Tuesday, May 18, 2004
Unwillingly offline!
I'm not impressed!! Something's wrong with the sound on our computer and so, as DB was bored, he decided to fix it. Only trouble is, the computer won't work now! GRRRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!
I hate nagging, as I hated to be nagged myself, but I intend to nag until it's been taken to someone who can sort it out pronto!!
Moo
I hate nagging, as I hated to be nagged myself, but I intend to nag until it's been taken to someone who can sort it out pronto!!
Moo
Thursday, May 13, 2004
I survived!
Yesterday I had to go for a Barium meal and follow through. I've never had anything like that before and all I've ever heard about Barium meals is "they're awful"! Over the last year or so, I have been having considerable trouble with my digestive system and so having seen a consultant at the hospital, she ordered the X-rays.
I set off at the crack of dawn yesterday, (although my appointment was for 09:15, I had to catch 2 buses and I had to leave enough time in case the first was late and I missed the second)having been nil per mouth from midnight. That had meant an early night for a change, as I had to take my medication before midnight. Not having a drink first thing, was actually by far the worst bit.
I like to know what's going to happen to me, I've always said that I can handle anything, as long as I know all about it. This doesn't mean I want to know the future, I just want to be prepared for what comes my way! I also wasn't looking forward to prancing around in one of those lovely 'designer' gowns they provide and the closer I got the more decidedly nervous I became, (funnily enough not about what they might find) but this actually all ultimately worked in my favour.
Surprisingly punctual, a very nice nurse came along to collect me from the waiting room. She took me into a changing room, explained more about what was going to happen and then said that as I was wearing mostly elasticated clothing, with no metal bits, I didn't need to change. Yippee!
She showed me to another waiting area and toddled off. A few minutes later she was back with a tub of what looked like watery plaster of paris! The first mouthful was a bit hard to swallow, but after that it was fairly easy to get down. Not as awful and unpleasant as I'd imagined. Maybe thirst also took over!
It was then a case of hurry up and wait. She'd told me that they take X-rays to see how far it was all progressing and the longer apart the X-rays, the slower it was moving. Most people were normally away by about 1pm, but some extreme cases were there all day. I'd taken a book, as the only thing I'm working on at the moment is the cottage tapestry, which is a bit cumbersome to cart around.
After the first X-ray, they told me that they'd take the next one at 10:30, so my heart sunk a bit, but it's a good book and I was so engrossed that it didn't seem that long before they were back for me again. They then told me that the Doctor would be along in about 20 mins, which I took as a good sign, as the X-rays were getting closer!
However, 20 minutes later, I was ushered into another room and asked to get up onto another table which had a sort of cover over it. This took X-rays, but they showed up on a computer screen like a scan does. It was actually quite interesting having a look see, while rolling around on demand!
She said that it all looked pretty normal to her (Phew) but I would get the full report from the consultant in about 10 days. And that was it, I was free to go! Thanks to my 'nervous' gut, it had only taken 1.5 hours for it to go right through my system!
The shoes have been successfully resurrected! For the princely sum of £4 they look like new and I don't have to walk them in, as they're comfortable already!
I've been thinking about my horror at the thought of spending £40 on a new pair and have come to the conclusion that it's a hangover from the SA exchange rate, as Gary doesn't think it's bad at all. However, if you look at it as R440 then it's horrendous, especially as on average I only ever spent R100 a pair!
Moo
I set off at the crack of dawn yesterday, (although my appointment was for 09:15, I had to catch 2 buses and I had to leave enough time in case the first was late and I missed the second)having been nil per mouth from midnight. That had meant an early night for a change, as I had to take my medication before midnight. Not having a drink first thing, was actually by far the worst bit.
I like to know what's going to happen to me, I've always said that I can handle anything, as long as I know all about it. This doesn't mean I want to know the future, I just want to be prepared for what comes my way! I also wasn't looking forward to prancing around in one of those lovely 'designer' gowns they provide and the closer I got the more decidedly nervous I became, (funnily enough not about what they might find) but this actually all ultimately worked in my favour.
Surprisingly punctual, a very nice nurse came along to collect me from the waiting room. She took me into a changing room, explained more about what was going to happen and then said that as I was wearing mostly elasticated clothing, with no metal bits, I didn't need to change. Yippee!
She showed me to another waiting area and toddled off. A few minutes later she was back with a tub of what looked like watery plaster of paris! The first mouthful was a bit hard to swallow, but after that it was fairly easy to get down. Not as awful and unpleasant as I'd imagined. Maybe thirst also took over!
It was then a case of hurry up and wait. She'd told me that they take X-rays to see how far it was all progressing and the longer apart the X-rays, the slower it was moving. Most people were normally away by about 1pm, but some extreme cases were there all day. I'd taken a book, as the only thing I'm working on at the moment is the cottage tapestry, which is a bit cumbersome to cart around.
After the first X-ray, they told me that they'd take the next one at 10:30, so my heart sunk a bit, but it's a good book and I was so engrossed that it didn't seem that long before they were back for me again. They then told me that the Doctor would be along in about 20 mins, which I took as a good sign, as the X-rays were getting closer!
However, 20 minutes later, I was ushered into another room and asked to get up onto another table which had a sort of cover over it. This took X-rays, but they showed up on a computer screen like a scan does. It was actually quite interesting having a look see, while rolling around on demand!
She said that it all looked pretty normal to her (Phew) but I would get the full report from the consultant in about 10 days. And that was it, I was free to go! Thanks to my 'nervous' gut, it had only taken 1.5 hours for it to go right through my system!
The shoes have been successfully resurrected! For the princely sum of £4 they look like new and I don't have to walk them in, as they're comfortable already!
I've been thinking about my horror at the thought of spending £40 on a new pair and have come to the conclusion that it's a hangover from the SA exchange rate, as Gary doesn't think it's bad at all. However, if you look at it as R440 then it's horrendous, especially as on average I only ever spent R100 a pair!
Moo
Tuesday, May 11, 2004
Back to work!
I'd forgotten how much fun it is creating garments! I used to have my own business, working as a seamstress, but haven't really done anything major since I 'retired' to concentrate on Lelies' wedding in 2001. As I've mentioned before, Garys' wee sister is getting married next month, so I'm now making outfits for the girls and myself.
Kelly-Anne has chosen red and picked a combination of an off the shoulder 'ballgown' and a simple A line princess style dress. Kim has chosen pink and a sleeveless version of the same A line dress. I'm also making them bolero jackets to wear in church (and to get home, as it'll be the middle of the night by then!)
For myself, I dove into my considerable stash and found a pretty floral polycotton, some off cuts of Broderie Anglaise (left over from a quilt I made Janet ... remember the teddy bear 'lemon' Janine? We made 'lemonade' out of that one by adding some tartan ribbon.) and some white linen, so I've made a skirt from the floral, a blouse (I even have suitable buttons for it in my stash) from the Broderie Anglaise, with collar and cuffs of the floral material and I've still to make myself a jacket from the linen.
I chose to cut out everything at once ... I'd forgotten just how much hard work that is! By the time I was finished, I felt like my back was breaking and my knee was really sore. Still, that's over now and it's mostly sitting in front of the machine now, with the iron on standby to press seams etc as I go.
Kelly-Anne has chosen black sandals and bag to go with her outfit, we've still to take Kim shopping for hers and Margaret is bringing back a navy blue handbag from SA that I'd left behind. If I can't resurrect the shoes that go with it, then I'll have to go shopping too, although the price of shoes is iniquitous, most of what I've seen and liked are in the £40+ bracket! I suppose since my outfit has cost nothing, I'd be justified in spending that much on shoes, and it's not like I'll only use them once, (talking myself into it here!) it just seems an awful lot, although on TV today, I saw some that were £165!!
Needless to say, I've not done any embroidery for the last week, as I've been doing the hand sewing in the evenings.
On the veggie front, my tomatoes are growing like weeds, (no flowers yet though) the peppers are coming along more slowly, the strawberries have a few mini berries and some flowers and my spinach is sprouting!
Moo
Kelly-Anne has chosen red and picked a combination of an off the shoulder 'ballgown' and a simple A line princess style dress. Kim has chosen pink and a sleeveless version of the same A line dress. I'm also making them bolero jackets to wear in church (and to get home, as it'll be the middle of the night by then!)
For myself, I dove into my considerable stash and found a pretty floral polycotton, some off cuts of Broderie Anglaise (left over from a quilt I made Janet ... remember the teddy bear 'lemon' Janine? We made 'lemonade' out of that one by adding some tartan ribbon.) and some white linen, so I've made a skirt from the floral, a blouse (I even have suitable buttons for it in my stash) from the Broderie Anglaise, with collar and cuffs of the floral material and I've still to make myself a jacket from the linen.
I chose to cut out everything at once ... I'd forgotten just how much hard work that is! By the time I was finished, I felt like my back was breaking and my knee was really sore. Still, that's over now and it's mostly sitting in front of the machine now, with the iron on standby to press seams etc as I go.
Kelly-Anne has chosen black sandals and bag to go with her outfit, we've still to take Kim shopping for hers and Margaret is bringing back a navy blue handbag from SA that I'd left behind. If I can't resurrect the shoes that go with it, then I'll have to go shopping too, although the price of shoes is iniquitous, most of what I've seen and liked are in the £40+ bracket! I suppose since my outfit has cost nothing, I'd be justified in spending that much on shoes, and it's not like I'll only use them once, (talking myself into it here!) it just seems an awful lot, although on TV today, I saw some that were £165!!
Needless to say, I've not done any embroidery for the last week, as I've been doing the hand sewing in the evenings.
On the veggie front, my tomatoes are growing like weeds, (no flowers yet though) the peppers are coming along more slowly, the strawberries have a few mini berries and some flowers and my spinach is sprouting!
Moo
Thursday, May 06, 2004
Celebration
It's our second anniversary today, so we decided to go out. (We decided to celebrate the day I arrived here to stay permanently, rather than the day we met as our anniversary.)
I'd have liked to have spent the day out at Loch Lomond or up in the Campsies, but the weather was against us, too overcast and grey to spend outdoors! We decided to go off and see a movie and have lunch instead, but the fates were against us there too. We'd left a note for John ... he's pretending to write his GCSEs, so was home ... but just as we got into town, Gary got a text from him to say that he wasn't able to stay in for the gang coming home from school, so that cut our 'free' time left down to three hours!
We ended up just wandering around instead, I got a couple of colours that I was missing for the cottage and the latest Classic Stitches magazine. Gary got a new Crossword book and had a browse in HMV, but was so spoilt for choice on DVDs, he decided to leave it and came out empty handed .... a VERY rare occurrence!
After a very nice lunch at a popular restaurant, we got on the first bus that was heading homewards. We'd also been looking for some canes, as this year I've decided that instead of flowers, I'm going to grow veggies.
When we got to Rutherglen, we went into Woolworths to see if they had any, and Gary bought me some marigolds and a wisteria, so I got 'flowers' too!
We just got home in time. As we got off the bus, the thunder and lightening started and we'd barely shut the front door when the heavens opened! We sat and watched the rain thundering down and the hail bouncing around from the safety of the living room, while I planted out my new plants and finished transplanting my seedlings.
I've started with tomatoes and green peppers (Capsicums) and they are both doing very well. As I have only been able to transplant them out in stages, they are now all at different levels, which will hopefully mean a continuous crop!
Today as I'd planted out the last of them, I sowed spinach in the propogator. I find I never manage to use up the bought stuff before it goes slimy on me and fresh picked is far nicer anyway. I'd like to do beans as well, but think I've reached saturation point on the verandah, and the lounge windowsill is wall to wall herbs and veggies! (Don't grow in the kitchen at all) Of course, I could get a set of shelves and stack them up! I've also got strawberries in a hanging basket, I wonder if beans would hang down instead of growing up?
I constantly wish they'd hurry up and build the new houses, I'd really like to have a garden!
It's been a pleasant, lazy day doing what we've wanted to do, rather than what we've had to do.
Moo
I'd have liked to have spent the day out at Loch Lomond or up in the Campsies, but the weather was against us, too overcast and grey to spend outdoors! We decided to go off and see a movie and have lunch instead, but the fates were against us there too. We'd left a note for John ... he's pretending to write his GCSEs, so was home ... but just as we got into town, Gary got a text from him to say that he wasn't able to stay in for the gang coming home from school, so that cut our 'free' time left down to three hours!
We ended up just wandering around instead, I got a couple of colours that I was missing for the cottage and the latest Classic Stitches magazine. Gary got a new Crossword book and had a browse in HMV, but was so spoilt for choice on DVDs, he decided to leave it and came out empty handed .... a VERY rare occurrence!
After a very nice lunch at a popular restaurant, we got on the first bus that was heading homewards. We'd also been looking for some canes, as this year I've decided that instead of flowers, I'm going to grow veggies.
When we got to Rutherglen, we went into Woolworths to see if they had any, and Gary bought me some marigolds and a wisteria, so I got 'flowers' too!
We just got home in time. As we got off the bus, the thunder and lightening started and we'd barely shut the front door when the heavens opened! We sat and watched the rain thundering down and the hail bouncing around from the safety of the living room, while I planted out my new plants and finished transplanting my seedlings.
I've started with tomatoes and green peppers (Capsicums) and they are both doing very well. As I have only been able to transplant them out in stages, they are now all at different levels, which will hopefully mean a continuous crop!
Today as I'd planted out the last of them, I sowed spinach in the propogator. I find I never manage to use up the bought stuff before it goes slimy on me and fresh picked is far nicer anyway. I'd like to do beans as well, but think I've reached saturation point on the verandah, and the lounge windowsill is wall to wall herbs and veggies! (Don't grow in the kitchen at all) Of course, I could get a set of shelves and stack them up! I've also got strawberries in a hanging basket, I wonder if beans would hang down instead of growing up?
I constantly wish they'd hurry up and build the new houses, I'd really like to have a garden!
It's been a pleasant, lazy day doing what we've wanted to do, rather than what we've had to do.
Moo
Wednesday, May 05, 2004
Aliens and Vampires
I've lost all my energy and oomph! I seem to be continually tired and find that days have gone by and I haven't even switched the computer on. I could think of things to write about, but just not scrape up the energy to do it! Mind you, mental prowess has been suffering a bit too.
Things on the home front have been unsettled to say the least. Garys' 'late' in laws (m-i-l and s-i-l) live a block or two from us (more's the pity) They continually egg the kids on with "You don't have to listen to Liza, she's not your mother" and lately the catch phrase seems to be "She's tearing this family apart". (Doesn't seem to have dawned on them that if Gary never saw them again, it'd be too soon!)
Saturday, we woke up to John screaming at Kelly-Anne to shut up, because she was crying and screaming at the others who were slagging her off. Gary strode into the fray and read the riot act, which stopped it all. Kelly-Anne and Robert then went off to their Gran and Robert was telling them what happened. Needless to say, my powers are so great, that fast asleep, I'd made them all pick on Kelly-Anne! She, sweet child, got into an argument with her Gran and Aunt defending me and got banned from the house!
John of course, having been chastised, was impossible for the rest of the day, moaning about everything and everybody.
Sunday wasn't much better.
Monday we went with Garys' Mum, Pat, her partner Bill and the 3 boys into Glasgow for their kilt fitting. (Garys' sister is getting married in June and the males are all wearing kilts.)
John asked if he could have money to go buy T-shirts after we were finished and Gary said No, he'd have to wait. Strike 1!
Then he found out that he was going to have to wear a bow tie and said he wasn't going to. Gary told him he would. Strike 2!
When we went across to the restaurant for lunch (Pats' treat) John asked his Dad for money to go to McDonalds. Gary said No. Strike 3!
After queueing for a short while, we were shown to a table. We had to wait for a second table next to it to open up, so we could all eat, but in the meantime wee Gary had sat down at another occupied table. I asked him to go and squeeze up next to John until the other table opened up, so his father could sit down. John objected and so I asked him if he expected his father to stand. Strike 4!
Once everything was sorted out, Gary ended up next to John. I don't know what was said, but Gary told John to stop complaining. He flew off the handle and all I caught was "she's to blame" (his preferred name for me) and when he found he wasn't winning as Gary had had him in chunks, he burst into tears, wailing he wanted his mother. Gary told him to behave or leave, which he did, but by then he'd put a damper on the whole day. Both Gary and I had lost our appetites, and due to the stress, Gary had a pain in his chest and couldn't stop jumping.
His Grans' face was a picture at this performance, worthy of a three year old, so hopefully she'll have a go at him next time she sees him, about his behaviour and it's all we need at the wedding!
I'm beginning to think I came from another planet, not another country!! I've been here exactly two years now, but John still acts as if I'm a temporary visitor, not a permanent fixture. He even told his father that "he's screwed up his (Js) life by bringing me into the house". Never mind his fathers' happiness, that's not important at all!
We also seem to be harbouring a colony of vampires! Rain, snow, freezing cold and dark and they're all out playing, let the sun shine and it's a beautiful day and they're all inside watching TV until we throw them out!
On the embroidery front, I can HD as I've finished the ducks.
This picture was taken when I was about halfway.
It's the first time I've used a frame to work needlepoint/tapestry (not sure exactly what you call it!) and I was very pleasantly surprised to find that there was no warping or pulling, it's perfectly square, so no blocking!
I got my DMC wool and a bigger frame from Sewandso last week. It's not stash, as I'm already using it! The next one is a cottage with a garden and I must say, it's quite addictive.
I'll eventually get back to 'creative' embroidery again!
Moo
Things on the home front have been unsettled to say the least. Garys' 'late' in laws (m-i-l and s-i-l) live a block or two from us (more's the pity) They continually egg the kids on with "You don't have to listen to Liza, she's not your mother" and lately the catch phrase seems to be "She's tearing this family apart". (Doesn't seem to have dawned on them that if Gary never saw them again, it'd be too soon!)
Saturday, we woke up to John screaming at Kelly-Anne to shut up, because she was crying and screaming at the others who were slagging her off. Gary strode into the fray and read the riot act, which stopped it all. Kelly-Anne and Robert then went off to their Gran and Robert was telling them what happened. Needless to say, my powers are so great, that fast asleep, I'd made them all pick on Kelly-Anne! She, sweet child, got into an argument with her Gran and Aunt defending me and got banned from the house!
John of course, having been chastised, was impossible for the rest of the day, moaning about everything and everybody.
Sunday wasn't much better.
Monday we went with Garys' Mum, Pat, her partner Bill and the 3 boys into Glasgow for their kilt fitting. (Garys' sister is getting married in June and the males are all wearing kilts.)
John asked if he could have money to go buy T-shirts after we were finished and Gary said No, he'd have to wait. Strike 1!
Then he found out that he was going to have to wear a bow tie and said he wasn't going to. Gary told him he would. Strike 2!
When we went across to the restaurant for lunch (Pats' treat) John asked his Dad for money to go to McDonalds. Gary said No. Strike 3!
After queueing for a short while, we were shown to a table. We had to wait for a second table next to it to open up, so we could all eat, but in the meantime wee Gary had sat down at another occupied table. I asked him to go and squeeze up next to John until the other table opened up, so his father could sit down. John objected and so I asked him if he expected his father to stand. Strike 4!
Once everything was sorted out, Gary ended up next to John. I don't know what was said, but Gary told John to stop complaining. He flew off the handle and all I caught was "she's to blame" (his preferred name for me) and when he found he wasn't winning as Gary had had him in chunks, he burst into tears, wailing he wanted his mother. Gary told him to behave or leave, which he did, but by then he'd put a damper on the whole day. Both Gary and I had lost our appetites, and due to the stress, Gary had a pain in his chest and couldn't stop jumping.
His Grans' face was a picture at this performance, worthy of a three year old, so hopefully she'll have a go at him next time she sees him, about his behaviour and it's all we need at the wedding!
I'm beginning to think I came from another planet, not another country!! I've been here exactly two years now, but John still acts as if I'm a temporary visitor, not a permanent fixture. He even told his father that "he's screwed up his (Js) life by bringing me into the house". Never mind his fathers' happiness, that's not important at all!
We also seem to be harbouring a colony of vampires! Rain, snow, freezing cold and dark and they're all out playing, let the sun shine and it's a beautiful day and they're all inside watching TV until we throw them out!
On the embroidery front, I can HD as I've finished the ducks.
This picture was taken when I was about halfway.
It's the first time I've used a frame to work needlepoint/tapestry (not sure exactly what you call it!) and I was very pleasantly surprised to find that there was no warping or pulling, it's perfectly square, so no blocking!
I got my DMC wool and a bigger frame from Sewandso last week. It's not stash, as I'm already using it! The next one is a cottage with a garden and I must say, it's quite addictive.
I'll eventually get back to 'creative' embroidery again!
Moo
