Inspired by Lisa who is trying to start a trend! All you have to do is think of twenty happy things in your life...it's a good exercise in positivity!
In no particular order....
1. I slept straight through for the last three nights! This might not be too astounding but it's the first time in five months.
2. I have 'outlaws' who I would choose as friends. One of the few positive things about my marital/divorce history is that I got to ditch the bad ones along with the husbands!
3. The sound of swans taking off and landing on the river.
4. However much I still miss Tilly I know she is very happy where she is.
5. I think I am winning a personal battle with a long standing difficulty.
6. I love and am loved.
7. TP continues to do marvellously.
8. 'Hammy' is learning that I am not scary.
9. I don't own a house... I never thought that would be a good thing but in the current political/financial climate I consider it a very good thing!
10. Losing almost all of anything I ever owned has taught me just how unimportant 'things' actually are.
11. Being broke makes even the tiny treats such a pleasure.
12. I have two baby blue tits on my bird feeder :o)
13. The sun is shining.
14. The man I love is also the person I respect most in the world. Don't assume the two always go together!
15. I have a Costa within two minutes walking distance!
16. I can eat any amount of chocolate without putting on weight.
17. Living on a river bank is fab. (unless you try to get home insurance!)
18. I was gifted a beautiful seriously pink orchid at the weekend.
19. I have a roof over my head and food in my tummy.
20. I get cuddles every day.
I'm not going to tag anyone...if you wanna do it, do it.
Monday, 14 July 2008
Sunday, 13 July 2008
Joe Cocker...then and now!
This will send chills down your spine....well it did mine anyways! Amazing.
Saturday, 12 July 2008
Friday, 11 July 2008
Sun, sea and sleep?
I wish! .....the reality is probably rain, rough seas and re-boots!
We are off for the weekend again, I say 'again' because whilst I enjoy the current seemingly constant visiting of folk, the idea of a few weekends just doing damn all at home, is becoming more attractive as the weeks go by. This time our destination is to the south coast and the 'outlaws', who's computer has died a very significant death and requires some heavy duty resurrection. Consequently instead of suncream and surfboards our weekend's packing includes Fletch's ever ready 'geek box' of miscellaneous hardware items (which as sod's law dictates will contain everything but the one item we desperately need to get the machine up and running), software and the statutory tool kit!
Hey....the weather forecast is dismal anyways and the sleep, well I'm still having major sleep issues (i.e. I don't) but at least I can wander a different house in the wee small hours, as always, enjoy the company....and there is Sophie the cat! :o)
We are off for the weekend again, I say 'again' because whilst I enjoy the current seemingly constant visiting of folk, the idea of a few weekends just doing damn all at home, is becoming more attractive as the weeks go by. This time our destination is to the south coast and the 'outlaws', who's computer has died a very significant death and requires some heavy duty resurrection. Consequently instead of suncream and surfboards our weekend's packing includes Fletch's ever ready 'geek box' of miscellaneous hardware items (which as sod's law dictates will contain everything but the one item we desperately need to get the machine up and running), software and the statutory tool kit!
Hey....the weather forecast is dismal anyways and the sleep, well I'm still having major sleep issues (i.e. I don't) but at least I can wander a different house in the wee small hours, as always, enjoy the company....and there is Sophie the cat! :o)
Thursday, 10 July 2008
Mother needs police check to escort son!
A mother from Wales is required to have a CRB check before escorting her own severely epileptic son to school!!!
He is liable to have a seizure whilst travelling in the taxi provided by the local authority and his mother is qualified to administer the necessary medication, she would not come into contact with any other child than her own!
The full story is HERE.
Are the powers that be in the UK now completely demented?!! The more of this kind of idiocy I hear the more I begin to really dislike my own country. Are those holding positions of authority no longer able to make individual judgements because the nanny has state has rendered them completely witless and unable to rationalise anything at all?
Best I say no more for fear of a long line of expletives being the only likely result!
He is liable to have a seizure whilst travelling in the taxi provided by the local authority and his mother is qualified to administer the necessary medication, she would not come into contact with any other child than her own!
The full story is HERE.
Are the powers that be in the UK now completely demented?!! The more of this kind of idiocy I hear the more I begin to really dislike my own country. Are those holding positions of authority no longer able to make individual judgements because the nanny has state has rendered them completely witless and unable to rationalise anything at all?
Best I say no more for fear of a long line of expletives being the only likely result!
Free range!
Perhaps I will live to regret the fact that I kinda feel sorry for Hammy (why we gave her a name I don't know, it never gets used!) being shut in a cage 27/7...but thus far a little free range time seems to work well, providing of course I limit her geography to some degree!
Wednesday, 9 July 2008
Fellatio is good for you!
Warning: Adult content.
Here's one for the boys!
I can't help but wonder if a news story that has re-surfaced on CNN this morning is for real!
We women are only too well aware of the male penchant for a 'certain' sex act, and we have listened to a lifetime of unending jokes and suggestions that 'it is good for us' but from a north Carolina state university comes the findings of a 'research project' that suggests performing fellatio twice a week will reduce our risk of breast cancer by up to 40%! Is this maybe substantive proof that what the guys have been telling us all along, is in fact true.....or is it perhaps just way too convenient a result! ;o)
Ok, the rationale seems perfectly feasible to my limited intellect but I'm still wondering if somehow I've lost the plot and today is April the 1st!
Too much opportunity for hilarity...I am resisting, for the full story hit THIS
Here's one for the boys!
I can't help but wonder if a news story that has re-surfaced on CNN this morning is for real!
We women are only too well aware of the male penchant for a 'certain' sex act, and we have listened to a lifetime of unending jokes and suggestions that 'it is good for us' but from a north Carolina state university comes the findings of a 'research project' that suggests performing fellatio twice a week will reduce our risk of breast cancer by up to 40%! Is this maybe substantive proof that what the guys have been telling us all along, is in fact true.....or is it perhaps just way too convenient a result! ;o)
Ok, the rationale seems perfectly feasible to my limited intellect but I'm still wondering if somehow I've lost the plot and today is April the 1st!
Too much opportunity for hilarity...I am resisting, for the full story hit THIS
Tuesday, 8 July 2008
Monday, 7 July 2008
Biking border terrier!
A border terrier in the south of England with a penchant for riding pillion!
Click here for video.
Love it!
Click here for video.
Love it!
Saturday, 5 July 2008
Mission accomplished
The mission has been accomplished...and in more ways than one.
Patient transport services have been carried out successfully and with only one major traffic jam to contend with in 400 miles of motorway, which was pretty impressive so I can now hang up my chauffeurs cap for a week or two, all things being equal.
More importantly the consultation at the hospital was even more impressive!
The prof. (hey, no common or garden consultants or registrars here thankyouverymuch) who carried out the surgery was completely amazed by TP's speed and manner of recovery, suggesting that maybe plastic surgery had been carried out in error for such an apparently well looking patient to be in front of him, as opposed to the massively invasive surgery that it actually was!
Of course things are never quite that straightforward, we also learned, as we expected though one always hopes won't be the case, that 'phase two' of this experience will next move onto a course of chemotherapy but, and it's a big but, the chemo is a 'belt and braces' maneuver, just in case one or two of those nasty little mutant cancer cells made a last minute run for it. None have been tracked down in any place they shouldn't be but they can be masters of disguise so for safety's sake the buggers are about to encounter the chemical version of Pearl Harbour!
So, we have a few weeks to regroup the troops both emotionally and in the case of TP also physically and then it's onward and upward.
It may sound somewhat peculiar that we walked into a consultation to discover a confirmed diagnosis of cancer (the boffins could only be 90% sure prior to surgery) and that chemo was the order of the day but despite that we came out on a relative high, but on the scale of all things cancerous, and particularly the cancerous thing in question, TP and the rest of us couldn't have been luckier! It's a tough thing to go through but by chance we got one of the world's most experienced and knowledgeable professors in the field on the case and performing the surgery and the hospital houses one of the leading oncology units and research facilities. If you are going to have cancer then this is the place you want to be treated! It's amazing, as is the prognosis for recovery and as ever TP's resolute and inspiring approach to the whole issue!
None of us are under any mis-guided idea that chemo is going to be a walk in the park but methods of delivery and the pharmacology of anti-emetics have come on in leaps and bounds in recent years..... so with a little luck and much finger crossing it should all be reasonably civilised and before long this whole hoo ha can be consigned to history! :o)
Patient transport services have been carried out successfully and with only one major traffic jam to contend with in 400 miles of motorway, which was pretty impressive so I can now hang up my chauffeurs cap for a week or two, all things being equal.
More importantly the consultation at the hospital was even more impressive!
The prof. (hey, no common or garden consultants or registrars here thankyouverymuch) who carried out the surgery was completely amazed by TP's speed and manner of recovery, suggesting that maybe plastic surgery had been carried out in error for such an apparently well looking patient to be in front of him, as opposed to the massively invasive surgery that it actually was!
Of course things are never quite that straightforward, we also learned, as we expected though one always hopes won't be the case, that 'phase two' of this experience will next move onto a course of chemotherapy but, and it's a big but, the chemo is a 'belt and braces' maneuver, just in case one or two of those nasty little mutant cancer cells made a last minute run for it. None have been tracked down in any place they shouldn't be but they can be masters of disguise so for safety's sake the buggers are about to encounter the chemical version of Pearl Harbour!
So, we have a few weeks to regroup the troops both emotionally and in the case of TP also physically and then it's onward and upward.
It may sound somewhat peculiar that we walked into a consultation to discover a confirmed diagnosis of cancer (the boffins could only be 90% sure prior to surgery) and that chemo was the order of the day but despite that we came out on a relative high, but on the scale of all things cancerous, and particularly the cancerous thing in question, TP and the rest of us couldn't have been luckier! It's a tough thing to go through but by chance we got one of the world's most experienced and knowledgeable professors in the field on the case and performing the surgery and the hospital houses one of the leading oncology units and research facilities. If you are going to have cancer then this is the place you want to be treated! It's amazing, as is the prognosis for recovery and as ever TP's resolute and inspiring approach to the whole issue!
None of us are under any mis-guided idea that chemo is going to be a walk in the park but methods of delivery and the pharmacology of anti-emetics have come on in leaps and bounds in recent years..... so with a little luck and much finger crossing it should all be reasonably civilised and before long this whole hoo ha can be consigned to history! :o)
Friday, 4 July 2008
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Thursday, 3 July 2008
One the road again
Today begins phase two of 'The Patients' (from here on in referred to as 'TP') possible medical treatment.
Phase one, the surgery, has been a resounding success with recovery, albeit far from over, progressing much better than we had dared to hope, phase two begins this evening as I hit the road again to start on the first leg of a 400 mile round trip as 'patient transport services'.
The designated hospital is far from home and for obvious reasons a 'driver' is required, that's me! I may not be much help medically but driving I can do and this time I get a stop over. I am only leaving tonight because tomorrow's appointment is early and we do actually need to get there! The M25 and M40 being what they are, if I attempted the whole journey in one hit we would likely never make it on time!
The appointment is an important one, with the attendant concerns and anxieties, it's the day that should provide us with all the detailed post operative information and where we will learn if any further treatment is required.... and if so then specifically what.
There is an up-side in all situations if you look hard enough, so they tell me.... the up-side to this one?....I get to drive TP's verynicethankyouverymuch car, it being much more comfortable and more importantly, more reliable than my old jallopy!
Fingers and thumbs crossed please if you will, for a positive outcome :o)
Phase one, the surgery, has been a resounding success with recovery, albeit far from over, progressing much better than we had dared to hope, phase two begins this evening as I hit the road again to start on the first leg of a 400 mile round trip as 'patient transport services'.
The designated hospital is far from home and for obvious reasons a 'driver' is required, that's me! I may not be much help medically but driving I can do and this time I get a stop over. I am only leaving tonight because tomorrow's appointment is early and we do actually need to get there! The M25 and M40 being what they are, if I attempted the whole journey in one hit we would likely never make it on time!
The appointment is an important one, with the attendant concerns and anxieties, it's the day that should provide us with all the detailed post operative information and where we will learn if any further treatment is required.... and if so then specifically what.
There is an up-side in all situations if you look hard enough, so they tell me.... the up-side to this one?....I get to drive TP's verynicethankyouverymuch car, it being much more comfortable and more importantly, more reliable than my old jallopy!
Fingers and thumbs crossed please if you will, for a positive outcome :o)
Wednesday, 2 July 2008
Hamster power!
The tale of a hamster, a mobile phone and a turbine!
Perhaps Nutmeg can be of more use than I previously imagined! ;o)
Perhaps Nutmeg can be of more use than I previously imagined! ;o)
Tuesday, 1 July 2008
Stitched up!
If you are in any way squeamish or do not appreciate a sick sense of humour can I suggest before you read any further, that you instead click the little red cross at the top right of your browser.
Right, warning issued, I shall proceed with the post, accepting no further responsibility for any offence caused or injury sustained through fainting!
If you aren't familiar with them the picture on the right is of surgical staples. You may or may not recall I posted recently that a member of my immediate family had undergone very major surgery, these staples are just five of a scarily large number removed recently from 'the patient'. I say a scarily large number because the incision required was what is termed a 'roof incision', named as such because it is the shape of an apex roof.....and about the same size in this instance! Running in both directions from just below the sternum to just short of each hip bone in a perfect inverted 'V'. If I were to hazard a guess I would say the combined length is somewhere in the the region of 20-24 inches, hence the horribly large number of staples required to close the wound.
So what are they doing here? Well, the patient decided upon removal of said staples, that the care received by the hospital which carried out the surgery was very deserv'ed of a donation of funds by way of a thank you.... and to 'top up' the donation it would be very amusing to 'sell off' the items in question!
The sale proved to be popular, the entire stock selling out in a day with a child of the family even insisting on having the one's 'with bits on', or she wouldn't buy!
...and those in the picture are mine, bought and paid for in full, though quite what I should do with them next is beyond me! ;o)
Right, warning issued, I shall proceed with the post, accepting no further responsibility for any offence caused or injury sustained through fainting!
If you aren't familiar with them the picture on the right is of surgical staples. You may or may not recall I posted recently that a member of my immediate family had undergone very major surgery, these staples are just five of a scarily large number removed recently from 'the patient'. I say a scarily large number because the incision required was what is termed a 'roof incision', named as such because it is the shape of an apex roof.....and about the same size in this instance! Running in both directions from just below the sternum to just short of each hip bone in a perfect inverted 'V'. If I were to hazard a guess I would say the combined length is somewhere in the the region of 20-24 inches, hence the horribly large number of staples required to close the wound.
So what are they doing here? Well, the patient decided upon removal of said staples, that the care received by the hospital which carried out the surgery was very deserv'ed of a donation of funds by way of a thank you.... and to 'top up' the donation it would be very amusing to 'sell off' the items in question!
The sale proved to be popular, the entire stock selling out in a day with a child of the family even insisting on having the one's 'with bits on', or she wouldn't buy!
...and those in the picture are mine, bought and paid for in full, though quite what I should do with them next is beyond me! ;o)
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