Hi everyone,
Between work, finishing the clear up after decorating, a new flat roof going on at the back of the house, and dau's swimming and up-coming show, been so slammed this week that I have neglected everything else - including the Bizarrites - so sorry xxxxx
Spamar, we had gorgeous days here on Wenesday and Thursday (According to the guage in my car, we got up to 32 on Thursday!) - but yesterday brought very much cooler weather and rain - I much prefer the heat! Looking a little brighter today, but definitely not as warm as I'd like.
Slugsta, have fingers and toes crossed for Sky-cat - awful when our fur family members are not well
I really hope that the next results are good news, and that you can start to get Sky o the mend xxxxx I don't know if I would have been so forgiving over the kitchen, but can totally understand why you feel like there is no point in battling on. Hope the wardrobe fitting is completely hassle-free for you xxx
Flipping heck, JM - that was some fall! Glad he is OK, but what a fright for you all xxxxx
Red, have been thinking of you and your daughter - I hope you are both OK and coping. Sending big {{{{{{{hugs}}}}}
Amy, Celia, Maureen, R-Anne and everyone else - sending you all love and best wishes, hope you are all OK xxxx
Monday and Tuesdays were a combination of long days at the laptop and a couple of meetings. Wednesday saw me off to S.Wales again - the travelling is a pain, but its good to catch up with the rest of the Welsh team, and we were all really proud to be told that we are the only area team in the UK to have completely smashed all of our yearly targets - 3 months early! Big changes afoot in work, all good, but a lot of hard work ahead. The journey home was a nightmare - trains ran on time but from Cardiff to home (nearly 3 long hours) the carriage was also occupied by several people who had been to some sort of work related 'thing' in Cardiff, and who were possibly the most irritating bunch - EVER! One chap intermittently wore headphones and sang along with whatever he was listening to, both loudly and extremely badly! Another chap (in his 20's, I think) seemed to think that he was so witty and interesting, that everyone in the carriage must want to hear what he had to say, so he basically shouted non-stop - he was, in fact, totally witless and very obnoxious. And his language wasn't particularly nice most of the time. However, his workmates seemed to think he was the bee's knee's, so added to the tone-deaf singers' warbling, and this chaps non-stop mouth action, we also had a gaggle of women screeching with laughter at him. I got off the train with a banging headache and in a really foul mood. Too tired to bother with even a meal. I made a sandwich and went to bed!
Thursday, I took a day off from work, as with the travelling the day before, I'd already over-shot my hours. I spent most of the morning trying to get on top of the usual chaos left from decorating and stupidly doing battle with the inevitable dust and debris from the work on the roof. Just before lunch time, I decided that i really must get on top of the holiday shopping, so hit just one shop, and bought shorts, a couple of summery dresses, beach cover-ups, beach towels and t shirts (all chosen and bought in under 20 minutes - I do hate shopping!) - apart from new undies, and a couple more tops, I'm now all set and only have dau to sort out. I'd also booked to have my hair cut, and arriving at the hairdressers, decided that I was actually going to go VERY short, with a layered cut that was completely dfferent to the usual 'bob' style variations that I've had for years. (I'm still not sure if it was a mistake - and neither are the family - thank goodness my hair grows quickly!)
In between holiday shopping and haircut, I went to see Mil. Found her upstairs in the activity lounge, dozing in an arm chair. The staff told me that for the previous two hours, she had been adamant that she was a cleaner and in work, and had gone round every chair in the room, cleaning them - irrespective of other residents having been sat in them at the time She half woke, just as I was debating whether or not to disturb her, and spotted me, smiled and beckoned me over. I got a friendly greeting, but I really don't think she knew either my name or how she knew me. I suspect she thought that I was a workmate, from odd things she said. However, 5 minutes into the visit, and her mind made one of those odd jumps that always amaze me. Although she didn't seem to know my name, she started to talk about having seen my sisters and my mum, and somehow she actually dredged up my Mum's name and the name of one of my sisters correctly. I got a tale about how she and my Mum had been to Rhyl for the day, then a tale about how my Mum had sold my sisters some 'marbles', but that although my sister, 'Mrs Chair' (?) was as pleased as punch with them, my other sister, 'D***' (correct name) demanded her money back and there had been a row. My mum featured largely in just about everything Mil had to say after that - a lot of half uttered sentences that trailed into nothing, but all about my Mum. And most accompanied by Mil giving this odd little 'hehehehehe' laugh and rubbing her hands together in glee, every few minutes - I have no idea what that was about, but she reminded me of that little daft laugh George Formby used to do! Very odd. And so strange that she got one of my sisters names, and my Mum's name, identified their relationship to me correctly - yet really didn't have a clue who I was. One of the carers came over to ask Mil if she wanted to move to one of the tables for lunch - and Mil began calling her by my Mum's name, insisting that this was my Mum -I just went along with it, and once the carer cottoned on, so did she.
Got Mil to the table and noticed as soon as she stood up that she smelt quite strongly of urine. That's happened several times lately - I've spoken to the staff who tell me that she is still asking for the loo, and being taken there as soon as she asks - but that she is still having a lot of accidents in between
I was able to leave as the food arrived, with no fuss at all. I guess thats the blessing of her not recognising me as who I am, if you know what I mean. Although she still wants to 'go home' a lot of the time according to the staff, as long as I go by myself, its rare that I trigger the 'take me home' loop now - it can still get intense if I'm with OH, - but if its just me or me and one of the kids, although she might ask once or twice, there is rarely any upset or agitation.
Today, dau is in all day rehearsals for a show tomorrow night in Chester Forum Theatre. (Because of her GCSE's, she hadn't gone for a solo - and is, I think, regretting it now! ). I'm planning on a quick tidy up, a quick trip to the shops for milk, pop and bread - then a day spent editing the (hopefully) last of sisters photographs (over 1000 delivered so far, and still more to go) and maybe even having a couple of hours on the family history. I've reached a dead end with several branches (though I've got back to the 1700's with some) so now want to start finding a way to record all I've found out so far. Despite having bought a couple of purpose-made family history binders (which look nice but don't hold much!), I think that the best way will be for me to use a huge lever arch binder, which I can divide into the different branches of mine and OH's family. As well as the 'charts' with details of family groups and lines, I have some photographs, things like mass cards and newspaper clippings; I've collected lots of info from different census' about where people lived and what they did for a living and I also have info on things like origin of names, family crests and tartans that I'd like to include in the records (those are the bits that I find really interesting, tbh). Once I have that sorted, I'll go back to the search - hopefully the break will give me some fresh inspiration, lol.
Only 4 weeks and 4 days to our holiday, and only 1 week and 4 days to son's graduation A lot to look forward to!
Take care everyone, love to you all xxxx
Between work, finishing the clear up after decorating, a new flat roof going on at the back of the house, and dau's swimming and up-coming show, been so slammed this week that I have neglected everything else - including the Bizarrites - so sorry xxxxx
Spamar, we had gorgeous days here on Wenesday and Thursday (According to the guage in my car, we got up to 32 on Thursday!) - but yesterday brought very much cooler weather and rain - I much prefer the heat! Looking a little brighter today, but definitely not as warm as I'd like.
Slugsta, have fingers and toes crossed for Sky-cat - awful when our fur family members are not well
I really hope that the next results are good news, and that you can start to get Sky o the mend xxxxx I don't know if I would have been so forgiving over the kitchen, but can totally understand why you feel like there is no point in battling on. Hope the wardrobe fitting is completely hassle-free for you xxxFlipping heck, JM - that was some fall! Glad he is OK, but what a fright for you all xxxxx
Red, have been thinking of you and your daughter - I hope you are both OK and coping. Sending big {{{{{{{hugs}}}}}
Amy, Celia, Maureen, R-Anne and everyone else - sending you all love and best wishes, hope you are all OK xxxx
Monday and Tuesdays were a combination of long days at the laptop and a couple of meetings. Wednesday saw me off to S.Wales again - the travelling is a pain, but its good to catch up with the rest of the Welsh team, and we were all really proud to be told that we are the only area team in the UK to have completely smashed all of our yearly targets - 3 months early! Big changes afoot in work, all good, but a lot of hard work ahead. The journey home was a nightmare - trains ran on time but from Cardiff to home (nearly 3 long hours) the carriage was also occupied by several people who had been to some sort of work related 'thing' in Cardiff, and who were possibly the most irritating bunch - EVER! One chap intermittently wore headphones and sang along with whatever he was listening to, both loudly and extremely badly! Another chap (in his 20's, I think) seemed to think that he was so witty and interesting, that everyone in the carriage must want to hear what he had to say, so he basically shouted non-stop - he was, in fact, totally witless and very obnoxious. And his language wasn't particularly nice most of the time. However, his workmates seemed to think he was the bee's knee's, so added to the tone-deaf singers' warbling, and this chaps non-stop mouth action, we also had a gaggle of women screeching with laughter at him. I got off the train with a banging headache and in a really foul mood. Too tired to bother with even a meal. I made a sandwich and went to bed!
Thursday, I took a day off from work, as with the travelling the day before, I'd already over-shot my hours. I spent most of the morning trying to get on top of the usual chaos left from decorating and stupidly doing battle with the inevitable dust and debris from the work on the roof. Just before lunch time, I decided that i really must get on top of the holiday shopping, so hit just one shop, and bought shorts, a couple of summery dresses, beach cover-ups, beach towels and t shirts (all chosen and bought in under 20 minutes - I do hate shopping!) - apart from new undies, and a couple more tops, I'm now all set and only have dau to sort out. I'd also booked to have my hair cut, and arriving at the hairdressers, decided that I was actually going to go VERY short, with a layered cut that was completely dfferent to the usual 'bob' style variations that I've had for years. (I'm still not sure if it was a mistake - and neither are the family - thank goodness my hair grows quickly!)
In between holiday shopping and haircut, I went to see Mil. Found her upstairs in the activity lounge, dozing in an arm chair. The staff told me that for the previous two hours, she had been adamant that she was a cleaner and in work, and had gone round every chair in the room, cleaning them - irrespective of other residents having been sat in them at the time
She half woke, just as I was debating whether or not to disturb her, and spotted me, smiled and beckoned me over. I got a friendly greeting, but I really don't think she knew either my name or how she knew me. I suspect she thought that I was a workmate, from odd things she said. However, 5 minutes into the visit, and her mind made one of those odd jumps that always amaze me. Although she didn't seem to know my name, she started to talk about having seen my sisters and my mum, and somehow she actually dredged up my Mum's name and the name of one of my sisters correctly. I got a tale about how she and my Mum had been to Rhyl for the day, then a tale about how my Mum had sold my sisters some 'marbles', but that although my sister, 'Mrs Chair' (?) was as pleased as punch with them, my other sister, 'D***' (correct name) demanded her money back and there had been a row. My mum featured largely in just about everything Mil had to say after that - a lot of half uttered sentences that trailed into nothing, but all about my Mum. And most accompanied by Mil giving this odd little 'hehehehehe' laugh and rubbing her hands together in glee, every few minutes - I have no idea what that was about, but she reminded me of that little daft laugh George Formby used to do! Very odd. And so strange that she got one of my sisters names, and my Mum's name, identified their relationship to me correctly - yet really didn't have a clue who I was. One of the carers came over to ask Mil if she wanted to move to one of the tables for lunch - and Mil began calling her by my Mum's name, insisting that this was my Mum -I just went along with it, and once the carer cottoned on, so did she. Got Mil to the table and noticed as soon as she stood up that she smelt quite strongly of urine
. That's happened several times lately - I've spoken to the staff who tell me that she is still asking for the loo, and being taken there as soon as she asks - but that she is still having a lot of accidents in between I was able to leave as the food arrived, with no fuss at all. I guess thats the blessing of her not recognising me as who I am, if you know what I mean. Although she still wants to 'go home' a lot of the time according to the staff, as long as I go by myself, its rare that I trigger the 'take me home' loop now - it can still get intense if I'm with OH, - but if its just me or me and one of the kids, although she might ask once or twice, there is rarely any upset or agitation.
Today, dau is in all day rehearsals for a show tomorrow night in Chester Forum Theatre. (Because of her GCSE's, she hadn't gone for a solo - and is, I think, regretting it now! ). I'm planning on a quick tidy up, a quick trip to the shops for milk, pop and bread - then a day spent editing the (hopefully) last of sisters photographs (over 1000 delivered so far, and still more to go) and maybe even having a couple of hours on the family history. I've reached a dead end with several branches (though I've got back to the 1700's with some) so now want to start finding a way to record all I've found out so far. Despite having bought a couple of purpose-made family history binders (which look nice but don't hold much!), I think that the best way will be for me to use a huge lever arch binder, which I can divide into the different branches of mine and OH's family. As well as the 'charts' with details of family groups and lines, I have some photographs, things like mass cards and newspaper clippings; I've collected lots of info from different census' about where people lived and what they did for a living and I also have info on things like origin of names, family crests and tartans that I'd like to include in the records (those are the bits that I find really interesting, tbh). Once I have that sorted, I'll go back to the search - hopefully the break will give me some fresh inspiration, lol.
Only 4 weeks and 4 days to our holiday, and only 1 week and 4 days to son's graduation
A lot to look forward to!Take care everyone, love to you all xxxx
