Wednesday 28 February 2018

Just taken me supplements again

All went down nice and easily today, which was a relief!

Tuesday 27 February 2018

Supplements taken

Just taken me supplements again... the calcium took a bit of effort to crunch up, but other than that they all went down fine and dandy.

Monday 26 February 2018

This'll piss Americans off! lol

I live in Gloucester and Steve did a bit of research this morning after I asked him how many people live in Gloucester for a survey I was filling in.

Apparently Gloucester has been around since 97AD!!  That means that just the city I live in is older than most of America! lol

Only Native Americans even start to approach the oldness of where I live and even then it's a close-run thing!

Apparently...

There's a postbox that Steve walks the pup to every morning and he's just told me that it's a Victorian one 'cos it's got VR embossed on it so it's quite a decent age!

Supplements taken

All 3 of 'em went down without a single problem this morning!

Yay!

👍     😁

Sunday 25 February 2018

Supplements taken

Remembered to take them this morning!  lol

Steve's already achieved a lot this morning!

He's taken the pup out for her walk, cleared her poo up that she did on the walk, cleared up and binned her poo from the yard,  put all our rubbish into the bag ready for it to be emptied tomorrow, took the recycling out then made us both a mug of coffee!

I took the pup's lead off, folded it up and took it into the kitchen then fed her.  Came back in here to get the mugs and took them out to Steve after I'd backed up my hard drive.

My laptop has been on non-stop for 3 days now, because I forgot to set the virus scan going on Friday!

Saturday 24 February 2018

Our NHS

Jeremy Hunt, MP, wants to slip something through Parliament in April that will sell off the NHS to the highest bidder and it'll become a private company that we have to pay for.

I don't know about you, but there's no way I can afford to fork out hundreds a month just to get my prescription!  I don't want to have to decide between eating or taking a prescription that I need, but that's what could happen!

After all my bills, the electricity and groceries have come out, I'm left with a grand total of £4 a month!!  I don't know where they're expecting me to find an extra £750 a month just for a single prescription, then another £1000 to see my GP, £500 for a blood test and even more for smears and jabs and things like that!

Our NHS isn't perfect, but it's free at the point of service and there are millions of people who use it to help to keep them healthy every day.

In all seriousness, if the Accountable Care thingy goes through in April, I'll have to stop taking my prescription and I'd prolly jump under the nearest bus within a month 'cos I just couldn't cope!

For those that *could* cope and survive without their prescription, they may end up homeless just so that they could pay for the insurance.  We've already got way too many homeless people on the street who can't afford to eat but Mr Hunt doesn't seem to care about that!

Come on, Mr Hunt... take a pay cut and put the money into the NHS!  Same with all the MPs and especially our PM... take a 10% pay cut and use the money that suddenly appears to invest in our NHS.

You earn more in a week than I do in an entire year!  Be human and think about the whole country instead of lining your pockets with money that could be better used elsewhere!

Friday 23 February 2018

Supplements taken

This time it was the multi I had difficulty swallowing instead of the iron!

Didn't gag, like I do with the iron, but it took two mouthfuls of squash to get it down!

Thursday 22 February 2018

This morning

Steve took the pup out for her walk just after I came downstairs and left me a note which our clever little pup had signed.

I'm cream crackered now though, so I'm heading to bed now.

Nite nite!

Wednesday 21 February 2018

Joint walkies this morning

I took the pup for the first part of her walk and Steve walked with us in case she poo'd then he took over the second part of her walk, she poo'd, Steve picked it up and we all came home!

Tuesday 20 February 2018

Just checked me bank balance

After a quick bit of maffs, I'll have £19 left in me account as long as Monday's shopping doesn't come to any more than £50 I'll be able to afford the membership to the Dogs Trust on the 15th March and I'll be paid again on Monday as well, so as long as I don't spend anything I'll be able to afford Melanie's SCBWI fee of about £60...

Hold on, let's start again.

I've got £19 left in my account after all my bills have come out.

I've got £50 for Monday's shopping but I'll be paid on Monday, so the shopping will come out of Monday's pay day, so I've got £69 left, yeah?
I bought something on Amazon for £30 so add that to the £69 makes £99 spare in March, right?

Take off Melanie's SCBWI subscription of £60 leaves me with £39 yeah?

Take off the membership to the Dog's Trust at £25 leaves me with £14 in March, yeah?

July and August are going to be expensive months 'cos I've got £87 coming out in July for Patrick's insurance then £60 in August for *my* membership to SCBWI, but as long as I keep the money in the bank and don't spend it on things I don't need as well as using the money in B as a back-up if I need it, things will be OK I reckon.

It'll be a really tight few months, but as long as I'm a tight-wad with me money and we don't spend any more than £50 a week on shopping, it's just about do-able I reckon.

Had me hair cut yesterday

Was almost 3 months since we last had it done so it needed doing!

Monday 19 February 2018

Supplements taken

Just taken me supplements for the first time in a few days and the iron didn't come back up so it was definitely that I was swallowing too much squash for my body to cope with.

I know now though, so smaller mouthfuls of squash to take me supplements from now on.

Sunday 18 February 2018

My message to you M:


Hair cutting tomorrow

Had a shower and washed me hair at lunch time then had pasta bake for me lunch 'cos I'm getting me hair cut tomorrow!  Seems like forever since I last had it done!

Saturday 17 February 2018

We've just had a small earthquake!

Apparently there was a small earthquake in the Channel or summat a couple of hours ago!

Just a bit of a rumble for a few seconds but it's not a normal kinda occurrance for us and apparently it was felt up in Scotland too!!

4.4 on the bigness scale!!

Added my 3 sites to Bing this morning too

Apparently Google and Bing are the most used search engines.

I added my sites to Google a couple of days ago but couldn't work out how to add it to Bing.

I had to use my Hotmail account that I'd totally forgotten even existed but that means I've also changed the password on my lock screen now!

You watch me forget tomorrow morning and get stressed out about what it is!  lol

Friday 16 February 2018

Joint walkies today

Steve wanted to rest his legs for his appointment this morning so he offered to be on "poo patrol" so I walked the pup for 100% then Steve took her up to the end of the street, picked up her poo and brought her home, where I fed her and took me supplements.

Just remembered that I need to kick me virus scan off too, so as soon as it's updated I'll set it going and be sorted for the rest of the day!

Supplements taken

Just taken me supplements and it was because I was drinking too much squash at once 'cos the iron went down without a problem this morning!

Thursday 15 February 2018

American's ain't gonna like this post!

There was another mass shooting in America yesterday.

I saw this on my Facebook wall this afternoon and I've just gotta rant about it:


Yes, I am going to be talking about gun ownership.  If you don't want to read my opinions about it, navigate away now 'cos I'm not gonna hold back this time.

Last chance.

OK, so Dunblane happened 20 years ago.  A gunman burst into a school and murdered 17 innocent people who weren't expecting it.

The UK was like America with gun control at the time, but that shooting was the one and only time that needed to happen to totally stop gun ownership for the general public.

In the 20 years since Dunblane there hasn't been a single school shooting.

In 2 days there has been more deaths from a school shooting in America than there has been in those 20 years since Dunblane.

The difference?

The UK put a gun law through, stopping the general public from owning a gun.

Yes, there was outrage and violence and disagreements for a while after that but not a single school shooting in 20 years.  No more innocent lives lost.

Today is 15th February 2018.

In the month and a half since the start of 2018 there have already been 18 school shootings in America.



That's 3 a fucking week.

There have been more school shootings in 6 weeks in America than there have been in more than 20 years over here in the UK.

Yes, I know that it's in the American constitution that everyone has a right to bear arms.

I also know that the UK used to have a similar right.

It took 17 innocent lives lost to change that here in the UK.

Yes, there were all kinds of riots and violence when the law denying our right to bear arms was changed.

Yes, there are still shootings and murders and other gun crimes.

No, the UK isn't perfect, but we've lost 17 lives to change the law and we've all learnt to deal with it and act like humans now.

 The difference is that the UK said enough is enough and did something about it.

America on the other hand?


Guns are still allowed over here in the UK but they are very tightly controlled and has saved so many lives since Dunblane.  America have lost more lives in 6 fucking weeks than the UK has lost in the last 20 years combined.

Let me put it simply.

Change the constitution.

 If you don't like it then you are part of the problem.

The UK went through it 20 years ago.  There were angry people, demonstrations, violence in the streets... but no more deaths.

Not a single school shooting in 20 years.

Certain professions are still allowed to have guns, but they have to go through all kinds of checks and the guns have to be locked away. 

Yes, there are still illegal guns on the street.
Yes, there are still gun crimes.
Yes, there are still shots fired.

We know we're not perfect and we've never claimed to be, but stopping Joe Public from owning a gun and opening fire whenever and wherever he likes is onehelluva lot better than in America!

Have a gun amnesty for a month where everyone who hands in their gun gets a free 3 month membership to a shooting range or whatever, then bring in much tighter controls when it comes to getting a new gun, then make it illegal for anyone other than specially trained police to carry a gun unless they have a permit.

Make it so that anyone can hand in a gun to any police station, at any time, with no questions asked and no kind of punishment.

Give the American public a reason to hand in their guns and introduce tighter controls. 

Be prepared for outrage amongst the masses and offer support to those who feel they need it, all free of charge and totally anonymously. 

Give the American people a reason to give up their guns and the support they need to give them the security they may feel they need.

Offer self-defence lessons instead of gun control lessons.

Introduce free counselling and therapy whenever anybody needs it as they get used to a life without having a gun in their pocket.

There will be a rough while after the new controls come in, but surely saving countless lives a year is worth it?  If you had to choose between saving children's lives or owning a gun, what would you choose?  I would choose the children every time.

Come on America, time to wake up and smell life without fear now.

Let's make 2018 the year of no more gunfire in America... no more school shootings and a nationwide gun amnesty.

It won't be easy, but there will be so many innocent lives saved.

Isn't that worth it?

What a surprising change!

I regularly take online surveys and the one I've just taken has been like a breath of fresh air!

It was about food.

Usually I'm screened out within the first few questions because I'm vegan... not this time though!

Not only did it go beyond giving vegetarianism an option to choose in the very first question, it also, for possibly the first time ever, gave veganism a choice too.

I chose the vegan option, expecting to be screened out.

Nope.

It then asked if my veganism was a choice or medical need.

My mouth dropped open in shock!

On the following pages it asked about the choices available for vegans in shops, bars, cafe's and restaurant.

I still wasn't screened out!

Maybe someone genuinely cared about the lack of variety of available foods and drinks available to vegans?

Throughout the survey they referred to it as a need or a choice which was so refreshing 'cos most people (on and offline) automatically assume that my veganism is a choice as opposed to a need.

I just wish there had been an opportunity to leave feedback at the end of that survey... I would have willingly given it the full 5 stars and a glowing review!

Wednesday 14 February 2018

Supplements taken

The mouthful of squash that I swallowed with the iron came up again, so I'm wondering if maybe I swallow too much squash with the iron so I'll try and remember not to drink so much tomorrow and we'll see what happens then!

400% again today

Apparently they went to the post box and back again which is 400%, but apparently it was painfully cold out there, so Steve was glad to be home.

Tuesday 13 February 2018

Achieved oneheckuva lot today!

Not only did I walk the pup, take my supplements, doing the stuff on my sites, have lunch, doing all the surveys as well as reading and reviewing a book, I've just taken me AP and downed a drinking chocolate too!

That means that tomorrow I'll just have surveys to do and that's it for the whole day!

I'm gonna get bored out of me tree!  lol

Achieved so much already today!

I've already put my Stories 4 Children site, my navigation page and my homepage in Google analytics which was... erm... interesting!  It's more complicated than it needs to be, but it's sorted now.

After the analytics thing, I put the meta tag thingies into the pages and uploaded them.

Then I submitted them all to the Google search engine.

I've had me lunch too (2 mugs of soup), so I can spend the rest of the day reading and reviewing a book!

I can so do this!

Supplements taken

The iron took a couple of attempts, but other than that everything went down OK today.

The multi isn't kicking in yet though, bizarrely.  It usually does!

Only 250% today

Steve wanted the day off from walking the pup, to rest his legs ready for later so we only went on 250% today.

Gonna try and remember to take me supplements now... you watch me forget though!  lol

Monday 12 February 2018

400% today

Steve took the pup on her walk this morning and they did about 400% today 'cos apparently there was ice on the puddles and it was so cold, as well as Steve getting tired really quickly today.

He wanted to have a day off walking her and whined like a baby when I said I'd do it, but by the time I'd got the pup's lead off the side, he went to put his trousers and "pretend shoes" on.

They went to the postbox and back which is further than I can go and it's more interesting than just walking up and down to our neighbours and back a few times... better than nothing though!

Just had the tribunal bloke on the phone again

Just heard from the tribunal service.

The judge has agreed to a phone hearing, thankfully, so same time and date as the letter they sent with the hearing details on it, someone will call 15 minutes before to go through identity checks and stuff then the hearing and it'll go from there.

I asked about using Skype but the tribunal bloke said it was "too expensive" to use right now, so it's all being done over the phone.

Fine by me!

Gotta go and print off the documents with the bullet points now, so we're all sorted and ready for the call.

Keep yer fingers and toes crossed for me!

Sunday 11 February 2018

800% today!

Steve's just got back with the pup.  Apparently they did their longest walk yet!

Up until this morning the most that Mitzi had walked was 400% but apparently they did that in just one direction today!

The pup is wiped out and Steve's puffing and panting, but he's recovering quicker than he ever has in the entire time I've known him!  His belly has noticeably shrunk too... it used to flop out over his waistband but not any more!

There's a long long way to go for him still, but if he keeps at it he'll keep losing the weight and be a lot healthier which will be brilliant... he'll get there in the end, I'm sure!

I believe in you Steve!  Keep going!

Saturday 10 February 2018

20.8GB

The virus scan has just finished and it quarantined 9 pieces of malware, most of which was in my recycle bin, so I deleted the malware then emptied my recycle bin.

Almost 1,500 files in it that took up 20.8GB of my hard drive but it's all been deleted now.

That'll hopefully make next week's virus scan a bit quicker too... 24 hours this week!!

I'll keep doing it though, just for my own peace of mind!  I'd rather leave my laptop on for 24 hours and be able to get rid of viruses and malware then back my machine up once a week than not do it and get a virus that totally wipes my hard drive and sends itself to all my friends!

Steve's taking the pup out on her wander this morning!

"It looks a bit wet out there today" says Steve when I ask him if he wants to join us on our wander.

I know what's coming next.

"So it'll just be me and her again then?" I ask.

"Lemme go for a wee and I'll look out the back" says Steve.

I went to get Mitzi's lead on her and Steve comes out of the bathroom saying "the ground is a bit wet, but it's not raining so I'll take her"

They've just got home and Steve says "it's bitterly cold out there and it's started to rain so we cut it short, but the pup was bloodhounding it all the way there, so I don't know if it was the smells of Friday night or a fox or something, but she had her nose to the ground the whole time!"

Bless her cute little paws!

Friday 9 February 2018

Steve is ace! Steve is ace! Steve is ace!

He's just sent me his carer bullet points ready for whenever we get the call about the PIP!

Other than a couple of minor things it looks good to me!  Just gotta convince the judge that I need this much help now!  lol

Keep yer fingers and toes crossed for me!

That's twice...

Had a phone call from the tribunal for my PIP appeal while Steve was at his appointment.

The man said that if the judge agreed, we could do the hearing over the phone instead of in person which sounds good to me!

I asked Steve to write a list of bullet points he wanted to cover as my carer and he said he would so I sent him some examples of things he might want to say in his own time to talk to the tribunal bods about the care he provides for me.

No problem.

I just reminded him and I got the "stop nagging me and I'll do it" speech.  That's it now - no more reminders or anything about it... if it's not done by the time I head to bed I'll make it public on Facebook that my carer doesn't care and I'll repeat it every time it happens.  I'm fed up of him getting credit and support for things he doesn't do!

He's got time to watch a 3 hour film but can't find 10 minutes to write out the list and potentially stop me getting the PIP!

Supplements taken

Just my normal blog post about taking me supplements as the reminder that I need every day!

The multi is kicking in nice and quickly again... I love it!

400% again

Took the pup out for her walk just in time 'cos it started peeing down with rain a few minutes after we got home.

I was happy with 100%, same as always, but the pup kept walking and walking and walking!

Our next door neighbours came out of their house and got into their car.  Mitzi's little tail was wagging like mad and she wanted to go and say hello to them all and one of the kids started off by pointing out Mitzi was, undeniably, a doggy.  Mitzi's little tail was wagging but I think they must have been running late or something because the mum just bundled them all into the car and strapped them in.

Mitzi was a good girl and we stayed out of their way... maybe next time they can say hello to each other?

Thursday 8 February 2018

So tired!

Haven't posted anything all day 'cos I've been looking for jobs for Steve.

Apparently he's applied for 2 today so we'll see what happens tomorrow!

Apparently we've been black-listed by a taxi company because of Steve's size... it's up to them if they want to lose £20 a week from him - we've found another place now that have to come out to assess if Patrick will fit in their wheelchair accessible buses so we've called HMCTS to rearrange the hearing 'cos there weren't any available on Thursday, so we've got to fill in the registration form, they will assess Patrick's size and hopefully agree to take us whenever we need to go anywhere!

Wednesday 7 February 2018

Supplements taken

Just taken me 3 supplements again.

The calcium bits went everywhere in my mouth and I've still got crumbs floating around but other than that, everything was fine and dandy.

Tuesday 6 February 2018

The wooziness has started then!

I wasn't awarded PIP when I updated my DLA claim to a different GP so I went through the mandatory reconsideration, the face-to-face assessment, the paper appeal and now I've got an oral appeal hearing on Wednesday.

Everything has been fine and dandy all day, except for the last hour or so.

I asked HMCTS if I needed to take my medical records with me and if the court was wheelchair accessible.

Someone wrote back saying that the court was wheelchair accessible and that I'd just need to take a copy of everything I'd sent for the appeal.

Thankfully I kept a copy of it all so tried to print it off.

The printer decided to go offline and not print anything so my blood pressure went through the roof and poor Steve and Mitzi bore the brunt of my anger.

I rebooted the laptop and tried to print it all off again.

The printer ran out of paper.

I reloaded the paper tray and my anger was starting to bubble over when the printer decided the paper tray wasn't in properly.

My anger hit boiling point.

When I eventually got everything printed off and tried to put it in the envelope, Steve said to count to 10.

I hit the roof at him.

Mitzi's little ears disappeared in sadness or fear or shock or something.

Steve asked if it was the wooziness from suddenly stopping the Citalopram that my GP warned me might happen.

Just as quickly as I got angry, I calmed down too!

Just hope it doesn't happen again while I'm at the court!

I just wanna kill meself and be done with it right now  😔

Supplements taken

Just taken me 3 supplements for the first time in a couple of days again and I can already feel the multivitamin kicking in - I'm talking less than a minute which is impressive for anything!

400%

Just got back from walking the pup and me legs are weak and sore now because we did 400% of our walking distance this morning!!

I was happy to come home after our usual 100% but the pup kept on walking, so I was thinking she wanted to double the distance this morning but nope, she kept walking and walking and walking until she'd walked 400%!

There's no way I can do anything else for the rest of the day now though 'cos there's no way my legs will hold me up any more!

Steve came out with us even though he said yesterday that he wanted to rest his legs today so yesterday's promises lasted less than 24 hours, as predicted.  He's got control of the remote again and yours truly had to deal with the landline phone again last night and this morning, so technically it was only 12 hours, despite him saying in reply to my Facebook memory yesterday morning that all I had to do was ask.

I asked him about phoning to arrange the taxi yesterday afternoon and he huffed angrilly and blamed me but eventually emailed them.  By the time the shopping had been and gone, it was back to his normal "I'll do it when you stop nagging me about it!" again.

As predicted.

Steve's just too predictable, so every time I ask him to do something I'll record it on my blog along with his response and see how long it takes to get done.

He said I only had to ask 22 hours ago and I've just asked him to email me his CV so that I can look over it and give him some feedback about it.  He's got a medical appointment at lunchtime today so I'll give it until he comes back then I'll ask him again and I bet he won't!  I'm trying to help him FFS, so why doesn't he keep his promises to me that he made 22 hours ago?

Monday 5 February 2018

3 years

Assuming I'm allowed to keep getting the ESA for the next 3 years, I'll be totally debt free in less than 3 years.  If I'm awarded PIP at the appeal next week I'll be able to use the back payment to pay the last 2 credit cards off even quicker.

I've cancelled all my non essential direct debits to give Steve an extra £50 for the electricity a month on top of the council tax and shopping.  I said that he had to apply for more than 1 job a week or I'd stop the direct debit.

He applied for one job this morning and then fell asleep.

He's still asleep now!

I that's on top of the £50 a week I pay for the shopping... about £7.50 of that is drinks for me and the rest of it is cake and food and drink for Steve.  Hardly fair, is it?

I left literally everything behind for Steve in 1998 on the condition that we go back and see my mum regularly.  We haven't been over since 2010 for my dad's funeral, we saw her once soon after we rehomed Mitzi but nothing since.

OTOH, Steve sees his sister every Monday, his dad twice a week his brother whenever there is sport on the telly that they want to see and his mum every 6 weeks when we have our hair cut.  He sees his family more in a week than I've seen my family since 2010!

A year ago today, I spent the whole day sorting out and tidying up the kitchen.  Less than 24 hours later and it was a mess again.  I posted the memory that came up for me to Facebook and Steve had a go at me about it so yet again I'm at fault again.

Well not any more.

As of this morning we're swapping places.  I'm doing what Steve does around the house and he can do what I do.  He won't even last for 24 hours but I don't care any more... I don't see why I should have to keep the house tidy when Steve spends 20 hours a day asleep and the other 4 hours eating.

I've just had it now.

Steve and I are going to swap places just for one week and Steve can get the blame for a change.  Bet he doesn't though!  Bet it'll be my fault again.  Everything always is.

I've got my appeal hearing next week and Steve said when I got the letter 2 weeks ago that he'd arrange for the taxi to pick me up in my wheelchair to take me there.  He's called 2 taxi's to see if they've got wheelchair accessible taxi's.  They haven't but they suggested the company Steve refuses to use because of his size.

So, yet again, it's left up to me.  He's supposed to be my carer FFS!  He said he'll get the wheelchair taxi for me and get another company to take him to the court instead.

I can just see how that's gonna look to the court... my carer doesn't care!

I'm seriously considering moving out and getting a wheelchair accessible house and carer for myself for a few months.  He's decided that if I get PIP he'll get Carers Allowance because he cares for me for over 30 hours a week when in reality he does bugger all to help me.  He spends 4 hours a day awake and watching the telly instead of doing anything that would entitle him to the title of carer!

I've had enough.

I'm gonna see what the outcome is with my PIP appeal then look for my own little place closer to my mum, apply for more benefits to help with the rent and employ a live-in carer to actually care for me, like it says in his/her job description!

I'm not gonna put up with Steve's crap any more.  He either becomes my carer and earns the money he's determined to get from the Benefits Agency or I bugger off on my own.

It always becomes my fault when something goes wrong, but not any more.  I've had as much as I can take now!

Sunday 4 February 2018

Wanna save literally hundreds of pounds on jewellery right now?


 If you're looking for some jewellery, get yourself over to Amazon right now 'cos they're having onehelluva sale right now!

I've just bought meself a ring for £30 instead of the £199 that it usually is!  A saving of £169 which is 85%!!!

I dunno if it's all jewellery or just rings or whatever, but get thee over to Amazon for huge savings like I've just made!

You can thank me later!  lol

Supplements taken

Just taken me supplements and they all went down easily this morning!

The multi is kicking in now and Steve's taking the pup out for her morning stroll so I'm gonna read the book I downloaded last night now!

Saturday 3 February 2018

Backed up for another week now

Not going to take me supplements 'cos it's almost bed time!  Wondered why I was so tired today!  lol

No viruses, pup walked and fed

Just need to remember to take me supplements and back up my hard drive now!

Friday 2 February 2018

Virus scan started, supplements taken

Almost forgot to say that I started my weekly virus scan and it's already 24% done and it's protected me from loads of malware according to the quarantine part so that alone is worth the money!  Just got rid of the 4 malware/virus dooberries that were in quarantine now, so don't need to worry about that any more.

Taken me supplements as well... the iron was a bit of a PITA to swallow this morning, but it's only once a day so that's it until tomorrow morning now!

Pup walked and fed

Took the pup out for her stroll this morning and we managed 150% of the walk today.

Thursday 1 February 2018

Supplements taken

Just taken me supplements again... remembered this morning!  lol