Quick hello

A bullet pointed post for today as I want to peruse my blog roll as well as needing to pack to go to my parent’s tomorrow (until Thursday).

• Camping was very hit and miss
• The site manager didn’t check names as people turned up
• The boss didn’t always record bookings in the diary
• Because we arrived relatively late we were left without a pitch and were left with a small space by the front gate
• Under a light sensitive flood light
• Despite being listed in the diary
• Site manager was sweet once he’d got over his anger at his boss for putting him in this position
• The munchkin refused to settle to sleep the first night
• She screamed so much she was sick all over her travel cot
• She ended up sleeping in our bed, we slept very little
• She left like a log in her own cot the second night
• We had a lovely day in Cambridge shopping for a rucksack for me for this coming weekend
• We got sunburnt as I forgot the sunscreen and my hat (thankfully the munchkin was ok, I’d remembered her hat and Mr H’s hat)
• We had a lovely lunch with a friend from the church we went to there
• She’s lost 5 1/2 stone (77 lbs) since January and looks great
• I’m feeling a tiny bit more inspired with my diet
• We also spent £70 on Sabatier knives and a knife block in TK Maxx (rrp £230!)
• They’re fab, but we’re skint anyway
• The munchkin loved the ducks on the river in Ely (where we went on Sunday), she was pulling herself as close to the fence as possible (she was in her pushchair) so she could see them better.
• She said wack, wack (quack, quack) a lot and used the hand movement to go with it
• She’s gone a little bit duck mad at the moment
• I had to go and see the dermatologist yesterday
• I think I’m confusing the doctors a bit
• The doctor who spoke to me first had to get the consultant himself to talk to me
• Even though the prick test for latex was negative he’s running blood tests and wants to tape a latex glove to my back to 48 hours
• That’ll be fun…..not
• Within an hour I was itchy from the tape put on my arm where the blood was taken
• The biggest problem is not the latex reaction (though that makes buying certain things a hell of a lot more expensive….), but my reaction to adhesives (even hypoallergenic ones)
• 48 hours with tape on my back could be awful (though I’m trying not to think like that
• The consultant also looked at my face (I think around my eyes) and the lines on my hand and said that I’m someone who’s prone to allergies (?!? – has anyone else heard of this?)
• He looked at the munchkin and said that she will be too
• Thanks…..like I don’t worry enough about her at times
• He did say that despite my allergies and Mr H’s asthma we should be ok to try the munchkin with peanuts now
• We have a huge amount of sorting to go in the house over the next couple of weeks
• The munchkin’s God-mother R is coming to stay here for a while
• She’s left her job (fantastic)
• She’s not got one to go to (not good)
• She won’t be able to afford the rent on her place in a month or so
• So to enable her to stay near here where her  church and many friends are we have offered her our spare room
• Which is full of junk
• The bed is covered with paperwork for filing
• Oh dear
• Mr H is going to take a couple of days off work to get it sorted
• R may have to sleep on the living room floor for a couple of nights
• But the tidying is going to have to wait
• I need to spend today packing my rucksack, sorting washing and dishwasher and browsing some of my blogroll (for my sanity)
• Tidying begins in earnest next week

Well, that was a flying visit though my week, until next week (hopefully!), goodbye!

 

Apparently…

You Are A Chocolate Ice Cream Girl

Dramatic. Powerful. Flirty.

What Flavor Ice Cream Girl Are You?

The hope now is that I’ll be able to have some ice cream this weekend (I’m not sure I’d describe myself as dramatic or powerful though I know I can be flirty when I want to )

The weather forecast is improving which fantastic since we haven’t been able to fabseal (? – that’s what Mr H calls the waterproofing stuff) the tent yet. We have a little 3 man tent, but we wouldn’t be able to put the munchkin’s travel cot in there so she’s be in our bed. Our 6 man tent is huge with two bedrooms and a big porch, big enough to cook in and (once it’s treated) comfortably shelter/eat/play games etc in when it’s raining.

I’m supposed to be working out what we need to pack and buy in the supermarket but I’m rather addicted to the Scrabulous application on Facebook…I’ve got 4 games on the go at the moment! If you’re on Facebook and fancy playing scrabble with me let me know in comments (with your name or some menas of me finding you on there!).

 

Home again – but not for long!

Hello! It’s been so long since I didn’t a proper series of posts rather than the odd one here and there in between going away…and it’s not going to get much better for the next couple of weeks.

The munchkin and I got back from Wiltshire on Friday afternoon. It was a good week away; though I didn’t find it particularly relaxing Dad was a lot better there, smoking and drinking less than before. I think I’ve mentioned before that L (my sister) and I do not get on well, and while we can cope with 48 hours in each other’s company it gets harder after then. I was biting my tongue by the end of the week. She was trying to tell me how to bring up the munchkin (she’s happy, healthy and a bright little button – get off my case – the fact she still finger feeds much of the time isn’t a problem!), critisising me for having biscuits/cake at afternoon tea (yes I’m on a diet, but I’m on holiday – and if you can’t cope with people digging at you for eating for two – Mum not me – then don’t have a go at others) and insisting that we go where she wants to on the only sunny day that the munchkin and I were there for. Argh! Then yesterday she called asking that I post the collapsible travel cot we have promised to lend her to her now (baby’s not due until middle of November!), she didn’t like me saying that I’d dig it out later and make sure it got to her before she might need it. I had to hang up on her, which I felt bad about doing so I texted to say that I’d take it with me when I do to Mum and Dad’s at the end of next week (not quite sure how that’ll work – I’m going by train, via the London Underground with the munchkin, her pushchair and a rather large rucksack of our stuff…).

I’m getting a bit distracted there….sorry. I think I just needed to vent

It’s good to be back home with Mr H, I do miss him a lot when I’m away and in the last fortnight I’ve only seen him at weekends. We’re together now until I go north on the 31st (Mum’s got a singing weekend and I’m looking after/feeding Dad while she’s not in, she’s only going to the day on Saturday but it’ll be an early start and late finish). We’ve booked our first family holiday since the Scotland trip (May) as well…we’re going camping in the Cambridgeshire Fens near Ely this weekend. I’m hoping the weather perks up, it’s been grey and drizzly so far today.

I made it to my weigh in last night (it’s been three weeks since I was last there), I managed to speak to the leader who is happy with me missing weeks if I need to be with Mum and Dad. Technically I only get 6 weeks of ‘holiday’ a year and beyond that I have to pay for weeks I miss, but as there are no convenient groups at Mum and Dad’s I can’t make it if I go up, she’s said that as long as I let her know she won’t worry about it. Amazingly I lost 2 1/2 lbs over the last three weeks, I’m quite chuffed, though I’m still heavier than I was a couple of months ago…I’m getting there though. I’ve got the weight tracker on then tab at the top of here and if I don’t get to class or can’t stay after weigh in I’m hoping that the tracker will be a bit of accountability for me.

There’ll be no Fun Monday from me for the next two week as I’m not here then, but I’m hoping that the lovely Chris keeps updating her ‘who’s hosting next’ bit and I’ll find you all once I’m back

I’m going to go now and try and get some of the housework back under control, hopefully I’ll manage to read a few blogs this week and I’ll try and say hello to a few of you. Bye!

 

Latest update

I got back from my parents last night. The police have caught one of the scum that took Dad’s wallet from him and took Mum’s handbag and he’s admitted taking them, but is denying being involved in other thefts in the area that the police are sure he’s involved in. His fingerprints were found in Mum’s bedroom and in Dad’s bedroom which is why he admitted taking those. He’s making nasty allegations to try and explain why his finger prints were found upstairs, but he doesn’t know that my uncle was also at my parent’s when the handbag was taken and will testify that he didn’t go upstairs that day. He’s been remanded into custody (probably a good thing as the police said he tried to escape at court so probably would have tried to jump bail) which makes my Mum feel a little safer. The police have paid for lots of new locks on all their external doors and installed a camera in the hallway (only going to be there for 2 months or so) which is helping, but Mum’s still lost all her security, they’ve lived in that house for 29 years and hadn’t had a single problem until this.

Dad’s dementia is definitely worsening, he’s getting more confused. His driving is not good, Mum has got to contact the DVLA and his insurance company soon. I suspect he won’t be allowed to drive any more when she does so. He’s drinking more and smoking in the region on 60 cigarettes a day so Mum’s also worrying about how they’re going to afford that too. She’s had fantastic support from friends at their church, one couple have even lent Mum £500 to tide them over until the bank start being more co-operative. Dad may not be given any more bank cards, the bank are refusing at the moment as they’re saying Dad must have told the thieves the PINs, though he says he didn’t (I suspect he can’t remember or must have blanked it out, the thief says he found the PINs in some of Dad’s paper work in the living room – they definitely weren’t there).

We’re all (except Mr H who’s working) going to my gran’s in Wiltshire on Monday for a family holiday. Mum and Dad, L (with large bump) and T, Nana and the munchkin and I….I think there’ll be a rather full house! Mum’s going to be sleeping on the dining room floor so that the munchkin and I can have one spare room, L and T the double spare and Dad the third spare room (my gran has a huge house for just her). I’m hoping the time away will be a chance for us all to relax, especially Mum and Dad, though I suspect there’ll be several phone calls from the police sorting this, that and the other out while they’re there.

I’m back home next Friday, though I’m in London for a pamper day/photoshoot thing on Saturday (I won it after filling in something while I was in town shopping one day, I’m taking the munchkin’s God-mother V with me, the cheapest photo costs £50 so I probably won’t get any, I’ll put them up if I do) so I won’t be able to post then. Thank you to everyone who’s left a comment, it means a lot to me that people I don’t know any off line are thinking of us. I’ll try and come by and say hello once I’m back from my gran’s.

 

On the spur of the moment

I’m not normally a person who does things on the spur of the moment, but on Thursday last week we decided to drive over to Bristol for the weekend. Mr H’s brother, J, has been saying for a while that he’d like to buy our old laser printer and last week he contacted us to say could we post it to him asap! We had a quick look at postage costs, but given that the printer weighs 30kg it was going to cost £40+! We then thought, well, we may as well take it over or he could collect it or we could meet part way.

Mr H’s sister and brother in law (D and G) were already staying with J and his wife, S, so it was suggested we go as well and have a little H family get together. Apart from J and S’s wedding in April (when we didn’t get any chance to catch up and spend time together properly) we haven’t had a chance to all be together for 2 1/2 years (before J knew S).

It was great to spend lots of time together. We played lots of games of Settlers of Catan (something we’re trying to buy for ourselves now, either that or Carcassonne which is better for 2 players), ate lots of nice food (not so good for the diet, though I didn’t put on this week, I didn’t lose either), went of a walk in the couple of hours when it didn’t rain on Saturday morning and just all relaxed together (and drank some nice wine).

The munchkin was wonderful (apart from not wanting to sleep on Friday night, too much excitement). She was so well behaved and friendly. Mr H decided to collapse her travel cot on Sunday morning and just have her sleep on the way home in the afternoon which was not his best idea, she got a little grumpy then, but she did sleep most of the way home.

We had a bit of a nigtmare travelling, both on the way to Bristol and the way home again there were accidents on the M25, so to try and avoid getting caught in the tailbacks we detoured into London and onto the North Circular, it added about 30/40 minutes to the journey on the way home, but the delays from vthe accident were estimated at 60 minutes so that was a good choice. However on the way to Bristol we got caught in some of the rush hour traffic in London, a journey that should have taken us 2 3/4 hours took us 5 hours! The munchkin was good and did sleep a little (though not as much as we’d hoped).

It was a fab weekend, though I’m struggling to get myself back into routine this week and keep on top of everything. I’ll get there though, the weekend was definitely worth it, it was great to have a relaxing time away.

 

We’re back!

Hello!

We had a lovely time away in Scotland. The weather held out most of the time and we all managed to get a little rest. Mr H spent a lot of time with his brother in law, G, climbing, cycling and chatting in the pub. G has since described Mr H as the brother he’s never had. He’s an only child and isn’t close to most of his cousins. I spent a lot of time with the munchkin and Mr H’s sister D.

I did get rather frustrated at one point about the amount of time Mr H was spending out with G. In the first 3 days he spent far more awake time with G than he did with me and the munchkin, I had to point out to him that I was on holiday too and wanted to spend some time with him as well. D and G were very good about baby sitting and let us go out for an afternoon and evening which was fab. We definitely needed the time out, I don’t know when we last had time to ourselves without worrying about the munchkin or listening out for her. Sadly however the munchkin was a complete nightmare for D and G and refused to eat her dinner or drink her milk so she went to bed with an empty stomach. She’s got two molars coming through and they’re being difficult.

The munchkin had her first experience of the beach and the sea and loved it, though the water was rather cold, she didn’t spend much time paddling, but loved playing in the sand (so did Mr H!). I’ll try and upload some pictures later this week, they’re all still on the camera at the moment.

Another bonus of the week was that D and G are both following Slimming World as well, so with the moral support from the three of us we’ve all stuck to it rather well, albeit using the vast majority of our sins on alcohol! I’ve got a bit more inspiration and motivation now and really hoping to keep it up. I’ve learnt a few new recipes and today cooked cous cous for the first time! It was yummy!

We called at Mum and Dad’s on the way back form Scotland. It was the first time I’d seen Dad since he’s been ill and it was a bit hard at times. He’s still pretty much in denial that he has a problem with his memory, though he can’t deny the blood pressure and eye sight issues. He’s seeing the opthalmologist tomorrow and hopefully there’ll at least be some answers to the eye problem there. While we were up he completely lost the keys to church and home, as well as forgetting to change the altar frontals front white to red, despite having been reminded many times and mentioning it himself just before he left on Saturday night to prepare church for the Sunday services. I’m finding it really hard to be at all positive about the long term, my mind is constantly going back to the idea that this all could be a brain tumour….I’m really hoping it’s not, but I can’t seem to help it.

Now I’m back I’m determined to really get on top of the housework. It’s fallen a little by the wayside and I really want to get the house tidy and more organised. I’ve had a good start by attacking the bathroom sink which gets really limescaley thanks to the crummy water around here. It’s not quite shining, but it’s as good as I can get it at the moment. Tomorrow I want to clean the bath and shower and get rid of the limescale there.

I hope you all had good weeks, I’m going to try and catch up with your blogs over the next few days, it may take me a while, especially if I do manage to get he housework under control…..

 

New phone and more

Hello! My new phone is great! The keyboard is a little small, but I’m getting used to it (hopefully the diet will shrink my fat fingers a bit as well as the jelly belly!). I’m able to run most of the applications I had on my old Sony Clie. What we’ll hopefully do before we go away is set up the Bible software on there and get me some study notes of some sort to always have with me. The camera’s surprisingly good, it’s quite nice to have a picture of Mr H come up when we calls me

Caramaena – it’s definitely been worth getting though I will definitely need the protective case that’s on order as I’m worried about damaging the touchscreen in my bag when I’m out. It’s much easier to have diary/address book/phone all as one rather than several bits cluttering up my bag.

Mum did manage to go with Dad on Monday….the problem with his eye is not a bleed, the doctor isn’t sure why he has little sight in it but had referred him to an opthalmologist who he’ll see at the end of the month. His blood pressure hasn’t dropped so his medication has been upped. Dad has had a lump on the right side of his face for ages, but lately it’s grown a bit more and I’m getting concerned that that has links with his memory and eye sight, though Mum said the doctor’s haven’t commented on it at all…..I’m desperately trying not to Google anything else as I know sight problems (and memory loss) can be linked with brain tumours and I’m trying to not go there….

The munchkin is still incrediably snotty, we’ve had to avoid toddler group today as she looks awful and I don’t want the other parents to think I’m just willing to spread the bug around (though she did pick the cold up from there). We’re having fights every time I try to wipe her nose, she just hates it. It’s making her a little clingy and rather less able to cope with being told off…..we’re getting tantrums of sorts when normally she’d just wander off. Hopefully the snot will ease soon, though the 9 day cold rule (3 days to come, 3 with you and 3 to go – something Mum swears by) would mean that it’ll be Saturday before she’s better as it all started on Friday last week.

I’m doing ok, still feeling much higher than last week, though a useless online PDA company have not helped by failing to tell us items we ordered were out of stock until we rang yesterday evening to find out why they hadn’t arrived after I’d waited in all day for them! Grrr! Diet was not great yesterday as we (me and Mr H) were both tired and a little short fused….. but it was still better than some days last week. I did lose 1 1/2 lbs this week which was ok, I’d hoped for more, but a loss is a loss and more than makes up for the previous week’s gain. I’m going to try and be really good today and before we go away tomorrow, and since it was my sister in law that introduced me to Slimming World I shouldn’t do too badly when we’re with them…..that’s the theory anyway! I sure hope it works and I come back from Scotland with a loss!

 

Ups and Downs

Well it was a weekend of contrasts.

We headed over to Bristol on Friday for the wedding of Mr H’s brother J and his fiance S. I spent much of my time looking after the munchkin, but we had a lovely time none the less. S looked gorgeous in a really simple cream chiffon/crepe dress with a pattern of sequins, J was his usual laid back self in a cord suit and open neck shirt. It was a very different, relaxed event, beginning with tea and cakes in the church before S’s arrival. We then stayed at the church for ther reception, there was a buffet in one of the meeting rooms, a sort of chill out room with silken fabrics hanging from ther ceiling and walls (described as the bedouin tent room) and then a band playing the the choir/chancel area of the church. It was so different to any other wedding I’ve been to, but so J and S. They arranged for a freidn to bring a laptop and towards the end of the evening people were invited to load any digital photos they’d taken onto it and they were projected onto a screen above the people dancing.

Sadly S spent much of yesterday being sick having picked up a tummy bug, she couldn’t bear to stay around for the family lunch her parents had organised (she couldn’t face even seeing people eating) so they headed off on honeymoon promptly leaving Mr H and I with her family (Mr H’s sister, D, had already had to leave to get her flight back to Scotland). It was a little awkward remaining with S’s family for the lunch as we don’t know them at all, but the munchkin really helped break the ice. She was amazing all weekend, being a real little character and showing everyone what a good nature she has. Sadly her sleep went out of the window with everything going on so we’ll have a real fight to get her back in her routine this week but we’ll get there.

The down of the weekend was a phone call from Mum as we were heading home on the M4. Dad had some kind of problem last Wednesday and has lost his short term memory and is getting quite bewildered. He’s refusing to see a doctor at all, Mum has arranged for the doctor to call round and try and talk to him about now, I’m just waiting for a phone call to tell me how it went. From what Mum has worked out from talking to Doctors last week and over the weekend it looks like Dad has had a small stroke, we’ll only know for sure if we can get him to talk to someone. Mum didn’t tell me until yesterday as she didn’t want to spoil the weekend for us, though the rest of the journey home was hard.

I rang D (she has her final GP exams next month) to talk about it, and though it’s not her specialith it was helpful to talk to someone with more of an idea then me. She basically agreed with what Mum had been told but also said that it could be a warning sign of a bigger stroke to come. I really want Dad to see someone and get help or at least a proper diagnosis. I know his lifestyle (lots of beer and cigarettes) puts him at risk of things like this, but it’s still hard to think that’s it’s happening now.

I was thinking yesterday that I’m only 26 and here’s Dad being ill and possibly having a stroke and things like that shouldn’t happen yet, and then I remembered that Mr H was only 18 when his Mum died of cancer. I felt so bad for thinking like that, but Mr H was so understanding. He’s been fantastic just being someone for me to talk at (I do mean that rather than to….he has no answers like me, but is happy to listen) and discuss things with.

I nearly didn’t post this, it looks like everything’s happening and going wrong at once at the moment, but I needed to try and get my thoughts out somewhere. If you’re a praying type please pray for Dad that he will talk to the doctors and find out what’s wrong, and that they can help him or at least be able to explain things and try and prevent things getting even worse. I hope you all had a better weekend/end of the Easter holidays.

 

Hello! Long time no post!

It seems like ages since I last posted on here, had so much going on. I haven’t even managed to read any other blogs so my commenting challenge is a bit of a non starter so far…

Had a great weekend back at my parents, lovely dinner out on Saturday evening with the girls (and some of our other halves). The Sunday was my birthday, Mr H stayed home from church and had a quiet morning on his own before we went for a pub lunch with my parents prior to driving back home.

Mum came back down with us and gave me a couple of much needed lie-ins (i.e. as soon as the munchkin woke up in the morning she took her downstairs as once she (Mum) was awake anyway she wasn’t going to get back to sleep). Mum left again on Wednesday and I have a day and a half of relative peace before the long weekend.

Mr H’s company gives all it’s employees Good Friday as a bank holiday so we had a 4 day weekend all together. We’ve managed to make a start on sorting the garden, though the discovery of several large ants nests in various places was a pain and means the munchkin and I can’t go out there at the moment due to all the ant powder around. I’m allergic to ant bites so need to be very careful around them, my legs are covered in scars from previous years bites.

We did manage to have a little bit of time out and about though for some reason my fatigue has come back again this week and I’ve struggled to do much. Frustratingly when I struggle most with the fatigue I then start to have problems sleeping and end up in a vicious circle that only time gets me out of. I had a bad night last night (very little sleep until 3am, then woken by Mr H’s alarm at 7), but had to get out and go to collect a library look I’d reserved from the local library (a bit over a mile away). It did feel good going out, but I was very tired when I got back. I did manage to do all the washing today though which is often something Mr H has to do when he gets in from work. I’m not feeling too bad now, though as soon as I post this I’m going to have a herbal tea and a lavendar bath and hope they put me to sleep, maybe getting out and about more would help….must try it!

Going to go now actually as I can tell I’m starting to ramble….if you’re got this far through this you deserve a medal. Hope ou all had a good Easter. Bye!

 

Ups and downs

After a lovely weekend at my grans (Saturday night was the first night I have slept for 7 solid hours for weeks!) we went back for the second scan this morning.

As I expected there was no change. despite being sure of it it was still really hard when the lady doing the scan said that there was no change. We then had to head back to the EPU to decide what to do next, wait for things to happen naturally or book in for an ERPC. Since baby died about 4 weeks ago and nothing has happened yet we decided on an ERPC. If they have a bed for me when I ring at 8am tomorrow we’ll go in then. Mr H has booked the day off work to look after the munchkin, hopefully they’ll be able to be in with me some of the time, but I really don’t know. He took this morning off as well which was great. I don’t know how I’d have been if I’d been on my own.

I don’t react too well to general anaesthetics, I get very sick after them, so hopefully I’ll be early on the list for theatre, otherwise there’s a reasonable chance I’ll have to stay overnight (not ideal as MR H has important training on Wednesday).

I’ve been upping and ahhing over whether to ask Mum to come and stay for a couple of days, Mr H has too much on to be able to take much time off, he’s interviewing the students for industrial placements in his department one day this week as well as the training. I spoke to Mum this morning, she didn’t mention the possibility of coming, I don’t know what she’s got on at the moment, whether she’s busy or hasn’t thought of it.

One of the munchkin’s godmothers lives locally and has been here this afternoon to keep me company (she came bearing chocolates and a lovely scented candle for me), she’s said that if we need her after work for the rest of this week just to call which is fab.

I’m going to go now and put the munchkin to bed before packing a bag to take in with me tomorrow. Thanks again to those of you who left me the lovely messages.

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Update – I’ve spoken to Mum, after a lot of thought she’s going to come down tomorrow if I go in to hospital then. She was very dubious about coming (after a breakdown a year ago she’s found committing to things hard and needs time at home after being away fro a bit – she was staying with my gran last week so was hoping to have a quiet at home week this week), but having realised what a state I’m in she decided that she could do it after all. I’m so grateful. I’m realising quite how alone I am here, there’s no one (apart from the munchkin’s godmother) here that could help us in any way.