Well, I've used what time I've had to write on the stitching blog instead of this one.  Maybe I should just put it all together and save the bother.  But I think I like having them separate, it is how I do things.  In compartments.

Anyway, I've been doing a lot of housework.  Damp dusting mostly.  I take a bucket of clear warm water and a cloth and wander around the house doing as many surfaces as possible including paintwork.  I normally damp dust anyway, but am doing more rooms than normal.  Had to empty the bucket and get clean water once!!!  I shouldn't admit it but it then again the windows have been open and it's been windy.  In these conditions it should ideally be done daily.  But I'd rather do other things than spend all my time dusting. As the old saying goes" It was here before I was born and will still be here when I'm dead and gone".
But I'm making a real effort to pull the house back up to where I want it to be.  (like a showhome would be perfect)

Since I went out in the wind on Friday to hang laundry and pick plums, I've struggled to breathe.  Yesterday I went to the practice nurse.  Big mistake.  She found my heart is missing a beat but the asthma and blood pressure are fine.  She didn't think it was a chest infection but sent me for an ECG, then I had to see the doctor.  He says he doesn't think it's serious but said I need a fasting blood test this morning and he's doing a range of blood tests.  Then he will forward me for an exercise test.  I don't want to do this all again as I'm sure it is not my heart.  I went through all this a few years ago and it was fine but ended up as asthma.   The worst part of all this is that I've been feeling so well since I started those last meds.    I'm just hoping this will go away by itself.



Now

I haven't been on here because I've been a) tired and b) trying to do some housework.  The place needs it to get back to the standards I'l like to keep - or regain.  I stopped doing as much when I was unwell and just never got back to where I started.  Now I want to crack on and get it back to perfection.  Fat chance of that but I can try but won't overdo it either.

Yesterday I went outside in the wind to hang laundry, clear up after Stevie and pick plums.   Mistake.  Big mistake.  Now the breathing is bad again.  Just the day before I said how wonderful it was to feel so well and to breathe easily.  I need to stay quiet until it settles down again and keep using the inhaler.  Ah, well, I am still fine and not in pain.

In my stitching blog I wrote about the wonderful stitching supplies I've been given.  I plan to spend some time today playing with them, sorting out threads by number to see just what I have all together.  I like things to be orderly so I can find what I want when I want it.

I've just spent a nice few days in Hitchin with Angie.  As always she really spoiled me.  It was a nice break but I do miss my home and family including the dog when I'm away.  I'm always glad to get back to my own nest.

Starting tomorrow I'll get back into the old routine but for this evening I'm going to stitch, read and chill.

When I tried to get online last night it just would not happen.  Finally I rebooted the pc and bingo it worked before my blood pressure went any higher.

I rang TallkTalk yesterday.  What a wonderful company.  The staff can say I'm sorry but little else.  If I want to leave them because of poor service I'll be charged to do so, even though they have a log of the problems.

We've been getting nuisance calls from some shower under the guise of market research.  Yep, that ol' crappy line that lets them get around the telephone preference thing.  They call several times a day and only speak to you once or twice.  I have spoken to them twice, Andy once and Chel once. Although we all told them to stop phoning, we still get calls from them.  Andy tried to ring them but no one answers.  We now have strategies in hand to deal with them.   One foreign lady who rang from their number said it was a research call that would only take a minute and we would later be contacted by the companies she is doing the research for.  Research.  Right.  Contacted by more companies.  Yeah, let's have lots of that.  Not.  I have a phone to talk to friends and businesses that I want to contact.  Not so people can sell me something and to do so at my expense.  Rant over.

I was in bed with a migraine yesterday and still feel a bit tender.  Let's go see what today brings forth.  Oh, with all the stress of the last couple of days I forgot to tell that I received the organiser that I was hoping for.  A kind lady from crossstitchforum sent me hers.  I haven't had a chance to use it yet but I will.

See,

I would definitely not say I'm annoyed.  This goes far far beyond that.  My internet failed again.  I spent hours getting it sorted again.  This time some female said she couldn't help me because I'm not the main account holder and she wanted to speak to Andy.  When I said he was at work she insisted on phoning him and refused to accept that she could not do that.  Then she said she'd ring tomorrow to speak to him.  Could she not understand that he'd be asleep??????  Mind you, she didn't sound like English was her first language.  As I'd already spent several hours trying to get online and an hour on the phone, I phoned the poor man who was busy but still took time to ring TalkTalk for me. Andy rang me back to say he'd spoken to someone called Philip who would ring me in a few minutes.  After 15 mins -at gone 11pm.- I rang them again and got some other bod who said there is no Philip there but he'd see if he could sort out the problem and that it wasn't necessary to speak to the account holder. They have never needed to speak to him before.

I kept doing what he told me to but the system would not accept the passwords I typed.  We kept changing them to things he wanted me to put, which I did.  NO JOY.  In the end he got cross and said to put red and a simple code which he gave me.  Still no joy.  He told me to 'type carefully'.  He would have got a smack if he'd been close enough.  In the end he changed the entire encryption system.  Then it worked.  Bloody cheek of the man.  I can type a simple word like butterfly.  Carefully.  It was after midnight when we hung up.  Methinks a call to customer services will happen tomorrow and it won't be pretty.  And I'm changing the advice I would give to anyone:  Avoid TalkTalk broadband like the plague.  It's cheap and that is all I can say for it.  When it works it's okay but I've had enough problems lately.

On a good note (Good note?  Make that great note!)  I chose to paint the hall, stairs and landing and it looks great.  I managed to do one coat everywhere and part of the second when Andy offered to help.  He was brill - did the top and the cutting in at the top as well.  I'd done one coat but it really needed another.  I use my steps, he just reaches it all just by standing there! We are both pleased with what we achieved.  

I've haven't been writing the last few days as I've been completely out of sorts.  No idea why but just haven't had the energy or inclination to do anything at all.  Good job breathing isn't something I have to make an effort to do or I'd have been in real trouble, wouldn't I.

I really need to do some painting.  I used satin paint last year on some of the interior doors and frames but it has turned out to be a waste of effort.  It just doesn't seem to wash very well.  I really don't like handprints and marks on the paintwork.  When I got my bigggg tin of gloss out it was completely dried out where the lid hadn't fit right.  There wasn't much left anyway so Andy took me to get some more.  It is surprising how much cheaper it is to buy a big can rather than a small one.  Two or more times the amount for just a pound or two more money.   I still got a smaller one as it is easier to use.  I like the liquid rather then the non drip as it gives me a better result.

The question right now is:  Do I use the paintpod and do the hall, stairs and landing walls or do I start the messier paintwork?  The walls will be easier in a way and give more of an instant boost but the paintwork will make all the doors look better. Nine doors and frames, the handrail on the stairs (which is three boards  each about five inches deep) the newel posts, dado rails, skirting boards......so a big job that can be done in stages.  It is best done in the summer though when I can have windows open.

Guess I'd better go have breakfast, take my pills and make a decision.  Oh, I will also read the paper before I start working.  I can also.....nope.  Just get on with the work, no getting sidetracked. 

BTW: my weight was down two pounds yesterday.  Amen.  The lowest for a good while.

Just contented.  No reason at all, but no reason not to be either. 

My weight is exactly the same.  I'm happy about that - I look at the same as "not gained" rather than 'not lost". 

I've been stitching more lately and enjoying it again.  Listened to a fabulous concert on tv on Saturday night - Andre Rieu.  I was so pleased to find it - by accident - that I stayed up too late to listen to it.  There was no reason I could not have gone to bed and listened to it there.....ah,yes, I'd have fallen asleep too quickly.....that is a perfectly good reason.


One of Chel's best friends got the keys to his new flat at the weekend and asked her to go to Ikea with him to furnish his room.  Bless him, he'd planned this for so long and so had Chel.  They had a great time.  He chose and measured and was able to make a list of exactly what he is going to buy in a couple of weeks.  The big move will be next weekend but he moved a few belongings in on Saturday - a mattress and the clothes he has been using for the four months he's been camping in a friends spare room.  The mortgage took ages apparently.  Alan and his sister bought the flat together but she is moving in at the weekend.  I'm really happy for him.  This young man has worked so hard since he was fifteen and it's nice to see it coming together

where my head is full of "me,me,me" and unpleasant thoughts of all sorts, I try hard to count my blessings and think of all those who are worse off than me.  I do not mean those in foreign countries affected by floods and other disasters.  I think of people I know and care about as individuals who are struggling in one way or another.   I send them good wishes and I guess pray for them to have a little touch.  I don't sit and pray as such, but it comes down to the same thing.

As for the foreign disasters, I can't comprehend them nor make sense of them.  Why the Creator allows these things to happen......I know He has His reasons but it still upsets me to see them.  I cover it by ignoring them as far as possible because I simply can't deal with it. 

I've been thinking about myself as I was many years ago.  Everyone - and I mean people far older than my twenty or so years - confided their problems to me and looked to me for advice.  Me. A young mother who was struggling to get through, but still willing to listen and to help others all she could in any way she could.  I guess I'm still the same today, just that circumstances have changed.  I hope I'm still able to help people when I can.

My weight has come back down to normal - what is has been pretty close to for months except that spell with wholemeal etc.  I'm feeling far better as well.  I try to eat healthier and have really cut down the snacks.  Often I'll have a drink when I feel hungry and that delays the need for food.  I still need to eat more but am happy with my progress.  If I eat/drink well, the weight will come off.

Movement:  I am not walking Stevie much or doing a lot of physical activity most of the time.  I am, though, stretching, bending and flexing all the time.  And I feel better for it.  Who knows, I might have to admit that moving feels good when it doesn't hurt!!!  I am aware more of my movements.  I try to walk upstairs without using the handrail.  Holding on became a necessary habit but is not always necessary now, so I'm trying to break it.  And we all know how hard it is to break habits....some days I need help to get up and other days I can move much more freely.  Hurray for those days.  The shoulders and neck still get painful but exercising the arms and shoulders sometimes eases it or stops it getting worse.  I'm trying to do those movements everytime I am at the computer.  It is amazing how much you can move whilst sitting on a chair

that I didn't seem to do much.  The knees are still playing up - both of them.  When I get woken in the night with pain I'm sure to be tired the next day.  And doing a pile of ironing wasn't the kindest thing I could do for the legs but it did the mind good - knowing it was done and dusted.  I love an empty ironing basket and plenty of clothes hanging up ready to wear.  I know some folk prefer to iron as they need things and that is fine for them but just doesn't do it for me.  I want to just grab what I feel like wearing and go.


Did a bit of stitching between bouts of ironing.  No, I don't stand there constantly ironing, I take breaks.  Some long ones......too long maybe. And I can stitch in the breaks.  or read.  or watch tv.  or talk to Andy.  or on the phone.  or go on the pc.....

Can you believe it?  I don't have much to say here!  Well, other than coffee with a good friend on Friday I haven't done anything but sitching and housework. 

My knees have been particularly sore and are waking me up during the night again, but at least I can breathe.  Those new tablets I got a couple months ago seem to be really helping and I'm so grateful for that.