A lost quarter? Top Notch thanks!

I seem to have lost a quarter.  Not an American coin, not even an expanse of desert, but the first three months of this year seem to have unaccountably vanished.  There I was, all good intentions and feeling organised straight after Christmas - and now here we are at Easter.  Don't expect any explanations, I have no idea what happened.  It's time doing that elastic thing again.  When I'm not feeling up to much and can't manage anything as energetic as a bit of knitting (which inevitably coincides with there being nothing I fancy watching on TV) time expands so that the five minutes before I can reasonably have lunch feels like a week.  And then when I'm feeling brighter and able to do knitting (which seems to be my fitness meter these days) time condenses, and squidges itself up into a tiny nothingness.  This means that the hour in which I plan to do 15 minutes knitting, check emails, and then update blog actually lasts for about 9 seconds. You will appreciate this isn't even time for the laptop to boot up; but of course an hour has passed by my watch, and it's lunchtime so I'm hungry. And I still haven't updated my blog, although I may have managed a couple of rows of knitting and a cup of tea.

Fitness meter:
This works like one of those diet sheets, where you have to pick one item from the selection offered at each meal, and goes something like this:-

Top notch              
Pick up knitting and work at least an inch of back of adult size sweater or several inches of sock.
   OR
Check emails and Google a little (these, like time, have their own elasticity).
   OR
Do some drawing or sewing (more tiring than knitting, motor control takes more effort)
  OR
Update blog (this takes time as well as physical and mental effort.  I really enjoy it, but other stuff seems to need to take priority.  I may have to rethink my priorities)

Fair
Pick up knitting and work about half amount of top notch knitting.
   OR
Check emails
   OR
Google a little

Middling
Decide sweater too much of a slog, but manage several rows of sock.
   OR
Read for at least half an hour!

Ropey
Look at sock knitting and wonder if I'll feel like doing a round or two tomorrow.
   OR
Start to read and fall asleep after about 3 minutes.

Hoping for a tiny scrap of carrot

This doesn't include essential activities which generally take precedence. Even during Ropey I can get my own breakfast.  I usually get my own lunch too, but can't always do this at Ropey.  Amazingly hospital clinic visits usually coincide with either Top Notch or Fair.  This is largely due to their placing in my medication schedule.  I've done some amazing stuff during Top Notch - preparing a casserole or curry  for the slow cooker for example, sitting on a stool in the kitchen with puppy waiting hopefully for a tiny scrap of carrot or garlic!



I've marked yet another Christian festival on the calendar with one of my sessions of let's phone the helpline to report an elevated temperature. I consequently spent last Sunday night being filled with antibiotics and fluid, and subsequently popping 2 kinds of oral antibiotics and a different kind of steroid from usual. This means I have to have a break before more treatment, so I'll probably be Top Notch for several days now.  This is good;  I was well enough to go to skittles on Thursday evening and had a thoroughly enjoyable evening, and I've cut and fitted several pieces of non-slip in the caravan lockers.  It still feels bizarre that a number of activities which once I would have done during the course of a morning or afternoon I now do spread over about a week.

Seasonal photos

Hey, this is great - I'm still remembering to do this on a regular basis!  And yes, I know it hasn't been that long. I'll try not to lapse next week.

Not feeling brilliant, but heaps better than yesterday so decided I'd better get on with it.  Been feeling crummy with flu.  Woke up at 4am on Monday morning with a temperature of 38.2.  As I'm advised to phone the helpline if it goes above 38 that's what I did.  And yes, they wanted me to go in and get checked out; this always means bloods and basic obs, usually includes a chest x-ray and sometimes a urine sample too.  Dee took me in, and by the time I got there at 5am temp was up to 39.9 (nearly 104 in old money) and my head was pounding, so they did everything.  The doctor on duty seemed to be fairly impressed that I could quote my pharmaceuticals by name and dose, and knew my mrn (medical record number).  It's ok, I know it's nerdy and I don't mind you thinking it's so. Between 6 am and midday I had a litre of fluid, intravenous antibiotics and paracetamol (it works quicker), a couple of fits of rigors, cornflakes, tea and toast, and some sleep. I was allowed home about lunchtime with 3 lots of meds and instructions to rest and keep warm.  Not much option about the rest as I was too limp to do anything else.

Had a phone call on Tuesday from the GP to say they'd had results from the lab and that what I'd contracted is Type A Flu and to check that I was on the correct anti-viral.  Which I was.  It was good to know it was the real thing as  I'd hate to feel this rubbish for a sniffle.

In the meantime it has snowed.  Little Dog loves snow!  I've admired it from the window but not ventured forth in view of firm medical instruction to rest and keep warm.  I've missed going out and taking photos, and making snow penguins and suchlike.  But I have taken my own seasonal photos this afternoon to show what's flourishing in the bathroom.  And here they are.


This one's been in bloom for well over 2 months for the third time since she arrived, and still has a couple of good blooms.  A winter beauty,  bit of an ice maiden.

And this one's the winter warmer. Reminds me of mulled wine or spiced cordial, and still has buds coming along.  Acquired when the white one was in full bloom in the autumn.  They are absolute stars looking so stunning and coping so well with living almost constantly in the bathroom.

Have I arrived as a blogger?

Having logged on as I promised myself (and the wider world) I would to update my blog on a regular basis I find I have acquired a follower!  I've been feeling a bit rubbish the last couple of days following a chest infection and a couple of days of generally overdoing things and wasn't sure I had anything to say.  Or indeed the energy to type much at all.

I feel as though I can quite reasonably say welcome to my first follower and log off to recover from the shock and bask in the glory of having someone take an interest.  After all, I've had my blog address at the end of my emails for ages now.

Can't go before saying well done to the returned Bronze Paws duo who came top of the class today at leaving a treat on the floor.  Apparently the treat was put at a distance, and the dogs told to leave it, then gradually it was nudged closer and closer to them, right up to their paws.  And as Abby has little legs her paws when lying down are right under her nose!  Well done girls!  And tomorrow we have an excursion in the morning for Abby to have a photoshoot.  Wonder if she'll sit still at all?

A fallible new year resolution?

I don't generally set myself up to fail by making resolutions, but I've entered a regular date in my Blackberry to update my blog.  As it will bleep and remind me, and it coincides with a time when I'll be left on my own for a couple of hours, there's a chance it may happen.
Quite a lot has happened since my last post, in a quiet sort of way.  The least quiet event was our household expanding by the count of one puppy.



We'd been looking for a puppy, the right puppy, for over a year.  It had to be a bitch, and a Bichon Frise cross that was unlikely to get too huge.  
We saw an A-board outside a bungalow on the way to Tewkesbury one weekend and this is what we found when we went to investigate.  It was the end of our search, so we paid a deposit - she was too young to leave her mum, and we were going away for a week - and arranged to collect her the following weekend.

We already had everything we needed apart from food, which we planned to get when we knew what she'd been weaned onto.  We'd had a collar and lead for a year, and had since accumulated a crate, dog bed, fleecy blankets, poo bags and a selection of toys.  We've since added harnesses and a special lead that clips into the seat belt for travelling in the car.  And more toys.

And this is Abby at just over 8 weeks shortly after she arrived. 

She was a fuzzy wuzzy little thing, like a bean bag teddy bear, when she first arrived. But she's been busy growing, and learning, and becoming a significant family member.  Even the cat likes her!

After she'd had all her jabs "The Team" went to puppy classes to learn how to do it all properly.  And they have a certificate to say they can!

The reason I'll have a couple of hours when I'm left to my own devices is because they are now going on to do their Bronze Paws award, which is to be followed eventually by Silver and Gold Paws.  They're a dedicated team and I'm proud of them.  

The last couple of weeks we've rather been taken over by teething; I've never found so many shed puppy teeth with previous dogs!  When she feels a bit low with it all she looks sad and comes for a cuddle, usurping the cat's place on my lap.  They get on amazingly well, but we were confident that they would.  Gypsy's not keen on other cats, and on a good day tends to be frosty to say the least with people, but has always got on well with dogs.  It looks as though they'll end up being much the same size, not so small you trip over them, and not to big to have on your lap.  Perfect!

Abby at 5 months
 Sometimes I sits and thinks, and sometimes I just sits.