Happy Thanksgiving!

…..Or more commonly known in this house as ‘Pumpkin Pie Day!…..

I had to rush around after school yesterday to get the items for our menu. This year it will just be a quiet version for Julian and I, oh, and Anna-Bell of course-she loves turkey.

I’m doing a Barefoot Contessa style menu, so our sides will be Parmsesan mashed potatoes, sprouts, red cabbage and carrot puree.

I am yet to decide whether I can get my act together to make the corn bread at 4pm after school, it will be ‘puff’ depending! And I think the Pumpkin Pie is getting missed out this year as it’s just the 2 of us, I’ll whip up a butterscotch dessert instead, but we are still celebrating as we have a lot to thank those Pilgrim Fathers for!

One of my friends, Sara has been FB-ing a daily Thank you in her ‘November of Thankfullness’, a brilliant idea. Another one of my friends, Patricia, uses her 365 photo to post a ‘Day of Gratitude’.

I think I should have  a year of gratitude-there is just so much to be thankful for. Family, Friends and in this time of recession, Financial Security. I might not have the best of health but I function with what I have got and I am eternally thankful for all the support and love I have received from such an incredible network of friends here.

I truly have the best partner and the best doggie daughter I could ever wish for: Yes, I am truly thankful this Thanksgiving.

…..So may your turkey be stuffed full and may your house smell delicious and may all your dreams and prayers be answered. Happy Thanksgiving….

Happy Hallowe’en Weekend!

…..Well, all things here have gone Hallowe’en bonkers too! Something else we have to thank the US of A for!….

So my friends, readers and family, have a great Holiday Weekend. Please be safe with your young ones out Trick or Treating. I have a stack of candy ready to give out so please don’t flour bomb our nice shiny new black cars.

 

Anna-Bell says:

“B E W A R E   O F   T H E   S C A R Y   C H I H U A H U A!”

…..And if a black cat crosses your path, don’t forget to make a wish!…..

Some Seaside Air and a Little Sun!

….So Jools and I popped down to my Parents place by the sea for a few days….

And in spite of it being a bit blustery, we have had one exquisite sunny day by the beach-watching the brave souls who, come what may, were frolicking in the sea (many in wetsuits!) The air is so clean and fresh here-we’re only 100 miles from our home in London, but it might as well have been another world! The ozone makes me sneeze almost constantly, but I have managed to practice my walking without oxygen-lots of stops and sitting down, but nonetheless, even though we didn’t make it out to California this summer, I am still determined to do some lung healing whilst we are breathing this fresh sea air.

Here are a few pictures I snapped yesterday in Bournemouth at lunchtime, and watching the boats at Sandbanks at tea time.

…..We will venture back to London this afternoon and pick up AB from Mum’s house. It has also been our first time way from her, something we clearly need to practice more than her though, for we have pined terribly but apparently she has had a ball!…..

The Royal Wedding!

….Well, the day is finally here!….

Congratulations William and Kate. We all have much to cheer about. The Nation has raised it’s morale and we have a National Holiday today to celebrate with you.

We all wish you a long, happy and stable marriage.

….Rule Britannia….

Happy Easter! Happy Pesach!

…..Wishing Everybody a really Happy Holiday Weekend, whatever your religious outlook on life…..

It’s Easter in the Christian Church, and actually in the Orthodox Church at the same time. And it is currenty Pesach in the Jewish Calendar. So I wish all of you a great Family style weekend of celebrating.

And whether it be you are Rejoicing in our Risen Lord or commemorating the Ancient Israelites being freed from Slavery out of Egypt, we are all proving we can all live together in religious harmony in blog-land.

Have a good one, my Friends.

….But don’t get sick from too much chocolate and mind the bad smog in the UK and don’t forget your allergy meds if you’re a seasonal sniffler!….

New Year Nitty Gritty

….Is it just me or did Christmas go by very quickly this time?….

I just asked my Mum this and she said she thought it had been a very long Christmas and that she had been loving all the carols on the radio since the beginning of December. But I guess that’s just it-I kind of missed most of the build up as I was so poorly for those weeks. I didn’t actually hear a carol until King’s on Christmas Eve.

So this week, on Wednesday I have to get myself back in to school mode and have to attempt to pick up the pieces where I left off, on November 11th. There is no point trying to finish off the modules I left untaught: I totally believe in new beginnings, and from experience of when this has happened to me before, I also know there is vacant time at the end of the academic year to fill with things that got missed out!

But there is something People or Doctors don’t think about or understand here. When you live with a chronic condition or a long term health problem, you often find yourself fluctuating between periods of total inactivity-in my case 6 weeks of bed rest with my recent chest problems-and a kind of flip side ‘normality’-in my case, the now having to find the energy and confidence to be back at work. I’m now not sick-I am over the lengthy infection I had in November/December, but I still do not feel anything like ‘well’ enough to be working full on, and all out.

I am suddenly realising the reason I felt ‘well’ over Christmas was because I was home, in the warm, padding around in my new Totes toasties slippers, on soft carpet, with the luxuries of flopping on the sofa for a breather, the bathroom whenever I wanted it, and of course, the luxury of rising without a morning alarm. I did a trial run of getting up at 6am today, but I’m back in bed now at 9am and still in my PJ’s!

Whilst I am somebody who functions best with routine in my life, my life’s routine for 2 months has been one of hardly getting dressed much before lunchtime and even on days when I have been ‘well’, ie recently, still needing a nap or at least a period of resting on the bed later on, and certainly, all done with the minimum of exertion. Julian has been supporting me through everything, because I’ve needed this-we have done the little daily tasks together, shopped, cleaned, visited, and all because I am still quite weak physically, and emotionally.

Tomorrow I have to see my Doctor to be signed back to work. Like I said, not ill, therefore, apparently, Fit! There is no half way house. Either I’m sick and therefore not fit for work, or I’m not sick therefore fit for work. Amen!

The trouble is, I’m only just now feeling confident enough to venture back into my life before I was sick in November. But by Wednesday I have to be fit and well enough to pick up where I left off before then.

This New Year has been a toughy for me emotionally because of it. I’m not sure I’m ready yet to pick up where I was 2 months ago, and it’s making me realise, that I might not be able to play this survival working game much longer.

Do I need to work? What would I do if I didn’t still work 3 days a week? IS there a guarantee that my health would be any better off without this pressure? (No, Don’t know, and Probably not!)

So, it’s roll on Wednesday for me here. Yes I am looking forward to it-to my old life, to my pupils and to seeing my lovely colleagues again.

….But I think I’m going to struggle to keep my head above water for a while yet. Please bear with me….

 

Happy New Year, 2011!

….Wow! Where did the Christmas Week go?!….

It’s suddenly that time where we begin to make resolutions, and look back on what we achieved or maybe what we failed to do!

Whatever your aspirations and inspirations for this New Year, I wish every one of you a joyous, peaceful, happy, and above all healthy one!

I got the best Christmas Present of all this holiday-the gift of feeling better after a lengthy poorly spell. I pray you all steer clear of these rotten winter flu’s that are doing their rounds, and you start the New Year on a positive health note.

 

Here is  a photo montage of our 2010!

….Happy New Year, Everyone!….

The Tortoise won!

….I am not good at being patient!….

But since becoming ill at the end of October I have had to lose the ‘hare’ in me and develop an uncustomary amount of ‘Tortoise’ in my persona!

I am very happy in these final days before Christmas, to be reporting that I have finally, hopefully conquered this long and really nasty bout of chest illness and am now up and about doing Christmassy type things like playing Carols in the background and wrapping presents. I suddenly feel I have more energy and verve and do not feel like I am being dragged into gloom and doom by my lungs, like I have been for so long. In fact I am probably more fully functioning than Heathrow Airport in this dreadful snow we have been having.

I guess I am lucky that the snow hit when it did, as just as I was thinking I was Wonder Woman again and could perhaps venture out further than the Drs or a hospital Appt, we all became housebound due to the weather!

It has taken a great deal of recovery and drugs to get me through this. And now, looking back on it, I should have given in and gone into hospital for IV treatment, but my track record of hospitalisations in the run up to Christmas is not good and I was so worried I would still be incarcerated on December 24th, but I’ve done it, the Tortoise has won.

I’ve taken a total of 5 courses of 3 different antibiotics, have dosed down 4 bottles of Mucodyne Syrup and have so far had 5+ weeks at 40mg of Prednisolone. I’ve also been through 5 boxes of Hypertonic 6% saline nebs (that’s 15mls a day nebbed on average) and countless, yes countless boxes of Ventolin nebs-I’ve been nebbing PRN but up to 2 hourly, and on a few days hourly. My GP said to keep all nebs and meds at their max in this time so when I announced last week that I was hoping to reduce the Pred, she said “not at the moment”. But I’m more or less back to my baseline drugs of 2 -3 Atrovent nebs and Ventolin nebs 1st thing in the morning, lunchtime, evening, and night time with puffers in between. This is brilliant for me. My Aminophylline level came back as 15.1 so that is also very good-high, and no doubt the result of all the antibiotics I’ve been on which have pushed the level up! But I’ve been told by the hospital to stay on the Mucodyne Syrup for the time being. It really works for me.

I’m still in a whole lot of lung pain and am still harbouring a gunky cranky cough, which I have to produce yet another sample of this morning-cue the picture of the sputum pot-no, just joking! But my breathing is, I guess, fair to middling, Yayness! I beat this pneumonia!

So my one final thing then is to show you the weather and the proof that this little Tortoise is now alive and kicking!

I also figured that to stand outside in the freezing cold for a few minutes would probably do me good! Apparently snow gives off a lot of oxygen and the extreme cold would have killed off the remaining bugs in my airways (I so hope!)

….And I would have asked J to take me to the Club for a Sauna afterwards, except they’s sent out texts to say they were shut due to being snowed in. Fail!!!….

Track Santa Here!

….For all my Crazy Christmas and Santa loving Fans, you can use Norad to track Santa around the world….

Here is a clip from some of last year’s exploits! The scenery and music are magical!

….Watch, listen and enjoy!….

Happy Thanksgiving!

….What those Pilgrim Fathers doin’?….

Scoffing their faces full of Turkey and Pumpkins, (actually, it was reputed to have been a meal of maize and corn bread-so not much truth in the history!)

Well this is one turkey that got away. Enjoy!

Wherever you are, enjoy your Thanksgiving Holiday weekend.

….And don’t forget the Pie!….