Not the best week

For some reason this week has been hard.  The pain has been bad, I’ve been tireder than ever and just haven’t got it together all week.  I only worked in the office on one morning, and on Monday didn’t do any work at all.  I didn’t even make it to knitting group, as some urgent work came up at the last minute. 

I have been giving some thought to what the consultant said about the possibility it isn’t endometriosis causing the pain.  Maybe that isn’t the bad thing I assumed it must be.  Maybe I can get some tests done, get a diagnosis and get some treatment.  Maybe I’ll get my life back. 

I read a thread in a Ravelry forum where someone told someone else that they could be tested for coeliac disease with a simple blood test.  They were however warned that they might get false negative results if they quit eating gluten ahead of the test.  That got me thinking – I had a test for coeliac disease about 4 years ago.  I had discovered that eating less wheat eased the pain I was getting from an ovarian cyst.  Unfortunately, I had already stopped eating gluten weeks before the test…could that have caused a false negative result? 

Maybe I don’t have coeliac disease.  But maybe there is something else going on, and it isn’t just endo.  Why didn’t it ever occur to me that I could have 2 different illnesses?! 

I know it isn’t actually good to have 2 illnesses, but I’m clutching at straws and hoping there might be some help with the pain, in the long run at least.  I can cut out gluten if needs be.  Whatever it takes. 

I’m seeing the Dr-man on Wednesday and I’m going to ask him a) for the coeliac test and b) what else he could be testing for.  I don’t have to wait until I see the consultant at the end of March (no luck with cancellation appointments so far), I could get tests done before that. 

It seems like a ray of light. 

In knitting news, I’m still working away on my VG alpaca bedsocks.  I’ve finished the first one, and it is pretty…

I’ve made a size bigger than I usually would, as I want them big and cosy and really comfy.  This first one is a good fit and soooo soft. 

When I have finished this one, I’m starting on my next KAL socks…socks for a cause.  I asked my mum if she had any suggestions, and she immediately announced that she wants some pink breast cancer awareness socks.  With a ribbon stitched in on the sock leg and a ribbon threaded through at the top.  It looks like I’ll be designing my own,as I haven’t seen anything like that.  I might look for inspiration on Ravelry, as there are bound to be many out there.  It’s quite exciting really. 

Speaking of Mum, she has pain in her scar area.  She’s seeing a surgeon on Tuesday, but I’m trying not to think about it…I don’t think she’ll go for more treatment if it turns out to be bad news, if they can even offer anything.  I shouldn’t be so negative, but it’s so scary. 

Anyway, the second semi-final of the Masters snooker is starting in a few minutes, more soon.

So much going on

Life is hectic again at the moment.  I mean, for me.  Not compared to what most normal people squash into their everyday lives, what with socialising, looking after children etc. 

Yesterday the boss-man returned from 4 weeks in New Zealand.  It’s good to have him back, he can buffer me from people I don’t need to deal with. 

Today I took the car in for it’s 3rd year service and 1st time MOT.  I took it to the garage over the road from work, mainly because they are over the road from work ie convenient.  They promised I could have it back by lunchtime, 12 if possible.  At 9.30 they phoned to say it a rear brake light had failed.  Okay, so fix it.  Also, they recommended the brake fluid was changed.  Fine, do that.  Then they phoned again at 11.15 to say that while changing the brake fluid, a part had seized up, so they forced it and it broke off.  !  !  !  What?

It is going to take until tomorrow to even get the part in, then time to fit it.  In the meantime the car is not safe to drive, so i had to leave it with them.  There was no courtesy car available. 

So at lunchtime I had to catch 2 buses home, clutching my laptop and wishing I’d taken a scarf and an extra coat with me this morning.  Tomorrow I’ll have to  make my way back over there somehow, to collect my poor car.  It’s better be done in the morning, or they’ll be delivering it! 

This afternoon, I have to phone a different branch of Ford, who have sent me a letter telling me that my warranty is about to expire.  Would I like to renew it?  Only, I did!  When I bought the car I paid extra for an extended warranty!  Aaaaarrrggghhh!

Then I have to phone the hospital, who still haven’t sent me an appointment with a physio, 6 weeks after I was promised an emergency one. 

Tomorrow, apart from trying to retrieve my car, I’ve got to get to the Dr’s surgery to collect a prescription for painkillers.  Only, they are only open until lunchtime. 

Then, thank goodness for occasional relief, I’m off to the library for my usual knitting group meeting. 

On Thursday I’m going out with friends I used to work with, for lunch at my favourite Italian restaurant.  I meet with Caron fairly regularly, but only occasionally with the other guys, who are consultants and work all over the place. 

Next Tuesday is our final team meeting before christmas.  Theresa has just suggested going out for lunch, and the boss-man has offered to pay!  Not arguing!

Sometime next week I have a 1:1 with the boss-man, but don’t know when. 

Then the following weekend is A’s annual weekend away with the lads.  I’m off out with the left-behind girlfriends one evening, and my Dad id taking me and my niece shopping for birthday presents. 

Phew, feels like there isn’t much time to breathe!

More Reasons for Cheerfulness

Okay, today I’m going to work harder at listing reasons to cheer up and smile…

1. It’s the weekend
2. I made it in to the office yesterday, which makes my stay-at-home record this week just 2 out of 5
3. We are going to Alan and Kat’s for dinner tonight
4. I can give Kat the socks I made for her and see her smile
5. I’ve nearly finished Ali’s xmas present socks
6. This week’s veg box included the first of the new season parsnips…which we both love
7. mmmm…parsnip chips
8. The parsnips will soon be followed by turnips, swede, artichokes, sprouts and other winter veg
9. This coming week will include a butternut squash, which we are planning to roast then stuff with seafood
10. We have planned most of our xmas presents, now we just have to wait until we have the money to buy them
11. I should get my payrise in December’s pay…including 6 months backdated money
12. We saw my Dad twice this week
13. My Mum went to the hospital to see her surgeon and doesn’t have to go back for a year

I think that’ll do, 13 is a good number to finish on.  Hoorah!  Cheerful indeed!

Got a new toy

I did a bad thing at the weekend.  Bad for my finances that is.  I ordered a new laptop from Dell.  Astonishingly, it arrived today and I’m using it now! 

Last time I ordered a laptop from Dell (nearly 5 years ago), it took an agonising three weeks or so to arrive.  That was three weeks of excitement, frustration, anticipation and worry (what if it gets delayed?). 

This time, I ordered on Sunday evening, received it Wednesday afternoon.  I could have had it this morning, if I’d been here to sign for it, but I had to work.  Damn work, getting in the way all the time. 

By itself, buying a laptop isn’t that bad.  But of course we didn’t stop there.  We also ordered a netbook for A.  That arrived on Tuesday afternoon.  It’s a dinky little thing, tiny compared to the laptop, and it’s specifically set up for browsing the internet but not a lot more.  It has a Linux operating system instead of Windows, something I’ve never used before.  It’s neat though, and A is happy with it. 

Sadly of course, until the novelty wears off, we’re both spending the evening on our separate machines, doing our own thing.  I give it a few days until we get over that, but until then, at least we are in the same room!

Facebook is consuming my life

It’s not really, but doesn’t that sound dramatic? 

I did join though, finally giving way to the pressure.  I’ve already traced a few friends I had lost touch with…although now I find I don’t have that much to say to them.  Which is probably why we lost touch in the first place.  Or was it just because I’m lazy and unsociable? 

I’ve also got a lot of cousins out there, who I’ve barely seen since they were toddlers.  One or two I’ve only seen once.  I haven’t added them all as friends as yet, but I’ll get round to it. 

This unusual fit of sociability is starting to worry me.  Four social events in one weekend, two weddings in a month, now facebook as well.  What is going on with me?  I don’t like people! 

So, the week is nearly over (hooray!), the weekend is almost here…what’s the news?

• we got a large meatbox today – loads of meat
• there were grapes in the fruit box this week
• So far I’ve been in to the office for 2 mornings out of 3 (the third I worked at home)
• the weekend comprises a carefully planned nothing. 

Seriously, nothing all weekend.  We’ve decided to give ourselves a couple of days to chill.  Sounds good to me. 

What’s on next week?

• team meeting in Bristol on Tuesday
• Dr appointment Tuesday afternoon
• office clear-out day on Friday
• 1:1 with the boss-man on Thursday

Okay, so that’s almost all work stuff…don’t think there is much more than that.  We’re about to enter silly season for Birthdays, so there’ll be loads of last minute gift and card shopping, dashing to people’s houses on the day after, forgetting and making up for it weeks later…then Christmas. 

Speaking of Christmas, A has just finished a shift at work where he spent some time putting the christmas stock on the shelves.  It’s not even September, people!  That truly scares me.

Big FrillyPants

I wrote a post yesterday.  It was full of interesting news and events.  Then I clicked the wrong combination of buttons, my broadband went wobbly for a few minutes and the whole thing disappeared. 

I don’t feel like writing much today.

This socialising stuff really eats into your knitting time!

Seriously, I haven’t knit a stitch in two days!  I had lunch with a very good friend on Friday, lunch with another lovely friend on Saturday, went to a barbecue on Saturday evening, and am off out for a drink tonight.  Phew!  Kind of makes me want a drink! 

It was lovely catching up with Jarge yesterday, I haven’t seen her for nearly a year for one reason or another, and she had lots of news.  She’s coming out with us tonight too. 

On the way home from town yesterday afternoon, after a long walk by the canal and along the old railway, we popped in to see Stef at work, see if she and Danny wanted to come out tonight, and she invited us to their barbecue.  Which we went to. 

It has been years since I voluntarily accepted invitations to anything social, and even longer since I regularly turned up to stuff.  I’m planning a really lazy bank holiday Monday, to recover before going back to work on Tuesday. 

So, running late as usual, gotta go.

Wow, work is booooring!

I’ve always struggled to keep myself occupied at work.  No matter how much I have to do, it’s just not interesting enough, at least not most of the time.  Occasionally I get hit with a real challenge, something to get my teeth into, and then I’m fine for a while.  I think it’s a lot worse after such an amazing holiday.  Instead of feeling relaxed and chilled and going with the flow, I want more stimulation and I just don’t get it from my job.  Somewhere out there is a job I could truly love, something I wouldn’t mind getting out of bed for.  I just have to work out what it is! 

Sadly of course, money is a driving factor in any job/work related decisions and plans.  I just cannot afford to take a job that pays less than I earn now.  In 3 years or so, we will have finished paying off a long-standing loan and we will be much better off.  With the extra cash we can then start clearing the credit card and overdraft.  Yes, I am terrible with money, and unfortunately bring A down to my level. 

Our current attempt to control our spending is a ‘what we want’ list.  Instead of rushing out and buying everything we want as soon as we think of it, we write it on a list.  From time to time we review the list and cross things off.  The plan is that when we do have some ’spare’ money, we’ll treat ourselves.  Will it work?  Who knows.  By the way, I borrowed the idea from Crazy Aunt Purl, who is always worth a read.

Anyway, back to the work thing…better get on with some!

Challenge Failed!

I didn’t manage to complete my get-up-half-an-hour-early challenge on day 2.  How lame is that?  Yeah, yeah, I’m a lazy good-for-nothing layabout!

I did get up 10 minutes early, which was fortunate.  The traffic this morning was truly awful, thanks to the torrential downpour that is the British summer. 

Never mind, there’s always tomorrow.

Back from the land of Travel-to-work

I’m tired, and I have the beginning of a beautiful headache starting, but I made it through the travel-to-work nightmare.  Seriously, I couldn’t commute far or regularly. 

Monday was a long, long day, starting from home at 6.30am and getting home at 7.30pm.  I know that other people do this stuff all the time, every day, but I don’t and for a good reason – I just can’t stand it.  Sure, it’s good knitting time, but it’s also dreary sitting-on-a-train time and stressful will-I-make the next connection time. 

Anyway, Tuesday was also spent out of my usual surroundings, in Bristol.  I didn’t even get to visit the knitting shop I was hoping to find, as our team meeting over-ran and it turned out that the knitting shop is a good hour’s walk away from the office.  Humph. 

Today I have been into my own office for the morning and come home for the afternoon so I can take the painkillers I badly need.  The more active I am, the more pain I get. 

So, I don’t really have much news I don’t think…haven’t had chance to do anything, talk to anyone for a few days.  Here goes anyway…

News:

• Our baby niece has a name – Amy Louise, very pretty;
• My Mum’s toilet is broken;
• It’s raining, and forecast to continue all week;
• this week’s fruit box included bananas, apples, melon, strawberries and peaches.

In knitting news, I’m plodding along on my first ever shawl.  It’s going well, but as the row lengths gradually increase, it takes longer and longer to see any progress.  But I’m enjoying it,m and it’s certainly pretty so far.

I’m also making progress on the sock I’ve started for A.  I’ve got further than I ever have before, and fully intend to finish it…and another to go with it!  A has already made a request for a second pair with skulls on.  He spent several weeks questioning why I needed to make something we usually buy anyway, but has now caught on and is making a list!

Speaking of A, he will be a half-happy bunny when he gets home from work later.  One of the two T-shirts he ordered has arrived.  I say half-happy, because the other one hasn’t turned up yet.  Also, he’ll be wet, cos of having to walk home in the rain, cos I can’t drive to pick him up after taking the painkillers.  But at least one T-shirt is here. 

One of my plans for this evening involves browsing the internet for a new audio-book, having finished the Count of Monte Cristo on the train yesterday.  I’ll miss the Count…must find a replacement.  Maybe I should join the library. 

Oh well, my report has just finished running, back to work.