Still here!

It must be bad when someone asks if you’re ok in blogworld.  And then you check when you last blogged and it’s a looooong time!

I am just so busy at work at the moment.  One day seems to be just merging into the next one until suddenly it’s Friday and the weekend.  And weekends seem to fly by.  We had a quiz night a couple of Saturdays ago and last week was Nick’s nephew’s wedding.  It was lovely.  We were so lucky with the weather – it was a beautiful sunny day if a little chilly and the bride looked beautiful and the day was just great.  Tomorrow we’re off to Wales for my niece’s wedding on Saturday.  I’m leaving work early so hopefully we will get ahead of the traffic – and hopefully the weather will be kind to us again.  We’ve booked a B & B for Friday and Saturday night so it will be a nice break.

So lots of good things going on but there are some down sides.  My shoulder is worse and my physio appointment is not until the end of October.  I could arrange to go privately but I’m just putting up with it for now but dressing can be a bit challenging some days – I try to be smart for work but some dresses for example I need Nick there to be able to zip me up!  I nearly had to change my wardrobe plans the other day because he nearly left before I was dressed.

I have also finally got an appointment for my foot to be checked out – that’s next Friday.  So maybe eventually things might improve although I’m concerned that they might suggest a surgical remedy.

On a different track we’re finally moving forward with work in the kitchen.  When we refitted the kitchen a few years ago we never really finished it – the floor was never done and now it looks awful.  The ceiling also has developed cracks.  Hopefully that can be boarded over as it’s lathe and plaster so if it has to come down it will be really messy!  Anyway the ceiling and the floor will be done which means moving everything out of the kitchen.  So then I got to thinking about maybe fitting in some more units, building in the fridge, changing the dining furniture.  I’d got a fairly good idea of what I wanted and then I asked my sister-in-law to give me her advice.  She’s really good at home décor – her kitchen is lovely.  So she came and looked and made totally different suggestions.  So then last night we went to IKEA for more inspiration (my original units are from there).

So the next thing to do is to move the furniture around and relocate the fridge to see if it works before committing to anything.  Hopefully I’ll have made my mind up by the time the builder is ready at the end of October.  But now I'm off to bed after another long day.  Will have to remember the camera this weekend and take some pics of the bride.  Maybe take some before pics of the kitchen as well!

Oversleeping! 11th September 2012

I got very engrossed in the tennis last night – US Open final – Djokovic V Murray.  I hadn’t intended to but Nick had gone to the theatre so I was watching some catch up TV and then I realised the tennis was on so I switched to that and got hooked.  When Nick got home he joined me and we kept watching and watching…… It was 1.00 am our time and it was 2 sets all so we decided enough was enough as we both had work today so I set the TV to record.   

Well this morning I woke up and was thinking it was about 6.30 so I was debating if it was too early to turn on my phone to check who had won.  (There are often message on my phone so it beeps etc when I first turn it on and I didn’t want to disturb Nick.)  Anyway I couldn’t bear the suspense so I turned it on to discover Murray had won!  That was such a relief – he has come so close on occasions but never won a grand slam event before but I did hope this was going to be his year, especially as he won the Olympic title this summer.   

So that was good.  The time on the clock was not!  8.33 am  OMG I’m not sure how we managed to sleep through the alarms but obviously we did thanks to the late night.  So now I am off to bed as I can’t be late to work two days running!  Night night.

PS the schedules were all messed up because the match was so long and when I watched the recording it stopped - just after Murray clinched Match Point!  Whew.

Update, Saturday 8/9/12

A quick update!   

The electrician came on Thursday but couldn’t locate the problem immediately and wasn’t able to spend a lot of time on searching – promised to come back on Friday to sort it out.  So I managed to use various extension leads to enable the kettle to be boiled, the TV to work and the internet to be connected.  Had to disable the catch on the cat flap so that all and sundry could get in but we didn’t seem to have any unwanted visitors overnight.   

He came back on Friday as promised and located the fault which was on one of the kitchen sockets.  Unfortunately he wasn’t able to reconnect the socket without major disruption to the floor or the walls so we opted to remove it.  When I have the work we’re planning for the kitchen done we will be moving and adding to the sockets we have so it’s not a major problem.   

However the 3 trips home and back during work time meant my work schedule was disrupted so I left work on Friday feeling quite frazzled, especially as we are experiencing a mini heatwave here at the moment.  My office has a lovely sunny outlook but it’s not conducive to sitting for too long at the computer which is what I need to be doing right now.  Well not literally right now – it’s Saturday!  And I am being lazy.   

Have managed to catch up with Michael during the week – he’s fine, back in Vermont and settling into his volunteer placement.  Matt’s girlfriend Amy is here this weekend which is nice as we haven’t seen her for a while with holidays etc.  She is just about to start her teacher training course.   

Rebecca has also had power problems this week – but external failures so the power company have had to resolve them.  When I spoke to her earlier she was in the middle of her second power cut – not good when you’re off to a ball later and need to dry and straighten your hair!  Fortunately while we were talking the power was restored.  Just hope they’ve fixed it properly this time.  Ok, off to do some chores now.

PS - Guess what?  When I rang the foot clinic as instructed by letter to get an appointment I just got the answerphone again telling me that if I was ringing as an existing client to make an appointment, to leave my details and they would post one to me!  Why can't they just post it out in the first place!  I'm looking forward to being able to provide feedback on their service ;)

Wendysday 5th September 2012

Well I was nicely settled in front of the TV with my laptop in place ready to start blogging and a glass of the red stuff within reach.  So definitely sounding like a Wendysday apart from a few aggravations at work – don’t you just love it when you end up clearing up after someone else’s mistake!

But……suddenly the TV just died, as did the cable box.  So did my son’s TV and when I investigated further none of the electric sockets were working.  Fortunately the lights were still working and after investigation I discovered that only some of the sockets seem to be causing a problem.  (Those in the kitchen and the living room.)  Unfortunately I don’t know what the problem is exactly, just know that if I try to reset that fuse, the circuit breaker kicks in and takes all the sockets out.  So I’ve just had to leave them off for now – have managed to use an extension lead and plug the fridge into a socket in the cellar but have no cooker and can’t use the kettle or toaster so making breakfast in the morning will be a challenge. 

I have managed to arrange for an electrician to come in the morning so hopefully he will be able to track down and solve the problem.  What I need to check before I go to bed is whether the cats can get back in through the cat flap – it operates electronically but I’m not sure what happens when there is no power.  I know they can get out, just not sure if they can get in.

Fun and games but on balance, NOT a Wendysday! 

Update on feet!

Heard back from the foot clinic today - guess what?  I now have to telephone them to make an appointment.  That should be interesting!

Safe and sound! 020912

We heard from Michael today.  He has managed to leave New Orleans and make his way back to Vermont.  They had lost power for several days but apart from that and the enforced lack of air conditioning all was okay.  That’s a relief. 

I’ve had a lazy day today – a group of us were out on a hen night last night – Nick’s nephew is getting married in 3 weeks so we went out for a meal for his fiancée.  I stayed at his sister’s house afterwards but some of the youngsters went on to a club after the meal so Rebecca ended up at his other sister’s house so I had to go and pick her up.  It was lunchtime before I got home.   

I spent the afternoon getting the house tidy and sorting out my things ready for tomorrow.  Back to work properly.  Still have the aftermath of the break in to deal with plus the backlog of post and e-mails, will be off to bed soon so that I’m fit and raring to go in the morning!   

Although not as fit as I’d like – I have to arrange physio for my shoulder.  Hopefully that appointment will be organised more easily than the appointment I’m still waiting for to get my foot looked at.  I sent in that referral at the end of July.   

When we got back from holiday I hadn’t heard anything so I rang them.  They seem to constantly have their answerphone left on so after several tries I left a message.  No response.  So this week I tried again – I got a different response “We are extremely busy, your call is being held in a queue.  You are # (deep breath, wait for how far down the queue I am) ONE!  First in the queue!  Hooray, progress, will actually get to speak to someone.  Except I didn’t.  I suddenly heard a voice say “Just putting you through.” Putting me through!  How can you putting me through?  You don’t know which department I want!  Then there was a recorded message thanking me for contacting the physiotherapy department but unfortunately they were too busy to answer my call and would I please leave a message.  Of course I wouldn’t like to leave them a message.  They’re not even in the same building as the foot clinic!   

I did eventually get to speak to someone only to find that they apparently had not received the referral.  So now I have hand delivered a copy.  Hopefully I won’t have to wait too long for an appointment. Off to bed now.  Hope you've all had a good weekend.

Work in progress 010912

I’m gradually moving forward with work that needs doing in the house.  Now that we’ve almost sorted out Mum’s affairs I know that I need to get back on track.   

We had the damp problem in the kitchen sorted this week – nice load of dust from the rendering and plaster!  And the builder has been back to check out what needs doing next – originally he was just going to do the ceiling, floor and re-decorate.  Now I want some extra kitchen units fitted.  

But it was two steps forward and one step back – the new boiler we had installed recently needs boxing in and I was hoping to get an integrated fridge to fit underneath in so it was one tall cupboard unit to match my existing units but that’s not going to work – the boiler needs to be boxed in to the ceiling and the height from floor to ceiling is too high for standard units and to try and get it custom made was just going to be ridiculous so I’ve opted to keep my existing free standing fridge and just get the boiler boxed in.  But am still going ahead with extra units on the other side of the room.  

He won’t be able to start work until well into October but that will give the new plaster time to really dry out and for me to declutter the room.  For starters I have two shelves full of cookery books and we probably only use about 6-10 of them on a regular basis!  Plus other stuff that hasn’t seen the light of day for longer than I care to remember.  Lots of freecycling/donating to charity shops to be done!   

Not very motivated so far today though – slightly pre-occupied by the fact that my youngest is currently in New Orleans and haven’t heard from him since Tuesday.  He reassured me before then that they had a full tank of petrol in the car if they had to evacuate, candles, torches, etc and would be fine.  Would just be nice to know he is fine and not knee deep in water!