It's (almost) Christmas!!!

I can't believe it's 3 months since I last blogged.
And no one was worried!! Hey, that's love for you!!!!


So, it's 2 days before Christmas and I'm now past the bah humbug stage - which is great for all those who live with me, because crabby and cranky me is not a good combi!!


We have been busy - not doing big things, just getting on with life.

Lou and Andrew had their engagement party, which was a fab night -

 

seeing people who I haven't seen for ages and catching up.
The above is a photo of the happy couple!!!

Linda has moved down from Skye. Her new flat looks nice and we've met up a couple of times to catch up.

And Matthew's sister died - we were kind of expecting it, but it's still a shock when it happens - you just don't think that people a similar age to you should die.

So i'm really looking forward to Christmas this year.
It'll be funny not having Lou about 1st thing, but she and Andrew will be about during the day. They're going to stay with Andrew's mum and come here - lou to get fed while Andrew eats at his mum's house, then to use to see what kind of goodies we have on offer!!

Asda food delivery this afternoon, so I should go and get fed, then I might think of catching up on the ironing!!!

Take care all of you and have a good time over the next few days
 

my crazy life: Strange things are happening..............

my crazy life: Strange things are happening..............: ................Admit it - you're singing along thinking of Toy Story - aren't you?!?! No - well WHY NOT?!?!?!?!? But some stra...

Strange things are happening..............

................Admit it - you're singing along thinking of Toy Story - aren't you?!?!

No - well WHY NOT?!?!?!?!?


But some strange things are happening all around me just now!

First one - and here comes the drum roll.......................... Louise and Andrew have got engaged!!! Knew it was gonna happen - especially after that night at the hospital. It was just a case of WHEN.
The proposal wasn't quite what had been planned, but it will keep the grandchildren amused in years to come!!
No - i'm not going to tell you the story, but given that she has heard a million times that her dad proposed to me in Pizzaland, after we'd had a disagreement about something, I knew it would be a good one!!!


Her ring is lovely - white silver with a ruby and 2 diamonds.
They've set a date in 2016 and are now happily arranging things!!

Which means I get to go to wedding fayres and nab bits of cake and some sweeties and generally act like a big kid!!!

Yes - nothing like getting your own back!!!!
Andrew and Lou generally walk away shaking their heads and Janice (A's Mum) is just standing laughing!!

There is a part being arranged and I might get invited - If I promise to BEHAVE!!

The other strange thing is that I am now 50.

Yes - i'm OLD - well - kind of!!

It was my birthday last weekend and I had a great time. Staring off with said wedding cake (at least 3 samples!!), then off to Lou's on the Saturday night for a get together with some friends and then on the Sunday, my birthday, Pizza from Pizza Express.

I got some lovely pressies - a charm bracelet and charm from 3 friends I have known for 30 years. And a lovely Willow Tree ornament from another friend .

Matthew bought me a new camera and Lou and the boys bought me a new watch - a Radley one to match up with the new bag i'd treated myself to and kept till my birthday to open. They also got me the memory card for the camera and Andrew put in a little dinosaur bank - i'll take that as a hint to start saving!!!

But with this age comes the bums and boobs checks!!! You get sent a little bowel screening set to check for cancer.
And then you have the mammogram for the boobs.

Hey - like a lot of other things in my life, I never signed up for this!!!

I don't feel 50. Well - maybe I did this morning when I fell out of bed, but I will have the joys of my new Kindle!!

I decided to treat myself to a few things myself - the bag, a new MP3 player and the kindle.

So i'm now off to browse the kindle book store on Amazon and see what I can buy!!

The Curious Incident of the damp patch on the ceiling (and all its drips!!!)

Remember Lou being in hospital?
And I said she had a problem with her bedroom ceiling and I would post about it later?
Well, later has just arrived!


Lou noticed this damp patch on her ceiling a couple of months and reported it to the Housing Association. They came to inspect and assured her that it would be fixed - it was most likely a radiator from the neighbour.

So off she went on holiday, had a good time, came back, settled back into work then had that doozy of an asthma attack.

She got out of hospital and I told her that I felt that either she should stay here, or go back to the flat, as long as someone was with her. SO she went back there with Andrew and he stayed the night.

The next morning, on wakening up, they heard a drip.
Plop, plop on to stuff in the bedroom and the damp patch was getting bigger.
Now - after all our good weather, the rain had decided to arrive and obviously, it was getting in somewhere.

Now - I must explain, There is a kind of weirdness in the layout of the flats in Louise's close. (oh - I will explain for those who don't know - a close in a set of flats)

There are 4 flats in Lou's close and 2 shops on the bottom level. Lou lives on the 2nd level. The neighbour across the landing - she has a sort of maisonette type flat - so the loft space has been converted. Similar in the next close, one of the 2nd floor flats has loft space converted, but we were unsure which neighbour has the space above Lou's bedroom.

So Andrew decided to phone the emergency maintaince guy.
He comes out, moaning (he wanted a peaceful day) and says that there is nothing he can do, he can't access loft space, so nought doing.

And anyway - no roofer will go on the roof in this weather .

Andrew explained that Lou was just out of hospital after having a serious asthma attack, so really - they should do something.
But nothing.

The next day, after spending the night at Andrew's, Lou phoned the housing, explained what had happed and asked if someone would come and look.

So her dad waited in her flat ALL day - no one arrived. The excuse was that they had several calls for help and just couldn't get to her.
But duh - she had been in hospital, she couldn't risk staying there.

So next day, Paul went to stay. Someone did call in and said he'd send a humidifier to try and dry it out, so he had to wait in.

By the next day, Lou was getting mad - she had a couple of things that needed seen to in the house - aside from the damp patch, so the maintaince supervisor said he'd be there. One thing got taken care of, but the damp patch -if we hadn't laughed we'd have cried.

Now - let me just say, Noah must have left this guy out of the ark for a reason - the reason - he just didn't want to listen to a wummin!!!

He kept saying that it couldn't possibly come from a loft space because Lou is on the 2nd floor.
But in her close, the loft space is above the 2nd floor.
We must have told him this about 4 times, but he just kept telling us NO!!
(now - you would think the lack of stairs beyond Lou's flat would have indicated that he was on the top floor, but no - he just wasn't for buying it!!!)

We asked about getting the ceiling repaired after it had dried out.
No - we don't do that. You'll have to wait till the ceiling collapses in on you and then you have to pay the repairs!!.

Fizzing doesn't even come close!

So workmen were summoned to fix the issue in the kitchen and the drip in the bedroom.


Typical - you wait for a man for months, then 5 arrive in a couple of hours!!!

They all - to a man - agreed that the supervisor was an idiot and he'd only been promoted to keep him out of the way of dangerous tools!!!

The guy who came to look at the ceiling was great. He had a look and then said he'd get up into what part of the loft space he could and see what he could do.

A while later, he came back - he said that a couple of the tiles at the dormer window were out of place and wet - even if this wasn't the problem, it wouldn't have helped, so he sorted them
He went  on to say that another problem could be a pipe leaking, but he couldn't see any pipes for above, so the only way that could be found would be to take down part of the ceiling.

We laughed and asked who'd pay for repairs - he said the Housing, since they were trying to resolve a problem. We explained about the other guy and he laughed - don't worry came the reply - if we have to do it that way, it will get done - and we will make right .
But he did say that we should wait to see if any more water came though, use the humidifier to dry it and take it from there.

So at last - a man who could. For the moment anyway.

Eventually Lou moved back in. No more drips - yet.

But if there are - we know what to do!!!

Hot weather, asthma and a night in A+E

I do enjoy the warm weather and good sunny days are few and far between in the West of Scotland.
But the past few weeks - oh, man - it has been sooooo hot and clammy, even at night I've had the bedroom windows open and we had to trade in our superdooper high tog duvet for the thinnest one we could find. And even then it was getting kicked off the bed.

It was sooo hot one night that I even found Simba the cat cooling off in the sink in the bathroom!!!!!!
That's when you KNOW it's hot!!!!

But last Thursday afternoon, things came to a head for Louise.
We were in town and decided to go for some lunch (Kimble's of course!!)
Lou seemed to be struggling to breathe and had to take her inhaler. Not just the once, but several times in a short space of times.
So we decided to head home - abandoning any other plans we had - and we would phone the GP on the way home.

Few more puffs of said inhaler and a girl who was finding it hard to breathe still - my comment was that we should just go to the health centre on the way home. It just seemed stupid that we were so close to not go  and that given the circumstances someone would prob decide to do a house visit, it seemed like we would just be wasting time.

When we were at reception and the girl was taking the details, one of the Gps came through. The look on his face said it all. He has known my kids since they were tots, knows that we don't abuse the system or shout at the reception staff. He obviously thought we had done the right thing.

In our Practice, we now have a Nurse Practitioner, along with our Practice Nurses. This helps free up time for the Gps, she can see, assess and treat patients and prescribe drugs if needed and refer back to the Gp if needed.
She did say that many patients were coming in suffering from the effects of the weather on various conditions - chesty stuff was a biggy since the weather had changed fairly rapidly and peoples bodies hadn't had time to catch up.
So she checked Lou's sats which were good. Bit of a surprise there, but ok.
Her peak flow was much lower than normal, but it was her heart rate that was really worrying - over 100.

So she decided to prescribe some steroids.
And put Lou back on her brown inhaler.
And said that if things were still bad, to come back. We had done everything right.

SO by the time we got to the chemist and back home it was nearly 4pm. Lou decided to phone work and tell them she wouldn't be in - she felt it wasn't fair on them if she was this bad and had to be sent home.

But her breathing and heart rate were still dodgy.

By 6pm, I was beginning to think that this was serious.
I mean - 4 hours and she was still struggling and puffing on her ventolin inhaler.

AND that brings problems as well - the shaky hands and the pins and needles

Andrew arrived in after dropping his mum off. I kind of wish he's brought her in - Janice is so sensible.
Eventually, I decided that we would just go for it. No point phoning NHS24 - they would just send an ambulance and that would stress Lou even more.

I don't know or care what speed A did along the M8 towards the Royal Infirmary and neither do I care. I just wanted to get my daughter seen and better.

By the time we got out of the car, Lou was in tears on top of the dodgy breathing and holding on to that inhaler like it was gold.
Andrew picked her up and ran.
I ran and we got a look from a staff nurse who had just come off shift and into the carpark. She came over and told Lou to try and calm down and that she wasn't far from A+E and they would help.

I booked her in (after she had spent about 30 seconds at the reception desk, just to let them see what she was like) and she went to sit dow.

Now in amongst the dodgy footie injuries and the "it's after 6 and the Gp is shut and this itch on my nose just needs seen to" she was getting some strange looks. The triage nurse came out and called another patient who got up to go into the room. Then she heard Lou's breathing and told the other girl that she's have to see Lou first.

When we went in, she asked what was wrong. Lou just looked at me and I told the story. By this time, she had been having trouble breathing for 6 hours, nothing was helping and she was scared.

The nurse said "are you sure  it's not a panic attack or anxiety???"
I pulled myself up to my full height of under 5 feet and said "no. It's not a panic attack. We tried the breathing into a paper bag and it didn't help. It's an asthma attack" and thre her a look that said "get your big girl pants on and DO something - NOW"

So she took loo off in a chair and told Andrew and I to go back outside and wait.

So we did. And waited.
And waited.

So we started to people watch.

Now - I was trying to be calm for Andrew, who was being calm for Louise and was getting pretty scared.  

Oh - I forgot to mention that A has type 1 diabetes.
He hadn't managed to get something to eat.
So I then had him to worry about, thinking that he may just drop down on me!!

Once I checked he had something to eat in his bag, we set to our people watching.

The guy in the footie shorts with the fantastic shiner on his eye. We hoped that he and his girlfriend weren't planning on getting married at the weekend!! The photos would need to be airbrushed big style to get him looking good.
The woman with a towel over her head - we found later she had been bleeding - had she fought with the cupboard under the sink?!?!?!

Then Andrew says "Julie - I want one of those bracelets like that guy has got"

Now - I am  KNOWN for being dense and a bit slow on the uptake, but this time - I think a SLOTH would have sussed it faster. I was like "what?? WHERE?? Just show me" looking all round the waiting area.
I looked towards the reception desk at the only people there. 3 guys, 2 in uniform. They were Prison Officers and had a convict with a dodgy knee and had him cuffed!!!

All life starts and some end at A+E at Glasgow Royal Infirmary!!!!

Then there were the patients who were coming in, seemingly having no trouble walking and talking and you wondered just WHAT was wrong with them.
After hours, there are at least 2 minor injuries units open till 9pm and several out of hours clinics that are open till midnight or all night.
Now, these people maybe did have something wrong with them, and if needed the out of hours would have sent them on to A+E. But you just wondered what had made them bypass somewhere that could have helped and made them get to another place they would have to wait for ages to be seen.

Then (I found this oddly funny!!) a guy comes out of the emergency treatment area, with a gown on and his trousers on. Heads for the door, with a packet of cigarettes in his hand!!!
If you can get off the trolley and walk to the front door to light up - there can be little wrong with you!!!

Then we turned our attention to the screen which gave us times waiting for Major and Minor problems. Majors seemed to be either 1.5 hours or 2.5.

Don't know which was right, since the 2 times came one after the other!!!

And Minors was an hour and a half.
So we then thought that it would be good to have the screen telling us just where you were in the waiting - you know - Like Dominos when you order pizza and they tell you what part of the order they are at or like Argos, where you can see when your stuff has been brought down and you pick it up from collection.

But what would happen if someone died????

Oh, says Andrew - they'd just put up - gone to mortuary or crematorium!!!

What we do when we're worried!!!

By this time it was 9.20 and Lou had been in the treatment area for well over an hour. We WERE getting worried. So when reception was quiet, I went to ask if we could find out how Lou was. As the girl was phoning through, a student nurse came out. She said she had been looking after Lou and we would be allowed in soon. I explained that I was worried, so she went off and came back and said we could go through.

It turns out that she had said to the staff nurses that she thought one of us should be in with Lou - if for no other  reason than to tell them what had gone on during the day. Lou could barely talk by this time and her pulse had been up at 140.
She did tell me that one of the docs (a consultant she thinks cos he had dark scrubs on) had stopped at her bed bay, looked at her, turned round and walked over to the nurse and said "tell her to stop hyperventilating".
My first thought was "do your own dirty work", my 2nd was "just as well I wasn't here and heard that - I would have ripped limbs off him and asked questions later!"

By this time she'd had several bloods taken, was on a nebuliser and they wanted more bloods taken. They didn't think it was asthma - because she didn't have a wheeze.

Mmm - but she doesn't always have a wheeze I told them.

They thought she had undiagnosed diabetes.

Mmm - she's had steroids a few hours ago - they make your blood sugars go crazy. ANd anyway - Andrew had tested her bloods a few times to see what it was like and it was in normal range.

Maybe it's a panic attack.

Mmmm - no, because a panic attack wouldn't last this long. We were not doing anything that would trigger a panic attack and we did all the things that would have helped - to no avail.
The doc came back and said that her lactic acid levels were up

No shit Sherlock - lactic acid levels go up if you have had a load of ventolin in a short space of time
By this time I was getting majorly pissed because my daughter was really unwell, Andrew was trying not to panic and I wanted something done. Now please.

So it was decided to run fluids though a drip (this meant siting another cannula twice over the next few hours).

One doc went off duty after 11pm, the new one came to see us and said that the registrar was coming to see Lou .

All the while, this lovely student nurse was keeping me calm. I did say that I felt Lou was getting a bit pushed about - mainly because she looks so young (she was prob older than this girl!!).

The registrar came in and even before she spoke a work, there was a calmness about her. She explained that they just could not work out quite what was going on. She said that Lou was having an acute episode of illness, but they just didn't know what was causing it. We went through a few things again and she said that the pulse rate was a worry and that Lou was def dehydrated. She had a mild temp and while it may just be the asthma, they  had to check everything out.

Eventually, Lou got to the receiving ward (tho with her nurses hat on she says that possibly she should have been in HDU) about 3am. When the girls were doing the handover, we were allowed to go in for a few minutes to say goodbye .

SO we got back to our house at about 3.30 am. Lilo was very weird when we got in - almost pouncing on us, as if she thought we had left lou somewhere!!! I had to give Andrew some cat food for his cat (who would be going crazy because he had left for work at 8.30 the day before!!)

I knew I wouldn't get to sleep cos Matthew was getting up at 5am for work. So I told him when he woke and then made myself sleep!!!


When I phoned in the morning, the doctors were with Lou - she phoned me to say they still weren't sure but it was most likely not diabetes. She was going to be moved to another ward later on. Andrew came to pick me up sop we could take a few things into her - important things like chocolate and the portable DVD player!!!! Knew she was getting better then!!

So she had a couple of nights - it most likely was a combo of asthma, the weather and dehydration. She has 2 weeks off work (her boss is not happy, but that's tough)

Even today when we were having lunch, she was still a bit breathless. Mind you - telling her about the antics that Andrew and I got up to on Thursday night as we waited didn't help - she was laughing and she got more breathless and  laughed even more!!!

I know there are a lot of scare stories about the NHS.
And I know that some Americans in the recent past have tried to slate it and say that it's rubbish.

But while there HAVE been problems, I found that our NHS, when it comes to serious illness are GREAT.

Think about the number of bloods Lou got taken and sent off to the labs.
The nebuliser with combi drugs.
THe fluids she needed.
The number of staff we saw.

Because we have contributed to the system, it is free at the point of use for us.

No having to worry about having the right insurance, or even having insurance at all.
No having to worry if we would get to a point where they would say "well, that's you maxed out the insurance - here's a bill and we take all major credit cards".

It's not a perfect system, but heck, I doubt we would ever get one.

And I would just like one of these doubting Thomases to work a shift with some of the nurses and doctors. See what they have to put up with - all the crap they have to take from the drunks and junkies and the people who think they can just rock up after stubbing their toes and expect to be seen NOW.
No - not now -last week before it even happened!!


And to top it all, she has now got a damp ceiling in her bedroom - which can't have helped - a result of the torrential rain we had.

But that will be  a whole other blog!!

And the winner is......................

......................Not telling you yet!!

That's because we have to go back 17 years to a cold and grey March morning. It was the day of Matthew's mum's funeral. My Dad looked after Lou and Paul, while Peter went to school. (just easier that way!!)

But unknown to us, some miles north of Glasgow, in a quiet little town called Dunblane, a nasty, crazed man walked into a school, killed some of the kids in the youngest class, their teacher and left the rest of the school and the community stunned and I shock.

One boy called Andy hid. It wasn't his class, but still, he hid.

Meanwhile, we were busy grieving.
We got back to Matthew's Dad's about 3 and by then, it was obvious that "something" had happened that day, but just what we didn't know.
The tragic events unfolded over the next few days and they made just about every parent in the country give their kids an extra hug in the morning.

When I took Lou into school the next day, I took one look at the teacher and thought "how are you gonna stop a mad man from hurting my child?".
But to be honest, it was most likely the safest place that she could have been.
And anyway - I think this girl would have been like a raging bull if ANYONE had come near her kids!!

So, life went on. We moved house, the kids grew up and we heard more about this guy Andy.
From Dunblane.
And he seemed to be able to hit a ball with a tennis racquet and he seemed to be good at it!!

Then last year - after years of trying, Andy got to the finals of Wimbledon - great! And even tho he didn't win, it was ok - he'd got there.

Then a few weeks later, he was back there, Olympic Final - and he won GOLD!!

Yes - getting there.

Then a few months later - he won the American Open.
Not just got to the finals and hey, did not bad - HE WON!!!

So we now get to a lovely Sunday afternoon in SW19.

The scene it set.
In the final again, but somehow, he seems different.

More ice, more fire  in the blood.

It took 3 straight sets and just over 3 hours to WIN!!!

But what is it with us Scots?!?!?!
Why do anything the easy way, when doing it the hard way is preferred??? (hand us a whip and we'll flog ourselves between games, twice between sets!!)

But win Andy did, in style!


He did an interview recently, where he talked about "that" day.

I'd like to think that he did what he did today for those kids who never got the chance to grow up a fulfil what they could have done.

It would be easy for him to say "oh, look at me, what I went through".

He could have turned to drink or drugs, but he didn't.

He hasn't forgotten those children and hopefully Dunblane can celebrate tonight along with the rest of us.

It's a ..............................

.................Girl!!!!!!

It is official - My friend Linda is now a Gran!

Congratulations!!!

But I don't think i'll be joining the club anytime soon!!!!


Linda's daughter Candace has given birth to the loveliest, cutest, best baby the universe has even known! Her name is Cara Linda, she was born on the 10th of June at 11.59pm and she was 7ib 7oz.

She just forgot the bit in the script where it says she was meant to be born on the 11th, which is my dad's birthday.
But I have a sneaky suspicion that my dads told he to be born the day before so they could party 2 days running!!!!

I have not met Cara yet, but we did meet up with Linda today and passed on some goodies and we had lunch. But I can't wait to meet Cara!!

My resolution this year was to try and blog more often. I will try, but i'm not going to just blog "had a cup of tea" - there has to be a story.

Life takes a busy turn over the next few weeks - Peter and Matthew are away off to Kielder on Monday - yah!!! Peace, quiet and long lies!
And at the end of July, Peter off to Dalry again to visit the animals.

Paul trying hard to find a part time job - to help fund (drumroll please).................... Going to University!!! Yes, he passed his HND and is off to Napier in September to study for his BMus. He has decided to commute to Edinburgh, so that will be fun. I may suggest that he entertains the passengers and pass the hat round to help pay his bus fare!! A novel way of singing for your supper.

So on that note, i'm going to go and veg out before I do a mammoth pack in the morning!!

Change.................

...................Always change!!!

Well - there have been a couple of changes over the past few weeks.
Louise has spent the first night in her new flat - she only got the keys 4 weeks ago, but with getting the carpets, cooker, washing machine and trying to sort out the central heating, it's taken her all this time to actually get in and stay the night.
Mind you, I thought we were going for some record with the boiler - 4 guys in less than 4 weeks. One day I had to wait in - I was really glad when Matthew arrived with milk and proceeded to make a cup of tea. My hands were curled round the mug sooooo hard, I thought I was going to break it. It was the only way I could get any heat into me!!!

She left with some of her stuff (there are still things in the ironing pile that she'd like me to do. Huh - she'll be lucky!!) . Her comment as she left was "see you Monday".

Why Monday - well, it's Paul's birthday and she can sniff out pizza before I even think to order it!!!

But we've had 2 visits today - one to pick up a letter she meant to post. (tho why she couldn't have phoned and asked if we would post it I know not!!)
And the 2nd visit was this afternoon was with bread she'd made in her bread maker and to make sure the cats were ok.

Now, we could have been lying in massive heaps on the floor, but as long as the cats are ok................


The other change is that one of the Enable team left and we were at the leaving party.
Ashleigh was the first member of the team we met as we started our journey getting support for Peter.
She won it for me - I'm not too sure what it was - - I do know - it was Ohana - and Lilo and Stitch.

Ohana means family and family means no one gets left behind.

So off we went with a pressie in hand - a mug from the Disney shop with Stitch on and really looking forward to a good night.

As you can see, a good time was had and Peter insisted he wear his Mickey hat!!!

Louise was working the next day and had said she didn't want to stay out too late. So I went off to the loo, came back and found her hitting the dance floor.


Like - WTF.......................!!! You have a 12 hour shift tomorrow.

You have to be up at 5.30 am to get to work and it'll be about 8.30 pm before you get home!!

Suddenly I felt old!!!

But it was a good night.

Ashleigh has been head hunted by Donna - yes, Donna with the shoes!!!]She has been well warned not to poach any more Enable staff - I quite like the ones we have just now!!!!

So now i'm heading to bed, to hide under the covers and wonder just how I got a 20 year old son !!!!

Spring has sprung.................

..................Well - almost.

And it seems to be a time of change and new beginnings - or at least the hope of them!!

The first thing to happen was that Louise was offered a flat by the local housing association. She has wanted to strike out on her own since she got a taste of freedom when she was house sitting for my friend.
She put her name down on one house list, but to be honest, we felt they were worse than useless - they told her that her chances of getting a place were zero to negative numbers. They only seemed to be interested if you were on benefits or had some addiction problems.

[this is where I do my disclaimer!! I know not everybody who lives in one of these houses has addiction issues or on benefits. And I also know that as a society we have a duty to care for those less well off/able than us - but puleeezzzze - don't knock down a youngster who is working hard and trying to set out]

About a year ago, Lou put her name on another HA list. Not really expecting to get anything and thought nothing more.
Till she got a message on her phone asking her to get in touch with them.

Would she be interested in viewing a 2nd floor flat??
One bedroom.
Would she?? Like - when can we go?!?!?!

So we did a viewing and it looked great. The HA have just put in a new kitchen and bathroom, put some new doors in and replastered the hall.

As we looked round, Lou could begin to see how the flat would look with furniture in it. (even over the pile of wood in the bedroom, which, we were assured , would be moved before she got the keys!!!!)

By the end of the day, she had decided to take it.
The shower still had to be put in and the place tidied, so she didn't get the keys till last Friday. (was on night shift and had to get up and go and sign forms!!!)

She ahs spent the past couple of weeks looking for cookers/fridges and washing machines. And carpets and lino. And sorting through stuff she already had.

Oh, coupled with several visits to ikea - to get inspiration and make lists and lists of lists!!

I said that we'd buy her a lot of the things you need to move in, but don't realise till you open a drawer or a cupboard to get it - tin openers, trays for the oven, utensils and the all important corkscrew!!!
between all that and 2 bags of essentials, I hate to think what we've spent!!

Just imagine you lost all your kitchen stuff and had to replace it - not just the things you think of, but stuff like washing up liquid, bleach, laundry stuff................

So she got the keys on Friday. I was tempted to sing that song about going back to your roots, because the flat isn't that far from when we brought her home to after she was born.

It wasn't until yesterday afternoon, when I looked out the bedroom window and realised that I could SEE the building we used to live in.
So she IS going back to those roots.

I will take a week or 2 between shifts and getting things ordered and moving stuff before she really gets in. The HA have given her some vouchers for B&Q to help buy paint and things - which we didn't expect. But it will be well used and a BYOB party may well be organised. That's a  bring your own BRUSH party!!!!

But tonight she's gone off to see Meatloaf with Andrew. She says she is coming home - she has too much to do in the morning.

Mmmmm - since when did she get so grown up?!?!?!?!?!?!

The other thing that has happened is that Paul had an audition/interview for Napier University in Edinburgh.

 For over a week, my hall looked like an outpost of Ikea with Mozart and Brahms as the piped musak!!!  

Paul headed off and did his stuff.

Came home, said it went ok and since they were auditioning others, it would be a couple of weeks before he would hear.

24 hours later, an e - mail - he had been given an offer of a place in 2nd year of the degree, conditional on passing his HND!!!!!

So, it's been another rollercoaster couple of weeks here.
And prob for the next few as well!!!

We need to work on Peter about Lou moving - he just can't "get it" yet!


Linda did arrive here for Dinner last weekend and we had a good time catching up. I think it was most likely the only calm time i'm going to get for a while!!!

New Fangled Technology...............

....................and middle aged auld brains do NOT go together!!!!

We have - after more than a year, bought our new desktop PC.
Decided to bite the bullet and just go for it - we had some money, so why not.

Mind you - 5 days after ordering said PC, the washing machine went kafutt, so we had to get a new one - quick smart, or the washing would be walking out the door. So the past 10 days or so has been a tad expensive for us.

(look on the bright side Julie - at least you had the money to buy both!!) 

Hey - who said that??
And who changed my font????


Our shiny new pc has windows 8 installed.

Would be fun, but since I've had to change my password FOUR times and it still won't let me into my Microsoft account, I am getting a tad annoyed.

My brain has turned to mushy gunk and Matthew and I are heading to the local divorce courts tout suite!!

I'm feeling rather OLD and tired tonight.
Don't know wh
Yes, I DO know why - Peter is needing to go to respite.
And I need the rest. Not to go off gallivanting, but just not to have to rush of a morning or try to make sure i'm home on time.
And just have time to come to in the morning without someone playing with the cats (who wriggle and meow like crazy and me constantly telling him to SHUT UP when he chatters away.

My eyes are heavy just now. I know I Have get up in the morning to take him to college.
Then to town to go to the bank and buy some new jammies for him.
Then home to sort out his packing.
And maybe collapse in a weary heap.

I know, I know - i'm lucky in that Peter isn't a heavy load physically and his health is fairly good, but it's the constant chatter and stuff that grinds you down. And the fact that people look at him and think "nothing wrong - he looks ok".
It's only the middle of March and it feels like it should be at least April - we seem to have done so much for Peter since Christmas - the Psych visits, the toe nail getting done, the dressings that still need done

My Jar of nice things hasn't had anything added to it for a while. Not that anything bad has happened - just nothing nice that I want to add.

BUTTTTTT - drumroll and ta da - Linda is coming down to Glasgow in 2 weeks - actually - less than that now!! She's landing on us for dinner (cheating - going to buy meatballs and pasta from Costco!!! Can't waste good drinking  c....................

Chatting time - we can't waste good chatting time.

So we are counting the sleeps - 3 till respite............................................

The Haven comes to Glasgow.............

..................Yes, Linda was in Glasgow and we met up for lunch!!

It's funny - any time i'm with Linda now seems to be spent on "Skye Time!". A slower pace and a bit of quiet for us both. 
I dropped Peter off at college and headed into town. For some reason (maybe because i  - in my head - had switched myself to the slower pace) - the buses and the cars and general hubub seemed to be so much noiser than usual. 

I wanted my peaceful place!!!!!!!


So we met just before 12 and headed to the Enable Office. I needed to check up on something and Linda was keen to meet some of the folk we talk about. So intros done, a bit of chat and we went off for lunch. They knew JUST where we were going.

KIMBLES!!!

Linda has heard me talk about the place and i always get her box of choccies from there when we go to visit. They have a deli as well as the choc shop and a cafe. Food is gorgeous and the menu is good.

We opted for a bowl of soup each (sweet Potato and Chilli - not too hot, but enough of a kick). 
And we had a cheese and fruit platter to share. Well - it was a bit different from a sandwich and it was yummy. Normally it's served with oatcakes, but we asked if we could have bread instead - no problem. 
It was sooo tasty and the chutney was delish!!! 

No - i didn't take photos - we were too busy scoffing it all to think of feasting YOUR eyes on our lunch!!! But i MIGHT do it next time!!!!
We also had some apple, pear and grapes on the plate as well.
And we sat and caught up and generally enjoyed!!

Next thing we knew, Peter and Lauren had arrived at out table. They had been at art class and decided to pay Kimbles a visit for tea. Best bit was that the grown ups paid!!! It was nice for Linda to meet Lauren as well and she caught up with Peter.

But our time went far too fast - we could have spent another 2 hours there and it wouldn't have been long enough. 
It was nice in the middle of all the bustle to have a bit of calm!!!

Mind you - at one point we heard a noise - it sounded a bit like gunshots (but was prob just something falling!!) Linda said "that sounded ominous". My reply was that i didn't really care what the noise was - i was enjoying my lunch too much!!!!

So that is us.
 Peter's toe continues to improve. We were at the clinic on tuesday and they said we could just continue to dress is on our own till the wound heals up. Plenty of dressings and the clinic phone number if needed, but to be honest, we're most likely just as quick heading to our GP.

I will leave you with the thoughts of our bread, cheese and chutney!!!!

Up before the crack of dawn...........

.................... What am i saying! It was WAY before the crack of Dawn.In fact, Dawn still had the sense to be in her bed snoozing peacefully and was showing no signs of even thinking about wakening up!!!

S Day had arrived.
Surgery.
At last - going to get Peter's big toe nail seen for for all time - hopefully!!!!
We had yet another post op assessment and met the surgeon 2 days before the surgery. 
She seemed to be ok, but Lou and i began to get a bit worried that she may not quite get why the procedure should be done under a general rather than just letting our GP do it. Had that deja vous feeling for a few moments, till she asked "So, what diagnosis does Peter actually have???"

We explained and she sent one of the staff off to get a form for her to fill in. She explained that this form just meant that she could talk to us about what was going on. (should have told her earlier that the guardianship already does that!!!!!)

So Friday morning - up early and got ready.
One son to be dropped off at Strathclyde University for a boozy musical weekend and we headed off to the hospital.
Now, we were early, which was great - it meant we got a parking space near the door and thankfully we didn't need to pay!! 

Off to the Day Surgery Unit. Now - i have to admit, i was a little worried. This is the first time that Peter has had anything surgical done in adult services. We had been assured at the first pre op that there wouldn't be a problem about us being there with him, but i did wonder how much would actually be passed on.

The Nurse came to get us and said that only one of us could go through, so off i went and lou went for a cuppa. The girl did say that they didn't seem to have any notes for Peter. I fell off the seat laughing - this was a regular occurance at Sick Kids - the mystery of the case notes!!!

So they had to take details again. we got the portable dvd player set up and watched Cinderella - much to the amusement of the staff!!!! They checked it was ok for Peter to wear his jammies rather than the regulation gown - it was.

So a stream of doctors - check that Peter knew why he was there, draw an arrow on his foot to the toe that needed done and the anesthetist to make sure Peter was ok. Man, what it is to be popular on a friday morning!!!

9.15, the nurse support said Peter would be going round to theatre soon and she gave me a stylish sack like gown to wear. After checking there were no sneaky cameras to take photos of me in such a thing, i put it on. Off we went, with Peter, Jack and Gus Gus (the mice from Cinderella) and the Cheshire cat!!!  

Cannula in and anaesthetic given  - i went to get Lou. The nurses said to come back in about half an hour. So we went for another cuppa and waited. 

Why does time ALWAYS go so slowly ??? I felt i'd been away weeks and it was only 10 minutes!

SO we went back - Peter not out of theatre. Which got me freaked because they said it would be half an hour tops!!! Lou came back to the waiting area and we  - well, waited!!
A while later, they got us in - Peter still tubed and sedated, but we could wait. 

And wait!!

Eventually, they asked me to go through to recovery. Peter was out of it - zonked!! Usually he's out of the anaesthetic fairly quickly, but this time he wasn't. Till they told me they'd given him a dose of medazolam to help relax him!! No wonder he was zonked!!!!!

When we got back to the bed bay and put on Cinderella again - that made Peter open his eyes fairly quick.  He had something to eat and drink and then put on Toy Story - yup - he was on the mend!!!! 

We got out mid afternoon, armed with painkillers and an appointment to get the dressings changed. Peter asked for some ice cream in that kinda voice that said "i've been in the wars mum - i need goodies!!!"

Quick dash to the shops while Louise got ready to go off to work (matthew had already left for his night shift).

So after Lou went out - we were on our own. To be honest, we w ere bothe shattered, so I sent Peter off to bed then headed myself.

So our weekend passed in a haze of painkillers for Peter and ironing for me.
We even attempted a shower this morning - half a roll of cling film over the dressings and a plastic bag!!!!

Calum was in today, so they had a dvd fest - Fawlty towers and goodies to eat.
Toe still a bit sore, but he gets the dressings change in the morning, so i'm hoping that we can get rid of the mad shoe thing he has to wear and get the trainer back on.

But i'm telling you - i will be in bed early tomorrow night and not out of said thing till at least 10 am the next morning!!!!!1

My Life is like herding cats..................

........................Almost impossible to do, but funny to watch.

As long as you're on the outside looking in and not in the middle of it all!!!!


We have the ongoing saga of Peter's toenail. Pre op before Christmas and told we should be done and dusted by mid feb.
So, when i got a letter about the psychiatrist coming to visit again and the time not being suitable, i knew i had to chase up the date again. I didn't want to change that appointment, only for the op appointment to come in and be the same day, or the day after.
So i sat down, phone in hand and wondering if i would have time to book a few days respite before said op.

Eventually, i got the consultant's secretary who said Peter was in the next batch of letters to go out, but she thought there was a cancellation for the 8th of feb - would we be interested???

Yes, yes and duh - yes!!
Only thing is, it's not our nearest hospital, but not that much further to go.

So that sorted, i got the psych visit sorted as well - that's now on the 1st.

I'm telling you -  herding cats to try and sort out things.

I began to think about a few days away in London for me and Peter - go to a show, see a few things.
I did look on line, left it, went to the travel agents - got a price and then said i'd need to check what the balance of the budget we have is. 
But when i got home and mentally went thru the figures, i knew it was pushing it - a lot!

So i went back on line last week - managed to find a cracking deal at a hotel, central enough, checked ticket prices - i knew we had the money, but still. 
Something stopped me from hitting that button.

I don't know what, but i just couldn't do it.

The following evening, my brother phoned.

Now - he rarely phones and we keep it short, sweet and civil.

(it's a better relationship than i have with my sister - i cannot remember the last time we spoke. Oh, yes, i do - and it took me a LONG time to get over that. Thankfully i have some good friends and a couple of good cousins who got  me thru it all)

Anyway - bruv had phoned to let me know that our Uncle Peter had died. 
He is (not saying was, because he's a part of our lives) a lovely man. Married to my Dad's big sister for nearly 60 years. Writer of books on Cicero (found that one out on Amazon), translator of ancient texts, Professor of Classics.

But to me, he was and is just Uncle Peter - plain and simple.
When i tried to explain to my friend, WHY i liked this man - it was really hard.
I always just liked being in his presence - even when i was young. Something about being with him. I remember when i was about 9 or so, walking into his study and loving the room. He didn't chase me out, or tell me off - just a "oh, hello - it's you. Terrific!"

My cousins - all 5 of them - are now spread far and near (from Glasgow, to London and south coast of England, to Spain then Australia  Any further away and you're coming home the back way!!!). I can't always say we've always got on all the time, but i have tried to kind of keep in touch on some level. 

And now, as an adult, i can see a lot of what i loved about my Uncle coming out in them in some ways.

Sitting with them today, it was hard to believe that i and 2 of my cousins are parents to children who are 25 this year!!! 

And none of us look a day over 22!!

And the younger children - 2 of them have the same long red hair that Louise has.

It was funny at one point - we were talking to Stephen - Well - Lou was and i went to say something and he said "you butt out - i'm not talking to you!!"

My retort was that i would kick his ankles and run (he's about a gazzillion feet taller than me!!) and he replied " that's so like the kinda thing your dad would have said!!"

Which led to him telling a story about my dad to Lou, to add to the story i'd told his daughter Olivia last night about Stephen giving me loads of street cred when i passed him in the street one day at school. I went to the girls convent he was at the boys fee paying school. He was nearly 16 and i was 12 - he waved and all my friends asked who the good looking boy was!!

Funnily enough, to my pleasure, the nuns never did get wind of this boy waving to me or me waving back - i would have been toast!!!

I will miss my Uncle, but as i get to know my cousins better as an adult, i think i may still know him well!!!

So i'm going to try to keep in touch a bit more - there are stories to be heard!
And photos to see!!!

The Funeral was today. We went to the church, then on to the cemetery. I had no (or little clue) where we were going, so armed with Lou's sat nav and following Stephen's car (with Tony looking out the back to make sure we were still there!!)  Lou and i started singing "i'm sticking to you - cos i'm made outta glue!!!" I know - random, but it seemed funny!!!!
We arrived at the cemetery and followed the line of cars in. Lou's comment was "where are they going to drop him mum?!?!?!"

Just as well some people were NOT in the car with us - that comment wouldn't have gone down well. But she's not my father's granddaughter for nothing!!!

We got out of the car and Stephen said something like "oh, you caught up with us". She said yes - had the sat nav on.

His retort was "well, why didn't you shout the directions to me?!?!?!?"

Can you tell i share my weird and wacky sense of humour not only with my children, but others?!?!

So tonight, raise a glass to my Uncle Peter - he's still out there - somewhere, probably with my dad and hopefully they are both thinking we're not too bad a bunch!!!