Sandwiches

And today I was thinking about my lunch. Peanut butter and marmite on toast tastes a but odd, like I used to really like and it's just wrong now, dunno, then it occurred to me, sandwiches, that's what I used to like. I tried it and it's still delicious

Pink Hair

So I had to take my lapdog into the kitchen, switch it on and wait for Claire, Claire, She's Got Pink Hair to Skype me and reassess the conversation we had last week about me making a will, answering the same questions etc.

And I passed, she is gonna contact a solicitor for me who will help my write a will

Aunty Virus

And my antivirus software kept crashing about every 15 minutes to half an hour all day so I looked online, got a well recommended free antivirus downloaded, uninstalled the wrong-un and installed that in it's place. In it's initial scan it only found one piece of AdWear so hopefully the old one wasn't crashing as it had been corrupted

Waverley

And we went shopping in Waverley stores but didn't have as much to buy as last week

Not Swimming

Oops, no swimming today as it is half term, so loadsa kids go for free swims. Way too busy for me

Not In My Eyes

And I notice today that the sun isn't coming around the edge of the window frame to get in my eye. Apparently it has moved which I didn't know/expect

Camera Borked

So last night, when I was asleep, I dreamt that my camera was broken, the flash on it wouldn't fire.

So I woke up s'morning thinking I'd better take Paul to an expensive shop and spend a few hundred quid.

Then as I woke up more I thought "Test it", took my camera out, the bits on the bottom hadn't broken off and taking a test shot the flash flashed.

So I don't need one, it was all a bad dream

Fredumpkins

And after nap we went miles away to pick up that Freya girly (because it's half term - she was at home). We brought her back here where I was scarily trying to make Garlic Mushrooms on baps as a starter and pasta and stuff for main course. I think it worked quite well in the end but I'm glad I didn't have to do that much washing up.

Afterwards we tried both the games I bought to play with my parents at christmas and I actually rather liked them both, apart from loosing wildly

Farewell Gym

And I went back to Gym for the last session in the "Stroke" class, from next week I will be attending "Mobility" at a different time/day.

Shopping

Then we went out to (That Evil) Tesco's (Place) to pick up some "Happy Christmas" stick on labels and some bread making flour. I don't need the flour yet but I may try and make some baps tomorrow while I still have bread as an emergency route

THEN we answered a call from Toby as he was hungover (half term) and crying out KFC so we took him and I told him off big style

24 minutes past

So I got a txt s'morning saying "Your order will be delivered between 9.24 and 10.24 on" this day. So I understand why they can't be more precise, traffic etc but 24 minutes past?

And he came at 8 minutes past 9, I told him he was too early but...

Mouse

And my right hand is getting so much better that I want to start using the mouse in my right hand (which I have for this whole post so far) but it is way too difficult.

And as I have been using it with my right hand my typing has been totally and completely left handed

But a whole post with my right handed mouse

Trick or Treat

So as tonight is Halloween we bought a bag of sweets for any Trick or Treat callers.

Except we haven't had a single caller tonight

Splintless

So today I parked my 'chair, stood up and walked down the hall and into the office bedroom, spoke to Ed and walked back out. I was half way back out when I thought, again, that "My right foot is turning over under itself" then the second part of that thought joined in, "Hang on, I am not wearing my splint, and I haven't fallen over or owt!!!"

Pissing

It still amazes me with how much bigger my bladder is nowadays, there's none of this pissing every quarter of an hour. It still amazes me how long it can come out when I just piss.... and piss... and piss... and piss some more

Shopping

So then s'afternoon we had to meet up with that Toby chap and give him back some of the spare cash he gave me yesterday.

Then we nipped to More Reason's To Shop In... and topped up food for the rest of the week

Patience

So the landlord said he would phone me back s'morning to discuss when the fixer chap could come.

Still waiting and it is afternoon now...

And I have just had a phonecall from Denyse, and I thought "Wadda ya want?", saying that the landlord is out of his house at the minute and he has my phone numbers in his mobile but the landlady wanted to phone me but could only find Denyse's number so she had phoned her to say "The gasman will be here about 2.45 to fix it"

PHEW

And we have been able to switch off the heaters and run a hot tap again.The knowledge that the fixer had, he carried out simple tasks one after another, all of which I would have managed but knowing what to do and when to do it must be worth a few quid

Phew, it's fixed now

No Swimming

And as I am a bit upset still waiting for the landlord to get back to me about fixing my heating/hot water I can't possibly go swimming today. But Paul said "No prob, we can go swimming on Friday

Toenail Cutter

And Linda the Chiro....((*)) came and charged me a great deal for trimming my toenails and creaming etc. She did say how much better my feet look now than when she first got involved

((*)) Chiropodist or Chiropractor I am not sure what her proper title is

Visitor

And we had to go and pick up that Toby chap and give him Bubble and Squeak for tea. He seemed in good form and was reasonably positive about college.

Right Hand

After lunch I got myself an apple (as I need to eat more fruit) and a knife to cut it into bite sized chunx. And I used my right hand to hold the knife in and cut it all up

Last But 1

And I went to my nearly last session at the stroke gym, I told her that I liked the mobility class and would be trssnsfering next week

Blood Test

Oh dear. We phoned the Doctor to get my result from my blood test last week and apparently my IFG is too high

Heating Bust

So the central heating and water heating in my house has broken. So we will phone the landlord.

He came out, tried to do his magic, no avail, tried again etc. No, still broken.

So tomorrow a mender is gonna come and mend it, apparently

Radical Bum Cleaning

So, as usual, I went and had a pooh s'morning. Seemed same as normal but for some reason cleaning it seemed to work better than usual so I didn't need any extra wipes today

Mobile Phone Temperamental

And all night I have been trying to get my mobile phone to connect to any website so I could do some "getting ready" work but it refused to connect. An hour later I finally noticed that the picture of the phone had disappeared too, it wasn't connecting to that either I fiddled for a few minutes, nowt, so I switched it off, waited a minute then switched it back on. Now it had the picture of a phone back and was able to connect to a website again

Calci-yummy

And I had a third of a big Rachel's Dairy Organic calcium rich Yogurt which tasted really good

James Car

I have just turned on my telly and caught the last few minutes of a prog about James Bond cars and as it was the end the presenter drove down a slipway then into the water with a Lotus Esprit. He appeared to be having a lot of fun

Start and End

And I discovered. YouTube has a built in facility for starting a video at a certain time but nowt to set the end time. I looked and looked, it seemed that you had to do scary stuff etc but then, 3rd or 4th time of looking I discovered a program called TubeChop which lets you set the start and finish. So I was able to cut my vid but I haven't found a play automatically function. But yet

Looking At New Class

Then we are going to look at the Mobility class to see if it is fit for me as I think I am beyond the stroke class that I have been attending for ages

Then, in the same trip out, we need to go to the supermarket and do sum shopping

And because we had to go to Wilkinson's to pick up more gloves for the staff we ran out of time, if I had drunk my coffee with my lunch too fast we would have only had half an hour left there so we didn't actually go. Just phoning to apologise

I am a Dag

Unfashionable

Busy Beaver Paul

So today, Paul, apart from singing random ditties, has been well busy and making my cupboard well better with new extra bits

How Did She Know?

We were coming back from town today in my car when I suddenly thought "Oh, the clocks have changed", checked her and the clock was still right. She must have checked through some wireless server or summat

Then I thought "Bedroom clocks" there are two. And they had changed time by themselves too

... & About

So we are going out in a bit to look at digital SLR camera's and see if there are any I can manage. While we are out we will also have a look at Bread Makers, dunno whether I want/need one or not, we will have a look

And no, digital SLR's seemed a bit too big for me to handle until my right hand is even better. And breadmakers were just no

Buns

And I bought myself a packet of buns today, but good lord they are nice, and only 43 calories each apparently

Mending

Then we nipped to Wilkinson's shop in Carmarthen and picked up strange tape to tape my hall matt to the linoleum floor and some bits to fix my feed bird device which broke t'other week, which kept Paul busy for a bit

Claire Pink Hair

So this morning my phone said "Message from Claire pink hair" she said "On my way".

When she got here she basically asked me various questions about getting my will ready etc. She has to prove that my brain is well enuf to get involved. I don't think I will be writing a will until get more cash but it is in the process now

Alarm Clocking

So recently I discovered that you can set my alarm clock for tomorrow, every day OR "working days". So I tried it this week, my alarm clock has gone off Monday to Friday but it didn't go off s'morning as it is now a resting weekend day

And after exploring on the web I now know that I can set my working days as whichever I want/need

(sent from my phone)

Bread Maker

So I started considering one of these tonight. I thought you could pick up a well reviewed one for about £50. Then I thought 'Oh no, slicing it' but I found various options from £4 to £100. But then I thought I eat so little bread. I buy a loaf, pop it in the freezer and only take about 6 slices per week out of the freezer, so bread maker loaves would be unsliceable when frozen.

Change my mind if you can think of a way round this but I can't

Right Handedness

So I was making 2 naan bread pizzas for dinner. First of all I took out 1 red onion and 3 mushrooms. Then I started to cut them, for the first time in 9.5 years, with my right hand. I started, continued and finished cutting them with my right hand.

Then as I was eating the pizza, I usually pick up a complete naan pizza and bite chunks off it, but as today was going so well I cut that, piece by piece, with my right hand too

Phew

Awwwww, a quiet afternoon now. Good lord

But I am a smidge bored....

Physioing

Gosh, that was hard work, the physio work with Sara, but it is making stuff easier

Iechyd Da-ing

And I am off to meet Freya at the club tonight

And it was good, not that many musicians but we made it anyway

Busy

So the first part of busyness was gym, then we bought Toby some toothpaste as he asked for that but no cash or food etc. Then after some blarging about the place I am back here, bath, nap, then get ready to go out tonight

Quiet Morning

And I am having the first restful day for some time, well restful morning, I will be busy later.

Turnoff

It seems again that Turnoff Master is actually taking control of my machines and turning them off. Can't recall which options I am hitting but both machines are turning off after I go to bed now

Swimming

After my crisis s'morning I was at the swimming pool again. For the second week I jumped in, but this week I closed my mouth and held my nose. So this week there was no drama. So, perish the thought, I might actually have to say I enjoyed it this week

Blood Testing

So I am up s'morning don't eat or drink anything until they have taken your diabetes blood test, 'cos the last one u had wasn't clear

No breakfast and no coffee s'morning when I had to go there

Tickling

So someone mentioned on Ixion a "Thigh Tickler". I was puzzled, thought "Does that mean moustache?" asked Google and I was right

SLR

And Paul brought in a digital SLR for me to try. Gosh it was way more complex than my point'n'shoot but I was able to take a few decent pics with it

Ybot

After all this we went to pick up that Toby and then had to take him food shopping as Paul said he would bring loadsa veg and make summat special for the 3 of us but his wife cooked all the veg for dinner last night

Dietician

After Gym I came home, had lunch and quickly went napping as we then needed to go see the Dietician at the surgery. We had loadsa stuff to show her as they are noting everything I eat/drink towards my claim so we were better prepared than most of her customers. She looked thru everything and said generally it was well good. She did suggest that I cut out one of my glasses of fruit juice as it's well calorific and replace it with a glass of milk to keep my calcium intake up. She also suggested adding some Cashew Nuts to my stir fry to just top up my protein intake.

She was saying "Drink less" but on the whole she wasn't even too negative about my booze habits

Gymming

And I went to gym today and did as well as ever. Afterwards I spoke to Sam and asked her about other classes. She said "Yes", she thinks it is probably time I left the Fitness After Stroke class I have been attending for a couple of years and move to the Mobility group which has a variety of clients

(sent from my phone)

Dinner

And at dinner time I tried my new "weight reduced" beans which tasted a bit strange but with scrambled egg and toast were enough to make me smile(1)

(1) Or "grin like an idiot"

Psychling

And we went cycling again today. The reclining cycle proved beyond me and required 2 assistants to get me out but then we had a 2 people tandem cycle then a pedal with your hands to improve my right shoulder.

Morrisoning

Then we nipped to Morrison's where I bought a fair amount of food then extra oven chips and veggie burgers to go in the other gfreezer as "snowed in" food in emergency in winter

Change

Well as it is now on my weekly timetable I changed the bed s'morning. Well I took off sheets etc and washed them, Timmy put clean ones on

A Beautiful Visitor

Then that Ruth came to see me, we talked about loadsa stuff etc and she made me feel a lot better

And we talked about a day long Introduction To Digital Photography course at NBGW on 1st Dec

It Is Easier

And on walking today I can say that it is still much too difficult to do without 107% concentration but it is easier than it was yesterday.

And that was easier than the day before.

And that was easier than the day before that.

etc etc

StandyUp

So I was sitting on my up/down seat watching telly today. I put it back up until the moment when it is just in a proper seat position, stopped up/downing, moved slightly forward and stood up. All by myself, I couldn't manage that a few weeks ago, last time I tried.

(shout)I AM GETTING BETTER(/s)

Batteries

So on my toothbrush charger a new light lit up. On reflection it meant the battery is dying, which upon replacing proved correct. I am puzzled tho, I thought it was a plug in device to charge my toothbrush but apparently not, one set of batteries to charge another, how small must the toothbrush batteries be if they can be recharged by a battery for so many months before *that* battery runs out of power

(sent from my phone)

ARGH, no, on reflection it is plug in powered, the battery light just meant that the battery in the timer/display unit on my bathroom wall was low

'Chairless

And it seems to becoming a pattern, I walked to my bedroom for my nap. I don't walk there at night as in the morning I have no splint on so start the day in my wheelchair

And I think Paul was right t'other day when I complained about how difficult it was to walk, he said "Keep practicing, it will get easier", it is still hard but it may be easier than yesterday

Sort Of Standing/Walking

So at lunchtime I got back into my wheelychair, went into the kitchen, went back and forward 17 times, or so, getting stuff out and making a brew, than at last I had to prepare some food, so I stopped, put the brakes on on my 'chair and walked forward half a dozen steps and stood there until my lunch was made

(sent from my phone)

And yes, it worked like this at dinner time too...

Edingtom

And Ed is coming in tomorrow to store loadsa what they have written about me on a DVD and to post it to my representative legal boffin.

Cooking

And I took out the stir fry I was gonna cook for dinner, opened the spuds hat need to go in't oven first and put the stir fry away. Gosh, I thought the spuds would be a top up, not as massive as a massive thing, so we will eat them with veggie burger and make a stir fry tomorrow

Sitting Down To Cook

But as I am so exhausted by seeing Sara then jumping in the swimming pool I am cooking from a sitting down wheelchair position

And it was a strange dinner, the spuds were strange but not that unpleasant. Linda McCartney veggie sausages really impressed Paul. He wasn't impressed by how they looked but how they tasted

Walking napwards

And as I am doing struggleworthy efforts to make myself get better I walked on my own two feet to bedroom to have a nap this afternoon

(sent from my phone)

'Wimming

Then we nipped off to the swimming pool. I walked to the edge of the pool, looked and laughed at the hoist which I had to use last week and jumped in. Gosh it was mad, I took in loads of water up my nose, opened my eyes, could see that I was underwater, didn't panic, came above the surface blew out water and breathed air. Hoo-flippin-ray. It was scary but I did it. So every week at the pool I won't have to ask them to fit the hoist now

Sara

Then Sara the physio came and did some balance work etc, she wore me out going "1, 2, 3" but it worked, I do feel better for seeing her

Afterwards she said "We will have to look at minor Botox in your right hand, the shoulder etc are all well but your fingers are still bent over"

Splintless Walking

This morning I thought to myself, "Leave your wheelchair and walk to your 'puter chair" but as I had no splint on I wouldn't do it until Paul was hovering next to me. It was as easy as pie, more difficult than walking with splint but still possible. I walked the whole way across my living room with no splint on

Burgers

So then I set out to make veggie cheese burgers, chips and beans for me, Freya and Dicky. It was OK, the making burgers bit (just put them in the oven) but a> I made cheese burgers and b> I had to slice open the burger buns and I used my right hand for that.

It wasn't the poshest food I have prepared but it was difficult and delicious

And after a whole day of walking everywhere I gave up and wheely-chaired to cook, as I had to do so much back and forwarding and nip to the Popty-ping etc (noisy link - not WS)

Nag

And I had a big conversation with Denyse. Effectively she said "You agreed to get better thusly, but you haven't for ages". Yes, she was right so today my wheelchair is parked across the room, waiting until I go out and I am walking everywhere in the house. Which I can do, I got p*ssed off with having to concentrate on walking so much but I can do it.

Much as it makes me want to cry, she was right!!!

Reminders

First Timmy reminded me of summat I hadn't thought of for a number of years, then next morning Paul reminded me of another of their songs that again I hadn't thought of for a number of years but could remember all the words to

Weirdy Marmite

Then I thought at lunchtime to take out some bread, some peanut butter and some Marmite. Weirdness, I was looking forward to eating sum Marmite again but was a bit nervous about spreading it. But Marmite no longer comes as a black sludge in a pot, it comes in a 'squeeze me out' container and seems slightly more ductile than I remember it in the past

Woe Is Me

And because they are doing some important work assessing a newbie MOS no-one will be free to take me to the gym.

Bitter tears

Team Meeting

So "they" are all having a conference in my kitchen while I sit out in my living room. My "Team Meeting" is going on

And Denyse nagged me a bit more about walking about the house, not wheelchairing. Glum but she might be right

Walking

And I just went in to see Ed to ask him summat, I parked my wheelchair near the door to this room and walked down the hall and into The Office. It is still "have to concentrate" difficult but way more doable than last year

Drinking

And s'afternoon when my mouth was still feeling "dentistified" I tried to take a drink from a bottle of Evian water. Fark it was difficult, I could only feel half the bottle top with my lips.

And blowing my nose was weirdness personified too...

(sent from my phone)

Dentistry

And now my mouth feels all strange, with numb lips top and bottom after the dentist struggled to fit in 2 fillings as the holes were awkwardly placed, sideways etc, but she managed.

Morrison's-ing

So me & Ed nipped to Morrison's, to buy summat to feed Freya tomorrow, to feed me & my staff for the rest of the week, and, more to the point, to buy some Blueberries which they had none of, and Tesco's had none of when we nipped there to check, on Monday

Betterer

And my left leg looks much betterer after 1 dose of Steroid Cream, it is not red, not hot just healing the bit that was my wound

Toby

And then s'afternoon that Toby chap came to visit me. It was cool, we ate loadsa food then Toby and Timmy took on a game of pool. Then I took on a game which was really hurting my right hand but it worked

So there is proof, how much better is my right hand now than last year

Sh*t Doctors

Well we nipped out there and sat in the waiting room for ages etc. Then we saw a Doc, showed him pics of various stages of my infection etc and he prescribed Mometasone Furoate Cream instead of antibiotics this time. It is a soothing cream. So wait and see

Sh*t Doctors

And I can't go to Gym today (Hooray) as I have to go back to the Doctors (Sh*t). I have got another infected looking scab on my leg, right on top of last weeks infection. No more antibiotics, I am sick of them and must be resistant by now, I have had sooo many...

(sent from my phone)

Sloe Ginning

And tonight I carried my glasses of Sloe Gin into the living room instead of necking them in the kitchen. And I have drunk far less - just sipping. Usually by now I would have had about 4 drinks, now I am only half way thru my second. I still enjoy it etc but it takes much less

Strange Eggs

And so I was microwaving scrambled eggs for dinner. So I did them for 30 sec at a time so I could see when they were done. After a couple of minutes it was nearly done and Paul said "Stir it, then heat the beans, let it finish by itself", so I stirred the nearly cooked eggs, set them aside and carried on with microwaving the beans. By the time the beans were ready (1 min) the eggs had cooked themselves by themselves and were ready too.

So tonight we had weird scrambled eggs and beans on toast for tea and it was delicious

Games

And then we tried to buy an original set of Trivial Pursuit which me and my parents will play when they are here over Christmas which will hopefully stop us being too bored

Then later we went back to ThatEvilTesco and bought "What Is This?" and "Zoo Am I?" more board games which between the 3 of them should stop us being too bored

Two Shopping

Good lord. So first of all we nipped to Morrison's and got most of our shopping. All except they didn't have, even in the back room according to the chap we asked, they had no blueberries

So then we nipped to ThatEvilTesco place to get some and while we were there we thought "Organic Muesli, may as well buy some here as it went wrong in the HFS this week, coat hangers, extra strong mints etc. AND they didn't have any blueberries either. So trying black this week.

So in total I spent £23ish on my packet of Blueberries

Christmas Dinner

And before we went to the shops today we nipped to the Ivy Bush Hotel and said "Can we eat here Christmas day?". They said "Ooh, we are nearly full but as it's you I will take you as a last tableful over Xmas

Choking

And s'morning I ate my cereal then 5 minutes later I started choking an a rebel crumb that was stuck in my throat. Cough, cough, cough. No still stuck. Wriggle my tongue a bit. Cough, cough-oh it's gone now. No more coughing or choking

(sent from my phone)

Telly

And as recommended a MOS I watched all of Have I Got News For You tonight and rather enjoyed it

Stretches

And as I have nowt on Timmy approached me to do some upper arm stretches. Ow. But it did me some good. Apparently

Scary

And Tim just came in and said "It has just shown on the news a scarily high sky dive, high enough if his suit had a leak his skin would explode" as he is going for an even higher jump later today

And we eventually found a link to live coverage, in a few minutes it starts, apparently

Out To Play

And I was half thinking about going to The Sex Pistols tribute band concert tonight but looking it suddenly said "Selling loadsa tickets, nearly sold out buy 'em online here", so I paid an extra £1.summat and bought 2 tickets for tonight there

Sex Pistols Experience   Shamones

And what good fun that was

Although I seem to be deaf in both ears now....

And next morning I am still 50% deaf..... but it was excellent

Vegtrugging

Well I have just gone out the front and what did I see?

On my Vegtrug was growing a small tomato which was looking ripe so I picked it and ate it and it was excellent. The first edible tomato I have picked.

VBG

(sent from my phone)

Watching Comedy

Then s'morning I asked Timmy about what I should watch on telly, he said "Do you remember.....", I said "No, don't recall", but when we watched it a)I remembered watching it before my accident, and b)it was well funny

Purse

So in my dream I imagined that I had lost my Bumbag, my bank cards etc, so when I woke up I had to turn the light on and check that it was sitting where I had placed it last night

(sent from my phone)

Dinner

And for cooking tonight I left my wheelchair out of the kitchen and...... stood up 'til I had finished cooking.

I did not use my lean-on-me chair thingy

Anti

And tonight I took the last of my batch of antibiotics which seem to have worked, both my legs are betterer

Kindle-ing

And then I bought the Kindle edition of a book that made me think a bit about what was going on when I was a much smaller child

What Fun

And we are off in a bit to the swimming pool, hoo-flippin'-ray, what fun we have, he said sarcastically

Oh and wasn't it fun.

As this was the first week back after my infection we took it easy and swam a bit and walked a bit further etc etc