Well now. What’s been occurring? not that much, but it felt like time to blog.
Here is a photo of a very small, very brave primula, doing its best against the odds. In January! Why is it getting eaten by snails/slugs? It’s in a pot, protected, and it’s really cold outside!
And here is another photo, of me using my paraffin wax bath for my wonky hands. It takes two hours to heat up, and is very very hot, so you just dip the wonky bit in for a nano-second, and then wait for the wax to dry, and dip again. Repeat a few times (6 – 10 times is recommended) and wait for the wax to dry each time. Then I leave it on for a little while, till I’m bored, then I peel it off again.
Oh, Windows 11 is a pain. Slow, and won’t shut down properly. I’ve had to fiddle about with it to make that work. FFS. Why? It’s such a basic, essential part of computing. Harrumph.
Just read Billy Connolly’s memoirs, Windswept and Interesting. I love that man. He is just so honest, funny, and I’ve followed his career for many many years. While I was reading it I was hearing him say it in his Glaswegian accent. He had a terrible childhood but managed to leave it behind and become the person he is. Love it. Just love it. About to start on one of Jack Whitehall’s books (another British comedian). Love him too. Very different sort of guy from Billy, but has me gasping with laughter.
Well, today I spoke to the doctor, and now I have new anti-depressants. Same “family” (SSRI) but just different. The process of changing over from one to the other is so complicated it takes four weeks. I always have a pill organiser for the forthcoming week, but have needed to set up four different pill organisers, labelled clearly Week 1, Week 2, etc. It’s complicated by the fact that my pill-taking week starts on a Wednesday. Don’t ask. Fingers crossed it will all go well.
Tomorrow I have a guided steroid injection into my thumb joint booked – they’re going to check the rest of the hand too while they’re at it and then decide whether to replace or fuse the knuckle joints. They’re talking about ultrasound and x-ray, so I’m not sure whether it’s one or the other, or both. Anyway. We shall see. Hubby is taking me and fetching me – they advise you not to drive after the procedure.
Saturday I have booked my first pedicure since February 2020. I’m really hoping I’ll be ok to drive there, bearing in mind the change of meds and the thumb injection. Mm. That is something I could re-arrange but will wait and see if I need to first.
The sorting out of the spaghetti tangle behind the hi-fi is going well. Just awaiting some 0.5 metre power cables, and it should look much better. It’s already looking tidier. You can see a jumble of wires on the right, and holes in the wall where the electrician took out the old plug sockets. You can even see one of my plug labels ! as well as various Father’s Day cards. It will all be sorted out very soon . . . .
Football again tonight – we watched Scotland vs England on Saturday. England’s game was a bit lacklustre, but I thought the Scots played really well. (Goalless draw). Last night we watched Belgium play Finland. Cor blimey, exciting. Tonight it’s England vs Czech Republic. It’s always a bit fraught watching England play, partly because it’s our team, and partly because they’re not that reliably good! We both shout at the screen, I tend to shout a bit at the inanity of the commentators – they do have a tendency to state the bloody obvious – and why can’t they just shut up once in a while? I don’t need to hear their constant speculation about who will go through! I do understand that they can’t hear me . . . .
I’m a bit worried that the motherboard on my computer is failing. It’s not quite 3 years old yet, so a bit soon. But from time to time things don’t work. For example the monitor (even the new one), the keyboard, and some of the USB ports. So I’m backing up every other day and keeping a watch on it. I did have an old computer where Windows lost all its USB drivers, so installing Linux worked, but I’m already using Linux on this one!
Temperatures are currently lower, so better for me. 17C today, 21C tomorrow allegedly. Anything over 23C leaves me limp. So this is just fine.
Reading some excellent stuff at the moment. Currently halfway through “Barbarossa/how Hitler lost the war” (Jonathan Dimbleby). It’s very interesting, detailed, and intense. At the moment I’m having to leave it for a day or so in between reading sessions because there’s quite a lot about the massacres of Jewish people. Horrific anyway, but as I have Jewish heritage (my Dad and all his relatives) it’s particularly upsetting. It’s hard to understand such hatred, based on nothing except propaganda.
The oven has continued to work ok, so that’s a mystery.
The decorator has been and we should get the quote shortly. All starting to fall into place now.
I have an appointment for a nerve conduction test, and another appointment for ultrasound and x-ray scans of my hand, when they will also do a steroid injection into my thumb. Then I get to see the consultant the following week to decide what to do (joint fusion or joint replacement).
Today my back is dreadful. I’ve had back problems for over 40 years, surgery 28 years ago which helped, but am all bent over to one side. It’s improved from this morning, when I was bent over sideways and frontways as well! still, painkillers, hot/cold packs, not doing anything for more than 20 minutes, and tomorrow it should be better. If not, I’ll try and get to the osteopath this week.
Part of the “not doing anything for more than 20 minutes” included a potter round the garden, in the rain. Took a few pictures because the colours cheer me up so much! and made me feel better even though I couldn’t manage a shower this morning. (I’ll deffo have one tomorrow, though!)
From top left: bluebells, ajuga (bugle plant), acer with forget-me-nots, more forget-me-nots with foxglove, then three different heucheras. The heucheras are known in French as “désespoir de peintres” because they never stay still enough for the painter!
Time for another blog. I can’t believe it’s so long since the last one.
The pain in my right hand is much less now. I’ve weaned myself off Tramadol without any withdrawal symptoms, and today is the first day since I can’t remember when without needing any painkillers at all. I’ve been taking the glucosamine and cod liver oil tablets for a couple of weeks now, and the difference is remarkable. No grinding, even, when I flex the knuckle. It still cracks, though, sometimes, and that hurts, but I can cope with that.
Saw the neurosurgeon on Thursday morning. He’s Italian, tall, handsome, very efficient and thorough. The good news is I don’t have Parkinson’s Disease, just “essential tremor” which is age-related. There are tablets which can help, but in my case it’s mild and intermittent, so we’re not going to bother. He asked me to book myself in for an MRI scan of my head and ears – and the hospital phoned today – two days after my appointment with him – because they had a cancellation! Amazing service. So I’ve had the scan, and the results will go to my GP, whom I need to see in three weeks or so anyway. Win.
Knitting – all going well. Have knitted the daughter a pair of socks, which she says are like “heaven” on her feet, am wearing the merino wool socks I knitted for myself in the yarn I’m testing to see if I can wear wool without itching, and have even persuaded the husband to let me knit him a pair of socks which bridge the gap between boring (his choice) and interesting (my preference). We shall see. I’ll start on his socks when I get the right size Hiya Hiya circular needles. Meantime I’m knitting him a cream coloured v-neck slipover in chunky yarn, which is growing very quickly.
YD’s DK socks
my Milla Mia socks
yarn for hubby’s socks
I’ve re-painted one wall in our bedroom, which had scuff marks from the old portable fat screen tv set, and it looks wonderful. I used to have a large plant in front of the scuffs, but now have a little plant, and the whole room looks much bigger and cleaner. It sparked off hubby’s fixing of wall shelves in our bedroom, and in the children’s spare room, which look much better than the floor standing bookcases we had, and allows for cleaning round and underneath much more easily. The rooms look more open and much nicer.
Well, things have moved on apace. Saw the physiotherapist on 8th March, which was 8 1/2 weeks since the operation. She said that now it’s all healed inside, and is stable, I can work on getting back to normal. So I’m hardly wearing the wrist support at all, only needing to take 2 paracetamol 3 or 4 times a day, and feeling much better generally.
I asked her about knitting and she said to start off doing a few minutes at a time. I knitted a dishcloth, which would as a rule take me an evening, but only did five minutes at a time. Went to the new knitting group at the shop on Thursday and again on Saturday, and after 6 evenings’ knitting as well as that, I finished it. At the group I knitted for a few minutes, then had a rest for 20 minutes or so, then knitted for a few minutes. I know when it’s time to stop, and do, and it’s going well so far. I can’t knit as fast as I normally can just yet but I’m definitely improving.
So now I’ve cast on a hat for Lily, who is 2. It has a ruffled brim, which meant casting on 290 stitches. That’s a long row. But there’s only 6 rows of that, then when the brim’s done, it’s down to 90 stitches, which is more manageable. And it will look so pretty, I think she’ll look like a little flower. It’s a winter hat so completely the wrong time of year to be knitting it, but I’ve promised myself small projects, and this is a small project.
Took the car out for a spin last night, to see how that went, as it’s a long time since I drove. That was fine, so today I drove to Solihull to meet my friend and we had a really nice coffee and a chat in Starbuck$. Tomorrow I can take myself to my hair appointment!
And to cap it all, the weather is absolutely beautiful outside. Breezy, but sunny and exhilarating. Finally!
loonyfeminist 