Little Old Lady

So Sarah Bailey (noisy link) came to see me today to discuss A)speaking more fluently and B)choking. She listened to me singing/talking/eating etc and in the end said "I will write a huge report with various exercises but first just bend your head forward when you swallow" which makes me say HOORAY etc as it seems to be the secret to me not choking, if I lean forward b4 swallowing it opens a tube while closing another or summat.

Re speaking she basically said "You know what to do, it's remembering it is the issue" and will write a report with loadsa exercises for me and the chaps to do every day

I can walk

And yesterday I was walking not very far, about 10 or 20m, but I was really nervous as I wasn't in a "Hold on (Or just 'Touch it...') with your left hand" position next to summat, but I could actually do it quite well. So I think my confidence is not sufficient.

Sarah OT is coming to see me to work on stuff like this next week

Mum&Dad

And my Mum (and Dad but mainly her) were on't phone to Paul for about 1½ hours discussing their Xmas visit and arrangements.

I wasn't ignoring Freya on purpose but stuck on't phone

Freyadumpkins

Then later on we had to go and get Freya from her school. She seemed really nice tonight, I can't quite put my finger on it but she just seemed more fun than usual

AND she is coming back to stay here on Saturday night for the first time since my accident

Shopping

And we went shopping today and bought loadsa Christmas hat's including one for me

21

So I was 21 in 1990 and I have just tried the 90's radio station that someone recommended on Ixion last week and all I can say is WOW

Gym

And I went back to gym again s'morning and it was evident how much better and stronger I am, how I was not knackered after 5 minutes like I was a couple of weeks ago.

And Sam, the teacher, said that, how much better I was and how quickly I am getting there

But I find it very difficult if folk say how much faster I am getting better, but it was nearly 10 years ago when I was injured, how ill was I back then

Rude-nosity

When we nipped into Morrison's today there were 2 women selling stuff in the foyer. They said "So in your house wadda u need, windows, doors" etc, Paul looked at them and said "2 Asian women in thigh-high leather boots...", one of the women said "What do you need Asian for when we are here"....

Well

So today Julia came to see me to say stuff about Freya being trusted grown up, and about Toby being a grown up etc

And she said some stuff about how ill I was when I was first in hospital, how the first time she came to see me that she was appalled by the number of beeping machines plugged into my body that she had to immediately leave the room, gather herself then try again

And we have no reply from the Grasslands Trust either

Right 1

OK. So at 11.15 we headed off to gym, which again was fast and I was walking about loads etc, just hectic and good

Right 2

Then we had a lunch, charged to the petty cash, at gym as we were in a hurry to leave there and head to Westward Ho! to go cycling. When we got there it was too busy with kids, so we sat in the car for half an hour, tried again and left without cycling

Right 3

Then we went to Morrison's supermarket in Westward Ho! to pick up my weeks shopping and apparently I dealt with Anxiety Management quite well, although I couldn't look at aisles they don't have in Carmarthen, too much

Right 4

THEN we nipped home for a bit, I had a nap then got up and noticed in my diary that it sed "Pick up cream script from Doctors" which we managed

Monday Morning....

So I have got up, taken the sheets etc off my bed, had breakfast now I am waiting to go to gym then off cycling then lunch, then go and pick up a repeat 'script from the Doctors then nap, and then if there is time go shopping

Full Again Freezer

Well, so s'morning we nipped out to Morrison's where I replaced all the goods from my little freezer so it is now FULL FOR BEING SNOWED IN again.

We got a couple of extras but I will still need to go there on Monday afternoon or Tuesday

Ugh, small freezer

And I went to the small extra freezer that's in the utility room next to the big fridge/freezer looking for some snacks as treats. And I discovered that it has been switched off for a number of weeks and the emergency winter food had defrosted and rotted.

Luckily I don't live alone so I shouted "HELP" and Dicky came to see what was the issue and had to clean it all up for me.

Posh Text files to Txt

I have been looking for a way of reading the txt messages from my phone that I have stored on my PC. I could only read one at a time and needed to click the mouse between each, no clicking next button. I have been trying for 48 hours to no avail, but tonight in the downloads folder I spotted the file I have been trying to download for 2 days now

I changed them all to txt files but they had no name, not from "Freya" or Dad" etc. I had another look under "properties" and found a keep full document name

Dull

And as we were bored s'morning we nipped to town, bought 3 boxes of gloves and £60 worth of petrol

Aardvarking

Then today at about 3.30 we went shopping in Aardvark. Gosh it was even better than last week, I got veg and fruit etc, in all I spent about £40 on my weeks shopping, apart from the few I will spend in More Reasons on Monday^h^h^h^h^h^hTuesday

But I want all their extras but way too much sugar there

Sharpening Scissors

So after lunch I opened a parcel with scissors. They were really blunt and not cutting well. I thought "Add a new pair to my shopping list" but then I thought "No, I am well too tight fisted for this, I wonder, can I sharpen?"

Then that master Google was asked and on the first result it said "Cut some tin foil" and a few other tips, so I tried it. I thought cutting summat as thick and hardpressed as foil would make them blunter, but I followed the instructions and then tried them on a piece of cardboard.

Just WOW, it is like a new pair of scissors

Quiet Day

Nowt to do, nowt on until I go shopping about half three

Fredumpkins

And that Freya came here and talked "stuff" today. She is soooooo much older than she was before. But quality.

Second Things Second

Then after he was finished fixing my 'chair Sara - the physio lady arrived. Good lord but she worked me. I was exhausted from the exercises we had done and it was lunchtime by the time she had gone

First Things First

So first of all s'morning the wheelchair fixer man came and fixed the issue with my 'chair

When he had left and I was putting the footrest in the boot of the car Dicky, today's carer, arrived

It's Broken

So Tim realised that the footrest off my wheelchair were broken late yesterday and asked Ed to replace it today. Ed phoned the makers to get their advice and they said that no-one must do any fixing type jobs as it's too risky for us users so sometime between 9 AM and 1 PM tomorrow an engineer is gonna come out and fix my 'chair

And by 10.30 in't morning it was fixed!!

Aargh

And I had no phone for a couple of hours s'afternoon.

Panic, panic, panic

But Ed knew how to plug in my mobile dongle and get a slow connection but it is properly fixed now

And by now it seems fixed more. For a couple of hours it was running at Not Very Fast Broadband speeds but it seems much better tonight. Phew

New Gym Is Old Now

So I think to myself that I need to go to my New Gym Class in a bit but I am wondering when it just becomes run of the mill Gym without additions describing how old it is to me?

I Had Forgotten

And me and Paul had a conversation about changing my shopping day to tuesday. I was protesting and he said "No, if you can only go there on a Monday after gym they need you to be doing more and more stuff to apply for more funding from your claim, so it looks like I will need to get my head round shopping on a tuesday instead

Out&About

So then me and Paul, my emergency coverer, nipped out. We went to a pub near Carmarthen where I had 2 Imminent Diabetes Whiskey and Water's

Poorliness

So I cooked dinner for Tim today, ate it up, he ate about 75% of his then threw up. A phone call later Paul is coming in to replace him

Anxiety Management

So yesterday Denyse said that I need to work on my Anxiety Management with the team. I thought "Pardon?" but Google did mention how large a subject this is, I mentioned this to Denyse and she said "Calm down, don't try and read all of this, concentrate on this" so... dunno.... will do

Lie In

So s'morning as I had no important stuff on I switched my alarm clock off last night. Lying in bed, dozing.... I didn't wake up until 9.03!!!

(sent from my phone)

Tobyless

And I txted Toby and said "What time shall I pick u up tomorrow?" and he replied "No, I am in Wolverhampton ATM" so....

Too Much Booze

Then tonight I tried pouring a whiskey thru my new measurer. It poured, kept pouring, kept pouring more until I turned in wrong way up to stop it. At a guess I am having a triple and ½ whiskey

Right, 2nd drink I called Dicky and showed him the paraphernalia sitting on the table, he nodded and tried to pour one. He held the bottle properly upside down and it poured a single and was filling itself up again when he stopped. So the measurer works fully upside down, not on 45° like I was holding it

Right, I didn't need another drink but I wanted one while the useful chap was here so.... I went into kitchen alone, held the bottle, looked at it then eventually turned it upside down. One whisk(e)y came out (Gosh, a single is really small)

Shopping

Then immediately after gym we nipped to More Reason's To Shop At.... and got loadsa stuff. So this week I bought some Diabetic No Sugar Sloe Gin and while looking for organic jam I found this too, no added sugar

So today after shopping I tried to fit the measurer to my whiskey, the one that arrived on Saturday. I tried, tried again, couldn't, it wouldn't fit. So I was looking on Amazon again for a replacement when I thought "Hang on", called Dicky and said "Help". He put one hand on the top, pressed down and it fits now

Up & At 'Em

So s'morning.... So I changed the bed before I had breakfast, well didn't change it, I took off my old bedding and washed that, then I am being a smidge nervous as I am going back to my new gym class s'morning

And it went well, I seem to be fitting into my new class and working much harder than I used to

More Rugger

And I am watching another game of rugby today. Scotland look OK, but well not as good as The All Blacks

Sigh

In the end the Scots scored 22 points, which would have been enuf to win many games of Rugby, but The All Blacks scored 51 for themselves

Can't Cook, Won't Cook!

Aargh, Ireland are in a rugby match against SA in about 8 minutes and I am supposed to cook summat.

We can have a really late dinner or.....

So Ireland were winning IIRC 12:3 so I thought "OK" and went cooking and eating. When I next saw a telly they were loosing 12:13. In the end they lost 12:16

(Sigh)

Shopper

Then we nipped to town and got candles and matches in case the power goes off. Looked all over town and couldn't find a gas heater anywhere, looked online and found several.

I also bought some more coasters for the table, the ones we had were worn out

Late Sleeper

And today I was awake loads in the night but slept in s'morning, I wasn't awake enuf to look at my clock until quarter to ten!!!!

Aardvarking

And then tonight we nipped into the new Aardvark shop, they have moved, instead of Waverley storing. And just good lord, it was late when we went there but they sell everything that I had put on my list for Morrison's on Monday and also wrote under "Organic Aardvark" to chance it. Everything.

It is well under new management since I worked there years ago but this new management seem obsessed with "Organic", like me

Whoops

And I have been getting my "How much did I drink" measurements wrong for a number of months. Cut in half the amounts of Sloe Gin I said I had

Scary Meeting

And I am having a scary meeting with Denyse and Janet, a care expert from my team s'morning

And it was a bit intimidating but went really well AFAICS. Apart from....

Narrow Leg

As usual I have had my left leg width measured every day and for the last 2 days it has been as narrow as my right leg, 6 inches or so narrower than last week

Sugarless Booze

And I had to get some sugarless booze tonight so I am currently drinking Scotch which apparently contains no sugar

Quiet Morning then...

Then that Freya girly came round, ate my hot dogs, complained there was no onion with them then spent ages redoing some photos in order to make it look as if she was somewhere groovy with a number 13 in it, she needs it for summat

The apple with number 13 on it was my idea BTW

Heating/Water

Strange, strange, strange.

So my central heating and hot water boiler aren't working properly. If I put the thermostat to usual levels the hot water works sometimes. If I put the thermostat right up so it's breathtakingly hot in here the hot water works fine. So until it's fixed I will need to put the heating full up in order to have a hot bath

We hadn't figured this out today so I had to boil a kettle and wash myself in the sink

Quiet Noon-er-aft

Not much on s'afternoon, I will nip shopwards again after my nap to fetch one item

Aargh, I couldn't find any long handled teaspoons (for eating my 3 days in the same packet yoghurt) but when we came back I bought some on Amazon (They are called Sundae Spoons too, apparently)

That hadn't worked so I nipped to Morrison's and bought more food

Still new gym

So I am going off to the new gym class again today

And good lord but it was hard work, less people there than Monday but still loads more than the stroke class. I was cycling today and I managed to put my bike up to 10 difficulty for the first 6 minutes, then I was knackered so I put it back down to 7.

Well, if they are trying their best to knacker me I might as well help them

Super Faster Broadband

On the same connections?

Ybot

Then that Toby chap came round for his tea. Being well surprised at my news from the doctor and then going off to clean his house before his lift to the Midlands arrives, but he did cook for us all

Diabetes

So I nipped to see the Dr this morning to talk about the results of my blood test. So I have got the early stages of diabetes - IFG apparently. It's not full on yet but I need to change my eating and drinking habits to reduce sugar intake. No more sloe gin then

Weight

And I was weighed yesterday and I lost 2lbs again, so my weight it coming down. Slowly but downwards

Really Shopping

So after finishing our hot chocolates we went proper shopping. Bought sink and drain cleaner as well as our normal shopping. It's all done until I Aardvark (and possibly Waverley) on Friday, possibly needing more Morrison's later in the week

Nearly Shopping

And as we nipped to Morrison's I was a bit saying "Can we?", we did and it was well worth it

New gym today

And s'morning, for the first time, I am attending my new gym class. "Mobility" this one is called as opposed to "Stroke sufferers". When I looked last week it seems a lot busier, like 30 or 40 attendees as opposed to the 6 we got on a good week at stroking.

It seems to be a lot more hectic but with a range of issues so if u r too tired stop doing it for a bit

And I went along, it went well but a bit exhaustingly. I refused to do the cycling thing but she said it will be less busy and more do-able on Wednesday.

But I still did stuff for the whole of the hour, I think it went well

Watching S4C

So I was looking at "What's on telly" but I thought "The only program that seems interesting is the rugby but it will be in Welsh, it's on S4C". Timmy said "Wait until it is fully loaded now press the red button" and an English commentary came on. Apparently it's only for sports but it is there

Weather

So at half six s'morning there was thunder and lightning, about an hour ago there was bare blue sky from one side to t'other, now it's raining heavily

Second Morning In A Row

And today is the second morning in a row when I haven't needed an Andrex Washlette to wipe my bum. For the first time in 9.5 years I have dun it two mornings in a row

Another quiet day

Then we had a Sunday, not much is happening, a restful day again

Aardvark

So I used to work in a Health Food Shop called Aardvark (out of date link) about 15 years ago. Since my accident I have found it not wheelchair accessible so I started shopping at an opposition store around the corner, but they have just moved to a bigger more wheelchair accessible shop, so I may have to go back to shopping there

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