When the going gets tough.

My beloved is a REAL MAN, he doesn't eat quiche (or lots of other things).
He used to be a roofer so worked on building sites. He won't let me carry anything and he opens doors for women.
He once arrived home with his head split open and a length of electrical tape holding it together as he'd been too busy to go and get it stitched,(someone dropped a lump of wood on his head).
He is rough, tough and very brave.
Today he was sitting at the kitchen table with me & the 2 DGD's, I said to Eileen 'What shall we do next?'
'Lets make cakes!' said Eileen
My beloved was up off his chair and off to the garden shed before Eileen had finished her sentence, lol.
He can't stand watching her scattering flour or breaking eggs, he will only re-enter the kitchen when all the mess has been cleared away.

Lazy day today, busy day tomorrow

I got most of my jobs done this morning so I spent the afternoon on my crochet.
Tomorrow I have baby Suzy from 8:30 until early afternoon as mummy is at work & daddy is helping at a football tournament, he will take the older 2 DGC, Eileen, who is 4 may stay with us too, it's her choice.
Suzy is about 8 months and tends to be a bit clingy, she prefers my company to my L&M. Eileen adores my L&M so if both the girls stay with us we will look after one each.
I have decided that I have had enough of my sleep being disturbed by constantly being too hot so I've ordered a 4 tog single duvet for me & a 10.5 one for hubby. So we will each have our own duvet, I've ordered new covers too.
Our current duvet is about 8 years old & the bedding is about 15 years old, so I feel comfortable retiring all of it.

Peace at last, I hope

I have been driven mad this week by constant sales phone calls. I registered our number with the TPS & re-register it every year, but it's had very little effect, many of the companies are based abroad so they happily ignore the rules. The UK companies sometimes get round this by asking if you will answer 'a few short questions'. They then use the excuse that as you have answered their questions they are allowed to phone you.
One of the biggest problems has been a call that only rings 3 or 4 times, probably an automated polling system, these calls come through throughout the night as well as the day time. As my MIL has cancer we find calls in the middle of the night very disturbing. We need to answer the calls in case there is an emergency. I've dialled 1471 & taken down the number that is calling us but when I try to call them I get a recorded message telling me I am dialling a number that is no longer in service. 
Yesterday I ordered a phone with caller ID & I've signed up for caller ID with BT, it's free as we pay BT line rental. The phone arrived a couple of hours ago & I've added all our numbers into it's directory.
I've also bought something called a Call Saint, this can be programmed to automatically refuse calls from certain numbers, I haven't set this up yet. Peering at the small print in the instruction booklet for the phone was enough to make me go cross eyed, I'll leave it a couple of hours & then set the call saint up. Hopefully then we will get some peace.

Don't leave it too late

We are often reminded to make a will & not to leave it until it is too late, but it's not only thing to think about.
My ex MIL is still having problems, she isn't settling in the home, refuses to leave her room & is constantly either in tears or throwing a temper tantrum.
Her house had precipitous steps at the back & front door that she found difficult to manage even when she was in her 60's. 
She refused to have rails or a ramp fitted as 'they are for old people'.
She refused to consider a mobility scooter for the same reason.
She also refused, when she was in her eighties,  to consider moving to somewhere more convenient, even if it was just to somewhere with a downstairs toilet, as 'she didn't want to live with old people'.
As her dementia worsened she would constantly phone her sons complaining that no one would visit her, one son claimed to be too busy, the other did what he could but has a disabled wife. Most of her grandsons were reluctant to visit as she frequently smeared faeces on the stairs as she misjudged the time it would take her to get upstairs to the bathroom. 
One grandson & both her granddaughters did visit most weeks despite both having young children and it being an hour & a half drive each way.
If she has thought things through properly she could have moved to a location of her choice, instead of which the decision has been taken out of her hands & she is distraught. 

Coming along nicely

One solitary tomato

The cucumbers are nearly ready

Chillies

Chillies

Baby apples and pears

Baby apples and pears

  

Strawberries

Hanging baskets

 The hanging baskets are full of colour, the petunias are putting on a lovely show but we're still waiting for the other plants to flower.

Sunday lunch & family time.

I went out for Sunday lunch with my DD's yesterday, it was Lizzie's birthday on the 19th and this is the first chance we've had to go out. We went to a local pub called the Pot Kiln, they have a website if you are interested. 
http://www.potkiln.org
We had a lovely lunch, Helen & I had the beef, Lizzie had baked gurnard with samphire, mussels & cockles. I drove so both my girls could have a drink & afterwards we went back to  Helen's to play with the babies for a while.
Baby Lizzie is nearly walking & uses the dogs as baby walkers, the dogs re very patient & walk very slowly when she walks with them. Baby Josh is still only crawling, he also loves the dogs & pats them very enthusiastically, both dogs have learnt to keep their ears away from the babies as they are both very grabby. Both babies made vigorous attempts to grab my sparkly, dangly earrings.
I received a couple of texts from hubby whilst I was out and arrived home to find him still in a rage, cursing & swearing, he was not happy with the results of the Monaco GP.
Whilst on the subject of the GP, I noticed one of the papers that covered the wedding between Geri Halliwell (Ex spice girl) and Christian Horner (Team 

Principal of the Infiniti Red Bull Racing Formula One 

team,) stated that they were spending 

their honeymoon in Monaco, actually I expect they 

were there for the race, lol.

Rainbow witch

So the hat is the wrong colour, the cloak isn't black & the cat is a lion cub, still, the besom is accurate.

If I was a horse they'd shoot me

I've has a nasty attack of diverticulitis and also a nasty attack of vertigo, one after the other.
What with those & my ongoing problems with my eye, I'm still administering drops twice a day, and 
well it's been a fun few days.
Anyway I'm feeling better now, I've been to the Dr's about the vertigo, I passed various tests, my BP is fine so it's probably something viral to do with my ears.
I'm pretty sure all this was made worse by stress, 20 students all needing to print out their portfolio, each portfolio contained in excess of 200 photo's each and took 2 to 3 hours to print, I was given 3 days, I only work a 6 hour day. I found the resultant wailing & gnashing of teeth was very stressful.
On to more cheerful things, we are organising a cake smash photo shoot for the twins 1st birthday. I've been researching what is needed & seen some lovely ideas, I'm making bunting in stripy fabric, alternate flags of blue & white stripes & pink & white, I hope it will look nice. I also have the net fabric to make some tutu's. I've bought a trilby for the little boy & will make him a bow tie, the little girl will have a pink tutu, frilly knickers, a fascinator and a string of pearls. . The twins were 1 a few weeks ago, but we had a few things all going on at once so we will hold it in a few weeks time. I'm sure they will enjoy it whenever it is.

Searching for the perfect card

Sometimes when I need a card for someone I manage to find one that is absolutely perfect. Sometimes I see a card that is perfect for someone & I buy it and keep it ready for when it's needed.
Today I need a card for my ex mother in law, not for her birthday though. I need a card that says 'I know you don't want to be in a home, but you are no longer safe to live at home'!
I've settled for one with a photo of bluebells on it!
My ex MIL was rushed in to hospital by ambulance at 3am few weeks ago with D&V, she refused to stay in  & discharged herself almost immediately, 3 days later at 2am she was taken ill again. The ambulance refused to collect her as she'd refused to stay in on the previous occasion so her son had to get out of bed, drive to her house and return her to hospital. This time her son insisted she stayed in and when she was well enough to be released she was removed straight to a care home.
MIL's reoccurring bouts of D&V are not a symptom of an illness, she has breast cancer probably Alzheimer's. She has always been a bit strange about food, now I don't like to waste food, but I wouldn't eat anything that I thought was off. She has always used food that hasn't been stored correctly & now she is doing really silly things. One day she opened a tin of corned beef, ate half, put the other half in the cupboard & ate it 2 months later. Her son set up meals on wheels for her, but any food she didn't eat she would store & eat later, again making her self ill.

New glasses and no Jolly Up

Hospital on Monday, by the time I got there they were already running about an hour late. I wasn't that bothered after all my treatment is free & I'm grateful for that. Although waiting is tedious it beats going blind. Only 2 people were getting noisily annoyed at the wait & abusing the staff & one of them was there on the wrong day!
Anyway I didn't feel too good on  Monday when I got up & I didn't feel any better by lunchtime so I didn't bother with my planned treat. Instead I bought a length of oilcloth for my kitchen table that has seen better days.
Today I went to collect my new glasses, I can't see straight with them yet, but I'm sure I'll soon gt used to them. I bought the DGC a pack of socks each & a few food staples for DD. When she & her hubby bought their house it needed rewiring, they had half of it done but they couldn't afford to have it all done. At the weekend the electrics went pop, they are now having it done but it's leaving them a bit short. 
I gave her a cabbage & some rhubarb from the garden, made a big pot of yogurt for them & bought them some bread, cereal, baked beans, milk & cheese. It will help tide them over a tight month.

New shoes, not.

I bought these shoes 3 or 4 years ago from a local charity shop, they are Hotter shoes, real leather and very comfortable. I paid, I think £4, they looked brand new when I bought them but 4 years of regular wear and they were beginning to look more than a little worn.

I invested in a bottle of shoe dye and this is the result, I took the inner soles out whilst I was dying them but will replace them as soon as the dye dries.

Wounded

We have a wounded fish, it is one of our Silver Dollars. The marks on it are very strange, so much so that I took a photo of it and showed it to one of the staff at our local aquatic shop. The staff are all fish keepers and all very knowledgeable. 
He said that the fish had either cut itself on something, Silver Dollars are very skittish or one of the other fish attacked it. 
The fish will either survive or die, we really took the photos into the shop in case the staff took one look & said, 'Oh yes you've got lower Burmese gut rot' or something equally obscure that was going to infect the entire tank. 

I'm going on a Jolly Up

I'm back at hospital on Monday for another eye checkup so I've decided to treat myself on the way home. 
I'm going to work for an hour & then I will catch two buses to the hospital.
I shall have drops in my eyes so I will not be able to see properly for a few hours. 
Therefore it is not worth me returning to work, so on my way home from the hospital, when I change buses I will treat myself to a snack lunch & a cuppa in a cafe in town.
Yes it would be cheaper to come home for lunch but I've decided to throw caution to the winds & have a treat.
There are lots of cheap places around to eat, so I'll not be breaking the bank.

I voted

So did hubby, we always vote, we don't usually discuss who we voted for.
I'm cynical enough to think it won't make much difference which party is in power, but we did have a lot of upset staff at work.
One person was in tears, she's worried that her daughter, who is in year 10, will leave uni with £10k worth of debt. I asked her where she thought the money should come from to pay for her daughters education, she thinks we should all pay more tax.
When I asked if she would be happy to pay more tax she said 'no'! Most people don't want to pay more tax.

Hubby & I did have a bit of a giggle when we went to vote, there was a couple walking towards the polling station, he was about the same age as hubby, she looked about 15 but was probably in her early 20's. She was wearing a very tight, inappropriate dress along with the highest shiniest red patent shoes I have ever seen, she couldn't walk in the shoes so she was clinging to her companions arm and shuffling along. One in the polling station, he propped her against the wall whilst he vote and then collected her on the way out. Hubby & I came to the conclusion that she is probably a Thai bride or something similar, one of the local hotels holds night designed for these ladies to socialise along with their husbands.

Hubby returned to the hospital today, he was there yesterday as well, his hearing aid isn't working properly. He saw a different person today who told him, and I quote, 'In most cases it is the case that is broken, but in this case I think it's the aid itself. So we will replace the aid, this will come with a new case, just in case it is the case & not the aid that is broken' phew, either way his aid seems now to be working correctly.

Food

I'm still playing freezer roulette, today I defrosted some mince so I will bulk it out with a handful of lentils and a handful of oats along with some onions, mushrooms and carrots.
I'll split the mix in 2 when it's cooked, I'll turn half of it into cottage pie and serve it with HG cabbage, the other half will make spag bol.
I managed to get a small piece of salmon YS today, I'll cook it in the oven when the cottage pie is on and it will do a couple of lunches for me along with some HG lettuce.
I have 2 more items listed on ebay, a garage door handle & a disney salt & pepper set. I'm hoping to list a couple of things a week this month.
Someone asked who I was on ebay, I'm snittybittykitty.

Garden

The Love lies Bleeding is in full flower

In the raised beds we have onions

Beetroot

Potatoes

  

Runner beans

Rhubarb

Cabbage

Carrots

Strawberries

More runner beans

More potatoes

Misheard lyrics & online porn

DGD Eileen stayed over Friday night, she kept singing a little song, I though the words were Marry me Mary, turns out it was Bury Me, otherwise known as The Kill by Thirty Seconds To Mars. Whatever happened to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star!

My first husband became addicted to online porn, it was the beginning of our breakup.
My L&M also loves porn, tool porn, usually he gets his fix in B&Q, but the traffic is a nightmare over the Bank Holidays, so he has settled for on line porn & is watching boat porn on you tube. Much as I love him I'm getting tired of being called in again and again to admire the size of someones boat or the speed with which some people can 'park' their boat in a small space only slightly bigger than the boat it's self, me I have trouble parking my very small car!

Playing roulette & It's a knockout.

Freezer roulette that is, I'm getting a bag out of the freezer when I get up & when I get home I make a meal out of whatever I've defrosted, so far we haven't had anything inedible.

I went up to bed a couple of nights ago, didn't bother to turn on the lights. I misjudged where I was standing, bent forward to take off my knickers and clocked my forehead on the chest of drawers. I now have a bruise & a small scab, what a ditz I am.

Dgd Eileen stayed over on Friday night, we were up and making sprinkle cakes by 8 o'clock this morning!

I have fallen of the diet with an almighty thump this week, sometimes I get thoroughly sick to death of dry toast for breakfast and a plain jacket potato for lunch. We have lots of rhubarb coming up in the garden, so I started to eat stewed rhubarb, HM low fat plain yogurt with salt and sugar free muesli (after picking out all the nuts & dried fruit out of the mix). I thought this was a pretty safe bet, but no, I've been adding a couple of spoonfuls of sugar when I cook the rhubarb, two tsp to 8 portions. This, the practice nurse has told me, is a no no, but I really don't think I can eat unsweetened rhubarb, hey ho, back to the dry toast!
The jacket potatoes are occasionally eaten with cottage cheese or baked beans, but there is a limit to how often I can eat beans, or I will need a kite.