Traveling

I arrived here Friday

What a long day

It began at 5.15 am, an easy airport run but with an hour delay in the plane arriving
 Flight was a bit bumpy but fine
Next problem was the train connection
Trainline stated I had to get to Clapham junction and change but after collecting my tickets they were calling for all Reading passengers so I joined the group
We were taken to a waiting coach  for a 75 minute trip
Unfortunately all the major routes were  grid locked M25, A3 M3 M4 so we were taken cross country
With so many other motorists having the same idea it was  chaotic
I did enjoy the ride through the country side, passing through and remembering old haunts. But the tiny villages were struggling to cope with the volume
After nearly two and a half hours we finally reached a tiny station outside Guildford
Whilst it had it mod cons it was reminiscent of a traditional old station
At least it was warm inside as we had a 45 minute wait for the one train shuttling between Reading and Ashvale

Another 35 minutes on the train brought me to my destination  at 5.30pm
Luckily Rebecca and Antoni were able to collect me
My goodness what a long day traveling
Apparently both line and bridge works were to blame
However it was so lovely to see Rebecca and collect the first of many hugs

I accompanied her on Saturday for her midwife appointment, where everything was fine.
It's such a shame though, when I left her in November she was glowing happy, and looking great, but now you could see the toll the blood infection, medication and stress the treatment has caused her.
Being in mother hen mode it makes me really cross that through incompetence they have robbed her of her last week's enjoyment and stress free before bubba arrives

What's done is done so we have been pottering along making baby's room cozy, defrosting the freezer, cleaning the fridge and all the little jobs that will make the next few weeks easier.

I think we shall have a nice meal at home tonight, whether we stay up remains to be seen, but what ever you are doing, enjoy and I wish you a Happy New Year
Take care
Xcx

Bunny ready to go

What a beautiful day

We sat in the Naya for a few hours

23C, bright blue sky, no wind, lovely.

Reminds me of our first Christmas here with similar weather, having dinner in the Naya with all the family, it was rather surreal, although it did remind Chris of his years in NZ and Christmas in the summer.

I took up my bunny to finish

I always find the features the hardest to get just right, but I was quite pleased with the result

His dungarees fitted, two little buttons to sew on and he is ready to be wrapped and taken on his travels

We have altered the settings on my phone so I might even be able to catch up with you all after Christmas

Finally to wish every one a very Merry Christmas and Happy new year

take care

xcx

Crafty

It was Chris´s birthday on Saturday, which was a nice day and then we had some friends round in the evening for drinks and nibbles.

He didn´t want a fuss, but I think he was quite pleased with the little touches he found when he came down in the morning

I bought him a little birthday badge as a bit of fun, and he wore it all day!

I sent Rebecca a photo of our tree but she noticed something was missing

There wasn´t a topper

So out came the fabric and a bit of bling from a broken brooch

Much better

I have been making a little project too

Just needs to be made up and the features added, then it will be a cute little rabbit

He has some knitted dungarees too

The pattern is from Little Cotton Rabbits, she makes such delightful creatures, bears, sheep, elephants and more, here is the link if you want to have a look 

https://littlecottonrabbits.typepad.co.uk/

Only a few days left before I´m off again, so I had better get a wriggle on and get things finished

take care

xcx

Been busy

Rebecca was allowed home for 3 hours on Sunday, the cultures are looking much better and they are trying to arrange daily outpatients for her meds through the IV.
Unfortunately the catalogue of errors has continued, losing blood samples because her name wasn´t written on them and someone had taken off one of the antibiotics she needs for 2 days before it was noticed, which now means she has to start that one again. If baby arrives before the course is finished he will have to be given antibiotics too.  The staff are all encouraging her to make a formal complaint as they say they pass incidents through their systems but it´s not until a patient formally complains that much notice is taken.

I do rather enjoy Kirsties handmade Christmas program, the Crafters have to be admired with their inspiration and creations
I used to make special occasion cakes years ago, but the choice of equipment, edible pigments, glitters, gold/silver leaf etc is so extensive these days and their beautiful designs are awesome.
Who would have thought of making figs from profiteroles and marzipan, and dusting with colour, you couldn´t tell the difference between the real thing.
  

One I thought was fun was a simple large paper shape, i.e. a star, decorated, edges glued and filled with your own paper confetti and a gift, then glued tight

Upon opening everything falls out showering you with the confetti, bit messy but hey its christmas

It reminded me when the kids were young and we had birthday parties with traditional games

At the time I couldn´t afford to keep up with the other Mummy´s who seemed to try to outdo the last party with expensive entertainers etc, one time a little girl (madam) flounsed in demanding to know the theme then sulked when told games, however it didn´t take her long to join in 

Swinging marshmellows, apple bobbing, seek the hidden buttons, pass the parcel (the secret with that one was to place a tiny gift between some of the layers to keep their interest) but their favourite was pricking the balloons that were strung along a line using a stick with a smooth pin at the end. Being smooth it both prolonged the bursting point and was safer, but the end result was being showered with confetti, ok it took a long time but you can see where I was going with this...

I think if I was to do this these days I would use dried flower petals, easier to clean up outside and biodegradable 

I said I have been busy in the garden these past 3 days, its been really nice to enjoy the warm sun and fresh air. The wilderness needs taming before it sets again like concrete. I only went out to pick some springs of Rosemary and got side tracked. I have been concentrating on one area and ignoring the rest that are screaming out, Me next!
This is where I started, you can just see the bench peeping out

So much better, although the poor bench is in need of some TLC

Months ago I started to clear the dry stone wall that was being strangled by a rampant plant but we had to treat it as it was so intertwined it was impossible to remove it. It worked!

Although the soil has dislodged a lot of the stone, another thing on the to do list.

Ivy nightmare, you tug and it fights back

At this stage I had to admit defeat, I enjoy Garden Rescue but I certainly wish I had the young men they have to do the hard work!
take care
xcx

Another day

Again thank you for your support and comments

I´m still here! Finger gradually edging off the panic button

Rebecca is slowly responding to the meds, they gave her a scan of the heart to ensure the infection hadn´t caused damaged to the valves - what! really, (it was fine)

Then they decided to put a Picc line in the top of her other arm which goes through the vein into the chest and can stay there for up to two years!! this was to prevent further cannulas being fitted, especially as they couldn´t find decent veins. (so now she has both arms restricted)

After fitting it she was told the midwives couldn´t administer meds or do extractions through it as they weren´t trained, Oh it just gets better....

They found someone who could extract for blood cultures but not to administer

Told you it gets better

At last someone was found, they suggested a schedule be drawn up to allow her a few hours respite at home between meds. 

This is why we decided to wait for me to go as she wanted to spend some time with Antoni at home and I respect that, also the tingly feelings you get that says you might be going down with something happened

Yep, a head cold.

Being responsible, I really couldn´t go and inflict that on her.

Talking with her, she does sound better, but then was sooo disappointed when, because her blood pressure rose slightly, they wouldn´t let her home for 4 hours, 

Now she is feeling extremely ´teed off´

Oh and when a friend tried to visit her they wouldn´t let her in the ward even though she is in her own room

Policy on this ward - which is next stop after delivery, so normally people only stay for a few hours or overnight - only partners had all day access with siblings allowed at visiting times

so that would mean I wouldn´t be allowed to visit her

Good thing for mobile phones as Rebecca went and let her friend in and they spent a nice 3 hours together.

Anyway Rebecca asked about it and the midwife said yes she would bend the rules for me but the others might not, and I saw you bring your friend in but it didn´t concern me so she wasn´t booted out.

This ward is locked with intercom access only, I fully appreciated the need for security etc but if you can vouch for someone then you would have thought it would be ok.

Nice, what happened to emotional care too, surely, rules should be implemented upon individual circumstances

With luck Rebecca might get her 4 hour home visit today, the second cultures should be back late tomorrow, so its a day to day thing at the moment.

Completely changing the subject, I thought Kelvin was a well deserved winner for the Strictly trophy, the others were very good too, but he just had the edge.

and

We usually have a real Christmas tree, but last year it didn´t even get one bauble on it due to what happened, so we decided not to bother this year, but we were given a very nice bushy, two tone artificial one which looks really pretty, especially with all the favourite hand made decorations on it. I also put up a few other bits n bobs to make it look festive.

This stand usually holds little swinging metal baskets for tea lights, but I thought it was a bit dangerous with the furries about so turned it into this

Hand made felt trees set into little slices of Almond wood, which is very hard but does the job well

Very low key but at least there is something

Been busy in the garden yesterday and today, but that´s another story

take care

xcx

Update

Thank you all so much for your lovely comments.

They were erring to perhaps let her go home yesterday or today, but the cultures came back and revealed that whatever bug/virus had started this has been completely overrun by the fact she now has blood poisoning.

Basically which they gave her by putting the cannula in

the first line of treatment is penicillin, which she can´t have being allergic to it, so next its IV antibiotics which will take longer to control it, so her proposed going home has now turned into 12 more days in hospital

Her first thought was if its in my blood then the baby is sharing that, but they didn´t seem concerned about that.

I appreciate they don´t want to worry her but we have been through so much what with the chemo etc, then Rose, we are people who wish to know, not to worry, but just to be informed.

It´s not a very nice place to be in right now, and of course we have Rose´s birthday on
Wednesday, I certainly don´t want her to be on her own on that day as Antoni will be working in London.

I think I have made an executive decision to just go

take care

xcx

Intuition

Do you pick up on those ´gut feeling´vibes,

We do it all the time, I find it´s best to act rather than over think them

Well that´s what happened on Monday early evening, I just knew, so rang Rebecca and found her not very well at all and feeling rough.

I managed to persuade her to act on doctors advice of if anything changes go straight to A & E.

She was seen very quickly with no long hours of waiting and admitted.

With both their heart rates elevated, high even for her, they were hooked up to monitors where they managed to get it under control.

She had freezing shivers and hot flushes so a virus was suspected, the fact that she had recently been given a flu jab followed a week later by the triple whooping cough vaccinations, was deemed not to be the culprit!?

I´m not a medic but do have my own thoughts about that.

Antibiotics and paracetamol were given with very frequent obs.

It took 4 attempts to insert the cannula in her arm, until she asked for a more experienced person, then a scan.

They thought it might be flu, subsequently ruled out, they have been ruling out possibilities but still have no idea.

Tuesday evening her arm was terribly painful at the cannula site, upon investigation there was a raging infection going on with tracking creeping up her arm. Certainly not helping

How on earth did they manage to inflict that on her, poor hygiene or damage to the vein?

Straight onto IV antibiotics and then would you believe a bag of medicine as a precaution against sepsis, which obviously they had caused. One response to her questions over this was ´well hospitals are dangerous places´!! Fills you with confidence doesn´t it, NOT

Rebecca has been asking all along the way is this ok for baby? The monitor tracking his heart rate also has a button to press each time he moves as apparently, rather like us when we take exercise it naturally increases.

The baby, well he seems to be having a ball, with Rebecca on bed rest, he is obviously enjoying the quiet time and is unbelievably active, he is also picking up on her not so good moments by squirming even more. 

Cultures should return today so we may be more enlightened.

All very tense and scary, the site I use for flights and train times has been regularly visited, continuously updated with various scenarios. 

I can still get a flight into next week at very reasonable prices (not that, that matters)

so as Rebecca said, we wait.......

take care

xcx

Over too soon

The days just whizzed by (as usual) but we did launder all the baby things and they are now away all ready. 

I didn´t manage to make the brushed cotton burp cloths but can do that next time, although I crochet some more and of course had to finish sewing the binding of the quilt. It was all pinned and I was concerned security might take the pins away but they didn´t query it or the bamboo knitting needles holding a baby blanket, but unfortunately one broke in the case, another item to finish off.

Black Friday seemed to happen all week so on one of my excursions into town I bought a few new tops, including a couple of jumpers all with varying discounts between 10 and 30%, then on Thursday we visited John Lewis to take advantage of the 20% off baby items.

Joyce (MiL) gifted them the money to get a next to me crib and sheets, so that was on the list along with other essentials. Rebecca gets a further 25% off by using her store discount card so we got some really good bargains.

Although Mothercare is closing they were not offering very good discounts, maybe nearer the end but they still seemed expensive.

The pre-loved market is strong around their area and they have got quite a few items of new or nearly new, a great help at such an expensive time

I bought Rebecca a dress as she has a couple of ´do´s´to go to, but I changed the button feature from gold to crystal, more her taste, so with accessories it will be really nice.

Rebecca was scheduled to go on maternity leave on the 20th December, which I thought was way to late, in my opinion she needed to rest, relax and think of herself during the last few weeks.

Little bubba had other ideas and he is quite low, making walking etc difficult, plus the fact that her company within JL store refused to allow her to sit whilst on the shop floor, insisting that she spread her breaks out and go to the rest room. The fact that it is up on another floor and they are not permitted to use the escalators or lifts just the stairs meant that most of the break time was taking getting to and fro. Absolutely ridiculous and very short sighted, so Rebecca explained it all to the doctor who immediately signed her off, so as from the 1st she has been able to take things easy and not soldier on like she was doing.

Bless, she was rather reluctant to do so, but once the decision was made she realised just how much she had been pushing herself and was relieved to just ´be´at home.

I strongly supported her in this as her and bubba´s health come first, especially when the employer treated her so shoddily.

Wednesday was my last day and Rebecca had a scan followed by a consultant appointment in the morning.

Absolutely wonderful to see bubba, he was really wriggling around and wouldn´t be still to take the measurements, which took several attempts. He was even really cheeky and gave us a full flash, no mistaking he is a boy then!

The consultant was running an hour late but he didn´t rush and made sure Rebecca was happy in the care, full explanations and any concerns dealt with.

Another scan on the 18th, they have decided that they will not let her go much beyond 38 weeks so  will he arrive this year or next?

My train was due to depart at 1.30, we were so long at the hospital and the traffic was really heavy that we only managed a quick goodbye and hugs before I had to go, I made it, with 3 minutes spare, squeaky or what! Just had to hang around for a while at the airport for my 5.45 flight.

My flight is booked for the 27th, unless something happens so I´m on standby mode

I intend to wrap pressies so everything is ready, including for Chris´s birthday

It´s all go!

take care

xcx

Shower party

I am back from being absent (you may or may not have noticed! lol)

I tried using my tablet and phone whilst away but they have different passwords and I couldn´t remember my log in one, so obviously I was unsuccessful in doing any posts or commenting.

Like many of us, I have so many different codes it gets really hard remembering which is which.

A pleasant journey outbound, smooth flight, no lumps and bumps and I met my train connection with half an hour to spare. On inquiring which platform I needed, it was very kindly suggested that I didn´t venture down until 10  minutes to go as there were artic winds blowing down there, sure enough when I did, I think even the penguins would have shivered.

Out over Alicante

We then turned and I snapped our mountain range just in from the coast at Calpe

Unfortunately Rebecca had to work on Friday but I had bits n bobs to get in town, thinking in advance of Christmas presents, so met her for a Japanese lunch, different and tasty and a wonderful opportunity to share and chat. 

Daniel, Shine and the girls arrived early Saturday evening and we spent a lovely evening catching up, sharing a meal and enjoying family time. The girls asked for pencils and paper and spent hours just drawing and colouring, brilliant interacting with them. We even video called ´Grandad¨ which was fun too

Sunday dawned a bright if cold day but we arrived at the baby shower just a little fashionably late.

(Having had a text message to do so as they weren´t quite ready)

The venue was at the Harvester but in a side private room, plenty big enough for our gathering but cozy.

There was a buffet, which I must say kept the 25 odd guests well fed as they kept coming to top it up with a superb range of dishes to suit all tastes 

The decorations were brilliant too

as you can see from the table there were a few fun games to participate in too, although I must admit quite a few (men) by passed the nappy one lol, it looked gross but basically different baby foods were spread on the nappies and you had to guess the food. Nothing wrong in that but just not an everyday occurance - smelling nappies lol, interestingly the ladies got more right than the gents!

Guess the quantity of socks in the jar had really wild results as did guess the date and weight

another was telling the difference between a beer belly and a pregnant one, that one got the most debates

This was fun too, a great way to make people relax and not be po faced, everyone had a go in ´the frame´

Basically light hearted, fun, relaxed and a good time had by all

Then of course the cake

Daniel and Shine brought the cake, delicious Filipino recipe

Beautiful gifts, wonderful sentiments and more importantly sharing the day with the people that mattered, a superb day filled with laughter, family and friendship, such a happy day, so many memories made.

They loved the play mat

The most touching was all Rebecca´s girls (workmates) from the floor (departments) at John Lewis, how despite all the traumas and heartache she has endured over the past few years, they all would miss her sunshine, radiance, calming ability, wisdom and soothing vibes.

Oh my gosh that nearly floored me, talk about blink quickly 

As people drifted away and the clear up began Daniel and Antoni decided to sport bumps too, although no balloons were hurt during this process, I would like to point out that they were both told if only it was that easy!!

Then the hard part of saying cherrio to Daniel, Shine and the girls,

Probably a good place to stop before you all start yawning

Me, well I´m remembering and welling a bit, so

take care

xcx

Comes in three´s

Our main computer decided to play up, just when certain documents needed to be printed

although we did manage to get the phone to talk to the printer, but it´s amazing just how used you get to it being there at the ready.

Bit like losing the power and automatically reaching for the light switch!

Luckily the guy we took it to fixed it really quickly and for a very very reasonable price, so we are all back up and running again.

That was the third thing to break

The other day whilst in the kitchen, a heavy chopping board crashed down into the plate rack and although I managed to save a mug and dinner plate this one escaped.

solid tiled floors and pyrex plates don´t go, 

it went absolutely everywhere

The second was just a silly really

Having left a knitting project using bamboo needles on the arm of the sofa, I accidently lent on it and heard a crack

It was a baby blanket so had stitches crammed onto it, but I was able to carefully transfer them and pick up the loose ones. Chris has used super glue to fix it, but I´m not sure it will hold, maybe keep it for small projects.

I have been making a baby play quilt to take with me on the next trip

I have hand quilted the ducks and frogs, then began the quilting

I am not very good at free quilting so chose straight lines

All those loose ends to sew in has taken absolutely ages

Then I decided to use my stitch regulator and try free machining on the borders

My machine kept having a hissy fit so its a bit hit and miss

Chris says no one will notice, but I do, I usually unpick when something does wrong, but not on this so I have had to lump it

I had a very persistent furry friend, Felix, who insisted he helped me with the ends oh and trying to chew my scissor fob and didn´t take too kindly to being shoved off as I moved the quilt around.

Bit of a wishy washy photo, but I just have to outer border to hand stitch down now.

Note to self....remember next time just how long it takes to make one of these and double it!!

take care

xcx

A little rant

When we moved to Spain 12 years ago we were well under the retirement age (and still are) to qualify for health care so we took out our own private medical insurance. We settled for the top level which gave more coverage.

This included a yearly Gyni Well woman check if you so wished.

Yes, the dreaded that we all hate, but know we must do to look after ourselves.

So having made the appointment and received the various authorisations, we bundled along to the hospital I have been to many times in Benidorm.

We left plenty of time ready to stand in line to book in knowing from previous experience this can take some time.

Leaving Chris to park the car, which in itself is quite a feat due to the small car park and tiny bays they allocate, I went in and found they had changed all their systems.

Now there is a ticket machine, you choose your language and department and wait for the ticket, except my department wasn´t on the screen, so I pushed ´Help´instead.

Hmmm, nothing happened, so I inquired at the desk only for a very short tempered girl to push back her chair telling me I had done it all wrong. Like this, she informed me, tapping at the machine, now take this to the girl upstairs.

Still no Chris, so I sat for a moment waiting for him, only for her to bark her question of why hadn´t I gone upstairs? on my reply she just shrugged.

This was going well!!, Ok, he will find me, so off I trotted to find the other desk.

I waited patiently, as us Brits do, for her to finish then moved forward, only to find another woman glaring at me and waving her papers in front of my face.

Rather confused, I apologise, did I push in?

The receptionist asks if I have a ticket, yes, then points at a chair and barks wait.

It was only after a kind man informed me the screen would tell me when it was my turn to approach the desk that I realised my mistake.

In my experience Spanish people do not ´wait´but barge in with questions etc even if its not their turn, especially in shops, so I was already on the back foot.

My turn, paperwork printed on to the department.

It was obviously a block appointment so first come first served.

Telling myself to breathe and give it 10 minutes and all would be over, after 30 minutes I was called.

Someone I hadn´t seen before, so I politely asked, in Spanish, if we could speak English please.

With relief he said yes, then in perfect English, what is the problem?, 

Erm, no problem just WWC, he huffed, asked a couple of questions then said go and remove clothing.

Ahh, we have a real friendly one here, Not!

During a not so gentle procedure he stated a couple of things with one word then examination complete get dressed.

Nice!

He asked the nurse, who was coughing and spluttering what other procedures were required.

Everything, she replied, ´What¨? Oh bone density and mammogram ok

I explained I did not want a mammogram but an ultrasound. Then added that my GP had confirmed it was a better option for me

What I didn´t expect was his explosion of "Rubbish", "who is your GP" "never heard of him"

At this stage I felt like asking him how would he like his ´bits´put between two cold metal plates and have the living daylights squashed out of them, but I was very restrained and swallowed my retort.

This was all going so well!?

Next he slides a prescription towards me, and this is for??

Cream! ok, and how is this applied, pessary, Ok, morning or night? night, and the reason I need this? hormones or lack of them, 

In for a penny as they say,  I asked a question about tropical moments (hot flushes to him)

His reply? Í don´t know¨

I do wonder how many years he had in training and considering his age (about 55) how many had he been practicing and whether I could suggest a course of how to treat patients.

In a split second of having discarded that idea

I was dismissed, by being told to see him again next month and to report to the X-ray department.

Having smiled sweetly, well I think I did (hope it wasn´t a grimance) I left.

Maybe my face told a thousand tales because all I could answer to Chris´s polite, Are you OK? was a terse, No. I was fuming

It couldn´t get any worse... ha ha

On arrival at radiology we found a free receptionist, we waited, eventually she barked have you a ticket, looking around we found a machine near her hatch, duly took one, with the machine telling us to go to the waiting room and well wait...

On hearing Chris asking what did we do now she pipes up, you give it to me.......

For goodness sake!!!!!!!!

To add insult to injury we are informed appointments cannot be made as they did not give me the correct paperwork upstairs and that she would have to contact them and ring me at home.

In my opinion when you are apprehensive anyway, haven´t a clue how their procedures work, wouldn´t it be easier to be user friendly, no barking, no making you feel stupid, oh and maybe a tiny smile now and again to put you at your ease. Most of them speak 4 languages so they cannot hide behind not understanding.

And to think I pay a lot of money each year for this........

Well thank you for listening to my little rant

all done now till the next time

and breathe

take care

xcx

Taming the jungle

We have had quite  strange and different weather patterns this year, going from blistering heat to gota frias and this week we have been having high winds, luckily without too much damage.

Thursday the wind dropped, the sun was warm and I managed to get out to tidy up a tiny bit of the garden, 

This part is just above the lounge and although we put weed suppressing membrane down and gravel, the weeds still germinate at a fast rate of knots.

I´m not sure of the name of the small tree sprouting  in the foreground, all I know is that its parent tree, just behind, grows so much during the season that we have to lop it back to get more light into the lounge. It also produces long seed pods that suddenly dry and release thousands of seeds. This area gets covered in tiny seedlings with a huge root making it difficult to pull them out if they are left too long. We were a bit slow in lopping this year so it was quite a big clean up job.

Bit of a jungle

Got there in the end, although there were a couple of casualties including a large lavender bush

Now we just need to go to the town hall for our burning license before we tackle some of the other shrubs.

Sometimes I catch the programme Eat well for Less where they have some good recipe ideas

One was for veggie Cumberland Lentil pie, store cupboard ingredients with carrots and celery, I substituted red peppers for the celery, which I didn´t have and added garlic too. The addition of a dollop of marmite really brought out the flavours.

It was very tasty and had a nice texture, not powdery as sometimes lentils can be.

I used it as a base rather than potatoes along with fresh veggies.

Well worth doing again.

The sky is blue, the sun is out but the wind is very chilly today, the log burner is lit, so I think a little chill out with the knitting is called for, after I rescue it after a little accident!

take care

xcx

Foodies

November already!

Today is All Saints Day and is a red day here, so in general everything is closed

We like this time of the year, the temps are still around 24ish during the day so it is just right to catch up on some jobs around the place, especially outside. The flowers get their second wind so its quite colourful again.

We had our water delivery on Wednesday, at least we hadn´t run out this time, they are not so busy this time of year as they are not filling up the pools.

Our neighbour generously gave us a bag of garlic bulbs and although some of them had been visited and chomped by bugs, I still managed to get quite a bowl full

We get through quite a lot of garlic so it was very welcome

We do like our roasted veggies, this time I made a cauliflower and broccoli cheese bake which was a nice change and rather yummy too

 I also made egg muffins, onions, garlic, red pepper and mushrooms and as I had some bacon lardons to use up, I popped those in too.

3 eggs made 6 muffins, 15 minutes at 180 so quite quick really.

It´s always difficult to decide what to do for lunches, keeping away from bread and so its usually a salad. Sometimes as a treat I buy a salad mix with pinapple, crab, egg etc in a rose marie kind of sauce, but this week after having it twice I have ended up with a thumper of a headache each time.

 I always check ingredients for lactose etc so couldn´t understand why this happened.

Until Chris read through the list using a google translator on his phone.

We found orange juice listed, What! My worst arch enemy

 who would have thought they would put that in a salad mix

What do you favour for lunches?

I usually make things from scratch. just so that I know what is in it using alternative ingredients and can make a calculated risk if I want, much safer as the 10% rule means you could get something you hadn´t bargained for. One example is flavoured crisps, they spray with milk powder so the flavour sticks, only now do they include that in the listing.

So thats one treat out of the window, back to homemade coleslaw.

lesson to self, just because you have had it before, recheck ingredients in case they have changed them!

Better go as I am trying to finish a play mat to take with me, and the blanket, oh and a little cardi and...........lol

Have a lovely weekend

take care

xcx

Busy but enjoyable

Before I went to the Uk I placed another order with Deramores to be delivered to Rebecca´s, this time for just cotton and bamboo to make some crochet burp cloths.

I usually use this yarn for making hot cloths for the kitchen, so knew it would be quite soft

I also ordered some brushed cotton material and wadding from Doughty´s, again for burp cloths, 

didn´t think you could have too many of these!

When we moved Mum in June, my SIL gave Rebecca her sewing machine so I thought I could make these when Rebecca was at work
As it turned out, Antoni asked me to rework a couple of curtains, chopping them in half and redoing them, so I didn´t actually get round to making the cloths. Next time

With all the walking and activities and the change in weather/pressure the fibro kicked in with a vengence so I  did settle down with my hook

The cotton yarns were 100g balls and much softer than the bamboo which were only 50g

but they were the same price, hmmm, cotton it is then

One of Rebecca´s work colleague´s is also expecting, but a couple of weeks behind her, I had already made and sent a pair of lemon bootees to her, as at the time she didn´t know the baby´s gender, now we know, so I ordered some blush yarn to make her a couple of cloths too

I left the yarn there so I can finish off the second one when I go back in November

These were the ones I took wrapped up, although they did get a little creased

  

I also started a little sleeveless top, which just needs the armholes doing, but I forgot a photo

I then received an email stating my flight had been changed, like Chris´s, pinching a day

I rang them stating this was not convenient and they could only offer me a flight the following Saturday evening.  What a shame, never mind! That would do very nicely as Rebecca had several days off that we could spend together.

We attended a couple of baby events, one in Mothercare, which was quite informative, especially concerning the legislation regarding car seats etc, gosh and to think those years ago when the carry cot was just placed on the back seat and Mum would be placed in the back of the car carrying her new born!
They had event offers too some of which we snapped up
Then it was John Lewis
Surprisingly it was set up in their restaurant not the baby department and with independent suppliers, some offering hypnobirthing, bottle solutions even baby swimming classes!
Absolute mine field, but we came to the conclusion that whilst some of these ideas/items were useful they certainly were not essential and some of them were just worrying a new Mum to have it all, regardless of the expense.

We spent hours going through some of the unpacked boxes from their move, discarding items for charity and relocating others and making space for all the baby items that have been collected.

You totally forget how much space one tiny person can effectively take up.

All to soon my time was up.
I had my return train ticket to Gatwick, giving me ample time to get to the assistance desk and through security and found that I was whisked over to the gate
It was a late flight 9pm with me arriving with the hour change early hours, but we were home by about 2.15am

But then I can do it all again in November as I am going back for the baby shower

A few projects to do in between though......

take care
xcx

Uk adventures

Been there and done that, now back home again

We went on the 1st October, flew in to LGW, then took the train to Reading, spending the night with Rebecca and Antoni before heading off to Basingstoke on the train to tie up various legal matters at the solicitors.

Never been to Basingstoke town centre, but it was all pedestrianised with 2 shopping malls to go through, such a lot of walking, but we were successful with our efforts.

Next it was taking a 20 minute taxi ride to Chris´s niece to pick up the car, on to Old Basing to collect Mum as we were taking her to her caravan in Weymouth for a few days. As she is now in the care home it was the only way to spend some quality time with her.

It´s a huge site, this is the view from her elevated position

At least it wasn´t raining, although coming from 27/28C it did feel very cool

Her van is a 2 bed, 2 bath one, so it quite spacious and comfortable

We had a wander around Weymouth, visiting Mum´s favourite shop which sells very colourful clothing to crystals and incense sticks and everything in between.

Unfortunately Mum was feeling too well so couldn´t accompany us on the Friday, on the drive to Exeter as I was staying with Daniel, Shine and the girls for the weekend, so it was a quick turn round for Chris as he drove back to Weymouth.

It was so lovely to catch up with them and to enjoy spending time with the girls, playing and having fun.

Saturday saw us taking a rather long bus ride to visit Buckfast butterfly and otter sanctuary

The station and line has been renovated and restored with steam engines, offering trips out, although we didn´t have the time to do that.

But we did visit the museum, which was very interesting, 

Thomas the tank engine

Old coach ready for renovation

A rather nice model of the station

There were some beautiful butterflies, although most of them were off flying about and very difficult to photograph

You can see how hot and humid the house was, fogging the camera up

The Iguana was happy watching us, watching him

On to the otters, where we managed to catch the feeding time and watch their antics. One otter was 23 years old and he had lost his waterproof coat so he was quite content to just sit and catch his fish on the bank  and let his partner swim and dive to entertain us.

You had to be quick before they skittered away

It was a good day out with lots of new memories made and resurrecting old ones, as I remember taking my two to this place many years ago.

The weekend ended all too quickly and it seemed no time at all before
Chris was back to take us back to Reading.

Chris´s flight had been changed, which was a shame as he had to leave a day early

whilst I still had another week with Rebecca.

Well that´s probably enough now, so more for another post

take care

xcx