Just working through the days

 Sorry for the absence, I just didn't feel like writing anything.  You know we're both worried about the upcoming memory assessment and possible diagnosis, there's only so many times I can write about that.  Husband has been exhibiting some other behaviour traits for the past few weeks which are unusual for him, he's become quite argumentative, almost spoiling for a fight sometimes - I don't engage with that.  He's also been downright rude on a few occasions, mostly to me but also to a neighbour, who I then had to go and see and smooth things over with.   He's been shouting at poor Betty a few times lately, he seems to have lost patience and won't play with her and gets annoyed when she wants to play. This might all be down to him being worried, or it might be a further symptom of some kind of dementia.  So it's been even harder to cope lately, and sometimes I just have to walk away, go upstairs with Betty and shut myself in my bedroom.  The assessment and tests can't come soon enough, at least we'll know then what's going on - not knowing and having all sorts of scenarios and thoughts running through our heads isn't doing either of us any good.

The GP rang to say that he thinks he's done all he can with the little adjustments to husband's various meds, based on the latest bloods results and his BP seeming to have stabilised now, his dizzy spells and balance problems have lessened considerably with the latest tweaks to his meds.  So that's one good thing.  

I've not been idle the past few days, I've sorted out the storage unit on the landing (it's an Ikea 8-cube shelf unit with storage boxes, and a further 2 lidded boxes on the top).  Got rid of some accumulated junk in the boxes and rearranged everything, so there were 5 empty boxes.  Cleared out my craft stuff and packed most of it away into cardboard boxes, so the small spare bedroom/craft room is now ready for guests.  Took another car load of stuff to the tip and the charity shop, more clutter gone.  Whilst cleaning out the craft/bedroom, I found another boxful of old paperwork (thankfully a small box) under the bed - I thought I'd done all the paperwork, I swear it breeds!  I couldn't face sorting it out yesterday, but am doing it today, it's first on my list.

Has anyone been watching Jamie Oliver's £1 Wonders on Channel 4?  I do like JO, although his boundless enthusiasm, laddishness and daft expressions do get on my nerves sometimes.  He has good ideas though and his recipes are all easy but inventive, using normal things that we all generally have in our fridges/larders.  He doesn't use expensive ingredients - well not in this series anyway - unlike some chefs (I'm looking at you James Martin, using half a pound of butter in one recipe!).  And he makes good use of things that we might normally throw away - like taking the skins off chicken thighs and frying the skins until crispy, then chopping them finely to use as a garnish.  After each programme he gets lots of derogatory comments on social media, about his recipes not being as cheap as he makes out - well the series was filmed in January and we all know prices are going up every week for a start - and using things like herbs and oil that he hasn't included in his costings.  He does state on his website that he makes the assumption that a lot of us have things like that already.  People seem to be missing the point though - at least he's making the effort to help, by making meals using things normal people have already.  Alright, so there are people who have nothing in their cupboards and have to rely on foodbanks and community fridges, but there are others (Jack Monroe eg) who help with that.  I think he's doing a good job and am trying some of his recipes, I've downloaded all of them from his website.  I made the Squash and Paneer bhajis the other day, featured on the last programme - I used halloumi as I didn't have any paneer (never tried it actually), and tomato puree instead of curry paste.  They were delicious, but a bit of a faff to make and took longer to cook through than the 16 mins he said....more like 30 mins.