished all my library books, so they can go back on Monday, and I just love to have a pile of books to read. Love it.
Well, hand hurting, so must stop.
20th January 2011
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An interesting week. Monday I slept. A lot. Tuesday I had a pedicure – always good. Wednesday – slept. A lot. Today – went to see the podiatrist about my wonky feet. Lovely, lovely man. Wonderful manner. Outcome – it’s Moreton’s Neuroma, and my Ecco shoes are way too soft and I’ve had to buy some different shoes. They have a much more rigid sole, which should help, but they look like – well, they are – trainers. Really not my style, but health comes first. They are Brasher’s which apparently is a good make, and they’re ok I suppose. Next, I have to have an ultrasound scan and then go back to see what’s happening. If the different shoes don’t work, it’s steroid injections. If those don’t work, it’s surgery. So it’s good that he’s trying conservative measures first. I’m not allowed to wear slippers, even. But I am allowed to wear more dressy shoes for a short period. I don’t do heels – haven’t worn heels for years and years now, because of my wonky back, but trainers! really!
Vic came with me, thank goodness, and took me into Solihull afterwards to get said shoes / trainers, then we had a coffee in Druckers. Very nice. Also bought some egg-poaching silicone thingamajigs in Lakeland.
Long sleep this afternoon. Had to get up at 8 am this morning – really not used to that any more.
The weather is just beautiful. Cold, but sunny. A deep frost each night (well, deep for the British Midlands). I don’t care how cold it is as long as it’s dry. And it is! lovely.
The external hard drive finally arrived from Play.com. I ordered it initially on 8th December, and it arrived today, after several emails and phone calls. Apparently the first one, which I never received, was confirmed as delivered on 10th December by the courier – interesting, as our road was impassable on that day. Anyway, anyway, anyway, it’s here now, all set up, attached directly to the music server and set to back up regularly and incrementally. Next thing – to get a networked external hard drive (called a NAS I think, Network Attached Server) – possibly a Buffalo one – so that I can back up both Vic’s machine and mine more easily.
When YD and boyfriend have moved into their house, the next thing is to set up the final external hard drive, dedicate that to the music server, and keep one at their house, swapping them over every month or so, so that we have some off-site backup. I did check out online backup, but for 206Gb of music it’s very expensive, so I think this is a better solution. It’s all great fun.
Vic is currently doing the dinner. A chilli made for Christmas with some mushrooms he’s just discovered in the fridge. Tomorrow the shopping is being delivered, and I have decided I really must start using the Wii Fit+. When the shopping’s been put away I’ll do my stuff. In my new shoes. Hmph.
I’ve set up a Scrabble game on my Ubuntu. It’s actually called Networdz and runs in a Windows emulator, called Wine, but you just can’t get a decent Scrabble game on Linux. It’s not as intuitive as the Funkitron one, but it at least works! And makes a change from the card games I like to play.
Oh dear, sounding geeky again. Ah well.
15th January 2011
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A productive day. Cleaned the en-suite and the downstairs loo thoroughly. They do get a cursory wipe regularly, but this was a proper clean. Smug or what.
Also have rearranged our cupboards a bit so that things are easier to see and manage. That felt good and is much better now.
And I’ve defrosted some lovely double choc chip (dairy free) cookies which are very nice to nibble at after a meal. As well as my usual chocolate ration, of course. What sort of a girl do you think I am?
The cat, also, had a productive day. She wrestled with a small cotton rug we keep by the patio door, then hid underneath it, keeping very still, for a while. Then she wriggled about underneath it, for a little while, then crawled out and sat up, as if to say “well, that’s done then”.
Vic has done the dinner in our new, Christmas gift, slow cooker. Smells lovely, and he’s not rushing about getting fraught.
Between us we also sorted out the music which says “unknown” on his DS player. It took a bit of doing, but it’s done now and he is happy with it all. Excellent.
YD phoned a bit fraught, but talked her through it and now she’s ok. ED also phoned, full of exciting things they’re going to do with their flat in Southampton, and stories of their naughty cat JR!
Watched first of “Episodes” with Steven Mangan and Tamsin Greig. Loved it. Can’t wait for the next one. Loved “Rev” too and am awaiting the issue of that on DVD. Love Tom Hollander. Excellent actor, so versatile.
Hand, arm and wrist still painful. Damn.
Have some machine knitting projects – one involving the garter carriage, now I’ve got some sound-absorbing feet for the table – and one not. But I have to have a) the time, b) the inclination c) the energy and d) my machine knitting head on. Maybe this week.
13th January 2011
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Yesterday I went into Solihull. My list was very short – only two places to go, John Lewis and the library. I needed to go to John Lewis because I wanted to return a handbag I’d bought online and didn’t like, and pick up another one which I’d had delivered to them.
Turns out you can’t return stuff to the “collections” counter, you have to go back to the department. So I ended up with a huge box full of the new bag which I also didn’t like, and all the packing, and the original bag, and a heavy bag full of library books, up the escalator to the handbag department. All was going fairly well with the return procedure when I started to have a funny turn. I frequently have funny turns in John Lewis, it’s so flipping hot in there. I had to remove my warm jacket and find my hand fan, and start fanning like a mad woman to stop myself passing out.
Then of course I was exhausted before I’d even started the rest of the stuff I needed to do. But it was ok once I’d decided that it was “jacket off” in the shops, and “jacket on” outside. I also took the library books back before I did anything else, so I wasn’t carrying heavy stuff around all morning.
Finally found a bag I liked at “Posh Bags” and it’s perfect. Also got loads of library books to read which is excellent as I still can’t knit (bummer).
Next, when I’d finished in Solihull, I needed to get the food for Becky and Tom to cook for us tonight, so that involved schlepping round Sainsbury’s. But it was ok (ish). By the time I got home I was desperate for a cup of tea, lunch, and my bed. The cat was pretty cross too, as she’d been in most of the morning and wanted to play outside. No cat door, you see. She’s so docile we’d have all her little friends inside eating her food.
Today, I went to the osteopath, who is wonderful. She’s tiny, barely 5′ tall, if that, and can’t weigh more than 6 stone max. But so strong! And a lovely person too. She dealt with my back and gave my shoulder and arm a good seeing too as well, and advice about my appointment with the podiatrist next week. (Take Vic with you, she said).
I always need a sleep when I’ve seen the osteopath – probably because she relaxes muscles that were tight. I need a sleep anyway in the afternoon unless I’ve got up really late, say, 11.30 am.
Must stop now, need to rest and ice my wonky arm.
11th January 2011
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Arm (right from shoulder down to thumb) still not good. Saw the doctor for the umpteenth time on Monday and have been referred to the hospital. Hmph. But have discovered something called Bromelain, which is pineapple extract, and it’s supposed to help with inflammation including arthritis. I’ve ordered some from Zipvit and will see if it helps. Am also seeing the osteopath on Thursday so that should help too.
Saw my friend Sue this morning – went round for coffee – well, actually, a cup of tea – and took some double choc chip cookies I’d made. Yum. Had a lovely chat and then fetched some vegetables and milk from Tesco’s on the way home.
Long sleep this afternoon – 3½ hours. But I must need it.
Saw Aunty Susan on Sunday morning – she popped in with two of her granddaughters, which was really nice. Hardly ever see her these days, she’s so busy as she’s a headteacher, so works more than full time, if you see what I mean, and has her family to deal with too.
Have decided that stretch jeans are the way to go. I expect I will eventually fit back into my non-stretch Boden jeans (of which I unfortunately have three pairs) when the Christmas weight has gone, but in the meantime will stick with NYDJ jeans, which I love to bits. Although I do have several other pairs of Boden trousers and jeans which fit me fine, I think it’s just this one particular style. Ah well. Am also going to check out “wizard jeans” and see how they are. They are also stretch.
It’s half time during the Birmingham City v West Ham United match, so this will be a short one . . . currently Birmingham City are one down. I would like to be a fly on the wall in the dressing room, as their manager has been shouting and gesticulating at them the whole of the first half! Let them get on with it I say and have a go at half time. But what do I know.
8th January 2011
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New Year’s Resolutions :-
I will:
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be nicer to people. Curb my irritable, impatient, stroppy inner bitch.
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stop feeling sorry for myself. Accept that sometimes I’m knackered and need to sleep, and that’s ok.
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try and keep my hands in better condition. They’re dry and horrible.
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not smoke or drink alcohol – oh, wait, I don’t do either. That’s an easy one then.
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be more flexible. I’m a bit sort of “well that’s not what I’d planned”.
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clean the bathrooms more often. Oh, no, scratch that.
Got up today about 11.30 am, then had to go back to bed at 1 pm and slept till 4.30 pm. Feel ok-ish now though.
It’s a weekend, so that means eating chocolate. I love chocolate, and can only eat the stuff with no milk, but have researched that very carefully. There’s quite a lot of chocolate I can eat, but no Cadbury’s, because there’s milk even in their plain chocolate. Same with Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Morrison’s and even the Co-op own brand plain chocolate. Why put milk in it if it’s “plain” ? Grrrrr. But I do restrict my chocolate eating to the weekends. I can manage that, because I know that I only have five days to manage without it. Over Christmas, of course, my self-imposed rule was relaxed somewhat, with the result that I have gained half a stone in weight. But it will come off as I go back to my usual habits I expect.
Have just finished reading “The White Queen” by Philippa Gregory. Excellent. Can’t wait to get hold of the next one in the series. It’s all about Elizabeth Woodville, who married Edward IV during the Wars of the Roses, and really interesting. Now I’m reading Jean Plaidy’s “The Goldsmith’s Wife” which is about Mistress Shore, Edward IV’s favourite mistress.
Must stop now, arm hurting. Damn.
4th January 2011
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Got up at 9 am today – doctor’s appointment at 10 am. Bag full of prescriptions, another appointment to see the asthma nurse on Thursday and yet another appointment to see a different doctor about my wonky arm on Monday. It’s just as well I’m retired, I really don’t have time (never mind the energy) to work in between all my medical appointments.
Horrible day today, cold and sleety. The cat has been very sweet and affectionate – she tried to help me reading my book this morning, pawing the pages and so on. I guess she just wanted some attention, and wanted me to stop reading. So I did.
Still not able to knit – two months now. My whole arm is painful. Let’s hope the good doctor can fix me on Monday, or at least get me on the road to being fixed.
Dreadful floods in Australia – I don’t know how people cope. I suppose you just have to.
Today I did three loads of washing and they’re all nearly dry now. Also did the shopping online ready for delivery on Friday. Vic needs to go through it with me though to make sure I haven’t made any major booboos.
Ham, cheese and tomato sandwich for lunch, three little oranges and a banana for pudding. And I found at the bottom of one of my carrier bags a packet of Bourbon biscuits – they must have been there several weeks. Excellent. Love Bourbon biscuits, and they have no dairy in them! Hooray!
Vic has had a foul day, cold and horrid. He’s making dinner now (cheese, onion and potato pie – yum) and hopefully will feel better after he’s eaten. No sleep either.
I’ve just deleted all except my profile pictures from facebook. I’m not sure why, exactly. I’m half thinking of deleting my facebook account, but I have a feeling that your photos stay up there, somewhere in the ether, unless you actually delete them yourself. So I have, ready for when I finally make the decision.
Still waiting for the external hard drive. Turns out the courier says it’s been signed for – I’d like to know by whom! If I don’t hear from the retailer soon I’m going to ask for a copy of the signature . . .
loonyfeminist 