Non blogness

Ok I know its been a while since I blogged but where the hell has the choice of font gone, maybe blogger doesn't like it if you haven't done one for a bit.

I've been busy busy busy since the Hydro with things, mainly 'FACEBOOK' you log on thinking I'll just have a look and before you know it someone has sent you an egg or a drink or an invitation to do something you would never consider doing in public. If you ignore the invite you might offend someone, so you do it...another hour has gone. While you're there someone throws a plate of beans at you or bites your vampire, well they're not getting away with that are they, another hour spent biting and throwing a horrid bit of food back. I wake up in the morning thinking have I missed something so log on and by dinner hour I'm all facebooked out.

Its not good, so I'm off to good old Majooooorca on Saturday for a week, we have a villa for 10 of us, many of them are young uns so timetables will differ slightly, but we'll be on hand to scrape them off the floor after the foam thingies that go on...and on....and on. Bacon and sloppy egg anyone..hehe.

See you in a week or so, take care all.

Hydro 2007

My Slideshow 9/17/07

Brilliant

Absolutley awsome weekend.....massive happy sigh!!!!

Bed now.

Love to all x

Its nearly time to amble around Hyde Park with many 'pink' women once more. Because, at heart I'm a bit of an exhibitionist I'm posting this years outfit again. I'm really looking forward to meeting up with all the fab people, many of whom I have only spoken to in cyberland up to now.

Instead of being in a wheelchair hooked up to oxygen, this year our Emily will be walking and no doubt talking round the course, thats a major feat for someone who had a double lung transplant only 8 months ago, what an inspiration she is.

Although we're all excited and in happy mode, I'd like to take time out to remember another young person from the cf forum for whom the call didnt come in time, Robyn passed away on the 11th of September while waiting for a transplant and this is the real reason why we all take part in The Womens Hydroactive Challenge every year, because it raises awareness of cystic fibrosis and also organ donation hopefully encouraging more people to sign up to the donor register so less people die while waiting for that call.

Breathe easy now Robyn.

Temper temper!!!

I 'bit' my phone....very hard, so to anyone who usually texts me, I'm phoneless for the time being. I'm not sorry, it was the last straw when it refused to unfreeze last night, it was bite it or cry so I bit it. Surely everyone has done something similarly immature....haven't you?



Love to all

Sue x

Ring ring

Surprise surprise I can blog, this is indeed a bonus.

The gremlins moved into our house last week big time, first my pc told me windows was corrupt or something and wouldn’t boot up. No problem, I skipped upstairs and fired up our Chris’s, AOL says a local cable is unplugged and apologised for not being able to connect me……….ok!

My phone now freezes whenever it feels like it, mostly mid text, its not that bad though I only have to take the battery out for 30 seconds according to T Mobile, that re-boots it, that’s a relief, or is it? I re-boot it 20 times a day at the moment.

Sky has gone off, no warning, no message on the screen…just gone.

I’ve lost everything on my pc for the umpteenth time and have begun to seriously consider whether I actually need all this technology in my life. While being disconnected I’ve done jobs that have been needing done for years and I don’t have a headache or scratchy eyes from screen gazing while trying to work out what went wrong and how the hell do I get it back.

I have a land line, it has a book next to it with many phone numbers in it, when I dial the number I speak to the person I was expecting to speak to, we chat with our mouths instead of our fingertips, we know we have spoken because we remember the sound of each others voices and if we need to talk again, we’ll open the bloody book and the number will be there, we’ll dial it and bingo…we get the same person again. The book will never tell me its lost the numbers or self destruct in front of my eyes and my landline will work, just as long as I’m not in the middle of changing to talk talk. I’m sticking to the old dog an bone for now, before I lose my marbles.

Long rule pen ‘n’ paper, technology…..HAH!!!! its out to get us and one by one we’ll end up in padded cells.

Goodnight.

Dead sea salt

I’ve just been had !!!

I’m stunned with myself and I reckon I need a good slap. Recently I’ve given myself a few pats on the back for not succumbing to over spending or silly spending, well that’s if you don’t count the ugly gnome, tacky wicker candle holders and chamber pot look alike, but they were a snip at £2 each from Asda. Anyway, compared to my hubby’s latest purchaces and Mike’s huuuuuuge spend on his new car I thought I was doing pretty well, until today.

I’d got my rear in gear and got back to the swimming at long last, I did 32 lengths….well done me, I didn’t feel like going straight home so headed off to nearby shops in order to buy new trainers and three quarter length joggers for the hydro (not classed as unnecessary spend as they are needed). I got the trainers for £35 which I think is reasonable, desperatley wanted pink joggers but gave up and got pale grey, now they were a bargain at £6.99. I left the shop ready to head home for a coronation chicken butty, I’m hooked on this at the moment and have been known to eat a whole container full before I get it onto a butty or in a spud. I obviously had a sign on my back for all to see saying EASY TARGET or something similar, because I was persuaded by this very good looking French speaking bloke to spare him 5 minutes of my time so he could pamper me. I’m not stupid, of course I knew it would cost me, you don’t get young French good looking blokes for nowt these days, but what the hell I was curious.

Top and bottom of it is, I had my hands and forearms messed about with for 20 minutes with salt, not just any old salt though, ‘dead sea salt’ and I ended up buying a pot for £25…….why? I could have gone to Sainsburys and bought a massive thing of it for under £2, I must be losing my touch.

Dam it

I cannot make blogger put the writing in the right place on the last post so its staying where it is, I've been here for aaaaages, I have to go.......now!!

Horrid, horrid blogger.

Smiley

The week before last wasn’t nice, I’d decided to give in and let myself be a miz, it was horrid and I wont be doing it again if I can possibly help it.

This week has been so different, I think its time for a ‘What’s made me smile’ this week blog.

I went to an afternoon hen party, it was quite different from anything I’ve been to before and most enjoyable, the music and food was mainly African as was the dancing, we all had these shimmy belts on and were trying to copy the experts who could make parts of their bodies move independently, naturally we ended up laughing loads. My mate has already done belly dancing so I’m joining the class as well in the hope that I can make things move independantly

My plumbs have been ‘fab’ this year, I honestly do think they’re the very best you’ll ever taste, I’ve eaten about a hundred of them in this last week and also given a bag to anyone I could force them on.

The sun put in an appearance at last so I was able to get mucky and work my butt of in the garden, followed by a few sessions on the hammock with a bit of something cold in a glass…….tonic.

My new neighbours impression of us is now dodgy due to my friend on the other side of us shouting across the back ‘Sue I’ve put another cannabis plant in your front garden’ I love to observe the shocked but try to hide it look on peoples faces at such times. I will eventually get round to telling them he meant a ‘pot marigold’ not yet though.

My week ended with a brilliant trip to Dumfries, we left on Thursday morning, hubby was driving as he hates to be my passenger and my last fiasco was still fresh in his mind. Anyway, we arrived at my good buddy’s and I got to meet her daughter who I’ve only known of in cyberland up until now, we were greeted with much food and had a big catch up. Afterwards we went up to P’s house and the first thing I spotted was a massive trampoline in her garden, I couldn’t resist, so I asked if I could have a go on it….whoooooo it was brilliant, I felt like a kid chucking myself around on it. I did put my lattissimus out a bit, small price to pay for such fun though and its fine now. More food, coffee and natter then off to the hotel to freshen up for dinner.

The hotel was set by a river with beautiful gardens and was so quiet and peaceful.

My meal was scrummy and so was everyone elses I had a taste of….yes I really am a nightmare to eat with. A cosy evening in the lounge chatting rounded off the night then off to bed in a strange place, something that always makes me smile.

What a cracking time we had, can’t wait to do it again. There’s some really lovely people in this world, we just have to get out there and meet them, they enrich our lives, so they do.

I'll finish off with a pic of my good buddy and her grandson, who I had the pleasure of meeting along with his mum.......It looks a bit like he's about to give her a kick but I assure you he isn't, he was bouncing round her, making her giggle.



Hope alls well with everyone.

Much love Sue x

I've had a brainstorm......or is it a brainwave, whatever!!!

Constantly wanting to test myself I've decided to have a fiddle about with this blogging lark and in future I'll have two.

I'm keeping this one for my usual mad ramblings and I'm in the process of making another one for more ramblings of a different nature, mainly to do with our Chris. I'm quite pleased with my decision to have two blogs, something else to keep me glued to the pc is always a good move. It will probably take me a good few weeks to get the other one up and running mainly because the sun has been out here and when 'its' out so am I and of course every name I came up with 'blogger' says its already taken, yeah right.....liar.

I've had a cracking two days in the garden.....blog to follow, also ordered my 'Angels' t-shirt, dusted me wings and purchased some very sparkley beads....I'm sooooooo excited an I just can't hide it, forgot the rest.

Chester to Oxfordshire and back (nearly via London) in 9½ hours with out stopping.

Well then, that was a learning curve, No, I didn’t just want to see if I could do it. I was supposed to be meeting up with a good buddy today in Banbury, which is in Oxfordshire, I printed my route off last night and got on my way at 9-30 this morning. I can’t for the life of me understand how it all went wronger and wronger, I think it started after the toll road in Birmingham, or maybe a bit further on than that, I missed a turn off for the M42 I think.

Anyway, suffice to say I got mega lost, not once, but 3 times, you know when it suddenly hits you that this planned day just isn’t going to happen, because you just pulled into yet another services in no mans land. I was sooooo frustrated I just sat on the nearest seat and cried my eyes out, then phoned my hubby and asked him to tell me where to go….he was tempted bless him, but instead he asked me where I was. I didn’t know, well which junction did you come off at?, I didn’t, it’s a services. He’s patient my hubby, but only to a point, so I said I’d ring him back when I knew where I was.

I’ll not subject anyone reading this to the rest of the fiasco that was today, but I’ve learned something…two things actually. I must brush up on my geography because when going north in one place, it doesn’t really apply when in another place, it depends which side of the motorway you’re on. Secondly…..I must have a Sat Nav thing.

What a bloody day, on my return our Mike asked me if I’d be trying that route again, too right I will, it wont beat me. Got it off my chest now.....bedtime.

Andy….Soz you had a wasted journey hun.

My kinda day.

I’ve had a welly day today, this is my very very favourite kind of day. There’s something so satisfying about getting stuck in and tackling a physical job..in muck. I counted 124 snails/slugs, 4 little frogs, a massive toad, zillions of caterpillars and an odd butterfly here and there. I’ve got 5 insect bites and my shoulders and back feel like I’ve been on the rack….but do you know what, I’m as happy as a pig in s**t, so I am.

The work carried out today was a start on the ‘secret garden’
This is the before pic.

And this is the after.

Don’t laugh, I know its not the sort of before and after you see when Charlie Dimmock and Tommy have paid a visit, but I bet the end result will be just as magnificent.

John’s been shopping again, purchases today are a massive gas barbeque and a hammock, oh yeah and a message for Nigel….Lorraine are you making a note of this. A weeny shiny fire putter outer is an essential for the man den in case you have an indoor barbeque ;-) John got a pressy from his employers today because they’ve had three years without a lost time accident in his department. They gave him a little fire extinguisher, I swear he couldn’t have been happier if they’d presented him with a cheque for £1000, he excitedly rushed off to the den and fixed it to the wall, what!!!!! I have things that have needed fixing to walls for years and he puts an extinguisher in the den in 10 seconds flat. He then proceeded to instruct me on the correct way to use the damn thing, I was speechless and couldn’t even get the words out of my mouth to tell him I had my fire extinguisher certificate already…thank you.

Getting hyped up now!

Firstly, Em thank you for your lovely message on my blog, of course Chris would be proud of me, he'd also be glad I was earning a few bob and would probably say 'no need for me to chip in to the housekeepin this week then'. Today was better and tomorrow will be just fine.

I'm a bit pleased with myself tonight as I've managed to put some links up for the Hydro, its not rocket science, I know, but when your a bit older and not particularly up to the minute with all things pc related its a 'mega' accomplishment. How clever am I eh!!!

Excitment is growing about the Hydro and I thought I'd post a couple of pic's from last year, it was a brilliant day meeting all the lovely people I'd only spoken to in cyberland, it raised lots of much needed funds for the Cystic Fibrosis trust and raised awareness for organ donation. I know a fair few people who are waiting for that call and just pray that they get it in time.

Some of us mums & Em.

'Andy & Em' Andy being a good sport in Angel gear, bless him he doesn't know what he's let himself in for this year......

Roll on September, can't wait to see everyone again....magic.

Love to all.

Sue x

Oh bugger!

I went back to the world of work today, the job itself wasn’t difficult, it was a kitchen and I’ve worked in a fair few of them. It was a fairly easy one compared to my last kitchen job, which was manic from the minute you got there until the minute you left. So…whats my gripe?

Since we said goodbye to Chris my life has been pretty much the same as when he was here, get up have coffee, do a bit of tidying up, go for a swim etc…. But today I did something that was different, something that Chris would never know about, or be a part of and it was so hard, I really hadn’t expected today to floor me, but it did.

Tomorrow will be better and I’ll probably be loving my new job, cos I was told I was a brill worker…I know that!!!

Washing it all away

It ocuured to me this morning when showering after my swim that I may vanish completely one day, due to working my way through many layers of skin. I showered yesterday morning, as you do when you start the day, then had another at 6 ish last night because we were going out for a meal with friends. We had a cracking night,, I had King Prawn Dupiaza, John had a Tandoori mixed grill, Wend had a chicken Biryani and Ian had a saffron special, I think. I wore white to go for an Indian meal incidently and for the first time ever I came home without a dash of curry on me…marvellous.

I got up this morning and went for a swim, note, I’m back in water again, then I showered again and washed my hair as I was meeting up with a good buddy of Chris’s for coffee and cake and didn’t want to stink of chlorine. I’ve been promising to do coffee with J for weeks now, she’s an adult with cf who goes to the same unit as Chris did, they sort of car shared when they were in for iv’s and wanted to pop home for a few hours. I have a lot of respect and admiration for J and I also love her to bits anyway, she literally lights up a room with her massive smile and is always positive with a capital P.

Anyway, I digress, back to the washing story. I intend to do some gardening this afternoon, so I’ll get dirty, wont I, so I’ll be back in the shower tonight, now this doesn’t strike me as very good for one’s skin, because as well as overwashing it I also cream head to toe each time, wash and condition my hair, deodorise and cleanse tone and moisturise my face. I feel a bit sick now, thinking about all those chemicals I’ve shoved on me in just over 24 hours.
So, I’ve decided to do an experiment, maybe not next week or the week after because I’m joining the workforce for two weeks, but after that its one shower a day and I'm going to see how many chemicals I can do without. Yep! that’s my contribution to the ozone layer sorted.

Need for speed

I always wondered where I got my inner demon that said ‘go fast’ from, now I know. I took my mother out for the day on Monday and was well impressed with her driving skills. No….she wasn’t at the wheel of a super duper Ferrari or anything, but she managed to manoeuvre the motabilty bike like ‘Colin McRay on a good day. She rounded every stall on the market narrowly missing the displays by a quarter inch, whilst keeping a steady flow of conversation and dodging the general public who were intent on a head on collision. I was impressed, in fact I was in awe....

This was me miles behind……..no wonder Chris always referred to her as his biker nan.


I’m off to the Lakes today to meet up with Elaine (Lainey) a good buddy who I met through the cf forum, we’ve met there about three times now and every single time its been raining, looks like today will be no exception, ah well we’ll just have to stay in the pub again.

Update.

Had a fab time at Windermere today, it was great to see Elaine and Julie, the sun came out now and again and we ate loads and loads, well I did anyway. Thoroughly enjoyed the drive, I'm once again well proud of my skills behind the wheel as I encountered many idiots on the journey but managed to stay alive despite their best efforts.

Just a wee note about my 'Toolbox' blog, as yet I have not come across a tool I felt the need to discard, just in case it came across wrong.

Much love all.

The Toolbox

I went for my first session of counselling yesterday, this was something I signed up for the week after we said goodbye to Chris, it was there on offer so I added it to my ‘toolbox’ just in case I should need it at a later date. My G.P. said there wasn’t a waiting list and I would get an appointment straight away. However I didn’t hear from them until 2 weeks ago and to be honest they got it spot on, if I’d had an appointment before then I probably would have cancelled as I was feeling like I was coping with this just fine thank you. However, when the letter came through I felt it was a tool I needed to use just now.

My box is a brilliant thing to dip into now and then to fix the job that needs doing at any given moment. It has various bits and pieces in it and I can add to it or take things away, if it’s a good tool I’ll store it, if it’s a tool that doesn’t do the job, I’ll discard it. But I’ll never ever not try it first, hence my blog ‘try it and see’ because you don’t know till you’ve give it a go.

My counsellor ‘Bill’ is 70 odd, cracking bloke, Scottish, soflty spoken, smiley and reminded me of my dad, definitely a tool I’ll be keeping in my box along with travelling to see good buddy’s, new church that’s uplifting, emails that talk about the weather, food etc…. the secret garden (when the rain stops) websites that are mad , the gym, swimming and of course this blog which has been very theraputic. Oh yeah, and 2 weeks work coming up in August to ease back in to earning my keep.

Quite a well stocked toolbox, but always room for more.

Love to all
Sue x

I don’t have anything of any significance to blog about, except that I’m having spaghetti bolognaise for my tea, I’m not building it myself, John’s doing it, because I’m busy blogging/putting together a slide show/trying to book flights/checking numerous websites cos I’m nosey/and…….trying to stay off facebook for longer than 10 minutes. Deary me!! Just what did I do with my time before the pc.

I managed to get my swim to coincide with the little peoples swimming lesson on Friday and overheard two conversations whilst showering which perturbed me a bit.

Conversation a)

Mum 1 - ‘Do you want your bobbles in today Jessica’

Jessica - ‘eeeeeeeeeerm’

Mum 1 - ‘You don’t have to’

Jessica - ‘No then’

Mum 1- ‘I’ll put them in, it looks tidier’

Jessica - ‘Whaaaaaaaaa’

Conversation b)

Oliver - ‘I don’t want a shower’

Mum 2 - ‘Get in here now’

Oliver - ‘No’

Mum 2 - ‘OLIVER’ (mum 2 runs naked the length of the shower block to drag him back)

Oliver - ‘Whaaaaaaaaaa’

Mum 2- ‘We’ll go for a McDonalds if you have a shower’

Oliver - ‘And toys’r’us

Mum2 - ‘No, just McDonalds’

Oliver - ‘Whaaaaaaaaa’

Mum 2 - ‘I’ve bloody well had enough of this’ and promptly leaves without a shower.

Is it me? Or have things changed sooooo much since I was a kid. I asked our Mike tonight, were we harsh parents. His reply was, me and Chris were reluctant to cross the line because of the slipper that used to hang on the door. I’d forgotten about the slipper, don’t think we ever used it, but they did get a crack round the ear from time to time and if I wanted to put the bobbles in I wouldnt have given them a choice then proceed to ignore it.

I hope I don’t get hung for this one but its for a special buddy, d’ya remember this Jess? Sending much love and many (((HUGS))).

National Transplant Week

Its National Transplant week this week.

If anyone reading my blog has not yet considered signing up to the donor register, please take a moment to read my son’s story.

Chris had Cystic Fibrosis and was advised to go on the list for transplant in 2005, he was listed in February 2006, by which time he was virtually housebound. During the six months Chris was on the active list he spent most of his time in his bedroom, his social life ground to a halt, he suffered from panic attacks and from time to time depression. He had to be tube fed overnight because his appetite had completely gone due to illness and round the clock medication just kept him stable. Never once did anyone hear him moan though and when asked ‘how are you’ his reply would always be ‘fine’.

His call came on the 19th of August 2006 and his transplant went ahead on the 20th. He was a model patient and was home in 21 days. The difference was amazing, he was able to walk, shop, eat, cook and live the normal life of any other 24 year old. As his mum I can’t begin to explain how it felt to see him getting up each morning with a huge smile on his face, saying ‘how brilliant is this’ or ‘I feel amazing’.

Chris sadly passed away in May this year, he probably would have spent his last eight and a half months struggling to breathe and fighting continual depression and panic, instead he had two holidays with his mates, shopped, walked, danced, got stuck into the gardening and much much more, all thanks to somebody who didn’t even know him but gave him a gift.

A quote from Chris after transplant.

I couldnt ever imagine a life like the one I have now, when I was ill. I'M LOVING LIFE AND LIVING IT TO THE FULL.I am so grateful to my donor and his family and would like to thank them from the bottom of my heart. Thank you!!

Say’s it all doesn’t it.

www.livelifethengivelife.co.uk

Floppy lettuce syndrome

What a cracking time I’ve had! I’m back in the driving seat and I’m as relaxed as a bit of salad leaf that’s been drenched, all loloppy and wilted.

My two hour journey to Nottinghamshire was actually four because instead of doing the direct route I decided to go to the town centre (where I’ve met up with good buddy’s before) and then go from there to my mate’s house. Less stressful than doing a completely new route I thought. Arrived a bit stiff, partly because my bones hadn’t been in the driving seat for that long for ages and partly because I was a tad apprehensive about the whole going out alone thingy.

Got to the spa, into swimsuit and robe, slung my towel over my shoulder and proceeded to the food place for coffee where we were informed we were VIP’s today….good stuff. Next on the agenda was the sauna, from then on it was robe off, into very nice smelling, steamy, warm themed room followed by sensory shower of varying sprinkleness and temperature. There were six different rooms and showers to do and a Roman type spa pool to languish in whenever one felt like it and it was heated, I mean proper heat. Then we had a foot spa followed by lunch in the conservatory, now I really loved lounging around in a robe and barefoot all day, there was something soooooooo lazy and indulgent about wiggling my toes on marble while eating a delicious meal and contemplating the next luxury, which we decided was a lie down on the sunbeds in the zen garden because the sun had come out.

After lie down and much nattering (there hadn’t been a pause since arriving) we did the second floor, starting with a ‘wake up’ lemon scented iced facecloth thrown round our faces. On this floor we started with the waterbeds, I couldn’t stay still, it was brilliant squishing around, I was like a small hyperactive child until I saw that other people were quietly reading their books….time to move on. We dragged some massive bean bags out on the veranda overlooking another exotic garden then because the sun was back.

Next was a back, neck and shoulder massage and a facial, they’re only little these young girls who do them, but by heck they are very strong. Anna said ‘you have knots’ and proceeded to unknot them, I’m no wimp when it comes to a bit of pain but man it was excrutiating and nice alternately. By now it was time for coffee and massive wedge of cake, still in robe and bare feet.

We rounded off with a walk round the village, I can’t begin to describe the amount of interesting things going on in and around the forest setting and I was desperate to get on and play in any one of the wooden constructions that were designed for kids but looked so interesting, however rain, or rather monsoon like conditions didn’t allow for it and we decided to head home with wine and crusty bread.

I got the chance to meet Lorraines eldest son Dan, who’s having IV’s in hospital an hour away from home, what a charming young man he is, such a character, he played me all the music he had on his phone and tried to bluetooth me some but my daft phone wouldn’t work right, then we discussed ‘cars’ he’s passionate about them super duper one’s. Back at the ranch we were supposed to be having a wine/voddy night with much silly hat stuff on msn, however, as Nigel had set up my bed (bless him) I crashed big style….oooops.

This morning I met Joey properly, yesterday he wasn’t at all sure about me but I’d been around for a while now and he must have thought I was ok, I got a big kiss before playschool so I can’t be that scary. Dan text me to ask if I’d slept ok on his mattress and I had, like a brick. After a quick visit to Lorraines mum and dads (beautiful garden they have) we headed off to pick Joe up from playschool, we had our 65 roses t shirts on so as soon as we got back Joey dived upstairs and put his on too and he was so smiley, all three of us in the same kit….brilliant.

I can’t begin to say how much I’ve enjoyed myself, its been a huge boost to my confidence to be driving a long way again and kids!!! I love em, I know for a fact that I wouldn’t have arranged anything if it had been left up to me, so cheers chuck, you really are very special.

Memorable time, had to get it all down before voddy.