Happy New Year.

Here we are again, New Years Eve, the whole year stretching out ahead of us full of promise of excitement and new things to see and do. I am looking forward to the holidays we have planned, an 8 night cruise to the Fjords with our friends Madeline and John, a couple of weeks in Ireland with the family (booked for 5 of us but who knows how many will end up coming along!!) I have Mr Tesco to thank for that one, a two week holiday for 5 has cost us £200 in real money and the rest is covered by Club Card deals!!!

I also hope this year will be one of positive changes in a few areas, things are starting to line up and I am hopeful there will be big changes.

I am continuing with my glassy endeavours and to assist me I am starting a glass working course at Hertfordshire University in January. (At last I can say I have been to Uni!!!)

We went to see Dad yesterday and there has been a marked improvement for him. The blockage seems to have shifted and nature has started to take its course in a rather dramatic and explosive way! He feels a lot better in himself and was looking forward to having a good nights sleep last night. I hope he continues to improve and makes it back home very soon .

So I will continue to hope for good health for everyone and particularly those in my family. I hope that you all continue to make your own good fortune and take time to give thanks for all the good things that have happened in the past year!!!

Moving On.....

Its been an 'odd' Christmas to say the very least. We have had all the usual good stuff such as the very nice tins of Roses and other sweeties, we have had all the other stuff to deal with as well. 

Because of the situation with Mum and Dad we have been busy and trying to sort things out to everyones satisfaction. Dad has had an op, but this has not worked. They had assumed due to his symptoms and the Xrays that they had taken that he had an issue with a hernia. So the operated to fix that only to be unable to find a hernia or anything else in that area. They have stitched him back up and have to look else where for the blockage. He is still unwell with constant sickness but having eaten nothing since boxing day is getting him down. Last night he was really down in the dumps and upset. That makes it hard to visit him as you are not quite sure what is happening. I spoke to the Doctor who said that today they will do a CT scan and that should help them sort out what the problem is. So when we left he had a nasal gastric tube to help with the sickness and a couple of drains in the operation scar. He is uncomfortable and fed up. I hope when we see him today he  is a bit better and they know what they are dealing with.

Mum is at home and not overly happy. She needs someone to stay with her overnight as she can't get out of bed to the toilet and can't get back in again afterwards, Dad was helping her but he is out of commission. Social services have paid for three nights with a sitter but won't pay any more, preferring for her to go into short term respite care or make private arrangements. We have made arrangements for the next few nights and then they will visit and carry out an assessment on Tuesday morning. I have no idea what will happen then. Its really difficult for everyone involved. I feel really torn between staying overnight there and trying to look after my own family. My house is a tip and I can't seem to get anything under control. I don't know how this is going to go in the long run but I am exhausted with it all. I hope Tuesday brings some sort of decision for Mum and that the hospital sort dad out as soon as possible.

Here's hoping the New Year brings some better vibes.

xxxxx

Our 'usual' eventful Christmas!!

Christmas started well, we had a great afternoon/evening                                          

on Christmas Eve with our friends Tina, Rod, Emma, Stuart, Dan, Kate and Bobbie. We had dinner and settled down to get the weekend off to a great start with a few drinks and some board games. Bobbie wasn't keen on eating her tea, so she spent a fair bit of time trying to avoid eating. When she went up to bed (in Beth's bed) she revealed the true reason she wasn't keen on eating.......she puked all over the place!!! So Christmas eve saw the washing machine pressed into action again with Bobbie excelling herself by actually hitting every bit of bedding!! (quilt, quilt cover, sheet, under blanket, pillow and pillow case) She then felt soooooo much better that she went off to sleep for the rest of the evening!!

I had been on a few Christmas do's in the week before Christmas. One of my favourite nights out is at the Crooked Chimney with Madeline, Sue and Sandra.

Its a bit of a standing joke we book a table there most years and they are always a bit mean with the decorations, so we bring our own. This year we bought hats, crackers, lights, tinsel and beads, our table was very well dressed!!

Christmas day was a nice family affair, Laura came over and we had a nice lunch followed by a visit to see Mum and Dad. Mum has been home from Hospital since Friday and was settling into being back. Dad looked a bit flushed when we saw him, but didn't say anything was wrong. *am Boxing day morning (a big jinx day for us) we had a call from him and he was in great pain from a reoccurring problem with a hernia and obstructed bowel. We ended up in A and E at the QE2. They were very good and got him re hydrated and sorted out the pain before packing him off to the Lister hospital. Meanwhile Mum was at home and took a turn for the worse and we had to call out the emergency Doctor for her. He came along with the district nurse, they examined her and we ended up going to Tesco to get her more medicines. So there went my boxing day !! I ended up sleeping over last night as Mum can't be left alone. I feel exhausted!! Fingers crossed things get sorted for them soon. 

Party Time!!!!

Christmas time, a time for partying and having fun, well I have already started!!!

Yesterday we had our 'works' do, a nice meal followed by a few drinks. This was followed by some of the 'ladies' trying out one of the gifts. We always exchange joke presents, a mixture of home made and shop bought funnies. Well the biggest hit was a double seated space hopper !!! I am not really sure what you would use it for, but it raised a laugh or two!!

I was amazed that fully grown women felt the need to try it out!! They did and the TV, patio doors and glass coffee table were at risk of damage and Tena lady were required!!!

I had a great assortment of gifts, cider, wine, port a Donny Osmond Calendar, two mugs, Bucks Fizz, a snow globe, a grow your own Christmas tree and a HAND DRUM!!!! How good is that?? I now have a hand drum and a brass horn, what more can a girl ask for??? All I need now is another strike so that I can put it to good use!!

Mum is still due to come home tomorrow, although she is at the mercy of the Ambulance service so we have no idea when that will be. Fingers crossed that will be sooner rather than later to give her time to settle back in. 

Won't be long now until Santa arrives!!!!

Festive Woof!!!

Where has the weekend gone?? We had a great night around Rick and Dinas, not seen them for a while we got there around 6.30 and before we knew it it was 1.30am!! There was much laughing (mainly at Dina and Hillary who were in combat over the 'rules' of a board game) It was very entertaining. 

The food was lovely and company great. When we left theirs in the early hours we had to content with ice and it was really icy and a lack of street lights, it was very hard to see where to go!! Now I have bought a torch

 to keep in my handbag just in case I am out after midnight again!!!

This week is a busy one, I have lots of nights out plus the arrival of my Tesco shop (I know how to live!!) A spanner in the works is that up until this morning Mum was going to be in hospital, they had said she could come home but there was no transport, without transport we can't get her in so didn't think it would happen. It seems they have done their rounds this morning and have said that she can go home and have a few days at home. The problem with that is that Dad was coming to us for lunch but we won't be able to get Mum in ours, with the step and the lack of downstairs loo, so it looks like Dad will have to cook their own dinner. She will have to go back in afterwards. A bit of a good news bad news thing!!!!

Have a nice week 

xxxx

PS The picture of Hunny was taken by Beth, our budding photographer!!!

Oh Christmas Tree....

We have planted the Christmas tree in the living room so its beginning to feel a lot like Christmas! Tom got the boxes of decorations out of the loft and we were a bit shocked to find that a few things had been nibbled!! So it looks like we may well have a mice up there again. I think that they get up the cavity wall into the loft. We haven't heard anything but there was definite evidence that they were up there. A few years ago I made some lovely baubles for the tree which consisted of dried  kidney beans, lentils, split peas and raffia, I don't remember them on the tree last year but when I found them this year there wasn't much left!!! 

More annoying than that was the fact that we had a string of 500 outdoor lights and the little buggers had eaten right through the wire!!!So now we have treated the little mice to some special 'blue' Christmas dinner. Tom will have to check when we put the tree back that they have eaten it all.

This year I am a bit disjointed with my plans, I 'think' I have most everything I need, but my friends are inconsiderate, I have SIX with birthdays this week, they need to move them away from Christmas!!!

I am going to be brave and go to Stevenage tomorrow morning to pick a few bits I need for next week. 

I have been lucky and secured a Tesco delivery slot so the bulk of my shopping will be delivered, but I still need to organise myself to shop for each day that we have visitors!! 

Mum is still in hospital and they are trying to get the infection under control. All things considered she is in quite high spirits. She is able to settle down and read her book, being in a side room means she can concentrate on TV so its not all bad. I spoke to the Doctor yesterday and he said that the bone was now not growing as well as expected because of the infection. They are holding on for the anti biotics to kick in and once they have reached the best that they can they will operate and take the metal work out and give the whole wound a good wash out. Today things are turning, the wound has not leaked for the past 24 hours, so perhaps things are looking up. Fingers crossed !!!

Christmas Cards.

I have tried to be organised this year and make my own Christmas cards. I enjoy making them but always seem to run out of time. So this year I took them with me when we went on our cruise in May and made them then!!

I have quite a lot of Christmas paper and last year in the sales I found the toppers, so it was a construction job with a bit of glitter and ink!!

It was quite easy to do on the ship, the big lounges were empty during the day so Tom and Beth would go off and do something and I would make cards in the corner of the lounge. I started a trend as there were other card makers on board who also joined in! One day we ended up in the middle of a quiz game, which started around us!!!

Mum is still in hospital and now they are having trouble getting a line into her for the drugs. she is pretty fed up but seems OK if you see what I mean. Its a god send having the TV in her room, she can keep up with Emmerdale! I am beginning to think she won't be home for Christmas, but we'll have to see. 

Christmas Portrait.

Every year I like to take a few shots to mark Christmas, usually I try to take them a little earlier so that I can include some of them in relatives Christmas cards. With one thing and another they have been seriously delayed this year so I will just keep them for scrap booking!!

Last night on the way home I popped into Martins and bought a magazine, the guy on the counter was giving away these hats, so it would have been rude not to have taken one!!!

Beth loves posing for the camera and I am very pleased with this batch!!!

Amsterdam by Night!

This year I have spent quite a while in Amsterdam this year, but this was the first time that I had been there at night! Most people associate Amsterdam with the Red Light District and although we were fairly close to part of that, it wasn't too obtrusive and photographs are positively discouraged in those areas!!

There were still plenty of pretty evening scenes to take in. The photo above was very close to our B and B, its looking over the Singel Canal it looks so pretty at night!

This is the road where we had dinner on the first night at a lovely Dutch restaurant called Seasons. The food was fantastic. I had sweetcorn and morel mushroom soup, followed by  Lamb shank finished with a fantastic Creme Brulee. It was a great night out after what had been a very tiring day.

We found a very up market shopping Mall, we never actually went in, but it had some very spectacular lights outside !

We did walk down the street above, which virtually runs the length of the centre of Amsterdam. We were particularly happy to find all of our favourite shops, Xenos, Hema and Blokker. We also sampled the hot chocolate at several bars on the way back to Boogaards!!!

This is a view of the street with the Magna shopping Mall in the background. There was a supermarket on the left where we bought our supply of wine for the evenings!!!!

We have been in to see Mum, she is still in isolation and is very very down at the moment. Its hard to know what to do to try and help her. The drugs are making her feel rough and are upsetting her stomach, so she doesn't feel like eating. She needs to eat to help her get better. Its quite hard going for the rest of us as well we feel for her but feel helpless. I hope they get this under control and that she can come home soon. 

Christmas Cheer!!!

On the last morning in Amsterdam we called into a department store and went to the Christmas shop. They had a stunning array of decorations in all sorts of colours. I found a couple which I bought as a souvenir of my time away, but I was also a bit cheeky and snuck a few photos with my iPhone!

Although they were beautiful they were also very very expensive. I loved the pink ones above but at 4 euros plus a bauble, that was one step beyond!!!! 

Things had been going quite well but unfortunately Mum is back in hospital, she has an infection in her wound which has broken down again and causing her a lot of pain. Yesterday they diagnosed MRSA which was a shock as she had been tested for that twice a week for the past three weeks. This has meant that she has been moved to an isolation ward and has been put on IV anti-biotics to try and knock it all on the head. We can visit but we have to wear gloves and aprons and we can't touch anything. On the plus side she has her own room and it has a TV so she can keep up with Emmerdale! I have no idea how long she will be there, fingers crossed she gets well soon.

Amsterdam!!

 Strange how time seems to fly and already we are heading towards Christmas! For the past goodness knows how long I have had a pre Christmas trip with three of my girl friends. This tradition started when the children were young and we managed to sneak a weekend away at Centre Parks, but as we have got older the lure of throwing ourselves down water chutes in freezing cold weather has subsided. We have however retained the liking for a winter break. In the past we have been to France, Belgium and New York, this year we went to Amsterdam. We were fairly late booking but managed to get an Easy Jet flight for a bargain price. I decided to look for accommodation by looking at  TripAdvisor.

 TripAdvisor threw up Boogaard's Bed and Breakfast, which was the number two ranked bed and breakfast in Amsterdam, so it had to be good!! All the reviews said about the hospitality of the owner and how comfortable the accommodation was. We just had to give it a go. 

So we headed off at 4.15 am to Luton Airport for our flight to Schiphol Airport. I have never flown Easy Jet and didn't know how that would go, but as it happens the plane was great, very comfortable. The only problem is that we were too cheap to pay for priority boarding so boarding was a bit of a free for all!! We decided to send Sandra on ahead to bag us some seats together. She rushed off and got three on one side of the aisle and one on the other.  We had a lady pilot and the roughest flight that I have ever been on!!! The wind was very strong and we managed to get to Holland in 40 minutes. Once off the plane we took a train into Amsterdam and then a taxi to our B and B. Once we arrived we met Peter, our host who immediately invited us into his delightful warm dining room. We piled our suitcases into the corner and used the toilet facilities!!! once we had sorted ourselves out Peter gave us a map, and umbrellas and explained where to go for a bite to eat. Before we left he also served us all a glass of champagne and orange juice, you can't beat that for a start to the day!!

Once we returned late in the afternoon we were shown to our apartment, there were two bedrooms both en suite and both beautifully furnished with gorgeous soft furnishing, wooden floor boards and lovely rugs. All of the rooms were decorated for Christmas with Santas and red berries.

It was the little touches that made it special, a fridge containing cold meats, cheeses, eggs, soft drinks, wine and beer, plus tea, coffee, cakes, biscuits, three different types of bread. There was also a dishwasher and best of all a computer so I was able to skype the kids!!

The living room/kitchen was between the two bedrooms and that was equip with CD player and around 30 visitors guides to Amsterdam!!! In the above photo you can see the small touches such as Santa cushions  and decorations on the table. It was really a home from home.

Peter has two dogs, Curly and Pepe, they are both very friendly and love all the fuss and attentions that visitors give them. Our host was more than happy to do what ever he could to help us, including making reservations for dinner and calling us a taxi. He was a mine of useful information on all sorts of things. We left late on in the day so he stored our cases and arranged for a taxi to take us directly to the airport (for a very good flat rate) He also gave us all a token of our visit to remind us of wonderful Amsterdam!!!

I would not hesitate to recommend this establishment, check out the web site - 

 Boogaards Bed and Breakfast!

Day of Action

Today I worked very hard, starting at 6.15am and not finishing until it was late. It was cold and it was windy. I wasn't paid for this work. I stood up and let people know that I think the deal offered by this government to make me work longer, pay more and take home less of a pension was not something I consider to be a good deal. In the proposals I miss out in every single way. I earn 'slightly' too much to avoid any protection, I am slightly too young to benefit from the protected last ten years. I still get to be 'taxed' 3% on my pension, which is a lot of money. If I thought the extra money being collected from ME was going to my pension it wouldn't be so bad, but its not. The treasury are simply going to take my money and pay off the national deficit!!

So thinking it through what should I do?? Well lots of people think that they should leave the scheme and freeze their pension. The government are obviously worried about that as they are making opting out hard. They propose that opting out once is not enough, you have to opt out several times a year, or they'll automatically opt you back in. Once that payment is made accidentally or not, you have lost it. 

If I freeze my pension and actually get to a pensionable age, if there is not enough pension to live on what will I do?? Well its simple, I will end up on benefits, whatever is around at that time such as the present day pension credits. The effect will cost the government of the day a fortune.

So is the pension such a luxury and a drain on finances?? It is self sustaining and if there was nothing paid in for the next 20 years it could still pay off all its liabilities. Is my pension a free bonus for me?? No it isn't I currently pay 6.8% of my wages into the pot. I get somewhat tired of the 'private' sector moaning that if they can't have it then we shouldn't. More often than not the people in the private sector are earning more than we are so can make their own arrangements to pay into a private scheme. We shouldn't be racing to the bottom, we should be looking at ensuring good pensions for all. 

So if we all pull out of the scheme where will it leave the country??? The pension fund is invested in British industry and infrastructure, its invested in the stock market. Could the loss of investment in those things plunge us all into a Greece style crisis? I think there is something to worry about there. 

So after a spell on the picket line we all headed for Hertford and took part in a fantastic Rally. It was well organised and very well attended with people from all sorts of jobs. 

NHS, Radiographers, Police Staff, Teachers, Council workers, Head teachers. Lots of different unions all marching together and making a lot of noise. Beth was off school as her own teachers were on strike so she joined in as well.

Beth made a great banner and it attracted the eye of the press, so it was Beth who ended up on BBC news and on the Welwyn Times Web site. I was on the local radio throughout the day at various news times. 

We were well supported throughout the day and received boxes of chocolates and money for the strike fund. I suspect we may have to do it all again some time soon.

Glass works!

I have been having a go with my new torch, its super speedy and sometimes its a bit too fast for me!!! So its been a case of practicing until I make something I like. I have tried some different shapes and sizes. The beauty of this new torch is that it assists rather than hinder, I have tried out different glass and for the first time I have managed to make transparent glass look OK. I need to clean these beads a bit but I am getting there.

I also need to cool the beads a bit more before putting them in the kiln as a few have mandrel marks on them . But its a learning curve! I think I also need some sort of rack in there so that I can separate the mandrels that will make it easier to get more in.

The weekend has flown by can't believe we will be off to Amsterdam this coming Saturday. I think I am all sorted just need to book the visit to Anne Frank house, but waiting for payday before I do that!!

Happy Birthday Beth!

Happy Birthday Beth!! Beth is now 15 and my run of family birthdays has come to an end until next year. Beth was very lucky to have received a beautiful birthday 'cupcake' from the resident Copperfields baker, our neighbour Karen. She really did a fantastic job, just look at all that Delicious icing sprinkled with red sugar hearts, Mmmmm!!!

It was a huge hit, we took some around to Nan and Grandad and its all just about gone.

Yesterday I had a Christmas shopping day with Tom. We went over to Watford to get the last few bits we needed, it was an eventful day. 

On the way we dropped off Tom's car for its MOT and for it to have some light bulbs changed. The car, a Renault Megane is so useless that to change the light bulbs in the front you have to put it on a ramp and take the wheel off so that you can access the little hatch in the wheel arch, its madness. So it was nearly MOT time so we had the whole lot done at the same time. We arrived in Watford quite early around 9.30 and as we had rushed out neither of us had had a cup of tea, so because we are now people of a certain age we decided to find a place to have a cuppa. 

We sat down ordered a cup of tea and a slice of toast, they served us tea when the next thing to happen was the place was raided by Police!! A load of officers wearing stab proofs rushed in and locked us all in, they were not letting anyone out!! The girls behind the counter seemed bemused but the officers told us to finish our breakfast and asked us to leave. I really thought that we were starring in a candid camera episode. The only other customers were two middle aged women who were insisting loudly that the nice young policemen should frisk them, it was all so bizarre!!!! We were let on our way and who knows what happened in the cafe after that!

The good news is  I have done and wrapped just about all of my Christmas shopping, just a few bits left to get. I am now looking forward to my trip to Amsterdam next weekend. 

Leaves.

I nearly always have my trusty IPhone with me and since up grading the camera is really quite good. Still not brilliant at reducing camera shake but much better than the first version. I went for a walk yesterday and tried it out on a few of the remaining leaves.

I was particularly pleased with this one, its really close up and you can see the little hairs on the edge of the leaves, I think that shows the power of the 'phone'!!!!

So I think that you can do loads with a phone camera, so its well worth practicing!!!

Beautiful Flowers!!

This morning I was surprised to receive a lovely bouquet of flowers from Mum and Dad. I've not had flowers for a while now so it was great to have something to brighten up the house.

This morning I was woken by the sound of workmen, Dad was having his fence replaced and Uncle Ed, Daniel and their friend Lee came over and started work. During the week I had ordered the panels, and new posts and they were all delivered yesterday. Typically the first panel and post went in well, but the second one was not so easy. It seems that there was a huge clump of concrete that they had to dig up with one of those vibrating machines, so that slowed things up. They worked very hard and it was really great to see them again. By late afternoon they had finished. To round the day off we managed to get rid of the old panels on freecycle!! Result!!!

They are on the way......

We finally packed up our boxes and took them down to the shoe shop. As we arrived the collection lorry turned up and all the shoe boxes were loaded onto a cage, cling filmed into place and loaded onto the lorry. I spoke to the man who was collecting and he said that there were 61 from the shop and that these were all going to be heading for Swaziland. I had thought that they were all headed for Cold European places, so it will interesting to see what African children will make of woolly hats and gloves!!!

Samaritans Purse

Beth and I try and do a shoebox for Christmas, most years we are able to do that. Last year we were tripped up by the date and missed the deadline. We are better prepared this year!!!

The idea is that you wrap up a shoe box in Christmas wrapping paper and then you fill it with little gifts suitable for the age group that you choose. This year we have chosen and boy and a girl in the 5 to 9 years old age group. Once you have filled a box you add £2.50 to cover the admin around delivery and then hand it in to any of a huge number of collection points so that they can be delivered by Christmas. 

This year for the first time you can pay on line and that allows you to track where your parcel has gone. 

This is the girls one we have included jelly sweets, woolly hat and gloves, card games, felt pens, hair bands, stickers, note books, soap, scarf, flannel.

The boys box is similar but with some boy orientated toys. Beth and I are really looking forward to seeing where they end up!!

If you are interested in joining the scheme take a look at the Samaritans Purse Web Site

There are loads of collections points all over the country its a great way to bring a smile to a child's face and remind us all of the true meaning of Christmas.

Last Collection date 18th of November. 

Magpies!!

This past year there seems to have been a huge increase in Magpies. I have put a bird table in my garden with fat balls, seeds and a string of peanuts. The Magpies came down and demolished the fat balls, nicked the whole string of peanuts, including the string! Finally they all tried to hop on board and knocked over the bird table.

Now the leaves have gone I was surprised to see this lot basking in the sun. Most of the time there were ten of them, but some of the time there was eleven!!

It reminded me of the old Magpie saying -

One for sorrow

Two for joy

Three for a girl

Four for a boy

Five for silver

Six for gold

Seven for a secret never to be told

Eight for a wish

Nine for a kiss

Ten a surprise you really shouldn't miss 

Eleven for health

Twelve for wealth

Thirteen beware its the devil himself!!!

So here's hoping I get the surprise and that its a good one with the added bonus of health!!!

I wonder where my string of monkey nuts are now????

What a Difference a week makes

This time last week we were starting out on our adventure in fact we were nearly there. This weekend I am in the process of trying to recreate the set up from last week!! During the week Debbie and I decided to upgrade our hot heads to Minors which means we also had to take the plunge and buy an oxygen supply to go with it. 

Our equipment arrived during the week in several huge boxes. There is still one box to come !

Last night I unpacked mine and set up the oxygen generator, while checking it over I discovered that he was named Monty!! There was a label on the front identifying him. He is a bit of a beast, heavy and on wheels. I need to swap my conservatory around so that I can get it all set up. I am hoping that I will be able to leave it set up all the time that way I should be able to sneak an hour here and there during the week. 

This morning has started off with Tom dropping Carl at work as he has a night out with friends and doesn't want his car (the exception now is a night in with us!!) I have hung out one load of washing and have another one on. We finally had to give in and yesterday switch on our heating.I think that's a record for us we usually end up switching on sometime in October!!

Beth has decided to do art as one of her options this year. She has been working very hard at it and has produced some lovely work. At the moment she has had to copy work, use shading, cross hatching and other techniques to produce her own version. She had trouble deciding between Art and Drama, I think she has made the right decision drama relies on other people to give as much as you are, art you can rely on your own talents. 

We will be calling around to see Mum and Dad this morning. They have had a turbulent week with Dad having a spell in hospital and Mum experiencing more problems with her leg. The wound has started to leak again and its clear that there is still an infection.The Doctor has upped her antibiotics and added another to the mix. Hopefully that will do the job for her. The surgeon did say at some point she might be grateful to have the metal work removed, something that she does not want to happen as she is worried about having another major operation. Last X Ray showed that the bone was growing nicely so fingers crossed she can get the infection sorted and move on.