Unexpected

On Monday morning I had an appointment to have a fasting blood test after visiting the Doctor last week. I asked to have my cholesterol checked and it was decided he would run a few tests at the same time. I had an appointment booked to see him again next Wednesday so I was surprised when I got a phone call yesterday to say he had my results back. It seems I have hypo thyroidism and he asked that I pick up a prescription later in the day. With hind sight I can now see that this makes sense as I tick a lot of the boxes - hopefully taking the tablets will make me feel "normal" again. I'll also be interested to talk to the Dr at next week's appointment to find out more.

And for a cuter photo, this one of Alice was taken when I popped round on Monday. I couldn't get over how long her hair has got or how cute it looks in a pony tail :)

xx

Meeting Blog Friends

This past Sunday, a group of bloggers - some I knew and some I didn't - met up in London for lunch and to meet Deb and Carrie who are over from Arizona. 

As there was engineering work on the line out of East Grinstead, I drove to Haywards Heath and caught the train from there to Victoria Station.  At Victoria I met Jacky and we travelled by tube to High Street, Kensington.

The meal was held at Maggie Jones and when we got there Deb, Carrie, Alison were quick to greet us and it felt like the most natural thing to be there with them. Deb and Carrie are just as I thought they would be - warm and welcoming and wonderful :)  Alison's accent was a surprise as I knew she now lives in Spain but I didn't expect the Scottish accent!

Carrie and Deb

It wasn't too long before the others started arriving and there were 11 ladies in all. What a wonderful afternoon spent chatting and meeting in person.

Alison, Carrie, Deb and Ruth

Alison and Ruth

It was so good to finally get to meet Ruth too. Seems so silly that we live only an hour or so apart and haven't met before. We hope to rectify that by meeting up again soon for a coffee or lunch.

After a good three hours at the table, we finally made our way outside for a few photos before some went on to coffee and others made their way home (myself included).

Ruth, Deb, Alison, Carrie, Jacky, Becky, Denise, Karen, Mel and Helena

What a wonderful place the blog world is that brings together people with similar interests.  I think the thing that got me most is that there were no awkward moments, it was just like meeting old friends (but this time in person).  Thank you to all the ladies for a most enjoyable afternoon :)

Deb and Carrie, looking forward to seeing you both on Friday :) 

xx

Seriously ?????

 Last week we got a touch of Spring :)  I sat outside for lunch on Tuesday and, providing the wind wasn't blowing, it was lovely and warm in the sun.

 Today we woke to a dusting of snow on the ground but by 9am it looked like this!!  It has hardly stopped since then.

 Looking out our back window towards the Forest Way path the trees looked almost like silhouettes.

And  the plants look like this!

We're back in bitterly cold weather - truly icy!!  Temps this morning started at 1C but soon dropped to -1C and that wasn't taking into account the wind chill factor.

Deb and Carrie, let's hope it's warmed up again by the time you get here otherwise you'll notice a bit of a difference temperature wise ;)

I'm now going to have a cup of coffee to warm up ;)

xx

Mothers Day

Happy Mothers Day to all the UK mothers. I hope you've enjoyed time with family and loved ones.

I am fortunate that I get to see all my children most days - Claire has her own house but is only a short drive from us and I see her and the girls often.  I had hoped to get photos of me with each of my children today but, unfortunately, by the end of the day I'd got photos with Hugh and Emily but not Claire. We'd talked about it and wanted to take them and then forgot until after Claire had gone home :(  I'll have to get one at some stage this week. In the meantime, here are a few photos from my day today ....

                     

 I managed to get Hugh to pose with me before he went to work this morning. Thank you Hugh!

I spent time at home this morning, chatting to Norma on Skype, talking to Emily and catching up on a bit of quick blog reading.  I popped round to Mum and Dad's to give Mum her Mothers Day present and as I left, Claire phoned to say Alice had woken from her nap so I went round and picked her and the girls up.

 Megan is getting so big, another couple of weeks and she'll be 3 months old.  She is so cute to watch, when we're lucky we get the cutest smiles and if you talk to her, there's a fairly good chance she'll babble back :)

 She loves Alice and Alice loves her right back. Here Alice is showing Megan the little duck and shaking it so she can hear the rattle.  She gets upset if Megan cries for too long - though she likes to look at the photo of Megan crying in my Project Life album. It's a series of photos where Megan was quite happy in the first two and then is crying in the 3rd one. You turn over the insert and Megan's having her bottle and then smiling. Alice will now tell you that Megan was hungry in the crying one (true!) and then we fed her and she was happy again. So cute!

Alice is still very much a Grandma's girl.  Today we had the chance to sit and read books.  She likes this counting book and especially the page with the Teletubbies on it. She finds it quite funny when I sing the Teletubbies song on that page - especially when we go through all their names.

 Although we're not reading it here, another favourite book at the moment is It was you, Blue Kangaroo!  I love that she takes in the stories and is able to answer back when I ask her what either Lily or Blue Kangaroo says next.  Looking forward to getting another few Blue Kangaroo books soon.

 And finally, after having taken Claire and the girls home after dinner, Emily and I realised we hadn't taken the photos of Claire and me and of Emily and me.  We rectified the latter - not the most flattering photo but I have one :)

Hope you've had a wonderful day with your family too

xx

Happy Birthday Mum :)

Yesterday was Mum's birthday :)  I take my hat off to her.  The last few months have been difficult, we've seen Dad have a stroke, spend 7 weeks in hospital and finally come home. Mum then had to step up to the plate and start caring for Dad. Things were going well when, unfortunately, Dad was taken back into hospital and had an emergency operation. We saw him in the ICU, the HDU and finally in a normal ward where he stayed for another 5 - 6 weeks before coming home again.  Again, Mum became a carer and still is. I know it's not easy but she very seldom complains and is doing a great job. At 82 that's no mean feat. Thank you for doing what you're doing Mum and remember, we are here when you need us - for whatever!  

 Claire and the girls came round to the house before we went to Mum's for coffee and cake. Alice was really excited that we were going to Great Grandma's birthday :)

 And like most little ones, was happy to help Great Grandma open her presents

 She also enjoyed  getting the chance to wear Great Grandpa's headphones to listen to the TV - even if it was football.

And Great Grandma got a chance for some Megan cuddles once she woke up from her nap.

We hope you enjoyed your afternoon Mum :)

Love you lots
xxx