It's hard to know where the last weeks have gone. I knew I hadn't blogged for a while but was shocked to see how long it had been since my last post when I logged in today!
I haven't even really been following friends' posts either.
Good and bad reasons for that so here's a quick catch up.
The bad was the pain from the neck. It really pulled me down and I rather lost interest in a lot of things. The good was that we were away on and off during the summer. But I'm pleased to say that the neck is much better and although it's not perfect, I'm still doing exercises and watching my posture, I'm relatively pain free now.
So that's a really good thing.
Other good things were our weekend in Loughborough which is where my hubby went to uni. We met up with a number of people he knew from way back then - 40 years ago since they graduated. Some were couples who had met at uni but there were others like me - wives or husbands tagging along for the ride. We had a good time, much drinking and eating was done and the next reunion is already being planned for 2015 in South Africa.
The next trip away was to France to Nick's sister. The rest of the family went too - it was a belated birthday celebration for one of her boys and a farewell party too. This year her four boys will be studying in Argentina, USA, Germany and France. Yes they live in France but even the youngest will be studying away from home during the week and only coming home at weekends. Bad case of empty nest syndrome going on there!
Our daughter has moved out again, back to the flat she shared before. Only problem is that as she now has a smaller room, which is good because it's less to rent, it's bad because half her stuff is still here! But she seems happier so I'm pleased for her. It was fine having her at home but at 27 she felt the need to move out.
Our eldest son has also moved out - he's now living with his girlfriend in Nottingham. He's started a graduate scheme with the Department for Transport, training as an accountant. She has just qualified and started work as a teacher.
So we only have the youngest at home. His long distance relationship is still going strong - his girlfriend was here during the summer and he's heading over the pond for Thanksgiving. He has also got a new job which he seems to be enjoying working for Channel 4 in their admin offices for advertising.
We had a couple of days away on our own in Sussex and then our final trip away during the summer was to a converted oast house in Kent. This was with Nick's family again and it was lovely. The house was amazing - 9 bedrooms, all with ensuite bathrooms. Huge living space, an outside heated swimming pool and tennis court. We were lucky with the weather and we all enjoyed it so much we've already booked for next year. I don't think we'll be going camping again any time soon!
Other events during the summer included problems with the cats. Willow managed to rupture her achilles tendon. I though initially the vet was trying to tell me that as there was nothing they could do to repair it that she would have to be put down. However what he went on to advise was ensuring she had complete rest for 3-4 weeks - by keeping her in a cage. So she spent 4 weeks in a cage large enough for her to be able to sleep eat and .....yes the litter tray fitted in the cage too. She's now been released and seems to be managing quite well, although she cannot jump very high any more.
Unfortunately we no longer have our other cat Faith. She was diagnosed with kidney disease a while ago but recently she deteriorated quite rapidly, developing kidney stones and we were left with no choice but to put her to sleep. One of the hardest things I've had to do but Rebecca was a great support.
The moral of both those stories is that if we have any pets in future we will make sure they are insured!
Insurance is a funny thing. My husband Nick has been diagnosed with sleep apnoea so he now sleeps using a CPAP machine. He's coping quite well with the machine, better than I thought he would. One downside though is that he cannot drive at present. When I rang the insurance company to advise them of this I naively thought this would reduce the amount we paid. I was suprised to find it would cost more - the logic being that two people driving long journeys is better than one. They clearly haven't driven with my husband recently who I'd have to constantly talk to so that he wouldn't nod off! Fortunately they agreed to remove him without charging me extra.
So that's the summer round up. I'm now back at work with lots going on there but for now it's time for bed!
Monday, 23 September 2013
Saturday, 29 June 2013
This and that.....a waffle for Saturday
Hello there! It's been a while - again! Another birthday has passed since my last posting. Thanks for the good wishes. I'd like to say I had a really good day but days are not great at the moment. Apparently I have an inflamed cervical vertebrae which is causing a great deal of pain across my shoulder and down my arm. Have had to wait weeks to get a diagnosis and will start physio in 2 weeks time. In the meantime I'm now on stronger painkillers but they are still not taking the pain away completely. I'm trying to avoid taking any opiate based drugs but I still feel a bit of a junkie at the moment - watching the clock to see when I can take the next dose.
It's frustrating and depressing because when I wake in the morning it is at its worst and it takes me a while to get up and going. The earliest I made it to work this week was 9.30 and one day I didn't get in until 11.30. Why am I still going to work? Well the alternative is sitting at home in pain feeling even more sorry for myself and stressing about all the work that needs to be done. Once I get to work the distraction seems to help and my job isn't particularly physical so I feel like I'm getting some stuff done. Although the politics at work at the moment are not great.
But things could be worse. Maybe if I tell myself that enough it will start to sink in.
My eldest son seems to be settling into his new life in Nottingham. His girlfriend moved into the flat properly last weekend having finished her teacher training. She will start work as a fully fledged teacher in September. They are off to India soon for a holiday. Michael's girlfriend arrives here around the same time from America. Their long distance relationship seems to be lasting - SKPE is a wonderful thing!
Nick keeps nagging me about sorting out a holiday but I'm finding it hard to focus on that with all this pain. And he is wary of driving at the moment until they determine if he does have sleep apnoea or not as apparently that is something you have to report to the driving agency and he might not be allowed to drive for a while pending the outcome of any treatment. Maybe we'll look at somewhere via trains. Or maybe I will just vegetate once we break up for the summer.
We have a couple of weekends away planned - a 40 year university reunion at Loughborough. Hopefully I won't feel too much the odd one out amongst Nick's old uni friends - I think the other attendees are all coming alone or as a couple who met at the uni - I will definitely be the outsider. But I'm sure it will be fine. The other weekend away is a family gathering at his sister's house in France at the end of July.
Then we have another family gathering at a holiday propery in Kent at the end of August. That's around the bank holiday weekend but the property is booked for a week so I won't be heading back home in a hurry.
Nick also has some leave booked at the beginning of August so that's what we need to sort out. It might help if we could believe it was finally summer! The weather has been atrocious so far this year. But it was nice on my birthday so I'll count my blessings.
It's frustrating and depressing because when I wake in the morning it is at its worst and it takes me a while to get up and going. The earliest I made it to work this week was 9.30 and one day I didn't get in until 11.30. Why am I still going to work? Well the alternative is sitting at home in pain feeling even more sorry for myself and stressing about all the work that needs to be done. Once I get to work the distraction seems to help and my job isn't particularly physical so I feel like I'm getting some stuff done. Although the politics at work at the moment are not great.
But things could be worse. Maybe if I tell myself that enough it will start to sink in.
My eldest son seems to be settling into his new life in Nottingham. His girlfriend moved into the flat properly last weekend having finished her teacher training. She will start work as a fully fledged teacher in September. They are off to India soon for a holiday. Michael's girlfriend arrives here around the same time from America. Their long distance relationship seems to be lasting - SKPE is a wonderful thing!
Nick keeps nagging me about sorting out a holiday but I'm finding it hard to focus on that with all this pain. And he is wary of driving at the moment until they determine if he does have sleep apnoea or not as apparently that is something you have to report to the driving agency and he might not be allowed to drive for a while pending the outcome of any treatment. Maybe we'll look at somewhere via trains. Or maybe I will just vegetate once we break up for the summer.
We have a couple of weekends away planned - a 40 year university reunion at Loughborough. Hopefully I won't feel too much the odd one out amongst Nick's old uni friends - I think the other attendees are all coming alone or as a couple who met at the uni - I will definitely be the outsider. But I'm sure it will be fine. The other weekend away is a family gathering at his sister's house in France at the end of July.
Then we have another family gathering at a holiday propery in Kent at the end of August. That's around the bank holiday weekend but the property is booked for a week so I won't be heading back home in a hurry.
Nick also has some leave booked at the beginning of August so that's what we need to sort out. It might help if we could believe it was finally summer! The weather has been atrocious so far this year. But it was nice on my birthday so I'll count my blessings.
Monday, 27 May 2013
A walk in the park
Nick and I went for a walk today. We walked across the flats to Wanstead park which is where we saw the family above. We carried on up to Wanstead High Street and browsed the shops. We then got the bus back to our local cafe for tea and cake! A nice afternoon out :)
Saturday, 25 May 2013
It's raining balls!
Yep I'm here! Really here for the first time in ages. A whole half-term has passed by without any posting. A clear indication of how busy daily life has been. Lots going on at school and some children are being quite challenging at the moment.
Yesterday was a good example of that. Had to help deal with a child that was refusing to co-operate with any instructions and had been sent to what we call the "Restart" room - a time out area where they are expected to carry out their work. This particular child had no intention of working and was proceeding to climb and jump across the tables in the room. We decided to ensure everyone's safety by removing the tables and chairs from the room. I would have liked there to be padding on the walls but as this isn't the case I decided to borrow some bean bags from the nursery so at least the child had something to sit on. Made the mistake of bringing one that had a zipped on cover rather than sewn on. When I went back to check how the supervising staff member was coping I discovered the floor was covered in the polystyrene balls from inside the bean bag!
Fortunately by that time another senior teacher had arrived and I was able to get back to my own work. The child was also persuaded to help clear up the mess they'd created.
Other than incidents like that - of which there are many - we are now counting down to the end of the academic year and a new era - the Headteacher is leaving in July and for the time being the current Deputy will act up as Head. Works fine for me as I get on really well with her. Yesterday they also promoted two teachers to acting assistant headteachers so things are slowly falling into place.
On the home front progress is being made on hubby's snoring but we have opened a can of worms. He is waiting for a letter to arrange a sleep test but it may be that he has sleep apnoea which is not great. It would explain why he's so tired and able to nod off so easily during the day but if it's really bad the treatment could involve sleeping attached to a machine to ensure he keeps breathing during the night. It could also affect whether he can drive or not but as the long term effects of sleep apnoea can lead to high blood pressure and heart problems it's not something to be ignored.
Our youngest flew off to New Orleans for the week yesterday and hopefully has arrived ok. There were delays at Heathrow yesterday so I hope he made his connecting flight ok. His long distance relationship seems to be holding up - SKYPE is a wonderful thing! (Although time differences are a pain in the butt!) His girlfriend will be visiting here again in July.
Our daughter flies out to visit a uni friend in Jersey today for a few days so a quieter house at the moment. It will be even quieter soon as our eldest son is all set to move to Nottingham in the next couple of weeks. He leaves his current job next week and today (finally) received the contract through for his new job which he will start on 10th June. He has rented a two bedroom flat (his girlfriend will be moving in soon) which looks lovely. We'll be able to see for sure when we help him move all his stuff up there! Fortunately he doesn't have loads of stuff but he does have a large TV and stand and he's taking a computer desk from here so we may have to do 2 trips or hire a van to get everything there.
Once he's gone we will be playing the musical bedrooms game again as he currently has the biggest room of the kids. Once again one of them will probably have gone from A to B to C to end up back at A again. Sounds like the story of my life!
Yesterday was a good example of that. Had to help deal with a child that was refusing to co-operate with any instructions and had been sent to what we call the "Restart" room - a time out area where they are expected to carry out their work. This particular child had no intention of working and was proceeding to climb and jump across the tables in the room. We decided to ensure everyone's safety by removing the tables and chairs from the room. I would have liked there to be padding on the walls but as this isn't the case I decided to borrow some bean bags from the nursery so at least the child had something to sit on. Made the mistake of bringing one that had a zipped on cover rather than sewn on. When I went back to check how the supervising staff member was coping I discovered the floor was covered in the polystyrene balls from inside the bean bag!
Fortunately by that time another senior teacher had arrived and I was able to get back to my own work. The child was also persuaded to help clear up the mess they'd created.
Other than incidents like that - of which there are many - we are now counting down to the end of the academic year and a new era - the Headteacher is leaving in July and for the time being the current Deputy will act up as Head. Works fine for me as I get on really well with her. Yesterday they also promoted two teachers to acting assistant headteachers so things are slowly falling into place.
On the home front progress is being made on hubby's snoring but we have opened a can of worms. He is waiting for a letter to arrange a sleep test but it may be that he has sleep apnoea which is not great. It would explain why he's so tired and able to nod off so easily during the day but if it's really bad the treatment could involve sleeping attached to a machine to ensure he keeps breathing during the night. It could also affect whether he can drive or not but as the long term effects of sleep apnoea can lead to high blood pressure and heart problems it's not something to be ignored.
Our youngest flew off to New Orleans for the week yesterday and hopefully has arrived ok. There were delays at Heathrow yesterday so I hope he made his connecting flight ok. His long distance relationship seems to be holding up - SKYPE is a wonderful thing! (Although time differences are a pain in the butt!) His girlfriend will be visiting here again in July.
Our daughter flies out to visit a uni friend in Jersey today for a few days so a quieter house at the moment. It will be even quieter soon as our eldest son is all set to move to Nottingham in the next couple of weeks. He leaves his current job next week and today (finally) received the contract through for his new job which he will start on 10th June. He has rented a two bedroom flat (his girlfriend will be moving in soon) which looks lovely. We'll be able to see for sure when we help him move all his stuff up there! Fortunately he doesn't have loads of stuff but he does have a large TV and stand and he's taking a computer desk from here so we may have to do 2 trips or hire a van to get everything there.
Once he's gone we will be playing the musical bedrooms game again as he currently has the biggest room of the kids. Once again one of them will probably have gone from A to B to C to end up back at A again. Sounds like the story of my life!
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