Garden stuff

I made a start on the secret garden at the weekend, well on the entrance to it anyway.

Before

After

The sun creates havoc in our pond, its as green and gooey as anything. We've tried everything apart from chemicals, then I remembered something my second aunty once told me, get some straw (I had loads of that due to 6ft grass being cut and dumped here and there), roll it into a parcel and put it in tights. Lower into the pond and within a couple of weeks it will be clear.

A wasps nest right above where I was working all day, John says they're made out of chewed up wood so we're looking for the hole in the cabin now. Cute wee thing isnt it.

This post has taken nearly a week to get to publishment because of a very bad pc, power cuts (due to electrical storms) and I'm back at work so life is busy busy busy!!

Love to all.

Meeting oneself coming back from holiday before you go.

At work today I was astounded!

I’m covering the next two weeks for someone who is about to fly off to a sun drenched beach somewhere much nicer than Chester. I was excited for the person and arrived singing something about a Summer holiday…..Oooow I said, not long now and you’ll be off, are you in holiday mode then.

The reply was astounding!

Hmmpf!! all I keep thinking is this time next week I’ll be entering my second week and then home.

‘YOU HAVENT EVEN GONE YET FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!’

I was astounded!

I’ve been trying to think of something a bit more negative to beat this one, its going to be hard but I’m determined to come up with a better one by tommorra.

Night All.
Astounded – Chester.

Its all go here.

Ive had a busy old weekend, we went to a National Trust thingymajig on Saturday.

Ducks

John talking to a tree

I want this in my garden.

Me in a den

This looked like a duck on a ledge from a distance, honest.

Deer

The effective way to teach Health & Safety (the white sign says 'If you come near me I'll kill you) charmin.

Hat.

Saturday night I went to a wedding reception at our local community centre which gave me terrible problems at church the next morning. I normally go off into a dreamlike state when we sing, I close my eyes and kind of sway and its the most wonderful feeling ever. This week though due to the thundering disco noise the night before I had no balance so had to grip the back of the chair in front of me and keep my eyes wide open just to stay upright, anyone with bad tinitus will understand that one. Church was brilliant again this week, for anyone interested in why I thought so I'll be putting it on my other blog later.

studentness

Its official, I'm now a student it says so in the letter that postie brought this morning. I have to start reading psychology, sociology, biology and other ologies......in preparation for September. I'm excited, but my blog may become a bit too intellegent for my readers as my brain starts to expand - yeah right!

Have a good Saturday everyone, we are going National Trusting today despite the fact that its lashing down here.

Nosey parkers.

What about this Google thing ‘Street view’

When I first read it I wasn’t sure I liked the idea, I thought it was a bit cheeky actually and the pictures of the Google car’s with the 3D camera’s going up and down the roads taking pictures of our houses and cars unnerved me a bit. Now I’m going to have to make sure I take my curlers out and get out of my pj’s if I want to add something to my brown bin, just in case its that day that they are in our road. I’ll have to wash the care an all because I parked under a tree on Thursday and every pigeon in Birkenhead had a poo on it.

Blimey, what’s the world coming to.

Edit
My windows are not getting washed. I advise everyone else not to clean theirs.

Housey House.

It’s been a well exciting week so far this week, so good that I can barely restrain myself from bubbling over with hysteria and delight in fact.

As with most of the country we’ve had a monsoon descend on Chester so no threshing about in the soil or smelling the lovely cut grass, I don’t mind though because I’ve been doing the domestic scene with a smile (cos we're still in Love month) I just couldn't wait to get the marigolds and apron on, yeah right! For three day’s now I’ve dusted, hovered, mopped, ironed, cooked, sorted out mounds of paper and been to the tip so many times that Erick (the man who sits in the kennel telling you which skip to use) and I are on first name terms. ENOUGH!!! That’s my contribution for the rest of this year, I hate loath and despise housey stuff and I’m doing no more.

I finally dragged myself back to the gym today, (mainly to avoid finding another job to do in the house) and was dead chuffed to find I could still swim a mile, which incidently is 60 lengths, hardly surprising with all the legging round housewifeing. I'm going to try to push it to 70 lengths over the next couple of weeks and if I do it I'll award myself the most expensive dish in the restaurant and a cake, yummy I look forward to that providing I'm not being stretchered out.

Tomorrow is mum day, she gets to choose what we do on a Thursday so this week I’m off to The Bingo........hmmmm!!

‘I’m so excited an I just can’t hide it’

Line dancing might be on the cards because I was very impressed with Margaret's moves at the barbecue, its bound to be easier than belly dancing and I already have some cowee gear.yeeeeeehah.

A perfect day.

Did I ever mention that I love my new church, well I do. All this week there’s been a marq, marc, erm……big tent in a park where about eight churches have got together and each night there has been a joint service. Unfortunately I could only make it on one of the night’s, that was Tuesday and the speakers for the night were Paul Jones and his wife. Now I knew I knew the name and I was also pretty sure he was a singer from way back but like many others couldn’t quite place the group he was in. According to Paul on his travels nobody else could remember either so he gave us a quick rendition of ‘There she was just a walking down the street’ and we all bellowed ‘Doo ah diddy diddy um diddy do’ oh yeah! It was Manfred Man, silly.

Col, our pastor was to introduce Paul and his wife and he came to chat with us before things got underway. I have a bit of something up my sleeve he said and pulled out a mouth organ, by the look on Liz’s face (Col’s wife) she didn’t think it was a brill idea, but he said I might or might not do it and I think she hoped he wouldn’t. Naturally he did and to be fair he was pretty impressive. I have to say at this point that Col is a great inspiration to me, apparently he used to be a very quiet member of the church who never put himself forward. I’m guessing he was shy and not at all an extrovert. But week after week he shows no sign at all of the person he used to be as he sings, speaks, comforts, cries and is never ever afraid to show emotion, that has a very liberating effect on me and no doubt many others because to be able to just be yourself and know for certain that nobody will think you are weird is something so special and I love it.

This morning was a chance for all the churches to set up a bit of an exhibition around the tent, we had a band, some solo singers and much mingling went on. The atmosphere was magic because although all the churches there today do it slightly different our aim was to unite and we did big time.

Tomorrow morning starts at 10am and I’ll be there……..I’ll be theeeere

Love - Part whatever.

Well the starting the day with a cheery note and feeling the Love has been dead easy recently, the get together was fab and I thoroughly enjoyed it. What comes better than getting many people (family & friends) together in the great outdoors with music and food, its priceless. I did stop for a moment and nearly went very sad when I thought about Chris not being there, but then I looked around and realised once again that most of the beauty in our garden was put there by him and his mates. He’ll always be right there with us when we’re in the garden and in my head I said thank you babe for giving us this little haven. Then I was happy again.

Although playing hostess is a wee bit stressful I have to admit I love it, I’m into doing the food and I love walsing round chatting so we’re planning another one around the beginning of August, just got to get a theme organised. On the Sunday we had a couple of mini get togethers to finish off the nibbles and of course I still had to be taught how to play poker. Well……..I can get the bit about making a hand with the cards that are on the table, but as for the betting bit, it defeats me, I just don’t get it. Raise, call and whatever else seems to cost you and the chips were going in at a frightening speed, I didn’t understand when I had to match a bet and when I didn’t and it confused me no end when the chips I’d already put it were counted as some of my stake thing. Oh nooooo!! Poker’s not for me, I’ll stick to what I know.

I’m off out with my mum today armed with the mobility bike, now that’ll be a test for the cheery note and share the love won’t it, because in my experience as with wheelchairs, some people are convinced that if they just keep on walking they will be able to morph right through it. My mum’s an expert though, its no end of fun to watch faces as she ploughs on regardless.

I plucked one eyebrow last night because it was getting on my nerves, I did intend to do the other this morning but I’ve made a conscious decision to leave it as it looks like I’m winking in a slightly surprised way and will add to the humour of the day.

Have a good un.

LOVE to all.

Check out my Slide Show!

Oriental Delight.

Cheery note No. 3 didn’t come easy yesterday due to being poisoned by my K.P.F.U. (can’t yet bring myself to say the words) on Tuesday night. You know when you are so startving hungry you’d eat a wellie if it got too close, well that’s what I was like. I’d had a busy (but very enjoyable) day and no time to cook tea before the hairdresser arrived. Because she does us as a job lot its not quick and by the time she went I was ravenous, so sent for a Chinese, I can just about say that word without bringing back the horror of yesterday morning.

While I was eating the K.P.F.U. I thought to myself this isn’t very hot, warning number 1, after a few more mouthfuls I decided Nah!! and put it in the bin. The result was a poorly me yesterday morning, I never moved off the couch all day because when I did try to everything went into spasm. It wasn’t nice.

I did find a wee cheery note though, it was a lovely soft cozy blanket that I rolled myself in like a sausage.

The last attack of the spasm gremlins was 4am this morning, so I’ve had 4 hours free from toe curling, that’s my cheery note for today.

Day 2

Okay its day 2 of LOVE and starting the day on a cheery note, so I decided a bit of music might fit the bill. Now I don’t ever listen to loud noise of any kind early in the morning because I like to wake up quietly so I nipped onto iTunes to find a mellow song. What happened I don’t know but I downloaded ‘I’m walking on Sunshine’ and proceeded to dance round the living room in my pj’s

I’m walking on Sunshine…… Whooah
I’m walking on Sunshine…….Whooah
And don’t it feel good.

I’m off into the garden to plant my sweet peas round the wigwam John made last night, I might have a dance round it first because that song is stuck in my head for the day now.

Love

Church was fab today. For anyone interested in reading why I thought so its on my other blog.

Nothing startlingly interesting to blog about on this one but I'm sure something will happen soon an I'll blog it.

LOVE to all.

Howdy

Just a quickie while I have a connection. I've been busy getting the garden up to scratch for a barbecue on the 28th of June for our 33rd anniversary. We used to have barby's nearly every weekend, sometimes planned and sometimes totally off cuff, I remember one year in particular when we decided to take out the hawthorn hedge that separated us from next door and replace it with a fence. We phoned our good friend Jim for a bit of manual help and he said ' how many bottles of Malt do you reckon that'll take us' big jobs were measured that way here. Wondering what on earth we were going to do with all the now uprooted hedge the next morning we decided to breakfast on it, believe me you've not lived until you've had bacon and egg fried on a hawthorn hedge, its special.

Anyway back to the BIG barby, the dress code is cowboy/cowgirl, except for my good friend who's been cryin at me constantly because she wants to be a saloon floosy. We're having a polka table and some country music as well as good ole western food but have decided against hay bales as we have some paraffin torches, guests who like a fag and loads of decking, a bit much for John's mini extinguisher I think.

I did think about one of them horses that try to fling you off their back and someone suggested inflatable cactus, might be a bit dodgy googling bucking bronco and blow up plastic though I'd be here all night with the results that would produce.

Any other idea's?

I'm a bit excited.

Anyone who can get here is more than welcome.

Online momentarily.

We’ve had fun and games here with this pc, it won and I got so frustrated at not being able to stay online long enough to type three words I decided enough was definitely enough. When you get wound up over a machine its time to ask yourself ‘Do I need things in my life that cause me to want to smash it to bit’s’ and the answer of course is ‘Yes’ I had made the decision to ignore the fact I couldn’t get online and took myself into the garden, but John made it work last night so here I am. How long I’ll be here is anyone’s guess, its up to BT, Talk Talk, Norton, Netgear, AOL or whoever else insists on interfering and poking its nose into it. I hate that Norton thing it thinks its IT doesn’t it, every time you do anything it pops up and say’s ‘hang on hang on you’re not looking at that till I say you can’…..arghhhh! GO AWAY cease to exist you bossy, nosey, bigheaded piece of filth hiding behind my screen.

I feel better now and will blog about the thing that got past me later today if its still working. Off for that MRI scan now, I’ve just made myself a CD called God 1 which I’ll be playing until I go and on my journey there, hopefully that will fill me with much calmness and I will manage to stay in the hole without pressing the buzzer to come out 10 times as I did last time. Claustraphobia eh!!! who'd have it.

I don't know, I really don't.

Blimey I didn’t think anything got past me but apparently it does. I’m having a bit of a chuckle whilst I type this cos I’m a bit erm…..shall we say amused.

Uh Ooooh!!!!

I see trouble ahead.

We thought our fairly new neighbours had seen our cabin and fancied one for themselves, but on closer observation by me (while hiding behind a bush) I saw to my horror that this was no ordinary cabin thing. When questioned by solar light they confessed they intended to keep chickens.

Now don't get me wrong I absolutley love chickens, in fact I've always wanted to have some myself. I've even imagined me strolling down the garden calling them by name, Hilda, Betty and Roo (the handsome rooster) would all scuttle their webby little feet excitidly to greet me.

But then I saw the many bird feeders they'd hung in the apple tree......Oh nooooo. Birds are another of my favourite animals and at one time I was an avid twitcher. I could identify dozens of them and could even tell you if they were male or female.

I should be made up that we are to have such a wonderful array of animal life next door, but I'm not because we have 3 and a half cats here who all love to hunt even though they're the best fed moggies in the world. Them birds wont stand a chance.

The half cat is called Bob, I'm not sure whether he's a stray tame one or a slightly friendly feral one but he won't move in, he just eats on the step twice a day and rewards us with the odd vole or mouse or bird.

They're lovely my new neighbours, prehaps it would be a good move to invite them to the next barbeque.......yikes!!!

Puff pant an all that.

Woohooooooo!!!

Just been to the gym and I can still do it.

Smiley.

Yes or No update.

Awwww bless you to bits Emmie, thank you for that lovely comment. A great big thanks to everyone else who posted a comment on the 'oh poo' blog its certainly given me an extra bit of ooomph to fight my corner.

However my luck might just be in as it now looks as though one uni is prepared to consider me and I've been given an unconditional place on the access course so I'm very happy for now.

Meanwhile I was packing bags in Sainsbury's for our church's homeless project on Monday and I loved it, man can I yak on and on. I'll have to learn to curb that pronto or I'll never get all the beds made and the tea given out on the ward. Its back to the kitchen job tomorrow for a week and a half because my sister is having yet another holiday. I should stay out of trouble there although my boss, who is just a bit of a kid says I eat most of the profit and dole out kingsize portions so he has to increase his order when I'm due to do a stint. And he has to shout cos I'm a wee bit deaf....why the hell do I keep getting called back then I ask myself.

Love to all.

Water sports

The damn cat fell in the pond today.

When she went in...

He came out.....So I kissed him an I'm off for an early nite :D

Oh POO!!!!!

I've just got back from my one to one interview at college and..........

I might be too old to do nursing, I'm gutted. I told her I put my age on my application form and they then invited me on that admissions evening, they talked at me and gave me a one to one interview....huh!! She said they don't look at the age and she thought I was a lot younger than I am. I was momentarily very happy with that bit but I sooooo want to do nursing its been a passion since I was 15, I just noticed thats my age now back to front.

My next step is to email the two uni's to enquire whether they'll take me and if they won't its back to the drawing board. I've calmed down now, there's probably no end of other things I can do so I'm not getting worked up about it. I'm fitter, more confident and a heck of a lot cleverer than I was when I was 15 and I want to work until I'm at least 70, d'you hear that....I WANT TO WORK.

Rant over, our Mike has just suggested I do something gardeny and I have to say I am a bit green fingered and I have room for a wee garden centre and coffee shop here, so if its a no I have something else up my sleeve. nerrrrr.

Been to the beach

Plans to go to the beach today were delayed due to son being sent to casualty from work in a taxi with a dodgy hand. Naturally I received a text and was there before him. We've been nodding and aahhing for a while now as Mike has mumbled on about his hand but give him his due an x-ray today said it had been broken but had practically healed, just some tendon and ligament damage left. I ran him back to work at his request and we headed for the beach, I'd like to record here I did feel sorry for him.

An amazing thing happened, I took a photo of what I thought was a crab mating with a shell.

Then when I got home and downloaded the pics to my amazement the shell now had legs.

And........we were being watched.

Its been an exciting day in my world but the very best bit was yet to come.

I squiddled about in this mud for ages, its a primeval thing.

Oh yeah and finally I took a pic of John and when downloaded there was a weeny Loch Ness monster in it.

What d'ya mean you can't see it!

I think I've surpassed many in pics of the natural world...what a day!

Great Strides 2

I've been on a little cloud since we did the walk yesterday and I don't really want to get off it, so I wont......yet.

Where do I start about the positives of yesterday, it was wonderfully relaxed and scenic, beautiful weather and fun. I got to see my very lovely friend and her family and most of all it was a fitting tribute to Chris. All in all a very successful venture.




I particularly enjoyed the rolling down the hill challenge with my mate who tells well cheesy jokes ;-) and Joey made me giggle when he hared across to us shouting 'Sue I'm going to run down it, bless him.



We did the red hair thing so that's off my list.



It was magic to have John and Mike on a venture with me because they don't usually do public, that was special.


The messages I've had from people over the last few days and the amazing support we've had in sponsorship has helped us get through this last week with a smile on our faces and thats priceless that is.


Thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

Great Strides - Part 1

Brilliantley positive fab day this was. Part 2 tomorrow.

Now you see it.........

I've worked like a trojan today so its worth a blog.

Hedge before.

Secret garden bit was hard going.

Hedge after.

Note where the grass is non existent, thats where the garage fell down and we (I) only just got round to clearing the debris.

Having dipped in the toolbox I'll sleep like a bick tonight, thats for sure.

Quick Blog

Just doing a quicky so I know what I've been up to recently. On Saturday night I went to a show in Liverpool, it was Dancing on Ice and it was at the Echo Arena. My friend Eve had bought the tickets as a treat for me and we also ate out which was scrummy. I did go into the gents instead of the ladies and there were two men mid pee, my mind said go out quick but my body froze and my eyes stared why does that happen sometimes....yikes!!! They were scousers though so they just laughed and cracked a couple of dodgy jokes.

Liver Building where I used to work.

Me & Echo Arena

Yesterday was spent in the garden.

Me on couch

John cooking

I was at the hoz yesterday with the damn ear and they said I'm deaf in it and they can't fix it, and they can't get rid of the noise in it. Ah well, at least I have one good one. I have to go in one of them horrid MRI things which mortifies me a bit being a claustraphobic person, last time I pressed the button to come out about 10 times. I'll add it to my list 'get over claustraphobia' that should work.

Today the cf nurse came, we nattered loads and chose a drawing of Chris's to be framed and put on the wall at the unit, I think that's really quite nice along with the Great Strides and a yellow ribbon for his willow.

Massive thanks to all who have sponsored us for the walk and helped us to focus on a positive, you're stars all of you.

I'm off into the garden again now, I'm loving this weather and outdoor eating.

So far so good here!

Love to all.

Sam

Sadly another precious life was lost on Friday, like far too many Sam's call just didnt come in time.

Breathe easy now Sam.

If you haven't already signed up to the donor register please consider doing it now.

http://www.livelifethengivelife.co.uk/

A good week.

In the grand scheme of things I've had a really good week this week so I've decided to do a mixed blog on my normal blog, because its positive.

Firstly I worked most of last week and thats always a good thing for me (positive) what wasn't brill about the situation was I was covering for my sister who I love to bits, she was as ill as anything and got herself a bit down as you do when feeling under the weather. However she's a lot better now (positive).

I was off on Wednesday because I had a dentist appointment and I was going to see a fellow cf parent who lost her son 6 weeks after we said goodbye to Chris. I haven't been to a dentist for a very loooooong time and was amazed that I only needed one filling.....ONE!!!! (positive). After that I muddled my way to yet another part of the Wirral that was a bit alien to me, but I found it easy peasy (positive). Me and M had a really good day, we laughed loads, cried a bit and scoffed many batches followed by delicious home made Coffee cake (positive).

I've been asked a number of times now (twice this week) isn't it hard to keep up contact with world cf? Absolutley not! In fact its the opposite, I've made many good friends through cf (positive) and they are just that, the fact that we first met through cf doesn't matter a jot, I love people and the more I can meet in this life the better. I'm made up when someone who's been poorly gets better and I'm delighted when someone on the transplant list gets their call because I 100% beleive that transplant is the way to go until they find a cure or a treatment that prolongs life. I have empathy when someone loses a loved one and feel blessed that I can go visit them and come away feeling we have helped each other. (positive).

Despite losing my lovely son I do still love life and I have lots to look forward to.

BIG Breakfast.

What a fun day its been in my world today. It began at about 6-15am when my phone went cuckoo cuckoo, thats the noise it makes when I get a text, but I thought I was dreaming because it was Saturday and nobody in their right mind texts you at ridiculous o-clock on a Saturday - do they?? So I turned over and tried hard to get back into the fab dream I was having, it was something to do with watching the sun set from a luxury wooden hoose on legs, waves lapping an all that (your fault Sandy). Then it hit me, the text was real and it could be an emergency so I swung my legs out of the sea/bed and tried hard to focus. It was indeed an emergency.

We have a thing called the 'Mens breakfast' at our church, and they were short of a bod due to much throwingupness of a member of the team (pinched this word from Em's own language) could I please help out. I re-read the text, it was from my lovely friend Wend and decided I could do this in fact I went derr derit derr derr derit derr derr...thats the theme tune to the A team in case you didnt know.

I stumbled downstairs and put John in the picture, he said you can do this, made me a coffee and shoved me out of the door, bless him.

I loved it, we fed about 50 men and I got myself on the team for future BIG breakfasts, I also managed to pick up another job as kitchenlookerafterer once a month.....thanks Chris (big grin). Naturally we all had a mega big plate of everything once we finished so I did my mile swim this afternoon, followed by Tesco's where I purchased a massive cream cake..............perfect.

High 5 to Al, Chris, Wend & me and a massive (((HUG))) to Ian, hope you're feeling better chuck, have to say though my hash browns were particularly good (wink).

Do what I do, not what I say.

Ok this is only little but its a step in the right direction. Tonight at the Eastern dance class she split us into groups and told us to chose a leader who would direct the rest of the group in a bit of a routine. My group all thought this girl who'd been doing it for ages would be the natural choice, so we sort of pointed at her and said 'you'll do it', but she wouldnt. She said to me you do it so I said ok. Bear in mind here that I am always facing the opposite way to the class, but I said to myself right you if you have to do presentations in front of a whole class come September you better start right now. I was nervous....very nervous but I did it and do you know what it wasn't half as hard as I thought it would be.

I didnt get it totally right but I had a go.

I'm well pleased with myself tonight.

I shaved another 5 minutes off the mile swim today and did it in an hour but thats IT, I swam flat out without a break so I'm leaving it there otherwise it becomes hard work instead of leisure. The oyster's next and I'll do it on my own seeing as though Gilly hasn't taken up my challenge ;-)

I'm cheating on the dye your hair red one, Lorraine and I are wearing not quite red wigs for The Great Strides walk so thats that one done. I'm allowed to cheat because its my list and I'm the boss of it.

Learn to ride a motorbike was on my last list and I haven't done it yet, however A has offered the use of an offroad bike whenever I fancy having a go and I do, so as soon as the big yellow shiny thing seriously hits the sky I'm heading for a field somewhere and probably a ditch as well.

Other than that I'm reading many books lately, most recent being The Witch of Portabelo and Angels & Demons, I'm into Dan Brown at the moment and started The Da Vinci Code last night, as with anything I do I do it to the max so if I'm sitting I'm reading.

We're fast approaching the dreaded anniverssary but I'm doing good at the moment, I have a focus beyond the day which is a big positive and I have lots of things to do on my list yet.

Number 1 - Be a nurse.

I went for a sort of group interview tonight at college and guess what, I'm on the course woohoooooo! I have a one to one interview on the 15th of May to discuss my modules. No.1 on my list is underway and I'm a bit excited I tell ya.

Lists

My hubby must have been talking to his secretary about my 1-10 list and she said she’d like to see it as she also had one, she called it her quest to get things done before she forgot where she put her teeth. I sent her my list and said I’d be interested in reading hers as I love to see what other people would like to do or have already done.

She’s done the oysters (nasty little creatures she said), dyed her hair red, mowed the lawn in the rain (that was on my last list) and done the karaoke, she’s also done New York hailing a yellow taxi with a doughnut in one hand and cappuccino in the other, visited Rome and done Monte Carlo to see the racetrack and casino’s, to name just a few……brilliant.

Her new list includes visit The Great Wall of China, a rapid water ride, buy an Audi TT convertible, sleep with Brad Pitt and a helicopter ride (no sides like the army one’s) slightly more ambitious than my list but hey its great to have a plan.

I’m nicking Rome and adding it to mine because it keeps coming up, several of my friends have been and loved it and the book I’m reading just now is centred around The Vatican, I’ve also added go to a football match preferably a Liverpool home game as I’d love to be in the crowd in the Kop.

I knocked 5 minutes off my swim a mile time on Saturday, I did it in 1hour 5mins which I thought was a major achievement until I was reliably informed that the Olympic time was about 12 minutes….Hahahahahaha!!!!! One day eh, in my dreams.

Milestone

Woooohoooo!!

Our pool has been closed for 2 weeks down at the gym so I couldnt make a start on my mile thing, having heard it was now open I took off for a quick swim this morning. I got to 30 lengths fairly easily and decided to go for 40, on reaching 40 I felt ok so convinced myself 50 was do-able. At 50 (lengths not years as I'm 51) I wondered if I was being a bit ambitious/bonkers to try for 60 which is a mile just in case I didnt mention it. At 54 cramp reared its ugly head and the lifeguard glanced in my direction with a look of 'here we go I'm going to have to rescue that one' Oh bloody no you are not I thought. After a quick massage by myself not the lifeguard I was off and completed a mile in 1 hour 10 minutes....yippeeee.

I can tell right now that I probably wont be able to use my arms very much tomorrow but hey it was so worth it, thats No. 7 off the list.

Tricia

Like thousands of others around the world I have been following Tricia, Nate and Gwyneths journey. We heard last night that Tricia's 2nd tx call went ahead and as of now she is still in theatre. She needs our prayers right now.

www.cfhusband.blogspot.com

1 - 10 list review

Its been a while since I updated my list of things to do before I die, I've knocked a fair few off so I started a new one this afternoon and it goes like this.

1 - Be a nurse
2 - Drive a canal boat
3 - Eat an oyster (euk!! not looking forward to that one)
4 - Write a poem
5 - Speak in public (I'd rather do the oyster)
6 - Dye my hair red
7 - Swim a mile (thats 60 lengths)
8 - Get above 1400 in my scrabbulous rating
9 -
0 -

I'm calling the last one 0 because 10 made my list look untidy. Having knocked a fair few off lately I can't think of anything for 9 and 0 yet, but I will. Number one will be there for a while, four years in fact, I start the swim one tomorrow and hope to hit the 60 lengths within two weeks (I just love to set targets). Do Asda do oysters? if so I'll pop down there tomorrow and thats 3 gone. I've started my poem, be brutally honest should I consider sending it to be published, John's not sure.

Do you ever wonder why
We were'nt born in the sky
instead of on earth
Or walk on our hands
Face close to the turf
Why cars don't run on tracks
above the rooves
Or why we have feet
instead of hooves
and who decided........

I think its best to leave it open ended, gives it an air of mystery dont ya think.

Is rooves a proper word, I've been sitting here saying it over and over and it sounds very odd.

*wink*

B&B

Blogs....I now read so many that I barely have time to blog.
&
Brrrrrr!.... No walk this weekend..we don't do cold.

Warm hugs to all. Roll on summer.

Catch up

I'm a bit behind in the blogging world as I've been tied up with widgets and things, they're a piece of cake to some people but as soon as they see its me they instantly think to themselves quick mess it up before she thinks she's clever. I won though and I'll tell you about it after I've done a quick one about the walk last Saturday, ok I know its boring but I'm keeping a diary of where we walk and when just so we know see.

Saturday the 15th amble was a long one at another beach, not much to report except that John nearly got marooned due to his wanting to watch the tide fill in a little pool which became a big pool and then an ocean while he stared out to sea oblivious of the fact that he was about to drown......

Me on the rocks nearly at New Brighton ignoring the fact that John is stranded.

Now then back to the widget, thats the thing on the right hand side of the blog which say's Justgiving In memory of Chris Pearson. As the first anniversary of our saying goodbye to Chris approached we heard about The Great Strides walk through my friend Lorraine and decided it would be a good move to join her and her family in something positive at a time that could very easily be negative. It takes place on the 10th of May just one day after the dreaded anniversary and hopefully it will give me John and Mike a focus beyond the day.

Feel free to chuck a copper and a message on the justgiving page to help us raise as much as we can so that parents in the future don't have to say goodbye to their children as we and many others have had to.

Got a lump in my throat now so I'm going.

Boyzone's ' No matter what' done proper.

Well thats number 4 off the list, I finally plucked up the courage to get up and sing at a karaoke night eventhough I'm completley tone deaf. Why the hell I didnt just settle for mumbling quietly into the microphone is beyond me.....Oh Noooooo! if I'm going to knock something off my list I'm going to do it big time.

I burst into song well before the music started, then my arm threw itself into the air and I got louder and louder. The look on our Jul's face is one of pure shock as I continued to imagine I was a superstar....*groan*

The walk this week was hard work after a late night.

View over Parkgate Marshes, there's a hill on that horizon called Moel Famau, we'll climb that sometime soon.

Hope alls good with everyone.

Helsby Hill. Part 2.

First I must warn any readers of this blog that its in danger of becoming an anorak type diary and might bore you sometime soon. I make no apologies for this though, in fact I activley promote the anorakness of getting a good pair of sturdy boots on and walking in the great outdoors.....

John doesn't do dogs that guard farms and I dont do moo cows so our walks are a wee bit fraught sometimes, like the time we took off on a 5 mile one. 10 miles later, having had to detour because of canine's bovine's and the odd nasty goose we were lost and it was lashing down with rain AND we were in a field full of some crop that was taller than us. Not the very best walk we've had so on Saturday I suggested a hill instead, surely we wouldnt meet many cows, I knew there were no farms because it was too steep and when did you last see a goose wandering on a big hill......sorted. The wind however could be a problem but we decided to brave it anyway.

Half way up clinging to a bush on the cliff edge.
John first to the summit.
Me and my sis on the top dangerously close to beeing blown off.
Steve John and Julie (coffee time) Note our Jul found a hanger for bag.
View over the Mersey estuary.

Throwing a bit of history in google says Helsby Hill is an ancient viking hill fort.....I'm well impressed that I can see a viking thing out of my bedroom window.

Helsby Hill

We might climb it today.........

Wales

Aaaaahhhhh!!

I've had the great pleasure of spending a girls day in with nibbles, gorgeous wee butties, heavenly chocs and a massive glass of Shiraz whilst taking in wonderful scenery and laughing heniously at anything and everything. The main ingredient for this fab day was people as is so often the case. We don't need a limo a flash restaurant or loads of dosh to spend on clothes to make us feel uplifted or positive just some damn good company and a field full of sheep to stare at.

What makes it even better is having a good old moan competition, there's no better therapy than seeing if you can out moan your buddies and then end up laughing loads, it dilutes the things that are peeing you off and makes them seem less important. Another essential when girls get together is a man who appears periodically with coffee or wine and does his best to appear interested by muttering suggestions about how to improve one's life and is told to get back in his cubby hole. I loved him to bits, he was soooooo placid and did as he was told with a bit of a wry smile on his face.

I like Wales and I think I'll live there sometime, its definitley going in my toolbox along with the people I spent the day with.





The food.

The sheep.

Brilliant!!!

Dog blog

This beach walk we're doing is becoming a habit but there was something missing, hubby decided we needed a dog, dogs and walks go together nicely. You can reflect better when throwing a stick and seeing the pure joy in the dogs face when they retreive it and trot back. They grin massively when they fool you into thinking they're going to drop it, oh no! its not that easy, you have to beg and get covered in dog spit as you try to wrestle it out of their mouth until they finally give in and allow you to think you won....well you didnt they just humour you.

Anyway we borrowed our neighbours dog yesterday, she's a cracker her name is Bess and she has one blue eye and one brown eye. It was magic, so magic in fact that I had a spiffing idea.

We could charge people a vast sum of money (a bit less than kennels do) to look after their dogs while they're on holiday and then we could have a totally different set up running alongside, sort of 'Rent a dog' for a walk on the beach or through the forest, we'd charge for this service as well, double yer money. Brilliant!

Little yappy things - £5 per hour

Middle size mongrels - £7 per hour

Massive ego boosters - £10 per hour

Bess insisting I take a well earned rest on the rocks, Oh yeah note the 'pink' earmuffs sent to me by a good buddy because beaches make me deaf and I hear waves in my ears for days afterwards....not any more though.

Get some canine therapy, I thoroughly recommend it.

Thanks folks for agreeing that the NHS made a grave error in not hiring me, they did ring me at twenty past twelve last night when they found out who I was but I told them, no second chances......sorry.

I took the bull by the horns today and went to the local college to enquire about being a nurse. The man/boy was excellent, I said I was interested in doing nursing but wondered if I was too old, he smiled and said 'No you are not too old' but you dont know how old I am I said 'I dont need to ask the question' he replied. I liked that answer. As he was about to begin I said to him I'm deaf, but before I could say the other words which were at the moment he started to speak with a rubber mouth so that I could lip read. Blimey I should have interrupted there and then but I didnt and I have no idea why I decided to indulge his obvious talent for conveying words through lip shapes, I just appreciate it when people make that extra bit effort with anything and can't resist so I left it as it was and stared at his lips, paused, then answered with a smile.

Now then because I have no qualifications......yep none, not a oner I'm doing an access course which lasts 1 year and is intensive. I then go on to do a degree which is luckily at my local Uni in Chester. Sounds good doesn't it. I have never visualised myself gaining a degree, why? well for reasons I'm not going to go into here my school days were not the favourite bit of my life and I left just before I was invited to go. I did try the entrance exam for nursing just after leaving school but failed on the maths, they said to come back and try again because I only just failed but I walked into an office job then a dental nurse job then another very good office job. Then I got married and lived in a creepy flat where the landlady floated about in chiffon stole peoples washing off the line and there were also strange circles in the garden so we decided it was time to save for a mortgage and five years later we had our Mike. Chris followed two years later and I embarked on my big stay at home. The rest is history.

I've told John and Mike I'll need an occasional kick up the rear and some encouragement the rest is up to me.

The man/boy never did ask my real age and for once I hope he didnt think I was a lot younger than I am because I'll be well gutted now if I am too old.

Much love to all.