Wednesday 26 January 2011

Finished Card

The piece of stitching I finished the other day is now made up into a card and for sale here.

It's been a cold, wet depressing day today starting off with walking to school and me mentioning that she hadn't had her letter about passing her swimming certificate upon where I receive the reply that she's been told she's already got it. I asked what she meant and she said that she'd been told yesterday that she has already got Goldfish 2, to which I replied that she definitely hasn't got it because all her badges to date are on her towel and why would the instructor be making her do a badge that she's already received.

When we got to school I mentioned it to the ta who said that it was right, that's what Marion and Honor had done and she didn't hand out a letter as she already has it. Honor piped up and said that her letter says she's passed Goldfish 2. When we got to swimming the instructor said that both girls had passed Goldfish 2 and the others in their group Goldfish 1.

So why do we still have no letter home when it's a pre written letter and it would only take 1 minute to write the child's name on and date it? On Friday Marion will be the only one in her class not receiving a swimming badge and getting herself upset about it when it's not her fault. So do I put the £1.50 in an envelope and hand it in tomorrow with the details written on it and not bother waiting for a letter?

On top of that we found out today that the hospital haven't written up any notes on Grandad, they're not sure why he's on a drip so they've taken him off it, he's not on any medication because they don't know what he needs and the Sister that Mum spoke to last night said she wasn't aware he had this bug thing. She basically said that she didn't even know why he was there at all, but she couldn't check his notes as the doctors were in a meeting and they had all patients notes with them.

So we just have to wait and see what happens when Mum calls later on demanding a doctor returns her call with the answers to her questions.

Feeling Depressed and Deflated

Yes I have really been feeling depressed and deflated due to many things.

According to an article I read recently, buying jeans is the most stressful item of clothing a person can buy - I totally agree. Boot cut, hipsters, skinny, super skinny and the others I can't seem to remember.

But there is some good news in all this and that I have finally found a pair of jeans that fit me and I didn't need to rob a bank to pay for them. I can't wear hipsters, they just fall down even with a belt, I don't have the right shape hips and I don't feel comfortable because I want to keep pulling them up. When I was a teenager I was a size 10 and 6 stone and envious of women with any kind of clevage, not that my bust was small, just a different shape. In my 20's I was a size 10 and 6 1/2 stone. In pregnancy I went up to a size 12 and 9 stone (which is the weight I should be without being pregnant). After pregnancy I went back to a size 10 and 7 stone.

In the last year my bust seems to have become bigger and I now have that clevage - which is free to a good home, I'm still 7 stone but I'm now a size 12 in some clothes.

In my teens and 20's I didn't like figure hugging clothes because I like to be able to breathe and not feel claustrophobic. The age I am now I detest figure hugging clothes, I feel so uncomfortable in them. How can people wear skinny jeans or even super skinny anything? Who do these design people think they're making clothes for - a washing line? I'm in no way skinny or fat, I'm in between. I like to be comfortable, but these designers don't seem to design clothes for comfort now. Why not?

Anyway I walked into New Look this afternoon and found a pair of regular rise boot cut jeans in a dark blue in a size 12 that fit comfortably for £9.99. After I had paid for them the lady informed me that they also do them in black and a lighter blue - oh yes I am returning next week for more. What's more if I look after them like I have my pair, I won't need to worry about buying anymore for another 2o years (yes that is really how old my favourite pair of jeans are).

Tuesday 25 January 2011

It's Burns Night

Today is the birthday of poet Robert Burns and everyone in Scotland celebrates with haggis and neeps.

O, my luve is like a red, red rose,
That's newly sprung in June.
O, my luve is like a melodie,
That's sweetly play'd in tune.

As fair art thou, my bonie lass,
So deep in luve am I,
And I will luve thee still, my dear,
Till a' the seas gang dry.

Till a' the seas gang dry, my dear,
And the rocks melt wi the sun!
And I will luve thee still, my dear,
While the sands o life shall run.

And fare thee weel, my only luve!
And fare thee weel, a while!
And I will come again, my luve,
Tho it were ten thousand mile!

Monday 24 January 2011

I relaxed




Yesterday afternoon my 8 year old daughter yelled at me to relax a little bit and get worked up later on again "and for goodness sake Mummy sit down and do some stitching and watch this film with me". She smiled at me, handed me a can of coke and told me if I dared move she'd smack me.

So, as you can see I did as I was told. All through 'See Spot Run' and 'Aladin' I sat and stitched. I can't really say that it looks anything like the piece in the magazine at the moment, not like the first one I did, but we'll see when it's finished.

I didn't do anymore after those two films, my face was really itchy and irritable and I just wanted to rip it off. I had to keep wiping it over (especially my forehead) with a cold facecloth every half hour or so. Today it feels much better, but still not quite right.

Oh well, mince and potatoes await and I am starving. I will catch up on all your blogs soon.

Sunday 23 January 2011

I am Furious

On Wednesday evening after Brownies, Marion phoned her Granny to tell her that she'd got another swimming badge and then I spoke to Mum only to find out that Grandad had had another fall and the home had called out the Rapid Response Unit because he wouldn't let them help him up off the floor because his shoulder hurt and they weren't taking any chances incase his clavical was fractured/broken. My Aunt couldn't drive herself to the hospital this time, so said she'd call the hospital at 9.30pm to find out what was happening with him and Mum said she'd call me when she knew anything.

I never heard anything until Thursday evening. My Aunt had called the hospital at 9.30pm like she said she would and found that Grandad had only just arrived. The hospital is a maximum of 10 minutes away and he was in the ambulance on the way at 8.30pm - so where was he for 50 minutes? Nobody knows, they can't account for it.

Apparently at 1am her phone rang and it was the hospital asking my Aunt for the phone number for the home so they could ring and tell them they were sending him back home. They have the number on his notes, so why couldn't they look them up or call directory enquiries themselves? At 9am the home phoned to say that Grandad had arrived back at 4am.

I am even more disgusted with the hospital than I was at New Year when they left him fully dehydrated for over 9 hours before taking a look at him. The NHS are happy to do that to a 93 year old man obviously. They're not getting away with it, my letter of complaint is still in the process and the more they screw up the longer it's getting.

And this Government think it's a good thing to be cutting back on the NHS services. It's ok for them, they can all go private because they can afford it. No wonder this Country is classed as a 'third world treating country'. The lowest to diagnose major diseases and the slowest to do anything about it. For example a woman (from Kent) in her twenties had just had a baby and then diagnosed with untreatable leukemia and was given 3 months maximum and told nothing more would be done to help her. Her husband wouldn't accept that decision and scoured the internet for a solution. This woman, after having been treated in Germany for a very treatable condition is now fully recovered with a long life ahead of her and will be able to see her daughter do all the things a mother should, yet this country had given up on her without doing anything.

On Friday Mum had spent most of the day on the phone going back and forth between the home, my Aunt and the doctor surgery. The district nurse had to be called out to check his catheter and found it was completely blocked in the tube in his stomach, so she had to remove that and flush it out (chcolate brown blood came flooding out). The home then tried to get hold of the doctor, he refused to speak to them. My Aunt tried calling and he refused to speak to her, so she called my Mum, who then called the surgery to find he wasn't there but 5 minutes after saying exactly what she thought he was calling her back from his mobile and sorting things out.

Later on that evening my Mum called me to say that the doctor had just phoned her to ask her permission to have Grandad admitted to hospital as he thought he might have a bacteria/parasite associated with too many antibiotics. Of course Mum said yes.

*Edited on 23/1/11

Yesterday we had a visit from Marion's Grandma and John. It wasn't a bad day in all. When they'd left I tried calling Mum to see whether she'd gone to see my Grandad and after chatting to the answerphone I called her on her mobile, she was in the car with my Aunt and had just left the hospital. Grandad had finally arrived at the hospital in the early hours of the morning (so why did it take an emergency patient 5 hours to get to hospital?) and was in a very serious condition. If this parasite spreads to the lungs or kidneys nothing can be done to cure it, it's fatal.

The 2 Sister's at the hospital that Mum and my Aunt saw were very helpful and knew that they were very angry and upset. Apparently when he was in hospital the other day, the hospital informed the GP about this parasite and asked him to make sure he prescribed the medication for the home to administer. He obviously ignored it.

Mum spoke to Grandad and he managed to say that his mouth was very dry. One Sister said she'd give him a little drop of water, but he's not actually allowed anything to eat or drink my mouth due to the severity of the illness and the fear it might choke him and he's being drip fed. He took a few sips of water and she asked what kind of things he liked to eat, so they told her and she said that they have the supplement meals there (like Complan) and did he like soup - oh yes he loves soup. So they're going to give him those to build his strength up, through the drip system for the time being.

He has also had a big disgusting kind of blood blistery scab on his ear for over a year now. The home have said there's nothing that can be done because it's a cancer of some sort and yet when Mum went in yesterday they had cleaned up his ear and you could hardly see it. The hospital are now so concerned about the level of care at the home that they have already reported them and their abilities as a care home.

I have said for a very long time that I didn't think they were doing their jobs properly. I've worked in a council run care home, it was cleaner, it didn't smell, the staff were approachable and it just was a nicer place to be. I don't see my Grandad very often because he's 100 miles away, but when I do go I can't wait to get back out because the smell just makes me heave. It doesn't look clean and I never sit down.

I hope that they learn from this, but the doctor and the home won't be getting away with it, they're not going to hear me complaining to them, I'm going straight to the General Medical Council and they had better reply, otherwise there will be hell to pay. I am so sick of incompetence.

Wednesday 19 January 2011

First Finish for 2011


As sweet as you are heart
28 ct evenweave
carries threads - passion
started 14/01/11 - finished 18/01/11

Well this is it, I finished it last night and I'm really pleased with it. It states in the magazine to do the backstitching in 2 strands, but I think using 1 thread gives it a more delicate feel. I'll be making it up into a card and it will be available for sale soon.

This morning we had a thick frost, which looked more like a light dusting of snow. Outside on the pavement I took 2 steps, slipped and jarred my back. I had taken some painkillers for a headache about 10 minutes before that happened, but they did nothing to ease the headache or the pain I was feeling in my back. I even had to sit down at the swimming pool while I was watching the kids, which is something I never do.

When we got back to school, I was about to start the slow process of walking home, which isn't far and the bus driver told me to get back on and he'd drop me off. I thought that was really nice of him and it got me home that little bit quicker.

Unfortunately more painkillers and a hot water bottle haven't really done anything to ease my back, so if it feels any worse in the morning I'm calling the doctor.

Monday 17 January 2011

More Stitching


I sat down again yesterday and stitched more on this piece, it's going to be lovely when it's finished.

I didn't have a very good night sleep last night, I was still awake at 3am and at 3.50am I woke myself up coughing. After that I couldn't get back to sleep. I just lay there with my mind buzzing and thinking 'why hasn't the heating come on yet' and 'why hasn't the alarm gone off yet' and everytime I checked it was still a long way off for either of those things to happen.

The heating did come on and the 2 radiators that wouldn't heat up yesterday were red hot this morning and I was sweltering!!!!

I popped to the post office and sent off 2 more postcards and then settled myself down to watch Land Girls on BBC1. I watched the first series and really enjoyed it and then I decided I'd put in a few stitches before going to pick Marion up from craft club. At 3.25pm the phone rang and it was school telling me that craft club wasn't on until February, so could I come and collect her. Megan's Mum was just reversing out of her drive to go to school when I went past, so they didn't know it wasn't on either. School are now sending out letters letting us know when the clubs start back up again.

Sunday 16 January 2011

Another Evening Stitching


I spent another evening last night stitching, I did have to frog a little big from the night before, but had stitched it back up in a jiffy.

I'm really enjoying this piece, so intend on stitching it again tonight.

I hope everyone has had a wonderful weekend and I'll catch up on your blogs soon.

Saturday 15 January 2011

First Stitches of 2011


Started on this last night. The chart said to use 2 strands for both the backstitching and cross stitching, but I decided that it would look nicer to do all the backstitching in 1 strand...............ok I admit it, I read the instructions after I had got this far, but I still believe that it will be much nicer in 1 strand.

I'm hoping that this is a sign of things to come because I really enjoyed stitching what I've done so far and can't wait to settle down tonight and maybe see if I can finish it off.

I want/need to get a lot more stitching done this year than I have done in the last couple of years.


This morning I had my hands full and Rascal was wanting something to eat, I told him to just wait and I'd be with him when I had my head out the cupboard, but he decided he'd just go and help himself to the crunchies instead.


And clever little boy, you better eat that lot up because I'm not sweeping it all up. He did, he must have been hungry after going outside without his breakfast.

Sunday 2 January 2011

First Book of 2011


SMILES AND SONGS THAT HIDE A BROKEN HEART

Kathy Burton longs to escape the drudgery of her life as an unpaid labourer on her father’s farm. With only the local church choir and the occasional dance at the village hall for amusement, she yearns for the bright lights. Spurning Morry Robinson’s proposal of marriage, Kathy goes to live in the city with his aunt, Jemima Robinson. Jemima finds employment for Kathy in a department store, but is anxious when Kathy is captivated by the sophisticated and handsome manager, Tony Kendall.

Kathy has fallen deeply and irrevocably in love and, even when the country is plunged into war, she can see no obstacle to their future. But she has reckoned without the devious mind of Tony’s invalid mother, Beatrice Kendall.

Determined that the possessive woman won’t win, Kathy plans her wedding, but the day is ruined and Tony is called up before another date can be arranged. Feeling deserted, Kathy is forced to face yet further heartache and shame alone. At last she finds solace in a concert party entertaining service men and woman and war workers. But behind the songs and the smiles, her heart is breaking…


Recommended book, I couldn't put it down.

Saturday 1 January 2011

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Wishing everyone a very HAPPY NEW YEAR.

My New Year's Resolution is to turn up at Sally's house sometime in the year, hypnotise her into stitching everything I want stitched and then patiently sit and wait for them to arrive!!!

She just seems to have way more time than I have and gets far more done in a week than I do in 6 months. I bet she's got at least 2 finished pieces by the end of the day ;)