What a day!
It started out with being a pretty much totally free week except Friday and now, by bedtime, I've got something going on every day except Thursday and it'll be the same again next week 'cos of the roof!
I'm gonna have an early night I reckon, in preparation for the onslaught starting tomorrow and not being able to relax until Thursday at the earliest!
I'll see you all again starting tomorrow morning.
Nite nite orl.
...the only chance I'll have to breathe!
As well as my two carers each day, this week I've also got:
Tomorrow: groceries and 2 deliveries needing to be put away
Wednesday: I'm seeing my blood family for the first time in almost exactly (to the day) 13 years for my mum, 13 years and a month for my brother and ever for my brother's partner and baby son
Thursday: I can breathe
Friday: Getting the bathroom taps replaced and the living room painted
Saturday: My weekly bath
Sunday: Lunch with my in-laws
Then all of next week I'm literally getting a new roof on my house so that's gonna be hectic too!
If I'm honest, I'm glad I haven't got the opportunity to breathe much over the next two weeks 'cos right now that would pretty much kill me.
It was leftovers from yesterday for my lunch today, so I put everything except the broccoli onto the plate while my carer was putting on her PPE then she finished off and brought the plate in for me.
Lunch today was 2.5 servings of a vegan family roast, 3 halves of roast potatoes cooked in vegetable oil and a big serving of broccoli.
Here's today's lunch photo:
Just my usual breakfast of Berries & Cherries muesli, plant protein soya milk, a pack of apple and (4) grapes and my normal orange juice again this morning. I had a home-made caffeinated mocha before that and I've got a decaff tea on the go now, as well as downing about 500ml to take my pills with difficulty this morning, so I've already drunk 1750ml of liquid this morning and it's only just gone 10am!
Here's today's breakfast photo:
...more interested in using her phone to text someone than actually doing her job!
She was leaning on the side and completely blocking the airlock door when I'd finished getting washed until I said "excuse me please", she glanced at me, stood up and moved over to the other side to finish texting whoever it was while I got dressed.
As soon as I'd got my underwear and trousers on she asked if I was "finish get dressed?" so I told her that I still had to put my top, cardigan, socks and boots on and she goes "oooh, OK" and went back to her phone.
When I'd got one sock on she signed out and left the house.
She's definitely one of the useless ones.
Woke up pretty late this morning, at 5.30am, and it doesn't feel like I've slept at all.
I've just started the virus scan and taken my morning pills so I'm just waiting for my morning carer now.
I think I've got a couple of deliveries due today so that I can send the Hoover back at long last... gotta remember to get Medieval on their arses this afternoon again 'cos it's been 8 days since I first contacted them and I'm no closer to sending it back.
I've also gotta email my ISP/phone company about potentially getting a mobile phone contract with them in addition to my current PAYG phone so that I can use it for things other than getting spam/scammers on it.
There's an update to my VPN that I've gotta download and install too, so it's gonna be a busy day today!
I've had a hectic day and week but I can finally say goodnight to you all now. I'll be back at sparrow's fart tomorrow morning so I'll see you all then.
Nite nite orl.
...exactly a week since I first emailed Hoover about returning the dratted thing and it took them until Friday evening to say that they don't have a direct returns policy with Amazon. Marie has worked out how to get it all boxed up properly and Amazon agreed to me returning it for a full refund on Saturday morning but I'm still waiting for the returns address bit so I've ordered some brown packing tape and some document/address wallets so that they can't use runny ink as the excuse then I'm gonna get back onto Amazon as soon as it arrives tomorrow so that I can get the whole lot sent back and my £240 (not a typo) refunded so that I can get one for just over a quarter of the price in the hope that that one will actually work for more than 10 days!
Marie said she's gonna come over and paint the living room on Friday so I may not be able to use my computer until she moves the sofa back on Sunday so please don't worry if I suddenly drop offline for 3 days!
Yesterday mornings carer said that I should put the emersion heater on for an hour every day so that I can get washed in hot water each morning which is £1 a day "which only £30 a month so can afford without problem" so I'm wondering which week I should go without groceries 'cos that £30 that she wants me to spend on hot water is more than a week's groceries for me, but as long as I get washed in warm water, eating isn't important, right?
I've taken my morning pills and run the daily virus scan so I'm just waiting for this morning's carer to turn up now.
I'm not gonna have any breakfast this morning 'cos I've only got 2 packs of apple and grapes left, which I need to save for tomorrow and Tuesday, so I'll just have a drinking chocolate this morning if my carer turns up early enough.
Gonna publish this then put my day's to-do list up now I reckon.
It's been a looong, expensive day today so I'm gonna head on up to beddy-byes now.
Nite nite orl.
Is it OK to eat the tops and bottoms of radishes or should they always be topped and tailed like cucumbers? It's just that this afternoon's carer put the 5 radishes onto the plate and I had to tell her 3 times that they need to be topped and tailed. She also put the whole bag (ie 2 meals worth) of salad onto the plate and said that I'd told her to put the whole bag on. I give up, I really do.
Today's lunch consisted of 5 radishes, 5 cherry tomatoes, 2 slices of vegan cheese, half the packet of sweet and crispy salad (after my carer reluctantly put half back in the bag) and a spoonful of coleslaw.
I'm really low on my calorie intake so I'm gonna chow down on a packet of me-friendly crisps too when I've posted this.
Here's today's lunch photo:
You very nearly didn't get this photo today 'cos I picked my spoon up and was about to dig in before I remembered that I hadn't taken the photo lol
Was just my usual breakfast of a bowl of berries & cherries muesli, plant protein soya milk, a pack of apple and (5) grapes and my standard bottle of orange juice.
After I'd finished pigging out on that, I decided to have the 400g punnet of seedless grapes that went out of date yesterday and a litre of decaff ground coffee, but I didn't take a photo of either of those 'cos I'd already put my laptop back onto the table when I brought them in.
Here's today's breakfast photo:
How's things in your world this morning?
I had a very late start to the morning, so my normal morning routine was done in a rush so that I was ready for my morning carer to arrive... what usually takes me half an hour was done in half that time this morning lol
I've swallowed my first set of pills of the day and set the virus scan running (which has just finished and was all clear) and I'm determined to stick my nose into a new book today. Gotta remember to have my weekly bath too - my last one with no cold water!
Gonna put together my day's to-do list now.
BBS
I've just taken my last two pills of the day, so I'm gonna start closing all the windows I've got open then head to bed.
Nite nite orl.
Today's lunch was just my usual Summer salad made up of sweet and crunchy salad, 5 radishes, 5 cherry tomatoes, 2 slices of dairy-free cheese and a serving of coleslaw.
Here's today's lunch photo:
Today's breakfast was just my usual bowl of berries and cherries muesli with plant protein soya milk, a pack of apple and grapes and a bottle of orange juice, with the added bonus of a 150g punnet of raspberries, so I've already had 4 of my 5-a-day and there will be at least another 2 portions of veggies for my salad lunch too.
Here's today's breakfast photo:
...my usual blogging browser seems to be having connection issues for some bizarre reason.
I took my morning pills 2 hours ago and remembered not to open up my email programs 'cos of the monthly virus scan, so I'm just waiting for my first carer of the day to arrive now.
I'm booked in to get the roof fixed starting on 8th August so I'm really hoping there won't be any rain until it's finished <gulp>
Gonna publish this then make a start on putting today's to-do list together while I'm waiting for my carer.
BBS
It's been a looong day and week so I'm gonna have another early night I reckon.
I've taken my last pills of the day and the side effects are already starting to kick in so it's time for me to shut down now, methinks.
Can someone remind me that it's my monthly virus scan tomorrow so I shouldn't open up my email programmes until it's finished please?
Nite nite orl.
...the hall finished being painted. Next task is to get the roof sorted, then the bathroom window, then the wall on the stairs repaired, along with the top bit above the front door, then the living room re-painted then attempt the kitchen eventually. The living room and kitchen can wait for a while though, 'cos other than the plaster having cracked and the paintwork showing a bit of wear and tear in the living room, there's nothing wrong in either room.
I've emailed my chosen roofer to offer them the job and because they are a general home improvement company too, if everything goes well with the roof, then I'll ask them about replacing the skirting board in the bathroom especially, but in here and to a lesser extent the hall too.
I'm still nervous about what shade of blue Marie has chosen for the kitchen, but it's too late to worry about it now 'cos it's been bought and is waiting to be opened. I'm keeping my fingers crossed 🤞 that it won't be like navy or royal blue or anything like that though lol
...be able to cross the vast majority of my to-do list off now and hopefully will be able to for a while to come - other than the news sometimes, the only thing I don't cross off every day is the reading and reviewing of the 8 Kindle Unlimited books, but that's OK 'cos there's no way I can read and review 8 full-length books in a single day lol
Today's lunch finished off the vegan chicken slices, the cherry tomatoes and the coleslaw along with half a packet of sweet and crispy (or is it crunchy?) salad.
My day's calorie count was really low, so I decided to tuck into a tub (4.5 servings) of vegan ice cream too, so my calorie count is now nicely over budget to make up for the last couple of days being under budget.
Here are today's two lunch photos:
Wanna take a guess at what I had for breakfast this morning? Yep, my usual muesli with plant protein soya milk, a pack of apple and (4) grapes as well as my usual bottle of orange juice. I had a decaffeinated tea while I was waiting for my carer and I've got a home-made caffeinated Mocha on the go now, so I'll be stumbling backwards and forwards to the bathroom all day now lol I've had my two medically allowed doses of caffeine for this week now, so it'll be decaff teas and coffees until Monday morning now. I've been for 3 wee's since my first sip of the Mocha half an hour ago lol I'll keep myself hydrated today though, don't worry 😌
Here's today's breakfast photo:
My early night didn't happen after all, but I still managed 9 hours of sleep according to my FitBit, so hopefully I'll be able to function today.
I've taken my morning pills and run the daily virus scan, which was still clear, made myself a mug of tea and plugged my phone in to charge up, so I'm just waiting for my first carer of the day now.
Gonna make a start on putting together today's to-do list now.
BBIAB
I've been having some late-for-me nights recently so I've taken my pills a touch early and I'm gonna have a well-deserved early night tonight I reckon.
I'll prolly toss and turn for hours and be down at stupid o'clock tomorrow morning, but I've got huge dark circles under my eyes and my body is struggling to function each day, so I'm gonna go and hit the hay now.
I'll see you all in the morning.
Nite nite orl.
Kindle Unlimited: Paperback:
⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of 5
It's been a while since I last read and reviewed a book but things are settling down now and I've got a free afternoon so now seems like as good as any to pick up my next book and I'm a nosey parker so this seems like as good a place as any to re-start my reading.
I started all my other reviews by saying that each book starts off with the full 5 stars and that I'm always hopeful that they will all still be there when I close the back cover... this book is no different.
That first chapter was suitably gross lol
I've already forgotten what the first password was for and I only read it 10 minutes ago lol
The chapters are all self-contained, so I'll be able to dip in and out as necessary without having to remember what has happened so far... I prefer books like that.
The first star is coming off for the use of several brand names... I've got no idea what the law says about the use of TV programmes in fiction, which is why I've waited until 9% of the way through, but the first removal is coming off already unfortunately.
This is a really good book so far... not too many gross bits and each chapter is short and self-contained - exactly my kinda book.
I'm stopping at 28% with a broken heart. I'll start again tomorrow at some point.
Back now, a lot later than I planned, but that's OK 'cos the chapters are self-contained and my main disability means that I can't remember what I did 10 minutes ago let alone the previous day!
Let's get going for today.
That was erm... enlightening? I'm glad he got it out though!
Ooh! That was an intense chapter! Lots of blood but hopefully a life saved!
I was turfed sooo many times when I first became ill and all it would have taken was a simple blood test done every couple of weeks then treated when they saw my levels dropping instead of being shuffled from one department to the next at I dread to think what cost to the NHS and multiple, awful, agonising tests that all, unsurprisingly enough, came back clear. I am now disabled with a very unlikely chance of ever getting better and one of the pills I was on for literally years (that had a maximum time limit of 12 weeks) has left me at risk of getting Parkinsons too.
Another particularly gross chapter, but I'm at 51% now, so I'm gonna take my evening pills and try not to throw up too violently before I go to bed tonight.
I'm at 54% now after another truly heartbreaking chapter... my pillow will be soggy with tears again tonight, for the second night on the trot.
Well that one was a rather crude introduction to the world of paediatrics in the world of the GP surgery!
That chapter raised a smile too... the poor patient must have felt sooo embarrassed to be dragged there by his wife in the first place then to be asked if it was hereditary in front of his son too must have been awful!
Yup, I've been almost exactly where that patient is and it's only thanks to an incredible consultant Neurologist that I'm still alive!
I'm at 82% now and it's bedtime for me... will I finish this book tomorrow after 6 days?
I've just finished the first chapter of the day and it sounds like that particular patient needs a consultation with a mental health bod rather than A&E - especially after what happened at the end of the chapter!
Wowsers! What an end to a truly incredible book! A definite must-read if you're after a great read with self-contained chapters!
My lunchtime carer was very late today so rather than stay for the full half an hour I decided to give her a break and have the leftovers from Sunday lunch with my in-laws: 3 servings of Quorn family roast, 2 roast potatoes and a portion of broccoli.
Here's today's lunch photo:
Just my usual breakfast again this morning: berries & cherries muesli, plant protein soya milk, a pack of apple and grapes as well as, of course, my standard bottle of orange juice.
I've gotta remember two food-related things today - first, that I'm having left-overs for lunch as a change from my usual salad and second, that there are 3 punnets of fruit in the fridge that I need to eat before it goes off, like last time. I'm thinking that I'll have the cherries first 'cos they are my favourite fruit.
Here's today's breakfast photo:
How are you all getting on this morning?
I'm doing OK I guess... I'm riddled with hayfever already and had to reboot 3 times before my anti-virus programme decided to lumber into life and I still haven't been able to start the virus scan yet, even though I've been trying for the last 45 minutes!
I've taken my morning pills and remembered not to open up my emails each of the three times and because it's almost 7am without having started the virus scan yet, I'm not even gonna attempt the backups until after I've had my lunch again today otherwise my lunchtime carer is bound to turn up and I won't be able to put my laptop on the floor so she will put the plate on the keyboard which will fuck up the keys and potentially destroy all the inner gubbings of it, so I'm gonna wait until after I've eaten to start them today.
I've got someone coming over from Freegle to pick up something that was connected with Patrick at 3pm so I've got a busy day ahead of me again.
The appropriate bit of my anti-virus programme has just started, so I've clicked on it and I'm just waiting for the next page to lumber into life now, so that I can start my weekly anti-virus scan after an hour of trying.
Gotta remember to give my FitBit some juice today so that it still records my sleep tonight and my steps as I do my laps today.
Gonna publish this then make a start on putting together today's to-do list before my morning carer arrives.
BFN
I've just taken my pills almost an hour late and I bet I'll be up in the middle of the night desperate for a wee too 'cos I didn't even start drinking my last hot drink of the day until 6.45pm and I didn't realise how late it was until I sat down in front of my computer with it!
I'm shutting down for the night now though... gotta remember not to open my emails when I come down 'cos of the weekly virus scan and I need to charge up my FitBit tomorrow too - you watch me forget though lol
Nite nite orl.
I finished off the bag of salad, tub of olives and pack of radishes for lunch today, along with 5 cherry tomatoes, a small spoonful of coleslaw and 2 vegan chicken-style slices then I finished off with a litre of chocolate soya milk so I've really overdone it on the protein front today lol
Here's today's lunch photo:
Guess what I had for breakfast today? Kinda my usual but there wasn't any fruit left so I had 3 chocolate biscuits instead lol
Breakfast consisted of Berries & Cherries muesli, plant protein soya milk, a bottle of orange juice and my first "hit" of chocolate today. There is gonna be lots of chocolate consumption this week 'cos I wanna get my daily calorie count up to 2,000 to see if that helps me to maintain as opposed to lose weight.
Here's today's breakfast photo:
Looks like today is gonna be a day filled with techy issues 'cos it's taken more than 2 hours for me to be able to make this post this morning!!
I've already taken my morning pills, run the daily virus scan (which was thankfully still clear) and got washed and dressed with my carer. Next on today's list of things to do is to log my fluid intake into FitBit, put up today's to-do list then make myself some breakfast and do my laps before my lunchtime carer arrives.
BBIAB
I've popped my last pills of the day and come to a realisation about potentially why I've lost weight again so I've asked on Facebook to see if anyone on there can point me in the right direction.
I've managed to cross the majority of things off my to-do list for today, it was just the news and reading that I didn't do, but I'm hoping I'll be able to do them both tomorrow - news in the morning and reading in the afternoon.
I also wanna offer the protein powder and the 3 boxes of porridge on Olio at some point soon 'cos I'm not likely to use them now that my smoothie machine has disappeared into thin air and my carers don't have time to make me porridge as well as use their phones in the morning and it's not safe for me to get anywhere near anything hot (other than the kettle) so I'd rather pass them on instead of just binning them.
Have I already said that I've taken my evening pills 'cos I have, so I'm gonna publish this, close the curtains and head to bed now I reckon.
Nite nite orl.
...worked out why I lost weight last week - I didn't eat enough calories on any one day! I'd been going by the FitBit calorie count instead of my own personal target of 2,000 calories a day! There's no way I can consume 838 calories before bedtime now, but starting tomorrow I'm gonna aim for 2,000 calories a day no matter what colour the FitBit graph shows, just to see what happens. I wanna maintain if I can, but putting on a bit more weight isn't a problem either... I certainly don't wanna lose too much more otherwise I'll be underweight again, which I desperately wanna avoid doing.
Like with the liquid intake, I'm just gonna experiment until I find what works for my body.
...somewhere local that can pick up a painting, frame it properly and then deliver it back?
Also, somewhere (not necessarily local) that can print out a colour intense document, laminate it and post it back to me please?
Both are ready to go, I just don't know of anywhere that is able to do it now that the previous place I went to has shut down. I'd prefer them to be independent, ideally family run small businesses so that I can support them to buy a pair of trainers for a school-child in their family rather than paying for a CEOs next holiday abroad with cocktails at the ring of a bell.
Any ideas please?
My new OT has just left and she's seen the whole house and watched where I struggled most and she's gonna put the wheels in motion for getting me a stairlift, potentially a bath lift, pendant alarms and all kinds of other stuff, but I was totally honest with her about how I feel safe and how little I go upstairs (only to go to bed usually) and she's gonna put in a request just for a 12 inch rail to go on the wall alongside the current one so that I can get out of the bath without clinging onto the windowsill every time.
She's taken the bathboard and other two wedges back with her and she's gonna contact CCP about the cavity wall insulation bods not turning up, so that could be re-booked to happen soon too.
She's gonna say that I want her with me for all the quotes and assessments and form filling and stuff like that so she's another good'un to have on my side atm... there's a lot for her to do so I hope she doesn't mind doing it all for me considering we barely know each other so far!
It's all going into my medical records too, so hopefully my fantastic GP will see how much I've been and am currently struggling too!
I just hope I haven't given her too much to do already lol
Another standard Summer meal for me is salad and my source of protein recently has been vegan meat-style slices... first off, on Saturday and today was vegan chicken-style slices along with 3 sliced radishes and 3 halved cherry tomatoes with sweet & crispy salad and, of course, a spoonful of coleslaw.
My afternoon carer changed the majority of the bed for me before we made my lunch, so I've got fresh sheets, pillowcases and duvet cover to climb under tonight and I can't wait!
Here's today's lunch photo:
Today's breakfast was just my usual again: Berries & Cherries muesli, plant protein soya milk, a pack of apple and grapes as well as, of course, a bottle of orange juice. I've also got a mug of Earl Grey on the go that's so smooth and delicate that I can barely taste it... maybe I should have left the bag in for a bit longer while I was weighing myself lol
Here's today's breakfast photo:
How's things in your world this morning?
I've just taken my new set of morning pills which have made me feel slightly icky and are making my belly hurt, but it's purely psychosomatic because they are new pills so therefore new recipes but they are all suitable for vegans so I won't be chucking my guts up or anything like that.
My rubbish and recycling is very wet but still in place, ready for being picked up... I wonder what time that'll be today?
I've gotta remember to weigh myself after I've had my breakfast today. I'm guessing I'll have put on some weight, but that's OK 'cos unless I've put on or lost 2kg I'll still be within my healthy weight range.
My hayfever has already kicked off so it's gonna be a bad day with that today.
Gonna publish this then make a start on my to-do list before my first carer of the week arrives.
BFN
I've had a busy day and hectic, stressful week so I'm gonna have an early night tonight I reckon - give my body more of a chance to recover.
I've only just taken my last two pills of the week so the side effects aren't kicking in yet, but I wanna get up to bed and relax before they start so that I can hopefully be asleep before 8pm tonight.
For the final time this week it's nite nite orl and I'll see you in the morning.
Anyone fancy taking a guess at what I've had for my breakfast this morning? Yep, berries and cherries muesli, plant protein soya milk, a pack of apple & grapes as well as my usual bottle of orange juice and I've made myself a drinking chocolate too, to try and warm up a bit, but there's no photo of that.
Here's the last meal photo of the week:
I've woken up absolutely knackered, stiff and in lots of pain so it's looking likely that it'll be a physically bad day for me unfortunately.
I've set the daily virus scan off, taken my morning pills and given myself the full 4 squirts to try and turn things down from being so bad.
I hope I get an early carer today so that I can have some breakfast today, unlike last week.
Gotta remember to ask Marie to bring in another bag of rubbish so that I can go through it one last time and put my carers rubbish into the bag too, then take the rubbish and recycling out, ready for tomorrow.
Gonna have a read of my emails then put up today's to-do list now I reckon.
BFN
I've just taken my pills and I'm gonna read and review one last chapter before I hit the sack, but I didn't want to forget to say goodnight to you all before I shut down for the night, like I accidentally did the other night, so I'm saying goodnight to you all now and closing my browser.
See you briefly in the morning.
Nite nite orl.