The sad side of strokes!

 If this hadn't happened to me I wouldn't believe it. People who have strokes change and some change totally.

Last year I had a phone call from an acquaintance, which was very strange. She was very upset and kept saying she was going to be arrested. I managed to get our of  that she had been able to access the 'dark web'  and that she by chance had come across some videos, that were of children being abused!

If they find out I'll be arrested she kept saying. Because she lived quite a long way from us. I phoned her brother and his reaction was, that his sister was always messing up using her computer and not so very long ago had tied herself up to an American firm, who were charging her £70 a month for a beauty cream.. anyway I did get him to go to see her, because she had phoned me again, saying that she was afraid that Social Services now know and that she was expecting the police to arrive at any moment.

When her brother arrived at her house she had more or less barricaded herself in and he had trouble getting her to let him in. He got a Dr to come to see her and she was diagnosed with some small strokes, which had affected her brain! She also had some appointments with a psychiatrist for a short time after, although she nor her family admitted to that, but a friend of her told me.

All sad and odd, why did she phone me? We don't communicate much these days. because she is still convinced that her laptop was the cause and so she won't use it any more, but she still uses her phone to access the internet!

Ah well as the saying goes...' There's none so queer as folk!'

Chrisxx

Do dogs go to heaven?

Lots of people, who have lost a dog like to think they go to heaven, and are waiting there for their owners. Its a lovely idea when the loss is very raw. When my little Mari died I arrived in work wearing dark glasses to hide my red eyes, because I had cried all evening and had hardly slept. I started to play the piano for Assembly and started to sob uncontrollably, I carried on to the end of the hymn, but then the Head came to me and said 'go home!' She was the dog I got after a miscarriage and she was almost like the baby I never had. And then we had to say good bye to out lovely Nell, I was heart broken when we had to say good bye to her, she was such a love.

Recently I've read an article where a little girl in a Sunday School class asked the teacher to pray for her dog, who had recently died. Her distress was obvious from her teary face and the Sunday School teacher said a short prayer with her for her doggy friend. But of course the Christian beliefs don't encompass animals in heaven, as they don't have souls.

What is your idea of heaven? A place of gold, somewhere where you'll see Jesus face to face, or where you'll meet loved ones, who have died, or the verse in Revelations, 21.4 'There will  be no more death or mourning or crying or pain.' No matter what the picture we see, our minds are limited to imagine something of God's.  Even our best guess of the joys that heaven holds can't come near to what it will be really like.

Because of the Christian belief that only those who believe and have a soul can enter heaven, so proves to the Christian that our animals don't have a place in the heavenly abode. 

However if you look further into the Bible, in Isiah it says animals will be in the new heaven and new earth.. 'the wolf shall dwell with the lamb and the leopard lie down with the young goat and the calf and the lion and the fatten calf together and a little child shall lead them.' There are several more verses about animals, but not dogs and cats. So do they go to heaven?  We can't imagine what it would be like.

I like this quote from Billy Graham speaking about his dog in heaven, ' I think God will prepare everything for our perfect happiness. If it takes my dog being there in heaven I believe he'll be there.'

We don't really know till we get there what it will be like. or whether our beloved dog will be there, but one thing we can be assured of is that, there'll be no lack or longing, because God's presence will be enough. 

Chrisxx

Worrying!

If you were to meet me face to face, I wouldn't appear to be worrier, but I am. It manifests itself physically by my insomnia. I can be awake night after night for no apparent reason, although not one that is obvious to anyone else.

The last few nights I've been awake worrying about a self seeded Ash Tree, well not the actual tree, but how to get rid of it, that is dig it up. It is growing between our fence and a neighbour's to the side of us.

Its on our land, as when we had the fence put up, we had it sited inside our boundary, so difficult to get to the tree from our side, as it is a solid wooden fence, they have a wrought iron one.

At the moment the tree is about 3m high, but growing fast, it could grow to 50m plus, so must come out.

Then I realised we could pay some one to do it, Prise some panels off the fence, and cut the tree down. We have a regular hedge cutter firm so not a problem.. If the fence panels get broken, we'll just have to have them replaced.. Problem solved, now I can sleep!!

Chrisxx

Gremlins

 Do you get frustrated with the ever new technology? I do and what I don't understand is how things changed in my own accounts, but its not me who's changed it!

I have several bank accounts to keep my money separate.. eg. one is solely for bill payments. So money goes in to cover our energy, phones and internet, Council Tax and water bill and anything left over is transferred into what we term the 'House' account, for repairs or replacement items. Food is paid from a different account, which is our joint account and with that Bank, we both have individual personnel accounts. To us it is simple and we know each other's passwords, although mine are changed more than I want, because there are times when my passwords don't work, but they are all written down!

I can't believe it when I get a the polite message,  ' Something is not right' and I can't get into my account, I'm inclined to loose my cool!

 When I had to phone a bank the other day I had all the ' to make sure its you' questions.. and you've guest it, I kept getting them all wrong! It was so long ago when I opened that account, years ago! In my frustration I asked the young woman to ask me a question I knew! Then I remembered when and where I opened that account, it was a three weeks after we were married, so I was able to convince her, it was me.. Anyway I added, if anyone wants to access my account to pay my Credit Card bill please let them. She didn't laugh,  Dh came to help me write down all the new passwords, which I hate, because I'd had what I thought were correct for years and I liked them and I thought I knew them! Grrrrrrr technology!

Chrisxx

HOT!!!

For the last six years of my teaching I worked part time in a school near to where I lived.. I was on a three day contract, but sometimes worked  more if the school, needed a teacher. One year I worked full time as one teacher was off on long time sick. And after that year the Head Teacher asked me if I'd like to apply for the higher teacher award. I wasn't keen, what I was earning was enough to keep me going, it was my son who pushed me to apply. I did and I got it, and it was considerably more money than I thought!

But that school was a doodle compared to some schools, where I had worked. A well organised school with a good Head teacher and I had 20 years experience, the last 8 as a senior teacher and Deputy. Also the parents were very educational conscious and took a big interest in their children's learning, so worked with their children at home.

I never forgot I had been a senior teacher and still behaved like one, so never let a child get away with anything, down to telling them to tuck their tee shirts into their trousers or skirts, when I saw it was needed. I was treated with a great deal of respect by the children and the staff.

The one summer it was hot, as hot as some days now.. on the Friday I struggled into work and even before the day began I was hot. It had been very hot all week, and I had also worked the Monday and Tuesday as extra days. When my friend phoned the night before, we laughed that here I was 63 and still working. She had retired at 58, but I really enjoyed it.

So Friday morning I was wilting, but when the Head teacher popped into my classroom, as I was writing the date on my board, I smiled even when she told me I was to have 4 extra children, as two younger teachers had phoned in sick. 'How are you faring in the heat?' she asked. I did admit that I was ready for the weekend and also I was giving my class an easy afternoon doing activities they enjoyed, while I listened to them reading their books sitting comfy in my chair, by the open door. I cheekily said , 'I hope I'll be having an afternoon cup of tea,' as she always arranged for one on a Friday afternoon.

I then said, that I hoped the two teachers weren't too bad and be alright after the weekend. She said 'I think they will as they've said they have heat exhaustion.' Without thinking I reacted with 'What??' I added that perhaps us older teaches know how to pace ourselves to keep up our stamina, or she said, 'Perhaps older teachers are more committed.'

I'm still in touch with that Head teacher and have note from her, in her Christmas card every year, I had some lovely gifts when I left and beautiful flowers too.

Chrisxx

Good news, in fact very good news,

 Yesterday I had my hospital appointment at the Urology dept, with the consultant with whom I'd had a telephone appointment last month. I was dreading it, was it going to be a cystoscopy? I hadn't had a prescription for antibiotics, so I was ready to say 'no.'

But it was fine, in fact it was better than fine it was very, very good! He explained the instances when there was blood found in my urine samples, were because my bladder was inflamed. Because when I didn't have an infection there was no blood. So not a tumour! Unlike the one Dr at the Surgery who said it could be cancer!

Such a relief,  if I could run, I'd be running through a flower meadow, jumping for joy! I'll sleep tonight because I was awake last night worrying.

Also he spoke about a new vaccine, which he has applied for the Urology Dept for persistent UTIs and I would qualify for it!! I felt like saying, give me the dotted line I'll sign now!

And he was such a nice man too, talked to me as though I had all my marbles in spite of my age! Such a relief, it has boosted my mood and I'm trying even harder to loose weight, which would help my recurrent infections.

Chrisxx

When we have the sun!

 

I have a fan on me most of the time. we don't sit out in the garden. Our patio is SW facing and temps get to 30C as the slabs are white and they reflect the sun!  

Our plants in pots sizzle and we water them every day, we're on a meter but we've never paid as much if we paid pro-rata our Council Tax, but Dwr Cymru has increased their charges to supply our water by 50%. We'll keep watering unless we're asked not to. We used to have hose pipe bans in Essex, but we did water the pots with a watering can, and watched the grass go to straw every year, But it all greened up in the Autumn.

The one benefit to me to have warm weather, my arthritis isn't as bad, but I have to be careful to keep drinking water otherwise I get a UTI.. We usually have a cold drink mid afternoon instead of tea, I have a 'Mimms' a mock Pimms.. a glass of lemonade ( sugar free) 1 tsp Balsamic  vinegar, and sliced fruit and a sprig of mint. Its really tasty and I love it.

Hope you're enjoying this weather too.

Chrisxx

Smoked salmon.

 One of the hardest thing about meals is deciding what to have.. We have loads of SW books, so no complaining about recipes, but we tend to keep to things we like. This is one we really like.....

So lunch time yesterday was smoked salmon and tagliatelle, easy to make. This serves 2.

Ingredients

150g tagliatelle

150g smoked salmon

2 Cloves garlic

100g lightest Philadelphian cheese.

Squeeze of 1/2 lemon

Chopped fresh parsley.

Method

Put pasta in pan of water and bring to the boil, simmer for 15mins

Slice garlic thinly,

Drain pasta and add garlic and chopped smoked salmon, give it a turn and a mean spray of olive oil Fry light, add cheese and mix gently and add a little of the pasta water. Mix again and give it a squeeze of lemon.

Serve with a sprinkling of parsley, and season to taste with salt and black pepper.

Enjoy\!

Chrisxx

A lot more of that please!

I'm sure I'm not the only person on a diet who thinks this, but this coming week its even more important for me because last week I lost 3 pounds!!! So I want to build on that loss with even more.

It seemed a long week, it always does when you stick strictly to plan. In fact chatting to another member in our SW group, she thought the same, that the week seemed to go slowly when you stick strictly to the food plan. And we did all week, but ate well, meals I like, even some ice cream with strawberries one day.

Sunday is my worse day, its the day, when I want something nice for tea! We always have a Sunday dinner cooked the SW way and yesterday we had a chicken with our own grown potatoes, carrots, and sprouting broccoli, followed by our own rhubarb with a fat free Banana Custard yogurt, all delicious ; but then tea?? I always used to have a sandwich, a packet of crisps and a piece of home made cake, or may be two pieces of cake! So it has to be some thing I really like and filling. 

Dh makes a very tasty Frittata of which half serves as Saturday lunch with a full salad, shredded white and read cabbage, our own Cos and Lolo Roso lettuce with chopped apple, pine nuts and green olives, so the rest is our Sunday tea, No cake but a fruit yogurt fills me up and its a good start to another week.

I can do this!

Chrisxx

Rods, Dogs, Old women?

 There wasn't anywhere I particularly wanted to go yesterday, but when I saw the horrendous down pour first thing, I thought oh no, it's too wet to be going out! I hate getting wet. 

But when Dh asked where I wanted to go, I said, no where.. I just wanted the option to go! Silly or what?

It came down like 'stair rods,' Isn't that a silly saying, most people say like 'cats and dogs. ' In Wales they say 'Old women and sticks!' Anyway it was very, very wet|! 

Dh dashed out into the garden for some lettuce at lunch time, one of the disadvantages of growing your own! LOL

When it did stop the impulse to to out had gone and we stayed in and watched some tennis. When Dh went to prepare our easy Thursday night meal, as its SW weigh day today, I switched to watch Garden Makeover.. One of the programs Carol Klein says doesn't teach people how to garden, but then some of us just want to look at the designs and the flowers and the water features, so we don't want to learn.

It was really good and I loved it.. and I love Blue Geraniums.

May be after SW we'll go to town for a coffee? That is unless the rods, dogs or old women don't arrive!

Chrisxx