My poor abandoned blog.....

I have had this blog for years and I have always really enjoyed updating it as a way of sharing my life with friends that I don't see all the time. I know that friends drop in who live locally to me and lots from as far away as Australia, Canada, Italy and the USA. So far I have always had lots to share being a crafty person always with something on the go, but recently I seem to have not been in the right head space.

I think the decline started after my holiday last year and all the trauma that went with that. I then had my op followed by the loss of Mum. I have been on auto pilot really since then. 

There is such a lot to do after a bereavement. Those first few weeks seem to have gone by in a bit of a blur. Some things were much easier than others. Some companies excelled themselves and some have made life down right difficult. I would like to give 02 a great big pat on the back, in the middle of all the confusion that Mum suffered in those final few weeks she managed to run up a huge mobile phone bill. She used her phone to contact us and accidentally sent us photos that she had received. Her last bill was over £300 instead of the usual £25. We finally phoned them to say she had passed away and were put through to a dedicated department who took the number from the death certificate and simply wiped off the bill! No quibble just told us that should any bill turn up we were to return it to the bereavement department. As it happened no bill ever turned up. So ten out of ten to 02.

Last week I received the report from the hospital into the fall that Mum had. It was quite a comprehensive report that surprised me as they had carried out the investigation into themselves. Even more surprising was that they identified five things that they had done wrong which led to Mum falling over. The most damming was that the physios had updated her notes to say that she should not be mobilised with a zimmer frame, she was unable to lift her feet and take steps, using the zimmer frame would be dangerous and could lead to her falling due to tripping. Sadly the staff did not read those notes for two shifts and continued with the zimmer frame which ended up with exactly what the physios feared, a fall which ultimately resulted in her death.

I was shocked that they had admitted their shortcomings. We still have not heard anything back from the Lister hospital about the complaint we made about the assault. They are well past their times (as per their own published policies) In fact we still have not heard anything from them. That is despite having two independent witnesses to the incident. We have decided this week that the only way forward is to sue them for assault and negligence. I am sure that its the only way that they will take any notice of us. I am still appalled that we have to go through all of this, its clear from the report into the fall that if they had followed their own rules Mum would not have fallen at that point and we would not have been doing this. I appreciate that Mum was not a well person but the fall finished her off and they knew there was a high risk and did not take the correct action. 

I am still recovering from my hip operation, I had a set back last week when I jarred it and was unable to walk for a few days, I am back on two sticks and it is settling down. I am not sure if I will be able to return to work next week as planned I'll have to see what my GP has to say. I have not been able to make good use of my time off as I have just not felt up to it, which I suppose is why I am sick!!! The combination of operation and bereavement is quite difficult to deal with.

On a positive note when we were in Florida I met a lovely chap called Scott who has a 'Green Monkey' face book page, he is aiming at getting pictures of green monkey all over the place, having fun. So I have decided to join in and photograph Green Monkey in England!! Last week Carl took me to Ikea and he (Green Monkey - for clarity!!) experienced his first ever Meatballs dinner!!

A little something to lighten my mood!!!

I wish this rain would going away its getting a bit boring now !!

Summer seems a long way away....

This winter seems to be going on for ever, the weather here has been very very wet and lots of people have been flooded out of their homes, we are lucky not to live in an area susceptible to flooding, I have no idea how people cope repeatedly dealing with damage to their property. The only good thing is that we have not had any snow, I hope we don't get any I have my hip to worry about this year and I don't want to end up on the floor any time soon!!

I can hardly believe that its only two months since we came back from Florida, so much has happened that it seems like a lifetime ago. I have been looking over the photos and I realise just what a nice time we had when we were there it was sort of lost with the issues that some of the party had and the loss of Mum not long after we got back. Just look at the sunshine I could do with a bit of that now.

Mary Poppins, practically perfect in every way, that film makes me smile every time I see it.

We also enjoyed the parades somehow the parks didn't seem overly packed, but perhaps that is just my rosy memories of our time there. 

We spent a couple of evenings in Old town Kissimmee, always a load of different things going on there. Some really nice off the wall shops and lots of interesting things to look at !! We spent Halloween there and it was buzzing!

There was a place called 'Funspot' next to the shops and it was heavily advertised, there was a huge swing and I mean huge, I was so tempted to have a go and if I ever go back I may well do it!!!

Tom and Beth towards the end of the night exhausted and ready to head back home!!!

I wish it was still summer :(

Happy New Year.

Time is whizzing by again. New year has been and gone. We celebrated with Madeline, John, Tom and Gracie. We started early and finished early, not that we are not able to keep up with it all, but Madeline was working the next morning and she didn't think that her 'clients' would appreciate her breathing alcohol fumes all over them early New Years day!!!

We decided to go with the Zombie theme, Madeline and John went as themselves!!!

We got to use our Christmas T shirts again as as we dressed up as zombie elves and zombie Santa's!! Grace was a Zombie Brownie and we all look fantastic!!

We had a lovely Chinese early in the evening and just the odd bottle of port (or two!!!!)

At the allotted  hour we went out in the garden and set off our 90 round whistling whizz bang firework, that sounded like some mini war in the back garden!! You can't let a new year go without a Chinese lantern. This one took an age to fill up with hot air, mainly due to the gusty wind, when it finally took off it headed straight for the house !! It crawled up the wall and crept over the gutter and bumped off the roof before disappearing over the top, by the time we got around the front it was fast disappearing off in the distance!!!

We had a great evening and I am hopeful that we have welcomed in 2014 in a happy and positive way!.

My friend Jane gave me a lovely gift of an empty jar, with a pretty lid. It doesn't sound that exciting, but it has  great potential !!

The idea is that you make a note of the positive things that happen and post the notes into the jar. The thing is you only ever remember the really bad or really good things, when along the way there are lots of things that happen which make you smile and feel good, you simply don't remember them!! I have already posted one little message in there along with the date, I hope that it'll be fun looking back at 2014!

I have had a couple of hospital visits for my hip and it is gradually getting better. I have progressed to just one stick for most of the time, although it still feels very stiff and the wound feels achy, there is no pain in the actual hip as its no longer there!!I am still working very hard to walk properly and defeat the limp. The consultant has said that ca take up to six months to go, so a while yet!