Small victories

 Husband was being extremely resistant to the idea of going to the GP, he just didn't want to go and insisted he didn't need to.  So this morning I've put my foot down and said I'm making the appointment and he's going, it's at 4 pm today.  He's grudgingly agreed.  The thing is, since he's the one who has to drive the car there, if he flatly refused to go then there's not much I could do to make him do it.

It's been raining heavily during the night and continuing now, although it's beginning to tail off now and is due to stop in an hour or so, it's lovely to see the grass greening up again.  Isn't it amazing how quickly it comes back, especially when it's looked totally dead for the last few weeks/months even.  Most of our veggies are over and done with now, apart from a few courgettes and carrots, I'll have to start buying fresh tomatoes and cucumbers again.

I'm feeling a bit apprehensive about our upcoming holiday - whilst it'll be good to have a change of scenery and be in an area we've not visited for about 3 years, I'm concerned about it possibly being the same old, same old but just in a different place.  If husband finds something to moan about, he will....if he doesn't want to go somewhere, it'll be hard to shift him (and there's no public transport nearby, a bit of a rookie error on my part).  I have memories of our last holiday this time last year, when we came home a day early because I was totally fed up with husband's constant complaints.  But then again he might be alright this time, I can only hope!

The searing pain I had in my shoulder following the cortisone jab had mostly worn off by the weekend.  And now, I'm happy to say, my usual shoulder pain seems to be reducing quite a lot - it's so nice to have one body part that isn't making me grit my teeth because of the pain.  So there's that.

Thank you all for your kind comments - you're right, I am tired and worn down with all the responsibilities and the thought that it's never going to get any better.  When we're young, newly married and carefree, we really don't think that things might change and become very hard, do we?  It doesn't even occur to us.

Probably TMI - you have been warned!

 For the past 2 nights, husband has had nocturnal diarrhoea - he's absolutely fine during the day, it's only happening at night.  Although he says he doesn't feel ill at all clearly something is going on, it's not normal to have the runs only at night, so it'll be another GP appointment on Monday.  So all three of us have had severely disturbed nights, Betty included as nowadays any change in routine seems to fill her with anxiety and makes her whiny and clingy and she can't settle for ages afterwards.  Which means I can't either.

I know it's not husband's fault, obviously there's a problem which needs investigating, especially since several times he couldn't make it to the bathroom in time, which is worrying.  Let's face it, nobody wants to be cleaning up crap off of carpets....well, at any time really, but especially not in the middle of the night when you're half asleep still and can barely get your eyes open.  

Yesterday afternoon I had my first ever cortisone injection in my shoulder, I was quite surprised that they actually gave it to me....there was some doubt as to whether they would as I have an adverse reaction to NSAID meds and the cortisone jab is apparently a type of anti-inflammatory.  A different type though according to the senior physio, which shouldn't give me the same adverse reactions - it didn't, thankfully.  However, she said I may experience some side effects, such as a rare case of anaphylactic shock (no, thank goodness) facial flushing (nope), swelling or reddening of the jab site (no), or intense pain in the jab area.....oh yes!!  After a couple of hours I had the most excruciating searing pain in my shoulder, far worse than the 'normal' everyday pain, I ended up taking cocodamol and going to bed early because of the pain.

So when all this stuff with husband woke me up before midnight, and continued for a couple of hours afterwards, I could have cried.  Now, this sounds (well, is) extremely uncharitable and I'm sure lots of you will be thinking 'what a horrible woman', but I couldn't help thinking 'why can't I have even one day when I'm the unwell person, why is it always all about him?'.  I told you I'm horrible!

Yesterday teatime, because my shoulder was so agonisingly painful, I asked husband to do the dinner - it was ridiculously easy, just battered fish and chips from the freezer with mushy peas, a child could have done it.  Well, husband kept coming into the lounge every 2 minutes asking questions - do the fish and chips go in the air fryer at the same time?  Do I need to put them on foil or greaseproof paper?  What temperature and for how long?  Does the fish need turning over?  Are the chips brown enough yet?  Shall I do the peas in the microwave or a saucepan?  Honestly, I wished I hadn't asked him, it would have been easier to do it myself.

So today it's going to be a very quiet one (hopefully) - Betty's already snoring her head off on my bed and husband is asleep in his recliner chair in front of some daytime rubbish on the TV - business as usual then.

Apparently Blogger's been having another glitch, comments aren't being published, it seems it's a widespread problem.  And there was me thinking I've obviously p*ssed off all my readers as none of them are reading or commenting anymore (well, you might think that anyway, I wouldn't blame you).

As fast as one gets better....

 Betty's fine this morning, she's had some breakfast, she slept very well last night.  I'm glad she's ok today because husband has come down with something, he was unwell during the night with several trips to the loo, I wouldn't have wanted to be running around after both of them.  He didn't get up until 9 this morning (he normally gets up around 7), sat watching TV and has just gone to get washed and dressed.  He says he feels mostly ok now, although is tired and will probably have a nap or 2 during the day (he does that every day anyway!).  Good job I feel ok.

My fasting day went well yesterday, I stuck to my plan and kept occupied so I didn't listen to the 'food noise'.....funny modern expression.  I intend to have another couple of 1 day fasts next week, it seems to be a good and easy way of dropping some calories without doing a full-on diet.  Basically, I had a small banana for breakfast, some cottage cheese with cucumber slices followed by a peach for lunch, and half a can of baked beans with a little sprinkle of Parmesan, then an apple for dinner.  I enjoyed it all and didn't feel hungry.  

Mr X next door is out in his garden with a new builder, talking about his barn, so possibly work may be starting again sooner or later.

I see there's still stories in the media about the Government telling us all to stock up our food cupboards - I haven't read the articles, it seems like a good way of starting up panic buying though.  Which I won't be doing.  I will add a couple of extra cans, dry goods or bottles of water to our normal shopping, to build up a stock, I won't be grabbing a trolleyful of toilet rolls!  I'm sure it's just an excuse for shops to put all their prices up even more.

Feeding Betty - and a fasting day for me

 Betty's having a sicky day again, she's been sick 2 or 3 times this morning, poor thing.  She doesn't seem particularly unwell this time though, she's definitely not lively but isn't moping around as much....she's quite clingy right now though, seems to want to be with me all the time.  She's currently sleeping peacefully on my bed, I'll be withholding food until this evening, or even tomorrow, depending on how she is later on.  We were supposed to be going out for lunch today but have postponed it, I'm not leaving her home alone.  It doesn't matter at all, we can go anytime.  I've decided I'm going to make all of her food from now on - she normally has 3 or 4 days of homemade food per week, interspersed with good quality commercial food.  She loves chicken, turkey and beef mince, so she'll have those mixed with some veg (carrot, broccoli, butternut squash or sweet potato), plus a beaten egg and a couple of crushed weetabix, I make about 4 or 5 days worth at a time.  Once a week I give her a little tin of sardines in oil, mixed with a handful of kibble.  She also has some scrambled egg for breakfast when we have it at weekends.  I'm not giving her liver anymore, although she loves it I think it may be too rich for her delicate stomach now - she had liver last night so possibly why she was sick this morning.  

Husband likes to tell people that Betty gets better food than he does, which of course isn't true - they're both fed well!  She's a much loved family member, so she's going to get a good, nutritious and tasty dinner, just as he does.

Funny old weather at the moment......intermittent sunshine and clouds, the odd spot of rain, occasional gusty winds, and last night it was so warm and muggy I had to throw the (lightweight) quilt off again.

I've decided I'm going to do a couple of fasting days per week before our holiday, just to get a few pounds off.  By fasting I mean a much reduced day of low calorie food, not complete starvation.  E.g. today I've had a small banana for breakfast, for lunch it'll be half a pot of cottage cheese with some cucumber and radishes and an apple.  Dinner tonight will be half a can of baked beans with a little sprinkle of Parmesan, followed by a small pot of low fat Greek yogurt with a dessertspoon of mixed seeds and a segmented satsuma mixed in.  So there's plenty of fibre, fat and protein there, which should keep me going for a day, I'm only going to do it for one day at a time.

Normal service is resumed

 Well, the calm period has come to an end, husband is back to his normal argumentative, contrary and grumpy self, and moaned like mad about the one job I asked him to do (which incidentally has always been his job anyway, only now he rarely does it without me asking).  I just thought to myself huh I've done 7 or 8 jobs already, think yourself lucky mate.  I knew it couldn't last.  He's just taken himself off out for a short walk, hopefully he'll find his better self on the way....although I think he'd have to be walking for a few miles before that happened.

He's decided he's going to try the gym again from tomorrow, having been hardly at all for the past few months.  That might get him in a better frame of mind.  I did tell him he's been sat in front of the TV far too much recently - all day near enough - which won't be doing him any good.  I had to smile to myself very ironically yesterday when we were at the car boot sale, he got talking to some newish neighbours and was extolling the virtues of the indoor bowling club held in the village hall just 5 minutes walk away - he hasn't been there for probably a year!  He should take his own advice and start going again!

The only thing I bought at the boot sale was a plant, an evergreen fuchsia with tiny dark pink flowers, it's to go in a pot at the front to replace a small conifer which has died.  The boot sale wasn't the 'massive' one advertised, it didn't even cover a third of the field, and far too many of the booters were selling kids toys.  So other than the plant, there was nothing that took my interest, or husband's.  Never mind, I didn't really want to spend too much anyway, I'm saving my money for when we're away and go to Clarks Village (a discount retail outlet of  'posh' shops).  There's a cookware shop there that I like, Pro Cook, I want to get a new set of saucepans, they generally have them at a good price.  I'd also like to buy a new lightweight showerproof jacket.  While I think of it, I could do with a new pair of winter boots too.

Right, I'm going to make a coffee and sit down to do some crocheting, I've done all my jobs for today and the dinner (green veg risotto with Parmesan, husband will have some chicken with his) is all prepped ready for cooking later.

Slow news days

 So it's bank holiday today - not that it means much when you're retired, the days sort of blend into one another.  Today though it's the annual big car boot sale on over at the recreation ground, so we'll pop over there.  Must wear suitable footwear and not my usual flipflops, it's rained quite a bit overnight so the grass will be very wet.  The rain stopped about an hour ago and the sun is trying to come out.  Oh and it's the last day of August.....wow, this year is racing by, I'm glad the blisteringly hot sun has gone for this year.

We've been watching the awful scenes from Nepal, how terrible, each time I think to myself just how fortunate we are to live in a country that doesn't have terrible natural disasters like that.  Our country isn't perfect, there's a lot of knife crime and criminal gangs but that's mainly in the big towns.  Down here we're relatively crime free by comparison and I'm so happy to live where we do.  

Washing is on the final spin, it'll be going out on the line before we go over to the boot sale.  I need to go and get a bit of fruit and dairy stuff this afternoon, but there's nothing else that needs doing today.  

We're going out for lunch one day this week, husband wants to go on the free shoppers bus to Bridgwater on Thursday and I've got my physio appointment at the hospital on Friday - allegedly for a cortisone injection but I'm doubtful that they'll actually give it to me.  I have an adverse reaction to anti-inflammatory meds and apparently the cortisone jab is a kind of anti-inflammatory....I've never actually had one before so don't know if it will affect me, I expect the senior physio I'm seeing will decide.  Other than that we've got nothing much on this week.  I'm starting to get stuff ready for our holiday, I've got a bag for toiletries and another for coffee/tea, tins of salmon and tuna etc.

It's that time of year again, we've noticed several 8-legged things appearing specifically to terrify me 😂😱.  Husband is so slow nowadays he often misses them.....I hate it when they disappear, I know they're in hiding and just waiting to jump out and scare me to death.

Can you tell it's a slow news day again?  😉

Skew-whiff

 I've finished the back of my latest crochet jumper and am starting on the front today.  I'm so enjoying crocheting again....in fact I've just ordered another yarn pack (I use Stylecraft yarns from Wool Warehouse, have done for years) which I'm intending to take with me on holiday, to make another jumper.

A couple of days ago, husband bought me a notice board to go on the kitchen wall, it's part cork board and part white write on/wipe off, it comes with a felt pen, an eraser, pins and magnets, plus double sided sticky pads to put it up on the wall.  Husband asked where I wanted it and which way round, I told him.  He came in my room just now to tell me he'd put it up, so I went to have a look......he's put it the wrong way round on the wall and it's at an angle, all skew-whiff.....so that's going to irritate me forevermore 😂😒  Just as well I can laugh about it (whilst internally sighing and biting my tongue).  I'm sure whatever I say to husband goes in one ear and gets totally jumbled up in his brain and comes out as the complete opposite of what I said 😖

We had a fair bit of rain in the early hours of this morning, apparently it's going to continue on and off throughout today, and again tomorrow.  Should be fine again on Monday though, which will be nice as it's our village's annual big car boot sale Monday morning, we'll be going for a look round.  All the front lawns here are beginning to show bits of green which is lovely, the 'grass' has been short brown straw for ages.  My next door neighbour gave me a potful of daffodil bulbs, she'd dug them out of her borders as she said there were far too many now, so I must plant them in the next few months.  I also need to buy another perennial shrub to go in one of the pots at the front, the small conifer in it was killed off by the heat.

We haven't been out much lately, we've got nothing on next week other than my physio appointment next Friday and the weather looks good, so hopefully we'll have a couple of drives out, including lunch and/or coffee and cake stops.