More Needs Fixing........

 
It was a busy weekend which seemed busier as I think I was in slow motion, feeling quite tired and my back kept hurting. However I managed some big-box painting, some chatting with Daughter when she popped round, some cooking, some laundry (mostly line dried but the last few bits had to come inside on the clothes horse) and sorting out the vase in the front window which needed washing and the artificial flowers having the dust blown off them then rearranging as they'd moved around and looked scruffy.... they look lovely again now (all the way round as they are in the window). 

Coffee morning as usual and I don't remember much else in the afternoon so probably nothing interesting. 

Tuesday woke with left foot pain again, this time across the top of my foot. So a day off resting it raised with the hot wrap round it and paracetamol plus I skipped the culprit pill that day and Wednesday morning it was greatly improved. 

Wednesday evening the usual group went to the fish and chip restaurant in Felixstowe (always praised as the best) for a change. My appetite isn't very good at the moment and I barely managed half my small rock and chips, so they wrapped the other half for me to bring home. 

Thursday Hubby said the forecast was heavy storms from midday onwards so he did all the bins first thing rather than in the evening. He'd been researching a new phone and who was selling it the cheapest. He decided on John Lewis and apparently they only had one left in stock, so we shot over there and he came home with his new toy. Lunch was the fish and chips leftovers shared between us. Then Hubby spent hours phone transferring everything and trying to remember all the passwords needed. Thank goodness I had refused changing mine as I hate all that hassle especially as mine is working fine. 

Cooking our burgers Hubby discovered the cooker hood had died. After a lot more investigation he thinks the motor is the cause, so Hubby has ordered a new one which will hopefully arrive next week. Meanwhile some of the hood is taken apart and furniture in the bedroom above was moved and the doors taken off the fitted wardrobe so carpet and floorboards could be lifted. That turned out to be unhelpful so it all had to go back again. 

Friday it rained nearly all day. In a brief gap Hubby went over to feed the fish and discovered the pond pump needed a blockage cleared. Of course it was raining again before he'd finished. 

Our week ended with a yummy rhubarb crumble mmmmmmm.

Hope you are not somewhere that's getting flooded and you've heating if you need it.

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Absent Friends.......

 
We have two large open-top storage bins that were part of our previous bedroom suite and are now in my craft room sitting side by side. One is used as our laundry box, very convenient as it's directly opposite the bathroom. The other is more a storage of "keep it for just in case" stuff (motto of my life really). 

A long time ago I decided I was going to paint them and they were undercoated in readiness..... then forgotten about. 

All of a sudden I felt like doing it and got my acrylics and brushes ready. 

I spent quite a bit of time deciding the best position for the box for access and light and not chancing paint on the carpet. I really enjoyed getting all the areas underpainted ready to add detail to. 

Of course I can only do one panel at a time in this leaning on the sofa position so decided to stop for now. 

When it was totally dry I stood it back up and wheeled it back into place...... and that's when I realised I'd been painting the side that sits against the wall so nobody will ever see it! Doh! You'll have to wait for the right three sides to be finished and I'll let you see them. 

Monday evening was our girls night. There were always five of us who met for a meal and catchup six times a year, once to celebrate each birthday plus a pre-Christmas sparkly one. This time was for friendJB's birthday. Unfortunately friendTF can no longer join us and friendM was involved in an accident on her Greek holiday and is stuck there not well enough to fly home yet. So just three of us went to dinner. Hoping friendM will be OK when it's her birthday at the end of next month. 

I finally decided I wasn't wearing the hearing aids enough to warrant their cost. I was told they would reduce the interference of background noise, unfortunately they didn't and times like coffee morning I find it so hard to hear each conversation as the general noise of up to 15 people in our dining room gets quite loud. I was also told I'd have more control using the app on my phone, turned out I could change the volume and nothing else as they'd sold me the model that wasn't compatible with the version of Bluetooth on my phone. The final straw was they had become irritating to wear which I think is a side effect of my latest pills as my eye lids twitch and my lips are a little sore so it feels like it's nerves sensitivity. So before the 90 day full money back terms ran out they went back. I also left with a printout of my hearing test result which might be helpful if I try again elsewhere. 

Hubby and Daughter are making the most of this dry sunny week by doing lots of garden clearing and tip runs. They've synchronised as we have the big garden bags so Hubby has been emptying at the tip then helping to fill them with Daughter who had booked a later time at the tip. This happened three days running. 

FriendsL&K were supposed to sleepover on Thursday after seeing Sarah Milican in Ipswich. However they had both been a little unwell during the week and decided they wouldn't bring any possible germs near me. They did book the four of us to have a catchup lunch in a couple of weeks time. 

So yet another week passes and although we are still in September there is a lot of talk about Christmas but I'm definitely not ready to even think about that yet and not even going to ask if you are.

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Life's Ups and Downs........

 
This is our staircase. Some time ago Son suggested(firmly) we get a second handrail. 

It took a while for Hubby to find the style that would match our existing banister and of course it had to be ordered specially as it's a different size to those in stock and he wanted the finished ends. It arrived last Friday and it took Hubby a couple of attempts to find the right stain to go on an almost white pine as the colour also needs to match. 

Son came Saturday morning and together they fitted it. Not as straightforward as they'd hoped. Apparently they started by measuring up from the stairs in a few places but that didn't exactly agree when they put the spirit level across from the banister. The bottom screws were going into brick wall but the wall at the top is a straw partition wall, which took drilling and filling with resin as well as the rawplug.

And Sunday Hubby sanded and varnished twice more so it's nicely smooth. 

Son is happy he's looking after the oldies hahaha

Sunday my foot was still really painful and as it had been four days I thought it time to ring the Oncology 24 hour help line. They were really helpful, said yes it was definitely a side effect of the drug. Rest with it raised,  use a warm compress like hot water bottle or wheat bag and increase the paracetamol to all four doses a day or even add codeine. I queried the increase in pain relief as I have chronic kidney disease and can't check my latest blood test results. They checked and said kidney function result was good. We don't have a wheat bag and couldn't see how a hot water bottle would stay against my foot so we tried ('we' means my idea but Hubby had to do it) a wet tea towel rung out and microwaved for one minute placed inside a plastic bag and then inside a long very thin fleece to wrap around my foot. It worked and by Monday morning it had eased a lot. I had a follow up call on Monday from the help line and they said it will be reported to my Oncology team who may want to lower my dose. I spoke to the Oncology Nurse on Tuesday after I phoned her. She hadn't read her emails (and this was already 3pm) so I told her what had been happening. I told her I was about to run out of pills so she said she'd put a request into pharmacy (she'd said that last Tuesday and obviously hadn't). However she did prove helpful when I said I needed my blood test results and she scanned them and emailed them to me. Better than the reply I received from the consultant when I'd emailed asking for a copy of my blood test results and he said he didn't know how and it was probably something for the IT department, unfortunately he didn't say he would forward my email or give me any information on how I contact them! 

We hoped to go out for a walk somewhere on Wednesday but then they forecast rain around lunchtime so we changed that to some necessary shopping as Hubby needed shoes and slippers. I took advantage and added slippers for me to his purchases. 

As a treat we tried a cafe we saw built some time ago but had never tried. We both had a really nice lunch and bought cake to bring home for later. 

The weather has certainly got a lot colder and Thursday morning we got up with our heating on, which comes on automatically if the house drops below 19°C. It did the same Friday morning. 

There were two apples left in the fruit dish going a little rubbery so I thawed some pastry and made an apple and cinnamon thing to have with our afternoon tea. 

Hubby got a message from Daughter asking to borrow the hedge trimmer along with the ladder and Hubby of course. As he had already booked an afternoon slot at the tip and needed to fill more bags at home to make it worth going, he helped Daughter first then Daughter and R came back with him and helped him here. They stayed for lunch too. 

Definitely feels autumnal now and I'm so looking forward to the yellows, reds and golds of nature. 

Have a good weekend.

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Suddenly September........

 
Saturday night I agreed to go with Hubby to join our friends and see Scarecrow play. Our friend Paul is the drummer for this very popular local rock band. 

It was a very well attended gig and the music is good, Hubby enjoyed it,  but unfortunately for me far too loud, hurting my ears and too hot in there.

Sitting in one place for so long also gave me backache, I had to turn my chair 180° to watch the band and turned back in their break. Gosh I'm getting old and grumpy. Glad to get home but my back hurt enough for me to go to bed then get up shortly after and take paracetamol before I could sleep. I used to go to lots of these with friends years ago but never because I was a big fan, always to please other people and it was the same this time.  Hubby can go without me another time. 

Had a lovely long phone call from CousinS on Monday. An hour long catchup with family news and a lot of laughter. 

As I'm quite short car head rests are not always the support for me they should be. Our new car is particularly bad as it doesn't go right down and my neck is over that gap. 

So my first prototype cushion. Elastic to slip over the head rest, larger roll of stuffing at the top to fill the gap and tapered down for lower neck comfort. 

That was the theory and it was sort of right but needs to be thicker. I really thought the upholstery was black (must have been our previous car) so I'll make the next one grey if I can find suitable fabric in my stash. 

Daughter and R popped over on Wednesday and it just so happened we had taken a cake out of the freezer the night before so it was nice to all share it. 

Blood test on Tuesday and she found a vein without too much trouble, thanks to my drinking non stop for about 30 hours before and making four bathroom trips during the night. When they are GP requested blood tests I get to see all the results online but unfortunately these are requested by the hospital Oncology unit so nothing goes online. My specialist nurse works part time so I'll have to wait until next Tuesday and phone her. 

Friday was my annual Cystoscopy. Not a nice procedure but I'm grateful they still check. Thankfully it was totally clear. When I mentioned about needing my blood test results to one of the nurses there she tried to look them up but hinted that it really wasn't her place to pass them to me, so I stopped her as I don't want to get anyone into trouble trying to help me. 

Now into my fourth week of these cancer meds I'm noticing some side effects. Nothing major just a general yucky feeling and more tired. I also think my usual aches and pains are worse as I've got plantar fasciitis (under the foot pain) again in my left foot which isn't easing with the usual exercises. However the twitchy eye thing is easing off now so that helps to remind me that all these things are temporary. 

Hope you are enjoying the last of the summer warm days. 

See you next week when hopefully I'll not be grumpy.

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