Phil February

Quite an uneventful month without holiday.  We had a cheap week away last month and we have our mini cruise to look forward to next month, but nothing this month.  Still not sure if we will manage to get to Vietnam this year and if I don’t do something soon it will be too late.

 We had our fair share of snow last month but it decided to come back temporarily during our coldest month of February.  This time it seemed to flood between the bridges up Little Linford Lane.  Not sure why as it hadn’t completely thawed.  I guess that we have had so much rain this year that the ground is completely saturated and anything falling out of the sky sits on the surface in certain places.

 It was Georgina’s birthday on the 12th and she is 20 now.  Into her third decade, a proper adult.  Not sure why they chose 18 or 21 to celebrate becoming an adult, as 20 seems much more appropriate than either of them.  She came back for the weekend and I took her back to Melton to see her grandparents on Sunday.  Her maternal grandma had stopped over at her mums house on Saturday so I took her back on the way to Melton.  However, because she had been trying to get over on the bus to meet my mum in Melton for some time, and mums legs aren't too good at the moment, we invited her to come with us to the bowls club and take her home on the way back.  This was nice for Georgina as she had all her living grandparents together along with her favourite parent.  A little thought for absent friends.

The snow was quite thick though and when I drove over the back way to get the post from the Manor, I couldn’t see the edges of the road.  Not sure how it happened but I seemed to loose my way a little much to the surprise of the local onlookers.

On pancake day Claire went over to help her step dad’s girlfriend sort the mess she had caused in her kitchen in Suffolk.  I had to stay at home and make the pancakes for Harriet.    Unfortunately she didn't leave any for me so I made a hotdog for myself.  Happy Birthday Georgina.  It must be nice to have pancakes for your birthday.

As Claire said during the month we tried a few pubs for lunch that we hadn't been in for years.  The first one was the Swan in Milton Keynes Village (Middleton).  Expensive but nice.

We were invited out with Sue to the Mandarin (the one Claire calls the Oriental) in Western Favell.  She had invited all her family along together and kindly invited us too as a thank you for our help while she was undergoing her operation.  We had a really nice time, thank you Sue and very pleased that you are better now.  Another little thought for absent friends.

The second was the Old Swan in Woughton.  The last time I was in there you could go downstairs as the cellar ceiling had been taken down.  It must have been converted back now.  Food cheap but reasonable value.  I think you have to chose your dish wisely.  I noticed that they had a Milton Keynes brew on the go.  We actually had a third one at The Three Trees in Bletchley but I forgot to take any pictures.  I visited it for a drink with my old friend and college Dave Clarke and took Claire one Friday.  Very good value for money.

I now feel that I am getting to a certain age.  The first of my friends, that I feel are my age, are having their 60th Birthday.  Steve Pemberton was 60 on 22 February, Happy Birthday Steve.  Maddy and Eddy had arranged a party at Robinson’s in Newport Pagnell to celebrate and we were invited along.  This really suited us at it was for Sunday lunch rather than in the evening.  Two out of three of Maddy's sisters were in attendance, the third lives in the USA.  Dom, one of Maddy’s nephews, starts his degree in London later this year as he is just doing his finals for his A levels.  He is very good at maths but his love lies in music and he hopes to go to one of the two London universities that specialize in musical composition.  He spotted, Steve’s guitars hanging on the wall, plugged into the amp in the conservatory, and Steve’s guitar got used how it was intended for, probably the very first time.  Wow!

Maddy’s sisters did an almost dramatical performance.  The one on the right, Abbey is Dom’s mum.  Dom’s father is Maltese and comes from the island of Gozo.

This was after we had finished our meal and gone back to Steve’s house for afters.  This instantly made the girls, and Edd, get up to the newly formed dance floor in front of Dom.  Watch out for this boy, he’s good.

Before we knew it, it was Monday morning and we ended up staying the night at their house.  Claire found some PJ’s and the girls looked like a pair of twins.  A fantastic night but it took a man of a certain age a couple of days to recover from it.  I always used to think that it was worth it, but the break even point quickly approaches.

Again, I have been working on Daphne’s estate most of this month and one of the things I though worthwhile was to write a timeline of our holidays and times that we would not have been able to visit Daphne’s and therefore sign documents.  I have recovered three documents that I didn’t sign, one of which we were on holiday in Portugal with Madd’s and Steve.  I can find these things out because of this blog.  Claire has been keeping a blog since we went off traveling around Asia for 4 months at the end of 2006.  Great!  I signed the forms to become a Trustee in March 2007 upon our return so we have a complete record of where and when we were anywhere.  Its very time consuming going through these books every time I want to check a date so I thought I would do the list once thoroughly which would make it easy to check dates in the future.  Some documents I cant recover but its much easier to find out when accounts were opened and closed.  With this new list I can check dates very easy and quickly and almost know if I was around to sign it and if its worth a special effort to recover it.  It was so interesting reading back through our lives and I actually found the first meal that Claire ever cooked me; the day she started to cook.  It was 14th March, the day I started back to work at Rexam after our holiday and the first day of Claire’s retirement.  I took a picture of the meal she made me on 26th February 2013.  It shows how far she has come in this time.  Mmmmm yummy, no wonder I keep putting on weight and taking photo’s of my food.  I’m in love again.

I have a good chance of starting back to work again in March at Rexam which would be handy now that we are working within walking distance of them.  Not to mention needing a bit of money.  Therefore I have been working most days trying to force the end of this nightmare.  I have spoken to the Financial Services Authority (FSA), to the Information Commissioners Office (ICO), and the Fraud Squad.  I have sent off an official complaint to the Financial Ombudsman and my solicitor and myself have selected a barrister that specialises in Trusts.  I have been to MK Police station, phoned the Police because they didn't want to know and I have an officer coming around today at 8am.  I will tell you how it all fares next month.  Next month should be the month where all this work finally starts to come together and we make progress.  Alternatively, they might say that we have no chance of recovering anything, but at least it will come to a head.  We also have our mini Cruise next month so lots to look forward to.

Party time!

Despite my crazy hormones and the cold weather, me and Phil have enjoyed a rather indulgent long weekend. Nothing strenuous, no stress and lots of eating and drinking.  Suffice to say that the diet went out the window.  I had a good workout at the gym on Friday morning and then afterwards Phil treated me to lunch at The Three Trees in Bletchley www.threetreesbletchley.co.uk.  Phil had been there a couple of times for a pint with his friend Dave.  Although he’d never eaten there, Phil was impressed with the menu and also he liked the looks of the carvery. 

I was impressed with the menu, a good selection of dishes which were reasonably priced.  Phil opted for the carvery but I had the steak and ale pie which was delicious.  Phil gets cross with me when I order pie because I never eat the topping, he does though so it’s not like it’s wasted.  Phil had the roast beef and it said it was the best meat he’d tasted, even more superior to the carvery at Shenley which is pretty good.  No doubt we will be going back to The Three Trees, it was good and I enjoyed it.

On Friday afternoon I spent 2 hours trooping around the city centre trying to find a frock.  I hate clothes shopping at the best of times but it’s particularly hard at the moment trying to find clothes when I am 8Ib’s overweight and look like I am 6 months pregnant. Factor in that I absolutely hate all of the stuff in the shops at the moment and it doesn’t bode well.  In the end I bought at dress from New Look, a white dress with black spots with a flare which I hoped would hide my bloated stomach.  Unfortunately I couldn’t be arsed to try it on.  Big mistake but more of that later!!!

I was back at the gym on Saturday for a 2 hour work out and after a quick snack with Phil back at home, I picked up Sue and we went to the cinema.  I was slightly dubious about going to the movies on a Saturday especially as it was half term, but actually, we got pre-booked tickets and it was fine.  The film that we saw was ‘A song for Marian’.  Both Sue and I had seen the trailers and both fancied it.  We knew that Marion would die (and she did) but I don’t think either of us realised that it would be a real weepy.  We cried from start to finish, and actually, I don’t know whether it’s the hormones but on a couple of times, I had to stop myself from full on sobbing.  It was a lovely film but we both felt totally depressed when we came out of the screen.  Does this make a film good?  I dunno, I was glad that I saw it but personally, I think it was a bit too close to home for our Sue.  As always, we wiped our red eyes when we came out and laughed.  I joked to Sue and said that if you want to have a real good time then just come to the cinema with Clairabella! 

Again, boring boring but I was back at the gym on Sunday morning and afterwards I went to shop in Asda.  Mads had invited me and Phil to join the family at a lunch at Robinsons to celebrate Steve’s 60^th birthday.  I had left myself an hour to get ready after DW and Asda which you would have thought would have been plenty of time.  Wrong!  I had a big wardrobe malfunction.  The new polka dot dress made me look hideous; I kinda was ready to settle and give it a go but when Phil came into the bedroom and said “are you really wearing that, really?” well he put me right off. I tried tights and shorts, black of course, but it looked too casual. I tried on my very old but classic black dress that I had made in Thailand, but guess what?  The zipper had broken.  I was all for not going to the birthday lunch but my last resort was my Asda black slip on dress that I’ve had for donkey’s years. I flung on leopard cardigan to hide the bulge and that was me good to go.  It wasn’t the best but it had to do.

It was bitterly cold on Sunday and my original thought was that we would walk into Newport but time was of the essence due to the wardrobe malfunction so in the end we got a taxi.  The birthday lunch was meant to be a surprise for Stevie so I was a little surprised to see Mads & Steve plus the entire family already in Robbies when we arrived, dead on the dot at midday. 

Heyho, we had a glass of Pimms then were sat down at our 2 tables for 12.30pm.  I hadn’t seen Mads since August so it was good to have a face-2-face.  It was good to see that my friend Mads is still as mad as ever.  Everything she does is totally OTT and Sunday was no exception but in a good way.  Mads & Ed treated us and the entire family to lunch and drinks.  I did feel a little uncomfortable with this and tried to buy wine but Mads wasn’t having any of it.  

Steve, who doesn’t really like being in the limelight, seemed to enjoy his surprise lunch which was main thing.  The family had gone to town with his pressies; he got an iPod, tickets to see Eric Clapton, an iTunes card and we’d brought him a Tom-tom.  Mads had previously asked if Phil would go with Steve to see Eric and of course, he jumped at the opportunity.  So I’d also booked a table for lunch at Simpsons in the Strand and I’d also got them tickets to the car museum. So that’s the boys sorted for May the 24^th; lunch followed by the vintage car museum and then EC at The Royal Albert Hall.  Sorted!

As always lunch at Robinsons was lovely and Phil & I had a great time.  After the toast, pressies, cards and the starter I was a little startled to find our taxi driver by the side of me at the table. Turns out that I had left my keys in his taxi.  Of course, I blamed Phil because after all he was the last out of the door and had locked up.  But I was wrong; Phil had locked up but with his own keys so it was my stupidity leaving my keys on the back seat of the taxi.  On my key ring I had the master key for all of our flats, the only key to my car, Sue’s house key, and ALL the keys to caravans including the alarm keys.  It would have been a total nightmare if the taxi driver hadn’t of returned them. I can be so ditsy sometimes.

It was all going so well, lovely lunch with friends and then at the end of the meal we got invited for celebration cake back at the cottage in Olney. I was almost there at saying “thanks but no thanks” but then Phil said yes and then we were in Kevin’s car with Debs & mum Iris en route to the turkey farm.  Just for the record the turkey farm is where Steve and Mads live.

Coffee and cake turned into an evening of more wine and song.  Throw in Dominic on the guitar, a bit of karaoke and some dancing and you will get an idea of how the evening went.  Oh dear.  The family all left before midnight and somehow Phil & I ended up staying in Steve’s king size bed. I’m really not to sure why we just didn’t get a taxi home probably because it was half one by the time we hit the sack.  Mads gave me a spare tooth brush and found me a home for my false tooth; she dressed me in identical pyjamas to hers, she cleansed my face, gave me eye cream and plastered me with a £400 face cream. So not quite sure really why I looked so rough the following morning?

Steve dropped us off at home about quarter to ten yesterday and not long after, I drove to Sue’s as we had arranged to do a bit of party planning.   We made some lists but a hungover Claire who was also suffering from sleep deprivation didn’t bode well in the creativity department.  Still it gave us a chance to catch up over several mugs of tea. 

I got home and Phil grabbed my car keys and went to The Manor to pick up the post whilst I did the lunch.  We had pork chops with mash, carrots and green beans.  Comfort food which is just what I needed.  

Whilst I was round Sue’s, Phil had taken delivery of my new bedding.  I only like hotel quality 400 thread white Egyptian cotton percale which doesn’t come cheap.  However I found a website www.kingofcotton.co.uk which sells the bed linen that I like at half the price that I would normally pay.  Our sheets were due to be changed anyway so I stripped my bed, ironed the new linen and put that on. Aside from a pile of ironing that’s about all I achieved yesterday. It goes like that sometimes but there is always a price to pay and I think am going to be playing catch-up all week.

women of a certain age........

I’ve spent a lot of time this week reading up on diets and the menopause.  I brought a half price book  ‘The 5:2 Diet ‘ from WHSmith which I read about in the Daily Mail. I admit I’m a sucker for diet fads and over the years have brought every diet book ever published.  On the 5:2 diet, you eat normally 5 days of the week and basically fast on the other 2 days.  Well you don’t actually fast, you are allowed to eat between 400 and 500 calories per day on a diet which is high protein and absolutely carb free.   I like my food too much and don’t think I could survive on only 400 calories a day plus I don’t agree with cutting out a whole food group.  Over the years, low fat, high protein and restricted carbs has worked very well for me but now I am a ‘woman of a certain age’ I think I need to concentrate on calcium absorption, bone density rather than my BMI.

Once again this week, my hormones have been causing havoc with my body so I have been forced to look at ways to get them sorted.  There is no way I can carry on like this.  I went to the library and found some books but the choice was rather dated and I was disappointed so I turned back to the internet.  I think the World Wide Web is a wonderful tool but sometimes when I get on to some of these symptom diagnosis sites I convince myself I have every single condition.  For example this week, I have diagnosed myself with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome, PMS, Ovarian Cancer and an underactive thyroid.

I ordered a ThryoScreen which is a home test for hypothyroidism which arrived in the post on Wednesday morning. Basically it’s a finger prick test which unfortunately I f**ked up.  I read the instructions, got it all set up but then I couldn’t get enough of my blood into the phial. Plus Phil was nagging me to get ready to go out to the cinema.  So it was no surprise when my test result came out as invalid.  What a bloody waste of ten quid that was and I still don’t whether my thyroid is underactive.

After reading one of the library hormone books, I was tempted to order a whole load of herb supplements but I resist the temptation, not just because of the money but I don’t know enough about them.   I did though, order a multi-vitamin and mineral with a soya supplement pill which you take in the evenings.  I will try it for a month and see if it makes a difference. From everything I have read, one thing that I have learnt is that soya can help control hormones and has many other benefits.  I know that soya is good because when I put Phil on the prostate cancer diet which contained soya, he not only 2 stone but his blood sugar level dropped significantly as did his cholesterol and also his PSA level.  

I’m not a big fan of soya but I’ve brought some sweetened soya milk which I can just about hack with porridge oats.  The low fat soya yogurts are edible with fruit and linseed oils.  I don’t mind soya linseed bread, it’s actually quite nice.  I don’t have much experience of cooking with soya beans, but again I don’t mind giving it a go.  Tofu though is a big NO NO, hate the stuff with a passion.

Oh dear I hope this blog wont’ turn into a women’s problems page.  Perhaps I should think about starting a different blog detailing my own personal midlife crisis???  This week initially dragged but now we are at Friday already.  We haven’t been up to much. On Monday I blogged, made 2 lasagne’s and went to the gym.  On Tuesday I did a quick gym visit then went round to Rachel’s to get my hair coloured and cut.  As my hair recently has gone all fine and lack lustre, I had to go quite short.  Its okay and I think I like it although Phil didn’t say much when I got home.

Umm Wednesday.  Well it was gym as usual followed by left over lasagne and then a trip to the cinema to see ‘A Good Day to Die Hard’.  The reviews hadn’t been great so I wasn’t expecting much but we both enjoyed the film.  It was typical die hard stuff, a bit OTT but entertaining nonetheless and it didn’t go on forever.  Unfortunately we forgot that it was half term so Cineworld was full but for once, we had left enough time and we were early going into screen 14.

My Wednesday evening took on a different format.  I went round to Sue’s for an early supper of fishcakes but I had to lay off the grape juice because Sue had promised to take Nicola (daughter-in-law-to-be) to the Holiday Inn just off junction 14.  This is a possible venue for Nicola & Matt’s wedding in 2014 and the hotel were holding a wedding fair.  We picked up Nicola from Broughton, said hello to Sue’s grandkids and then went to the hotel.

Unfortunately the wedding fair wasn’t very well attended and there were only us and another couple.  The event staff had set up the room with a top table and guest tables all set up for a wedding.  Nicola was told there would be other suppliers available on the night for her to talk to but there was only a one man band that supplied balloons.  It was a little bit flat a little disappointing.  We had a drink in the bar and both Sue & I are not convinced that this is where Nicola wants to have her big day.  In fact I don’t think Nicola knows what she actually wants; she has big ideas but they don’t match her budget.

We dropped Nicola off back at her house and it was gone 9pm by the time we got back to my flat. We opened the wine, Phil got home when the pub shut and somehow it was 1 o’clock by the time Sue got a taxi home.  It seems mad now but after Sue left we watched some TV and didn’t go to bed until 3am.  As usual it was a fuzzy start to Thursday and I didn’t make it to the gym.  Harriet came round in her lunch hour and I cooked a full chicken roast dinner.

I seem to have developed an internet ordering addiction and this week I have excelled myself.  Not good for my credit card but things just had to be brought.  First there was my thyroscreen which turned out to be a complete waste of money. Next up was a Groupon deal, tickets for Phil & Steve to visit the car museum in London as part of a birthday present for Steve Pem’s 60^th birthday which is today.  Happy Birthday Steve P!  Last week I purchased another Groupon deal, this time it was a fresh water pearl set for G’s 21^st birthday.  Okay her 21^st isn’t until 2014 but I do like a bargain when I see one. 

My last Groupon purchase was full head highlights with a cut and finish at a salon on Bletchley.  I didn’t really need this offer because I have Rachel just around the corner that does my hair but this offer was super cheap.  My purchase of 120 advanced multivitamin with natural plant oestrogens haven’t arrived yet but I consider this purchase as a must have. It’s my step dad’s partners 65^t and she mentioned a particular kettle that she had seen on Amazon that would look perfect in her new kitchen.  Her birthday is not until May but I said we would buy it for her.  It was hideously expensive but I never know what to buy her and would prefer to gift something that she actually wants. I My last purchase was a pressie for Sue’s birthday next month.  Sue reads this blog so I’m afraid I can’t tell you what I got her, it’s a surprise.

We had thought that Phil may start back at Rexam on Monday but he hasn’t had a call to set up a meeting.  Phil doesn’t seem too concerned at the lack of contact, he is certain that it will happen plus it gives him a few more days to work on Daphne estate stuff.   I do hope that it does happen with my newly acquired internet buying he needs to earn some pennies to pay off my plastic!  It will seem weird him going back to work, but aside from the income, I think it will be good for him.  He needs to ditch those pyjamas and get back into the real world.  As for me, well I need to get on with my mid life crisis!

Fine Dining

Phil went to the solicitor on Friday and then popped into Rexam, his old company, to pay his lottery money.  Unfortunately Jose was on holiday but the big boss caught Phil and said they now had a new computer for him and had some contract work.  Rexam have been saying they wanted Phil back for ages and to be honest I never thought it would happen.  But it looks like it may be; Phil needs to set up a meeting sometime this week and it is quite probable that he will start back next week.

It feels like I have done nothing but eat for the last 3 days.  I’m not complaining, it’s been great just not good for my ever expanding waist line and bulging stomach.  On Friday Phil took me to The Swan at Milton Keynes village.  I hadn’t realised that it burnt down in 2011, and indeed, when we turned up there were tradesman working on the new thatched roof.

We hadn’t been to this pub in years and I don’t really think it’s changed much.  I thought the menu was limited and expensive, as was the wine, but I have to say the Merlot was excellent.  Phil went for the gammon and I had the steak and ale pie.  Phil said his dish was beautiful and my meat was tender, but for me, it was on the dry side and I could have done with a jus or a gravy.  I will say that the service was good but then the pub wasn’t that busy.  It was better than your average pub grub and we said we would go back, but only for a special occasion.

I made myself go to the gym on Friday afternoon although I didn’t really feel like it after a big meal and a glass of wine.  I was pleased I did as I managed a good 2 hour workout.  Friday evening was quiet.  On Saturday morning I went to the gym and I had not long been back when Harriet popped round.  She’d stayed at Billy’s so she stopped off on the way back to her flat. It was nice to see her as I wasn’t around on Pancake Day.  After Harriet went, we popped to the library and somehow ended up at The Swan at Woughton for lunch.  This wasn’t the plan, the plan was to finish the left overs for lunch but Phil somehow talked me into the pub. I didn’t take much persuading!!! 

I love the Swan.  We got a table by one of the open fires which was very cosy.   Better still, they had a deal menu which is available Monday to Saturday up until 5pm.  Very reasonable prices and you can buy a starter or sweet for only £2.  We decided to pig out and have a starter.  Phil had the pate and I had mushrooms with stilton and peppercorn sauce.  Not a starter that I usually go for but it was delicious.  I had steak and chips for my main and Phil had the fish and chips.  Unfortunately Phil’s batter was soggy and the chips were frozen which let them down.  However we will go back and try something else off the menu because I particularly like the ambience, plus the services was efficient and extremely friendly.

Not much happened on Saturday afternoon; we shut the blinds, locked the doors and watched some movies.  This was a bit naughty because it was such a beautiful afternoon that we should have gone for a long walk along the canal. All too soon it was Sunday.  I went to the gym as usual, popped into Asda and filled up with petrol.   I didn’t have to cook yesterday because Sue had very kindly offered to treat us to lunch at the Oriental in Weston Favell.  The occasion was a chance to get the family together and say thank you for the support whilst in hospital. 

I offered to drive for once and picked up Sue and Brian at midday.  I drove the back way as Phil wanted to pick up his post from The Manor.  He had 2 parcels and 2 important letters so it was worth while going making the slight detour.  The table was booked for 1pm and we got to the restaurant about 20 minutes early.  This wasn’t a biggie; we went to our table and ordered some drinks.  There were 14 of us in our party; Sue & Brian, me and Phil, Matt & Nicola, Sophie and Jack; Claire, Gary, Tom & Harry and last, but not least, Sue’s son Stuart with his new wife Carly.  

The food at the Oriental is great offering something for everyone.   We had a lovely afternoon and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves.  Thank you Susie Sue!  It was 4pm by the time we left and said our goodbyes.  We went into Sue’s for a couple of drinks when we got back to Newport and I guess it was 6pm by the time we got home.

Like I said, I feel like I’ve done nothing but eat and drink the whole weekend.  I was good last week and in spite of really strenuous workouts I haven’t lost a pound.  It is beginning to get me down to be honest because none of my clothes fit; well they do but not comfortably.  I am going to give it one big push this week and be really strict with myself.  If the pounds don’t shift then I don’t know what else to do other than GIVE UP and just accept my middle aged spread gracefully.

A week with DIY, Chinese takeaway & chocolate

This week has flown by.  One minute it was Monday and I was thinking f**k snow and then this morning I woke up thinking thank goodness its Friday. Bizarre.  Monday was gym, veggie chilli for lunch, followed by tea with Sue and then soaps in the evening.  Not terribly exciting but such is life.  I was glad the snow had melted because on Tuesday morning I was up early to pack a bag and drive down to Suffolk.  The purpose of my visit to Nacton was to visit step dad’s girlfriend Marie and give her a hand with some painting following her new kitchen refurbishment project.  The project began at the end of November and unfortunately is still on-going so I decided to go down to give her some help.

Step dad brought a second hand caravan and drove to La Manga last September to spend the winter but Marie she didn’t want to go.  She sold her motor home and decided to spend some of the money on replacing the kitchen in their park home.   Marie did ask me for some advice because Phil & I have done a few kitchens (actually 8 in total in the last 6 years) but I’m afraid she didn’t take it.  That is her prerogative of course but I do feel that she could have saved herself a few thousand pounds.

Marie chose a builder to take out the old kitchen, install the new kitchen and replace the boiler.  The builder told Marie that ‘off the shelf’ kitchens were crap and persuaded her to choose a more expensive kitchen which she could only order though him as he had a trade account.  This made me suspicious.  For a start,’ off the shelf kitchens’ are not crap, and in fact, are really good value for money.  By ordering the kitchen from the builder, the actual costs were not transparent, also the units came already made up which obviously saved the builder no end of time.  I did voice these issues with Marie but she’d made up her mind.

The new boiler was installed, the old kitchen was taken out along with the gas fire and the new units were in by mid-December.  There were a few issues with appliances but all was going to plan when Sue and I went to visit before Christmas.  Things had progressed when I went down on Tuesday but alas, not as much as I would have expected.  The main problem Marie has is that she did things back to front.  When we do a kitchen, we first of all rip out the old one.  We then prep, fill and sand and make good surfaces before decorating.  Our next step is the flooring, Phil prefers to tile or laminate under the units.  If we are tiling then we sometimes use plywood to keep the level especially if we are laying expensive tiles. The last bit is fitting the new units and worktops and then you have just got the finishing bits to sort which is the nice part.

I think because Marie was using a builder perhaps she didn’t have an option to rip out and then have time to do work before the new installation which was a shame because now it makes it twice as difficult to sort out her walls.  John & Marie live in a park home which is different from traditional bricks and mortar.  Unfortunately Marie hadn’t stripped off the wallpaper before the new wall units were put up so this had to be done afterwards.  Marie told me she had stripped, applied PVA, filled and sanded before putting up lining paper on all walls.  It does look much better than it did 6 weeks ago but the walls are still very bumpy.  Marie has chosen a pattern wall paper to go over the lining paper and is hoping that this will cover the bumps but I’m not so sure.   I hope so for her sake because she has spent an awful lot of money and time on her new kitchen and it would be a shame if she wasn’t happy with the finish.  I don’t mean to be negative; I think the new layout really opens up the space making it appear almost twice as big.  I really loved the black sink and funky tap and I am going to use this type of sink in the future because stainless still scratches very easily. 

I drove back from Suffolk late afternoon on Wednesday.  I’d painted 2 coats on Marie’s windows and doors; I did 4 coats on her radiator but she wasn’t very happy with the colour and to be honest there was no way I was doing a 5^th coat so I left her to sort this herself.  Really I didn’t feel that I’d achieved much.  Hopefully I gave her some ideas for the final finishes and offered some words of encouragement but who knows? 

Phil seem to be pleased to see me when I finally got home but I actually secretly think that he’d enjoyed having the flat all to himself, giving him time to write his book.  He’d had Harriet round for lunch on Tuesday and had made her a shed load of pancakes which I gather she wolfed down.  I had to laugh when I opened the fridge to see that Phil had gone food shopping whilst I’d been away.  He’d filled the fridge with comfort foods, dairy milk, crunchies, macaroons and sausages!  So much for the diet!

Steve kindly drove on Wednesday night; he dropped off Jan and him and Phil met up with the Wednesday night boys at The Nags Head in Great Linford.  Jim wasn’t there because him and Shirley went off on their 2 week cruise.  Sue came over and we had a girl’s night in with a Chinese takeaway.  It was lazy I know but I was tired from painting and the drive home.  It was good to see Jan and also Jan hadn’t seen Sue since before Christmas so it was an ideal chance for these 2 to catch up.  Phil was home early for a Wednesday night and so it wasn’t a late night. 

Phil and me don’t really do Valentines so I was really surprised to see a parcel on my pillow when I took my mug of tea back to bed.  Bless, Phil had got me a lovely big card in which he’d written me a poem and he’d brought me purple cover for my new Kindle.   I felt a little bad; all I’d got him was a funny rather than lovey-dovey card and a big bar of Toblerone.  However romance wasn’t really in the air because Phil was too hung-over.  He did however offer to make me a sausage sandwich which was touching I suppose.

Love and all that stuff didn’t happy yesterday.  I went to the gym in the morning and the plan was that we’d drive over to Overstone to pick up the post and then have lunch in a country pub somewhere.  But Phil was still in his PJ’ when I got back from DW so we decided to stay home and eat leftovers.  This made sense really; we had a mountain of Chinese take-away left over, cheese, desserts and a stack of chocolate.  After lunch we ended up watching a film and generally having a duvet day with naughty nibbles on the sofa.  Who says romance is dead !!!!

Hormones & chick flicks

For any blokes that read this blog, a word of warning.  These first paragraphs will be all talk of women’s problems so you will probably want to skip these and read from after my second photograph!

I have been suffering with severe PMS these last few days and have been feeling really horrible. It started with mild symptoms last Tuesday and then got progressively worse each day. On Thursday my stomach was so bloated that I looked like I was 6 months pregnant and believe me I do not exaggerate.  I haven’t felt this bad with time of the month for years mainly because I’ve had the Mirena coil for the last 10 years and this basically means that you don’t get periods or more importantly PMS.  This is why it is strange that I should get severe PMS two months in a row.

I haven’t been really been feeling myself for the last 6 months and it got me thinking.  I have been putting my symptoms (tiredness, brain fog, bad skin, dry, irritability, coarse, dry and thinning air and blurred vision) down to getting old and the menopause but then I wondered whether it might be the Mirena coil?  I haven’t been able to shift the extra pounds that I put on since Christmas which is very unusual for me.  For the last couple of weeks, especially this week, I have managed to resist my cravings for carbs and chocolate and have been really good on my low fat high protein diet plus I’ve been to the gym every single day.  I spent a long time researching the Mirena coil on the Internet over the weekend and read some real horror stories.   My Mirena was due to come out in August but after what I’ve learnt, I'm getting mine taken out ASAP.  I’ve always been a little concerned about putting a synthetic hormone in my body and now I’m convinced it is responsible for some or all of my problems.  Only time will tell I guess.

OK, hormone rant over (actually I do feel better this morning) I suppose I should get back to the day to day stuff.   Last Wednesday we drove to Melton to see mum and dad.  Unfortunately Phil missed the turning on the motorway and we ended up having to go through the centre of Loughborough.  Bummer really because it put an extra half an hour on our journey.  When we finally arrived at the bungalow, Phil’s mum and dad were not at their best.  Phil’s dad looked like the mad professor from Back to the Future, his hair is so long and he is in dire need of a haircut.  Phil’s mum had a dodgy leg and was walking indoors with her stick.  She must have been feeling poorly because she didn’t feel strong enough to prepare lunch.  I always offer to cook a meal beforehand and bring it with to save her cooking but she always says “thanks but no thanks”.  Anyway, Phil popped out and got a Chinese takeaway which wasn’t the best but it kept us all fed.

On Thursday I didn’t feel up to a workout but I did go to DW for a swim. The pool was fairly quiet and I enjoyed my lengths and especially the steam room afterwards.  I really must do this more often, it makes a nice change from cardio.     On Friday I woke up with a really bad gut ache but still I went to the gym.  The pain felt like I was in the early stages of labour and I barely managed to even walk on the treadmill let alone run. I had to give up on my workout and head back to the changing room to take some tablets.  Fortunately I still have a stack of Codeine tablets that Sue gave me and these really helped. 

Talking of Sue, I picked her up after lunch on Friday and we went to the cinema to ‘I give it a year’.  We both thought the film was really good and giggled the whole way through.  It was sad in parts but it had a happy ending which made is a real chick-flick.  After the movie we popped into the Tesco Extra on Green Park so Sue could get a couple of bits of shopping and then it was back to her house for a cup of tea. 

Saturday wasn’t very exciting and I don’t think Phil even changed out of his PJ’s all day, no need to as he didn’t have a reason to leave the house.  As usual, I went to the gym and actually managed a half decent workout which made me happy.   This was short-lived however, because the pain came back after lunch. We had a bit of a duvet afternoon and watched 3 recorded films back to back.  Phil has been recording some weird films recently but these were quite good ones.  I did get the ironing done but it took me 4 hours because I had to keep sitting down and having a rest.  Not a biggie I guess and at least I emptied the ironing basket.

We had a bit of a lie-in on Sunday morning which was nice as were spending the day apart.  Phil took my car and picked up Georgina and his ex mother-in-law (don’t ask)  and drove to Melton to have lunch with his mum and dad.  I had persuaded them to book the Bowls Club for lunch because I was worried about mum cooking with her bad leg.  Mum booked the table and according to Phil they had a very nice meal.  When Phil left, I went to the gym and then did some shopping in Asda.  Asda was packed out; it was like shopping on Christmas Eve.  I did myself some salmon and salad for lunch and then did my housework.  I did a proper job, pulling out furniture and dusting all the skirting boards.  I also cooked a vegetable chilli and it was gone 4pm by the time I sat down.  I expected Phil to get home late but he was backed at the flat before 5pm which wasn’t too late.  We watched a film and then had an early night.

I was dismayed to see the snow this morning.  I knew we were due some but I didn’t think it would settle.  I am local today but tomorrow I am meant to be driving down to Suffolk.   Should I stay or should I go?? I dunno, going to the gym shortly so I shall how the local roads are before I make my decision.  Bloody weather!

Disasters

Home life has been quiet of late and fairly uneventful.  Harriet came round for lunch last Wednesday; Phil cooked her omelette and home-made chips which is one of her favourites.   As Phil and I were eating later, we decided to have a chip butty, definitely not on the diet but very nice. 

Speaking of NY diets, mine is going really badly.  I have been trying really hard and doing all my slimming tricks but nothing is working.  If anything, the harder I try the more weight I put on.   I am putting the effort into my workouts as well as doing exercises whilst watching the telly in the evenings but it’s not working.  I almost want to give it up and pig out but I am too vein for that plus the fact that I don’t really want to go out and buy a whole new wardrobe which is what is going to happen if I can’t shift this weight.  It is most depressing.  I can only think that I may be going through the menopause which is about right for my age.  This getting older is no fun.  I must loose these extra pounds before we go on holiday.

Speaking of our next holiday, Phil has booked us on a 5 night cruise in March to celebrate our 5^th wedding anniversary.  We weren’t really looking to book to go away when Phil received an email with holiday bargains from teletext.  This Costa cruise looked and sounded a real bargain at only £199 per person.  Phil read me the details and I agreed that it was good value for money and before I knew it, Phil was on the phone to the tour operator and was actually booking us on the ship.   We were really excited until the following day when Phil was looking for cruise reviews on Trip Advisor, something that perhaps in hindsight, we should have done before we gave out our credit card details.  When you type into ‘Costa Pacifica’ into Google, the first review that you see is entitled ‘Costa - Hell on High Water’.  I laughed initially but then got more nervous as I read through the reviews.

From doing some research on the internet, I then discovered that Costa Cruise operated the Costa Concordia, a ship that slammed into the rocks off the Italian island of Gigilo last year.  I went on to read that the captain abandoned ship and in the aftermath of the shipwreck, 32 people were found dead.  I was even more alarmed to find out via the net, that our Ship, the Costa Pacifica violently struck a piling in the port of Marseille last month causing an 8 metre gash, which luckily was above the water line.  Wow, this is some safety record for a cruise liner and no wonder we got a cheap deal.  I am sure all will be fine and the bottom line is we’re only away for 5 days!!

After Harriet went back to work, I prepared beef in red wine in the slow cooker which I later took round to Sue’s for our supper.  It tasted nice but wasn’t as tender as it usually is even though I used rump steak and let it stew for 8 hours.  Still both of us cleared our plates so it wasn’t a disaster.  Sue’s son Matt called in around 9pm to drop off some get well cards and seeing us getting stuck into the grape juice gave us BOTH a lecture.  I think he was surprised to see his mum drinking only 2 weeks after major heart surgery and disappointed at me for not being a responsible carer.  Unfortunately both Sue & I found it really funny which didn’t amuse our Matt.  Bless him, he’s a good boy and obviously is just worried about his mum.  Actually, it wasn’t a late night and we were in bed by 10pm.

I stayed at Sue’s overnight and got up to clear the debris from dinner.  I stayed to do a few domestics and got back to the flat just in time to cook Phil’s lunch.  It was easy, left over beef, mash and cauliflower which sadly I slaughtered.  In the afternoon I went to the gym although I have to say, that I had to force myself. 

I don’t think Friday was very exciting and I can’t be certain because I can’t remember for the life of me what we did in the daytime.  In the evening I worked on a job application for Harriet and it was a fairly early night.  On Saturday I went to the gym, lunch was leftovers and after wading through a pile of ironing, I went to Sue’s to pick her up and take her to visit her dad.  It’s been a while since I have seen her dad and in the interim he has had a fall and hurt his shoulder. Needless to say that he was thrilled at seeing Sue, especially seeing her looking so well.  He was also happy with his cream cake that Sue had taken round; I guess we stayed for a good hour and a half and then I dropped Sue back off at home.

Phil started moaning almost as soon as he got up on Sunday morning because we didn’t have any bread and also we’d completely run out of toilet rolls.   I sent him to the shop and went to the gym.  On Sunday afternoon we walked to the Ship Ashore to meet up with Jim & Shirley for lunch.  It was a cold walk but I figured it would do Phil good to get some fresh air and exercise.  We had invited Harriet & Billy but they cried off due to hangovers; they’d both been out on the town the night before so I wasn’t too surprised.

Lunch was good and fun and I was glad to get Phil out of the flat.   He’s been a bit down recently and not sleeping too well worrying about the legalities of fighting Daphne’s estate so it was good to get him out.  Unfortunately by the time we ordered, the roast lamb, the roast beef and the calf’s liver were sold out and Phil had lost his appetite.  Both Jim & Shirley ordered steaks, I had the roast chicken and Phil just had a starter and a sweet, oh and half of Shirley’s steak.  It was a nice afternoon and I was surprised that it was 6 o’clock by the time we got home.

I had meant to write and post a blog yesterday morning but I was late getting up and promised to be round Sue’s by half nine.   Sue had been up bright and early early doing her domestics.  She is able to do most things albeit cautiously, obviously no driving for at least another 3 weeks.  Hoovering is also not allowed so I did this for her; we changed Sue’s bed and then took ourselves off to MK1 for a bit of shopping.  I hadn’t realised that Sue hadn’t been there before.  Our first stop was Primark where I picked up a couple of bits and then after that we went to M&S.  I had a good scout round M&S and ended up buying a couple of pairs of jeggings from the Kids section.  Unfortunately despite me being overweight they are too big and need to go back.  The café upstairs was busy but we had a nice light lunch before returning home.

It was such a lovely afternoon yesterday I couldn’t believe when the news said that snow was forecast.   I suppose it is February.  Yesterday afternoon I was back at the gym and had a really good run so I was really FED UP to get on the scales this morning only to find that I have put on another pound.  It is most depressing because I hardly ate.  This can’t go on.